Eaglesford Campaign: "Strange Lights"

[Gina]

Session 31: The Birds

Thaile remembered to bring my journal, though she didn’t remember to bring any clothing. No matter, Reena had extra and none of my old things would have fit in any case.

So, here I am, reborn. I can no longer hear the great voice calling to me. I can no longer see the dead rising, but I remember it still. I shall remember it for the rest of my life, whatever a "life" is. I miss the voice, it seems too quiet here now, but I think that will pass, at least I hope it will.

I was able to get a good look at this new body before I entered. It is very different from my old one, though still human. I used to be shorter with curly red hair. Now, I am tall, more slender than before and have black hair with a strange streak of pure white running down the left side. My eyes are very pale and gray where they were once dark brown. Asmathias has a thin white streak running down his back too. I think that it is an echo of the other world.

But on to other things. Reena produced an extra set of her own clothing and I put it on. I also gladly put on the leather armor, studded with bone that they had taken from the orcish druid at the Kaufman farm.

I thanked everyone for helping to bring me back, Hara just muttered about getting back to town, unpleasant old witch that she is. I wonder that she even consented to help at all.

As we walked back toward town, through the forested hillsides, I began telling the others of my time in the other place and of the great voice. My telling was interrupted as I noted that there were many more small birds perching on the trees than usual. A moment later, I realized that they looked quite hostile. Graystone and Mor'Elandi had also become aware of this.

Nuthatches, Sparrows, Chickadees, Juncoes, and other small birds sat thick on branches, side by side, staring at us. Then, in a sudden flurry, they were upon us, a roiling swarm of tiny birds, pecking and tearing at us. Even as Tieran dispersed the first swarm, three more came, engulfing most of us. The fight was hard, many of our weapons doing little or no damage to the swarms. Eventually though, all of the swarms were dispersed. Small birds littered the area, dead or dying.

After the swarms were dispersed, Mor’Elandi commented to Tieran that he was trying to draw the swarms away from the group and Tieran kept moving back into their area. They bickered a little while about it as we continued on. Some things never change.

We moved on, quickly to avoid being engulfed again. As we did, Graystone, Hara, and I discussed the difficulty of training so many birds to act as one in that way. The orcish animal masters, or Druids must be very skilled indeed. They seem to have a special affinity with birds, since their favored wild shape appears to be a corpse-raven. Interesting.

We moved toward Eaglesford as quickly as we could, keeping an eye out for swarms of birds. We were not attacked in that way again and made it to a relatively defensible place to camp. First and second watches came and went without incident, but on Third watch a shadow-fox came and attacked.

Reena took the brunt of the attack, losing a great deal of strength. The creature was finally dispatched, but it was very difficult. These shadows seem to be multiplying and that cannot be good. They are harder to defeat than the restless or even the hungry dead.

July 16th
Morning came and we were happy to see the sunrise. I was happy to be able to commune with nature and feel the power of its magic within me. I feel more connected to this new body now, it is starting to be more natural, still it is odd to know that my own mother would not recognize me now.

We moved out and by mid-afternoon were nearing Eaglesford. As we got closer, Reena asked Kefk about the rag-amulet they had taken from the trolls. Reena had told Hara about it and she wanted to see it. So, Kefk handed the amulet to Reena.

What happened next was not good.

Immediately upon grasping the amulet, Reena went into a rage, attacking the first target she found, which happened to be Kefk. He dodged her first blow and was only bruised. Tieran cast a spell that put her to sleep and good thing too, because she might have killed us all.

Once she awakened, she was apologetic and embarrassed that she had behaved the way she did. We all assured her that we knew that it wasn’t her, but the amulet which caused it.

We were near Eaglesford, but also near the Johnson farm, so we decided to go and check on the Kobold warren. It was near night anyway and it would probably be better to spend the night there than out in the open. As we neared our destination, we heard the sound of trumpets from the direction of Eaglesford. Apparently, the legions had finally come to the aid of the town.

We made our way down into the warren and were met by Maluki-Kip and Kytum-up. After a quick explanation of what had happened in the clearing, they introduced the new me to them. Maluki-kip seemed quite disturbed by my rebirth, commenting that it seemed dangerously close to necromancy.

