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12 Wealsun, 581 CY, Munevar and Tarrentch
Kanna and her entourage were expecting Issac and Darcius to collect them and escort them to Tarrentch. No one was disappointed this morning. Waiting outside the manor house was the Prince's daughter and two "footmen". They were two of the prince's guardsmen in reality, but they were outfitted in finer livery for this duty. The two of them were on foot, carrying two large trunks on their backs. The Lady Kanna was dressed for travel on the back of one of the Prince's horses. In a short time it apeared she was a typical noble, out for a lark, and serious attitude problems were the word of the day. Because of the men on foot it would be slow going, two days on the road.
Elsewhere: Oliver, Galen and Cedric left Ralsand to meet the others in Tarrentch. We took our time, enjoying the trip, knowing there was no hurry to get there.
13 Wealsun, 581 CY, Tarrentch
Darcius took his horse ahead of Isaac and Kanna to bring tidings of the Lady Kanna's visit, and ensure a welcome reception at the Lady Ilona's manor house. When they arrived at nightfall the Lady Ilona gave a room to Kanna and put the rest of the group up at the inn.
14 Wealsun, 581 CY, Tarrentch
Darcius and Isaac stayed at the Golden Fleece Inn in town. Isaac managed to arrange a meeting with Lady Ilona. In this meeting she expressed some reservations and concerns about Prince Jichrisen's southward expansion. Prince Jichrisen is the ruler of Jennden. He has coerced or extorted every small principality up to Tarrentch. In response she has sent an agent to take a guage of the intentions of her northern neighbor. So far she has discovered a coalition of merchants using their influence to establish a monopoly in the lands ruled by Jichrisen. Their power is such that smaller neighbors have been forced to capitualate to their demands and swear fealty to the prince of Jennden. Anyone who resists is either crushed outright or starved into submission and forced to crawl to Jichrisen to beg aid.
Lady Ilona has tried to extend aid to the northern communities by attempting to expose the monopoly to the rest of the Kingdom. She took her proof to the Knight Protectors of the Great Kingdom, which explained the winter camp at Ralsand, and the promised to investigate. It also appears that the merchant coalitrion in Jennden takes Lady Ilona as a serious threat, as they have apparently offered a bounty for the capture of Lady Ilona. Her agent in Jennden had discovered that an orc named Häezzak Bloodletter was hired to carry out the contract before the contact mysteriously disappeared.
Galen and Oliver arrived in Tarrentch that night and took rooms at the Golden Fleece as well.
15 Wealsun, 581 CY, Tarrentch
In the early morning we geared up to go to Jennden. Our first stop was at the manor house of the lady Ilona in the center of town. She promised a guide and servant of hers to help us find her spy in Jennden. He apparently knows his way around Jennden and will be a valuable asset. Boy were we wrong. This man looked like he could hardly defend himself in a room full of babies. His name was Hethrey, and he was the go between for the spy in Jennden and Lady Ilona. He told us that he would deliver the note to a bartender who would then pass it on to the spy. We guessed that the bartender was the weak link in the scheme and likely gave away Lady Ilona's agent to her enemies.
16 to 17 Wealsun, 581 CY, Road to Jennden
Hethrey informed us that all he really knew of Jennden was that there was a standing army of orcs in the city, and that they manned a number of border forts along the Almor border. The city itself was divided into quarters: the Noble Quarter, a walled off section of town, guraded at all times; the Artisan quarter; The labor quarter; and the military quarter. The gates of the city never close, as the population is made up of both humans and dark-dwelling humanoids.
18 Wealsun. 581 CY, Jennden
Wearrived on the third day of travel from Tarrentch, late in the evening. On our approach to the gates we were nearly run down by a fast moving carriage bearing noble heraldry. Only quick action saved our collective necks. The guards at the gate gave us a cursory inspection and passed us through into the city. It stank like an open cesspool, whihc is understandable, given the open sewers in town. We paid one of the urchins near the gate to take us to an average in near the military quarter. He led us to the Black Road Inn. It was a seedy looking place, but affordable and secure.
19 Wealsun, 581 CY, Jennden
After breakfast at the Black Road inn, we discussed plans to try and find our missing agent. Hethrey told us that the bartender contact was named Gorn and he worked at the Fourth Star Tavern. Isaac and Darcius came up with a decent plan, wherein they would go in to the bar and ask Gorn where they could find Häezzak Bloodletter. Hopefully they could frighten the man into running to Haezzak and we could trail him. We set up, Galen out front, Oliver out back, Cedric going in ahead and taking a table to observe, and Darcius and Isaac going in. They approached Gorn and asked if he could point them in the direction of Haezzak claiming he owed them money. Gorn blew them off, denying knowledge of anyone named Haezzak until his palm was well greased. He then laughed at them, saying that if Haezzak owed them money he was a monkey's uncle. They dropped the act and he offered them some advice for all their gold: Haezzak was the son of the orcish general in town, one of many half-breeds. The general's name is Zukail Bloodfall. They left and went back to wait for the others at our inn.
What price, Galen?
