CDad

The last session!
 
And it's over! Thanks to all my players for making The Black Blood River Expeditionary Company a big success. On with the (final) recap! =
 
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Hathym slowly woke. He couldn't feel his arms or legs, he felt sick, and his head was throbbing. He found Slick going through his gear, stripping the White Elf of his equipment. "You woke up quicker than I figured," Slick said. "No matter. You won't be able to move your arms and legs for a while yet."
 
"Why are you doing this?" Hathym managed to gasp.
 
"Nothing personal, man," Slick answered. "It's just a job. You made some people back home very angry – something about a woman, but I didn't ask for the details. Angry enough to want you dead, and to hire me to do it. I was hoping the jungle would kill you off before now, but the Snake-Men and their lizard friends will do the trick just fine."
 
"You'll not get away with this," Hathym said.
 
Slick just smiled. "Don't worry about me, my friend. I've got an angle." And with that, the rogue-turned-assassin left, leaving Hathym with only a single candle to keep him company.
 
Hathym realized quickly that the light from the candle would attract attention, so he struggled to blow it out. He managed, but the effort was exhausting. He lay without moving for a long time in the dark. He may have even passed out again; he had no way of knowing.
 
Fading in and out of wakefulness, Hathym thought he saw lights moving outside the tiny passage, and heard footsteps and some sort of hissing, sibilant language. He knew it would only be a matter of time before one of the Saurians looked in here, so he had to get out – even as sick as he felt. He waited until the sounds quieted down a bit, then struggled to his feet and peered outside. There was a passage going in two directions, and there were lights down both. He wasn't sure which way to go, but there were sounds coming from the right-hand passage, so he elected to go left.
 
Avoiding all lights and sounds, he found himself in a dark room – apparently, a barracks for the Lizard-Men. He hid behind some rocks when a pair of Saurian guards came to search the room. As soon as their backs were turned, he ran (well… "staggered" would be more accurate) out of the room and back up the hall. The lizards heard him and gave chase.
 
Not knowing where to go, he ran up a passageway towards some torchlight. But as he rounded a corner, he was startled to see the silhouette of an archer taking a bead on him. He immediately ducked. An arrow whizzed directly over his head and stuck the Saurian just behind him in the throat, dropping it with a gurgle.
 
Hathym, surrounded, knew he would have to fight. He rushed the archer, hoping to bowl him over and disarm him, but the drugs were making it too hard to concentrate. Hathym stumbled past the archer, who calmly nocked another arrow and shot the other Saurian dead.
 
Hathym, on the ground, looked up (expecting to see Slick), and was surprised that it was none other than Arialle! "How did you get down here?" he wheezed.
 
The Green Elf shrugged. "Wasn't easy," was her reply.
 
"Do you know how to escape?" he asked.
 
She shook her head. "I came out of a small moving room. First I was in a big room, now I'm here. You're lucky I didn't shoot you."
 
"More lucky than you know, my dear," the White Elf said. Since they didn't know how to operate the elevator, they decided to seek an exit elsewhere. Slick had taken Hathym's gear, so Arialle tossed her sword to him. They headed back the way Hathym came, trying to move quietly so as not to attract the attention of the guards they could still hear moving around.
 
Meanwhile, Radley was in something of a pickle. He had both idols, and the Saurians were genuinely distracted by his Trickery magic, but these lizards seemed smarter than the others and the priest knew they wouldn't be fooled for long.
 
As carefully as he could, he crept out of the room (barely avoiding one of the Saurians!). He hurried back to his secret door escape route and turned the knob. Nothing happened.
 
One of the lizards noticed that the statues were gone, and the others formed up around the doorway (not far from where Radley was standing!). The secret door had still not opened.
 
Radley was sweating. He had been maintaining multiple spells for a long time, and the strain was beginning to wear him down. He didn't think he could do it for much longer. Then, the door opened. He rushed through, scooping up Kishara's cat and running up the hall. Unfortunately, one of the Lizard-Men heard the door open and came to investigate. It entered the hallway just as the door shut.
 