I spent quite a while talking with him and Kytum-up about my time as a ghost and of the great voice. In the end, he accepted that I am not evil, though he still seemed disturbed about my return to life. I suspect that will be a common reaction among humans as well.

We settled in for the night, sleeping in the large central chamber since we were certain that an attack would come. The kobolds told us that they had been under attack every night by shadows recently.

This time the attack came on second watch, a huge shadow, a former swamp troll maybe, appeared next to Reena, taking a great deal of her strength right away. I watched, unable to do much to help. Thaile and Tieran used spells, Mor’Elandi did what he could with his bow, actually damaging the creature at least once, while Hara and Graystone worked to keep Reena up and fighting. Kytum-up used his healing to do damage to the creature and Kefk moved up to attack it as well. I even got in on the action, damaging it with some healing energy.

Graystone was hit as he gave Reena some of her strength back, falling even as he helped her. The creature was defeated, but it took a great many of our resources. We settled down for the remainder of the night, hoping that there would not be another attack.

 

[Nail]

Fun DM musings......

Grawthic was tired.

It had been a long walk, much longer than the previous day. He much preferred squatting in his slimy cave, watching the game trails as they wandered through the Aldersmere. Lots of things would creep along those paths, trying to pass unnoticed. Things that squeaked and gurgled when Grawthic ripped their arms off, or (even better) cried out for mercy as he gutted them....yes, Grawthic much preferred hiding in the muck and letting the food-things come to him.

But that was before. Before the goblins had fled, before the bad thing had come.

Grawthic didn't like the bad thing. The bad thing hurt Grawthic, something the swamp troll wasn't used to. It had taken him awhile, but Grawthic had made up his mind: he had to go to a place without bad things.

He had heard from a friend, one day as they were clawing each other to ribbons, that beyond the hills were lots of food-things, things with soft skin and tasty bones that crunched easily when you bit them. His friend's head, after Grawthic had ripped it from the shoulders, even promised that these food-things ran slowly, and screamed very loudly when eaten. Grawthic had liked that idea; he even gave his friend's head back to his body as a token of thanks.

But his friend hadn't mentioned how long the walk was. By the Dark One’s left eye-socket, Grawthic did hate long walks. Especially up all of these gravely - rocky- stony hills. Ground was meant to squish when stepped on, not poke and scrape and skitter about!

Night had come – finally! – and now was time to rest. Tomorrow he would descend these hills, and shamble out into the soft-looking farmlands. From here he could even see a settlement of some kind, undoubtedly filled with soft things to eat.

A bitingly cold chill snapped Grawthic out of his reverie. Something cold, shockingly cold, had just touched his outstretched ankle! He looked around, but saw nothing...except a small black thing, on the ground. It was shaped like a small squirrel, but it was all black, shadowy... Grawthic swiped at it, giving it a loud growl for good measure. This little dark thing should go away....

His claw passed right through it! The shadowy thing jumped at him again, and Grawthic felt the numbing chill pass through his side. He lurched to his feet, and nearly stumbled and fell; his legs could barely carry him. Grawthic tried to claw it, even bite it....but his attacks passed though it like a rock through the wind. The little dark thing attacked him again, and again. Nothing Grawthic could do would hurt it or stop it. Fear filled his heart.

Its pale, red-glowing eyes narrowed for a moment, then it leaped again, straight for his neck. He tried to ward it off, arms flailing, legs back-pedaling as fast as they could go.....he felt an overwhelming chill and despair as it passed through him. All went dark ..... all was black .....all was gone.

Time passes. The little dark thing is gone. The dead-grey body of a swamp troll lies on a hill over-looking the vale of Eaglesford.

From the body, a dark, shadowy shape rises.....

 

[Gina]

Session 32: The Kobald Warren, Eaglesford, and the Road to Three Oaks

Johnson Farm: The Kobold Warren
July 17th
Morning in the Kobold Warren found us alive but our magic somewhat depleted. Upon thinking about the shadow we had fought the night before, we realized that it looked like a troll, but did not move the same way, did not attack as rapidly as a troll might. Perhaps this comes of it being made a shadow, perhaps not.