While we were waiting for Gorn to leave, hopefully to lead us to Haezzak, Galen noticed that prostitutes also frequented the front of the tavern. They thought he was another flesh peddler and left him be. As it turns out, prostitues of both sexes work the streets of Jennden. After hours of waiting, Galen was smoking some sweetgrass and sitting on a barrel. A carriage pulled up and a footman got out. Surveying the crowd he came to Galen and offered him twenty-five ivids for his company. Galen declined the offer because of his mission. Looking back to the carriage, its passenger indicated a larger offer. The footman offered thirty-five ivids. Galen actually considered taking the money and running for a moment, then remembered the mission. He dclined again. "Hard to get, eh? Fifty ivids, that's my final offer." This put Galen in a quandary. He hadn't seen fifty ivids in a long time and assumed there was nothing he couldn't handle with his bardic magic...but he delined again. The footman was getting furious, and he looked to the carriage once again. The noble indicated a raise in the price, "Seventy-five ivids, and that's all you'll get!" Galen figured he'd hold out for one hundred ivids, go with the man, put him to sleep with a lullaby and be away, richer for the experience. But the passenger must have decided he'd had enough of this game and said, "There's cheaper entertainment elsewhere, let us off." Galen wa left standing there with a great story and nothing else.
20 Wealsun, 581 CY, Jennden
We split up today to search out different avenues of investigation. Isaac and Darcius were going to the orcish area to see if they could ask some questions of the stinking humanoids. Oliver was going to the market to find a thief or pickpocket to ask for information. Cedric was interested in finding all the temples he could and ask them some of his own questions and Galen was going to set up a mat and sing in the marketplace.
Darcius speaks orcish so he led the way in orctown, but since the sun really bothers the orcs, there were none to talk to. They abandoned this line of investigation for now and started asking if anyone had seen or heard from the Knight Protectors we knew were supposed to be here. No one really knew anything about them, though if they were here, they would be stationed in the noble quarter. No armorers were receiving any orders indicative of a group of knights and this made us curious.
Cedric and Hethrey went temple hopping. First they went to the temple of Fharlaghn and the head priest there knew of Haezzak, saying he was a half-breed. The orcs were not mounting any kind of raids or marches as far as he knew. The head priest said that Cedric ought to go talk to Zuke Bloodfall if he wanted to know more.
Galen set himself up in the market. Whipping out his mandolin he put on a performance, hoping to attract other bards so he could ask them some questions. After a while he started putting a lot of references in his songs to Olidammara hoping to catch the ear of a follower of the Laughing Rogue. Unfortunately for him, busking in Jennden is a licensed profession and some officers of the watch took offense to his impromptu performance. Galen tried to make a clean getaway into the crowd but was tripped up by his rapier. The guards waylaid him with clubs until he managed to put them to sleep, along with a few commoners and make his escape.
Oliver talked to the innkeep at the Black Road Inn and asked if he could talk to some people who did "things" for money. Oliver insinuated that he was looking for thieves but the innkeep misunderstood and got him some mercenary thugs. Giving up on this, Oliver headed to the market to find a thief. Studying the crowd for a bit, he saw a pickpocket of some skill and intercepted him. He invited him for a drink at a local cafe. The thief waved off his backup as Oliver placed some money on the table. The pickpocket relxed a bit as Oliver explained he wanted information on Haezzak and the merchant coalition. The thief knew that Haezzak was out of favor and trying to find a way to get into Zuke Bloodfall's good books, and the general location of the temple of Olidammara.
Darcius and Galen went looking for the temple of Olidammara in the laborer's quarter. Once there, Galen made an offering to the god of rogues and revelry and was rewarded with a divine inspiration. He played one of the most hauntingly beautiful pieces of his life, a muse beyond mere words, and the priests interpreted it as a great omen for Galen. After such a display, Galen felt his belief in Olidammara reinforced after the horrible sham we were exposed to in Rel Deven and the entire Holy Smoke issue. He purchased a new holy symbol and became a follower again, in his heart.
The trip to the Barracks
Darcius, Isaac and Cedric went to orctown after sundown. The squat humanoids filled the streets, harassing passers-by. They were challenged by a street tough who was dropped in two moves by Darcius. They walked on and were given a wide berth by the rest of the orcs. Coming upon a fortified temple of Gruumsh, they tried to gain entrance. No amount of hollering and pounding could get a response. They moved on and came to a larger building with two guards out front. It was the barracks and home of the orcish general, Zuke Bloodfall. Bribing the front guard with a large container of orcish rotgut Oliver had sent with them, they gained entrance and an audience. Darcius was the only one of them who spoke orcish and became the default leader.
Once inside the barracks building, they became aware of the odor such a large enclosure full of orcs smelled like. A few more challenges brought them into a large room at the center of the building. Facing them, on a large wooden chair styled to be a throne, Zuke Bloodfall greeted them. He showed his physical power by manhandling a smaller orc, and made some light banter about the corrent political climate in the Great Kingdom. He rose and invited the group of them to follow him and walked them through a tour of the barracks eventually leading them to a battle arena. He then said "I like the kind of entertainment 'umans can provide." Darcius interpreted this as a challenge and took up the gauntlet regardless of whether or not it was there in the first place. He challenged the general's champion to a fight to the death with only daggers and no armor.. Cedric and Isaac were to watch and if Darcius fell, they knew that they too would have to either fight their way out or die.
