Zoom 2021-12-14 21:00

The party exhaust their healing spells as previously noted, and with the final two going to Quercuis and Joshua. (Rolls of a 2 and a 1 complete an underwhelming set of heals. Perhaps I should let someone else roll the dice in future.)

Meanwhile, we dig three fake graves as Francis suggested - which Caradoc seeds with a firebomb and oil combo.

The party then decides to depart as far as they can (doubling up on the remaining horses) heading SouthEast. After a couple of hours we have traveled about 5 miles and have reached some light woods. The area seems to be more populated with 'wild' cows, goats and sheep than we would expect - there ought to be more predators feasting off this bounty. We decide to carry on to put as much distance between us and our battle-site as possible, so continue for a couple more hours until we reach the edge of a forest. According to Khurak, there is a well used track running East to West about 10 miles to the south of us.

We make camp for the night with the normal precautions, and the spell casters (except the hobbits) try to get a full night's sleep while the others carry out a watch rota. Between first and second watch, just as Caradoc and Brokev are handing over to Umar and Hamish, a Troll and a Lizardman walk into the camp. (This sounds like the start of a bad joke.)

They don't make any aggressive moves - and neither do the watch members. Caradoc uses the Wand of Enemy Detection, which doesn't show any hostile intent towards him - so he makes a 'shushing' sound to the newcomers and goes to his sleeping bag. Other party members are slightly more inquisitive about the pair, and notice that they are both wearing 'old' Wyldwood symbols (ie what Q,J, Fr and Br were brought up as.) (Presumably Brokev didn't detect them as being non-Wyldwood, but we didn't actually ask.)

Judging them to be friendly, we invite them to share our fire and offer food and drink. They accept, and sit down, looking into the fire etc. But as soon as the minimum time has elapsed for this social ritual to be complete, they get up and suggest that we need to dump the horses (they are too easy to track) and move on immediately - apparently there is a Troll patrol coming from the South that will find us here. They offer to lead us to an encampment of their Clan members.

We decide to take their advice and accept their offer - so the rest of the party is woken up (to the inevitable complaints from Quercuis), we set the horses free and go with the Troll and Lizardman. Along the way we asks various questions and find out the following:

* The Troll is called Shadowhide. He is somewhat different to the other trolls we have seen - he is taller and less 'wiry'
* The Lizardman is called Dryskin. He too is different to other Lizardmen we have seen - he is shorter and slighter than them.
* They are both scouts from the Shadow Clan, which has dwelt in the Vale of Vendor since the Age of Chaos, and which has always adhered to Wyldwood. They are a combination of two clans who merged for mutual survival. (There were also some Orcs originally, but they died out.) [See Vale of Vendor Factsheet]
* They are aware of the change in Wyldwood: Their Shaman is all for embracing Wildwood and attacking Fred's Lizardmen, whereas the Speaker is very conservative and wants to stick to the old Wyldwood ways. The ShadowKnight is currently undecided.
* Whilst expressing appreciation for their help, we asked why they have done so. They simply say 'It is our Vale'.
* We ask about the animals: Apparently, the area is used by Trollhiem for grazing animals: They just dump them here in the spring, keep the predators down, and cull them later in the year.
* The area is particularly hospitable to the Shadow Clan, as Undead simply don't seem to survive here. After a while, they just disintegrate.
* The 'other' Lizardmen (ie Fred's crowd) number about 150 strong (plus some sneakier types) and are obviously here with the blessing of the Trolls - in fact, the Trolls shipped them over here. Also, there haven't been any Troll patrols since they arrived.
* Fred's Lizardmen can't get into TarKeep, ThirCastle or Vendor - no undead-loving creatures can - they get 'turned around' by some kind of confusion spell. Furthermore, if they are unduly persistent, the 'patches of cold' that we saw in TarKeep might actually follow them out of the town.
* As Shadowhide and Dryskin are 'just' scouts, and don't know too much lore, we leave discussions about Drums, Doppelgängers and Vampires till later.

We arrive at a small Shadow Clan encampment (at 203.033) just before dawn. There is an apprentice Listener there who we are able to talk to. We notice that many Trolls and some Lizardmen are somewhat in awe of Brokev, as he is a Wyldwood Paladin.

In discussion with the [[Shadow Clan#apprentice Listener, we learn:

* Their version of the Legend 3: Vendor has a Dwarf as the protagonist, not a Hobbit.
* They assume that whatever enchantment the Dwarf cast to destroy Toscin and the Five is the cause of the continuing effect upon the Undead here. See: Drumkit
* Their main encampment is near Vendor. It is reckoned that there are tunnels under Vendor where there are Mithril deposits.
* This is thought to be the place where Soratan cast his gate summoning. However, the area is not drained of magic - in fact, magic is **not** difficult in the Vale.
* They do not know what happened at TarKeep, or the nature of the 'spirits' that abide there - but even they don't stay there at night! The Magic Mouth on the tower door has been there for 'years and years and years', and nothing is known about that either. However, there is another Magic Mouth behind a stone in the Tower that says '**2+3+4 = 3'**
* We explain what Fred told us (though we realise now that most of what he said were lies), though the MM message does match what he had said about the drum pieces. We show the Listener the tankard, and also describe our encounter with the  'enhanced' Doppelganger whom we believe was one of the Five.
* The pieces of the legendary Drums are all in the towns/cities of the Vale of Vendor that (Fred's) Lizardmen are not able to get into - except for three pieces that are in HighTower.
* The Listener points out that the symbols on the Fireball wands are the War Symbol of GARM.

And then we all get a decent, uninterrupted kip.