One of the Kobolds had been sent to scout above. He reported that there were corpse-ravens circling the area around the farm. Previously they had stayed above Eaglesford and the immediate area around it. This being an outlying farm, they had only passed over occasionally.

So, we decided to stay for a while, venturing out after dark, since we couldn’t figure out any way to get out without being noticed and we certainly didn’t want to bring the orcish army down upon the kobolds, or us for that matter.

So, we spent a quiet day. Mor’Elandi and Tieran scribed scrolls, Thaile helped tend to the wounded, Hara knitted, Reena slept and sharpened her weapons. Kefk and Kytum-up, being at home, spent the day in various activities.

Graystone and I discussed the orcs and their preference for birds. Seems odd that they choose a corpse-raven to change to when an eagle is a better choice in so many ways. The bird swarms were also odd, not magical, but probably trained birds. It would take a long while and a great deal of skill to train birds to swarm like that. I wonder if perhaps the orcs are bound to birds as a totem of some kind....could their animals masters specialize in a certain kind of creature? It would be nice to capture one of them and ask some questions, though I doubt that they would give much information.

We also briefly discussed my rebirth and its ramifications. The people of Eaglesford, particularly the pious ones will never understand, so the consensus was that I should choose a different name to use in public. For now, I am River. I will come up with a more permanent name later, though to myself, I will always be Rowan. Maybe I should keep Rowan and instead call myself Aldersborn rather than Clearwater, since Rowan is not such an unusual name.

Evening came and with it, rain. Between the darkness and the rain, we felt safe to venture out and toward Eaglesford, planning to spend the night in Graystone’s cottage and the relative safety that it would bring.
Graystone seemed less convinced of its safety than we were, telling us that he had found a new place, on the other side of the river where it would be safer to live.

So, we continued down the lane, hedgerows rising on both sides of us, throwing the road into even deeper darkness, their shadows pressing in upon us. Luckily, most of us are very familiar with the area, so finding our way was not a problem.

As we walked, we talked quietly among ourselves, those of us in the lead not noticing anything amiss until we heard a shout from behind us. Black shapes had materialized out of the hedges on either side of the road and moved toward those at the rear of our group, Kefk, Tieran, Kytum-up, and Mor’Elandi.

Before any of us could react, the shadows reached out and touched Kytum-up, weakening him almost to the point of death. They touched Mor’Elandi and Tieran as well, weakening them both greatly, Mor’Elandi more seriously than Tieran. Thaile was the first among us to regain her senses and do something.

She turned the shadows. They fled into the night and we fled in the opposite direction, Reena carrying Mor’Elandi and Kytum-up. These shadows had once been orcs.

We arrived, breathless, at Graystone’s small cottage and set up watches for the remainder of the night.

July 18th
We awakened and worked on restoring Tieran, Kytum-up, and Mor’Elandi to health. Between Graystone, Hara, and myself, we managed to do so. Then, we began loading Graystone’s belongings into Hara’s wagon for transport to his new home. His living furniture was a bit of a shock to some of the others, though I am used to it now, but Kefk in particular seemed surprised when the chair he sat in needed to be watered!

When we approached Eaglesford, we were surprised at the changes in only a few days. The flags flying over the town indicated that the legions had indeed arrived. There was much more activity, farmers who couldn’t be in their fields had been put to work, building fortifications.

There were soldiers standing, arms at the ready, farmers and townsfolk hauling timber and wood. They seem to be taking down some of the farmhouses near town and using the wood to build the barricades they are working on around the fjord and the mill. They are digging a ditch and driving stakes into the ground, using some overturned carts as cover while they work on it all. They are also clearing trees and brush nearby, presumably to eliminate cover for approaching forces.

There were many fewer birds flying above the town and they still flew well out of arrow range. I suspect that they are so high because Mor’Elandi cast a spell once, a while ago, which enabled him to hit one of them at a very great distance indeed! It was really quite impressive.

