Zoom 2022-12-13 21:00

The party camps down for the day, leaving the useless luckless hobbits on watch.
After:
*3hr 30min: Hamish	observes the top of a large fireball about 10 miles to the NorthEast	(ie fired in anger rather than as a signal).
*5hr: They hear a	crashing sound to the North, like a tree falling (probably a couple	of miles away). As they are exhausted (-4), they wake up Umar and	Caradoc (now at -1) to take over the watch.
*5hr 15min: Umar &	Caradoc hear more crashing sounds to the North, and what sounds like	a melee - ie clashing metal on metal. The battle sounds	diminish, and then stop - after which a signal fireball is sent into	the air a couple of miles due North.
*5hr 30min: A Drake	is seen in the sky coming from the East, ridden by a humanoid,	heading toward that spot: It dips down there, and after about five	minutes, ascends and flies back off East.
*6Hr 30min: Umar & Caradoc hear the noise	of a picket line (ie very noisy humanoids spread apart) coming	towards our direction from the north. It is likely that our camp	will be discovered by a member of this picket line, so Umar &	Caradoc wake the party.
Caradoc goes off to 'make mischief' - he moves away and finds one of the pickets to backstab (who turns out to be a 'thuggish' Lizardman) and then draws the picket line away to the north. Our spell-casters learn spells (1st and2nd level only), and Francis 'messes with the tracks' of the backstabbed Lizardman to make it look as if he carried on from where he was accosted. Quercuis sends Khurak off to look at the site where the battle occurred - and as he observes the site (lots of blood and bodies) he hears a high-pitched whistle (echo location?), so takes immediate evasive action and goes to ground.
We then spot a Drake approaching again from the East, and so decide that it is time to scarper (in a slow, careful kind of way to avoid too much noise, keep a good watch and avoid leaving tracks). To help avoid detection we shrink the horse (Reverse Enlarge spell) and bung a Pass Without Trace on it. As we head West, the high-pitched whistle/screech continues sounding about once a minute, and the Drake stays up high in the sky. The party then see a flash of light to the North - and every creature within a 300 yard radius is illuminated with a Faerie Fire type effect. The centre of this effect is about 700 yards north of party - and Caradoc later reports that he saw the Lizardmen sacrifice one of their own (the wounded one) to generate this spell. He was able to avoid being illuminated through his Mageblade skill - so other than lighting up the Lizardmen and all the animals in the area (which included Khurak) it didn't actually achieve much.
The illumination wears off after about 10 minutes, and the Lizardmen resume their picket line - somewhat louder and more compact than before, but by now the party are well out of their way. The Drake hangs around for about an hour, then buggers off. The party continues on their way. Caradoc rejoins the party (carrying Khurak) and reports on his adventures - including his scouting of the battle-site where there were three dead, stripped bodies: A Lizardman thug, a native Orc that he recognised as Gonthirn from the Hawks Roost, and a human (slim, thief type).
After a few hours we decide it is safe to make camp again and find a suitable spot in 131.090. As we are settling down to our (cold) meal, a cough announces the presence of Ariel who wishes to speak with us. His name is Laeromir, he is clad in leather armour and wields a longsword, and he is pretty beaten up and scorched. So we heal him up good and proper (he is of Universal faith, so Wun heals him well) - though the number of hit-points he needs (78) does seem somewhat high for an Ariel.
He explains that we was approached by Gonthirn at the Hawks Roost to help accompany a humanoid in a porcelain mask (PM) - and as a ranger, he had the right skills and also he needed the work. So along with Gonthirn and another human ( a thief?) they started heading west, PM saying that he needed to meet a party who had three items to give him. They got attacked by a large contingent of Lizardmen (javelin throwers) in 137.088, and though they beat off this attack, they were harried by other Lizardmen patrols and herded westwards. Through interrogating a captured Lizardman they found out about the fall of Stormhaven, and so started heading back toward Northlake.
Their finally got caught again by the Lizardman and the battle that we heard (and Caradoc saw the remains of) was the result. What happened then is all a little hazy - as if he is suffering from a GSOV effect: Their party was attacked (lots of fireballs!), and Gonthirn was taken out - at which point he bugged out and ran. PM just 'disappeared' (not simply going invisible, so teleport or similar?) He can't really remember much more - and though Joshua believes that Laeromir thinks he is telling the truth, he does seem to doubt his own recollections.