Present:- Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
- MARMALADING Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aqua Marina from Porn City – Jamie
- Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
- Grim Hand. Human Male Rogue from Porn City – Jason
- Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
- Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
- Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
- (part) MARMALADING Willow Woods. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
- Kippy Hunt. Human Male Barbarian of the Central Plains – Ian
- Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl
by Jeff
"Just NO" shouted Munch, "I ain't going to that Sancho place!"
"But" argued Cody, "Sancho sounds so interesting"
"Better than prison in Porn City" agreed Kippy, and Grim nodded.
Votes were counted, and Porn City it was.
"Around the coast then?" asked Tom.
"Straight line is quicker" replied Cody reluctantly.
"The Central Plains aren't so bad" muttered Kippy.
"Apart from the wild tribesmen, the vicious animals, and the goblinoids!" countered Rock.
Votes were counted, and straight line it was.
The direct route, assuming they could navigate it accurately, would take them about 760km across the Anti corner of the Snub Peninsula, from the Battle end of O'Rileys Passage to the mouth of the Forks River, then they would need to somehow cross the river, or take a 100km detour up into the Spine Mountains to find a safe crossing, then a further 260km along the coast, or across the Spine lowlands, to Porn City.
"What a great adventure" declared Kippy.
"Sod off" grumbled Munch, "I'm hungry already"
Distributing the warm clothes they had liberated from the slavers, they set out inland towards the low scrub covered hills in the distance. It was overcast with a light drizzle falling, and very windy. Cody calculated that they could probably cover 15km a day, so more than 50 days travel to cross the plains to the Forks River mouth.
"Neglecting any encounters or distractions" Grim mumbled.
"Come on then" Cody demanded, "I know the way"
[Being a wizard, Cody had an automatic sense of direction, instinctively knowing where Klib was, all the time!
But did he know the direction we actually needed to travel? His Navigation skill is only 5, and half-crossed, so he can't actually Navigate at all, unless Andrew spends some of his weekly experience points and increases Cody's skill, which will give him a ticked skill, but only at level 6, still only a 30% chance of success]
The group set off, heading roughly Klibward towards the distant hills, the wind off the sea at their backs.
Munch turned out to be really helpful, quite experienced in the outdoors [Survival, Wild skill at 15, with a bonus die roll from his Outdoors Talent; roll twice and take the best result] and spent some of the time hunting for food (came back with a deer, rabbits, and wild fowl most days), found sheltered and defendable campsites each night, and always had an armful of dry kindling and firewood for his cosy, but small and discreet, fires.
Two days passed, the weather remained cold and miserable, the ground underfoot wet and muddy. The members of the group shared overnight watches, with at least one of them on each watch being somewhat observant. These assignments were rotated around so people could also get a decent rest overnight when recovery was needed. [Power Point recovery for the Priests and Wizards, or Hit Point recovery for the injured, either of which requires an uninterrupted twelve hours of comfortable rest]
"Did you hear the wolves howling last night?" Kippy asked in the morning.
"It's quite common to get packs prowling around travellers" he continued.
"But don't panic" replied Rock, "They wouldn't attack a party of our size"
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| The wolf pack paced along the adjacent ridge |
The terrain was starting to climb a little now, well away from the coast with gentle rolling hills all around. Scattered copses of trees hugged the lower valleys, generally with small streams along the base of the valley, with some tough scrub carpeting the windswept higher ground. As they were trudging along a shallow ridge, Munch spotted a pack of wolves away on the left, weaving through the scrub and paralleling their path, but on the ridge line over. A very large wolf was leading them.
"I hope you're right Rock" muttered Cody, "That brute wouldn't be fun to tangle with"
"Just hungry" suggested Munch, "I'll sort that"
Munch hacked off a large chunk of his last deer catch and took it part way down into the valley towards the wolves. With a deliberate wave, he tossed the meat down towards the bottom of the valley and returned, leading the group on up the hill. Looking back some time later, they watched the large wolf head down to the meat, prowl around it, take a sniff, and then bound back to its pack. After that they all scurried down to the meat and tore into it.
"See" exclaimed Munch proudly, "Just hungry"
"Yeah" whispered Kippy, pointing up ahead, "But what about that one?"
Another large-sized wolf was on the ridge ahead of them, a couple of hundred metres away, and a little down off the ridge to the right, in the opposite direction of the larger pack of wolves behind them.
"Looks like they have us boxed in" noted Grim worriedly.
