Continuing the 1st of Highsun (evening)

John proposes that we rest for the night and then head off to the camping army

• John heads off to the woods in search of Wolfie
  • The same wolf shows up
  • John tells him to meet us in the morning, north of town
• The rest of the crew enjoys ales at the Portly Boatman for a bit, followed by some time training
• Brethen sees a municipal notice with 2 silver reward for info on an attack in the city
  • Recognizes that this is a reward for John and Koogel and removes the note
• Brethen now notices an older notice about some criminals freeing slaves and removes this notice, as well

The 2nd of Highsun
Weather is cooler by about 10 degrees

Brethen acquires his horse and supplies, and we head off

• After about a half hour, Koreloff spots a lone wolf
  • John prevents Koreloff from shooting it
• John lets out a wolf whistle and instructs Wolfie to lead us
• After an uneventful day, we set up a camp
  • We set up watch order and decide to not build a fire tonight
• While changing watch, Koreloff and Koogel hear horses off in the distance
  • Seems to be possibly a quarter mile off, guessing 2 or 3 horses
  • Sound is from the northwest and starting to fade… they appear to be heading away
  • Koreloff and Koogel decide to head off on foot toward the horses, without bothering to wake anyone else

The 3rd of Highsun
Weather is about the same as yesterday

Koogel and Koreloff inform us about the horses and leaving the camp completely unprotected as they investigated

• John strongly urges them to not do that again

John commands Wolfie to lead us to the encampment

• After a bit, we notice camp fires
• Raylek and Koreloff use spyglasses to check it out
  • Notice a single, plain red penant

Koreloff and Raylek head off to reconnoiter with Wolfie following

• We take horses but come up from behind the hills, trying to stay out of sight
• We notice that the penant is on a tent
• We ascend the hill on foot
  • The penant is atop a large tent, possibly 50’ across
  • The style of dress / armor indicates men from the horse clans in the Wildmare Plains
    • These are nomadic wanderers, and this appears to be a mix of different clans
    • We’re guessing 8 to 10 different factions in this army, most of which we don’t recognize
    • One small section has dark tents and appears to be segregated and different from the rest
  • It’s pretty obvious that the army has arrived from the east
    • Raylek knows that there’s a wide pass through the mountains, probably the path the army took
  • There’s possibly two thousand people here
    • Majority are fair skinned, lighter hair, armored
  • The horse clans appear to have some sentries patrolling the immediate area
  • Some other areas also have sentries tending to their immediate space
  • There doesn’t appear to be anyone monitoring the broader area
  • Koreloff notices a couple individuals in stocks
  • There are some people down there with an unusual dark, kind of greyish complexion
  • The hodge podge of tents and such to the north appears to have traders and merchants
• We head back to collect the rest of the group

We head out around the west to approach the camp followers on the north side

• Brethen is familiar with the Tan-tian people to some degree and some of the people to the south (darker)
  • The people in our area are light skinned, kind of Mediterranean looking
  • These people are mostly lighter complected than those in our area
  • Nobody knows about the grey skins
• We arrive by the camp followers and set up our camp
  • General gossip doesn’t provide any real insight
  • The merchants / people seem happy
• Brethen discovers that Domico was seen here about a week ago, hanging with the big wigs at the big tent
• Raylek talks with someone from the horse clans
  • The lighter skinned people are from Ulrich’s area… called something like “Agger…”
  • The horse clans are following for promises of money and power
• Raylek notices someone moving toward the center area, about 7’ tall, black armor with heavy spikes
  • Dressed like the guy we encountered who had the mage hounds
  • The people in the center area part for him to pass
• Raylek speaks with one of the Russwagge people
  • Advises Raylek to stay away from the tall guy; the dude’s apparently a badass who’s with Ulrich
  • Eskus is farther northeast, Aggerlandia is far north
  • After Ulrich took over Dulrich castle, he told them he’d be heading across the world
  • The grey people were picked up around Eskus but they’re not from there
• John wanders about asking if his service is needed
  • Notices 3 of the tall badasses; they’re all completely covered in armor, which seems strange
  • Sees a tent with 5 skeletons standing guard in front of it
• Brethen tries catching the ear of someone in the center area with his fine playing

We collect and share our gathered intelligence

• John is aware of the Ordean Isles to the east, and east of that is Ton-tian
• John knows that about 500 years ago, some raiders from Aggerlandia invaded northern Cenerthan
  • Aggerlandians are war-like people
• John heard that just after the god wars, Eskus would trade with towns on eastern coast of Cenerthan

Koogel approaches the center area to inquire about Domico and the tribute

• Koreloff follows as Koogel’s guard
• Discovers that Domico supposedly left camp 2 days ago, headed back to Port Charsis
• Koogel is informed that tribute was received and Port Charsis will not be attacked
  • The “accountant” is not Aggerlandian, but may be Eskusian
  • Mage Rathberry (the “accountant”) writes a receipt on Koogel’s letter of introduction
    • Mage Rathberry is not armored, slight of build, older man, blue robe, balding
  • Ulrich’s army should be leaving in about a week or so
• Koogel heads back to our camp
  • Raylek hears the name “Mage Rathberry” and tells the story of the mage and the stolen round jewel

