Your characters were called together by High Cleric Jonah, who brought you before Governor Hamest, who wanted to ask some questions about the night of the attack on Taura. He questioned you, then advised strongly that you should not pursue anything. By chance, Taura recognized a man in The Blue Cauldren, who upon being recognized, began running. Taking this as a sure sign of guilt, the party followed him to a house in River End, found a hidden cellar, and followed a small tunnel down into the sewers. There, they found and fought 4 goblins, as well as the mysterious man who snuck out of the darkness to strike Jeremiah down. With the healing of Matthias, Jeremiah recovered.
In searching the bodies for clues, the Thief grabbed Kerrick and exclaimed "....this fight... you cannot stop... The Coming!" and bled to death. You also found some loot.
The smell of the sewers and dead goblins getting to you, you headed down the sewer, finding the way you came in impossible to leave. A ways further down you found the exit from the sewer, a rusted out grate leading into the river. A quick rinse off in the clean, cold water, and you made your way up and around to the South Gate, where the guards recognized Jeremiah and, somewhat bewildered, let you into the guard house to warm up.
While warming and telling your tale, the Governor stormed in with his oily elven assistant Selmas, and began berrating you, especially Jeremiah, for not heeding his words. The sergeant on duty, the halfling Barakus, mentioned that they were free to do what they did, and the governor, even madder, fired Jeremiah on the spot of disobeying his orders, and sent you out of the guardhouse. The Governor also said that no guardsman or servant may harbor or aid any of you in the future, or they would get the same.
At this point, close to midnight, you headed back to the Blue Cauldren and to Taura and Kerrick's room there, to consider what to do next, and what to do with the box.
At the end of adventure 1, you had just left from sewer fight with Goblins, recovered the locked box that belongs to Bobarus, and Jeremiah got fired from the town guard.
You went to Jonah to ask for guidance. He suggested you do the right thing and return the box to Bobarus, and also try to seek out why there were Goblins in the sewer of Corraab.
At Bobarus's tents, after some initial tensions, he hired you on and was one-hundred gold suns gracious in the return of his box. He mentioned how Merit, the man you'd killed in the sewer, was an employ of him. Merit took supplies for Bobarus up to the Pedlar Yohan, in Senas Camp, but had not been seen in the last 2 weeks, when Merit was last sent with a load of supplies out to Senas Camp. Bobarus had you quickly get your things together, and prepared a horseload for you to take to Yohan. While there, you were also due to investigate the fate or Merit, to see if you could learn anything about what happened to him before he ended up in the sewer.
You hustled out, crossing miles of open farmland and flat grazing plains, and made it to the Redtree Inn before dusk, where you had a quiet night. Another day's travel upriver though rolling hills led you to Senas Camp, a logging town. The guards warned you to stay on the "good" side of the river, and to be careful if you venture across to the other side. You easily located Yohan, who was happy to receive the load of goods. Yohan said that he last saw Merit 6 weeks ago, and he dealt as little with Merit as possible, and that Merit always stayed over in the Saltblock brothel, on the other side of the river. You put up for the night in the neat and clean Road Lodge, then the next morning found the Saltblock.
The tavern lived up to it's reputation, and the serving girls, happy to have some early morning business, were extremely friendly. Taura took the lead and probed the wench Jess for information, learning that she last saw him a week ago. He'd just come down from the Old Trail, which was strange, and was also acting strange and fitful in his sleep.
You followed this lead and made your way up the old trail to a logging camp up in the hills, deep in a pine forest. 12 miles up a steady climb, you found a small camp of lean-tus for twenty or thirty men, and the bodies of about 10. They'd been killed a while back, and with the mud and animals were hard to recognize or even identify what killed them. Searching the camp, the party found little, but Taura's keen training picked out tracks of dozens of small feet dried into the mud, perhaps a week old. He also saw newer tracks from some giant dogs or wolves, headed out into the woods, the same direction the party was headed.
