July 4, Thursday (cont.) - Standing in the clearing in the woods, in the aftermath of the fight in which they defeated 6 gnolls and saved a young treant named Birchlock, the party paused to rest and regroup. Investigating the area, they found two paths out of the clearing (other than the way they came in from the north); one to the southwest that was the path Rogan had them on in order to get to the ruins of Kristovaria, and another to the southeast. There were easy to find tracks showing that the gnolls had come up the southeast trail.
After a brief discussion, the party elected to continue on their original path, but to camp for the night first.
July 5, Friday - The party head south from the clearing and within another couple of miles came to the ruins. Hearing voices nearby, Niam (the rogue) creeps into the ruins and spies out a handful of armed men and another bunch of captives. Setting up a successful surprise attack, the party is able to overpower the band of thugs, killing everyone except the leader, who is charmed and captured alive. 12 more captives are saved from being sold into slavery.
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| Ruins of Kristovaria (Hexographer, 1 mile scale) |
The party interrogates the captured leader, Baldur Kersk, who proves to be a mercenary warrior from the city of Turil. Kersk claims that he was hired by an unidentified man while staying at the Laughing Goblin Tavern in the Wagontown section of the city. He was paid to capture and deliver 50 healthy people to the lizardmen in the caverns near the ruins. These were to be spread over 4 different groups so as to raise less alarm. This was the last of the 4 groups. Kersk is able to provide a detailed description of the man who hired him (who has some distinctive features). Kersk also begs for his life, and says that he has 325 gold pieces hidden in his quarters at the Slanted Shingle Inn in Turil, which he will give to the group for letting him live.
Following a brief discussion, the group decides that they will go to Turil and hunt down the man who hired Kersk, returning the captives to safety along the way.
The large group moves south from Kristovaria, coming out the far side of the forest, stopping after a half dozen miles or so to camp near the shores of a small lake.
While making camp, the group is attacked by two giant-sized monstrosities. The monsters are killed after a bloody fight, and the party settles down for the night.
GM Commentary - This is a session where my prep work and the path the party chose to take diverged completely. I fully expected the party to choose to follow the gnoll tracks to the southeast, which would have set them on a course to spend several sessions playing out the "evil in the Greenreach" story arc. I had prepped the next bunch of that arc. I hadn't really prepped much for actually getting to Kristovaria, because I didn't think they would choose that. Much of what happened at Kristovaria, with more captives in the presence of the bandits, in the process of being prepared to be sold to the lizardmen, was improvised. That improvisation was intended to be a short interlude, after which I figured the group would choose to deal with the evil in the woods. As things played out, the group was interested in tracking down the people responsible for these slavers. So off to Turil we went. Go figure. [Reviewing my session prep notes for sessions 24 and 25, there is no mention of anything that happened subsequently, that only occurs in the session 26 prep notes when I knew we were on a new track...]
This ended up being a key decision point in the campaign. Coupled with choices the party would make in the next session (#26), this ended up setting the course we are still on as I write this far after the fact (following session 36 in January 2017).