As we approached, we were challenged by a legionnaire. He asked us who we were and what our business was here. Thaile, Tieran, Reena, and Graystone said that they live here, vouching for the rest of us as friends. Hara, being...well...herself, began to harangue and berate the young soldier for daring to ask us who we were.

The young soldier called over several others to guard us while he went to get an officer. Graystone pleaded with Hara to keep her mouth shut when they returned.

So, we waited until he brought back three other soldiers to speak with us. Two officers and a cleric of the Great Church. The captain of the legions and one of his officers spoke to us briefly, during which Hara was mercifully silent, and bade us move on and be about our business. The cleric, introduced as Matthew, seemed especially interested in Thaile. Apparently, he likes to convert other clerics to the Great Church. While it is none of my concern, Thaile seemed discomfited by him and inclined to avoid him.

We entered town noting even more changes. Some of the town’s wall has new sections of tone. We were told that an empire wizard showed up, erected the walls magically and then was gone. Planned, the Captain of the legions assured the townsfolk, nothing to be concerned over.

There is activity at the gatehouse too, they are doing something which requires a master carpenter’s services, so I know that my father is there. I saw my brother, Janek working there and wished that I could go and greet him and see father. I didn’t approach though, they would not even know me. I don’t think that anyone has even told them of my death. My rebirth would be troubling to them, I think.

I wish that there was time to see my mother, but we have so much to do and we need to return to the tests as soon as we can.

Eaglesford does not even seem the same town we left only a few days ago. It is certainly not the sleepy little village it was only a month or two ago when we first went out in search of adventure.

Hara declared that she was not remaining in this town one day more with the legions here, so off to her home we went to collect her belongings. Lucky Graystone, she has determined to go and live with him! That should be interesting.

So, we loaded her belongings. There were many very odd items indeed included in these. Most of them smelled very strange. I don’t even want to know what was in some of the parcels and bundles we loaded into that wagon.

In time, though, we were underway again, headed out of town and West. As we moved slowly through the countryside, we noticed that this side of the river was much as it had been before the attacks began. Farmers worked their fields, houses and barns dotted the landscape and all was peaceful and as it should be. What a contrast it is to the abandoned farms on the other side of the river.

Graystone’s new grove was marked by a small shack. It seemed even smaller by the time we had unloaded all of both Hara’s and Graystone’s things into it. I hope that they can get a larger place built soon, or they will drive one another crazy!

Oh, as we were leaving an odd thing happened. Thaile prayed to Darmon for a good journey as she always does, but when she finished and returned to us, she seemed different, odd. Then, as we left town, she seemed much more friendly to this Brother Matthew than she had been before, no longer uncomfortable around him. He spoke to her, saying: I hope to see you again, soon.” Oh well, I know precious little of the workings of the pious mind!

By the time we finished unloading, it was getting near dark, so we decided to stay overnight and leave at first light for Three Oaks. Most of us stayed outdoors, though Tieran managed talk himself into a spot on the floor inside the hut.

Deep in the night, on third watch, I was awakened by Kefk. He head heard some kind of animal roaring or howling. I didn’t hear anything and, after a few minutes of listening, went back to my bedroll. As I was nearing sleep, the roar sounded again. A large bestial creature, I think, not one we have encountered before. I shall have to think on it more and perhaps I will know what it was.

July 19th
We bade good bye to Graystone, Hara, and Reena and set off toward Three Oaks in the early morning.

Around midday, Mor’Elandi and Thaile noticed a large group of goblins ahead of us on the road, weapons drawn, panting and winded. I sent an entangle spell to them, to keep them from rushing us.

Tieran cast a thunder ball, which killed a bunch of them, while Thaile and Mor’Elandi pulled out their bows to pick a few off.

As they were attacked, the goblins shouted warnings to one another. “They’re back! Watch out for their acid balls!” “Watch out for the big bastard!” and “Where’s the big one?”

They were panicking as we approached, some running off, the entangled ones struggling to get free, presumably to run off after their fellows. A few moved into the brush and shot arrows as they attempted to defend their tribesmen against us.

