Session 1 - Adventure Awaits
General Summary
We begin in the city of Wexwood. This is a city in two parts, belying it’s original military heritage. The fortress of Wexwood Keep is built into the side of the mountain, with a narrow switchback path that grants access. The rest of the city is spread around the base of the mountain, like chicks gathered under their mother’s wing. High above the city crashes a huge powerful waterfall that crowns the keep and then splits into two channels that frame the fortress, flowing down to surround the city and then meet up again to form the Athacarres Run.
Watcher Gelestro, the ruler of Wexwood has posted a request for adventures to check out a possible goblin camp. Four applicants submitted their names and were invited to meet with the Watcher and with each other on the 16th of Planting, 498 T.A. to discuss the job.
The first to speak up was the young looking Corvium clutching a book in her hand, who introduced herself as Denye Starwing of the Clan Dance of Twilight. Standing a little over 4ft tall, short black feathers covered her head and peeked out at the corners of her sleeves and pant legs. She was wearing standard adventures garb, although the cloak looked a little threadbare and she wasn’t wearing a hat. She told the party of her excitement about the return of functional magic and her desire to learn as well as her mission to seek out information about the pillars of flame that were seen in the sky many generations ago. She also assured the group that she had lots of experience and had been on many adventures.
The elf, who had been pacing along the edges of the room, stepped forward with her hand out, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jilken Jasop.” A tall, blonde, woman with dusky skin in leather armor. So many weapons hung about her that they stuck out in random directions, but interestingly not a single sword. Jilken explained that she was from the Muspait desert in eastern Umberfell, but she had come north to learn and gain experience before returning to her tribe.
Sitting on the far end of the couch, the young half-elven person introduced themselves as Janora Crowcaller. In rough cotton tunic and trews with a thick cloak thrown back behind, they had one hand on a wooden staff with an intricate carved head of a dog at the top. They said that they had moved around a lot when younger, but most recently had been living in the northern end of the Pelgris Forest. But they too had heard about the rebirth of magic and were looking to learn as well, to see if there were new applications of their branch of the craft.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, the young human man, sitting in a chair with one leg thrown over an arm, looking moody and aloof behind small round spectacles, sighed and said, “Well I suppose I should introduce myself, you can call me Ell.” And with that he fell silent once more. Luckily, they did not have long to wait as only a minute or so later, the door swung open and the same page gestured and said, “The Watcher will see you now.”
As the party entered this new room, they could see that it was similarly appointed with a larger fireplace. A large redwood desk dominated the room, the front carved in the likeness of the Keep surrounded by its waterfalls. Hovering over the desk were twin mage lights that made the room bright as day. As the party entered Watcher Gelestro stood and walked around from behind the desk. large burly human man in his 50s with flaming red hair and beard, with streaks of white that have begun to creep in. He wears a breastplate of shined silver with cut rubies and scarlet inlay with black leather trousers. Overtop he wears a cloak of scarlet, trimmed with some kind of white fur with black stripes.
As he nears, he greets the adventures and quickly gets down to business. Somewhere on the western side of the Wextara Pass was a goblin camp who Gelestro believed was responsible for a series of raids that had started late last year. He’d had trackers out and looking, but even that far south the mountains aren’t very hospitable.
About six weeks ago he learned of a ruins called the Sunless Citadel south of the village of Oakhurst that was rumored to the home of goblins. A week or two later, a young hothead paladin of Tempus came up from somewhere south and started talking shit about how he could run a better military. So Gelestro decided to two kill two birds with one stone and charged Sir Braford with investigating the ruined fortress. The paladin hired one individual in the city and then left for Oakhurst where he was planning on picking up a couple of locals. That was the last Gelestro had heard of Sir Braford, hence the need for a second party. Was this just a goblin camp or was something more sinister down there.
As Gelestro was talking, Denye, entranced by the mage lights, had climbed up onto the desk and reached up trying to touch the ball of illumination to see if she could figure out how it was made. As Gelestro finished and asked if the party felt they were up to the task, he was startled by the half distracted reply just behind him. He turned to give Denye a look and she sheepishly climbed down. Getting affirmatives from the other party members, Gelestro clapped his hands together and said, “Good.”
