Correl: An Element of Origin

[MarauderX]

Session 1 Interlude Continued:

"It's been some time since I have seen a fight, and I am a bit rusty," says Pyotr "so please let us know what to do and we will try our best." He looks each of you in the eye, searching for hope in your faces so that he can pass along your confidence to his family.
Taras, Pyotr's son-in-law, says "Should we start burning some torches for more light?"

Matvey, Pyotr's youngest son immediately starts running to the kitchen to fetch wood for the torches when Pyotr deflects the question to you, and at the same time asking how wise adding more fire would be at this point. The others speak up as well, putting in their own opinions on what they should do, and within a few moments every one of them is trying to talk over the other, interjecting what each thinks is the best thing to be done. Masha begins crying loudly again, which directs everyone's attention as what's best to be done for her.

A piercing howl fills the valley, and the chaos of raised voices stops abruptly. Everyone looks outward again and you can see the fear in their faces despite the darkness of the room. You need to have a plan, and soon.

 

[Cyronax]

A piercing howl fills the valley, and the chaos of raised voices stops abruptly. Everyone looks outward again and you can see the fear in their faces despite the darkness of the room. You need to have a plan, and soon.

"A plan....," Dian calmly meets the gaze of the estate's master, and says "First and most importantly: the fire must be put out. Do you have a well?"

"Once the fire is done, we must maintain our vigil on the outer defenses of this keep. At the very least we can see what's coming against us, and then fall back to where we are now. Waiting in this place though......I feel blind. The goblins will find us easy targets here Lord Pytor."

With that, Dian readies the crossbow he borrowed from Sir Tovas.

C.I.D.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 2


The party and homesteaders huddled together and listened to the discussion of putting out the fire that may eventually threaten the main building. With Alex leading some members of the homestead to help, the formed a crude line that passed several buckets of water to dump upon the burning gatehouse. Alex was spotted filling buckets from the river and a volley of rocks from the woods narrowly missed him.

Retreating to safety, Alex, Thovaas and the rest saw several goblins emerge from the woods along the path in order to fire more stones at any targets. Several attempts were made with rope to get water from the river, but was abandoned as a few more volleys of rocks clacked against the palisade. A new figure darted down the path and around the outside of the palisades before coming though the northern opening in the palisade. Dian and the others fired arrows into the darkness where the goblins had once stood. Thovaas questioned the small figure that was mounted on a large dog, who introduced himself as Jerrin and explained that he was hoping to warn the homesteaders before the goblins attacked. Eventually everyone retreated inside to watch the gatehouse fall toward the river and the fire burn out over the next hour.

Everyone worked ferverently to set up some defenses with remnants of the colapsed barn, bales of hay, spears, and some caltrops that Brathas had brought from Kargam. Suddenly the goblins' war drums and chanting stopped. A minute passed, then another, then after 10 minutes the goblins screamed as a group of Wolfskulls barreled down the path to cross the bridge and another group of Red-Blades broke out of the woods to cross the south clearing.

The Wolfskulls were struck by entangling branches and roots from the surrounding forest as Jerrin chuckled, but two mounted on wolves led another four on foot across the bridge. The Red-Blades streaked across the clearing while arrows rained down on them from the tower, and they took cover under the remains of the barn. Once there, they loaded their slings and began exchanging fire with the defenders on the tower and through the windows. Meanwhile, the Wolfskulls went straight for the wooden kitchen door and began hacking at it with axes. The two on wolves threw spears and throwing axes that managed to connect with Pyotr. With a combined effort, the Wolfskulls were dropped before breaking through the door, and many of the Red-Blades were slain before making it back to the cover of the woods.

