June 18th, 2017

The Next Steps

Twinlake Vale to Rimwatch and then North to Treefold (Where Things All Began Years Ago)

From my left:

Chris playing Deckard the human ex-fighter thief

Matt playing Mirin the human spellsword

Sarai playing Desorna the elven axe-maiden

Hunter playing Strix the elven magic-user

and Paige playing Keeva the halfling infiltrator

Some of the party trained for their new levels in Twinlake Vale, but not Strix who couldn't afford the training. Instead Strix spent her time staying in Miss Mary's house to the east of Rimwatch. Mary, the older witch who had befriended Strix, had gone to the Archdruid's grove for a meeting and so Strix was taking care of her animals, which included a variety of types such as a bobcat, a wolf, and a bear. One night, while Strix was sleeping, the cells that remained in the partial optic nerve connected to the eye that she had scooped out of the troll's face awoke enough to begin to regenerate. Soon there was a juvenile troll ready to assault and dismember Strix.

Luckily for her the bobcat was a light sleeper and the bobcat's growls beside her ear made her wake up and realize that there was danger in the room with her. Both Strix and the bobcat managed to do some damage to the troll in a chase that led out of the house, onto the roof, and then into the back yard where a fireball detonated from somewhere and incinerated the troll and did enough damage even with the reduction for Strix having changed to gaseous form to knock the mage out.

A day or some later Strix awoke from the wolf licking her face. Stumbling to her feet the mage returned to the house and tried to fix a poultice to help heal the wounds of the injured bobcat. With that done she continued to rest up as best as she could until Miss Mary returned. Miss Mary healed up Strix and sent her on her way with thanks for (mostly) caring for her house and animals.

The remainder of the group had returned to Rimwatch for a brief moment and reconnected with Strix before returning to Twinlake Vale. Some questions were asked in town and some rumors learned before Deckard convinced the rest of the party to head north to Treefold and meet the magic-user Glykras. They didn't need much arm-twisting and so they party went north.

Their journey was not uneventful. During a night spent somewhat near the swamps in the area, the group was attacked by three lizard men who announced their presence by throwing spears into the encampment. Some damage was taken by the party before the lizard men were dispatched, some minor trinkets were collected by Strix and Keeva, and in the morning the party continued on.

After the party reached Treefold they looked around at the growing town. The Confederation had built its trade office and associated warehouses just out of town to the west, and there were other buildings either under construction or being finished. The party went to the local inn and met Uller, the bearded innkeeper. He was able to tell them where Glykras lived, and tell them that there was a package for Glykras at the confederation offices and that if they wanted to use its delivery as an introduction it would help them get to see Glykras. The party picked up the package, which Strix thought was roughly spellbook-sized, and the party headed northwest out of town toward Glykras' home.

On the way out Desorna and Mirin noticed some movement across the trail ahead that best resembled a moving heat mirage. The party nervously prepared themselves for an attack, and soon after five blurry shapes launched themselves from the forest to attack. Strix led with a fireball that targeted a tree behind the forms so as to spare the party from the blast. In this she was successful and one of the blurry figures vanished in the fireball.

The other four moved in to attack, stabbing with blades that were roughly dagger sized judging by the wounds they left. Three of the party felt the stings of the blades, and poor Keeva collapsed, screaming in agony and trying to claw off of her skin since she felt like it was burning from the inside out. The battle continued and Strix, hoping to figure out what they were up against, used her dust of appearance to try to dispel whatever was hiding the forms of these blurs. It was successful and revealed the figures of roughly halfling sized but horribly emaciated creatures, each holding a dagger. They resembled quicklings but were much darker and even more emaciated. Being visible didn't seem to bother these creatures and they continued their attacks.

By the time Mirin killed the final creature all the party had been stabbed with the apparently poisoned daggers. Mirin finally collapsed in agony near where Strix and Desorna had already collapsed, and luckily Deckard was the one who managed to not give in to the effects of the poison. Forty minutes later Strix and Desorna managed to fight off the effects with Keeva doing so five minutes later and Mirin, the last to succumb, five minutes after the halfling thief did.

Exhaustedly pulling themselves together, the group continued on to Glykras' home, reaching it after dark. A few knocks finally brought someone to answer the door: a very tall and broad robed man who didn't speak. The party identified themselves as couriers and the huge man held out a hand to take the package which they turned over to him. After holding up one finger in an instruction to wait, the door was closed in their faces. After fifteen minutes or so it was opened again by an older man in robes with the huge man behind him. The man, who was Glykras, invited them in and had them taken to a room which had four pairs of bunk beds and a large table. They were brought food and invited to rest.

At some point during the resting it was noticed that the spellsword and the halfling seemed to have stopped breathing. Strix's frantic pounding at the secure door led to the huge man opening it. Understanding that something was wrong, he poked Keeva in the chest twice before picking them up and slinging them over his shoulder. Then he left.

The end result was that they had failed to resist the second stage of the poison and had slipped into a deep coma. Luckily Glykras had a book of poisons and their antidotes that allowed him to save the two adventurers.

The next day Glykras told the party that the darklings had been sent to steal the package that was being delivered. Glykras said that it was a combination workbook and spellbook from an elven magic-user named Pellas who had lived after the Great War against the Ko'hAlon. It was one of ten known volumes and Glykras said he had paid 500 for it. He gave the party a 10% reward for protecting it and getting it to him safely handing Deckard a bag of 50 coins. Expecting gold pieces Deckard discovered that the bag contained 50 platinum pieces instead, meaning that Glykras had paid 500 platinum for this book! The party asked about the other nine known volumes and were told that according to all Glykras knew they were in the Library of Blackrook and out of easy reach.

After some more discussions the party also learned that Glykras had been in the Proving Grounds, and he had some knowledge that the party did not about the Grounds. He also had some more knowledge to share, and after a week of research, rest, and recovery the party was given the mission to go and check on a cabin north of Treefold that used to belong to some adventurers Glykras had worked with when he was younger. If there were civilized people living in the cabin, the party was asked to make contact with them and see what information they might share about the place. If it was monster infested then the party could attack the monsters and clear them out and then explore for themselves.

The party returned to Treefold where Uller had grown concerned over their long absence and was happy to see them again. They rested the night at the inn before departing on the northward trip.

There was an encounter the first night out that could have gone very very badly, and almost did. A corpsegrinder snuck up on the camp undetected and attacked the sleeping Desorna. It began to drag her away when Deckard finally noticed it and shouted an alarm. The rest of the party other than the trapped elven fighter moved to attack. Luckily, the 'grinder was unable to paralyze anyone, and though it tore up Desorna's leg with its backward-hooked teeth, she was able to survive though a lot of careful exertion was required before she could remove her leg from the 'grinder's mouth and throat.

Strix treated the wounds on her leg by trying to use some random knowledge learned from Miss Mary, dirty river water, and random leaves to clean the leg. We will see whether any infection results from this, but the wounds did seem cleaner and less painful once she was done.

On the next day as the party grew close to where the cabin must be, they were surprised by a giant lizard rushing from the rushes by the river bank and biting on Desorna's other leg. The lizard died fairly quickly under a perfect shot from Deckard's bow and a perfect slash from Mirin's scimitar.

With the party on the brink of reaching the cabin, we paused for the night.

Experience points for the party:

Deckard: 668

Mirin: 668

Desorna: 668

Strix: 668

Keeva: 668