Date: 12/28/04
XP Awarded: 840 (to 5th level characters)
Start: The outlying arms of the Moonwood, mid-Kythorn
That morning, after cleaning up from last night’s attack by were-creatures, the party escorted the woodcutters deeper into the Moonwood to a huge weirwood tree they had picked out. Standing guard while the woodcutters removed one branch from the tree, no further dangers were seen. By the time the group returned to the place they had camped the night before, dusk was approaching. The group traveled for two hours away from the Moonwood, camping in an open meadow to guard against attacks by were-creatures, since the moon was still very full.
Arriving in Beorunna’s Well the next day, the party returned to the Rising Star, where the halfling merchant Ombert Starnhap approved the harvested weirwood and turned it over to Celowin. The group learned that Kai had left town earlier that day, but had not left any information as to his expected return date. While enjoying the nightly entertainment in the common room with Alina the Spellwarder, Caspian, Fei, and Theodar noticed a pair of travelers spreading rumors about treasure hunters from the Silver Marches seeking a horde buried under the deep well just outside the stockade walls. Judging that they were trying to stir up trouble, Theodar intervened and told a story about the party’s recent adventures in the Moonwood, capturing the audiences attention. Frustrated, the travelers left the Rising Star.
Theodar followed, but lost track of them. Suspicious that something was afoot, the party traveled to the hall of Andar Heartwood to warn his sword-thane they had met earlier, Hask Bloodaxe. The guards at Andar’s Hall were unfriendly to the ‘southlanders,’ but Theodar won entry for himself (only) to see Hask Bloodaxe. While Fei and Celowin returned to the inn, Theodar informed Hask of the travelers and their stories before returning to the Rising Star himself. On the way out of Andar’s Hall, he saw a polite, well-dressed gnome and human female entering.
When the elves returned to the inn, they found a skald named Amafrey Silvertongue the center of attention. After telling many stories of her travels across the North, she spent some hours talking to Fei and Celowin until the early hours. She mentioned rumors that delegates from the Silver Marches were in town, and that the suspicious tales of the travelers earlier may have been intended as a disruption.
The next morning, the party received a message from Kai, telling of a troglodyte raid on a nearby steading where several villagers were carried off. He left town to track down one band, but needed the party to follow a larger group of troglodytes with prisoners. The bearer of the message, Adin, was to be their tracker. Wasting no time in readying their horses, the party soon set off in pursuit. Adin proved to be a capable tracker, keeping pace with the mounted characters in the hilly regions to the north of Beorunna’s Well. Along the way, the party encountered the recent trail of a wounded human, and detoured from the troglodyte trail to investigate. Nearby they found a wounded Black Lion hunter being stalked by a red tiger. While tending to his wounds, the red tiger sprang from the woods, bringing down Theodar’s horse with a vicious pounce. When Theodar moved to protect his fallen warhorse, the tiger leapt upon him and began to tear through his armor. Magical bolts from Fei and arrows from Celowin and the hunters caught the tiger’s attention enough to let go of Theodar. Wounded, the beast started to flee from the challenge it had underestimated, but Celowin’s arrows brought it down before it could gain the forestline. Impressed, the hunter gave many thanks for his rescue, and the group returned to their task of following the troglodyte tracks. With the sun sinking lower towards the mountains to the west, the adventurers came to the eaves of the Druarwood, a wild, hilly pine forest stalked by giants, orcs, and worse. A wide swath of destruction created a clearing of sorts in one vale, with fallen trees and scorched rocks littering the uneven ground. Adin indicated that the troglodyte tracks entered the vale heading towards a rocky outcropping near the center. Using Fei’s magic to hide the party, the adventurers crept up to a cave opening inside which several troglodytes hid. Caught by surprise, they were quickly dispatched. Entering the stinking, filth-encrusted caverns, the adventurers found several more troglodytes and their lizards, killing them all before a warning could be raised.