It didn’t take us long to subdue the goblins. Most of them ran off into the woods, though we did kill several of them. We examined one of the wounded ones, noting that he had been damaged by a Briar Web spell. He told us that he and his tribe had been attacked by “bad humans” who were attacking and killing them. His tribe is the Hungry Crevice.

I felt sorry for the little fellow. He is a goblin, true, and they generally cannot be trusted, but they still have a place in the natural order and should not be hunted for sport. We let him go and he soon faded into the forest, running as fast as he could.

We heard sounds of battle down the road, maybe ½ mile, so we moved on, to see what was happening. As we approached, the sounds of battle died and we saw several humanoids on the road. A robed mage, two gnomes with weapons, wearing drab colors, a large human in dull gray plate armor, and a female elf, wearing plate as well.

After a moment, we recognized them. Leiden and his group. I never liked him, nor do I much life Kales Burlywire. Of the others I know very little except that they have the bad taste to associate with Leiden. Eric is the fighter, Chalton the mage, Erkey the other gnome, and Drashi the elf woman is an apostle of Zheenkeef, as I recall.

We made introductions. I forgot for a moment that I look so different, but then was introduced as River. Leiden and his group also had two goblins that they were holding captive. Apparently, their plan is to use them as slaves. They were mistreating them already.

We conversed with them for a short while. Leiden taunting us about our lack of wealth and his and his companions’ fine equipment. We mentioned the spiders and the farms and he did not even have the good grace to feel sympathy for those killed as a result of their actions.

We did get a few useful pieces of information from them though.

The creature we heard was an Owlbear that has been menacing the farmers in the area, attacking the farms and killing the farmers. He and his friends seemed to be a little afraid of the creature, not wanting to run into it.

In Three Oaks there is a wizard named Zamet, from the South who makes items for sale. Leiden referred to him as a “crazy bastard”. If Leiden dislikes him, perhaps he is a good man.

 

[Nail]

.....Laiden laughed easily. His laughter carried through the forest clearing, but rang hollowly in the ears of the adventurers from Eaglesford. Rowan's lip curled in disgust, and Thaile's mouth formed a tight line in her face. For just a moment, Tieran's hands rested lighly on his spell-component pouch.

"No really," pressed Rowan, "What are you going to do with those two goblins you've captured?"

Laiden glanced over at his companion Erik for a moment. The human warrior was an intimidating grey wall of metal in his adamantine full plate, his gauntleted hands firmly grasping the hog-tied goblins. Laiden could sense rather than see Erik's gap-toothed grin behind the visor.

Behind Eric stood the priestess of Laiden's party, equiped with a fine set of steel full plate, the grapes of Zheenkeef on her chest. Her hand loosely grasped her morning star, goblin blood still dripping off its tip onto the ground below. Her other hand clenched and unclenched, like the slow beating of a heart.

Around Laiden stood the rest of his party; his two gnomish scouts and his elven mage. An adventuring party to be proud of. One of the gnomish scout's giggled as Erik's metal boot pressed down on a goblin's leg, eliciting a muffled cry from it.

Laiden looked back at the adventurers from Eaglesford, his smile never dimming.

"They're just goblins. Why should you care?"

 

[Gina]

See That's what I mean!

.....Laiden laughed easily.

Around Laiden stood the rest of his party; his two gnomish scouts and his elven mage. An adventuring party to be proud of. One of the gnomish scout's giggled as Erik's metal boot pressed down on a goblin leg, eliciting a muffled cry.

Laiden looked back at the adventurers from Eaglesford, his smile never dimming.

"They're just goblins. Why should you care?"

See, Leiden is just a big, giant jerk! Cocky arrogant butt-head. Here WE are trying to save the world, or at least our little corner of it......

OK, enough ranting, gotta get back to being heroic instead of getting rich!

 

[ledded]

Gina, Nail, great stuff, a really good read.

 

[SpaceBaby Industries]

Too long an absence

To: Rowan, Aldersborn, Druid of Eaglesford
From: Rowan, CEI, SpaceBaby Industries

Forgive my long absence in responding to your excellent work. I was pleasantly surprised to actually manage logging in today, the first time in a couple of months.