Jilken raised the important question of pay for this mission. Walking back around the desk Gelestro pulled 4 small pouches. He offered them each 200gp upfront to equip themselves and an additional 300gp each on a successful return. Walking over to a bell cord hanging on the wall Gelestro summoned the page to show them out. As he did so he offered two last pieces of advice. The party should go to Oakhurst and speak to Kerowyn Hucrele to see if she knows anything else about Sir Braford’s plans or the Sunless Citadel. He also offered some Shin’a’in horses to ease their travels and told the party to speak to Connack Pretera'sedrin at the stable of the horseshoe crossed with a wheat sheaf.
After being shown out of the Keep, the party made their way down the switchback path and discussed what kind of preparations were needed before leaving for Oakhurst. Denye suggested that they should pick up some food and lead the way looking for the Restless Raven. Unfortunately, being new to the city she got lost and ended up at Alexi’s Axes. Jilken brightened up at this and suggested they make the best of it and go inside and see what was available. Entering the shop, the owner, an older dwarf with a grey, singed, beard greeted them. Leaving his Hertasi apprentice at the forge he approached the group with a smile asking, “What can I do for you?”
Jilken asked if he had any interesting or magical weapons in stock. Alexi smiled and pulled out a bundle of +1 crossbow bolts. Unfortunately the price was too high for the bundle, but she did haggle a deal for a few of them. Janora picked up some shot for their sling as well.
With a shy nervousness, Denye approached the dwarf and asked if he had any weapons that she could use. With a humph, he pulled on his beard for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the hertasi (a young male named Hessi) appeared at his side holding a quarterstaff. With a silent gesture he handed it to Denye. Alexi smiled and agreed that the staff was probably the best weapon for this young adventurer. While the rest of the party was shopping, Ell slipped out and headed directly to the Restless Raven where he negotiated for some provisions for the party. The barkeep disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes, but quickly reappeared with several medium bundles of food. With a curt nod of his head, Ell picked them up and met up with the rest of the party just as they were leaving Alexi’s. He handed round the rations, so that others could check that it was adequate and appropriate. With that all in order, they headed over to the west gate in search of the Shin’a’in stable.
Entering the stable, they were greeted by a tall, black-haired man in bright colors and a big smile who introduced himself as Connack. After asking if any of the party were familiar with Shin’a’in horses, Connack explained that these were not the famed battlesteeds, but rather gentler saddle mares, but that to the Shin’a’in their horses were jel'sutho'edrin (younger siblings of the clan) and so should be treated as such. He went on to say that they were almost as smart as the battlesteeds, they just weren’t quite as solidly built. He also explained that if the party thought that they would be leaving the horses for an extended period in dangerous terrain, the party should speak the command word sadullos’hai and let the horses go and they would return to Wexwood on their own.
As he concluded, he let the party around back to an enclosure where 10-12 horses stood grazing. Connack startled the party by letting out an ear-splitting whistle at which point all the horses turned to look at him. With another command four of the horses began making their way to the fence as the others resumed eating. After getting the horses saddled and ready for the road, he walks them out to the party and they all begin mounting. Most of the party had little issue, although Jilken almost fell over as she tried to swing into the saddle. Heading out the western gate about noon they began making their way across the Pass of Wextara on their way to Oakhurst.
They made it several hours down the road until suddenly a large red bug with a sharp pointed nose and pincers flew up out of the grass and flew toward Janora. They yelled at the bug, but it didn’t seem to scare it off and it bit them. At the sound of Janora’s yell, four more stirges flew up from the grass and toward the group. With a few quick reactions and a lot of fire, the adventurers managed to deal with them, but not before a third wave of stirges found them as well, called by the barking of Janora’s staff. In the aftermath, the group went looking for some kind of water source to clean the bug guts and smoke off and found a small stream near a clearing. Being about an hour until sunset they decided to make camp and settle in for the evening. After taking care of their set up and grooming and feeding the horses, the party settled down around the campfire for their own dinner and some conversation.
