Bandaluthia Session 60

Bandaluthia Session 60

Pandora received a summons to present herself before the guild. When she arrived, a complete stranger met her. A human she had never met before. He asked her whether she had a sponsor or whether she would be paying her own tuition fees. Unsure what was being asked, she in turn asked if Thelonius was not covering that. The man smiled. "No, he may pay your food and lodgings for you, but he has made no arrangements for your training."

"Then I shall need to know how much I must pay. Because I would like to be in no one's debt."

"100 gold pieces this time. 200 next."

"Oh, Scheiße!" Pandora muttered, slipping into her native tongue. "I don't have that kind of funds yet."

"You can owe us." The man said smugly.

"I'm sure I can. And this time will have to." answered the Tiefling, unhappily. She returned to the inn, and broke the news to her friends that she had just been saddled with Student Debt. The sympathy was almost as thin as her own finances.

Then came a summons for all of them, or at least the four who were present; Freda having drifted off to Brolin for some reason, and Sylvie being just plain AWOL.

They were ushered into a room with four chairs forming a small circle, and a coin on the ground between them. As they sat, Thelonius, or a magical image of him appeared from the coin.

His image explained that the message could not reply, so they were not to bother asking questions. That did not stop Pandora asking them though. They were to travel North to a small town a days travel outside of Bandaluthia. There they would find an execution about to take place. They were to bring back the prisoner, dead or alive.

On the journey, there was a brief unsuccessful robbery attempt by three woefully inept brigands. They were eventually let go with their lives, a copper piece each, and a mission to seek out the temple of Kord in Bandaluthia, and dedicate themselves to the service of Kord.

• Pandora had gained two poor quality swords, a poor quality dagger, and two silver pieces.
• Milo had gained the Kudos of making a convert to Kord.
• Kord had gained at least one convert.
• No one had realised Pandora had been outsmarted by three buffoons at one point.

In the town, despite several attempts to see the prisoner or get information from the guards, the party had to settle for the fact that it looked like their best plan was to wait until after the execution and steal the body. The decided to attend the execution and have their cart ready for a quick exit in case an opportunity presented itself. The prisoner was apparently a heinous murderer who had killed one guard and maimed another. The crowd did not appear very sympathetic.

As the prisoner was being led to the gallows, Pandora recognised the hooded figure as Sylvie, their erstwhile companion. As the hood was removed, the rest recognised her too. Kharkin immediately started berating the guards, making all sorts of outlandish claims that they were there to return the prisoner to Bandaluthia to face trial for crimes there.

Milo prepared to duck under the gallows platform to catch the body as it fell. Jean Luc prepared magic missile, to cut the rope. Pandora watched as Sylvie was cruelly whipped. Carefully eyeing up the guards to assess their capability, and watching Sylvie's agony.

As the executioner opened the trapdoor, Jean Luc and Milo worked as a team to sever the rope and recover the elf. Pandora leaped on to the platform, and Kharkin laid into the guard, before making good his escape. Pandora stabbed the executioner, but received a deep welt across her face from his whip, before casting darkness on the other guard and leaping athletically from the platform in total darkness. No one saw her perfect landing beside the fleeing dwarf.

The party soon forced their way through the crowd to their waiting cart, fleeing the town with barely a chase.

They eventually were forced to stop to rest the poor horses, who had been pressed into far greater effort than their normal amble. A guard was set, and Sylvie took first watch. As she woke Pandora, the tiefling heard a twig snap, and re-alerted the elf. There were a dozen goblins attempting to surround them. Sylvie woke the rest, and a fierce battle ensued.

Sylvie, Milo, and the wagoneer all fell to the goblins, Jean Luc was barely standing when the last of the goblins succumbed, despite the Tolusian's heroic charge with a pitch fork. Only Pandora and Kharkin were able to act. Between the pair they stabilised the elf and the half orc as well as the wagoneer. Without any remaining healing abilities, the best they could do was to slowly make their way back to Bandaluthia while the near dead recovered sufficiently for Milo to begin healing them.

Pandora knew she had taken a terrible amount of wounds, yet she soon noticed that her wounds healed far faster than those of all but the Stone Dwarf. "I'm a fast healer." Was all she could put it down to.

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