The Marrek Bonanza

[etherial]

From the Court-mandated parole log of Gronk Longtusk:

7 Doddul
The Wolf Father reached out to me that he had located a necklace he wanted and that if I got it for him, I could keep any other loot I found on the way. This sounded suspicially like certain mob "requests" I've received in the past, and he doesn't strike me as one to piss off deliberately, so I grabbed some of my friends to go "take care of it". Jexel is late to the party.

10 Doddul
We arrive at the Iceclaw Moot and stay the night. They tell us of the tower they have found, which has been taken over by harpies. The place is surrounded by bear traps. This is where the Wolf Father wants us to do his "favor".

12 Doddul
The Iceclaws have built a cargo elevator that we can take down to the Serpent River's shores below. When we reach the tower, I lay down some covering fire while Jexel tries to explore the tower. He's able to mark the location of some of the traps before we are set upon by Harpies. I manage to wing the first one and keep it trapped on the tower, but a bunch come down and harry us. In my haste to get a clear shot in, I step on a bear trap and nearly lose my leg. I feel dumb.

With most of the harpies dispatched, we begin climbing. I thought it would be prudent for me to remain on the ground and continue to provide cover fire, but we decide that climbing all as a group would be preferable in case my help is needed to dispatch any creatures on the roof.

While we are climbing, the harpies fly down and try to taunt us into falling. They land some doozies (mostly about Ceadda's mother), but we push through. Up on the roof they have chained up some sort of huge winged lion that charges forward and threatens to knock us down to our dooms, but we manage to keep our wits about us (even as the harpies tell us more horrible things about Ceadda's mother), and eventually the winged lion is dispatched. Around its neck lie the jewels the Wolf Father wanted, and buried in the filth and detritus of the harpy nest, we found several magical items worthy of research.

13 Doddul
His "favor" done, we bid leave of the Wolf Father and return home to Throal. Varis will commune with our treasure and see if he can convince it to let us know its secrets.


Other PCs:
Ceadda, male Human Warrior
Jexel'thalas, male Elf Thief
Varis, male Dwarf Elementalist

NPCs:
The Wolf Father

NB: There was a screwup in my copypasta earlier and you may have missed the thrilling tale of our near-TPK at the Granite Keep.

https://etherial.dreamwidth.org/305400.html