Radley knew that it was just a matter of time before he was caught, so he did the only sensible thing he could –- he hid. The Saurian moved past the priest, brandishing an axe that could easily cleave Radley from stem to stern, and disappeared down the hall. Luckily for him, Nightshade picked that moment to stop complaining and start cleaning herself.
 
Meanwhile, Marina, Kishara, Breena, and Ulkiel were planning their next step. They had seen the Master of the Snake-Men slither up a hallway. They knew he wasn't aware of their presence. They decided that now was the best time to strike.
 
Marina in the lead, they followed the passageway until it came to a staircase going up. As they crept up the stairs, they felt cool, moist, fresh air on their faces. Then they heard someone rushing down the stairs. It was a Saurian, though it didn't seem to notice them – it looked like it was in a big hurry. Marina and Breena rushed it. The poor beast didn't even know what hit it. They rolled its body down the stairs and continued up.
 
Meanwhile, Radley stayed where he was, not sure where to go now. He couldn't go back, and he wasn't sure he wanted to go forward. But after a few minutes, he heard the sounds of combat echoing up the hall. It took him a minute to work things out – "I'm in the middle of hostile territory. The only people around are the Snake-Men, their servants, and us. The Snake-Men's people wouldn't attack each other, therefore…" With this thought he rushed up the hall to find his friends.
 
Hathym and Arialle heard someone approaching rapidly, and they prepared themselves for a fight. Hathym distracted the Lizard Man so Arialle could get a clear shot at its back. The monster hit Hathym pretty hard on the thigh (he was still too woozy to dodge properly), but together the two Elves managed to bring it down.
 
Seconds after the fight ended, Radley came running up the hall. He was shocked to see Arialle. "Where's Slick?" he asked.
 
"Slick betrayed us," Hathym said. "He's the one the note warned me about."
 
"I'm surprised," Radley said. "Not shocked, since I know how we Kidbodders are, but still surprised." The priest then turned to Arialle. "What are you doing here?"
 
"Dungeness ordered an assault on the ziggurat," she said. "All of us are here, somewhere. I was separated."
 
"Why didn't you tell me about Lord Dungeness?" Hathym demanded.
 
Arialle shrugged. "You didn't ask."
 
"Nevermind that," Radley pushed the two Elves apart. "We have to get out of here."
 
"Do you know how to operate the elevators?" Hathym asked.
 
"Sort of…" Radley said.
 
"Good enough," Hathym nodded. "We know where one is. Let's go."
 
It took some work, but eventually, the three adventurers figured out how to set the dial to get the elevator moving. When it finally came to a halt and the door opened, they were surprised to find their path blocked by a dozen or so angry Nekians brandishing weapons. "Stop right where ye are, ye walkin' luggage… oh, Mr. Radley, it's you!" Radley's porter Seamus, among the others, was glad to see the heroes. The entire group hustled out of the ziggurat, and Seamus explained what was going on.
 
"Huang Jin died this morning, a few hours after you all left," he told them, sadly. "At that, his Lordship got angry. He didn't know when –- or if –- you were coming back, so he ordered every able-bodied man and woman to take up arms. We marched straight here –- Ms. Arialle led us – and stormed the place. Actually, it took us a while to find the hidden door. Jimmy fell through it while lighting up a smoke.
 
"Once inside, we met up with a bunch of those walking luggages. We fought 'em in the halls, falling back when one of us got hurt. It took a good chunk of the day, but we killed 'em all and their slithering master, too!"
 
"You killed one of the Snake-Men?" Hathym asked.
 
"Aye, and we've got him hung up in a tree outside. I'll show you!" Seamus enthusiastically answered.
 
"First, take us to see Lord Dungeness," the heroes told him.
 
