| Session Date | December 01, 2018 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
Waking the next morning in their camp just outside the Waerun Fen, the party had a discussion and decided to let ZZ use their new-found wish ring to undo their encounter with the Lamia. This had the effect of dramatically improving ZZ's wisdom (+5 points!) as well as Iban's (+1 point). It also had the chain reaction of mitigating some of the effects of his having had perused the Book of Vile Darkness. (This was probably the most benefit from a wish I have ever seen in the game).
Feeling much better, the party decided to pursue their plan to search for the missing Ranger Winfrith by next visiting the village of Grilbie. The party had a general sense of its location and decided to follow the Paren River on the east bank. This they did, moving out in the cold and snowy wilderness. They traveled all day, slowed somewhat by the weather. By nightfall, they had come to a ridge across their path, the river passing through a narrow valley or cut. They opted to rest the night before trying the ridge in the morning and Iban cast Leomund's Tiny Hut for shelter.
Not long after bedding down, the party heard the howls of wolves not far away. Soon, ZZ spotted a single wolf snuffling along their trail in the moonlight. The party observed it for a few moments until it spotted them, at which point it let out a howl that was answered by others not far away. Aldeberon leaped out of the shelter to attack as Cadwallider hit it with magic missiles before going invisible and taking to the air with a fly spell. The first wolf was cut down fairly quickly but soon a half dozen more were on Aldeberon. Cadwallider blasted two with a lightning boltbut did not kill either. ZZ rushed to aid Aldeberon (who was surrounded) as Cadwallider began to attack with a dagger from the air, in addition to further spells including acone of cold. Iban provided arrow fire, as well. One of the wolves leapt up to strike Cadwallider, but ended up landing on one of its fellows, while one attacking Aldeberon ended up mauling one of its fellows. Finally, the wolves were cut down, a single one managing to flee wounded, leaving a trail of blood, though the party did not pursue it. Instead, they took two carcasses and skinned them, leaving the rest behind.
The next morning they awoke to discover that one of the "dead" wolves had disappeared, apparently it was only unconscious and managed to drag itself off in the darkness. Iban and Cadwallider now became invisible again and the party set off to cross the ridge. They decided to avoid the cut and the river as that seemed like a bad spot for an ambush, and opted to climb instead. The snow and ice made this treacherous, and Aldeberon took a bad fall at one point. But, they otherwise made it over in an hour or so. On the southern side, they could see a small pine forest, above which hung a little pall of smoke. They discussed investigating it, but decided there was no real point in doing so. They continued south through more or less open wilderness, a large pine forest on the opposite side of the river. Just beyond that they spotted he smoke of Grilbie on the opposite shore, with a road approaching it from the north-northwest. At this point, Iban cast flyand ferried the rest of the party across the river and they struck the road to approach in a more conventional manner, the invisible wizards becoming visible.
They now came into the village around early afternoon, passing a temple to Maladominus and other easily identifiable locations. There was little activity, but smoke from almost every building seemed to indicate nothing was amiss (a typical farming village in mid winter). Near the center of the village they found a inn, the Bountiful Harvest. Entering, they found perhaps ten or so locals quietly drinking and chatting; all grew silent as they took in the party. The innkeeper, Thormir Woodshot, proved to be affable and genuinely pleased to see travelers arrive in midwinter. The other customers. This grew to downright merriment when ZZ bought a round for the house. There followed a true town festival, as the party decided to shrug off any degree of remaining low key and began throwing money around quite freely. Within a few hours, much of the town population had jammed themselves into the inn, in a raucous, festive atmosphere.
ZZ, in his jester outfit, was without doubt the biggest draw, and he made sure to fit the part, doing magic "tricks" with his ever-full ale mug and otherwise telling stories and entertaining. Meanwhile, the rest of the party used the distraction to collect information. Cadwallider cast ESP on the innkeeper and determined he was far shrewder and more intelligent than he'd suspected, but harbored no ill-intent towards the party. He proved to be willing to talk somewhat, answering questions about the Rangers and Winfrith specifically (he had not been there in some time, since before he met the party). He also pointed out, when asked, the only new folk in town, a pair of ordinary looking farmers sitting by themselves in a far corner who had moved in the previous summer, claiming to have fled trouble up north. Cadwallider also noted that the head cook, also the innkeeper's wife, was perhaps even more intelligent than he -- they were quite shrewd for simple villagers (her name is Glorwen, which I assume you herd at some point).
