An Incident Free Journey
So we were all set for our excursion and Avalan introduced our chaperones for the trip; Caster and Polix, twin brothers, who not only were not identical, but even had completely different accents. Having decided to put aside prevarication* we decided to act decisively and set off for Valice without further delay.
*We will therefore be procrastinating instead when future opportunities arise
Following the road north along the River Mirath’s banks we reached the town on our second day. The town was bisected by the river that remained a mighty waterway even this far inland as it headed for the city that also bore its name many hundreds of miles to the North West.
About three quarters of the town was on the west bank and a strong military presence was evident. The eastern part of town was a two gold piece ferry ride away but we stopped off at the Mangled Ferret, where barman Rory gave a somewhat harsh account of life on the other bank.*
*Comparisons with Canvey were cruelly invoked
Having agreed to pass Rory’s regards to his cousin Rory on the East bank we travelled to the eastern area the next day noting that the guards across the river seemed that little bit sharper, better armed and generally more hard ass than their flabbier western comrades. Several heavily armed cavalry patrols rounded out a general impression that the Baron De Valise was generally averse to unwelcome tourism by unauthorised visitors.
We made a deal with the twins; they would accompany us for a few days until the route became non cart friendly, then they would return with the cart. All this for eight gold pieces per day including the return leg. We also agreed to leave fifty gold pieces for stabling costs until our return, they seemed quite happy with the arrangement and talked of just a small delay in making their quota for the month.
The first couple of days we headed broadly East looking for a ruined tower marked on the slavers map. The cart bumped along the rough track and in the distance the horizon was lined with mountains as far as the eye could see. Eventually though the mountains seemed to remain unchangingly distant, a dot in the distance grew to become to the tower shown on the map. It stood at the junction of a track that came up from the direction of Highport and then continued to the North East.
It had seen better days: perhaps it had once been taller but now only three storeys remained, but the east and south walls were scattered rubble and stone and all evidence of flooring and roof had long since disappeared. It at least provided some shelter for although the summer was not unpleasant a keen wind swept across the plains.
We had fallen into a routine of watch partners and it was on the night’s second shift that we go the first taste of the welcome from these hostile lands. Bernice and Bob were on watch, well watch is stretching it in the monk’s case as she was in the land of nod when the attack came. Perhaps they haunted the area of the tower, or maybe they had caught sight of our shielded fire, or perhaps they had been trailing the smell of our living flesh, whatever the cause, six ghouls attacked us from the East.
Bob was able to shout a warning, stirring us from our slumbers but three attackers were biting and clawing before Malakai got off a fireball that blasted five of the ghouls to cinders. The last ghoul which had attacked Pilax was cut down by the guide and Zunee, it was all over in less than a minute, Bob’s prayer had no sooner started than the danger had passed. Unfortunately the horses had been massively spooked by the blast and three disappeared into the night before we could calm them. It was mid-morning before we were able to recover the last one and set off again, waving goodbye to our guides.
Into the hills now and again the day passed without event. Perhaps the majority of dangers only come out at night here? Supporting this theory it was during the first watch of the night that the next attack occurred, around midnight in fact. The first Zunee and Zandeep knew about it was when two large rocks flew out of the darkness narrowly missing the ranger.
Roused again, Malakai used a slow spell to hamper the two lumbering hill giants that had hungry eyes on our horses. Zunee then blasted them with his ring of shooting stars and Malakai finished them both with a volley of magic missiles before they even got into clubbing range. Zandeep had used his Monster summoning spell but the five Kettite bandit types who materialised did so just after it had all finished leaving ten minutes of awkward small talk in broken common before they vanished back to the desert.
Later that same night and several wolves charged into our camp. The Ranger, pulling a double shift to try to allow Malakai more spell recovery time had fallen asleep, so only Varamir was alert to the danger. Only after they had fallen was it realised that these were not ordinary wolves, but werewolves.
More by luck than judgement we had all used magic weapons, Bernice in particular with a mighty blow against the biggest as it tried to rip out the wizard’s throat. The ranger had been bitten in the fight despite his ridiculous armour class and cast a precautionary cure disease on himself in case the lycanthropy had taken hold.
Another day’s travel followed, again nothing untoward occurred, the terrain now was barely definable as any form of track, no cart would be able to traverse it and occasionally the horses would stumble over some rocky outcrop.
Again the night brought a visitation, 14 goblins swarmed towards us from the south west, Malakai had used his rest time well and a fireball blasted no less than 13 of the hideous humanoids. Rather unsportingly Bernice ran down the last one but it was actually a magic missile volley from the Fighter Magic User that felled the last survivor. We decided not to search the bodies as none of the previous monsters had carried anything so it stood to reason that these wouldn’t. Would they?
Another day and we came upon our destination: Scrambling up onto a ridge we could see a hill fort surrounded by a ditch with a gatehouse on the north wall leading to a courtyard overlooked by a four storey keep. Beyond, an inner bailey or parade ground with the main lower stockade complex extending southward. You could just see what looked like a garden in the centre. Humanoid guards could be glimpsed occasionally atop the ramparts or on various other high vantage points.
No banners or pennants flew over the buildings in the and there was no sound of trumpets or sign of activity like drilling in the courtyards or indeed outside the walls. We settled down to talk tactics and opened by using Invisibility 10’ radius on one of the horses which we hobbled to a group of stunty wind blasted trees. We all huddled around to remain in concealment should there be any unfriendly eyes scouring the hillside.
Resting up and again on the middle watch our rest was interrupted. Bob was sleeping on watch but Bernice spotted a figure sneaking nervously south westwards. She emerged from the invisible cocoon and confronted an escaped slave named Qualatox, not that anyone asked.
After sharing some rations with him she discovered that:
He had broken away from a work party working in the outer courtyard, ducking into the gate house.
He was no way going back there
Parts of the fort are abandoned and or said to be haunted
He was no way going back there
He had used a makeshift rope to climb out of a window in the gatehouse
No way was he going back
Much of the complex is underground including where the slaves are kept
And he’s definitely not going back there
Blindfolds are used so he could not give specific direction to anywhere
Positively not going back there
He did not know any other slaves, there are many .men women and children of many races but talking is normally forbidden
And he doesn’t care about giants, werewolves, goblins or Ghoulies, at least it will be quick, he’s not going back there
15.1.23
Experience Awards
Bernice
Characterisation roleplay 50
Calming the horses 25
Werewolves 145
Spotting Slave 25
Total 245
Reqd 49,773
Bob
Healing 50
Werewolves 145
Total 195
Bonus 20
Reqd 9,292
Varamir
Werewolves 145
Total 145
Bonus 15
Reqd 19,866
Malakai
Characterisation Roleplay 50
Ghouls 425
Hill Giants 300
Slow spell 500
Werewolves 145
Goblins 208
Use of Invisibility 100
Total 1,728
Bonus 173
Reqd 26,822
Zunee
Ghoul 40
Tracking the lost horses 60
Hill Giants 3000
Healing 50
Cure Disease 50
Werewolves 145
Total 1673/1673
Bonus 0/167
Reqd 6,312/17,943
Zandeep
Werewolves 145
Goblin 16
Total 81/81
Reqd 7,651/12,651
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