Meanwhile, Breena, Marina, Kishara, and Ulkiel found themselves on the very top of the ziggurat, where they saw two large Saurian bodyguards and the Master himself. They wasted no time. Marina rushed the Master while Breena attacked the bodyguards. The Master, not taken by surprise, immediately summoned a storm of fire directly over the heroes. However, at that precise moment a thunderstorm broke out. The heavy rainfall partially nullified the flames, and most everyone managed to escape the conflagration with little more than superficial burns.
 
Ulkiel began loudly reciting the story of the four great heroes who, by themselves, managed to kill the powerful wizard/priest Ilom and his four Saurian bodyguards. The others were reassured by his words, and felt stronger -– nearly invincible. Marina stabbed at the Master, who was quick and slippery so she only managed to scratch him. He reached out and touched her on the chest, and immediately she felt weak and sick, as if she had been poisoned.
 
Breena was having a tough time against the two bodyguards. Kishara was attempting to help, but the heavy rain kept grounding out her lightning bolts. Finally, Ulkiel threw his axe, which imbedded itself in the skull of one of the Lizard-Men. The huge creature crumpled to the ground. Ulkiel was so surprised that he forgot to continue chanting for a moment.
 
Marina managed to get a few good blows in on the Master, who returned the favor by touching her on the arm. She was engulfed in pain; her skin ripped open and she began bleeding profusely. She collapsed to the ground, nearly unconscious. The Master took advantage and slithered further away from her, where he cast on himself a Healing spell. Breena and Marina were both hurt badly. Ulkiel was disarmed, and Kishara's magic wasn't having the effect she hoped it would. The Master took all this in and smiled.
 
But the fight wasn't over yet. Breena, with the help of the Hobbit and the wizard, finally killed the last bodyguard. All three rushed up to help Marina and confront the serpentine Master. He fought like a devil, but together they managed to kill him. It was a mighty battle that will be retold in stories for many long years (especially the part about Ulkiel killing the Saurian with his axe!), but the heroes had emerged victorious!
 
The Master was dead. Breena, aware of how snakes can sometimes seem dead, chopped off its head and stuffed it in a bag. Ulkiel and Kishara removed the jewelry from its corpse for later examination. Marina kept a watch out. After a while, she noticed that there were lights moving around in the jungle just below the temple. After watching them for a while, she realized that they weren't lizards or Snake-Men, but the Expeditionary Company!
 
Kishara cast a spell that gave them all wings, and they glided down to the jungle floor – to the shock and surprise of the porters and the other heroes alike! Everyone exchanged their stories. The news of Slick's betrayal was shocking to everyone. Seamus told the heroes that the porters had met Slick in the hallway. He was hurt, so they took him outside. He told them that everyone was somewhere in the temple, but he didn't know where. That was the last anyone had seen of him.
 
Later, the heroes learned that Slick had slipped out of the encampment and headed back to the main camp. He apparently gathered up a large share of the treasure the heroes had found. Where he went after that, no one knew -– but they counted the canoes and none were missing. Could he have headed back to civilization on foot? It seemed unlikely. Perhaps he was dead -– but then again, any man as crafty as Slick wouldn't be easy to kill...
 
Regardless, with everyone out of the ziggurat and the Master dead, Dungeness determined that the Company had seen enough. He ordered everyone to begin packing the canoes – they would leave this city as soon as everyone was well enough to travel. Word of his decision couldn't have come too soon for most of the heroes!
 
Hathym and Radley went back into the palace and retrieved the third golden idol, still hidden right where they had left it. They bundled it up with the others and put them all into crates, where they would be safe for the trip home. The next morning, the Company held a funeral for Huang-Jin. It was a solemn affair, since everyone liked her so much. Ulkiel openly wept -– he and Huang Jin had grown to be good friends in the past few months. Arialle, unused to the funereal rituals of humans, did not attend. Hathym did, but felt a little uncomfortable.
 
