Session 33 - The King's Hunt

11 Klarmont 1010 - 12 Klarmont

General Summary

The party gets their things together quickly and hit the road. They elect to head west, catch up with the troops, and inform them of their intent to provide aid on behalf of Saltmarsh. They make a pretty quick pace and within the hour they are able to catch what may be the leading edge of the westward investigation team. There is a small squadron of troops led by a sergeant; messengers are coming in and going out in various directions from this group.
Stavos approaches and introduces himself. He shows the letter from Saltmarsh indicating that he is acting on their behalf as a rank of captain. He asks if there is anything the party can do to help, but the sergeant seems to feel that they have the situation under control. Stavos inquires about Laurelis (the Elf that interrogated the parties at the inn), and the sergeant indicates that she would likely be back at the camp in an hour or so. Stavos and the party decide to wait it out.
When she arrives, they allow her to get back up to speed before walking over to introduce themselves. Much as the sergeant, she seems to feel they have the situation under control. This time Stavos shows not just their commissions, but also the letter from the council informing them that the King has been kidnapped, and that the party has been instructed specifically to help in any way possible. She is more alarmed by the fact that they are aware of the kidnapping than about the help they represent. She immediately asks who knows this besides them, and they assure her that they have informed no one else. She is relieved by this and swears them to secrecy. She asks what skills they have that they can offer, and the party gives a litany of spells and skills, but primarily combat capability. She suggests that perhaps they could scout and look for any signs of the kidnappers, but she seems skeptical that they will be of any help.
She returns to her troops that are preparing to break camp and continue west. The party decides to do the same, and get ahead of the leading edge of the official search group.
A couple hours later, perhaps halfway to Radleb Keep, Tork notices something to the west (the road is running a bit northward at this point). He halts the party and, upon closer examination, what at first appears to be a game trail shows signs that people of some sort have been on this trail. In searching the beginnings of this trail, they find a shiny button. This is not a normal button, but some sort of plated button that is nicer than what a merchant would wear on the Westron road, possibly from a nobleman's attire. This, combined with tracks headed west, encourages the party to follow this lead further.
As they track the trail it is clear that there are several "small" sets of footprints, and perhaps a single set of human scale footprints. It also appears that there is some effort being made to mask their passage, but at the same time broken twigs and other signs of passage that make it a bit clearer. Almost as if someone wanted the trail to be found.
A few hours along the trail, Tork senses something, and the party is prepared for an attack. They see about six goblins laying an ambush to their south. The party defends itself, but as the battle continues, more and more goblins, and even a couple Nilbogs, appear - until a total of as many as 30 or so are engaged. The party relatively quickly deals with the group to the south, and shifts their attention to the reinforcements from the north, where about 20 are flanking Elincia and Leo. Elincia, thinking quickly, summons eight wolves to guard the exposed side. This turns the tide nicely, enabling Stavos, Seraphina and eventually Tork to get into the front line, and whittle down the northern threat.
A couple wolves are taken down, but in general the pack was quite effective at goblin hunting. Stavos captures the last one that didn't get away and ties him up for questioning. Leo heals him to wake him up. Surrounded by wolves and angry people, and on his own, the goblin seems sufficiently terrified. Upon questioning, he claims the ambush was just defending their territory. He explains that a couple days earlier a group of (presumably) goblins from another tribe came through and killed some of their scouts, so there isn't a first-hand sighting, but his clan is now on alert watching the trail. Asking where the trail goes, he explains that it goes into the Black Eagle Barony.
With this information, the party decides to split. Leo and Elincia head back and try to intercept the military search party, while Tork, Stavos, and Seraphina continue tracking westward. Leo and Elincia will inform Laurelis of what they have found, and that they strongly suspect this is their quarry, and to request additional help.  Before leaving the site of the skirmish, Stavos sews one of Waldhexe's coins into the mouth of a goblin.
Tork, Stavos, and Seraphina make pretty good headway in their tracking, but Leo and Elincia have a bit more trouble, as apparently the main force has passed them; Leo headed East on the Westron Road and missed the leading group. However, after an hour or two, he does encounter a force, but it is a trailing force instead of the leading edge. He introduces himself quickly, and asks where he can find Laurelis. Apparently they are well west of here, probably at Radlebb Keep by now. Leo curses, and explains that they found something up the road, about 20 miles, and would like assistance investigating. He explains the goblin tracks mixed with human, and the information they got from their captured goblin. The Lieutenant seems skeptical that this is urgent, but agrees to Leo's request to send a paper bird to Laurelis. Leo requests that he have her either send troops or, if they can not send troops, a paper bird declaring that they will not arrive this night. With that they head back to the trail.
After waiting a bit, a paper bird arrives from Laurelis, informing them that they will send a small contingent to investigate, but that they do not think this is the target. With that, Leo and Elincia leave the trail marked visibly, and they head up the trail as fast as they can without losing their way. They pass the site of the ambush, and push on, following the trail the others left markings for. As the light fades, Leo starts to lose the trail, forcing them to dismount and slow down. Leo sends Stavos a message using their Sending Stones, that they are losing the trail and may need them to backtrack; he also indicates that they are well past the ambush location.
Stavos, Seraphina, and Tork keep pressing on a little farther, but decide to make camp hoping that Elincia and Leo are able to find their way. Going on foot allows Elincia to pick up the trail reasonably well, and in a few more hours they see light ahead, and find the camp of the others.
Time will tell where their tracking will take them next, but with a couple days head start, it will be interesting to see if they can catch up.

Character(s) interacted with

Laurelis

Report Date

20 Nov 2020