Ilduvu attacks

1622, Dark Season,16

The morning after the attack by Lunar troops and the escape of the sorcerer and his henchman, the party finds itself wondering what route to take...  Should they continue to Prax, Pimper's block, risking detection in the open?  Or seek refuge in Boldhome, with Herculon's family, risking detection by the Lunar Home Guard or Ilduvu and his associates.  And if heading to Boldhome, is it best to take the trail through the mountains, in this winter weather, or track back to the Jonstown - Boldhome road and then south?
After due consideration, the decision is taken to return to the royal road and take a left for Boldhome.  So it happens.  After less than an hour of travel, the party spots a large convoy coming at them from the west.  It is quickly determined the convoy is not a Lunar platoon, and briefly after the characters can see what is heading towards them:  it is a slave convoy.  12 chained sartarite weak looking prisoners, clad in rags, and accompagnied by a dozen of Lunarese guards and their captain, as well as three sable riders.  They have the advantage of surprise, and hide in the shrubs, until the convoy has approached.  Sharkan, clumsily trying to hide behind a narrow tree, is quickly detected, and the Sable riders hurry over to make sure it's not a major nuisance.
Before Sharkan is captured, Giomanach steps forward from his hiding and starts casting Palsy.  Herculon starts incantating his Lightning ritual, and grills one of the Sable Nomads before he knows what hits him.  The remaining Sable Riders forget about Sharkan and charge forward towards Giomanach, who they consider the source of the lightning magic.  With the Lunars no longer paying much attention to him, Sharkan lets out his River Folk Warcry and leaps forward.  Sadly, he miscalculates the leap, and to make matters worst, he loses his footing when landing.  He ends up on his belly, with three Lunar guards closing in on him.
Herculon bellows loudly and charges forward, while Sharkan is hard pressed under the attack, almost losing his arm while backing up.  Daerius charges forward as well, and Raiko tries to sneak up behind the Lunars, but is spotted before he makes it that far.  Meanwhile, some of the prisoners have succeeded getting rid of their shackles.  Herculon kills one Lunar, then another.  The fight is turning against the Lunars very quickly.  Then Giomanach detects 3 flying shapes in the air, and he feels a cold shiver run along his spine.  Ilduvu has tracked them down, and he has brought help.  Two Wyvern Riders accompany the Griffin shaped Sorcerer.  Sharkan meanwhile scores his first Lunar kill, and, oblivious to the appearance of the sorcerer behind him, charges towards his next target.

The liberated slaves form a front before the approaching wyvern

The Wyvern riders land in front of the party and their released prisoners, and hostilities continue.  The prisoners quickly form a front, determined not to go into captivity again.  The Sartarites seem quite able to hold off the Wyverns, and our party members join the line and charge forward, but Ilduvu has other plans.  He feints a landing in front of the party, then pulls up slightly and lands in front of Giomanach, with the clear intention of ripping the sorcerer to shreds.  He attacks, grabbing hold of Giomanach's leg, blood pumping out of the open wound.  The Griffin then attempts to take off, Giomanach in his claw, and if not for the released prisoners jumping on the big bird to keep it on the ground, this would most definitely have been the demise of Giomanach at the hands of Ilduvu. The fight against the Wyverns goes well, one of the riders goes down, but the party is having a very hard time stopping Ilduvu.  The Griffin attempts once again to take Giomanach in the air, and another time several ex-prisoners jump on the shapechanged sorcercer.  Ilduvu casts wrack on those touching him, and the outcome is gruesome.  Five prisoners succumb, in their weakened state a single attack is enough to kill them, and the others back off, terrified.  Now Herculon, having dispatched his wyvern, charges forward, but even with his trememdous damage output it proves very hard to damage the sorcerer through his magical shield.
However, as the Lunars are all down, and the party starts concentrating on Ilduvu, he decides to live another day, and flies off south.
The party loot the victims, and use the equipment they find to outfit the surviving liberated prisoners.  The prisoners, according to Orlanthi Law, become endebted to the party, and decided to join them as henchmen.  7 survivors join their ranks, and a number of them agree to start studing the Talastaring Hoplite way of combat.  After using the equipment they can, they are sill left with 6 Hoplite shields, 11 Scimitars, 3 Peltast shields and 3 daggers.

