Daerius' Hoplites Baptism of Fire

1622, 17th day of Dark Season

After the rescue of the slave gang near Jonstown, the party decides to get off the beaten track, and they find refuge in a stead along an old mountain track into the Quivini Mountains and towards Boldhome.  Their host is hospitable, but gives a worried impression, and our friends soon understand the fellow is highly worried about events that have occurred recently in the area.  For months, patches of land would not allow plants to grow.  Then cattle died.  Goats were stolen.  The forest spiders, traditionally keeping to the deepest woods on the mountain flanks, wander all the way down to the valley, and endanger children and adults alike.
And only recently, chaos spirits attacked the stead, it took the visit of a gang of Storm Bull Initiates to get rid of the taint, and these Horned Barbarians ate and drank everything they could find on the stead as a thank you dinner.
Daerius has adopted four of the slaves, one of them is appointed sergeant, and he agrees to teach them his combat style, and pay a soldier's wage, in exchange for service.  The ex-slaves, bound by honor, would have been willing to fight for Daerius for free, but the young Talastaring shows himself generous.  After learning of the stead owners' sorrow, he decides to take his new recruits out to investigate and exercise.  The rest of the party stays at the farm, for safety, they say, but more probably for the resupplied food and drinks.

A fight ensues...

Daerius' party heads north into the hills, towards the forests, along steep tracks, not encountering anything until the reach the forest, and run into a pair of forest spiders.  They manage to take these down without too much trouble, and enter the forest, towards the ancient crags that supposedly spawn the chaos threat.  They fail to notice how they are being followed by a broo scout, and find themselves trapped when they enter the cave complex in pursuit of a Chaos atrocity called a Jack o Bear.  They find their way back out blocked, and a fight ensues.
At first things go well, but the pressure builds, and although the party cleverly retreat into the crevice to avoid being outnumbered, they start to suffer from the chaotic broos and their evil properties.  When Daerius goes down after an electrical decharge, things start to look bleak indeed, but then the Jack o Bear goes down, the party starts to reorganise, and they try to recover.  One hoplite goes down and is dragged out of the cave, and one of the broos tries to perform the vile broo impregnation on the poor soul, but at that moment our heroes break out of the cave, and manage to skewer the filthy beast before the worst comes to pass.  Quickly they recover their wounded, and prepare to head back to the cabin for healing and assistance.  This is not over.

Posted with Blogsy - (c) Rudy Boeynaems 2012-2013