Latlander 21,22 1877 4th age

The group continued along the path towards the refugees. The group was attacked by a group of Gnollish like creatures, twenty of them. The Gnolls had priest in their midst and he was able to prevent some of the groups spells from going off. The fight ended up as a savage hand to hand affair with the group winning the fight.

The group continued into the forest and found ruins of an old road and other structures. The group debated on whether or not to stop but decided to push on. They heard cries of pain in the distance from where approximately the gnomes were located. They came upon the gnomes being shot at by humans wearing owl masks. Even in the darkness, the owl masks seemed to have an uncanny accuracy. The group went into action. Gunter Von Hiesenberg III cast fog on the low ground the gnomes were located at. This spell was dispelled. The archers nearest the group began to shoot the group. Faera-Bael sent his bear companion to attack the archers. Gunter Von Hiesenberg III pulled a bear from his bag of tricks and sent it also against the archers. The archers were very accurate and soon put down Vanion but the bear companion and summoned bear began to wear down the archers. The group discovered that the archers were accompanied by a priest. They found out later that it was a priest of Gond. The group overcame the archers and saved about 2/3s of the Gnomes there. Vanion was reincarnated as a Gnome.

The group took the Gnomes back towards the ruins that they had discovered earlier and sent Faera-Bael back to tell Duncan and the others to bring the boats across the river. Faera-Bael took about two hours to get back to the boat house and found it burning. He told Duncan about the Gnomes and found out what happened to the boats. He was told that a raiding party from Firenz had attacked and burnt the boats. It would take about two days to get boats to help them. Faera-Bael flew back to the group. In the meantime, the others were attacked by a Basilisk who turned the Druids bear and another summoned bear to stone before being killed.

Later, after Faera-Bael came back, the group heard a strange sound, a kind of rythmatic creaking, Looking up in the sky, the group saw a strange sight. It was a mechanical bird with two men riding in it. The group launched fireballs, call lightning and other destructive spells. The bird was blasted out of the skies and landed with a thud. The group went to the wreck site and inspected the dead men. They were wearing serpent masks, indicating wizards, the group detected magic and found that the mechanical bird was magical.