Knights of Awsland adventure part 1

The inquiry into the fiasco of the caravan to the Old Ruins quarry expedition was short and brutal.  A few things came to light during its course: 1) The Guild of Mercenaries had some bad apples in its midst and these bad apples needed to be excised.  Notably Captain Turlock and a group of Town Watchmen that came with him and several others that were not made clear.  2)  That there were spies within the Mercenaries Guild and membership would have to be tightened up.  There were spies in all the Guilds because many citizens fit in multiple Guild structures.  As noted, the ‘heroes’ of the hour are members of many Guilds, including the following Guilds: Navigator’s, Culinary, Luxury, Builder’s, Alchemist’s, Arm’s, and the Beggar’s.  Word of the misdeed’s within the guild has started to leak and it would be expedient to remove the ‘heroes’ of the hour to chase down a few of the inquires of the past few months and more importantly get them out of the eyes of the public and the other guild information networks.  3)  To place each of the surviving members of the expedition on probation for the next several months, and to swear them to secrecy of the events that occurred on that expedition.

To the ends that the Guild of Mercenaries Inner Council suggested, the collective group known as the Heroes of the Great Worm Inn are to be sent on a fools errand to uncover the reason why one of the main thrusts of Kobold Invasion seemed to be towards the forgotten pile of rubble known as Awsland.  The records indicated that the last expedition to Awsland had been a group of adventurers seeking the Legendary Vault of Relic the Great, some five years prior to the loss of Dhewtudum to the Dragon.  That mission was passed by a majority of the council members over a suicide mission to investigate the Ruins of Dhewtudum to see if there were any recent activity by the dragon; council members suggested the best way to silence the rumours of what happened was to eliminate the witnesses.  Sending the party away, out of the public’s eye, was judged to be a better option, but if rumours persisted, the other option would be entertained later, if necessary.  The council then released the outstanding pay for delivery of the caravan on schedule and delivered the ‘heroes’ the news.  They were told that the expedition would be funded by them and the ‘salvage’ that was performed on the previous mission.  They were also told that they would not be receiving a salary for this extended mission, but they would get salvage rights for everything they found on the mission less a standard 10% guild processing fee plus a bonus depending on proof of elimination of local threats.  Which was just the Notary Guild’s way of saying a bounty for every menace killed, usually an ear of every monster killed, a right ear. 

The group set out cross country towards the site where the ruins of Awsland were reputed to be.  The wide plains were home to many wild roaming herds, Wildebeest, Zebra, Rhinoceros, Giant Sloth, Camel, Buffalo, Mammoth, Elephant, Giraffe, Horses and many others.  Where they roam the grass is sheared close to the turf and many droppings lie round.  Between these spots the grass still grows tall making it easy to hide at times.  The Mountains are visible in the East the only deviation in an otherwise flat land.  To the West the way is flatter than a plate, until one accounts for the gullies with streams within and the gradual dip as the land drops toward the distant Great River.  There are outlines of homesteads here and there, these are shells of habitations, burned to the partially to the ground and abandoned.  Towns and villages dot the landscape but the rare town that repulsed the attacks of four months ago are either wary of travelers and remain shut at their approach or lie abandoned.  Most of the towns they pass were breached on a side or had no walls, so the inhabitants were killed on that dark series of nights.  There are kobolds around, you were attacked on your travels, but experience has taught you well, campfires are kept small and confined to small pits the wood is dry and does not leave much smoke and when you build a fire, it is extinguished before dark.  A watch is kept all night long and everyone sleeps lightly often stirring when the watchman stirs from sitting too long.  The full moons and judicious uses of Dancing light spells allowed you to kill most attacking kobolds before they closed to melee. 

Everyone was short on good sleep when the Nerwen spotted a structure poking above the horizon, she guessed it was maybe a day’s walk away, twenty kilometers or so.  They were on mounts except for those on the wagon, so they were able to get closer before night came close.  By the time everyone could make out the details of the habitation, the periphery Awsland came into view to the south of their present position.  They were so close to the small tower, they decided to continue.  The fields here were different from the plain just a half day away.  There the grass was tall still and looked like by tacit agreement all the major herd animals stayed away from this grass and much of it was rough and woody.  The grass close to the tower was regularly shorn and was currently hoof deep and the turf appeared to be springy too.  There were piles of recent herbivore spoor too.  The fields adjacent to the tower appeared to be covered with moving snow, a flock of at least a hundred head of sheep.  There was a dark clad figure near at hand and he waved to them as soon as he saw that they had spotted him.  The sheep scattered as they neared, prompting the man to whistle sharply and give a cry; to until now unseen shaggy dogs bounded in and corralled the sheep back together and pushed them into a further field to graze in, away from the new people.  He greeted each traveler in turn and after hearing their voice said a brief greeting to each in their home dialect.  With Nerwen he greeted her as another plain elf would greet a different tribe.  With Oloric his greeting was to wish his mother and father well, a turn of praise that he had not heard from the lips of any human.  Tiarah was greeted in the fashion that the High Elves of Gwendyl Wose and that of the nation of Causnought.  Keylesh he greeted her in the manner of Trandle’s Stand, noting that he only heard of one Tabaxi this far south.  It was a simple gesture that made all of them feel at once at home and on guard.  All could be said to be sharing one thought at this moment: “Who is this Guy?”  He bowed to all and said, “Garet Sheepherder, at your service.”  They chatted a short while as they got to know each other a little bit.  Nerwen asked about the construction of his tower, to which he responded that he had poor manners and invited the party into his home for some food and refreshments.  Olorick noted that the building was old, perhaps a thousand years old.  Garet agreed saying, “it is an originally a watch tower for Awsland.”  He further went on to explain that the top story is ruined and pointing to the stairs and unusable, but in its hey day it reached up another three or four stories.  Watch fires lit at the top would greet travelers from upriver that the city had been reached.  His speech was slightly jarring because it lacked any reference to past or future tense, every description seemed to apply to the area as if the city was alive and vibrant.  True to his word, he poured each of the party a hot drink of tea that had been brewing all the time they were outside and by its strength, longer and a bowl of peas porridge.  The Dwarf ate and drank with the gusto of a starving man, the elf picked and stirred her food until she had eaten it all and the Half-elf stirred the food and mimed eating before giving the dwarf her bowl.  Keylesh was very hesitant to try it, but when she did the spices drew memories that she had thought long forgotten about her mother that she had lost before she could speak.  The memories were so unexpected and raw that she was taken aback.

The Party asked what the hermit knew about the ruins of Awsland and what they might expect to meet inside.  The hermit was quite open with them.  He told them that he does not have dealings with those in the ruin and they don’t bother him at all.  He told them they are mostly goblins and their ilk and when asked how he is not troubled by them he was frank, “We have learned to co-exist, they don’t bother me, and they continue to co-exist.”  At that point he pointed through the walls where their horses and wagon sat and said they had best establish some sort of protected base camp, otherwise someone or something is liable to believe that those are free for the taking or eating.  It was something that they had not considered.  They asked him if he knew a good place.  He shook his head, but then thought for a second.  “There is a cave with a good spring that I often take shelter in from Summer thunderstorms, you could try that, but it is not much.  Other than that, there is not much until you get into the city itself.”  He paused and continued, “I have not been to the city since my youth, and I fear all the inns have been closed for a long time now.”  He took them outside and pointed to the South.  “Follow the bank to the south until you find a stream, follow the stream to the cave.”  He pointed to the south, there was a bank where the plain began to dip gently towards the river far away.  They remembered him saying that when the Great River Floods it will reach this point and no further.  Looking West, the suns were a couple hands above the horizon and although the day was clear, no river could be seen.  He reassured them the river was there.  They set out immediately to get there before dark. 

Before the suns sank the group encountered the stream that was mentioned.  The water was not much but it was steady and had worn a small gully in the landscape that was too deep to cross with the wagon, but luckily the hermit suggested that they turn and follow the stream to the source.  It was not far.  The cave entrance was slight but after the horses would fit if they could be backed in.  the wagon would have to be disassembled to fit.  The stream at this point was potable and the cave continued further back into earth.  Curious the party left the horses and explored further.  Nerwen lit the way with her Dancing Lights cantrip and soon they found the end.  It was a stone wall with a narrow crack along the inside of the cave.  The dwarf looked at the stone and judged that it appeared to be about a thousand years old.  There was no clear way in even with the crowbars they had brought.  The water came out of a small hole at the base of the door.  They asked the dwarf for some paper as they thought there was some impressions on the door that might give them a clue to the origins of the door.  He begrudgingly unpacked one of the papers that he used to hold his blasting powder for his guns and handed it over.  They pressed it on the surface and rubbed on it with a Brass Bar that served as currency in Trandle’s Stand.  The rubbing revealed words and a crest.  The words were translated into Knights of Awsland written in an old version of River Common.  The door would not open.  They returned to the camp at the mouth of the camp.  Tomorrow they would have to find a way to make it more secure for the horses and their supplies, but today, the suns had set and Tiarah had not eaten all day.  Watch was set, Keylesh, Olorick, Tiarah and finally Nerwen.

