Stephen asked me if i might write a log too, so here it is from Ezekiel's perspective. Looking forward to see how Stephen works our two accounts into the official campaign book. :P -------------------------------------- The following is an account of the expedition to locate the lost hunter Torigg, begining 10th of Plenth; 4th year of the Reign of Octavin This expedition was conducted by associates under the auspices of the Company of the Blue Sash The party of the expedition consisted of five members, they were as follows; Syvil Dernson, a half-elven man, martial combatant and the principle instigator of the party Ezekiel Boone, myself, a Glarnic huntsman and bowman of Maiden Moor Kaar Dovakhiin, a dragon-born holy man in knightly armor Jon Heron, an aristocratic man also skilled in combat Mindartis, an elf who practices eldritch arts, also a company recruiter The party, excepting Mindartis of course, had not long disembarked the transport ship and gotten used to solid land under one's boots before the aforementioned elf and some other men attempted to draw us into the companies of Haven. The promise of room, board and work persuaded us to accept his invitation though, after a guard helpfully explained the law of free association, and we journeyed to the chapterhouse in the Tipsy Mermaid. While enjoying our evening meal Syvil and Kaar observed the notice board and presented the case for attempting to find Torigg. There was to my knowledge no dissent to this, it seemed a noble task and at least a good start at getting to know this strange land. Over-hearing our discussion Bruno of the Sashes gave some background information of the Forest of Shadows, it's cursed nature - that being a magical darkness that even the light of the Sun struggles to penetrate- and a little of the missing person. Finally he offered to have the wife Meave brought for us to question. This agreed we variously retired for the night. We reassmbled together after our morning rituals and such for the arrival of Meave. We questioned the good woman for several minutes and learned the following from her answers; Torigg was attracted to the forest by the lure of gold, the pelts of it's critters fetching a high price. Torigg's wife pleaded with him to find another source of income, for she believed the forest's dangers too great. Torigg however continued, working with his son they skirted the edges only, or so she heard. However, despite the precaution and experience, the son went missing on a trip some time ago and is now presumed dead. The son and father had from their trips also brought back a number of curious amber coloured glassy stones. Given an example in the form of a gem-cut stone the two of elvish extraction identified it to us The son atleast had worn a medallion or perhaps charm made from one of these strange stones. Torigg resumed his trips to the forests despite the loss of his son, until he too dissapeared a few days ago. While Meave of course wishes for the return or news of her husband, she is not the one putting up the reward. Torigg has an influential friend somewhere. A note on the strange gem: This material was said to be used by the Sithi extensively, being in many respects the superior of iron or even steel it made excellent weaponry and tools. It's origin is said to be from deep, deep below the earth, by as much as a mile. It was extracted by a race who's name I did not hear refered to, but were described as 'cousins' of the Sithi. Like the Sithi these peoples have also not been seen nor heard of since the retreat after the Empire's victory in its war here. At this point we believed we had learned all we could from the goodwoman and thinking the strange obsidian may have held some answer we asked if we may borrow the gem. This Meave agreed to this and then she departed. Incidentally, having listened to her speak of her poverty after the loss of her family I offered her a silver piece for her time, when eventually she accepted it she declared this did not constitute a debt to me. I was a little shocked for having never intended to indebt her. I feel this speaks volumes on the discordant nature of Haven. One would think, even if not for it simply being the right thing, that faced with the dangers of Maladon the people would band together and care for one another in order to better survive! Instead this city preys on itself. Murder, theft and exploitation seeming to run unchecked. Alas. Returning to the matter of our expedition we gathered our equipment after the interview and sought the ferryman to take us to the mainland. As we crossed it seemed tale of our quest had spread and there was betting going on as to whether our party would survive. Kaar joined in, betting on our success. Again I must despair at the nature of Haven that people could be so callous with the lives of others, the ferryman of course having bet we would die. I would also suggest the companies put a stop to such gambling, the lucre of gold may one day motivate some enterprising gambler to 'fix' the result. Upon reaching the shore there were several possible routes we could have taken to reach the forest. West along the coast and around the hills, north along a well worn hunters trail that cut through the hills or the main route east towards the Hunter's Inn we had seen marked on maps, after which we could hook around the mountains and reach the southern edge of the forest. While we debated a man was spied coming from the latter route towards the landing and it was decided we question him before continuing. Much