Adventure 15: Part Two
A Trip to Fire
After an evening spent in glorious company, the party headed off into the wilderness. A visit to Seldaha's own people was planned, as was a opportunity to spend time with people from Pyrdain who may be able to help them understand better the ways of the elemental gods. The journey though civilised Logres was a dull march, through a springtime filled with rain and peasants who seemed to spend their days tending their fields and their evenings learning about weapon use. After a few days of travel into the west, the civilian lands gave way to wilderness. The aim was to head for the mountain range that loomed to their left, away to south-west. It was another week until they began to draw close to those lands, passing the occasional Pyrdain village on the way.
As they drew closer to the foothills of the mountains, the lands ahead of them began to seem wild. They met trolls, ogres and bears on their route before they encountered the first signs of fire blasted damage. Some careful investigation showed that there was dragon activity in the lower slopes of the mountains. They even encountered the beast themselves, seeing it first from afar, then having it spot them and circle overhead. This caused much fear and trepidation among some of the party members. A dragon would be both a rich and valuable prize and a difficult fight with high risks. The dwarves, as confident as ever, convinced the others that a huge red dragon was a worthwhile goal, and they set off due south to the place where they had seen the dragon flying from and back to over the previous few days.
As the rolling moors gave out to the stony foothills of the mountains the party began encountering ogres in particular on a more regular basis. There also seemed to be more bears up in the higher hills. Trying to keep an eye on the target, the lair of a dragon, they found what looked to be an old dwarfish delve guarded by trolls. The dragon's lair seemed to be just off to the west of this place, so they overcame the few ogres and trolls that were around the entrance and ventured inside.
The upper level of the complex was not what the party had fully expected. It was clearly a dwarfish build, with typical decoration of the rooms, and built to regulated lines, but the dwarves had long gone. Now the place was inhabited by more of the trolls and ogres. Most of this entrance level was cleared without too much fuss, but parts of the complex away to the west smelled strongly of sulphur, a give-away to the location of the dragon's lair. The party decided to try and clear out the rest of the complex before they faced the toughest enemy. They did not want any chance of having to retreat into a lair filled with trolls.
The level below the entrance proved more difficult again than the party had expected. At first they encountered only trolls, and had a single run-in with minotaurs, each proving straightforward enough to deal with but wearing the party down with every fight. Insorce's shortage of spells, and the lower effectiveness of Cure Light Wounds in this time was starting to hurt them. As they went deeper into the complex they uncovered a lair of formians. These creatures have a hive mentality, they act with one intellect, and co-ordinate well when attacking. The party found them an easy opponent in hand to hand fighting, but their leaders could use magic to dominate individuals, and they did this often. They turned at first Formil, then Randy against their friends using this magic, and in both cases they had to be fought to submission while maintaining the fight against the real enemies. The supplies of healing were running seriously low, and the party decided to make a tactical retreat. The formians mustered wave after wave of attacks while the party tried to rest in what they thought was a quiet area. Immediately after a last fight when Jim was badly hurt, and so they made a move for the exit; it was now that they discovered that they'd not made their maps as accurately as they could have. The formians, of course, tracked them. Their first plan was to hide in the depths of the woodland just down the slopes from the lair, but in their haste the party's horses were left by the delve entrance.
At first they rested at the edge of the woodland, where they were out of sight, and kept a watch of the delve. Only a few moments after the party reached the woods, the first of their formian hunters emerged looking for tracks. The party watched for a while as their own tracks were followed, then they used Fax's druidic spell Pass Without Trace to move deeper into the woods to the north. They discovered that the woodland that they were in was just a thin band, and it gave out to the hills behind, before the woods started again further down the slopes. The party entered here, still leaving no trace, and went as deep as they could looking for a defensible position to rest. They found one, a small hollow with their backs to a large stone outcrop. This place was surrounded by deep forest and hemmed by bushes around it.
Despite a meeting with a pair of hunting bears on the first night, and with mountain giants on the second afternoon, the party managed to recover well. They resolved to return for their horses, and set out southwards again, this time taking a circuitous route to hide their path. The spotted a hunting group of formians on the edge of the strip of woodland closer to the delve entrance, and let them move away before moving across the open hillside and back into cover again. They tracked these formians for a while, but eventually gave up the pursuit to focus on their main objective. Keeping their tracks hidden, they made for the delve.
