Recap - 20181121 - Tomb of the Lizard King - Part 1 - Team B

20181121 Recap – Tomb of The Lizard King Part 1- Team B
Part 1 of a 3 part series and competition between two teams of players.

Alyce – Female Halfling Bard/ Sorc – Steve
Ezio Auditore da Firenze – Human Rogue – Kobe
Gird – Human Monk – Art
KrizDevvon – Deva Invoker – Chris played by Jae
Bannor the Bloodguard – Human Fighter – Brendon
Souldun – Human Warlord - Vic

For many years there has been relative peace in the lands of Eor. The fertile plain of the River Ardo has yielded bountifully and commerce has prospered. But of late, there have been reports of highway robbery at the manor house at Vendare where Baron Baltic resides. According to tales of whimpering merchants the lands to the west are being overrun by a band of vicious brigands. Combined with the incursion of hill giants to the far north west, there has been a major impact to trade. Two weeks ago, the baron sent a squad of thirty of his toughest fighters to the village of Waycombe and there has been no word of their fate. The party has answered the baron’s call for a group of volunteers to go to the area and learn the fate of the men and determine if there is a greater evil behind the bandit raids.


After an interview, the Baron accepts the group for the task, especially after hearing that Bannor, Souldun and Gird helped bring down the slave lords and Alyce helped capture an evil high priest in Tyr Amar and she has faced mind flayers and beholders. The group listens to the clues from the merchants most affected by the raids. The group learns quite a bit about the bandits. Just as in prior meetings with the baron, the party is disarmed and there are priests chanting protective prayers. Without warning, one of the priests yells out the praises of the Baron’s enemies. Ezio rushes up to the priest and strikes him in the face with a dazing blow while Alyce tries to blind the offending priest with a blast of magic. The priest replies with a massive flame strike that hits Baron Baltic, Souldun, Bannor and Gird who are standing near the baron. Ezio seeing the opening as the cleric unleashes his spell and punches the priest in the gut but with minimal damage as the priest is wearing armor under his robes. As Mordrin the evil priest flees out the door, Bannor (mighty) sprints after him, along with Gird. One of the baron’s guards in the hall, tosses a dagger to the passing Ezio who catches it with ease. Souldun runs by and fumbles a hammer that is tossed to him and the errant hammer almost hits the warlord in the foot. Bannor catches up to the priest and slams him in the back with a superhuman blow. The priest turns around just in time to be hit again and the warlord tells the Bloodguard to strike for the cleric’s legs. The evil cleric, realing from the attacks, falls back but takes a serious blow from the advancing Ezio and then a third inhumanly strong (2nd critical) shield slam from Bannor. Gird pins the evil priest against the door and the priest manages to remain standing despite being battered repeatedly by unbalancing attacks. In a burst of extra energy Mordrin manages to open the door, look toward the horizon outside and vanish in a puff of flames.

As a result of the battle with the evil priest, the Baron (who survived the attack) knows that evil plans are now in motion and that the party must make haste. The party must leave immediately to Waycombe and as such, the group feels that traveling overland via the farmlands rather than the main highway or via the river barge, is the bestimate choice. Just as they set off, they are joined by a wandering Deva who’s god is the arch enemy of Mordrin’s god of darkness and undead. Shortly after being joined by the Deva, Gird spots and the group briefly chats with a small group of farmers. The group also sees an old man who seems to be traveling to Vendare.

