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.

Trouble on the Gale's Teeth (Session 9) - Emmanir 19, 888 F.S.

North of Degarn's Fort
The leader of the captive bad guys says that they meet Garrin on a ship south of Fopasado off of a point on the beach. We travel toward Fopasado, head south of town, and lo and behold, there are three ships seen flying the standard of the sword with the crescent moon. We dress up in the garb of the slave traders that we waylaid and plan to meet up with members of the ships and spin them a story that we were waylaid and lost our shipment of captives.

West Coast of Hronn, South of Fopasado
After a little while, a boat is lowered from one of the ships and sets to shore. There is a woman and six men. We talk with the lady, whose name is Red Frances. She’s horked that her “booty” (i.e., slaves) aren’t here. We tell her that we are in the process of recovering the lost wagon and slaves, and will deliver the goods as promised. Frances sends two of her men with us; they aren’t very friendly. After some suspicious questioning by her thugs as to who our captain is, Estenel replies with “Priamo”. The thugs go back to Frances’ boat and talk with her. Estenel heads back to speak with Frances to see if he can gain more information from them. She has her men draw steel on Estenel, says that she does not believe we work on Priamo’s ship, and takes custody of Estenel. Meanwhile, the rest of the party is back at the wagon, which is 120 yards off of the coast.

A short fight ensues. The fight ends. More discussion with Frances, who says, “If you’re with Pri­amo’s crew, let’s go talk with him now.” We decide to call her bluff: Estenel, Sophia, Teverius, and Keeramet travel out to the ship with Red Frances. Frances sends a carrier pigeon to a nearby ship. A little later, a small boat makes its way from the other ship to Red Frances’ ship. Two people come aboard, one of them (wearing a white cloak) actually flies aboard. They come with Frances to the stern of the ship where Frances says, “Something’s messed up with this transaction; these guys don’t even know who their captain is, and in the end they say it’s you. Do you know these guys?” Priamo says, “Well, they don’t look like anyone I know, but they’re wearing the uniforms.” Upon hearing this, Sophia passes out and Tevarius pukes due to the extreme dread of the situation. The woman pulls back her cloak and demands from Estenel, “Who do you work for and why are you here?” After hemming and hawing for a while, the woman casts a spell on Estenel which drops him to the deck in pain. Estenel then yells out, “Ybilaron! He sent us here to stop the attacks on his bor­derlands!”

Meanwhile, Yukon has set the sails of the ship on fire. Estenel casts Garble on the woman. Seeing their mage no longer able to talk/cast straight, the thugs in the room on the ship draw steel. Estenel grabs hold of the woman, telling the sailors to back off. Priamo runs like a little girl out of the cabin. Red Frances and her two thugs draw steel. Combat ensues.

In the end, Red Frances and the mage with the cloak are unconscious. The party uses them as barter to get off the ship. The sailors allow us to leave given that we leave Frances there. We get on a boat and head to shore with the mage. We gag and bind her. When she wakes up, we interrogate her. What we find out is: she works for someone with a “higher purpose”, they sell slaves in return for “favors” that are desired by her master. She said that she sometimes works with Ididerac. The party then deliberated for some time as to what should be done with her. After batting around ideas of “kill her”, “entomb her”, “bring her back to Degarn’s Fort”, Estenel got tired of the debate and killed her. A magical gem, a magical staff, and a cloak were taken from her person.

Goblin Fever (Session 7) - Sehnir 18, 888 F.S.

Heading Back to Degarn’s Keep
We tie up three of the wolfen and head back to Degarn’s Keep. It’s a four-day trek back to the keep. We rest for the night and set up a rotating watch. Not much to report. The next day, as the party continues its journey back to the keep, a body lying in the road is spotted. Sophia flies ahead to inspect the body. It is human; blond hair. Sophia espies tracks heading west (the way we’re going) that consist of booted feet and heavy wagon tracks. The person on the ground is a woman. She is unconscious, but alive. She has no shoes on, and not much for heavy clothing. Sophia holds on to her as they ride the mule. Four hours later, she wakes up, starts to thrash around due to confusion, and she and Sophia fall from the mule. The woman gets hit on the head when falling, knocks herself out, and is unconscious for the rest of the day. We camp for the night.

During the night, she wakes up. Estenel gets her settled down. Her name is Gidnia. She says that she is from the village of Orb and says that men wearing blue and black kidnapped her. She says that they said something to the effect of “I thought they only wanted elves.” to which another thug replied, “Well, she’s close enough, don’t you think?”

The party decides to send the wolfen to Degarn’s Keep with the footmen. The rest of the party heads with Gidnia back to her home village of Orb. Estenel sets up a telepathy schedule with Ecran so that the two parties can keep in communication with each other.

