Around the Campfire: An Adventurer's Journal / Episode 6

Currently discussing the events of Episode 6.

Finding themselves finally in a position to do something about searching out the object of their quest, the party employs the services of assorted information brokers to come up with at a general area to start in. Of course if they had paid more they might have been privy to the fact that a horror was rumored to be in residence nearby. As fate would have it nearby actually meant exactly where the party was headed. Innocently our intrepid band of rabble rousers entered the ruins of Parlainth…I mean the horror infested pit of corruption which once was Parlainth the Magnificent. Of course their new addition Elianar Laryskova a nephew of Tilaria added some confidence and hope in their gait, a Wizard of no small talent.

The Smalls they call it, once a nice series of residential neighborhoods for all to live in equally. Of course this equality did not last, as the rich, and upwardly mobile moved elsewhere leaving the Smalls to become the neighborhood of choice for the poor. Many of the buildings lay in cracked heaps either the work of time, or horrors seeking a nice soft warm meal. Into this landscape comes the tentative probing of a group of namegiver’s ill prepared for what awaits them.

Satine Rose flying ahead as a sort of aerial scout is quickly marked by a horror. Poor Satine little did she realize how easy it is for these despicable creatures to latch on to the very soul of a namegiver. Graul was the first to experience the joy of her unwanted passenger. Desperately seeking the source of these attacks the party zeroes in on a house, which is conspicuously whole compared to its neighbors. With no time to waste Graul, Jand, and Audvin charge in and begin to hack and chop the vile creature into little bits of glass and oily goo even as their very joint sprout spikes of bone through their skin. Satine throws spell after spell, to little effect. The battle seemingly lost swings back in the heroes favor when Elianar casts a particularly powerful casting of Astral Slice severely damaging it, bringing it to the brink of doom. Graul, Jand, and Audvin all at the limits of their endurance and near the gates of death all give one last push, and with the swift motion of axe, and sword, steel and wood the entity is brought to its last.

In the ruins of what was once a horror, and before that a house laid the culmination of their quest. A simple box inscribed in Scythan runes, in a better place an time. I time before the horrors, and the endless wars in preparation for their coming. A box dedicated to home and heart, the warm good things in life rarely thought of by those who seek to be heroes, but the only things of importance to the common man. This box the Butterspider Box, an item of great importance to those who follow Garlen was what they had come to Parlainth for, and soon they would head back to their benefactor for their reward. First they would limp back to Haven and there they would need to rest for some time, but soon they would be on the road again.

A week would pass, a week of relaxation, a week to bask in the exultation of victory or survival, a week of strange revelations. It is during this time that we discover that Satine Rose is scarred by her experiences most deeply having developed a taste for Hurlg. Training and equipping is conducted between bouts of drunken revelry, but the day to leave soon arrives, and the party departs with the Iron Circle Caravan under Trajan Gortan and Damjar Metalfist.

It does not take long to discover that someone is following them. Arranging to commit a scouting action of sorts, the party discovers that they are being followed by Blood Elves. Returning to the caravan a course of action is discussed and chosen. Since the Blood Elves are following but not closing with the caravan it is surmised that an ambush awaits them, particularly since it is suspected that Fafedriel a powerful Nethermancer is amongst those who follow. The party will go ahead and attempt to clear the way. At worst when the Blood Elves following the caravan catch up for the ambush they will discover their prey has slipped away.

Pushing through the night the party arrives upon the idyllic scene of a camp of Blood Elves sleeping in, and relaxing clearly not expecting anyone to come upon their less than defensible position, they are in for an ill surprise. As an Elementalist Satine Rose commands many destructive powers, however some of these powers are quieter, less noticeable and in this case much more useful. Through the power of elemental enchantments the party finds itself within easy striking distance of the camp, and with a silent nod they grimly set about butchering those who planned to do the same to them on the morrow. Standing in the ruin of the Blood Elves camp with one prisoner in hand information will soon pass into their hands.