Session 18

General Summary

Starday, Richfest 1, 591 CY

Morning

We come across one of the outer sentry towers. Dominique sends Snowfall into the air to scout, and finds three hobgoblins on wargs, to the west. The are on an intercept course with us, though they don't look like they are in a hurry. Maar casts Pass Without Trace on all of us. We alter our course to avoid meeting the hobgoblins.
Thomas resists going with us. I crouch to tell him there is danger and we must avoid it. He looks about, at the tower and in the direction of Ringland, and asks "Do you think they are going to be mad at me?"
"Who?" I ask
"My mother and father."
I reply: "No, you are a child, you are not to blame."
"But I ran away," Thomas says.
I struggle to find answers that might comfort the boy. The best I come up with is: "Mothers and fathers are simply happy to have their children return."
At this the tower strobes, though it flickers a bit. It has not strobed in a long time.
"If you don't think they'll be mad..."
"I do not think they will be, no." Though he is still reluctant, Thomas goes with us. Dominique pics up Krista and carries her.
The strobe continues, then stops. I can't tell if the tower's magic is failing.
We make it within the boundaries of the Ringland towers, and take cover. We see the war riders hesitate as they pass the tower, and stop to point at it. They ride around the tower, inspecting it. They have bows at their backs.
We attack, afraid they will escape with knowledge of the tower and thus Ringland. With the element of surprise, we quickly dispatch two of the warg mounts. However, the hobgoblins form ranks and hold us of for a time. Their leader, a mighty warrior, fells Travius. Our healers bring him back to rejoin the fight. We lay into them with spell and blade, and Thormyr finishes all three off with a blast of his god's holy might. We drag their bodies into the trees after looting them.
Dominique sends Snowfall to inspect the tower windows and finds them fitted with glass panes. The tower strobes again, blinding Snowfall.
Thomas stands below and stares at the tower. He holds Krista's hand and says "I'm ready to go home now."
Norric searches the base of the tower and is unable to find an entrance. I ritually cast Detect Magic and am unable to find anything within its thirty-foot range around the circumference.
Maar shifts form into that of a dire wolf and digs shallow graves for the hobgoblin corpses. He further obscures the excavation with druidcraft, growing vegetation over the soil.

Afternoon

We head towards Ringland. Thomas is eager. Soon we come across three men on horseback. Two are affiliated with the bandits, and two are townsfolk. They hail us from a distance. I call out that we have retrieved the children we were sent to find. One of the bandits says "That's Steffan's brat." They relax at the realization.
The lead bandit says that they had given us up for dead, and asks where we found the children. We answer Crossroads.
He smiles at Thomas and says "Your parents are going to be happy to see you."
He asks about Krista and I tell him that she was from one of the nearby farmsteads, but she is now an orphan.
We are greeted by a crowd as we enter the town. Thomas's mother Rosa is amongst the crowd and rushes to him in joy. Nate is with her. She says she has no way to thank us.
Dominique says: "You could reward us by taking in this child," indicating Krista. "She and her mother were taken to Crossroads and her mother did not survive. She has been traumatized and could use a good home."
Rosa welcomes Krista into the family. The girl greets this development with mixed emotions.
A voice then calls out: "Boy! Come to me." Steffan and Kael are walking up with a group of bandits. Thomas walks over to Steffan and gives him a hug. "Were you a brave boy?" Steffan asks.
"I was father," Thomas replies. "I killed a man! With a rock!"
Steffan ruffles his hair and says: "Thatta boy. Now go stand with your mother."
Kael looks impressed. "You'll need to address the town council after you rest up. I'm sure it will be an amazing story."
Travius speaks to Nate, the town blacksmith, about modifying the hobgoblin armour we looted. "This likely comes from Law's Forge," Nate says. "They have dwarves enslaved there to produce armour and weapons. I believe it is controlled by Attaman Rajan, one of Iuz's minions."
Nate agrees to resize the plate armour to fit Travius and remove the hobgoblin symbols. In exchange Travius pays him with the scale armor we had also looted from the hobgoblins.
Kael walks with us to the manor. He shouts out to Orson, servant of the manor that we require accommodation. He escorts us to the council area and points out where we might freshen ourselves, and says he will arrange for us to be fed from the kitchen. The manor is being used as a communal area.
We eat and take our refreshment, and Orson tells us he has a room for us.
The council is called after dinner. Harmon Deleven and Jansen Reynold, both knights of the Holy Shielding, are part of the council, along with Astar the priest of Rao; Orson (representing Mistress Lenora and Hetman Trant.
Jansen says he is surprised to see us, given how long ago we left. It is auspicious that we returned with the children on the first day of Richfest, though sad about Krista's mother. He then asks us to relate our tale.
We tell him our story, though we omit the part about the other realm. We just describe those events as a harrowing journey that cannot be repeated. We also mention that the children are scarred by their experiences. We also mention that we rescued someone from a group of bandits on the journey here, though we were circumspect about where we were headed. We do tell them about our battle with the hobgoblins at the tower. Astar tells us that the strobe of the tower is what causes agents of Iuz to get confused and wander away, so if the hobgoblins weren't there while it strobed, they wouldn't have been affected. It has been discovered before, but the effect has caused them to forget and wander off.
The council reflects on what we told them. Jansen says: "That is quite the harrowing journey. You truly are heroes. I don't know how we will repay you. It is sad about Krista's parents. Rosa has agreed to raise her if the council agrees."
Travius advocates for keeping Thomas and Krista together, as their shared experience helps them comfort each other.
Astar requests to speak with us about the arcane events we experienced, particularly about the priesthood of Iuz purging their own zombies. I volunteer msyelf and Dominique for this. We are honest with him about all the events in the other realm, though we omit details about the Rhenee. Astar is shaken by the news of the strange place we visited. He says they best keep an eye on Krista, though we assure him that we purged all corruption from her. Astar says his church fought the forces of the Elemental Eye at the Temple of Elemental Evil. He also thinks that Krista would have been affected by the strobing of the tower if she was still corrupted, but he will do research in the library. He grants Dominique permission to use the library for her research as well.

Rewards Granted

Hobgoblins:

• 150 EP
• 60 GP
• Full Hobgoblin Plate Mail (Travius)
• Chain mail

Report Date

25 Sep 2021