As the group continued, the wolves moved with them, one large one ahead and to the right, and the main pack behind and to the left. Definitely keeping the party between them.
"It is their territory" explained Munch, "I'll keep feeding them"
And Munch did, he was constantly scouting a little ahead, not too close to the leading wolf, but enough to catch rabbits, birds, and other small wildlife which he would leave off to the side of the group's path as they progressed.
That night, Munch had found them a campsite in a small hollow on the banks of a small stream, with old dead trees around the perimeter. Those on watch were particularly alert, worried about the wolves, and they kept the fire burning a little larger and brighter than previously. There were a few times during the night when wolf howling was heard nearby, causing moments of panic, but they never came particularly close. Munch made another offering the next day and the group continued on. The wolves maintained their presence all that day, but came no closer.
That night, during the midnight watch, Tom and Rock in charge, Tom suddenly sat up straighter and looked around.
"Hey Rock" asked Tom quietly, "You hear that?"
Rock strained his ears but couldn't hear anything.
"No" whispered Rock, "I can't hear nuffin"
"Exactly" exclaimed Tom, "Nothing, no wolf howling!"
The night was silent, eerily silent, disturbingly silent!
Rock slipped over towards Grim, who was snoring quietly near the fire, and shook him awake.
"It's too quiet" Rock hissed at him, "Get ready"
The valley lay shrouded in darkness, the skeletal remains of the dead trees casting twisted shadows in the flickering light of their carefully banked fire. Tom stood alert beside the dying embers, the leather thong of his mother's lucky coin tight against his neck as an unnatural quiet had settled over the small stream that normally gurgled softly through the valley floor.
The silence was his first warning - no night insects, no rustle of small creatures in the sparse undergrowth, no wolves howling nearby. Even the stream seemed muted, as if the very air held its breath.
Round One
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The goblins fired from the rocks up the hill
|
The first arrow hissed past Tom's ear with a wicked whisper, close enough that he felt the fletching brush his stubbled cheek.
Before he could fully register the threat, a second shaft split the air where his chest had been a heartbeat before, the crude goblin arrow clattering off a boulder behind him with a sharp crack that echoed through the valley.
"Goblins!" Tom roared, his calloused hand instinctively closing around his makeshift club - little more than a boat timber shaped by Willow with the rusty knife, but deadly enough in his experienced grip. The firelight caught the fury in his scarred features as he crouched low, scanning the darkness beyond their small circle of light.
Around the camp, Grim was already stirring, the veteran rogue snapping awake at Rock's warning, and both fully alerted by Tom's warning shout. Cody too startled into wakefulness, and the rest of the group were soon aware that something dangerous was descending. Somewhere in the blackness between the dead trees, Tom could hear the soft scrape of small feet on stone and the creak of bowstrings being drawn taut again.
A third arrow whistled past the crouching party, but a fourth struck Grim in the chest, just as he was rising.
Round Two
"Oww" Grim yelled, diving back down into cover. In fact, everyone followed his example and took cover behind the scattered low scrub and small rocks. Munch's dive turned into a smooth roll, and he silently disappeared into the scrub, one hand clutching his new bow, the other hand extracting the bowstring from his pouch as he rolled.
[Darryl made a successful Stealth roll (skill = 12) and effectively disappeared from the sight of the attacking goblins]
Cody couldn't see anything, so he swept a small stone up from the ground beside him and attempted to cast a Light spell on it. If he was successful, he could throw the glowing stone out towards where the arrows had come from, and everyone would be able to see and attack the ambushers. Unfortunately, the stone only sparked with a brief glimmer, which then faded back to nothing. [Andrew failed his Magic roll (Magic Arcane 1 - skill 13) so no spell, and no light]
Round Three
Four more arrows hissed into the campsite, all harmlessly striking the ground. Which was lucky, as everyone was spread across the ground, so could easily have been hit.
Cody tried again with the Light spell. Failed again.
Munch, hidden somewhere to the left of the group, strung his bow, ears alert for moving goblins.
Grim carefully extracted the arrow from his chest and tossed it away, then crawled off towards the right.
Ardern cast a "Protection from Normal Missiles" on herself.
Tom kept his head down, not moving, not making any noise, his club gripped in his hand, and hoped for the best.
Kippy, quite familiar with nuisance goblins and their tactics, quietly crawled off to the right after Grim.
