The Lonely Coast Campaign – Seeking Cynric’s Folly Part 7 (Session 14)

When we last left the party, Thalimor had gotten himself arrested by the Warden of the Lonely Coast while the rest of the party had blatantly disregarded a direct “request” from the man appointed by the Baron to see to the safety of the Lonely Coast. Rather than return to the Wolf’s Head Inn and remain there, they followed the goblin tracks in the hopes of finding the abducted children. This group remained just a bit ahead of the troops led by the Warden and the manacled (and gagged) Thalimor. When the heroes arrived back at the ruins, they found the children in the “temple” area along with Aerlium, a badly tortured Malvenos, and four of the wrath creatures. They were unable to rescue the children at this time and, after fighting a large number of goblins in the woods, were hustling towards the sounds of a combat…presumably between the goblins and the Warden’s force.

That is where we pick up after the break. Rachel and Muse were missing this session and, unfortunately, Thomas had to cancel at the last minute due to illness. So we were missing half of the players and so everyone played two characters. In addition to their normal characters, RJ played Isenthorne, Miles played Osric, and Todd played Thalimor. Rachel’s absence, unfortunately, also means that the group’s note taker was missing. I rely pretty heavily on her notes when writing the recaps. Because I make up so much of this on the fly, I can’t always keep track of what happened in what order. So it is quite likely that this recap might have more mistakes and less detail than those when she does take her five or six pages of notes.

Coming out of the woods, the heroes found that the Warden’s troops had, in fact, been attacked by goblins. A handful of goblin bodies were scattered about in the grass along with a couple of soldiers. More pressing to the heroes was the sight of Thalimor kneeling before the Warden, with his hands manacled behind his back. Although they couldn’t quite make out what was being said, it was clear Thalimor’s position in the Warden’s eyes had not improved since they last saw their fried.

The conversation that other heroes could not hear given the distance between them was not boding well for the bard. The Warden simply stated that if Thalimor did not give him the knife that he would have no choice but to execute him in the name of the Baron and for the protection of the Lonely Coast. When asked if he understood his situation, Thalimor snarkily said that he did not. The Warden asked one final time if he would cooperate and provide the knife but Thalimor refused, saying that he couldn’t. Feng forced the bard to bow down and the Warden raised his sword to behead the bard with a powerful downward stroke.

Before he could accomplish this, Isenthorne cried out for justice. She yelled out and asked if Thalimor didn’t deserve a fair trial. The nearby soldiers actually chuckled at the idea but her interruption was enough to stay the execution. As the heroes approached, the soldiers told them to drop their weapons and they all complied. [Bay had actually already dropped the sword he had recently obtained…the rather evil-looking one that dripped a noxious green liquid as he feared its appearance would do little to endear them to the troops.]

The heroes were escorted forward to the Warden’s location. He expressed more than a little disappointment that he found them here when they had been “requested” to remain at the inn in Swallowfeld. For their part, the heroes did not dispute that they disobeyed his request; instead, they focused on the fact that they had found the children and that they still needed to be rescued.

Feng forced Thalimor’s face into the grass and dirt so he couldn’t speak intelligibly and the Warden began to question the others. His primary question was about the “key” that would open the box and he flat out asked if they had found it in the ruins yet. This caused a bit of confusion amongst the heroes and Thalimor began to frantically wiggle his fingers and mumble loudly in the grass and dirt. Magnus shared that it was actually Thalimor’s ring that was the key to the box.

The Warden was a bit disappointed in this revelation given that Thalimor had neglected to share this information previously. He had Feng lift the bard up from the ground and asked for the ring. It had only been moments earlier when his life was about to end that Thalimor had realized that he could no longer feel the ring on his finger. He had no idea when the ring had gone missing…perhaps while he had been unconscious. A quick look through Thalimor’s pack showed that the magical box containing the knife was also missing!

The Warden ordered all of the heroes arrested and manacled. Feng looked quite pleased as he stepped up to Pounder and asked if he had a problem being manacled. It turns out that the paladin in fact did have a problem with it. Pounder threw a punch at Feng but the sergeant had been expecting Pounder to resist and dodged it. In turn he violently head-butted Pounder, leaving blood streaming from his nose. The paladin then tried to sweep the sergeant’s legs out from under him but Feng deftly leaped over the kick and brought his armored elbow down on Pounder’s face, leaving the paladin unconscious.

[Todd rolled pretty horribly during this little brawl while I rolled quite well.]

During the fight, Bay yelled out encouragement to Pounder…forgetting that all in Swallowfeld believed him to be deaf and dumb. Unphased, one of the soldiers suggested a small wager on the fight. Needless to say, Bay had to pay up afterwards.

Once the heroes had been properly restrained, Feng took Thalimor to the cliff with a large grin on his face while the Warden and most of the soldiers rode in the opposite direction towards the ruins with the goal of getting the children. Feng looped and tied a rope around the bard’s soldiers, pounded a spike into the nearby ground, lowered Thalimor about fifteen to twenty feet down the cliff, and left him hanging there. The sergeant than sprinted off after the troops.

