Beginning of Game Session 7
During the last week, Pyrosh feels as if a blank point in the air is watching him.
While the party is sitting down at breakfast:
A voice speaks from behind you as you sit at (the bar/your table). “Misterrr Pyrrrosh, may I speak with you?”
Pyrosh turns around…
You turn around but don’t notice anyone directly behind you at first… “Na, Mate, I’m down herrre”, it’s a middle aged gnome with black hair and brown eyes.
“Hello…”
“Grrreetings. My name is Sa da Guadarrama. In a week’s time a large group of men, women and children will be setting out on their way to a new settlement, which is to be called, Northway. I will be travelling with them, and I have been given the task of hiring mercenaries for both the journey, and for town protection for a suitable amount of time.”
“If you prove to be efficient, then I’m sure I will be able to find more interesting work for you to do. Pay will be at a fixed rate of 2 gold each per day, with bonuses available for specific tasks. This is non-negotiable.”
After a brief discussion, the deal is made, and the party elects to sit around drinking for the week. Sa pays the first week of the deal up front.
“Oh, one final thing, I know several of you may have felt someone watching you during the last week. I must apologise. That was I; I felt it necessary to scry you in order to be certain that I was hiring the right people.”
As he leaves the inn, an old dwarf falls into step with him, it is quite obvious that they know each other well. You just have enough time to notice a holy symbol of Fharlanghn around the dwarf’s neck.
Roedyn looks up and calls out; “Wait…” But the dwarf has already left the inn.
The convoy is prepared, over 20 families and their possessions are lined up in covered wagons. Sa waves you over from his wagon at the front of the convoy.
Sa:
Here are four horses for four mercenaries, decent ones too, not nags. You will ride beside me, and I will be using my divination spells to watch the road ahead. When I see anything of trouble, it will be up to you to keep the road clear for us.
Sa’s wagon is the most ornate wagon in the convoy, there are symbols carved into all of its woodwork, two strong white mares pull it. Sa is perched on the driving board like a child; beside him the old dwarf is muttering to himself. The convoy begins its journey and the day’s travel passes without interruption.
About 5 hours into this day’s travel Sa reports to the party:
My prying eyes inform me that a group of orcs has blockaded the road 700 yards ahead of our current position. I want you to go up ahead and get rid of them before the convoy arrives. I also want that blockade removed.
The party rode on ahead of the convoy, and sighted the orcs after crossing a low ridge. They could see four orcs sitting on the felled tree, and one orc much closer to their position.
Kafka and Waylander managed to shoot down the nearest orc, but not before he yelled out a warning to his compatriots. So the four orcs took cover behind the tree, and a further orc could be seen running towards the tree from a further 500 feet away. Some mad galloping followed, as the party tried to close the distance to the tree, splitting up to attack the orcs from either side.
Pyrosh encouraged his horse to leap over the tree and jumped off it landing perfectly. Kafka put one orc to sleep, and was annoyed to see it woken by it’s mate. So he tried again, with the same result.
Roedyn attempted to tumble underneath the tree to surprise the orcs, but ended up diving into the tree itself.
Kafka galloped around the tree and then tried to leap off his horse, but mistimed his jump and landed heavily on the ground.
Waylander meanwhile, was fighting with two orcs- one the kept falling asleep thanks to Kafka, and the other which was wearing a suit of chainmail, and seemed to be highly skilled with his greataxe.
Minor injuries were traded all around, before one orc fell. Then Waylander was hit hard by the chainmail wearing orc, and quickly gulped a potion of healing.
This turned out to be very fortunate, as the next blow would have left him nearly dead, but instead he was just strong enough to gulp a second potion. Another orc fell, and Kafka tried his sleep spell again. This turned the tide of the battle marvellously, and a few well placed hits later the battle was over.
The party then cleared the road and searched the bodies, finding some gold and two thunderstones. The convoy arrived and Silash, the old dwarf, was woken up long enough to heal the party.
After a few days of clear travel, the convoy arrives at the town of Kint and stops for the night.
Having left Kint the next day, the convoy has now entered the forest between Kint and Santov.
Sometime into your journey through the forest, Sa comes to speak with you,
“One of my magic eyes has spotted a large group of natives blocking the road ahead, go forth and see what they want from us.”
The party advances:
The group of twelve natives stand on the road, and move to block anybody wishing to walk around them. They are all fairly young men, one of the biggest says:
“You give money. Else not pass.”
“How much money?”
This seems to stump them for a moment, there is a brief argument in their language, then:
“All money”
The party decides to consult with Sa:
“Well we don’t want to hurt them, but we’re not going to give them money. I see two main solutions: we sleep them, which won’t last long enough, or I try to charm one of them. What do you think?”
