Miskar under pressure

1618. Fire Season. Harmony. Godday

With so many of his henchmen out of the fight, Miskar hovers towards the enemy.

Hund, a Humakti Acolyte, played by Ben
Odd the Dark One, played by Kristof
Gust, played by Bram
Ulic the sorcerer, played by Alexander 
Gunnar the Demoralized, played by Gunther
Aelwyn and his brother, played by Philip

fter the last confrontation with Miskar the Gagarthi, and the subsequent capture of Aelwyn, our adventurers hunger for revenge, and they manage to field a nice group of stout warriors.  They get help from Hund, a Humakti acolyte, and Gust, a wild barbarian with a foul temper.  The party has several paths open to them.  They could spy on the Gagarthi, attempt to find out what their activities entail.  Or intercept messengers and convoys, in a bid to uncover their activities.  They could find out about their weaknesses and strengths, allies, and other important information.  Based on that information, they could formulate a plan, determine when the enemy is the weakest, and hit when he least expects it.  However, they decide to ride into the woods towards the captured stead, and run into a guard in a matter of minutes.  Miskar expects the adventurers to try something, and has posted guard on both sides of the woods.  His wolf companion is scouting as well, and the gang are ready for the adventurers' attack.  Or so they think.  

hen the guards spot the party, one of the guardsmen blows the alarm, and Miskar's wolf quickly finds our party and informs Miskar.  The gang leader is ready, quickly he leads his troupe into the woods, towards the invaders.  They stand 12 man strong, and are lead by Miskar's right hand, with Miskar in reserve.  They face the party, and the odds look insurmountable, 12 robbers, a runelord and sidekick against a party of 6 adventurers, it looks like the party's only chance is an attempt to escape, and it is certainly what Miskar expects will happen.  However, things turn out differently.  While Odd starts flanking on his warhorse, Ulic steps forward, and using his forbidden craft he palsies several of the robbers in one go.  Then Hund the Humakti advances, and lets loose his powerful divine magic, disarming several more.  This startles the gang members to no end: this was supposed to be a walkover, but here they stand, their number halved before the fight has even begun.  Miskar lets out his Magic as well, demoralizing only Gunnar.  Then, enraged, he drives his men forward, rather than take the time to cancel the sorcery.  Several of his men are lying on the ground, or standing with one of their limbs shaking uncontrollably.  Panic spreads amongst the Gagarthi, and only the bravest make a real effort to reach the enemy.  

his, of course, plays into the hand of our brave bunch.  Odd, forgotten in the hectic battle, succeeds in getting past the Gagarthi unseen and trots towards the captured Stead in search of Aelwyn.  The enemy, rather than charging at our adventurers in one pack, arrive in waves, and with some deadly blows, the party quickly dispatch Miskar's general.  Miskar loses his selfcontrol and hovers forward, intending to take revenge and set things to right, but by the time he reaches the melee he is left alone on the battle field, all others either dead or grievously wounded, or at least pretending to be.  His enemies see their chance and surround him, and suddenly Miskar is under severe pressure.  The constant flurry of blows prohibits him taking efficient action, and after several high damage blows, he needs a divine intervention to save his life.  His hope to startle the enemy by renewing the attack turns out fruitless, and now all his enemies are on him, killing him a second time.  He has to use his divine intervention again, this time at a high cost, and is healed and turns invisible.  This time, he does not insist, he runs off to safety, ready for revenge at a later date.  Meanwhile Odd made it to the Stead, and dispatches two old guards.  He finds the main Stead, but no trace of Aelwyn.  In a second building, he finds the sleeping quarters of the men, and he notices a trapdoor leading down to a narrow tunnel.  He follows the tunnel and runs into a guard, a young guy, not even bearded, but it takes him a lot of time to take the fellow out.  In one cell the young man was guarding, he finds a weakened Aelwyn, who had been under interrogation for two days, but without telling anything to his captors.  The other cell holds two young women, daughters of Orlmarth Carls, that have been captured by the Gagarthi.  They had not been maltreated and were to be sent to some other location, possibly to be sold as slaves or some other grim fate.

Indrodar and the acolyte

1618. Fire Season. Harmony. Windsday

Hund, a Humakti Acolyte, played by Ben
Hjotra from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Gust, a Grey Dog noble youth, played by Bram
Hildigrim from the Grey Dog, played by Patrick

he murder on the Yelmalio Runelord has alarmed the Lunars. From Boldhome comes word that the culprit must be captured. Divination has revealed the deadly blow has been struck by a young Humakti and some of his acquaintances. The Lunar guard have serious suspicions the party is hiding at the Humakt Stead, as several of their informers have reported a party of adventurers arriving in the Grey Dog Tula late on the 9th, coming from the east. The Indrodar claim they are in the middle of a ceremony preparation and refuse the Lunars entry, and the prospect of facing three Swords does not entice the guard captain. So he decides to wait.
Meanwhile, inside the Stead, the high priest talks to Hund and his party. The Stead is completely surrounded, and there is no easy way out. One option is to break through the guard blockade, or fight to the death trying. Although this prospect seems a good one, the high priest sees another option, albeit somewhat unhumakti. But the unusual twist might just fool the Lunars. As Hund becomes more and more convinced that sacrificing his life to the Indrodar is his rightful path, the high priest proposes to pretend that Hund has admitted to have committed the murder against cult orders, and therefore has chosen dishonourable death.

