Pressed Into Service

November 13, 498

After traveling South for a few hours (after leaving the Dryad), our party finds themselves at the same road that they left behind.

Confusion at the Crossroads

The trail that the party followed seemed to get confused at the road. The trail lead both East and West along the road for a few hundred feet, as well as continuing to the South. Footprints at the crossing seemed harried and shuffled, as if a meeting of sorts took place. It was undetermined what exactly had transpired.

Since the original expedition was to travel to the East along the road to seek the source of the rumors of recent orc raids, the party decided to change directions.

Fortune Strikes Irium Village

Late in the evening, the party finds themselves at Irium Village, a small mining outpost owned by Lord Irium. Heading into town, the local villagers seem to be extremely excited about a new, nearby gold vein.

Cortes heads in first, to scout the area. Roughly fifty villagers are gathered in the center of town around a series of makeshift furnaces where the local smiths are smelting gold. After giving the all-clear to the rest of the party, our PCs learn that within the realm of Lord Irium lies a rich vein of gold that has strangely gone undiscovered until last week.

After a quick survey of the villagers, the party notices some oddities. The entire village consists of young, able-bodied men, dressed alike in brown tunics. There is the occasional servant girl, but the village is otherwise lacking in diversity.

Constable Lars Sends Them Into Service

Moments after their arrival, the party strikes up a casual conversation with Lars, the local constable. He tells them about the gold vein being within Lord Irium's lands, and this will help to significantly grow his and the village's wealth. Sensing a new prospect on the horizon, Cassandra asks about paid services. Lars lets her know that the lord in the manor on the hill above the village is indeed looking for new muscle.

Meanwhile, Cortes begins to eavesdrop on the local villagers. He overhears someone mention that this new gold vein will go a long way to please Lord Ugak's coffers. Realizing that something is up, Cortes alerts the others.

The party decides to check out the lord's manor on the hill. The simplest way is to simply walk up to the manor gates and ask about service. Burga, leader of the guards at the manor, informed the party that their military service was not only desired, it was hereby mandatory. Burga orderd the party to lay down arms, and prepar for training in their new service.

Press Gangs Have a Different Idea of "Voluntary Service"

When the party refused to surrender, Burga dispatched his men to subdue them. The party, recognizing they were outnumbered and outmatched, cast Obscuring Mist to cover their escape, and ran down the hillside. Milo cast Summon Nature's Ally I to call up a dire rat to distract Burga, which also managed to disease him.

When the party reached the woods, which provided enough cover to possibly lose the press gang entirely, they discovered the remains of several nobles that been executed some time ago (at least a week, judging from the looks of their remains). It was hypothesized that these nobles were the rightful inhabitants of the manor on the hill, and that news of a new gold vein was sufficent cause to lead a coup of the village.

Hearing the search party closing fast, the party decided that the next best course of action was to lie in wait and ambush the press gang. Cortes managed to trick a few into chasing him, who lead them back to the rest of the party, where the foes were quickly dispatched. However, they were able to call out the party's location before they were completely dealt with.

Seconds later, Burga and a large gang of his thugs appeared. Given that the party was now in the woods, instead of on a packed-earth hilltop, the Druids were able to be much more effective. Raealwen cast Entangle, keeping most of the gang immobilized. Not only did this even the odds, but it became like shooting fish in a barrell. The party made short work of the press gange, and finally killed Burga.

A Quick Memorial Service and an Escape

With village alarm bells still sounding, the party still decided to properly lay to rest the bodies of the nobles. Flandek read them funerary rites, and the party ran off into deeper into the woods.