“How about we sleep them and tie them up? Na, let’s try the charm spell first.”
The Natives look a little worried as Sa begins his spell…
Moments after the spell is cast, the charmed individual makes a couple of comments and then an argument breaks out. The charmed individual seems to win the argument when he indicates the large number of people in your convoy. They leave with no further discussion.
Onward bound…
Still in the forest:
Ahead of you, just off to the right of the road, there are some bushes. There is someone or something in those bushes… you can tell by the way it sneezed louder than you have ever heard anyone sneeze before.
Discussion ensues… do we set the bush on fire, or go and look at it… Kafka lights an arrow, and waits while Roedyn peers through the branches after casting a few preparation spells…
Between the leaves and twigs you can see a dragon of human size with dull red scales. Its left wing is ragged and useless, and won't fold up properly; its front left leg is withered and clearly undersized.
After a short conversation with the dragon they learned the following: His name is Gleahn, and was the runt of his litter. He has been abandoned by his family and left to die. He hasn’t eaten for days.
“What do dragons eat? Everything?”
Consulting with Sa once more, he decides that it is far better to wake Silash and use a create food spell than to use up food bought for the villagers.
Silash wakes…
“Huh, whutizit? You want to feed what? A wagon?”
Sa:
“Just cast create food old man.”
Silash casts the spell then drifts off to sleep again.
Gleahn devours the food quickly and manages to look pitiful. The party takes him into their care, and Sa agrees to let him ride in his wagon. None of the villagers are too happy about this.
The convoy arrives at Santov just after lunch.
The port city of Santov is almost ten times the size of Kint. The convoy halts on the northern side of the city, not quite out of the city borders this time. Effort is made not to block any major roads.
The following day two shiploads of people and supplies arrive, and join the convoy. The new part of the convoy will not be ready to leave until tomorrow. Is there anything you wish to do while in the city?
There certainly is! The party pools their funds to purchase a scroll of the spell heal. After spending the majority of their money, they converse for a while… no longer sure that the objective is worth the cost. Eventually they do go on with the plan, but before they do they make numerous jokes based around the dragon.
"We need a small empire for our dragon to terrorise"
“It doesn't need to be a very big empire...”
“We'd have to wheel him around in a cart from house to house.”
“Knock, knock”
“Who is it?”
“Dragon tax!”
etc.
Gleahn is the recipient of a heal spell, and Roedyn dubs him ‘Bubs’. Gleahn is not happy with the pet name, but is extremely happy to have working limbs. The next few days are filled with him learning to fly. This includes quite a few crashes, but nothing major is broken.
Roedyn continues calling the dragon ‘Bubs’.
When Gleahn growls at him, “My name is Gleahn”
Roedyn claims, “Bubs is Saoun for Gleahn.”
Gleahn retorts, “I think I hate the Saoun”, which puts him in league with just practically everyone.
While travelling once more, Pyrosh discovers a use for prestiditation, using the spell to soil Roedyn’s pants.
Gleahn laughs.
“Do those clothes need burning?”
“Yes… But not while I’m in them!!!”
“Bugger”
Studying of the party’s map brings the revelation that the town of Northway that they will be protecting is right next to a native settlement. Sa indicates that the natives there are very friendly. The party will believe that when they see it.
Sa warns the party about some Axebeaks (the large ostrich creatures) that will cross the path of the convoy.
“Gleahn, Food!”
Gleahn flies off after the birds happily, and the party follows him to make sure everything is all right.
Breath is firey. Arrows are launched. Birds are roasted… Pyrosh charges in on his horse – attempting to fight one bird… He falls off his horse in the attempt of attacking and ends up being trampled by his own horse, then clawed by the outraged axebeak.
He is rescued moments later by a returning Gleahn, who, not being all that good at flying ends up crashing with the bird instead of clawing it on the way past.
Minutes and one well-fed dragon later, the convoy continues on once more.
Roedyn and Waylander feel like they are learning quite fast, and can’t wait to have the chance to spend time in training.
End of Game Session 7
Beginning of Game Session 8
The party is sent to check the road ahead when one of Sa's magic eyes returns warning danger. When the party reaches the danger area, no danger is anywhere in sight. There does not appear to be any trace of what caused the warning.
You are greeted in Sellin by another group, the final part of the convoy. You won’t have the luxury of a whole day in this large town, but you do have a couple of hours before nightfall if there is anything you need to do.
The party doesn't require anything at this stage.
North of Sellin there are no roads. Progress is slower, but the area proves to be fairly safe.
On the final day of your journey a group of Indians dressed in Elsinian made clothing wave to you as you pass into the village of Northway.