"He glares at you with crossed eyes....damnit, narrowed eyes!"
Fulfilling their promise to Ontharr Frume, the party are now part of a trade caravan heading North to Waterdeep. So far, it's been equal amounts of quiet and crazy - can it continue? You bet it can! Bring on the Caravan of Love!
Starring, in order they sit around the table:
Nyvan, (played by Jason) a elven knight who knows nothing about the various speeds of a moving horse, and likes to punctuate successful rolls with "Screw you, DM!" and various other death-inducing comments.
Venmir, (played by Brett) an elven clergyman, the worst liar in the party, also known as Kindelf - cos he's a big fanny.
Sigurd, (played by Iain) a travelling swordsman, who disappeared for mysterious reasons (not here last week) and probably wishes he'd stayed away....
Rodin, (played by Lorne) the battered and sullen dwarven axeman, and master horseman - no, not really, he's like a sack of spuds balancing on the back of rhinocerous.
Nandrim, (played by Hilton), the ridiculously brave elf mage who has a tendency to leave his employers dead.
and The DM, (played by Alex), who loves to comment in blue. And writes this blog. He's also a bit of a git and likes to make life difficult for his players.
Back to our full squad this week, the party were warned beforehand to expect a lot of roleplay, but not to expect a peaceful time....hehehehe
The party found themselves travelling north on the trade road, a seemingly endless trip, the days are long and boring. The nights are spent around their campfires, after hunting for some, wagon repairs for others, and boredom for everyone.
After a few days of travel, the party were alerted by a presence of a large herd of deer near the side of the road. Venmir set forth in pursuit, eager to supplement their diets which had, until now, mainly consisted of rabbit.
As he and two other hunters drew nearer, they noticed that the lead stag was golden fleeced! Venmir counselled them against stalking it, but one of them ran back to the caravan to get help, while Venmir followed the other man who was keen to kill the beast. The others, alerted by the hunter running back to camp, followed the man out. When they realised it was a golden stag, Sigurd let forth a prophesy, warning the hunters that the stag was blessed and its death would lead to a curse. All but one fell for his masterful performance.
The remaining hunter charged off after the stag. By the time Venmir, Sigurd and Nandrin had caught him, he was sighting the stag with his bow and preparing to fire. Horrified, they tried to stop him and Nandrin's sleep spell struck moments too late - but luckily the hunter missed and the stag survived. As they watched, the stag seemed to beckon them onwards and they followed the beast to a ruined tower, where it first tried to speak with them in an unknown tongue, and then followed-up in Elvish, much to Sigurd's disgust.
It said, "Follow the River of Gold, until you reach the Castle in the Sky. Your path will be filled with hardship and blood. Not all will survive." and with that, it pawed the ground in front if it, nodding to Venmir, and then slowly faded from view. Venmir examined the ground and found a fabulously carved elven longbow which he took for himself.
A little spooked, but also emboldened by the appearance, they returned to the caravan stopping only momentarily to awaken the man who had been struck asleep by Nandrin's ensorcelments.
The next few days were only made poignant by the elven merchant who accosted Sigurd incessantly about buying his lute, before the swordsman made his point very clear and she left him alone. He slept with his lute in his arms from that night forward.
Before a few more days had passed, the party found themselves approaching a battle as half a mile ahead of them they could see a set of wagons with many figures around them, and the soundsof battle carrying across the hills. Nandrin and Sigurd charged forward. The others followed at a more sedate pace.
By the time the others had arrived, Sigurd and Nandrin were embroiled in a fight for their lives. Half a dozen hobgoblins, including their massive chieftain, were smashing away at a set of wagons, and turned their attentions to the two companions. Although some were downed, the massive Chieftain was smashing Sigurd into little bits before the three girl-adventurers turned up and gave some assistance. Despite many convoluted reasons behind their slow reaction, it was quite clear to Sigurd and Nandrin (and the DM) that they were just big fat cowards.
A week later, the caravan halted when a human head was spotted in the middle of the road. Sigurd, his skald-sense tingling, screamed at the caravan to prepare for an ambush. However, no ambush came. Nandrin, his usual brave self, charged to teh top of a nearby rise to look for danger. He saw none and told the others so, before approaching the head. As he got closer, he realised it a was a man, alive, buried to the neck!
Sigurd was puzzled and watched as Nandrin began digging the man up. What started a s a simple humanitarian exercise soon dragged on and, as Nandrin further uncovered the man, he noticed he had a Harper tattoo on his arm. Nandrin showed the man his lucky charm and they hit it off. Turns out he was a Harper agent trying to find out where the cultists were taking their loot, but he'd been caught by the last group and left to die by the merchants of the caravan, who were mislead into believing he was conspiring with bandits.
Sigurd arrived and the man fell silent. "He's with us" promised Nandrin as he slyly winked at Sigurd. The man followed them back to their fire and settled down for a long night of rest.
They awoke the next day to find the man gone, along with Nandrin's spare equipment, one of his daggers and a horse belonging to the bad-tempered nobleman who accused just about everyone of stealing it. His loud accusations were met with large amounts of disdain and Venmir checking his bag for the missing horse, and Nandrin looking under a large rock. The nobleman stomped off in disgust, to derisory laughter from the group.
A few days later, the party erach daggerford, but kept their trip short - the caravan barely stopped to ensure that none of the guards ran off and disappeared drunk and stuck fast to a whore. Even Rodin was forced to abstain. His anger was legendary.
It was not long after they left Daggerford that Nyvan noticed one of the cultist guards watching him with crossed eyes (turns out they were narrowed, but the Marty Feldman comparison was too quick and the moment was lost). The caravan was joined by Jemna Gleamsilver, a gnome, and a large strangely dressed human, who somehow managed to buy a seat on one of the cultists wagons. Strange indeed.
Nyvan did his best to hide, but his role in the camp was too high profile, and he continually kept finding their eyes on him (not literally, that would be gross).
The next day, the wagons set off. Within minutes, Nyvan's employer's wagon burst an axle, flinging both the merchant and his teamster into a mass of panicking horses. The sreams were terrifying and despite the best efforts of Nyvan and his men, by the time the horses were calmed, both the merchant and the wagoneer were dead, trampled to death. If Nyvan had decided to ride the wagon that morning...
They divided the cargo up among the other merchants, promising to sell the exotic birds and give the money to the merchant's family. They continued their trip. The other guards, spooked, thought they might be cursed, by Nyvan allayed their fears, promising they would be paid for their efforts.
The next morning, Nyvan found one of his guards dead, his throat cut. He fumed and stomped, but there was no evidence to prove anything - but he was certain the cultists were to blame. The one who has glared at him was now smiling. Sigurd made himself invisible by way of his similarbutnotquitebardic magic and despite his eavesdropping, could ge no more information. It did lead to a hugely entertaining discussion about how to make a horse invisible and get from one campfire to another. In the end, it didn't happen.
The party slept restlessly that night...
No comments:
Post a Comment