28 May 2024
1st Day of
May 1492 (Night of the full moon)
Weather: Clear with a chance of light rain later.
High Temperature: 18 degrees Celsius.
Low Temperature: 8 degrees Celsius.
Mission: Get to Whispering Woods Village
Campaign: Find the missing healer
Location(s): Boareskyr Bridge, Heartwing Lodge,
Whispering Woods Village, Forest of Wyrms.
Present: Elysande, Brielle, Barlyn, Dameun, Tenver,
Seraphina, Zinalla. (Stuffings).
Zinalla: "You have all taken the Paladin's Shilling. That means you accept the task and will be under my command until it is resolved."
Even Stuffings was impressed at
how the young Paladin had duped them.
Stuffings: "Nothing we can do. It's the law,
Paladin law mind you, but it is the law. We either accept or we end up in jail
or hunted down like animals. Ok, Shinney Bollocks, you win this round.!"
The others grudgingly accepted
their fate. They filed outside to see what their new commander was going to
order.
Zinalla: "Ok, you'd better head to the supply dealer
and get what you need. Seven days of anything consumable should see you
ok."
Stuffings: "What 'Shiny Bollocks', you
not paying our expenses the, bloody typical Paladins!"
They headed to the vendor who
supplied the caravans as they passed through. Seraphina, Elysande and Zinalla
had filled their waterskins from the Fort well. The rest were not pleased they
had to pay one gold piece for the privilege. Everyone except Zinalla and Tenver
took the opportunity to buy fresh rations and Elysande settled for 5 chickens
to supplement his trail rations. You could only go so far on trail rations
before fatigue set in.
It was well into the morning
when Zinalla informed Tenver, the Elf ranger to take the south road to
Heartwing Estate.
Stuffings: "Oye, 'Shiny Bollocks', we
going the long way to Heartwing.......it's in the other direction! Listen young
Elf, follow the river upstream, like keep the river on your left.....not your
right. You're almost as bad as young 'Shiny Bollocks', not got
a tongue in your head?"
Tenver: "Listen...'Stuffy'....keep yourself to yourself. Im doing
what Im told. Never been to Heartwing Estates so I'm following directions
instead!"
Tenver was not warming to the
greasy, one eyed Dwarf at all. 'Stuffy' walked next to Barlyn instead and took
up a conversation with him over nothing in particular. Zinalla got his bearings
and turned the group in the opposite direction. Following the river and keeping
it on the left.
It was early evening when they saw the estate sprawled out before them, The Forest of Wyrms just beyond it. As they approached they could see a man waiting for them.
Hueil: "Hello there. Saw you coming down the
road. Expect your travelling to Whispering Woods village eh? Never mind. We get
travellers all the time. My name is Hueil, head down the road towards the
river. You'll find the bunkhouse there. Your free to use it for 1 night. Cook
your own food. Don't make a mess, don't burn it down!"
They walked slowly to the river
and saw a beautiful, well dressed woman with flowing blonde hair standing
talking to another man.
They overheard the conversation
and the word ‘Pegasi’ stood out. On seeing their approach the woman dismissed
the man and turned toward the group.
Aluena: “Hello, my name is Aluena Halacanter. I own Heartwing Estates but you
are welcome. I take it Hueil sent you down here, yes, no problem. The lodge is
there, you may stay free for one night only. You may purchase fresh rations and
the clean water is the river.”
Zinalla: “Thank you my Lady, I am on a task set by the
head of the Paladins in Boareskyr Bridge, on behalf of all here I thank you for
your hospitality.”
Aluena: “Captain ‘Onion’, pardon me, Primus Harkononion, has sent a mere boy on
an errand, tell me more of this task?”
Zinalla: “He received word from the head man, Baelin,
that Mara, the village healer, has been missing for 3 days and needs help
locating her”.
Aluena: “First I’ve heard of Mara going missing, mind you Baelin, old though he
is, is one to be trusted. If you succeed please return, I may be able to help
you further.”
With another wave of her hand she walked off
in the direction of the main estate buildings.
It was a quiet start to the
evening, Tenver had gone in search of game for the communal pot but came back
empty handed.
Zinalla saw some workers in
compound loading a wagon and overheard them say’ Pegasi’, the second time he
had heard that word. Asking if the ferry would take them upriver to Whispering
Woods, they just laughed and said a polite no. They finished loading their wagon
and didn’t return until the next morning just as the group were preparing to
depart.
Weather: Clear, sunny with a chance of light rain later.
High Temperature: 19 degrees Celsius.
Low Temperature: 9 degrees Celsius.
They all agreed that was the
best night sleep they had had in a while. After tidying up they gathered in the
courtyard of the lodge and headed in a westerly direction.
The trail was easy to follow,
and it was early evening when the group approached Whispering Woods Village.
Fore warned of the groups arrival 2 men stood in the village square waiting for
them.
Baelin: “Hello, welcome (he shook
Zinalla’s hand), I’m Baelin, I see Primus Harkonion got my message, however I
was expecting a patrol not a squire and a mixed bunch of adventurers?”