Estenel’s ping to Ecran the next day: Ecran says that Tevarius and Gilman are not feeling very good and that they are stopping their travel for a bit to rest.

On the Road to Orb
Gidnia’s health worsens. She remains unconscious for the next day and her breathing is beginning to get shallow. We arrive at a small lake. It is at the location that Gidnia pointed to on the map as being where Orb is located. At this point, we are unsure to what “Orb” refers. We had assumed it is the name of a town. But, it might be the name of (in this case) a lake. Flick pours some water on her and feeds her some water. Both appear to help her condition a bit. She wakes up briefly and utters: “Put me in.” Figuring that this means “put me in the lake”, Estenel lowers Gidnia into the lake. She sinks. Sophia enters the lake and holds Gidnia up in the water. The frigid water doesn’t seem to bother Sophia. Flick finds some firewood and builds a fire.

At the Lake of Orb
Sophia continues to hold Gidnia in the water for twelve hours. Gidnia then wakes up. She thanks us for saving her life. She says that she was absconded from her laboratory. She leads us to her lab. She swims along the edge of the lake. She takes us to a path that leads to a grove of trees where there are smashed benches and containers. Gidnia is a alchemist. She has a few potions and elixirs still intact that she gives to us in payment for saving her life. Gidnia, as it turns out, is a water sprite.

Pinging Ecran, he describes the symptoms of some of the men-at-arms that have shown signs of not feeling well. They have chills and are experiencing a loss of memory. Estenel relays that information to Gidnia, who says that the men need to get magical healing right away. The symptoms are that of Goblin Fever, which is lethal to humans. The party tries to devise a way to get magical healing to the men-at-arms as quickly as possible. The plan is for Yukon to fly back to Degarn’s Keep and try to provide healing to the men-at-arms.

Gidnia tells us that there is a fort about half a day’s hike to the north of Orb: Fort Bex. She says that there is a changeling by the name of Captain xxxxx runs the fort. We talk to Gidnia about the sudden blast of wintry conditions that we experienced at Degarn’s Keep. She says that she’s heard of occurrences like that in the area recently.

Gidnia tells the party that there were other prisoners on the cart on which she was held captive. She says that she overheard the men saying that they were heading to Falkasado, which is four days’ travel to the east of Orb.

Sophia and Estenel stay with Gidnia for a day. Estenel beds Gidnia.

Flying to the Rescue
Yukon has Hawk Flight cast on him and he begins flying back toward the men-at-arms who are suffering from Goblin Fever. His plan is to fly until the spell wears off, then teleport the rest of the way. Yukon reaches the men-at-arms. He then attempts to heal them via rune magic. Yukon is able to heal all men-at-arms except for Flick’s sidekick.

Back to Degarn’s Keep
Flick heads back to Degarn’s Keep. Within a half-day away from the keep, the ground is covered with a foot of snow. In the keep, everyone is dead and body’s are hanging from the walls. Apparently, the Goblin Fever infected everyone within the keep, they went mad, and started killing everyone.

Reuniting the Party
Yukon, Flick, and the henchmen leave Degarn’s Keep and head back on the road to meet up with Estenel and Sophia. On the way, a small army of 50 wolfen led by a big bald red-moustached human head (Ididerac) are heading on the road toward Degarn’s Keep. Estenel has his weekly ping with Lord Futenmoth and fills him in with the recent happenings. The resolution is to burn Degarn’s Keep to the ground. The party rejoins on the road midway between Orb and Degarn’s Keep.

Back to Degarn’s Keep (again)
We head back to Degarn’s Keep. Ididerac and his wolfen are NOT there; the keep is empty. We burn it to the ground. The statue with the gem in its hand, however, is still standing. The snow around the keep melted due to the heat.

In Search of a Healer
After leaving the keep, we begin looking for a healer to be able to cure Goblin Fever from those that have contracted the disease. We head to Stahl. Gibbet enters town (since she is free of the disease) and announces that she’s looking for a healer to cure Goblin Fever. The people of Stahl run her out of town under pain of death, telling her to take her Goblin Fever with her.

We then to head to Schnorking and try to find a healer there. Gibbet talks with the leader of Schnorking (Ybilaron), informing him that she is free of Goblin Fever, but is in need of a healer to cure the party. By bribing Ybilaron (sleeping with him), a healer is provided. The healer meets the party with an armed escort of crossbowmen at his side who covers the party until the healer declares us clean. The healer then cures the entire party and then teaches Yukon the spell Cure Disease.

We then notice that the military of Schnorking is mobilizing. Estenel talks with Ybilaron to find out why. He says that Ididerac has sacked Stahl, Gurdikar, and Laendersberg. He says that Blackston and Fort Sakka have been notified, which are banding together with Schnorking to either launch a counter-offensive against Ididerac or mount a blocking maneuver against him.

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.