Elient 4, 1361 DR

The gate shimmers for a moment as Corym, Krackor, Torvek, Kali, Kitheras, and Kora step through. The opalescent sheen lasts for a few breaths after the last of them arrives, before the gate closes once again. Though they can't see it, they know that Tarron is removing the gate's keystone back in Myth Drannor, returning the gate to an inoperable state.

On this side of the gate, the room is just as dusty as Torvek's wizard eye had shown. It's been well stocked, and the oil on the blades  in the various weapon stacks is still shiny, but there are no other signs of anyone being here recently.

You poke your heads into the other rooms as you head out, and find more of the same. Various crates and barrels and dust, no recent signs of habitation. The illusion at the entrance is quality work, but doesn't impede you from walking through, or re-entering.

Outside, the forest is a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. After the utter silence of Myth Drannor, it's nice to stand amongst trees and hear the chirp of insects and the faint stirrings of birds as the night just begins to give way to dawn. And after the gloomy depths and towering heights of Cormanthor's depths, this open forest with dense undergrowth is downright inviting.

Still no particular idea where you are at the moment, but at least Kitheras is able to quickly fix cardinal directions. There's a new day dawning, and a whole new land awaits you.

((ooc: I'm going to pause the opening spiel here, so that folks who want to interact with each other or the hideout can do so. The next post, with Kali's contact, will happen once everything is wrapped up.))

Right about the time the group had gotten tired of poking around in the hideout and was about ready to pick a direction and start walking, Kali heard a sharp ringing in one ear. A moment later came a voice, one she hadn't heard in moons, but had no trouble recognizing.

"Kali? Oh, thank the gods. Bari says he's found you." It's Sperren Rowanmantle. One of Cormyr's seemingly-endless younger noble sons, Sperren is a light in any room he enters, a merry voice in any chorus, and dumber than a box of rocks. Without the help of his long-suffering valet, you would be worried of him being able to get dressed. You're pretty sure that "Bari" is Barend Thormon, the Rowanmantle house wizard. Which at least means whatever comes next is will most likely be accurate, and might even have house sanction.

"Tosta's been attacked." Tosta Rowanmantle, Sperren's older sister, who has all of his love, not to mention all of the sense he was born without. "She was in Triel, the whole town was sacked! You're just south of there. Can you go and help her?"

That's it. The message ends. So very much like Sperren. Likely there would be a reward. Certainly you're not going to get any useful details from him. But hey, at least now you've got a vague idea where you are. And if you speak, they'll probably hear you in Cormyr.

Kali stopped suddenly in her tracks as she heard the piercing sound resonate in her ear.



The moment that she heard Sperren's voice echo in her head she rolled her eyes but smiled. She couldn't help but envision the poor harried Bari helping this lovely doofus get in touch with her.



Kali's brows furrowed at the news. She remembered Tosta being quite shrewd and the fact that she was attacked worried her greatly. Not only that, it sounds like an entire town was destroyed. She thought carefully before she spoke.

"Any more details than a town being destroyed? I'll see what I can do, but I need more details. Get back to me if you can. Sending my love to you and Bari."

Kali

There's no response from Cormyr. But you weren't particularly expecting one; the magic is difficult, and Sperren probably wanted to pester his sister. Though he's never spent a day outside his highly-cultivated life, you know he's never going to let her hear the end of this.

After a long, not totally unexpected silence, Kali cleared her throat to address the group.

"Well, that was unexpected. I found us a job.

I just got a message from one of my contacts. He's a loveable dope, but his sister, Tosta, has proven herself to be a sharp and capable contact. Apparently, the entire town of Triel has been pillaged, and Tosta is missing. We are, apparently, just south of there.

I have no doubt that the reward is going to be considerable based on my past dealings with him and more importantly, his..."? Kali paused to think of the correct word. "Babysitters? No. Guardians. Let's call them that. To be honest, I feel compelled to go check this out, and I am hoping that I won't go alone. It's up to you though."

"I thought this forest looked familiar!" Kora exclaimed. "This is the Reaching Woods. If we're near to Triel, this must be part of its northern branch. Home would be to our east, Scornubel to the south, and Triel..."

She spins away from the rising sun and points. "West. North, too, but mostly west. Depending on how north we are, we'll either hit the Trade Way, or the Dusk Road. Either one will lead us to Triel."

