The Troupe leaves the town of Restenford for the first time. They make their way toward Tri-Top, the source of the gnoll attacks. Somehow their assaults on the towns defenses have become more frequent and better organised, and the Troupe has been tasked to find out why.
5 Flamerule 1368
After 8 hours travelling we reach the hills known as Tri-Top. They seem empty at first. Excepting the odd bird of prey flying over us, there are no signs of life. That is until we come across a worg, a large wolf-like monstrosity. It growls as it charges at us. Rose readies her spear.
The beast takes a few blows from us, and is slain by Cat.
The fight draws the attention of a nearby wolf.
Yalta said that the gnolls were using wolves in their attacks lately. As soon as the thought enters my mind, a group of gnolls emerges from the darkness.
Cat and Rose charge the gnolls as the rest of us stay at a distance.
I knock out most of the gnolls and their wolves with a Sleep spell.
We kill the gnolls that are still standing then move on to the sleeping opponents.
After killing a couple of sleeping gnolls, they wake up again, so I start casting another Sleep.
Rose is hurt before I can put them back to sleep, so I throw her a Potion of Healing.
With the remaining gnolls and wolves asleep, they are easy to finish off.
The gnolls were wielding halberds and carried very little gold. However they also had a silver necklace and a horn coral gem.
There are two human corpses here, presumably soldiers or adventurers from Restenford. Their flesh has been torn apart, likely the gnolls fed them to the wolves after killing them. Or perhaps they ate them themselves.
One of the humans was wearing magical armour that managed to survive the hungry creatures.
The other corpse wears a ring on one of its fingers. I’m able to Identify it with my magic. It’s the Sandthief’s Ring, that can grant the owner invisibility. Perhaps these two were attempting to sneak into the gnolls’ nest?
Rose places the ring on her finger. Being able to disappear may save her from an untimely death in a future fight.
There is a cave here that the gnolls must have been guarding. We go inside and find a wolf den. This must be where the gnolls are keeping them.
Xan is quick to put them to Sleep this time.
We take them out one by one during their slumber, but one of the worgs wakes up and bites Rose in the back.
Mur’Neth throws her a Potion of Healing and Xan strikes the worg down with a sling bullet.
In the back of the cave we find a dire wolf waiting to ambush us.
Alone, it proves to be no trouble. After killing it, we search the cave but find nothing of value. There are no more wolves hiding in any crevices, so we leave.
We find a path up to higher ground guarded by two more gnolls.
We take one of them before it gets too close, but the second cuts into Rose with its halberd.
It’s Mur’Neth with the save this time, throwing 2 Potions of Healing to her. While Rose heals herself, Viconia knocks the second gnoll to the ground.
The gnolls carried halberds and they have some gold. Each one carried a scroll as well. The first is a spell of deflection. If we encounter a high level mage (or another necromancer), this is a good defense.
The other scroll allows us to summon an elemental from the plane of fire. This one will be a weaker than usual, but it’s always good to have extra-planar allies.
As we near the top of the path we start to see signs of a settlement, and a worg.
The worg is not alone, but we wait for them to get to us. One of the worgs is slain, but the other tries to tear into Cat. My familiar holds its ground, however.
Fabio delivers the killing blow.
We enter the village and find a gnoll together with a group of flinds. It’s unusual to see them working with gnolls in such large numbers, Yalta is right that they seem more organised than usual.
Xan puts most of them to Sleep, but one pushes through and I feel a sharp pain in my stomach as it forces a sword through it.
We fall back as my familiar and Rose take on the large gnoll-like beasts.
We start to cut through them one after the other.
Another gnoll joins the fight and charges toward me. It must smell the blood.
Viconia and Cat chase down the gnoll and give it something else to think about.
Rose is seriously hurt after holding back the remaining flind alone, so Viconia uses the last of her healing magic to bring her back to strength.
Xan drops the flind with a stone.
The gnoll had a gold ring on its person. It’s too small for the gnoll to wear – it must have taken it from a soldier in Restenford.
The flind carried a Scroll of Luck. This spell can give us the blessings of Tymora during a fight.
We move back to the village and search the bodies of the other flinds. Among their equipment we find a spell that launches fiery missiles.
We also find a scroll that can grant the recipient with a boost to their Strength.
These are all spells I could use, so I copy them to my spellbook. Unfortunately, I make a mistake when copying the Strength spell, and the scroll is lost.
Among the other equipment we also find a horn coral gem.
And another scroll, this time containing the magic of a necromancer. This isn’t magic any of us want to use so I stash it in my scroll case where it is safe.
Another of the flinds carries a ring, this one bearing a fire opal.
One of the gnolls was using an enchanted halberd. If these gnolls are supposed to be as primitive as Yalta described, how are they getting magical weapons?
