Back to Greenvale; Gar Lossian Forest; Avenvole  Expedition P2

The Expedition Team

60 or so people

Funded at least in part by a Noble family in Greenvale – Count Barricost of Old County – his youngest daughter, at around the age of 16, is seriously annoying to him at this time, and he has recruited his sister, her Aunt Fridelle, who is the leader of the expedition, to take his daughter with her. 

Fridelle is a Greenwarden, one of the Guardians of Greenvale's outer boundaries, and her recruitment to this mission is a sign of how important it is to the entire kingdom. King Jhoram himself asked her to take on the role. Her niece's last-minute inclusion is not something that pleases her.

Fridelle has created three “units” for her expedition, each supported by one of her three Expedition Captains. These captains have three areas of responsibility:

1. Exploration, Scouting and Guarding – there are five teams of five people in this unit, each of which makes excursions in a slightly different direction from the larger unit. Two teams are always kept at the base camp to serve as Camp Guard, and at least theoretically rest up from their Scouting duties. They are expected to communicate with the base expedition on a regular basis, and have been provided with a communication device to do so. The Captain of Exploration is a human Knight of The Order of the Loyal Blades called Sir Caedda (pronounced CA-tha). He is a cousin of Sir Kellam Windrider, March-Baron of Seastorm, and also a second cousin of Count Barricost.

2. Supply, Support and Commisary – this unit consists of twenty hobbyt and human and dwarven folk – all either cooks, boat and/or animal handlers, blacksmiths, or similar skilled laborers. They are responsible for keeping the group fed, housed, and capable of moving as needed. They also serve as secondary defense for the group, having been supplied with crossbows, short swords, and leather armor.

3. Diplomacy and Negotiations – this group is the smallest, having only about ten members; they also count a Bard and three healer-priests in their number. They are led by Baron Octha Thorkell of Blackmere out of Highscar County. Baron Thorkell leads a team of three diplomats who are ready to meet with and negotiate passage, trade and other considerations as needed. Thorkell also oversees Bard Garrick, who is supposed to record all the deeds of the travelers, creating an epic tale that will glorify the journey on their return to Greenvale. The remaining three members of this team are guards for the diplomats.

Leadership:

Lady Fridelle has a small personal retinue; it consists of her body-servant, two clerks, a personal cleric and a wizard, who provides both communications with Greenvale as needed, and scrying and other services for the Exploration team. 

Lady Fridelle – L3 Aristocrat, L5 ranger, half-elven – intelligent and competent, brisk but compassionate when appropriate, not always the most smooth-spoken, but never deliberately rude. She has a blind spot where her brother is concerned – she does what he asks even when she knows she shouldn't. She rides a Kiita named Sunshine, who is a pale blue-cream color.

Paega – (PAHga) – her personal body-servant is a L2 expert. She's soft-spoken and polite, but guards her mistress' time and privacy. She thinks this trip is crazy and isn't happy to be out in the wilderness, but she volunteered to come so Lady Fridelle would be properly attended.

Radulf and Herebert – clerks – these two young men are sturdy and unafraid, but they're along for their record-keeping and observational skills, not their combat ability. L3 experts - merchant profession. 

Ethelind - Clr of Elanora, L4 – Ethelind is a distant cousin of Lady Fridelle's, from a minor family. She's proud, selfish and spoiled, but loyal to her cousin and to the church of Elanora, though she belongs to one of the most strongly humanocentric subcults of the faith. 

Hrowald – a L5 divination specialist, he's a high-ranking member of the House of Ivorr, and is married to Princess Vallena, one of King Jhoram's daughters. He's half-elven, and has two young children safe at home with their mother. He's eager to be out exploring, but dearly misses his family, and spends some time each day scrying and chatting with his wife via clairaudience.

Exploration: 

Captain of Exploration, L2 Knight of The Order of the Loyal Blades, Sir Caedda Redspear. He's a proud and somewhat narrow-minded man in his early 30's. His uncle is Count Randall of Bluesword County, and he is thus nephew by marriage to Princess Malinda, eldest daughter of King Jhoram. His father, the Count's younger brother, is a Baron in the county. Caedda thinks magic is “cheating” and that everyone should behave as nobly as he thinks he does. 

