Back outside Mor, Erijay, Kern and Darnorth decided to ride east into
the rising sun, hoping to make it back to Westmist to see what had happened in
their absence. Riding hard, they found themselves, as the sun began to sink
behind them, approaching the river ford just before what used to be Braksis’
Hold. Here they found a group of men on horseback, fussing with something on
the ground. Cautiously moving forward, they noticed the men were in the livery
of the March Barons Horseguard, and they were searching/looting the bodies of a
couple dozen hobgoblins. The men also noted them, and formed a defensive formation
before hailing the party. Each side determined the other was no immediate
threat, and conversation and information trading ensued. From the sergeant-lieutenant, the party
learned the final battle with the hobgoblins had ended in victory a few days
earlier. These men were hunting down stragglers, and were preparing to rejoin
the March Baron at the ruins of Nasper. Where, according to the sergeant-lieutenant,
he had assembled most of his army and was putting down some roots. At this
point the solider starting asking pointed questions about what the party was up
to, and Kern tried to bluff his way though by saying they were on a secret
mission for the March Baron, spying on the hobgoblins to the west. Not sure
whether to believe Kern or not, the sergeant-lieutenant ‘insisted’ that the
party accompany his troop back to Nasper so they could report on their mission
to the March Baron.
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Unwilling to get into a fight with the March Barons men at this time,
and figuring they might learn something in the process, the party agree. After
a nights rest, they crossed the ford and rode south , arriving in Nasper at
about noon. The ruined town looked much like it did when the trio had last seen
it, except for the addition of more defensive works (courteous of the previous
hobgoblin occupants) and the fact that it was now swarming with the March
Baron’s men. In particular, they could see a small army of tradesmen at work on
the island in the river, repairing the castle. Other men swarmed around the
warehouses below the ruins, going through the supplies captured from the
hobgoblins. Crossing by boat to the island, the party was left to wait at the
docks while the sergeant-lieutenant went to report. A short time later, Lord
Merdwyn himself appeared, looking none too pleased to see the party. He first
questioned them to find out what they knew about what was going on, then made
it clear that a) they were not welcome there and b) he wished to keep his
activities secret for the time being. He suggested the party travel back to
Westmist with some of his own men who were heading that way, and a short time
later a troop of his Horseguards arrived, headed by the mysterious Jax. Again
the party agreed, though they were wary of the man in black and did their best
to keep their distance on the ride back to Westmist. However, here they saw
their chance to find out more about the March Baron’s plans and Jax. So Erijay
prepared to cast her ESP spell. But
before she got more than two words out, Jax spun around on his horse and said
to the elf in a cruel voice: “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”. He proceeded to tell the party he knew what
they were up to, always knew what they were up to, and they had better think
twice about trying to double cross either himself or the March Baron. Or the
consequences would be severe. Flabbergasted by this turn of events, the party
could do nothing but agree and meekly finished the journey back to Westmist.
Where, with one last warning from Jax, they were free to go about their own
business.
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Which first involved checking in with their house and Riker. There,
they found Bjorn back to full health and everything in order. From Riker they
learned there had been much celebration in town with news of the March Baron’s
victory (as well as much cleaning up and burning of bodies from the battle
here). But there was no hint that anyone in Westmist knew exactly what Lord
Merdwyn was up to in Nasper. Sir Wyder
and the King’s Green Company had arrived back in town a few days ago, heading
back to Kingsford with a gaggle of hobgoblin prisoners and reports on the
fighting for the king. He also had given
no hints of the March Baron’s current activities.
While intrigued by al this intrigue, there was some work to be done
after being away so long. Treasure to be sold, books and magic items to peruse,
and (finally) a wish to be made.
First, the book Erijay had recovered from the halls beneath the burial mound.
