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Session 16: The Wide World
The group continued their campaign of skirmishes with the shadar-kai and on the second day they met a man covered in blood. He appeared uninjured and when Corwynne spoke to him he explained that his name is Raymond Dandridge and he comes from the hamlet of Clear Mist about a days travel north. The people of Clear Mist have been having problems with small, elf-like creatures with dusky, rune-covered skin. He told them that he is a cleric of Magnus, the god of strength and competition, so he volunteered to deal with the problem with a couple of other Clear Mist locals. Only he survived an ambush by the creatures. When he finished his story, Corwynne explained that the creatures are called shadar-kai and that the group is traveling to their lair to destroy them. Raymond asked if he could join them on their quest. Figuring that they could always use more healing magic, they said yes.
The following day they found hastily constructed door on the side of a hill with a large amount of huckleberry bushes growing on the crest of the hill. Darstina checked the door for traps and found a basic poison-needle trap. She disarmed it and the group entered a network of subterranean corridors. In the first area where the corridor opened into a room, a magic missile spell erupted from the darkness to hit Allister in the chest. He sat the lantern on the floor and charged towards a pair of shadar-kai, one of which was a spellcaster. The rest of the group entered the room and from the opposite direction of Allister’s battle came a crossbow bolt that hit Corwynne. Corwynne quickly cast a sleep spell towards the other corner of the room, catching two more shadar-kai in its area. One of the shadar-kai fell to the ground asleep, but the second one shook the spell off and charged forward with his chain flailing about. Ollorin had joined Allister in the battle on the other side of the room, and Raymond stepped forward to aid Corwynne and Darstina with the shadar-kai with the chain. Allister and Ollorin defeated one of the two on their end of the room, when the second one turned invisible and escaped. Raymond, Darstina, and Corwynne finished off the sleeping one and his companion.
After healing the minor injuries that the group had suffered, they continued down the corridor on the opposite end of the room. The corridor continued for forty feet, then opened into a room with two doors leading out. Darstina checked the door to the right while Corwynne watched the opposite door. Darstina found another trap, disarmed it and the group rushed into the room. The room was some sort of bedchamber, with four beds and a couple of footlockers. Shadar-kai erupted from two shadows hardly large enough to conceal their forms and attacked, nearly dropping Allister and Raymond in their initial flurry. The companions quickly turned the tide of the battle when the opposite door opened and a crossbow bolt shot out of the darkness. Corwynne was able to make out the form of the creature that shot the crossbow, so she targeted it with a magic missile. The missile hurt the creature, but didn’t kill it. By this time, Allister, Ollorin, and Raymond had finished the battle with the two shadar-kai that had surprised them and charged out of the room towards the opposite room. They found two shadar-kai in that room as well. The battle was quick and the group found another door in the last room they had entered. Beyond that door was an exit from the subterranean network. At this point the group had counted 19 shadar-kai defeated and figured that they had finished their quest for the raknakle.
They traveled back to Tinsley’s Distillery and told their story to the Tinsleys. Afterward, Corwynne called for the raknakle and told them that their problems were solved. The raknakle rewarded the group with five pink rhomboid ioun stones. The group thanked the raknakle for their generosity and told them that if they ever needed anything, to come to Maymill to find the group.
The companions, thrilled with their successful adventure, traveled back to Maymill, disappointed that their adventure had come to an end. When they entered Maymill, there was a banner hanging over the tavern door. It read, “Welcome home, heroes of Maymill”. Entering the tavern, the group realized that almost the entire town had gotten together to celebrate the group’s victory. They even hired a traveling minstrel to perform. As the party wound down, the minstrel approached Allister. He introduced himself as Riley of Quel and asked it the group was looking for more adventure. Allster asked Riley what he had in mind. Riley told his story.
“I often travel from town to town on the island of Quel and I meet many people, some good, some evil. In Riverton I met a man named Halburt. I enjoy getting adventurer types to tell me their stories so I can spread them on my travels. Halburt told me a story of an expedition into the Marsh of Karsellis following an old manuscript that hinted at a great treasure. When I asked him what treasure did he find, Halburt drew a beautiful, obviously magical sword from the sheath at his side. When I looked upon the sword a voice rang in my head, Please…Please help me, this brute murdered my rightful wielder and wields me for evil. Halburt completed his boastful tale with the statement that he and his friends were entering the marsh again, this time to explore an ancient citadel. I left, vowing to tell all goodly adventurers this tale so that someone will relieve Halburt of his ill-begotten hostage.”
Knowing that the rest of the group didn’t want to remain in Maymill any more than he did, Allister told Riley that the group would look into it.
Over the past several days Corwynne was having an unexplained urge to disappear into the forest. She was also having strange dreams of flying through an enormous forest with giant animals. Not understanding these strange urges, Corwynne suppressed them.
A couple of days later, the group headed out towards Port Kay, a small port city to the southeast. The group hired a small sailing vessel to take them to Port Lynn on the island of Quel. Corwynne released Skooby, figuring he couldn’t come aboard the boat.
Late at night, as the group rested, humanoid fish-creatures boarded the vessel. One of the sailors was able to ring a bell as an alarm. The group, unable to sleep soundly because of rough seas, heard the alarm and rushed to the deck. When they reached the deck, they saw four fish-creatures attacking the three sailors. In mere moments, the three sailors lay dead on the deck and the creatures turned toward the companions. After a tough battle, three of the fish-creatures lay dead and the fourth fled. Unfortunately the group was on a boat without sailors, drifting at the mercy of the currents. The group dropped the anchor, pulled down the sail, and waited for the sun to rise…