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 trying 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.

Smarter Than The Average Owlbear

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.

Oakbrow invited the party into his home and provided refreshments. Oakbrow said the reason he called the meeting was to find out Sir Tolgrith’s intentions with the Vale. Oakbrow says that the arrival of soldiers and creation of Fort Thorn concerns him and is after assurances that path is for a road through the Vale only and not wholesale destruction. If Sir Tolgrith can give assurances, then Oakbrow says he can provide advice about the denizens of the Vale and the location of some valuable resources. The party explained they will need to speak to Sir Tolgrith first before the give any assurances on his behalf.

Spiders & Wyrms

Returning to Fort Thorn the party gained the assurances from Sir Tolgrith that Oakbrow was after and returned to the Druids home to deliver the good news. Oakbrow then shared with the party the locations of a few resources that Sir Tolgrith was after.

A day or so later Sir Tolgrith summoned the party and advised that he has had to halt construction of the road after the work crew were attacked by giant spiders, killing one and taking another worker, Thallin. Sir Tolgrith asks the party to investigate and deal with the problem. The party headed to where the work party were attacked. The soon picked up the trail and headed North into the forest. The trail led to an arear of the forest completely blocked by webbing. As the party started cutting through the webbing a clearing was revealed with a tall oak tree standing in the centre covered in gigantic webbing and various cocoons hanging from the branches.

As the party stepped into the clearing, they come under attack from the spiders. The leader, a massive beast, proved a challenge but the party eventually prevailed. Roscoe, being the most agile, climbed into the Oak and found the cocooned worker Thallin along with some treasure. The party returned to Fort Thorn and reported to Sir Tolgrith and construction was able to begin again.

Shortly after the path through the forest was completed and Sir Tolgrith threw a party to celebrate. Work then started on the mountain mountain path to the east of the Vale. The party were able to rest and recuperate having nothing to do for a few days.

One morning the Fort lookouts called out to say they could see dense smoke to the south of the Fort. Scouts were sent out and reported the Fey Glade had been burned to the ground, Fire scorch marks were everywhere. Oakbrow appeared at the gate to find out what the smoke was all about and decided to enjoy the Fort’s hospitality. Two days later the alarm was sounded, the lookouts had spotted 4 shapes flying directly towards the Fort. The party mounted the walls as the shapes grew closer and revealed them to be some sort of flying wyrm, something akin to dragons of legend, but smaller.

The creatures attacked the fort, breathing jets of fire, setting a couple of the buildings alight. Hogradin organised a fire detail whilst the rest of the party joined the soldiers and Oakbrow in attacking the flying creatures. A combination of arrows and spells drove the creatures off, and the fire detail contained the flames without too much damage.

Sir Tolgrith called a meeting, and with Oakbrows local knowledge, pinpointed where the “Flame Drakes” came from. Sir Tolgrith asked the party to deal with this issue. The Party equipped and headed through the forest North to the location Oakbrow had identified, Pointers Rock.

Allies

 As dawn broke, Lia on watch, saw 3 of the Drakes leave Pointers Rock, heading on a direct course for Fort Thorn. Lia woke the party and they decided to head up Pointers Rock to find and deal with the 4th Drake which was wounded on its first attack on Fort Thorn.  They headed up the path leading to the first plateau, which was filled with debris, bones and charred carcases. There was not sign of the 4th Drake.  The party could see the higher plateau, but there was no pathway up to it.

Roscoe moved across and started to climb up towards the higher plateau. As the rest of the party moved out across the lower plateau, the 4th Drake, hiding on the higher level peered over the ledge and sent a ball of flame with his breath downwards, catching Hogradin, Lia and Ulthgar. Farren had fortunately hung back. The Wizard cast fly and flew up whilst Lia and Ulthgar unlimbered bows. The Drake took to the air and attacked Farren, badly injuring the young mage before the arrows from below killed the wounded Drake.

Once healing was dished out, the party decided to hide as best they could, with Roscoe’s help, and ambush the other 3 drakes when they returned. Farren decided to retreat to the tree cover at the bottom of Pointers Rock, Ulthgar hid as best he could on the main plateau while Lia, Roscoe and Hogradin headed to the higher level to hide. From this vantage point they could see smoke and flames from the direction of Fort Thorn. A while later the Drakes returned, and the party ambushed them. A combination of spells and brute force eventually defeated the Drakes, but not before Ulthgar, Farren and Hogradin were badly hurt.

 After more healing the party returned to Fort Thorn to report. Oakbrow who was still there said the Drakes were pets of the Sorcerer, Vardrak, self-styled Lord of the Vale, and he would not be pleased!!

