Session 0010 - To the Quarry

Roster

List of characters who's player was in attendance

Player characters who's player is attending the game start with 1 Hero Point, and can get more during the session.

Absent

List of characters who's player was absent

Player characters for missing players do not start the session with a hero point, and can not get any more during the session.

004-Rocinante: Luke
005-Saferous: Chance

Session Log

After the party leave the Gary Beyond Tavern they found Failin across the street hiding in the shadows. He steps out when he sees the party leaving victorious from the fight and approaches them.
He says "Follow me, quickly! My land cart is hidden nearby."
Failin looks very beat up after the fight but seems eager to leave, so the party follow him.
Failin leads you to a large stone outcropping in a secluded area not far from the tavern. He rolls up his right sleeve to expose a dragonmark, touches the birthmark to the stone, and mutters a strange word. He steps back as the stone rumbles, and a strange covered wagon emerges from the rock wall. The four-wheeled vehicle has a canvas cover that encloses a large rear compartment, while an open bay at the front features a bench and foot well. The wagon appears to be made of wood, but an undulating pattern of constantly shifting rock, gem, and crystalline structures seem to overlay the wagon’s wooden frame.
"My land cart,” Failin says in a quick burst. “Earth elemental powered. Get in. Time’s short. Long road ahead."
Everyone climbs on board with one party member (Saferous to being with) siting up at the front with Failin.
The elemental bound to the land cart rumbles with a sound like Eberron itself stirring from an ancient sleep. The wheels slide partially into the earth itself, and then the land cart slides along without regard to broken ground or other natural obstacles. The group observe that the cart moves very quickly - at roughly half the speed the train travelled, which is still considerably faster than a horse and carriage. Like the train, the elemental cart never tires and they are able to cover considerably distance very quickly.
Failin tells the party that the trip should take a little under a day and a half, and that the journey is roughly 170 miles through the hills and mountains to the south.
He does not say much during the trip but does offer some information about the Whitehorn Quarry. "The village of Quarry belonged to Cyre before the war," Failin says. “Now it lies within Darguul territory. Originally, House Cannith prospectors established the village when they found a vein of red marble. Cannith brought in dwarves from the Mror Holds to mine and excavate the marble. Anywhere you see Cannith architecture, you may find Rose marble—Sharn, Flamekeep, Korth, even Rhukaan Draal—half the red stone in Khorvaire probably comes from the quarry."
They travel into the night and find a good spot to spend the night shortly after nightfall. Alicia uses the time to patch up Failin using her Lay on Hands ability.
The night passes uneventfully, and they get a start early the next morning. The sky is a mix of sun and clouds with the wall of the Mournland ever-present on their left as they head south towards the Darguun border.
By the afternoon the party has left the smaller hills behind and are travelling a circuitous route through the mountains. There has been a mix of light rain, sun and clouds during the day as they have travelled. At some point mid-afternoon Sarroxtíoð is riding upfront with Failin along a path that hugs the wall of the Mournland. They both notice figures up ahead emerge from the wall of mist and approach them at a run.
From this distance it looks like four humanoids on foot and some small flying creature with bat-like wings. Rocinante and Ferdinand also observe this looking under the flap from the wagon.
The flying thing approaches within about 50 feet and lets out a horrible piercing shriek. The creature seems to be a grotesque head with bat winds. The shriek sends a shiver down the spine of everyone who hears it, causing most of the group to become rigid and paralyzed! Only Sarroxtíoð, Rocinante and the familiar of Saferous seem unaffected.
With nobody controlling the land cart it quickly comes to a stop. This lets the flying creature and the others run up to the cart. The humanoids appear to be an odd group of skeletons. One is relatively stocky and short, one is fairly lean and tall and two appear to be normal human skeletons. Two have crossbows, the short one has a javelin and the tall one has a bow.
As they run in the short one throws a javelin at Sarroxtíoð before running in wielding a great-axe. Sarroxtíoð does manage to fire a ranged shot at the flying monster. The tall skeleton then fires its bow at the two in the cart front seats, hitting Failin with the other two skeletons fire crossbows before running in. One wields a shortsword and the other appears to have a dagger.
For the first three rounds of combat most of the party remain paralyzed. Rocinante is the only one in the cart able to move. He first tries to hurl his dagger at the flying creature with his Hand of the Apprentice ability, but misses. When the creatures get closer he tries to use a Electric Arc cantrip on the flying thing and a skeleton, but the flying creature avoids it and the skeleton seems to ignore the electricity.
