Session7Early Morning MeetingsDespite the listed watch order from last night, it was Xy who was awake with Oleum in the early morning watch. They heard something outside the ruin, followed by a splash. Oleum wasted no time in waking party members. Xy ran to the wall closest to the sound, clambered on some of the detritus, and peered through a gap. Something was out there, sure enough. There was a sinuous body snaking through the water, gliding away from the island. The early pre-dawn light suggested pale green mottled skin, maybe even scales! Was it a giant snake? Was it one of the mythical "krokodyls" come out of storybooks? There was no telling, and shortly the shape had vanished into the dim gloom. Noer, upon being woken, had one question for Oleum: are we under immediate attack? "No, but I heard something." "Whatever, I'm going back to sleep. Wake me if we're being attacked." The Party meets Ulrich with his Boat, and learns about his Cats.Our heroes gathered their belongings, extinguished their fires, and decided that lacking a better direction, they'd follow their mysterious visitor further into the fens. Oleum took point, and they set out into the shallow water. Nearly an hour went by. A wet, humid hour, as the sun slowly climbed and the fens started to warm up. Small animals made weird noises in the distance while insects and birds filled the trees with sounds. The water was only ankle deep now, with small pools here and there. Oleum still had point, and he was the first to see a figure moving towards them through the trees. It was a short, stout figure, and seemed to be pulling something behind by a rope over their shoulder. While the line stopped moving, the figure trudged forward and quickly resolved into a male(?) Dwarf. He was wearing only muddy overalls, and had a battleaxe strapped across his back. And he had quite a magnificent hat, complete with feather. His belt pouches bulged with something heavy and he was dragging a /boat/ behind him. He looked up and suddenly noticed our Heroes, and called out a welcome "Hallo!" Ulrich's Name
No one can quite remember what Ulrich's full name was. The common consensus is "Ulrich Rocklicker" but that doesn't seem /quite/ right. Roger, who spoke at some length with the dwarf in his own language, rememered something about crushing boulders, and thought it might have been something like "Ulrich Bouldercrusher Rocklicker." Was there something about "rock-off" in there? Perhaps asking after a dwarf Clan known for licking rocks will lead them to further members of his family. Elocution, in both your common tongue and in a language of the Dwarves.Ulrich, as it turns out, was a friendly chance-meeting. Understanding him was difficult, given his poor elocution and strange propensity for suddenly stopping, pulling a rock out of his belt pouch and fiercely licking it for several seconds. He offered no threatening guestures, offered to share his booze with anyone who wanted, and licklicklicklick. Okaaaay..... It seems Ulrich was on a Quest to find many lost kittens. His sisters' kittens. All white. Licklicklicklick. All but Charlemagne - most magnificent cat of all. Black streak on head. Lead cat. Leads team that pulls battle cart! Sisters not be happy Ulrich lost kittens. Licklicklicklick. His rocks old people. People who come before. At some point Roger stepped forward and greeted Ulrich in his native Dwarven tongue. Ulrich was delighted to have someone to talk to, and they chatted for a while. Roger discovered first of all that Ulrich was very well spoken in Dwarvish and even had an upper class accent. Ulrich's rocks were his ancestors, and he communed with them by licking them (licklicklick). Also, he had seen some sort of small lizard creature that passed him by and talked to him a little bit. A new Quest has been added to your Journal (press 'q' to bring up your current quests)The party were very interested and asked Ulrich more. He told what he knew and offered to show them the way, but he was concerned about hit cats, and asked "Help Ulrich find kittens?" The party agreed, and so their quests were united: the party would help him Ulrich look for his cats, so he could return them to his sisters, and he would help them explore the fens, looking for trouble. This being decided, Ulrich turned and immediately set out back the way he had come, dragging his boat behind him. The party followed. Meeting the friendly natives, and killing themAn ambushThe party was marching thru the fens, marching thru the fens, marching thru the fens, and suddenly javelins were raining down: some friendly natives were tossing gifts! Sharp pointy gifts. One Eyed Mattie, in the role of bodyguard, immediately tossed Vanessa down in the mud (so much for hipwaders protecting her....) and jumps on top of her (further squishing her). Noers cowered behind a tree. Oleum turned towards the direction the projectiles had come from, and saw green scaly lizardpeople off to the side, aiming another round of javelins! He put his shield up and started moving forward. The other soldiers started to follow, when Roger gets over his surprise and blows his load all over the lizardpeople: one supermaximized burst of magic missiles (which, incidently, taps out his entire