Fort Thorn
Fireday, Rova 19th
We proceed through the Bloodsworn Vale, and finally arrive at Fort Thorn. It is a modest outpost surrounded by a palisade wall. There are a few towers, all with guards watching our approach. A small guard shack is situated just outside the gates. We decide to check with the guard posted there about the writ we found in Skelt. He is a pleasant fellow who seems very grateful that someone is responding to the summons. I guess there is more trouble here than the writ has led us to believe.
As we enter the outpost it is easy to see the relaxed attitude of the folks here. While they all seem ready to work and the soldiers vigilant, they lack the air of formality most people in the city seem to have. We should probably keep an eye on Widget here. This relaxed atmosphere may lead him to “forget himself” and try his hand at pick pocketing again.
We are lead to the only two story building in town. This seems to be the command center or town hall. We wait in a receiving room only for a minute before a large man with red hair enters. He introduces himself as Tolgreth. He is the commanding officer here at Fort Thorn. He quickly sizes up our party and seems quite pleased that we have come to help. He explains that they have been having quite a bit of trouble here in the vale. He only has about 100 soldiers and they are hard pressed to protect the work crews and guard the outpost. The most prevalent problem seems to be with the bugbears in the area. They raid incoming supply shipments and seem interested in stealing any goods and food they can. There have also been a few reports of attacks by lizard men, and most recently there was an owl bear sighting. This seems to be his biggest concern due to its proximity to the road site and the owl bear’s known ferocity. In return for helping with the safe completion of this road he offers us a reward and titles.
We are hesitant to accept however. As nice as the money or titles sounds, none of us are as interested in that as we are in getting to Blackcove and finding out what has happened to Renet’s family. Well, Widget seems more interested in titles and money… Either way, when we voice our concern to Tolgreth he tells us a distressing fact. The ports of Kintargo and Pezzack have been blockaded. This would make traveling to Blackcove by sea nearly impossible. This was our best plan in getting there with any haste because the overland route is a long and perilous one. He does offer us his assistance in reaching our destination if we can help him here in the vale. This helps make our choice easier, and we agree to help, though we are effectively stuck here until the road is finished now.
Tolgreth shows us to the simple barracks and offers us free room and board while we stay and help. He also takes us on the dime tour of the post. We stable our horses in the building nearest to the barracks. There is a small chapel near the back of the outpost. Wilderness Wares is the closest thing they have to a general store. There is also an inn at the fort called the Boar’s Bones run by a halfling named Orrend and his son Orris. Tolgreth leaves us at the barracks to get acclimated. We all decide it might not be a bad idea to check out the inn for supper this first night and try to gather any gossip we can before searching for the owl bears in the morning.
The Boar’s Bones is a quaint establishment. Its most outstanding feature is of course the dire boar skeleton standing in the great room. When we ask about it Orrend tells us it was from one of the first years that the outpost was settled. Apparently those years were rather lean and any delays in supply wagons could be devastating. One such time between convoys the fort was forced to slaughter the boar to survive. We order the meal for the night and all keep our ears open for anything useful. Widget gets into a game of towers with a soldier named Able. They seem to enjoy playing but Able doesn’t offer any new information except what Tolgreth has already told us about the bugbears. Kamahl hears a few puzzling rumors though. It seems that the river here runs foul a few days each month. No one has put a lot of effort into figuring out the cause because it is so regular that they can plan for it and stock up before it happens. The only possible leads we have are the rumors that the Order of the Nail may be contracted to finish the road should Tolgreth not do so in a timely manner. It seems plausible that the Order might try to sabotage his efforts but this seems like a rather weak attempt. Just one more thing I’m sure we will be asked to look into while here. Well with out much else going on we all decide to turn in for the night and get some rest. If these owl bears are what we think, tomorrow may be a rough morning.
Starday, Rova 20th
We all get up early and eat a light breakfast. One of the soldiers who was with the work crew that spotted the owl bears leads us out to where they were working the day they saw it. I easily pick up their tracks and Midna their scent. These animals are clearly apex predators as they make very little attempt to hide their passing. Along the path we find the remains of a large boar that was torn to shreds. These are obviously some very large and powerful animals to do that to a wild boar.
