Over the course of a week in town (April 16-21 NR 707), Malachy spent a good amount of time wandering the farmland surrounding Linden, meditating on the strange feelings he was having. Dreams and visions led him to fashion a bear totem, which will allow him to channel the strength of a bear. Niam (the Rogue) snuck off and was gone for most of the week. We are not quite sure where he went. Duncan the wizard, who had teleported away with Alissara (the elven wizard from Fulcher's Band) returned to Linden. When asked where he had been, he told a tale of having been in a magical school where he was tutored by a number of different mages. He was not told of the location of where he had been, and after having passed his tests at the end of his training, returned to Fulcher's Hold with Alissara. Melior (the NPC druid), Badric (the dwarven cleric) and Mordecai (the NPC fighter) spent the time repairing equipment, valuing the group's accumulated treasure, buying supplies, and investigating the area. Days and hours spent wandering the Shearingvale served to fill in their map of the settled area (which is now complete - see below).
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| The Shearingvale (maps in Hexographer - 1 mile hexes) |
When finished their training, the party elected to remain one last night in Linden before beginning the journey back to Castle Langborne the next morning. As they were heading to the Linden Inn for dinner, they were intercepted by Rolan of Wegley, the Sentinel Ranger that they had met briefly in Shimmermere. Rolan extended an invitation to dinner and drinks at the villa of a local noble, Cyric Graymantle. He advised that they would be wise to accept, as Cyric was one of the main behind-the-scenes political powers in the Shearingvale.
Arriving at Cyric's villa outside of town, the party was invited in to what would be, by the standards of a frontier town, a fairly opulent dining room and study, and was provided with an assortment of delicacies, drinks and dinner. In addition to Rolan, the party was introduced to Martek of Olmsby (an older man, Olmsby's representative to the Vale Council), Constable Terrill of Linden, and Cyric Graymantle himself. The gist of the dinner conversation seemed to be Cyric expressing concern over the long term intentions of Fulcher and his band, and not-so-subtly asking the party to spy on Fulcher for him.
After a cordial dinner, Rolan walked back to Linden with the party. He advised that whatever course of action they chose, they should be careful not to attract the ire of Cyric, as he was very influential in town (and had the constable in his pocket). Rolan was also able to tell the party of his own adventures in the area, which for the most part consisted of wandering the Silver Hills and keeping an eye on the increasing ogre threat. He was able to tell them the following: Ogres are typically encountered singly or in small family units, but the ogres in the western Silver Hills had entire villages, and numbered in the hundreds in total. He believed that they were being encountered more in the eastern end of the hills due to the fact that the town of Turil (located south of the central Silver Hills) was actively hiring mercenaries to deal with the ogres, thus forcing them east into new hunting grounds.
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| Turil, Linden and environs (maps in Hexographer - 6 mile hexes) |
Monday April 22, NR 707, the party leaves Linden for Castle Langborne. Rather than retrace their previous route through Shimmermere and the eastern Silver Hills, they elect to head due north, traveling through the gap between the Silver Hills and Shadowveil Forest (and expanding their knowledge of the area). The first night they camp in the open plains east of the Hills.
Tuesday April 23, the party continues north/northwest between the hills and a marshy lake to the east, following the traces of an old Onorian road, nearing the cluster of hills that contains Castle Langborne. The party is setting up camp when Mordecai notices three ogres sneaking up along the edge of a wooded patch. The ensuing fight is quick but tough. Mordecai, Malachy and Badric form the front line, while Duncan casts very effective spells from behind their protection (Witch Bolt specifically). Niam (the rogue) gets into a bit of trouble after having engaged the rearmost ogre in a sneak attack from behind, but is aided by Melior the druid, who shape shifts into a great black bear and takes down the ogre. The remainder of the night is uneventful.
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| Olmsby to Castle Langborne (in Hexographer - 1 mile hexes) |
Wednesday April 24, the party arrives back at Castle Langborne, entering the valley (again) from the east. Spread out before them in the shallow bowl of the valley, they can see the ruins of the old Onorian town of Maransa. To the northwest, the imposing edifice that is Castle Langborne clings to the side of a large hill. The old town is marked by the remnants of old stone walls and foundations. At the far western edge of town there are a number of intact buildings. To the southwest are the ruins of a squat pyramidal shaped structure. Other landmarks of potential interest, their exact nature unknown, dot the old town.
After a brief discussion, the party decides that Mordecai, Badric and Melior will search some of the near (eastern) ruins as Duncan, Malachy and Niam head for the pyramid structure (guessing it to be the temple that Eustace the Sage told them about). In the very first building ruin, out of hundreds available to search (!!!!!!), Mordecai found an old crumbling stone stairway leading down into the darkness. The other party members were called back to discuss what to do next.
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| Ruins of the Onorian town of Maransa |
Next time...Down the stairs or not yet?
The Sage's Commentary - This was an interesting session [3/29/15]. We have had a lot of trouble getting a quorum of players, which is why the sessions have been (distressingly) far apart. Not anybody's fault of course, but schedules are what they are, and it has been tough. In the interests of expanding our player base, and therefore hopefully making it easier to get games together in the future, we had two new players for this session, to complement two of our four Old Guard. Actually, three new players, if you count that "one" of our new players was actually a father/daughter team playing one of our NPCs.
Things went well. One of our new players had played last in 7th grade (according to his wife), but seemed to enjoy it and have a good time. Our father/daughter combo also had a great time, and seem eager to play again. I knew the daughter would like it, but to my pleasant surprise, her dad did too. This bodes well for the future, and didn't seem to phase our Old Guard at all. Excellent.
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