Attendees:
Experience
Special guest GM's pet, Paul, played many NPCs, and proved to be quite a pain.
When last we left off: We'd succeeded in our challenge with the guardians of the boar people and were given a tusk to haul back to the boar tribes to prove that we speak with the voice of Ooka the boar.
Seems the tribe have a motivational problem. So this is the part where Davion has to do some work. Charisma skills to push them to move FASTER (because they were going to take two months to move otherwise) and Bureaucratics skills organize them better. When finally we leave, we head down the river toward the ocean in a massive number of canoes.
Along the way we first hear the sound of thunder, which Viox correctly deduces is a stampede. Karth can see from shore that there are Bison headed our way. Fire is used to divert the herd away from our part of the river and around the canoe armada. All would be fine and dandy, except that what was chasing them was a trio of Allosauri. The mini dinos try to devour our heroes, only to be beat down by Viox & Karth.
Scouting a bit down river proves to be useful as the next thing we encounter is a river dragon! The three heroes go out in a canoe and wait for it to raise up, then they give it a pretty good smacking. The canoes float by as we stand atop the massive creature's floating corpse.
The boar people love them the raiding. Yup. They seek metal and useful tools, and food, and there's no easier way to take food than to raid a farm. There are lots of settlements not far from the banks of the river. Of course the problem with this is that as they raid these places the countryside will get in an uproar and eventually we'll wind up with some army and/or navy waiting to kick our butts somewhere in our path. Karth manages to play spoiler to them to some degree, keeping the carnage to the minimum, and giving the boar huntsmen an edict not to harm children (which now appears to be some kind of law of the hunt, courtesy of the "tiger god").
Further on, we find a large tower positioned at a bend in the river. It is covered in runes and armed with ship-sinking heavy weapons. A cadre of soldiers is not far away in a barracks. After some discussion it is decided that we need to talk them and see if we can negotiate our way by without bloodshed. Seems the soldiers there would like an opportunity to sink a rabid bunch of boar folk, but Davion convinces them that this can be done bloodlessly, that we are in fact leading them out to an island where a dragon lives and that the dragon will take care of them. After a discussion (and a story), they are convinced. Then we have to convince the boar people that fighting the tower would be very dangerous, and to NOT open fire. So an uneasy standoff happens as the boar people pass, but no weapons are fired.
We head out to sea, with supplies, a barge of cows (as is our custom), and make plans for how to counter the dragon long enough to get the people through.
And so we come to Harpy Island. You see, we have heard of sirens luring people to their doom and so we try to scout ahead. Indeed we do hear some singing and have to try to resist. It's not easy, but we do resist. So we have to come up with a way to block out the sound. Davion makes them a little earplugs with a leather strap to hold it in place, and the bird brigade head out to meet the harpy menace straight on.
Well, I'm not sure the hypnotic song was the worst part. No, in fact I'm certain it wasn't. It seems the harpies live in filth. The trio of hideous beasties reside on bird crap island, which is littered with corpses, harpy poo, and rotting equipment of victims. The problem here is the smell. If you miss your saving through, you collapse and heave. If you make your save, you still suffer -2D to everything you do.
So an amazingly difficult battle takes place. Davion spends most of it either heaving or being chewed on by harpies. Viox and Karth are much better are harming them, subsequently putting two of them down. Paul's command of the harpies had them playing tactics rather than just being straightforward attackers. Eventually, Karth is trying to take out the last Harpy while Viox guards Davion's body (as he is literally 1pt from death, and we have no ability to use the needles). They disappear behind a rock, and then there's no sign of what's happening. Eventually, the Harpy reappears, trying to spy on us, and thus we know that Karth was defeated (he took a lot of damage during the course of the battle). So Viox turns invisible and Davion lay there as bait, but the Harpy becomes worried since she can no longer see Viox. So she retreats to her cave and nervously watches the entrance. Eventually, ninja boy manages to get the sneak attack in, putting the last harpy out of commission.
That just leaves the dragon.
We gather up harpy poo in sealed containers. We're sure we'll need it for use on the dragon at some point.
Letting the chieftain in on this, he says that they currently have 10 tribes and that one of the boar people we me previously has been petitioning to create yet another tribe of boar people. The chieftain will indeed recognize him as a chief and let him form an 11th tribe if he and his men can distract the dragon long enough to let everyone pass through. He agrees, of course, certain of his victory. The head chieftain really justs wants to be rid of him, so it's kind of a win-win situation for him.
We successfully perform the exodus. Basically: A barge of cows lures him out, but doesn't keep the Dragon's attention long. We drop harpy-bombs on the entrance, giving the dragon a small penalty and distracting him. Then the 11th boar tribe lures him off. Eventually he gets tired of chasing the boar people while weeping from the horrible stench, and retreats to his cave. We get everyone through the gate and then make for shore.
And another good time was had by all.