Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 1370370" data-attributes="member: 3649">Episode 9: Into the Sharp EndThe party consists of…Vorz, male Litorian Totem Warrior (Wolf)1/Litorian3Sellik, male Verrik Mage Blade2, Verrick 1Kyran, female Verrik Iron Witch2/Mage Blade1Mont Nuyen, male Human Unbound Unfettered4Alayah, female Loresong Faen Greenbond4Na-Vilarus, male Giant Giant1, Champion of Magic1 Rizz, male kobold Expert2Thirdmonth 24As the month fades into shadow, the travelers move on from the ruins of the mercenary encampment. They follow the trail of The Crimson One for a time, then assured that she will in fact outpace their slower progress, they return to spend the night in one of the unburned mercenary shelters. Setting out the next day, the party has a pleasant trek through the wilderness, seeing nothing but normal game animals. The land begins to rise and break as they proceed on, and near the end of the day they find a place to camp. Nothing disturbs their sleep and the next day they move quietly down the road as it twists and begins to make more detours around the increasingly hilly terrain. As the sun sets on the 24th, they come up to an escarpment where the trail switches back several times as it climbs to the top. At the top of this huge drop-off they find a ready-made camping spot with a large family already in attendance. They signal the camp and join with them. The travelers are simple farm folk and woodsmen, an extended family that  according to the elder is moving to the area outside Runestone; they tell a tale of the Count’s guards taking not only their normal taxes but all their stores as well. “Now, we have little to plant with for the spring, since they have taken the seed and fodder both.”Disturbed by this news, Mont circulates among the farmer folk for the rest of the night, chatting with them in small groups or alone, doing chores beside them, tending to the latrine and picket line.. all so he can hear more about what lies ahead of them on the road. In talking with the elder, one disturbing thing comes to light. Mont and the others of course tell the family of the dangers they have faced on the road, and this causes great concern. In describing the men who served with the hobgoblins, a very strange thing is found out: the warmain with them was the captain of the regional defenses of this area. Now assuming that any secrets or hidden ways are known, the causes a great deal of unrest. Who else could have turned traitor for promises of gold and power?The evening meal is simple but there is plenty of it, and the woodsmen share freely what they have with the adventurers. The swords and armor of course fascinate the children, and the others are grateful for the healing done by Alayah. They all set watches, including the farmers, who have two boys with bows up in the trees to keep watch. The night is tense, but it passes uneventfully. The adventurers gift the farmers with gold and silver, and Mont draws up an excellent but fake document that declares the family has the right to settle in one of the abandoned plots outside Runestone. Packing up and traveling on, they make for the indicated nearest place of civilization: a small place called Littlethorp. They pass the great stone that indicates they have come into the lands controlled by the Count of Wealstone. On the way there, they are ambushed by a pack of displacer beasts after the horse picket; these are rare animals that do not normally come down out of the mountains, but here they are, roaming the highland hills. There is a terrible fight as the party tries to cope with the powerful monsters; half the party falls to their claws and tentacle-whips before Mont spurs the wagon-horses and crushes one beast to death beneath the wheels of the cart. One flees at the sight, leaving only the alpha male, who is killed after a long battle. Torn and wounded, the party holes up in a fortified camp, not daring to move some of the wounded until they can be more thoroughly healed. Alayah and others find a number of rare herbs indicated on the sheet Iaska gave her.Thirdmonth 27After healing the rest of the group, the adventurers once more return to the road and their trek to Littlethorp. In the early morning, they see plumes of smoke, and make haste to find they are overlooking a small vale, where two farmhouses are well-involved in flame. Bodies of people and animals can be seen scattered about the nearest one, and they start looking for a way to go down into the vale. Before they can, though, they meet what has done this: a patrol of ettins, with hell hound coursers. They kill the ettins and their dogs, then hasten down to the farms. Only a small handful can be saved, and the scene is one of total savage carnage, a testament to the brutality of the mountain-dwelling humanoids. The only two that can be saved are an old man and a young man, who were purposefully crippled so that they could do nothing to save the women and children who writhed and died on the impaling staves planted in the front lawns. A small patrol from Littlethorp