Keylesh thought she saw movement down where the gully went into the river valley, but she was not sure, the moons had not risen yet, but she mentioned it to Olorick at the end of his watch he mentioned it to Tiarah and she in turn mentioned it to Nerwen, by then the Waning moons of Drogath and Xeric were high and when she spotted movement, she was able to see a group of four figures stooping to check, she surmised, a trap line.  They rose with a dead rabbit and continued their patrol.  Curious, Nerwen left her post and headed after them to see where they were headed.  She found a worn path through the grass and was able to maintain a comfortable distance.  After a while, about an hour, the patrol ended this leg of the patrol and headed into another cave.  She noted that there was a guard inside the entrance of two guards.  She then retreated and chose a direct path to her sleeping companions.  The distance that separated both camps was only 200 meters.  This was not a good hiding place considering that.

She woke the party and told them what she found.  Tiarah let off a string of curses directed at the hermit that had suggested this safehold.  The options were to leave this place or make it safe and, in this case, safe meant making the goblin’s day a very unhappy one.  Olorick began Loading his blunderbuss assuming that they would choose to wipe the vermin out.  The vote was narrow, with the thought that the goblins might have treasure and that their place might be a better place to hold out.  They crept forward towards the goblin hideout as quietly as they could, keeping the noisy dwarf as far from the front as they could.  But it appeared that the thought of killing goblins had made the dwarf walk with more caution that they had seen of him before.  Two guards seemed was the night guard detail, four was the day detail.  The dwarf had moved to within a short run of the entrance and everyone was in place, Nerwen drew her bow, the arrow fletching brushing her ear and loosed.  The arrow flew towards one of the four sentries playing cards and stuck deep into the goblin’s shield, alerting the four to a slight threat of danger.  The attack was as clumsy as the first shot had been, but the party was able to kill the goblins before they could retreat and warn their companions.  Olorick choose not to use his blunderbuss, thinking the noise might wake all the goblins.  Keylesh rushed forward and used her Ki powers and lashed out with her claws three times, but only hit once and did not kill the goblin that she hit, but the attack placed her right in among the goblins.  Tiara launched her arrow and hit a different Goblin injuring it also.  The party failed to capitalize on attacking with their query unwary.  Luckily for them the goblins were slow to recover from the surprise.  Nerwen’s second attack landed and killed the goblin she was aiming at; Olorick’ hit at the goblin with his great axe and took the goblin’s head clean off its shoulders; Keylesh finished off the goblin she hit; one of the wounded goblins escaped, running off to warn the rest, but Tiarah mocked the fleeing goblin with a fat joke and her words were so hurtful that the goblin collapsed.   

The heroes entered the tunnel only to discover that the walls were not rough stone but worked stone.  The Dwarf felt the stonework and mentioned that they were expertly made over a thousand years ago.  They elected to keep the dwarf in the rear of the party, because he made the most noise when he walked, but told him that it was if someone came from behind.  The elf and the tabaxi went first as the party were intent on getting to the rest of the goblins without alerting them.  This failed, because they did not use a light, they could all see in the darkness but not very well and they failed to notice a pressure plate in the floor.  When it was activated, they heard stone grinding on stone.  They got to the entrance to the goblin’s lair they found the wall partially dropped nearly covering the entrance  but stuck in place.  The room itself was grimy and filled with smoke from four small fires.  There were two goblins across the room clawing at two slightly fresher sections of wall.  The party entered and took aim and shot the two goblins efficiently.  When they all had passed through into the chamber the final wall, that had been struggling to close, fell the last five feet trapping the characters in the chamber.

The chamber was dirty and dark with the only light the four fires burning.  There did not appear to be much fuel left for the fires.  Olorick approached the place they had come in and when he examined the wall, he discovered the wall was one large picture made of mosaic tiles.  Tiarah used her cantrip to clean the surface of the wall and from there the rest of the chamber.  Bright and clean the one wall showed a scene of a distant city and the crest of the Knights of Awsland.  The other walls depicted four seasons, Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, but out of order, or in the least the proper order.  Each scene also had a written message incorporated in the scene.  The out of order words when translated appeared to say after placed in order:

Be without fear in the face of your enemies.

Be brave and upright that the people will trust you.

Speak the truth always even if it leads to your death.

Safeguard the helpless and do no wrong, this I do Swear.

They discovered that if they pressed the Yellow Sun in each picture that it activated the secret door, causing it to rise back into place.  The first time this happened it was a bit of a surprise and before the door had risen, six goblins trapped on the other side rushed out into the room; they were caught off guard to see the heroes, but the quickly ran to attack.  Olorick jumped out and was not at all hesitant to shoot them with his blunderbuss.  The sound reverberated from off the walls giving everyone temporary deafness, but the effect was worth it, the first goblin it hit died and another four were injured.  Keylesh focused her Ki and attacked three times and killed one and wounded another but found herself amongst least wounded goblins.  Nerwen shot at the goblins with her bow injuring an uninjured one.  The goblins attacked Keylesh because she was closest and although they mostly missed her dodging form, one hit her soundly and gave her a large gash on her side.  Tiarah brandished her rapier and stabbed one of the wounded goblins and killed it.  Still this left four wounded goblins to four heroes, one of whom was wounded.  Olorick attacked with his mighty axe and cut down one of those goblins, Nerwen hit another with an arrow and it died, Keylesh attacked and missed as did Tiarah.  Keylesh decided that her Ki could be focused to keep her alive and the goblins missed her.  Soon the battle was over, but the party decided to rest, because Keylesh was so wounded.  She told them that she just needed to rest a bit and she would be okay.  Tiara pulled out one of her instruments while they rested and played a soothing little tune that was meant to help people relax.  It really benefited Keylesh and when her rest was over, she felt almost.  She ate one of the berries that Nerwen had magicked up and felt perfectly fine.  This time when they activated the door, they were ready and Olorick was crouched before the door and the others had their hands protecting their ears.  BOOM!  The goblins received a pound of steel buckshot and one died and four others were wounded.  The heroes charged and killed the goblins efficiently.  The Dwarf asked for time to reload his gun, it would take about an hour, but considering how effective it had been they all agreed. 

It was during this rest they began to talk strategy and they realised that none of them knew why the goblins were here and what this place was, and if they wanted to find out they would have to ask one of them.  That meant getting a prisoner and blasting goblins with buckshot was not a good way to get a prisoner.  They realized they would have to be smarter.  Tiarah told them that she would cast sleep on the goblins, but everyone would have to wait until she did so before they attacked.  They agreed to do so, and Olorick agreed to attack with his axe and not his blunderbuss.  The door opened and the goblins rushed forwards and Tiarah through sand in their direction.  Two goblins were affected and fell asleep in the back, Olorick holding back raised his axe in a mighty overhand swing and twinned one goblin into a left side and a right side.  Keylesh spun into action and stabbed with her sword and slashed with her claws focussing her Ki into her attacks, Nerwen skewered a goblin through the heart.  The four goblins not asleep died.  Tiarah moved forward and tied a sleeping goblin up and then woke him up, Keylesh tried to do the same, but the goblin fell out of her hands and repeatedly bashed its head on the stone floor, an accident surly.  The remaining goblin woke with a start and Tiarah cast a charming spell making the goblin her friend and ally.  She asked it why they were here and where here was.  She asked it what was in the next room and what was in there.  The goblin spoke to her in its native goblin, but that was okay because Tiarah was using Goblin to speak to it.  They learned that they Goblins had been pushed out of the ruined city by a large group of Kobolds.  The Kobolds said that they wanted to cooperate with the goblins, but they demanded that they follow their leaders and worship their god, the Great Red Dragon.  One of the tribes of Goblins complied, but one did not, and the Kobolds killed these goblins so most of the goblins complied and our small tribe left in the night and that was three months ago.  The other room with the Human statue in it was claimed by the leader of the tribe and his bodyguard of hobgoblins and bugbears.  There was an alter inside that asked the goblins to bow down to it, but there was no way we were going to bow down to another false god.  The Heroes were going to ask other questions, but the spell ran out and the goblin realized that he had been tricked and started yelling obscenities at the heroes.  Keylesh attacked him and killed him too. 

The Heroes realized that the fight was going to be tougher than the last four fights.  But luckily, Olorick had not discharged his weapon after loading it and everyone was well rested.  Tiarah had used 2 first level spells and only had one left.  She might use it to cast sleep or she could use it to heal a friend who might get injured.  They all had their healing potions ready, so there was that.  Olorick in addition to his blunderbuss had not used his action surge ability and his second breath yet.  Keylesh had refreshed her Ki and Nerwen had a lot of arrows left.  They were all uninjured.  Tiara sang an encouraging song for two of her friends and Keylesh had four blessings of Drogath saved up to use at any time, it might be time to use them.  The door was activated . . ..

