Session 2 - Summary
Session 2 began right where Session 1 left off. The characters are in the village of Dunsfallow which has just been attacked. The raiders have retreated, taking prisoners with them. The players stand in the midst of the aftermath. As quickly as they could, they ran around helping the wounded and putting out fires.
When the cavalry from Riverfort arrived, they joined in and helped with the cleanup. The player characters were soon able to turn their attention to the dead. They went around checking the bodies of the enemy humanoids that had fallen.
One raider, a saurian, was found still alive, but mortally wounded. With his dying breath, he whispered "Sakutha sees all... Sakutha... sees all".
The cleanup continued for several hours. During this time, a distraught father approached the party and said that he had seen them in battle. They were true heroes. He begged them to save his two daughters, who had been taken prisoner in the raid. Both of them had been captured and taken. He showed them a locket which contained two tiny portraits of his daughters. He promised the party to reward them with what little wealth he had and his eternal gratitude. The players took the locket and promised him that they would do their best to find the daughters.
A short while later, William's raven returned from its flight. William telepathically linked to the raven and looked through the raven's memories. The raven had followed the retreating army for more than an hour. The army had moved west, through the forest, until they reached the edge of the swamp and came to water. Once they came to knee high water, they split into four groups and headed out in different directions, but all of them were heading more or less west... deeper into the Barakose Swamp. They avoided dry land and stuck to the water, so as to leave no trail and no tracks. They had about 40 prisoners.
After awhile, an officer came and fetched them. The Baron and captain were holding a war council and the captain wanted them in attendance since they were the first ones on the scene. The player characters told them what they had seen. to the war council.
At the war council, the officers debated what to do next. One officer urged the Baron to send the army in pursuit into the swamp and go after the prisoners now. Another said, set up a line of defense and protect the villages. A third advised the Baron to send a force of men to the far shore of the swamp, establish a base there from which recon trips could be made to scout out the entire swamp. The baron decided to divide his forces and follow all three courses of actions. Some men would be sent to establish a base on the far shore. Some would stay in the river villages and prepare defenses. But most importantly, a number of small five man teams would be sent into the jungle to scout ahead and try to locate some kind of enemy base.
The player characters were asked to form the first of these recon teams and they agreed. Their mission, head into the swamp and find out where the prisoners were taken. If they find some base or lair, investigate and learn all they can - strength of numbers, defenses, etc. If, after fourteen days, they had found nothing, they were to return.
The party returned to Riverfort and they were given whatever supplies they needed . The players asked for food, water, rope and grapnel hooks. Belkor asked for navigation tools. [Note – at the time, Mercia has developed a highly accurate version of the astrolabe, but it is only accurate to within about 10 nautical miles. Precise position finding with this device is not possible].
The party also asked for a priest to accompany them. A militant of Imarus, by the name of Dathelar, was assigned to them, making it a five man team. As a militant, Dathelar was skilled in both combat and spells. His particular spell ability was quite useful – healing, the ability to create shelter and food and so forth. They spent the night in Riverfort sleeping in comfortable beds at the inn. It was the last time they would sleep in a bed for some time.
The next morning, the players headed out. They decided to go to Endroad Keep. Endroad keep was a ruin. It had been the first village attacked. The party wanted to make sure it was truly a deserted ruin. They reached it by the end of the first day and found only charred wreckage and the empty shell of the keep... four walls and a half a roof. They spent the night in the ruin of the keep. In the middle of the night, their alarm spell was activated when a dog wandered into the keep. It looked like a stray farm dog or possibly the only remaining resident of Endroad Keep. In any case, they feed it, gave it water and "adopted" it.
The next day, with the dog following happily along, the party ventured into the swamp, heading northwest. After several hours, they came across a horrific site... the bloated corpse of a wood elf that had been nailed to a tree. The feathered shafts of seven orcish arrows sprouted from his chest. Above him, on the tree bark, was a message written in the Southern tongue. It said simply "Sakutha sees all". Based on his dress and tattoos, Listig recognized him as an elven archer. They searched the area and found three finely crafted elven arrows and a broken elven long bow. Dathelar was able to mend the bow with a spell. Listig kept it.
Before burying the body, they searched it and discovered a few coins hidden in the boot. They continued on the rest of the day and made camp. The militant priest of Imarus proved his worth by summoning up a crude shelter from the ground. It wasn't much... it was made of mud and vines and wood, but it had four walls and a roof.