bank of spell points - still not sure that's legal, but whatevs). One lizardperson falls, another is badly injured, and after they toss their last javelins, they melt back into the swamp. The party regroups and tends wounds, and marches onwards! An ambushThe party was marching thru the fens, marching thru the fens, marching thru the fens, and suddenly Oleum goes under water! He stepped in some kind of hole, and a log fell across his legs, pinning him under the water! Ulrich managed to reach him with an oar, and Oleum was able to kick the log off of his leg, resulting in his shooting up out of the hole. Suddenly, javelins were raining down: some friendly natives were tossing gifts! Sharp pointy gifts. This time, it looked like they meant to finish the fight - a group armed with spears were following up on the javelins. What followed was a sharp, brutal battle. The fighters led the way, shields up, with Roger shooting arrows, while Oleum decided Ulrich's boat was the safer way to travel and climbed in with him. With Ulrich at the oars (as noted, Ulrich is the only part member who can competently use a boat, and he's actually pretty good at it), the Battle Boat quickly outdistanced everyone slogging through waist deep water and closed in on the back line of lizardpeople before they realized what was going on. Two lizardpeople managed to close with the boat, but their attacks missed, and Ulrich managed to whack one upside the head with his oar, knocking him momentarily into the water. Ulrich then grabbed his battleax and made a flying leap from the boat! A successful attack! Oleum tried to duplicate the maneuver, but lacking the grace of a Dwarf, he went one way while the boat went another. The way he went was "face down in the swamp." Oleum managed to regain a little dignity with a dramatic eruption from the water, sword and shield up, screaming a battlecry. The rest of the party met the first wave and the battle wavered back and forth, until the lizardpeople finally fell, their blood spreading out into the fetid waters. Ulrich went mano-a-mano with the largest lizardperson, and killed them in single combat: much glory, so wow. The party starts to clean up: Oleum takes heads and begins stuffing them in sacks, Ulrich finds a necklace and tosses it to Roger, who then climbs a small hill. Vanessa uses her Gawd's combat healing spell for the first time, and everyone got to see the physical manifestation of Sumar-Fareen's favor. People start checking their wounds and cleaning weapons when all of a sudden... Be kind to your friends in the swampRoger steps up onto the small mound rising from the water, and abruptly falls from sight to the sound of breaking wood! Everyone rushes towards him while he cries out and sounds of high pitched keening and hissing ring out over the water. Roger, it seems, has fallen through the roof of the lizardpeople's home! One large lizardperson is attacking him with their claws, while several babies harry him from the side - one is hanging onto his arm. Blood is everywhere. The fighters, including Ulrich, all try jumping down into the mound, but the uncertain footing, mud, and creaking roof mean they all fall flat on their faces (or in some previously undamaged eggs, in the case of Ulrich). Madness ensues as people try to save the mage! Roger manages to toss his hanger-on off. Ulrich rolls across the floor, scattering coins and smashing more eggs. The adult lizardperson attacks the dwarf visciously with their claws, and Ulrich stands up only to go down in a splash of blood. Noer anchors a rope and enters the fray (the first to do so without injuring himself). Vanessa climbs down and tries to save the badly wounded Dwarf. Tilden and Abel fight the lizardpeople off of Roger and finally slay them. Roger lives another day! Funeral for a HeroDespite Vanessa's efforts, Ulrich dies in her arms. She digs him a shallow grave in the middle of the mound, they add his axe and the shell shards of his defeated foes. The party then piles a cairn of rocks above the hero and they say a few last words. Vanessa asks the blessing of her Gawdess and finishes with "May he meet the ancestors whose rocks he licked." Noer adds "May the value of the eggs you destoryed purchase you good accomadations in the afterlife." Loot
New Quests and CluesUlrich was looking for 100 white kittens and 1, the most magnificent of them all, Charlemagne, who has a black streak through his hair Noer has Ulrich's ancestor rocks, which the party plans to return. The party has a few clews about RockLicker's origins, but not a whole lot: he licks rocks, his axe was of human make - from further south, he has multiple sisters, and he speaks with an upper-class accent. Was that small creature that swam away in the early morning another lizardperson? Quote of the DayThere were many bad "yokes" today. Ulrich: "Help Ulrich find kittens?"
Noer: "We're all criminals together!"
Vanessa: "NOER!!!"
Also, what was his family name? Everyone: "Rocklicker." "<licklicklickslurplicklick>"
Plan: "We're going to carry his [Ulrich's] dead body around to find his kittens." "It's what his sisters would have wanted."
Regarding Xy and Gurge"She's had a rite of passage."
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