Round Four
Four more arrows hissed into the campsite from the darkness.
Cody tried again with the Light spell. This time the stone blazed into light, casting stark shadows across the landscape of the camp. He tossed the glowing stone towards the source of the arrows, but it dropped short.
In the sudden illumination, four goblins clutching bows were revealed up the side of the valley.
But they immediately ducked back into cover behind the rocks they had been crouched between.
This didn't deter the brave party of adventurers though, they now knew where the attackers were, and they prepared to take action. Well, most of them did.
Round Five
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| A Magic Bolt always hits |
Cody flicked off a Magic Bolt spell, which streaked unerringly towards one of the goblins, his figure barely able to be seen behind the rocks, but seen enough to be a target.
Ardern, confident behind her Protection spell, left to her feet and began to jump and cackle in a strangely compelling dance, moving slowly towards the goblin's shelter.
Kippy, Rock, Ezme, and Munch all drew back an arrow and let fly towards the partly hidden creatures. Take that!
Grim, alerted to the sneaky tactics of goblins by Kippy, turned away from the light, letting his eyes adjust back to the darkness, and kept a watch in the opposite direction.
Tom kept his head down.
The four arrows shot by the party skittered harmlessly off the rocks.
Four arrows flew out from behind the rocks, back towards the party.
Two were shot at Ardern and bounced off her magical protection.
One headed for Ezme but sailed over her shoulder and struck somewhere behind her in the dark.
The last one headed straight for Cody. He spotted it coming, but it was too late, and it struck him in the arm.
Round Six
Grim, staring out in the opposite direction, spotted three shadowy shapes slipping along the edge of the stream towards the group. Alerting Kippy of the three sneaking attackers, they prepared to defend the rear.
As Ardern danced up past Tom, Tom called for her to cast a Protection on him. Ardern tried and failed.
Rock, Ezme, and Munch fired off another round of deadly arrows, all disappearing harmlessly into the night.
Cody attempted to send out another Magic Missile but failed in his attempt.
Kippy drew back his arrow, the bowstring quivering as he lined the arrow up on one of the sneakers and let fly.
They hadn't even noticed that they had been spotted!
Kippy loosed his arrow at the three sneakers, a sneak attack of his own, and smashed one backward with a hit.
Grim yelled to alert everyone about the extra attackers from the rear, then drew his own weapon.
And four arrows returned from the pile of rocks.
One snapping to a halt in mid-air in front of Ardern and dropping to the ground, one striking Kippy in the back just after he had fired his own arrow, knocking him forward towards his own opponents, one hitting Munch in the chest and bouncing off his leather armour, and one lost to the night.
[Kippy was hit with a Critical roll (A 1, followed by another attack roll that would have been a Hit) by the DM, Richard. Ian spent two Luck, granting the ability to adjust the critical roll by +/- two. The second roll in the critical hit process is used on the Critical Hit table. Ian moved the result and Kippy end up with a Minor Inconvenience, no additional damage but a penalty die in the following round]
Round Seven
Munch and Rock loose their arrows, Rock's arrow missing totally, but Munch's killing one of the goblins outright.
Ardern, unable to cast any more spells for the moment, continues her brave advance towards the goblins, waving her arms, singing a song, and weaving from side to side in an odd parody of a dance.
Tom, unprotected by any Protection spells, leapt to his feet and headed back to support Kippy and Grim.
Ezme swoped out her bow for a sword and moved with Tom to help at the rear.
Kippy also dropped his bow in favour of his long sword and engaged two of the sneaky goblins at the rear, leaving the third for Grim, who launches himself at the varmint. Kippy is somewhat overwhelmed by the two goblins though and nearly suffers a mighty six points of damage from their combined blows. [Ian activated Kippy's Tough Guy talent, spending two Luck points and reducing the damage by five, nicely done Ian] Grim managed to swipe his sword blade into his target's head, the blade shearing through the goblins face.
This nasty wound, in conjunction with the previous arrow damage, killed the blighter and it dropped to the ground, blood spraying from its wound.
Cody managed to shoot another Magic Missile this round, dealing 1 point of damage to his target.
Then their return arrow fire fell amongst the party.
One arrow deflected from Ardern's magical shield and sailed away past Tom, one arrow zipped over Ardern's shoulder and struck Tom in the chest, dealing 3 points of damage, and two flew towards Cody. They both missed though, and Cody breathed an audible sigh of relief, even as he readied himself for his next spell.