like our enquiries with Meave we learned some helpful information from this interview, I shall list the facts given us below; Torigg is relatively well known, the man had heard of him before and he was a topic that came up relatively often among the other hunters. This was because Torigg had developped an ill reputation over time, particulary after the dissapearence of his son. The trail that cuts through the hills leads to a hunter's bothy, a shelter the men can use during their trips. This I have marked on our maps. Few hunters at present reside at the hunters inn for many are persuing the bounty on the goblins of the bone wood. With these points at our disposal we elected to follow the trail into the hills to locate the bothy and make further enquiries. As we did so the half-elf Syvil began taking samples of flora, of particular note I observed the man draining pine resin and taking bark shavings from a number of the trees we passed. This was for a technique of treating wounds that I admit I have not heard of before. This will be of great interest I believe and you should ask him to give you detailed instructions so that it may be learnt and repeated. For not only is this technique an effective improvisation it seems the trees on the mainland have a restorative property, as we learnt later in our endeavour. To return from that aside however we arrived at the bothy following a few hours walking. We met within another huntsman and began our third interview that day. At first the man seemed pleased to meet company but at the mention of Torigg became grimfaced. At this point, though I did not realise it at the time, Mindartis took it upon himself to invade the poor mans mind and alter his disposition with a dwemeor, forcing him to open up to us. After our questions, when the elf turned his attention away from the man, immediately a sneering hatred crossed his face. He lept to his feet angry and shouting over the violation of his mind. I feared there would be violence but thankfully the man managed to restrain himself and left after giving a few choice words. We did learn much from him, but it concerns me that no attempt was made to persuade the man to reveal these thin rather than force him too. Anyway, these were the statements we learnt from the hunter; Hunters operating out of and around Haven do so in pairs, Torigg's partner was his son but after his son was lost Torigg took no other partner. Torigg's son, despite being long missing and presumed dead has often been spotted by other hunters, lurking alone just beyond the edge of the forest. Significant numbers of hunters have gone missing lately, some of them have turned up dead and mutilated. A large party of heavily armed and armored men passed through on the day before our arrival also seeking Torigg. There was word that he was late with a delivery and this was the reason they were seeking him out. Having it seemed learned all we could here we carried on, the trail left behind by the armored party soon stood out to me and we made sure to follow it. Coming down from the hills we entered woodlands that I was told were once also part of the forest of shadows, but had been burnt down during the war. Afterwards the trees grew back and it seemed the fires had cleansed the curse of darkness that had been lain upon them. If you will forgive another digression perhaps Haven should consider the idea of doing this again, while I deplore the idea of despoiling nature with such an act of vandalism, if the tales of the interior are even half true that forest is already plenty despoiled and such a destruction would be a blessing. Returning to the trail we followed, as we got closer to the forest the trees became denser and denser to the point the trail was a road-like clearing amidst the woods and as we travelled down it we had a most heinous encounter. With little warning to all but Mindartis, for the gem token he carried had been alit for several minutes, twin enormous two-headed wolf-like beasts appeared and immediately charged at the party. Seeing their warped, unnatural nature and their clear intent to kill each of us I had no issue with destroying these creatures, yet despite all five of us attacking these things it very nearly could have been our souls moving on that day. One of the beasts got past the line Kaar and Jon attempted to form and went after Mindartis who had struck at it with his eldritch magics. Myself and Syvil came to his aid and flanked it, hacking away with axe, mace and blade. Even still the beast tore into the elf so badly that he went down and I feared he was dead. The same befell Kaar. Thankfully by this point our greater numbers won out for the "wolves" were greviously wounded also and were at last dispatched. We attended our comrades, Syvil's pine resin poultice not only sealing their wounds well but also showing us the restorative properties I mentioned before, for both men were within minutes able to regain consciousness and get back to their feet, though of course still very weakened. Events at this point get rather more bizarre and I will attempt to do my best to recall them accurately, but being unaccostomed to such oddities in my past experience it is not so easy a task. First, the token. During the fight Mindartis had dropped it to the ground and after awakening attempted to blast it to pieces with his arts, the blast struck the gem and then rebounded towards him, very nearly incinerating him! Alarmed I ran to the stone and examined it, requesting an explanation. The elf claimed it was a beacon