Sarroxtíoð finds himself in a tough fight, having taking a couple of missile weapons he then gets bitten by the flying creature. There is something not right about its bite, and he feels strange but is still able to fight. He goes into a rage and grabs his mace and shield, attempting to smash the flying monster.
During the fight, the skeleton with the dagger runs up to the cart and climbs in under the canvas. Rocinante engages it in melee. He realizes his cantrips and dagger are probably not much use against a skeleton so he simply tries to punch it, but does not land any good blows.
While he is fighting the skeleton, Sarroxtíoð finds himself trying to fight off two skeletons and the flying monster while another skeleton hacks away at the paralyzed Failin. Also, while the flying thing bites at Sarroxtíoð it then appears to lean down to try and nuzzle up against Failin and kiss him. Perhaps the jostling of the cart during the fight helps, but nothing seems to happen when it did this.
At about this point the rest of the party begin to recover from their paralysis.
008-Failin is the first to respond. He tries to stab at the flying thing with a dagger, but misses. He then touches his dragonmark, utters some words and in response the cart lurches forward and begins moving again. The cart runs over one skeleton and leaves two more behind, running in vain to catch up.
The flying monster is in the front seat with Sarroxtíoð and Failin and they travel. In the back there is still one skeleton in melee with Rocinante. However, Ferdinand recovers, crabs his crowbar and smashes the skeleton with it. His solid blow is enough to cause the undead to crumple.
With the flying monster in the front bitting at Sarroxtíoð, the others notice the barbarian is swaying and near collapse. Alicia attempts to hit the monster with a crossbow but misses it. Saferous hurls a volatile vial at it, but the vial smashes on the front seat and splashes acid everywhere, hitting the two in the front seat along with Saferous, his familiar and Rocinante. He throws a second vial and hits the creature squarely (with a critical hit). This kills the creature and again does a bit of acid splash damage to Sarroxtíoð and Failin.
Fortunately everyone is still alive, and they are well ahead of the last two skeletons.
001-Alicia Silvermane uses her magic to patch up the barbarian and also tries to use the healing kit to bandage his wounds. She is sure that she does a good job with the bandaging but notices his wounds seem a bit odd - they only respond to the magical healing and not the first-aid. She also tries to bandage Failin, but is not very successful. However, he does not appear to be too badly wounded.
For the next several hours they use the time to recover, with Alicia using the time to magically cure everyone.
During this part of the journey Failin explains that the quarry is on a plateau that is ringed by mountains to the west and north so he plans to approach from the south, choosing a route through the mountains to get there. The alternative is to go through the Mournlands to approach from the east, but he wants to avoid that approach for obvious reasons.
Twilight descends on Darguun as the land cart closes on Whitehorn Quarry. "Were you expecting company?” Failin asks. A vast plateau, bounded to the west by a narrow canyon, stretches before you. The quarry extends for at least a mile, and the nearby village spreads across the plateau—at least, what’s left of it. Anything made of wood has been burned to cinders, leaving a handful of stone facades, rock foundations, and chimneys behind. Though warm weather surrounds you, the village appears covered in a layer of ice that glitters in the light of the rising moons. Over the past couple of decades some vegetation has grown back in this blasted landscape, with bits of green growth visible in patches.
The party also notice another source of light. In the southern part of the village, a fire glows in a large pit, which is surrounded by four large tents. Figures move around this makeshift campsite.
Failin pulls the cart aside, out of sight of the settlement and gets everyone to disembark. He invokes the magic again and sends the cart into the rock. He says he is staying here to guard the cart while the party explore.
Everyone else descends on the settlement, heading towards the fire pit.
As they get closer both Sarroxtíoð and Eriana are able to see things most clearly with their darkvision. They notice a large number of horses penned up near the tents - perhaps a couple of dozen. Sarroxtíoð spots a sentry standing guard and when he gets closer notices that it is clearly a skeleton. The creature shifts and moves, showing it is clearly undead. It holds a large two-handed weapon that looks like a scythe.
He also spots a human in chain mail wearing a distinctive helmet with a half-faceplate design. he does not think that anyone here is maintaining a watch. It occurs to him also that the emerald garb on the skeleton is reminiscent of the clothing worn by the Emerald Claw cultists they fought in Sharn.
Knowing this, the party stop and have a brief discussion. They do not think anyone has spotted them, so they quietly back away while they discuss what to do next.
It looks like the camp could be quite large, so a direct assault would be foolish. If they are Emerald Claw cultists everyone is in agreement they want to attack/kill them. Ultimately they decide to go back to the cart to discuss what to do - likely recovering overnight and spend the next day to prepare before coming in again at night to ambush the camp.