Heading out of town with our tails tucked between our legs but the prize in hand. We rescued Alahad from those Iuz bastards and now need to drop him off with General Hok in Hallorn. Kesh caught up to us with a couple of friends in tow. They seem like a couple of solid guys but time will tell. Smiley seems to have a way of talking to folks and egging us to do just a little better but I noticed he still didn’t mind getting his hands dirty with a sword if needed. Dancar seems to like to fight with magic and keep his distance from combatants. His magic sure will come in handy losing Granny as we did… I of course am wondering if this could be Granny in another one of her disguises. Bah! the fighting styles are completely different and you might be able to change the way you look but the way you fight is not so easily hidden.
I decided it was a good time to add a little levity to our group by picking up a branch and using it as a walking stick, my Longhammer tucked away. It was still mumbling; I swear the damn thing never shuts up.
We managed to evade a group of bandits on the road as we hid in the tall grass and they rode past us. Eventually, three days out we came to Wheatfield which to no surprise is garrisoned by a troop of Hobgoblins. We did get stopped in town by one of those flea-bitten Hobgoblins but Khesh was able to smooth talk our way out. Alahad paid the road tax that was being imposed by the Hobgoblins and we headed to an Inn “The Gut Punch Inn”. I had some wine to throw any watchers off… who would ever suspect a Dwarf of drinking wine?! I tell you it ain’t right drinking that piss water and there is only so much a Dwarf can do. Luckily, we were able to get a night’s rest and head on down the road the following morning.
Outside the town of Archer, I noticed a signal light flashing from the Tangles and we moved off to investigate. We find a group fighting under the Moskul’s Legion banner and provide the white feather token given to us to prove we are allies. Turns out this group has been harassing the Orcs in Archer so much to the point they built a wall around it. There are too many Orcs to do a full-on raid but we are invited to join in on the harassment and we do just that. I picked up a new walking stick in the Tangles and shake my staff at the Orc’s but the real fighting was done via magic and bows. Apparently, we impressed the guy running this group (K) and he gave us a new blue feather token to show that we had fought with them, which might come in handy in the future. Khesh mentioned to Kae that we were off to meet General Hok and inquired if they had considered working towards a common goal. This being Khesh it came out in mostly grunts and snarls but all the same, the point came across… I think. Nah, of course Khesh is well-spoken, just a little dwarvish humor there. Kae implied that he might be open to talking with the General but couldn’t speak for the entire Legion. Then he told us of a safe place in Needlebough and to ask for Elmer there.
The road has been overtaken by the Tangles but we push on following the overgrown road eventually coming to a river. Trees sprouted right out of the water and one of the others noted that the tree’s appeared to be sprouted from the support pillars of a bridge. No Bridge now, just rapids and well-spaced trees. Everyone was discussing how best to cross when Gleem turned into this Giant Ape everyone climbed on the Ape-Train and he proceeded to swing across the trees. Of course, being in the Tangles, things can’t be so easy, what looked like a green Dragon popped its head out of the water. Damn thing Spewed acid all over us and told us that we were not welcome in the Tangles. I’m not up to fighting a dragon when we can run and that’s exactly what we did, right out of the Tangles.
Needlebough wasn’t so welcoming. We came to the outskirts of the town and could tell something wasn’t right. Investigating a nearby farmhouse we found the occupants barricaded and dead inside the main house. A little investigation by Smiley told us that this was not by some normal bandits. The corpses had red eyes and appeared to be drained of blood but no puncture wounds were visible. We beheaded the bodies and moved them outside… err maybe in the other order. We made the choice to hide in the house during the night and observe instead of walking dead into a trap. Wouldn’t you know it on my watch the Hammer finally started to quiet down when I heard a baby crying from town? I woke the others and we soon heard a second baby join in.
Knowing this had to be some kind of trap we moved into town and followed the sound of the crying babies into the Temple which was, of course, filled with women’s corpses. The babies just appeared to be survivors but upon investigating the corpses Khesh noticed one of their pupils dilate when torch light came near. We proceeded to clear the town, lopping off heads of corpses, and found no survivors other than the babies. We missed one wight-ish creature in the fields and had to deal with it quickly. The next morning commandeered a cart and draft horse, a goat for milk for the babies, and move on towards Hallorn.
Traveling for about another day we came to another town to find it under attack by these Wight-type things. We quickly leave the wagon and babies behind and Gleem jumps on the goat and rides it into battle! I throw my stick down and charge forward summoning my hammer and all of my pent-up wrath and proceed to smash heads. Gleem turns into a large ape again and I’ll be damned if one of the Wights doesn’t do the same thing. Now I’m not sure what happened but Gleem shrank right back down to normal size.
We fought a lot of Wights and I found my way to a sneaky mage in a building and proceeded to smash him to bits. He turned into an ape in that building, all hunched over ready to smash me, then shrank right down to his mage self. Khesh joined me and we made quick work of the building. Outside it was a tougher fight with Dancar going down, but the group was able to stabilize him. I think Smiley also was a little worse for wear but all in all, we dished out more than we received. We were able to get rid of the babies but Gleem wanted to keep the goat…