Session 12 – None Dare Call It War

Written by KoshcheiBessmertnyi

General Summary

Voices of the Town Guards outside the Harper’s rectory carry up to Pansy’s windows. They are looking for party members, Theobald and Miletus in particular, on orders from Alferd Bester. The party hails them, and the guards ascend, saying that Bester has requested that, pursuant to yesterday’s discussions, these two report to the Company headquarters to testify regarding Bester’s disappearance and the administrative turnover in Claymore.
Left alone, Enkidu seeks out Glitterstem at the apothecary’s shop, and finds him engaged in more herbalism research with Balint. After a brief disquisition by Balint on the horse-pelican and its power of resurrection, and a discussion of orc religion to see if it reflects beliefs in such a transformation (apparently not), Glitterstem and Enkidu think about their next move. A plan to pursue Balint’s project (studying the horse-pelican) is shelved, because it only appears in the spring. Pursuing Amando to Shining is rejected on account of not wanting to deal with more Harpers at this time. Ultimately, after Enkidu voices some dissatisfaction with commonly being denied agency by colonists, it is decided that they will complete the delivery of the nails, and investigate the tunnel en route to doing so. It is also decided to include Balint in the proceedings, because, despite being too bookish and urbane, he seems helpful, and willing to share what he knows.
Balint, Glitterstem and Enkidu return to Pansy’s to retrieve the key to the underground tunnel. In the tunnel, Enkidu already picks up Bester the Younger’s trail, and when the trio exit the tunnel some distance beyond the wall, they continue following it east, along the river, toward Neverwinter. The trail is a couple of days old, and leads to a farmstead in the river’s vicinity. A farmyard dog approaches with violent intentions, but he is quickly befriended and bought off. Balint remains outside to guard the backpack of nails, while Glitterstem and Enkidu enter the house the woodshed, finding the patroon inside. The patroon indicates that the farmstead has a visitor, who has been staying in the farmhouse for several days now. Entering the house, the two learn from the patroon’s family that there is indeed a “dignitary” who has paid them to stay in one of the upstairs rooms, though they are visibly ambivalent about the arrangement. Upstairs, Enkidu and Glitterstem find a very inebriated Bester. He appears to be laying low for the time being, but when he learns of his father’s presence in Claymore, he pays the pair to keep quiet about his whereabouts, and to help conduct him to Neverwinter, where he apparently has contacts. On the way downstairs, an armored Bester takes a tumble, and lies down, blocking the entryway, demanding to be carried out. Enkidu asks the family if they are keen to keep the interloper, and mistress of the household suggests that he may be more trouble than he is worth. When he orders Bester to leave, the latter find reserves of energy, and engages the half-orc in a match of fisticuffs, landing a blow to the face. As scuffle ensues, and ends with Enkidu breaking the nose of the former Director, laying him out flat. Reaching into Bester’s pouch, he pulls out a guilder, and gives it to the oldest boy present, telling him to race of to Claymore to tell the older Bester where his son is located. With that, he and Glitterstem depart.
Together with Balint, they resume the journey west, toward the goblin encampment. On the way, they cross a mass of tracks, which Enkidu tentatively identifies as orcish. A dozen of so footprints lead in the direction of a farmstead near the river, and a dozen or so lead in the opposite direction. The footprints leading in the opposite direction are accompanied by four sets of tracks that appear to belong to the colonists. The tracks, less than a day old, leading away from the farmstead seem to suggest creatures moving at a fast clip. In a clearing, Enkidu also spots a sickle (trade item?), blood traces, a few human handprints in the snow, and signs of spilled alcohol (which may or may not be some sort of libation). The tentative conclusion is that orcs have seized some human captives (which would be highly unusual), and are marching them in the general direction of the goblin encampment. The trio decides to pursue the orcs, leaving a search of the farmstead for later.
Five to seven miles toward the woods, the tracks take a sharp turn south-southwest, in the direction of the Crags (where Blackspear orcs, and the Brotherhood of Baghtru both have their bases). Enkidu continues to track them through the night, almost to the Crag foothills. Here he locates what looks like a bifurcation point. Two-dozen orc footprints descend from the Crags. Half the company turns toward human territory, and seemingly returns with four humans, heading back to the Crags. Another half the troupe proceeds in a northeasterly direction long Neverwinter Wood, and later returns in the same direction. The trio decides to follow the ones jogging along the woods, since the goblin encampment – their original destination, is also located in that direction.
As the party approaches the goblin camp, dawn is breaking, and they begin to evidence scenes of carnage, Goblin digits and limbs are scattered around the camp, becoming more frequent as the party draws closer to the encampment. Amid the carnage is another set of recent tracks – strange triple markings meandering through the edge of the woods, and apparently belonging to a creature the size of a large dog, and possessing a long tail with overlapping plates that sweeps through the snow from time to time.
At the entrance to the camp, torsos have been roughly flung about, and heads have been mounted on posts, facing toward the edge of the woods. This also seems irregular, as normally, heads would have been taken back as trophies. The head, and apparently, the body, of the hobgoblin Dradauf are present as well, though there is no evidence of Nugast, the shaman. The party enters the camp. All the structures – the roundhouse, the tree house lookout, and the sweat lodge look partly burnt and demolished. As the party explores the grounds, a curious, apparently insectoid orangish creature with four legs and a long, propeller-like tail charges Balint, who is carrying the backpack of nails. Balint drops his quarry and the creature begins to tear into contents with gusto. Enkidu declares that he will flee beyond the forest line, as he is worried for his equipment, but Glitterstem and Balint are less concerned, and say that they will enter the sweat lodge to look around. Glitterstem transforms into a dire wolf, while Balint decides to become a smaller creature – a white mink, to inspect the space beyond the boulders in the sweat lodge, some of which appear to have been removed. Glitterstem scents a large, slug-like presence in the tunnel, which appears to extend 30 feet beyond the boulders, and ends in another pile of boulders. The presence – perhaps an armored slug of some sort, approaches the opening, and Glitterstem retreats, while the white mink exits the passageway just ahead of it. The twain leave the woods (the orange monster being apparently nearly done with his snack), though out of the corner of his eye, the wolf Glitterstem spies another, white, wolf, who looks at him, and trots off in the opposite direction. Glitterstem thinks it must be the goblin shaman.
The shape shifters meet up with Enkidu beyond the edge of the forest. He is at the site of the bonfire in which the party burned the initial Brotherhood scouting party it vanquished. Four goblin limbs – two arms and two legs, lie broken in a rectangular pattern around the perimeter of the bonfire. This is almost certainly a commemorative ritual of the Brotherhood. Glitterstem and Balint transform back to their original form, and report their findings to Enkidu. To Glitterstem’s story, Balint adds a more thorough description of the slug-like being inside, and suggests than on the basis of his studies, that being is the insectoid monarch, a counterpart to the creature consuming the nails, which must have been a male. Additionally, he spotted roughly 10 curious cracked, formerly oval objects covered with a rusty steel-wool-like cover on the outside. They were similar in scent to the two other creatures, and Glitterstem suggests that they may have been eggs. Glitterstem’s respect for Balint has grown as a result of his contribution.
Fearful of the return of the monster, and wanting to report the drastic new developments to the town authorities, the trio turns back to town. When they have almost returned, they briefly tour the now empty farmstead that the orcs appear to have visited, but they are exhausted, and find nothing of interest. With a sense that a great conflict may be approaching, they return to Claymore.

Report Date

17 Jul 2015