Session 02
General Summary
The group have just left Thistledelve and experienced a 'Kumite' in the Monastery of the North
Winds. They are continuing along the track which they believe leads to Castle Fortuna...
As the group headed northwards towards Castle Fortuna, they encountered another group of
travellers. From their appearance, they looked like barbarians from the northern mountains, and
one of them showed signs of orcish ancestry. Remembering that the famous Sir Tor has orcish
blood and is currently bringing various Orc clans under Albion rule, the Albioners approached,
curious about these strangers. Of course their good nature and naivety turned out to be a bad thing,
as the barbarians turned out to be bandits and demanded money. They claimed to be part of a
larger raiding party but had lost some of their number to Lady Fortuna's forces and were now
heading back to the mountains. They threatened violence unless cash was forthcoming. Zandrill
noticed that they appeared rather underfed so bargained to give them food instead of money. With
some uncertainty they accepted and violence was avoided. Heremod was most upset, in Honshu
the only solution to bandits is to kill them for their crimes. Ethelwolf instead described it as
charity than robbery "I gave them food so I didn't have to kill them".
After that the group were much more cautious about their surroundings and who they met on the
road. Later they encountered a large squadron of Lady Fortuna's militia, led by Captain James. He
was informed about the mountain barbarians. He gave a stern lecture on what might happen if
people took the laws into their own hands, saying self defence was acceptable but not to extremes.
The night was spent in the Prancing Pony inn in a small hamlet.
Next day the group reached Castle Fortuna. They took up residence in the Inn of Graham's
Demise, named after an incident in the Chaos Wars and said to be where the Fellowship of Pelor
was founded. It had been razed to the ground in the wars but fully rebuilt since. MacReady
surprised everyone by seeming to know the bartender, a man named Quinn, though everyone was
more surprised when he described his master Chade as some kind of spy, thus confirming certain
suspicions. Zandrill, accompanied by all except Heremod, was granted permission to speak to
Lady Fortuna and deliver Marik's letter. She was interested to learn about them, especially after
Ermenred revealed he was Arundel's apprentice.
Later that day, Zandrill and MacReady went to explore the area and visited a circle of standing
stones nearby. They discovered one stone had fallen, revealing a tunnel underneath. Rather than
foolishly explore it on their own, they returned to the inn to tell the others. Quinn overheard the
conversation and suggested the Countess didn't need troubling with such information. However,
Zandrill insisted and visited Lady Fortuna immediately. There it was revealed that Quinn was an
agent for the Countess and could be trusted. Lady Fortuna then told Zandrill a secret - the tunnel
was an escape tunnel leading out of the castle. Of course she didn't want its existence made public.
She also mentioned that superstitious peasants and farmers might be alarmed by the fallen stone.
As a druid it would be an honour for Zandrill to assist in maintaining the stone circle so he
volunteered to stand the stone up once more and to properly hide the tunnel. When he returned to
the inn all his companions volunteered to help him in this task, though were somewhat curious as
to where the tunnel might lead. For their efforts they were rewarded with free food and lodgings at
the inn.
Having delivered the letter and with no obvious tasks to be accomplished, the group wondered
what to do next. They decided to visit the famous library at Mount Macarack, home to the Tree of
Life. This was apparently some 4 days travel from Castle Fortuna, though required a potentially
dangerous trek through the mountains.
Very soon after departing, no more than a mile from the castle, sharp-eyed MacReady spotted an
Orc lurking in a copse of trees, appearing to keep watch on a nearby farmstead, nearby 3 more orcs
were resting. Despite the bad experience with the barbarians a couple of days before, there was no
reason to suppose the orcs were up to no good, but the group decided it best to alert the farmer
before seeing what the situation was. They slipped round the back of the farm, hopefully out of
sight of the Orc. As soon as they mentioned the O word to the farmer he ran screaming inside his
farm house bolting the door firmly behind him. Readying weapons, the group pondered their next
move. Heremod acted decisively, stepping out from behind the house and challenging the orcs to
reveal themselves. They revealed themselves by way of flinging javelins at Heremod, injuring him
mightily. Zandrill called on the healing power of nature to save Heremod from death, though he
was immediately hit by another javelin and taken out of the fight before even drawing a weapon.
Ethelwolf decided to take the fight to the orcs, rather than hanging round waiting to be hit by
javelins. He flew across the open space to the copse and sliced an Orc in half with a single, mighty
blow. However he paid for such bravery as two orcs ganged up and dropped him to the floor.
MacReady was next to drop, after the orcs charged where he was hiding next to the farmhouse. He
got a couple of jabs in with his rapier first though. Fighting for his life, Ermenred finally revealed
his magical powers with blasts of frost and light, which weakened his opponents. Ermenred's
crossbow and Zandrill's scimitar finished the fight, though one Orc escaped. Fortunately none of
the fallen Albioners' wounds were life threatening.
The farmer was overjoyed to have been saved from the orcs who would doubtless have pillaged
his house. His cart was more than big enough to give everyone a swift ride back to Castle Fortuna.
Upon hearing what had happened, Lady Fortuna herself came to provide healing and Pelor's holy
energy healed wounds and restored to full health. She warned of the dangers of fighting orcs but
also gave thanks for having saved the farmer and his family. With the realisation that the road to
Mount Macarack could hold many more dangers than orcs, perhaps a safer destination should be
chosen?
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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