o fool the Lunars, a secret potion is brewn, and Hund's body is presented to the Lunars. It takes some convincing, but finally they swallow the story, and the Guard Captain lifts the siege and departs, ready to report the demise of the culprit.Hund agrees to take the acolyte rites immediately, and his fellows decide to join him in the HeroQuest he faces. He must face his immortal enemy. The party are assisted by the Indrodar and enter the Hero Plane. They arrive on a barren plain, with not a living soul in sight. They head east, until they run into what looks like a copy of the Humakt Stead. Spectral flames make it look like the Stead is one fire. The party arrive from the east and arrive at a bridge, a dragon is standing on the other side. The dragon is floating, and looks more like a dragon statue that an actual dragon. As the mythical animal does not seem alarmed in the least by the approaching party, Hund carefully crosses the bridge, and touches the dragon. Immediately he is under attack from the dragon statue's powerful spirit.He quickly loses the spirit combat, only to find out he is not possessed by the spirit. When he opens his mouth, spectral flames spew forth, and Hildigrim, standing just in front, gets seriously hurt by the unexpected eruption.A sense enemies reveals that the Stead is full of them, and as soon as they approch, skeletons pour out to attack them. The lesser skeletons are easily dispatched of, and even the larger skeletons and a mummie quickly find eternal rest at the hands of our gang.

fter the fight, the party enters the duplicate Stead, and they find some weird characters in the basement. One of them turns out to be Elmal, one is Chalana Arroy, and one looks just like Delecti, assuming someone knows what Delecti looks like. It is clear the appartitions are mere spectral projections, but when Hund charges Delecti, he quickly learns even a shadow of the Lord of the undead is a formidable foe, and it takes an intervention from Chalana Arroy to save Hund from almost certain death. After taking care of Delecti, instead of returning, the party decides to venture further into the plane, they run into a bear, that probably got sucked up in the Heroquest because of their venture, and it takes a bit of luck to find an exit and return to the mundane plane in one piece. Hund returns an acolyte, and decides to have a long hard think about the rest of his life.

Captive!

 1618. Sea Season. Truth. Godday


Aylwin from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Philip
 Ranath, a Lhankor Mhy student, played by Ben 
Odd, who moves in the shadows, played by Kristof
Ulic, a sorcerer apprentice from Tarsh, played by Alexander

The chaos contingent attacks near the Grey Dog Inn bridge

fter their clash with the Scorpion Man and the Broos, the party retreated back to Grey Dog.  After a reinforcing meal, while they inform the Tula Council of what has perspired, the guards call the alarm: a threat has been seen approaching near the Grey Dog bridge: the Chaos gang has returned.  The party tries to set up an ambush near the bridge, but is quickly outmaneuvered by the Scorpion Man who crosses the river rather than the bridge.  As Aylwin tries to charge into one of the Broo from horseback, the Scorpion Man attacks Ulic and Ranath near the bridge.  Although unarmoured, the sorcerer and sage make a stand, and with a bit of luck, Ulic manages to hit the Scorpion Man with Palsy, on the thorax.

Odd crosses the bridge and tries to finish off the floored Broo, and Aylwin attack another broo crossing the river.  Odd has a hard time dealing serious damage, and things take too long: Aylwin has unmounted the warhorse and turns out to be no match for the Broo, he is hit and bled, and in dire need of healing.  It takes a bold dash from Odd to save the hunter from imminent death.  Meanwhile the two students are still fighting the Scorpion Man.  Ranath is hitting the beast furiously, and after minutes of hammering, the beast's armor starts to degrade, creating an opening near the thorax.  Meanwhile Ulic is dividing his attention between the Broo and the scorpion man, trying to control the fight and palsy the enemies.  This takes a lot of time, but in the end it succeeds.  The Scorpion Man is finished off, and after a long fight our heroes win the day.
The party is then informed that during the fight, a young girl has been kidnapped on the other side of the Tula, and that one of the captors has been caught.  They brutally interrogate the culprit before killing him, and learn that once again the Gagarthi in the Stead in the woods are behind the attacks and the kidnapping.  They learn about links between the Lunars and the Gagarthi, and conclude that their best chance for success is to go lie in ambush near the Stead of the robbers and try and intercept the young girl and/or a messenger.  It takes a lot of patience before anything happens, but it seems their hunch was right.  A small boat with the girl on board and two robbers is launched at night, and the party is witness to the proceedings.  They also notice Miskar and his accomplice seeing the captured girl and her escort off.

Aylwin is surrounded by the Gagarthi and taken prisoner

Because of the strong current and their centralized position, they find they are in a bad position, and in a bad call to react more quickly, Odd alarms the bandits when trying to call his horse.  The Rune Lord invokes some powerful divine magic quickly, and a gang of robbers pours out of the Stead within seconds.  In the chaos, Aylwin fire a multimissile at Miskar, and does some damage, and Miskar sends his wolf, who spots Odd and heads for him at lightning speed.  Odd has to jump for his life, and the Wolf now attacks Ulic.  Miskar casts more spells, demoralizing 2 party members, and Ulic is seriously wounded by the wolf and falls unconscious.  This is bad timing, with a dozen bandits approaching, and a furious Rune Lord hovering through the trees.
Aylwin and Odd do a final attempt to rescue their partner, and while Aylwin holds off the Wolf Odd manages to heave Ulic onto the horse.  Ranath drives off, Odd sneaks away as stealthily as he can, and all of a sudden Aylwin is the only one that remains visible.  The wolf is on him, Miskar behind, and the robbers quickly surround him and take him prisoner.  The rest of the party escape with their life, but it was a close call, and Miskar turns out to be a more fearsome opponent than expected.

Clash with the Baboons

1618. Fire Season. Harmony. Waterday


Hund, a Humakti Acolyte, played by Ben
Ragnar from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Maximus
Hjotra from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Gust, a Grey Dog noble youth, played by Bram

The Baboons in better days...

