You take your time to walk around the gorge, careful to keep your balance. They hear multiple hooves run by below.
As you pass the gorge, a dozen Kellid warriors with painted faces stand vigilant in the center of the route.
Although they are armed with axes and round, Ulfen-styled shields, their weapons are not drawn. At the head of the group, a tall and powerfully-built figure with piercing eyes steps forward. As he approaches, his hands are held palm up until he is close enough for words. “I am Hiryla,” he says in broken Common, his words flowing with a strange cadence that suggests that he is speaking words that were given to him by another to say. “You come with me... We must talk.”
The man doesn't understand what you are saying, although he seems to recognize some of the noises Hannar makes. In the end, he simply repeats: “You come with me... We must talk.”
Hiryla heads east for about an hour. You follow and soon come upon the Kellid camp. This village is composed of small, round houses and low, long buildings built of stone with thatched roofs. The rectangular, round-topped buildings number almost 20 in all, gathered around a central, circular building that is larger and grander than the rest.
Inside this grand hall, dozens of Kellid men, women, and children scurry to and fro, passing food and drink around an enormous central hearth. Long, low benches ring the fire, and a handful of elderly Kellids, decked out in ornate white furs sit on the other side of the flames from the building’s entrance. A young woman with one leg, walking with the aid of a crutch, greets Hiryla in Hallit, and then turns to the door and speaks in perfect Common. “Welcome to the North,” she says with a broad grin and a handshake. “My name is Teyma.”
"You are the second group to come up here in the last few days." She starts. "Initially we tried to speak to the first group, but they attacked us immediately. We fought them back, but they still move inward." Hiryla nods to her, not fully understanding what she said but still interested in the conversation.
"The elders want to hear your story. Tell us of your clan, and what brings you here. If the tale is good enough,” she adds with a smile, “we will tell you ours.”
The warrior you healed a few days ago recognizes you. He herds some of the townsfolk into the hut to listen to your speech.
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"I am Darven Kinock, from the jungles of the Mwangi. A soldier by trade, but have been working freelance with the society for some time now. We come to explore the keep of the Huscarl King and recover an artifact. A weapon called Jedrak's shard." He then looks around, waiting for any reactions to subside. "The others who attacked you outright are believed to be members of the Shadow Lodge. A rival group of ours. They too are after the shard. We are trying to get to the keep before they have a chance to claim the shard."
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"My name is Hannar the Wild. As my friend, Darven, was saying, we are from a group of explores called Pathfinders. We are here from the city of Absalom. Pathfinders explore the world looking for ancient knowledge, meeting new people, and collecting powerful magic items for study and to keep them safe from those who would use them to harm others. The group of people who came before us are from a small group of Pathfinders who seek to take these powerful magic items to use for their own selfish need. And, as you have already found out, they will stop at nothing to do so. They will even attack other Pathfinders. We are here to stop them, explore the Keep of the Huscarl King, and recover the Jedrak's Shard to bring it back to Absalom with us. As this great warrior can tell you...", Hannar points to the warrior we helped before, "...we wish your people no harm. We found him wounded and healed him so he could return home."
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Hortensia also steps forward. Yes, as my friends have said we are members of the Pathfinder Society. We are dedicated to exploration and understanding, and seek to recover the secrets of the past. To that end we are seeking Jedrak's Shard. There is a group called the Shadow Lodge. They are a splinter faction of our Society, no allies of ours. They try to make use of these items for selfish ends and eat like a cancer into our organisation. We much desire to root them out. If they have harmed your people we apologise and swear that we will bring them to justice.
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"Yo! My name is Loni. I'm a druid in the Pathfinder Society who also works with the elemental planes to help bring balance to the world. But yeah, the Shadow Lodge isn't nice. The Pathfinder Society been chasing them down for what feels like forever, trying to stop their shenanigans. We like to collect and study stuff, but don't like to kill to do so. They do much the same as us... just with the addition of not caring who they kill in their way."
Loni points to the boar besides him. "And this is my trusty companion Drootina! She's awesome!"
One of the elders, her face painted white like those of Hiryla and the other warriors, stands from the bench. With no other cue the room falls silent as she speaks. Her words have a strength and resonance belied by her withered frame.
