• Investigation at Wellspring

    • Orders

      We received our orders from ... He indicated that, as a subtext to the entire operationg, the Baron should be removed from power in any method should we discover any illegal activities.

    • At the bar...

      Gregor meets a priestess who is looking for a stone at a ruined city nearby.

      Met and befriended the town guard's captain while they were playing poker.

    • Investigating the Ogre Attack

      Nothing except the remnants of a campsite after following tracks left at the side gate from the ogre attack.
      Gruthar waits in hiding, but nothing shows up. Walks back to the main gate, but encounters some thugs. Over a brief combat, several die, but Gruthar almost dies himself. One is captured and held at the city guard's headquarters.

    • Attack on the Town Square

      The next day, the morning breaks with cries of horror and the sound of battle from the town square. Three slime-knights and three mauler dogs are slaughtering pilgrims around the statue of BLAH.

      The leader of the slime knights was captured, and is now being held in town guard's headquarters. Over 30 pilgrims were saved; but many still perished.

    • Interrogating the Cultist and the Slime Knight

      The cultist reveals little. He his severly wounded, and is covered in runic markings and ritual mutilations of his body (as well as missing an arm and having a large axe-wound to the skull). He works for, or worships, an entity known as Malachai.

      The slime knight can reveal little - only that she is Devan, former-lieutenant of the Stormcrows. She does not remember what has happened; only that in the ruins nearby her group supposedly found a stone but have not retrieved it. She has no memory since then. The lecherous wizard may try to save her.

    • Meeting with the Baron, Part 1

      He is a stupid, pompous git. He owns a bad bad illegal war machine. He refuses to treat Devan.

    • To the ruins

      On the way up to ruins, we are ambushed by a large group composed to archers and spellcasters. After a long battle, where reinforcements luckily arrived, we bested the ambushers. One of their members is cultist of Malachai. The rest are mercenaries.
      Fargrim tumbles into a canyon created by the falling land from an earthquake ritual being cast. He fights with a raging barbarian king. He narrowly avoids being precipitously dropped down a waterfall, to surely what would have been his doom. In the process, the haft of Fargrim's hammer is severely damaged.

    • Mending the Hammer

      At the blacksmith, while he is repairing the haft of Fargrim's craghammer; he indicates that he has a small problem.
      Apparently, he was lodging a nobleman who wished for privacy in some matters. However, he died (possibly from poison, the blacksmith thought). However, he consulted his daughter who indicated that his entire cranial cavity had been sucked clean through a hole in his skull.
      Fargrim took the body, and said he would find out what was going on. The body was delivered to the townguard headquarters, where they will have a cleric cast preserve corpse on it (payed for by Fargrim).

    • The natives approach

      As we approach the ruins, a native barbarian of the region appears from inside the woods without notice. He wants to know who we are, and what we're doing.We're investing ogre attacks, and do not work for the Baron. He seems to accept our presence and goes on his way.

    • Temple

      Ryze and Theren scouted around the temple tower. To avoid the undead guards around it, Ryze decided it would be best for the party to party to approach through the river around the side of the tower.

      Moving up the river, we managed to scale a small cliff and continue along. Ryze hears a woman singing nearby, and himself along with Theren, Than, Gangplank, and Gruthar continue along stealthily observing an eladrin woman curled up against the wall. However, Theren kicks some rocks. The singing stops abruptly, and a door opens, spilling firelight out into the night. A monster appears in the doorway: a red creature covered in chinitous plates, with many eyestalks protuding from it's body and a single, slowly blinking eye.

      After an intense battle, with Theren almost perishing under the withering magical gazes of the Beholder, our group defeated the guardian and began to decide whether or not to kill the mage. It was then discovered that she bore markings that indicated that she may be Baron Criswell's older sister - the rightful heir to the Barony!.

    • Escape From the Temple

      Having found the Baron's sister, and several powerful magical artifacts we decided to return to Wenreath to consolidate our position and get new orders. With the discovery of the Baron's sister Criswell could possibly be removed from power without our presence.

      Gangplank and Gruthar scouted ahead, with Ryze and Tane carrying the woman and Theren's unconcious body. As they scaled some of the cliff faces surrounding the tower stream some rocks and sticks were inadvertently dislodged - dropping into the river below, and one breaking a window on the side of the tower.

      The Baron's Stormcrows were evidently still in the tower and they found the scouts climbing the rock face --- we were discovered! Wounded and burdened down, we had no choice but to begin to flee. The best course of action was to jump a cliff face into a plain below to afford easy escape on our horses. Ryze jumped with nary a concern, using his magic to stop his fall; Tane followed in a similar manner. Gangplank was able to scurry rapidly and assuredly down the steep incline with skills born from years of scaling ships rigging in harsh conditions. Attempting the same Gruthar followed, but lacked the finesse of Gangplank - losing his footing and beginning to tumble unchecked; luckily his acrobatic abilities saved him and he began to run sideways down the slope; only to land face first at the bottom in any case!

      Unfortunately, this was the not end. The field in front of the tower turned out to be infested with undead abominations. Smelling fresh meat, ghouls began to converge on our position. Using magic and rapid mobility, Tane and Ryze began to ahead without any problem. Gangplank had no issues either, athletically hurdling through the rock strewn field. Gruthar used his acrobatic abilities to leap from rock to rock at a running pace through the densest and most difficult path he could find, leaving the ghouls scrambling clumsily behind.

    • Ruins of an Ancient City

      With our horses now back in our possesion, we made for the native encampent, deciding to risk a shortcut through the ruins of the city below the temple.

      The ghouls continued doggedly at our back, their endurance matched only by their desire for living flesh. Using intuition and guess work, Ryze and Gruthar led the group along what they hoped were the most of hospitable and quickest paths. One turn though, and our pace was slowed by nearly running headlong down a giant crater in the center of town that appeared almost out of nowhere.

      The ghouls were almost upon us, and we needed to get out quickly - and headed in the direction we believed would be the nearest gate, moving away from the crater at the same time. Behind us we heard screams of agony of and began to run our flagging horses harder.

      A foul mist began to spread through the city, seemingly chasing at our heels. One stray tendril struck Gangplank's horse dispelling the magic that held it's being together in an instant. Using his superior speed he charged hard and managed to leap up onto the back of Gruthar's horse.

      The mist began to close in on us, Ryze used some arcane magicks to speed his horse on ahead, making it out of the crumbling gate safely and continuing at a run into the forest beyond. The mist was closing on the gate, and only a narrow gap remained. In a desperate action Gruthar used his mace to blind the horse into charging forward to it's certain death preparing to leap off the mount through the gap with Gangplank at his heels. As the horse hit the mist, it buckled and writhed in agony; Gangplank jumped through but Gruthar slipped on the bucking beast --- only Gangplank's outstretched hand grabbing and hauling him through saved his life.

      Tane was unable to convince his steed to charge forward, seeing the death of it's companion but he used eldritch abilities and travelled through nether-realms to the other side.

      As the exhausted heroes continued to run, the mist began to pour through a gap left in it's perimeter by the charging of Gruthar's mount and poured into the dead animal's body. Sounds incapable of emanating from the larynx of horse tore through the forest around us.

    • At camp

      People angry. Gruthar checked for wounds. Shaman magic.
      Escape to pass. Ambush, diversion.
      Tane uses ether to track beast. It feeds off people it devours.
      Following the party; we're the bait now.