SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: OFF THE RAILS, PT 1, 8/8/17

The Heroes:

·        ·         Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer healer

·        ·         Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer wizard

·        ·         Kane Arroway: human warrior fighter sharpshooter

·        ·         Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut spirit warrior

Our heroes meet at the East Gate the following morning and though Ecna and Gruntbelly were harassed at the gate leading into Smokestacks, it wasn’t a problem that a couple of gold coins couldn’t resolve.  The group meet up and find a strange, horseless iron coach awaiting them, along with a company of six armed “guards” on horses, who looked more like mercenaries.  The dwarf driver introduces himself as Deede and tells them they’ll be on their way in a few minutes.  As they wait, they see a goblin being thrown outside the gates and Ecna loses his sh!t and begins to pummel the goblin senseless.  Leaving the creature alive, the dwarf returns back to the iron carriage, washes off, and the group departs.  With only minor trouble on the road, cared for by the guards.  They arrive in Thorpe and find it also in a state of high alert.  They are allowed into the city and as they enter they notice construction noises coming from the south end outside the city walls.  They meet Henrietta, manager of the Thorpe Railway Station, and she leads them into the station and to the platform, where they meet Engineer Bork and his assistant.  The train has 7 cars in total; the main engine, two passenger cars, three box cars, and a return engine.  Henrietta tries to rush the group along, claiming that she has paying customers awaiting in Foundry, but the heroes point out that they are supposed to be looking for missing cargo for Mr. Ironmonger and can’t very well do that at night.  Henrietta seems disinterested in this, and more interested in keeping her business running, but a couple of the heroes sense that something else seems to be motivating her as well.  The group continue to press her to delay departure until morningwhen Henrietta unexpectedly starts shouting for help, tearing at her clothing and claiming that the heroes are accosting her.  A couple of the mercs run into the station and demand the heroes leave the lady be.  Not wanting to cause a scene, the heroes relent and head back to the train, but as Henrietta and the other’s attentions were diverted, Gruntbelly casts a spell on the train causing some mechanical parts to break. The engineer tells Henrietta that repairs are needed and the group encourage the engineer to delay the departure as long as possible. 

By morning the repairs are completed and the group depart.  The trip is largely uneventful for the first few hours, but as they pass the Silver River, Kane spots something unusual and asks the engineer to stop the train while they investigate.  The group disembark and search the area and find that a significant amount of damage has been done in a particular spot, but was covered up by someone who knew what they were doing.  The damaged area has bits of iron, like the kind that their train is made from, and tracks from orcs and from some giant, non-human thing – presumably one of the Iron Titans.  The tracks lead off to the west away from the tracks and The Fall. 

As the group searches the area, they spot some flying creatures that start swooping down on them.  The creatures are winged humanoids with distended bellies and inhuman faces.  They are picked off at a distance by Kane and drop into the lake below The Fall (the cliff that separates the east and west of the Northern Reach).  But then several more fly up from the cliff and attack.  One manages to sting Ecna, but the creatures are killed by the combined efforts of the heroes. 

Kane looks off the side of The Fall to see where the creatures came from and spots a small cave about halfway down the cliffside.  He is lowered down by rope and enters the cave to find several crude nests and an orc corpse with several infants of the creatures that apparently burrowed out of the orc, consuming it from within.  Kane leaves the cave and is brought back up to the top of the cliff.

Ecna spots another set of large tracks and they find more signs of damage to the earth as if something large and heavy were dragged through it, but then an attempt was made to cover this up by someone who knew what they were doing.  Looking over the cliff, they spot what appears to be the missing train far below in the lake at the bottom of The Fall. 

End of session.