After they killed the Yelmalio Rune Lord near Jonstown, our party decides to split up for a while and remain below the radar.  Hjotra and Ragnar decide to lay low in the Apple Lane area, and they meet up with two young Grey Dog nobles and decide to travel back to the Lismelder tribal grounds together.  They stay off-road, avoiding all contact with Lunar guards or Yelmalio patrols.

Around noon, they settle down for lunch, and just when they intend to start enjoying some nice roasted rat, Ragnar's backpack is stolen by a Baboon, who flees back into the trees at once.  The party gets up, and tries to shoot the Baboon out of the tree, but without much success.  This pulls a protective baboon shaman out of his cover, and all of a sudden the party is under attack from a Shaman and several wild Baboons charging at them.  The Shaman turns out to be a lot to deal with, and the spirits it summons hold Hund at bay for a long time.  When the spiritmaster is grievously wounded, hiss Fetch invokes a healing spirit. But his buddies are in trouble from very early on, and once they are dispatched, the Shaman cannot resist much longer and succumbs.  The party mercilessly slaughters all the Baboons and loots their pockets.

They take the Shaman staff along, and everything else that can make them any money, and advance towards the Grey Dog Tula.  Several miles down the road they meet up with a centaur patrol, but they are very careful not to upset the powerful creatures or do anything that might trigger a fight.  They are able to continue their trip unopposed, and find out Grey Dog is under direct Lunar control.  There are patrols everywhere.  Under the -hardly believable - guise of having to quench a Chaos threat, they patrol all the roads, enter the steads, and seem to be looking in the most impossible places for a Chaos threat that is rumoured to have been solved more than a week before.  They decide to avoid detection, and head north towards the Humakt stead, the only place the Lunars are not checking, officially because Humakti would never allow chaos on their terrain.

A Taint of Chaos

 1618. Sea Season. Truth. Wildday

Blanka from the Ernaldori - Colymar Tribe, played by Bram
Ranath, a Lhankor Mhy student, played by Ben 
Odd, who mov es in the shadows, played by Kristof
A'ido, a Grey Dog Cottar, played by Bart

After locating the whereabouts of the protection gang, our heroes returned to the Grey Dog Tula to resupply. They meet up with A'ido, a young Grey Dog Cottar, restless after participating in several Lismelder battles and looking for adventure, and decide to take him along, his military experience could come in handy.  Gunnar and Ulic sort of disappear all of a sudden, without notice, and the party are killing time most of the day waiting for them, until they decide to spend some of the money they have already made, and buy themselves riding animals.  A'ido thinks the best place for buying mounts is the Snorri stead, and they head east into the valley.  They have no notice of the duo of assassins on their trail though, and are completely unprepared when they notice movement in the bushes ahead.  A young female barbarian comes out of hiding, pretending to have been startled by the adventurers' arrival.  A'ido smells a rat, he has never seen the woman before, she is not wearing any Vinga or Babeester Gor marks, something you'd expect an armored female to have.  Odd immediately hides in the bushes, the other three advance cautiously, awaiting events.

Just when the party starts believing everything is all right, from his cover Odd notices another shape stealthily approaching the party from the rear.  Odd tries to ambush the new assailant, but gets noticed, and the female immediately drops her 'innocent' guise and befuddles A'ido, jumps forward, drives her spear into Blanka's eye, pulls back, and charges A'ido, all in one swift movement.  She is ready to strike the Grey Dog warrior before Blanka hits the ground, bleeding to death.  Odd, rather than alarming the party, decides to go for cover again, leaving the party unaware of the threat approaching.  The second attacker sneaks up to Ranath, and tries to strangle him with his Garotte.  His garotte grabs Ranaths Staff as well though, and this buys Ranath a few seconds of breathing time, although he is clearly in big trouble.  Meanwhile A'ido is reawakened by the female's ferocious attack, and he manages to parry her charge.  Odd comes out of hiding, sneaks up behind the assassin strangling Ranath, and stabs at him.  The assassin has to make a choice: letting go of the garotte or being completely open to Odd's surprise attack.  Split second, he decides to evade, and lets go.  He fails to remain standing, and Odd follows up closely.  The fight now quickly turns, and both assailants are captured.  After some brutal examination and Ranath's mind reading both villains are given a dose of barbarian justice.

fter some rather sloppy looting, the party heads for the Snorri's, a good 2 miles down the river, and meets Galan Snorri, the horse master of the Stead.  They purchase several horses, including the one warhorse available.  Blanka and Odd also buy a War hound, but the choice is not great, and they end up with two rather ugly mongrels, the one even more weakly than the other, and both are too fat.  But they make a lot of noise and smell funny, and as such they fit their masters well.  With their new steeds, our heroes return to the Tula, only to find it in some degree of excitation:  A goat with two heads has been born, and people are of two minds: either this is an omen of a good year for the herds, or it is some kind of evil enchantment, another ploy of chaos, possibly orchestrated by the Lunar oppressor, in their ongoing attempt to put the Lismelder, the last fount of resistance in Sartar, down.  
A  divination, strongly supported by our heroes, and especially Blanka and Odd, reveals evil wrongdoings in the west.  The two-headed goat is clearly a sign of an evil ploy by chaos.  A'ido quickly learns the sense chaos spell, and the party rides out in pursuit of the chaotic aberration.  Near the bridge to Lawspeaker Hill they notice an old crone, on her knees, digging in the sand.  They come closer to see more clearly what the old witch is conjuring, and see her working with the innards of a dead animal.  A'ido casts the sense chaos, and the chaotic presence in the woods is clear, so the party advances.  This alerts the old crone, who turns around, and begins incantating her spirit song.  A'ido is attacked by a malignant spirit, and Odd kills the crone with a poisonous dart.  Out of the woods appear three broos, one with a lionesque aspect, one with stag-like horns, and one looking like a boar.  Only seconds later another, faster shape emerges: a scorpion man, who charges straight ahead.  The scorpion man, being faster than the broos, charges Blanka's horse, dealing some serious damage.  Blanka manages to escape, and the scorpion man turns on Odd.  Odd casts a dark wall, and manages to deviate the scorpion man onto Ranath, as well as slowing down the lion broo.  Brave Ranath has to stand and face the scorpion mans fierce attack for several rounds before retreating to his horse.  Meanwhile, the two wardogs are keeping the pig broo busy, allowing the party to shoot it.  The scorpion man turns out to have very strong armor, probably a chaotic feature, and the adventurers lose courage and retreat to Grey Dog Tula.

