We traveled on the rest of day 14 of Patchwall and camped that evening in a clearing in the forest, without incident overnight. About midday the next day, Rufio started barking madly, seeming to have smelled something he didn’t like.
Maeve suggested we scout around, when from the rear we discovered an ogre that lumbered up and attacked Eris! It immediately hit her, knocking her out. Maeve moved behind one of the wagons and threw her axe, but missed. Contristo threw a dagger, hitting the ogre. Lucius attempted to command the ogre to “flee!” but apparently the ogre didn’t understand common and it just looked at him stupidly. Francis ran up, playing a lullaby on his flute, and the dumb ogre immediately fell asleep, then fell to Contristo’s dagger.
Maeve bandaged Eris, and Lucius healed her. She was slow to respond and we determined she would have to ride in a cart in order to recover completely. Lucius’ dog, Rufio, jumped up into the cart and curled up next to her. We then traveled the rest of the day and enjoyed the fall beauty of the Gnarly Forest.
The next day about midmorning we crossed a path going north, which had signs of recent use. Eris asked the merchants about the path, which they said was a shortcut to Hommlet, but less safe. We decided we did not want a less-safe path. The day ended uneventfully.
On day 17 of Patchwall, we continued our journey and Eris finally decided to go back to riding her horse instead of lounging in the wagon. We came to a crossroads and the remnants of some sort of attack, seemingly by bandits. There were three bodies and two burned carts, plus a brigand body wearing the same symbol of the bandits we fought. It seemed they had probably been there for a day or two. The merchants agreed it would be best to bury the corpses, so we looked through our packs and wagons for some shovels but couldn’t find one. Maeve suggested we pile the bodies up on the side of the road and overturn the carts to keep wild animals from getting to them, so we did that and moved on.
On day 18 we awoke and proceeded southwest along the path again, moving out from the forest and traveling more up and down hills. Around midday, we found another fork in the trail. The caravan took the right fork, heading southwest.
The next day about midmorning we crossed a path going north, which had signs of recent use. Eris asked the merchants about the path, which they said was a shortcut to Hommlet, but less safe. We decided we did not want a less-safe path. The day ended uneventfully.
On day 17 of Patchwall, we continued our journey and Eris finally decided to go back to riding her horse instead of lounging in the wagon. We came to a crossroads and the remnants of some sort of attack, seemingly by bandits. There were three bodies and two burned carts, plus a brigand body wearing the same symbol of the bandits we fought. It seemed they had probably been there for a day or two. The merchants agreed it would be best to bury the corpses, so we looked through our packs and wagons for some shovels but couldn’t find one. Maeve suggested we pile the bodies up on the side of the road and overturn the carts to keep wild animals from getting to them, so we did that and moved on.
On day 18 we awoke and proceeded southwest along the path again, moving out from the forest and traveling more up and down hills. Around midday, we found another fork in the trail. The caravan took the right fork, heading southwest.
That evening as we were preparing camp, Rufio began barking again, revealing creatures beginning to surround us: goblins! Two were carrying slings and the rest had spears. Maeve threw a dart into the eye of one goblin, killing it instantly. Contristo threw a dagger that missed, Francis tried to play his flute but tripped, and one of the goblins hit Tylendel with stones and a sling, hurting him badly. Eris cast flaming blue fire across the four goblins to the north of us and they began screaming in pain, killing two and damaging the others. Rufio then ran at a goblin to the south and bit down, killing it and shaking it angrily.
Lucius moved up and healed Tylendel. Tylendel and I both attempted to hit another goblin that managed to duck and weave away from both of our attacks, but also couldn’t hit us, either. One of the goblins to the north soon perished in the illusionary flames as Maeve and Contristo stepped up and threw their weapons again. Contristo hit, killing the last goblin to the north, and Tylendel hit the last goblin to kill it.
The dog Rufio began eating one of the goblins so Eris cast spice on the deceased creature, causing Rufio to gorge himself on it, vomit, then eat the vomit. Tylendel cast a cleaning cantrip on the dog, which then leapt onto Lucius and began licking him.
The next morning we continued our journey and the path turned to the southwest. We became aware of figures coming from the woods on both sides. It was a brigand party including 3 gnolls and a bugbear, along with a leader named Garoff. Eris was hit almost immediately, failing to get a spell off, and went down. Lucius healed her but she was too weak to fight any more. She did manage to slink around, attempting to help by bandaging and even tried to distract the bugbear. Contristo and Maeve both engaged in combat with the bugbear, which took out Maeve as Contristo covered it in knives and daggers.
The dog Rufio began eating one of the goblins so Eris cast spice on the deceased creature, causing Rufio to gorge himself on it, vomit, then eat the vomit. Tylendel cast a cleaning cantrip on the dog, which then leapt onto Lucius and began licking him.
The next morning we continued our journey and the path turned to the southwest. We became aware of figures coming from the woods on both sides. It was a brigand party including 3 gnolls and a bugbear, along with a leader named Garoff. Eris was hit almost immediately, failing to get a spell off, and went down. Lucius healed her but she was too weak to fight any more. She did manage to slink around, attempting to help by bandaging and even tried to distract the bugbear. Contristo and Maeve both engaged in combat with the bugbear, which took out Maeve as Contristo covered it in knives and daggers.
Francis began playing his flute, first a bless song, then switching to a sleep song, putting most of the enemies to sleep. I slit Garoff’s throat. Just then, a figure in green swung down from the trees and ran into the battle, attacking a gnoll that had knocked out Tylendel. He called out, “Aaron Foxear has arrived!” and flourished his green cape.
One of the brigands, seeing the course of battle turning, soiled himself and ran away into the woods. Eris slunk around, slitting the throats of all the sleeping enemies, and I bandaged both Tylendel and the poor dog (who had also been hit by the bugbear) and ran up to finally slay the nasty bugbear.
As everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Francis startled us all with the announcement that he wanted a Bugbear skull and a gnoll skull as trophies. Eris simply nodded, cut off their heads, and quickly used a cantrip to wipe the skulls clean, then handed them over to the bard, grinning oddly.
