Malthir lifts the sword, once again whole glowing with magic. This time the blade will be used for good. A weapon to forge peace and defend those who can not defend themselves. This blade shall now be known as "Liberator"!
Venturing out again on the 8th of Abadius, you are met with smiles and well wishes from the inhabitants of Swordhaven that you pass, as well as a fair amount of patriotic offers from young men and women to help you to "tame the wilderness". The unrest stirred up by Grigori already seems to be a distant memory, and the community appears to be rather close knit again; with smaller sub-communities being led by Jhod's clergy and occasionally a cleric of Iomedae; they are becoming a little more frequent in your capital and they seem to have grudgingly accepted the role of leaders that the majority of the Erastil worshipping citizens expects of its clerics.
Riding out of the capital, you ride for a few hours south-west. You had decided to pay a visit to the Old Beldame to exchange niceties and test the waters for her becoming the kingdom's Magister- but upon arriving at her small swamp it is clear that something is amiss. Her small hut is barely standing upright, clearly having been attacked with great force, and on the path leading up to her home you can see signs of battle- particularily areas where the flora has been burnt. You also make out small bits of trollflesh, still twitching upon the ground but not having enough left to reform. The Old Beldame's guardian scarecrow lies broken and shattered by the window of the hut, its headless body leaning against the building.
Malthir immediately dismounts, draws liberator, and heads for the inside of the hut to see if the Beldame is within!
The hut is in shambles, and creaks onimously as you enter. The Old Beldame's body has been pinned to the roof by a large sized spear- and her blood has pooled around the floor of the chamber, coating it in a dry red. A message has been scrawled upon the wall of the hut, clearly in the Beldame's blood.
Casimir follows Malthir into the hut, sword drawn and ready. Upon witnessing the carnage and the body of Beldame, his face tightens into a mask of cold rage.
This Hargulka is rapidly moving up on my list of vermin in need of extermination. It seems we must teach him a stronger lesson than a few dead trolls and wolves. Because this will not go unanswered.
After removing the body of Beldame from the roof, Casimir searches the hut.
Casimir follows Malthir into the hut, sword drawn and ready. Upon witnessing the carnage and the body of Beldame, his face tightens into a mask of cold rage.
This Hargulka is rapidly moving up on my list of vermin in need of extermination. It seems we must teach him a stronger lesson than a few dead trolls and wolves. Because this will not go unanswered.
After removing the body of Beldame from the roof, Casimir searches the hut.
Today is a sad day my friends. She may not have been our ally but she deserved better than this, as do all free citizens that live in the GreenBelt. It looks like we can no longer sit idly by. Our people rely upon us for their protection. I think we should make sure that the Lizard folk are not allying themselves with this Hargulka and then move west from Swordhaven. If we find them, we still can't fight them head on, but we can at least keep them busy with us and not out raiding our people!
Malthir pulls the spear out and carries her out to bury in her garden.
Lady Beldame, you shall be one of the last to die because of our inaction. We will stop them or die trying...
"Looks like we need to field new candidates for Magister. Perhaps Kalev could search for tracks and determine where they came from?"
The tracks will probably lead back into the woods, where we are headed after we visit the Lizard Folk unless you all want to go after the Trolls now? I was just thinking to elimate any other potential allies before tackling our toughest foe.
I agree, Malthir. Divide and conquer. If the Lizardfolk are already allied with the trolls, we need to break up that alliance, and if they are not, then we must try and sway them to our side - or at least neutrality.
"And if the Lizardfolk have been approached by the trolls, they might know where they are operating from."
Fenna manages to spot that although the Old Beldame's hut seems to have been well looted, the trolls clearly missed a small metal box hidden under her bed. Inside the box are 305 copper pieces, 378 silver pieces, 433 gold pieces and 104 platinum pieces- as well as a single scroll.
The scroll is Legend Lore (Sorceror/Wizard). Bear in mind that even with the scroll, the spell has expensive focuses that must be bought (although the more expensive material component of incense has been included in the scroll crafting).
Sounds good, we head south to the Lazrd folk after burying the Old Beldame in her garden.
While the others are busy examining the hut, Kalev starts looking for tracks of the trolls in the surroundings.
You begin to look for tracks, and by the time the group are finished burying the Old Beldame, you have come to several conclusions. The tracks of seven troll's lead into the swamp, with the tracks of five trolls leaving the swamp again afterwards. You estimate they were here a little under a week ago, and they made no efforts to hide their tracks. Alarmingly, one set of tracks (although still from a troll you think) has footprints three times the size of the other troll footprints; and another set of footprints is incredibly heavy set, as though the troll weighed much more than its fellows. From the general stumbling the tracks indicate, you estimate that they attacked at night. The tracks out of the swamp lead south-west.
You also find another set of tracks, of a crowd of thirty or so humanoids. It appears they stood in one place near the Beldame's window for some time, before returning to Swordhaven. These tracks are much older than the troll's and you barely spotted them.
You also find another set of tracks, a single pair of boot tracks that lead in and out of the swamp again. These tracks came from and head back towards Swordhaven, about the same time period when the troll's attacked.
Spellcraft 1d20+15
"I will need to examine this later to identify the scroll. It is a spell of some sort, but its classification eludes me..."
May I see that for a moment, Ilya? Perhaps I can shed some light on what spell hides inside.