Zinalla: “Thank you for the welcome
Baelin, the Primus has left Boareskyr Bridge on patrol and I was the sent to
represent the Order. These bra..kind adventurers offered to assist me”.
Stuffings: “Bribed, fixed, under false
pretences kind of offered!”
Zinalla: “A bit disgruntled shall we
say.”
Baelin: “You didn’t employ the silver
piece in the tankard trick did you? You have a lot to learn young squire…..now
before we get to business lets sit in the tavern and enjoy a drink together.”
They enjoyed a drink as Baelin
set out his dilemma and the task at hand.
Baelin: “Listen brave ones and listen
well. The woods to the east, well they whisper, they speak. Once they were
quiet now filled with strange sounds. My good friend, Mara, a kinder, gentler
soul you have yet to meet, went into the woods 3 days ago in search of the
herbs she uses in her healing potions. Hasn’t returned, no, no, I’m worried I
am. The woods they change, shadows move and the air is cold, unnaturally cold.
The woodsmen are feared to go into the woods, they say the spirits, the old
spirits are angry and restless. Nowadays I’m too old to go galivanting into the
woods but the Primus has sent me young, brave, strong souls to bring my Mara
back. The woods though, be careful. They are not what they seem. I’ll reward
you on your return with Mara, my finest fishing gear and pearls from the
deepest sea. Will you help an old man?”
They all agreed. Baelin showed
them round the village and eventually to a disused lodge across the river that
they could use for the time they were in Whispering Woods Village.
Baelin: “Woodsmen followed her tracks
nearly half a days journey roughly southwest. But they wouldn’t go any further
they turned back. In that direction there is an old hut. Mara sometimes uses it
to stay or shelter if the weather is bad. But the weather has been fine, only
light rain.”
Brielle: “Anything else we should take
care for, we are strangers here, any help would be appreciated?”
Baelin: “Yes, of course, on the way to
the hut location be wary of quicksand, especially close to the river. You can
tell you are near as it is normally marked by lighter, tall, thin green fronds.
Shriekers are common in the woods but they are harmless but make a racket if
you are close enough. Twig Blights have been seen but are not common”.
Barlyn: “I saw a shrine of sorts over
the river, set a ways from the village, who is it dedicated to if I may ask.”
Baelin: “You may ask, it is dedicated to
the Goddess Meilikki.”
Dameun: “Any other strange things going
on in the woods then?”
Baelin: “Yes, I almost forgot, bright shimmering
lights that appear and disappear. Different times of the day and not in the
same place twice.”
3rd May
The day started bright and early
as they left the compound and headed towards the forest, the start of the trail
was easy to find. The forest here was quite open and bright. The further they
went the trees closed in and the stillness of the forest pervaded their
thoughts.
Tenver: “Must have been the rain last night, light though it was, I’ve lost the trail!”
Zinalla: “We will wait here, circle around and see if you can pick it up again don’t wander to far, shout out every so often we will reply that way we can keep in touch”.
Tenver left with Brielle, both wood Elves, Zinalla thought they stood a good chance. Some 3 hours later they returned and informed the others that they could not find the trail. Good news was Tenver had found a good place to rest up. An hour later Tenver introduced them to ‘his safe place’ a large, slight depression in the ground.
They hadn’t gone far when Seraphina suddenly whirled to the right but before she could warn anyone a large, blue flying creature swooped down and deposited a goey liquid from its long beak like mouth. Zinalla managed to get his shield up in time but still was splashed by the acid like liquid. The painted design on his shield bubbling where it hit.
Taking cover where they could they fought off the flying insect but not before Barlyn took some damage.
Brielle: “What was that thing?”
Tenver: “I think it is called an Acid
Bug.”
Tenver led them to the depression he had found.
Stuffings: “Well found Elf, your skills are outstanding, friends let me introduce you to Tenver’s Hollow!”
Tenver: “Shut up stuffy. It’s sheltered and should hide a camp fire to some extent, if the rest of you set up camp I’ll go and rustle up some fresh food for supper.”
Tenver returned after an hour
with 2 large wild turkeys.
The group were amazed at
Tenver’s hunting skills.
Tenver: “I was speaking with the
woodsmen in the tavern before we left and they told me it was a good idea to
put out a trap along a route into our camp at night. SO whilst Seraphina
prepares the food I’m off to build a trap. Should take me an hour. I’ll also point
it out so no-one stumbles into it in the dark, like Stuffy here, hate to loose
you Stuffy!”
Stuffings: “Humpf”.
45 minutes later Tenver limped
back into camp, much to Stuffings delight, stating perhaps it was a bad idea to
set a trap in the near dark.
Stuffings: “Backfire did it, ahhhh!”
Tenver: “Shut it stuffy”.
Seraphina prepared the evening
meal and a sumptuous banquet was ate that night.
Brielle took the night watch as
she had no need of sleep, yet. The night passed without incident.
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