Corym speaks to Krackor out of the side of his mouth, "The Dusk Road hasn't been the most pacific path for us, has it?"

The noble elf seems pensive and tries to recall his familiarity with the surrounding area.

"The Hellriders of Elturel generally patrol as far out as Triel.  Strange that a force with such strength could move past without alerting them. Kali is right--we should investigate, and avenge Triel if we can."

"Torvek, if you have a wizard eye prepared you can get a bird's eye view and help us more precisely place ourselves. Maybe even forewarn us of danger."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:00, Wed 19 July 2023.

Musing on the happenings of the past and figuring out how far from home they were, Krackor nodded to Corym. "But we would be going the other direction from the river we had trouble with. I don't know much more but we need to figure out what we have with us now and how to get there quickly. I don't suppose you have any of those Mount spells ready do you?"

Knowing they were going to be somewhere, he hoped that the Wizard come trickster would have prepared that spell more than once.

"Captain, it is your call and I am prepared for the journey, what say you Mistress Lightbearer?"  Always protective of his apprentice warrior, he checked she was OK after realising where she was. "Will you be OK Kali?"

Kali raised a brow at Krackor in slight confusion.

"Of course I will be ok. I'm relieved to hear that I won't be going alone. Thankfully, this next adventure seems to be more in my wheelhouse than what we have been enduring. Who knows, I might even find myself to be useful to the group for once."

Kali had never felt weaker and worthless than their time in Myth Drannor. Kali was genuinely excited to show the group that she could, in fact, do something useful.

Sorry, that was for Kora.  Had compiled the post on mobile, I was VERY tired.
Lets go with it anyway and repeat the words for Kora too.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Thu 20 July 2023.

((Torvek's been tied up with moving houses. I'm not genuinely concerned that we're walking into a trap or anything.  He can tell us later whether he Wizard Eyed or not, but let's head to town and meet our new players.))

Elient 4-5

Group

With a destination in mind and a general bearing, the group shoulders packs and heads west. The hideout turns out to be only a few miles inside the forest's western edge, and soon you're breaking through the treeline and into the open plains. Far off to your right is a smudge along the horizon, which Corym after a moment places as the Trielta hills. He and Krackor have been through this land before, when the group made its way west and then up the coast the previous year.

Kitheras has also spent a number of years moving through this portion of the Western Heartlands, as a spy and scout for Evereska. He plots the fastest course to Triel, which in the end is basically just heading straight west. It's about sixty miles total, which the group can make in two days if they push themselves. And so, setting their packs as comfortably as possible, the group does exactly that.

It helps that the weather is perfect for a march. You're well into autumn, the grass is tall and ripe, and a cool breeze sweeps in from the ocean miles to the west. Clouds dot the sky, their white making the blue pop brightly. The crisp air puts a spring in your step that barely degrades as you march mile after mile after mile.

Late in the second day, the Dusk Road comes into view, arcing down from the north. Soon afterward you can see the Trade Way ahead of you, a long track well worn to dust after a summer of caravan traffic. Where the two meet is the village of Triel.

As you come closer, you can see the effects of the attack. The village has not, as Sperren implied, been completely destroyed. There is a gap in the rock-and-lumber wall, and through it you can see the burned skeleton of a building or two. But it was outside the village, where caravans are directed to camp, where the brunt of the chaos is visible. Though it's been several days since the attack, you can see the wreckage of more than one wagon, as well as the corpses of horses and what looks like an ogre.

Despite the attack, there are still several caravans camped out in the fields around Triel. Trade may stop for the snow, but not for much else. Though you do see more guards, and a more active perimeter, than usual.

You identify yourselves at the gate. The Triel guard initially doesn't want to admit you so close to sundown, but eventually she allows you inside, and gives you directions to where Tosta Rowanmantle can be found.

The sickroom turns out to be a converted warehouse; mattress and blankets perched on top of crates and barrels of meticulously labeled foodstuffs. Both of her legs are in casts, great massive white things that must make her life miserable. Despite this, she seems both awake and aware.

Two other people are crammed into the room with her, perched on boxes or barrels as they chat quietly. One, a human, is wearing green leaf armor and is deeply tanned from a lifetime outdoors. The other is a green elf, also well equipped for the wilds.