Escape from Clearwine

1622, Dark Season,12

Luckily, lunch wasn't too hard to come by

 fter the decimation of the Lunar Slave Farm guard, Herculon and his gang had no time to inspect the premises much, whata with the escaped wizard who would quickly come back with reinforcements.  They just took the time to locate the body of Jaya, and headed back the way they came, through the old tunnel.  The Ernalda priestesses, with help from Yanioth Brandgorsdottir, make sure their traces are not visible, and offer the party shelter in a small shrine, 10 miles east of Clearwine.  There the party performs the rites for Jaya, in the way of the sun warriors.  They lament and get drunk and tell brave tales to remember her by.
Martulo is in a bad state.  He has become bitter and low on confidence.  He has lost one leg from the knee down, and is in dire need of healing.  But news from the Ernalda spies is not encouraging.  The Lunars are in an uproar, and are sparing no effort to find the attackers.  A desciption has been sent out, patrols are manyfold, and movement along the imperial roads is all but impossible.  On top of that, Ilduvu Illuviu is on the lookout for them.  There are patrols at every guard house, Chalana Arroy temples in all surrounding towns are being guarded, it seems the empire has a rather good idea what is going on.  Meanwhile, Sharkan, a traveler from Corflu, has arrived at the shrine.  He is one of the riverfolk, and a student of Sa'ar, and has been sent by the Zola Fel priest when he detected the disturbance in one of the River Voices.

ur adventurers decide to travel into the wild, bad weather notwithstanding, north through the foothills towards the old haunted ruins, and further north towards the Creek.  AT one time theye spot several flying shapes, they estimate it to be a griffin and some wyrms, possibly with riders.  IT is quite possible the have been spotted now.  They walk around the haunted ruins, trying to stay out of trouble, and easily find some game and a place to sleep.  During the night, the camp is attacked by a smilodon, who manages to take a rather large bite out of Daerius' arm before getting stabbed in the head and running off.  Daerius stares at the dangling flesh on his forearm, and intends to continue without too much interruption, but in the end is convinced to accept some healing.  The party then continues north, all the way to the Creek, but they run into a set of tracks heading northeast.  As it started snowing, the tracks must be very fresh, and they determine it must be a raider party of Broos.  Giomanach immediately commands the party to hunt the vile beasts down, much to the frustration of Herculon, who wants his feeble brother in safety before getting into fights left and right, seeing how Martulo would slow them down if they need to run.  Giomanach does not intend to listen, however.  He runs off, angrily, and Herculon has to physically restrain the wizard.
After much shouting and clasping of heads, Giomanach finally comes to his senses.  The racket they have made has alarmed the Broo party, however, and just as Herculon intends to let go of Giomanachs neck, they see a wave of vile Broo coming over the nearest hill at a steady pace.
Sharkan immediately enters a frenzy, all worked up, he leaps into the charging pack of Broo and is attacked by several of them.  Herculon and Daerius take care of the threat without too much trouble, and Sharkan impressively holds off three attackers without going down.
After the fight the party decides to make it straight east, rather than following the river to the imperial road guardhouse at the ford.  They run into a small local caravan, trying to make it to Jonstown in the dreadful weather.  They hook up with the traders, despite the reservations they have.  When they are sharing the evening meal, a Triceratops thumps into view, and charges towards the assembly.  Several of the party run for their life, while the annoyed dinosaur tramples their dinner and rams into the cart in the process, before running off.
The party decides to leave the imperial road again, and keeps heading east, towards the Lunar Slave market of Pimper's Block.  There they set up camp for the night, and double watch, but the hard travel of the last few days take their toll, and both Herculon and Sharkan fall asleep during the watch.  When the horses start winnying, they awake in the last minute, and sound the alarm.  A group of Lunar guards is approaching them, and intends to take them by surprise, but this turns out very badly for the inexperienced Lunar troops very quickly, and a Red Moon sorcerer and a commander teleport out before the party has a chance to reach them.  There is now no doubt they have been spotted, between Jonstown, Swenstown and Prax, and not much is said when they decide to pack their gear, before dawn breaks, and continue their trip.  Maybe the weather in Prax will be better, and traveling will be safer...