Ruu had rejoined the party before they left
Westport, but had not played an active part in combat until today. Squirrely, Riswyn, and Almalexia were oddly quiet today.
The party decided to take their three new prisoners north, procure water transport of some kind, then retrace their path down the
Red River. Most of the party headed toward the river east of
Stump's Landing where Captain McNair had dropped them off, while Val and his horse Sassafras headed to town. Val tried to make a more obvious trail, hoping to fool any pursuers that the entire party was with him.
The main group of party members tried to not leave an obvious trail. However, they soon spotted signs that they were being trailed by at least one invisible being, seeing branches across their trail being pushed aside. When they reached the riverbank, they chained their three prisoners to two large boulders on a small bluff at the water's edge, then cast an Alarm spell around them. Next, the party set up a defensive perimeter, waiting for Val to arrive with their transport.
Meanwhile, Val reached Stump's Landing and visited Timmy, the local blacksmith and stable-master. Val asked if anyone had a large boat or barge that he could buy or rent, but Timmy said there was none. Val then asked if a raft could be built quickly, that very morning, and Timmy sensed that Val was desperate. Timmy charged a total of 50 gold to clap together a crude raft using the doors from his barn and a few used barrels. The raft was completed by Timmy and other local craftsmen just as a large group of Haskills was seen approaching from the south. Val pushed off and started poling the raft downstream, with his horse (and the Haskills) trying to keep pace on shore.
Back at the party's defensive perimeter, the Alarm spell suddenly went off. A quick search revealed two invisible people trying to sneak up to the prisoners manacled to the boulders. A traditional D&D opening move, Sauroff cast fireball, seriously injuring the two infiltrators and rendering the three injured prisoners unconscious.
When the fireball spell went off, the other Haskills, who had been approaching with stealth and/or invisibility, launched an attack on the party. The party was able to revive two of the manacled prisoners, Bart and Ed, but the third prisoner, a young woman, was beyond simple medical efforts. Three of the Haskills managed to shove an enlarged Koravhik off the short cliff into the river, but with his increased height, it did not put him out of the fight.
"Paw" Haskill appeared seemingly out of nowhere, grew to twice his original size, and attacked Silvermoon. He was able to eventually knock out Silvermoon, but a darkness spell cast by Cressidien gave her cover, preventing a killing blow from landing. Another darkness spell cast earlier at far side of the battle further confused and disorganized the Haskills, and the hillbillies numbers began to drop from both battle casualties and panicked retreats.
Val eventually arrived, and both he and his noble steed entered the battle. When Paw Haskill finally got clear of the darkness field, he saw that most of his kin had fallen or fled, so he too retreated after blowing a hunting horn hanging from a sling over his shoulder, disappearing mid-stride as he ran.
Val warned the party that more Haksills were rapidly approaching, and we will rejoin our brave adventurers as they attempt to quickly load 12 people and a war horse onto a crude, 10x15 foot wide raft.
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