Tairn

Play date: Feb 28, 2006

1531.6.9 – Aennda (Early Afternoon)

A man cries out in rememberance “Calum!” and runs for the small stone church. Varendë starts checking buildings for hidden brigands. Keddick speaks to some of the middle-aged farmers of the village about the Lord of these lands. He is informed these are Pellish lands. He wants them to send a runner to the Lord’s estate immedietely, but they say not yet. He writes a message stating who they are and what happened to send with the runner. Kerdra uses divine magic to create water on the burning building and villages start a bucket line to the well to extinquish the flames. The man returns carrying the village priest, presumably Calum. Keddick fetches Kerdra to look at them. Three of the villagers, two men and a woman, are dead. Kerdra’s quick action saved the other five. The small girl has been taken away by her family to be comforted. The girl Ash carried back is only unconscious from a sharp blow; Kerdra says she will be fine. She heals Calum a little, but says he will be fine as well.

It comes up that one of the men, Aslak, lived in this village up until a few months ago. He lived here for a few years. Calum informs the group that the leader of the brigands was under the impression that a coffer of gold was hidden in the church. Calum says there is definitely no such cache of money. Keddick chooses to magically search the church regardless, but he finds nothing.

Gareth comes walking into the village with the backpack full of food. He starts speaking with the villagers.

Some of the party mingle among the villagers speaking with them as well. Varendë returns from his search with nothing in hand. Some of the young men of the village haul the brigand bodies off a way and then start divesting them of armor and weapons and strapping the armor to themselves. Ash takes interest and gives them pointers. He then gives the young men a two hour lesson in combat. He asks for a silver piece for payment at the end, and surprisingly, one of the boys hands over a silver. Perhaps he got it from one of the brigand’s bodies.

Early Evening
The village women prepare a feast to honor the heroes that saved their village. All eat and make merry. Gareth informs Keddick he will be headed back to Lysoria in the morning and turns over the backpack of food. He continues to mingle with the villagers.

The church is offered as a place for the adventurers to sleep. Keddick and Jack turn in early, while Traver and Ash set up a partrol around the church. Several hours into the watch, the young woman whom Ash carried back to the green approaches him. Sarah waits for Traver to leave before thanking Ash for saving her. He says no special thanks should go to him above the remainder of the group. She begs him to stay. He refuses and says he is bonded to Keddick. He says that she would do well to learn the use of a weapon, and profers his dagger to let her feel the weight in her hand. She asks if she can keep it, and he allows her to “steal” his dagger.

Traver turns in for the night. A few hours later, Varendë wakes from his trance and switches with Ash.

1531.6.10 – Baesda
Sunrise
After a full night of sleep, Jack, Ash, Kerdra, Keddick and Varendë are up. Traver sleeps on due to his late watch. Keddick studies while others eat. Eventually, the clang of weapons in practice bring Ash to work with the young men again. Eventually Jack joins them. He and Ash attempt to convince one of the men to join them, but they won’t reveal what he will be paid or where they are going. The man refuses their offer. Meanwhile, Sarach approaches Keddick and relays that Ash said he was bonded to him. She begs for Ash to stay for their protection. Keddick rather coldly informs her that it is Lord Pellish’s duty to send protection for the village. She makes a spiteful remark and spits on the floor before huffing off.

Mid-morning
The group heads southeast with Traver in the lead. The day passes uneventfully with a short break to eat before slogging wearily on. Traver thinks he sees something at one point and heads off on his own moving quite quickly. He returns soon enough. He didn’t see or hear anything else, but he thought he had seen a small humanoid form in the grass at a distance.

Late Afternoon
The group reaches a bridge over the river Hawr. The bridge is made of a bright white stone, and six foot high monolith-like replicas stand at each side of the entrance to the bridge which is twenty-five feet wide. The bridge arches high over the river. The group decides to make camp and move into the city tomorrow. The city can be seen just a few miles away.

Evening
The standard watch schedule will still be kept. After Traver goes to bed, Ash hears something from the bridge, but can’t make out anything. Within ten seconds though, he has seen two looming forms moving quietly across the bridge. He begins to wake someone. He stands and draws his weapons. Two Ogres rush off the bridge towards him. People start waking up, and the battle ensues. The Ogres are huge with spiked shields and huge maces. One strikes Ash a fierce blow as he fights for his life. Traver begins peppering the ogre on the left with well placed arrows, while Varendë rises to defend himself. Jack tumbles in rapier at the ready. Ash’s efforts combined with two arrows from Traver leave one Ogre nearly dead. A blast of flame from Keddick knock the Ogre back, and he falls lifeless to the ground. The other Ogre has struck a mighty blow to Varendë. Varendë takes a step back to recover, and Kerdra heals him from behind. He tumbles up to the remaining Ogre and engages. An arrow from Traver and a magic missile from Keddick finish the final Ogre off. Varendë and Jack search the bodies but find only their stinking armor, huge shields, and huge maces. Their marks bear no identifying marks. Keddick calls Del and asks him to search the other side of the river from a height of four hundred feet. He returns with no news. Both Jack and Varendë comment that a familiar is “one of those special abilities we were talking about earlier like spellcasting.”

The group moves away from the bridge, and all attempt to sleep again. The remainder of the night passes uneventfully.

1531.6.11 — Loemda
Morning
Traver sleeps in again due to the late hour watch and combat. Keddick prepares spells while Kerdra and Varendë play hide-and-seek. Varendë gives her some tips on hiding, but she isn’t actually too bad at it. Kerdra will stay hidden until they return.

Keddick sends Del winging towards the city, and everyone crosses the bridge cautiously. Traver leads them on. Del returns and reports no unusual activity to Keddick. He tells him to watch around the bridge and notify Kerdra of anything dangerous approaching.

Less than an hour and the group of five approach the city. Keddick uses the lodestone he was given and it points vaguely down the avenue leading into the heart of the city of ruins. Several buildings of the white materiel can be seen still standing. A large one near the edge of the city on the left side of the avenue had a huge monolith representation shooting into the sky. A large circular window high up on the side of the building can be seen at a distance. It is dark, but seems to be intact. As the group approaches, a dog can be seen a bit past this building. It watches everyone approaching and occasionally barks. As the party if half way down the side of the building, Keddick uses the stone again and it points back and to the left through the building. More dog activity ahead of the group occurs with up to four dogs being present. Ash keeps and eye on the dogs as everyone moves back to circle the north side of the building. Ash stays in the avenue to watch the dogs. The dogs start moving closer. Keddick uses the stone along the north side of the building and it points into the building again. The group proceeds around the corner out of sight of Ash. As the dogs approach within thirty yards, Ash turns to run for the group since his ineffectual whistling failed to get their attention earlier when they were some sixty feet away. The pack breaks into a run at the same time. Keddick has used the stone once again, and it again points inside the building. Ash clears the corner of the building to see the rest of the group again as the pack of dogs clear the original corner he was at.