Fear for a Friend: Part I
Cillean’s ‘cousin’ is missing, and he recruits a group of adventurers from Fallowdown to accompany him in discovering her fate, and rescue her if they can.
In Fallowdown, Tavis gets into hot water with his boss, Spellblade Valexia Barrows, the Raven’s Spike, as he presumes authority to waltz into the royal stables and requisition a steed without prior arrangements. He is accompanied back to the keep by a court wizard, Archemedes and Sir Thonn, one of the Baron’s knights. Tavis is kept overnight, and eventually given leave to pursue his fancy and given a roan gelding, called Siandreth. He renames the steed, but it does not respond to the new name well. When back at the Groggy Stop Inn, Tavis’ weasel familiar gets into no end of trouble, sneaking off and eating one of the gooseberry pies being saved for the patron’s desert.
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Finally on the road, Cillean is accompanied by Tavis, a young archer lad named Jacob (who is actually Hyacinth in disguise), the blacksmith’s daughter Nicola and her friend Fletch. Together they travel north on the King’s Way toward Shepherd’s rest. Along the route, they enter Dickon Hold for an early night’s stay. Cillean is immediately harassed by the gate guard of the town, Constable Barney, for his unusual looks, and his Caelic heritage. A short round of fisticuffs proves dangerous to Cillean when the guard draws a small blade, and Cillean summons Gaia’s mists and flees, rather than kill (or be killed). The rest of the party meets the Caelt the next morning, back on the road. They forward on, past the landmark windmill near the village of Timott and the small thorpe surrounding the fortified manor house at Blathe.
A nice night’s rest at the unusually built, underground Red Hold Inn at Red Hold leave the group refreshed and ready to resume their mission. The more time that passes, the more worried Cillean becomes regarding the safety of his kinswoman. They pass through hilly territory, with no sign of the rumored brutes that dwell in the hills, and Nicola realizes she has inadvertently left her eating knife back at Red Hold. There is no time to go back, so she decides to simply replace it at the next opportunity.
A huge statue of a fallen warrior is barely taken note of as they hurry on through Gerrett’s Rest, and they barely make their objective at Dawn Keep by nightfall. The small area within the keep is crowded, yet they find comfort and lodging for the night. Additionally, Cillean is able to sell some of his wares, the bone and antler carvings are readily purchased by a gypsy woman under a banner announcing “Zelda’s Fyne Goods”.
The next morning finds our adventurers leaving the Barony of Fallowdown, entering the Principality of the Golden Reaches, and the small, burnt out village known as Shepherd’s Rest, where they meet up with a most unusual monk, Brother Calumbias, and his sizable companion Titan. Together they track the stale trail of a band of brutes who attacked a caravan of Inquisitors, and presumably captured Cillean’s cousin.
Following bloody footprints, the group discovers an ancient Barutheran ruin, in the form of a pit, leading to strange caverns below. Ancient writing left as a warning is scrawled upon a stone plaque on the wall, and the upper cavern is infested with stirges. These terrible insects quickly fall to the might of the party, but Nicola becomes injured in the fight. Also, near another hole leading deeper into this strange complex of caves is the body of Tavro, an apprentice wizard who had just passed his Gauntlet. Tavro, the party had heard, is from Buckhorn, and his master Shan Rivers had offered a reward for information regarding his disappearance.
This ends the first Log of our intrepid adventurers.
Cillean’s Journal Entry
Hyacinth’s Journal Entry
Fletcher’s Journal Entry
Tavis’ Journal Entry