| Session Summaries: |
After waking, Feng and Quarian immediately departed for the local shop where their newly found weapon was being identified, leaving Osmodel meditating at the inn. After paying the fee, they started back for the inn. They were met en route by Isek who requested they scout the lands to the east of the city after a divination the previous night revealed a coming threat from the " rising sun." He also provided a message to relay to Osmodel that he will be heard one week by the Sovereign Council.
Feng and Quarian agreed and returned to the inn, meeting Osmodel for brief meal, and relaying the message before leaving for the stables and the wilds outside the city. As they departed, the three companions noted the departure of the same three dark elves they had encountered several times in the city. Suspicious, but tasked with an important undertaking, they continued past and down the road.
As they reached the fork of the road, Feng, Quarian, and Osmodel decided it best to head due east along the southern edge of the Hornsaw Forest and circle back around through Three Moons on the border of the Heteronomy of Virduk. So they departed down the road to the east, the forest getting thicker as they progressed.
The first day and night progressed with no sign of trouble, but a strange discovery that night. As they made camp, Feng and Quarian noted a stench wafting in on the wind. Feng followed his nose, uncovering the body of Maliyet. Her body had been brutalized and there were obvious signs of torture. Much like the guardsmen in Hollowfaust, a scorch mark was present on her chest. Not wishing to remain in the camp, they picked up and move a short distance down the road.
The second day was far different. Late in the afternoon as the sun was setting, the three riders spot a massive oak tree lying across the road. Slowing and keeping a wary eye open for signs of an ambush, they investigate the tree. They missed the presence of several, four-armed goblinoid creatures in the thick forests on either side of the road, only becoming aware of their presence when several javelins were launched from the thickets.
Immediately after the volley of javelins, four goblinoids mounted on giant wolf spiders and several others blocked the path south. Already wounded by javelins, Osmodel and Quarian fell prey to the spiders' bites, but not before Quarian was able to immobilize many of the goblinoids and two of the spiders in a web of vines and brush. Feng was able to slay the two spider mounts and escape with his friend's unconscious bodies.
The half-orc rode late into the evening before finding a suitable place to rest and heal. After "miraculously" saving the dwarf's life, the three remained camped in a grove of elm and maple, recovering from the ambush.
Two days later, while Osmodel rested in the camp site, Quarian and Feng observed a single, gaunt individual in the brush. He had been observing the encampment and was departing hastily. The half-orc and elf pursued, only to encounter two more of the same creatures -- both perusing the very same book Osmodel had handed over to Isek several days prior.
Feng quickly sidestepped behind a large tree trunk while Quarian moved ahead several steps. One of the green-skinned, yellow-eyed creatures, dressed in robes, snatched up the book, pointing to the lead pursuers and calling out " Krel na!" The other two drew weapons -- one a wicked looking greatsword, the other a small wand -- and began to close on Quarian. Believing the elf to be cornered, the two closed him near Feng's tree, only to have the lead creature cut down by Feng's own sword.
The second managed to release a single bolt of force from the wand before falling to Feng and Quarian. As they gathered items from their fallen adversaries, there were two bright flashes from the direction of the clearing where the third creature had been. Investigating the clearing found the third creature lying on the ground with a scorch mark squarely on it's chest and another, dark-cloaked humanoid rushing from the clearing with the book under it's arm. Unfortunately, the dark-cloaked humanoid's spell had ignited the surrounding grasses and the fire was quickly spreading.
Feng and Quarian were forced to retreat. Returning to the camp to get Osmodel and their gear, they began riding down the road, watching the plume of smoke rise. After a time, the smoke began to turn from a dark black heavy with soot to a lighter gray, then to white, as if the fire was being put out by someone or something.
Deciding to investigate, they continued east, then turned south and then back to the west to come at the site from the opposite direction they departed. Leaving the horses a short distance away and closing on foot, Quarian, Osmodel, and Feng find an interesting scene. Several of the green-skinned creatures are present in a large clearing. Three stand on the western perimeter, watching to the west away from the three companions. Three more unarmed and unarmored creatures work at putting out the remaining smolders while one robed creature watches over all six. An eighth creature stood on the south side of the meadow, just inside what appeared to be an entrance to a subterranean complex.
Though Quarian, Feng, and Osmodel watched, they were unable to remain undetected. One of the unarmed creatures began pointing and shouting an alarm in some unknown tongue. As the three armed creatures on the opposite perimeter closed, the half-orc, elf, and dwarf drew their own weapons and prepared.
The battle went well, most of the heavily armed creatures -- all wielding the same wickedly curved sword -- fell quickly thanks to Osmodel's spell of Bull's Strength placed on Feng. Even Osmodel managed to strike down one of the creatures. Unfortunately, before the killing blow could be struck, the creature simply vanished. In the meadow, the robed creature withdrew a simple wand -- identical to that wielded by the creature in their previous encounter -- and began to lob bolts.
As Feng closed the distance and swung to strike the creature, it, too, vanished in the blink of an eye. The clearing now empty and noting the small hole, Quarian rushed to investigate where the last of the creatures had gone. Peering into passageway, he noted the advance of a host of the strange humanoids. He quickly cast another spell, slowing the group with grabbing vines and roots, and allowed the three riders to escape. They now hastily ride back toward Hollowfaust with the warning of the gathered creatures.
Written By: Thoth
21 July 2003
