Session 4 - Carry on up the Stanjow!

General Summary

Five days ago... the road between Cromerth and Thar.

“It’s taking too long. We should have reached the edge of Cromerth last night, but we’re stuck here in this stinking fog, by the stinking Black Lands because you wouldn’t take a stinking shortcut like I stinking told you we should have.”
The Caravan had set out from Phlan two nights before; a simple trade route. There and back in a week, goods out, gold in. Barely a trade mission. A route each man, merchants and guardians both, could pass in their sleep. Just the day-to-day minor business of the Merchant's Alliance .
And yet... first rain, driving storms whipped up seemingly out of nowhere, sending horses into a panic and wagons into mud as thick as glue. The next night, the sound of wolves, or worse, encircling the wagons, but never coming into sight, forcing the tradesmen to pitch tents and burn fires from midnight until dawn. And then, after a day of blessed progress, fog. A fog so dense as to make traversing even the simplest of paths a treacherous endeavour. And suddenly a simple trade journey turning into an ordeal: tempers short; supplies growing shorter, and once again the light fading and the faint echo of howls on the wind.
“Fine, fine, you want us to cut through the woods, we’ll cut through the damned woods. But if you think there’s going to be any fewer wolves in there than out here, you’re more of a fool than the goddamned Black Fist's we paid to keep the gates open.”
And yet, over the border of the Quivering Forest, the paths clear and the ground firms. Progress is swift, tempers lift and ease. The men smile, even joke. The mission seems secure.
And then a noise. Like an arrow whistling overhead? Or a sudden gust of wind? Perhaps. Or something stranger. A sudden burst of cold, and a strangled cry from an outrider - a horse galloping, and a guard crying out, suddenly silenced. A rising panic. The forest, dense, suddenly dark.

This afternoon... Madame Freona's Tea Kettle

Some time has passed since our Adventurers were last all together, and the spirit of kinship (and slightly weightier gold purses) sees the beer flowing and the conversation easy. Though enemies have been made and scars earned, the fires of adventure burn bright among Atlendor, Dustinby and Ildreth. And rumours of rewards to be earned in the Quivering Forest dart around the Town of Phlan. Fuelled by a combination of boredom, Madame Freona’s patented Halfling Hairaiser Seasonal Pale Ale and Ildreth’s confidence in his ability to navigate the Forests without apprehension, our heroes leap at the opportunity to earn funds, and perhaps rebuild their reputation with the Merchant's Alliance . Some claim their efforts almost came to nought as a combination of Dustinby’s failed efforts at bribery and the presence of a Dragon’s Tooth almost saw them detained and executed. Others allege to have witnessed Dustinby running from the first sight of trouble. All that is recorded in history is the facts: that the three accepted an open contract from Sir Gregory of the Key to rescue, avenge or confirm the fates of a lost Alliance trading caravan; that Madame Freona made introductions to the notorious Halfing Smuggler Captain Severus and the crew of the clipper, The Knee Biter, and that the three went undetected out of the city and were spotted passing the Sorcerer’s Island at a swift pace along the Stojanow River.
There, their good fortunes are said to have run out.
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Evening... the Stojanow River, aboard The Knee Biter

As Ildreth keeps watch, his elven senses detect, too late, a mass of movement to the western shore. As his eyes fixed on the distant bank, and a whistling sound catches on the wind, he dives to the floor, caught in the leg by the first of a barrage of Lizardman-fired arrows, which take down two of the unsuspecting Halfling crew. In the chaos, lizard men board The Knee Biter, and ripples of something larger still emerge in the river. Amid the hissing of the lizard men, and the chanting of their shaman leader, the fighting is fierce. Dustinby’s conjuring powers, more potent by the day, blind adversaries and allies alike. Ildreth’s bow arm wounds boarding Lizardmen and, on the far banks, the shaman himself. Atlendor’s prowess and bravery sends more than one lizard to a watery grave. As Severus’ crew rush to defend the decks, a monster boards - a gigantic, sentient crocodile like beast, and seizes the Halfling Captain in its jaws. In the ensuing battle for Severus’ life, Dustinby’s with bolt, and the swords of Ildreth and Atlendor succeed in cutting the mighty lizard down, from where its body becomes the crew’s rations.
The next day brings grim evidence that theirs was not the only boat to be attacked, as a stream of corpses - lizard, human and elven - meet them on the tides. Scavenged among the corpses, they find a locked chest of some seeming arcane significance; and within its trapped lock, a bowl of clear magical powers - though no amount of water or dark, smuggler beer can seemingly awake its innate magic.
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The Quivering Forest... Tharren’s Landing

Incredibly untouched, our wandering heroes - newly crowned The Bridge Burners (though the history books dispute the origins of this name, modern scholarship suggests it may have had something to do with a young Dustinby’s proclivity for setting fire to any and all surroundings) - made the entrance to the Quivering Forest unscathed, and with a new ally in Captain Severus and his crew.
Yet in their haste to reach the haven of Leaf Holm, they forgot the critical rule of the Forest: a party is only as agile as its least agile member. And in the dark, among nests of giant woodland spiders, Atlendor was to discover just how potent and dangerous that truth could be....

Rewards Granted

Total XP per party member- 270xp

Show spoiler

• 20xp - Discovering the treasure in the ship wreck
• 50xp - Escaping the Black Fist blockade
• 50xp - Fending off the Lizard attack& saving Captain Severus
• 50xp - Getting to the Quivering Forest
• 100xp - Christening the party as the Bridge Burners!

Total Party gp - 435gp - 200 gp = 235pp

Notes

• Dustinby recognised & wanted by the Merchant's Alliance
• Took contract from Merchant's Alliance contact Sir Gregory of the Key to resolve the Quivering Forest dispute - save the traders & kill the abductors
• Paid Captain Severus 200gp plus a share of the profits to smuggle them out of the blockade and up river
• Attacked by Lizardfolk led by a shamen and found evidence of at least one other attack
• Discovered a large bowl that is likely magical
• After saving his life, Captain Severus reveals he is connected to the Welcomers and would likely have betrayed them
• Discovered lots of tracks leading into the Quivering Forest

Report Date

09 Jun 2019

Primary Location

Quivering Forest

Secondary Location

Phlan