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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old_Man_Fish" data-source="post: 2298090" data-attributes="member: 26697">Session 2 Part 2: The tower and the woodsAfter finishing the meal, we ventured out into the downpour to find Talester.  Seeing as his tower is the tallest building in town, it was not a difficult task.  We approached the door with little caution, not knowing quite what to expect.  What we did not expect, however, was to be made to wait in the pouring rain.  This is exactly what happened.  Lucien pounded on the door and cried out to let the man know we were here to see him.  Nothing happened.  Lucien tried again, as there was a flickering light coming from the crest of the tower and it was quite obvious that the tower was currently occupied.   After another two minutes of this tactic we heard loud cursing and the sounds of someone moving around inside.  The door slid silently open to reveal a rather plain looking man.  Not exactly the type you would expect to be a somewhat powerful magician at all.  Talester is an unimposing fellow; standing roughly a full heads length below me (I am, however, quite tall myself) with rough cut shaggy brown hair and piercing green eyes.  “Well, come on in I suppose.  What do you want?”  With this he moved out of the doorway holding his hand out in an inviting manner.“We have come bearing a package from Brindensford.  We were told if we brought it to you, you would give us each 50 gold.”  Bragi said.“Well let me see it.  I certainly don’t remember asking for anything from Brindensford.”  His eyes, however, went wide as I pulled out the chest, its’ sigil and lacquer work apparent.  “Yes, yes… I have been looking for this.  How much did they say?  Fifty gold coins?  I’ll give you a writ you can take to the tax collector.”Lucien spoke up, “That was fifty gold apiece old man.” “Oh, ok then.  Fifty gold apiece.”  He sat down at a desk in the waiting chamber we were in and pulled out ink, a quill and some parchment and began to write.“You can often meet the tax collector at the Palfrey’s Estate.”  He said, almost as an afterthought.“Oh, we’ve already met him.  He was at the bar where we went for a bite to eat before coming here.”  Said Bragi.“You ate at the bar?  Not the mutton pie I hope.”Each of us looked to the other and groaned.  I spoke up, “That was not all.  We have also been instructed to tell you of a problem.  Your apprentice has gotten into trouble.”“Apprentice?  I don’t have an apprentice.”“Jehenna is not your apprentice?”  Lucien said.“Oh, that apprentice.  Right.  Well, what has happened to her?  Is she ok?”“We don’t know, but it appears she has been kidnapped.  We fought a number of bandits who tried to take August here and later found this note.”  At this point, Bragi pulled out the note and showed Talester.  “Oh dear.  Do you know who it was that is organizing this?  Who it is that is buying those who are taken?”“No, we have yet to ascertain that information.  However, we are thinking of looking into it some more.”  I said.“Well, I will give you one hundred gold pieces if you are to find any relevant information on this.  In addition, I’ll give you one thousand if you are able to save my poor Jehenna and solve the problem of the kidnappings.”All of our small groups eyes went wide at his offer.  We had just made ourselves the sum of most peoples work for months if not years in bringing this man a simple chest.  Now he was offering us more, almost ten times as much, if we were able to help him out.  It seemed unreal.  I could barely believe what it was that I was hearing.  Bragi and I just looked at each other in wonder.  Lucien was practically salivating at the thought of that much money.  Talester continued without pausing, “You should talk to the man Grifftor out at the logging camp.  He seems to have gained some small amount of respect and admiration in the men’s eyes and will more than likely be able to help you out.”Needless to say, we agreed to his deal.Day 7:The next morning dawned, clearer and with more of a purpose than the sunset which had preceded it.  We did, however, have to wait on Lucien, who joined us a bit later than usual.  He looked very haggard and was holding his stomach.  When we asked if he was all right he mumbled something about that “damned mutton pie” and shot us each a dirty look, tempting us to taunt him about it.  I, myself, had felt no ill effects from the meal.  I also had no inclination to taunt the poor man, although it was readily apparent that Bragi was holding back.We soon found ourselves in the logging camp asking after the man named Grifftor.  Each of the men whom we talked to seemed to be in a somewhat sour mood.  Apparently something tragic had happened the night before.  After asking around for a few minutes we found out the two men, Jacks and Spuds, had disappeared the night before.  They had gone out to hunt down a beast that had been troubling the camp.  When we finally caught up with Grifftor, it was apparent that he was preparing to go looking for them.  He was dressed in a full set of chain and mail, with his bow strung and in his hands.  You could see the signs of a great sword hanging on his back, visible above his shoulders and below his waistline.  He looked quite impressive standing there, a scowl on his face and obviously feeling some concern about his sometime companions.  “Are you Grifftor?”  I asked.“I am.  What is it that I can do for you?”  He said as we walked up to him.“My name is August Radabon.  These are my friends Bragi and Lucien.  We were told by the wizard Talester to seek you out.  We have a problem.  There are bandits around these parts who appear to be kidnapping people, especially women and spell casters.  We were wondering if you had any information about this or if you could possibly help us out in any way.”“Well, I don’t know about anything like that.  However, if you would like to come with me and help me look for my friends Jacks and Spuds, I will help you look for these bandits.”And so it was that we began traveling with Grifftor.  He led us into the woods and along a small loggers trail.  As he was moving along the first trails he spoke up.  “I talked to Kerwyn earlier.  He said that he had run into both Spuds and Jacks yesterday around twilight.  