Session 5: Follow the River Report

General Summary

October 19th-21st, 1916 P.M.E. The Runeweald, Astrakain

  Having returned from the Black Sanctum of the Shadow Duke victorious and with their informant intact the party joins Ori, Roro, and the rescued miners to camp for the night. In the morning they head back to Ironlight. After a day and a half of uneventful travel, they rejoin their companions at the Dire Drow Tavern & Inn. Goswin informs the party that there are fowl creatures lurking in the woods of the Eastgrave Thicket and that Gotrek, Gelmir, and herself were saved by Kadri and Vokis, the leader and shaman of the Allik tribe. Though the creature that waylaid them was deemed slain, howls and screeches were heard throughout the night. Gelmir, Goswin, and Gotrek did note that you could likely pass over the mountains that border the Eastgrave Thicket and enter Khuldarhar. Alternatively, it would be possible to bypass the Eastgrave Thicket by traveling through the Drazh Moor, to the north, and loop around the north-side of the mountains.    Kelemor, in exchange for saving his life, told the party to travel along the eastern shore of the Zhuf Weir (White River) and cross the bridge at the mouth of Butcher's Basin (an inland Fjord).   I'm too lazy to finish the detailed report...  

TDLR:

• Traveled back from Ironlight Mines
• Kelemor informs the party that the way he would get into Khuldahar was using an old Dwarven tunnel on the north end of an inland Fjord called 'butcher's basin'.
• Goswin, Gelmir, and Gotrek have returned from their scouting mission to find access to Khuldahar. They reckon that you could pass over the mountains from either the west or the north side. To get to the northside you would have to pass through the Drazh Moor, which the huntsman warned against. To pass over the westside you would have to go in to the Eastgrave thicket. The scouting party was attacked by a strange beast in the Eastgrave thicket, only to be saved by Kadri and Vokis from the Allik tribe. Though they believed to kill the creature, many more howls and screeches were heard throughout the night.
• The party raises the notion of using the Dwarven tunnel in Butcher's Basin. Goswin says that there is a large force that has set up an encampment and the mouth of the fjord. But you could walk along the south shore and loop all the way around, bypassing the camp. This would likely take another week or so and weather is getting colder by the day.
• Party votes to travel up the river to the encampment
• The party runs into a herd of deer surrounding a stag that has been caught in a hunter's trap. After a demonstrably failed signaling attempt, Ezekiel alerts the party of danger resulting in a bold charge scaring off the herd. Ezekiel frees the stag from the trap and it runs off into the wild.
• A couple of uneventful days of travel pass until the party is hit by a fearsome icestorm. The blistering winds knock some to their feet, while the icey cold chills others to the bone
• Amidst the storm, Rorothim falls into a deep hole in the snow. The party tried to rescue him with a rope and manages to get a snag, but Rorothim appears behind them shortly after
• The party takes cover under cleft of rock, lighting a fire and waiting out the storm
• The party set's up camp, not far from the mouth of Butcher's Basin. During Jordis' watch Romgo lets out a panicked cry for help.