Session 17

General Summary

Afternoon

The battle is joined. I invoke Tasha's Mind Whip on the sentry before me, sacrificing my invisibility.
Burly brute slams the woman against a boulder and stomps on her chest, and then readies his battle-axe. Maar sears some of the thugs with magical moonlight. Dominique looks into the tent through Snowfall's eyes and finds what appears to be a corpse.
I slow my opponent with a Ray of Frost. The brute steps out of Maar's moonlight spell and throws the woman into it.
We struggle against the ruffians. Several of them flee in fear, some of which is due to our magics. Travius casts a spell that shakes the battlefield with thunder. I advance in the wake of my opponent, who has fled, and attempt a Mind Whip on the barbarian. Sadly he shrugs off the bulk of the magical effect. He throws the woman over his shoulder and moves to the horses. I move closer and use Mage Hand to remove the bridle from one of the horses.
Norric tries to destroy a wheel of the wagon and fails. The barbarian strikes him soundly with his axe, wounding him seriously. Maar ensnares the horses with magically-animated foliage and then shifts form to a dire wolf. I blast the barbarian with Magic Missle. Maar bites him. He seems resistant to Maar's attack.
I hit the barbarian with Magic Missle again, and Norric stabs him viciously. The brute then shifts form into a gigantic humanoid bear and then bites Norric, thrashing him about in his maw. Maar pulls the Renee woman out of the melee and drops his wolf form.
While my companions struggle with the bear man I am confronted by a ruffian in chainmail. I withdraw and he strikes at me, though my ward absorbs the bulk of the attack. I try to retaliate at a distance with Ray of Frost but I miss my mark.
The manbear strikes Tronus. Maar casts Moonbeam again, and the spell forces him out of his bear form.
My assailant moves to engage me again, though I am able to dodge his clumsy attack. I respond with Magic Missle and he perishes.
Thormyr casts Burning Hands and kills the shape-shifting barbarian.
I look in the tent and find the corpse that Snowfall had found is one of the barbarian's troop. His throat has been slit.
We find coinage equivalent to 100 pieces of gold. The barbarian's great axe is magical as well, and there is a Potion of Growth.
We also learn that Thomas has blood on his hands. He was near one of the ruffians who had been put to sleep magically, and whose face had been caved in while in that state. Presumably, the boy finished him off. A disturbing revelation. These children have had their childhood robbed from them by these grim events.
We occupy the camp and take a rest. I Identify the magic items, and use Arcane Recovery to regain some of my spellcasting capacity.
The woman we saved eyes us warily. She introduces herself as Surena. We make our own introductions. I explain that we are travellers who have found ourselves in dangerous circumstances. She asks why we saved her and I answer that we felt we were correcting an injustice.
"You are not the typical band I encounter in these lands," she says. "Do you serve the Old One?"
"We do not," I answer.
"Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your assistance in this. It would not have ended well for me. My barbarian friend had already killed my companions and was going to take our goods. We were on our way to Crossroads for trade when we were waylaid by these people."
Travius asks where she is heading now. She answers she will return to their home base, if she is free to go. She has lost her writ of trade, which is impossible to trade without. That said, the forces of Iuz don't necessarily adhere to their own laws. It is still dangerous, and there are internal politics at play. Norric was operating under similar requirements, and once had his own writ of trade.
Norric asks what she is doing so far from the sea, given she is Rhenee.
They are Ashkalon clan, and thus have a write of trade with Vanye of Adminford. Her clan buys goods in Greyhawk and brings them here, at great profit. Iuz's land can't produce many of the goods that Greyhawk can. The trade is dangerous, as Vanye's authority is not universally recognized in the region. As a result, bribes are necessary.
She says she owes us a debt, and understands that if we are agents of Iuz we may not want to reveal our identities. I state that we are merely travellers looking to get to safety, and if our paths cross we can travel together. She says that her brother and clan would be willing to repay her debt to us. She asks if these are our children, and I tell her that they are part of why we seek safety.
"You all have blood on your hands," Surena says.
"Such is the price of survival in this land," answers Travius.
"My people are not treated well by most. Those who do, we remember. Do you want to escape these lands?"
I get the sense that she is sincere in this offer. "Some of your people stole my rebec. It is an ancestral item, and I need it back," I say.
"Which clan?"
"Bargemaster Ulreth," Maar answers.
"I have heard of them. We are not family, nor are we enemies. My brother knows him and does business with their clan."
We inform her that they drugged us and were going to hand us over to priests of Iuz, though sauhagin attacked us, and then a dragon turtle ended the whole business.
"So you were betrayed by my people, yet you still saved me?"
"My people are also judged by outsiders, and I resist the temptation to do the same," I say.
Maar tells her that he thinks the Rhenee betrayed us to get back some of their own people from the forces of Iuz. She says it is regrettable, but these times bring hard choices. But her clan will provide us as much assistance as possible, within reason.
She asks where we are headed now. I answer that we need to keep that answer close to the vest, as the consequences for the wrong people finding out could be disastrous. She says she understands.
She is returning to Axeport. We can head there. Her people are headquartered in Admunfort, but if we head to Axeport and send word to Martok or Surena. Waqounis controls Axeport, and is a conjurer who can be harsh and unpredictable, though he gets along with the Rhenee. He is assigned to control the port by Vanye, but is secretely undermining him at every turn. Waqounis has been forging relationships with barge masters. She warns us that we can't trust all of the clans, so ask for hers (Ashkalon.) They do business with the Old One but they are not his. Some clans actively support him though, and we must watch for those.
Vanye is a wizard and a member of the Lesser Boneheart. Iuz's ruler of the Shield Lands. During the Greyhawk wars, he was one of the few commanders that the forces of Furyondy repeatedly defeated. He was almost killed during the wars by Archmage Gaizalan of Furyondy. He was once a member of the Greater Boneheart, but was demoted (and, unusually, survived the demotion.) It's unclear how he got such an appointment despite his failure. There are six of each of the Lesser and Greater Boneheart normally, but one of the Greater was killed in the war (the high priest Patch.)
Norric replenishes his quiver from the stores of the archers we defeated here.
Her goods are primarily fabrics and clothing, something Iuz's lands are lacking.
She gives us a gold pendant and says it will act as a token of her identity to her people. We must present it to them and tell them that she gave it to us. If we are not forthright they might think we stole it.
We make use of the camp for the night, setting a watch since of our foes escaped. Surena relaxes more as she is in our company, and even plays with Krista. I sing the songs of my people, and she does a Rhenee dance.

Morning

We help Surena pack up her cart. She tells us that her clan will be always in our service, and she hopes that the Old One will not find us. Krista hugs her, but Thomas pulls her away. "Brave young man, will you take care of Krista?" Surena says to Thomas. "Yes," he says. She then says something to him in a language we don't understand.
She departs to the east, as we head west, and wish her safety in her travels.

Afternoon

We travel for much of the day, keeping to lesser-used pathways, with Maar in the lead. He spots something flying in the air overhead, circling us. It dives toward us, and we are out in the open, one hundred feet away from any tree cover. As it draws closer it is revealed to be one of the abyssal-bat creatures (varrangoin) we've encountered before, though twice as large as any we've yet seen. As it passes by, I try Mind Whip, though it resists. The rest of my companions hit it with various attacks, damaging it significantly, but it escapes to the southeast.

Morning

We reach one of the outer towers in the vicinity of Ringland. It is unoccupied.

Rewards Granted

• 100 gp
• Great Axe +1 (Tronus)
• Potion of Growth
• Gold pendant token of House Ashkalon

Report Date

28 Aug 2021