Into the Mountains

November 17, 498

Some Second Thoughts

Given the events of the past week, including the death of his animal companion and fellow party members, Milo Tealeaf decides that maybe he's not ready for this sort of adventure. He tells the party that he will be parting ways to gather his thoughts in solitude for awhile. He certainly hopes to meet up with them in the future, and he wishes them well. He heads back into the forest that he calls home.

While the party is ready to set out immediatly, Oskar decides a more tactful approach is needed. Why send 40 men-at-arms to capture Raelith and the Rods of Kadriel? What makes these Rods so important? And how did so many of the mercenaries survive Raelith's counterattack? Oskar decides that perhaps it's best if he stay at the keep to conduct some research into the matter. He gives Cortes a Tracking Coin, a magic item that allows him to easily track the party's movements so that he can meet up with them later when he has learned all that he can about the Rods.

Raelwin, Cortes, and Cassandra set out to search for Raelith. Heading South in the direction that the mercenaries left in seemed the obvious choice.

Griffons

Following Khashna's trail lead the party through the hunting grounds of a small flock of griffons who didn't take kindly to tresspassers.

Griffons don't like tresspassors. However, the party was smart enough (thanks in part to the Druid Raealwin) that the best thing to do was to not make eye contact, not make any kind of aggressive advances, and to communicate that they are merely passing through.

The youngest griffon seemed to want a taste of the mule the party was pulling along (griffon are known for their love of horse meat), but the older griffons kept his appetite at bay. It eventually became obvious that these griffons had indeed feated on horse meat recently (horse hooves and the occasional horse femur were found lying around). This was a good sign that perhaps Raelith's abducters had indeed come through here.

Slowly but surely, the party pushed on, and left the Griffons in peace.

Thunderstorms Drive the Party Into a Cave of Surprises

This time of year, it's not uncommon for storms to build from the heat of the Burnt Lands on the Eastern side of these mountains. Thunderstorms in the mountains is a dangerous thing, and since one was building fast, the party decided to take refuge in the nearest cave.

The cave seemed empty at first, and cheaking for bears and other cave dwellers turned up nothing. However, they did find one unexpected inhabitant.

• Valen: a human bard, seeking to add new songs to his collection.

In addition to another potention party member, they found a series of old cave paintings in a long and winding chamber. The panels of paintings seemed to tell a narrative about the native but elisive Yeha-noha tribe that inhabits this land. The words that accompanied the pictures was in a very ancient language that bore a slight resemblence to Draconic. Luckily, Valen spoke and read Yeha-noha, and was able to translate for the party.

1. Darkness is eating the land. An obvious, if highly stylized depicton of the Shoggoth's destructive reign. It devours the land in front of it, and leaves behind destroyed and barren wastland emersed in total darkness.
2. Yeha-noha appear. Most depictions of their origins is bland and tantamount to near-beastiality ("Yennis are just workbeasts like cattle and oxen"). This panel, however, depicts the emergence of the Yeha-noha from a huge glowing sphere exuding golden rays emerging from deep within the mountains. They come in shining armor, armed with great seige weapons, apparently here to fight the Shoggoth.
3. The Yeha-noha fight the Shoggoth with powerful magic. This panel depcts a Yeha-noha warrior-mage named "Kadriel" weilding two golden rods shooting large, bright beams at the Shoggoth. Flecks of golden light seem to shoot away from the Shoggoth like golden shrapnel.
4. (THIS PANEL IS CRUMBLED)
5. Yeha-noha means "The Left-Behind Ones". The glowing sphere, seen here almost like the setting sun (but to the East) is settling back into the mountain. The Yeha-noha are running towards it, but it seems that they're not able to make it.
6. The Yeha-noha become savage. The final panel seems to be done by a different artist, as the depictions and writing is much more crude. This panel depicts the Yeha-noha turning into savages, and beginning to dress and adopt the customs of the local people (the Menalisians).

Ambush by Axmen and Orcs

Hours pass, and so does the storm. The party fills their water skins in the clear spring in the main cavern, and head back on the trail of Raeliith and his captors.

That evening, the party is ambushed by several men and orcs weilding battleaxes. The party is able to dispatch them without too much difficlty. However, it is becoming aparant that in these mountains, there is all manner of danger.

Searching the assailants doesn't turn up much (other than some coin). However, the men and orcs did carry with them sashes similar to what they've been seeing these past weeks. The only difference is that this sash is red with two black slashes.

November 18, 498

Ambush by Homunculi

That night, the party sets up camp. However, they are ambushed yet again, this time by homunculi. It's a minor interruption, as the party quickly makes light work of these intruders. However, several party memebers are aware that these creatures are close minions of dark wizards. The encounter itself may be nothing, but the significance is grave.

The Mountain Pass

November 19, 498

That day passed with little to no activity. The mountains in this backwoods region of Bâleth is a sparse place indeed.

That evening, the party while still tracking Raelith's kidnappers, they were fortunate enough to meet a band of dwarves marching in single file from the opposite direction. They were well met, and after proper introductions were made, they began to exchange news of the road.

The dwarves had recently escorted a caravan of merchants and travellers through the mountains and were heading home. On their way back from the Burnt Lands, they witnessed a host of men and orcs. One of the men was a moderately known mercenary named Khashna Ghorul was with them, as well as a wizard the dwarves referred to as "Khorim's Bane" and "The Thief of Skaldir" (references to Oskar's family). They were taking a well-known, but slow route back to the Burnt Lands.

The dwarves told them that if the party was to catch up to these men and orcs, there was a pass known to few (including all dwarves) that could save as much as a day's travel. Thanking the dwarves for this knowledge with a few coins, the party took off in search of this unfrequented path.

Catching Up to the Mercenary Band

The pass proved barely passible (passible enough for a dwarf, but barely so for anyone larger), but more importantly it proved time-saving. The party beat Ghorul's party by nearly a day.

Given ample time to set an ambush, the party made preparations. Given the narrow mountain pass was only a few hundred feet from the main road, the idea was to lure Ghorul and his men and orcs into a choke point where they could fight only a few at a time. As an added bonus, the party soaked shredded bedrolls with oil as a firewall to allow a quick escape into the pass if necesary.

Nearly a day of waiting went by, and Ghorul's host finally arrived. Cortes jumps out and makes a few wild gestures. Ghorul sends several of his men after him, and into a trap.

The party makes very short work of these men and orcs. So much so that the party is a little disappointed at having wasted their bedrolls and remaining oil without ever using it.

However short the battle, it was enough time for Ghorul and his remaining men to run off with Raelith. They were long gone in a very short time.

Camping that night without bedrolls was a little cold.