RC Jalpiar - Look out Below

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After Naffin had returned and explained the tactical situation to the party a plan was formed. Naffin and Verna would sneak through the briars to the western side of the courtyard. Meanwhile, Knorr would call out, in the goblin language, that he had several more prisoners and that a path needed to be made. That being accomplished, all seemed to be progressing quite nicely. A path through the briar thicket leading toward the tree opened up. Knorr grabbed a goblin cloak and donned it while Naffin and Verna took up position. With Knorr in the lead, the four headed toward the courtyard.

Having forgotten to give the appearance of being tied up, Belak immediately chastised Goblin-Knorr for being careless and dispatched Sir Braford to take the weapons from the party while Sharwyn kept watch. Goblin-Knorr was ordered to aid Sir Braford. Falling in step behind Sir Braford, Knorr readied his short spear. When Sir Braford was within a short distance, Karak leapt to the attack, charging Belak and scoring the first hit of the attack. Knorr then thrust his spear into Sir Braford’s back and Olanth also attacked Belak. Having been fooled by the charade, Belak was taken unaware and was in jeopardy of losing his life as the two quick attacks had him reeling. Nyora attempted to use her Command scroll on Sir Braford, but he resisted, wheeling around to attack Knorr, but, with a spear in his back, the paladin couldn’t manage to hit him. Verna, still in her hidden position, fired an arrow at Belak, causing some more damage. Sharwyn cast a magic missile at Olanth (4 damage), and Naffin moved in, attacking her in an attempt to knock her out. Belak called out for his servants to come and defend their master. Four Twig blights emerged from the thicket, one each attacking Verna and Nyora and two attacking Knorr. The large frog attacked Karak while Belak sliced at Olanth with a sickle. Olanth and Karak were the only two to take damage from this wave of attacks (6 damage for Olanth and 4 for Karak).

The next round began with Karak missing Belak and nearly dropping his battleaxe. Olanth finished off Belak while Knorr did the same to Sir Braford. Verna managed to hit the Twig blight attacking her for minimal damage. Naffin continued to strike Sharwyn into submission. The twig blights attacking Nyora and Knorr managed to hit them, causing some damage (5 each) and stunning them with a mild poison. The frog bit Karak causing minor damage (3 points). At this point, sensing Belak’s death, the Tree seemingly came to life. Several of its limbs flailing around in a club-like manner.

Karak attacked the frog next, hitting it for some damage. The tree was the next to hit, striking at Karak and Naffin with two limbs each and Olanth with one. Although Naffin was missed, Karak and Olanth were not so lucky sustaining damage (16 for Karak and 8 for Olanth). In the final exchange between Naffin and Sharwyn, each managed to land a blow with Sharwyn being knocked out and Naffin taking minor damage (3 points). Knorr was struck by a twig blight again, and he remained in his stunned state (5 more damage). Karak and the frog exchanged blows again, with Karak killing the frog with a precise hit from his battleaxe. Olanth killed the blight attacking Nyora and Nyora plugged the tree with two arrows causing it to seep a black blood-like liquid. Verna finished off her blight with a blow from her mace. The tree attacked again, this time striking Nyora with a glancing blow (2 points).

In the final three rounds, Karak and Olanth finished off the Tree while Knorr was again hit by a twig blight (yet another 5 points). He was saved from death by the rest of the party beating the two remaining blights to death. Nyora cast Cure light Wounds on Karak and Knorr, and cast 4 Cure Minor Wounds on Knorr.

Nyora went to attend to Sir Braford and Sharwyn, but discovered that they were in fact dead. They had taken on a similar appearance to the tree, having a bark-like skin texture.

The following items were recovered from the bodies, two packs and a chest: One Bastard Sword named “Shatterspike”, Scale Mail armor, two short bows, one quarterstaff, one sickle, 13 arrows, Two bedrolls, two water skins, a bullseye lantern, two sets of flint and steel, 5 pints of oil, 50 feet of silk rope, 375 gold, one signet ring, 5 potions, 4 gemstones, and a wand.

Each party member received 600 experience points.

Taking the “Burning Goo”, the party covered the tree and fled the scene, stopping briefly in the library to see if any of the books were any good. Knorr had already taken one, and only one more remained in decent shape. It was titled “The Vampire Tree, Gulthias.” During the search of the library, Olanth drank a potion of Cure Light Wounds. Naffin grabbed this book and the party continued on toward the surface.

(Current damage is as follows: Naffin 3, Nyora 7, Knorr 5, Olanth 3, Karak 14, and Verna 0)