Adventures in Arajara
Adventure Journal
Session 3
April 4, 188 CE
After waking, the party's breakfast was interrupted by two mercenaries, Vaythien and Nydoregord, who said they wanted to bring them back to the Baron who was looking for his daughter. They agreed to go along.
As they approached the camp they saw a group of dull red and brown canvas tents placed haphazardly around the site. Many of the tents were small wedge tents. But a couple look like they belonged to a rich person, being more like a medieval pavilion. The grass around the tents was flattened but had not been worn down to bare earth yet - indicating that the camp has not been there very long.
There were people milling around the tents, most wearing light armor and carrying swords at their sides. Their dress was the dull colors of common soldiers. Some stopped to watch as the horses approached. The party counted about 18 people by the time they reached the sentry.
Vaythien was riding ahead of their group and so the guard waved them past. They rode into the center of the camp and dismounted. Vaythien and Nydoregord walked over to one of the two pavilion tents.
They were greeted by a rich-looking young man named Trodly who claimed to be the Barons Sergeant-at-Arms. He then announced they would be returning to the Baron who was camped to the north. Before lunch Valennor prowled around and heard Vaythien and Trodly arguing about how much reward she would receive for finding Adia. After lunch Bartley spent most of his time studying his new spell book. Valennor and Narwick wandered around and saw a dwarf, a hafling, and two shady looking fellows, one with long blond hair and the other with curly brown hair.
That night they heard someone prowling around outside their tent. Seeing what looked like blond hair, Valennor and Narwick chased the intruder into the woods. The trail returned to the camp but they were unable to follow it from there.
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Next morning the camp broke for travel and set off to the north-east. Travel was uneventful except for when Valennor tried to lift a money pouch off a knight and nearly got his head chopped off. But by some quick talking he was able to convince the man that he had only picked up the pouch after it had dropped.
That night Valennor and Narwick stayed up to watch for intruders. Valennor disguised himself and went to find out where the blond-haired man was staying. He spotted him picking outside a tent and waited until he went inside. Then Valennor sneaked up to the tent and peeked in. He was interrupted by somebody sticking a sword in his back. He was thrown on his back and looked up a the curly haired man who began demanding why he was sneaking up on his friend. By this time Narwick and Bartley arrived. This distracted the curly haired man and Valennor scrambled away. The curly haired man drew a bow and aimed at Narwick who had drawn his crossbow. The blond haired man emerged from the tent and began chasing Valennor. The curly haired man fired an arrow at Narwick who dodged. Bartley cast a sleep spell on the curly haired man and he fell down, fast asleep. Valennor escaped as the blond haired man, confused from waking suddenly, crashed into another tent. This awakened everyone else so Bartley and Narwick had to slip back to there tent so they wouldn't be noticed.
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The next morning they packed up camp and left, heading north again.
The trail wound through a forest of low trees - mainly pines. Up ahead they could hear a soft rushing of water. Breaking free of the forest they rode up to the edge of a cliff. Looking down they could see the dark blue of the Enninbon rushing away to their right, the sunlight reflecting off of ripples of the water and flowing past a cluster of submerged rocks, splashing and creating the noise they heard. The walls of the cliff were grass and moss covered the rocks that were sticking out here and there. There was a narrow swinging bridge made of wood and rope extending across the water. It looked sturdy enough to hold a grown man, but one could never get a horse across. A cool breeze nipped at their face and hand as they looked around.
Trodly turned to address every one, "We'll stop and camp here. Pedric, you see about organizing the camp. Thared and Sado, make a spot for the horses and see about gathering fodder for them. The rest of you get to work setting up the tents and what ever else you need to do."
After setting up camp Trodly told everyone that most of the group had to stay there and wait for him to take Adia to the Baron. There was much arguing about whether he would return and if the mercenaries should be paid in advance. Finally Trodly managed to convince them that he would return. He also sent Myryn to talk to the group of adventurers about taking Adia. After some arguing and both sides trying to get Adia to agree to go with them, they finally decided to let Narwick go along with Adia.
