Eumenides, or The Company of the Furies: Game 1

General Summary

The adventure begins!

Key events

In October Year of Iron 908, the The Company of the Furies: Eumenides are registered and organize, they leave Atlan to travel to Eastpoint Castle to find and escort Etienne Ilios Sentinel Fortress.
Hire the Explorer Ranger Latona.
Fight and defeat gnolls which had attacked a caravan. Some of the gnolls would explode when attacked killing themselves and injuring others.

Key learnings

Overall Party Mission:
Provide assistance to paladins defending the civilized lands from barbarian humanoids and Guar nomads. The paladins in need are defending the great Sentinel Fortress, which is located in the Wild Reaches past the border of Fultar. Beyond Sentinel Fortress are armies of orcs and goblins the inhabit mountains, forests and Guar Steppe, as well as the nomadic Guar horse riders. The exact nature of the paladins’ need and the form of your assistance are unknown at this point.
Specific Party Mission:
Travel to Eastpoint Castle, pick up Etienne Ilios, the son of Lord Raymond Ilios, Marquess of the Wild Reaches and Lord of Sentinel Fortress, Etienne Elios, and escort him to Sentinel Fortress.
There was a second party escorting the daughter of Sir Raymond Elios named Lady Eva Ilios to Sentinel Fortress.
The party is not the only group coming to the aid of the Sir Raymond, Sentinel Fortress and the Katheroi Paladins, and Sir Rayomd has at least two children which may be important to save Sentinel Fortress.

