Session 8

Day 27

After killing the shaman and interrogating him, Arath, Nevron, Chavron and Petyr headed out to find the remaining goblins. They did so about an hour later, but after a brief battle and 10 dead goblins, they knew nothing more than they did before.

They returned to Ashfield and were met on the outskirts of the village by Thomas Gyll and his 6 thugs. Thomas acted as if he had never made a deal and hired the four adventurers, and wanted them to leave. When Nevron called him a liar and presented the ring they had found, Gyll and the thugs attacked them.

Arath, Nevron, Chavron and Petyr killed them all but one of the thugs, and told the village that they were now in control. In Thomas Gyll's house, they found evidence that he had a deal with the goblins regarding some 40-odd captives. Shortly after finding the evidence, Father Tobias from the Church of Twins approached and told them the village's secret. A red dragon called Firebreath (by the humans) had ruled the area for years, and Thomas had been forced long ago to strike a deal. Provide a steady stream of human cattle for the dragon, against protection and not being attacked.

Day 28

Arath, Nevron, Chavron and Petyr called a town meeting to convince the inhabitants of Darion Town to leave the village. Unfortunately they presented their case of killing Thomas Gyll very poorly, and the villagers tried to mob them instead. So they decided to leave town quickly and head further up the river to investigate.

Day 29

On the way south, towards the orc villages, they ran into four orcs. The captured orc told them that "a white elf came to the village and then the elders told us to head up to a pass in the mountains for the glory of the orc people". He also had a note which outlined the mission he and his 3 companions had gotten:

Darion Town, house next to white and brown mill, east end, kill man, wife + 3 children, get diary, brown leather with elven runes.

After disposing of the orc, the 4 companions return to Darion Town in disguise and get the diary, which tells of a secret vale leading through the mountains and a dragon temple in the same vale..

Day 31

Penetrating the mountains, Arath, Nevron, Chavron and Petyr stumble over about 50.000 orcs in a valley. They decide to press on and look for the hidden valley mentioned in the diary.

Day 32

The four companions find the hidden valley and soon after the dragon temple, former home of the Cult of Aurac.

Day 34

2 days later, the temple is clear. Filled with undead, oozes, traps and a couple of mindflayers, the four companions had a lot of close calls, but managed to get out alive. They found the family heirloom of Petyr, his father's mace. They also found some magic items (a ring, a battleaxe and a wand) and some other loot. But most interesting was also the fact that they found indication that Aurac was not dead at all, but merely hibernating instead, and that the temple had been protecting the "key" to the location of Aurac. It might have been moved before falling to the undeads though, as no key was found, nor any information on where it could be.

Day 38

Arath, Nevron, Chavron and Petyr arrive back in Ashfield.

Session 7

Day 22
Arath, Nevron and Chavron took the boat offered by the council, a small vessel with room for 8-10 persons and some wares.

Day 24
After a couple of uneventful days, they arrived at the Last Inn, a small cluster of 8 buildings and 40 people, centered around the inn of the same name, The Last Inn.

In there, they met Petyr, a young Tempus priest-captain looking for a temple of Aurac. He drew them a loose map of the region and they decided to join forces for now.

Day 26
After some more sailing, they arrive at Darion Town, a small village of some 200 souls. A small village with no walls, which they thought was odd, considering it's placement in the middle of orc or barbarian tribes. According to Thomas Gyll, the founder and Mayor of the village, it was due to their ferocious and well-trained guards, as well as due to the fact that the whole community pitched in, in times of crisis. Their rather large Twins Church however bears clear signs of fire.

Gyll knew nothing of an orc uprising, but he did have a goblin problem, and offered them 150 gold to kill some goblins in a wood 8-10 miles to the north.

Day 27
Arriving into the forested hills, Petyr and co. are ambushed in a ravine by about 10 goblins and some wolves. After disposing of the goblins, they go hunting for one that got away. Instead of finding him, they run into a goblin shaman and his pet dire wolf, the size of a horse.

On the shaman, they find a ring with the Gyll family crest on, and a small magically locked box with some powder in a bag in it. According to the shaman, who is questioned before being dispatched, the power is used to call his master. He would however rather die than tell more about his master. He does however tell them where they can find the remaining goblins (10 or so).

Handdrawn map of the West

Session 6

Day 19

The heroes are almost upon Riverhold, when they are attacked by some bandits. They quickly kill off the poor hapless fools, and proceed to Riverhold. There they find an army of Starkhold encamped outside. At first, they think the city is under attack, but it turns out that it is not.

Passing through the army, they learn that they are heading west, towards orc country, in order to squash some orc tribes that are banding together. Except that the positioning of the army makes no sense whatsoever if that is true.

They enter Riverhold, and quickly find out that dragonborn are regarded as slaves and lesser beings with absolutely no rights in Riverhold. After some interesting encounters with the law regarding Arath, they find their way to Ratkins, and get the parcel.

