Session 26

General Summary

Freeday, Richfest 7 to Richfest 9, 591 CY

We assist in restoring the town for the next two days, and ensure the remaining bandits of Brakken's faction are sufficiently subdued. We establish order with Steffan. The bandits seem to have accepted him as their leader.

Moonday, Reaping 3

Morning

Now that the settlement is in order, we prepare to depart upon our planned journey. We elect to pose as merchants should we encounter other travelers or patrols. We take a covered wagon and load it with barrels filled mostly with dirt, with grain on the top. Norric and I will sit in the wagon, and if it looks like we are about to be confronted Thormyr will cast Create Food and Water to fill out our inventory, and I will then make him invisible with my magic. We also will carry some alcohol to help bribe patrols. The story is that we are taking food to Iuz's forces on the front. Norric is the merchant, the rest of us are the guards. Delcombe is on a major supply route for Iuz's forces at the front with Critwal and sees a lot of food supplies travel in that direction, so we will pretend to be based out of there. Tronus also forges a mercantile writ with Norric's help. We are provisioners sweeping the land to procure foodstuffs for Iuz's forces on the front.
Harmon and a couple of his riders escort us through the demesne of Ringland. The locals see us off, though with a bit of trepidation as our previous departure was part of a deception.
As we proceed Maar informs us that he is going to remain to help the locals get through the challenging times. I say to him "Well cousin, you do well by these people."
Maar replies, "We would not have survived without these people. I must help them."
"It is a noble thing you do," I say. "I hope we see you again soon."
Dominique also says she has research she must do on her own and will catch up with us later. She departs on her broom.
An hour into our journey we encounter a woman on a pony who is heading in the opposite direction as us. She rides up to Harmon and he recognizes her as Nora, from one of the western farms. She is distraught and says an agent of Iuz has been spotted close to their farm. They've cornered him and need help. I ask how she knows it is an agent of Iuz and she says it looks like an agent of Iuz. It doesn't look normal, it looks like it was touched by the force of evil. We agree to investigate, leaving the cart behind with one of his outriders.
We reach the farm and her husband says they've cornered it in the barn. He says it was rummaging through their supplies. He and his two sons managed to drive it into the barn. The boys are guarding the door with hammer and pitchfork. Tronus and Travius enter first, the rest of us following.
I call out for the intruder to step forth, assuring we will give them the chance to speak their peace. I notice what seems to be an unnatural darkness within the barn. The individual assures us they have a blade but will sheath it.
The intruder emerges. They are tall and slender, well-appointed if travel-stained clothes. The clothes are black with purple accents with raven motifs. Black tatoos are on his hands, arms, and neck. His eyes are black in the viscera with white in the centre. Very odd. However, as they emerge into the light his eyes turn to a more normal appearance, blue irises within white. His hair also turns from white to black.
He speaks to Harmon. "I see you are of the Holy Shielding. Are you the leader here? How might I address you? I am Drazhan Morelet, Third Scion of Torkeep."
Harmon pauses, reflecting, and then says "Do you have a relative by the name of Asundar?"
"I do -- at least I hope I do. I haven't seen him in many years."
"I fought with him during the Greyhawk Wars," says Harmon. "He was a knight of the Holy Shielding as well, correct?"
"That is correct. He is a credit to our family, though we are not a credit to him."
"He was very brave. I don't remember what happened to him, but I do recall fighting by his side." Harmon relaxes and sheathes his sword. "What is your family's fate?"
"My family has retained control of their lands. I don't know if you've had the misfortune to meet my father. He's something of a chameleon. When my family began speaking of giving me to Iuz, I took my inheritance and left. I had found reference to Ringland and its magical properties in my arcane research and made to go there. I have taken the only book in my family's library that referenced it, but I do believe I have been pursued."
I inform Drazhan that we seek to protect Ringland amidst the Old One's occupation of the area, and he offers to help. I take Harmon aside to discuss. As we move aside Drazhan casts Prestidigitation to clean his clothes. I ask Harmon how trustworthy this fellow is. He has his concerns as to how this family has survived in these lands under Iuz's influence. Are they in league with the Old Man? I propose that if he is an agent of Iuz it might be safer to have him with us than in the town. Harmon doesn't think he's an agent of Iuz.
I return to the group and propose that we allow him to accompany us. The group agrees. Drazhan guesses our task is to cross the border after I inform him that we travel south and west. He is enthusiastic about it. I ask if he'll understand that we do not take him into our confidence just yet. He expresses a similar distrust of us.
I bring Drazhan in on our cover story. He asks to examine our writ, as those were required in his family's lands and he is well familiar with them. He says it looks good to his eye. He also demonstrates how he can summon his shadowy sword. The process invokes his tattoos and causes his eyes to take on their unnatural appearance.
Drazhan is amiable, but avoids talk of his family. He seems to lack awareness of his surroundings and is taken by surprise easily.
We retrieve our wagon and reach the western reaches of Ringland's demesne. We bushwack our way through the wood and gentle rolling plains, trying to keep away from the main roads. The summer sun is hot and the breeze faint, leaving us at the mercy of pestering insects. We follow the overgrown wagon trails in a general westerly direction toward the highway that leads south to Critwal.
We conceal our camp in a stand of trees as best we can. Tronus and I have first watch. Norric is on second with Drazhan. Travius and Thormyr are third.

Godsday, Reaping 4

Morning

Our night was uneventful, and in the morning we break camp.
As we ford a small stream, on the other side looms a masked figure, near eight feet tall. It sniffs the air and says "There you are...I lost the scent of you a while ago." Its helm has no eye holes.
Drazhan says "I did say I was being pursued..."
"You have something I'm looking for," it says. "I smell a Morelet."
I inform the beast that we will not hand Drazhan over, and it says his betrothed is looking for him. The dowry has already been paid.
The Hunter summons demonic minions as Drazhan hits him with Eldritch Blast. The minions rush forth. They are humanoid insects with four arms, wielding a trident. Tronus's frightening divine presence causes one of the demons to flee into the brush. The Hunter responds by firing an enormous arrow into Tronus, lodging in his breastplate.
One of the demons stabs our wagon horse in the neck. I cast Melf's Minute Meteors and send two into the Hunter. Norric peppers him with arrows but they seem to have a diminished effect. I blast two meteors into the Hunter and use an empowered Magic Missle to supplement the damage.
Thormyr heals our wagon horse with his magic and then tries to calm it down.
The Hunter attempts to cast a net over Drazhan but fails.
Norric heads to the ground to assist Travius, who has been seriously wounded by the attacks of his demonic adversary. The stout halfling wields his short sword to good effect.
I hit the Hunter with the last of my meteors and another empowered Magic Missle. He tries to shoot me with one of his spear-like arrows and thankfully misses.
Travious and Norric manage to fell one of the demons. Norric moves to another demon and attacks, to little effect.
The Hunter withdraws several feet and readies a shield. He says "It turns out I never found you Drazhan. Kill them all!"
One of the demon insects attempts to cast a spell that would issue forth a toxic miasma. I cast Counterspell successfully. I then fire Magic Missle at the Hunter again, but his shield blocks it. He blinks and reappears sixty feet away, then runs away from us. Tronus follows and attempts to shoot him with his longbow, but misses.
One of the last two remaining demons cloaks itself in darkness, but that doesn't save it from Norric's blade and it is felled. The darkness disappears at the creature's death.
I climb onto the buckboard of our wagon and try to calm our horse. Tronus peppers the Hunter with arrows.
The Hunter blinks again and now appears to be moving with even more speed. He is soon lost to our sight.

Report Date

05 Nov 2022