Blood Cult Isle

We set off north toward the suspected site of the Blood Cults port and island. Rather quickly we were meet by Tenimis a goliath who asked us to follow him to The Black Footpad Inn. When we got there we were told that Gwendolyn was waiting for us at her hut and provided  some transportation. We each had an enchanted Elk to ride excpet Val, Tenimis gave Zephyr a belssing so he could keep up in the woods. We moved twice as fast in the woodlands and arrived at the hut quickly.

Gwendolyn greeted us and offered us a meal and place to stay for the night.  She told us of her three comrade who were captured Hianke, Bavis and Asuka.  After dinner she infomred us she had also arranged us some fast travel through the woods. She has planted some trees within Neathy’s Woods that allow us to travel between them.  Cober asked a good amount of recon questions that alowed us to make some preliminary plans. 

She escorted us to a cherry tree and told us to touch the tree when we were ready. We made sure we had all of our belongings and touch the tree and we exited out of another cherry tree farther north. We traveled north and found a small ravaged village in the woods with a lone Tiefling boy named Chesterfield there. He was visable upset and told us that the black sail pirates took all the town had including the people. He was out hunting and followed them to the coast before coming back home. He stayed behind to wait for us to rescue his family and friends.  

Slightly fgarther into the forest we found a wagon that took a turn off the path and crashed slightly down hill. The wagon had a distingusing mark of “RK” on the wood. It looked like the horses were lead to the west.  We reach our limit for walking for the day and found an abandoned look out post. 

We set up camp and hunted down some food while hunting we found a burnt down cottage that had some ale and perserved asparagus. We ate good for being in the wild. We fell asleep and on Tingork and Ogis’ watch something odd happened. Tingork found a wierd tree she felt was staring at her. We investigate the tree and were unable to communicate with it but a small lark did fly out and squawk at us. I make some seeds blossom for the lark to eat and we went back to sleep feeling safe we were in no harm…

We did not get to sleep for much longer as Cober heard some footsteps rushing towards our location and woke us up witha yell. It must have been the new armor because all the enemies seemed to flock to me this night. As this skeletal purple dog rushed me from the darkness. A second one came charging out and went for Ogis. This one got so flustered it missed Ogis and bit his friend dragging it to the ground. Ogis is much more intimidating than I in armor I guess.  I backed off from the front lies and was suddenly pounced on by a large wolf. Besides my enemy attraction this was not an huge threat to our group. We killed the three creatures and Tingork skinned the wolf. Val found a note tucked into one of the bunkers at teh lookout post it read :

So much for this being a treasure trove. Every chest I’ve encountered has been shattered open and the contents taken. Every locked door has been broken down. Those bandits I saw can’t be responsible either, as there’s a thick layer of dust over everything. Whoever cleaned this place out did it centuries ago. The bandits are too many to fight, so I’ll have to stay hidden until they leave. I hope they leave soon, as my supplies are running low. Perhaps I’ll have another search and see if I can find any secret doors or compartments that those who plundered this place have missed.

We work the next morning ready to move on towards the port. 

We found a vantage point overlooking the port and came up with a plan to take the tower with a warning pyre on it. 

Ogis cast water walking as Tingork has us under pass without trace as we moved on the northeast side of the port. Val made an incredible move to push the gaurd of the tower off into the water below. Ogis then held the two dock gaurds below with his magic. We quickly dispatched the tower gaurd and Tingork took up post in teh tower so she could shoot freely across the port. The men made their way towards us as did the gnolls. We took out the men held by Ogis’ will and prepared for the incoming sailors and gnolls. Suddenly on a roof the blood knights appreaded.

These gnolls were by far more sturdy than the gnolls I have seen before and their bite could do some nasty things if their teeth got into you. Between what we learned were mind controlled sailors and the blood knights things were getting fun. We took out the blood knights who were using misty step to try and bypass our defenses and get to the signal pyre. We stopped them both before this was possible and the sailors stopped moving and then realized there was gnolls and started firing at them. We killed the remaining gnolls and plotted with the sailors to make an advance on the island.

We had Anhinga, Cober’s owl fly over and give us a general idea of what we were going into. We made a plan and set it into motion.

We used the sailors to sail the boat to the island while we hid under the deck. When we landed on the beach they kicked  the deck and we emerged. The plan “WAS” Val, Tingork and myself take the tower with the cannons… We attacked that gnoll and I using quicken spell cast two firebolts at the gnoll the second bolt critally wounding the gnoll killing it and blessing me with another action as I misty stepped up to the dead gnoll and laid prone behind the wall.  Howerever we learned the blood knights can be invisble. From the keep multiple blood knights emerged. Two casters, two crossbow users and two greatsword users. This changed the plan and unfortantly for myself one of the crossbow users was right next to me. 

We underestimate just how hardy these gnolls were and the bloodknight caters were an unknown entity to us. Caslesh countered one of their spells and then it returned the favor to Caslesh. Cober had the most adorable tactic. Anhinga became a lightning breathing owl and did some explosive damage towards the knights before a crossbow user took down the Tempst Owl.  Cober then decided to use this tactic himself. Ogis took on multiple gnolls employing his vampric tactic of fighting. Val charged with his halberd and cut down a caster quite quickly. Caslesh after being counterspell used his mirror images and his power knockback eldritch blast to combat the other blood knights.  Things looked grim as Ogis, Tingork and Cober all fell at somepoint. The healing magic between us kept everyone alive. The final death knight gnoll was hacked down by Val. 

We quickly found the three prisoners but we did not find Lurt and were told he left the island a day ago. Hianke, Bavis and Asuka informed us to turn off a machine that gave the blood knights power. We found it as we looted what we could from fort and disarmed the device. It started an explosion that rocked the island but caused no damage. The black sails ship was seen returning and then pass the island to the port. We took our ship back towards the port to go through the wood. 

The sailors came over to us as we entered the woods and thanked us for freeing them from the mind control. They offered us a ride home to White Moon Cove. We took the free ride over traversing the woods and roads. We made it back safely and Hianke, Asuka and Bavis left to travel back to Gwendolyn’s. The party went to the Axe-N-Thistle for a drink and a bit of a rest.