Session notes 23-2-2020

12th of Iasluin
 
After a good nights rest at the Gouden Soeplepel, we plan to make our way towards the outpost we learned about the past two weeks. However, before we make the journey, we decide to hire some... more experienced mercenaries for our trip to Thalmiir's enemy, Kulragh. During our trip to one of the pubs, we realise that: one, we are still carrying 100 pounds of salt, and two: it might be smart to have someone guide us through the area. Perhaps one of the people we handed over?
 
Thalmiir and Ferrum go their way and sell the salt for a small price to a very surprised salesman who can pickle and salt things for the rest of his life.
 
After this, we make our way to the guard post, where we try to pick up one of the guys to guide us to their former outpost. After some convincing and some bargaining, we can buy one free if we pay bail of 25gp, which we will get back when we return him. When he spots us, he is certainly not happy to see us, as I heard him say something that sounded like 'please put me back in the cell'. Thalmiir, however, seems quite determined to take this man, who we learned is called Mortel Levi, along with us. He takes him and brings him back to the Gouden Soeplepel.
 
Without Thalmiir, we make our way to the pub where we find a group of men who would want to go with us on our mission. They seem well-traversed and quite eager to go. And for the nice price of 1 gp per day, we are sold on them. They are: Silvestro Dicarzeti, Rolf Voold, Acnor orchs and Robert Casy. We meet tomorrow before dawn, around 6 at the northern gate.
 
As we all slowly make our way back to the Gouden Soeplepel, we spread out a bit. I make a short walk with William, before splitting off to buy some rations for our group.
 
When arriving back at the Gouden Soeplepel -almost simultaneously with Ferrum- it was a curious thing to see that everyone was present in Thalmiir's room, playing cards with Mortel. The sight seems nice enough, until you glance a second time, and see that Mortel is tied up, with Thalmiir's hammer on his foot. Strange. I feel like, now that we are closer to Thalmiir's goal of defeating this man and finding his lost family members, he is acting a bit differently. He is harsher, less patient and overall a bit more intimidating. I am not sure why... I just hope he is okay. We talked about what happened the past few weeks during our travels from and to Higbee. Apparently, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time when the attack happened. It is actually quite sad, I do really hope his family is okay, and that Thalmiir gets some rest and peace of mind after we finish this endeavour.
 
We have a calm and comfortable night at de Gouden Soeplepel. Sisadi is a bit weirded out that we are seemingly going back and forth being villages, but he is too busy to pay much mind to it. Business is going quite well for him!
During the evening, Ferrum proudly shows us what he bought in Baferton this afternoon: a great axe. He has called it "usypleniye" (?) (усыпление). I am not quite sure what it means or on what language it is, I will ask him on the way.
 
 
13th of Ialsuin
 
Its early morning, and we meet our hired forces with our horses -or pony- at the northern gate. We have taken Mortel with us, so he can tell us about the camp and the patrols and such. He seems to be a bit more relaxed, but not that much. I am not sure what Thalmiir may have said to him?
As we once again travel on the road between Baferton and Higbee, we pass one of the ambush spots Thalmiir and I had spotted on our first way there. There is no one there, for now.
 
We decide to spend our first night a bit past this first ambush spot. By keeping watch in turns, we prevent two scouts from going unnoticed. They were sneaking up on us, but were spotted by one of us. The battle, if one may call it that, was quick. One of the scouts was killed by a sweep from Ferrum's new weapon, whereas the other one was quickly bound by William and taken back to our camping spot.
 
Ferrum and I decide to bury the scout that was killed, in order to give him at least an acceptable resting place. Together, we had done this soon enough, and with stone and his sword atop the ground we left him to his final resting place. I am not sure about how I felt at this point. I wish that... I don't know, that he would have made other choices in life, in a way, much like us. What if... yeah not sure.
 
 
16th of Iasluin
 
We have travelled further with the mercenaries and our now two captives: Mortel and Charly, Charly being the half-orc scout we.. acquired a few days ago.
During the past few days, we have devised a plan for when we arrive at the fort. We will split up into two groups, one entering from the south, the other walking into the camp disguised (me) while carrying a bottle with a spell that William prepared. If I shatter the bottle or reveal the little stone inside, a blob of magical darkness will spring from it. I will then shoot one of my blasts up into the sky as a kind of flare. During all this, I will be shadowed by Liya. We must then eliminate the tower with the ballista atop of it. All while we somehow catch Kulragh. It is quite an endeavour.
 