The heroes spoke a bit with the soldiers that were left behind to guard them and even tried to bribe them for their release but with no success. One of the soldiers went and fetched the heroes weapons from where they had been dropped. When he reached where Bay had left his new sword, there was a shout of pain and the soldier came back holding up a burned hand. He asked about the sword and Bay was fairly honest about it, sharing that they found it on one of the goblins and that it had burned Osric as well but not him.

Isenthorne noticed that a short creature was watching them from the shadows of the woods…a goblin.

It wasn’t long before the troops returned carrying three bodies, the children and Malvenos. The children were unconscious but looked unharmed. Malvenos, of course, was still in rather bad shape. All three had been found lying near the charcoaler’s huts. One of the soldiers was attempting to treat Malvenos’ wounds as he was barely alive. Magnus offered to magically heal Malvenos and the Warden first refused the offer given the history of dishonesty the heroes had demonstrated to date. Magnus pointed out that he, at least, had not been dishonest and so the Warden agreed. Magnus was unmanacled, he healed Malvenos, and then was manacled again.

The troops policed the battlefield, burning the goblin bodies. Feng, along with one of the soldiers, used sticks to pick up Bay’s new sword and they tossed it off the cliff. Bay was both upset and pleased by this as he worried that his ability to hold the sword without damage was a sign of additional corruption of his soul…apparently he was more upset than pleased which doesn’t bode well for his resisting said additional corruption.

Eventually, all set off for Swallowfeld with the dead and injured. The heroes were all roped together and led along by Feng. On the journey back, Isenthorne noticed that they were being shadowed by goblins in the woods. The ranger informed Feng of this and he gruffly responded that he could smell them. The trip was uneventful and the group made it back to Swallowfled.

The heroes were taken directly to the stockade at Wardseld Keep. Their manacles were left on and Thalimor was left gagged and hooded but Isenthorne removed both. Thalimor also contorted his arms so that his manacles were in front instead of behind him now. Berangar was also locked up in the stockade.

Thalimor filled his companions in on what he knew had happened and vice versa. They then spent a good amount of time trying to unravel the various lies that they had already spun so that each could have a consistent story in case they were questioned individually. Thalimor, of course, could only share that he didn’t know what story he would go with…he’d be making it up as he went along. [Todd did a good job of playing Thalimor. 😉 ]. With little else to do, they got some rest.

Late in the afternoon, the Warden returned along with Feng, a female dwarf, and a few soldiers. The Warden simply asked if there was anything that they would like included in his letter to the Baron on the recent events. They asked that he be clear that they had saved the children and had solved the murder mystery at the Temple of Vélen. The Warden shared that Godric had spoken highly of them in the letter that had been sent to him and that he would include that as well. Pounder expressed sincere remorse at any troubles that he may have inadvertently caused. Feng simply snorted, in derision, at this. Thalimor, surprisingly, remained silent. [Actually, Todd and the others just couldn’t figure what sort of smart ass comment Thomas would have come up with in that situation. I’d consider that a compliment if I were Thomas.]

Feng also was holding Pounder’s favored great club and made it quite clear that he considered it his now, in fine orcish tradition.

Before leaving, the Warden asked if they would swear to behave and not cause any trouble or attempt an escape. They agreed. Pounder promised to keep order within the stockade. A couple of soldiers brought in bandages and medicines for the group to see to their wounded. The manacles were also removed but they were all still locked in the stockade. Again, with little else to do, they got some rest.

As he slept, Bay had a dream that he had been thrown off of a high cliff just his sword had been thrown and it was almost like he was the sword falling. Falling, he could see the surf of an ocean crashing against jagged rocks at the base of the cliff. Just before he hit the rocks, however, he woke up. Sitting up, he realized that Berangar was standing next to and looming over Thalimor. Bay yelled at for everyone to wake up. Berangar just walked back over to a corner and sat down again, mumbling to himself.

A lot of shouting then could be heard outside in the keep. Guards were hustling about and an alarm began to sound. Although Pounder agreed to keep order, this situation seemed to “require” their attention and so he and Bay tried to break down the door. Having been built to keep people in, the door stubbornly refused their attempts. Screams could be heard from far away and Isenthorne could pick out goblin voices in the din. Their own shouts asking what was going on went unheeded.

Bay used his fey magics to pass through the door. As he appeared on the other side, he spotted the Warden walking towards the stockade. Bay shouted out that he was just getting out so he could come help. The Warden was not impressed and accused him of having lied to him yet again. Bay was ordered to get out of his way. The Warden unbarred and opened the stockade door.

He expressed his disgust that they had all lied to him again. However, the village was under attack by goblins so he was releasing them to assist. If they ran or aided the goblins, he would hunt them down and kill them. They guaranteed him that they would do neither of those things.