Once everyone had settled and started eating, Janora suggested, “We are traveling together, we should get to know each other.” Jilken agreed, but also brought up the camp business of watches. A few minutes of discussion and that was quickly settled and then everyone fell silent again.
Jilken broke the awkward silence, “First job I’ve taken in this area. I’m just out to see what I can make of myself. The options back home are a little limited.”
“I know what you mean,” said Janora, “I’m from the northern Pelegris Forest. It’s been fine, but I’m curious to see what else is out there.” They let a small laugh, “I’m feeling a little beat from those damn bugs, but a little sleep and I’ll be ready to face tomorrow.”
Jilken replied, “Well if it’s anything like the Wetlands around here I’m sure it’s lovely. I haven’t seen anything like those bugs before.”
Denye piped up at this point, “Those were stirges. Umm, they are bloodsuckers and if you let one live on you there are three infectious diseases you can get from a bite if you find one feeding too close to…..” She then went on a long, graphic, and slightly off-color description of all three. “Anyway, I learned all of that at Junior Academy while I was getting ready to go out.
“Well, thank you for that,” Janora said, “at least one of those diseases sounds worse than some of the things I’ve had in my youth.”
Denye looked over at Ell, sitting on his bedroll. “What about you, Ell?”
Ell replied, “what about me?”
“Where do you come from?” asked Janora.
“Well,” Ell said, “Have you heard of Haven? So...I’m from there.”
Denye persisted, “What kinds of things do you like?”
“I mostly like books,” Ell said with a smile. “I also like knowing things. And I kinda like being alone, but sometimes you can’t do that.”
“Imagine if you had been alone when those bugs popped out,” quipped Jilken
“It must be awfully hard being alone with people,” said Denye. She cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “Actually not, it’s not very hard to be alone with people. Nevermind, I like books. The Canopy Council has lots of books, so many in the Library that we’re still going through them to see if they have anything of use, so much has changed in the last 500, magic is coming back. I’m sure you’ve noticed, well you saw what I was doing, I’m learning to be, on the road earlier, to be a powerful wizard so I can go back and prove that I am worthy of being at The Avium. Also the Council, back, back home, a long way away asked me to investigate some huge pillars of light that were seen in the west a long time ago. People don’t usually leave the Humblewood and the one search party that did go out never came home.”
“Well aren’t you a helpful little thing,” replied Janora, “thank you for all of that. Back in my home in the forest, I spent a lot of time by myself as well. Not nearly as many books, I think I had four, maybe five, books in the village.”
Denye agreed, “That’s not a lot of books at all. I would lend you my book, but I’m not sure if you could read it. I could teach you….I think. What kind of books do you like Ell?”
“I think I mostly like books of magic,” Ell responds and then pulls out a deck of cards and starts shuffling them and doing card tricks.
Denye is entranced by the card tricks. She tries to grab one of the cards with magehand, but Ell is too quick, pulling the cards back at the last second. With a flip of the wrist, he cast magehand and pulled the card, tossing it at Denye’s feet. Feeling a little embarrassed, she shrunk into her cloak. With another flick of his wrist the card comes flying back up to the deck.
“I think that’s enough magic tricks and talk for me.” With that Ell lays down on his bedroll and rolls over, wrapping it around himself.
After that the rest of the group broke up and sought their beds. The night was quiet, with stars overhead and the party had a peaceful night.
The morning passes and shortly after noon the party comes to another stream, with a small waterfall that spills into a basin in the stone before running off down the hill. Stopping to water the horses, as well as stretch and get water for themselves. As well as grab a quick snack and take care of necessities.
After taking care of all the business, the party soon found themselves on the road again and making good time. Seeing nothing all afternoon, but a flock of sheep or two on a far hill, the party made it into Oakhurst about two hours before dark. As they enter town, the group is met by a young man in a bright uniform who welcomes them to town and asks what their business is.
Jilken speaks up from the back,”I hear you’ve been having a goblin problem in this little town of yours, we’re here to look into it.”
“Watcher Gelestro said we should talk to Kerowyn, Kerowyn Hercule,” added Denye.
“Ma Hercule, sure, you can find her over at the general store.” With a smile, the guard points just down the road at a large white building with a blue roof. “And you can stable your horse here at the inn,” as he points to another building, across the street.
