When we last left our heroes, they had bedded down for the
night, planning to travel through the wilderness to a gnome village a week’s
journey distant, to confront a band of orcs who had taken over the town, and
had killed the copper dragon who had served as the town’s protector. However, the next morning the party realized
that they had no easy transport to the town, and would have to procure
some. Luckily there was a gnome who was
fleeing the city who had a wagon filled with iron ore and uncut gems. He sold these items to the party, and also
made a deal with them to recover the treasure he had hidden within the
city. He told them where it was hidden,
and the party promised to bring it to him when they returned, because the party
is trust-worthy.
So the party bought supplies, and Nory gave some Cthulu
dolls to some refugee gnome children, and then the party set off. They hid most of the party members inside the
wagon, so that people wouldn’t know their true numbers.
The party came, eventually, upon a wagon, traveling from the
gnome city. They hailed them politely,
but something seemed fishy, so Ulfgar used a message spell to communicate with
the gnome driver to alert them of any danger.
The driver whispered back ‘help us.’
At this Ulfgar came up with a plan. Hannah, having aided in the defeat of
Superdragon, had a cape that allowed her to fly. The bard would cast a spell of invisibility
on her, and she would fly over to the other wagon, check out the situation, and
then report back to the party. Everyone
agreed to the plan, except Nory, who shot off a spell at the other wagon’s
horse, killing it.
Then a sword emerged from the driver’s chest.
Deciding that any innocents must surely be dead now, Ulfgar
cast fireball on the wagon, and three orcs jumped out of the ensuing fiery
blaze. The party rushed into battle and
made short work of them, only to discover that the wagon had actually been full
of gnome children. Like over a dozen
gnome children. Over a dozen charred
dead gnome children.
Ulfgar punched Nory and screamed at him for ruining the
plan, and how he had assumed that there was no way for there to be people still
alive in there, because of course there had to be, but pretty soon the enormity
of what had just happened set in and then, Ulfgar just kind of shut down.
The party continued on, and eventually camped down for the
night off the road. Maybe they got
attacked, maybe they didn’t. I don’t
remember. However, when they tried to
get the cart back on the road the next morning, the axle broke under the weight
of the iron ore in it, so they ditched all that stuff, Ulfgar used Mend to
repair the cart, and they went on their way.
Eventually, they came to an inn along the road, with was
empty, but the party wanted someplace warm and dry to rest, so they went
inside. The inn was empty, and the
innkeep was acting strangely, and then, the drinks that two of the party drank
turned out to be poisoned! The party
overcame it, but when they questioned the innkeep they realized he was
bewitched, and figured out a way to lift it.
The innkeep remembered nothing of what had happened to him, but when he
came to he worried about his family, and ran into the back area to check for
them. The party followed after him, just
in time to see him slaughtered by orcs standing over the bodies of his dead
family.
Well, the party killed the orcs, but, due to another
fireball Ulfgar cast, and complications in dealing with the blaze, due in part
to Ulfgar’s bewitchment by an orc sorceress, convincing him that he had to save
the dead children, the fire got out of control and burned down the entire inn,
and the party had to rush out, narrowly escaping being crushed in the collapsing
inferno.
They ended up spending the night in the cart again.
That happened two weeks ago.
Tomorrow, the adventure continues!
Maybe this time they won’t fail endangered innocents!