 A day later the party were roused by a commotion by the gate. A spear was quivering in the floor with a piece of bark tied round it with strange writing on it. Lia advised the language was Draconic and the note was “calling for a conclave of the mighty” in a couple of days at the “sacred swamp”. Crude directions were also provided. Oakbrow advised the spear was from the Lizardmen whose home was in the swamp southeast of the Fort. Oakbrow said the Lizardmen tribe was large, and it would not be wise to anger them. Sir Tolgrith asked the party to represent him at the Conclave. After sorting provisions, the party followed the directions provided. As they approached the swamp to the east of Mist Lake, they were greeted by group of Lizardmen all dressed in ceremonial necklaces. One of the Lizardman spoke in Draconic, formally inviting them on behalf of Chief Kassmak of the Turessk Tribe. The Lizardmen lead the party into the swamp to a great Mound of mud and stone. Within was many from the Lizardmen tribe, along with their Chief, Kassmak.

 Kassmak greeted them in broken common, and much the same as Oakbrow previously, wanted assurances the “soft skins” weren’t here to destroy the vale. Hograding found himself volunteered as spokesman and gave many assurances to the Chief, who seemed very pleased with what he heard. Kassmak announced the soft skins and tribe were now allies and a party ensued. Both Farren and Roscoe passing out from the strong Lizardmen drink very early. The party returned to Fort Thorn to report to Sir Tolgrith, who seemed pleased with the outcome.

 A few days later Sir Tolgrith summoned the party to say that he had again had to suspend work as one of his crews and a merchant caravan had been ambushed by Bugbears. 4 people had been killed and the caravan ransacked. Sir Tolgrith asked the party to deal with the threat. He also sent a scout to their new Lizardmen allies to let them know. The party headed to the last ambush site, and saw some tracks heading vaguely north, before losing them in the forest. After blundering around for the rest of the day without success, the party set up camp. Early the following morning, a Lizardmen raiding party turned up to join them. Their scouts were much better and picked up the Bugbear trail which led to camp surrounded by thick rosebushes on the bank of the Coldrun River. After a quick discussion with their allies, it was decided the party would assault the front gate whilst the Lizardmen attacked from the river. The fight was brutal and the Bugbear leader, an immense creature with a nasty Morningstar, proved particularly tough, but Farren finished him off by flying above him and launching a lightening bolt on his head……

Lord Vardak

Hearing the voice, Roscoe, shut the door and announced he was going back to the Museum room with the two statues and paintings as he was convinced their was another part of the castle they hadn’t found. The party followed Roscoe into the room to start searching. Farren and Hogradin lagged behind in the corridor outside. Suddenly, two Greater Barghest's used their Dimension Door ability to surprise the party. The battle was fierce, and the creatures blink ability hampered the parties combat effectiveness, but they eventually prevailed.

After dealing with the Barghests, Roscoe found what he was looking for, a secret door on the West wall. Opening the door, Roscoe stepped back to let Ulthgar and Lia take the lead. The passage headed west then north opening up into a room with crudely carved stone walls, with water dripping off them. A table on one side was covered in filthy tools, blood, grime along with a maze of glass tubes and flasks. There were to other exits from this room, on the North and East wall, both doors of heavy iron. Standing next to the table was a Flesh Golem which immediately moved into attack Ulthgar. Lia, using her knowledge, called out hat the creature was and it’s strengths & weaknesses. The battle was hampered by Lord Vardak appearing behind the party and casting Fireball, before disappearing. The party eventually dealt with the Golem.

Retracing their steps, Roscoe noticed a Cauldron in the Workshop they overlooked when fighting the Golem. Roscoe investigated it and found a severed ear of a Roseblood Sprite at the bottom. The mystery of the missing ears solved! As the party headed back to the Museum Room, they heard noises from the corridor outside. They found another Greater Barghest blocking their exit. As Ulthgar moved forward to engage the Barghest, Lord Vardak again used Dimension Door to appear behind the party invisible and used Fireball, soerly wounding Farran and Hogradin. Once the Barghest was dealt with the party focused on Lord Vardak whose arrogance in his own prowess proved his undoing. Looting his corpse, amongst the treasures they found the Seed of Fire control gem and destroyed it.
The party received a hero’s welcome at Fort Thorn, and Sir Tolgrith made them all Knights of Korvosa. Each party member was given a 2-mile square plot of land in the vale that they can choose (within reason so as not to annoy Oakbrow and the Lizardmen Tribe) and 200gp a month stipend from taxes. Ever enthusiastic and impetuous, Farren asked if he could have Lord Vardak’s fortress. Sir Tolgrith agreed as it meant other potential threats couldn’t occupy the Fortress.