Personal update

It is funny that there is only a set amount of time in a day.  People only have a limited amount of time to do things and that means you can only do so much; you must prioritize what you do.  For example, I love to read, and I used to read a lot.  I like to write too, so I used to write a lot.  I listened to podcasts too.  And I worked at my jobs what ever those jobs were.  When I worked hard at a job I read less and wrote less and listened to podcasts less.  When I was laid off in the Winter, I read more, wrote more and listened to all the podcasts that I had not listened to and got behind in.  Fine and dandy.  Oh yeah, I forgot I added a fair amount of roleplaying too.  Then, tragedy strikes, someone notices me and reads my blog and boom I start getting laid regularly, but that is fine because I also find a job where I have to work less and so I have time to have sex and do all of the above too, except I can’t read as much, I am down to twenty-five books a year.  Then I move in with her and her family.  Guess what?  My free time disappears, I still have some, but it means I don’t have as much time to do a lot of things.  I buy books but they sit unread, I don’t write as often or for as long, and I don’t listen to my podcasts.  I don’t have the time.  I am okay with this because I am in a great relationship and my life is the fullest it has ever been.  AND I am having more sex than I have ever had before. 

It is nearly the end of the second month of Winter, and I have started two books, but I have not finished any.  I am playing in one Roleplaying game and running two others, I might be running four soon.  I am writing, more, I am working a little less as it is Winter, but I have told management I am interested in getting promoted to supervisor and that will mean working a lot more.  Maybe just at different, less convenient times, but probably more too.  So, it looks like I might have to limit a few other things.  Like I might have to get a car, so that I spend less time commuting.  I will have to spend less time reading or writing, I will have to choose, and I think the choice has already been made: less reading.  I have discovered that I can write a lot and people like reading what I write.  I post a summation of the last session for my adventures in a literary form, not what happened precisely, but how it should have happened: less dialogue, better descriptions. 

I am thinking about writing a book too.  I googled something a little while ago and the response surprised me.  Books are not as big as I thought they were.  I imagined huge manuscripts that weighed a ton, but the response I got on Google was a lot lighter than I thought.  A novel can be 50,000 words and that is a 200-page book.  And that did it.  I realized that my adventure summaries were two to three thousand words.  Wait I’ll go check . . ..  The word count on the Chapters was light, but 26 chapters each averaged 1,250-1,500 words apiece, so about 32,500 words plus the larger catchup chapters I just wrote, so about 40,000 words.  The Adventure that I just started is more detailed.  There are three chapters and the word count is about 11,000 words at that rate, I might be writing a much bigger adventure.  The difference between the adventures is that one is mine that I wrote for the adventurers and the first was an adventure I was modifying.  And I was trying to write a lot.  10,000 words is 40-pages.  It means if I devote myself to writing that story that I have been wanting to write for years and years, that plot that is in my head, I can do it.  If I can find the things that are missing like the reason why they are going out.  The reason why people will want to read my book.

So, I am running into the problem of limited hours in my day and too much I want to do.  I am halfway through a book that is in my backpack, it has been there since Jan 15^th.  I need to do what I want most . . . and keep the things I have now, like the family that I feel almost part of and the girlfriend who give massages to and who regularly attacks me and wants to be attacked by me for sex . . . more sex than I thought was possible if I just take the time to have it.

Catch-up part two

The duke looked over his small city, town compared to Jarda and a mere village to be overlooked by the greatest empires of the world, but it was his, so it was everything.  Every great city started out as a small town and that started out with a single house, so one day this place would be bigger and better.  His gold staff was always with him and usually in his hand and when he concentrated, he could see into the hearts of his subjects and he could see all parts of his land just by looking.  There were limitations with his staff, for example he had to know which person to spy on and which location to focus his attention.  Just like his audience chamber, he could look at the supplicant and see what he was doing as he spoke, but he could not watch the person behind him too, well, a normal person could not do that; he could because he had the staff.  So, the sedition of his new lords had caught him by surprise.  They had gone off with the last spoils of the temple to turn the last chunk into gold, to spend building bigger towns, increasing the tax revenues of the nation, making the nation better and they returned and saw that he was doing his part of the covenant between Ruler and Lord of giving the people a place to expand by declaring war on the neighbouring lands.  The spoils of war and the new lands would enrich the nation and each of the towns in his nation and it would also get rid of the neighbour that the populous hated so much.  But they on seeing this did not return to their towns and raise the armies he requested, but instead returned to Jarda.  He knew this, how could they not know that he would know this?  He focused his power on seeing the market square where the Teleport Circle destination spot and followed them to where they went.  He saw they met with his sister and because it was his sister, he was able to listen in directly to the conversation.  They plotted insurrection!  Against his rule! 

He sat back and realized that he had to change his plans.  It would be difficult, but it could be done.  The long summer was coming, there would be time for another war on the Northern neighbour, but first he had to arrange for something else.  Adventurers have always been a lot of trouble for most rulers, they solve problems that most rulers do not have the time to solve, they keep monster populations in the wild down and they bring in income to the towns, but when they are in town they often do damage and flout the laws of the land.  A wise rule will ignore most of these violations because the good outweighs the bad for your typical adventurer, but it is also wise to keep track of what laws were violated and what actions the adventurers had done and what grievances the populous had against them.  The Duke kept very detailed records.  He sorted through his papers for the rest of the day.  Apparently when these adventurers were new to the area, they uncovered a wicked cult that was operating in Neloar and ended it as a problem, but in the process they did a few things and killed a few mind controlled people and took their stuff as loot.  They killed some monsters too.  They had done a lot of good, but he was looking for dirt, so that did not matter.  They attacked an outpost of the local constabulary and defeated them, no, not defeated, murdered them and then took their possessions.  They invaded a local Temple dedicated to Auristra and murdered its priests and holy monks.  They desecrated its grounds.  They killed some monsters in the town, they attacked an inn, no.  They vandalized an inn and murdered its patrons.  Hmm, the cult, once they cut the head off the cult, all the affected citizens returned to normal and were unaffected.  The Duke knew about the Jardanese Thieves Guild using Neloar as a site to launder their money, he was okay with that if they gave him his cut and did not become an active Guild in Greysteel.  They rewarded the adventurers with handsomely as they inn they attacked was the seat of their operations in the town.  They thieves funneled additional money into the area buying up land that no longer had residents, due to the cult killing them.  The thief’s guild picked up several properties for a good price.  The Duke thought about it.  He could come down on the thief’s guild and expose their operations, pinning the actual leadership of the cult on the adventurers that cleaned up the situation.  Afterall, the thieves guild were all from Jarda and the adventurers were all from Jarda, it is clear from the records that his investigators were going to find in the Guild records in the inn that the cult and the adventurers were all in cahoots with the thieves guild to scam the good people of Neloar of their money, lives and land.

He checked on the adventurers.  His informers told him that they had returned from Jarda before the Teleport Circle stopped working and had headed off towards Hommlet.  He checked in with Lord Gerald in Hommlet and he confirmed that they had passed through.  He checked in at the Inn there to hear what was being said and he heard a tale being spread that had the fingers of that half-elf bard all over it.  The claim was that the duke had his entire family murdered.  It was wise of them to start that rumour there, that rumour had risen there several times in the last fifty years already.  He thought idly that it might have been better to have wiped the people out there years ago, except that would just have confirmed all their ideas to the rest of the nation.  He arranged for the cleaning staff to overhear a discussion with his advisors and he planted the seeds in his propaganda spreaders.  He arranged for the raid on the Golden Grain Inn in Neloar and prepared the documents that they would find in the raid and then to provide the arrest warrants and to issue the commands for the lords of the realm to be ceased and tried and then to be executed.  He knew that it would not be easy, but for the sake of the Duchy, it had to be done.

Vistra had a plan, but she needed time to develop it properly.  The dragon that she tried to befriend in Moolooite’s Grant needed to be nourished and to grow to trust her and her people to become a good dragon.  She needed to send the Dragon to her home where she knew her Steward would be able to take care of it, maybe befriend it.  But to do that she needed to get back to Moolooite’s land, get the Dragon to her land and get a message to her steward.  Moolooite who was listening to this, told her to just take his Celestial Mount, saying it would be faster and that they needed to rest here anyways.  She agreed and found the dragon before it decided to dine on a villager and asked it to follow her, after she hunted down a deer for it to eat.  She headed to her lands and arrived and asked for her steward, who arrived.  She told her steward her plan and it nodded, telling her that it would be done as she requested but warned it might not go as she hoped.  When she turned to leave, he told her that there was something that she needed to deal with at this moment, now that she was here and he brought out the two official decrees that had arrived while she was gone.  The first her steward told her was to raise levies to join in war, and this part was done, expecting that Vistra would do this when she returned, but the second was why he waited for her.  It was a declaration that Lord Vistra was to appear before the Duke of Greysteel to answer for several crimes listed below, included Murder, Vandalism, Sedition and Treason to the Duke himself.  When she had finished reading this, her steward told her that there was an army parked outside the mountain gates waiting for a response.  It had arrived a few days ago.  Being a proper steward, he had told the emissary of the Duke that you were not available and you would be out soon to hear the charges directly, and then he told her that he had sent the bulk of the troops including the raised levies down the ancient road to Korrin’s lands and left him and a few units of troop behind to hold the army off.  He then told her that she may need the troops if she wants to answer the charges without a trial being held after her execution.  She went off knowing that her steward would send word directly to Korrin’s own steward, who was an Orc and decidedly against the war on his homeland. 