Where to begin? Such wonderful material to read. One favourite that really stands out:

Note to self: Really must work on some kind of signals for them to understand when I am in animal form, because they are not catching on.

I also thought you narrative post demise, pre reincarnation was particularily well done. An unusual perspective in a story hour, and a memorable one.

I was sorry to read about Riva; the Battlerager Picture Cookbook is now unlikely to ever be available. Still holding out hope for his return somehow though.

Best of luck trying to defeat those nasty Orcs in general and the mean one who killed you in particular. It might help if you have the right gear: I've enclosed an example of some excellent personal protection, and much more stylish than bone studded armour. That sounds icky just thinking about it, let alone wearing it.

 

[Nail]

Saved spot: Story snippet later (I'd like a spot before Gina posts the PCs viewpoints)

 

[Gina]

Wow! I didn't know they got that big!

On the Road to Three Oaks
July 19th
We had finished our talk with Leiden and his group and moved on down the road, leaving them to their goblin torture. I wanted to stop them, but we do not have time to get into an argument about goblins of all things right now. Still, is it any wonder that the creatures loathe humans?

We moved down the road, talking among ourselves about nothing in particular for perhaps half and hour or a little longer. Mor’Elandi suddenly motioned for us all to stop (not an easy thing as he likes to be behind us all!). He had heard the cry of a beast of some kind. We stopped, each of us straining to hear but there was nothing.

We moved on for a while, with less conversation, more listening for the beast or whatever was out there. Mor’Elandi told us that he heard it again and he thought he saw something ahead in the trees. Something large, moving toward the road.

We noticed it as well as we rounded a small curve in the road. There standing before us was quite possibly the largest animal I have seen in my life. Animal is probably not the right word. This must be the Owlbear that Leiden and his group had mentioned. It had the head and hooked beak of an Owl, large, saucerlike eyes and the body of a bear, covered in both fur and feathers variously. It was really much larger than I had anticipated.

Naturally, I decided to try to use my Wild Empathy skill to do, um, something. Actually, in retrospect, I really should have a plan for what to do if I manage to succeed and another for if I don’t in these situations.

Nevertheless, I moved forward, telling the others that I was going to deal with it.

For some reason, they looked at me as if I were insane. At Mor’Elandi's suggestion, Thaile cast Bull’s Strength on me, just in case I needed to fight as I headed off to meet the Owlbear.

So, I approached the creature and looked at it, speaking calmly and with gentle authority, while looking it straight in the eye.

It was MUCH bigger than I had first thought. Huge, in fact.

It moved closer to me, sniffing me and circling, but not attacking. I kept on, trying not to betray the fear I felt at a creature of such a great size sniffing me, dried blood on its beak and feathers, as if it had fed recently. I kept speaking softly to it, feeling more than seeing the others making ready to attack once it bit my head off.

It moved around me a little more, until it was between me and the rest of the group. Then it became distracted, apparently by how utterly delicious Kefk looked because it turned toward him with a low growl. I knew that I had failed in my attempt and that we were all going to be going to the great voice very soon.

Kefk and Kytum-up were close to the creature, Thaile having moved back a bit and behind a tree where she could safely summon a monster to help. Tieran stood back farther, and looked like he was preparing to cast a spell, and Mor’Elandi had moved to the side and into the underbrush.

It hit Kytum-up, hard, then grabbed Kefk who struggled mightily, but was unable to get loose. I took a moment to cast Shillelagh and then moved forward to flank the animal. Thaile’s summoned creature turned out to be a Bison, which also attacked the creature. Tieran’s contribution was a fireball, which thankfully, did not hit me or Kytum-up. Kefk managed to wriggle free in time to also avoid being scorched.

So, we fought the thing......it looked kind of betrayed when I hit it. I felt guilty, but it WAS trying to eat my companions. Then it hit me too. Mor’Elandi peppered it with arrows and the rest of us kept fighting.

From Tieran we heard, “Feed it the Bison and run!”.

We didn’t run, but kept fighting the thing, much to Tieran’s dismay. It had grabbed Kefk again and was trying to grap Kytym-up too. Then, with a final Magic Missile from Tieran it went down with a thud.