The next morning, day 3, they came across a strange sight. They found a large wagon stuck in the mud. It had three axles and six wheels, high wooden walls and a tiled roof. It was of fine quality and appeared to be some kind of nobleman's carriage. It was damaged, with broken wheels, a broken axle and holes in the side. It also had a coat of arms painted on the side... a white elk on a forest green background. It was also covered in grime and mud. It had clearly been out here in the swamp for years. Furthermore, wreckage surrounded it along with three skeletons and a small charred humanoid body.
A series of strange glyphs and symbols adorned the edges of the wagon. William thought they might be some kind of magical symbols and stepped up to the wagon for a closer look. As he wiped the muck away from the symbols, two large rats leapt from the holes in the sides of the wagon and attacked. One attacked William, the other charged the group. A quick battle ensued, but both rats were killed. William was bitten twice on the shoulder, but other than that, they suffered no injuries. After the rats were killed, William resumed his study of the symbols on the wagon and copied them down on parchment. Meanwhile, Listig skinned the rats and cut several hunks of meat from them for later meals.
The party thoroughly explored the entire clearing, the wagon, the bodies and the scattered wreckage. The skeletons were dressed in armor, robes and rags respectively. The party searched through rusting equipment, grime coated bits of junk and so forth. After a thorough search and the use of a detect magic spell, they found the following items of interest...
1. A signet ring bearing the same elk symbol as on the side of the wagon.
2. A large leather bound tome which appeared to be some kind of journal.
3. A single gem-studded gauntlet fashioned of a coppery red metal (magical).
4. A single magical boot (on one of the skeletons). They could not find its mate.
5. A magnificent arrow with red fletching in a long, slender wooden box.
6. A crystal tipped stave.
7. A slender, leather bound tome taken from the satchel of the skeleton in robes. It looked like it might be a spell book. William was unfamiliar with the script and could not read it, but took it with him.
They found other things but nothing of value. Most of the weapons and armor were corroded and rusted. There was a box full of potions, but it seemed all the potions had soured and turned rancid long ago. William kept one of the rancid potions out of curiosity.
Despite the protests of the rest of the party, Belkor put the copper gauntlet it. With a mechanical shifting of metal plates and joints, it adjusted itself to fit his hand. He studied the thing closely. It had six sockets in a line on the forearm. Three sockets were empty and three held fire opals on circular metal plates. It was clear that the fire opals could be depressed. The others urged him to refrain from pressing any of the fire opals lest he unleash some potent spell.
The boot was stowed in a bag. William took the spell book, journal and crystal tipped staff. Listig took the signet ring and arrow with red fletching. Belkor kept the gauntlet on.
The party continued on with the few hours of daylight they had left and soon made camp.
The next day, they broke camp and continued their journey. In the midafternoon, they heard something creaking up ahead. They sent Winlock ahead to explore and report back. He did so and reported that there were "cages and a goblyn ahead". The party advance cautiously. They came into a clearing and found a number of cages made from twine and sticks. These cages were scattered around the clearing, broken and smashed. One cage, however, was whole. It was hanging from the branch of a large dead tree. Inside this cage, was a goblyn.
The goblyn barked something at the party in his own language. None of the party spoke goblyn, however. Seeing they didn't understand, he then tried the southern tongue. This particular goblyn spoke very little southern, but managed to get across basic ideas. He wanted to be let out. He indicated that they should make haste and that this place was dangerous.
Before the party could take action, they heard something large crashing through the brush and trees. It approached rapidly. The party members ran away from the sound and hid behind a large tree. From out of the brush came a huge creature, like a crawfish or scorpion. It had a chitinous shell, two huge pincers and a long tail with a small stinger. The creature ignored the goblyn in the cage and headed straight toward the party.
As the creature advanced upon the party, Belkor aimed his gauntleted hand at the creature and pressed one of the fire opals. Instantly, a flaming ball formed at the palm and the gauntlet's fingers curled around it. The ball of flame hovered above the palm, following the gauntlet's movements, as if being held. Belkor hurled the flaming sphere at the advancing creature and hit it in directly in the face. Upon contact, the flaming sphere detonated, blossoming into a full fireball spell. With a roar, it expanded, engulfing the scorpion creature and then a very surprised Belkor. Belkor threw himself into the mud as the fire engulfed him (which probably saved his life). The other four, standing back and behind the tree, escaped the fiery blast. The goblyn in the cage, by sheer luck, was just outside of the blast radius of the spell.
When the flame cleared, parts of the tree were on fire. The scorpion was badly burned and seemed dazed, but it was still alive and still advancing. The party rushed forward to fight it. All of the party managed to get in a few hits and the huge creature eventually died. No doubt it had little fight left in it after the fireball. Winlock was the only one who got stung, but thanks to his dwarven heritage, he shrugged off the effects of the poison.