We plan to head out in the morning

• Night is uneventful

The 4th of Highsun
The weather is slightly warmer

We pack up very early and head out

• A day and a half to return, but for once we don’t have anyone trying to kill us
• Trip is uneventful

The afternoon of the 5th of Highsun
After a rainy morning, it’s now clear weather

We arrive at Port Charsis

• The group arrives at Leder’s
  • Raylek stays outside with the horses
  • John explains to Jimick that Domico did make the payment, Port Charsis is safe
    • Domico has supposedly returned to Port Charsis
    • Jimick says he’ll check with the council regarding the Domico situation
  • Jimick brings out 45 gold for the group
  • Jimick mentions that the council is still looking for us, a couple of us in particular
  • John asks about the supposed emissary of Ulrich in town, states the army to move out in a week
    • Jimick says he’ll inquire about that
  • John asks if anyone came into town late on the 3rd or on the 4th
    • Jimick says he’ll see if he sees anyone new in town

We head out to Domico’s on horseback

• As we’re heading across one of the bridges, Raylek notices that his water sword is missing
  • Raylek discovers that he can sense the general direction of it
  • Raylek directs the team to the sword, which seems to be under the ground

We enter Carsus Weapons, a small shop

• The shop is very near to where the sword seems to be
• This doesn’t appear to be the right place; the shop owner probably has nothing to do with the sword

We decide to mud warp to search for underground passages

• John and Koreloff will guard the alley while Brethen plays to distract any onlookers
• Raylek and Koogel start descending through the cobblestone
  • About 40 feet down, they both fall in the darkness
    • Landed in the darkness on a hard surface, the air is humid and smells rancid
    • Koogel lights a torch and we see a wet uneven surface
    • In front of them is half of a masonry wall, another wall is off to the left
  • The sword seems to be on our level, but off in the distance a bit
• Koogel pops back up to the surface and retrieves the rest of the crew

We’re all down in the dark passages under the maze

• Raylek leads in the direction of the sword
  • We traverse through the cave ins
• Koogel notices a splashing sound coming from behind us
  • John doesn’t see anything coming after us yet
• We traverse through some rubble and find another open area
  • John and Brethen hear a noise to the south of us
    • John sees some things that look humanoid but not human… scaly even
• We engage the creatures
  • John hurls a ball of energy at the creatures and pounds two of the beasts
  • Now that Brethen can see them, he recognizes the creatures as “deep ones”
    • These are legendary creatures that typically attack ships in the sea
    • The ones charging us are wielding swords
  • Koreloff hits the leader with an arrow, which is shrugged off
  • Raylek carves the leader with the Shortsword of Cruelty
  • John tosses an energy ball at the ceiling… curses
  • Koreloff fires another arrow into the leader, and a second one into Raylek’s back
  • Raylek, after pulling an arrow out of his back, takes another slice of the leader
  • Koreloff gets a solid hit on the leader, after Raylek takes another hit
  • Koogel whiffs so badly that he’s fazed
  • Koreloff gets an awesome shot on the leader and then breaks his bowstring
  • John gets in the final shot on the leader and scales disintegrate as the beast is knocked to the floor
• We begin laying into the grunts
  • Raylek gets in a solid hit
• John shouts out that there are two armed men behind us
  • We hear a raspy voice from that hall, “I didn’t expect to find someone else here… mind if we join you?”
• The last of the creatures is dispatched by a pair of excellent hits by Koreloff
• Koogel recognizes Kokkor Hekkus as one of the “adventurers” in the hall
  • Domico is standing behind him
  • Kokkor asks if we will be moving on; Koogel responds “You’re gonna die!!!”
• Koogel puts up his earth armor and charges Kokkor
  • Koreloff gets a couple solid hits on Domico
  • Kokkor makes some movement and a sphere of darkness envelopes the corridor
    • Koogel hears Kokkor move away
  • Koreloff gets two exceptional hits through the darkness and takes out Domico
  • Koogel attempts to grapple with Kokkor
    • Kokkor disappears and the black sphere of darkness dissipates
  • We strip the valuables and weapons from the dead and head off
    • Raylek notices that the swords from the “deep ones” seem to be some kind of ceramic
• Raylek finds a small pile of old stuff: dolls, rusty daggers, etc.
  • Finds his sword and a pair of pristine gloves
    • The gloves a very thin, light leather
    • Raylek tries on the gloves, which fit perfectly
• We continue searching this subterranean city
  • To the south, we find a lake that partially covers the buildings
    • There is an opening that seems to lead to the sea
  • In the area where we encountered Kokkor and Domico, we find a door to a storage area
    • This seems to lead to the surface
  • John identifies that the gloves enable teleport via shadows
  • Raylek seems to notice that he’s more perceptive and has had an easier time climbing lately