Stalking the stalkers

1618. Sea Season. Truth. Wildday


Brian Boru, a drifter without tribe, played by David
Xaldin from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Anthonius
Ragnar from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Maximus
Hjotra from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Hund, a Humakt initiate, played by Ben

The stone bridge near Jonstown

e find our adventurers in the middle of a fight with a trio of vicious Tusk Riders.  Xaldin, who found out his friends left for Snakepipe Hollow, quickly realized the peril they were getting themselves into, and decided to follow their trail, only to run into the Tusk riders at the exact moment they ambush the party's camp.  He arrives just in time to see how his clanfellow Ragnar is grievously wounded and loses his right arm by a charge from one of the tuskers, and does not hesitate.  By now the other adventurers have realized how bad things are: they might not live through this one.  The party focused their attention on the riders, but the threat comes from the tuskers, huge trained warboars with an attitude, and they deal some fearsome damage.  At the same instant Ragnar loses his second arm, and although he bravely keeps standing, all that remains there for him to do is to bleed to death quickly.  Hund casts his Humakti Truesword spell.  Xaldin enters the fray.  Between the two of them there is some serious damage potential, and slowly the fight turns, although it takes more divine magic from Hund to heal a crushed arm.  Brian tries a bit of acrobatics and jumps on one of the boar's backs.  Riding the bloody animal is another matter and he is thrown off seconds after, but the party prevails just in time to staunch poor Ragnar's wounds.  They loot the beastly bandits and realize the Dangerford wilds may just be a bit too dangerous for them at this stage.  They need decent armor, better spells, and more experience to survive the trip to Snakepipe Hollow.  They then return to Jonstown.

rian gets noticed by an Eurmal trickster, and decides to join the cult.  He fails the first spitting contest, but the second time around he gets accepted as an acrobat.  But Ragnar is still running around without any armor to speak off, and since a set of lamellar armor should be just about ready in Old Man Village, they decide to return to their stead and pick up the promised armor.  They take the old road to Runegate, and run into a Lunar Patrol at the river crossing.  The Lunars squeeze some good money out of our adventurers, but when the guards continue their travel, the party has a sudden change of heart.  From nearby, they attack the Lunar guard party in the back, and a fierce fight develops.  Xaldin immediately charges the Lunar sorcerer and prevents her from doing her magic, while Hund charges the guard commander, who turns out to be a Sun God Rune Lord.  Bad news!  The other party members take care of the two guards.

he Rune Lord immediately summons a salamander, which attacks our heroes, but Hund puts a lot of pressure on him, and manages to cut off his arm.  It looks as if the fight is turning to their advantage, but the Rune Lord miraculously heals completely, and presses home  another attack.  The party notice the allied spirit hawk in a tree nearby, and they feel the fear.  Is this the one fight too many?  Xaldin remains occupied with the sorcerer, unable to finish her off, but at least disallowing her to weave her spells.  Hund has a Bladesharp from the matrix he gathered from the Tusk Riders, and has cast his Truesword successfully, and with a superb blow he beheads the Rune Lord, making the salamander disappear.  The allied spirit tries a divine intervention, but fails, and the Rune Lord dies.  The sorcerer sees the fight is lost, and tries to gate out of the fight using a divine enlightenment, but the party use their hero powers to refuse the sorcerer exit, and finally they succeed.  Against all of the party, the sorcerer is killed in an instant.  The party is ecstatic and loot all the valuables, including a scroll for learning Auld Wyrm, a scroll for learning Mindspeech II, and four bronze runic coins with Lunar Runes on them.  A magical choker worn by the sorceress and a similar magical hairband, both adorned with a Lunar Moon Rune are looted as well.  The bronze armor makes some good money, and the party happily continues their travel to the Orlamrth Lands.  What will the empire's reaction be?  Will our heroes flaunt their new trinkets and get caught?  We can only wonder!
 

A case of protection...

1618. Sea Season. Truth. Godday

Aylwin from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Philip
Blanka from the Ernaldori - Colymar Tribe, played by Bram
Gunnar 'the devoted' Gunnarson from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Gunther
Ranath, a Lhankor Mhy student, played by Ben 
Ulic Qel-Droma, a Bagnot resident from Tarsh, played by Alexander

