Something is Stirring in Vannin (17th September
2013)
The Adventurers
Hallan – Fighter
Johan - Cleric
Paulix – Thief
Vox Comwy – Magic User
Ambushed in the Woods - Freyasday 26th Tresober 963 (Day 3)
The sun rose over the verdant vista of the great Jordan’s
Wood, burning off the morning’s spring mist as it did so. The first hour of the
journey that morning was uneventful and Hallan was as comfortable as he could
be lying in the back of a waggon of farm produce. However, just before they
were to enter the shade of the great woodlands, a party of horsemen was espied
up ahead.
Albus and his head guard were unable to make out at that
distance whether they were friend or foe, so called for everyone in the caravan
to make ready for either situation. As the party of horsemen approached it
became clear that they were a Thuringian patrol; a knight, a warrior, three
hobilars (bow armed men-at-arms) and a scribe or page. Albus ordered the
caravan to the side of the road to allow for the patrol’s passing but the
leader of the section of men pulled up and asked who was in charge. Albus
nudged his horse forwards and greeted the knight saying that he was the leader
of the caravan. The knight proceeded to ask if the party had encountered
anything untoward on their journey and he was responded to in the affirmative
as both Albus and the party chimed in with the encounters they had experienced
so far. The knight was happy with their honest response but upon bidding them a
farewell he noticed the amulet around Albus’s neck. He suggested that he might
want to hide it from view, and so Albus did so by tucking it inside his shirt.
The journey through the woods was eerily silent after the
birdsong of the meadowlands before, and lunch was a quiet affair. The caravan
continued upon its journey and took the left path at the fork in the road that
led towards Darenth. It was a short while after this that a whirring sound was
heard and a buzzing, as of wasps, was heard within the air. One of Albus’s men-at-arms
crumpled to the floor just as Albus called for all to be upon their guard.
Everyone readied their weapons just as half-a-dozen strange looking little
creatures burst from the undergrowth at the side of the track way. The five smaller
beings were dog-headed and reptile-like about three feet tall and the larger
one was a grey-green skinned being with a mouth full of sharp teeth. All had
dropped their slings and had drawn a variety of spiky weapons and wicker
shields, their leader wielded a short sword. The strange creatures made quick
progress across the sward, avoiding being hit by arrows that were sent their
way. Albus called for the caravan to keep moving as he and his remaining
guardsman drew their weapons and raced into the combat. Hallan carried on
shooting arrows into the melee but his injury must have been hampering his aim
as his shots went wide. Vox and Paulix managed to head off a couple of the
beings and hand-to-hand combat was entered.
Albus’s guardsman made light work of one of the dog-like men
but Albus was hit and fell from his saddle. Paulix made his way towards his
stricken employer, cutting down a creature as he went, and Vox held his own
with another of them. An accurate shot by Hallan dropped one of the two attacking
the last caravan in the line, its peasant farmers would now only have to face
one adversary with their stout clubs. A final flurry of blows put paid to the
grey-green humanoid before the rest of the attackers turned tail and fled. A flurry
of arrows followed them into the bushes.
The corpses of the assailants were quickly robbed of any
valuables by Paulix and their crude weapons were set in a small pile, except
for the short sword which he kept for himself. They also found a small wooden
amulet of similar size and shape to Albus’s metal amulet around the lead
critter’s neck, which also had inscribed upon it the very same set of symbols that
could be seen upon Albus’s amulet; Paulix pocketed it for future use. Albus’s remaining
guard and teamster rigged a pallet for their unconscious boss and strapped him
into the back of the lead waggon. He had a nasty bruise on his head but his
breathing was steady. The unfortunate guardsman was put onto the second waggon
alongside Hallan whilst the bodies of one of the little critters and their
leader were loaded onto the third waggon and covered in sack cloth. The caravan
pulled away with a heavy heart and plodded the rest of the way towards Darenth.