Vistra returned with the heavy news, that although they had the moral high ground in this dispute the Duke had the Military high ground and although she and Korrin had secure boarders, the rest did not.  They went to the nearby town of Hommelet for confirmation and the disguises they took helped them talk to the people.  Apparently, the troops of Hommelet that had been raised to fight the Orcs were being moved to secure the traitorous Gnome Anti-Paladin in his lands.  It was revealed that the trial and execution of a local herdsman was perpetrated by the diminutive villain all so that he could get the property and the herdsman’s Wife, because he coveted her and the cows.  He and his villainous companions were implicated in a plot to burn the village of Nulb to the ground after they drove them from town after they fed kidnapped towns folk to ghouls in the local derelict temple of Elemental Evil.  The charges also went into detail about how the Duke’s own investigators were beset on the road by these villains and murdered, killing all the witnesses including a few farmers and the owners of the local Trading Post.  They were not able to round up all the witnesses, as some farmers escaped, claiming they used Giants to attack the convoy as a distraction.  Lord Gerald was sending all his troops to Moolooite’s Land to cease his person and bring him before the Duke.  The troops were leaving as they spoke, a grand day for justice.  Sentiment around the village agreed that nonhumans were untrustworthy, but gnomes were evil to the core. 

The adventurers took away with them the important information was, public sentiment was against them, the duke was sending troops to take them, and lastly it was probably not a good idea to keep the Evil Paladin with the party, but they were stuck with him, so they knew that had to fight the evil of the Duke with the Evil of the Paladin.  Maybe, the Paladin would see the error of his ways and reform.  Maybe, if the removed the Evil duke and replaced him with his sister, she might serve as an example of Good and have Good laws that the Paladin would follow and enforce, maybe.  The Druid and the Ranger joined together to make sure that the path to Moolooite’s land appeared as treacherous as it could, a road that would normally take a day to pass would take a week; they changed the appearance of the terrain into a swamp and a mire that sucked the horses and the men down making them make detours through dense forest and deep gorges.  The rest quickly made their way to Korrin’s lands to pick up more troops and Vistra’s troops.  On the way they sought out Cael’s town and discovered that it was occupied, and the militia arrested.  His bugbears had escaped into the woods and he was able to send them to Moolooite’s holdings.  Korrin’s troops were skilled in moving through forests and they were able to take some of Vistra’s troops quickly through the forests avoiding the roads just as quickly as if they were on roads. 

The troops of Lord Gerald could only be delayed for so long and when all the troops that they could get to Moolooite’s lands, Gerald’s troops were laying siege on his fortification with Moolooite and his townsfolk and his armies inside the curtain walls.  There was one set of troops outside the walls, his gnomish Javelineers, who could hide easily and avoid detection.  The troops of Korrin and the troops of Vistra broke cover from the forest and tried to close on the troops of Gerald without being seen.  Korrin’s troops succeeded, but Vistra’s troops failed.  Vistra did not have any cavalry, but Gerald did, and he sent them towards the Vistra’s position.  Gerald knew cavalry and he used them to great effect, the swooped up to Vistra’s troops and attacked and then away steering clear of the archers that she did have.  To say that Vistra was losing the engagement would be accurate.  Korrin’s light cavalry was making its way to support Vistra’s troops but was on the other side of the field of battle.  With the two units of Cavalry away from his walls, the troop count was closer to being equal and he risked opening his gates and sending his troops out.  Gerald then sent his infantry and archers out to engage these troops hoping to gang up on one unit and destroy it.  Korrin and Vistra were able to coordinate their attacks forcing the cavalry to engage her infantry and the archers were finally able to rain arrows down on their position and force the cavalry into retreat.  The retreating cavalry left to support the engaging units around the Castle walls when they blundered into an ambush by Moolooite’s heavily armed Gnomes.  The damaged cavalry was finally scattered by the ambush and were in no shape to aid the sieging troops.  Korrin’s troops and the remaining troops with Vistra were closing in on the castle battle zone when Gerald surrendered ending the battle early. 

Gerald was taken captive and interrogated.  The results of which showed them that the Duke had the upper hand in this fight and Gerald knew it.  He told them that he would be happy to sit the rest of the battle out, imprisoned in his own jailcell in Hommelet knowing that in a few days they would be defeated by the Duke’s much larger forces and he would be freed and would likely be called to execute each of them as traitors to the Realm.  He taunted them and they imprisoned him.  Later that night Korrin visited him in secret and in the morning, he was found in his room hanging where he apparently killed himself.

Next the Party sent a few troops to free the populous at Saltmarsh, the lands granted to Phil and to the lands where Cael built his town.  Hommelet troops were freed from service to the Duke and asked to join up with their side.  The troops bottled up in Saltmarsh, joined up, but the troops from Cael’s town were no where to be seen.  The occupying army was sent to the land outside Vistra’s Domain as a ruse and they learned that Neloar’s levies were being held as hostage by the Duke’s troops.  The troupe learned that there was an ambush set up between Neloar and Cael’s domain in part to trap them should they come that way and to bottle up the unruly town.  Korrin was able to scout out the position and determined that there were two units of cavalry in the woods that would attack any attacking army’s rear as they engaged a makeshift wall built across the road from the river to the forest.  There was a total of ten units there, four units of infantry behind the wall with four archery behind them as support and two units of cavalry in the forest.  They saw the strategy after some discussion.  The wall and rampart would give the infantry advantage on any unit that attacked, and the archery units would rain death down at the same time.  The wall was built with long sharpened stakes pointed outwards that would prevent cavalry from attacking.  As soon as any troops committed to attack the wall, the cavalry would charge out from behind the troops bottling them up before the wall.  They did not know that some of Korrin’s troops were able to move freely in the forest and could attack without disadvantage.  They also did not know that they had siege troops, capable of attacking the fortifications directly.  And they concocted a plan to ambush the ambushers.  They decided they had an additional surprise and were not sure when would be the best time to use that advantage, Io had two units of amphibious troops, Lizard men and River Elves.  They decided to keep them at the ready in case things went bad, but otherwise to hold them for the future as another surprise.

With six commanders, the troupe discovered there might be a problem with their attack of the city of Greysteel.  Six commanders, six leaders trying to lead troops against the barricade meant that the attack although successful was not optimal.  Troops were stalled as other troops moved in their way and siege units had difficulty coming to the fore.  If the enemy had not been so dependant on their original plan working, it could have been bad for the allies.  The cavalry was very resistant to attacks because it was heavily armoured, but it was stymied in the forest.  After they were eliminated, they chose to attack the fortifications from behind the troops; they decided to attack the archers.  This proved nearly disastrous.  The initial attack was effective, but the longer range of the archers meant that the cavalry was out maneuvered and attacked at the same time by four different units.  Attacking the fortification took time and the defending armies did not waste time moving around and attacked as planned.  Eventually though the battle went their way and when the last infantry unit was immobilized, the archery unit surrendered. 

The troupe may have learned the strengths of their units, or they may not have.  Infantry is the basic unit; it is the only unit that can hold territory.  Cavalry is used to harry, attack and retreat without letting the other units engage it, thus attack Infantry while it exists first.  Archery has better range, so it can support infantry attacks, but because of its range it can more easily attack cavalry units.  Without Infantry support all other non-cavalry units are vulnerable to cavalry, calvary can run through and archery unit scattering it.  Siege units can’t exist without Infantry support either. 

While the battle was being planned, Io headed off to Jarda, bringing the recently resurrected guard to present evidence to the Duchess that her brother had murdered her father and all of her family and tried to murder her and that he was ruining her families good name, if the former was not enough, it was unlikely the latter would mean anything either.  She accepted the evidence in the form of the eyewitness of the battle that they were not attacked by Orcs, but by humans in the employ of her brother.  She journeyed back to be part of the final assault on the city of Greysteel.

