As soon as we get this on...umph...we should check it out and make sure no one is in trouble. It doesn't sound very natural.
"I cannot find any meaning within the howls, so I can only conclude that whatever these creatures are, they are no ordinary animals," Fenna says, adjusting her stylised breastplate and gathering up her buckler.
By the time Ricter has his armour finally on, the howling seems to have stopped.
Since we are all up we might as well go and investigate what was making all of that racket...
I do posess an elixir which grants me superior night vision the equivalent of Kalev's... And I have recently mastered magical flight. Add to that my way ability to vanish and... Kid offers.
"I'm reluctant to take all this off again without getting hit at least once. It's at least worth Kip investigating why they're not speaking...erm...normal wolf language"
Go, but be careful and don't do anything heroic...or foolish..., Kalev says.
"I think we should all move out together. Kip flying ahead to scout is a good idea, but he should be careful not to get too far away from us."
Kip consumes his potion and acts as a deathly silent, flying scout for the land-based group. The group's land speed is a lot slower than Kip's magical flight so he finds himself getting slowly further and further from the group despite the occasional check in. You travel for a little under half an hour in the direction of the howls through the hills of the Kamelands. Although Kalev makes use of his ability to see in the dark to guide the group, magical light is nevertheless used as a beacon to allow Kip to find you again.
Towards the end of your third spell of flight, you finally come across something as you soar over the hills. A small wagon, ransacked and with bodies lying around it. Your 60 feet above ground and the details are a little vague from this distance, but you see no signs of movement.
Kip momentarily circles the wagon from high above looking for signs of what may have caused the carnage below. Kip then produces a single coin from his purse and casts light upon it before dropping it near the wagon and the bodies. He then casts vanish before descending half the way to the ground for a better look . He then casts ghost sound to create the illusion of his voice asking I am here to help! Is anyone still alive? Call to me if you are! emanating from somewhere near the coin. If this still has not revealed anything new... Kip will consider casting a silent image of himself appearing upon the ground near the coin or perhaps mage hand to move some object as if being picked up by an invisible halfing sorcerer. :)
Your dropped coin of light illuminates the area, though there is absolutely no reaction to your illusionary sound.
You do have a better look at what seemed to have happened though. The wagon itself is in fact a small carriage, the doors torn off. Several men-at-arms lay dead and worse, recently fed on judging from the vicious teeth marks and gore scattered over the area. One of the fallen men stands out from the guards around him, mostly based on the shreds of purple fabric that still adorn him. You can see an ornate, gold emblazoned like a coat of arms upon what is left of his cloak.
Kip hasn't reported back in a while as you trudge through the hills, but a fair distance ahead you can make out a light source appear.
Move quickly but cautiously towards it, Ricter and I in the front.
"That light could be a signal for help. We should pick up the pace. And if it's a trap...sometimes valor is the better part of discretion"
"That isn't quite the way I remember the phrase," Fenna comments to Ricter, "but still, we should hurry in case Kip is in trouble."
Kip looks to the distance trying to judge how long it will take the speck of light that is the other Guardians to reach him.
As his illusory voice continues to cut through the eerie silence below, Kip concentrates for a moment to detect the presence or absence of magical auras in the area...
The whole scene is rather unpleasant. The bodies have been fed on and many torn limb from limb. You doubt you'd be able to recognise any of the men even if you got close enough to have a decent look.
As a speck of light looming in the distance, you have very little way of accurately estimating how long until the others arrive. Based on the last time you checked in with them, probably a few minutes.
You detect no magical auras.
It is best to wait for the others to arrive, he decides. Perhaps Kalev can learn more from any tracks.
Kip again glances at the slowly but steadily approaching light of the rest of the Guardians. He decides to continue to search the area for signs of the attackers...
Kip-
Your quick sweep reveals nothing. Feel free to narrate returning to the others.
