Poes Adventure Journal
Seventh Entry (after 4/09 session)

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OK, so I know now why I’m not a hero. Just not cut out for it I guess. I see twenty newly liberated human slaves as a burden that we’re best free of as soon as possible. Guss and crew see them as people to be rescued. I figured we’d done enough already, freeing them from their orc masters and their life of slavery. Nope. We had to herd the crowd back to the halflings and then cut a deal with the nomads to secure a place for the humans to live in peace. Heh. As if that’s possible in these times anyway. Better if we simply armed them and sent them straight at the nearest orc outpost…

So, the halflings got the humans. And the star metal, too. And Kobe. And Kleister Fokken. And Beros. I’m not sure who came out ahead in that deal. Heh.

We also apparently volunteered to take out a group of gnolls who’d taken up residence in an abandoned keep near the halflings’ lands. If we did that, we’d not only get to keep the keep (I think Kliester liked the idea of owning his very own castle…having 20 some odd servants, even if they could barely speak and clearly hadn’t bathed for some time, seemed to be going to his head…) but the halflings would also keep an eye on the humans for us. The heroes figured it was a good deal, so who am I to argue?

The first day’s travel through the plains uneventful. None of those frackin’ flightless birds. Or lizards. Whatever. That night however, our camp was raided by a group of kobolds. The little frackers interrupted my nightcap (yep – I replenished my supply of the fiery halfling alcohol when I got the chance…). Luckily, they seemed to be focused on getting Ron. I guess he’s personally pissed off some dragon somewhere. Judging from the poison gas some of the little frackers exploded into I’d put my money on that green one we drove off a few days back. These heroes are really going to have to start actually killing dragons one of these days or I swear, its going to come back to haunt them. And not in a good way. Heh.

Anyway, after some more uneventful travel, we made it to the keep the halflings had been telling us about. It’s going to need so work..even after we get rid of the gnolls. Without our fearless leaders, Kleister and Kobe, we approached carefully, waiting to approach until the gnoll guards went inside. In a somewhat shocking display of tactical thinking, we actually set up an ambush. Ron took up a position on one of the watch towers (nothing more than a raised platform really, but good enough to keep him out of the front lines and to provide a clear line of sight to the probably field of battle). The rest of us arranged ourselves in a defensive arc around him, facing the large hole in the middle of the courtyard that undoubtedly was where the gnolls had disappeared to. Then we settled in to wait. As the night dragged on I thought about taking a nip of that halfling brew, but each time I so much as thought about it, my prayer beads turned ice cold. Something was certainly brewing…and not in a good way. That’s OK – I’m making up for it tonight. Heh.

After a long chilly night, the gnolls finally resurfaced. Probably well rested too, the frackers. Guss did his best Beros impression, yelling “Split the Tree!!!” as he fired his bow at the first gnolls to stroll out of the cave. Wit all due respect to Guss – The Queen knows I love the guy – it wasn’t nearly as effective as our skinny elven friend. That’s when I saw their damn dogs come running out. I really hate those damn dogs…

Ron and Sunny were on top of things though, blasting the gnolls and the dogs with all sorts of magical power. A large, spiky dog charged up to me just as Ron dropped a freezing cloud on both of us. I called upon the Queen’s power and made the creature more vulnerable to the grave’s icy grip, then set about doing my best to send it to an early one. Our dwarf joined in, consecrating an area of the courtyard and catching most of the dogs in a blast of radiant power. Gnoll archers were doing their best to take out Ron. They seemed to be having trouble hitting him though. It just wasn’t there day I guess. Sunny came to my aid against the spiky dog, hurling some sort of evil eye at it that stopped it dead. In what would become a recurring theme of my day, the creature, even though dead on its feet, exploded right in my face throwing me to the ground as it died. I shook my head and watched as Guss pulled himself out of the freezing cloud – just in time, too, it looked like it was about to get the best of him – and charged the gnoll archers.

Sunny seemed to have things under control with the dogs so I took off after Guss. Our dwarf came along, his little legs pumping fast to keep up with me. The three of us took down the gnolls before they had a chance to retreat back to the cave and call for reinforcements. We didn’t wait around outside too long anyway, heading into the underground and right into more gnolls. I guess that’s what we were there for, so I shouldn’t complain. But man, more of those frackin’ dogs. Guss charged ahead this time instead of trying to channel Beros. This not only separated him from the rest of us, but also put him at ground zero for Ron’s magical attacks. I shot Ron a glance…and he showed remarkable restraint, keeping his stinking cloud spell from hitting Guss as he dropped it on the gnolls. I tried to close the gap to Guss, but the gnolls had me blocked in. Guss was stuck up ahead, holding off three of the creatures. I pulled back, blocking the remaining dogmen’s access to Ron and Sunny. As I did so, I shouldered our dwarf out of the way behind me. He whined something about wanting to bash gnolls instead of healing, but I didn’t have time to respond. Lucky for me, Sunny and Ron were focused on their jobs – Ron maintaining his cloud and flinging magic missiles at the gnolls while Sunny hurled curses at them. Between their efforts and Guss’ heroics, the creatures were defeated. Afterwards, Ron was very appreciative to both Guss and I, thanking us for acting as human shields. I shrugged. What did he think I’m here for anyway? It’s not like the food and companionship are all that good…well, asid efrom Sunny anyway. She always manages to hook me up with something to drink…