They quickly leave the town, but are  apprehended by Starkhold soldiers and politely asked to talk to one colonel Remus. He asks them to deliver a message to a general Marius in Ironville. They agree, but after leaving the camp, they break the seal and read them message. Colonel Remus is asking the general to keep the Ironville troops ready, in order to be ready to help the Starkhold troops, if need be. The 3 heroes decide to ditch the message (Arath breathes on it) and head back to Ashfield.

Day 21

After two days of traveling they return to Ashfield, and turn in the parcel, which turns out to be a statue associated with luck. They then tell Randall (and later the council) about the army that they saw.

The council is worried, and wants to know if the orc threat is real, so Arath, Nevron and Charon were sent west, to find out what was happening amongst the orc tribes of the Dragon Mountains.

Session 5

Day 15 Under the guise of pursuing the thief, they exited the Laughing Ogre and tried to find out where the squads of soldiers(?) were heading. They lost them somewhere around the marked and gave up. As they returned to the inn, they ran into another quad, and were soundly beaten to a pulp quickly. They woke up, trapped in a building, being questioned by the soldiers. A hooded man made Arath swear on Lathander that he would tell noone, while promising that whatever was happening was not bad for the town of Ashfield. They agree, and before leaving, Nevron gambled on unhooded the man, who turned out to a greying weathered soldier-type. They were still allowed to leave.

Day 16 The next day, they went around sniffing up some information. Word on the street was that the Black Hawks had killed the vampire. They tracked down the Black Hawks and found that their leader, Rick Beauford was none other than the hooded man from the night before. They also discovered that Rick had a Black Sword Unicorn tattoo. The Black Sword Unicorn are elite troops from Ironville Crossing.

Day 17 At lunch, they are approached by Ratkins, a moonite and friend of Holder Garth. He wants them to travel to Riverhold and pick up a parcel for him.

Day 18 They head south, through Questar Wood, encountering several monsters. Nevron convinces a dryad to let them pass without a fight.

Day 19 They are ambushed by an ogre and some goblins, but manage to fight them off.

Session 4

Day 11

As they were almost upon the circle, our friends ran into a young woodswoman called Kari. She stopped them to warn them about the circle, and offered to help them take care of the cultists. As it turns out, it was a trap, or something. At night, she jumped Arath (with a weapon) and almost succeeded in killing him. When she died, she turned into a grey-skinned humanoid creature with little features aside from all-white eyes. On her she had a note which said:

AshfieldSergeant Karl

After the fight, our heroes decided to move their camp. Not much did it do, as a ghoul spotted them and surprised them. After a short battle, the undead menace died none the less.

Day 12

After a long day of waiting, the cultists finally arrived as it was getting dark. 6 of them, in heavy robes and carrying torches. Our heroes let them pass, and waited for them to set up their ritual. As they were performing it, our heroes attacked them, but unfortunately, the dead cultists only served to fuel the blood sacrifice to Orcus, so a demon arrived through a portal.

The fight was close, but both the cultist and the demon were killed. The cultist leader had a well-crafted tattoo of the Orcus symbol on his chest, while two others also bore tattoos, although they seemed able to deal with that. They also found a bag who had previously held a few pounds of darkwood.

The adventurers returned to their track, where they were attacked by a sneaky bugbear. The bugbear died none the less.

Day 13

They returned to the city.

Day 14

As they arrived, the city was placed under martial law. A vampire, an evil creature that prowls the night, was on the loose, and while people hired to hunt it the following night, they need everyone to stay inside, locked windows and doors. They were told to also smear garlic oil on all entrances to help prevent the vampire from entering.

They decided to protect the Laughing Ogre and help out Terrance, in case the vampire would show up there.

Day 15

They heard something upstairs, and quickly went upstairs. They almost caught a burglar, but he escaped. Due to the broken window, they spotted something odd. Outside, in the pouring rain, quads of very organized people were making their way through Ashfield.

Session 3

Day 7

The next day, the three adventurers headed north, towards the Twin Rocks. They found the two pointy 30-foot stones easily enough, where they left a fake message. Soon enough, someone arrived to pick it up the message. Nevron charmed the poor sod, who told them that a Mr. B was in charge, and he could be found at some ruins nearby. He could however not give any more information about Mr. B, despite being charmed.

Our heroic trio told him to wait, and headed for the ruins. There they ran into some sentries, and when their bluff failed, they were forced to kill them. Nevron spotted a heavily cloaked figure, but he dissipated as soon as Nevron tried to attack him.

Day 8

The next morning, they headed back to Ashfield.

Day 9

Once back in Ashfield, they tried to gather some information about Mr. B, but to no avail. They did however learn from Elias that darkwood was used both by orc shamans, druids and devil/demon-summoners.

Day 10

Once again, the trio headed back out into Trollwood, and headed to the lumberjack camp. They learned that when they first arrived, the lumberjacks had inadvertently stumbled over a summoning circle, not too far away.