Having defeated the monster, they now turned their attention to the goblyn in the cage hanging from the tree branch. William cast a spell which allowed them to understand each other more clearly. With the aid of the spell, they learned that this goblyn had been part of a warband sent out from the Goblyn Kingdom to investigate the disappearance of many of their brethren.
The goblyn explained that his warband had found themselves attacked by a superior force composed of saurians, orcs, goblyns, boglings and others. His warband was captured and taken to a ruin where other prisoners were held. There the goblyn saw a witch who apparently was ruling over all of these minions. She had some kind of ability to sway others to serve her with words. The goblyn said that his own warband brothers swore loyalty to her. He, whoever, spoke out against it. They dragged him before her and she commanded obedience. Seeing no other choice, he swore loyalty, hoping to escape later. The witch, however, saw through the ruse as if peering into his soul. She ordered that they take him away and execute him.
William asked if the name Sakutha referred to the witch and the goblyn confirmed that it did.
They took him to this place, put him in a cage, and left him to be devoured by the monster. He would have certainly been the monster's next meal had the party not come along and saved him. The party demanded that he sketch them a map of the swamp as best he knew it and add the location of the ruin where he had seen the witch. The goblyn complied and drew a map. He indicated that this "war camp" where he had seen the witch and the other prisoners was about two days to the north west.
The goblyn expressed that he only wished to return to the south, to the goblyn kingdom. Having no further use of him, the party agreed to let him go. They gave him some cooked rat meat and a water skin and sent him on his way. They sent the raven after him to ensure that he did indeed head south and didn't double back or change course. The goblyn, true to his word, headed south.
The next day, the party continued their journey northwest in hopes of finding this ruin and "war camp" described by the goblyn. After a few miles, they heard the sounds of voices ahead. They approached cautiously and came upon a small band of humanoids who had a young human male tied to a tree. The humanoids included three boglings and a big orc. They were having fun tormenting the young man by jabbing him every now and then with a dagger tip.
As the party watched, a goblyn came around from the other side of the tree muttering something. The goblyn was carrying a longsword and clothing... most likely the possessions of the young man.
The party moved closer, preparing to attack. However, they were not quiet enough. The orc whirled around and barked orders at the others. With the element of surprise lost, the party charged in and combat erupted. Listig and William stayed back, firing arrows and spells into the fray. The others closed the distance and engaged in melee. Belkor fought toe to toe with the big orc, trading blows. The orc proved to be a powerful foe.
Listig fired an arrow and dropped the goblyn with one shot. Another arrow a moment later pierced a bogling straight through the heart. The orc was worn down and killed as was a second bogling. Within moment, only one bogling remained and he fled. He was fast and able to move through mud and water with surprising speed. The party let him thinking that they would never catch up to him.
The party freed the boy, who claimed to be Arten, a simple farmhand from Dunsfallow captured during the raid. However, various elements of his story did not add up. Belkor noticed that the boy's hands were supple and smooth, not the hands of a farmhand. Through conversation, Listig tricked him into revealing he did not know the village of Dunsfallow that well and that he was bluffing. When confronted over these inconsistencies, the boy abruptly turned and fled. The party chased him down and caught up and dragged him back.
Through intimidation, they eventually got the truth out of him... he was Valios Kreydor, the son of the Baron of Riverfort. He had fled Riverfort, seeking to avoid an arranged marriage. He had visions of joining a mercenary band and living a life of adventure. However, while seeking to avoid his father's men and humanoid raiders by walking into the swamp, he had become hopelessly lost and had been wandering for days. Besides some gold that the humanoids had taken from him, the party found a fabulous fire opal gemstone hidden in the boy's boot.
The boy presented a moral quandary of sorts and the party discussed, at length, what to do with him. Eventually, they decided that the best course of action was to take the wayward princeling back to Riverfort and hand him over to his father, the Baron.
They realized that they must be close to the war camp mentioned by the goblyn. No more than ten miles or so. William's raven could fly there and back very quickly. So William sent his familiar out again to survey the swamp ahead and see if it could find this camp.
About two hours later, the bird did return and, through its memories, William saw what it saw. During its flight it saw a stone tower about 5 miles north west (with a few humanoids around it) and a larger war camp right where the goblyn said it would be, 10 miles to the northwest. The larger war camp had at least two dozen humanoids (a mix of saurians and orcs and others). The raven had also seen a number of slaves either chained up or in cages.
With this information, the party gathered their things and began the long journey back to Riverfort to deliver both their report and the Baron's son.