December, 2009 - Session Two

Subject: December, 2009 - Session Two Sun Jan 03, 2010 4:52 pm

Attended By: Chelsea, Dave, Levi, Robert, *Tim, and Viktor

Session Two, December 6, 2009

Player Cast
Chelsea: Shadow – Human Warden
**Dave: Danus – Human Rogue
Levi: Markus – Goliath Warlord
Robert: Dragonar – Warforged Dragoon
Tim: Cecil – Human Ranger
Viktor: Nermal – Bugbear Fighter

Other Cast
Celestial Hound: A large hunting hound that appeared to Cecil near Sorin Village
Unnamed Man: Mountain man camped near Sorin Village
Strange Old Man: Strange being who appears at the sea cliffs

The Story Continues

Though the party has left the village, their troubles are far from over. The smugglers waste no time, and quickly assemble a party to follow and apprehend them. The smugglers and their hounds pursue the party well into the forest, forcing them to run a good distance in the wrong direction. Dragonar trips and falls, but manages to dodge a crossbow bolt and follow the group deeper into the forest. Shortly after that, Cecil’s hound manages to locate a game trail which will allow them to gain some distance on their pursuers. She and Nermal drop back as the other members scale a fallen tree and pass them, and then the two of them efficiently confuse and cover the group's trail. This proves too much for the smugglers, and though they continue to patrol the area, they are unable to locate the adventurers. The group is unaware, however, that something else has found their trail...

They come upon a clearing with a stream flowing through it, and they travel a good distance downstream in order to ensure that the dogs have lost their scent. Once safe, the party stops to make camp. The hound promptly disappears, and Nermal decides that Cecil's uniform, which marks him as a Vilnis Guide and an "elf lover," is too conspicuous, so he fills up the cauldron and wrestles off Cecil's clothes. That done, he throws the entire lot into his dye vat to soak while the rest of the group begins to set up camp. The bugbear returns them when they have attained an even, forgettable shade of black, declaring that he'll blend in better now. Cecil skulks off to mend the various tears in the garments gained when Nermal tore them off. As night finally falls, Markus takes the first watch, and the rest of the group turns in for the night.

Partway through Markus' watch, Shadow appears in camp and relieves him of the grinding paper he bought at the bazaar, giving him a silver piece and her thanks. When the warlord finally turns in, she and Cecil travel upstream to make sure none of the smugglers have discovered them. Their search takes them into morning, and, having found no signs of pursuit, the warden and the ranger split up to hunt. Shadow makes short work of a pair of game birds, and Cecil manages to take down a bear. Shortly after, however, he realizes that the beast is much too heavy for him to drag on his own, and so he heads back to camp to gather some more muscle. While he's gone, a strange, cloaked man slinks from the forest and tries to drag the bear off.

He only manages to move it a few feet, however, before Cecil returns with Nermal, Dragonar, and Markus in tow. They challenge the man, who claims that the bear is his, since he was the one that killed it. Cecil is dubious, seeing as his arrow is prominently visible, but the man assures him that he had been poisoning the bear, which was about ready to drop. Shadow, hearing the commotion, sneaks to that clearing in order to flank the strange man, who claims that he lives in this area, and that the adventurers are trespassing. Cecil apologizes for their intrusion and decides that they probably shouldn’t eat the bear if it’s been poisoned, anyway. He asks the man if there are any roads leading toward the capitol near the area, and he says the nearest is due south, though it will take them back through Sorin Village.

Cecil thanks him and the ranger and the other men head back to camp. As Shadow is sneaking back around the clearing, however, she notices that when the strange man leaves, he doesn’t take the bear with him. Thinking this strange, since the man claimed to be a man of the mountains and the wild and thus wouldn’t leave behind a kill, she decides to follow him back to his home. Instead of the expected cabin, however, he returns to a camp situated alarmingly close to that of the adventuring party. After he turns in for the night, Shadow returns to examine the bear carcass. She can see no signs of poisoning in the animal, so she field dresses it and tries to drag it back to camp.