About an hour out along this trail, you spotted six goblins headed towards you in a rush, clearly running from something. They exclaimed, turn, and headed downhill. A crashing pursuit through the trees led by Jeremiah cornered the goblins on a cliff, where they turned, yelled out "Et Karaba" and engaged in battle. They faired not as well as their morale, though, and were all slain.
Returning to the trail, 3 dwarf riders on giant grey dogs rode up and confronted you. A fast affirmation of goodness and righteous action by Matthias eased the dwarf Galad's tension, and you compared notes from your fights. They had tracked a small band of goblins eight days downs out of the mountains, to a larger camp of perhaps fifty, and smote their ruin. They also talked of 6 men, logger folk, who had fought alongside the goblins, who were also killed. Both of you also heard repeated statements from the Goblins about "Et Karaba" which is goblin-speak for "The Coming". Galad then brought forth 3 surviving women who'd been kept for rape by the goblins. The dwarves parted company from you, and gave the women into your keeping.
The women related a tale much as you'd deduced, an attack a week ago by the goblins, and a bewitching of the men taken prisoner to fight alongside the goblins. They also related how a few days before the goblin attack, the man Merit had passed briefly through camp, and was back fighting alongside the goblins when they came. They were grateful for their rescue. In the morning, 2 more men and 2 boys came out of the wood, other survivors who'd been hiding. All the people from the camp decided to stay to try to bury their friends and recover what they could, and you made the easy downhill trip back to Senas Camp, ariving mid-day.
At the end of adventure 2, you had just returned from a small logging camp up north of the village of Senas Camp. There, you'd discovered that the loggers had been attacked by Goblins, and tracked them, and killed a few that were running from the dwarves that slaughtered the rest.
Coming into town, the locals were very noticing of the blood and mud on your clothes, and soon the guard found you and brought you to Captain Hett Squarejaw. The Squarejaw heard your story, had some riders verify it, and persuaded you to take this information to the King.
The next morning you set off with Lorad, a sergeant, making your way south and west, over the hills west of Corraab. You passed the abandoned hamlet of Ravenden, of perhaps 15 houses, then went on to make camp at the abandoned tower of Ravenhold. You searched the tower's three stories, and found a well preserved crossbow.
That night, close to dawn, you heard a faint clicking sound. It was a trap door to a cellar, and Taura impatiently opened it, releasing 5 skeletons. A battle ensued, in which Matthias and Kerrick were badly injured, and Lorad and Jeremiah took several hits. Taura, despite acting rather absent minded all day, came alive during the fight and felled 3 skeletons himself.
Searching the cellar, you found it as a tomb of the late Lord Raven, and inside discovered burial chambers for 6 guards, five of which had risen up to attack you. Jeremiah took Lord Raven's polished longsword for his own, and also discovered a small chest that contained 99 gold suns and 99 silver moons.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully, and adventure 4 will begin at dawn the next day.
At the end of adventure 3, you had just beaten 5 skeletons who came out of the cellar of the abandoned tower of Ravenhold, and found some treasures that they were buried with.
Upon waking and Cleric Matthias performing some healing, you continued on in your quest to reach the King and relay the news of the goblins to him. You traveled three more days, to Highwater Bridge, then crossed the Senas and turned south towards the Serrus, and towards Enkidor. The next day brought you to Mud Hollow, and the day after into Enkidor early in the afternoon.
Your papers proved true, and the king's guards quickly led you in to his audience chamber. When your time came, Lorad began the tale, but King Tredor interrupted him and had you tell it with your own words. Matthias spoke for the group, explaining the tale of the goblins, Merit, Bobarus, the dwarves, and this mention of "The Coming". The King focused on the goblins and the Coming, and called his high priestess forward, who believes that the Seer would know the truth of it.
Pleased at the King's response, you began to mention about his cousin being less responsive, but the King seemed to ignore your words in the fever of the upcoming quest. He appointed his natural son, Prince Ramses, to lead you to the Seer, and dispatched you at once. Ramses had servants see to your immediate needs, then made ready and you left within the hour.
