Session 4 Synopsis

[Prince Herb]

The next morning, the mysterious stranger leaves early, and by a different route.   Our heroes take a leisurely breakfast before setting off on their own next stage.   Nell seems strangely nervous, but won't say why.   Hashmulan frets about this.

The day's travel is uneventful, but when the party arrives at the inn where they intend to spend the night, this changes.

The inn's courtyard is strangely deserted, and when Thurbald checks round the back, he finds a decapitated body.

The party enter the main part of the inn and are ambushed by a number of brown-robed warriors with scimitars.   The action is swift, and our heroes victorious, though both Celis and Arthur receive wounds.

Blackthorn prevents the few surviving locals in the inn from dying with his magic and healing skill.   Hashmulan helps out with her own magic, and also saves one of the dying brown-robed warriors.

Soon after this a party of monks arrive at the inn, looking for lodgings.   They use their own healing spells and skills to heal the party and the locals yet further.

The possessions of the brown-robed warriors excite little interest, but one of them has a slip of papyrus bearing an encoded message in his belt pouch, along with a large chunk of the black hashish that they all seem to carry.   No one can make head or tail of this note.

As Hashmulan prepares to sleep, Arthur comes to see her with a mysterious parcel he has found on the wagon.   It is an encrypted notebook, with a covering letter asking her to carry it to the Warden of the High Passes.

[Prince Herb]

Halsie tucks the book away in her pack, and drifts off to sleep.

The next morning, two gendarmes turn up and interrogate people briefly about the attack.   One of them says that he thinks the attackers were Narsayan bandits, though it's unusual for them to come so far inside the empire.   This seems to be confirmed since the sole survivor speaks only Narsayan.   The two gendarmes take the prisoner away for trial and execution and the slip of papyrus away for deciphering and translation.

Our heroes hit the road again.   The monks travel with them for part of the way, eventually turning off the main road to head for a remote monastery belonging to their order.   Soon after this, Blackthorn notices that a party of horsemen, dressed in brown and white robes have appeared in the distance, following a course parallel to the road, but some way off.

Over the course of the day, more horsemen join this group, but none approach the party.   As they approach the small town where they will spend the night, the party see the horsemen turn away and disappear behind a ridge.

They arrive at the inn and are met warmly, or at least Thurbald and his accordion are.   Halsie teases Nell mercilessly to see just how much she can be made to blush.   Celis enjoys the local food and drink in her usual fashion, scarfing down huge amounts.   Halsie comments on how good the local cuisine is, high praise indeed.

Nightfall comes, and with it a heavy fog.   During the hours of darkness, someone breaks into Halsie's room and tries to steal the book, but fails since she wakes up and attacks.   The intruder leaps through the window and runs off, apparently badly injured.   Celis and Halsie pursue the intruder and an apparent accomplice, but they escape in the mists.

The mist is still there when the party set off down the road again in the morning, but quickly burns off under the warm sun.   This reveals that the horsemen are still paralleling the party, and are closer than ever...

[Prince Herb]

Thurbald points out that they are now quite near the Frostburg, the headquarters of the Border Rangers, and that the horsemen dare not follow them there, but this is small comfort since when the castle finally appears in the distance over the crest of another hillock, they seem to take it as a sign to form up and attack.

The party kill several of the riders in the battle that follows, but are heavily outnumbered.   Halsie's combat spells and Blackthorn's healing help, but they are pressed back upon Arthur's wagon, which provides some cover from javelin and scimitar (and has a dwarf on top, hurling insults and cooking pots at the horsemen).

Things look bleak, but the Gods smile upon our heroes.   Over the sound of battle, they hear a bugle call - the cavalry are coming!   A troop of seventy mounted Border Rangers ride up over the next ridge and drive the horsemen off.   The rangers are led by the Warden of the High Passes herself.   She explains that she rode out of the Frostburg to give Halsie a proper ceremonial escort into the castle, as befits a scion of the Imperial family.   Obviously, Halsie's ancestors, the divinely ascended Emperors have been looking out for her.

The Frostburg itself is a modern star fortress built around a small town and a much older keep.   The walls bristle with cannon, and many soldiers are visible in the streets.   "Finally," says Halsie, "I feel safe."

[Prince Herb]

Thurbald admires the modern fortifications of the Frostburg, but points out to the Warden that they could be stronger.   She agrees, but notes that the Emperor has not been able to find the funds to further improve the fortifications.

After being healed by priests of the Imperial cult, Halsie takes a bath, and dresses for dinner.   The Warden apolgises for the poor fare, but it's not poor enough for Thurbald, who eschews roast swan and spiced rice for the plainer fare of the soldiery.

After dinner, Halsie gives the mysterious book to the Warden, who is equally puzzled by it.

The next day, the now-sparkling Warden comes to discuss the book.   Several suggestions are made as to what the Narsayans hoped to achieve by what are now clearly stage-managed attacks on Halsie's party, but no clear conclusions are arrived at, except that Halsie clearly needs a little more protection for the moment.

The Warden offers her an escort of Orcish pioneers.   The pioneers will be travelling to Black Point to put the fortress there back in repair, and it's no trouble to them to escort people along the way.   Halsie agrees, and also to the suggestion that the party delay their departure for a couple of days to rest and recuperate in the environs of the Frostburg.

[Prince Herb]

After re-equipping in the weapons shops and armouries of the Frostburg, the party again head off, this time to the astonishingly dilapidated fortress of Black Point.   Captain Gravask and his orcish pioneers provide an escort to the fortress, which guards the only road into Blackbuck Valley.   They themselves have been sent to put the fortress back into a state of repair.   This seems likely to be a difficult task, especially since the garrison are poorly equipped, trained and demoralised.   Thurbald gives the commander a talking to, to try and show him that he doesn't have to be a passive observer, and that there are things he can do to make the place defensible again.

