Previously, the adventurers settled the conflict between the Allenham townsfolk and were asked by the magistrate to take care of the Procyon threat that was still lingering in the dense forests around town. They found and engaged a large group of Procyon scouts, lead by mage. The fight was stiff, but the Procyon eventually retreated. The adventurers pursued the retreating elves into the ruins, hoping to strike a crushing blow. Unfortunately, they were lured into an ambush and it was their time to retreat. The elves did not pursue. Instead, when the adventurers returned to Allenham, they found that the Procyon had attacked the Allenhouse, killed the guards and murdered the magistrate.
Sixth Day, First Ride, Summer Flame, 1262
(Silvermoon in low sanction. Bloodmoon is waxing. Darkmoon is waning.)
Early in the morning, Emrys woke up on a bench in a common room of the Allenhouse with a folded piece of parchment on his chest. He had fallen asleep the previous night trying to compose a sad melody regarding the events of the past few days. The parchment was a letter, which read as follows:
Dear Cendelius,
While observing the Allenham townsfolk as they go about plundering and devouring the forest, I have noticed a human woman who stands out to me. She is the daughter of a notable and has been touched by… something. It is neither fey nor shadow, neither radiant nor dark. She is under the influence of someone, or something. I suspect that the disappearance of Lady Sehanine is weakening the bond between the woman and whatever it is that’s manipulating her. The evening after tomorrow, when Sehanine is fully obscured, is when the bond, and whatever is causing it, is at its weakest. I know it is not in your nature to help out the humans, but we must act. That is why I send this scout, Kalindras Duskstrider, to bring you this message.
Forever in your debt,
Valadar Amberwind
The morning was used to hold the ceremony for the late magistrate Strickland’s funeral, lead by Emma and attended by a few townsfolk. It was a modest affair, on the grounds behind the Allenhouse.
Soon after, James and Luca returned, looking tired and dishevelled, recounting a curious tale of their encounter with what Luca thought was a Succubus; a malevolent fiend from another realm. The fiend had been influencing Martha Allen and was likely behind a lot of the trouble in the village.
It was time to move on and depart Allenham. But before their departure, the adventurers took a moment to freshen up, raid the Allenhouse larder, and Luca paid a visit to Falibor’s smithy and paid handsomely for a bag of iron filings he wanted to use in a ritual.
A search of the Allenhouse revealed a small lock box in Strickland’s office, which James opened with the set of curious tools, revealing some of Strickland’s personal correspondence with family, a pouch of coins, which James tossed to Luca who clumsily tried to catch it, and what looks to be a signet ring with the seal of House Strickland of Fairfields on it, a field with a rising sun.
The pouch contained eight platinum dragons, three gold crowns and twelve silver stags.
Luca used the last remaining pearl to divine the properties of the potion and the flute that he and James had found in Liliana’s cave. He crushed the pearl and mixed the powder with some wine and used the paste to create intricate arcane equations on a flat surface. Placing the items among the equations, he divined that the potion was meant to temporarily boost a person’s speed, while the flute had a much more sinister purpose; playing a melody was able to frighten all but the most strong-willed people to hear the tune.
The newly acquired donkey Theo was burdened with all of their belongings, their treasure chest, all of their food, several tents and bedrolls. The stubborn animal bore it all without complaint.
Without any ceremony, the adventurers departed and followed the path north, along the river. Because of limited fodder for Theo the donkey, they decided to keep their eyes out for grazing pastures to rest. The weather was warm, cloudy and oppressive, but it was only later in the day that thunderstorm rolled in, offering some refreshment with a cool drizzle of rain.
Eventually a grove was found near the end of the day, which allowed for Theo to graze and the rest to pitch a tent. The trees hard ranger marks to Sylvanus carved into them, signs that it was often used as a campsite. Never far away from small tributaries or brooks, Emma took it upon herself to try and fish using Muirgheal, which the trident obviously appreciated. Unfortunately, the river fish were too small and not easily caught, but eventually there was some fish to supplement their ration dinner.
A guard duty was set up. James and Astrid took the first guard. During the second guard, held by Emrys and Luca, Luca felt as if there were eyes upon him, though he could never find who or what was out there. Lastly, before dawn, Emma was awoken to hold the last watch, allowing her to commune with Sedna and get an early start of the day.
Seventh Day, First Ride, Summer Flame, 1262
(Silvermoon in low sanction. Bloodmoon is waxing. Darkmoon is low.)
The following morning the journey was continued until the little village of Shady Brook was found, a small settlement of farmers living off the land surrounded by woods. Old man Henderson, negotiated some trade with the adventurers; food in return the elven short sword that was recovered from the fight with the Procyon in the ruins near Allenham.
Another villager, Tom, could confirm that Lord Destan had come through Shady Brook on the first day of the second ride of Spring Blossom. He had been interested in the Aen Adhar, the local moon elves of the Riverlands, as well as the woodland spirits that the Riverlanders made strange, pagan offerings to in tribute.