pon arrival at the Grey Dog Inn, our heroes learn that their trader contact has returned home, and the Innkeeper is reluctant to disclose the trader's home address.  So the adventurers have little alternative to getting a room.  Blanka hires a very cheap room, but gets a nasty surprise when she is attacked by a giant caterpillar with an attitude, and almost dies, if not for the help of her fellows.  But she did save a few coppers.
Quentin Longbrewer, the innkeeper, feels responsible for what happened, and the fact that the party is not pushing for compensation endears them to him somewhat and he offers them free breakfast the next morning.  Our heroes sit waiting for most of the day, until the trader returns, and they quickly finalize business, almost forgetting their stash of looted weaponry in the hurry.  Since they are offered free supper as well, they decide to stay another night.  Next day at breakfast two burly looking barbarians enter and Quentin takes them into the kitchen.  The party immediately get a bad feeling about the two fellows, and they try to listen in to the conversation, but discover the kitchen is empty.  They quickly discover the trap in the floor, and manage to overhear how the two thugs put pressure on Quentin to pay a protection fee.  Quentin is not impressed, and warns the two to get out, when Aylwin decides to bravely jump down the trapdoor to come to the innkeeper's aid.  Sadly, he misses his jump and lands flat on his belly, missing the two outlaws completely.  They climb up the ladder, and leave the kitchen, the party in pursuit.  A fight ensues, with Ranath joining in from the Lhankor Mhy temple across the street.  They quickly discover a backup party of 2 more thugs in a dark alley nearby.  Aylwin bravely charges forward, and quickly disptaches with the notorious Elrund the butcher.  The party also kill  Gagrid, but just when they want to loot the victims, the Lunar Guard arrives on the scene.  Some exceptional talking keeps them out of the claws of the law, and they return to the inn.

Miskar the racketeer

he next day they notice the inn is very silent when they awake.  Quentin and his wife lie on the floor, bleeding profusely.  The Lhankor Mhy Priest manages to staunch the bleeding of Quentin, but his wife does not survive.  It quickly becomes clear the racketeers have a hand in this, and the party decides to split up and investigate further.  Blanka, now having gained the trust of Quentin, learns that the old warrior and innkeeper is an alchemist, and Blanka is accepted as his lay member.  Ulic, frustrated with his inability to advance in the arts of sorcery, decides to join a Lunar sorcery cult, unaware of exactly what this entails.  Ranath goes back to the temple to investigate, and Aylwin and Gunnar run into a pair of assassin guild operatives sent to dispatach them.  However, with Gunnar's astute perception the assassins are unable to properly prepare, and the ambush is foiled.  Our heroes are covered in wounds, but the death-dealers have gotten a dose of their own recipe.  The party realizes that they are now on the hitlist of the thugs, and they decide to take the fight to them.  Some further investigation quickly makes clear where the operation headquarters is, and they go and take a look.  It is clear immediately that they have little chance in a straight fight, and they change tactics: they set up an ambush of their own, and ensnare two thugs that come collecting at the smithy.  They murder all four of them, but not before mind reading some very valuable information about the gang they are facing.  The leader of the gang is or has been an important member of the Gagarthi, and his name is Miskar.  He is wearing an eye-patch.  His lieutenant is called Aguilo, and the gang has about 10 more full members, plus a large contingent of aides, runners and initiates.  They occupy a farm, and force the peasants to stand guard and work for the gang, keeping their families hostage to ensure their cooperation.  With both sides now well aware of the presence and danger the other party represents, who will take the next step?

A particularly bad omen

1618. Sea Season. Movement. Clayday

Characters partaking:
Brian Boru, a drifter without tribe, played by David
Ragnar from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Maximus
Kemal from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Hund, a Colymar Humakti, played by Ben

Tusk Riders on a raid!

ith Ranath paying back his debts to the Sage of the Grey Dog temple, our adventurers undertake their adventure without spiritual guidance.  This turns out rather poorly.  The party first decides to return to Old Man Village to recuperate the sets of armor that are being made for them.  Kemal already made the trip with a trader the week before, and was able to lay his hands on the first set made.  The party returns taking the wilderness route, in order to avoid Lunar patrols, even more so because they have learned during their dinner at the inn the night before that the Lunars take captive any stranger without ties to the Colymar, or, to a lesser extent, to the Lismelder.  Soon after leaving Grey Dog Village, they notice they are being followed.  They wait for the group on their tail and learn it is a small band of Lismelder, with the obvious intention to not abide by the King's rule that Lismelder and Colymar should keep the peace.  Some quick maneuvring by our adventurers causes the already nervous Lismelder to attack, and a fight ensues.  The four attackers are no match for the party though, and they are dispatched relatively easy.

 discussion ensues, will the party leave the attackers to die, or will they make an effort to save their lives and show the Lismelder their good intention?  In the end, after much mudslinging, they decide to escort the Lismelder back to Grey Dog Village, and their mercy is well received by the villagers.  After having lost a day, the party leaves for Old Man Village once again.  This time their voyage is rather uneventful. Upon arrival in Old Man Village, Brian insists he should get the armor that is finished, and his fellow party members back down.  When after this Brian shows up with a brand new and expensive Kite shield, although he had been claiming to have no money, and has been unable to repay debts owed to his fellow party members, dissatisfaction starts to spread.  After collecting the armor the party returns to Grey Dog Village, and from there they decide to head north to the Humakti Stead in order to allow Hund to recuperate his divine spells.  They spend a day on the Stead, and on the way back they run into a pair of Dragonsnails, those vile chaos creatures that emanate out of Chaos spawns all across the lands of Sartar and way beyond.  Against expectation, they dispatch the ferocious beast without casualties, but after the fight Brian insists that Hund should have his Bison carry one of the dead horrors' shell on its back.  Hund refuses to have his beasts of burden sullied by anything chaosspawned, and Brian challenges Hund to a duel.

umakti never refuse a duel, and a short fight follows, in which Hund puts down Brian easily.  After the fight, Hund uses his divine healing to save Brian from bleeding to death, and requests the new kite shield as compensation.   This rekindles the enmity, and the two barbarians start to fight again.  This time Hund decapitates Brian by chopping of his hand at the wrist.  They have to return to Old Man Village once again, and the clan members request a ridiculous price for regrowing the clan-less Brian's arm.  He insists no further, and asks the local smith to manufacture a contraption that he can fasten to his stump, in order to have some way of doing combat.  The party members decide they need to find more money, and fast, and come up with a daring plan, to travel to Snake Pipe Hollow, the imprint of chaos on Dragon Pass, in order to get some of the riches accumulated there.  They travel north to Runegate, than follow the road to Jonstown, avoiding Lunar patrols as good as possible, and bribing them if everything else fails.  After spending the night in Jonstown, they leave the tribal ring grounds, and spend the night in Dangerford, the last beacon of civilization before the long and dangerous road that leads to Alda Chur.
They travel north for most of the day, until the light fades, and then make camp in a clearing near the road.  Brian is not paying attention when a small gang of the violent tusk riders charge without warning, and the fight turns ugly quickly.


