TTB: C1E21 - Through the woods, and over the river Report

General Summary

The Bound awoke after a night's rest and quickly resupplied before heading over to the guild hall to see if Chance's posting had produced any results. As they stood awaiting their turn to speak with the clerk, he caught Chance's eye and tried to indicate something to him with a look, but Chance took it as an indication he should head over to the clerk and engage in conversation. As he did so, the clerk looked visibly uncomfortable and whispered hoarsely, "Not now! It is not safe. Come back later and we will talk then."   With that ominous warning, the group decided to head to the south end of the city and discuss options near the water there. DIGE, ever vigilant, kept a cautious eye on their surroundings as they prepared to leave the guildhall and took note of a solitary figure who had been sitting alone in a corner and took on the apppearance of trying not to appear to be watching the group as he saw Chance begin to speak with the clerk. As The Bound left the guildhall, DIGE noted that same figure rising to follow them. Their tail kept with them, maybe 60 feet behind at the closest, as they headed south. Eventually, DIGE fell back from the rest of the party and ducked into an alley so as to catch the individual following them as he passed the alley. Apparently he was seen, however, as rather than surprise his pursuer, DIGE found his pursuer entering the alley with him and saying casually, "And here I thought you were dead."   Some further words were exchanged as DIGE scanned his surroundings and caught sight of at least 6, 7, 8, 9 more individuals spaced out in and around the crowded street who were taking notice of his exchange, taking on agressive postures, and reaching for concealed weapons.   The battle that ensued was not pretty, these were low-level thugs from the Darkhand Cartel who had been sent after a quarry that was well beyond their capabilities. A handful tried to break off and run for reinforcements, but to a man they were shot down by arrows from Urirel Naïlo, bolts of force from Ceasar Andit, and even a javelin from Katrina Runesong. Soon the alley and the street outside it were littered with dead bodies and the street itself was emptying out as witnesses suddenly found they needed to be elsewhere. Realizing that they had just declared open warfare on one of the ruling cartels in Scardale Town, the party decided they needed to leave town immediately.   Making a quick stop at the Spouting Fish to retrieve their gear, Chance laid down some false leads as he proclaimed out loud that they were departing for Highmoon on urgent business. He then took advantage of the privacy as he collected his things from his room and changed clothes and appearance. While the rest of the group headed north of the city to a rendez-vous point, Chance returned to the guildhall to see if they had gotten any mercenaries interested in joining them. Speaking with the clerk under the guise of a business associate of his former persona, Chance learned that the Darkhand Cartel had discouraged anyone from signing up as they must have had skin in the slave trade that was not officially sanctioned by the other cartels. This meant their interest had been drawn directly to those who had posted the opportunity as they represented a possible loose end that could not only interfere with the cartel's business, but could also expose their dealings to the other cartels that jointly run Scardale Town. Yup, The Bound certainly had a big old target on their backs now.   Leaving town and changing appearance again on the way, Chance met with the rest of the party and they headed out to cross the Cold Fields to the southern border of Cormanthor. The journey took several days, but they passed uneventfully until the third day, where several hours into their passage through the forest, Uri came across the sentry lines for the slaver camp. After informing the rest of the group, and having a brief discussion about how to proceed, Uri returned on her own to watch the sentries and get a sense for how many sentries were on patrol, what the timing of their patrols were, and how the party might be able to slip by them. After a couple more hours of watching, she returned to the group to explain that there seemed to be no rhyme nor reason to the patrols - they almost seemed to be purposefully random. She did note that she saw at least 4 different patrols during the two hours.   The party decided to lay an ambush, at least half an hour away from the sentry line, and then have Uri and DIGE work together to lure the sentries to the abmush site. Ceaser, Chance, and Katrina stayed behind to build pit traps, lay bear traps, and otherwise prepare while DIGE and Uri returned to the sentry line. Staying a safe distance back, DIGE waited for Uri to lead the sentries his way, then would leave a trail for them to follow the rest of the way back to the ambush. Unfortunately, Uri was spotted before she was ready and the last thing DIGE heard was a crashing of running feet through the underbrush in the direction of the sentry line and then a hoarse whisper from Uri saying "We've got company!"

Missions/Quests Completed

The PCs made their way towards the Slaver Camp, encountering their sentry line and formulating a plan to get past it.

Character(s) interacted with

Notes

Decided to leave town ASAP after the open fighting with the Darkhand Cartel. Weren't able to hire any mercenaries.