As the Guardians arrive within a couple of hundred feet of the light they have been moving towards, Kalev spots a small figure flying towards the group. A moment later, Kip floats into view overhead. I have found a carriage up ahead. All of the occupants and the accompanying retinue of guards appear to be dead. It also appears that they have been stripped of all valuables. The bodies have been feasted upon. Perhaps by the wolves we heard a short time ago. There is nothing else nearby that I can see... I have cast light upon the scene but have disturbed nothing. Perhaps Kalev can find some tracks to follow.
Kip pauses before adding, Whoever they are, they weren't commoners by their appearance. One of the bodies bears a cape with a large "V" emblazoned upon it. I fear it may refer to Maegar Varn, or at least someone important from Varnland. Any idea what they would be doing out here in a carriage?
No..., Malthir looks at Cas. hoping for more answers...or possibly not, But we should find out.
Kip leads you to what he discovered. A small carriage, ransacked and smashed apart- with several human bodies scattered around it. Many of the bodies have limbs torn off and the sight is quite gruesome; its clear they've been heavily fed on by some large teethed predators. Now your a little closer you spot something that Kip initially missed from his scouting flying above; scattered amongst the human bodies is a goblin; although it has fared no better than the half dozen or so human bodies.
As Kip mentioned, you also find that one of the bodies was wearing a purple set of robes and a fine cloak; mostly torn to shreds now but a golden is still clearly visible on one of the larger surviving pieces.
As the body of the goblin is spotted Kip remarks, Do you think goblins ambushed these travelers or that this one was with them?
Kip waits for Kalev to search for tracks, not wanting to disturb things until he has had a look, before approaching the carriage to peer inside. Perhaps we can find evidence of where they came from, were going to, and for what purpose...
We should follow the tracks before they get cold and destroy whatever evil did this. We can come back to figure out who they were later...they are all dead unfortunately..., Malthir says with a little sadness in his voice.
"I agree, Malthir. And perhaps finding the attackers will reveal more clues."
I'll set to work immediately, Kalev says, then starting to examining the ground carefully for any tracks.
Casimir-
Malthir-
Fenna- (GM reminder- + 19 at night)
Ricter-
Kalev- (GM reminder- terrain bond woods: Kalev +3 init, kno: geog, perception, stealth, survival, party +2 init, perception, stealth, survival)
Kip-
Kalev begins to look for the tracks of the perpetrators of the massacre. While he begins this process, Fenna notices something with her night-enhanced senses; a tiny piece of parchment, folded and concealed but protruding the smallest amount from inside the man in purple's boot.
"What is this?" Fenna wonders, bending to carefully retrieve the folded parchment for the others to see, "perhaps a message bound for their eventual destination, which this unfortunate man did not want to be discovered by anyone but the intended recipient."
"What is this?" Fenna wonders, bending to carefully retrieve the folded parchment for the others to see, "perhaps a message bound for their eventual destination, which this unfortunate man did not want to be discovered by anyone but the intended recipient."
EXPLOSIVE RUNES!!
Fenna unfolds the parchment- it appears to be a letter, addressed to "Baron Malthir & his Statkari". It is sealed, and Fenna breaks the seal after a quick inspection.
With fondest regards and memories, to my friends in the Barony of Kardas,
Word has reached Varnhold of your victories against the Troll menace that plagued you- that plagued the Stolen Lands themselves. I am not unsympathetic to the cost to your lands and people that you bore in order to face this threat and my ambassador bears a gift to your hard-earned lands to compensate you for your losses, as well as a gift from my personal armoury. Varnhold is growing and prospering, and myself and my retinue appreciate the resoluteness of our staunch allies even if Drelev perhaps does not; Hargulka was clearly a threat to us all.
Lord Sirian is a trusted friend of mine and I kindly ask you to extend the same courtesy and respect you kindly granted myself during my last visit to your lands. He is under instruction to continue the promising talks began between myself and Baron Malthir about a west-to-east trade route between our two lands and should you be willing, to act as a semi-permanent ambassador within the walls of your magnificent capital, Swordhaven.
I eagerly wait further correspondence between us and I hope Lord Sirian's presence within Swordhaven is met with your approval.
Your Friend and Ally,
Maegar Varn, Swordlord, Champion of the Nomen Heights, Hero of Varnhold Pass, and Founder of Varnhome.