Thanking the guard, the party headed to the stable and left their horses in the hands of the grooms.
Walking again, the group made their way to the general store. Stepping inside they found a large shop, with walls and shelves displaying a wide variety of goods. It’s clear that this is the town's source for most anything that isn’t grown or made on a farm. Standing behind the counter is a larger, matronly, looking woman with a tight bun of silver hair and wearing a blue wool dress, with white flower embroidery. Jilken opened with, “I hear you are offering bounty for goblin ears.”
Kerowyn looks nonplussed and shakes her head. “No, no goblin ears. We have been having a problem with them lately, at least it seems to be the goblins.”
With a bit of a growl Janora says, “We were sent here. By Watcher Gelestro.”
“Oh, so he’s finally decided to send someone out after them? It’s about time,” Kerowyn said with a little huff. “Two of my grandchildren when looking for that hideout 5 weeks ago. And no one has heard from them since! This dark, moody paladin comes waltzing in here, convinces them to join him, and now I can’t help but believe that they are dead. I just need to know.”
Kerowyn offers the party 100gp for each signet ring they bring back, and double if they bring anyone back alive. She also gave the party a vial of pinkish liquid, a potion of healing. “I had tried to get this for my grandchildren, but it came in too late. Hopefully it will prove useful to you.”
Ell leans forward and asks, “Anything happen recently that could account for this aggression by the goblins.” Kerowyn thinks for a moment, “No, nothing recently. There was an old man who came through here about 12-15 years ago. Stark, raving mad he was, but he kept asking questions about the Sunless Citadel. I don’t remember his name, just that he had a giant frog.”
Ell asked, “Do you remember anything else?”
“Only that he was very angry and muttered alot about showing the grove,” Kerowyn sighed. “Garon over at the inn would probably remember more….the old gossip.”
With a round of thanks, the party left the store and headed back to the inn where they easily found a table and ordered a round of drinks and some food. Settling in to enjoy their meals the party pondered their next moves.
16 Planting, 498 TA
We open in a comfortably appointed waiting room inside Wexwood Keep. Over the past 15-20 minutes each of our adventurers have made their way to the keep, been greeted, show here, and offered refreshments. After handing the last drink, a fruit juice, to a short human man with long black hair and fine clothes, the page turned to the group and said, “The Watcher is running a little behind schedule, but he should be with you shortly.” With a final bow, he left the room.The first to speak up was the young looking Corvium clutching a book in her hand, who introduced herself as Denye Starwing of the Clan Dance of Twilight. Standing a little over 4ft tall, short black feathers covered her head and peeked out at the corners of her sleeves and pant legs. She was wearing standard adventures garb, although the cloak looked a little threadbare and she wasn’t wearing a hat. She told the party of her excitement about the return of functional magic and her desire to learn as well as her mission to seek out information about the pillars of flame that were seen in the sky many generations ago. She also assured the group that she had lots of experience and had been on many adventures.
The elf, who had been pacing along the edges of the room, stepped forward with her hand out, “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Jilken Jasop.” A tall, blonde, woman with dusky skin in leather armor. So many weapons hung about her that they stuck out in random directions, but interestingly not a single sword. Jilken explained that she was from the Muspait desert in eastern Umberfell, but she had come north to learn and gain experience before returning to her tribe.
Sitting on the far end of the couch, the young half-elven person introduced themselves as Janora Crowcaller. In rough cotton tunic and trews with a thick cloak thrown back behind, they had one hand on a wooden staff with an intricate carved head of a dog at the top. They said that they had moved around a lot when younger, but most recently had been living in the northern end of the Pelgris Forest. But they too had heard about the rebirth of magic and were looking to learn as well, to see if there were new applications of their branch of the craft.
After a few minutes of awkward silence, the young human man, sitting in a chair with one leg thrown over an arm, looking moody and aloof behind small round spectacles, sighed and said, “Well I suppose I should introduce myself, you can call me Ell.” And with that he fell silent once more. Luckily, they did not have long to wait as only a minute or so later, the door swung open and the same page gestured and said, “The Watcher will see you now.”
