Campaign Log

The setting: Wednesday night at Pawn & Pint the party had split for a short time. Having just killed a relative of the Queen, they doubled their efforts to head west toward the mountains where Wilby grew up. Wilby and Simon went ahead to scout while the others followed more slowly on the horses.

After five days of crossing rolling hills, where Unferth helped to feed Howl, Gemma, Rowan, and Ishen, they came across a road heading in an east/west direction. A wide, but not deep, river has long ago set the road’s path. As they debated the merits of trying to find a large town or city while riding horses that were branded with Lord Erwel’s marks, they spotted a group of soldiers moving from the east along the road.

The soldiers helped the party decide their course of action. They forded the river to avoid potential conflict and continued on their path to the southwest. As they neared late afternoon, they spotted a small village with a handful of buildings. With Rowan still low on arrows and Howl searching for supplies to summon an animal companion, they decided to stop for the night.

As soon as they approached an aged man who is bend over and hoeing a small garden, the man squints up at them and demands, “We just paid you yesterday, leave us be!” After a moment, the man concentrates a little more and wipes his brow. “Who are you? You’re not the normal ones.”

After a brief conversation with the man who calls himself Wally, the party quickly discovers there are a group of bandits that have been extorting protection money from this small community and others in the area. Normally, the bandits, about five to seven on horse, come around once a week. They are lead by a man who is called Durin and a woman called Kuri. The bandits are reasonable enough if they are paid, but Kuri has something of a vindictive streak that shows when payment is not made.

The party offers to help the community, but the small village would prefer to not be associated with them should something go wrong. The party agrees to take care of it anyway, knowing that there is likely money to be had in the bandit’s camp. Another man, an old wanderer named Hink—who knows a thing or two about healing—offers to help deal with the bandits.

They are allowed to stay the night in a barn and Rowan and Howl buy the supplies they need. Howl immediate sneaks off to cast a ritual to summon an owl familiar.

In the morning, Unferth looks for tracks and quickly find hoof prints that lead off into the southwest, where they are told the bandits always go and come from. About a day of travel leads them to a small grove of trees in the distance where a thin trail of smoke rises into the sky.

Rowan moves ahead to check out what they have found and report back…just in case it is a group of people out for a pleasure camp in the middle of the wilds.

Rowan returns to report that there is a small bank and ditch encampment. The ditch is about 5-feet deep with the bank about 5-feet over the surrounding landscape. The defenses appear to be recently dug. There is a gap on the east side where people can come and go into the encampment. Three tents and a small cook-fire consume most of the space. On the western side, there is a pit that was dug out to make a corral for horses.

The party takes this information and builds a plan of attack.

• Unferth will be made invisible and will take position near the gap in the bank.
• Gemma will take position in the trees just south of the gag in the bank. Using Felis’ power, she plans to simply walk up the tree like a spider.
• Howl will move to the trees in the northeast corner.
• Rowan will cover the encampment from the trees in the southwest.
• Hink, who has found a friendly coyote in the rolling grasslands, will disrupt the horses and try to stampede them through the camp.
• Ishen will stay back with their own horses.

All is going to plan until Howl steps on some branches and draws the attention of one of the guards standing watch inside the encampment. This sets the encampment on alert and additional people come out of the tents and start taking a defensive position.

Rowan, seeing the activity shoots his bow, but misses his target that is mostly concealed behind the ditch.

Hink and his coyote move into the horse pen by scaling the ditch.

Unferth, not wanting to give himself away, holds position and waits for someone to come out of the encampment.

Howl, knowing his position has been given away misty steps to the edge of the bank that covers the opening into the encampment. Seeing a man in chain armor that matches the description of Durin, Howl yells out a demand with the backing of Felis, “You are surrounded and outnumbered, lay down your weapons and surrender!”

Durin, feeling the might of Felis at work on him, does as told and commands his fellow men to do the same. However, Kuri, who is presumably Durin’s second in command, calls out to the bandit encampment to kill the man.

One of the soldiers charges forward and slashes Howl, causing him to loses his power over Durin. Howl then disengages and moves around the east side of the bank and ditch.

Unferth, seeing his opportunity, moves to attack Kuri as a coyote howl fills the night from within the horse pen.

