Ragnorra Session 10

Start: 4 pm, Wednesday, 10, 1396

Taking their leave from Suzail, the party decided to wait on the outskirts, near a farm, on the periphery of Suzail.

This is where Vix instructed Simon to wait.

Cassius entertained the locals with a dance, and after a considerable wait, Simon arrived and rejoined the party.

The three of them took off on the road headed north towards Waymoot.

On the way, they met up with some merchants from Turmish and their bodyguards.

The merchants were uniformly pudgy, and had uniform square hats, beards, and jewelry made of gold.

They introduced themselves as Rimardo Galathoy, Umbero Gotswitch, Anton Ramando. They stated they were from Alaghôn, the capitol of Turmish.

They shared their food with the party.

The three of them made a decision to travel with these merchants for two days, depending on their pacing, as they were headed the same way as the party.

The merchants revealed they heard a fourth-hand rumor that the dark wind pass in the Stormhorns and bypassing the swamp was a shortcut to the west, untouched by tax collectors. They seemed to take their sweet time on the road, though.

Their bodyguards appeared to be armed to the teeth, and easily a match for any bandit that might come their way. The merchants' personal ability was more to question, however.

The party traveled with the merchants for a while. Along the way, they spotted a small diverging trail, marked by a nearly destroyed and derelict sign marked "TRAVELERS INN". Cassius spotted it from the road. They made a note of this and went on their way.

During the night, Tonks contacted Ronja. He revealed there was a mysterious wasting sickness afflicting the nearby towns. He went on to describe the rumor of the healing shrine being ran by a man identifying himself as "Vane's Apprentice". Little is known of him, although the locals seem to think of him as some miracle worker. Additionally, there are local rumors of some villagers being "kidnapped by vampires". The veracity of all of these rumors is unclear.

They continued at a brutally slow pace with the merchants for another day.

Cassius made a deal with Rimardo Galathoy to sell his Rashemi Firewine for a modestly discounted waterdeep price, but a very good price for the area. The merchant found this agreeable, and they made the sale.

The party separated from the merchants after a final marvelous meal. The merchants bade them luck.

The three of them continued on to Waymoot.

A peasant family waved them over on the road. The patriarch of the family told them this: "Tell ol' Trollkiller to get the town sorted out or there's not gonna be nobody left to lord over."

After a brief chat with the man, the party decided to circumvent Waymoot.

They did so by an awkward bypass offroad by one of the farms.

They spotted queues in Waymoot, an increased guard presence of normal guards and Purple Dragons alike, and the temples and sick wards packed to the brim.

They didn't stop.

West on the road towards Minroe, they set up camp.

Vix sent Simon out to feed. When he returned in the middle of the night, he was badly wounded. Vix healed him up, and questioned him. He described being chased in the woods by men who ran like dogs, who were clearly disease. He described slaying and consuming one of them.

The party followed his trail successfully north into the woods. They came across a horrifying scene of emaciated peasants crawling on all fours, chittering at each other, as if they were speaking a language. They commenced combat and handily dispatched them. They found little loot on their bodies, but noticed the similarity these men had with the Malshaper cultists previously stalking them. The effects appeared markedly different, as if the mechanism was different. These were more creature than man, for sure.

Cassius noticed during the combat, that Vix had an odd effect on the creatures. It was as if she made these monstrosities uncomfortable. How curious. He stowed the thought away to address later.

Simon fed 3 am, Saturday, 13th, 1396
End: 7 am, Saturday, 13th, 1396