Tosta's eyes brighten when she sees Kali. "Ah, reinforcements. My brother was not drunk. More than usual."

((ooc: Just this once, in the interest of getting the group and the new players together, I am ignoring the fact that Krackor moves half as quickly as the rest of the group. So you make it in two days of forced marching, instead of four.))

Elion

Triel was just supposed to be a rest stop. A way station on the way from the Misty Forest to the Reaching Woods, the same way the caravans used it as they journeyed the Trade Way. The trip south had been uneventful so far, marked only with the worry about what might have gone so badly in Sunset Vale to make the Great Druids call for help.

Your first taste of southern hospitality was arriving at Triel just in time for the big attack. A pack of ogres, strengthened by a quartet of hill giants, came loping out of the east just at sunset and fell upon Triel with no warning. The giants knocked down parts of the wall and lobbed flaming balls of pitch inside, starting a multitude of fires, while the ogres raged through the caravans camped outside, killing guards and grabbing both loot and captives.

The mayor, who was apparently a priest of Tempus as of last tenday, tried to lead a counter-attack. One of the giants knocked him down and sat on him, and then flung him over a shoulder and wandered off.

Almost as soon as the fight started, it was over. The giants and ogres retreated into the gathering night with their prizes, while everyone who survived worked to gather scattered herds and put out the fires before they burned Triel entirely.

Come morning, a call went up for volunteers to track the monsters back to their lair and try to rescue the hostages. You were one of three who stepped forward. The other two were a druid of Silvanus who had come to investigate the hill giants and a human ranger from Cormyr, whose caravan was mostly untouched and was heading south without delay.

The trail led about a day and a half into the Trielta hills, bypassing the areas settled by small groups of gnomes and halflings before entering a steep ravine. You had just caught sight of a doorway heading into one of the hills when you were set upon by ogres. The battle was brief; the ogres were not expecting people of your skill and quickly retreated, but before they did Tosta Rowanmantle was knocked from the trail and fell a great distance. She survived, but broke both her legs. You and the druid, Yngvar, managed to stablize her, but it was clear she would need treatment, and you were uncertain of your ability to take whatever was under the ground by yourselves.

As you were getting Tosta back to Triel, she was contact magically by her brother, an apparently regular occurrence. (Nobles, what can you say?) Her brother panicked, and promised he would find help. And now, just as you've gotten Tosta safe and comfortable in Triel, apparently here they are.

You hope they're more competent than Tosta's brother, at least judging from the sarcastic stories she told you through gritted teeth as you carried her to safety.

Yngvar

It has not been a great year. It hasn't been a great decade, for that matter, but the last year has been the worst you've seen. And while the leaves are beginning to change color and the heat of the summer is gone, it doesn't seem to be slowing down any. You haven't heard from Great Druid of the Reaching Woods Baerithryn Redmane for several months, but a message did come from Silvanus's Archdruid of the Trielta Hills, Norlimurr Grethgar, that hill giants from the Hill of Lost Souls have been migrating south into the Trielta Hills.

Many of the Trielta Hills druids were killed over the winter in the general melee that was the Reaching Woods, so you've volunteered to come north and investigate. The Western Heartlands does not need a war between hill giants and the gnomes and halflings of the Trielta Hills on top of everything else that's happening.

Your plan was to go to Triel and inquire whether anyone had heard news from the nearby hills. You were not expecting to get there just after a band of ogres, strengthened by a quartet of hill giants, raided the town. You spent the night helping put out fires, then volunteered in the morning to find where the monsters had come from. With you came a ranger from Cormyr who had been guiding one of the caravans, and an elven ranger from the Misty Forest, who was the first person to respond to Great Druid of the Chionthar Osme's call for help.

Just like the rest of the year, the scouting trip didn't go quite to plan. Oh, you found where the ogres and giants were lairing, but Tosta broke both her legs in a skirmish and had to be carried back to Triel. Fortunately, it would seem her brother was actually able to make good on his promise to find you some help.

Yngvar nods greetings to the newcomers when Tosta greets them. She seemed to know them, so he was accepting, and they were apparently willing to help. "My name is Yngvar, Druid of the Reaching Wood. This kind of thing is getting more and more frequent over the last several years. The evil is overtaking the wood and monsters and evil creatures are spreading fast. They must be held and pushed back!"