| Session Date | December 28, 2019 |
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| Base XP Gained | 400 |
The party made their way to the Lormyrr Gate in the morning. The guardsmen there inquired in friendly fashion as to where they were going, and they told them they intended to conduct some scouting. They asked the friendly guard captain, Girion, if there were horses to be had, and he suggested they try the Plentiful Tankard Inn nearby. This they did and within a few hours had acquired horses for each of them. They then rode out along the Dwarf Road, now visible as the snow melted in the rapidly warming air. By afternoon they reached the Grey Haven Inn, a roadside hostelry supporting the summer mercantile trade. When asked, the innsfolk reported that a rider had preceded them earlier in the day, spreading word that Manston intended to resist the Giant King and to prepare for a general call up of the militia. The party stayed the rest of the day and hat night at the inn without incident.
The next day, the weather continued to warm and the party continued on their way southwest along the Dwarf Road. By noon they had reached Durnbridge, the nominal border of the region loosely controlled by Manston. Before entering, Cadwaladyr flew over the town invisibly to look for trouble, but nothing seemed amiss. Upon returning, Iban cast detect evil and they rode into town and to the Old Bridge Inn, which sat adjacent to a large, ancient stone bridge crossing the Durn Flow. The Inn was not busy in the least but seemed happy to have a few travelers. The townsfolk had little to say, aside from that a rider had passed through much like at the other inn to warn of coming war. Iban inquired if there were any hunters about he could speak with, and a few were called to the inn. Iban asked about any strange doings in the wilderness, but the huntsmen said the only thing of note was the many wolves to be seen and heard at times in the area. The innskeeper chimed in, saying that he'd heard wolves howling just the night before, to the south and east, he thought.
After lunch, the party decided to ride along the south side of the river to the southeast, searching for wolf tracks. They soon found some not far from the town crossing from the southwest to the river and then back. Near the river's edge, the wolf seemed to have circled and paced about for some time before departing. No tracks led to the river itself. Cadwallider flew to the other side of the river and found similar tracks coming from the north. The party speculated that the wolves may have been passing messages this way to the enemy. They followed the tracks a short time back to the southwest and found that they soon turned to parallel the Dwarf Road, but far enough off of it to avoid leaving tracks visible to anyone on it. The party now followed the wolf tracks until they lost them, then took to the Dwarf Road once more. There was a large hill several miles south of Durnbridge. The party rode past it, then swiftly turned and came back towards it, Cadwaladyr flying above. As the party approached, a party of Bugbears rose up and began to shoot arrows at the party, killing Cadwaladyr's and ZZ's horses. He obliterated the Bugbears with an ice storm. The Bugbears had been hidden in a blind with a view of the road; beside it was a pile of brush and broken oil jugs to light it. They assumed it was a beacon of some sort to alert the enemy. Cadwaladyr theorized it must be in the event of attack as the party's passage did not merit its lighting, though Iban pointed out that it might also be a signal beacon to quickly gather forces in preparation for an attack. After Mordecai placed a glyph of warding (electrical) on the site, the party took to the saddle once more, with Iban tethered in the air to allow ZZ to ride his horse.
They turned due west now, thinking to cut across the countryside to scout this area before returning to Durnbridge. They had only gone a few miles when they spotted a party of nine men making their way from north to south, apparently striking for Wolfsbridge, the next river crossing to the south. The men turned away from the party at a trot but the party charged at them, quickly overtaking them since they were mounted. As the party neared the men, Bel dismounted and began shooting arrows while a pair of the men returned the fire. ZZ noted that they were attacking men without provocation and refused to join in. This caused the the party to call a parley as Iban (Cadwaladyr?) cast ESP. The men claimed to be scouting from Bristol, a large town to the northwest; this was true, except that ESP revealed they were returning from scouting the town. Seeing they were truly enemy, the party attacked again. Cadwaladyr lightning bolted several while Iban caused a few to fall asleep and ZZ held one. The last one standing suddenly vanished but Iban could see movement near where he had been - it had transformed into a giant rat. He leapt at it but failed to get it as it ran into some heavy brush. Cadwaladyr then blasted the whole thing with a fireball. As the fire burned brightly, likely killing the giant rat/wererat, the party slew two and took prisoner with them, though there was a good deal of concern that they might transform themselves and slip their bonds.