They gathered their weapons and hurried out without donning their armor. As they went out, villagers were streaming inside. Outside the keep, they spotted a number of goblins running about. Many were mounted on scraggly, hairless dogs with rat-like features. In the village square, one mounted goblin was chasing down two children while another was chasing down Ardor. The heroes sprang to action.

The battle was fierce. The goblins used hit and run tactics and made good use of the buildings to attack with surprise. Some were armed with crossbows and kept their distance. A couple were shaman types and threw magical attacks at the heroes. A rather large goblin, mounted on a rather large rat dog thing, was slashing with dual short swords rather effectively.

While some of the villagers that had not yet reached the safety of the keep did make it to safety, others, like two of the fleeing children, were taken by goblins before the heroes could reach them. Ardor was attacked and fell but she was later saved by the heroes and made her way to the keep. The goblins were also tossing lit torches on the buildings in the village.

The soldiers held their position near the keep during the battle and keeping a way clear for the villagers to make it to the keep.

By the end of the battle, half of the heroes were down including [I believe] Thalimor, Pounder, and Isenthorne [someone correct me if I’m wrong]. The Fellowship Hall and at least one of the other buildings on the square were in flames. The goblins, however, were all dead, fled, or had hidden. The heroes that were unconscious were picked up and all headed back to the keep.

Inside, a number of villages and soldiers that had been wounded were being tended to. The heroes were directed to an open space where they could put their wounded and rest. Hours later, all the heroes had regained consciousness.

Bay climbed to the allure [Google says that’s the technical term for the walkway at the top of the wall] to get a good look at the village. He could spot a few more buildings in flames. Over at Teza’s Trading Post, one of her guards was waving from the top of that stockade wall. There were a number of dead goblins around Teza’s stockade.

The Warden was also atop the wall surveying the village. He asked Bay if he understood the position that they had put him in. Bay said that he did but the Warden continued and stated that they had pretty much lied to him since they arrived, that they were responsible…no matter how inadvertently…for releasing a demon and perhaps this attack, and this left him with very grave concerns about them. They had even lied about Bay’s ability to speak and yet they were now having a conversation. However, they had also showed valor and honor in risking their lives in fighting the goblins.

He also expressed his belief that Thalimor simply cannot tell the truth period as well as a significant problem with authority figures. Bay said that all that was true but it wasn’t true of the rest of them. Bay then suggested that the Warden could put Pounder in charge of Thalimor, perhaps asking him to swear an oath to such effect. The Warden asked Bay to have Pounder come see him.

Pounder meanwhile had set out to see if he could Kettilwig and Daegelric. He succeeded and while the boy remained cold and sullen towards him even extreme hate burning in his eyes, Kettilwig ran and hugged him. He picked her up and she was sobbing and shaking in terror. She couldn’t speak and refused to let go of the paladin so Pounder started to carry her around. It was quite clear that she had been completely terrified by her recent experience.

Bay found Pounder and they headed back up to the wall to see the Warden. Feng was up there as well and left as they approached but not before saying something about how motherhood suited Pounder better than a warrior’s life.

The Warden explained his same concerns that he expressed to Bay to Pounder, emphasizing that given all that they had already done…again no matter how inadvertantly…and the lack of honesty to date that he simply could not allow them to travel freely about the Lonely Coast without someone that he could trust. Bay had made a suggestion that he was amenable to that would solve this issue. The Warden asked Pounder to swear an oath to protect the peoples of the Lonely Coast even from the actions of Thalimor. Pounder agreed to do so to the best of his ability. The Warden said that he could ask for nothing more than that.

Pounder was then given the authority, in the Baron’s name, to protect the peoples of the Lonely Coast even if that meant that he would have to kill Thalimor to do so.

Pounder and Feng both were then sent to “fetch” Thalimor regardless of what Thalimor might wish which seemed to immensely please Feng. Thalimor spotted Pounder and Feng walking towards him, together, with definite purpose. Feng asked if the bard would come willingly or, with a big grin on his face, will they have to force him to go with them.

[And that’s pretty much where we stopped. Actually, it wasn’t but Todd and everyone else was kind of at a loss for how Thalimor would actually respond given how unpredictable Thomas could be…again, a compliment in my opinion. So I think this is where we will pick up in our next session.

Beer Notes: We split three beers this night, primarily between RJ and I since our other “bigger” drinkers were missing. We started with Oskar Blues’ Pinner Throwback IPA. It was really quite good. Not quite as good as my preferred “West Coast” IPA style but almost as tasty. We also had the Terrapin Hi-5 IPA which was good but not quite as tasty as the Pinner in my opinion. Last was Big Storm’s Arcus IPA. Either the beer had gone bad or it just simply isn’t very good. There was a buttery and apple flavor that I typically associate with off-flavors in a beer.]