IK:Freeing the Trollkin

  Attendance: Randy, Joe, Herman, James, Ryan
XP:800

Preparation

Caitlyn: We sat in the woods outside of the concentration camp the entire day. The boys prepared for war by wrestling and mock combat while I prepared by scribing another scroll (Friendly Face) to add to my growing collection. Over dinner we discussed potential tactics and came up with a plan. Unfortunately we hadn't known that the night guard was going to be an Argus instead of human guards which spoiled our plans.

An Argus, according to what I've read, is a two-headed dog who is bred for an angry temperment and has a supernatural howl. What this howl does I can't seem to remember.

Jamison: Alright guys, this rabbit is my familiar. He is not for eating, he helps me see and hear better. Hopefully, this will help prevent us getting surprised quite so much.

Caitlyn mentioned that the Argus had a strange howl or bark of some kind. And that it could locate things by sound. I could tell that it was decently tough and magical (3 HD Magical Beast). It wasn't excessively tough, but unprepared raiders and adventurers would have more trouble than we did. (AKA: Silence is Golden.)

Caitlyn: It looks like somebunny got a familiar! Cute!

A Guard Dog, Guards and Summoned Wolves

Caitlyn: Fortunately our tactics were easily adapted to take on the guard dog. Dook shot a bolt with Silence into the dog, rendering it quiet. It charged into the woods to kill us. Surprisingly it was put down quickly by Tirotin's crossbow. I guess that even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

After that I cast Invisibility on Dook and he sneak into the compound, mostly. A trap made of pots and pans alerted the guards to our presence and they hid inside the building, ready for us. The boys fought valiantly and the Khadorans were defeated.

After the battle Harlet and Tolmek killed most of the unconscious Khadorans and the last one killed himself. I found that unneccessary but I under the reason for it.

Jamison: Tirotin got lucky when he killed the Argus. But I'd rather he get lucky than the dog thing get his teeth into one of us. The guards inside were alerted and prepared for us, but we were able to handle them. Still, we could have been more coordinated and more effective in this fight. I was surprised that Caitlyn didn't lightning bolt the Khadorans while they were bunched up enough for her to get four at once. Oh well. I can't really complain because Tolmek showed us that he has a few tricks up his sleeve that knocked the enemies out cold.

Tolmek: I am sorry if I offended anybody's ideals during that battle, but I did what must be done in a situation like that. Leaving the Khadoran's alive is just an impossibility if we were going to release the other trollkin. Even the strongest-willed trollkin wouldn't be able to help himself, and would disobey any request you made to preserve their lives. I won't begin to pretend that the world of weak-bloods and the world of trollkin are the same. We all have things that are important to us. For humans, it seems to be power and money, but for the trollkin, it is blood and valor. We have our honor too. I learned that some noble humans don't see snuffing the life out of an unconcious opponent as honorable, but who would consider threatening to kill children as a means of imprisoning others?

Caitlyn: The men deserved to die. I'm just not sure that I wanted the blood of the unconscious on my hands. Sometimes I can be too delicate, I'm sorry.

The Enemy of My Enemy...

Caitlyn: There was an old Trollkin who we met, named Elder Stershan of the Boomhowler clan. There was also a raging Trollkin by the name of Gorec. We discovered that we could arm and armor 50 trollkin for war, but we didn't want them to run off after the Khadorans to certain doom. Gorec was dead set of leading the Trollkins to war despite our pleading. This led Stershan to request a difficult thing of Tolmek, to kill Gorec. Gorec fought bravely and died bravely.

Without the pressure from Gorec the Trollkin were willing to listen to us and we pleaded that they return with us to Fellig, where they could live and train to fight the Khadorans another day.

Jamison: Good. That was better than I had hoped. I was afraid that we'd end up having to arm them with the chains that had bound them. On a side note, maybe we should give back the furs we took from their camp, so that they have SOMETHING beyond the clothes on their back.

Tolmek: I agree with giving the furs back, along with information about where they might fetch the best price for them. This clan's problems aren't over. Now they have to deal with assimilating at least partially to Cygnaran culture and the challenges of being a minority. I almost think it would be a good idea to train them in Corvis, if my diversity fair takes off.

The Trollkin debate returning to Fellig with us, and will give us an answer in a few hours...

Loot

• 500 gp
• Journal written in Khadoran
• Trappings of a Druid
• Small locked box: 10 pristine rifle shots + note in Khadoran

"They Greylords Convenant send these to you to test. They're a new mixture we derived from research the Crucible was working on when we captured Llael. They should prove useful while sniping."

• Everyone gained: 83.33 gp each, including Slush