Dramatis Personae

PC

Varanis
Berra
Dormal
Nala
Rajar
Finarvi
Irillo
Xenofos

NPC

D’Val the Sword
Zinat the Wolf
Tiwr the Magnificent

The group met up at Wilmskirk, only to find that Berra was missing. She had gone out to meet Varanis on the road and as Humakt make her Orlanth promise to put right what he had caused to go wrong. She had gone missing within a day’s travel of Wilmskirk. D’Val went to the Shrine of Humakt to find out if she was there, and try Divination, saying he would catch up with the others. Everyone else went to try to find her.

Late in the afternoon they discovered the remains of a camp, with crushed grass around it and the trail of something heavy leading away. Zinat found the camp and they followed the trail, and they pushed for a village overnight, so as not to sleep outdoors where something had done this. Along the way, they did not mark the trail for D’Val, who no doubt could follow anyhow! The village, Greyrock Fall, was on the alert, with people from the outlying houses pulled in, and extra guards on the palisade. A young man had gone missing and one of the search parties looking for him had also vanished. Nobody had seen Berra in the area, but everyone agreed this was likely to be more than a coincidence.

Overnight there was a raid by Telmori, who stampeded cattle around the place. Serala lit up a cow that they were trying to steal, with a Light spell, while the fyrd ran out to fight. The warriors of the party also did, and sounded a couple of Telmori, giving chase through the woods until they realised they were in ambush territory. Meanwhile, back at the palisade, Dormal started selling people on the Cult of the Glowing Cow, and one family took him up on it as a serious matter.

In the morning, with the old hunter Forsar, they set off on the trail, and after some hours met a lone Telmori on the path. He introduced himself as Galri of the Mantle and asked after other Telmori in the area. He said his nephews were here looking for something that they should not be, and asked the adventurers to say he was very disappointed if they met. Zinat was respectful to him and his wolf, and he was respectful to everyone, but obviously unafraid. He let them get on with following the trail of the Telmori – either he had not found it, or he did not want to follow it directly. The trail led up to the Cave of the Ancestors… where the Telmori were camped.

With Galri’s information they parleyed rather than attacking, and found out that in fact, the Telmori were much more afraid of the thing inside than anything outside – even their uncle the shaman. A THING had taken one of the wolves, and they could smell death inside. A wolf-brother sniffed at Minstar’s clothing. He was in there too. Nala had Zinat howl outside the cave to get Galri’s attention. They started to make their way in, and a Zorak Zorani Death Lord who was in there brought his undead horde out to the Holy Ancestor Cave for fun.

The Death Lord had Berra with him as a hostage, but people just started throwing javelins, even though she was a literal human shield. She opened her eyes, proving that she was not only awake, but alert. She cast shield, which was very fortunate as Draznk threw her at the ground, ducked behind a rock, and started bashing at her. Finarvi, Varanis and Serala began to try to get through the wall of skeletons and zombies, while Dormal cast invisibility and walked through them to try to pick up Berra. Failing that, he started to drag her away, and then started trying to get the lead bands wrapping around her, off her.. Varanis cast Leap to get over the Troll, and landed on the invisible Dormal.

The session ended on a cliff-hanger as the Telmori joined in against the undead, Rajar fumbled with his Great Axe while berserk, and the Death Lord turned for Varanis and cast what might also have been berserk.

“So if there was an ambush, why isn’t there a dead body and Berra cleaning her sword.” – Nala???

“What an original way to define meeting someone.” – Xenofos

“I agree with her.” – Dormal
“Oh god.” – Serala

“There are quite a lot of torches on the village walls.” – GM
“Maybe Berra attacked it or it attacked Berra.” – Nala

“Guard your amphorae and lock up your mares!” – Finarvi

“In Grazelander to Fin: <Be ready to claim we don’t know them if needed., if we’re managing to get by unrecognised…>” – Serala
<Does this happen to you a lot?> – Finarvi

“Does this place look rich enough to buy anything worth selling?” – Irillo
“This village is rich because they got their cattle back.” – Co-GM

“Rajar has a quick sniff – religious duty and all – and declares the beer is lovely.” – GM

“Problems are our stock in trade. Wherever we go there are problems.” – Dormal

“Have you seen a woman about yay tall, attitude twice that size?” – Nala
“Varanis glares at Nala.” – Varanis

“I’ll join the Fyrd to help.” – Varanis
“But not on my horse.” – Varanis

“In Rajar’s mind, burning the village down to save it is perfectly valid.” – GM

“Not herding cattle – but Varanis.” – Xenofos
“I’m running into the woods.” – Varanis

“Billy has ridden into a tree.” – GM
“Chaos Tree?” – Nala
“Well, it’s winning.” – GM

“Surely the woods are thicker wherever Rajar is?” – Irillo

“We should follow behind Rajar, as there will be fewer trees…” -Nala

“Aiming left or right?” – GM
“Left.” – Serala
“Right.” – GM
“No, left.” – Serala
@@*@@stares@@*@@ – GM

“So, we went to this village so we wouldn’t be tracking blood trails in the middle of the night…?” – Finarvi
“You’re exactly right, Finarvi. So Nala, are you tracking blood trails in the middle of the night?” – GM

“Crap, one of the feathers of my helmet broke in that stupid overgrown forest.” – Xenofos
“He looks sad with his broken feather.” – Serala
“Crestfallen even.” – Xenofos

“We saw wolves in the woods.” – Varanis
“Telmori are tales for children.. and credulous barbarians.” – Xenofos

“Serala, do you really think my horses are a good idea with wolves around?!” – Varanis
“I think that you need faith in yourself.” – Serala
“Fine. I will have let Serala talk me into Manasa.” – Varanis
“Failed.” – Varanis
“Rolling again.” – Varanis
“Fall off horse.” – Varanis

“Will it ruin Varanis’ street cred if I put her on a lead rein?” – Serala
“Or get behind and push.” – GM

“I thought we agreed to never encourage Rajar to sniff.” – Serala
“I signed no such document.” – Dormal

“Rajar is looking a little bit puzzled.” – Varanis
“So that’s normal, so far.” – Serala

“There’s a long pause.” – GM
“Well, they are wolves.” – Dormal

“Are there more people in with the thing?” – Varanis
“More, yes. People? No….” – Telmori

“And a battle roll.” – Co-GM
“Interesting scale formations on the walls of the cave…” – Xenofos

@@*@@awe@@*@@ – party
“Kerching!” – Dormal

“47/30” – Xenofos
“Shield up walk toward the next cave…” – Xenofos

@@*@@explains rules of shooting into melee regarding uzko using a human shield@@*@@ – Co-GM
“Javelin on the big feller.” – Xenofos

“Ahead, an army of skeletons and zombies!” – GM
“For reals?” – Varanis
“YES!” – GM, happily

“Strike Rank for Dex: 0. But is a bit tied up at the moment.” – Berra

“Has Rajar gone off?” – Nala

“Finarvi, roll DEX x 5 to not fall over.” – Co-GM
“FAIL!” – Finarvi

“The Zombies look fresh – dead a day or two. You’ve found the search party.” – Co-GM

“Rajar swings at the Dark Troll, and indeed his axe swings at the dark troll, goes over his head, and off into the distance.” – Co-GM