"This is the story that the elders told me when I was a child. Once, a great warrior came to our lands from the South, though his blood and his beard were of the West, in the land where the first dragons hunt and kill. He built a stone keep atop a mountain and came to us in peace with gifts of furs and offered to hunt with our elders. He proved himself a friend to all."
"His axe, sheathed in fire, protected us from the white wolves and yetis. The furs he offered us kept us warm and the meat he hunted kept us fed. For years the king and our elders prospered, and we learned of crafts, weapons, and ways different from those that came before."
"But we learned of the dragons hidden underneath the keep. When they hatched, they hindered the king and his keep for two years. He fought them off, but their mother arrived and her anger knew no equal. In the season of the longest nights, still the sun set and rose again before the battle was decided. The King struck the wyrm down, even though his armor and his beard were white with the ice of her breath."
"Alas, the great king had grown old, and he knew his time was up. When the hour of his dying came, the great and generous Huscarl King gave all within his castle to those that had served and befriended his house, save for his mighty axe. Upon his wishes, the elders brought the mountain down atop of him and his castle. We have held vigil over everything there, so no others may tamper with it. We remember his lessons, his ways that bled into the ways of the elders to become our ways. And we remember his beard, first white with frost, then with age, as it symbolizes what he protected us from and what he stood watch against."
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Hortensia nods along as the elder speaks, Truly this Huscarl King sets a fine example of how a leader should act, of how they should treat their people, their friends and neighbours. Is it not then right that others should be able to larn from his example. It is only by exploring and understanding the past that we secure those lessons of history. Is it not better that his example is more widely known. That is part of the Pathfinder Society's mission, to explore and learn all we can of the past, to make sure that fickle memory does not mean the truth becomes lost to history.
Hortensia continues her tale and entreats the elders with the Pathfinder's tales of heroism. The village elder whispers something in Teyma's ear. She nods and walks over to the Pathfinders. "The elders have been moved by your words. It is good to hear that not all outsiders are here to defile our history. Chief Hiryla plans to run out the remaining defilers around the Keep today. You may approach one of the entrances we found and deal with any defilers there." The warrior you healed previously smiles, says something kind and joins the defenders as you march out.
The bones of two ancient stone watchtowers rise from the ground like sentries set to guard the entrance to Ranulf’s Keep. Snow and ice still cover their base, making them inaccessible, but they mark the edge of the Huscarl’s Keep, just visible in the distance. The Snowmask clan splits their forces to surround the keep, and Chief Hiryla nods at you as he runs to the frontline. "Good luck."
A dark-skinned figure swathed in the orange and blue of a desert sky at sunset, strides defiantly forward. Her outline shivers with the heat emanating from the flaming greataxe in her hands. As snow swirls on the wind around her, snow flakes hiss and shriek as they fall on the blade’s open flame. “Come Pathfinders,” she invites in a honeyed tone, as her companions draw their weapons. “Let Jedrek’s Shard warm you against the cold.”
Darven
Enemy
Snowmask Clan
Kavor
Hortensia
Hannar
Carini
Loni & Drootina
Darven prepares himself against the shadow lodge.
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Darven smiles at the challenge and moves forward, drawing his own sword, The Blade of the Open Road. For the Society, we will remove the stain you have placed upon us
"Stain?" The woman laughs and raises her axe. "That's you Pathfinders and these uncouth barbarians. Or what's left of you, once I smear you across the field!" She calls out and you see half a dozen Shadow Lodge agents emerge from behind. Chief Hiryla calls out to the four warriors with him, and the quickly about face and run west to hold back the ambush.
Now it's you, Chief Hiryla and the Shadow Lodge.
The Chief draws a potion from his belt and drinks it, you can already tell he's stronger. He shouts a warrior's cry across the field and readies his battleaxe.
Melkorka rolls her eyes and orders her minions to open fire. They draw their longbows and rain arrows down upon Darven, exposed and ready.
Darven's armor has faced dragon claws, firebombs and the forces of undeath. Arrows are nothing to him.
Melkorka casts some kind of spell and slowly advances. The edge of her greataxe bursts into flame.
Everyone begins to advance, with Hannar slamming orbs of magic into the apparent leader.