Our dwarf lead us off into the maze of tunnels. It seemed reasonable, him being a dwark and all, that he should lead us. Sure. And, just as I was starting to doubt that he had any idea what he was doing he lead us right into a bunch of gnolls and a large, bull headed humanoid monster. Uggh. Talk about a face only a mother could love…

Guss and I drew our weapons in unison and moved to the doorway of the room. Sunny filled the room with a cloud of necrotic energy while we held at the doorway. Bull-head and several of the dogmen charged…but I lost sight of them in the cloud. Guss yelled that they’d headed down a side passageway. He and our dwarf shoved several of the gnolls into the inky black cloud that Sunny had conjured. Their screams were frantic. And satisfying. Crap. It dawned on me that bull-head was probably heading for our rear flank, so I shifted my way to the back of our group, moving to put myself between him and Ron and Sunny. I heard Guss yell and glancing over my shoulder saw him pulling his arm out of the mouth of a large, spiky dog. As Ron rained fire down upon the dogs, Guss whirled his sword around, catching the spiky dog with a wicked back slash. Sunny snarled some magical words of power and one of the gnoll archers was blasted with something that didn’t look too comfortable. Good for her – she was really kickin’ some serious tail. Not to be outdone, Ron let loose with yet another magical strike on the gnolls and their dogs. That’s all I saw as I suddenly got busy again. As expected, bull-head appeared at the end of the hallway, charging towards me. The next thing I knew, his horned head was planted in my chest and I was tossed to the ground in a heap. My armor did its job though – turning the beast’s horns away and keeping them from puncturing my lungs. Still hurt like the dickens though. I took a second to catch my breath and regain my feet. As I did so, I heard a yelp, cut short by an explosion. Ron’s gotten another one. Heh. My grin was short lived as bull-head’s huge axe smashed into my side, crushing the breath from me and probably breaking a few ribs. Ouch. I was jostled to the side as Guss pushed past me shouting a battle cry. He ran right into bull-head’s back swing, taking it full in the chest. Despite that, he managed to slip around the creature and thrust his sword deep into the beast’s side. Nicely done, I thought, gathering my wits and preparing a strike of my own. I heard our dwarf praying behind me and bull-head roared in pain as flames shot from the ceiling and engulfed him Just as quick, they were gone, leaving the fur on the creature’s head singed. Now that’s a smell I could have lived forever without having to experience. I brought the frost blade down on the creature. The prayer beads around my wrist turned even colder and I noticed that Guss was bleeding heavily from the wounds he’d taken getting by bull-head. Uh oh…I reached out with the power of the Queen and healed him. Can’t afford to miss signs like that even in the heat of battle – I suspect my Queen won’t be too pleased if I lose another one of these heroes…

Keeping Guss up turned out to be a good idea. He became a whirlwind of steel, constantly slipping the tip of his blade past bull-head’s defenses, inflicting scores of small cuts and slashes on the beast. Before long, the creature was covered in blood. I kept hearing gnoll screams and explosions from behind us, so clearly Ron and Sunny were handling the remaining archers. Our dwarf stepped in and struck the killing blow, dropping bull-head to his knees. Exhausted, I dropped my guard, too soon apparently. The last thing I remember is bull-head letting our a roar and coming straight at me as an all too familiar sting pricked my back…damn archers…

The constant chanting made it difficult to sleep, so I opened my eyes. I was lying in a cave, covered in blood. Our dwarf was standing over me. Chanting. I’m told the minotaur (bull-head) took me down with his final blow, just as our dwarf killed him. Apparently, a stray arrow managed to find my back right about the same time. Better me than any of the heroes I guess. With the minotaur dead though, the rest of the gnolls appear to have fled. The heroes are now gathering up whatever loot they can find here. I suspect we’ll be heading back to the halflings now to collect those humans and join the rest of the heroes. Hopefully the humans will have better luck in this old keep than I did…or than old bull-head did for that matter, though say what you will, that lucky beast is dead. Heh.

Poe, Almost lost my third life…