Session 23: Stirges!

The party investigates the source of the Gnolls and returns to the Mouth of Doom and finds a nest of stirges.

This is from Kay's notes from our February 7, 2024 session. Since our group is scattered around the country, we used Discord for our voice communication and Roll20 for our virtual tabletop. Thanks to Jojo for the screen shot.

Continued from: Gnolls Attack, Part 2

Date: May 17, 3517

9 AM
Thursday morning at the Bristleback Inn. It was the day after the gnoll attack.

After some planning at the inn, we followed the gnoll’s tracks out of town to find where they came from.

Gnolls are scavengers, intelligent, the local ones are raiders. It is said that in other areas they have their own villages and are civilized. We passed by farms that looked untouched; they came for the town.

We continued on to the gnoll outpost where Elron had witnessed the attack from Capt. Felrara and her deputies. We waited while Artie scouted up the hill to the camp. Signs indicated the gnolls had been there but none were there right now. Artie summoned his owl, and sent it up. Aerial reconnaissance found worgs by the river to the south.

The rest of the party came up to the camp and explored it. Barrels, fire pits not warm. Elron said that the gnolls were living here at an old camp site, no recent activity, they camped here two days ago and used it as a waystation; the gnolls gathered here from smaller parties, some came from the west and east, but the trails faded.

Breena asked the animals but got no useful info.

We followed the trail to the west, where the trail split, some came from the northwest and some from the south, they all didn’t arrive at the same time; going south for 1 mile, we found nothing.

Artie said his owl could see worgs one mile to the east, four worgs and two cubs, around the curve of the hill. 

The trail went into the woods, down to the edge of the forest, then went uphill to the Mouth of Doom. At that point the ground got hard making tracking difficult. One of the smaller groups came out of the  Mouth of Doom, four of them.

Lark asked the important question, “How were they all summoned?”

Noon
We followed trail back to the split going west and followed that trail. It crossed the river at the ford, and further west crossed the the stream by the lake, and entered the woods near our castle to the south, then continued west eventually disappearing into woods about 8-9 miles.

The weather was hot, it’s in the 90’s and we were sweating under our armor and gear. We were all hungry and tired. We went back to Castle Calealan and had dinner and sleep.

May 18, Friday, 6 AM
We got breakfast, and go back to the gnoll outpost.

8:30 AM
We arrived at the outpost. Artie’s owl was on patrol and found no worgs were nearby this time. Elron found the other trail; we followed the east trail down south along the river; the worgs from yesterday went north. The trail followed the river closely and we finally lost the trail, it disappeared into the Forest of Hope where we had returned from rescuing Talila and Cato.  It looked like a couple of groups came through there. The camp had held about 20 gnolls.

10:30 AM
We went back into the Mouth of Doom and Artie dismissed his owl to a pocket dimension. Blaze wanted to check out a door we kept going past earlier. From the entrance, we entered the doorway with the skull over it and walked to the end of the hall to the east.

The door was locked, so Artie’s up. He listened at the door and heard a faint buzzing sound. He found no traps and picked the lock. Inside were five pools, each five feet in diameter with a stone lip. Elron, Blaze and Breena stepped inside and saw a crack on the wall adjacent to the door to the north.

A stirge came out of the wall crack and landed on Elron and bit him, draining his blood.

A second stirge popped out of the crack in the wall. Sinis cast acid splash on both of them, killing the one on the right. Elron sliced the stirge on him with this sword, killing it. Blaze cast flaming sphere in front of the crack, on the opposite side of the wall, to stop more from coming through.

Lark, outside, checked the cross hallway to the north and south. Beneddar and Artie moved into the room.

Artie looked into the hole, and said that he thinks he saw nests in there through the flames. There was door on the northwestern wall of this room that might connect to where the stirges nests are. The crack is about a foot wide, allowing one stirge through at a time.

Sinis checked on the pools, it looks like water and he saw stirge poop around most of the 2-ft-deep pools, they might have been drinking from them.

Beneddar cast sleep into the next room and moved out of Blaze’s way.  At least five stirges dropped to the floor.

A stirge flew out of the hole and went after Elron but was unable to penetrate his armor. A second one came through.  Sinis cast acid splash, it missed the first one, but hit the second burned one climbing through the hole.
Elron swung at another stirge and it dodged out of the way of his sword.

Blaze moved her flaming sphere next to 3 nests in the other room attached to the south wall and set them on fire, along with two stirges that had been sleeping.  

Lark, having no targets nearby, tossed a copper piece into a pool. It sank to the bottom of the pool.  Sinis shouted, “You should have made a wish first.”

Beneddar cast sleep again and two more stirges dropped, one in the hole. Artie moved over to join Sinis and Lark. Breena walked over to a sleeping stirge and stabbed it to death. Another stirge appeared at the hole trying to get through; Sinis acid splashed it, but missed it. Elron sighted another stirge and killed it with his longsword. Blaze moved her flaming sphere in the other room and caught more stirges in its fire.

Lark smashed open the door to the stirge room and stepped inside. Seeing a sleeping stirge at his foot, Lark stomped on it. Beneddar entered through the (permanently) opened door, and saw nests hanging off the walls, and a stirge going for Lark. Lark counted 13 stirges. Beneddar cast sleep again on them. Breena moved into the stirges’ room and cast a sleep spell that got a lot of them, but not all. She stabbed at one with her dagger but it dodged out of range when she swung and then landed on her and began feeding. A second one tried to land on her, but she waved it off.

One landed on Lark but was unable to bite due to his armor.

Another stirge attacked Blaze but missed. A stirge attacked Beneddar, bit and attached itself to him. Artie cast fire bolt on it and missed. A stirge attacked Parahelia but missed. A stirge flew after Sinis, bit and began to drain blood. Sinis cast burning hands in a 15-ft cone and two stirges burst into flame. Elron moved toward Sinis to help, grabbed for the stirge on Sinis but missed.

Blaze used her quarterstaff on a stirge at her feet and killed it with a single blow.

In the next room, Lark used his shield as a weapon and stomped on sleeping stirges, killing two, but missed a stirge that dodged his shield.  Beneddar cast Toll the Dead on his attached stirge, killing it. Artie hit the stirge on Parahelia, killing it. Breena had a stirge still attached to her, she stabbed at it with her dagger, but it didn’t let go.

Lark riposted the one that hit him, and killed it.

Sinis cast acid splash on a sleeper but didn’t hit.

Elron moved into the stirges’ nesting room facing an alive and awake stirge, tried to grab the one off Breena, it pulled off and he tried to break its neck, didn’t kill it but injured it. The little suckers were tough.

Blaze moved into the room, moved her flaming sphere to three stirges, killing one and  scorching the two next to it, and set three nests on fire on the north wall; they burned like paper and began to set the adjacent nests alight as well.



Beneddar cast Toll the Dead on a stirge next to Lark, but no damage.

Continued in Session 24: Stirges and Stairs