An hour later silence descended again, but no attack came. Goblin snipers lobbed stones at the windows and tower from the cover of the near woods, but did not connect with any of the defenders. At about midnight, a black mass flowed out above the treetops and started towards the homestead. The closer it got, the larger it looked, and just before it hit the defenders could discern that it was bats, many, many bats. Among the swarms were two giant bats that each led a swarm a different way. One group went to the top of the tower and attacked Brathas, Darya and Thovaas while the other went inside through the windows on the second floor. Aerial calmed the swarm to sleep while the rest of the inhabitants teamed up on the large bat that now flapped about the second floor of the main hall. At the top of the tower, Brathas and Darya fled to the safety of the spiral staircase, leaving Thovaas to deal with the swarm and the giant bat that were attacking him. Once he fell, the giant bat and swarm descended to enter the homestead through the second floor windows to attack the homesteaders that had just killed the first giant bat. Several fell to the swarm, and the large bat kept many of them busy as many rushed to aid Thovaas. Alex opened the door to the stairway on the second floor and attacked the swarm, only to have the swarm of bats ooze into the stairwell and attack them. With several pounding blows, the swarm was descimated and Jerrin managed to bring down the second giant bat with a deft throw of a dagger.

Without pausing, many of the homesteaders began keeping watch immediately to see if any goblins were charging, but luckily none came. Healing was given out to bring everyone back to conciousness but now there was none left. And it was only about 1:00 AM, with more than 5 hours left until sunrise.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 3

As the party huddles in their respective positions, it is not hard to battle sleep knowing that the goblins are still out there in the night, hidden by the darkness of the woods.

A woman's muffled screams are heard over the bridge, and soon a figure can be seen to be dragged around across the path to the bridge. She is wearing a blue dress, and can be heard clearly over the drums and chanting. Darya streaks down the tower steps to Pyotr, insisting the screams are those of Grisha, her cousin from the Cherkass homestead. Darya says that only Grisha wears a blue dress like that, and it must be her. Taras says they can't be certain, but would be willing to cover anyone should they wish to investigate.

Two of the party members manage to sneak out of the homestead, and begin looking for clues as to who is wearing the blue dress. Just as they make it to the river, Thovaas sees movement out of the corner of his eye. From his vantage point in the tower, he spots a group of stealthy goblins crossing the east clearing towards the homestead. He immediately yells an alert, which brings everyone's attention whirling around to face the new threat.

The sly Red-Blade goblins run straight for the east side of the homestead as arrows begin descending on them. A wolf howl pierces the air from across the river, and soon enough a squad of Wolfskull goblins begins to make its way to the bridge. Once the Red-blades reach the east wall of the homestead, they begin emptying skins full of oil and a few throw oil-filled gourds at the windows on the second floor. More missle fire is launched into the Red-Blade goblin ranks as they empty more oil onto the homestead wall and ground next to it.

Dian manages to climb up the other side of the palisade from the goblins and jumps from the top of the palisade through the second floor window just as a goblin throwing axe zips by him. Thovaas sinks another arrow into the large goblin barking orders at the others as Jerrin throws a torch out of the window to start an eventual fire prematurely.

The Red-blades step back from the oil-soaked area and a few of them toss a type of clay pot at the second floor, again missing the windows. The fire spreads down the outer walls of the east wall, and soon the whole wall is engulfed in flame and thin smoke. Brathas drops to his knees, then slumps to the floor of the balcony as he clutches his chest where a dagger had pierced his lung. More and more missle fire hails down on the Red-blades, and seeing that they have accomplished what they set out to do, the goblins retreat back to the darkness of the woods.

Meanwhile, the Wolfskulls had cross the bridge and begin hacking at the kitchen door again, and one of the wolves and it's rider are dropped by the defenders above the door with help from the snipers in the tower. Aerial falls in the far room on the second floor as one of the goblin's sling stones connected with her head. The door eventually gives way, and the furniture stacked behind it gives way as the other wolf rider urges his mount through the doorway. Stellios, who had been bracing the door with is single arm, is buried beneath the door and stacked furniture. On the other side, Jerrin and his mount were waiting to meet the remaining attackers. The wolf was felled before long, and the rider was dropped by Jerrin's dagger.

The fire raged on the outside of the east wall, but already it was getting warmer on the inside despite the cool night. Smoke was beginning to gather, and the defenders began to organize a fire line once the goblin threats were gone. Alex immediately began by bringing buckets and dumping them out the windows down the wall as Thovaas used soaked blankets to subdue the leaping flames. Pyotr, Dian, and Taras had to sit down for a while as smoke had overwealmed them briefly. Many bucket fulls of water later, the fire was merely sizzling and the defenders went back to their keeping vigil on the clearings around them.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 3 Continued

The moon began sinking towards the treetop horizon when again the defenders heard what sounded like woman's screams. Darya cried out in anguish as it was clear now that the woman-like screams were incoherant and were probably made by a goblin shreiking in falsetto. It left Darya visibly shaken, and Pyotr could not quiet her sobs for another hour.