Each team below has been issued the following gear, along with anything they choose to provide for themselves: bedrolls, backpacks, waterskins, rations for 4 for 10 days, healer's kit, tent for 4 people, wood axe and cleaver, skinning knife kit. One set of travel clothes per person. One cure light wounds potion per person, one jar of keoghtum's ointment and one sending stone (Sir Caedda holds the other stone of each pair). 

Team One: the PCs – Lady Fridelle's niece Dyani (ranger), Sif the elf Druid, a half-elf Sorcerer called Pithané and Mica, an elf Scout. Lady Fridelle has assigned them a hobbyt Healer named Flossie who has been instructed to keep her niece alive.

Team Two: A ranger, a rogue, a fighter, a cleric and a beguiler - this team was captured by orcs. The fighter and cleric are known to be dead; Vessetel the ranger has been rescued; the fates of the other two are still unknown.

Team Three: two fighters and two wizards and a rogue

Team Four: a bard, a beastmaster, a duskblade, and two rangers

Team Five: a knight of the order of the Stone Fist, a rogue, a sorcerer, and two fighters

Supply, Support and Commisary (20)

Burchard Whitfoot – he is your traditional hobbyt chef, an expert L5 who made a career of traveling Greenvale with merchant caravans, cooking on the road. He is an expert at knowing how much foodstuffs will be needed, how to pack it, when to replenish, and at cooking excellent meals with travel rations. He has been provided with two Field Provision Boxes which feed 15 people or 5 horses each, per day. They create prepared, ready-to-eat meals, and take a great deal of the burden of supply off the group. However, this only feeds about 70 percent of the group, so extra provisioning is needed; exploration groups are encouraged to bring back hunted animals and/or sources of fresh food or groups who can be traded with. Burch, as he prefers to be called, is a cheerful, outgoing gourmand always eager to try new food, and will eagerly accept ingredients brought to him. He also scolds anyone who fails to “eat up” at dinner. He has four hobbyt assistants, named Jocelin, Sagramor, Belinda and Fern. Burchard is also in charge of the animal handlers, boatmen, laborers and metalsmiths. 

Kedric – animal handler – he is responsible for 4 assistants, and a dozen animals. The group has 8 Vor pack animals, and 4 riding horses. He supplies food for Lady Fridelle's Kiita, but she cares for it herself. The riding horses are used mostly by the diplomatic group, but are available on request to anyone who needs one. The Vor are not loaned out except in a dire emergency.

Baldwin – the leader of the boatmen – he and his team of three are responsible for maintaining and guiding the boats on the river. He is also responsible for seeing that the boats are properly loaded and unloaded. During any river emergency, or in complex river crossings or navigation situations, he is in charge of directing the group for safety.

Fikral – blacksmith – dwarf expert L6 – a typical dwarf smith – wrapped up in his work, blustery and loud but essentially decent – he and his two assistants mend the boats, care for the horses and vors' shoes, and make other repairs to armor, gear and weapons. He has a portable forge that takes a day to set up, so it is only used when the main encampment is staying put for a few days. He can also do some simpler work on a small anvil at a campfire in emergencies. He actually has a bag of holding that carries much of his needed tools, fuel and gear.

Peredar, Joss and Eglin – laborers, L3 commoners who do anything needed and follow the instructions of most anyone in camp. They dig latrines, haul and chop firewood, fetch water, and do all the general scutwork needed. These three are hard-working but generally resent any extra work assigned to them, as they have plenty to do. They have been issued armor and weapons, but don't really know how to use them. They were assigned to the expedition by Count Barricost and are at least nominally loyal to Lady Fridelle.

Diplomatic Team:

Baron Octha Thorkell of Blackmere - human aristocrat L5 – an older human man, he's distinguished and scholarly, white-bearded and often mistaken for a wizard, though he has no such power. He dresses, even in the deep forest, in fine clothes in his baronial colors (red, gold and black). He's calm and judicious in manner, and intelligent but not particularly innovative. He likes Lady Fridelle, but worries that she's a little frivolous, and a bit too “woodsy” to make a good diplomat. He has 3 diplomats under his orders.