Darcius dropped easily into the arena, and waited for his opponent. A lone orc advanced from the door and charged blindly into Darcius' waiting dagger. The fight ended almost before anyone had a chance to breathe. Before the corpse had hit the ground, the door opposite Darcius began to open and two more orcs came charging out. They tried to use group tactics against him but he was more than a match for the untrained rabble. Breathing heavy this time, Darcius watched the door open all the way to admit an ogre! This was quite a shock to us and we were quickly crying foul! The ogre was wielding a large (to us) sword, rather than a dagger. The orc general thought this was marvelously funny, and commanded the ogre to drop his own sword and take up a shortsword, which acted more like a dagger in it's enormous hand. It dropped the shortsword and came in at Darcius in a flurry of blows. MOre than a few landed and only his speed kept him from certain death. As it was, he was bleeding from it's nails and battered around the head. He could feel the rage of the raven beating in his breast. Isaac and Darcius were more than a little fearful, knowing full well that Darcius could become a dervish of destruction at any moment.
The two closed again and Darcius was buffeted back by the ogre once again and this time the rage uncoiled in his gut and he began changing. Isaac and Cedric assumed the position to run, though Zuke Bloodfall sat forward at this development. The raven-man pecked madly at the ogre who was taken completely off guard by this development. It's previously powerful blows were being easily deflected by this feathered demon that pecked incessantly at it's face. It went down and Darcius fought back the welling of rage that had overwhelmed him moments ago. He changed back to human form and called out that he had beaten the general's champion's and had earned a true audience.
Zuke waited until Darcius was fitted out in his clothes again before taking them all back to his throne room. There he indicated that he had no idea that Darcius was of noble (!?) blood. Seeing the confusion apparent in all the faces around him, he explained that all the nobles in Jennden are lycanthropes. It was a problem they'd solved by walling themselves in. This explained why we'd been unable to get into the noble quarter and we assumed the worst for the party of Knight Protectors who'd rode into Jennden expecting nothing. All our reports indicated they'd rode into the noble quarter, but none had been seen since. He even told us that Prince Jichrisen himself was afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy. He asked Darcius to teach him the changing-thing, though Darcius declined, as politely as he could in orcish. We posed the question of Häezzak to him. He told us his bastard son had been trying tocurry his favor for some time and had taken some of the Bloody Renders, on of Zuke's warrior groups, out of town to meet with a princeling in the Adri, east of town. He said it was for the capture of someone, he didn't know who, though we assumed it was Ilona. He drew us a map to where his son was meeting the princeling and sent us on our way. The group of them arrived at the Black Road to find Galen and Oliver drunk as skunks in the common room.
21 to 22 Wealsun, 581 CY, Jennden and Adri forest
With map in hand and hung-over companions in tow, we set out for the site marked on the map. Back into the damned forest.
23 to 24 Wealsun, 581 CY, Adri forest, northeast of Jennden
Oliver scouted ahead of the main body, finding scattered signs of passage by what he guessed were four men. Eventually he discovered a camp he estimated to be nearly a week old. Returning to the main group he led them to the camp. Investigations bore out Oliver's suspicion. Four men had used this camp a week before. We made camp here and followed the trail of what we hoped was our quarry. The trail turned straight east after a time and then eventually south. Towards Tarrentch.
That night, around the fire, Oliver exclaimed "They're heading to Tarrentch!" We realized that by foloowing them this way, we'd get there too late to stop them, but if we got out into open ground our mounts could get us to Tarrentch in a half day.
25 Wealsun, 581 CY, plains north of Tarrentch
We bee-lined to the west breaking into flat ground at dusk. We made camp and waited for first light.
26 Wealsun, 581 CY, Tarrentch and Adri forest
We galloped as hard as we could push the horses and reached Tarrentch by midday. Our first destination was the home of Lady Ilona. We were admitted without delay, and she listened carefully to us and her man Hethrey, who we'd still not found much use for. After some discussion she asked us what WE were going to do to protect her town. Of course, being heroes, we volunteered to see if we could stop Häezzak and his grooup of warriors.
Oliver headed north into the forest to hopefully intercept the bandits (or so we thought them) while the rest of the group split up and began canvassing locals to see if they'd seen or heard anything which might give us an indication of how much time we had.
Oliver began a search pattern in the woods, swinging east to west while drifting north, in hopes he'd find some trace, or even run headlong into them. He got lucky. As he was cruising along a path he heard the clink of metal on metal. Going to ground swiftly he managed to hide from the eyes of an orcish scout of a larger body of troops. Twenty more orcs trooped past his hiding spot, followed by four non-humanoids: a six and-a-half foot tall half-orc (who we assumed was Häezzak), a priest of Hextor, a man dressed in orange robes that faded to red at the hem, and a blonde, shaggy man in fine chainmail, that fit quite loosely. Behind all that were twenty more orcs, their weapons gleaming in the moonlight. Oliver laid low until he was certain they were past and bolted for Tarrentch with news of the oncoming force.
