Setting Out for Adventure

November 10, 498

Five strangers meet in a tavern in the village of Brechin called the Brave Gargoyle, and learn of many things going on in what, on the surface, appears to be a sleepy mining supply town.

Total Strangers

• Raealwen Galanodel: An elven druid, setting out to see the world and meet new people
• Flandek of the Glendor Tribe: A half-orc cleric of Thoth, raised by gypsies, and now walking the world
• Cortes Arna: A human rogue from the Burnt Lands, seeking adventure and fortune, and seeing the world
• Milo Tealeaf: A halfling druid who has decided to take the wandering path, and after tiring of learning, is looking for adventure
• Cassandra: A human fighter who is looking for fighter's work

Local Rumors

• Baron Hrod Thorvor's son, Hefid, is coming through town in two days
• Orcs have been raiding nearby towns and villages, in unprecedented numbers
• A new gold mine is opening to the East, where gold can be found literally just lying around
• There's a price on the head of a local noble's son

Orc Ambush!

Those who seek trouble often find it.

November 11, 498

The party sets out the next morning to investigate rumors of orc raids. While traveling East, in broad daylight, they are ambushed by a small band of orcs (who hate the daylight). After dispatching their ambushers, they find some troubling news -- signs of non-orcish organization and a trail leading Northwest. Each orc bore a red sash with three distinct black marks, very atypical of orc heraldry.

Following the orc trail Northeast, the party finds a small clearing that had clearly been the day-camp of the orcs the day before; signs of campfires, scores of footprints, and scattered rubbish indicate that the camp had been much larger than three orcs. After a thorough search, a mass grave is found, with a partly buried lone survivor named Brassene.

Brassene told the party of the raid on his village, Bottin, where men, women, and children were all taken as slaves. The orcs, who were obviously from different tribes (and under some unknown central command), apparently had enough of each other and fights broke out. The orc raiding party disbanded, but not before massacring the entire bounty of slaves (save one).

Flandek spoke some words for the departed, and they were buried according to their village customs.

Rangers on the Path

November 12, 498

After a night's rest, the party headed towards Brassene's village on the original orc path. Along the way, they meet up with a party of rangers (three humans and two elves) who say that they are tracking the orcs. They were made aware of the raid on Bottin, and took off to search for survivors and hope to help those captured to escape.

The rangers agreed to escort Brassene back to a neighboring village, and see what help they could offer.

Help Fom the Dryads

Heading to the south, Milo finds himself suddenly compelled to seek out a nearby (and charming) dryad named Amilinàrânesti. Realizing that their party member had been charmed, they hunted the dryad down; however, she was able to convince them that her intent wasn't to cause them harm.

Amilinàrânesti had heard of the party's rescue of the orc slave, and their attempts to destroy other foul creatures, and decided to help by telling them what she had learned over the past few weeks. A leader of men was assembling an orc army. This army was gathering slaves to mine nearby iron, burning down forests to fuel their forges to forge the iron into weapons; all of which was to help clench this man's rule.

She had no knowlege of this man's identity, but she knew that the bulk of his forces was a few days journey to the South. Given that fact, the party decided that the adventure and fortune they were after was to the South.