NPCs: Trapper John (unknown) and 57 villagers
(unknown).
The following day, Father Robert gathered up the villagers
while Durhum did a little investigation into the whereabouts of the
heart-shaped cave, and fortunately for him, Trapper John knew where it was. He
talked John into attending Father Robert's meeting, where he was convinced to
help out, finally. All in all, Durhum and Robert drummed up about 57 able-bodied
men to go wipe out the creeper. They decided to leave the next day.
Come the morning, the mob of villagers, along with a number
of others to haul supplies and help establish and maintain a camp trekked to Ashby
without incident. They spent the night, not realizing that the creeper had sent
a couple of sporbies to keep an eye on the town for trouble. The posted guards
missed them, and Durhum awoke the following day fresh and rested. After a short
prayer for luck conducted by Hilda, he asked her if she had anything to protect
him against any spores that might be released during the upcoming battle. She
took him to the abandoned temple at Ashby and made for him a balm he had to put
in his nostrils and swallow, which he did despite its contents.
John led the group of men through the forest toward the
cave, approaching it from above and behind. At the foot of the hill into which
the cave is set, they encountered two dozen sporbies, some of whom were turned
caprigors. A fierce battle ensued, and the 59 took casualties. Thankfully, their
hero, Durhum, came out unscathed, thanks to smart use of his reach and his repeatedly
removal of sporbie legs.
They continued their trek up the hill until they were nearly
at the cave. John spent most of his time running ahead of the main group to
scout for more sporbies, and just before reaching the cave, he found three more
standing guard above the cave mouth. A brief war meeting between Durhum and
John brought them to the conclusion that John would lead the bulk of the
villagers around the front of the cave to create a distraction while Durhum and
a three of the wounded men would enter the cave to destroy the creeper. The
wounded would carry torches so Durhum could fight, and John would draw off the
rest of the sporbies.
With confidence, the set out to execute their plan. Durhum
waited for John and his men to give a signal, which came in the form of an
arrow through one of the guard sporbies and a lot of panicked screaming. Durhum
didn't hesitate. He appraoched the sporbies cautiously and de-legged one of
them and sliced the other to pieces. He and his companions then seeing that the
cave was unguarded, dropped down to the mouth. Entering, they found the creeper
clinging to the ceiling and cave walls about 30 yards in. A few test chops from
Durhum revealed how the creeper defended itself: swift vine thrusts and clouds
of spores that stun those who inhale them. Thankfully, the balm Hilda provided
kept Durhum immune to the spores, despite a lot of pain to his sinuses. The balm
didn't protect against the enraged sporbie grizzly the creeper kept as a
guardian, though.
Durhum took some time to kill the massive, beastly sporbie,
and after downing it, finished it off by spilling its entrails all over the
cave floor. Unfortunately, this made the floor rather slick. Still, he got to
chopping at the creeper while parrying its vine attacks. The men remained
stunned for most of the combat, but eventually, one came around and grabbed a
torch. He began trying to set the creeper ablaze while Durhum sliced away at
the largest mass of ivy. After a while, the vine still hadn't caught flame,
still being green and supple with the blood of its victims, so Durhum thought
hard. It came to him. His oil. He gave the man a bottle of oil to help ignite
the mass of vines, and it worked! The vine quivered and shook in the heat, and
the din of battle outside drew nearer.
Durhum continued hacking a maw-shaped tangle of ivy and
vines while the other two torchbearers came out of the spore-induced haze. He
gave each of them more oil and had them set about burning every bit of the
vine. Pretty soon the vine was ablaze, but sporbies were starting to lurching
toward the four of them and the battle raged at the cave's entrance. Durhum
launched himself into combat against the sporbies, cutting them down, one after
the other until he reached the cave mouth and what remained of John's militia.
He helped hold the line, and together they held the cave while the creeper
burned. After a few minutes, a loud rumbling thump echoed from the cave and the
torchbearers rushed out yelling, "it is done!" The sporbies faltered
and the villagers seized the opportunity to dispatch their foes. The creeper
was no more.
Afterward, the men gathered up all of the sporbies and
remaining bits of creeper in a great bonfire at the cave's mouth. They burned
everything so that it could no longer reproduce, and ocne that was done, they
traveled back to Ashby. There they slept before returning to Robston heroes.
The innkeeper extended an open invitation to Durhum to stay there free of
charge as long and as often as he desired. For now, Durhum is helping Father
Robert finally put in that second story floor at the Church of Saturn. What
adventures lie in wait for him he knows not, but Saturn will guide his way. He
always does.
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