More letters, and History for the game

Letters to Keylesh

Once again you find yourself following another set of instructions, this time in the Great Knight of Awsland.  The sign features a knight with a lance held high with a flagon in the other sitting astride a hog backwards tipsy to the point that he is about to fall over.  It is called many things amongst the people, the tipsy knight and also the Flagon and the Pig, but to some it is known as the Knight of Awsland.  There was a drunk asking for alms and when you gave him the pass code and he returned one to you, he told you the use the middle stall in the back.  There was a middle stall in the back and there is a sign on it that states that the stall is out of order.  Once in the stall there was only one way to go down.  The walls of the latrine were dry and there was a ladder carved into the sides.  It descended until you reached a wood door.  Once through the wood door you find yourself in a room with three hooded figures.  They turned toward you and one asks for a report.

Once the report is given, the one in the centre speaks, Turlock was a city guard and felt that the nonhumans were responsible for his lack of promotion in the guild and not attitudes towards the nonhumans in the guilds.  We could have used the information you could have provided us to better our situation and the many poor and disadvantaged, but perhaps we should have explained things better to you.  We ask you if you wish to serve, you may decline, and we will let you continue to make your way in the world. 

We ask how you wish to serve.  They turn and file out of the room leaving the door they pass through open, beckoning for you to follow.  You can leave or follow.

The room beyond the door has three doors clearly marked, one with a purse, one with a lit candle and the last with a dove.  You know what these symbols mean.  The first is a invitation to the Thieves Guild, it offers you some measure of wealth, Insight check allows you to understand that this path is the path of the underclass and will mean little in wealth.  The second door is the group that you have been working for many years, insight check, you realise that this path will lead to blackmailing the guild heads with their secrets and may mean some wealth.  The third door is the most interesting a dove and there can only be one meaning.  Choosing this door will lead you into the Order of the Dove, a whispered far reaching organization of assassins that spans the world, an insight check allows you to realise that if you step through that door your life will change forever and there is no leaving once you pass that door.  Do you choose a door, or do you choose none?

Inside the room that you choose you see that all three doors led to the same room inside is only one person and they are holding the item that was on the door that you chose.  Congratulations, we knew you would choose this vocation.  You will still need to leave the city, but we will be waiting for you when you come back and perhaps there will be a mission for you when you come back.  Remember tell no one, we will know.

Letters and gifts for Tiarah

The Luxury Guild is a great place to live, if anyplace can be great.  You have heard that the Bard Colleges of Gutral Mastekeena are larger and more luxurious, but they are also exclusive to the natives of that empire.  You have also heard that the Bard colleges of the Dwarven Empire are grand too, but are underground and there is no access to the wind and the rain, still after all the rain you have walked through in the last few weeks, that might be nice too.  Your apartment is nice and warm, there is a brazier that takes the chill out of the air.  Any night that you want you can head out and play at any of the inns in the city, you get a meal and an ale or two and you even get paid for the time you spend there, the guild Price for your performances is steep, but they readily pay it for your time.  Not every inn or drinking establishment can get a true Bard for the night; there is not enough of you in the city.  It is your choice if you go home with any of the patrons after a night of entertainment advances towards you are plentiful, but dismissals by you result in graceful demure; the bouncers in the inn assure you that.  A great many Guild heads have requested your attendance at parties that are being held and you are the toast of the city.  People want to know what happened out on your journey.  You accepted the first couple but began to realize that perhaps the Mercenary’s Guild would not like some stories told and you realize that telling them would limit your career and certainly your life. 

Before you took your next mission, to go and find the legendary Treasure Vault of Relic the Thief in the ruins of Awsland you were able to take a few gigs to fatten your purse before you leave.  One such gig was at an inn in a very well to do area of the city close to the Council Chambers and the Estate Houses of many who lead the city.  it was called the Knight of Awsland, you picked it because you were heading there and who knew what you might hear about the ruined city there.  That was a bust, the people knew nothing of substance about the ruin.  You were about to return to the stage to play another set when you saw a figure leaving by the side door, it looked like Keylesh, I mean how many Cat people are in this city?  When you got to the door she was gone and you had to get back to the stage, so you could not investigate further. 

You arrived back at your guild residence late night or is that early the next morning.  There is a package waiting for you on the table.  The note on the package is a request, an open invitation to visit the Culinary Guild leader and owner of the exclusive King Awsland the Second Inn, whose menus serve the very best of meals.  “Please come at your earliest convenience, tell the tale of your journeys.  Except this for your consideration.”  The package contains two books bound in fine leather, the first is an old copy a dwarven history book, written in dwarven runes, along with it is a translation written in River Speech.  The second book contains a series of vocal lessons with advanced techniques and a few tunes that use the techniques.  You recognise the musical notations as bardic.  There appears to be five tunes, that create spell effects including, Enthrall, Crown of Madness, Silence, Hypnotic Pattern, Tongues, and Compulsion.

Thief Relic

Relic is a name that has lasted for years longer than he lived partially because of all the things that were attributed to him and because of a historian claimed many years after his disappearance that he was the founder of one of the great cities of the area, Awsland.

As the story went, the was active in the area for over twenty years, infiltrating many of the greatest strongholds of his time, robbing the owners of their most valuable treasures.  It is said that he infiltrated the Emperor of the Dwarves and stole from him a third of his wealth leaving behind a note that said that he took only what he could carry and would be back for the rest later, and he did return and despite the increased security he succeeded.  The third time that he came back he took all the treasure except the ones that were meant to track his location.  The Emperor was said to be so angry that he had the entire security team executed for their ineptitude.  On the day of the execution, the Emperor received a note from the thief that said that if he stayed the execution, he would return one day with something of equal value to the Empire, but if he continued he would tell every miscreant on this and the other side of the river how easy it was to infiltrate the hoard of the Empire.  It took many decades later, but the day came when a particularly fearsome beast of a dragon attacked and pillaged many halls of the Empire killing hundreds of Dwarven Vassals.  The attacks were relentless, and they seemed to be carving up the periphery and moving into the center.  The Emperor sent the best to fight it and they all failed; it looked like the Empire was going to fail.  But then the attacks stopped and the head and most of the body appeared inside the newly secured vault with a note that said. “Paid in Full”. 

Relic was also have said to penetrate the treasure vault of The Emperor of Gutral Mastekeena.  There were many other vaults and treasures that he did rob, but most of the names ceased to have meaning to anyone outside his time.

The forgotten historian was an Empire Dwarf and was said to be a member of the royal family, so the story is thought to be at least partially true.  The historian states that the first King of Awsland came out of nowhere and seemed to have a near limitless amount of wealth.  He established first a town that did not rely on trade on the river but through his lifetime benefited greatly from its proximity.  The king built a large castle that served as a home for a strong military presence and the town seemed to spring out around it over the next ten years.  The first king of Awsland did not conquer any of the lands around it but just offered to protect any that lived near by.  When it appeared that the town was going to grow into something more, King Awsland commissioned a wall to be built several kilometres from where the town existed and he had towers built around saying that the protection he offered the people, would be filled in a few generations, so why not plan for it now than have the place grow in a haphazard manner.  What is interesting in the annals for the city was that neither King Awsland nor his daughter Queen Amelia, declared themselves ruler of the land in their lives, but it was King Awsland the Second that did posthumously, an act to give his rule a great deal of legitimacy.  It worked.  King Awsland the First was known as the Builder King and his grandson expanded the area that the kingdom ruled from the river to the mountains, from the Gwendyl River to the Trandle River and the lands around flourished for many centuries to come.  But, as the historian pointed out, Relic the Thief disappeared a year before the man who would be known as Awsland the Builder, built his city.  To this day no one knows where the wealth came from that allowed the city to be built in such a short period of time and the only explanation, according to the historian, is that it was Relic that bankrolled the endeavor with the wealth of the Dragon Hoard, the two Emperor’s treasure vaults and who knows what other source of wealth. 

Since the long text of the History of the Kingdom of Awsland was penned two great things have occurred, the first was the destruction of the Kingdom and the sacking of the City of Awsland and the second was a long string of adventurers investigating the ruins of the city looking for the fabled remains of the treasure trove of the Thief Relic, all which failed to find a thing.  Which spurred even more adventurers into the city to find the wealth that increased every year and with every telling to be worth more and more.  Nothing was ever found, so the hoard has entered the history books as one of the great mysteries of the area.  There is one prophecy that makes the rounds every few decades or so that causes more adventurers to try their luck.  “Only true Knights of Awsland can cross the threshold of the Palace’s Heart to Claim Haustraghn’s Bane.”  Since there is no nobility to grant anyone a true knighthood, the theologians and astrologers claim that this prophesy means that it shall never come to pass.  

