Leaving The Nest

Quick informational note: Moira’s player was once again absent from the table. Baltar’s player was also absent from today’s session.

Here we are back again for our next piece of adventure with The Dragon Hand Adventuring Company.

When last we left our adventurers, three of them (Eta, Mott, and Baltar) had just been through trials in the local court in Hawk’s Nest and were waiting for their remaining party members to emerge. It took a little longer than expected because in addition to a couple more contempt of court folks, a last minute stolen chicken case came through. While they were waiting Baltar decided he was going to hit the bar. Ycks and Fianna finally emerged to rejoin the party with Ycks suggesting to Eta that they find a chicken to steal. Mott and Fianna immediately discouraged this plan and started ushering them through the midafternoon sun back towards the Inn to collect Eta’s things.

Eta decided on the way that she wanted some fried chicken - or to quote her “I want a fresh chicken to cook me fried chicken” (a short tangent then appeared where it was decided that Clucky’s Fried Chicken when chicken cannibalism occurs was not an actual place in this world)- Fianna suggested that perhaps they could pick some up to go at the Inn while Eta got her things. Mott encouraged this because he believed they needed to get out of Dodge (Hawk’s Nest) as soon as possible and before Eta got into any more trouble- which was probably a good idea because Eta was already suggesting they play with their Bags of Tricks again in the street.

Upon arrival back at the Inn, Eta was informed by the bar maid that she was not welcome in the dining room after her previous shenanigans, so she went upstairs to collect her things while Fianna obtained some bagged lunches of fried chicken and apples. Fianna also had the pleasure of collecting one very drunk Baltar from the bar to make sure he stayed with the party.

Remembering that prior to meeting up with the party she had been on business for her tribe, Fianna made arrangements for the goods she had traded for to be stored until another member of her tribe arrived to collect them.

With no other business to be done in town, the party quickly headed for the gates to depart Hawk’s Nest. The guards waved good bye to them, while also questioning if Fianna was sure that she wanted to be traveling with such a crew. She reassured them that the party was in need of her and headed off into the afternoon leading the party towards Silverymoon.

The party made it just out of visual range of the gates when Eta immediately made a pull from her Bag of Tricks and summoned a giant hyena. Joining in on the fun now that they were no longer in a walled settlement, Mott pulled from his and summoned a lion. It was a lovely afternoon hike through the woods with no trouble at all. Fianna easily lead them to a spot to set up camp for the night. The party set a watch and Fianna set a trap right on the edge of their camp and the road- making everyone feel more secure for the night.

All was well until just as Mott was sitting the final watch and the sun was beginning to rise, a small party of knights from Hawk’s Nest who were part of the road patrol came upon the party’s campsite, one of them tripping the trap of magical arrows that Fianna had set and taking damage. Immediately the knights trained their crossbows on the party demanding to know what a dangerous trap was placed on a pedestrian road. Mott being the only one initially awake, rather than making apologies, immediately went into defense mode…

Which did not go well. Fianna tried to intervene in the situation, but also took a defensive tone with the knights. After several minutes of back and forth with the guards who were becoming progressively more hostile towards the party, having now bound up Baltar and Mott and making their way towards Eta, Mott finally tried one more last ditch effort to avoid being dragged back to Hawk’s Nest and facing the court there again- he attempted bribery… AND IT WORKED!

The guard in charge demanded a bribe of 15g to let them walk away. This was immediately paid to them, especially since they were demanding a mere total of 15g and not 15g a piece. The guards unbound Mott and Baltar and headed on their way. The party regathered themselves with Eta and Mott summoning new creatures to accompany them from their Bags- a tiger for Eta and a giant boar for Mott.

Just after their break for lunch, the party found themselves accosted by orcs. After a brief but fierce battle, during which Eta may have started a minor forest fire, the orcs were defeated. Fianna being very nature conscious insisted the flames be put out before they spread and began using dirt to put out the trees. Mott decided to contribute to putting out the fire by peeing on it. Ycks and Eta thought this was a grand idea, but Eta found that her female anatomy did not seem to lend itself to that endeavor. Ycks however simply took in the situation and changed from her usual halfling form into a human male form and followed Mott’s example. Once done, she returned herself to her usual halfling form.

Being that this was the first time Ycks had revealed her changeling abilities to the party, you would think it would cause some uproar- but Baltar was too drunk to notice still, Mott was not phased, Fianna hasn’t been with the group long enough to know this isn’t normal, and Eta decided it was a very Ycks thing to do. The party decided to take a short rest before continuing on for the day.

Which turned out to be fortuitous because after the party continued on and just before sunset, the group now found themselves ambushed by a troll and a hobgoblin who seemed very interested in Mott. Engaging with the group, hobgoblin managed to get their hands on Mott and steal an item from his bag, while the troll kept everyone else busy. Having achieved his goal the hobgoblin began to take off and called for the troll to do the same. However it was too late for the troll and it fell to the party’s attacks, and Mott, realizing that the hobgoblin had taken his new scissors immediately went after it. The hobgoblin was felled by Fianna a mere 60 feet away from the party and Mott easily retrieved his stolen item.

Standing on the road in the setting sunlight, having just won the second fight of the day, the party wondered what would come next….

And wonder awhile they will as that is where we ended our session. A busy day on the road was had by all in the party. Will Baltar sober up next week and get in on the fun? We will have to wait and see.