Will the party be able to overcome this enemy?  Will Xaldin be able to follow the trail and find his party members?

The road to Grey Dog Village

1618. Sea Season. Stasis. Freezeday

Characters partaking:

Aylwin from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Philip
Blanka from the Ernaldori - Colymar Tribe, played by Bram
Gunnar 'the devoted' Gunnarson from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Gunther
Hjotra from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Ulic Qel-Droma, a Bagnot resident from Tarsh, played by Alexander

fter overcoming the gang of robbers eager to steal their goods, our adventurers empty their agressors' pockets and split the earnings. Then the party resumes their travel towards Grey Dog village.  Aelwin insists on driving the cart, but when he fires up the horses, Ulic, walking in front of the cart, stumbles and falls, and is ran over by the cart.  The wound is major, but not fatal.  Apart from that the trip is quite uneventful, and after a few hours they pass the Humakt stead, where they have a short chat with Aelbric Svenson, the retired Humakt Rune Lord, whose sole frustration in life is not to have died on the battlefield.  He feels he still has one good fight in him though.  Odd takes the opportunity to sneak around the stead in order to check whether the man is to be trusted, but sees nothing alarming.  Ulic uses intuition to determine Aelbric's true attitude, and sees the Humakti is up-front.

hey take to the road again, and fail to notice how a gang of duck is leading them, then changes direction to meet them head on.  The duck pretend to be friendly and invite the party over to share dinner, and our gullible friends gladly accept.  They follow the duck off the road towards what they call their Stead.  This turns out to be a cave.  In the entrance room two barbarians are roasting a boar, and the duck invite the adventurers in.  Now the adventurers start to have a bad feeling about the invitation, and Ulic casts his intuition spell and reads that the Ducks are definitely having ulterior motives.  He feels that the Duck have a plan, and they are annoyed because things are not happening as they planned it.  That's the instant the shit hits the fan.  Ulic raises the alarm and casts fireblade on his sword, and in reaction to this the ducks standing outisde charge forward.  Within seconds the scene turns into a battlefield, with Hjotra and Aelwin holding off the ducks outside of the cave, and Odd using his stealth skills to quickly recon the cave complex.  He runs into more ducks, charging into the fight, and casts darkwall into the corridor.  a short fight in the dark ensues, and the ducks retreat.

eanwhile around the campfire in the entrance room heavy fighting takes place as well.  One of the robbers in bashed into the campfire and is unable to regain his footing, he dies in the flames, screaming in agony.  The brave adventurers charge into the fight, and when two humans charge out of one of the corridors, they are met promptly.  Odd has retreated to the main room as well, and enters another corridor, only to run into the same ducks.  He tries the same tactic, casting darkwall, but this time the ducks cancel the magic, and he is under attack. Before things turn ugly though, the remaining ducks realize they have been beaten, and they retreat into the caves.  The party keeps the pressure on, and the retreat becomes a rout.  The Duck commander manages to flee, as does his human second in command, but they do not have time to take along their stack of cash and potions.  The gang healer who retreated into the hidden cave is brutally decapitated by Hjotra.  After the fight, the adventurers find Gunnar who managed to keep wurming through a narrow passage in the rock and is unable to retreat.  Just when his companions consider whether they should leave him there for a few days so he loses some weight, someone manages to pull him out using troll ear wax as lubricant.  As the feathers come to rest on the cave floor, the extent of the slaughter becomes visible: heads and limbs are strewn all over the place, thick red blood follows the striae in the rocky floor, and bodies are in every cave.  The lone survivor is quickly and brutally dispatched.

ut in the open in front of the cave entrance, Aelwin is waiting near the cart when someone takes a shot at him with his bow.  He is unable to see where the shooter is firing from, but Ulic, who climbed up the ladder inside the caves appears on top of the mound and sees a human firing his bow.  Within seconds, the archer is overcome with palsy, and runs for his life. The leader is nowhere to be seen.  After a lucrative day, the party loads the bags and crates of stolen goods and all the weapons they managed to retrieve on the cart and head for Grey Dog village, where they arrive late at night.  They check into the hotel where they are supposed to meet their contact, and hit the hay.
 

Visit Amazing Quackford!