This. Caravan. The next chapter

Keylesh was coming out of Relic’s Bollock, a local pub, where she had a meeting with some high-ranking members of her guild.  They bade her to be on the lookout for nefarious dealings that others might put in front of her and to report all such things to the proper authorities, them the only authorities that she needed to worry about.  She headed through the streets and was getting closer to her domicile.  The rain was pattering off her oil cloth hood and dripping off on to her pelt; it did not matter how wet her fur got if it never reached her undercoat and that is why she wore the hood up.  A figure in the shadows of the tight row of low houses stood there waiting for someone.  Occasionally there were people that called on her as she came back from work, there were no Tabaxi in the city or in any nearby town besides herself and being so unique meant there was a side line business to be had if she were willing, often even if she was not.  Being a slave meant that there was little that she could do legally to resist them except to run, but sometimes she fought and that had some rewards too.  After the meeting, she was in no mood to be solicited, not this night, not ever really.  The call came, “Hey, Puss, I’ve got an offer for you”, the figure said, raising a hand with a large bag that sounded like money when he shook it.  She was not interested, her ears bent back.  “Here Puss Puss, I got something for you,” well maybe she was interested in something to take the edge off the night, her claws left her sheaves.

The figure in the ally was not her usual abusers.  He was sober and he was dressed in chainmail with a rain cloak covering it.  Beneath the cloak at his side was a fine longsword, the hilt an sheath was dressed in a gold filigree and a pattern that looked familiar.  The bag landed at her feet when she got within ten feet, but before she came within five, it hit the mud and the wet with a smack and the top opened exposing a pile of chits, brass and bronze, chits, halves and quarters a jumbled mess.  “There are fifty brass chits worth, just to listen to what I have to say,” he propositioned, his voice kept low as not to carry but clear so there was no misunderstanding but smelling of intense garlic.  “You are a rising star in the Mercenary Guild, I am here to make you rich.  You are knew and you are a slave so you don’t know economics, but the paltry hundred chits you just got for signing up for that caravan is a pittance of what the merchants make when they make from the Dwarves for each run.  We guard their skins and we die for their profits, but they pay half of what we are worth, and it must stop.”  He looks her up and down, “You are a slave to the Builder of builders and what is you Freedom Price?” 

He seems to wait for her to answer, but Keylesh pauses, a minor rebellion and he knows it. “Twenty-five thousand chits.”

“After living expenses, and penalties for missing days as a builder, I suspect,” he sees her nod and continues, “One hundred a run, two runs a month, you’ll be working eleven years for your price and another two for penalties, and that is if you survive.  You will be working your entire life.”  He turns and walks into the ally as if abandoning her, but then stops and turns, “Unless we can increase the cost per run, to  . . . say two hundred chits per run, then you will be out of here in six years and free and clear.”  He turns his head to the side as if thinking, “And if you were aiding the Guild to increase its fees, I bet you will be earning even more money and soon.  You could be clear in a few years, perhaps by High Summer.  You in?”  He pauses and waits, “I told you the money was just for you to listen.  Its yours, but I need you to tell me now before you get more.” 

Keylesh pauses in her thoughts for just a second.  The rain continues to pour down and she thinks that if it continues like this another few days the river will flood early.  When it floods her first floor domicile will quickly be underwater and she will have to move, just like last year, and she wont make any headway on her Freedom Price, moreover she may need to get new bedding unless she is willing to live with the smell of rot.  “In,” she says.

“Good, tell no one.  You, me and a handful of handpicked, trustworthy individuals will attack the caravan on the fifth night.  We will be the only survivors and the caravan will be torched and we all get a pay raise.  Simple plan for a easy night’s work, and you will be free by High Summer.”  He steps back and she picks up the bag of blood money, the deal is sealed.

Two days later, she meets with her comrades and looks between them with a discerning look.  The meet seems to be a dream in the back her mind and she is sure that each of her friends was good enough to be ‘handpicked’ for this mission.  She looks over them as they talk and joke, friends of a trauma, the attack three months ago, but friends for no other reason and no less.  The hopelessly naïve Plains Elf, who still has trouble sleeping with a roof of brick overhead.  The solidly patriotic Dwarf, who would never knowingly sell out his country to make a buck.  The carefree Half-Elf who seems always to be having a good time, a song always on her lips.  A cold weight presses on the back of her hip where she keeps her money; they don’t know.  They are going to die!  She must tell them!

A voice cuts over her own as she tries to tell them about what is going to happen, “There they are, late and undisciplined,” a familiar voice yelled like a drill sergeant.  “You four report to duty, you are holding us up and we are pursuing a bonus and if we don’t get it, I’ll take it out of your hides!”  Her friends leave her behind in their eagerness to report to duty.  “These four lazies have gone over the path we are to take and as such are your Squad leaders.  Nerwen you are to take these four recruits and show them the ropes of ranging ahead.  Nurl, Flong, Retus, and Ferd, do what Private Nerwen says and you may survive this adventure.  Private Oloric take Fareth, Thomad, Dirk, and Killer, he looks at the last one skeptically, you follow his orders and form up on our rear.  Private Tiarah you take Daerk, Gweth, Boram, and Param and lead the way, don’t lead us over any gofer holes or ill personally kill each of you and sell your hides to cover my bonus.  Lastly Sergeant Keylesh take Privates Tosher, Mangler, Knuckles, and Duster and stick close to the caravan and keep it safe.  I am Captain Turlock, for you that missed it” and he pulls her closer, “Are we Clear,” under his breath “Pussy?” then louder, “Move out.”  Keylesh if she hadn’t seen the gold on his sword and smelt the garlic on his breath would have recognized the undertone beneath his breath when he called her pussy.  Her stomach was wracked with knots now. 

The first day of the journey was on comfortable roads near the town and they made good progress, but Captain Turlock pressed them for more speed.  When the guards came close at noon for a meal, he sent them back out with a tongue lashing, saying there is no time to stop we eat on patrol and we are not stopping until after dark.  We only have nine days to get there or we lose our bonus.”  The first day out, the captain kept her close sitting with the lead cart, chewing constantly on cloves of garlic.  Every time that he had to interact with one of the nonhuman Privates, he expressed himself to her and spitting the husk of the garlic over the side while he painfully grasped her thigh. “Idiot” or “Smelly”, “Stupid” or “Freakish” and praise for the humans.  It was clear what he thought of them, what he thought about her for that matter.  At the end of the day, the entire crew was tired and looking forward to a hot meal, the weather had changed, the suns slipped behind clouds and a steady drizzle rained down.  “No Fires, hard tack tonight and tomorrow,” he Captain Turlock bellowed, “Watches tonight and every night as follows: Tiarah’s squad, first hour of dark, Oloric’s Squad fourth hour, Keylesh Mid Night shit, and Nerwen’s Squad until dawn, when she is expected to be ready to be out and ranging. No lights and all quiet in five or I’ll make sure you will for the rest of the trip.”  Keylesh was about to find her friends to let them know what the plans were for the caravan on the fifth night, but everyone was milling around getting sorted with Turlock and Keylesh’s squad enforcing curfew.

The drizzle continued through the night letting up at dawn only to become full rain.  The caravan carts were large heavy-duty carts, Oloric estimating that they could carry small heavy loads over long distances.  The wide wheels were good at crossing the wide-open ground, but in the rain, it turned out that it was also good at picking up the mud too.  Much of his time was spent cleaning the wheels off the carts as it was keeping the rear of the caravan unmolested by whatever they were supposed to keep it unmolested by.  Fareth, Dirk, Thomad and Killer were a good crew; Fareth was the daughter of a local smith and they had much to talk about, Dirk was the son of a city guard and seemed a little jumpy, Thomad was a labourer but thought that it might be better to be a mercenary—he was strong but uncoordinated if he hit a kobold it would be mash, if and Killer.  Killer is a small thin wiry slip of a girl who thought that if she had a badass name would be badass herself.  Oloric could tell by the way that they moved that dirk had some instruction before coming out and the others did not.

People, she noticed, never paid attention to rain.  Sometimes it was steady drumming down on the land for hours at a time, at a constant rate and that was the extent of what rain was for people, but it rarely did that.  Sometimes the rain was gathered in gusts of wind that fell upon the land, the rain would be intense and then it would almost stop, until it intensified again.  Other times the rain would fall and then stop as the rain baring clouds would pass overhead and sometimes there would be breaks in the rain clouds and suns light pass through brightening the landscape.  It was raining like that today.  The breaks in the rain let Nerwen see further.  The land was beautiful to her.  The grass was starting to green in the warmth of the season and there was evidence of the massive herds that her people followed and managed, there to the North East half way from here to the mountains there was a herd of bison, she estimated at this distance perhaps a few thousand individuals.  They had passed over this ground about five days ago and they had churned the land greatly with their passing.  The winter grass had been shorn close to the ground.  The lead of the herd would have been careful to go past the gopher colonies or stamp the ground around to fill in the hazard before the rest of the herd moved over, this way would be safe until the gophers were able to re-excavate.  Her crew had little experience on horseback, very clearly so.  Most of them gripped the reins like they were sure the horse would kill them.  She got most of them to relax a little once she got them away from the caravan.  Nurl was a hand at an inn’s stable, but he had no experience riding, bus a lot of experience in currying, he was a gentle soul and she hoped there would be no combat this run for his sake.  Flong clearly had some experience in fighting but did not want to talk about it, which was alright in her books as taking a life can really change a person, even if that life is trying to take their life.  Retus looked like he had drawn a short straw in some draw and had been placed on a horse as consequence.  When she got back tonight, she was going to have words with the captain about switching him out of the squad for someone who was less likely to strangle the horse as ride it.  Ferd is a gem of a rider, she said that she wanted to be a mercenary so she could be on a horse.  She knows that she likes it, even though it is hard work and is willing to do it until she is good at it, but until that happens she will be bad at ranging as she is not aware of anything but her horse.

