Conquest of Bloodsworn Vale
Fort Thorn
The journey to Bloodsworn Vale took weeks. After crossing through Icedeep Pass, the caravan pulled up to take in the view. Below spreads a sea of leaves, broken here and there by fields of blood red roses. In the distance a wooden fort breaks through the forest canopy. Your destination, Fort Thorn.
Arriving at the Fort, the gate guards greeted them warmly and advised that Sir Tolgrith was away on business returning later tonight. The Guards invited the party to enter the Fort to explore and suggested they take rooms at the Boars Bones Inn. After settling into the Inn a guard entered and asked them to report to Sir Tolgrith at 8.00am in the morning.
The party arrived at Sir Tolgriths Keep at the allotted time and were escorted to meet with Sir Tolgrith. After introductions, Sir Tolgrith explained he had been tasked clearing the old trade route through Bloodsworn Vale by the King of Kovosa. Unfortunately, they have fallen behind schedule as the monster in the forest constantly harry the workers. Sir Tolgrith goes on to say two days ago a work crew failed to return. Scouts were sent out and returned late last night to report finding the missing work crews camp in complete disarray. They found all eight men dead, pierced with dozens of small arrows. No equipment was taken but each corpse was missing an ear. Sir Tolgrith asked the party to find out what happened and deal with the menace.
The party obtained provisions and set out to the ambush site with the aid of a scouts map. A few torn tents and blood stains were all that remains in the camp. Exploring the area, Roscoe find signs of a trail heading south, whilst Hogradin found a small rosewood arrow, with treated petals for fletching and a wicked thorn tip, with poison coating it.
Heading south along the trail Roscoe found led the party to a glade dominated by concentric rings of rosebushes surrounding a small clearing. A narrow path leads through the rings to the clearing and some strange monoliths. Heading down the path, Hograding triggered a snare and found himself dangling upside down and small creatures seemed to materialise from the rose bushes and attacked. The creatures were dealt with but not before Farren succumbed to a suggestion spell and decided it was time for lunch, stopping in the middle of the fight to eat….
Moving towards the stone monoliths the party again came under attack by 3 trees that animated. The trees proved tough, but the party prevailed, not without injury. Once the trees were dealt with the party discovered a spiral staircase descending into the earth. They found themselves in a chamber with two doors. Phosphorescent fungus growing in patches on the walls and ceiling lights to room.
An examination of the door on the left showed a bee hive with large bees. The party hastily closed this door.
Roscoe heard voices through the other doors. Lia recognised the language as Sylvan and the voices were discussing the fine lunch or BBQed Dwarf…
Entering the room the party surprised 4 of the small creatures eating. Battle was joined and the sprites deal with, but not before one escaped through a wall of roses to the North.
The party approached the wall of roses
that one of the sprites disappeared through. The wall is thick and completely
impassable. The party hears a mocking laugh from behind the wall. On try
ing to communicate
the party were told curtly “The King of Roses does not receive those who do not
bring him gifts. We hear roots are in fashion this time of year”
The party decided to search the
rest of the complex to see if they could figure out what “gift” the Sprite
meant. Moving through the door to the left of the Dining Room entering a
chamber with rose bushes planted in a rich black soil around a glittering pool
of water. Two Roseblood Sprites and two “illusions” guarded this room but were quickly
dealt with. To the North of this room another door revealed a passage leading
to a cavern lit by a shaft of light coming through the ceiling to reveal a huge
Rose bush with beautiful blooms and also huge thorns. Deciding to leave this
room alone for now the party retreated to the dining room and entered the door
to the right.
The cavern beyond was crowded by
thick dark roots dangling from the ceiling down towards puddles on the floor.
Wondering if this was the “Roots” the King of Roses was referring two, the
party cut a root and headed back to the wall of roses in the dining room. On
presenting the root a mocking voice says “You call that a gift? No I’m afraid
that will never do. Do you not think that the palate of the King deserves the
biggest most bitter root you can find?”
Heading back to the root room the
party tried to decide how to find the most bitter root. Hogradin decided the
best way was to try them, but the taste was vile and Hogradin gagged and came
over all fatigued. Roscoe eventually round what he thought they needed and the party
returned to the wall of Roses. This time the mocking voice said “better, but
the King does not see those who do not also have the blessing of the Kings
mother.
The party returned to Fort Thorn and reported to Sir Tolgrith that the Fey threat had been dealt with. The lord congratulated them on their work, but goes on to explain several other problems facing him, particularly a group of Owlbears roaming the forest to the South of the Fort and posing a threat to the works progress., and asks if the party can deal with this next.
Owlbears
After resting up for a day, the party left Fort Thorn heading South to where the Owlbears were thought to be. Moving through the forest, they party heard sounds from ahead. Roscoe swiftly moved from the path into the tress towards the sounds. The rest of the party advance cautiously as a party of Bugbears dragging a Fort Thorn Scout entered the trail. The Bugbears were dealt with, but not without injury to the party, The Bugbear leader, are barbarian, proving particularly tough. Lia then moved to the unconscious scout and provided some healing. The scout said he had been trailing the Owlbears to their lair when he was ambushed by the Bugbears. The scout gave some directions to the Owlbear location.
