... there... and back again! ...
Our band continues to be...
Kalik, halfling initiate of Avoreen;
Vesper, (NPC) human fighter, henchman of Kalik;
Milik, halfling sorcerer;
Kendradell, female half-elf bard & initiate of Lydia;
Marcus, half-elf acolyte of Hieroneous;
Tarqualan, high elf mystic;
Paul Denton, human sorcerer-initiate of Boccob;
Nubo, gnome thief-psionicist;
and finally;
Piotr, suloise human mercenary.
[9th of Coldeven, 579]
After finishing off the cultists who remained behind at the roadside inn where last week's battle was fought, the group searched the bodies for loot and clues. Each cultist was discovered to own several enchanted items, not the least of which was their bound-demon weapons and armor. Of somewhat more interest was the box in which Kalik had been imprisoned, as it had a strange, magic-nullifying effect on any enchantment that was placed within itself. The same magical sight that revealed the spells and enchantments of the enemy revealed a tracing spell on Kalik, as well.
While most of the group policed the area outside, Piotr, Marcus, Tarqualan, and Kalik attempted to question their prisoner, but the prisoner refused to speak other than to insult Kalik in an attempt to get the halfling to kill him. As the balance of the knights returned from chasing down those cultists who had fled on horseback, the party were themselves preparing to return to Lord Nondain's keep and turn their prisoner over to local authorities.
Once back at the keep, Tarqualan dispelled the reflective magics that protected their charge and placed him under his control, forcing him to answer the questions put to him. While only a minor cultist, he revealed that there had been a ceremony performed on Kalik that placed a number of cloaked spells on his person, some of which seemed almost useful (it seemed that Kalik was currently under the effect of spells that would reflect both spells and missiles cast in his direction... at least, sometimes). Under the Lord's advice, the group returned to Critwall to visit the temple of Boccob there, as they were the most likely folk able to remove the spells from Kalik safely.
Once back in the city, the group took Kalik to the Uncaring One's Temple where the High Priest revealed that over sixteen separate spells currently affected the noble halfling, most placed between layers of spells designed to defeat detection and/or removal. For a price, however, those spells could be removed...
After digging deeply into their pockets, and seeing their friend freed
of the spells he was carrying, the High Priest further offered to trade
his knowledge of the sword the halfling bore (the Sword of Nogre) in exchange
for the null-magic box. With the pieces of the puzzle that he provided,
Kendradell recalled the story of the Eye of Argoreth, a sword given by
early Suloise settlers to the halflings of the Good Hills region of her
homeland, and no sooner was the name of the sword spoken aloud than the
sapphire at the end of the hilt began to softly glow... as the night wore
on, Kendradell remembered more and more of the songs
that were sung of it, until nearly all of the legendary properties
of the sword were known....
The next day the group rode for the border, crossing the Ritensa and riding west, avoiding patrols and border guards. Two days into their journey they took shelter at a small inn, but were awoken late in the night by the sound of horses and then hobgoblins making free reign downstairs. Kendradell, too curious for her own good, disregarded the voice from the shadows that bade her return to her bed, and went downstairs, quickly catching the eye of the hobgoblin's leader, who called for her to join him at his table...
Marcus, who had started armoring himself as soon as he heard the riders
crash their way into the inn sped down the stairs and interposed himself
between the leader's goons and Kendradell. The situation might have been
salvaged (okay, it's a big might, but still...) had not Nubo elected to
psionically attack the leader from his bedroll on the far side of the common
room. As their leader stepped away from Marcus with a curse and drawn steel,
his troops drew steel themselves, and almost as one they
chanted a battle spell to enhance their weapons before attacking those
members of the group they could see...
Most of the hobgoblins clustered around Marcus, seeking to bring the
most obvious threat down quickly. Two others, however, struck at Paul who
had taken a position near the bar, and with a sickening thunk, the second
soldier's sword cleaved deeply into Paul's thigh, severing his leg in two!
As the rest of the group flowed downstairs or came off their pallets in
the common room, it became short work before the hobgoblin soldiers were
all slain. It was only afterwards that the group realized what they'd done...
in these lands, hobgoblins served as the local garrison, and it was almost
assured that the innkeeper and his family
would lose their lives for sheltering anyone who brought harm to them.
So, after pooling what little cash they still had among them, it was decided that they would take the hobgoblin's horses and escort the innkeeper and his family back out across the border into the Shield Lands, and help them start a new, hopefully better life. To help cover their tracks, the put the inn and the hobgoblins to the torch, and watched as the rest of the townspeople scattered into the countryside. The party made their way back to Critwall again, only to learn that it would take more than a year for Paul's leg to be regrown, time they did not have to wait. Much to their surprise they soon encountered their (former) dwarven companion, Talon, who claimed that after parting company with them in Willip two months prior, he had been haunted by the dreams that had caused him to seek their company in the first place.
Thus reinforced, they rode once more for the border, and snuck across again, only this time further north. After three days, they passed a caravan of slaves being driven north to Molag (some of whom they might have recognized, had they spent more time in that town they'd fought in), and three more days brought them within sighting distance of the fortress of Vastan, and the town it protected. Ringing the town in all directions sat a vast number of tents, with pennants flying; it would seem that the Hosts were gathering for war...
[26th of Coldeven, 579]