Round Eight
As Kippy and Grim stood ready to deal with the remaining two goblins at the rear, Tom charged forward, his face warped into a terrifying visage, screaming a war cry, and brandishing his wooden club. The two goblins looked up, eyes widening in fear, then they both turned tail and ran away. [Jeff made a successful Intimidate roll for Tom]
Kippy and Grim were presented with two retreating backs and they both made a free attack. Grim hit and killed his target, Kippy also hitting one of his and dealing 4 points of damage.
But it wasn't enough, and the injured goblin staggered away past the surrounding tress and out of the valley.
Cody chose to cast another Light spell onto a stone and tossed it after the fleeing goblin, but Kippy and Grim never caught sight of the goblin as it slipped away. None left at the rear.
Back at the fore, Munch fired off his bow, but the arrow didn't even pass near the targets.
Rock took aim, but at the last second moved his foot to get a better line on one of the goblins, rolled his ancle on a small rock, staggered off to the side and discharged his bow, the arrow slicing past Munch's ear in a near "friendly fire" mishap. Munch glared back at Rock. [Chris Fumbled his attack roll (rolled a 20, then "missed" his next fumble determining attack), choose not to spend any Luck, and wound up with one of the "Attack Ally" outcomes on the Fumble table. Sorry Darryl, at least he missed you!]
The four goblin return arrows were all targeting Ardern this time, and she laughed crazily as the arrows bounced away off her magical protection field. "Losers!" she yelled, making her way directly towards them.
With no enemy at the rear, Ezme turned towards the front and took aim past the rest of the party at the four goblins still hunkered down in the rocks. Tom and Kippy started jogging that way too but wouldn't be able to do anything for another round or two.
Munch, Rock, and Ezme (from the rear) all fired off another arrow, but they all missed.
The return fire dropped towards the party, one arrow bouncing off Ardern's protective shield, one clipping Rock in the shoulder, and one dropping past Tom as he hurried forward.
Round Ten
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| Munch got him in the eye! |
Munch, Rock, and Ezme fire off another set of arrows. Rock and Ezme missing, but Munch timed his shot perfectly, and just as one of the goblins had popped out of cover to shoot down at the party, Munch's arrow struck him through the eye.
Clutching at the arrow, the goblin fell back, never to rise again.
The three remaining goblins had got their arrows away though, one uselessly targeting Ardern, one missing Ezme, but the third piercing Rock again, the other shoulder this time. Rock was now looking like a porcupine, with a pair of arrows embedded in his front, making drawing his bow challenging. But he dragged another arrow from his makeshift quiver and managed to draw back for his next shot.
Round Eleven
Tom was close now, and repeating his previously successful Intimidate move, yelled loudly and charged straight at the rocks sheltering the goblins. Simultaneously, Munch, Rock, Kippy, and Ezme let fly a volley of arrows. Most of them fell harmlessly onto the rocks, but Kippy's shot dropped directly into a goblin's chest, dropping it instantly.
Only two arrows came back from the rocks this time, one at Ardern, and the second missing Munch. Then they both turned and fled back up the slope, mistakenly thinking they could escape.
Round Twelve
Kippy and Ezme dispatched the fleeing goblins with two expertly placed arrows.
Ardern looked around, checking the party for any serious wounds, but everyone was still up, despite a number of significant injuries. "Six nil" Ardern declared, "And one escapee"
Aftermath
The party was somewhat beaten up. Ardern undertook a number of First Aid applications, with mixed success. Kippy, Ezme, and Tom received 2 points of healing each, while Rock received 1 point. Ardern's First Aid attempts on Cody and Grim were unsuccessful. But Kippy and Grim also attempted some First Aid, again with mixed results.
Satisfying themselves that there were no more goblins nearby, the party settled back to their rest.
In the morning, a search of the area uncovered the six goblin bodies with partly rotted furs, a collection of short swords, short bows, and short arrows. The weapons were not much; the bow strings all damp and stretched now, and the short sword blades pitted and rusty.
And it was raining!
"So" asked Cody, "Are there lots of goblins in around here then?"
"I guess" replied Kippy, "The goblinoid presence throughout the Central Plains has been increasing for the last few years. Apparently, dark forces have been infiltrating the Elessari Circle, and they haven't been their usual strong influence on the tribes. To be honest, the place has been going to rack and ruin"
"Elessari Circle?" wondered Grim.