We were all relieved except for Kytum-up who was extremely agitated about something. After a few moments, we realized that Kefk was still under the creature.

It took us a bit of doing but we got him out. He was nearly suffocated by the huge beast and was very glad to be out from under it.

Mor’Elandi and I examined the creature, fascinated by it. It had some marks which showed us that it had been caught in a fireball fairly recently. After examining it, we began to skin it. Inside the stomach we found a single gauntleted hand. We bundled up the heavy, bloody hide and the head and then followed Mor’Elandi.

He had decided that we needed to find its lair.

So, we followed him through the forest, his owl flying ahead and back looking around. Eventually, we reached a clearing and the owl landed on his shoulder. The lair was ahead and there was another of the creatures hiding under some brush. There was a cave nearby that might just be their lair.

We stood in the clearing, wondering and quietly discussing what to do. The Owl returned again and Mor’Elandi mentioned that the creature had not moved. The discussion continued, but I moved forward, anxious to see this creature. The owl had told Mor’Elandi that it was most likely dead. A moment later, I confirmed that by poking it with a nice long stick.

It was much smaller than the other, which we had determined to be male. We soon realized that this one had likely been its mate. She was under some freshly cut (or torn off) tree limbs and in the center of what looked to be a fireball-burned area. I wonder if the tree limbs were removed by the male in an attempt to bury or hide the body of his mate. She was rather scorched as well as damaged from a Briar Web spell. We skinned her as well, taking the head too.

After being assured by Tieran (who had sent his bat into the nearby lair) that all was safe and that there might be things we were interested in inside, we moved toward the open cave mouth.

On the way we passed through a clearing where there had been a battle recently. It was obvious that the Owlbears had won. There were scattered remains and a lot of blood. Bits of armor and equipment littered the area, the pieces all very small. We moved toward the cave, glad that we had not ended up in tiny bits.

The inside of the cave was grisly. There were pieces of bodies, we made out four.....a human male, a dwarven male, an elven female, and maybe an orc or half-orc. All were in pretty small pieces (except for the lower part of a torso, ugh), and partially eaten. There was also a nest. The others were interested in the pile of shiny stuff in the nest. I had eyes only for one thing.

The nest contained a single egg.

While the others were examining the pile of equipment, I took the egg and wrapped it carefully in one of my blankets, cushioning it with grasses and leaves and rigged my pack to keep the egg close to my body where my heat would keep it warm.

Thaile was once again looking at me as if I were insane. I don’t understand why she does that sometimes.

There were several interesting things in the pile, some gold, a set of damaged plate, a damaged mithril chain shirt, a backpack with some kind of strange magic on it, a gold medallion with a lion’s head on it, a sword, a shield, some damaged bracers, some gems, and a heavy shield. Tieran said that several of the things were magical: the mithril shirt, backpack, medallion, and bracers.

We carried out most of the body parts and decided to spend the night in the cave, since it was defensible and relatively safe now that we knew that its occupants were dead.

Watches went smoothly, though each watch heard small animals eating the body parts we had earlier carried out of the cave. Kefk encountered a skunk, but was not close enough to have a REAL encounter with it.

 

[Gina]

Nice to see that you are back!

Where to begin? Such wonderful material to read. One favourite that really stands out:

Note to self: Really must work on some kind of signals for them to understand when I am in animal form, because they are not catching on.

I also thought you narrative post demise, pre reincarnation was particularily well done. An unusual perspective in a story hour, and a memorable one.

I was sorry to read about Riva; the Battlerager Picture Cookbook is now unlikely to ever be available. Still holding out hope for his return somehow though.

Best of luck trying to defeat those nasty Orcs in general and the mean one who killed you in particular. It might help if you have the right gear: I've enclosed an example of some excellent personal protection, and much more stylish than bone studded armour. That sounds icky just thinking about it, let alone wearing it.

Thanks for the praise, the condolences upon the demise of Riva, and the good wishes in our upcoming battles against the orcs!

I am still working on the signals to get them to understand in Wild Shape, but we have little down time!

Rowan