Detailed Summary

After completing the Crypts of Despair, the party traveled to the city of Atlan, which is the capital of the Barony of Atlan. Guilhem de Quéribus, a Katheroi paladin and Twim learned that a paladin of Sol Invictus in the Wild Reaches beyond the border of Fultar is in need of aid. The paladin is named Sir Raymond Ilios, is the Marquess of the Wild Reaches and Lord of Sentinel Fortress. Guilhem is also a Katheroi and volunteered to come to his aid. While the Katheroi cult is a heretical religion in Fultar, Sir Ilios’ noble rank has not been taken because he has successfully defended one the last fortresses between the Wild Reaches and Fultar.
The Company's specific mission is to travel to Eastpoint Castle, which is the eastern most town in the Barony of Atlan. Eastpoint Castle is a medium sized town with about 1,000 people. The party will pick Sir Raymond Ilios’ son, Etienne Ilios, and escort him to Sentinel Fortress which is the Wild Reaches, which is about a 100 mile journey. This will be in dangerous wild lands, about a half outside of the borders of Fultar, and should also take about two to three weeks. Much of the travel will require you travel in the mountains and in the cold winter. The party has been joined by a Grady, a bard, Lomilgamir Thraswen, an elven blade singer (mage/fighter), and Joan, a Katheroi Perfectus, or priestess. While a Katheroi, she loyally served the Fultonian army in the Sua Hill wars and was not involved in suppression of the Katheroi rebellion in Barony of Bortlan. The party also hired Redcliff, a 40 year old human with experience animal handling for the Fultonian army. The party provided him with a short sword and studded leather. Redcliff is plain and nondescript, and keeps to himself. When younger, he lived a more wild life of drinking and gambling. He has not completely given up on either, but practices them in moderation.
The party has “disguised” itself as amateur merchants who buy and sell wares, with the cover story being an ultimate goal of selling goods in the hinterlands, including the Wild Reaches. The Company formally registered their merchant company in Altan as The Company of the Furies: Eumenides and bought good that can be easily traded in the hinterlands of Fultar and the Wild Reaches and part of a cover story regarding why they are traveling to Sentinel Fortress.
For safety, the party joined a larger caravan of about 20-30 other travelers, whose members frequently change every night. The caravan is led by Rand of the Greenfields, a tall lanky Fultonian merchant who travels from Atlan to Eastpoint Castle selling goods along the way, but also bringing wine and manufactured goods from civilization to the hinterland, and returning with seasonal agricultural goods. Rand’s staff included Geoff the hunchbacked animal handler, and Greyson, a retired solider and jack of all trades, and six teamsters.
The party passed some small Fultonian thorps and the towns of Durbai and Khyber. There are numerous villages, thorps and two good sized towns with about 10,000 people: Durbai and Khyber. Durbai is about a week from Atlan and Khyber is about two weeks from Atlan (and one week from Eastpoint Castle). Most nights are spent in small hamlets and villages, but occasionally, the caravan stops at way stations with semi-permanent stockades, and fire pits. Sometimes, local farmers or herdsmen will meet the caravan as it travels or stops that the way stations to conduct trade and sell their agricultural goods.
In addition to the party, and Rand and his staff, the only other individuals who are still on the entire trip to Eastpoint Castle included a young couple, Hornsbury and Rene Trout, a blacksmith and weaver traveling to Eastpoint Castle. Hornsbury was offered the position of junior blacksmith at Eastpoint Castle. They are a loving couple excited about the opportunity to build a new life in a frontier. Rene comes from a family of merchants, and they appear to be outcasts from at least her family. Other interesting individuals on the caravan included a group rich students traveling to Fulton to become priestess of Tya Nehru, who were under the protection of the women paladins the The Order of the Swordmaidens of the White Oak, and a merchant’s daughter who was being escorted to Fulton to marry a man she did not know.
In Khyber the Company hired Latona the Ranger. The party had the goal of finding a high level ranger type who is familiar with the Wild Reaches, and when they got to Eastpoint Castle, you plan to will seek out a local guide to hire who can handle the pack animals, make and break the camp, and who is hopefully familiar with the local geography and people. The party interviewed a number of potential ranger and scout candidates before ultimately deciding upon Latona. While not familiar with the Wild Reaches, but she is continually seeking new lands to investigate and new cultures to study. She is a skilled cartographer and skilled in guiding expeditions through unexplored territory. The party stayed at the Green Goblin inn, and interviewed Latona at the bar the “Beer”. The late afternoon and half way between Khyber and Eastpoint Castle, the party came across a gnoll attack on another caravan. The party first smelt and then saw a group of gnolls that had attacked and destroyed a caravan the night before. Most of the gnoll had left, but a group remained to torture and kill the remnants of the caravan, including hanging the poor humans from a tree and using them as target practice. The party killed 15 gnolls and their two flind leaders, and took one prisoner. Of unique interest, two of the gnolls exploded in battle after acid like rotten liquid slowly crept out of their pores and orifices. The explosions caused significant damage to party members. The party also attempted to rescue the humans that had been tortured. Only one was still alive, but he soon died. He also was a Katheroi paladin named Sir Egon, who was escorting the daughter of Lord Raymond Ilios, Marquess of the Reaches and Lord of Sentinel Fortress. His daughter is Lady Eva Ilios and was kidnapped by the larger group of gnolls, which have retreated into the hills. Sir Egon also said he hoped that the party could return his magic sword and ensure that it was used by a Katheroi paladin that the gnolls stole. The sword has a gold hilt with semi-precious Egyptian blue and red gems, and responds to the ancient Fultonian word “Viribus”. The party gathered up the weapons and goods from the gnolls, which was primarily weapons, armor with little supplies as they were either traveling light or those with the supplies had already moved on. The party separated the useless items (clothes, broken armor, rotten food, forks, string, bent cooper earnings, etc.) with the more valuable items, primarily weapons, but also some money and some items of interest. The party decided to track the vile gnoll raiders and attempt to rescue Lady Eva Ilios and the magic sword Viribus.

Rewards Granted

Treasure Obtained

Silver pendant with young Empress Beuva with Imperium Aetrnum on one side, and a bay tree being hit by lighting on the other side, which was later identified as +5 saves and half damage from electricity attacks and acts as a brooch of shielding.
Alabaster carved box Egyptian Sphinx head on a glass bottle, which was later identified a refillable potion of extra healing.
Obsidian hilt dagger