It's late when we arrive at the fort. Dusk is already setting in, as we start our plan. I change myself to look like Charly, and walk towards the gate with a faked sense of security. I get in without any issue, walk towards the middle of the encampment, release the darkness, shoot up one of the strange bright yellow-orange blasts and jump towards where I remembered the tent to be - out of the darkness and instantly changing into Liya, to look smaller. As I hear the people of the small village(?) run towards the bulb of darkness, I hope that the others have seen the blast and are on their way. I do not see Liya anywhere, but that is nothing new, she has been hard to spot for a few weeks now, not sure how she does that. Back to the issue at hand. There is a lot of movement in the camp now, and as my comrades climb over the wall, and go towards the tent. Our hired forces take the other tower with ease, as I run towards the tower with the ballista on top of it.
 
This ballista had a great aim, as I got hit twice by it. At first, I was just planning to hit the tower, but after I got shot by it I decided to hurl another bottle of alchemists fire at the ballista, and thus also the men operating it. To do this I had climbed up a cage, which contained two of the dire wolfs that we had probably seen earlier during the trip with the convoy.
 
Later I learned that, while I was doing this, Thalmiir, Erky, Ferrum and William had entered the tent in which we expected Kulragh to be. While Liya helped the squad of hired mercenaries take out the archers on the other tower.
Kulragh was found in the tent, from which he tried to flee. Thalmiir used a spell to try and keep him bound, and the four men (well, dwarf, half-elf, gnome and warforged) quickly overwhelmed him.
 
When I arrived, after running and healing a bit, Thalmiir had already walked out of the tent, seemingly in frustration. I entered the tent, where Kulragh was laying on the floor, seemingly unconscious. I looked at William, who was keeping an eye on him, asked him about what happened. Did Thalmiir get the info he needed? While William told me how they had taken him out, I looked through his stuff. The rest had already taken his daggers and other weapons from him. Curiously, he had a strange stone with him. I did not recognise it, but later learned from Erky or Thalmiir that it is a sending stone. An interesting artefact, as we do not know where the other 'part' of it is. Another interesting thing was the tattoo on Kulraghs hand: a skull with eight points around it. Ferrum and Thalmiir immediately recognise this as the sign of the Undead King.
 
During our conversation about this find, Kulragh wakes up. Apparently Thalmiir had already asked the questions about his family. The man did not know anything about his family, whether they had been sold, killed or had fled. It was just another Tuesday for him. Thalmiir was nearly fuming.
When we asked about the tattoo. -it was a 'gift from the south', whatever that means- No satisfactory answers were obtained. William did, however, look behind the eyepatch that he had on his left eye. It revealed a nasty hole, the flesh had started dying around the old wound. Really not a nice sight.
 
A few more - futile- questions later, and Thalmiir has fully lost his patience. With a strong and well-aimed strike, Kulragh was not more. As Thalmiir stood there, and William added a strike to the hammer blow of Thalmiir, I decided to walk out.
 
Outside, I found Liya. She and the mercenaries had returned from the other -not burning- tower. Carrying with her, she had fancy looking quiver. She asked me if I could identify it, as it showed some strange behaviour concerning arrows and storage space. I gladly took out my book and focussed on the ritual and the quiver, happy to have my mind on something else. After some time, I can inform her that the quiver she found is 'The Quiver of Ellonna" a magical bag of holding for arrows and spears.
 
After all has calmed down, we realise that most people have fled the camp, which was our intention, but it is suddenly eerily quiet, excluding the sound of the flames that slowly consume the wooden fence around the tents and huts. We slowly walk out, past the burning tower and the ruined fence. Just outside of the place, we see a few people, watching the flames, looking at us with disgust, anger and a touch of fear. We try to help, patting out the fire on peoples clothes and such, but they won't accept it. For them, it is like they lost the little they had because of us. It was not that they were living righteous and fair, living from the loot and gainings from stealing and raiding, but with the way we entered and went, their reaction is not strange.
 
I am not sure how to feel about it. Kulragh was certainly not a good man, evil one could even say, but I cannot state I feel extremely good about or proud what we accomplished today.