Session 7: A Sharpened Grove Report

General Summary

Recap:

1. When everyone awoke the following morning, well rested and eager to continue, they had a morning meal courtesy of Mixen. Bellies full, the party left with their belongings, continuing towards Groven.
2. The roads between the Easterbrook Outpost and Groven seemed quite safe for the days past, and after a few more, the party arrived at a bridge allowing them to cross the river that split the forest. Before they did however, Tadrel and Lia noticed an assortment of waterlogged supplies headed downstream.
3. Investigating further, the only crate left intact was some kind of shipment of metal, labelled with "Barkiron Materials." Figuring that the materials were stolen, Nutae and Lia lobbed the crate onto Erika's cart, and the party continued on; intending to return the stolen goods.
4. Now having traveled almost a week since Mixen's Rest, the party finally arrives at the town of Groven, a nice settlement teeming with natural growth. Both Sam and Lia lived in the town for a considerable amount of time, and thus were able to lead the party to the various notable locations.
5. Their first stop was to the Groven townhouse, in the interest of meeting with Lady Fiora Murray, and relaying that they're the help she's sent after. As the party quickly found out, their arrival early in the morning was a slight inconvenience to the baroness, but she still invited them to her office regardless.
6. The baroness explained the situation to the party in further detail, asking that they simply investigate the last known location of the goblins in the forests north of Groven; and as soon as possible. With their task defined, the party decided to make a few stops around town before heading out.
7. The first stop was to the Barkiron Blacksmithy, where after returning what was revealed to be stolen goods, Lia and Nutae purchased a few new weapons made out of this 'Barkiron' material. Next, the party stopped by the curiously named "Don't Come: Tinctures & Tonics," where after meeting with the insidious-seeming owner, Erika asked for some kind of tracking spell or enchantment that would allow her to find her son. The witch said she could create such a thing, but in place of gold, wanted to be paid in the rare ingredient of Erika's dragon blood. After taking a sample, the witch gave Erika something that would track her son.
8. With everything they needed taken care of, the party left Rosie and Erika's cart in the care of the innkeeper at the Treehouse Inn. It was a short day's travel northward before the first sign of goblin activity, though it seemed like they hadn't been active for a while. The activity became more and more focused along a certain path, until what seemed to be an abandoned camp built around a tiny ravine was spotted by the party.
9. Investigating the camp further, the goblins that resided within the camp appeared to have been mauled by some kind of creature, with their blood trails leading ominously towards a deep hovel. As the party entered, they soon discovered a fresh pile of goblin corpses, and began to hear a low growl echo through the cave.
10. Turning around, the party discovered a draconic-like creature, with two large spikes erupting out of its diminutive wings. Tadrel warned the party of this creature, as he'd experienced one of these before, but as the party tried to slip past it, Lia opted to take an aggressive move towards the creature, prompting it to lunge out. After Nutae managing to take the brunt of this creature's assault, the Apex was killed, and the party was allowed to safely leave the hovel; noticing another Apex skulking from afar. Just watching.
11. Not wanting to engage another one of these creatures, the party left into the night, but felt dissatisfied with what they'd found so far, opting to now head further north in search of more information about a potential goblin assault on Groven, and whether the merrow were involved.

Notes

In Game Date (dd/mm/yyyy): 07/07/1195—15/07/1195