The next morning Trodly, Myryn, Narwick, and Adia crossed the swinging bridge and began their walk toward the baron.
They reached the city around noon. Falling into step behind a peasant wagon going into the city they noticed the road was hard packed dirt, rutted by wagon wheels, indicating heavy traffic for that far north. The walls of the city were made of large stones that were a dark brown-gray color. Along the top of the wall were guards that were leaning against the parapets and looking down at the gateway. The gate was made up of two heavy wooden doors that swung out to open. A group of three guards stood watch in front of the gate as another two inspected each person going through. The cart ahead of them showed the guard a paper and was waved through. The guard walked up to Trodly and asked him for a pass.
"I don't have one but..." Trodly began.
"Those who don't have a pass are required to pay an entry tax of 1 silver florin," interrupted the guard.
After paying the tax. Trodly, Myryn, Narwick, and Adia walked down the wide main street toward a large keep in the center of that town. Entering the front gate of the keep, they were stopped by a guard.
Trodly stepped forward and handed the guard a paper, "Take this to Lord Lotherid. I'm sure he'll be interested to hear from his nephew."
Narwick began to get nervous. Who was this Lord Lotherid, and how did this connect with the Baron?
Five minutes later the guard returned. "Lotherid has agreed to see you." He smirked, "Don't expect him to be too happy to see you though."
Narwick and Trodly waited for half an hour before a large group of guards passed by, seeming to be in a big rush. Then the guard who had let them in returned with another five guards.
"Seize them!" he ordered as Myryn and Narwick were grabbed by the guards. Adia shrieked as one grabbed her.
"What's going on?" shouted Myryn as they struggled to free themselves.
"Lord Lotherid told Trodly never to return, on pain of death! Something you will all be allowed to share!" He laughed roughly as Narwick and Myryn were whacked over the head, seeing stars and blacking out.
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Meanwhile, back at the camp, the morning went by quietly. Bartley spent most of his time mumbling over his new book and alternately taking breaks to work on casting the spell by creating useless objects.
As he was studying Valennor called to him, "Joel!"
"What? I'm studying," Bartley replied. He looked up and saw no one but an old man hobbling by and since there wasn't a reply from Valennor so he went back to reading.
"Joel!" said Valennor, impatiently. Bartley looked up and found himself staring into the old mans face.
"Oh! Ahh! I didn't recognize you," said Bartley.
"That's the whole point," grumbled Valennor.
Suddenly a thundering of horses hooves broke the morning quiet as mounted soldiers charged into the camp, waving swords and spears. The mercenaries were caught unprepared by the raiders and were cut down one by one. Valennor and Bartley grabbed what they could and ran for the bushes. One horseman charged Bartley but he was able to dodge the attack and escape.
They met in the forest along the edge of the camp clearing. But before they had time to speak another person fell through the undergrowth and landed at their feet. It was Nydoregord, the bald man who they had first met at the in with that lady, Vaythien. The was some more crashing and Vaythien scrambled to her feet and rushed over to her bald companion. He was wounded badly. Bartley and Valennor helped her drag the wounded man further into the bushes.
"We've gotta do something quick," yelled Narwick, "Use your magic! Anything!"
They thought for a minute. Then decided: an illusion! One of a monster or something to scare off the attackers.
So Bartley began creating an illusion of a giant monster. It appeared as a small figure and grew quickly to full size of 30 feet tall. This caused instant confusion in the camp as the attackers and mercenaries began fleeing in all directions.
After tending to Nydoregord's wounds, the sat in silence and listened to the fading sounds of battle. After a few minutes the heard a trumpet sound and then the sounds of horses fading into the distance. The cautiously made their way back to the clearing. The tents were slashed and trampled and nobody was around except for the bodies of a few dead mercenaries. The crept over to their tents and collected their scattered gear.
Then as they looked around and wondered where to go next, across the river, in the depths of a dungeon, Narwick woke with an aching head and wondered what would happen next.