Farther up ahead we spot a cavern in the foothills of the vale. I approach carefully and listen at the entrance. I hear some gentle cooing coming from inside the cave. We might be in luck! I think they are sleeping. I try to motion for everyone to be quiet and back off the mouth of the cave. Kahlan, Roshin, Kamahl, and Midna all join me about 25 feet back from the cave. I begin to tell them that I think they are sleeping and quickly realize that Widget isn’t with us. Damn it! Why can’t he ever follow directions? And what the heck is he doing! From what I can tell he is trying to imitate the cooing of the owl bears. Before any of us has much time to react we all hear a loud snort/growl from inside. One of the owl bears has woken up and come to the entrance to see what the noise was. Needless to say, it wasn’t happy to find a small Gnome poking around its den and it immediately attacks. We all rush to help Widget who seems smaller than normal squaring off against the 8 foot creature.
As the group rushes up another large owl bear storms from the cave. I immediately start firing arrows. Midna arrives first with Roshin and Kahlan close behind. Roshin seems pretty good at keeping their claws out of him but can’t stop getting pecked. Kahlan is as agile as ever dodging blows and delivering her own wherever an opening occurs. As is usually the case, nothing can stand against Roshin’s hammer very long and the fight is over almost as soon as it began.
We take a careful peek inside the cave. It would seem there is yet another adult owl bear here. Slightly smaller but no less angry, it attacks. This time it is Widget and Midna who do most of the work. With the owl bears taken care of we take stock of the dirty cave. Kamahl finds a potion of bear’s grace and a masterwork long sword among the tattered remains of a soldier’s uniform. Widget wades into a small stagnant pool and grabs what looks to be a rag. Curiously, he tries to sneak back outside the cave. Great, now what trouble is he trying to get into. Maybe he can find some more large animals to pick a fight with! Kahlan and I follow him and find him examining the rag. With a casting of detect magic I quickly recognize it as a Cloak of Elvenkind. Oh goodie, just what Widget needed! Our only hope is that it is too big for him to wear. Back in the cave Kamahl and Roshin find 3 owl bear cubs. Widget gets excited and tells us that they are very valuable if you can find someone who might want to train them. From what he knows they usually go for about 3000gp if properly trained.
We have some trouble restraining them but manage to get them back to Fort Thorn. Tolgreth is delighted to hear that we have already killed the owl bears and starts assigning crews for work tomorrow to start back on the road. Meanwhile we speak with one of the merchants about to depart about selling our new owl bear cubs. His name is Bellar and he offers to take them, promising at least 2000gp each when he returns. Not a bad first days work! We defeated the owl bears and made 6000gp. If thing continue this well we may be out of here sooner than we thought.
We proceed through the Bloodsworn Vale, and finally arrive at Fort Thorn. It is a modest outpost surrounded by a palisade wall. There are a few towers, all with guards watching our approach. A small guard shack is situated just outside the gates. We decide to check with the guard posted there about the writ we found in Skelt. He is a pleasant fellow who seems very grateful that someone is responding to the summons. I guess there is more trouble here than the writ has led us to believe.
As we enter the outpost it is easy to see the relaxed attitude of the folks here. While they all seem ready to work and the soldiers vigilant, they lack the air of formality most people in the city seem to have. We should probably keep an eye on Widget here. This relaxed atmosphere may lead him to “forget himself” and try his hand at pick pocketing again.
We are lead to the only two story building in town. This seems to be the command center or town hall. We wait in a receiving room only for a minute before a large man with red hair enters. He introduces himself as Tolgreth. He is the commanding officer here at Fort Thorn. He quickly sizes up our party and seems quite pleased that we have come to help. He explains that they have been having quite a bit of trouble here in the vale. He only has about 100 soldiers and they are hard pressed to protect the work crews and guard the outpost. The most prevalent problem seems to be with the bugbears in the area. They raid incoming supply shipments and seem interested in stealing any goods and food they can. There have also been a few reports of attacks by lizard men, and most recently there was an owl bear sighting. This seems to be his biggest concern due to its proximity to the road site and the owl bear’s known ferocity. In return for helping with the safe completion of this road he offers us a reward and titles.
We are hesitant to accept however. As nice as the money or titles sounds, none of us are as interested in that as we are in getting to Blackcove and finding out what has happened to Renet’s family. Well, Widget seems more interested in titles and money… Either way, when we voice our concern to Tolgreth he tells us a distressing fact. The ports of Kintargo and Pezzack have been blockaded. This would make traveling to Blackcove by sea nearly impossible. This was our best plan in getting there with any haste because the overland route is a long and perilous one. He does offer us his assistance in reaching our destination if we can help him here in the vale. This helps make our choice easier, and we agree to help, though we are effectively stuck here until the road is finished now.
