Wings, Nails and Flames

Godsday, the 13th of Terullius.
The party settle down in their rented barn to sleep, taking guard through the night. At some time around 5am they are attacked. The barn is set on fire, and the whole interior of the barn is suddenly webbed in thick, sticky strands. Arrows start firing through the barn door. A torch is thrown in from outside and the web catches fire and begins to burn away. Xavier's web is set on fire and he is freed, albeit with minor burns. He runs outside and is caught in the headlights of a charging minotaur which drops him. Thorhal picks up his spear and charges the beast, damaging it. It roars and strikes him several times violently, dropping him also. Laen is stuck at the back of the barn with the angel and does his best to shoot arrows through the thick webbing which covers the room. The angel wades through the web and eventually makes it to the front. He picks up a pitchfork and attacks the minotaur, finishing what Thorhal started. By now the barn is throughly on fire, and the animals are panicking. Most of the web has burnt away. The angel heals Xavier, who was bleeding through several brand new orifices, back to full health and vitality. The standing five archers flee and the magician casts a spell and vanishes. Hariel heals Thorhal next, and they begin to search for the others. A spell is cast and the minotaur disappears. Hariel and Thorhal attack the space where the minotaur was laying, and a squishy crunch is heard beneath Hariel's pitchfork.

The farmer, Frank, and his wife come out and demand to know what is happening. He threatens legal action and demands payment for his barn. They try to console him, but he is inconsolable. His son rides to Nezer and summons some authorities. Questions are asked, statements are taken, and 100gp is accepted as bail.

The party leave grumpily and head for Gassell. Hariel uses some magic to cloak himself as a normal human and they seek out Father Campbell at the Church of Angenus. It is quickly ilucidated to Father Campbell that the angel is real and in need of powerful healing. He informs his superiors.

That evening a grand ceremony is planned. It is conducted in secret, and only the highest of the church's ranks are in attendance. The party are invited as a secondthought, and as a gesture of thanks. The church's abbot, Father Godain, stands dressed in his finest robes and casts the spell. The angel's wings regrow to the astonishment of the onlookers. Laen remembers he still has the nails he collected from the crucifix and asks Father Campbell about them. After some deliberation, Godain explains that they are Bamon's Lodestone, a material which acts as a sink-hole for divine power. It was because of these nails that Hariel could be held for such a long time. Laen is given his choice of a bow in return for the nails, which will be forged into manacles for particularly evil clerics. Laen chooses an enchanted bow which freezes the arrows it shoots.

Earthday, the 14th of Terullius.
An assault party is assembled. A handfull of knigts Lonusso backed by some clergy from the church, Hariel the angel, and the party themselves. They depart once more up the valley, crossing over into Mab, and high into the hills. Their quarry lies somewhere near the old ruined church. It is anticipated to be quite a battle.


GM's Notes:

• Obstacles overcome:
  Minotaur CR4 => 1200@lvl4 /4 = 300XP, 1000@lvl5 / 4 = 250XP
  5 mysterious archers CR1 => 1500XP / 4 = 350XP
  mysterious spellcaster CR5 => 1600 @lvl4 /4 = 400XP, 1500@lvl5 /4 = 350XP
  
  Xavier = 9262XP + 300 + 350 + 400 = 10312 (6% to level 6, new level!)
  Laén = 10462XP + 250 + 350 + 350 = 11412 (28% to level 6)
  Þórhal = 9200XP + 300 + 350 + 400 = 10250 (5% to level 6, new level!)
  Grymdoin = 4300XP (43% to level 4)
  
  
• New and improved hit-points system:
  One thing which vexes me greatly about DnD are the hitpoint rolls. If you take the possibility that a wizard can roll higher on his hitpoints than a barbarian, and mix in a bit of Murphy's Law, you inevitaly end up with wizards which have more hitpoints than the front-line fighters which protect them. It's happened. I've seen it. I've experienced. It hurts.
  SO, having the great and almighty position of GM I will introduce my very first house-rule. It states thus: "When rolling thy hit point roll, roll twice and take the average, and round toward the average." Ha! Take that murphy, you bastard!