Enemy (Melkorka 17 damage)
Snowmask Chief Hiryla (Bull's Strength)
Kavor (Blur)
Hortensia (Inspire Courage +2/+2)
Hannar (Mage Armor, Shield)
Carini
Loni & Drootina (Drootina: 7 damage, Mage Armor, Barkskin)
Darven (23 damage)
Darven runs up to the woman and recognizes her human features. He notes a weakpoint in her stance and his longsword digs deep as Hortensia encourages him. She grunts, but her grimace turns into a grin as she swings the axe, guided by unknown insight.
The southernmost archer takes aim at Darven, hoping to take advantage of his distracted state.
Two of the Shadow Lodge archers fire at Drootina, now exposed and at point blank range.
The archer in Green decides to aim at Carini.
Snowmask Chief Hiryla double moves after the northern archers, hoping to draw their fire away from you.
Hannar wisely stays back and pelts one of the archers with orbs of pure force.
Kavor and Carini curse their heavy armor and continue to advance. Not that light armor would have helped Kavor, anyway.
Hortensia continues her battlecry and impales one of the archers in Green.
Darven takes another opportunity to slash Melkorka as she rebalances herself. It's a blade meant to slay giants, and she can barely hold its massive weight. She ignores Drootina and notices she's surrounded. She pulls out a symbol on Nethys, the god of magic and destructive energy surges forth. "Whither to dust!"
She takes a step back to hopefully get some breathing room, but Darven's instincts are quick and he immediately Steps Up to keep her in range.
The Green and Black archers drop their bows, draw longswords, and engage Hortensia.
The northern archers take aim: One at Darven, and the other at Drootina.
Darven feels one of the arrows pierce his armor he moves away just in time before it strikes a vital artery. Still hurts, though.
Snowmask Chief Hiryla screams in unison with Hortensia. Separated by language, but united in purpose, he runs and swings at the White Archer.
Enemy (Melkorka 33 damage, Black 8 damage, Green 18 damage)
Snowmask Chief Hiryla (Bull's Strength, 4 Damage)
Kavor (Blur, Barkskin, Will Save needed)
Hortensia (Inspire Courage +2/+2, Will Save needed)
Hannar (Mage Armor, Shield)
Carini (Will Save needed)
Loni & Drootina (Drootina: 7 damage, Mage Armor, Will Save needed Loni: Produce Flame)
Darven (35 damage, Will Save needed)
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Carini recoils when the wave of negative energy roils over her, causing her muscles to cramp, with pain and fatigue both settling in all over her body. She gasps as she tries to catch her breath. She'd been trying to settle on which foes to attack... those that don't seem to command the worst aspects of Nethys instantly rose as much more attractive targets in the young warrior's mind.
She immediately veers right, dipping the tip of her guisarme and once again going for her target's legs.
Kavor marches through dirt and snow and Digs his axe into Melkorka. She stumbles and drops the massive axe before falling unconscious.
Kavor reminds everyone that slow and steady wins the race.
The remaining enemies throw down their weapons. Except for the one Carini tripped, he just yells "We surrender! She swore to burn us alive with that axe if we didn't stay and fight!"
With Melkorka's defeat, the Shadow Lodge's efforts in the north are in shambles and have suffered a serious blow.
The only question left is: What to do about Jerdek's Shard?
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"I agree the choice should be theirs, but we should remind them that the Pathfinder Society might be better suited to secure it in the vaults under the city. In the mean time, we should heal some before we finish searching and cataloging the ruins."
Hannar casts Detect Magic and searches through the enemies for magic items...
Hannar scans the area and finds a magical flaming axe!
He also finds some magic chainmail and a magic cloak.
He also finds a variety of magic scrolls and potions.
You find many potions off of Melkorka and the goons.
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Darven resist the negative energy fine enough, but the arrow is definitely going to need some attention. Before he notices, Kavor marches forward and ends the fight.
Seeing as the others have surrendered, Darven plants his sword into the ground to tend to the arrow wound.
"Skagni said to secure Jerdek's shard. I do not think it really matters if we do or the tribe does." He ponders on the decision for the moment before offering up his opinion. "If they allow us to take the shard, then we will take it. But, if they want to keep it and secure it themselves, then we can report back to Skagni and assure him that the shadow lodge is no longer a threat in the north and the tribe as secured the shard."