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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThirdWizard" data-source="post: 4526400" data-attributes="member: 12037">Session 7: Shadows of WarNow they had some real property on their hands, but there was the question of what to do with it. The temple itself was nice and large with the area around it already cleared of bandits. Tordek wanted to claim it for Avandra. Whatever dark pact the cult of Zehir had made with the Imp, he could feel the power the temple possessed, which could be consecrated and made to serve his deity. Few temples to Avandra dotted the lands, mostly small shrines located on trails, in forests, and at safe spots along the wilderness. A true temple to her could attract followers from the entire region, pilgrims and travelers welcome inside, offering protection along their travels.Quinn's growing force was set to vigil over the temple to protect it as they rebuilt it - setting up a small inn and bar, manned by an apprentice they met in Grethtown, but a dwarven apprentice. Christopher Kallis had built up a force in Hent, looked after by the town's militia leader, Nathan Siege. Along Quinn's force, Korvun began to try and set up a small unit of his own, Bahamut's Talon as he called it, made up of Bahamut worshipers.While they did this, Sapphire took the time to start doing what she (and her employers) liked to dub "delivery work." She would move things around, watch places, things like this, for some simple wages, making some easy money on the side. Nothing to engrossing, but just enough to keep her employers happy. The main guy being a man named Boone who seemed very concerned with staying far away from the business dealings he sent her on. She didn't ask too many questions.OOC:[sblock]Surely Sapphire's business dealings will in no way come back to bite her or the other party members![/sblock]So a few months passed. Winter turned colder and darker. The group had dealings with the Greth Traders Guild, working to convince them to help with their temple project. After all, anything that made travel easier was a boon to the Guild. In the end, they convinced them, through their ties with Aeryana Seehe and Owen Mallory, to help bulid the roads that would lead to the temple, but nothing more for the time being.During this time, reports began to roll into Grethtown and the surrounding hamlets about attacks on settlements along the northern road. Small villages would be found completely vacant, burned to the ground, but with no bodies to speak of. This unsettling matter appeared to take place more than a few times in the short months that passed, and even though the weather was getting colder and travel more harsh, the group was unsettled by the event they had witnessed, the hobgoblins with a cart of human bodies, and decided that the matter needed investigation.Appearing before Grethtown's nobles and Aeryana , they explained the situation to them, detailing what they had seen and their thoughts on the matter before heading out to investigate themselves. Going north, they visited many small hamlets, hearing stories that they had heard before and asking around to try and find something, anything, new that would help them track down what was responsible.It was in a small, unnamed, hamlet that they ran into Rory. He was an old man, sitting by a fire outside, trying to warm a small child he held in his arms. The village had no inn, no place for a traveler to stay. That was the norm in this part of the region. He had half-healed burns along his body, which Tordek tried to help heal, though the scars were there forever. They fed him, and helped him, listening to his story."It was less than a month ago... I'm ashamed to say. I was hiding... hidden away by my family in the cellar with Jonas here. It was horrible." He began to shudder."It's important. What happened?" Quinn asked."We were attacked by hobgoblins. They hid me, but there was a small window. I looked out. We were just poor farmers. But, we had heard the stories, so we hired some mercenaries to protect us - Dragonborn. But, they just kept coming.""They must have had scouts. Come in larger numbers," suggested Alandra. "The group we saw wasn't much.""It confirms that it was hobgoblins, though," said Korvun."Aye. We need to find out where they are," said Tordek."What else?" asked Quinn.The old man broke down for a minute, but then regained control, taking a deep breath. Quinn poured him some more hot drink while they waited patiently for the man to continue the story. "Evil. I saw... evil," the man finally coughed out. "A big guy, monster, like a goblin but bigger...""A hobgoblin," informed Quinn. "They're higher up the chain of command.""He was ordering the others around, yes. He had some kind of symbol around his neck... a holy symbol to Bane. I didn't know they worshipped Bane..." he bit his lower lip. "But it were slashed... desecrated." He looked at the group around him. "But he still wore it. And... I could feel something off about him. Something wrong. And there were bigger creatures he was ordering around to kill the villagers." He started to well up again. "I saw them kill Bill, and Frank, and Joe's poor wife, beaten to death..." He fought back his tears again, coughing out his story. "They set alight my home... set it to burning above me. I barely escaped... barely made it out with Jonas. Barely..." He shuddered. "I hope you can find them. Bring justice to them for all the folk they've carted off for who knows what.""Did... did you see what they did with the bodies?" asked Tordek.The man nodded, his voice a whisper. "Piled 'em up. Carted 'em away. Like livestock.""Thank ye," said Tordek."Yes. We'll put them all down," said Quinn."Good," the old man replied. "Good."</blockquote>

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