| Session Date | January 30, 2021 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
Pursued by a the sinister, floating shape in the sky and by the dark shapes on the ground, the party galloped off to the east at a healthy trot. The white flying figure easily maintained pace as did the ground pursuit. Mordecai, wishing to see what pursued on the ground, used a sling to whip a glowing coin back at the pursuers, revealing great spiders with some sort of small rider. Not wishing to be caught, the party opened up to a full gallop and soon drew away from the spider cavalry. The flier, however, was able to maintain pace, and it soon became apparent he was relaying movement orders to the forces on the ground. In order to not over tire the horses, several of the party members drank potions of flying (Thunderfist took a potion of dimunition) to lighten the horses' load. The party turned north to towards the Durn Flow, still pursued but with greater margin of safety. At the river, ZZ cast Lower Water and the party crossed the river. The pursuit apparently did not follow, as the spiders were not seen again, and the flying figure soon floated back to the south. The party went north a few more miles and camped in the wilderness north of the Durnton-Bristol road.
The following morning, the party used repeated dispel magics to disarm the magical trap on the remaining chest they'd taken from Castle Solen. Within they found a rich treasure of magical items. Indeed, the party was so buoyant they declared that their new motto was "better lucky than dead!" It seemed appropriate! They now rode west to Durnton. From there, Iban cast fly and headed invisibly towards Solen, where he found the garrison (human and non-human) mustering out. It appeared the party had kicked the hornet's next! Iban proceeded to drop a rock with a message attached, urging the human garrison to desert their evil master and demanding Lord Solen's surrender. Once back in Durnton, the party moved south to a hill a few miles south of the village, taking up a position to ambush the patrol they expected along the road. The patrol came a short time later, and a sleep spell (from Iban) and Web (from Knar) later, they had captured yet another patrol from the castle.
The party tried mightily to convince the patrol that they should desert Solen, and it seemed that their words had some effect, though the fear of that lord was clearly on their faces. They also learned that Solen was furious with the party for the death of the evil priest and the theft of his treasure. Indeed, he was coming to burn Durnton and hunt down the party. Apparently the Giant King's emissary, the half-orc they'd met,w as furious as this went against his orders, but he had lost control of his own humanoid forces who were eager to finally start the war everyone knew was coming. After disarming the patrol and taking their horses, the party returned to warn the nearby village of what was coming. A potion of animal control and some ravens would provide early warning. However, after a quick muster, the party found that Durnton had a paltry militia consisting of about 35 humans and 15 halflings. Not much of an army against what was coming...