Sir Amer is a Knight of St. Justin, and a cousin of March-Baroness Gia of Cragmaw. Headstrong and fiesty, his answer to most problems is to strategise it into a battle. However, underneath he has good sense and pays heed to his elders. Half elven, L3 Fighter, L3 Knight of St. Justin. 

Merida of Minea's Island: Merida is the granddaughter of M'nea, a famous adventurer who owns a floating island. M'nea and the island are “away” from Greenvale, but Merida did not accompany her famed Grandmother because she has her own family in Greenvale. She and her husband, the bard Garrick are both on this Expedition. She's a human L4 Aristocrat, L1 Rogue. Merida is adventurous, bold, and quick on her feet. She loves travel, and is truly enjoying this trip. As a diplomat, she takes her cue from Baron Octha, as she's not experienced yet.

Vinloth, Baron Donbere of Karland Duchy: Baron Vinloth is between Sir Amer and Baron Octha in age and manner. He's quieter than Sir Amer, and less hasty, and possibly cleverer than Baron Octha. He's a studious man with some odd magical talent. Human Sorcerer L3, Aristocrat L1. 

Garrick of Jerint – a well-known bard, human L6 – cheerful, outgoing and loud but not obnoxious, Garrick has a fine singing voice but his real skills are sharp observation, good memory and quick ability to write a memorable couplet.

Expedition Travel arrangements:

60 people - 6 boats and two barges - each boat is capable of holding 10 people, while a barge could hold twice that number. The 6 boats actually hold 7 or 8 people each, while the larger barges each hold 6 people and the mounts (4 vor and 2 horses on each barge). One provision box is in the boat with Lady Fridelle (and her kiita), and the second is in the gear barge with half the mounts. Baldwin rides with Lady Fridelle, and his most senior boatman is in the gear barge. Kedrick and his assistants are in the barges with the mounts. 

The PCs are all in one boat, and with them are two hobbyts (Jocelin and Fern) and a boatman (Lad). PCs and the hobbyts take turns rowing while Lad stays in the prow as lookout.

Boat: 

Complement: 2 to 10 

Speed: 4 mph (20’, good maneuverability) 

AC 4, Hull 30 HP, Hardness 5

Ram: 1d6 but inflicts same amount on the boat

Size: 15’ long, 10’ wide (actually about 8’ wide) with a narrow front prow and flat back. Requires 2 to 4 oarsmen and should have one lookout/boatman when in unfamiliar water.

Draft: 2 1/2’, 2’ above waterline

Cargo: 2,000 lbs (speed drops to 10’ when over 1,000 lbs)

The PCs are all in one boat, and with them are Flossie, two more hobbyts (Jocelin and Fern) and a boatman (Lad). PCs and the hobbyts take turns rowing while Lad stays in the prow as lookout.

Before the Expedition Begins

The party: Micah - Elf Scout - an outlander and the son of horsebreeders from the Karriver March-barony, who dislikes horses and loves freedom; Dyani - half-elf Ranger - aristocratic daughter of Count Barricost, young and headstrong - Sif the Elf Wizard/Druid - child of a magical family from Greenvale has thrown over family tradition for the natural world and her hawk companion - and Pithané, cold natured half-elf sorceress with a weasel familiar who loves wandering. Teamed together with Flossie the Healer of Elanora - a cheerful hobytess ready with a bandaid for every injury. 

Session 1 (9/9/24)

The party is first grouped together by Lady Fridelle when a small shipment for the Expedition goes astray - the PCs spend a day hiking out to Cherrybush village to discover what's gone wrong - and they find a tangled mess of the village, a linden-grove, the grove's pixies, and the monastery all wanting different things. The villagers had gotten the worst of the mess, and were starving due to the monastery's apparent greed. Once they were promised that was being fixed, they grudgingly gave up the Expedition's provisions boxes and the party returned to town (they never asked about the drivers!). 

