An untamed frontier. Dark cults. Fickle fey gods. Ravenous fiends. Nothing black powder and sorcery won't fix... . Timberlands Campaign Diary
After a handful of days, life around the Convent of Quiet Grace was getting back to normal. Though, in truth, it would take the area a long time to heal from the siege of dark fey. The heroes got a well-deserved rest and constant praise from the common folk throughout the valley. As more travelers arrived to the convent, expecting there to be a harvest festival well underway, the variety of wares for sales increased. Likewise, the surviving locals pooled together their resources and under the patronage of the convent worked on arming themselves. After all, there were dozens of Lesionnaire soldiers and their allies unaccounted for. The party took this time to sell off a good deal of the pistols and muskets they’d gathered over the last few months as well as spare armors and other items. The champions quickly found themselves with a large chunk of gold to spend.
As the party moved through the various vendors and small encampments, they first found the weapons-trader passing through had a fine variety of mundane items, but most of the magical wares were still outside their price range. However, the changeling dervish Riley did pick up a set of enchanted darts made from stained-glass shards. While browsing the party was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a blink dog holding an envelope in its mouth. The fey animal was in service of a magical delivery services, Twigs and Springs, that utilized blink dogs as couriers under the command of Ebon Court fairies. The missive was from their one-time employer, Alram Coldblade of the Second Horizon Expedition Company. The satyr hoped that their travel had gone well and informed them that the investigation of the ruined ziggurat (Session 3 and 4) had gone well. The baroness of Reinhard Rise had expressed interest in sponsoring a colony based at the ziggurat and a survey of the surrounding area. Alram let the party know that when they returned he’d have work for then and likewise another contractor for Second Horizon, an agrothier named Ea, would be looking for them at the Convent of Quite Grace.
The assembled heroes were glad to have another member as both their nature cleric Eshkar and their bard Gwaedd planned on staying at the convent for some time. The two wished to tend to the wounded still healing and help shore up the defenses. Two noble goes, but it meant the bearfolk and otterfolk would be homebound for some time.
The heroes made their way to a jeweler, Dethra Goldman, and browsed her inventory. Dethra had a few basic runestones, but the party’s alley Arvantel the elven runesmith would be able to make other runestones from her inventory. While discussing with Arvantel what stones needed to be made and negotiating with Dethra, another blink dog appeared with a second message for the champions. This was from their companion Orym. The half-orc gunslinger had arrived at the western edge of the Congressional Colonies; Esker Keep. There he’d learned that another fey host was systematically exterminating the free Loga Orcs further west and that the greenskin refugees were trickling into Esker Keep. Orym suspected this too was the work of the waning court. Alas, it would take two to three weeks to reach the other side of the frontier if all went well. Likewise, the heroes had already agreed to stay and defend Hillsbrook Valley and the surrounding area. They could only pray that their friend would be alright.
After finalizing what gems they’d need, the heroes moved on to Sixfingers and Co., a goblin vendor of wondrous items. They chatted with Sey Sixfingers for a while and ended up picking up a few goods. Again, Riley walked away with a magical item; this being a tiara that was not only suited the changeling but could case mirror image. Sykes, the rogue, picked up a few common magical items including a tankard of sobriety since her companions had a bad habit of drinking too much. Wild, the tabaxi ranger, picked up a small cauldron that when cooking eggs displayed a map of the surrounding area. They moved onto a roving spellsmith, but noted first that the Widow Sunna and her Mourning Glory Trading Company had arrived in the area. The Widow looked a bit worse for wear. However, Siegfried the satyr mage she had a connection with, had traveled some to work on his magical studies.
The party had been asking after news of Inniscrone as they moved from shop to shop. They intended to head to the village and recruit the famed smith there, Gerwald Knapp. However, no one had come that way in some time. Their inquires paid off, though, as they were directed to a trader who arrived wounded that morning. The trader related that he and his brother had come down from Inniscrone a few days ago and ran across dead mercenaries on the side of the road. The swords in the mercs’ guts pulled themselves free and attacked the pair. The trader was able to escape, but his bother was killed. The trader noted that the swords were stamped with a stylized GK on the pommel. This matched the stamp on some items the party found at a strange roadside carnage previously. It seemed that they had quite a bit to speak to Gerwald Knapp about. The party’s inquiries caught the attention of a half-orc arbalist, Peregrine, who introduced himself to the heroes and requested that he could travel with them. Peregrine had his own questions that needed answering in that village. The heroes readily agreed and no sooner than the bargain was struck than they were found by Ea, an agrotheir wizard. The bearfolk’s common was unsteady, but he wanted to accompany the champions on their adventures on the recommendation of Alram Coldblade. The heroes were glad to accept him into the fold.
The heroes spent some time chatting with the spellsmith, an elf named Ysemea Starfall. She had a variety of charms and potions for sale. The elf was also able to recharge Wild’s owl-polymorph tattoo. With their shopping done, the heroes went and found the elf druid Aryia. They’d previously agreed to help her track down a Corpseshoes herd so Aryia could find out what was transforming the valley’s horses into the undead-like terrors. Not before, however, a final blink dog delivery came for Sykes directly. The letter given was old, stained, and brittle. It turned out to be an assassin’s mark for a tax collector, Wren Holdfast. Sykes frowned, as she’d planned to not pursue her forgotten past as a hired killer. After Sykes paid a fond farewell to Arvental and Wild to the tabaxi artificer Moon, the heroes knew where such a heard was on the otherwise of Hillsbrook’s central hills and headed off in that direction.
However, as they neared the mild peaks, Wild detected the presence of fey. Worried, the heroes skulked along and discovered a mine that had been overrun by at least a dozen lesionnaires and Bilge Cats. It appeared that the lesser fey were planning on using it as a base to conduct bandit raids. This would not stand. The champions stormed the encampment and cut through a great deal of the fey forces before they could respond. Peregrine and Wild playfully vied for which was the best archer. Sykes sliced and diced from hiding, and Ea showed just how potent his war magic was. However, Riley was overcome by the foulness of the lesionnaires and surrounded. If that was not bad enough, an advanced Honeycombed Horror
burst from the mine’s entrance. Glutted on the bodies of dozens of the minors, the ooze swallowed the stunned Riley and then Sykes. It smashed into the other heroes with its pseudopods but thankfully was put down before either of those enrobed in its foulness perished. The heroes worried about what other devious plans the other pockets of lesionnaires might be up to.
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