The party began to rotate sleeping so they could at least get a few hours before daybreak. More sling stone cracked and clattered against the building, and the drumming stopped and resumed occassionally.

The moon had dropped out of sight, and now the clearings were the darkest they had been all night. Before long it would grow lighter as dawn approached. Alex woke up Dian and the others as they had suspected something might happen in the final hours of the night.

The drums fell quiet now for more than half an hour, and the chanting had grown weaker. Perhaps the goblins' spirit for a fight had broken and they decided to go home. Those thoughts were flushed away. The defenders watched wide-eyed as a large pack of goblins emerged from the forest to the east. Two large goblins led the way, followed by nearly a score of goblins. A cry went up from the tower, and the defenders noticed a second group of goblins pouring forth from the north forest.

The Red-blade goblins to the east ran across the open ground as more arrows fell on them, and the defenders could make out something they were carrying. "Ladders! Ladders to the east!" Pyotr cried out, and loosed another arrow at them. To the north, the defenders in the towers concentrated their fire on a prominent goblin with a red cape, a large red battle axe and a red and gold circlet on top of it's head.

The ladders were propped up by the Red-blades to the east, and the leaders there urged the goblins up the ladders to climb through the windows. They were met their by a row of defenders on the balcony. Alex and Thovaas struck down goblin after goblin that came up one of the ladders as Pyotr held off attackers from another. The cleric of Pelor fell after repeated blows, and soon goblins began hopping onto the balcony from the ladders.

The goblin leader to the north blurted out some directions while pointing at the newly rigged kitchen door before he ducked for cover from the archers on the tower. The other Red-blades from the north went straight to the door and brought it down. Once the way was clear, they piled into the kitchen and storage room, then the goblin leader sprinted across the open courtyard to the cover of the kitchen doorway. Taras had called out what had happened, and he, Alfana, and Irina ran to the balcony to await them coming into the great hall. As Pyotr and the others were tied up with their backs to the great hall, the defenders saw the need to prevent them from climbing the stairs.

Instead, the goblin leader toppled over the great hall dining table and pointed at the tapestries that hung on the wall of the great hall, giving out orders to take them down. Arrows came down on the goblin intruders from Argan, Taras and others, but still they managed to grab the tapestries. Pyotr and Darya struggled with the goblins on the ladders, but were assisted by Dian, Alex, Jerrin and Thovaas. Seeing their predicament, the goblin lord directed his troops to ascend the stairs to try to down the weakened defenders. Jerrin wisely spotted the maneuver and his companion Tempest ran to counter, tearing open the throat of the large goblin.

Seeing this, the goblin leader pushed his minions to leave the building with the tapestries while they still could. The defenders were still resisting the goblin attack via the ladders, and the goblin lord managed to escape across the open field. One of the goblins also had a tapestry, as Argan and the others had managed to bring down the other tapestry-carrying goblins.

Recognizing that a majority of their force had been lost the rest of the Red-blades from the east dropped their weapons and ran for the cover of the forest.

 

[MarauderX]

Post Session 3

Pyotr looks around the homestead in the dim morning light. You watch as his eyes slowly gather in the destruction that was wrought during the night, and all of the defenders look to him after gathering in the great hall. His mother, Kuzma, swaggers over to him and wipes away dried blood from Pyotr's face. She smiles and hugs him, knowing that no one else in their family has died this night. He hugs her back, and tears of relief and joy stream down from their faces.

His watery eyes show some joy once again, and embarrassed he says "Well, stop staring at my ugly mug, we have some work to do."

