Session 02 - The Second Blood War

General Summary

Our story continues when the party had a couple days to rest and meet back up in the local pub where their first adventure started. Hungry for more fame and fortune they ask the barkeep if he heard anything. He answers that a shipment is running late, which never happens, and asks if the party can investigate. After haggling about their reward, they settle on 4GP up front and another 14GP upon delivery. If they can just find out what happened with the shipment, he'll be happy and deal with it later on. The party thinks on it to just run with the 4GP, but in the end decide against it. They gather their gear and head out and into the wilds.
After spending a week on the road and traversing mostly open fields, they enter a section of their journey that takes them through a dense forest. A couple days later they spot a large group of travellers. Not being the morst trusting folk, they hide and send (Grung) ahead of them to investigate. He returns shortly after, telling that the group consists out of commoners who've seen some battle, most of them are elders, women and children. The group approaches and asks what happened. One of them replies that their village, Icecross was attacked by goblins and they were kept imprisoned. Another one of the survivors, comes along and asks if the party might be the "Saviors of Lunaris", the party sees no ill in boasting a bit about their last adventure and confirm this fact. The commoner says he has a message from them from the goblins: "You have five days to leave Atreshan or suffer the consequences.", the party has no idea what to do with that message, but the guy who told them starts sweating like a pig and complaining that it's getting warm. Before the party has time to react, the commoner and several other survivors blow up in a fiery explosion, creating a panic that is quickly subdued. There isn't time for much relief as the party spots goblins and go in for the attack, as the survivors run away in terror.
The battle ends with several dead goblins, one of which exploded, and two goblin archers who got away. The party quickly recognizes the fact that these are trained warriors they just fought and need to be careful. After calling back the people and telling them it's safe, they convince them to stay and wait for the party to return. Just to make sure they don't blow up like the some other did. The survivors agree and so the party leave them behind and continue their journey.
When crossing the mountain, they encounter an ogre by the name of Gul who demands shinies or food for passage. The party gives him a couple copper pieces and Gul seems to be happy with those (they also tried deceiving him and maybe killing him, but didn't go through with it). At the other side of the mountain pass they found the abandoned wagons not far from the road, the crates are still inside, but looking at the damaged wagons, they were probably attacked and didn't survive it. Having no means of getting the goods transported back, they move onward towards Icecross. On their way (Grung) suffers a vision where he sees Lunaris covered in a thick mist and the smell of sulphur being in the air.
When they reach the fields surrounding the town, they can immediately see the carnage that took place. It's a small miracle that so many innocents weren't killed outright. They see skidmarks of cannonballs, imprints of where cannons were and dead bodies everywhere, more non-goblins than goblins... The town itself is abandoned, looking around they see scorch marks and scratch marks. Some come to the conclusion that these are dragon scratches and not from a small one either. Having no history of any dragon sightings on Atreshan the party remains mistified at the moment and wanders if any other creature might be responsible. Exploring the town some more, they find a little girl hiding underneath a staircase (her name is Jane) and interrogate her (yes every random little survivor is a goblin ploy to kill the party). She reveals that her mother told her to hide and hide she did, she did hear a fast clicking sound coming from up in the sky before they were attacked. This new information confirms their previous thinking about the goblins having skyships, which is a worrying discovery. After this, the party decides to split up, (Grung) head to the next town to confirm their suspicions and the rest of the party head back to Lunaris. (Grung) makes qiuet a distance in record speed, using his athletic Grung legs he quickly sees that all small homesteads between Icecross and Tidefall have been obliterated, he quickly turns around catches up with the party.
While (Grung) catches up to the party, they manage to recruit Gul to their party in return for food and more shinies. Grung catches up to the party when they reach the edge of the forest and after talking to the villagers (and coming up with a sound logic that other phrases might also be triggers), they take them with them but force them to stay outside of Lunaris.
When they reach Lunaris, Gul isn't allowed inside, being an ogre and all that. They quickly make their way to the tavern to inform them of what happened. While the barkeep isn't too pleased, he still pays them their reward and will find someone to gather the goods for him. Back outside, they realize that the Skyshard Federation guards are in a bit of a panic, asking about it, they are scoffed away, but a little intimidation can get a long way. The party learns that their is no communication with the other towns and cities across Atreshan and the top brass wants to know what's going on. The go into SFHQ and the place is utter chaos with officials running around like headless chickens, shouting to each other. The party make their way to the main desk and kindly force their way to the commanding officer of Lunaris. After a disheartening conversation with the commander the party realizes that they'll just have to wait until shit hits the fan and then see what they can do about it. (Un)Fortunately for the party, they don't have to wait long...
Back on the streets outside SFHQ they hear a deafening roar coming from above... As they look towards a sky, a magical veil slowly disappears and reveals a large red dragon accompanied by dozens of makeshift goblin skyships, the second blood war has begun...

Report Date

16 Apr 2024