Session 58 (21 March 2018)

Note to readers: This is a session re-cap of an ongoing D&D 5th edition campaign set in a loosely adapted version of N. Robin Crossby's Hârn. A journal of sessions 1 through 54, beginning in February 2015, can be found here.

In-world dates: 4-5 Ilvin 720 TR [first week of winter]
Moon: waxing crescent (full moon in 10 days)

It is near sunset. As the long shadows of the nearby trees stretch across the snowy plain, you float across the battlefield in misty form. Snowlined craters and scattered bodies tell of powerful explosions. The corpses are those of human warriors clad in the style of armour worn by the sentinel Dracul spotted atop the icy tower. Frozen solid in this frigid clime, it is difficult to tell how long they have been dead. Juan becomes corporeal and applies himself to looting the bodies, only to find that many appear to already have been stripped of personal possessions. Many are also missing limbs that appear to have been severed after their violent deaths.

So many d6s...

Movement near the forest edge catches your attention as the sun dips below the horizon. A half-dozen white-furred gargun — the smallest variety of the species — creep forth from the shelter of the trees and begin picking their way down the slope to the battlefield. Dracul become corporeal and strides confidently toward them, bellowing and brandishing his Searing Sword. Seeing only Dracul and Juan, the gargun bend their bows and loose arrows. Juan returns the favour while Dracul charges, but before the distance can be closed Gil'Doren drops a Fireball on the unfortunate scouts, creating yet another crater in the frozen earth. Cade, still Wind Walking, drifts up the slope even as Dracul's eagle eyes detect more movement amidst the trees. More gargun, it seems, lurk in the forest, uncertain of the nature of the threat. A theatrical breath of flame from Dracul clinches it: they flee. Cade floats behind and soon locates their lair deep in the woods, sending Stiepan the crow to direct the others to the site.

While Juan and Dracul mount guard outside, Cade and Gil'Doren Wind Walk into the warren of narrow tunnels that comprise the gargun lair. Following sound and smell, you emerge into a large cavern where a chaotic gaggle of gargun are loudly debating what to do. Some propose fighting, others flight. They seem to suspect that Queen Elvanna has sent a fire-breathing demon (Dracul) to hunt them. Using Prestidigitation and Thaumaturgy, Gil'Doren conjures a spectral head in their midst and, in a booming voice, calls for them to obey him. There is a minute of stunned silence, then panic. The gargun flee in every direction, emerging from various bolt-holes and scattering throughout the forest.

Fangstench

As you explore the cavern further, you discover a lone elderly gargun, paralyzed and blind, who has been abandoned by his fellows. Fangstench (as he is called) is convinced Gil'Doren must be some kind of god — an impression the elf encourages by providing various forms of miraculous succor to the suffering creature. Fangstench explains that the gargun of this land were once Elvanna's allies, helping her to overthrow the leaders of the human kingdom and take their lands for her own. Once installed on the throne and certain of local support, Elvanna turned on the gargun and had her servants, both human and others, hunt them down. Only a few pockets now remain. Yet the gargun hoped that their fortunes would soon improve, for they knew that Elvanna was a daughter of Baba Yaga and, according to lore, would thus only walk the earth for 100 years. Though gargun timekeeping is imperfect at best, they knew from the local humans that Elvanna's time was up... in theory. They were understandably dismayed when it became clear that Elvanna was continuing to rule well past her expiry date. Several weeks ago, a strange walking hut had appeared in the south and begun moving toward the icy tower. Fangstench's comrades witnessed what happened next: on the plain, Elvanna's forces staged an ambush. Though many of her soldiers and creatures were slain by powerful magics, Elvanna somehow succeeded in overcoming the hut's sorcerous occupant and carrying both off to her tower.

You decide to rest in the gargun warren, after spending considerable magical effort to eliminate or mask the most loathsome smells and filth. Keeping watch from within the safety of Leomund's Tiny Hut, you detect creatures creeping into the cavern. They look like gargun, but move in eery silence and with unnerving malevolent purpose, their eyes bottomless black pits. Frustrated by the magical barrier, they slink into the passages to wait. When the protective spell ends, Gil'Doren Dimension Doors to the surface with Fangstench while Cade, in giant badger form, rushes through the tunnels to the surface. But the undead gargun are upon him before he can make it! A desperate struggle in confined dark spaces ensues, but through liberal doses of fire and the transmuting of earth to stone, Cade manages to keep his attackers at bay — though several of their claws rake his legs and leave him feeling dangerously weakened and drained.

Safe on the surface in the harsh sun of a wintry morn, you pause to consider your next steps.