(To the Elves, funerals are intensely private affairs, with only the very closest family and friends attending. If someone who wasn't very close to the deceased attended it would be considered very rude and embarrassing).
 
The Company headed back downriver, the going much quicker now that they didn't have the current to paddle against. After a few days on the river, the heroes thought they should figure out which of the Master's jewelry (if any) was indeed magical. They determined it was a ring – a ring made of an unknown metal that looked dark silver in some light, and coppery-brown in other, with a very large, pale green translucent stone of an unknown type. Kishara, the ever-curious type, put it on.
 
When they managed to wake her up, she told them that the second she put it on, her awareness multiplied until she could see everything. Everything. Her mind couldn't take the strain, and she passed out. She elected not to try on the ring again -– she felt she might be able to eventually attune herself to the ring, but wasn't sure it was worth the effort –- and instead the heroes gave it to Dungeness to put in the museum when they returned home.
 
The Company paddled past the Enemy's village, and found the whole place burned to ashes, with no survivors to be seen. They figured the village must've been attacked by its angry neighbors –- "If you sow the wind, you'll reap the tornado," Breena said.
 
(In reality, Ilom destroyed it a few weeks before, after the heroes thought they had killed him).
 
As they moved through friendlier territory, many of the native guides and porters left the company to return to their own homes and families. Dungeness richly rewarded them with steel tools/weapons and trade beads.
 
Eventually, the Company made it back to the Westron Ocean, where they met with their ship. The base camp had little to report – they had spent the last four months being bored and coping with the jungle's mischievous fairies. They were as eager to head back to civilization as the group that headed up the river!
 
The Song of the Dark sailed north in smooth waters. It took more than seven weeks to reach Kohm, the capital of Nekia. The Company was greeted with much fanfare, and the Royal Explorers' Society celebrated Dungeness as a hero. The specimens, samples, journals, and maps were placed in a special wing of the RES museum. Ulkiel, at his request, was inducted into the Society as well.
 
The RES began talking of sending another, better funded, larger expedition up the river in a few years –- the idea of a hidden city which no one had ever seen before was thrilling; also, technically Dungeness' expedition never found the source of the Black Blood River. When the heroes heard about this, they all decided to be elsewhere once recruiting began.
 
The heroes insisted on taking as their payment two of the three gold idols. They didn't want the idols falling into the wrong hands, and weren't sure they would be adequately protected in the museum. Dungeness took some convincing, but he finally decided, in lieu of other payment, they could have the statues. They immediately had them melted down and turned into small, spendable chunks (and at roughly 15-20 kg per statue, that was a lot of chunks!).
 
Most of the Nekians and other porters took their pay and headed home, glad to be back in their own lands, but many of the heroes decided that they had made a great team, and were loath to split up. Marina mentioned that she had never seen Kidbod, and Radley was eager to show off his town. Hathym didn't want to go anywhere near his homeland ("It's not easy living with a death-mark"), so he settled on going with them. Breena, always eager to test her prowess and her faith, also agreed to go. Kishara had a bit of wanderlust in her blood too, so she decided to accompany the team. Arialle, on the other hand, said "goodbye" in typical Elvish fashion –- by turning around and walking away without saying a word. Ulkiel told them that he was staying in Nekia with Lord Dungeness, who had offered the job of factotum to the Hobbit.
 
And so ended the saga Black Blood River Expeditionary Company -– the heroes all a little richer, a little sadder, and (perhaps) a little wiser.
 
(Everybody made 5 kg of gold (that's a whole lot –- roughly the equivalent of 1000 Demorian Drachma -- about 25 years work for an unskilled peasant! That's about 350 Drachma more than they were promised –- but they considered it "hazard pay"). They also found 2 Potions of Heal Critical Wounds, 2 Potions of Haste, and one vial of concentrated snake venom. Radley also has a handful of gemstones, as I recall).