Whilst spending the night at Black Point, there is a disturbance amongst the orcish troops, when a falling star is observed in the heavens.   They take this as a bad sign, though Thurbald persuades them for the moment that it will be a bad sign for the Narsayans, not for them, since the star appears to be falling in the desert beyond the mountains.

Halsie and Nell declare their mutual love, though this remains a secret for now.

At the end of the next day's travels, Halsie arrives in the small town of North Shore and visits the lawyer to take the loyal oath necessary to assume her titles and estates.   Celis has republican feelings after seeing Halsie swear by the divine emperor.

All prepare to travel on to the elegant chateau that Halsie has inherited that very night...

[Prince Herb]

The party leaves the office of Joseph Sailes, notary public and barrister at law, and the little town of North Shore.

Halsie's new home is located on an island out on the lake, connected to the shore by a long bridge.   The lovely gardens in which it is set attract the attentions of some viewers, but Celis seems worried that it's not heavily fortified.   "It's a mansion, not a castle", says Halsie.

As soon as the party arrives, though, they are confronted by a problem immediately.   The cook is dead drunk and his weasels are running out of control in the pantry.   It transpires that these weasels are the six foot long, 400 pound dire variety.   Their tactic of latching onto victims and sucking out their blood nearly does for Celis.   "What kind of idiot keeps such dangerous pets?", she fumes.

Nevertheless, all three weasels are finally accounted for and the wounded party members are able to have a light (and cold) meal and retire to bed.

The next day, the cook (a bugbear called Lergu) is still out cold at breakfast time.   When he finally comes round, he hastens to apologise to the new countess.   He claims to have been drugged, and Halsie accepts this.   Lergu promises to keep less vicious pets in future, and to cook a great feast for his new mistress.   He turns out to be a very fine cook with a special talent for fish dishes, and all tuck into the special repast he prepares.

Celis is still not happy, since the weasels nearly did for her.   She mutters dark promises, but scarfs down the food heartily all the same.

[Prince Herb]

True to his word, Lergu gets some less dangerous pets.   Halsie admires the kittens "Oh!   They're so cute!"

Celis plays detective.   She asks the staff whether there is anyone who would benefit from Halsie's death, but no one can think of anything.   She asks Lergu if he has any enemies, and he tells her that he is being pursued by lesser chefs who want to usurp his position and steal his culinary secrets.   "They are cunning.   They follow Lergu."   Celis spends some time following Lergu, but sees no sign of lurking evil chefs.

Thurbald goes to North Shore to socialise with the townspeople, and tells them of events in the wider world.

All in all, though, the party does little, and the weeks pass.   Then there comes disturbing news - the party of workmen sent to take down the bridges on the high pass for winter report that the fortress at Point Black is deserted.   Halsie, Celis and Blackthorn ride out to investigate.

The fortress is empty.   The garrison is missing, with no sign of what has happened to it.   The party return to North Shore and persuade the Mayor to send a message to the Warden by carrier pigeon.   Celis is pissed by the mayor's placidity - doesn't he realise how important this is?

Nell tells Halsie that she has discovered that there really is an evil chef in the valley, an outlaw going by the nom-de-guerre of Pot-de-fer.   Halsie decides to look into it, and heads out to the forest where he's reputed to live.

The forest is vast, and the paths few, and Halsie soon wishes she had hired a guide of some sort.   There appear to be a lot of ancient tuuins in the forest, but the party passes them by without even a cursory inspection.

Eventually, the party stumbles upon the cabin of one Gloin, a dwarf fur trapper.   This is on the lower slopes of the the reputedly haunted Devil's Mountain, and Celis and Halsie are already suffering from the mysterious atmosphere of terror.   Celis is very edgy.   Thurbald and Blackthorn are seemingly immune to the effect.

Gloin welcomes his visitors, and offers them tea.   He says that the bandits never bother him.   Indeed, they saty away from the mountain for some reason, just like everyone else...

[Prince Herb]

Gloin reveals that he came to the mountain originally to prospect for minerals, but got sidetracked into the furs business.   He still has a mithril nugget that he found in a mountain tarn, though ; he uses it as a paperweight!

Asked about the ruins, Gloin tells the party that they are Elvish buildings from long ago.   He can't say whether the elves mined mithril here or not, since he has found no sign of mine workings on the mountain.

Halsie casts Remove Fear on herself and Celis, and both immediately feel much better.   Celis starts to dream of mining mithril and becoming extremely rich.

They take tea with Gloin and then head back down the mountain to look for a guide to the forested valley bottom.   Asking around, Halsie decides upon a local druidess as the best option, and the party head to the ancient stone circle, the Faerie Ring, where she is presently to be found.

The stones are old and much weathered.   The twenty-six stones surround a clear spring.   Topaz, the druidess, says that they were put there by the fairies many thousands of years ago,  and that some say that you can pass through to Faerieland via the stone circle.   Blackthorn mumbles something about this being  not entirely inaccurate.

Topaz agrees to guide the party in exchange for offerings in the form of food and liquor.   Celis goes to town to get some, whilst Halsie and the others wait.   The druidess takes advantage of this time to flirt with Halsie, who blushes mightily.

With a guide, the party make good headway.   The druidess knows likely places to camp out during the winter, and looks for signs of habitation.   A plume of smoke rising from a bluff above the river is a good sign and the party head that way, only to run into a guard with an arquebus.   They decide to approach the camp at night, when there is less chance of being shot.

Circling round the camp, they cross the river lower down, and wait for nightfall.