As the group nears Waycombe, across a distant rise in the field, they sight a large group of lizardmen. Gird moves ahead and engages with a pair in the lead. Bannor and Souldun advance in the south while the rouge advances in the north. Alyce and KrizDee fire off magic at groups of lizardmen. A Shaman appears and unleashes a blast of acid at the group’s spell casters and also catches Souldun in the blast. Seeing this, Bannor rushes forward and knocks the Shaman down and with an extra effort, nearly chops the spellcaster in half with a mighty downward strike. Souldun fights off a couple passing lizardmen , heals himself and moves up to support the fighter. The Deva blasts away at a couple of charging lizardmen and is rescued by the little bard. Gird downs one lizardman only to become engaged with a huge lizardman. Ezio maneuvers behind the lizardmen fighting the monk and stabs one in the back, downing it. Bannor slices through and downs a flanking lizardman and wounds another that Alyce finishes off with a blast of magic as that enemy moves to support the pair chasing the Deva. Bannor and Souldun team up to finish off a lizard man trying to save the shaman but to no avail as Bannor and Souldun strike the shaman from both sides as the priest tries to stand up, putting down the shaman for good. This enrages the lizard man champion who charges away from Gird and hits Bannor with a mighty blow. Ezio tries to move behind the champion and is attacked by a giant lizard. A second lizard moves to attack the Deva and Alyce blasts the last lizardman chasing the Deva and then focuses on the lizard. Gird battles the other lizard, freeing up the rouge to repeatedly find spaces in the lizardman champion’s armor and deal serious damage. Souldun and Bannor hit the champion from both sides, distracting him and allowing Ezio to stab the champion in the back of the neck, downing him. The two lizards flee, ending the battle.

The party rests and then moves on, and take a short break at an inn. They then keep going and soon come to a ridge overlooking a bridge over the main highway. While the party is crossing the bridge, they are ambushed by a dozen lizardmen, these are much better armed, with shield, swords, axes and javelins. Gird, Bannor and Ezio charge over the bridge and concentrate on the lizardman Shaman, quickly downing him with Ezio striking the killing blow. Alyce and Krizdee remain on the west shore, fighting off a half dozen lizardmen. The bard and Deva each down one but they are clearly on the defensive. Bannor makes his way back to the bridgehead and is swarmed by enemies. He quickly downs two of them but is still fighting another. Gird and Ezio are battling several enemies, each downing one but more keep coming out of the river. Alyce downs another, but the Deva and Bard are in dire straights. Souldun and Bannor keep moving back to help out, downing two more. Alyce downs her third lizardmen as help arrives. The warlord blocks the way and takes serious damage but holds the line and downs his third lizardman. Bannor slices through and cleaves a path toward the warlord, cutting down his third and forth lizardman. More lizardmen appear out of the river and run headlong into Bannor, Souldun and Ezio. Gird, now alone on the east side, holds his own and in a flurry of kicks, downs his second enemy and finally wears down and knocks out his third and final enemy on that side of the river. Ezio, Bannor and Souldun hold the line in the west, each felling one additional enemy as the lizardmen call out to their “Great King” as they fall. After such a heated battle, the party rests and moves on to the village.

Just before the village, the group finds the leader of the Barons men. They heal him and dispel a charm that he is under. They learn that nearly the entire force has been captured or killed. The man, Bartoli Trune heads back to report to the Baron.

Ezio scouts the village and determines it to be clear of monsters. They speak to the inn keeper before he leaves. The rogue goes to the hut near the edge of the swamp and gets the old man very drunk. The party follows shortly thereafter and the crazy man tells the party that he is friends with the Great Lizard King and will guide the party to see King Sakatha. After a frightful trip on a small river boat, the group weaves their way along narrow waterways. The crazy man, Stephan, seems to ward off the denizens of the swamp. The party learns that the overhead canopy entangles and constricts any flying creatures and that horrid monsters wait beneath the muddy waters. Excitedly, Stephan announces that they’ve arrived at the place where Sakatha is, an island in the middle of the swamp. After finding a hidden door on the side of the slick mud wall of the island, Bannor manages to open it and the group begins to move up a narrow stone stairway. After a short climb, the party arrives at a marble platform. From the edge of the platform, the group can see a hidden cove where a half dozen small boats are moored. At the rear of the platform, the group sees a wall of beads.

To be continued…

Thanks for the recap.

One correction: Souldun also took critical damage from the evil priest's fire. Souldun did catch a second dagger tossed by the guard and inflicted minor damage to the priest.

Message for the team: You have fought well! We will fulfill our mission for the Baron!