SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: HUNTING BEASTMEN – PT 2, 4.4.17

The Heroes:

Ecna Lubma: Dwarf priest grudgebearer

Gruntbelly: Dwarf magician sorcerer

Kane: Human warrior fighter

Mathias: Jotun jotun juggernaut

The battle with the beastmen warband continues as their warg leader emerges from the cave and joins the fight.  The huge creature drags a massive flail behind him as he moves in to attack the jotun, but the beast’s rage makes its attacks clumsy and the flail misses its target multiple times.  Gruntbelly moves into position and unleashes his magic, and his newfound sorcerous skills results in some barely contained residual magic blasts that hurt the beastmen but also endangers his allies.  Kane and Ecna take on the fomor and wargs and together the group manage to kill the beastmen.  The warg leader is felled by Mathias’ axe and falls off a short cliff to die on the ground next to Gruntbelly.

The group then free the prisoners and find that two of them were from Delia’s expedition group.  Franz and Lara tell them that their group was attacked by beastmen and Delia ran off, abandoning them.  Lara was glad to hear that she died.  The heroes pressed the two for information regarding Nareesh and initially both are reluctant to talk but after a sound thrashing by Mathias, Franz begins talking, saying they were hired by Nareesh to locate Fey Relics from these sites they’ve been exploring.  Before he could say more, Lara stabs Franz in the back, killing him.  She then strikes a bargain with the group, saying she will tell them what she knows if they allow her to leave unharmed.  The group agrees and she tells them that Nareesh has a client that requested the Fey and other relics.  Her group was hired to find Fey Relics, but Nareesh has others collecting more relics.  Who his client is Lara does not know as Nareesh does not share his business dealings with his hirelings.  Her group had until the end of this month to find a relic and then meet Nareesh back in Crossings at The Guild.   Having told them everything she knows, the group allows her to leave.

Inside the cave they find many farmers and townfolk from Hamlet that the beastmen were using for food.  The people were terrified, but when the heroes freed them they were grateful and appreciative.  Within the cave there were rations and a number of items the beastmen had taken from their raids, which included mundane items, but also a few enchanted ones including a mummified hand and a pistol.  The heroes gather the items and begin their journey back to Farmer Ham’s farm, bringing the survivors along with them.  But as they traveled through the Sentinel Wood, they are beset upon by a tribe of centaur, led by a white-maned female who orders the group to leave the humans behind so that the centaur may take their revenge for the wrongs they believe humans have done to their kind.  The group try to negotiate, but then Ecna decides to turn the tides by invoking the power of the Friendship Coin found in the shrine.  The centaur suddenly has a change of heart and decides not to hold these people accountable for the crimes of humans, so they allow the group to take these humans out of Sentinel Wood with the understanding that if they return they will be trampled.  The group takes the refugees and quickly leave before the coin’s influence wears off.

Once outside Sentinel Wood, they make their way back to Farmer Ham’s and rest for the night.  The next day, many of the famers take their leave to try and salvage their raided homes.  A poor couple whose farm was destroyed by the beastmen were granted Farmer Ham’s home by the heroes and were very grateful. The group packs up the wagon bearing the ham shanks they were hired to get and head back to the remains of Hamlet.  There they find all but a few buildings were destroyed by fire, which according to the townfolk occurred when their resident alchemist’s shop was attacked and the beastmen inadvertently destroyed pots of Dragonfire that the alchemist had stored, resulting in the blaze that destroyed most of the town and killed much of the beastmen’s warband.  The heroes decide to leave for Crossings and a few of the townfolk decide that there is nothing left for them in Hamlet and ask to accompany the team back to Crossings to start a new life.  The group agrees and the spend the next two days on the road back to Crossings.  On the way, they encounter a merchant wagon and hear news that the town council has called a state of general alert due to reports that orc warbands from the south have crossed the Shield Mountains that separate the Northern Reach from the Empire of Caecras.  This lends credence to the rumors that the emperor has fallen and the orc armies are revolting against their masters. 

When the group arrives in Crossings, they do find that the walls are being fortified and that security was being increased.  Searches were being done at the gates, but with Mathias and Kane’s familiarity with some of the people at the gate, the group is allowed in with minimal difficulty.  Inside the gates they find militia being trained in the streets by the Brown Cloaks and that there is a tension and air of fear in Crossings.  They take the refugees to Father Gregory’s mission and then head to the Honored Dead Shrine and Brewery, where they hand Theodore the comatose Halfling over to Stohk Ironbrow’s care and start planning their next few days as they await the date that Nareesh was to meet with Lara’s expedition at The Guild.  The group have a few drinks and go to their respective dwellings agreeing to meet daily.

Kane heads home and is informed by his mother that a lovely woman with striking eyes left a package for him.  Kane eyes the package suspiciously and reads the card with says, “My last favor to thee, mortal, as thanks for cleaning my shrine.”  The card is signed with a very elaborately scripted “A”.  Kane opens the package and finds an ornate key and a scroll.  The scroll is the deed to the Moore House.  Curious, but tired, Kane puts aside these things and goes to bed.  The following day he makes his way over to where the ruins of the Moore House were and finds that the manor appears to have been completely restored.  When he asks a person on the street when the house was restored, the person looks at him like he’s crazy and says the house is a burned ruin.  Apparently, some magic is hiding the fact that the house has been restored from all but Kane and those he chooses to know.  Kane enters his home and finds the interior also restored, including the basement that is now free of rotting corpses, and that the key opens every door and gate in the place.  Later, he informs the group of this favor in their daily meeting.

End of session.