Looking for Seals (Session 14) - Emmanir 29, 888 F.S.

Schnorking
Estenel meets with Ybilaron to see if he knows of a place called Careethay and Zoohoodu Island. He knows that Careethay is the volcano on the north end of the island. Zoohoodu Island is to the west of Hronn. Not much trade with that island comes through Schnorking; the island trades more with Arnur Soghal.

We rent the mage’s guild in Schnorking for 1 gold piece a day, which gives us all-access to their archives. However, Estenel is not able to find any information of any detail concerning the seals.

During the weekly ping from Futanmoth's advisor that says their researchers know of a man named Eng in Ergant who is a Sidhe expert; he may know more of these seals. He also says that the armies on Hronn have pulled back from their confrontation due to winter setting in.

While in Schnorking, we run into the ship captain that had brought us to Hronn initially. We secure passage on his ship to Ergant.

[Five days later, we arrive in Ergant.]


Ergant
Jollen schleps about the port and finds where Eng might be. He finds out that Eng lives in his magic shop near the colliseum. We meet with Eng and explain why we are interested in finding more about the seals. He agrees to research them in depth, for a fee of 500 cp. Jollen and Sophia haggle with Eng over the prices for his enchanting. Given that it will take Eng a few days to perform the research, we decide to travel about the city of Ergant.


Eng's Shop, one month later
We head back to Eng's shop, where he tells us of his finding on the 13 seals. Costuhshee is the Prince of Frost Giants, who would try to turn the world into an arctic wasteland. The Sidhe, 2800 years ago, created the seals to banish Costuhshee from this world. The seals were hidden to ensure that Costuhshee is never released. Other than that, he doesn't learn anything additionally regarding the seals. We ask him to continue researching the seal locations. We come back to his shop in two days; he believes that he may have found some information as to where one of the seals may be located: near the southern tip of the mainland, in the Wildlands, within an area where there has been found evidence of ancient rituals being performed by the Sidhe.

In order to save travel time, Eng suggests an alternate method that we might want to consider using: the Sidhe Towers. He knows that they all don't work. After researching them some more, Eng determines that the tower that is close to Ergant is not connected to the tower that is on the far south end of the mainland.

Eng gives us a description of the location where the Sidhe rituals had been performed. Eng gives Sophia a ring that is attuned to the material from which the seals are made (we gave Eng some of the pieces of the broken seal that we found in Ididerac's citadel, which enabled him to make a special Seeker ring).

Sophia stocks up on picks and shovels and such, for digging in order to find the seal, which we believe is buried. We hire a ship for passage to the southern town of Throggi, which is near the ritual site. Thirty days from when we arrived in Ergant, we show up in Throggi.


Throggi and Allindel Forest
We head into the Allindel Forest. It's about a five-day journey through the forest to where the ritual site is located. Traveling through the forest, we happen upon a party of orcs. They don't look very happy to see us. Combat ensues. In the end, the party prevails and the remaining orcs flee. Henri, Tiamut, and Jollen are seriously injured. A plan is made whereby Estenel and Yukon will stay with the injured to continue healing them while the rest of the party pursues the orcs.

The Goblin King (Session 2) - Erntenir 20, 888 F.S.

Background: Lord Futenmoth has sent us up to Hronn to investigate why the winters have been so cold lately. He has reason to believe that it has something to do with some active volcanoes on the island of Hronn.

Port City of Schnorking
After putting down the mutiny, Captain Pepper agrees to take us where we want to go. We arrive in the port city of Schnorking on the Island of Hronn. We take a couple days to recover from sea sickness. We are here to investigate why it is that it’s been so cold lately. Thoughts are that it has something to do with volcanic activity in the area.

Estenel gets an appointment with the Mayor of Schnorking to discuss any volcanic activity in the area that may have to do with the cold weather experienced lately. The mayor is a hobgoblin. He would like Futenmoth to send troops to help squash organized raids on his borders.

Their heraldry is a gold snowflake imposed on white and blue, so apparently they are organized. The raiders are a mix of human and wolfens. They have mages among them. Thy are led by someone called The Horned King.