"The Elessari Circle; well, you could say they are the mystic centre of the Barbarian Wastes" stated Kippy. "Supposedly they shed their influence of Good across all the Barbarian tribes of the Central Plains.
I never felt it though!" he concluded.
The party moved on, following Cody's invisible line, roughly Klibward, across the edge of the Snub Peninsula.
They travelled for two more days, the strange wolf pack once again travelling along with them. Munch kept up with his regular sharing of food, and Ardern took the opportunity each evening to cast Cures on Rock and Grim, until they were both back to full health.
The next day, they found the hills becoming a little steeper and rougher. They had to skirt around the odd bluff and scramble up some steeper valleys, Cody keeping track of the direction at all times. And the wolves still paced them. Munch pointed out a stark solitary tree on a hilltop off to the right of their travel.
"Look at that" he announced, "It's just like that white pine we found on the island. We'll go and gather firewood"
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| A lone tree stood on the cliff edge |
Leading the party across a valley and up the adjacent ridge, Munch led the way to the tree. It was pretty unique; they hadn't seen anything like it on their travels across the plains so far. Kippy and Rock, the two barbarians from this area, hadn't heard anything special about these types of white pine, but were also keen to take a closer look. The tree stood right on the edge of a sharp bluff, the hillside dropping away abruptly for perhaps ten metres to a gravelly slope running further downward. The tree was about one metre in diameter and had a few scattered branches up its height. There was no sign of life in the area. It was a dead tree!
Cody, suspicious of most things, cast a Detect Magic spell, and grinned.
"Magic" he declared
"It's quiet" declared Tom.
"It's not noisy magic" grunted Cody, "More like ... expectant"
"No" whispered Tom, "Not the tree. The wolves have gone silent"
"Oh crap" wailed Rock, thinking of his previous arrow wounds, "Not bloody goblins again?"
Just then the sound of rocks rolling came from behind them, back down and off the side of the ridge somewhere.
Kippy leapt to the tree, wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk, and shuffled straight up the shaft; eyes directed back down the ridge to see if he could spot anything.
"No sign of the wolves, or any goblins" he announced, "And this is a nice tree. I feel great"
As Kippy was climbing, a feeling of calm and energy had pulsed through him, washing away his fatigue.
Could this have been the magic of the tree? What had it done?
"Maybe it ruined your eyes" shouted Tom, "Because I can see two goblins just there!"
Recalling his success at scaring off the last lot of goblin attackers, Tom grabbed his club and ran towards the two small goblin heads, screaming at the top of his lungs and waving his club in a very threatening way. Munch winced.
"This could be bad" Munch thought to himself.
It was!
Five goblins bearing their nasty little, short bows stood up from behind the rocks on Tom's right and let loose. Two of the arrows striking directly into Tom's chest, and three flying past him so closely he was actually concerned. Diving straight down onto the ground and skidding to a stop behind the rocks along the edge of the rough path, Tom grunted. "Ouch" he mumbled. [Tom's Intimidation skill hadn't worked; Jeff hadn't rolled well enough against Tom's skill. The two arrows, D6 damage each, managed to do nine points of damage to Tom, who only has fourteen at best. Jeff decided that expending 3 Luck to reduce the inflicted damage by D6 would be very sensible right then and fortunately rolled a five. Only four hit points lost in aggregate, but still at least five goblins lurking just metres away, and the rest of the party no doubt cowering behind the tree]
Immediately after Tom had set off towards the goblins, Munch had slipped over the right-hand side of the rough path, opposite the side where the goblins had fired from, and set himself up to return fire. The rest of the party followed almost immediately and were cowering down behind the ridge line. Well, not exactly cowering. Ezme, Ardern, and Cody (neither of whom could actually climb) had tumbled down the small bluffs and were gathering themselves up from the bottom of the slope. Rock, Kippy, Grim, and Munch (all of whom could climb) had settled onto small ledges just below the edge of the ridge and were preparing to fire at anything coming from the other side.
"Don't shoot me" yelled Tom, hugging the ground.
The sounds of rolling rock and movement drifted up from where the goblins were located.
"Get ready" Tom yelled, pulling himself even closer to the ground.
Three goblins clambered up from below the edge of the ridge, brandishing short swords, just metres away from Tom as he looked up at their snarling faces. Tom held his shaking club out and whimpered.
Arrows swarmed up from Toms companions, straight at the three tiny goblins.
