Session 1: The Long Winter Road
General Summary
7th - 14th Sharali 234 4E Following leads gathered from previous victims of Hrefna's brigands, the party managed to catch up with a group of them as they were leaving the smouldering remnants of a hamlet they had just raided. They quickly engaged with them, fighting through the thick snow left from the night before, and with lance, spear, spell and crossbow felled many before the last few fled into surrounding fields. During the engagement Tawny managed to drop a trio of the brigands unconscious with his magic, and a hefty smack of his staff, and from them and one brigand who surrendered they drew out the location of Hrefna's winter camp - positioned in the foothills of the northern half of the Malmor Forest, shy of two days south from the village of Brombie. And so the party departed, Tawny freeing the one who gave the information and Meridas leaving the other brigands a lone arrow to cut their bindings once they'd left (which Odhran promptly hurled off into the distance). For several days they plunged eastward as they cut through the wilderness around the castle of Calnhorn and the abandoned town of Patster. Once they reached the edge of the Malmor Forest they decided that rather than heading straight into the forest and searching for the village directly, they would flank around the edge of the forest to the town of Langward and find directions and maybe further information there. On the morning of the third day at the forest's edge, not long after dawn, Odhran's draft horse (taken from the brigands) was spooked by a whipping branch and raced off into the trees. The party decided not to waste time going after it and to keep travelling, but as they got ready to move both Odhran and Willum noticed that the rest of the mounts were agitated as well. Willum used his natural talents to commune with the beasts and learnt that the scent of blood was being carried on the wind from the trail in front of them. Meridas went out ahead of the group to find the source and came across an abandoned cart on the far bank of a large stream, it's canvas cover torn and flapping in the wind and the horse attached to it braying and shivering. Two bodies lay dead in the snow next to it and half a dozen or so other sets of footprints marked the ground around the area, heading off into the woods beyond. It appeared that the people travelling with the cart had been set upon as they crossed the stream but managed to kill one of the attackers and chased the others off into the woods, but from the age of the tracks they had been gone for quite some time. The party decided to search the cart and to use Meridas' magic to commune with the fallen bandit, to see if they were one of Hrefna's men and if they had any useful information, but as they approached Tawny noticed a slight movement under the cart - hidden in the deep snow, something was curled up under a thick woollen blanket. Tawny quickly reached out to calm the mind of whoever was there as Willum soothed the carthorse and lead it forward. Odhran pulled back a corner of the blanket to reveal a half-frozen and shivering young boy, his eyes wide and blank.
Session Log - Meridas
Things have been going extremely well on the hunt for Hrefna. Eorin is a sort of untamed, wild landscape - especially so in the dead of winter, but it's not a bad place to do work. The air is bracing, and the company I've accrued over these past few years has been keeping me somewhat sane. I thought I'd come here to get away, but I'm actually rather enjoying myself - backwards attitude to magic notwithstanding. In fact, sometimes it's nice to be the most powerful mage in the room. My allies not counted in that assessment, of course. They're all rather powerful! We tracked down Hrefna's people to a village that was recently raided, and intervened when the perpetrators returned to pick over the bones of blasted houses like vultures on a carcass. The battle was short and bloody, and we dispatched all but a few. They weren't very loyal. We found out that Hrefna had made an encampment for the winter near the mountains, south from the village of Brombie and up into the hills. Around our campfire, bantering and eating, you might forget that you're in the dead of the wilderness at all, with a warm fire to dry your boots and music to soothe the mind. The journey passed mostly without incident, although poor Odrhan lost a spare horse. This is why you don't name them. I feel vindicated. Then we came across a ruined wagon in the middle of the road. Attacked by bandits - a few bodies hither and tither. Grim to be sure, but not uncommon on the road. As I prepared to speak to one of the corpses, Tawny noticed a shivering under the caravan. And we found a poor, half-frozen boy. Sorry thing. I dearly hope we helped.