Darnorth, thanks to his helm, was
able to decipher it. It was a collection of notes tracing the whereabouts of
four apparently powerful magic items: The Golden Mask of Nythal; the Machine of
Radioactive Light; the Throne of the Ancient Ones; and the Skull of Chodak. It
wasn’t made clear what these items did, but they were located in various places
in the Lands of 1000 Wizards in the distant west. Filing that away for future reference, they
now watched as Darnorth placed the ring on his hand. With a sigh of relief,
nothing untoward happened, and the dwarf discovered it was a ring of spell storing containing a
number of spells including two wishes! And with fingers crossed he made
the following wish: “Any ill effects
caused by wraiths, past, present or future, to Darnorth, Kern, Erijay, Riley,
Turrick, Bjorn, Gurruk, will be nullified”.
With that, the dwarf felt a return of the vigor he had before his
unfortunate encounters with the spectral undead.
After a night in their own beds for once, the four (Erijay, Darnorth,
Kern, Bjorn) prepared to do a little more work around town and then try all six
star rubies in the gate in the
cellar. Which gearing up, however, Erijay noticed her special snake sword was
missing. A search of the house did not uncover it. But Kern did notice subtle
signs that someone had searched the house while they slept. That said, he
couldn’t find any sign of entry into the house from the outside. This
immediately made they all think of the gate.
Kern noted a faint trail of humanoid footprints down the stairs to the cellar
and into the secret room with the gate. They fit all six gems into the sockets around
the gate, and found themselves looking into a jungle cleaning. While the others discussed what to do,
Darnorth walked right through and found himself indeed in the jungle. On his
side, the gate had a snake motif, as well as sockets for four gems (currently
empty). When the dwarf tried to return to the cellar, he was unable to do so.
Some experimentation showed that inanimate objects could pass back and forth, but
they could not speak through the gate.
Using hand signals, Kern told Darnorth to sit tight while the rest of the party
laid in supplies before joining him on the other side. But Darnorth started
signaling franticly and pointing to a party of jungle tribesmen emerging from
the undergrowth and advancing on the dwarf. Quickly instructing Riker to check
the gate daily in case the party had need of supplies (and to send Riley and
Gurruk though if they returned), Kern, Erijay and Bjorn passed through the gate
to stand with Darnorth.
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One tribesman stepped forward and started to speak in some outlandish
tongue. Darnorth, thanks again to his helm,
could understand him but could not answer.
The tribesman asked if they were with the “Servants”. Having no idea
what that meant, Darnorth signaled yes they were. The tribesman was not
convinced however, and insisted (at the end of a blowgun) that they follow him
back to his village to consult with the chief. Once more the party was marched
off under guard, finding themselves moving through hilly jungle on the flanks
of a low mountain. Climbing down, they crossed a stream and intersecting trail,
then up the other side of the ravine to find themselves on a grassy ridge where
lay a village. There they were greeted by the trial chief, questioned some
more, and offered the hospitality of his longhouse while messengers were sent
to bring the “Servants” to see the party. Seeing no immediate way to deal with
a village of hundreds of cannibals, the party settled in for the night (but
passed on the feast of ‘long pig’ over the longhouse fire). However, they had no intention of being
around when the “Servants” arrived. After most of the chief’s wives and warriors
had fallen into sleep, Erijay helped those guards still awake on their way to
slumber with a sleep spell. Kern
donned his ring of invisibility and
scouted around the village before collecting his companions and all four headed
off into the jungle to hide and see who showed up in the morning. That proved to be a group of bugbears led by
a human-like creature with oddly scaly skin. Still invisible and wearing
Darnorth’s helm, Kern listed in as
the creature berated the chief for letting the party escape before he could
size them up and see if they were friend or foe. The chief them ordered his men into the
jungle to hunt the party down. But Kern
had already roused them and they headed back along the trial, this time taking
the fork that led away from the village and gate to see where the bugbears and
scaly man had come from. A few hours later, the four found themselves standing
at the end of a wide ravine. Ahead of them a wide, worked stone passage, led
into the side of the mountain …
