March 24-March 28, T.A. 1355
After surviving the perils of the Archmage’s plumbing system, the heroes recover and then Nils, Vyrus, and Fin seek an audience with the Queen and King Consort. After being received into the royal throneroom, they are rewarded for saving the golden-haired Princess Anastasia, receiving 500 gp apiece for their heroism. Additionally, Vyrus had previously been instrumental in retrieving the Amulet of Shinkara, which was used to heal Princess Thalia. For the latter, Vyrus received a title to a defunct barony in the Southern Reach which needs a band of warriors to resettle and restore the land. Vyrus also mentions the rumor he had heard of a brewing insurrection in the Western Reach. This was greeted with some skepticism by Hadrianus, a noble present in the court and advisor to the queen who himself was a Latin Roman from the Western Reach region. Nonetheless, Hadrianus promised to investigate the claim.
Though they had not an opportunity to speak at length with the two princesses, both were there in court. The Princess Anastasia made her gratitude known as the heroes left the queen’s court, but Princess Thalia looked pensive and displeased upon seeing the companions to whom she owed her restored health.
Shortly thereafter, Gilda approaches the company and gives them a new quest: travel to the Western Reach and save or find word of the court handmaiden Dolena. Maid Dolena was dispatched by Gilda along with Ser Landrum to go undercover in black traveling cloaks to journey to the Western Reach to investigate the situation in the Western Reach.
Maid Dolena’s Route to the Western Reach (Click to Enlarge)
Spending the evening preparing, Nils has black cloaks made by the tailor Ulan to match that of Dolena nd Ser Landrum and buys some yellow yarn and critter snacks from Nekarios, a street vendor (overpaying for both it turns out; Nils is not great with money!).
The party then retraces the route of Maid Dolena, traveling north via a keel-boat, then leaving the river and buying horses with money Gilda had given them for that purpose. Stopping by an inn named ‘Totally Not Run by Dopplegangers’, the heroes got word that two black-cloaked individuals matching the description of Maid Dolena and Ser Landrum had passed through headed north but had not returned on the way south.
Then, in a montage series of scenes, the heroes were attacked by ruffians (who were dispatched and sent back to the inn ‘Totally Not Run by Dopplegangers’, crossed a canyon (using rope and innovative uses of the immovable rod to cross it), and finally got lost in a forest. Eventually, the heroes encounter a strange village with wagons containing slaver gear.
Thinking that Maid Dolena and Ser Landrum had perhaps been waylaid by the slavers, the heroes investigate.
First up was an empty shack that had a nice magical bag which (when rumpled, dirty clothes were placed inside) would spit out freshly laundered and pressed garments doubled over neatly — a ‘bag of folding’.
The Location of the Were-Swine Village (Click to Enlarge)
Several other dwellings were investigated. The village appeared to be the abode of a were-swine people. A shape-shifting druid in the form of an owl further confirmed the party’s theory: the place was a foul place of slavers, and the creatures could only be harmed by silvered weapons. Sadly, the party had no such weapons.
But wait! Nils had critter snacks. A were-swine sow in pig form was shortly thereafter bribed into helping the heroes attack two huts where barbarian allies were holed up. The barbarians were defeated, and in the process, silvered weapons were obtained. One barbarian wielded an odd war hammer called ‘The Goat Hammer’, and now Nils, after wielding it, had his legs turned into the oddly shaped bowed legs of a goat-like satyr.
Now the heroes brace themselves to brave the remaining perils of the were-swine village in search of Maid Dolena and Ser Landrum.
Map of the Were-Swine Village (Click to Enlarge)
LOOT
- All characters — 500 gp reward for saving Princess Anastasia
- Vyrus Only — Title to Land in the Southern Reach
- Nils — The Goathammer (stats TBD)
- Vyrus — 20 silver arrows
- Fin — Silver Sword
- Silver dagger refashioned into a spear
- Nils — Silvered sword
