Operation Parameters
| Date |
1492 DR, 28 Flamerule
|
| Soldiers |
- Edward Bardot
- Dremond Vrunar
- Galen Luxseer
- Arden Ironfist
- Cathos Bhanu
|
| Status |
|
| Casualties |
None |
Operation Details
We set out from camp around 6 PM after our briefing, some planning, and some shopping at Orion's. Dremond took a loan from Orion for better armor. With Galen leading the way we made good time south towards the Swanmay River. On the way, we first encountered some wild horses then some sort of psychic entity that we did not see, but passed by us and harmed us just from its presence. Not wanting to deviate from our time sensitive mission, we forged on and reached the river around 1 AM. I should inquire about getting some cartography supplies so I can more easily mark out things encountered on missions.
The river was about 60ft wide and flanked by a dirt road on each side. After a brief tactical discussion, we set up an ambush point at a part of the river advantageous to us using 150 ft. trees we chopped down while sending Galen to scout for the enemy. Once the supply caravan arrived we engaged and defeated them after a hard battle which saw 2 party members falling unconscious a total of 3 times. The supply caravan was made up of 2 boats and 4 wagons (2 each side of the river) with 11 guards and 2 stronger guards that appeared human. Through the use of force ballista knocking people into the fast flowing river, physically throwing people into the river, and several sleep spells, we prevailed by controlling the amount of enemies we faced at one time. The stronger guards seemed pale and not right. They did foul necromantic damage by biting at us alongside swinging their weapons. They were particularly sturdy and took the concerted effort of the party to drop. I think we might have been more efficient had we focus targeting earlier and not moving independently in the beginning but it worked out in the end. During the fight, Dremond and Cathos performed admirably as our front line. Galen and Edward were an equally solid back line. I strengthened my companions with Tyr's blessing and mostly provided battlefield control.
After cleaning up the battlefield, we searched the fallen bodies, boats, and wagons. I also checked everything with a detect magic spell. We found a note on one of the boats, 2 horns of gun powder on the other boat, 2 evocation magic scrolls stowed in the driver compartment of one of the wagons, some misc. armor and weapons from the fallen bodies, and 85gp. Be careful when searching wagon compartments. Two of the wagons we searched had been trapped with a poison cloud that triggered when the compartment was opened. In each boat we also found two black cube structures (approx. 1000s of lbs. in weight, and 10ft x 10ft x 10+ft in dimension) with sealed slits down the middle that were likely some sort of turret fortification. Dremond noted that other soldiers had encountered them in the field before. In terms of supplies, we found 2 wagons full of provisions and general goods, 1 full of weapons, and 1 with a disassembled portable catapult. We also found a large metal case in each of the wagons on the near river bank that were about 7ft tall with metal restraints wrapped around them and covered in arcane glyphs. I detected enchantment magic practically radiating from them like small suns. They seemed obviously dangerous and I couldn't help but think that they might be some sort of coffin or contained a dangerous creature within. We loaded everything into the two wagons on the near side of the river before pushing the wagons on the far side into the river alongside the boats, scuttling the ships, and further blowing them up with an explosion. We wanted to deny the enemy the remaining supplies and the use of the black cubes. We left the logs in place blocking the roads and river.
We managed to force march back to Camp Vegapath without further incident and reported in around noon. The Jims took custody of one wagon before we were able to properly search it for magical items. Maybe they found something of note? In any case it was a tough first mission for me, but we pulled through and everyone came home. I am honored to serve alongside such steadfast companions.
