It's been a while - we have been traveling in the wilds and I find myself hungering for the events of a city - but here's the party composition:
- Arc (Sklyer), Human Barbarian
- Daleen (Matthew), Human Gatekeeper Druid
- Marcal Frey (Chris), Human Bard
- Rowayn (Chuck), Warfarged Artificer
- Tevesh Norrfog (Francis), Elf Ranger
- Velus Drenil (Aaron), Human with mysterious magical powers
- Willa (Sarah - has returned to the Reaches), Shifter Ranger
We were minding our own business waiting for the Rail to arrive, which seems to be every one's business these days, when a guy starts casting spells at me. Of course no one else sees this, so it's my duty to inform the others, and to strike back. Both of which I do (with the aid of Sereen). A short battle ensues, though I can not recall if any other enemies were involved, and the unknown caster vanishes away. During this encounter we join forces with Arc. She's a burly looking woman with this large ax-like weapon - sort of rustic, tough, gruff, quiet, 'speaks' with her actions - and most importantly, willing to charge into battle for the sheer pleasure of swinging.
Aside from this, the trip to Wroat is uneventfull (except my dinning-car adventures in trying to pick up a young lady, who eventually rebuffs me when she learns I am a Gatekeeper - sometimes I suffer greatly for my cause).
In Wroat we decide to purchase horses and ride most of the way to Thronehold - yes it's slow, but we lack certain funds and desire the experience of the open road of adventuring. I get a heavy warhorse and the rest get light warhorses (Rowayn may have a heavy warhorse considering his construct-like composition - but that is to be seen). We estimate the trip to be about 800 miles (to the middle of Nowhere), and may take us up to a month. however, as we improve in our riding skills we should make better time.
On the road for only the second night and we have the pleasure of meeting two rather vigorous ogres. These mini-giants think we will be easy pickin's, but we teach them a lesson they will never learn.
On the road again, and we encounter a company of 3 Bugbears and 7 Goblins (5 are off to the side shooting us, mostly Marcal, with crossbows. Of course I go down again (but not like that), because all 3 of the bugbears decide they like the look of my jib (or maybe some other part of my anatomy), but Arc goes down as well. You have to respect a woman who joins up with four strange men and goes down for them within the first week. Ultimately we prevail, but the battle is fierce and we are badly wounded. But we heal-up nicely.
When we have about another 500 miles to ride to the middle of Nowhere we see a couple large flying creature off in the distance - in the direction we are heading. They don't fly like birds, more clumsily, but they turn around in what looks like a patrol and head away prior to our arriving to where they were.
When we get there find 2 sets of medium-sized bipedal footprints. Teves and Velus determine that some magic was used in making the footprints disappear. In retrospect it now seems the flying things may have been hired by the bipeds to do their job - more on that later, though. This is day seven of our travels.
On day 10 we found out what the not-bird-like flying creatures were: Halflings riding flying dinosaurs (kind of a comical sight - except for the pointy javelins they were throwing at us). Again, we prevailed, and I got to use a new spell. This one caused the partial cooked death of one of the glidewings. So, I spend the rest of the day cutting off the good bits for us to eat. Dino-meat is pretty darned good. Another 7 days later and we found the same tracks as 10 days back. They seem to be the same age, so it appears we are traveling (on horses) only as fast as those leaving the tracks (on foot). Interesting...
I believe it was a couple days later when we found the track-makers - or track-maker, initially. A barbarous looking individual with a massive hammer/maul told us to stop (his Common was atrocious). Of course, we didn't, and he proceeded to engage us in a different form of communication; Namely, the knock-our-horses-unconscious form of communications. He was a tough mauler, and it didn't help that a wizard/sorcerer was helping him (initially invisible). Unlike our other conflicts we prevailed but without killing them. After much mayhem we knocked the hammer man down, and the mage surrendered. He told us they were hired to deter us from further travels. The man who hired them is no one sounding familiar to any of us, but I did get a thorough description of him (including a mole on his left cheek) in case we come across him. We decided to treat them as POWs were treated during the better days of The Last War (i.e. we took their stuff, but left them alive). Out of it, our new friend, Arc, got a nice, magical chain shirt, and a very powerful great hammer.
It was about a day and a half that we made it to the middle of Nowhere (which is very close to any edge of Nowhere). It's nothing but a Rail stop and ticket station. We decided, to gain a few more days, but not cut our adventuring life to short, to take the Rail to Hatheril. Hatheril is north of us, and not on the line going to Flamekeep. That line leads to Starlusker, which is where the mage and barbarian were hired to change our minds about Thronehold. The fact that our minds need to be changed, from some people's perspectives, is a good sign that we are on the right track. I think so anyway.
After a short trip to Hatheril we stayed for a day. Tevis went out into the wilds to 'commune with nature' and came back with a wolf. I don't recall what he calls the wolf, but maybe he will let Sereen ride on - just for the comical aspect. Anyway, we decided to ride north, and did so. A few days later (with no events worth noting) we are now within sight of Sword keep, which is a border fort with Thrane, and a small town surrounding it.
Daleen, of the Eldeen Reaches, Druid of the original Gatekeeper 16,000 year tradition.
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