FLGS Nightwick Session 12: Can't Save them All

Characters Present
Mrs. Claus - a human druid dedicated to some weird combination of Father Winter, St Santa Claus and the Krampus (level 2)
Gwenifer Nighthawk - another druid and member of the Circle of the Moon (level 2, now deceased)
Paul - a frogling barbarian from Unknown Lands (level 2)
Adran Wildedagger - Karslish human rogue (level 3)

Decenber 13, 1395

• Flint probably remained in Knightpath to distract his fellow members of the Order of the Elk while the kidnappers made good their escape. 
• Mrs. Claus and Gwenifer elected to head out in the night, after a spot of freezing rain had turned the little snow fall into a nasty mush.
• Adran was able to spy some deer-men and an elk-ogre up the road, and a debate began about how to deal with it.
• Ultimately, partly due to Gwenifer's insistence, it was decided they would fight these creatures.
• Mrs. Claus and Paul turned the cart the kept the children upside-down in to offer them a modicum of protection. Mrs. Claus then stayed with them to make sure none were endangered (or escaped).
• Adran set himself up in a nearby tree, trapping the area around it, and made ready with his crossbow to snipe at oncoming deer-men. Poul waited next to the cart.
• Gwenifer surprised everyone by turning into a strange, spider-like creature unknown in the whole of the World of Nightwick. She lept towards the deer-men but was soon surrounded and knocked unconscious. The elk-ogre then smashed her unconscious body with a huge club, killing her.
• During this time Adran's shots were hitting with good effect, but the monsters had focused on the spider because his great adeptness at hiding meant he remained unseen.
• Paul arrived in the melee just before Gwenifer died, and was able to begin slaying the creatures she had softened up. Mrs. Claus aided with a few eldritch blasts.
• Once the creatures were dead, the party retreated and encamped in the shadow of Knightpath, hoping they would not be discovered.
• They weren't, and the next day they made their way towards Frogguts.
• About an hour outside Frogguts, the children (who were separated into two enormous roughspun sacks) began arguing about whether the priest of Nightwick or Knightpath was more holy. When Arnest, one of the boys from Knightpath, said his priest was a saint a strange sound was heard.
• It turned out to be the swift approach of a Rawhead, who became visible just long enough to grab Arnest and disappear again, leaving the living party members stunned.
• Once in Frogguts they found the town completely deserted, except for a mother and daughter hiding in a building. The mother informed them that they had been assailed by that creature ever since her daughter lied to some 'likely bandits" about how many were with them. The bandits had tried to slaughter the beast and died.
• Paul, who lacks the moral complexity of some of his human company, knocked the mother out and then replaced Arnest in the bag with the daughter - who had lied and therefore was naughty. Mrs. Claus was able to figure that the Rawhead had just eaten a child and would likely be sated long enough for them to make their escape.
• They then pushed on to the outskirts of blackleg, where, exhausted, they stayed at a small inn. In this inn, Adran and Mrs. Claus met a set of dwarfs who said they had no work in the mine since it was shut down and would be willing to lead the party to the shrine of Knecht Ruprecht for a fee. They agreed.
• They also picked up two new naughty children - one who had traded his parents magic beans for a cow, and another who had min/maxed while playing imagination games.
• When Paul came back from fetching these children, he noted that the "dwarfs" were obviously not dwarfs, since his frogling senses paid attention to aspects not obvious to humans. They were extra hairy, possessed of even more pointed ears, and wore no shoes. These, it seems, were knockers.
• The knockers, realizing their child eating plan was up, enlarged to great proportion and attempted to do battle. However the work of Paul, who was able to more or less keep the creatures in place, and Adran who ducked and weaved about them stabbing at their vital bits made short work of them.
• The next day the party made their way tot he shrine, based on information they had gotten from a pagan in the outskirts of blackleg. At the shrine the children were purified by the sacred switch of Knecht Rurpecht.
• Ruprecht's switching had disloged something from one of the children - a hellish larvae the size of a massive grub. He placed it in a jar and gave it to the characters, along with a bevy of magic items (described below).
• With that, Mrs. Claus declared her work done and separated from the party for the foreseeable future.

Monsters Killed

6 Deer-men, 1 Elk-ogre, 3 knockers

Treasure Gained

1 magic switch, 1 magic shield, 1 magic bow, 20 silver arrows, a magic horn, a silver dagger, and a potion of healing.

Xp Per surviving player

525