Adventure 15: Part 3, Back on Derren's Trail
Heading North
There was a short break while Formil took in some training, and during this time the others tried to learn a little of what the people knew of vampires. This proved fruitless for the most part - even the church knows little of these powerful undead. They sought extra information about Derren too, but few marked his progress through Kennington, it's easy to pass through such a cosmopolitan city of this size without being noticed, even as a foreigner.
Eventually they set off towards Cumbria, and the mountains separating Logres from the lands of Saxony beyond. Moving through the civilised lands was uneventful, and the lands seemed to crawl by. Progress was slow, and the monotony of the journey was only matched by the responses of the townsfolk and villagers they met along the way, who had seen little of any passing Gaul foreigner. Their eventual arrival on the north coast of Logres was met with rain, the pleasant spring weather finally gave way as they approached the mountains.
Making prudent enquiries soon assured the party that there were no 'safe' passes across the mountains. It is a dangerous journey, and too narrow in places for caravans to pass easily. Being the hardy sort that they are, the party felt that a journey of such danger would make a welcome change from the tedium they'd experienced on their route northwards. Searching the local shops, they purchased blankets, tents and wet weather gear which they felt would be useful in the crossing of the mountains in late spring.
Across the Mountain Pass
For two and a half days the party trudged up the mountains. The weather grew wetter and cooler, and it began to dawn on the party why traders did not like this route. The pathways were becoming narrow in places, with no room to run the horses. The last night before reaching the flat height of the pass was the coldest they'd experienced since arriving in Logres.
Passing through the long thin trail which wound between peaks up here proved the most interesting section of the journey. As they left the narrowest place, an ambush by mountain giants was sprung. Unusually, nobody really spotted the incoming giants until the last minute - normally such creatures are visible from a long way off. The fight, however, was short and brutal. Fireballs flew and Formil's axe darted left then right, and in just a few seconds, the ambushers were felled; the party were now showing their real teeth in such situations. They continued their journey, leaving the bodies of the dead giants strewn over the pass as a warning to others that might set up ambushes in this place.
Another three days were needed for the party to travel down from the highlands to the foothills of Wurttemburg, where they arrived at the Saxony town of Manah. Here the party spent their first night in civilisation for a week. Manah was a mining and charcoaling town, and had a grimy, soot-encrusted, almost greasy feel to it. It rested in the shadow of the mountains to the south, which meant it was a cold place too. A few questions were asked about the passage of Charles Derren, and a few vaguely recalled seeing him two months ago. At least the party had confirmed that they were moving on the right trail.
They moved north from Manah, and passed through Schuren the following evening. This seemed a nicer place to stay, the locals were mostly farmer and woodcutters. There was also the recollection of Derren passing through here too, so the party continued along the same route, and moved on to Hobsch which was another large farming village.
The next place they arrived at was Daval, which was much larger than the other places they'd seen so far in Saxony. This place had a magic-user's guild, which took Randy's attention. They had clear recollection of Derren's visit here as he had been staying with the local baron. He spent some time visiting parts of the baron's estate, and had also spent time looking at the spells available in the Magic Users Guild. The party decided to try and gather information from the local barony; they visited, claiming to be messengers seeking Charles Derren, and that they had a message from his assistant Yanneg. They looked foolish, however, when the officials pointed out that both Derren and Yanneg had left the barony together only two months previously, and they did not know why Yanneg would try to contact his friend in this way.