Session 2x Finding Wildwood Manor

March 21st 2009 (note that there are probably some transcripts missing between this and the previous one, maybe Tara has them?)

Here is some of the missing material: after leaving the faery market, we traveled further up the road. We eventually had more fun with lizard men, in a hut encampment just off the road. There was a nasty battle, but we eventually won. We got a lot of magical reagents from their camp, and find some treasure buried in their huts; we got the banner of healing and our FERGUS statuette! And a cloak of resistance +2.

Then we went back to the road and found a magical gate of some sort. A big open arch with runes carved on it. When we used our stone with the alcon symbol carved on it, we animated an illusion that told us how to use the gate. We selected the "anvil" destination, which we hope is Alcon. It took us out of the feywild; on the other side we ran into Hobgoblins in a forest.

We were able to deal with the hobs via stealth and sudden attack; it was bloody, but we triumphed.

The characters loot the defeated hobgoblin camp, finding 1000 gp 2 healing potions, and a +2 Resounding Mace. Gloriana gets the mace, Dex gets one heal potion, and Alecsa takes the other.

Alecsa scouts ahead and spots a bugbear going off into the woods. The party moves off to the west towards the mountains on the path, deciding not to try to track the bugbear, which headed off into the trackless forest. After a couple of hours the party arrives at a manor house at the base of a cliff. The path continues across a stream and disappears into a cave at the base of the cliff.

After checking for points where the stream can be crossed easily and finding none the party approaches the house cautiously and Alecsa scouts, eventually climbing inside through a hole in the roof of one wing. She finds a footprint and a large pawprint inside, but no sign of inhabitants. The party then enters the house through the main doors and investigates. After a few minutes they run into Jack and his cat hiding in a downstairs room.

Jack explains that the dwarves say the pass is haunted but he rarely talks to them and they stay on the "dwarf road". It comes out that his parents were captured by hobgoblins and he spends most of his time killing goblins, hobgoblins, and even a couple of bugbears. He also reveals the dwarves have a big mine at the north end of the road. Jack's father is a vassal of the Duke of Har. He says the hobgoblins keep slaves up in the pass.

There is some discussion about Jack, the local Otillis Lodge (a ways to the east of here), and whether the Duke of Har should be dealing with Jack and his estate. It boils down to Jack would rather stay independent and kill hobgoblins. Jack also claims to know Dudley Whitehelm, who came around looking for "a cave or something", but he hasn't seen Dudley again.

SessionTwentythree