from the journals of Rowan, Druid of Eaglesford
June 13th: Recouping at the Goblin Camp
Morning came with a soaking rain. We continued our search of the soggy goblin camp. The livestock were gone. In searching the area more thoroughly, we discovered the goblins had buried something. We dug up three chests of coins. 519 coppers, 683 silver, and 243 gold.
Tieran did some magic detecting and found that we had two potions of some sort. (A minor transmutation magic, and a minor conjuration magic). We also found that we had some masterwork weapons and armor. (further details on party treasure listing)
We spent the day resting and trying to stay dry.
Watches were the same as the night before. Night passed uneventfully.
June 14th: Walking through the Woods
We began walking and saw a brown bear. I calmed it with a spell after failing to do so with natural skill. I’m pretty proud of myself; that bear could have caused us serious trouble, even for Riva!
We came to a river, which seemed to be very wrong; there was no river that we should cross, given where we were on our map. We decided that we might be lost and traveling in circles. It had been overcast for several days, we had been travelling only at night, and Riva (our fighter) had been leading us. Thaile climbed a tree and saw that we were in almost precisely the wrong place...lost.
We traveled upstream to see if we could figure out where we were. Evening came and we were still lost. We made camp atop a hill, among the ancient trees. I really liked the trees; I’m pretty sure we’re south of the Earogath, a large copse of very ancient trees. There's supposed to be some sort of treant living there, I think. What was his name? "Old Stump"?
As we were setting camp, a giant praying mantis came into view and jumped on Riva (who had been out gathering wood for a fire). It took all of us to kill it. Thaile was not happy about seeing the thing, having been so badly chomped by one before. This time I didn't cast Entangle.
We took our customary watches. By third watch, the clouds were gone. So, we had a better idea of what direction to travel in!
As we walked, Rowan got the feeling that someone was watching her, magically. It only lasted a few minutes. Lots of discussion of this and who or what it might be. We decided that it could be Moira, but we could not be certain.
We came to a stream and crossed it. We hit the road as evening came. Garrett was very concerned as we seemed to be farther off course than we should have been. He thought that the misdirection may have come from the same source as the feeling Rowan had of being watched. Other theories were discussed as well, perhaps it was the Earogoth which has been rumored to cause travelers to lose their way that caused us to go so far astray, perhaps it was something at Alder’s Look, working to keep people away, or perhaps it was simply that the days and nights had been too overcast to get a good bearing on where we were.
Whatever caused it, we had found ourselves very near to Scanton, Thaile’s home town. The stream we had crossed was Alder’s Seep.
Thaile, Garrett, and Tieran went into Scanton to spend the night and check out what might be happening. Myself, Riva, Lissia, and Kytum-up stayed outside town (along with Bavic) and set up a camp.
The town gates were missing, armored people were standing around the area. They said that an owlbear had come out of the Aldersmere and torn the gates right off. Goblins have been raiding here as well. The Aldersmere seems to be spitting out all of it’s refuse they said. There had also been attacks in Woodston.
Garrett relayed a message from the Captain of Eaglesford, that Three Oaks will be sending Legions to assist with the goblin problem.
The town guards were not terribly thrilled to see Thaile, seems she was a naughty girl when she was last here in town. She says, "Oh, that was years ago...."
Provisions were obtained and after finding out that Jingles the Merchant was in town. Garrett and Thaile decided to seek him out after a trip to Thaile’s family’s house.
Tieran settled down in a room at the inn to sleep and study in relative comfort.
Thaile and Garrett went to see Thaile’s mother, who was happy to see her daughter. Apparently her sister fell in with the wrong crowd and went to Frane, a city to the South. Her mother also appraised some items and told Thaile who they had been stolen from by the Goblins.
Jingles had nothing really new for us to buy, but did purchase one of the shields we had found. He also explained that the Earogath often causes strange things to happen on the road, he never camps anywhere near there himself, nor does he allow himself to be caught in the area after dark, it’s just not safe.
He was interested to know if we had found anything of interest. No, Garrett and Thaile said, nothing. Jingles knows Moira and knows that she gives him a fair price in their dealings. He also told us that the Alderseep does lead straight to Alder’s Look, but don’t drink the water, it comes from barrow mounds and is not safe.
That evening in the camp outside town, Rowan felt the watching feeling again. It lasted for about five minutes. She told whoever was listening in to leave her alone.
June 15th: Up the Alderseep
In town, the clerical types went to do “the temple thing”, then all three went to see the blacksmith to sell armor and weapons. They sold the chain and purchased a masterwork shortsword for Garrett (315 gp, plus Garrett’s old shortsword). They also gave the blacksmith the bastard sword and the initialed armor that we had found, to give back to their rightful owners.
They went once more to see the captain and then met the rest of the party at the camp outside town. As we walked we talked to Kytum-up about Kikuk and discovered that he is the god of dragons and earth. We were still unsure of what it meant or if he was a god of the tree or one of the old gods, or something else entirely.
We followed the stream until about noon when we began to see large hills rising nearby. We could see at the crest of a hill a large, squat collection of broken towers. To get there, we would need to be on the other side of the stream. We estimated ourselves to be about a mile away. Kytum-up said that it would be better to enter from the back, by going around rather than traveling onward through the valley where we might be seen easily.
So, we decided to go around.