6 Flamerule 1368
After our looting is finished we continue through the gnoll village. The houses here seem too small for the gnolls. Too small for humans, even. I wonder if they just took it from some smaller humanoids.
This area is basically just the xvart village area from the base game.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t more gnolls waiting for us deeper in the village.
Cat rushes straight into the fight and I ask Corellon to bring down a Curse.
Xan has a plan of his own and he moves to flank the gnolls. He launches a Scorcher from his Wand of Fire, setting half of the gnolls on fire. Meanwhile, Viconia calls upon Shar to Aid Rose.
I summon some gibberlings. Unfortunately some of them appear under Xan’s flames and are killed instantly. Rose, Viconia, and Mur’Neth draw their melee weapons and engage the gnolls in close.
Xan kills one of the gnolls with his Wand of Magic Missiles.
We start to cut down the remaining gnolls. My only surviving gibberling is badly wounded.
Weak, burnt, and bloodied, the remaining gnolls are no longer a match for us.
Among the gnolls equipment we find a sunstone gem.
We also find a Scroll of Identify. Rose copies this one to her spellbook.
Another, more powerful scroll, contains a spell that can break through the defenses of a powerful mage. This one is beyond our skills for now, so it goes into the scroll pouch.
Some of the gnolls were also armed with enchanted halberds. It’s strange that they have so many scrolls and magical weapons when there is no wizard in sight.
With the village clear we move on to explore the rest of Tri-Top. We find more flinds wandering in the wilderness.
These ones don’t cause us much trouble.
We find another scroll among their possessions, Stinking Cloud, which can cause nausea which could be debilitating in a fight. I already have this spell in my book, so Xan copies it to his spellbook.
One of the flinds also has a gold ring.
We end up too far away from the village, so we decide to go back through and see if there is anything we missed. We find another gnoll cowering behind one of the buildings.
We kill it and take its enchanted halberd, as well as gold ring that it carried. We go to leave the village by a third path, and find wolves guarding the area.
They are no match for Rose and her enchanted spear.
This path leads us to a cave guarded by a gnoll with orange fur and skulls hanging from its belt. This is usually the sign of a chieftan.
Alone, it is surprisingly easy to kill.
It carries some magical bolts. Mur’Neth adds these to its quiver.
It also carries a bloodstone ring, perhaps a symbol of the blood it has drawn during the gnoll raids.
I have visions of death again. My familiar is torn apart by a large creature, and my soul disappears with it. I tell the others we should leave the cave for now, and we follow the path further up Tri-Top. Here we find two more gnolls who meet the same fate as the rest of them.
One of the gnolls carries a scroll that summons some kind of powerful weasel from the astral plane.
We need to see what’s in that cave. I know it is dangerous, so we take a rest before we go inside. We now have some spells prepared and can heal before we discover the cave’s secrets.
We go inside and catch a glimpse of an ogre before it disappears. An ogre mage! This must be what is organising the gnolls of Tri-Top. We ready our spells and weapons.
I know how to defeat these things. Fabio uses his Lute to try and confuse the mage and its allies. I create a Stinking Cloud, and summon Corellon’s Dispelling Screen to strengthen our magical protections.
A confused mage comes into view and Rose summons some gibberlings to keep it busy.
The ogre mage takes heavy damage, and I stun it with a Battering Ram.
As it stumbles around, Fabio takes a well aimed shot and cracks its skull open.
The gibberlings kill the bats that have were angered by the stinking cloud. As the gas dissipates we search through the bodies of the last few gnolls and their ogre leader. Apart from halberds and swords we find a gold ring and a bloodstone amulet.
The mage also carries an uncut tchazar gem.
The nauseous gas is now gone and we can see a chest, presumably where the mage keeps its valuables. Mur’Neth is able to open the lock.
Inside we find 2 Potions of Healing, an enchanted axe, a large shield that has also been enchanted, as well as another Wand of Magic Missiles. Rose takes the potions, and Fabio holds on to the wand. There are also 5 fire agate gems in the chest.
We also find 3 waterstar gems.
We decide to travel back and update Yalta, tell him he was right about the gnolls. We leave the cave and as we do so a large chitinous green centipede forces its way out of the ground.
Rose charges the ankheg and impales it on her spear.
Our journey back to Restenford is uneventful. As soon as we are through the wall, we make our way to see Yalta.
Rose: The gnolls out at Tri-Top were under the control of an Ogre Mage. We killed the Ogre Mage and hunted down all the gnolls we could find. They shouldn’t bother the town for quite awhile now.
Yalta: Really? Wow. I’m glad that you are here then. Pelltar made an excellent decision in hiring you.
Rose: Thank you. Just helping out where we can.
We leave him be and make our way to an inn. Later we will set off on our way to the Reddy Forest, to try and find Martin.
