The Keep on the Borderlands 2025 - Session 4 Run Away to Reunion

Welcome to Episode 4, Run Away to Reunion. 

Here is your weekly link to DriveThruRPG's page for Keep on the Borderland. If you click this link, I may receive remuneration for this. While I am at it, the Keep was revisited for AD&D, Second Edition. 

Let's check in with the parties. Rety leads her two Knights to the eastern edge of the valley, so they can select a cave to explore. The A Team is at the top of the western side of the Valley. 

In the meantime, the A Team has spotted them from their hilltop vantage point and decided to go down and attempt a meeting with the Knights. Remember, the A Team has not recognized any of these people due to the distance. They have forgotten to use their Eyes of the Eagle. They used the Ropes of Climbing on the rougher portions of the climb and descended to an area just south of cave G.

During the descent, both teams sighted each other a few times, but once the A team reached the valley floor, there were too many trees in the way. Rety and the Knights hold their position. The A Team took a moment to get out their weapons before marching east. 

On the map below, the A Team starts in the green circle while Rety's B Team is in the purple circle. The map looks large, but when people are sprinting, it's very small. I've been calling this a valley, but it's not that big. 

Round One, the set up. Pavel the Ranger and Belaphon the Mage were wearing leather armor and robes, respectively. They both move at the same speed, 120' a round, while everyone else moves 90' due to their heavier chainmail. Belaphon heard something from cave G and moved to 2. M. Pavel moved to cover him. A shadow moved to the mouth of the cave, but everyone waited for whatever to emerge. 

Sorry about starting everyone at point 2. It was an oddity that everyone moved in round one but didn't move in round 2. 

Round 2, the excitement begins! An owlbear appeared from the mouth of the cave. If the Rule of Funny were in effect, instead of shrieking, the owlbear would parroted: "Run Away! Run Away!" The party gets ready to run as the owlbear looks over the menu. 

Round 3. The party won initiative and runs for it. In three different directions. The Ranger moved to 3. R, while the Magic User bolted to 3. M. Everyone else moved to 3. E. The Knights heard the shriek. They readied their spears and dropped their visors. The owlbear loped in a zig-zag course after the Magic User. Belaphon was just as fast as the owlbear and managed to stay just ahead of it. The others watched in horror as the owlbear raced after him. 

Round 4. As Belaphon approached cave A, the kobolds popped out of the trees. This causes the Knights to swing away from them. Belaphon uses the distraction to put a magic missile into the owlbear, reducing it to 26 hp. Pavel fired an arrow as the others caught up with him. The owlbear was struck for 6 more points of damage and turns on Pavel. 

Due to all of the running and lack of combat, I was playing fast and loose with allowing movement and shooting. All of this is technically feasible, but there should probably be an extra round inserted here. 

Round 5. The Owlbear swung in a circle, dodging through the trees and kobolds with Belaphon in hot pursuit. Pavel went down under a flurry of blows. He was down to 6 hp, even with his magic armor absorbing damage. The owlbear avoided the furious response from the rest of the party. 

In round 6, things go from bad to worse. Pavel is down with -2 hp. The party rallied to his defense. Slammer struck for 7 points of damage, while everyone else missed. Belaphon readied his last spell. 

This round, the owlbear won initiative. Pavel was killed by a bite to the head, while Dunkin the Half Elf and Solvo the Elf were struck for 5 hp each. The A Team saw Punch and Lefty explode from the trees, spears leveled and pulled back to make room for their attack run. The Knights did a total of 12 points of damage, while the magic missile did 3 points. The owlbear has just 5 hp left. Slammer attempted to pull Pavel's body away and failed. 

Round 8, the party manages to win initiative. Lefty and Punch need to wheel around and come back. Slammer and Dunkin finish the beast off. Rety finally reached the battle, too late to help. 

But not too late to take charge. She decided they needed to move Pavel's body to a horse and bring him back to camp. She wanted a second opinion* from her Cleric. 

*As an aside, Rety is expressing hopes and a little superiority, instead of actually knowing something special. A second Cleric isn't going to do any better. I allow for this all the time with NPCs and player characters. No one can be 100% sure of anything in a fantasy setting. It also keeps your options open as DM. 

As the party attended to Pavel's body, the kobolds returned in force. The 8 from the trees and the 6 from the guardroom ambushed the party. It was a brutal fight with lots of targets. 

I won't run through another chaotic battle, but the party switched to missile weapons as the Knights slashed through the enemy forces. Only 3 kobolds survived to run away. 

Horse-mounted knights plus missile fire is deadly. But not quick. Dorian, Duskin, and Solvo went down along with Punch's horse. Belaphon used the party's healing potions, but it was too little to save Duskin. 

With heavy hearts, they retreated to Rety's camp.