Conquering the Barbarian Altanis: Session 120

January 20, 2025

Adventurers

Character	Class	Description
Balarus	Fighter level 3	An ex-woodsman, quite a crackshot with his bow.
Gomm	Thief level 6	Swarthy, good looking, dark-skinned thief. Sweet opium-like aroma is his fragrance of choice.
Nesterin Sylpetor	Elf level 2	An avid lover woods and jungles.
Ambros	Cleric level 5	Follower of Aniu, Lord of Time.
Ignaeus	Elf level 3	A slightly weathered looking elf with dull blonde hair and chiselled features. Seeks wealth and knowledge.
Dalkanarion	Fighter level 4	A youthful specimen in full strength, full of purpose, bluster, and eagerness to prove himself.
Hedwig Hogwarts	Elf level 3	An always alert owl masquerading as an elf.

Blackmoon 8th, Earthday

Adventurers had barely any sleep whatsoever. Terrible witch Ah'sas has passed away from fever, solving one of their problems. Then they had slain Sor'Ves the Magnificent, a blue dragon lairing atop the tower of sunken fort. Now their only issue was dragging out its magnificent hoard!

The fact that Bakaru and Ah'sas Oger went missing bothered no one too much. The party collected all the sacks, backpacks, and a chest, loaded them on two dugouts they have, and paddled straight back to the fort.

Tarkus and Beorg were left behind to guard the treehouses.

A watch later and party arrived at the fort. Gomm scaled the wall, ran over the rubble covered ceiling, and then climbed the tower. Tens of thousands of coins still there, covered in blood and gore.

Adventurers moved through the fort hastily, opting to go through the antechamber, north-east doors, and then follow the long hallway to the courtyard. There stuck doors halted their progress.

Dalkanarion the Mighty rammed the tower gates, but they bounced right back. Puzzled, he observed the doors. Gomm opted to scale the southern wall, so he can get a better view.

At that moment he felt a prick in his neck. Everything around hims slowed. Sounds became drawn out and deeper. His eyelids became heavier by the moment. His fingers weaker. Gomm landed on soft grass, oblivious to the hurt from the fall, and fell asleep.

Illustration by Dreadlord.

Dalkanarion felt something sharp lodge into his back. He pulled out a dart and threw it aside.

Hedwig, Ambros, and Ignaeus ran up to the round tower, hugging its wall. Nestering remained in the center of the courtyard, wildly scanning the surroundings. Balarus ran behind the tree in the north-west corner.

The tower trio could see a long blowgun protrude from arrow slit on the second floor. Nesterin went down. Balarus couldn't believe his eyes. He had just witnessed a blue-furred bear stand up from behind the broken chapel window a blow a dart at his ally.

Balarus and Dalkanarion forced the tower doors open, beating back a towering bipedal blue bear dressed in plate mail. Unphased by the sight, they charged the monster. Hedwiga joined them. All three successfully deflected clawing attacks.

Dalkanarion exposed his back as he left the melee and ran upstairs, aiming to dispose of the monster raining darts from the above.

Outside Ambros and Ignaeus took turns in shooting at the bear taking cover in the chapel. They hadn't hit a single time.

In the tower Balarus dodged the towering monster by ducking under its right side. Then he thrust his obsidian blade right through the bear's soft tummy, spilling out its guts.

Grecian warrior caught the blowgun wielding bear just as it was fleeing further up the tower. Soon all the adventurers gave chase, driving the blue bear to the top. Ambros charged it, swinging wildly at the beast's throat. His mace connected multiple times, Ambros kills, smashing the bear's skull.

“Now... Let's pack the treasure!”

Luckily someone remembered to check in on the downed Nesterin and Gomm. Both were dragged into the tower. Both recovered in a little bit under an hour.

Following a prolonged discussion, the party had agreed to carry the maximum amount of treasure and move hastily. Ambros cast Light on his helmet so no hands were required for carrying a light source.

The party exited the courtyard and moved south, through the oil smelling chamber covered with broken glass. There they were ambushed from the darkness and hit multiple times with poisoned darts.

Half of them dropped treasure and charged into the darkness. Alas, all they could hear are loud thuds moving away from them.

Adventurers picked up the treasure and moved it into the storage room with crates. They emptied all the wooden boxes and filled them with thousands and thousands of gold coins. More precisely, three thousand gold pieces in each crate. Then they closed the doors shut, and Ignaeus cast Wizard Lock on them.

Next was the more perilous part of the plan: make two trips from the tower to the dugouts in order to fill them up with eighteen thousand gold pieces.

The problem?

Harrying walking bears of course.

Once again, the adventurers packed the treasure at the tower, and once again they went through south exit and followed the long hallway to the antechamber. There they stopped, hesitant to proceed.

Nestering opened the doors, and as expected, the front rank had been peppered with darts. Ambros went down. Nesterin grabbed the cleric by the collar and pulled him back as he shut the doors.

Then someone unnamed slapped the cleric awake. The party waited. “Let me in!” And waited. “Let me in!!!”

Hedwig could not be contained anymore. Her suggestions were ignored. She proposed to cut of the dead bears' heads to “send a message.” She suggested to hollow out their corpses and use them as sacks to carry all the treasure. She advised to build a rocketship and fly out of here.

But all her suggestions fell on deaf ears. So she opted to take matters in her own hands!

She burst through the doors and swaggered into the antechamber.

When no ill fate befall her, others followed.

Bears waited in the shadow. Once adventurers came close enough they shot another volley. Mighty Dalkanarion fell like a sack of potatoes.

Three plated bears rushed his limp body. Middle bear grabbed the warrior and threw him over its shoulder like a baby.

“I don't like it when you grab us!” Hedwig cried in exasperation.

Ambros, Ignaeus, Nesterin, and Hedwiga rallied and charged the bears, intent on recovering Dalkanarion. Gomm snuck around the massive pillars. He surprised one of the bears and backstabbed it right through the heart.

“Freeze” Ignaeus yelled whilst pointing Volmorin's scimitar at the bear carrying his ally. The bear froze in place.

“Fine, fine! Enough! Let us talk!”

Fourth bear stepped out of the darkness, urging everyone to cease their hostilities. Negotiations proceeded with spectacular show of diplomacy on both sides. The result were three decapitated bears, one escapee, and all adventurers intact.

Illustration by snoop.

Unopposed, the party made two runs between the tower and their dugouts, loading the to the gills. Alas, that also meant they finished after the sun had set.

“Worry not, I am a former seafarer. I shall navigate us back to Ah'sas hut.” Dalkanarion announced proudly.

He got the party lost, so they arrived to their jungle huts at dawn. There Tarkus and Beorg informed them they had spotted more activity in the area.

Without the witch's powerful magic to keep monsters at bay this was no longer a sanctuary it had been for the past several months.

Sunken fort was still full of treasure. Nearly twenty thousand of coins they had dragged to the huts were deep in Eyestone Jungle. And the rations were running out.

Attronarch's Athenaeum