Mystara 2012 Campaign Journal: Session 9 (6/10/12)
The Hive: Part One
Characters
Azrael, Marten, Kelric, Finn
Events
Klarmont 15, AC1012 - The party is together again in Threshold. In the evening while relaxing at the Juggling Ogre the party is contacted by Juster Dainworth. He brings them back to his shop where they find the dog that was the animal companion of the druid Lucas. Juster explains that the dog wandered into his shop a few minutes ago. The dog has some injuries and is obviously exhausted, and attached to his collar is a note scrawled in blood that says "Come fast - need help."
The party sets out immediately for Eltan's Spring, traveling through the night.
Klarmont 16 - The party reaches Eltan's Spring and finds the village deserted. There are obvious signs of fighting in the inn and some other buildings. Kelric finds some odd tracks and between the ranger and the wolf they manage to follow the tracks north out of the village.
After an hour or so of following the tracks they find that the tracks split off in two directions, one group heading towards Bertrak's cabin and the other continuing to the northwest. They believe the villagers were taken northwest, so that is the group they follow. Unfortunately it soon begins to rain, obscuring the tracks. The party decides to make camp, since they are already exhausted and have not slept, and continue in the morning.
Klarmont 17 - The party continues northwest in the morning, although the tracks are gone. During the day they are attacked by a group of giant wasps. Continuing on in that direction for several hours, they eventually come to a cliff face that is dotted with caves. Giant wasps fly busily about the cliff, in and out of the caves. The party decides to rest through the night and observe the nest.
Klarmont 18 - While observing the nest, Azrael spots some strange looking insectlike men moving in and out of one of the caves. Later that day the party's camp is ambushed by several of the insect men and the party learns that they have a poisonous bite which can paralyze. The party moves camp and rests again to recover from their wounds and try to make plans on how to deal with the nest.
Klarmont 19 - This day is spent observing the nest and healing wounds. The party waits until nightfall, when the wasps seem to become less active, and scouts along the cliff face for any clues.
Klarmont 20 - The party decides that they will need to thin the wasps before entering the nest, so during this day they make several attacks on groups of wasps in flight. The party manages to kill several wasps and wound a few others. They rest one more night and plan to assault the hive in the morning...
End of Session
Next session begins with the attack on the nest. Due to the anticipated difficulty of the battle at the nest, I have made a one-time exception to the rule preventing characters from leveling up during an adventure.The PC's should all be level 6 by the next session.
Experience Points
Party XP from combat: 10,250 xp
Story Awards: 1,500 xp
Note: Story awards are normally given at the conclusion of the adventure. However, I have given the PC's an advance on story XP to ensure that everyone has enough XP to be level 6 next session. Therefore, this XP will be deducted from the story awards at the conclusion of the adventure.
Total party XP: 11,750 xp
Each character who was present receives 2,938 xp