He directs his family of homesteaders to begin clearing away the goblin bodies, rebuilding a temporary kitchen door, binding and relocating the wounded, and picking up all of the supplies and weapons strewn about the building and courtyards.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 4

Taras sets about the work with a renewed fervor as everyone's survival through the night made him all the more anxious to hunt down the rest of the goblins. His wife ties his long hair back into a ponytail while he scraps mud from his boots. "We should go now," Taras says, "while it is light. The goblins will be scared, and with any luck will panic at the sight of us. We could have all of the horses back by nightfall."
Pyotr and the others gather around and discuss the merrits of retrieving the horses now as opposed to waiting a day or more until everyone is well to chase the horse thieves. Feeling up for the task, Thovaas, Alex, Jerrin and Dian join Taras in following the trail of the horses. They leave at nearly 8 a.m. riding mounts, and Taras hopes they will be able to locate them before mid-afternoon.
Argan, though he wishes to aid them with his skills, knows he should stay to defend the homestead should any goblins return before the others.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 4 Continued

The morning passes and the sun chases the dew from the new spring leaves of the forest. Eating rations on horseback, they sees signs that the horses had passed this way - white tufts of horsehair mark some of the tree branches that close in on the path. Soon they come across a nearby clearing, but something is eeriely wrong from what they could see so far. A large body of something lies along their path towards the entrance to the clearing.

Cautiously approaching, Alex and Dian scan the grisly scene before them. More than a dozen horses were slain, and nearly a score of goblin bodies were interspersed with them. Most of the dead goblins had the curved markings of the Viper clan; a few others could be identified as Wolfskulls. An obese Viper goblin was hung upside-down by his feet from a large tree in the clearing. Clearly a gruesome battle had been fought here, and just recently, as the goblin blood had not had the chance to soak into the soil beneath their feet.

While taking stock of the bodies, the group stirred up a pack of giant beetles that scurried to attack, evidently preferring live meat to dead! As they attacked, a lone female goblin leaped from the tree in an attempt to escape, and tried to take one of the horses with her. The beetles' carapice protected them well from many of the piercing blows, but eventually they were out-flanked and out-gunned as the party brought them down. Thovaas suffered a grievous blow that kept him down, but soon he was healed and able to question their new prisoner - the female goblin.

Deciding not to push their luck, the party convinced Taras to turn back to the homestead to heal their wounds and renew their pursuit the next day. They easily guided their wounded horses slowly along the path back to the homestead before nightfall.

 

[MarauderX]

Session 4 Continued

The party saddled up fresh horses and were on their way even earlier the next morning. They reached the body-strewn clearing and crossed through it without a word as crows pecked at the carrion.
The group guided their horses through narrower, less-used paths until they saw a weathered sign, with fresh lettering hastily applied, reading:

Madam L. Fyodorll

Equine . Entrepreneur

Dealer in Fine Horses

In a larger clearing three broken-down covered wagons could be seen at the edge of a hastily errected fence. Within the fence were horses, and many of them were white.

Dian and Alex went ahead to greet the Entrepeneaur, and soon she emerged from the middle wagon to greet them. With much fanfare she guides Dian to the horses as Alex made his way back to the others. After Alex told the others what lay ahead, they proceeded forward to see for themselves.
Soon Madam Fyodorll greeted the others, and hastily Taras got to the point of reclaiming the horses, a point that Dian and Alex had danced around earlier.

Backing him up, Thovaas and Jerrin shot questions at her, and managed to extract that she had indeed bought the horses from the goblins as they had suspected. She also said she paid dearly for them - 50 gold each - and that she had suspected they were stolen but under the circumstances had no other choice. Madam Fyodorll is also adamant about not letting the horses go unless she gets paid for them - and she would be willing to sell them to the party at the same price she said she bought them for - 50 gold pieces each.

Taras's face was red with anger now, as he refused to pay anything for them, especially "not to some brigands living in the wild, probably to escape punishment for whatever crimes they have commited!"

The moment is tense and all is balanced on the edge of a knife...

 

[MarauderX]

Session 5

The moment lasted forever as they squared off in the deep of the afternoon. Then everything seemed to happen at once - Thovaas swung his sword in a wide arc over one brigand's head; Alex and Jerrin shouted directions to Taras; Marvey pulled a knife on Dian; Dian lashed out at Marvey; two brigands struck Thovaas with bolts; Fyodorll backed behind the blanketed front of her wagon; and Taras disappeared after Fyodorll.