Deciding the injured scout needed to return to Fort Thorn, the party decided to escort him back. It wasn’t until the reached the Fort that they realised Farren was not with them. Hastly leaving the Scout within the care of the Fort cleric, the party headed back to the forest where they encountered the Bugbears.
Farren, meanwhile had decided to carry on with the “mission” on his own. Heading deeper into the Forest he started spotting the tell-tale sign of Owlbear feathers. Unfortunately for Farren an Owlbear had spotted hm and moved into attack. The Owlbear grappled and pinned the disaster-prone young Wizard but not before Farren got off a lightening bolt, hurting the Owlbear. Farren was carried unceremoniously to the Bugbear lair, and no amount of struggling helped free him.
The Party retraced their steps to the Bugbear skirmish site. Here they picked up Farren’s trail, found where the skirmish took place and the trailed the Owlbear tracks to their lair. The forest gave way to a clearing with a small hill and a yawning cave entrance in the side. Large brown feathers lay scattered on the ground. Roscoe scouted round to find no other entrances or exits to the cave. The Party tried to entice the Owlbears out to no avail. Eventually Lia and Ulthgar moved into the cave whilst Roscoe and Hogradin acted as rear guard.
Entering the cave Lia and Ulthgar were attached by two Owlbears whilst one guarded Farren. As battle was joined, Roscoe and Hogradin came under attack by another Owlbear lurking outside. As the Owlbear watching Farren moved to help is companions, Farren cast invisibility and actioned his slippers of Spider Climb to get out of the way. Finally, the Owlbears were dealt with, and Farren found. At the back of the lair Roscoe discovered a nest with 3 Owlbear cubs in. Rather than kill the innocent young, Roscoe decided to take them back to the Fort and see about selling them.
The party headed back to Fort Thorn to report to Sir Tolgrith.
Polluted River
After a few days rest, Sir Tolgrith summoned the party to explain that once a month, the Petal River runs foul with a strange metallic scent that lasts for a day or so. The event is likely to happen tomorrow. Although the Fort has water stockpiled, Sir Tolgrith asks the party to track down the source of the pollutions and deal with it, if possible. The party agrees, prepared themselves and headed out.
The river flows northward from the
Mist Lake, South of the Fort. The Party headed South tracking the river. After
a few hours, the party heard sounds ahead of them. Roscoe melted into the tree
line to scout ahead whilst the rest of the party moved cautiously forward. Soon
they discovered the noises they heard were from a large Black Bear and her
cubs. The party made no threatening moves and the Bear and her cubs moved out
of the trees and crossed the river.
After an uneventful night’s rest,
the party set off early in the morning, again tracking the river. As they continued
South they started to smell a metallic scent coming off the river and the water
turned a darker colour. Approaching Mist Lake, aptly named as the morning sun
became obscured in an eddying mist, the party could hear the sounds of battle
ahead. Ghostly soldiers were emerging from the lake, to be cut down by a
seemingly invisible foe on the lake shore. The “ghostly blood” from the soldiers
appeared to be the source of the pollutions.
Hogradin, frowned and said he
remembered a bloke in a pub telling him this lake was host to a grisly battle
between the forces of Cheliax and a Barbarian horde in time gone by. As the
party approached, the lake shore, the “invisible foes” materialised into 3
Wraiths. Battle was joined. The party prevailed. As the last Wraith was
destroyed the Ghostly Soldiers dissipated and the bloody taint affecting the
river began to clear. A tall Ghostly figure appeared out of the gloom, saluted
the party, and left a gleaming longsword on the shore before fading away. Farren
picked up the sword with a great deal of interest.
The party returned to Fort Thorn
to report to Sir Tolgrith, who was very pleased that this issue had been dealt
with. The following morning Farren coerced one of the guards to start to teach
him how to use his new sword. Whilst in the courtyard, the training was
disturbed by a commotion at the gate. Farren, joined by his tutor and Lia who
was crossing the courtyard went to investigate. Sitting just outside the gate
was a large, somewhat mangy wolf, with intelligent eyes holding a rolled letter
in its mouth. Farren, ever impetuous approached the wolf which deposited the
letter into Farren’s hand and then loped away.
Farren, Lia and a couple of Guards
took the letter to Sir Tolgrith. On breaking the seal, Sir Tolgrith read the
letter and said it was an invitation to meet with Oakbrow along with
directions. Sir Tolgrith asks the party to meet with Oakbrow in his stead to find
out what the old Druid wants. Once all together, the party agreed and followed
the direction s given to a location West of the Fort. The trip to Oakbrow’s
cottage was only marred by a short violent encounter with some Bugbears.