The next day was the final day of a local fair in Abbotsford. They toured the fair, debated entering some of the contests, but eventually decided not to do so. They watched the archery, but didn't seem to care who won. At the end of the day, Lady Fridelle, the Abbot and the town Mayor took the stage to announce winners in the Bear Wrasslin', Archery and other contests. Lady Fridelle also announced a few final notices about the Expedition, which will be leaving in the morning. Her niece, Dyani was near her on the stage, but the others had gathered near the fringes of the crowd to watch quietly. Mirex the hawk noticed a man in a tree a ways away. When the PCs looked, they could see he was staring intently at the stage; he had a bow in one hand but it was not drawn. The party immediately began moving in that direction, and Dyani noticed their activity. She immediately began to go on to the stage. Mica used his swift movement to draw near and saw the archer nock an arrow. He then shot at the archer, hitting cleanly but not doing too much damage. The man dropped his arrow in shock, then flung himself out of the tree as Pithané called up a celestial badger. The man tried to go invisible, but first Pithané located him with detect magic, and Sif used her entangle spell to stop him from fleeing. Mica peppered him with arrows, and he then surrendered. He was surrounded by the Abbot's guards, and dragged away. Dyani tried to get permission to attend the questioning but was denied. The party recovered the archer's bow (a +1 shortbow) and one +1 keen arrow, but was unable to gain any of his other magical gear, much to their chagrin.

Session 2 (9/15/24)

Early the next morning the Expedition left Abbotsford on its journey west. That first morning they were accompanied by well-wishers and curious townsfolk from Abbotsford, but eventually they all fell behind. A few hours into the day, they ran into their first danger; giant water beetles! Three of them came skating out across the water to the PCs' boat, seeking a nice munchy soft person for dinner. They were so fast that they reach the boat before the PCs can react. A brutal fight ensued, with the other Expedition members (Lad the boatman, and two hobyts - Jocelyn and Fern) bearing the brunt of it. A few rounds of combat, including a fiendish octopus summons, a burning hands and a magic missile later, the beetles were dead. Flossie healed Lad the boatman, and all was well. 

On the second day, the PCs were gathering firewood for a bonfire, preparatory to their first big scouting mission. Stirges from a nearby swampy area dropped out of trees on them. While it wasn't pretty, this fight was much shorter. The rest of the night passed peacefully, and in the morning the PCs (after a hearty breakfast) set off across the river to go exploring. They hiked west about 5-6 miles, and arrived at the top of a long ridgeline. A long way off - probably 6-8 more miles - they could see another range of hills - one of them was bald, with a ruined castle structure on top, and a thin stream of smoke coming from it. As they traveled nearer, they saw that the trees for a half-mile around the hilltop were dead or dying, brittle and lifeless. 

Dyani and Mica scouted ahead while Sif, Pithané and Flossie traveled a bit more slowly. The scouts identified several interesting features - collapsed walls, an old siege engine, and eventually spotted a humanoid they eventually identified as a bugbear. Later, they spotted three bugbears returning from hunting carrying a deer carcass. As it was then late in the evening, they set up camp for the night. As they did so, a rustling drew Sif's attention and she (and others) saw a band of black deer go by. They were impressed and decided to record this for future exploitation. 

The next day they set up an ambush on the trail the bugbear hunters had used, and were able to ambush three of them. There was a not-too-tough fight (nothing as hard as the water-beetles!) and one bugbear tried to flee, but Mica and Pithané brought it down. They waited all day for the ambush, and then camped again overnight. In their nightly check-in with the Expedition, Lady Fridelle reminded them that they only had two more nights to spend in the woods before they were expected to reconnect with the Expedition. 

They decided this would be their final day watching the castle; they hope that by morning another group of bugbears would emerge, and they could reduce the population of the castle enough to risk approaching on their own.

