Session Notes for 2005-02-21
The bat lands in front of a trio of inns in the town. He transforms back into a human and ducks into an alley.
Image by Abby.
Eight steers the glider to the intersection. We hop off and chase down the alley. It's a wide alley, filled with the rubble of a long gone building. The alley dead ends in a tall fence. Lucan is waiting for us. Out of the rubble crawl several rats. Some sort of ichor drips from their teeth. From a small hole in the fence comes a large, mangy dog. Lucan pets the dog and it growls at us.
The animals advance as Lucan transforms back into a bat. Lucan flies off in the direction of the lightning rail station.
The rats have tough hides, making them difficult to injure. Eight and I quickly slay the large dog. Eight's constructed dog slays a rat. Flanked by Red, I surprise another rat and slay it with a single blow. In a flurry, Red slaughters the last two rats.
375 4 horrid rats, 1 wolf
We run to the train station. It's empty. The station is a long platform next to the track. By a small waiting area are an abandoned vendor cart and ticket station. An older man is sleeping on a bench in a small park outside of the station.
I magically scan the area for undead, but detect nothing.
The next train is tomorrow morning and heads toward Karnath. We camp out in the train station. During Lin's watch she repeatedly hears flocks of small animals, bats perhaps, flying by. During Eight's watch later, he briefly sees three sets of glowing red eyes in the forest beyond.
April 25th
Near morning a man wearing the House Orean symbol arrives. A group of people with mining gear, weapons, and shields arrives. Perhaps another adventuring party?
The lightning rail arrives. Lin uses our pass to acquire four passes to a private car. Our pass impresses the ticket salesman.
The train is nine cars long. There is the engine, two passenger cars, two sleeper cars, and four cargo cars. Each car is about 30 feet long. When it looks like boarding is done, I magically scan the train. Nothing. Something is blocking me. Upon consideration, I remember hearing that lightning rail trains are lead lined to stop spells. Blast.
Lacking a better idea, we board the train. Dawn approaches. I retire to our sleeping quarters to commune with my ancestors.
Red and Eight watch people and snoops on their conversations. The conversation seems to focus on news of Karnath and trade pricing. There is some discussion of the Emerald Claw attack on an airship last night. It's an older man, perhaps a carpenter, who knows about it.
Outside we pass herds of rothe on the plains.
Lin checks out the cargo cars. There is a House Orean guard between the cargo cars and the passenger cars. While Lin briefly chats with him, one of the conductors passes from the passenger area to the cargo areas. She heads to the front of one of the passenger cars and sizes up the situation. The gap from roof to roof is about ten feet. There are rungs to the roof by the side of the car.
Lin collects us and explains her plan. She'll leap to the cargo cars and search them. It might be useful to have a distraction from the guard.
Eight and I approach a conductor. He's more than eager to help us when we explain that we're working for the Flame. He then pulls out a holy symbol. Crap. He asks for evidence of our affiliation. We excuse ourselves briefly.
We fetch Red and Lin. Red shows her token. This is convincing to the conductor. He leads us back. He asks us to leave the passengers belongs alone. The guard outside, "Ease," can assist us if necessary. He wishes us well and closes and locks the door.
We search the cars. The first car mostly contains trade goods. The stalls, like the outer walls, are lead lined. Everything is marked with House Ghallandra's mark. (House Ghallandra is the hospitality house.) The second car is full of metal ore. It's destined for the dwarves of the Mror Holds. There are three padlocked, chained crates with lead lining. They look well sealed. Lin says the locks haven't been opened in some time. Lucan probably didn't get in.
The third car has been converted into stables. Three Valenar riding horses are resting there.
The final cargo car is full of luggage. There are several large wooden crates with Karnathy royal seals. The manifest listings claim they are full of clothing. Of note is a long, large box with ventilation holes.
Eight and I begin casting our detection spells when the is a loud crunch from outside behind us. The rear door bursts open! Peering in is a warforged wielding a long sword. Behind him are three more warforged. One carries a long sword, the other two have long bows. An airskiff buzzes by outside. Chasing the skiff are pterasaurs ridden by barbaric halflings.
The warforged looks at us, checks something in its hand, then points at us. "Them! Draw!" The warforged draw. Eight and I enhance the group magically. Red charges the interlopers. The warforged attackers give their battle cry, "For the Lord!" and attack.
From further up the train there is an explosion. The car shakes. I invoke a prayer to bring us luck and jinx our enemies. Eight notices that there is something odd, and new, about the warforged. Eight summons a spell and touches the lead warforged. The lead warforged falls apart. Red pushes further into the fray, slaying one of the archers with a blow to the neck. Red collects several wounds. I ask the councilors to heal her.
Three pterasaur riding halflings swoop behind the train.
Eight's construct, Idno, charges past Red and disables the second archer. With barely a though, Red slays the last one.
Two more halflings on pterasaur's arrive. The begin throwing javelins at us. The air skiff zooms overhead, then slams into the room. We fall back inside. A sudden shakes the car. Above the roof splinters and a great weight presses down.
The pterasaurs surround the car. One of the halflings leaps onto the back platform. Almost simultaneously a big adamantine warforged slams through the ceiling toward the front of the car. "I am Scimitar, the Lord of the Blades chosen warrior. You have defiled his image!" it cries with an almost feminine voice.
Eight and Indo flank Scimitar. Indo inures the warforged. Eight summons more magic that badly corrodes Scimitar. Red moves in and begins cutting chunks out of Scimitar. Lin fires a bolt into the melee and strikes Scimitar. It proves to be the last straw and Scimitar falls.
Meanwhile the halfling has entered the car and attacked Eight. I flank the halfling and slay him. The halflings outside continue to hurl javelins through the windows.
Realizing how poorly the situation is going, the four remaining halflings soar away.
The train shudders and grinds to a halt.
725 4 warforged, Scimitar, 5 halfling barbarians
Lin searches the bodies. She finds a scimitar, a potion of Repair Moderate Damage, and "nice looking" studded armor.