Arriving at the edge of the woods, they saw that the formians had not given up the chase. The horses were no longer there, something had set them free, and they saw them away on the slopes to the west. Fax used his druidic shape change power to take a good look at the area in eagle form, and found that war parties of formians were hiding in the woods close to the horses, waiting in ambush for anyone that came looking to recover the mounts. Another plan was devised; this time involving magical Invisibility and stealth. Randy used his magic, and everyone headed over towards their horses, invisible in the spring afternoon; once they had quietly grabbed their horses and lead them clear of the formain warriors, they mounted up and rode off westwards.
Fleeing to the Wilderness
Being tough hombres, and despite having no saddles to their horses, the party rode on well into the night. The days exertions bore down upon them heavily, and they struggled to keep going. But the thought of a Formian nest behind them (and, more precisely, the thought of Formil or Randy dominated and turned against them) spurred them on. The rolling moors over which they travelled provided little shelter from the constant drizzle, and in just a few days the party could see the sea far ahead. On the sea, they could see see ships.
It took another day or so to reach the shore. As they approached it was clear that the two ships at sea were supplying men in an encampment just off the beach. There were rowing boats drawn up, and the camp looked organised in a military fashion. A survey by Fax in hawk form did nothing to enlighten everyone - the soldiers were not talking in any language he was familiar with.
The party sauntered up; looking bedraggled and weary. Two guards were dispatched to meet the party, but the language barrier was too high - the guards gestured for the party to follow them back into the camp. Here they met one of the officers, whose grasp of the common tongue was a little better. He was very interested in what the party were up to this far into Pyrdain, as they were clearly from Logres. He accused the party of being spies, and pointed out that this land was now a protectorate of Gaul (which is where, it seemed, the soldiers were from). At the end of their meeting he told them that they would have to return to where they came from, they would not be allowed to progress further into Pyrdain. The party retreated, they saw no point in pressing this further.
As the party retreated, they were followed by a detachment of Gaul troops. This went on for over half a day as the party retreated. Eventually they stopped following, and the party pressed on further until nightfall. After camping for the evening, the party headed off northwards and across the mountains and towards the Pyrdain villages that could be seen down in the plain below. The villages here consisted of round houses, the people were not technologically advanced. The party headed for the closest of the villages on the lower slopes of the mountains.
Meeting with Villagers
Here the people were living in harmony, using bronze farming tools, yet out in their streets the peasants were practising fighting techniques using iron broadswords. This was odd. While not being unpleasant to the party, the peasants were not welcoming. They identified the party as being from Logres, and treated them suspiciously. After some light discussions about great evil and elemental gods, the party were shown to the religious leader of the village. The village elder was there too. Together they told of the rumours of attacks by Logres against Pyrdain villages closer to the lands of the Britons, they told of how the troops from Gaul had turned up to help them learn to defend themselves, and how they'd supplied weapons to help them do that. The same mistrust they'd encountered with the peasants we still clearly evident.
Since the party were asking about religious matters, they were invited to join in a worship of the elemental gods. Despite protests from the Fax (the druid) and Insorce (the priest), they decided to sit and observe. The ceremony was one of thanks, and involved many of the villagers. Two chickens were sacrificed in the flames, and the meat shared by all who were present.
Joining in with the worship of these people helped the party to break the ice. Slowly they were being accepted as friends by the people of this small village; they were invited to spend the night. The following morning, they tried to change the perception of the Celtic people here - they tried to convince them that it was not the people of Logres who were the real enemy, but that it was the soldiers of Gaul who out of apparent concern for these Celtic tribes were being generous with their metal weapons and their training in fighting techniques. They argued against all the anti-Logres propaganda they'd heard since being in the village. They told how Logres and Gaul were close to war, and that it would be strategic suicide for Logres to have an enemy on both sides. They were adamant that no slaves had been taken from Celtic villages and that they had seen no slaves at all while in Logres themselves. They told that they knew Logres was not withholding farming technology (indeed, they saw a marketing opportunity - someone was likely to become very rich from this technology deficit). They had some success with the discussion too - the village elder was not fully convinced, but he seemed to desire a debate of this matter with his fellow village leaders, so hastily arranged a meeting with leaders from some of the surrounding settlements. He sent runners out immediately calling a council at a more central village. The party were pleased with their progress. The meeting was arranged for the following afternoon.
