Drake's Perch: A Badger's Eye View

One of the Badger crew advances towards an overgrown temple, searching for treasure

I asked my players to write up their account of the first battle, since with two games going on, there was no way I could keep track of everything. Here's the first of these accounts, written by Andy Swingle, who is playing the Badger Crew.

Four of the Badger Crew -- Khlargan at right, and his Warden Misotan (with badger familiar) at bottom left

Heritor Khlargan led the cete he assembled from the ship towards the ruins that he heard held treasure. Misotan the Warden and good friend chose to follow also, using what magic he could on the journey. He chose a few good badgers from the crew to help lug any treasure found and help with any fighting that might happen: Wheadon, a wiry badger, was an excellent swimmer; Tornal, a stout badger with a large two-handed axe; Lidmere, a bodyguard his father had sent with him on the expedition, wore mail and carried a shield and a good sword.

The Warden Misotan and Tornal prowl through the junble in search of treasures

The cete arrived at the outskirts of the ruins. Khlargan pointed at the nearest building and ordered Wheadon into it to investigate, while the rest of them traveled deeper into the complex. Quickly, Wheadon and Lidmere found treasures. And Tornal also found a very large treasure. Khlargan was very pleased with the ease at finding so much treasure. His happiness was interrupted by a screech. He looked up and saw a good-sized creature flying towards the cete. Quickly, he ran towards it with his two-handed mace. His initial swing connected doing some damage. He channeled his Heritor powers with a bit of pain and tore deeper into the creature. The creature clawed at him drawing some blood. The next swing Khlargan was able to connect disemboweled the creature. In the back of his mind, he remembered this type of creature was called a Drake. 

Khlargan battles the Copper Drake which swooped in to attack his crew

Looking around, he saw Tornal and Wheadon each carrying a chest into the jungle towards their regrouping spot. Misotan cast one of his spells in a gap, creating a mist, then cast his healing magic on Khlargan, healing some of his wounds. Through the mist, he could barely make out humanoid creatures moving in the distance. Tornal was dragging the large chest towards the jungle line when he was struck down by a single arrow! Misotan quickly grab the treasure and started heading back to Khlargan.

Tornal carrying the large, silvery Buddha treasure cask just before he is struck down by a Raccoon arrow

 A even louder bellow came from out of the jungle and a thundering of heavy hooves. A large leathery cow-type creature with gray skin burst out of the jungle alongside. Shortly afterwards, soaring over the treetops, a very strange-looking bird/cat beast! Khlargan was later told by Misotan these were called a hippopotamus and a hippogryph. Khlargan quickly positioned himself between the beasts and his friend, Misotan. It was going to be a tough fight, but with Misotan's healing, perhaps he might prevail. Suddenly, their was a agonizing pain in his side. He looked down to see an arrow. He saw some creatures off in the distance with bandit-like fur markings, and one had a bow. 

While Khlargan battles the Hippogryph, Misotan and his familiar try to fend off a hippopotamus

He then hear a cry from Misotan. He glanced back to see a hedge had sprouted where it had not been before, hindering possibility of escape. Being a badger, anger and rage filled him with this turn of events. The hippogryph was upon him, though. His first swing connected, but did not cause a lot of damage. So, he tried to channel his powers to do more damage. The pain was too intense, though, and caused him even more harm. He felt a soothing of the pain, and realized Misotan was healing him. To his dismay, the hippo ran by him straight towards his friend, the Warden. Klargan got another blow in on the hippogryph, doing a solid wound. But Khlargan over-extended himself and was knocked unconscious by a swipe of the beast's lion-like paw.

The Badger Crew was beset by attacks from three creatures, plus sniping by Raccoon archers

Khlargan awoke back on the ship in his quarters. His wounds still sore, but better than they were. Misotan filled him in at what happened after he was knocked unconscious. While Misotan was beset by the hippo, a strange mouse-man had tried to his aid. He was on the other side of hedge, though, and was eventually knocked out by the hippo. He awoke a short time later, forsaking the treasure, and dragged Khlargan back into the jungle to our base camp. 

Surprisingly, Tornal also survived his arrow wound. He awoke to a terrible pain in his leg, but hobbled back to the base camp. The expedition was not a total failure, though. Lidmere came into his quarters with a smile and handed him a finely-made, two-handed mace that he found to use on the next expedition. Wheadon gave Misotan a well-made dagger that he had found, to help him better defend himself. Khlargan still got angry at the thought of the arrow sticking out of his side and seeing the raccoon-like humanoids that did it. And the hedges! A badger always repays the favor.

Till the next expedition...