Rustling and a voice could be heard in the near woods by everyone, and the battle was joined. Alex went into Fyodorll's wagon only to be shoved straight back out by Taras, who was now demanding the woman's safety. Thovaas dismounted and traded attacks with the brigands. Marvey took a blow to the chest from Dian before Dian went toward the center of the battle. Before long two of the brigands were dropped and the third retreated behind Fyodorll, who was seen running through the pasture away from the battle.

Dian gave chase to Fyodorll immediately. Thovaas followed, as he saw the remaining two brigands follow them into the woods. Dian caught up to Fyodorll, who seemed to have trouble navigating the woods with her crimson and burgandy cloak. After Dian gave her several chances to surrender, Fyodorll threatened him and struck at him with a cheaply decorated knife. Dian quickly batted her weapon from her hand, only to have her unexpectedly leap at him. With a swift elbow to the side of his head, Dian went unconcious. However, Thovaas hovered over her and stomped on her shoulder, demanding her surrender. Still refusing, Thovaas subdued her with a stike to the head with the flat of his blade.

Alex had intercepted Marvey as he was attempting to help Fyodorll and they swung at each other wildly in the forest brush. Upon seeing Fyodorll drop, Marvey ran deeper into the forest to escape.

*****

Taras continued inspecting the horses as the others questioned their new prisoners and rooted through their belongings. They found a small chest with about 300 gold pieces inside, and the lock was loose after having been broken already. Several silken scarves were found and packed away by Dian. Dian also took interest in a worn book of herbal tea mixtures and the loose pages of a would-be spell book of Fyodorll's. Thovaas packed two hand crossbows with him.

Then the group turned to the other prisoner they had captured. It was decided that the goblin female that Thovaas had been overseeing, whose name they learned is Veega, was to be set free. She stared at them after her bonds were cut and she was handed rations and a gold piece, afraid at first it was a trick. Deciding to ignore her, they instead focused on preparing to travel back to Sukyskin as soon as they could. After a few minutes Thovaas turned back toward Veega to see that she was no longer there.

Guiding the horses back to the homestead was relatively easy with Taras helping to keep the line moving. As he was once very protective of Fyodorll by enchantment, he had become indifferent to her instead, and was glad to have the remaining horses on their way home.

*****

Upon arriving back at Sukyskin, the group saw some new faces that had arrived during the day while they were gone. Gregor, Yuri, Grisha & Grishal had arrived from the lumber camp Ilyakana that had been attacked the night before Sukyskin had been seiged. After the horses were taken care of, Pyotr checks over his son Taras with Misha to make sure there were no lingering enchantments still affecting his mind.

Pyotr again thanks the group and invites them inside to hear of the prisoners and the recovery of the horses. He tells the party that the elven woman had left soon after they did to inform their elven clan the horses were no longer available. Now he would have to send Taras to either catch up with her or to re-establish the deal with the original buyer. After the party tells of everything that happened Pyotr grimly asks after any sign of his brother Stephan.

Gregor tells a familiar story of the attacks at Ilyakana. Three goblin clans attacked at dusk, setting fire to the palisade and overrunning the camp. Gregor and his companions escaped, and he says Rollof and his troops of teenagers were probably killed as they didn't meet up with them outside of the camp before leaving to go to Sukyskin.

Everyone separates at around midnight, and Thovaas and Pyotr check on the prisoners in their make-shift cell when they hear of a newcomer that had arrived. Climbing the stair, you get a glimpse in the moonlight of a tall standing man in thick green garb. Pyotr greets him and the man says his name is Golthar. Almost imperceptible behind Golthar is a halfling, though he is much thinner than Jerrin and not as tall.

"If you would be so kind, I am only stopping through as I continue my journey. A drink, and perhaps a place to rest for the remainder of the evening would be most kind of you."

Inspecting him closer in the torchlight, you see he has what might be arcane or even paganistic runic symbols ascending vertically in two strips of his fine robes. Thovaas noticeably recoils, and Golthar immediately explains that he is part of a rising group called the Order of Sindacalista, devoted to all of the gods of good. Pyotr invites the smiling man inside and shares a drink of warm tea with him before retiring for the night.