Tolgreth shows us to the simple barracks and offers us free room and board while we stay and help. He also takes us on the dime tour of the post. We stable our horses in the building nearest to the barracks. There is a small chapel near the back of the outpost. Wilderness Wares is the closest thing they have to a general store. There is also an inn at the fort called the Boar’s Bones run by a halfling named Orrend and his son Orris. Tolgreth leaves us at the barracks to get acclimated. We all decide it might not be a bad idea to check out the inn for supper this first night and try to gather any gossip we can before searching for the owl bears in the morning.
The Boar’s Bones is a quaint establishment. Its most outstanding feature is of course the dire boar skeleton standing in the great room. When we ask about it Orrend tells us it was from one of the first years that the outpost was settled. Apparently those years were rather lean and any delays in supply wagons could be devastating. One such time between convoys the fort was forced to slaughter the boar to survive. We order the meal for the night and all keep our ears open for anything useful. Widget gets into a game of towers with a soldier named Able. They seem to enjoy playing but Able doesn’t offer any new information except what Tolgreth has already told us about the bugbears. Kamahl hears a few puzzling rumors though. It seems that the river here runs foul a few days each month. No one has put a lot of effort into figuring out the cause because it is so regular that they can plan for it and stock up before it happens. The only possible leads we have are the rumors that the Order of the Nail may be contracted to finish the road should Tolgreth not do so in a timely manner. It seems plausible that the Order might try to sabotage his efforts but this seems like a rather weak attempt. Just one more thing I’m sure we will be asked to look into while here. Well with out much else going on we all decide to turn in for the night and get some rest. If these owl bears are what we think, tomorrow may be a rough morning.
Starday, Rova 20th
We all get up early and eat a light breakfast. One of the soldiers who was with the work crew that spotted the owl bears leads us out to where they were working the day they saw it. I easily pick up their tracks and Midna their scent. These animals are clearly apex predators as they make very little attempt to hide their passing. Along the path we find the remains of a large boar that was torn to shreds. These are obviously some very large and powerful animals to do that to a wild boar.
Farther up ahead we spot a cavern in the foothills of the vale. I approach carefully and listen at the entrance. I hear some gentle cooing coming from inside the cave. We might be in luck! I think they are sleeping. I try to motion for everyone to be quiet and back off the mouth of the cave. Kahlan, Roshin, Kamahl, and Midna all join me about 25 feet back from the cave. I begin to tell them that I think they are sleeping and quickly realize that Widget isn’t with us. Damn it! Why can’t he ever follow directions? And what the heck is he doing! From what I can tell he is trying to imitate the cooing of the owl bears. Before any of us has much time to react we all hear a loud snort/growl from inside. One of the owl bears has woken up and come to the entrance to see what the noise was. Needless to say, it wasn’t happy to find a small Gnome poking around its den and it immediately attacks. We all rush to help Widget who seems smaller than normal squaring off against the 8 foot creature.
As the group rushes up another large owl bear storms from the cave. I immediately start firing arrows. Midna arrives first with Roshin and Kahlan close behind. Roshin seems pretty good at keeping their claws out of him but can’t stop getting pecked. Kahlan is as agile as ever dodging blows and delivering her own wherever an opening occurs. As is usually the case, nothing can stand against Roshin’s hammer very long and the fight is over almost as soon as it began.
We take a careful peek inside the cave. It would seem there is yet another adult owl bear here. Slightly smaller but no less angry, it attacks. This time it is Widget and Midna who do most of the work. With the owl bears taken care of we take stock of the dirty cave. Kamahl finds a potion of bear’s grace and a masterwork long sword among the tattered remains of a soldier’s uniform. Widget wades into a small stagnant pool and grabs what looks to be a rag. Curiously, he tries to sneak back outside the cave. Great, now what trouble is he trying to get into. Maybe he can find some more large animals to pick a fight with! Kahlan and I follow him and find him examining the rag. With a casting of detect magic I quickly recognize it as a Cloak of Elvenkind. Oh goodie, just what Widget needed! Our only hope is that it is too big for him to wear. Back in the cave Kamahl and Roshin find 3 owl bear cubs. Widget gets excited and tells us that they are very valuable if you can find someone who might want to train them. From what he knows they usually go for about 3000gp if properly trained.
We have some trouble restraining them but manage to get them back to Fort Thorn. Tolgreth is delighted to hear that we have already killed the owl bears and starts assigning crews for work tomorrow to start back on the road. Meanwhile we speak with one of the merchants about to depart about selling our new owl bear cubs. His name is Bellar and he offers to take them, promising at least 2000gp each when he returns. Not a bad first days work! We defeated the owl bears and made 6000gp. If thing continue this well we may be out of here sooner than we thought.
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Posted on May 11, 2011 19:59
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