The party left the dying brush fire behind them and returned to Durnbridge with their two prisoners. Once there, they ensured the locals knew of the prisoners and Iban assured them that there were "four more parties just like ours" blocking enemy spies from crossing the river all along its length. The first prisoner, again questioned under ESP, would give little information aside from the fact the local enemy commander they were to report to was named Nosnra. ESP also revealed that there was a sizable camp drawn up south of the Fenric Run and Wolfbridge, in the verge of a forest. Somewhere nearby the giants had built a hall of sorts to winter over in, and the leader dwelt there at present. The first wererat was defiant, so the party slew him. The second was far more complaint and answered a good many general questions. They had been spying on Bristol and he assumed that other groups were doing the same all over the region. The enemy expected for Manston to resist and were preparing to invade, though this one knew nothing of the plan for battle. Given his cooperation, the party opted not to slay him and instead had the local undertaker build them a small box with holes; they forced the wererat to assume rat form and enter the box for safe keeping
Although wolves howled throughout the night, the party passed the night in the inn uneventfully. After purchasing two replacement horses, they rode back up the Dwarf Road towards Manston. about halfway there, Iban broke off from the arty to ride across country towards Gnomish territory, eventually falling in with a party of scouts who took him to their main village, Ardvale. Iban informed them of how wolves were apparently being used to pass messages from spies and asked the Gnomes to patrol as far west as the Dwarf Road to attempt to cut such communications. The Gnomes agreed, though pointed out that they were already stretched thin and it would be very difficult to stop single wolves from getting through. The Gnomes had not been consulted about the impending war as yet, but did offer to send one of their officers back with Iban to Manston. They selected Aripine, the captain of the Gnomes that had rescued the party several days previous. He would have full power to negotiate and coordinate activities between men and Gnomes in whatever was to come. They set out soon after and would arrive in Manston after night fall.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party arrived in Manston in late afternoon. The small city was in a bit of an uproar as the formal militia call up had been made and locals were busily trying to find old weapons and armor, often long neglected and half forgotten. Things were quite chaotic, though most locals seemed rather ebullient about the whole affair (and because they had not really thought things through as yet). The party made their way to the Citadel and presented the wererat as a prisoner. The constables there had a cell for him and would ensure he was kept locked up in the dungeon beneath the citadel. The party also discussed having a Dwarf of their much diminished force be assigned as a guard but made no final decision on that. Meanwhile, they returned to their residence to find all in order except for one anomaly; in the crowd, one man was booing them loudly. He was none other than Rhialto the Marvelous, who sought to join the party at Nali's behest, but who was rejected when he asked for a 250 silver piece advance. He did make it clear that he thought the party to be frauds, cheats, mercenaries, and many other less savory things. Cadwaladyr now teleported to the Dwarf Kingdom and sought out Nali. He then gave him a full rundown of overthinking the party had yet learned, and the Dwarf was most eager to receive the report. However, the reiterated that he still wanted to know more of the size and composition of the enemy forces, their intentions when they started their move, and the like. Cadwaladyr acknowledged this and soon teleported back to Manston just as a new visitor sought admittance to their residence. He turned out to be Owain, a merchant the party had rescued the previous summer from the old Imperial ruins they had explored in the highlands shortly after their arrival at Morsby. He told the party he still owed them a debt of gratitude and wished them to know they had his friendship. He was merely a lesser merchant but was a member in good standing of the Traders' Guild. The party thanked him and told them they might call on him at a later time.