As the party entered this new room, they could see that it was similarly appointed with a larger fireplace. A large redwood desk dominated the room, the front carved in the likeness of the Keep surrounded by its waterfalls. Hovering over the desk were twin mage lights that made the room bright as day. As the party entered Watcher Gelestro stood and walked around from behind the desk. large burly human man in his 50s with flaming red hair and beard, with streaks of white that have begun to creep in. He wears a breastplate of shined silver with cut rubies and scarlet inlay with black leather trousers. Overtop he wears a cloak of scarlet, trimmed with some kind of white fur with black stripes.
As he nears, he greets the adventures and quickly gets down to business. Somewhere on the western side of the Wextara Pass was a goblin camp who Gelestro believed was responsible for a series of raids that had started late last year. He’d had trackers out and looking, but even that far south the mountains aren’t very hospitable.
About six weeks ago he learned of a ruins called the Sunless Citadel south of the village of Oakhurst that was rumored to the home of goblins. A week or two later, a young hothead paladin of Tempus came up from somewhere south and started talking shit about how he could run a better military. So Gelestro decided to two kill two birds with one stone and charged Sir Braford with investigating the ruined fortress. The paladin hired one individual in the city and then left for Oakhurst where he was planning on picking up a couple of locals. That was the last Gelestro had heard of Sir Braford, hence the need for a second party. Was this just a goblin camp or was something more sinister down there.
As Gelestro was talking, Denye, entranced by the mage lights, had climbed up onto the desk and reached up trying to touch the ball of illumination to see if she could figure out how it was made. As Gelestro finished and asked if the party felt they were up to the task, he was startled by the half distracted reply just behind him. He turned to give Denye a look and she sheepishly climbed down. Getting affirmatives from the other party members, Gelestro clapped his hands together and said, “Good.”
Jilken raised the important question of pay for this mission. Walking back around the desk Gelestro pulled 4 small pouches. He offered them each 200gp upfront to equip themselves and an additional 300gp each on a successful return. Walking over to a bell cord hanging on the wall Gelestro summoned the page to show them out. As he did so he offered two last pieces of advice. The party should go to Oakhurst and speak to Kerowyn Hucrele to see if she knows anything else about Sir Braford’s plans or the Sunless Citadel. He also offered some Shin’a’in horses to ease their travels and told the party to speak to Connack Pretera'sedrin at the stable of the horseshoe crossed with a wheat sheaf.
After being shown out of the Keep, the party made their way down the switchback path and discussed what kind of preparations were needed before leaving for Oakhurst. Denye suggested that they should pick up some food and lead the way looking for the Restless Raven. Unfortunately, being new to the city she got lost and ended up at Alexi’s Axes. Jilken brightened up at this and suggested they make the best of it and go inside and see what was available. Entering the shop, the owner, an older dwarf with a grey, singed, beard greeted them. Leaving his Hertasi apprentice at the forge he approached the group with a smile asking, “What can I do for you?”
Jilken asked if he had any interesting or magical weapons in stock. Alexi smiled and pulled out a bundle of +1 crossbow bolts. Unfortunately the price was too high for the bundle, but she did haggle a deal for a few of them. Janora picked up some shot for their sling as well.
With a shy nervousness, Denye approached the dwarf and asked if he had any weapons that she could use. With a humph, he pulled on his beard for a moment. Just as he opened his mouth to reply, the hertasi (a young male named Hessi) appeared at his side holding a quarterstaff. With a silent gesture he handed it to Denye. Alexi smiled and agreed that the staff was probably the best weapon for this young adventurer. While the rest of the party was shopping, Ell slipped out and headed directly to the Restless Raven where he negotiated for some provisions for the party. The barkeep disappeared into the kitchen for a few minutes, but quickly reappeared with several medium bundles of food. With a curt nod of his head, Ell picked them up and met up with the rest of the party just as they were leaving Alexi’s. He handed round the rations, so that others could check that it was adequate and appropriate. With that all in order, they headed over to the west gate in search of the Shin’a’in stable.