Soon after sunrise a new group of bugbears left the castle - a pair of hunters and one who appeared to be a shaman, decorated in feathers and such. They were following the trail the hunters had used, and the party was able to set up another ambush. This conflict was a bit more challenging, but they defeated the bugbears with no significant injuries. They watched the castle until early evening, but no other groups emerged. Eventually they used the cover of high grass and the expertise of the ranger and the scout to approach the castle unseen. Dyani climbed up the keep's side to the roof, and lowered a rope to the others, who scrambled up after her. They discovered a chamber at the top of the keep, and broke in through a skylight. There was a telescope up there, and a trapdoor that led down into the keep. However, one corner of the keep was badly damaged, and Dyani climbed down to the second level, into an empty room. The group had decided they would leave with the valuable telescope rather than risk further exploration, but Dyani and Sif, who was the first to descend to ground level, were taken almost by surprise as a trio of bugbears and a human rounded the castle's corner just as Sif's eagle alerted her. A large battle ensued; Mica and Dyani fired arrows while Sif engaged in melee. Pithane cast several spells. The human sorcerer fireballed the group on the roof, and Flossie collapsed. Mica slew the sorcerer, but Sif was badly injured by the bugbears, finally falling to the last one as Dyani and Pithane came to her rescue. The group retreated to the roof of the castle, rolling Sif into Mica's magical healing bedroll, and feeding Flossie a healing potion. The party passed a quiet day in hiding, and early in the evening witnessed a group of 11 bugbears - two adults and nine children all packing gear - leaving the castle ruins. Mica called down to them, demanding that they drop their "treasure" on pain of death - most of the bugbears ran, but one shouted back that they were free to do whatever they could - they'd already slain their families and left them with nothing... 

This truth was brutal enough that even Mica was willing to let the bugbears go without further harassment. Night passed with no major incidents, but Mica on second watch did hear some disturbance in the front courtyard, as if some creature(s) were walking around out there. The walls prevented him seeing anything. Next morning, a search of the castle keep revealed the sorcerer's laboratory, where they recovered six potions and two scrolls. In the lower level they found nothing of interest except several sets of stairs leading downward; one from the main hall, one from the pantry, and one from the south-west tower, which is where the PCs began their explorations, as Dyani found skeletal footprints leading out and back into the tower. Descending one flight of stairs, they found the Castle Cellars. A wight lived in one chamber, and beyond that they found an ancient, undisturbed chapel to Ontokoth, a god of the dwarves. A trapdoor led them further down, into caverns.

In the caverns, they found a secret exit that led just outside the castle walls, and a cavern with two exits. One led to a small cave with a low tunnel entrance. Flossie foolishly agreed to go through the low tunnel, and was attacked by a grey ooze, which killed her for the second time. She was dragged out and the ooze defeated - but it did ruin some gear of the party's, and Mica used his magic arrow. Pithane used her shocking grasp wand as well. Flossie was revived, but was then walking wounded. They recovered a magical quarterstaff with a carved dragon head from this room, using Pithane's mage hand. 

The second exit was a door, which led to a room with a side chamber displaying a beautiful silver statue, a collapsed passage, and a passage blocked by a portcullis. Inspection showed that there was a wincch on the far side, which they left alone. Instead they turned to the statue. It didn't respond when they (Mica) first shot it with an arrow, and then dragged it down off its display plinth. But when Sif used her mage hand to try to remove a valuable ruby from the forehead of the statue, it finally came "alive" and attacked. It flew up, slammed Sif who was closest to it, doing a LOT of damage, and landed. The ruby began to glow red, steadily getting brighter as the battle raged. Mica did consistent damage firing arrows, while Dyane missed repeatedly. Sif tried to melee with it, but a second slam reduced her to -10 HP. She needed immediate help to survive. Pithane grabbed her cure potion and dashed in, narrowly avoiding a slam attack, to medicate Sif. She was able to then use her wand of shocking grasp to good effect on the creature. Eventually it succumbed to their assault and collapsed. Mica then retrieved the ruby and a number of silver feathers. But with both Sif and Flossie badly injured, spells running out, and the fear that there was still some powerful undead creature ahead of them, they decided discretion would be their watchword, and retreated. They left the castle and its dungeons behind, planning to make a quick march to catch up with the Expedition, which awaits their return before continuing downriver.

Skipped several sessions here - PCs returned to the river, explored up the Tallow river a bit, met some hybsil, Dyane gained her companion - a Tressym (winged cat). Fought wolves and an evil druid to free the hybsil from harassment. Then went back to the Expedition. Traveled several days further west, ran afoul of some heron-folk, who tried to rob or kidnap some of the Expedition's members. PCs had little trouble defeating them, and ended escorting a prisoner to Lady Fridelle, who came to a diplomatic agreement that the heronfolk would leave them alone in return for not being hunted down.