Princes of the Apocalypse Recap 5
Our session picks up in the middle of the Stone Bridge, just moments after the group's battle with two ogres ended. Despite being in considerable pain from the javelin lodged in his shoulder, Roland asks politely for some help, looking to Gildon'halt in his time of need.
"Zis is gone hurt a bit. Might want to bite down on someding" His thick Russian accent is somehow softened when he approaches his dragonborn friend. Roland nods and takes his opposing forearm into his mouth biting down on the armoured plating. With a swift swing of his axe Gil slices through the shaft of the javelin close to Roland's chest and prepares to pull the rest through. "We go on count of five. Da?" He says from behind him, one hand on the javelin and the other flat on his back plate.
Not realising that ‘on a count of five’ means that you begin on five and count backwards, Roland starts at one. Hearing one and assuming he just wanted it over with, Gil pulls straight back, the javelin sliding through the already torn flesh. With a roar of pain, the dragonborn clutches his shoulder whilst Gil nonchalantly tosses the remaining piece of the javelin over the side of the bridge over his shoulder.
"I would heal you but then you wouldn't learn." Bingo says pointedly his head held high as he returns to the wagon. Roland begins wracking his brain to figure out what moral lesson he is supposed to learn from this situation whilst Gildon'halt pulls out his field medical kit and begins to bandage him up. After a minute, Roland's mind seems to clear somewhat from the fog of pain, and he remembers that he can heal himself. Though he waits until Gil has finished, and does it secretly, to still acknowledge the gentle caring that Gil had shown.
Once everyone is back on their feet and healed up, they head off. Čadas approaches Gil now that Roland is healed and is promptly lifted onto his back again. "ahh home" he sighs settling into the harness. The group spend some time as they cross the bridge joking together about the prospect of upgrading the harness to have a small fold up desk and a back cushion. Then, after a short while, the discussion turns to the use of magic to create a space larger than the outside, similar to a bag of holding, in which he could have a study.
As they begin the steady descent on the far side of the bridge, Bingo pops his ears to clear pressure and the group begins to relax a little. The bridge though relatively safe, still felt like an accident waiting to happen. At the bottom, Forge suggests they put the cloth back over the wagon as the sky was darkening again and rain appeared imminent. During their descent they had seen surprisingly little of the stone trail ahead of them. At the highest point of the bridge they were looking down ensuring safe footing. If they had instead been looking out, they wouldn't have been surprised to meet two wagons coming the other way about a half mile from the foot of the bridge. A group of eight dwarves accompany two wagons full of large quarried stone. Where four are strong, burly looking miner types, there are also four heavily armed dwarves escorting them. As the group approaches the dwarves adopt a defensive stance hands ready to draw their weapons. They share a wary greeting, eyes fixed more often than not on Cybin. After assessing their posture and seeing that they are not preparing for a fight, the dwarves ask if they've faced any trouble along the stone trail on their way through.
"We dealt with two ogre on bridge, but nothing else for worry about." Gil says gesturing behind them.
"Should we have been on the lookout for anything in particular?" Roland asks a little worried.
"I'm surprised you heard nothing about the Iceshield Orcs while in Beliard. They've been raiding the northern hills and pushing further south lately." One of the mercenaries replies his eyes on Cybin. "We were hired to protect the stone until delivery as they've been raiding caravans for supplies."
"We hear nothing. Why haven't people mobilised against zem if they're problem?" Gil asks a little confused.
"Waterdeep won't send people this far for something they deem insignificant. The elves are apparently doing something so our kind leaves them to it. We get on with our work." The dwarf leading the front wagon says.
"If they fuck up and let them reach the bridge then our kind will deal with them. Right lads?" Another mercenary chimes in with a chuckle.
Cybin approaches and they get defensive. "Don't worry he’s mostly harmless. Probably just hungry." Gil says waving a hand a little dismissively, seeing their group tense up again.
"Got any bread?" Cybin grunts, the dwarves look him up and down and a guard sighs pulling bread from his pack and hands it over. Cybin rummages in his pocket for a moment and then gives him a gold coin. The guard looks at it a little confused and opens his mouth to say something then closes it thinking better of challenging the orc and settles for looking happy with the exchange. The two groups bid farewell to one another and carry on along the stone trail.
They follow the road as it curves around the edge of a large hill to follow a more western heading. After a short while, they come around the side and begin to see the Larch path emerge from between the hills, headed south. "Finally, a path with label. Dwarves do good work wizzis." The group look at Gil confused until he points at the large white stones around the intersection. Unlike most of the stones which are scattered along the length of the trail, these are mostly whole and bear inscriptions. There are two stones, the first says Stone Trail with a small inscription of a bridge to the right-hand side. The other, labelled Larch Path and runs parallel to the road intersecting the Stone Trail.
