The Long Road Ahead: Part II

Midsummer
 
The last three tendays have been largely uneventful all things considered. When we stopped at a hostel to leave the boorish merchant behind a new traveler joined the caravan. There’s not much to say about this human woman, Esma, except that… well, she is green. Apparently the result of a curse. I suppose I've seen stranger things, but this was admittedly bizarre. One does have to wonder what she must have done to earn that peculiar curse.
 
A day or two later the caravan stopped, having seen a wagon a good ways up the road that was all wrong. No people could be seen, the wagon was facing away from the road. Rhumor snuck up to investigate and discovered that the wagon’s owner and guards were all hiding in and around while a cadre of hobgoblins harassed them, likely waiting for nightfall before making a full frontal attack.
 
We snuck up on the hobgoblins, largely taking them by surprise, and gave them a good thrashing. Rhumor managed to dispatch their leader with a single brilliant shot. I’d not ever seen a hobgoblin before, much less fought one, and was surprised at how resilient the little buggers were. And skilled with their blades, too. All of them managed to evade Hadar’s tentacles as well as the flames from Conrad’s fire spirit, and even striking one with my greatsword was a challenge. When Groc finally caught up to me, I noticed he had the same problem. In the end they were no match for us though. The grateful nobleman gifted us gold, and the hobgoblins were surprisingly well equipped. We helped ourselves to all of their armor and weapons, which would fetch decent coin down the road. Best of all though, the hobgoblin Captain was wearing half-plate armor. The craftsmanship was nothing spectacular, but it was solid. I knew with a little cleaning, and few hours with my smithing and leather working tools I could get it to fit. Three days later I had recut and fitted the leather straps and buckles and reworked some of the plating to fit my form. It feels good, and provides even better protection than the breastplate did.
 
About a tenday after encountering the hobgoblins, just before reaching a small town called Silverglade, I noticed some Perytons circling overhead. Having warned the entire caravan of the imminent danger they posed everyone was ready when they tried to attack. All of the archers let loose as the Perytons dove, and magic was flying through the air as well. Having taken so many hits before reaching any of us, the Perytons decided we were not the easy prey they expected, and fled.
 
Our arrival in Silverglade brought with it some disturbing events. Two new individuals joined the caravan here, both of them hopping into wagons belonging to the cultists. Hoping to find out more I send my flock of familiars off to watch and listen. My cat, rat, and a spider were peering and listening in no time. I was able to learn one was a Thayan Red Wizard named Azbara Jos. It is a most disturbing thought that the cult may be allied with the Red Wizards of Thay. Unfortunately Azbara said very little, and his true purpose or place within the cult has remained a mystery. He even shuns the cultists, and so I have not been able to gather much more information about him.
 
The other individual was a female gnome named Jamna Gleamsilver. While she has presented herself as quite gregarious, it became clear quite quickly that she was surreptitiously interrogating everyone in the caravan. During these “friendly” conversations she never let slip any real information about herself. Rhumor was able to discover she works for the Zhentarim, though I did not ask how he came about this information. This is also very troubling news, and something the Harpers will definitely want to know about. Strangely though, Jamna had to argue with the cultists in order to secure passage on their wagon, so there is a good chance they are not yet allied. I wonder if there is a way to ensure that never happens…? She appears to be very crafty with both her words and the bearing of her form. She reminds me a bit like a tiny female version of Rhumor.
 
Over the next two tendays I spent my time picking up medical herbs in the mornings before we began moving up the road again, and sparring with Groc and the other guards in the evenings before everyone settled in the for the night. I have come to cherish these evenings, as it presents a rare opportunity to hone my skills with warriors from such a variety of fighting traditions and tactics. One of the guards spent considerable time in Vaasa fighting the terrifying monsters of the north, and like me she favors a large two-handed weapon. Another of my sparring partners trained in streets of Calimshan and he favors two smaller blades. Through it all I do my best to take note of their fighting styles, and learn. For my part, though I have not mastered it by any means, I seem to favor the defensive stances. I feel as though this is fitting since with my lithe form I cannot take the same kind of punishment many warriors, such as Groc, are accustomed to weathering. I know I have long way to go in learning the most effective defensive forms, which is compounded by my use of a two-handed weapon. I have been practicing other forms by myself late in the evenings as well, when most have gone to bed. Continuously trying to merge forms I learned from the Drow in Luskan – for drow warriors strike with astonishing speed—with the forms and maneuvers of this warrior who trained in Vaasa. If I can manage to merge the two styles successfully, I believe I could get two hits on an opponent before they had time to react. I know I am getting close to achieving it, but the balance and shift in momentum required for such quick strikes is still just out of my grasp. Soon. Very soon.
 
Spiders. I hate spiders. Especially big ones. Come to think on it, who does like spiders? I’m convinced the gods created spiders as some twisted hideous joke that only they find funny. One afternoon our caravan was accosted by Ettercaps. If you’ve never seen an Ettercap before, you might try to imagine what the offspring of an ogre and a mind flayer would be. Bulbous bodies with weird little tentacles dangling from their grotesque faces. They attacked the lead wagons and then began to drag them off the road, all in an effort to steal the horses. Conrad and I hopped onto my horse and raced ahead, Nuri and Groc were just behind us on horseback as well. Just as we were about attack the last two Ettercaps that were making off with the horses, Giant Spiders came out of the trees. How does something so large hide so well? The spiders were devastating in their attacks. They bound all of us up in webbing almost immediately, and then began biting and clawing. Their venom so toxic, even Groc could not resist it. Nuri managed to put two of them asleep, and as I teleported myself over to Groc (still bound up myself) to try to lend him aid, I watched him fall. In his extremely weakened state a stray spell from Nuri struck too near him, and he fell over, lightning crackling through his body (why is it always lightning that takes Groc down?). To my amazement, he immediately stood back up, and though it was clear his life was hanging by a thread, he still managed to attack the nearest creature in a furious rage. Nuri then burned away our remaining webbed bonds. About this time Conrad came up with a brilliant plan to block the cave entrance the Ettercap with all of the horses was trying to get to. In the end our little group was in very rough shape, but everyone was alive, and we had saved all of the horses. I’ll be having waking nightmares of pinkish purple glowing spiders for at least a tenday. Truly vile creatures.