She can’t move it alone either, though, so she goes back to camp and asks Markus to assist her. He does so, but when they try, Shadow pulls a muscle in her back. Thus, the pair returns to camp empty-handed, and when it’s Cecil’s turn to take watch, he, Dragonar, and Nermal return to help them. By this time, Markus has healed Shadow’s pulled muscle, and so the four of them are able to recover the bear’s carcass. Once this is finished, Shadow warns them that the strange man seems to be watching them and shows everyone where his camp is located. Cecil takes Nermal there in the morning to get some answers, but the mountain man can’t be found, and so the group decides to leave.

As they are breaking down camp, however, Cecil notices that his hound is missing and insists on trying to find her before they go. He manages to pick up her tracks where she left the campsite, and he follows them deep into the forest until they suddenly disappear. Unable to find them again, the ranger kneels and prays to the One to find out what happened to her. After awhile, his companions manage to convince him that they need to get moving, and so the group heads south. Not wanting to pass by Sorin Village again, Shadow leads them through the wilderness to the east of the road instead. They travel this way for several days, and for the first few, the group senses the strange mountain man following them. They think he is just making sure that they leave his territory, though, and so they think nothing of it.

After awhile, Markus leaves to go check in with some of his contacts in the area, and the rest of the group travels for another five days before noticing that someone is following them. When Cecil questions the man, he says that his name is Danus and that he just wanted to keep an eye on the group. He then tries to bolt, but Shadow and Nermal grab him before he can escape. Cecil offers to let him go with 20gp now and 20gp later if the human agrees to lead the group to the capitol. He agrees, but Shadow believes he is lying and says as much. Danus then claims that he is a military outrider scout, and the warden indeed notices a large dust cloud approaching from the west. Cecil is undecided as to what to do with the strange man, and Danus tells him that if he kills him, the other outriders will realize it and wipe out the small group. In desperation, the human man reveals that he recognizes Cecil’s country of origin, and promises that he will not reveal the rangers origins if the party agrees to let him go. They do so, and the man immediately runs away to the east, away from the approaching army.

Fearing betrayal, Cecil draws down on Danus and shoots him in the leg, thus halting his retreat. The human returns fire, but misses, and Shadow works to further incapacitate him as the sounds of approaching riders float down the hill to the west. Nermal tried to lift their captive up onto his horse so the party can make a run for it, but fails and so mounts up empty-handed as the first riders appear. Shadow instead knocks the man unconscious before turning her attention to the approaching enemy. In the ensuing skirmish, the enemies attack fast and hard, managing to knock Dragonar to the ground and tie him up and nearly managing to end Cecil’s life. The party makes a comeback, however, and Cecil and Shadow manage to finish off the remaining attackers as Dragonar frees himself and Nermal heals Danus.

Danus immediately tries to run again, however, so Nermal knocks him out once more. He recovers as Shadow and Dragonar search the enemies’ mounts and corpses and sneaks out of the bugbear’s sight. He cannot stanch the bleeding when he tries to remove Cecil’s arrow, though, and again falls unconscious. If you haven’t guessed already, Danus is having a rather bad day. Luckily, Dragonar locates the human before he bleeds to death, and the party ties him up before healing him again. Cecil also binds up an archer, who he left alive in order to question, and the two captives are loaded onto the horses. Shadow untacks all the horses the party will not be using and drives them off. The group then sets out for the coast, hoping to find shelter there among the sea cliffs.

The group makes it to the cliffs after half a day’s journey, and quickly finds a suitable place to camp. Shadow untacks the horses and hobbles them in an inset in the cliff wall where they will be hidden and sheltered. Once done, all but Dragonar, who is keeping watch, get ready to descend to a secure cave in which they can take refuge. They end up tied together in a line so that if someone falls, the rest can stabilize them. Everyone makes it down to the cave without incident, and soon they are all inside. The cave is pitch black, so Cecil sends Nermal and Danus in deeper with a torch so they can make sure nothing threatening lurks within. While they are gone, the ranger pulls Shadow and asks about her past and her motives, fearing they will pose a danger to his mission. Shadow reveals nothing, but assures him he has nothing to fear from her. Nermal and Danus return a short time later, and report that they’ve found signs that the cave walls have been smoothed with tools at some point.