They had been up following the river searching for signs of Ogres.  They were apparently worried that such beasts were going to be attacking the loggers sometime soon.  I’m not quite sure what got this idea in their heads; there haven’t been any raids on our camp since the fallout about six years ago.  Anyway, we should look along the river’s edge and see if we can find their tracks.”The forest was magnificent.  There were the weeping willows and bow pines.  There was free falling wilton moss hanging from the tallest shrubs and most of the trees.  I spotted at least four different varieties of cardinals and countless types of squirrel and other small vermin.  It was apparent that someone kept up with this wood, upholding the balance in all its’ glory.  It was also apparent that even the loggers were treating the earth mother with respect, taking only the dead wood and cutting away the sickened or overcrowded branches and limbs.After moving along in a quite reverie for perhaps half an hour, we finally spotted an area that appeared to have recently been the site of a struggle.  There were small splotches of blood in wide ranging arc as well as broken limbs, flattened rye weed and bent reeds.   I could see the hilt of a small dagger just sticking out of the mud on the bank of the river.  Bragi knelt down for a few moments, concentrating on finding the tell tale signs of who had been involved in the altercation.  “Giant frogs; two of them.  They apparently got the jump on your friends.  It looks as though they drug them into the river, although I would imagine that they were not conscious when the frogs did so.  I am sorry Grifftor, but it does not appear that we will find your friends.”  Grifftor slowly shook his head and let the pain wash over his face.  “That is the fifth time we have lost men this year.  Damn it all, why did they have to come out here by themselves?”  He walked off to be alone for a few minutes while the rest of us continued to examine the site of the skirmish.  “Looks like the frogs weren’t the last creatures who came near here.”  Bragi said as he pointed out the signs of other travelers.  “There were ogres here less than four hours ago.” Grifftor came back with a face that had the strange look of rage mixed with determination.  “We must hunt them.  Now.”Bragi led us after the ogres, stopping occasionally to make sure that we had not lost their trail.  We had been traveling for perhaps two hours when we suddenly heard the sounds of a very large and very heavy creature moving quite quickly directly towards us.  Expecting trouble we all readied our weapons and prepared for a fight.  We did not, however, expect the sight of a large man encased completely in a breastplate and wielding the largest sword I have ever seen charging directly towards us.At the sight of us the man seemed to pause and shouted out gasping for air, “Orcs; about a dozen of them.  Directly behind me.”  A hail of javelins followed him a second later.  One found a small crevice in his armor, striking into his thigh and drawing out a cry of pain and anger.  We looked on to see a full bakers dozen of orcs coming straight at us.  At the sight of the orcs I started to shake with rage.  I am not proud to admit my hatred of these foul, filthy beasts.  Here they were, defiling this beautiful countryside with their vile presence.  I would not stand for their presence.  They would need to be killed or driven off.Grifftor and Bragi started exchanging fire with a few of the orcs in the back while I evoked the earth mothers wrath.  Suddenly the very vines, roots, branches and even the blades of grass were wrapping themselves around anything and everything caught in a forty-foot radius.  Only two or three of the orcs were quick enough to escape being entangled by the plants.  Unfortunately, the man who had just burst out of the woods had turned to combat the orcs instead of continuing onwards to join our line and was also caught in the middle of the grabbing plants.  After completing this incantation I yelled to Igby to guard me and Bragi and started calling out to the wildlands to bring a wolf into the prime to help with getting rid of the orcs.  Bragi and Grifftor began firing at the creatures, picking off their targets with ease.  Lucien moved up to combat the largest of the orcs, who appeared to be giving orders.  And the strange man yelled out a prayer to Tempus whereupon he suddenly doubled in size.  The battle was particularly grim and bloody after that.  Bragi and Grifftor continued shooting at the nearly helpless orcs.  The strange man was swarmed and finally beaten into unconsciousness, but not before delivering up two of the creatures as a gift to his god.  I sent Igby and Forhyle (The wolf whom often answers my call to the wildlands) off to help Lucien fight the leader.  I quickly stepped into the brush, trying to avoid the grasping plants so that I could use my powers to heal the man before he passed on to join the soil. Less than a minute later it was over.  I stayed with the strange man, trying to bring him back around to consciousness by applying poultices and herbs.  It took a fair portion of the afternoon before he was clear headed enough to walk with us as we returned to the loggers camp and on into Thurmaster.  During the time in which we were waiting for the man, whose name is Maxoum, we found a veritable fortune on the orcs.  Each orc had carried studded leather armor, a falchion and two javelins.  The leader also carried a large steel shield of exquisite quality that was magical in nature.   Furthermore, we found two elixirs, some coins and an amulet that appeared to have special qualities as well.We had survived, barely.  I do not believe that it would have been possible if the earth mother had not deemed it acceptable to answer my humble prayers and grasp the bulk of the orcs.  We spent the next two weeks trying to train and learn from our experiences.  Grifftor took a fair portion of the loot that we had found off of the orcs bodies to Milbourne and commissioned a special bow to be made.  The rest of us stayed in town, trying to get to know the locals a little better, but mostly sticking to ourselves.      {mid session: 750 xp}</blockquote>

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