Session 11: Investigating Captain Felrara and Fighting a Worg

The Adventurers investigate Captain Felrara and fight a worg on the way to the Mouth of Doom.

This is based on our August 23, 2023 session. Since our group is scattered around the country, we used Discord for our voice communication and Roll20 for our virtual tabletop.

Continued from: A visit from Captain Felrara

Date: May 11th, 3517 I.R.  
Location: Castle Calaelen
2PM

We discuss what to do about Capt. Felrara and her deputies. Elron wants to kill them outright; the others are more reluctant. Artie suggests letting the horses we got from their camp go free, so we aren’t holding onto stolen property. Lark was tying a rope with loops in it for climbing while this discussion was ongoing.

Blaze suggested talking to our new friends, Cato Ziani the cleric, and Talila Greysky the rogue, as they have personal knowledge of them. Cato and Talila recount their stories, they came out of dungeon, Sergeant Erlin and his deputies wanted their gold. They thought they were regular bandits, fought them and lost.

They sketched us a map of the dungeon area they explored and told us about their experiences there. Entering from the Mouth of Doom, they found a room with six doors, all but one had a symbol carved over them. They heard a rumor about staying away from the hand so they avoided the door with the hand carved over it. They chose the door with no carving and there was a message warning them that they were entering Rappan Athuk and were doomed.

From there, they decided to follow the left wall. The first room was empty and there was a narrow corridor leading diagonally out of the corner on the left.  It led to a door that was sticky and had a sticky patch on the floor in front of it.  One of their party left a gauntlet stuck to the door and his boots stuck on the floor in front of it.

From there they went south, passed a door and turned west to another door.  Behind the door was a room with bones and skeletons sticking out of the wall… a stairway going down defended by cobras, down stairs that turned into a ramp that they slid down; at the bottom, they went to a room with a statue of a man riding a dragon, with a pool in front of it. The statue had a shield with a bat insignia on it. They searched the pool and found a sword and an old boot; they kept the sword and threw the boot back.  The bat insignia turned into a bat, which they killed. After it was killed, the bat turned back into stone and the pieces went back to the statue.

The next room was full of gnolls which they killed. They had gold, potions, and some weapons.
They found two more rooms with statues which they left alone and eventually found another staircase leading down. (They were sure the best loot was at the lower levels).

At the bottom of the stairs was a room with two doors. One was labeled “Healing and Recovery”, the other, “Forbidden”. They went through the forbidden door. They went right and found some rooms that they looted, but didn’t find much, they looked like someone had already been through them.

To the west was a room that looked like a kitchen, with a demon carving on the wall. It had some kind of repulsion field in front of it. When their wizard touched it, he was disintegrated into dust and was sucked into its mouth.

At that point, they decided to leave, and that is when they got ambushed by the Sergeant and his bandits.
We decided to head for town and investigate what the Captain and her people were up to. Before we left, Elron asked for a loan of gold so he can buy his armor.  He said he will pay people back immediately when he sells his current armor; Artie and Parahelia gave him gold.

While the rest of us went to town, Lark and Artie stayed behind at the castle. They took the ladder to the second floor and went through one of the hatches to the roof.

4 PM
In town, Elron went to the armorer to get his breastplate and sell his other armor. The rest went to the inn and asked Odo Bristleback about the Captain and her deputies. Only the employees and innkeeper we there, so Blaze ordered a drink at the bar and we told them that the Captain and deputies came by the castle asking about gnolls. We told them where their camp was located and they left; we were curious about them.

The innkeeper said that Captain Olivia Felrara and her deputies were in town; the Sheriff was not with them. They were here for two days and left that morning on the ferry; they were planning to go to the coast road across the river to the east, where they normally patrol. They were looking for gnolls. They found gnolls on the ridge south of here; lots of gnolls and goblins have been in the area raiding caravans. Odo said he has heard things but doesn’t indulge in idle rumors. They pay their bills and don’t cheat at cards. He said between the Captain and our group, “we won’t have many problems with them anymore.”

Breena asked, “So you trust the Captain?”

Odo replied: “I didn’t say I trusted the Captain, I didn’t say I didn’t trust the Capt. There’s a lot of things I didn’t say.”

“OK, Odo, we get it.”

Breena went to Rasmus Pye’s trading post and bought some pepper plant seeds.

6 PM
We got back to the castle. Lark and Artie were climbing up the cliff behind the castle. It’s 20 feet from the roof of the castle to the top of the cliff. Lark had tied a rope to a grappling hook and used a crossbow to shoot rope above the cliff. It was the one that he had been tying loops for handholds earlier. From the top, they got a good view of the surrounding area.

Elron talked of setting up two shooting outposts to cover the sides of the castle.

Breena could not find a suitable place to plant her seeds and decided she needed a pot for them.

12 May
9AM
Breena, Lark, Artie, and Blaze returned to town. Elron had asked them to get him a stone chisel, so he can cut handholds into the side of the cliff to get archers up onto the mesa.

Lark talked to the townies about the Captain Felrara. He started with the stable boys. He learned that they take good care of their horses, they’re polite to the townspeople. At the trading post Lark asks if they bought supplies, they were nice to shopkeepers; they don’t bring prisoners here because there’s no jail. Lark brought the ferryman a pint and asked about their group. Sheriff hasn’t been through here in years. They’re good with townies but have a shakedown racket, “Road taxes,” they called them.  Not enough to bankrupt their targets, and they don’t do it here. They like to wait outside of dungeons and ask for taxes. “They have legal writs?” Lark asks.  “Yes, allegedly.”

Breena buys a pot for her pepper seeds for one silver piece.

Noon
We are all back at the castle. We’re moving out rocks from stairway, which caved in from back wall; there is a gap there showing sky; it leaks when it rains. Lark moved the stones to the gate to shore up defenses.

We have 50 rations, water, and 9 horses in stables. We fill our backpacks and set off to the Mouth of Doom.

2 PM
The goblin map had a smudge on it on the other side of the river; we checked it out and it’s an abandoned ruin of a cottage.

Looking at the old stone cottage; the roof is gone, there’s grass on the floor; no glass or shutters in windows. Elron walked in and something is there, a worg.

Elron shot and missed; the worg charges and bites, but doesn’t get through his armor. Parahelia ran up behind it. Breena cast a sleep spell on it to no effect. Sinis cast acid splash to no effect; Beneddar cast Toll the Dead; Artie cast fire bolt and does damage, and Blaze uses chaos bolt of force damage to kill it.

After the battle, Elron skinned the worg for its pelt and we searched the cottage.



We found rotted furniture; Beneddar found a skeleton and rusted chainmail, scabbard, and bag of rotted leather with 25 gp. There are some outbuildings but are completely rotted, on the other side of the cottage in a row of trees.

Artie went back to the castle and took the worg skin with him. Before he left, Elron paid Artie his 50 gp back. There might be some concern about him traveling back on his own, but he is a Halfling rogue. For the most part, he is only seen when he wants to be seen.


Continued in Entering the Mouth of Doom