As this is going on down below, Dragonar sees a little old man in yellow robes with a black sack slung over his shoulder drawing near. The old man marches up to the horses and starts to tack one up, but the dragoon grabs him as he jumps on. The old man shakes him off and asks where the cave is. Dragonar points him toward the sea cliff where his allies are camped and the old man climbs easily down the sea cliff and strides in. Shadow lands a mighty strike against him as he tries to enter, but her weapon does no damage. Nermal then tries to grab him in order to slow him, but the old man kicks him in the junk. As Nermal doubles over and lets out a pained roar, the man whips off his black bag and catches it within, claiming that it should come in handy later. Then he continues on, muttering about a treasure reputed to lie within the cave.

At the mention of treasure, Danus sets out quickly after the old man, but cannot seem to keep up. The strange being walks over a deep chasm, but when Danus triesto follow, he falls in and must climb back out. By the time he reaches the top, the old man is returning from the depths of the cave, muttering that the treasure is gone. Danus follows him back to the front of the cave, where the man plops down, pulls an orange from his bag, and starts munching contentedly. Disappointed, Danus tries to steal from the strange old man, but the being waves his hand and Danus drops to the floor, unconscious.

Meanwhile, Cecil has managed to heal the injury to Nermal’s junk. Once better, the ranger asks the large bugbear to help him interrogate their prisoner, who they have tied up near the entrance. As they get ready, Dragonar feels a strange urge to come to the cave, so he leaves the horses and descends. Seeing him enter, Shadow gives him a questioning look, and when he just shrugs, she goes to sit at the entrance and keep watch herself. The old man seems oblivious to everything, and he makes himself comfortable at the back of the cave before pulling a cage of live canaries out of his seemingly-empty black bag. He goes about feeding them and crooning over them as the adventuring group sets in on the captive archer.

No matter how the group tries, however, the archer sneers and refuses to speak common, talking only in Westenran. Danus finally cuts his ear off, trying to intimidate him, and the old man quickly runs over, snatches it up, and throws it in his bag. Cecil then heals the captive’s wound, showing him that he can be merciful, and trying to persuade him to cooperate. Nothing works, though, and before Danus can put his knife away, the archer impales himself upon it. Afterward, Cecil turns pointedly to Shadow and asks her what the archer said. She relays that the military knew about the “secret” bridge from Vilnis into Westenra, and that they had planted agents all over it and Sorin Village. These agents then reported back when intruders came across. The group disposes of the archer’s body in the deep chasm, and all but Dragonar turn in for the night. The warforged instead returns up the incline to take up watch by the horses once more, and while there, he notices that the brand and the markings on the saddlebags of the horse the old man tried to take have been changed.

In the morning, the strange old man climbs the path and starts brushing “his” horse, the cage of canaries hanging from his belt. He gives Nermal an orange as the rest of the group breaks camp and follows him up, and apologizes to Shadow for taking the horse she’d been using. He then mounts up and rides away, but not before Shadow also notices the changed markings. As he leaves, some also notice that the horse seems to be moving a little faster, its step a little lighter. Cecil suddenly realizes that his pack is heavier than it was, and he reaches in to find a Cloak of Resistance within. Shrugging, he dons the cloak, and all but Shadow mount up, ready to set off toward the capital once more.

Memorable Moments

Cecil: Be careful; we don’t know what might be in this cave.
Nermal: Yeah! There might be bears!

Nermal: He kicked me in the nuts!
Strange Old Man: Ah, I didn’t kick you! I hit you with a stick.
Nermal: He sticked me in the nuts!

* Denotes the session's DM
** Denotes a change of character by the player

» November, 2009 - Session One