Tales of the Ecthel Coast, Turn 25

 

The party spends some time in Lighthaven to rest and recover from their defeat at the hands of the Duskling war party. After a few days, Orirne, still limping from his injury, pulls first himself and then the rest of the party together.  They discuss exploring some of the unusual sightings spotted on the trip to town, but at Jhonny’s urging decide to follow up on some new rumors of an object of arcane power somewhere in the Eastern Forest.

The trip east is swift and uneventful. While foraging and scouting some distance from the road, Yldris finds a midden containing valuable ambercat, which he takes along despite the acrid smell.

 After a few days, the last spent filtering through the northern reaches of the Eastern Forest, the party reaches a low rise overlooking a modest homestead long abandoned by its original owners, thin smoke rising to indicate that it nevertheless remained occupied. Nearby, a dim yellow glow signaled the source of the arcane power; even if it hadn’t, the copse of dead trees surrounding dead trees surrounding it was as unnerving a telltale.

Wasting no time, the group advances silently, leaving only Alcuin behind to guard the burro and cart. Their alert action catches the new denizens of the homestead by surprise, but soon enough the party spots a half dozen wretched outlaws advancing carefully through the brush in a loose skirmish line. 

Planting her feet, Diane fires at a target in the open. Her shot flies true, but rings off the outlaw’s helmet, only stunning him. Ocirne casts a spell on Bashir, who moves up with Cordelia and Jhonny, while Yldris dashes pell-mell for the dimly-glowing crystal in the center of the clearing, his Fey Boots granting him preternatural speed as he nearly flies over the underbrush and tangled roots that would impede a normal man.

Now aware of the impending danger and trying to get a fix on the party’s position, the outlaws race to envelop the party, dagger-weilding ruffians moving up behind the cover of the same number of archers, whose desultory fire with small arrows fall well short of their targets. Now close enough to see their foes, the party prepares to move up in pairs to confront the enemy – until Yldris, still dashing to the clearing, reaches out to the fey crystal entangled in the stump of a tree.

 

Well that was easy

A bright, silent flash bursts from the crystal, dazzling everyone nearby and distracting those farther away. Yldris immediately begins to run back to Ocirne, panting, “I got it I got it I got it” while arrows rained around his feet. Ocirne calls to the rest of the group to retreat, but as Cordelia rises to leave her position in the underbrush, her eyes widen in alarm. A second group of outlaws, nearly as large as the first, emerges from the woods to her right! Spotting her they begin charging towards her, savage weapons brandished.

 

But it was too little, too late. Cordelia finds that she is faster than her pursuers, and with the rest long gone, she is able to evade them neatly. 

Cordelia returns to the laager a few minutes later to find the rest of the party already gathering, and Alcuin loading a pile of cured pelts onto the burro’s back. “Where did you get those?” Cordelia pants, but Alcuin just grins. Finally, his task complete, he dusts his hands and chortles, “Making Marks while you all try to make your mark! They were just sitting around for the taking!”

He isn’t the only one with a silly grin plastered on his face. Yldris, nearly babbling, reports to the group the vision that the eldritch crystal imparted on him. “we need to go to Starridge,” he says, over and over, gesturing at the far-off mountain peaks, clearly delirious with the arcane power of the crystal. The party manages to calm him as they slink away from the homestead and its dangerous current residents, into the safety of the dark wood. 

The adversary: Bestiarum Miniatures thugs and bandits