Emrys shared that the moon elves of the Riverlands was the tribe that he belonged to and that they were inclusive of humans, but that his upbringing was mostly elven. And there were conversations about the last conjunction of planes and the curious spirits and creatures that stayed behind, possibly evolving into the woodland spirits that the Riverlanders paid tribute to.
New directions were received to a small, nameless hamlet. A few hours north the path would end, and then the directions were a collection of landmarks that would lead to the hamlet, where a man named Calvin lived together with his and another family.
After saying their goodbyes the adventurers followed the instructions and went off the path, following landmark after landmark. The lack of a path meant that progress was slower, having to occasionally backtrack and redirect their journey. After crossing a stream, Emma and Emrys noticed the carcass of a dead stag in the underbrush. Upon closer inspection it seemed as if the body of a demon had burst from the inside of the body of the stag, limbs and claws sticking out from the stag’s body, as well as an overgrown, bat-like head bursting forth from its neck. It was a grizzly and unnerving sight.
The adventurers followed the tracks that the stag had left behind back to a strange ring of crystals surrounding a familiar crater of slag, indicating a portal site. Luca scraped some more Lyrium ore residue off the slag, like he had done at the portal in the catacombs underneath Lynnecombe.
The journey continued for another couple of hours until a good pasture was found, deep in the woods. Camp was set up and Theo was left to graze. Luca, who had continued to feel a sense of unease since the previous night, decided to create some rudimentary, pagan offering mounds around the campsite. The same guard was arranged as the previous night, but during the first watch, a large murder of crows was seen gathering in a tree close by. Crows, the adventures had learned in Shady Brook, was a sign of the attention or perhaps presence of one of the woodland spirits. Fortunately, the camp was set up in a place that didn’t seem to bother the woodland spirit, because the rest of watch went by without a problem.
Eighth Day, First Ride, Summer Flame, 1262
(Silvermoon is waxing. Bloodmoon is waxing. Darkmoon is waxing.)
The following morning the journey continued, making sure to ever keep the murder of crows, which seemed to be tracking the adventurers, at a safe distance. With a few more detours, tracking landmark after landmark, they reached the small hamlet of Calvin’s farmstead. Unfortunately, the two farmhouses were the witness of a vicious attack of monsters. Both houses were ransacked, the doors broken open and the inhabitants killed; a family of three, and a family of four.
Searching the houses some more food was recovered and Emrys found a journal, written by Calvin’s wife, who kept careful track of several mundane events. Luca had found simple warding sigils carved around the inside of the door and window frames, much akin to the decorations he had seen in the crag leading to Liliana’s cave. Further investigations revealed that whatever attacked these poor souls, there were several of them, though the adventurers were not able to divine kind of monster they were.
All the while, Astrid and Emma had found simple shovels and were digging the people a grave next to older graves nearby and they added a few more burials to a growing list of burials of late.
Finally, the adventurers departed the hamlet and made their way further north. Several hours later, they found the landscape changing; the trees changed from broadleaf to pine, and more and steeper hills started to dot the landscape. Slowly, they were leaving the Riverlands and crossing over into the Silverpine Hills. With the change in trees, so did the forest become less dense and more easily navigable, but the adventurers paid for that with the extra effort of climbing steeper hills.
Near the end of the afternoon, the adventurers noticed a man on a horse in the distance, who didn’t seem to respond to any hails. It soon became clear that both the horse and the rider were wearing barding. Leather for the horse, and a silver-gilded plate armour for the rider, denoting them as a knight of the Order of the Lance. When they came even closer, it became clear that the knight was badly wounded and almost unresponsive. Up until then the adventurers had been very cautious and Emrys had used his magic in preparation for potential battle.
When they finally caught up with the man, Emma used the healing powers granted to her from Sedna to help the young man. His helmet and pauldrons were dented, his gorget and shield were cracked, his lance was broken and there was an awful gash in the side of his breastplate. He had blond hair, matted to his face by dried blood and sweat. The horse was also wounded, but seemed like it would recover, given some care and attention.
Luca recognised the sigil on the knight’s shield, a lightning bolt hitting a tree, it was a historic sigil belonging to Ser Florianus, one of the knights who fought and fell at the Battle for the Crimson Tower, when the Knights of the Silver Crusade were betrayed and ambushed. When the knight had regained some lucidity, he was asked for his name, but his response sounded confused, claiming to be “Mark”, then changing his mind to “Florianus.”
The knight started to rapidly age, and within no time he had aged several decades. Emma comforted him, assuring him that this would be his final death. Right before he drew his last breath, when he had aged a hundred years since the adventurers first encountered him, he wanted them to pass on a message:
Tell the lord commander McAllister that it was an ambush. Tell Ser Benten, no the lord commander, that I failed the protect the mage, no defeat the mage!