Casimir takes the scroll from Ilya and unrolls it. He retrives a crystal from his pouch, mutters Arcane Insight, and quickly scans the magic symbols.
Ah, the spell is Legend Lore, a powerful divination spell. Both Ilya and I should be able to cast it, although it may take a bit of preparation. The scroll can be used to cast the spell directly, but perhaps Ilya would like to add the spell to his spellbook. That way, we can use it more than once, and even make new scrolls, if need be.
Assumes that Kalev shares the information, talking with Fenna and the rest of the Guardians on the ride to the Lizards,
It may be that someone from SwordHaven is in league with this Hargulka. These tracks bother me and there is the fact of this troublemaker who seemed to know so much about our business. Fenna, you have told me that your ability to see things had re-awakened. I have seen it affect you as well though. Do you think that the next time we rest in SwordHaven that you could use it to try and find out any information about this possible traitor? Even a few clues might help us to find out this person's identity.
"I would be happy to check my old prophecies for anything related to a traitor amongst our people." Fenna replies, "I am not so sure that such a traitor exists though. Perhaps it is merely wishful thinking, but it may be those tracks simply belong to a group of over-enthusiastic believers in Grigori's sentiments towards the poor woman, who had gone to confront her about the missing boy. Hopefully it was unrelated to the troll attack."
Kalev shares his finding and adds, I think it is safe to assume the person who left the single set of tracks is from Swordhaven and that he doesn't mean well. It could be those of Grigori, I guess, or perhaps someone in league with him. As for the troll tracks, one of them looks to be the size of a giant. I fear we'd not be able to defeat him at this stage. So either we should go to the lizardmen village or scout out the troll's base without engaging them...if possible...
+1
Hex -
Hex-
????-
Kalev follows the tracks until its becomes clear the troll's simply followed the shoreline to get to the Old Beldame's and followed it to get back too. You've crossed into the next hex south-west and the next hex to the west, and you've just passed the mouth of the Murque River; aptly named as its more of a swamp than a river in all honesty. The chill of the winter months is upon you and your horses, and you can all feel the bite of the cold chill upon you as evening begins to descend. The swamp river has also felt the effects it appears, as much of it has frosted over.
It also appears that you have found the lizardfolk tribe- the troll's tracks become lost in swamp and ice, but you are about half a kilometre from what seems to be a fortified, muddy island of land in the middle of the river, currently accessible by the river mostly freezing over. A low, muddy hummock protrudes from the middle of the widening river, surrounded by a palisade of outward facing, sharpened wooden stakes. Inside, tendrils of smoke rise from a handful of mounds (essentially huts of mud with fur petl doors) clustered around a single larger mound. A simple wooden gate on the eastern side appears to be the only entrance to the fortified island. Ths island appears to be about 150 feet in diameter, sitting only ten feet or so above the surface of the water lapping around it. The north and south banks of the river lie about fifty feet from either end of the island.
Assuming it is getting dark since it is winter....Can Lizardfolk see in the dark? Malthir asks the Guardians, If so we should back off a few hundred yards, wait until morning, and then approach to see if we can parley.
Casimir regards the fortified village with a mixture of apprehension and amusement.
So...now what....knock on the front gate and see who opens? In any event, better keep your weapons holstered. We are here to negotiate, after all.
Edit:
"Perhaps not horse meat," Fenna interjects, "but perhaps we could take some time to hunt some wild game tonight that we could offer to them in the morning."
"Perhaps not horse meat," Fenna interjects, "but perhaps we could take some time to hunt some wild game tonight that we could offer to them in the morning."
It can't hurt but if they are allied with the Trolls it won't matter. We will back Kalev up and go hunting in the morning (probably easier than bumbling around in the dark for everyone except for Kalev) for something fresh, maybe boar or similar to bring as a tribute and approach the gate in the morning if we are successful.
Parlaying is definitely the only real option and I shall gladly go hunting for some token of friendship. I must admit my knowledge of lizardfolk is quite limited, but I think we should assume they can see in the dark, as they seem more "animal" than humanoid, and most animals have keen senses.
Well if we do need to get the gate open because parlaying doesn't work, I suggest that we turn Kalev invisible, have him sneak over the wall and open the gate while we charge in on horseback. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Lizardfolk tend to be in decline over Golarion as they are somewhat simple compared to the rush of civilisation. They don't tend to be evil, but they view meat as meat regardless of the source: if they had found Tig on his wanderings its likely he met a grisly fate. They tend to favour simple hunting weapons such as morningstars and javelins- and most don't speak the common tongue, only speaking Draconic.
You set up camp at the base of a small hill near the island, providing you good cover from them in case they thought to look out past the river for prey. While you are on watch you can all see bright, floating lights from Candlemere Island, mostly floating over the isle or circling the ruins.
You believe or have heard that the floating lights are will o' wisps- powerful, evil abberations of air that feed from the fear of their victims.
Ilya, on your watch you can hear panicked shouting coming from the river, not far from your camp. It is a female voice-
Help! Oh gods, somebody help me, its so cold! I can't get out! Heeeelp!
Before Ilya can rush off, Casimir lays a restraining hand on his shoulder.
Careful, Ilya. It could easily be a trap. We will investigate, but to rush heedlessly out into the night would be foolish. Let's make sure we are all ready, and then move out with due precaution.