The mayor (Ybilaron the Hobgoblin) gives us a writ to take to Storzem, a local horse trader, to give us the best prices possible as we look to get some horses for land transportation.

Sophia buys a map of the Island of Hronn. We go to a higher class part of town and come to a large manor house with a stone wall and an iron gate. We ring the front bell. After a few minutes, the butler comes to the gate; it’s an ogre. He says we can wait for Storzem to return in the afternoon. We wait in the guardhouse. There’s another ogre there. After an hour, a litter arrives. A dwarf gets out of the litter; it’s Storzem. He’s willing to sell us horses for 1200 copper apiece. We decide against horses and decide to walk to Blackston on foot and figure out faster transportation later.

Town of Blackston
Two days later, we arrive in Blackston. We talk to Marlot, a half-elf that is a mercenary in Blackston. He is not concerned about the raids, as Blackston is well-defended and the raids are not bothering them. Blackston has been hired by caravans to provide guards.

In general, Blackston doesn’t seem to be concerned by these raids; the noble here hasn’t seen anything significant in size... nothing he’d considered a standing army.

Marlot has heard of the noble’s son (Branod is his name) that was taken (or killed) by raids between Schnorking and Blackston. He says we should talk with Esken who is the brother of the noble who lost his son. He is staying at the Bear Claw. There is a half-orc behind the bar. Estenel tells him why we’re looking for Esken. He brings Esken to meet us.

Valenta is a competing house in Schnorking. They betrayed Branod’s caravan, giving the raiders information on when and where the caravan would be. One of Esken’s guards was with the caravan when it was attacked. He saw Branod taken alive by goblins who were led by a strong human. Esken, however, has the word of a guard against the honor of a well-respected house in Schnorking. Branod was taken about a week ago.

Sorzem is the most powerful house in Schnorking. Valenta and Colnet (Esken’s house) are neck-and-neck with being #2, and Valenta would like to see the house of Colnet fall to a distant third.

In the Wild, east of Blackston
The guard (who has a broken ankle) directs us to the scene where Branod was kidnapped. Sophia begins tracking to see if he can find evidence of where the perpetrators might have gone. Yukon scribbles runes on the ground, trying to divine the location of Branod. Sophia finds tracks of the attacking party; it took off to the north. We follow Sophia’s lead. After half an hour, we notice some smoke coming from the forest.

Flick hushes himself and sneaks up toward the smoke. He finds a house built into a hillside. There are no windows in the house, and smoke is coming out of the chimney. We take up positions around the house; Estenel creates the sound of horses out front. The owner of the house comes out. He’s a big human. We talk with him, introduce ourselves, tell him our story of why we’re here, and end up getting invited inside. His name is Gaddor. He has dealt with goblins in the area from time to time. He turns out to be an excellent host.

Gaddor’s House
Gaddor’s house is richly decorated, based around a large table. Brunnel, a half-orc, is his attendant. Gaddor says he used to have guests more frequently when the mines in the area (copper and silver) were running more strongly. Gaddor gets ripped and offers to come along with us to kill some goblins. The night wears on, we drink until we’re silly. Estenel entertains our host and then passes out.
We go to sleep. Yukon and Flick sleep in. Estenel and Sophia get up and start looking around the house. We find Gaddor in the main hall, with breakfast on the table. We eat breakfast, then head out in search of goblins.

In the Woods near Gaddor’s House
We get to an area in the woods and Gaddor stops, saying that Brunnel told him the goblins would be here. It seems... odd. Sophia doesn’t trust Gaddor and tells him to get to his knees. Gaddor refuses. Sophia takes a swing at him. Gaddor says, “You are going to pay for that. FIRE!!!” Arrow fire then comes down upon us from the bushes. We enter combat with Gaddor and his ambush. It is then, well after the fact, that a light in Estenel’s head comes on, recalling that the story was that Branod was taken captive by a group of goblins who were led by a large, strong human. hmmm...

Gaddor guts Sophia in one swing. The goblins close in on us. In the end, we knock Gaddor unconscious and fell several goblins. The remaining goblins and Brunnel run for the house. After a couple minutes of being unconscious, Gaddor grows to 20 feet in height and has the musculature of a giant. We tie him down to the ground and prepare to question him once he wakes up.