Entering the stable, they were greeted by a tall, black-haired man in bright colors and a big smile who introduced himself as Connack. After asking if any of the party were familiar with Shin’a’in horses, Connack explained that these were not the famed battlesteeds, but rather gentler saddle mares, but that to the Shin’a’in their horses were jel'sutho'edrin (younger siblings of the clan) and so should be treated as such. He went on to say that they were almost as smart as the battlesteeds, they just weren’t quite as solidly built. He also explained that if the party thought that they would be leaving the horses for an extended period in dangerous terrain, the party should speak the command word sadullos’hai and let the horses go and they would return to Wexwood on their own.
As he concluded, he let the party around back to an enclosure where 10-12 horses stood grazing. Connack startled the party by letting out an ear-splitting whistle at which point all the horses turned to look at him. With another command four of the horses began making their way to the fence as the others resumed eating. After getting the horses saddled and ready for the road, he walks them out to the party and they all begin mounting. Most of the party had little issue, although Jilken almost fell over as she tried to swing into the saddle. Heading out the western gate about noon they began making their way across the Pass of Wextara on their way to Oakhurst.
They made it several hours down the road until suddenly a large red bug with a sharp pointed nose and pincers flew up out of the grass and flew toward Janora. They yelled at the bug, but it didn’t seem to scare it off and it bit them. At the sound of Janora’s yell, four more stirges flew up from the grass and toward the group. With a few quick reactions and a lot of fire, the adventurers managed to deal with them, but not before a third wave of stirges found them as well, called by the barking of Janora’s staff. In the aftermath, the group went looking for some kind of water source to clean the bug guts and smoke off and found a small stream near a clearing. Being about an hour until sunset they decided to make camp and settle in for the evening. After taking care of their set up and grooming and feeding the horses, the party settled down around the campfire for their own dinner and some conversation.
Once everyone had settled and started eating, Janora suggested, “We are traveling together, we should get to know each other.” Jilken agreed, but also brought up the camp business of watches. A few minutes of discussion and that was quickly settled and then everyone fell silent again.
Jilken broke the awkward silence, “First job I’ve taken in this area. I’m just out to see what I can make of myself. The options back home are a little limited.”
“I know what you mean,” said Janora, “I’m from the northern Pelegris Forest. It’s been fine, but I’m curious to see what else is out there.” They let a small laugh, “I’m feeling a little beat from those damn bugs, but a little sleep and I’ll be ready to face tomorrow.”
Jilken replied, “Well if it’s anything like the Wetlands around here I’m sure it’s lovely. I haven’t seen anything like those bugs before.”
Denye piped up at this point, “Those were stirges. Umm, they are bloodsuckers and if you let one live on you there are three infectious diseases you can get from a bite if you find one feeding too close to…..” She then went on a long, graphic, and slightly off-color description of all three. “Anyway, I learned all of that at Junior Academy while I was getting ready to go out.
“Well, thank you for that,” Janora said, “at least one of those diseases sounds worse than some of the things I’ve had in my youth.”
Denye looked over at Ell, sitting on his bedroll. “What about you, Ell?”
Ell replied, “what about me?”
“Where do you come from?” asked Janora.
“Well,” Ell said, “Have you heard of Haven? So...I’m from there.”
Denye persisted, “What kinds of things do you like?”
“I mostly like books,” Ell said with a smile. “I also like knowing things. And I kinda like being alone, but sometimes you can’t do that.”
“Imagine if you had been alone when those bugs popped out,” quipped Jilken
“It must be awfully hard being alone with people,” said Denye. She cocked her head to the side and thought for a moment. “Actually not, it’s not very hard to be alone with people. Nevermind, I like books. The Canopy Council has lots of books, so many in the Library that we’re still going through them to see if they have anything of use, so much has changed in the last 500, magic is coming back. I’m sure you’ve noticed, well you saw what I was doing, I’m learning to be, on the road earlier, to be a powerful wizard so I can go back and prove that I am worthy of being at The Avium. Also the Council, back, back home, a long way away asked me to investigate some huge pillars of light that were seen in the west a long time ago. People don’t usually leave the Humblewood and the one search party that did go out never came home.”