You rode hard for the last hours of daylight, and made a quiet camp in the plains. The group continued on the next day, and at noon got word from a scout of a band of Orcs to the north. Ramses immediately jumped at the opportunity to do battle, devised an attack plan, and led the charge on their camp.
You fell on the orcs at their camp in a clump of trees along a creek. The orcs were prepared enough, and the battle looked to be in your favor until an ogre rose from the shadows and turned the fight. As battle raged all around between men and orcs, Ramses charged the giant brute and was smote from his horse. The ogre was about to finish him when Jeremiah charged in as well from behind, buying Ramses some time. But the ogre struck the good fighter down, then turned to crush Ramses into the ground. Taura tried his blade as well, but found the ogre's club tougher then his head, and was also felled. At last it was Kerrick's mighty magic missile that struck the ogre down, felling it into the stream.
Somewhere during the fight Davar, the Prince's sorcerer, rode in to attempt to flank the orcs, as per the battle plans. His attack was late, but his men scared the 3 remaining orcs and managed to ride down two of them. Davar also proved to be more then a sorcerer, and cast healing magic to bring Matthias, Jeremiah and Taura back from near-death. He also managed to heal 2 of the fallen men, but 2 were beyond his powers, as was Prince Ramses.
Davar, after healing the men he could, took stock of the situation. He has a sad but determined look to his eye.
"Orc and ogres in the lands of men. And goblins as well. This is a bigger danger then just the bodies of our comrades and Prince. Word must be brought back to the King. He must begin to patrol the lands, to protect the people, or many more deaths there will be."
"We must also persevere in our quest to bring your vision to the Seer. Only she can decode this puzzle of 'the Coming', as I do not think it is as simple as orcs and goblins just coming into Akkadia. There is something more here."
"There are six guards left. And we have three bodies of our fellows, plus our prince." He pauses to think for a minute. "All of you will return to Enkidor. Each will take the head of an orc as proof, and bear the body of a fellows. If attacked, do not stop to make battle, but ride on, and hard, and reach Enkidor as quickly as possible. Make sure the King and his court see the head of an orc to know their enemy, and that the bodies of our men are given proper treatment on their way to the afterlife."
"As for me, and the adventurers, we will continue on. As we have seen, having a dozen swords is of little more help then one, so we will make swiftly and stealthily. The tracks of the horses shall tell the tale of what happened here. The tracks of our feet will not be seen as we continue on to the Seer."
Davar stops to look on the Guards, to see if they understand all his orders, and one begins to protest that they must continue their mission. Davar looks at him and makes a careful but apparently casual sweep of his hand. The guards stop talking, struck dumb, then agree to the terms, pack their horses, and are riding west in minutes. They take all the horses, as per his orders, and wish you well as you continue. You are left with 3 backpacks of provisions, water skins, and a litter of headless orcs.
"As for you, I see many of you are injured. We will walk west easily, and make camp at the first good place that we find. Take what supplies you can, and perhaps a quick search of the bodies of the orcs, then we are off. I have a feeling that we must be wary as we go."
Davar takes a quick pass to search the camp of the orcs, picking up a few things here and there, eventually finding a scroll tube with elvish characters engraved in it. He studies it for a minute, then packs it away, and begins walking, carrying one of the packs.
A search of the camp by you reveals little. The orcs had some skins for drinking, pouches with stale meat, and a few couple sacks with potatoes. Each orc had a large, heavy scimitar, most covered in blood, and wore heavy leathers, now also covered in blood. The ogre was dressed similarly, and carried a gigantic club as long as a man. One orc stands out, the one Taura slew first, as he carried a battle axe with dwarven runes on it, had a small gourd on his belt with a sweet smelling potion inside, and a pouch with a couple dozen wooden and stone discs, carved with pictures, on his belt. After discovering this much, you find that Davar has started walking, and must leave before he gets too far ahead.
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