G01 — Session 2

1626

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Season, Week, Day
The day after the Battle of the Queens

Events

Carrying out their orders from the two Queens, the party tracks the cavalry of the Luminous Stallion King West, towards Ironspike.

Ivalla picks up other tracks over the trail of the main force – one huge set of prints from someone with feel the size of a horse, and barefoot human prints following after, indicating a small group of adults and children.

Ivalla thinks the horses are no more than an hour ahead, so the group presses on briskly. On nearing a river by some woods, they see two adults and two children, Backwoods Orlanthi peasants by their look, running towards them in a panic. One has a spear, another a bloody cheek. The two adults shout that their eldest child has been taken by a monster with large claws, pointy teeth and big glowing eyes.

A terrified scream comes from the copse of trees ahead. Everyone takes up a bull’s head formation, Finarvi on the left, Serala on right. At the trees, Serala dismounts and joins Ivalla, Arim and Jorrim on foot. Finarvi enters the trees more slowly, ready to cut off anyone fleeing.

There is indeed a monster with the head and torso of a man, sharp talons, pointy teeth and big glowing eyes holding a young woman by the throat. Jorrim throws a javelin at it. Arim charges in and the monster throws the young lady at Arim.

The woman lands at Jorrim’s feet, leaps up, sprouts fangs and claws and attacks Jorrim.
The 10 year old boy flies at Finarvi, who shoots him out of the air. The other daughter attacks Ivalla, but gets pounced by Uhnta.

Jorrim whomps his in the gut with an axe, but is overmatched and about to be snacked upon. Serala comes to his rescue, wielding her sword. She takes a leg off, Ivalla de-legs hers and Uhnta latches onto it. Finarvi and Madryn trample the remaining monsterlet into goo.

The monsters are far too heavy for their size. Jorrim identifies them as Ogres. It’s nearly dusk by the time they’ve built a bonfire to get the corpses burning, so the group spends the night in the copse with the smell of roasting ogres.

Arim looks for other camp fires in the darkness, and some people see a glow from Snakepipe Hollow. After a brief discussion of the pros and cons of fighting Chaos at night, they decide to wait until first light before worrying about it.

Ivalla sets snares in the wood and catches a rabbit with an atypical number of legs. Not to mention scales. They burn that too.

The Grazelander cavalry’s tracks lead towards Snakepipe Hollow, through a cutting in the escarpment and into a dip with a large stone table at the bottom. Here the Grazelander cavalry is gathered, surrounded and embattled by chaos things.

The group decide to launch a surprise attack to distract the beastmen, with Serala sounding the rally and casting a blinding light while everyone made enough noise for an attacking army. The Luminous Stallion King’s cavalry take the opportunity to break out of the trap and flee.

The group accompany the Luminous Stallion King’s force back to where the Sartarite army is encamped. There is a pause while LSK summons his Master of Wardrobe and Official Portrait Artist to immortalise the moment, before answering the Queens’ summons.

Finarvi decides LSK is too magnificent not to have some Unicorn in him, and draws some unofficial fanart, with Serala offering suggestions.

Having been given the night off, the heroes get to relax together and learn a bit more about each other. Finarvi and Serala discover that Ivalla is from Blue Tree Clan and thus family, while Ivalla discovers these are ‘those Grazelanders she’s heard about.’ Jorrim knows some horse tongue, while Endars knows something about Eril. Jorrim translates liberally for people. That is, he is interpreting what he understands the inner truth of their souls to be attempting to state. He also writes a letter from Serala to be put into the official dispatch pouch for Varanis.

Next morning they seek an audience with the Feathered Horse Queen to find the two queens have a court in session. LSK is there too, standing behind the two enthroned queens, looking dazzling. Endars tells the party there is another message and a sensitive matter to deal with – a secret mission.

FHQ states their forces do not have the strength to take Alda Chur alone, but with the help of the townspeople they may. She orders the group to contact people around Alda Chur to get them to rise up and throw off the Lunar yoke. She gives Jorrim a big lump of gold as a reward and to help with expenses.

Next day, the band heads back North. There is a cave carved into the cliff they failed to see before, big footprints go in but not out. They pass on, leaving warning signs. Somewhere just at the edge of sight, a disappointed giant drops a boulder to one side and stalks off.

IronSpike has vigilant guards. Jorrim makes the introductions and lets the guards know that the ogres are dead and the giant has been left alone. The local warleader, Harref, extends the hospitality of the inn and buys the first round. Jorrim sings heroic songs of battles and shares news.