Gemma, from her position in the trees, throws a crackling beam of energy at Kuri, striking the bandit woman in the back.

Hink, having entered the encampment from the west, swings his staff at a man, but the soldier dodges away just in time.

Rowan fires more arrows, Unferth swings his axe, Gemma is missing her mark with her powers, and Howl continues to be pursued by the bandit who had already hurt him. The horses are not breaking out of the pen on their own and require Hink’s help to get the gate open. Things are looking bad for the party as the bandits start doing damage to them and Unferth is forced to retreat into the large center tent with both Durin and Kuri, two experts with a sword, pursuing him. Injured and hurting, Unferth takes a moment to eat the “minty ball of awesomeness” that Hink had given him earlier while his pursuers deal more damage. (Unfortunately for Unferth, the ball was merely a placebo to help cover Hink’s magic.)

Then Hink, using a secret connection to powers he hides, calls forth thorny spikes from the ground, filling the southern half of the encampment. These painful spikes rip into the bandit’s feet and many of them fall down, impaling themselves on these spikes, ending their lives.

Hink, knowing Unferth is trapped inside the tent with two expert fighters surrounding him, cuts his way into the back of the tent and sends his coyote after the woman.

Howl, with Gemma’s consistent ability to deliver a finishing blow, finally kill the bandit who had been perusing him and then Howl adds to the chaos inside the encampment by calling forth an oily coating that covers the ground around the tents.

Rowan, having done as much damage as he could with his bow from his position, moves out of the tree to the northern side of the encampment. As he mounts the bank, Rowan spots a man who is fleeing. He takes a couple of shots, but is unable to stop the man intent on leaving and then heads to the back of the tent.

Inside the tent, Hink attempts to help Unferth by stabbing Durin with his dagger. The soldier accepts the blow and then turns on Hink with both of his blades, saying, “This is how you use a dagger,” as the blade rips deep into Hink’s body.

With the coyote chomping at her, Kuri screams out “Belzen!” and throws a broach from her chest to the ground. A moment later, a spectral form of a woman rises up from the ground and the coyote cries out in pain as its life is drained away.

Unferth, still enraged, unleashes a wild attack on Kuri, finally cutting down the skilled swordswoman. Suffering from the blows that Durin had dealt, Hink quietly calls upon a healing word to bring life back into himself and Unferth at the same time.

Seeing the ghost take form, Durin screams and runs from the tent, impaling his feet on the thorns just as Gemma unleashes another killing blow, crushing his face with crackling energy.

Back inside the tent, Rowan moves forward to attack the ghost with his sword taken from a Senzar warlock. The sword hits resistance and the ghost grows angry.

Unferth, seeing death rise from the ground, runs out the back of the tent through the opening that Rowan made. From her position, Gemma hits the ghost with her energy while Hink quietly offers support to his companions. However, the ghost swipes her icy hand through Rowan drawing pain and life away in a single move. The pain causes Rowan’s second swing to miss the ghost.

Unferth, thinking better of his decision to flee, turns back, slipping into the tent, and from afar, flings a hand axe through the specter.

Hink, seeing Unferth return, expands his blessings with more of his internal energy, just barely dodging to ghost’s reach.

Rowan, seeing the ghost’s attention shift, swings his sword twice, both times cutting into the back of the ghost. The ghost, furious, spins around, causing both Unferth and Gemma to miss their attacks. The specter then plunges and icy hand into Rowan’s chest, drawing away life and heat, leaving the former member of the city watch unconscious on the ground.

Fortunately for Rowan, the shock of feeling death passing through him lasted but a moment (nat 20 on first death save) and he comes around to see Unferth slash the creature with his axe, a crossbow bolt from Howl tear through it, followed by Gemma’s blast of revenge, giving her yet one more finishing blow.

After a moment of reflection, the party takes stock of the situation. The leaders of the bandits are dead, along with six other of their number. A specter of death was also returned to the afterlife. However, the coyote has died and one man escaped and no one knows what that might bring.

As they start to gather the valuables, Gemma brings around a horse that had been injured on the thorns, giving the party another seven horses, these being unmarked. They also find a sizable sum of coins and weapons, which they divide evenly between those present for the action.

After stacking the dead in one of the tents, retrieving Ishen—who heals them—they settle in the remainder of the night to see what the morning will bring.