They turn onto the Larch Path and prepare to travel deep into the hills. None of their number have been this deep into the hills and so they have no idea what to expect. They travel for a few hours into the early evening. What they realise as they set up camp is that the hills are almost completely barren. They are sparsely covered in dry grass and half dead brush. The group decides to set up their camp where three hills meet. A relatively small area is flat here along the side of the Larch Path and so they pull the wagon to the side tending to Rick and Morty, feeding and grooming them before the sun sets.
The group sit by the wagon, a light lit in place of a fire. With almost no wood to burn, they must make do. After a little while Gil's ears pick up as he hears rustling in the brush a little way from the camp. After a few seconds, he sees a small rabbit darting around in the brush. Wanting rabbit for dinner and knowing he wouldn't be able to catch it himself, Gil offers Cybin some bread to go catch it. Cybin looks at the bread and then to the rabbit and then back to Gil and shakes his head. With one loaf not enough, Gil offers a second and Cybin takes off like a shot after the rabbit. If they didn't get to eat the rabbit for dinner at least they would have a show for entertainment in the meantime. Roland and Gil bet five silver on whether or not Cybin will catch the rabbit or not. Gil bets that he will and Roland bets that he won't. It's quite a spectacle watching the orc crouching close to the ground and leaping.
"Looks like meat is back on the menu boys." Bingo says taking a bite out of his apple just before Cybin leaps once more towards the rabbit. He stands up grasping the rabbit by the scruff, then begins to cradle it stroking its head gently. He walks up to Gil and takes the bread with his spare hand before looking for a rabbit hole to release the bunny into. Gil follows Cybin after realising his mistake, he tries to get the rabbit from him. He surges forward overpowering Cybin as he throws his arm out to try and protect the bunny. Grabbing the rabbit, Gil returns to the centre of the camp. Cybin sits on the ground looking sadly towards the camp. He looks downheartedly at the bread in his hand and considers throwing it away. The bread is not worth the life of the poor rabbit.
Seeing this surprisingly emotive reaction from Cybin, Gil changes his mind about killing the rabbit. Instead, he takes his rope and separates the fibres and makes a lead and collar out of it. From outside of the camp, it appears to Cybin that he is skinning it and preparing it to be cooked with the sticks and brush they would be able to gather. After a while, Roland calls to Cybin and he looks up a little before grunting and shambling over. The bread remains uneaten in his hand as he approaches; he understands that animals must be used for food as his owlbear family had taught him. However, they also taught him the value of only killing when you must, and he sees no reason for this killing. As Gil turns and shows him the still living rabbit, he appears happy but does not understand. He does not understand the cord around its neck nor the string around Gil's hand connected to it.
He looks happy that the rabbit is alive but is confused about the leash. "Bunnies are friends not food tonight" Gil says handing the rabbit over to him. Cue many Lenny jokes "don't squeeze it too tightly Lenny". "not a farmstead but a bakery for you Cybin" etc.
After a brief discussion, the group come to the conclusion that the newest and cutest member of the team should be called Cinnamon the Bun (first of his name forever may he floof). They named him both in homage to Cybin’s love of baked goods and the warm red-brown coat of the bunny. Without a fire to keep them warm, the group retire to their tents, that is, except for Gil who stays awake on first watch and Cybin who takes his usual spot by the wagon in the dirt the rabbit tucked under his ragged cloak for warmth. After a few hours, Gil's watch ends, and he rouses Roland from his slumber. The night air flows steadily through the area and yet it seems calm at the same time. Using his breath, Roland heats up a little tea to sip whilst on his watch and relaxes a little. After a while, he goes and wakes Bingo up for his turn and returns to his tent where Gil lays sleeping. Unfazed by the arrangement he curls up beside him, Gil rolls over without hesitation and wraps an arm around his waist.
Bingo begrudgingly takes his watch and in the quiet of the night decides that it is too quiet. He starts practicing his lute and after a minute or so a crossbow bolt hits the ground near him from the direction of Forge’s tent. "OK then... Not a fan of the classics then" Bingo says under his breath before putting it on his back again. Bored without his lute he struts around the camp playing air guitar and imagining himself performing in front of a huge crowd. That is, until he begins to hear hyena cackling sounds coming from the hills. Looking around he sees figures slinking down towards them getting closer and louder. Not sure what else to do he plays a power chord in the middle of camp to wake everyone up and gestures to the figures whispering “there’s something out there” when threatened by the crossbow again.
Thus, ended the session.