Casimir scans the note, then looks down at the bloody remains of the man in the purple cloak.
"Lord Sirian, I presume. Please to make you acquaintance," he says humorlessly.
"Well, I guess someone is going to have to compose a letter with some bad news to Varn and tell him we need an new ambassador. Are there any sign of items mentioned? If we catch the killers, there's going to be a fight, and we might as well take every advantage we can get."
He begins to check the wagon.
It is a little suspicious that an ambassador to Varn is ambushed by random creatures out in the middle of nowhere. I suspect the hand of our enemies at work here. Whatever we run into we should try to capture their leader if we can...to put to the question.
This is ill tidings, Varn is a good man, I hate to see anything bad happen to one of his advisors...
"We know first hand how dangerous these lands are. We are treading new ground here. Sending a cumbersome carriage through it with no real escort is folly."
Ricter removes a gauntlet and places his hand on one of the bodies, checking if it is still warm.
"Perhaps these poor souls thought themselves mighty enough to make it. Casimir, are they carrying any magical equipment?"
I have already checked Ricter... there are no magical auras visible. It is my theory that anything valuable, or magical in nature, has been looted already. It is also my thought, that the beasts that fed upon these men we either coincidental opportunists, drawn to the smell of blood and feeding upon the already deceased. Or they were allies of the attackers, given a "reward" if you will for a job well done. The fact that they did not finish their... meal... leads me to believe our approach was noticed and they have moved off... Kip pauses to look about before continuing. And are either currently laying in wait nearby, hoping to return when we depart, or ambush us as well.
With a bit of help from Casimir, Fenna finds something the ransacker's did not- a small, concealed compartment inside the wrecked carriage. Searching it, she finds several notes of credit with prominent businesses in Brevoy, all signed by Maegar Varn. Such a boon will clearly help you re-stabilise the barony.
Kalev finds the tracks with little effort; they are almost entirely canine in nature, although they do seem to be fairly large tracks, one set in particular dwarfing the others. There seem to have been five canines and the tracks lead north away from the site.
We can't catch them on foot, we should get the horses and follow the tracks as quickly as possible. I don't intend for them to escape even if we have to push the horses to their limits.
"While I agree that whoever is responsible for this must be brought to justice, it may be best not to ride too hard in the dark."
"Is this not a little far south for an envoy from Varnhold to be travelling to Swordhaven?"
It does seem a little strange that the carriage is so far south. East of the Stolen Lands, mountains block most of the easy passage in Varn's equivalent to the Greenbelt; the easiest and most logical route for the carriage to have taken if it came straight from Varnhold is along the southern borders of Brevoy, using the roads from the settlement of Nivatka's Crossing (the southernmost village in Rostland) which eventually link up with Oleg's trading post, or following the Shrike River; both of which involve travelling north to south.
"We have lights. I don't doubt that Kalev could track them to the end of the earth, but if we give them time to flee the may get to some defensible lair or find allies. The baron is right, we must hunt them down now!"
Ricter clamps his gauntlet back into position and closes it into a fist
If it's an ambush, let them come...we will see how well they fare when they are on the end of my sword!
Malthir leads the others running back to camp to quickly get on the horses. Then using magical lights and dancing lights to show the trail they move after them as quickly as possible.
Casimir's face lights up in a cold smile.
"Let's ride..."
While the others search the carriage, Kip examines the lone goblin's remains more closely. He is most interested in determining if the body has been feasted upon, how it appears to have died and if it was looted.
As he looks over the goblin, he remarks, I have heard stories of goblin's using large wolves, or worgs, as mounts. Perhaps we have stumbled upon a goblin raiding party and their handiwork?
Kip looks up at Kalev and the others. Is their any other evidence to support this hypothesis? Perhaps something we have overlooked?
In any case, I support the idea of chasing them down immediately. Kip glances northward, towards Kardas, in the direction the tracks lead. Aroden's ghost only knows how that would go over if they were to cause trouble at home so soon after the troll attack.
Kalev crouches next to the goblin, trying to determine something about its allegiance and death.