“Well aren’t you a helpful little thing,” replied Janora, “thank you for all of that. Back in my home in the forest, I spent a lot of time by myself as well. Not nearly as many books, I think I had four, maybe five, books in the village.”
Denye agreed, “That’s not a lot of books at all. I would lend you my book, but I’m not sure if you could read it. I could teach you….I think. What kind of books do you like Ell?”
“I think I mostly like books of magic,” Ell responds and then pulls out a deck of cards and starts shuffling them and doing card tricks.
Denye is entranced by the card tricks. She tries to grab one of the cards with magehand, but Ell is too quick, pulling the cards back at the last second. With a flip of the wrist, he cast magehand and pulled the card, tossing it at Denye’s feet. Feeling a little embarrassed, she shrunk into her cloak. With another flick of his wrist the card comes flying back up to the deck.
“I think that’s enough magic tricks and talk for me.” With that Ell lays down on his bedroll and rolls over, wrapping it around himself.
After that the rest of the group broke up and sought their beds. The night was quiet, with stars overhead and the party had a peaceful night.
17 Planting, 498 TA
Morning breaks, and as the sun washes over the land, the party packs up their camp and sets off westward toward the town of Oakhurst, It’s a beautiful spring day, blue skies and the warm sun on their backs. In short, a perfect day for traveling.The morning passes and shortly after noon the party comes to another stream, with a small waterfall that spills into a basin in the stone before running off down the hill. Stopping to water the horses, as well as stretch and get water for themselves. As well as grab a quick snack and take care of necessities.
After taking care of all the business, the party soon found themselves on the road again and making good time. Seeing nothing all afternoon, but a flock of sheep or two on a far hill, the party made it into Oakhurst about two hours before dark. As they enter town, the group is met by a young man in a bright uniform who welcomes them to town and asks what their business is.
Jilken speaks up from the back,”I hear you’ve been having a goblin problem in this little town of yours, we’re here to look into it.”
“Watcher Gelestro said we should talk to Kerowyn, Kerowyn Hercule,” added Denye.
“Ma Hercule, sure, you can find her over at the general store.” With a smile, the guard points just down the road at a large white building with a blue roof. “And you can stable your horse here at the inn,” as he points to another building, across the street.
Thanking the guard, the party headed to the stable and left their horses in the hands of the grooms.
Walking again, the group made their way to the general store. Stepping inside they found a large shop, with walls and shelves displaying a wide variety of goods. It’s clear that this is the town's source for most anything that isn’t grown or made on a farm. Standing behind the counter is a larger, matronly, looking woman with a tight bun of silver hair and wearing a blue wool dress, with white flower embroidery. Jilken opened with, “I hear you are offering bounty for goblin ears.”
Kerowyn looks nonplussed and shakes her head. “No, no goblin ears. We have been having a problem with them lately, at least it seems to be the goblins.”
With a bit of a growl Janora says, “We were sent here. By Watcher Gelestro.”
“Oh, so he’s finally decided to send someone out after them? It’s about time,” Kerowyn said with a little huff. “Two of my grandchildren when looking for that hideout 5 weeks ago. And no one has heard from them since! This dark, moody paladin comes waltzing in here, convinces them to join him, and now I can’t help but believe that they are dead. I just need to know.”
Kerowyn offers the party 100gp for each signet ring they bring back, and double if they bring anyone back alive. She also gave the party a vial of pinkish liquid, a potion of healing. “I had tried to get this for my grandchildren, but it came in too late. Hopefully it will prove useful to you.”
Ell leans forward and asks, “Anything happen recently that could account for this aggression by the goblins.” Kerowyn thinks for a moment, “No, nothing recently. There was an old man who came through here about 12-15 years ago. Stark, raving mad he was, but he kept asking questions about the Sunless Citadel. I don’t remember his name, just that he had a giant frog.”
Ell asked, “Do you remember anything else?”
“Only that he was very angry and muttered alot about showing the grove,” Kerowyn sighed. “Garon over at the inn would probably remember more….the old gossip.”
With a round of thanks, the party left the store and headed back to the inn where they easily found a table and ordered a round of drinks and some food. Settling in to enjoy their meals the party pondered their next moves.