En route to Brian

 Present: 

• Sophia Beauchamp (half-elf priest 21) - Ian
• Elvis Ghenna (elf bard) - Shane
• Balder Dash (gnome wizard) - Jamie
• Slim Jim (human rogue) - Darryl
• Walton Formalin (half-elf mystic of 21) - Andrew
• Red Feuersturm (human temple fighter of Hob) - Chris
• MARMALADE: Donk Platebreaker (human fighter) - Jeff
• Macron (elf thief) - Kevin

Walton writes:

 

The party was at the Caribou Gorn (God of Nature) Druid's Grove, klibwards of Toluene, with Alexis the druid. She had been given a letter from Dimble the Apothecary to get help to plant some verbena seeds, to re-establish a plantation of verbena in the wild. Alexis was only too happy to help, so she assigned the group a tracker cum ranger, Igbot, who knew where to plant and how to handle verbena seeds. 

The next day, the party said their good-byes to the druids, and headed funkenwards, towards Toluene. From there, they planned to head further down funken towards the town of Brian. This expedition would take five days.

The first night was at the way-station en route to Toluene. It was empty.

The next night was spent in Toluene, in the Uniformed Courtesan. Sophia and Walton went for a slap-up meat at the posh restaurant Orville's.

Slim and Macron tried to do a bit more investigation into Jemima's murder (see last time). They met up with local bully-boy Reggie who threatened to beat the living snot out of them. He had more questions for them than answers. They came to the conclusion that he was not a suspect, so they fled.

Hurriedly leaving Toluene the next morning, the group headed funkenwards following the Slave Line. The Slave Line defined the boundary of legal slavery. There was an actual road on this line at this point, so they followed it. To the right of this line (antiwards), slavery was quite legal (the Noah-Basen Confederacy and Duchy of Draser). To the left of the line (battlewards), it was illegal. (This extended all the way to the Free Coast - Hagrost, Zibrost and Hackerton.)

Part way through the day, they came across three runaway slaves, rushing to cross the line; one man and two human women. They pleaded for help. The three were being chased by two slavers on horse-back. This was a critical moment to test the moral compass of the party. They chose to do nothing; the slavers captured the runaways and hauled them off in chains. The man was executed on the spot.

That night, they made camp in an abandoned barn. Red, temple-fighter of Hob (god of fire), lit a big fire. This attracted a group of five (unsuccessful) hunters: three humans and two half-elves. This group complained to Red about his fire being visible from miles around. The whiny hunters failed to appreciate the irony that, had there not been a visible fire, chances are they never would have met up. The party attempted to placate them; Walton convinced Red that he can celebrate Hob but less conspicuously, using his portable Hob stove. Otherwise, it was a peaceful night.

The next three days of travel passed with no encounters.

But then, on the night before they would make Brian, Macron and Slim were on watch. Slim was hit by a large arrow. Macron scurried off to scout, while Slim roused the party.

Gnolls

There was a large battle against four gnolls. It tested the party's mettle, and was a close-run thing. But they prevailed and good triumphed. As the group was licking their wounds, standing over the bodies of the gnolls, they noticed Macron's decapitated head on on one of the gnolls trophy belts. Oh dear.

Walton and Sophia, Vingt et Un followers, decided to let their goddess decide the correct funeral service for Macron. A die was rolled: Vingt et Un decided that his body was to be cremated. 

"Praise Hob!" said Red.

The next day, the group entered the Oble foothills and entered the outskirts of the town of Brian. 

They passed an old shack that was smouldering, so they investigated at the behest of Red (i.e. fire = Hob).

spider mulford

It was burned out and gutted, but still smoking. There were gnoll arrows about, and two freshly dead gnoll bodies inside. Stairs led down to a cellar, so the group went down. There was a passage off the cellar which opened into a well-shaft (going up and down). Spider webs were about.

A giant spider scuttled up to greet them, but it was defeated with not too much trouble. There was a fresh human-sized body spun up in the web below. He was extracted with a bit of effort: a human, well-dead. He had a magic ring.

up the well-shaft

Up the well-shaft, between the cellar passage and the well top, there was another side passage. Since there were no webs in that direction, brave Walton decided to climb up to this passage using the well rope plus Slim winding the well-winch at the top.

Walton crawled down this side passage. There was a fitful scream and the rope (tied to him) came free.

Oh dear.