The group tries to harness one of the vultures and equips the ranger with a ring of feather falling – just in case – and launches bird and ranger off the top of the tower. The hapless ranges promptly falls off the vulture and drifts to the ground as the bird wings away over the swamps.
So much for that. The group scales down the outside of the tower and sneaks away into the swamps, backtracking until they rejoin the causeway. Using the maps they found in the lord’s chambers, they follow the path northward until it turns to the east, skirting the edge of the swamp.
The trip is largely uneventful and looks to stay that way as long as the group stays on the path. Within a few days they pass by a ruined collection of buildings among which graze a strange collection of creatures that resemble musk-oxen mixed with narwhals. As it turns out these creatures seem to hate elves and Goldpiece finds himself stompled, trampled and gored before the creature is slain and the rest flee into the swamp.
Okay then. Onward along the road and a few more days of travel bring a second encounter. Scouting reveals a large corral and a number of tents arranged atop a hill just off the edge of the trail. It appears that there is a unicorn being held captive in an ungern camp. Ungern, ogres, orcs and the like abound and the unfortunate captive pleads telepathically with the paladin and ranger and urges them to attempt a rescue.
Some more scouting to identify the locations of the guardposts and then a bold plan is hatched. The elf dons his batcloak, becomes a bat and flits into the camp, landing in the corral. In the corner of the corral a quartet of trolls are roasting whatever passes for dinner. Goldpiece converses quietly with the unicorn before feeding it a potion of gaseous form. While it dissipates, he quickly flees the scene.
Once it is clear that the unicorn is gone, the camp erupts into chaos and the group takes advantage of the hubbub to flee onto the plains that lie north of the swamp. They spend the night and then make a large detour around the ungern encampment before rejoining the road. Another day of travel beings the town of Grafika into view. The flying mage is deployed to gather intelligence and he reports a town divided into armed camps with a central square wherein commerce is carried out. His scouting report is communicated to the rest of the party and some discussion ensues.
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