Grand Duchy 9

Grand Duchy of Adventure

Session 9
March 27, 2014

Three Days and Nothing to Show For It

Lunadain, 11th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Griffin, Marcel, Draven, Remar, Ree, Burik and Bahaznic headed out early in the morning, following the trail north through the woods to the lumber camp Ilyakana. Their path would take them through one of the other nearby homesteads, Hokol as well. The sky was dark and cloudy but the air was warm and dry and very little breeze blew. Bahaznic led the way. He was 'leading' this excursion in hopes of finding his missing father, or at least some clues as to where he was.

The Hokol homestead

The group arrived in Hokol by midday and found only the burnt out remains of the settlement. Some dead Goblins lay among the handful of dead homesteaders. All the bodies were looted thoroughly and nothing of value or importance could be discovered. Draven gathers the dead of the homestead and gives them a proper burial, speaking some words over their bodies while having the Goblin bodies tossed aside.

Downhearted, they press on to Ilyakana, arriving just as the sun is setting on the western horizon, to find a similar situation. The camp is burned and multiple dead bodies litter the area. Surprisingly, a survivor is spotted moving through the camp. When hailed, the man screams incoherently and begins swinging around an axe that he carried and then runs towards the tree line. Several folk urge their horses forward to intercept him, but the darkness and rubble littering the ground prevents any rapid chase. The man is followed into the forest and Marcel is met with several arrows being fired in his general direction. Finally, the man is found hiding and crying up in a tree. It is Captain Kalanos, the captain of the riverboat that brought the companions up the river just a few short days ago.

Draven and the others attempt to coax the man down out of the tree, but he refuses, swinging his axe dangerously around a few times and muttering incomprehensible words. Clearly he has been scarred emotionally by the attack. The others search the camp but again find nothing useful. It looks like the Goblins were only interested in destroying the camp as the fire damage was widespread and very chaotic, including many burnt things that could have been taken as loot. The bodies of the lumbermen were gathered respectfully and given a fiery funeral while the bodies of the Goblins were tossed unceremoniously into the river.


Camp was made and some food was left out for the Captain who cried himself to sleep up in the nearby tree while Marcel sang him the Cuppy-Cake Song, a traditional Traladaran tune. A full moon filled the sky that night, illuminating the foggy moors across the river. It seemed like things were moving around the moor, but nothing definite could be seen in the shadows and fog. 

The Moors

Gromdain 12th of Thaumont, 1001AC

By morning, the sky had filled with clouds and rain had started to fall. It was a cold rain, driven by winds from the north. It was decided to head north to Sielo, another nearby lumber camp and after a few hours of riding in the mud and rain, they arrived, once again to find the place destroyed in the same manner as Hokol and Ilyakana. The dead were tended to and a quick search for clues turned up nothing. The recent and current rains had washed away any potential tracks. As the group was heading out of the camp to make the loop down toward Cherkass, they noticed Captain Kalanos trudging up the road toward them, dragging his axe in the mud. They hailed him and he screamed and ran off the other way. Hoping he would follow them, they group left, following the edge of the forest.

The Fairy-King of Horses

About halfway to Cherkass, all of the horses suddenly stopped dead in their tracks and would not move. They all began whinnying and neighing. Soon, everyone heard and saw a large black horse on a rise several hundred yards out in the plains. The horse rose up on its back legs and let out a loud cry. For a few moments, it seemed as if this black horse was talking to the groups horses. Marcel began going on about the Fairy-King of Horses and spurred his mount forward to get a better look at it. The black horse and its entourage of several other horses swished their tails and took off, disappearing over a rise.

By nightfall, the group arrives in Cherkass. Sadly, they find the same massacre there. Remar is considerably upset as he recognizes some of the dead as folk he had recently become acquainted with.The rain continues and it is decided to make camp there for the night. The rain continued throughout the night, turning into full blown storms sometime after midnight. Griffin has a terrible time sleeping through the rest of the night.

Tserdain, 13th of Thaumont, 1001AC

Segenyev?

It is storming when morning comes, though the sun cannot be seen behind the thick layer of dark clouds that line the sky. The Captain is spotted again that morning on the road nearby, so hopes were high that he will eventually wander his way to the homestead and he could get some help. During one break in the storm, a long plume of black smoke is seen to the east. It is believed to be coming from the direction of Segenyev, a homestead a few days travel to the east. It is contemplated making a fast ride for the settlement, but finally decided that more supplies were needed before an extended trip away from the homestead was undertaken. On the final stretch of the journey home, Bahaznic becomes quite upset that more was not discovered about his missing father. Plans are being discussed for the continued search the entire way back. The storms continue throughout the day, making travel slow and miserable. It takes nearly all day to make back to Susikyn.

a "hand-drawn" map of the area

Continued on GDA10 Still Searching

Notes

This makes post #100 for my blog. I'm quite excited to reach this point. Feels like a milestone. The blog is barely over a year old. Now I've just got to get my followers up. Really, I don't worry about that at all. I just hope some folks are reading these and enjoying them. I get some views, some +1s, etc. It's all good. Thanks for reading. Like this blog post. Link me to your blog. Leave a comment if you like!

Cast of Characters: 

Garrett "Griffin" Constantine, a Thyatian rogue of a gambler from Penhaligon rolled by +Arne Jamtgaard 
Remar Umerus, an Alphatian battle mage that escaped forced service in the Thyatian army conjured by +Ben Lipe 
Marcel Maas, a down on his luck Traladaran soldier turned mercenary commanded by +Christian Blouin 
Draven Rickart, a Thyatian Acolyte of the Church of Karameikos piously played by +Jason Packer 
and +Jason Woollard as the DM