15th day of Snowmoot:
Zindra identified tracks of a large group of about thirty bugbears and Medium humanoids wearing boots, that headed west into the hills. The group followed the trail for several miles to the banks of the Dessarin River in the middle of nowhere, but gouges in the bank show where several keelboats had landed.
The group returned to the ambush site.
Zindra offered to set up a false camp a short distance down the trail to the south whilst the others moved the wagon over a small rise and into a dell. Zindra and Garet did their best to hide the tracks of the wagon, which wasn't difficult as the ground was rock hard.
That night Bron sat honing his sword as the others looked on. HIs soldier skills were setting the tone for future camp activities. A decent enough meal was cooked and Grog offered to do the firs watch, followed by Zindra.
16th day of Snowmoot:
Zindra awoke, something was wrong, she knew it was early morning and Grog hadn't woke her for her watch. Leaving the tent she could see Grog fast asleep, chin on chest. Zindra awoke the others. Horse lines were checked, ok. Everyone started checking their equipment as Grog was woke up from a deep slumber. Zindra and Garet started checking him to see if he had been put to sleep by a dart or something. They could find no tell tale marks.
Grog didn't know what had happened but he had had the best sleep he'd had in ages. It was some while later as the camp was being packed up that Grog noticed the bag of holding was missing off his belt. A loud cry of anguish brough the others running as Grog informed them that most of their potions, the chimera skin, skulls, horn and teeth, plus rations, rope and a small amount of gold had gone along with the bag.
Zindra scouted for tracks and found the toe print from a piece of foot ware indicating a smallish humanoid, only 1, moving off to the south. Checking foot ware of the group she found no matches. The group hid the wagon, mounted their horses and with Zindra on foot began following the scant tracks south. For an hour she continued south, some 4 to 5 miles, then lost the trail. For an hour she circled outwards but she couldn't find the trail again. The group re-mounted and headed back to the wagon. They used Grogs' and Garets' horses to pull the wagon, whilst they rode on board. After travelling north for about an hour they re-joined the main trail heading southward towards Summit Hall.
As they approached in the growing dusk they could see the Hall perched high on a hill. Arriving at the Hall nearing dusk, it being winter was early in the afternoon, around 4pmish.
A middle aged man answered the gate bell and opened a small, sliding view port. After inquiring why they were here, and after a little confusion, he let them enter and showed them into the great hall.
Map of Summit Hall
After an hour an old human woman entered. They could see the glint of armour under her over clothes. An although old held herself upright with pride. With her as she sat in an ornate chair was a young Elf, who looked like a wood Elf, possibly a ranger of cleric. On the other side was another human female who had the stern look of a cleric. 6 armoured knights with swords by their sides entered and took up position, 3 each side. They wore a red tabard with the sign of Tyr, a golden sword supporting golden scales.
She introduced herself as Lady Ushien Stormbanner, Grand Master of the Knights of Samular. Introducing the Elf to her right as Aerie Silverwing and the human to her left as the High Priestess Soniya Frey. She thanks the group for returning the body of the dead knight and informing her of their findings at the ambush site of the delegation from Mirabar.
Lady Ushien agrees that the elements are behaving unnaturally but has no further information as to why. She identifies the gold plated mask retrieved from the small cairn as belonging to a monk of the Sacred Stone. She gives directions to the temple of the monks. The night grows longer as Lady Ushien excuses herself offering food and other aid to the group when they depart for Wormford in the morning.
17th day of Snowmoot:
In the morning food for 3 days, 4 potions, 50 feet of rope and a horse for Aeire were offered and gladly accepted.
Around mid morning the hair on the back of Fargrims neck started to indicate danger. The riders split up left and right as a pack of large wolves erupted from cover and attacked the group.
The fighting was individual, difficult and the group lost the mule and 1 horse. However the group found, to their surprise, that Aerie was in fact an Avarial Elf. An Elf that could fly, she had rained down death on the wolves whilst flying above the group. Garet took time to skin the dead wolves. He had some success managing to successfully skin 5 of the 10 dead wolves. The group travelled a short distance down the road and Zindra found a place to camp. Wolf, slow cooked over the camp fire, was the delicacy of the evening meal.
18th day of Snowmoot:
It was a cold, frosty morning as the group broke camp, mounted their steads, divided the mule load between them and continued towards Womford and the bridge over the river. The going was slow as the horses were hungry, tetchy and snow had started to fall. Towards the late afternoon they could see the tendrils of smoke rising from the hamlet of Womford.
It had been a long while since Zindra had passed through Womford, she was sure the inn was called The Ironford Inn or tavern or something like that, she thought, well it had been a long time. (Now do I owe money here, Zindra thought to herself?)
No comments:
Post a Comment