1618. Sea Season.Stasis. Clayday

Characters partaking:
Drayin from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dani 
Kemal from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Indra Karanendottir, a Hiording noble from the Karanen Bloodline, played by Florence

fter his trip to Clearwine, Old Man Village and Grey Dog Village, Hiording Cottar Kemal has an uneventful trip back to Swan Town, where he meets with fellow clan members Drayin and Indra.  He tells them about the encounter with the cave troll, and the bronze plate armor they exchanged for four sets of bronze on cuirbuilli lamellar.  The clansmen agree to travel to Old Man Village again, in order to collect the first set of armor.  The armorer agreed to make one set of armor every week, inbetween his other duties.  In order to avoid having to spend the night in the wilds, the party agress to leave at first light, and the next day the journey commences at the break of dawn of what looks like it's going to be a sunny day.  The first hours of the trip are uneventful, not counting a Lunar patrol that quickly leaves the party alone once they realise there's a noble traveling with them.  They reach the edge of the Colymar wilds before noon.

s the companions walk alongside the Starfire Ridge, just after entering the Wilds, they are under attack from a gang of undead skeletons.  The mindless beings are easily dispatched, and the party advances unscathed.  Within the hour, they pass the Asborn Stead, and start following the edge of the Colymar Wilds, all the way to the source of the Nymie River.  They arrive at the spring lake in the early evening, and follow the course od the Nymie River in the direction of Old Man Village.  The last leg of the trip takes them almost 4 hours, and they arrive at the fork in the River at dusk.  In the dark, as they get ready to cross the creek that leads into the Ridges, they find themselves under attack from a gang of robbers.  Rather than trying to fight them off, they decide to make a run for it and get across safely.  They arrive late at night, but are luacky enough to get some rooms at the Inn.  

he next morning, the companions head to the local shoppe annex armorer and sell the old weaponry taken of the skeletons the previous day.  Kemal gets his lamellar armor.  The party then decides to head for Boldhome.  They agree to travel to Quackford, the duck town lying near the Royal Road. They leave the 32nd in the morning, and arrive in Quackford around noon.  Instead of immediately taking the Road though, they enter the local Pub and spend several hours gambling and drinking, much to the frustration of Indra, who realises her status of Noble becomes less and less valuable as they leave the tribal grounds, and with it her authority over the cottars fades.  During the afternoon they start talking with a fellow in the pub, and when he learns of their intention to travel to Boldhome, he convinces them to take the boat instead.  Without much thinking, both cottars pay the entire fare in advance.  Indra decides to return to familiar territory.  The still have to find room for the night though.  They only accomodation they can find, is a communal sleeping dorm in the poor part of town, much to Indra's disgust.  Our heroes make the best of it, and what with the drinking, they quickly lie fast asleep, when the other patrons, intrigued by the impression of relative wealth, decide to try and steal some stuff of the rich barbarian princess.  Drayin awakes and calls the alarm, and a fight ensues.  Half a dozen duck try to subdue the party, but they fail miserably, and once again the Hiording band prevails.  They decide to call the guard, rather than finish off the thievish Ducks, and although the thieves deny any wrongdoing, they turn out to carry some of Indra's valuables on them.  The guard has no choice but to believe the party, and escort the culprits to jail.

n the 33rd, the weather has turned completely.  It's a downpour.  The trio awakens with a headache.  The Ducks refuse to leave in the rain, claiming that their boat will sink in this kind of weather, and the two cottar have little choice but wait.  It's not until noon that the weather improves and the Ducks agree to depart.  Ironically enough, the first stop turns out to be Clearwine, and since the Ducks refuse to let them pass the night on the boat, they have to fork out for lodging in Clearwine.  During dinner, they start a conversation with an older fellow, carrying expensive-looking black armor.  The man has a request: he is looking for some brave warriors to run an errand for him.  A scroll has been stolen from his master, and for reasons to do with the people in charge, they need someone from outside town to try and recover said scroll.  Our heroes agree, and they let their Alynxes try and track the thieves, with success.  The trail leads to a house in the gutter part of town, but before they can try and enter, they notice they are being followed by three hirsute henchmen.  The situtation turns into a fight quickly.  Two attackers charge, the third performing protective magic, and things look very bad, when a sudden stroke of luck changes the scene: now it is two against two, and although the robbers are good fighters, they are no match for the barbarians.  Upon looting the robbers, it turns out one of them carries quite some valuable items, including a power storage crystal and various gems...

Excerpt from the writings of Ranath

Nymie Valley, 1618, Sea season, Fireday in Fertility Week

I had been on the road with those barbarians for two days and every heartbeat they became harder to endure. Ignorant they were, of the ilk that would light their campfire with a tome written by Dilfar the Deepsighted himself without a second thought. Oh, if it was merely ignorance, one of them showed the sure signs of a kleptomaniac, time and time again demonstrating pathetic attempts to pilfer some of the goods of a Lunar high dignitary, right under the man's nose! Obviously oblivious to the fact that all of Sartar would be answerable for any missing goods as they were tribute to the Empire. Needless to say I was unable to seize this great opportunity to learn more from the Pelorian, but he did give me a small model of a temple in Peloria, obviously thinking it worthless, but I have already started copying the layouts of the architecture to my books. Perhaps I will be able to piece something together when I return to the library at Jonstown … but I digress. We were resting by a small well when one of the barbarians jumped up shouting “shadowcat!”. Delighted at the foresight to be able to study one of these graceful creatures I ran to the small stream in the direction he was pointing. The barbarian rushed into the water like a madman, losing his footing, momentarily distracted by his strange behavior I almost failed to notice the nightmarish storm of teeth and claws that flew at me. This was not a shadowcat! In a haze I noticed the dagger-like fangs of a fullgrown sabretooth tiger. I was just able to evade its powerful claws, but was unable to withstand the full impact of its mighty body. Before I could regain my breath I was being mauled by the ferocious animal. I can't recollect much of what went on after that, but apparently my crude companions were able to drive off the wild monster. To my surprise they were decent enough to stop the bleeding of my grievous wounds and carry me to the village where they left me in the good hands of the local priest. Unfortunately they seemed to have succeeded in losing my purse containing twelve hundred silver coins! I was saving these to fund my expedition to Pavis later this year … now I had lost both my money and had to pay back the temple with three weeks of teaching village children the difference between the rune for law and the rune for beast! … Well, I guess it could have ended worse. At least I was able to do some research in the small collection of the temple. And the barbarians will soon leave again as well, I feel Lankhor Mhy has called me to follow them, I sense there's much to learn where their path will take them, it may even be worth enduring their stench and foul manners.