Arrival in Darenth (mid-afternoon)
The caravan pulled into the village of Darenth. The waggons
dropped down the short incline, crossed the river at the ford and trundled past
the water mill. The train then passed the round stone church dedicated to Sol Invictus on its way towards the
second stone building in the village. The wattle and daub cottages and barns of
the villagers passed by on either side were well kept and consisted of both
toft and croft with the main fields spread out across the fields on the hills
beyond like a patch work quilt. The only thing to spoil the view of pastoral
tranquillity was the great stone manor estate set at the far end of the village.
As the caravan made its way past the church, Hallan hopped
off and hobbled towards the main doors. The remaining guardsman halloed when
the caravan got to within a few yards of the stone building within the village,
and called for Jared, Albus’s brother. A gaggle of people emerged from the
grounds of the building and then hurriedly made their way to the caravan as
they realised that Albus had been injured. The womenfolk, full of concern,
demanded he be taken to the church straight away, so the men of the household
did as they were bid and carried both him and the dead guardsman to the church.
Whilst this was going on orders were given to unload the waggons and to rub
down and tend to the beasts of burden. This was carried out meticulously by
Jared’s farm workers, all except for the unloading of the dead bodies of the
humanoids; they were stored out of sight by Paulix and Vox who then proceeded
up to the church to see how their employer fared – they wanted their money!
Johan, a local lad practicing his healing lore under the
watchful gaze of the two priests at the church, watched as his superiors laid
healing hands upon Albus. Albus was brought round and his wound was tended to
by the two priests. A collection tin was then rattled at Jared, who placed a
few coins into it. Johan, seeing what was expected of him did the same for
Hallan, but rather than give the money to the grasping church of Sol Invictus (he was still allied to the
Old Gods but was practicing his healing lore at the only available church in
the area), decided to pocket it for himself. He was able to do so unseen by his
two superiors.
Albus cleared his head and was quickly brought up to date by
his trusted guardsman. He turned to the three adventurers and thanked them
profusely for their aid on the eventful journey. He handed each of them a small
purse containing the promised twenty silver pieces and a bonus of five silver
coins so that they could work out what they wanted to do over the next few days
in the comfort of the Miller’s Arms tavern opposite Jared’s stone house. Albus
needed to rest up before his return journey and mentioned that he might wish to
hire them again if they were willing. He would be leaving to head back to High
Beeches in about one week, so they did not have to hurry to make up their
minds.
The three adventurers headed back into the village and
sought out the tavern, closely followed by a curious Johan. Albus was carried
back to Jared’s house and put safely to bed to recuperate from his ordeal. The
body of the guardsman was prepared for burial. Just as they got to the door of
the tavern they noticed that the waggons were about to be trundled into Jared’s
farmstead, so Paulix and Vox retrieved their ‘sacks of produce’ from the hiding
place and took them with them into the tavern. The sacks easily stood up in the
corner behind their bench as rigor mortis
had begun to set in.
After the events of the last few days, the adventurers
ordered up a flagon of ale and cups for each of them and Johan who had joined
them at their table. They then surreptitiously showed him what they had been
attacked by. The shock of seeing the strange creatures’ faces made him blanche
but he wanted to find out more. The inn-keep, curious as to what was going on,
approached the adventurers’ table and asked them what they were up to. When
Paulix then put on his finest pomp of showmanship he convinced the inn-keep of
how they could both make a bit of money. The tavern keeper sent his pot-boys
out into the village to tell all and sundry of the strange sights that could be
seen at the Miller’s Arms. The villagers arrived in droves and the tavern went
into lock-down with a guard at the door. The tavern keeper and Paulix made a
goodly few handfuls of coppers for their efforts, as well as the respect of the
oohing and aahing villagers.
Discussions (late afternoon)
The last couple of hours of sunlight allowed for the party to
work out what they wanted to do next both with themselves and reporting the
presence of the strange creatures that they had killed. Johan said that he
would consult the church library to see if he could find out any more about the
creatures in the sacks whilst the other three discussed the merits of returning
to High Beeches with Albus to investigate the sheep rustling and Simeon Graize
affair or whether they should see what adventures this new village brought them.
