Session 5 - The Capture of Miro

General Summary

Hearing that the Rover party led by Magnus was heading to speak to volkhvy at the nearby temple, the group decided to head to the woods themselves to see if they could spy. They followed the path by the stream. The party decided to split up, with the stealthier members heading closer to the Volkhvy encampment while Polkan and Taras stayed behind on the path to guard a possible retreat. The "stealth" party decided to enter a cave near the encampment and found it full of corpses. Vadim examined them and determined they were victims of wolf attacks.
Hrefna gave into her raven instincts and went looking for treasure. She sensed there was something hidden down a path deeper into the cave and pursued it even after setting off an alarm, a mouth that appeared in the cave wall and loudly called them thieves. Vladimir expressed concern about being caught but Hrefna said the alarm was a sure sign that there was something worth stealing.
The side path led to a chamber that appeared set up for ritual purposes. There were no bodies here. The walls were painted with intricate symbols and even the ceiling was painted with detailed constellations. No one in the party was familiar with what the symbols might represent. In the room they found a locked wooden box, which Hrefna took as her prize immediately. It was locked solid and throwing it on the ground did not crack it at all. Shaking it revealed that there was something inside.
After reaching the dead end chamber and taking the box, the adventurers returned up the side path to the main chamber of the cave only to find the dark haired male acolyte from the Volkhvy camp was there. He demanded to know what they were doing. The group failed to distract him from the issue by bringing up the fact his people were meeting with the other Rovers and they didn't share this information. During this conversation, they learned that this man's name was Miro.
Hrefna made one last attempt at deescalating the situation by telling Miroslav she had been given a vision of his future and if he killed her it would never come to pass. This, again, failed. While this was occurring, two wolves joined him in blocking the mouth of the cave and combat ensued.
Vadim was able to knock out one wolf immediately with his spear. However, they found that when "killed" the wolves simply returned to human form and continued to fight. The other wolf took their own attack against Vadim and downed him. However he was able to regain strength on his own. Hrefna and Vadim threw violent attacks at the Volkvy while Vladimir initially hung back. After downing Miro and forcing both wolves back into human women, Vladimir stepped in and magically put the remaining enemies to sleep, along with Hrefna and Vadim. Vladimir woke his allies up and they decided to tie Miro up and take him prisoner while finishing off the two women by crushing their heads.
The group, with Miro tied up, headed back up the path to Zaozerye. Lacking darkvision, Hrefna used the light spell to help her navigate but still managed to step on a branch and attract attention. She knelt in the brush and set a trap while the other, more competently stealthy, members headed onward with Miro. It was one of Magnus's Rover fighters that had heard her. They did not find her hiding spot and headed back towards the Volkhvy camp but Hrefna still felt she was being followed while she caught up with the rest of the group.
The party met up with Taras and Polkan. When Hrefna mentioned she thought she was being followed, they decided they would stay and fight any tracker while the others took Miro to the village. On the way, they decided taking Miro to the monastery for now with the intention to take him back to Bychii Brod to face justice for the attack by the Volkhvy against Rurik's family.
The monks agreed to help with the arriving group with the heathen prisoner. The brothers used a blessed cloth to bind Miro's hands and placed him in the cellar for safekeeping. Vladimir waited for the monks to leave so he could have a moment alone with Miro. He said he would help Miro if Miro would change his allegiance and worshiped Vladimir instead. Miro refused.
Vadim saw the events of the day as being a sign from Gaal and asked the brothers to baptize him. He was given the baptismal name Caphtor. While Hrefna went back to the rooms to sleep the monks threw a celebratory meal. The men all bonded over their shared devotion to Gaal and rejection of heathen ways.

Report Date

15 Sep 2024