The road to Greydog Village

1618. Sea Season.Fertility. Fireday

Characters partaking:
Brian Boru, a drifter without tribe, played by David
Xaldin from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Anthonius
Ragnar from the Orlmarth - Colymar Tribe, played by Maximus
Kemal from the Hiording - Colymar Tribe, played by Dominique
Ranath, a Lhankor Mhy student, played by Ben

Grey Dog Village

his rather improbable group of companions met in Clearwine and they decided to travel north to Old Man Village and beyond, each for their own reasons.  The one thing most of them have in common is their desire to live a life of adventures, to get rich and powerful or die trying.  The exception to this is Ranath, a wanderer from the Sages, always looking out for more knowledge, a commodity more valuable than gold when offered to the right person.  They prepare to leave Clearwine under a spring sun, after several days of trying to find a job that pays well there.  The plan is to travel to Old Man Village first, and try their luck there.  Maybe a trader is looking for an escort, those types always have good coin.  Maybe they can trick an old acquaintance into some Orlanth hospitality.  Or maybe Eurmal the trickster will look unto them favourably and let some riches come their way.  The future is unknown, but violence is always an option, and life is short, so, on Fireday, the party head for Old Man Village, following the road alongside the Nymie river.  Past the Black Spear clan grounds and the Colymar Wilds, where ancient spirits roam and elves reign supreme, and no man who has not made a pact with Tarndisi may enter the Wilds on punishment of death.

fter only a few hours of travel, the party run into a Lunar 4 horse cart guarded by Lunar Guards and a Lunar dignitary, which is under attack from a gang of Trollkin lead by a Cave Troll.  The Lunars are getting a beating, and things are looking grim.  Already some of the nasty Trollkin are picking up loot from the cart and running of with it, but the party decides to side up with the Lunars and they manage to attack the Trollkin gang by surprise.  The ferocious attack leaves two Trollkin dead, the others scared and ready to run, so the Cave Troll has to make a statement.  Instead of using his sling, he grabs his huge mace and charges forward.  The young Orlmarth called Ragnar facing him stands his ground, and at first manages to parry the furious Uz warrior.  The damage dealt by the Troll is way beyond what the unarmed adventurers can expect to withstand, but before things get out of hand, Ragnar manages to masterfully dismember the huge Troll with a sublime blow.  This totally discourages the remaining trollkin, and they attempt to scatter off.  The party finishes off a few more trollkin, and Brian the homeless takes one of the trollkin into captivity, intending to use him as a slave.  A thing bound to not go down well with the Uz, should they ever find out: only Uz are allowed to have trollkin slaves.  The dead cave troll is carrying a valuable bronze set of armor, a great prize indeed, and the party decides to take it along in order to sell or exchange it in Old Man village.  Some of the companions recognize one of the Lunar guards, standing behind the cart and out of harms way: it is the Lunar Tax Collector detached to the court of King Kangharl of the Colymar.  

Reaching Moon temple

The dignitary is not grateful for the rescue at all, and refuses to pay a good compensation, as Orlanth customs prescribe.  To add insult to injury, the party members understood they were hired as protectors, but the Lunar laughs them off.  Instead of a reward he gifts the party a trinket, a woodcut depicting a Temple of the Reaching Moon.  Only Ranarth is mildly interested by the object, and starts drawing the outlines of the temple into his drawing book.  The others are disgusted by the Lunar's avarice and decide to separate ways and take the ferry to Old Man village, in the hope that old feuds there might have been forgotten or at least that hospitality takes precedence.  But no such luck.  They manage to make a good deal with the local armorer and leatherworker, who agree to make them 4 sets of lammelar bronze on cuirboilli armor, one set per week.  After that it's back to everyday life, only a few coins left in pocket, only odd jobs that pay next to nothing, it seems the only option is to accompany the young Lhankor Mhy, he has good coin, he is generous enough, and everyone knows these Sages have a way with money.  Ranarth intends to travel to Grey Dog Village, where a small temple led by several Sages will allow him to make an informed decision on what way to travel next.  His fellow party members agree, and they start travelling west towards the Starfire Ridges.  Their trip is uneventful, until they reach the source of the creek they were following.  They disturb a deer drinking, and soon find out there was a predator looking to make that deer his lunch.  The party can see the hunter's shape moving swiftly through the high grass across the creek, but are unable to make out exactly what they are up against, until the sabertooth cat bounces onto the bank and leaps across towards the non-suspecting Lhankor Mhy cultist.  Xaldin attempts to shield the sage but looses his footing when jumping into the shallow creek, and Ranath gets some first hand experience on Sabertooth hunting methodology.  It takes tremendous trouble to drive the powerful beast away, and it is Kemal's trained lynx that finishes the predator off.  Ranath is in a bad state, bleeding to death, and so far healing magic to staunch the bleeding has proven ineffective.  Only just before he passes away into the Realm of Ty Kora Tek, does Brian succeed in stopping the bleeding.

The party have little choice but to make a stretcher and carry Ranath, on the brink of death, all the way to Grey Dog village to the Lhankor Mhy temple there.  The attending priest performs some powerful healing magic on Ranath, and after a long night he wakes up in the morning, feeling much better.  He discovers the loss of all his money, a considerable amount of silver, but finds the temple priests very cooperative.  He and his companions spend almost two weeks training and practicing, mostly paid for by money leant to them by Kemal of the Hiording.