Well, three arrows anyway, and one small stone.
Grim had thrown the stone, which missed and sailed off the edge of the ridge, clattering away down the slope.
Munch's arrow missed too, despite his visualization and expectation of the arrow spearing through one of the goblins and carrying it over the edge of the ridge in an exploding cloud of blood.
Kippy hit though, almost immediately followed by Rock's arrow an inch from Kippy's. That goblin did fly backward over the ridge, in a small puff of blood. Munch was very disappointed.
Leaping up with a howl, Tom engaged the two goblins with his club.
Rock, Grim, and Munch also charged across from their side of the ridge.
Kippy even shot an arrow into the melee, which was soon over.
Two more dead goblins, and an unconscious Tom, sporting a short sword wound spurting blood.
This was quickly bound by Rock, preventing any further loss of blood, and potentially death.
But, back down at the bottom of the bank where Ezme, Cody, and Ardern were picking themselves up from their tumble, three goblins appeared from the bluffs below the tree and charged towards our three.
A serious combat developed; magic spells flying, arrows spraying indiscriminately, and blades flashing.
In the end, one of the goblins staggered away down the hillside being jeered by the party.
Although they weren't unharmed!
Tom and Ezme had suffered Major Wounds; Ezme's by friendly fire.
Ardern revived Tom with a Cure, who immediately limped up to the magic tree and wrapped his arms around it.
Tom felt a brief warm pulse but didn't notice any other helpful effects.
"Worth a try" he shrugged.
Rock picked Ezme up and tossed her over his shoulder, and the party retreated back down the ridge and found a camp site to rest for the night and lick their wounds. Well, Cure their wounds with magic at least. Willow was able to cast two Cure Major Wounds, one each on Tom and Ezme, who were then able to join the watches overnight, allowing the spell casters to recover magic points.
Tom and Rock were on the second watch, the midnight watch, when they heard sound of a serious confrontation some hundreds of metres away in the night. The howling of wolves, clangs of swords, and screams of pain could faintly be heard. Tom and Rock monitored the sounds closely but choose not to disturb the recovering magic casters or the other fighters.
Eventually, the sounds of battle faded out, and silence settled over the camp.
"See" noted Tom quietly to Rock, "Not our problem at all"
 |
| Dead goblins littered the area |
In the morning, a cautious investigation of the battle zone was undertaken.
Dead goblins littered the ground, at least thirty torn and broken bodies strewn across the area.
Munch found one dead wolf, a smaller one, and Kippy noted the tracks of six or seven others, including two larger ones, heading away in a Klibward direction, along with perhaps ten sets of goblin tracks scattering in the Anti direction. both sets of tracks heading away from the location of the tree.
Tom was delighted to find that some of the goblins had been using decent clubs and immediately tossed his rough wooden club away and replaced it with two of the most comfortable goblin versions.
Willow mentioned that the Central Plains White Pine is well known to have magical properties, although he wasn't exactly sure just what those properties might be, or how to unlock them.
But that was enough for the party, they headed straight back towards the tree, after a brief breakfast.
Standing round the tree, they all looked up along its tapering trunk, wondering if it could help them.
Ardern hesitantly stretched out her hand and laid it against the trunk.
With a gentle whoosh, warmth and power flooded through her. [Her store of divine power was boosted by 2 points]
Rock excitedly threw his arms around the trunk, but apart from a slight tingle, nothing happened.
Cody gave it a go also, and a tingle suffused him. The tips of his moustache quivered, and he felt energized.
[In fact, he received 7 points of arcane power, a significant boost to his diminished power reserves. Each person had to make a save against their primary power, divine or arcane, and received a boost only if they failed]
With that boost to the party's magic, they turned once again to the hills ahead.
"That way" pointed out Cody, and off they went.
Towards the end of that day, Munch pointed out a distant hill, topped by a collection of standing stones.
"Are those stones?" wondered Ezme, "They look like ants"
Munch had found their next camp site by that point, so they settled down and set up camp, the distant hill and the deliberately arranged stones around its top looming over them.
Munch hunted down some more rabbits and Ardern cast another set of Cures on the injured.
As darkness fell and the first watch team of Grim and Ezme began their shift, Grim spotted a distant flicker of orange light, a fire. Located up near the location of the standing stones on the distant hill, someone was out here in the wilderness with them. Grim damped down their own furs, but it may have already been too late.
Then the wolves began to howl...