of some sort and had attracted the beasts, describing how it had glown earlier. This explanation did not satisfy me though, remembering that Torigg and his son had carried these with them and survived in these woods and that forest for many, many trips. I wondered if it was a not warning charm rather than some magical bait and it was agreed we not risk destroying the item before learning more. Besides, it belonged to Meave not us. I soon came to wonder whether I had made the right descision however, for as I looked at the stone it became cloudy and strange. A vaguely evlish seeming 'figure' appeared as if I was now looking through warped glass, it turned and seemd to regard me, giving a terrifying smile and speaking out words in a strange language. Later doing my best to repeat these Syvil seemed to vaguely recognise it but was unable to translate, the only information we seemed confident in was that the word 'Valien' was a name, but the name is a fairly common one among the Valkari. While this occured the corpses of the wolves began to warp and buzz, within a few moments vast swarms of bees burst from their wounds and mouths and scattered away into the skies. Immediately following this unexpected spectacle Kaar used his ability to sense things beyond the normal ken, detecting the aura of the fey from the beasts and the bees that had escaped them. The corposes continued to decompose and deflate before our eyes, as they did so a ring of unnatural flowers sprung up around each one. I poked one of the evil blooms with my staff and it exploded into pollen. Luckily I didn't seem to come into contact with it. Eventually the plants too dissipated and the corpses turned to ashes which then melted away to leave no trace but a foul greasy stain on the grasses. With two of our number in no condition to take part in another fight should we encounter more of those creatures the party turned about and headed back towards the hunter's bothy with the intention of resting there overnight. As we began to head back though I spied the footprints of more armored men at the edge of the treeline heading into the woods. While we debated taking a quick detour to see if they lead to anything a movement deeper in the woods caught my eye. A figure falling from the branches of a large oak to hit the ground. My first thought was that someone needed help and I dashed into the woods to lend aid, though as I got closer it became apparant that this person was beyond any help, for they were long dead. Their mutilated corpse had been hung up in the tree and the rope mst have given out as we passed by. They were not the only person there either, eight other dead men swung from the branches. I set to cutting the unfortunates down with the aid of Syvil, who at this point caught up with me and began examining the dead. Some had the ragged remains of tabbards bearing the arms of the city of Haven, the others had been there so long that there was nothing left but bones and rags. From the corpses Syvil pulled out of each of them obsidian pieces, part of a ritual that apparantly brings false life to the dead. It delights me that we were able to put a stop to something so utterly repugnant to the natural harmony. The dead men's tree also disguised at it's base a cave entrance, the footprints I had spied earlier leading right up to it and going inside. As we debated what we should do, if we should linger to learn more, bury the dead and other potentials we heard ominous howls carried over on the wind. This solved our dilemma. We would leave this place and return later. Just before we did though, carefully I poked my head into the cave entrance to see what I could, but the passage turned away from my sight and a foul breeze assailed me. No doubt it extends a great distance. This tree and the cave I have also made a note of on the maps. Returning to the bothy by evening the party lit a peat fire and settled down to a meal of rations after whichs Syvil left to gather more flora for his poultices. However he returned soon after and was very very agitated. The man claimed to have seen a vision in a puddle, he saw in the water Mindartis experimenting on the strange gem stone and some doom befalling the party. Later on after this incident passed he asked the two wounded men that be be allowed to clean out the bark and sap. Mindartis refused, even after the half-elf said he would risk a severe infection unless it was cleaned out. Yet the elf still refused, getting to the point of threatening him. I cant for the life of me figure out why he would want to take that risk, but I'm not the sort of person to force my beliefs and concerns on others so I left them too it. Syvil eventually abandonned the effort and attended to Kaar who was quite willing to eliminate the risk of infection. I took the first watch that night so soon stepped outside to take up guard, Syvil taking over from me a couple of hours later. I heard there was a disturbance between Heron and Mindartis during the night, the Elf having decided to abandon his watch and ignore Syvil's warnings to spend time with various stones we had collected. I am not enamoured with this but when I awoke at dawn everything seemed to be resolved and nothing amiss. We all then decided to return to Haven rather than trying to reach the forest again, believing it most important to bring the news we had learnt out here and thus we made our way back without event. The above is declared to be a true and accurate accounting of events to the best of my recollection, Signed Ezekiel Boone