Turlock called for a halt well after dark as Nerwen suggested that the way would be free of gophers for a few kilometers due to some herd or something.  She also assured him the clouds would break up and the moons would provide enough light to go a little while.  A little while meant until the reached the tall grass again.  They pushed a bit beyond and there was a problem and a bit of disorganization as the last half of the caravan pulled up alongside the front half.  Keylesh got her companions together out of the eyes of the rest and told them what was to happen soon.  She asked them, “Did any of you meet with Turlock before you met him yesterday morning?” she was rewarded with blank stares.  “Okay, he contacted me, and he told me that there was a plan to dupe the Merchants Guilds into Paying the Mercenary Guild double what they pay now.  The plan Caravans were under more threat than they were and to increase the presence of guards on the caravans.  If the perceived danger was greater then they pay would be greater.” They nodded.  “He and some in the Guild plan on attacking a caravan and burning the goods and killing all the people in it except for a few.”  More nods.  She looked at them nodding, “This.  Caravan.”  Keylesh was on guard watching for Turlock and her squad so she nearly missed the surprise as Nerwen squeaked loudly in realization.  “Shh, you can’t say a thing.  They are going to attack the caravan on the fifth night, I assume when I am on watch.  We can’t be seen talking together, or they might suspect I told you.  Turlock is the leader of the attack.” She emphasized in case they didn’t clue in.  with that she left them to think about this information; they might have a chance to talk again before the attack.

The night was uneventful.

Morning was bright and clear, the rose over the mountains and burnt away the morning fog.  The day was warm, the first in several months where many were compelled to remove the outer layer of clothing and dry out.  Tiarah leading the forward squad noticed that the tracks that they were following diverged from the proximity of the river and headed away into the plains.  She flagged down Captain Turlock and informed him of the change of direction.  Before last night’s revelation, she might have dismissed the things she saw in his eyes as she reported to him, but now they were laid bare.  He dismissed her, impatiently telling her to continue following the old path and spit a gob of phlegm and garlic to the side near her as she turned away.  She thought of Daerk, third born son of one of the Guild leaders dead in just a few days.  Gweth, daughter of a brewer and innkeeper who was faced with the choice of serving beer to patrons of her fathers until she was married and chose to do something else, this.  Boram and Param an unlikely duo, twin brother and sister of a prominent cartwright family, who decided to join the mercenary guild at the same time but did not tell the other or their parents but met in the employment line.  Both have been flirting with Gweth rather successfully.  As Tiarah turned she thought of them.

Keylesh was doing her utmost to avoid interacting with Turlock, not just because his garlic breath was starting to permanently turn her off eating garlic forever, but he seemed to not be able to keep his hands off of her and he was none to gentle either.  She doubted that he was capable of being pleasant at all.  From her squad she found out that Captain Turlock was a sergeant in the town watch but had been relegated to wall duties for being too rough with the townsfolk.  Being too rough as far as she knew was not a crime among the city watch, but apparently being too rough with the sons of Guild heads was.  His long years of service apparently granted him some leeway.  She got most of this story from Tosher, the most conciliatory of the squad; apparently he had been assigned to the City Watch because he had no pull in the guild and his parents were members of the Urchins and Labourers Guild, but not slaves.  Mangler was a slave like her, but he had been placed in the fighting arena and won his freedom early, he then joined the city watch so he could legally continue his pursuit of mangling people up.  Knuckles and Duster were brothers of passion if not true brothers, they loved to wade into barfights bare fisted one with a mailed glove and the other with brass knuckles; they loved to fight.  Either way, these hard men were Turlock’s through and through, and only pretended to take orders from her.  From Tosher she found out that Turlock and the rest were especially hard on anyone who was not human. 

The Fourth day ended like all the rest it had started with a little rain and overcast skies but by the end of the day a front of clear air pushed the clouds away, the temperature dropped a little, but the suns beating down on the land began to dry the mud somewhat.  The caravan made good time.  The land was a little drier than the land closer to the river, so they were faster.  The first three days they crossed only 40 of the targeted 60km.  This day they were able to make their 20 km and make up and another 15 before the day finished.  When camp was struck, Turlock called the heads of the squads together and told them he was happy with the progress today and he asked Nerwen if she remembered the Halfling Village, they had discovered last expedition out.  She said she did, and she mentioned that they should come upon it around noon tomorrow.  Turlock thought about it and asked her tomorrow to cut a wider swath around the village.  He said that he was worried about the Hungry Dead, ghosts or other undead that might attack people from areas of mass trauma.  Nerwen told him the dead had been buried as was respectable for Halflings, it should not be a factor.  Turlock got angry and told her to do what she was told and then broke up the meeting sending the others away and keeping Keylesh nearby until it was time for bed. 

All was well through all the watches until just before morning.  Nerwen and her drew were on watch and while most of them were preparing for an early start, she was on patrol around the sleeping folk.  There was a bright moon in the sky, tomorrow the Green Moon Drogath would be full, but right now it was shedding an impressive amount of light.  She saw something move on the plain and she stooped and checked the air.  She smelled it rather than saw a thing, but on instinct she cast the cantrip she knew, Dancing Lights—one single light out at maximum range about where she saw movement; if she were wrong she would dismiss it right away, but she was right.  Kobolds!  In a quick motion she drew her bow and fired sending an arrow out into the night.  It struck and killed her target.  She let out a battle cry that alerted her squad and woke the sleeping guards and drovers.  Then she plucked another arrow from her quiver and drew her bow again and again until there were no more kobolds alive. 

The shrill sound of alarm from the throat of Nerwen woke the guards.  First, they saw the light in the predawn lights and heard the thrumming of bowstrings and the yelps and screams of death.  There is nothing like fear of imminent death to wake someone up from the depths of sleep.  The kobolds were numerous and attacking at night, they were barely taller than the grass and they were closing from all sides.  The list of things in the group’s favour was small but important.  First, they were awake and had range weapons.  Secondly, the light of the moon allowed them to pick out the targets.  The light was green, on the prairie, the dead grass appeared green too, but the red of the kobolds appeared black.  A few seconds and the battle appeared over until about ten kobolds landed on the carts from above, the kobolds had wings.  More bow fire and close quarters fighting the battle was over in seconds, but thanks to the Elf the results were not dire. 

Turlock walked up and down the caravan feigning concern over the wellbeing of the drovers and guards, but the veterans of the Kobold attack of three months ago could see, this was his first real battle with real foes that wanted to kill him.  Turlock told the people that they should collect the Kobold bodies and stack them in one of the empty carts.  Nerwen voiced opposition, saying Dragons prefer Kobold flesh to other food and to keep so many nearby was like courting danger.  Turlock glared her quiet before others might hear, we need to show that the way is dangerous, and they must see the danger of traipsing through the wilderness and the potential dangers involved.  The unvoiced was that they were always there, and dragons would be worse, no need to court that kind of danger.   

Turlock reiterated the instructions of the day, steer clear of the halfling village by at least a kilometer and inform him when we came abreast it.  He then sent them on.  When Keylesh was sent for, as she invariably was, she inquired what he really wanted the kobold bodies for.  He nodded, there always was one hole in their plan, who to blame the attack on.  With the bodies in the last cart, they had an easy explanation, after the caravan was attacked, the bodies would be brought out and scattered around, when the caravan was discovered, the attackers would be clear.  Nerwen approached at this time saying the Halfling Village was due South towards the river.  Turlock called a halt to the caravan.  When everything was all stopped, he brought out a large block of incense to burn in honour of the dead.  The block burned a very smelly resin and the smoke rose above the caravan and did not scatter in the wind but held together.  He spoke words of reverence to the gathered people and then told them that they were ahead of schedule and they would take there time today and camp early.  They would camp early and risk a fire and cook a warm meal for everyone.  Keylesh saw a Knuckles and Duster laughing at an unknown joke, she asked Tosher what that was all about.  He nodded, then said, “Captain Turlock despises halflings most of all, he nearly kicked one to death, it is for that reason he was sent to the City Wall. 

