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.
North through Saxony
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. Feeling rather foolish, the party moved on.
The next stop along the trail was at a place called Corama, which is another agricultural town. Here they also had a watermill on the fast flowing river that passed down here from the mountains to the south which processed ores and produced metal from which they produced fine weapons. Passing through this place, the party hardly noticed the weapon-making tradition; they found little here to suggest that Derren had passed through, but they kept going along the trail.
The party moved into Luzemburg and arrived at the sprawling farming community at Sugriev. Here the people seemed to be spread out over a large area, making the most of the fertile farmlands in this plain. There was some difficulty finding suitable accommodation for the evening, but they eventually found a large enough inn among the spread-out villages of the region. Here, once again, people were unsure about whether a Gaul traveller had been through; some had vague recollections, but nobody was prepared to say they had definitely seen Derren.
The next town was the district capital, Genova. Here they had a magic user guild, something that pleased Randy. Here they confirmed that they were still on the right track. Derren had visited the guild, and had been looking at the magical spells that they had available. From here the party headed north through Domarius and Frankstirol, keeping close to Derren's trail; and they then headed into Nurnburg arriving at Halmstadt.
Here the party had other confirmed sightings of Derren, and they also heard a little more about what his plans were. Derren had visited the local baron here, Baron Cedric Pfeiffer, and had mentioned visits to both the Volkstan estate, which is to the west of Lingoze (where Halmstadt is) and visiting the former elfish home at Temara, away to the northeast, higher in the mountains. The party now had two places to visit.
Heading to Volkstan, the party went first to the run-down village of Lubgart, which is on the edge of that estate. People soon told how the place had been without a feudal baron for three years. The next town was Emmesch, which is the seat of the Barony. Derren, it seemed, spent a week here in discussions with the local Steward. The party could not find out what Derren was doing here with the steward, or why the local Graf had not appointed a new baron yet. The party passed next through the village of Ohnekorb, which is north of Lubgart, and on the way to Temara. Derren stopped off here, but the dates they heard from the locals were a little mixed up.
Next the party went up into the mountains to the old elf-dwelling at Temara. It was still possible to feel the elfish presence here, although it is many long years since they moved out. The party spent a few days here, trying to work out what Derren was looking for. There were some level platform areas, with shelter from the east, but which had a good view westward over the plains of Bavaria and Luzemburg, and to the setting sun beyond the far mountains. The party also detected a brooding presence here, something that would probably force the elves who lived here before to move on. This place no longer carries the special marks that attracted the elves in the first place. Once again, the party moved on, heading north once again.
The next place they encountered was the thriving market town and agricultural community of Grole. The party heard of the passing of Charles Derren through here, and followed the trail further northwards. The next town was a small mining and ore marketing town of Zorff. Here they handled shipments of ore coming down from several of the mining colonies up to the east, and shipping out to the south to Grole and Halmstadt, and to Graddon in Bavaria to the north. Few here recalled Derren, but the party knew they were on the right trail.
An Invasion in Town
After staying a night in Zorff, the party left early in the morning. They continued north up the road, and by early afternoon were meeting peasants passing southwards, refugees carrying their possessions on handcarts and packed onto mules. These people told a harrowing story - of giants invading their town, killing their guards and taking over their town, Konas. These poor people had escaped with little more than the few items they carried; they had no money, no food, and no homes. The party were incensed at the barbaric giants (and, it should be noted, a little excited at the opportunity to fight them) and hurried north.
Not far from the town, the party encountered a column of dwarfs who were on much the same mission; they'd heard of the invasion and were coming to help their neighbours of the town - a purely altruistic gesture, of course. They agreed to work together with the party; the dwarves were mildly amused by the prospect of using 'tactics' in a rumble of this size, but were willing to humour the party and let them devise a plan. They camped overnight and moved in close for an assault the next morning.
The giants, it would appear, had been busy. The town was originally defended by diked banks, but these were spaced over. The giants had taken stones from the outlying buildings and closed in any gaps in the dike defences. This would be a more tricky assault than the party had originally expected. The giants were dug in and expecting attack. The quickly formulated plan involved Fax approaching the new constructions in the shape of a small mammal, and using his Stone Shape spell to pull out part of the new wall constructions with the hope of making it fall. They carried this plan out, and the wall fell away, not as much as expected, but enough to leave a nice gently rise which the others could climb.
The party and the dwarves moved quickly over the clearing and up the wall, where some fighting took place. As planned, the party broke to the left and the dwarves to the right at the top of the bank. They encountered more resistance, and this continued as more giants moved from the other side of the town to aid the defence at the breach. Eventually the dwarves and the party had stopped all the giants who had been defending the walls; one of the younger and less experienced dwarves had fallen in the fighting, but Insorce and Fax helped out by sharing out their healing.
The fight had not provided any clear group leaders; they soon discovered that the church building in the middle of the town had been barricaded shut. With many of their healing support spells gone, the party decided to watch over the church and rest. Whoever was inside, they figured, was going nowhere. They organised watches between themselves, and asked the dwarfs to help out. They occupied buildings overlooking the church entrances, and rested. Partway through the night a couple of giants squeezed through the smaller back entrance to the church and took a quick look around. The giants soon went back inside.
Early in the morning, the party assembled for an assault on the main door of the church. There was no easy way in, they just beat their way through the entrance, eventually pushing the barricade aside. Inside the giants were waiting. The fight was brief, the dwarfs and the party swamped them quickly.