arrives, and one guardsman has to be physically restrained, he is so overcome with grief and rage.The party hastens to the thorp, where they give out the arms and armor they’re carrying in their wagon to bolster the local defenses. Riders and pigeons are sent to warn the other hamlets scattered along the broad vale, and to the Baron’s fortified town of Whitebridge. Mont climbs one of the huge lodgepole pines in the area, and sees smoke about six miles distant; they find that is the only other bridge in the area, so the party leaves behind the wagon and races along with a small detachment of militia to head off this attack.Arriving at the bridge, which is held secure by two wooden towers, they find the towers on fire and all of the guards there dead. They also confront a group of foes that at last makes everything clear: a troop of goblins, a small number of armored bugbears bearing the Three Arrows sign, a tall armored warrior and a terrible manticore controlled by a goblin rider. Now they see how the groups have been welded into a cohesive force by some unknown power. The manticore proves a terrible foe, destroying the ranks of the militia with its tail spikes, killing all but two. The young man that had to be restrained back at the farms has managed to keep up with the party all the way, and so he’s in on the fray as the groups collide. Using cover and good tactics, the group takes care of the humanoids in short order, while the manticore continues to ravage the battlefield from land and air until it’s out of tail spikes. Then it closes with its powerful claws and teeth. Vorz and Mont move to fight the armored warrior, who swiftly proves to be utterly inhuman. Vorz and the thing duel with their giant greatswords while few others dare get near the swirling storm of metal. Kyren casts a spell and makes the thing drop the tremendous greatsword it’s wielding, so it returns to the claws and teeth that have served it well before, rather than risk retrieving the weapon. It’s helmet is ripped off, revealing it to be nothing less than a full troll Warmain. After a terrible battle, the party stands victorious; of the others that came with them, only one other is savable. The young human that accompanied them miraculously has taken not even an arrow wound. The group puts out the fires, and secures the bridge until the militia can do so, then they make haste for the walled town of Whitebridge and Baron Cort. Cort is sorely pressed when he hears this news, and promptly dispatches his messengers and stewards across his small realm, as well as sending word to the Count in Wealstone. Confirmation of these things only deepens the man’s mood. He’s out with the rest of the patrols, and takes up residence in camp with the rest of the soldiers; no man to stay on his padded chair, this baron. The group breaks apart and deals with various activities in the area, helping where they can. They also meet with the Baron and his greenbond healer Cellman. They tell of the Crimson One and find she is known in this area; she was a mind witch who created a coalition of warlords about 20 years ago in an attempt to control the Spice Road, the source of much wealth. She was defeated in battle, and assumed either dead or driven off. That night, Alayah is up talking with the faen scouts, who ride on giant eagles to carry messages near and far, and also scout out the position of enemies. She goes riding with one, and she spots a strange creature land near the river, at the outer edge of the patrol range. Returning to the keep, Cellman says he thinks it is a terrble creature called a dragonne, though they are known to be secretive creatures who mainly want to be left alone. They are greedy, though,  and if it were offered enough gold, it might join with the Crimson One’s forces. The Baron decides to hopefully offer it a better bribe rather than see such a terrible  beast take to the field on the side of his enemy and designates the adventurers to deliver said bribe. Setting out for the place Alayah saw the thing land, they find another unexpected and unpleasant surprise. Smelling the scent of death puts Vorz on alert, so the best sneaks in the group move up under cover of night and underbrush to see what’s going on. They find a small group of grim warriors, who talk in odd whispery gravelly voices, discussing what they will do in the keep once they take it. Tonight is the dark of the moon, an auspicious time for betrayal and murder. The adventurers attack and soon discover the armed and armored foes are powerful undead warriors wakened from a century-long sleep of death. There is a terribly long fight in which many are overcome, but finally the mummies are destroyed. The group finds the passes and surcoats that would have let the mummies impersonate a returning group of scouts, and thus gained access to the baronial halls where they surely would have slaughtered all and taken the keep for the enemy. Cellman bids them lie down so he can heal their wounds and also remove the horrible rotting curse the creature inflict upon all.</blockquote>

Verification