The party were preparing to spend another evening with these villagers when the sound of approaching horses made them sit up. As the local people did not use riding horses, it was likely that whoever was on the road was not Celtic. They retreated to a round-house closer to the outskirts of the village to avoid being spotted, and where they could have the element of surprise if they needed it, and kept out of sight. The riders turned out to be a Gaul diplomat and his guard; the party were wise to remain hidden. The visitors dismounted and met with the village elder. This looked like a routine call, so the party relaxed. The visitors spent time with the men of the village who were practising with the swords, and following that spent an hour or so in conversation with the elder. Afterwards they moved on. The party were relieved that their presence had not been noted.
The following morning, the runners had mostly returned; the party had spent the previous evening reiterating their concerns with the village elder and other seniors of the village. Together they left for the meeting late in the morning, and arrived at a village similar to the one they had left only a few hours later. The meeting began mid-afternoon. Jim and Fax were invited to talk, and sparked off a heated debate. There was some support for their view, but also several were not convinced. As it drew towards nightfall the Gaul diplomat arrived; he had been riding hard, and had learned of this meeting late. Instead of attacking the party physically, and despite his clear annoyance, he joined the debate. He put the Gaul position clearly and the party began to doubt their own arguments. It seemed that there was no obvious villain and no obvious hero in all this mess. It would seem that Logres was as much to blame for the conflict as Gaul.
To try and wrap the debate up, the party offered to take some of the Celtic leaders back to Logres for talks with their leaders - a chance for them to experience the truth, and for Gaulish lies to be exposed first hand. Despite the heat of the debate, the Gaul diplomat could not prevent this happening. He warned the villagers that this was just more Logres lies, and that whoever went would never be returning. This turned the argument back, but did not dissuade the Celts from wanting the truth. It was agreed that none of the elders would not travel, but that two sons of the senior elders would make the journey. The party agreed to guarantee their safe return from Logres; this settled the fears of some of those present. The Gaul diplomat allowed this to happen, and he gave his word that no harm would be brought to any of those travelling by men in his control.
Heading to Logres
The journey back to Logres began the next morning. Hopping from village to village the party headed back. The locals gave them shelter along the way, and they preached their stories all the way back. The journey in this manner took three weeks to complete; and they left a trail of doubts in the minds of the Celts about Gaul protection all the way. As they drew close to Logres the villages became better constructed and more technologically advanced; it seems that some of the Logres methods were spreading to these people. The round houses had gone, and the villages now seemed to consist of houses made from wooden planks, many with stone foundations and floorboards. It was hard to tell the difference between these houses and the ones they'd seen on the outskirts of Loges when they left. As they drew closer to the land of the Britons, they spotted a small plume of smoke rising. They hurried to investigate, and arriving at the source of the smoke several hours later found a village burned to the ground. They took stock of what had happened. This seemed to be a small settlement of 70 people or so, but there were plenty of the young men missing - as though they'd been rounded up and taken away. A search of the horse tracks found a trail leading deeper into Celtic territory, and further from Logres. The party followed it.
The trail lead to some rocky hills; perfect country to hide a trail made by many horses. Some more searching found a low pyre smouldering in a narrow valley - someone was burning something and keeping it a secret. Pulling open the mound, the party found human remains, recently lit. It was clear that whoever raided the village wanted it to look like the young men had been removed and the rest of the place razed to the ground. This was no Logres action, but something aimed at causing trouble for both the Celts and the Britons. Whoever had done this had taken great pains to keep this secret, and had hidden their tracks well. It was decided that the party would head back for Logres as quickly as they could.
Another Meeting with Sir Sigram
Sir Sigram now had his proof of Gaul involvement in the celtic lands, the party had brought one of the Gaul swords with them, and had the testimony of the Celts that had made the journey too. After all they'd seen on the journey, these Celts were easily convinced that Logres intentions for war were wholly aimed at Gaul - and Sir Sigram committed knights to visit the Celtic lands with these people. Sir Sigram personally took up the party's pledge of safety for the Celtic travellers. Having moved the Gaul political situation as far as they could, the party left matters in the hands of Sir Sigram and his knights, and returned to their hunt of Charles Derren.