An hour before sunset, though, they were invited by one of Jared’s henchmen to
a celebratory meal at his farmstead. They packed up the bodies and carried them
to the stone manor across the street.
A few moments later they were joined by Johan with some
important information which they said they would discuss at Jared’s. A
leisurely meal was had and thanks were again given to the party for saving
Albus’s life before the conversation turned serious. Jared wanted to know what
was in the sacks and what had happened to bring on such misfortune to his
brother. The adventurers revealed all; both about the hassle that Simeon Graize
was giving Albus back in High Beeches and along the journey, as well as the
attack by the strange creatures. Talk then turned to what Johan had found out.
He was able to tell them that the writing upon the amulets was an old script
from the dark side of the Old Faith; most likely the name of a demon or some
such but evil nonetheless. He was also able to tell everyone that from the
grimoire he had read, there were creatures matching their description called
goblins and kobolds; creatures of nightmare from millennia ago.
Jared suggested that they would need to report this to the
local lord up on the hill, but the following day would do – he would put the
bodies into cold storage to stop them decaying. At this point Albus came
downstairs from his cot to thank the adventurers personally again. After a
brief discussion he said that he no longer wished to be party to ownership of
the amulet as it had brought him nothing but bad luck since it had mysteriously
appeared in his coffers a few months previously, and if the adventurers could
find a buyer for it they could take 10% of what they make from its sale. The
party agreed to this, Johan took the amulet into his possession, and then they bade
him and Jared a goodnight and returned to the inn for a good night’s rest.
A Meeting with Sir Richard (Godsday 27/3/963 - Day 4)
Jared had a few chores to run in the early morning, so he
said he would be ready to escort them up there in a couple of hours. The party
completed a few chores themselves and bought some adventuring equipment, then
joined Jared at the appropriate time, walked through the village, and up the
hill to the large manor complex. They were greeted by two well-armed guards at
the gate. Jared spoke to them in a tongue strange to the adventurers and after
a few moments they were let into the complex. Beyond the heavy wooden gates and
large stone walls they entered a compound consisting of several stone
buildings, men-at-arms in training, a black-smith hammering and horses being
exercised; a real hive of activity.
The party were brought into the presence of the local lord,
Sir Richard and his small body of advisers. He was aloof, but polite and showed
an interest in what the adventurers had encountered. They showed him the bodies
of the goblin and kobold and he requested that he be allowed to destroy the
evidence before it became widely known that there were strange creatures afoot
in the local vicinity. He didn’t want to scare the local populace after all. He
asked if they had seen anything else unusual so they presented him with the
goblin’s talisman. This brought a glint of interest to Sir Richard’s sage and
he asked if the item could be left with them for further study. The party
agreed and Sir Richard said they could collect it again from him the next day.
He then dropped any interest he had in them and Jared suggested it was time to
leave.
The adventurers returned to the village to pass the day as
they saw fit. Hallan was beginning to heal well, and a couple more healing
spells from Johan helped him along the way further. He passed the rest of the
day limbering up and working out. Johan returned to the church for his duties
but also managed to try to get more information from the grimoires held within
the church’s small library, unfortunately with no new leads. Paulix went around
the local farmsteads and bought himself some more adventuring gear whilst Vox,
for reasons known only unto himself, visited the miller and worked a full day
for nothing. He said he wanted to find out how the mill worked.
New Leads (Sunday 28/3/963 - Day 5)
The following morning, the four companions returned to Sir
Richard’s manor. They were met with the same rigour before being ushered into
his presence. He laid the wooden amulet upon the table and confirmed the
details that Johan had already found out over the previous couple of days. He
said he would be interested in finding out what the amulet meant and suggested
that someone in Staneford might be able to help. His friend, the most
worshipful mage Lord Burne had an extensive library, and the local canoness Y’dey
of the church of Sol Invictus had
extensive knowledge of legends and lore, as did the local Old Faith druid
Jaroo.
The party gave
thanks to Sir Richard and said that they would report back any findings they
made on their journey. The party made their way back into town and sat down at
a table in the tavern to discuss their next steps.
No comments:
Post a Comment