Escorting Human Settlers

[etherial]

From the court-mandated parole log of Gronk Longtusk:

 

10 Raquas

Hired on as a guard for a caravan of settlers heading out from Throal. Lareth and Anfalon don't strike me as the smartest of leaders. Only 25 humans to start a new town out in the wilds? I wish them well. If there's hope for them, then there's hope for the Buunda Boys.

 

11 Raquas

Our first day out of Throal. Two brothers, Vah and Zot, got into a scuffle. The other adepts tried to break them up before anyone even drew blood. Cleary these ujnort don't understand what a real fight looks like. If they had intended any harm, there'd have been some broken bones and eye gouging.

 

My fellow guards are Heartscry, a Windling Illusionist; Krel Tor, a Troll Nethermancer; and Ceadda, a Human Warrior. Three of us are quiet, but Heartscry tries to make up for it by sticking her pointy nose into everyone's business. She was able to find out that Vah and Zot's father had run the market in the Hall these Humans grew up in, and did not treat his customers well. Wish I had known these folks before, we could have knocked over his store and everyone would have been better off for it.

 

Heartscry and I will take first watch, Ceadda and Krel Tor the second.

 

12 Raquas

During the night, a sneak managed to take a sword from Rosario, one of the Humans. They placed it in Zot's tent. Odd, though, that we found their tracks so easily. It didn't seem likely to us that he was the thief, but Lareth banished him anyway. Heartscry told him to follow along, a couple hours behind the caravan. She had tried to talk to his brother, but was brushed off. We're pretty sure he knows who the sneak is.

 

During the long walk south we kept an eye out for any suspicious behavior. Setting up camp for the night, we noticed that Kirtar, a dirt poor fisherman, had suddenly gained a tent. He'd slept under a wagon the night before. Now, he was the proud owner of Zot's tent. We have ourselves a suspect for Vah's accomplice.

 

We worked out a plan to catch the real thief. I'm going to hide on the roof of one of the wagons during our watch, while Heartscry will be big and obvious.

 

12 Raquas (again)

The plan worked. Vah made some furtive attempts to get out of his tent, each time seeing Heartscry fly by, and cowering back inside. Once he figured out her big and obvious pattern, he snuck out and met with Kirtar. Vah handed Kirtar a sack of silver, rewarding him for 10% of Zot's stolen wealth. With both culprits caught red-handed in the middle of camp, I needed a little ruckus to wake everyone up, so I shot Vah in the foot.

 

Sure enough, he started screaming, bringing Loreth, Anfalon, a buck-naked Ceadda, and everyone else out of their tents. Faced with the possibility of walking back to Throal on two broken feet, Vah started to waffle. Faced with my glowing red finger on his breast, Kirtar was more than happy to turn in his boss. Loreth booted the two of them out of the caravan and apologized to Zot.

 

14 Raquas

Mid-day, the trail we were following suddenly ended. The Scouts who were supposed to be showing us the way must have gotten into trouble. With a little luck, we were able to find one of them. He was delirious, his skin discolored by a venomous bite. We administered a poultice and continued down, trying to find his partner.

 

We encountered a creature, something called a Dappled Brithan. It was kind of like a big furry Troll that crawled around on all fours. Extremely territorial, we had to prove our worth to it. Ceadda answered its challenge, and though he nearly got himself killed, his tenacity allowed him to knock it unconscious. We had a Scout to find, so we didn't stay to skin and butcher it.

 

Down by the river, we saw something called a Bog Gob, a hideous gray lumpen thing, gnawing on the bones of the other Scout. This was apparently not normal behavior for Bog Gobs. Then it attacked us. We'd've easily handled it, but it had a Blood Raven friend and Ceadda managed to step on some snakes that attacked us. Heartscry was able to keep the Blood Raven occupied and even cast her Displace Image spell on the other two, but that just meant the snakes went after me. That poison was seriously harsh and I blacked out for a moment, but we were able to defeat the monsters and recover the Scout's body.

 

15 Raquas

We've delivered the settlers to their new home. They offered to let us Name it, and Heartscry Named it Borgan's Rest, after the Scout who lost his life helping them get there. I'm still worried that Lareth will too-quickly rush to judgment in the future, but that's their business, not mine. We headed back to Throal and left them to their work.

 

18 Raquas

Back in Throal. We detected no sign of Kirtar and Vah. I hope they didn't get attacked by a Horror.

 

Other PCs:

Heartscry, female Windling Illusionist

Krel Tor, male Troll Nethermancer

Ceadda, male Human Warrior

 

NPCs:

Lareth, large Human blacksmith, leader

Anfalon, small Human tailor, his wife

Vah and Zot, angry brothers

Rosario, sword owner

Kirtar, lying liar who lies, fisherman