The festivities continued as the innkeeper showed the party to some rooms (a ground floor stone room for the dwarf and upstairs rooms for the others); the party gave him a handful of gold, making him extremely cooperative. Still, Iban wizard lockedhis door and took some time to use his new crystal ball to search for Winfrith -- he found him, in a non-descript stone dungeon with his hands bound.
The town master tried to interrupt for a speech, but ZZ shouted him down, much to the townsfolk's pleasure. Upon returning, Iban, Aldeberon and Cadwallider were intercepted by a man who introduced himself as Adar the Miller. He said he'd overheard the party asking after Winfrith, and he asked what they knew of him. He implied that he had connections with the Rangers, passing them information as they provided protection for Grilbie. He had no idea of what had happened to the Ranger, but said that his fellows were concerned for his safety. At the party's request, he would get word to his fellows to come see the party as soon as possible (it might take a few days, though). At this time, they noted that one of the two newcomers was gone, which caused them some concern. They inquired as to where the two lived. Once he had this, Cadwallider slipped outside, went invisible, and walked to the house. He found it dark and locked up, so he dimension doored inside. The place was closed and empty; the farmer had not returned here form the inn. The wizard searched the place, locating a secret trap door to a compartment in the floor containing two sets of leather armor and weapons; he noted that they were comparable gear to what the other brigands used, though that was a pretty vague assessment). He slipped out of the house and returned to the inn, attempting to leave no trace.
Meanwhile, Aldeberon found folks in the tavern willing to cure the wolf hides they'd recently acquired and fashion them into cloaks, vests and other items. They did say that the pelts were very unusual in some undefined way, not like the usual wolf pelt. Aldeberon also took the time to make a 25 gold piece donation to the Decian (head priest) of the local temple of Maladominus. Iban, after Cadwallider informed him of what he found, slipped to his room to try the crystal ball once more, but he failed to located the missing farmer.
Finally, late in the evening, the festivities died down and the party made their way to their rooms, passing a night in relative comfort and without incident. The next morning, there were a fair number of folks in the inn, though the level of merriment did not get like the previous night. The two farmers under suspicion were present, though one looked quite tired and bleary-eyed. The party now concocted a plot to test them, getting the innkeeper to help them. Aldeberon inquired of the innkeeper loudly enough so that the two could hear that the "elves and dwarves would be sending a force to protect Grilbie." Iban, using ESP at the time, noted that this very much got the two "farmers" highly agitated, and they began to quickly whisper about how they would find out when this would occur...they definitely were quite interested in that supposed fact. On further secretive discussion with the Miller (also present), they would leverage the Rangers to help spread this rumor when they came, though it would require talking to them before they reached the inn. The miller said he would arrange it. Also during this time, the youngest bar wench (who turned out to be the Innkeeper's 16 year-old daughter), seemed to be extremely interested in the party, and was becoming a bit of a groupie (her name is Furwen, which I assume you'd have heard).
One of the two farmers now slipped away an left the inn. Cadwallider, invisible once more, took to the air to follow him. The man headed south for some time, following the road to the southeast (it headed to the Dwarf Kingdom, they'd learned, though there was no traffic on it this time of year). He entered a pine wood and soon turned east off the road, hiding his tracks as he went and soon arriving at the river bank where he was met by two other men who ferried him across using a hidden boat. On the other side, Cadwallider found that he was taken to a camp of a score or so brigands where he made a report of some sort before returning the way he'd come. meanwhile, a mount saddled a horse and rode off to the east. Cadwallider opted to return to Grilbie before his fly spell ended.
The party now strongly suspected that the village was in imminent danger. They conveyed this to the innkeeper who promised to help them as he could. When asked about nearby ruins, he replied that there were ruins everywhere around this region, most dating to old imperial times but many even older than that. Finding Winfrith by randomly visiting ruins was apparently a fool's errand, and Iban stated that the party "might have to forsake Winfrith for the greater good." The others agreed. They would remain in Grilbie for the time being, watching and waiting for the Rangers to arrive. Hopefully they would have further information to act upon.