The meal was served just before suns down.  They both slowly dipped below the horizon and opposite that the Moon Drogath rose in its glory.  Tonight, it would be full and almost all full Drogath moons involved an eclipse, but tonight was supposed to be a special one, those that followed the paths of the moon knew that tonight after midnight the eclipse would turn Drogath Red and the black eye of the evil god would cross it pointed towards us.  It was a night of murder the Astrologers said, for those that believed it.  The last time Drogath turned his bloody eye on us was three months ago, the night the kobolds attacked.  It was the fifth night out of Trandle’s Stand. 

An hour after the suns had set the first trouble came.  About half of the crew, drovers and guards had a terrific stomach-ache, bowled over in pain.  Knowing the day and the planned attack, Nerwen tasted the stew that had been served, there was something in it.  The taste was familiar, it was Scald Root, a common tuber found in the wild in the nightshade family that was mildly toxic.  She spit it out, she had not eaten the brew because they had put meat in it and all Plains Elves are vegetarian.  There was an antidote, a common one indeed, so she began at one to look for it.  She quickly administered it to all the guards and drovers affected.  The about one in four was unaffected, including all Keylesh’s squad and Turlock too.  Olorick mentioned that the stew tasted like his mother’s cooking and he had three extra helpings.  For the four friends it was a last reminder that someone had it in for the caravan.

The watches continued with nothing to report.  As Keylesh roused herself for her watch, she had not slept a wink.  She knew that there was one thing that might stall the attack that was coming.  She could kill Turlock.  She readied her sword and stalked as close as she could, but when she was about to attack, Turlock turned to her and told her to gather the Squad, it was time.  He failed to notice her naked blade, or simply thought that as a Puss or a Pussy she was harmless, but her attempt had failed, and she rounded up the squad.  The moon was not green now, mid way through the previous watch, it had darkened and turned red.  Now the Eye of Drogath was sliding across the moon readying to focus upon them.  The others were present almost giddy and chattering quietly waiting for Turlock to announce the final plans.  He had not shown up and Keylesh was hoping that he fell and broke his neck, when she caught sight of something.  Tosher was standing at ready and then he stiffened and the blade of a sword trust through his chest and pushed him to the ground.  Turlock was behind him and he wiped his blade on Tosher’s cloak.  “That’s what happens to people who stand on fences,” he said.  The rest of you, Mangler and Keylesh go and eliminate the forward guards, Duster and Knuckles kill the ranging guards, I will deal with the rear guards.  Oh, one last thing Keylesh, there is one of us in each squad,” he spoke with a grin. 

Keylesh approached Tiarah’s group with Mangler wondering which of her crew was a traitor and Tiarah did not have a clue.  She drew her short sword and let Mangler get a step ahead of her.  When Mangler stopped readying his two daggers, one in each hand, she stabbed him in the gut and slashed out his throat.  Tiarah stood ready for the attack that was about to come and was elated to see Keylesh’s brief battle, her sudden movement saved her life as Daerk attacked her pillow, spinning she saw her danger and drew her rapier and lunged catching her assailant in the throat, her pointed blade severing his spine.  There was a loud Bang in the rear of the camp that could not be mistaken for thunder.

Nerwen was lightly meditating when the watch shift changed, a few hours meditation had left her rested as well as the sleep humans and the others performed.  She had agreed that the midnight shift was the ideal time to attack and was pretending to sleep like the others.  When she saw movement headed her way, she rolled to kneeling position and drew her bow, confident that the humans would not see her in the dark, loose.  The arrow appeared to go by her first target, but a second later he crumpled soundlessly and arrow in his eye.  She drew again, ready to end the threat, when a blade came close and stabbed at her, knocking her aim awry.  Flong stood ready for battle, it occurred to her at that moment that Flong had not gotten ill from the served stew and she should have been better prepared for this.  Duster approached closer and stabbed down at the sleeping form of Ferd, but by chance the struggle with Flong had woken her up and she dodged the mortal blow and made it sub optimal, it took Duster an additional attack to finish her off.  Ferd’s scream woke her Retus and Nurl; a very large “boom” unlike thunder sounded from the end of the caravan.  Nerwen dropped her bow and swung her scimitar at Flong neatly severing his throat.  Retus woke to see Duster kill Ferd and he threw himself at Duster, they rolled around on the ground before Retus rose Duster dead, stabbed with his own blade.  Nerwen was pouring the contents of her healing potion down Param’s throat.  She coughed and sputtered but was alive.

Turlock stalked toward the group, he knew that Dirk was waiting for him and as soon as he attacked the rest of them would all die.  What dirk did not know was that his participation was going to be short lived, Dirk, Flong and Daerk would be killed as well along with Keylesh.  He would see what it was like after the battle was over, perhaps he might get to have a nice fur rug for his floor.  The sleeping form of the dwarf was just before him.  The dwarf shifted in his sleep and rolled over and his strange dwarven contraption moved in his arms, “BOOM!”, he was dazed and he could not hear a thing there was wetness on his face and the dwarf stood over him with his great axe and then nothing. 

Dirk looked over at the Captain dismembered and saw the others rising shocked, the plan was attack everyone, but it looked like Turlock was dead and he did not want to be next.  “What happened?” he yelled feigning shock and clutching his ears. 

Oloric may have said, “A serpent in the mine has met his end,” but he was not sure.

The Eye of Drogath drifted a little off the caravan, but the danger was not done.  Looking across the fields towards the Halfling village Keylesh, Tiarah, Oloric and Nerwen spotted three groups of five humans running towards the scene, the ambush that was supposed to find the guards all killed and only the drovers to butcher.  Tiarah struck up a tune and blew dust in the direction of one of the squads of humans, her sleep spell struck three and they dropped to the ground.  Nerwen and her rangers took aim and loosed their arrows, Oloric ran took a knee and fired his crossbow and then got up and charged again, Keylesh did the same.  The humans were far from the scene when they attacked, but the light of Nerwen’s Dancing Light spell, this time in four smaller lights dispersed across the field helped the humans aim.  It was a slaughter.  When Keylesh arrived on the scene she found three sleeping humans and she dispatched with no quarter, as they would have: fair turn about.  Drogath smiled upon her and blessed her for the deed.  Oloric on the other hand reached the last two sleeping forms and tied them up before waking them with a kick to the groin. 

The loss of life was minimal for the caravan, Turlock, Duster, Knuckles, Mangler, Flong and Daerk.  Tosher too was dead, assassinated by Turlock.  Thirteen attacking brigands also died and two were captured.  The dead were stripped of valuables and equipment before being piled in a heap beside the bodies of the twenty kobolds.  Oloric used some of his talent to create an effective fire-starter and set them both aflame before the journey continued.  The pall of greasy black smoke rose in a pillar a long time while they continued to the ruin.  The rest of the journey was more relaxed and yet they managed to arrive on time.  When they reached the ruin, Captain Haro was there to greet them.  He said that he was expecting Captain Turlock to be leading the caravan and that he wanted to hear the full story.  He was greatly saddened by the story, but they did have prisoners that would back up the story under scrutiny and it was then that Keylesh mentioned that there was one more traitor in Oloric’s group undiscovered.  Oloric quietly pointed out that he suspected that it might be Dirk, he was the son of a city guard and Turlock and the others were former City Guards.  Dirk broke down when confronted and he told them of a few others that were involved.  The two captured men implicated more people. 

The equipment in the caravan was unloaded and it was used to load recovered stones into the carts.  When the carts were loaded, they began their journey home.  It was a surprise that Captain Haro returned with them.  But he told them it should not have been, as there was a lot of work needed to be done in Trandle’s Stand with this conspiracy laid bare.  The surviving members of the three squads said their good-byes to Keylesh, Tiarah, Oloric, Nerwen and Dirk as they all were to stay and guard the dig.  Ferd hugged Nerwen and told her that she and her family were indebted to her and she would one day hopefully be able to repay her for saving her life, although she suspected that her father might also giver her free room and board for life.

The inquiry was short and harsh for the crew.  The Guild wished to get the full story out as fast as possible and make sure that the criminal elements in the guild were rooted out, but in interest in keeping everything quiet and avoid scrutiny of the merchants guilds, the Guild agreed it were best if the four friends were sent on a mission that would last many weeks, perhaps months.  The mission would be to explore the Ruins of Awsland, see if there if the rumours were true, that the kobold attack now nearly four months ago was aimed at that location, and if so, find out what they are looking for and find it first.  Then as an aside one of the Guildsmen suggested that they stay until they find Relic’s Legendary Treasure Vault, there was much laughter at that, but when they got their orders, that was on the list too.  Before they left, they were given some time to gather their things.  Haro met them at the gates to the city and he wished them luck on their endeavor and not to return until they had made headway on all the things on the list, but if they made no headway on the last, it would be no big deal, when Awsland fell, the stories of Relic’s Vault had already passed into myth.

There were two letters in Keylesh’s Domicile.