Chapter 3 : Of jungles and flutes

#### The Thistle

At the council Almira tells what he now knows. Another artifact, a Thistle, is supposedly somewhere in Bogaria, where it was last known to have been given to a druid.

The orc Grak that we heard mentioned by some officers in a large army, we met again in a tavern, when we happened to enter just before he came in with a group of orc soldiers. It came to blows, a typical tavern brawl spiced up by our hack and slash, but having an appointment at the docks, we choose to retreat and left him behind.

#### Groger

Thus we board a ship called the “Green Spray” and travel east to Groger. During the voyage, we encounter a drifting, abandoned ship aptly named "Fate”. We boarded it, scared some random creatures, affirmed it’s duly abandoned state and recovered the captain’s logbook before returning to the “Green Spray”. Terrak is still carrying it, and for all the indispensable knowledge it might contain, none of us has yet found the time to read it.

From Groger our journey went on to Rozarr-s’el-ebel. On a kind of large plain or steppe we meet the Orc Grak for a last time. Our old opponent was riding behind us with a group of other warriors. We didn’t know if they were chasing us, or simply were travelling the same road, but we ambushed them just in case, slew the warriors and mortally humiliated Grak by cutting of his hair, and sending him away barefoot in the wilderness. I don’t remember if we killed him in the end, I kind of remember him going berserk at the humiliation and attacking us, to no avail of course...

We’ve had quite an eventful episode shortly before embarking on our sailing voyage from Rozarr-s’el-ebel to Bogaria. Due to mistrust of the Bogarians – pirates and barbarians according to some – it proved quite hard to find someone willing to give us passage. After some searching, we found a rather paranoid Bogarian merchant (who seemed to be none too popular in town, as most Bogarians). He invited us to a feast at his place on the harbour side to discuss the terms of the journey. During this dinner that Druw, our Bard, gets more than a little attention from one of the merchant’s wives. The situation somehow had a cast of conspiracy over it – as if the merchant needed an excuse to challenge us. Druw fell like a stone for her charms, so the merchant got his excuse and things started to turn ugly. Just as the merchant challenges Druw to a duel, the house is attacked – he was a Bogarian after all. We must work together or face the mob of angry townspeople. We retreated as fast we could from the dining room and fled along with the merchant. He appeared quite well prepared for such an eventuality – as any prudent merchant who lives and trades in a hostile town would be. We set sail to Bogaria, already progressed beyond the point of discussing terms of our transportation and in fact never having even scratched the surface. We leave the angry mob on the harbour side ransacking the merchant’s house.

#### Bogaria

Shortly before arriving, we were hit by a ferocious storm, which was not all that uncommon in these parts around this time of year, but quite inconvenient nonetheless. We were well and thoroughly shipwrecked , none of the crew or the captain survived. All of us did fortunately, and, finally, after drifting around on the wreckage, we stranded on a marshy coastal area.

To our big surprise, Juneeka seemed intricately familiar with this part of Bogaria – did she turn out to be a noble’s daughter or something like that? She guided us through the marshes to solid ground where we encountered the strangest type of hunting party we ever saw. A single person (an elf?) was chased by a group of armed warriors. Always ready to defend the few and weak against the many and mighty, we didn’t hesitate to defend him in another bright and sparkling show of heroism – we were having lots of fun there! However we were completely astounded when this guy himself at some point asked us to stop. (Just when we were having the most fun.) He turned out to belong to the local nobility and was set on a test of strength, with only a few rules: he couldn’t ask for help (he hadn’t asked – we volunteered); if he died he lost; and I don’t remember the exact rule for winning, at least it obviously didn’t include killing all his hunter-opponents. To cut the story short, we earned another sack-full of eternal gratitude, but now from a person with a higher currency exchange rate than that captain on our first sailing voyage. (1)

#### Raids in the night

We accompanied our new fried to their people’s Capital, which was built in the trees in a mass of wooden houses clinging to trunks and branches and bridges hanging in between. Already the very first night we were plagued by a large-scale raiding attack by these slave-hunting lizard people we had already heard were infesting these lands. They appeared out of the air, and could Levitate as well! We fought off their attacks as best we could, which was not nearly as well as we could have wished... Shortly after we decided there would be no point in lingering, especially since we were not likely to find much rest here. So, we continued our search for the ancient Druid’s Keep.

#### Druid’s Keep...

Following the directions of rumour and myth, we travelled these magnificent woods with their massive trees. One night, while on watch, Terrak noticed a scouting party of Lizard people coming by. He followed them for a bit, but wouldn’t risk going too far from the campsite. The next morning it proved difficult to find the tracks, so he climbed one of the trees to get a view of the surroundings. The forest rolled on in all directions to the horizon, except for one large clearing not too far away with a few even taller trees in its midst – might we be so lucky that this is the location of the Keep?

In short order we arrived at the edges of the clearing, and could see that, what may once have been Druid’s dwellings, now at least was a stronghold of these Slaving Lizard bastards. It was firmly palisaded all around with one gated entrance and a watchtower. In the middle of that was a round Keep surrounded by the three giant trees Terrak had already seen.

#### Take out the Trash

Our path was clear – we needed to know what we could find inside the Keep, and in doing so we might just be able to free these pitiful slaves as well! The palisade proved little protection against our determination, and the overhanging branches of the trees provided convenient help in reaching the windows on the first floor, as well as the battlements on the second level. Just then, we heard a new ‘shipment’ arriving – slaves drawing a cart with a cage with more slaves in it. It was let into the gate and ‘unloaded’, and the few Lizards we had located till now, went off to do their respective duties. We went in by one of the now vacant rooms, and barged into the next where, from what Terrak could hear, only one of the three that were there before remained. We surprised him completely during his Alchemical work, Druw’s bolt struck his head only shortly before Terrak and Hendel closed in on him from both sides, and he struck the floor even before we had time to shut the door behind us. From there we planned to secure the rest of the building but instead they took the fight to us. One after the other fell in our doorway, and even the Magic Missiles and other magical mishap coming from the staircase couldn’t prevent us from clearing the way out in short order.

Following them up took us to the top floor – that is, below the ruined last level that clearly was not fit for habitation or any other kind of use. There, we found ourselves thwarted by a sturdily blocked door behind which we heard the sounds of quite a few people making, probably, hasty preparations. For what, we could not say but we were not in a shape to risk battering down that door and facing a head-on confrontation. We retreated in one of the rooms that seemed relatively safe, and rested.

#### Set them free

We first went back up to find the room empty save for a tall stand-mirror in a side chamber. From the other things left there, there probably had been some unhealthy type of Magic performed here. Just before leaving, Terrak noticed a line of script running along the top of the mirror “.........” (2)

Sweeping down we didn’t find anybody else, either, till we reached the basement level where, clearly, the Slave cells were. We set them free with a caution to go out quietly and swiftly. To our surprise, they organised themselves fairly efficiently. One lad a few years younger than us, somehow caught our eye. He had a small flute hanging from a string around his neck, which simply could not be this Thistle we were looking for, but it was our best and clearest lead up to now. When we asked him, he told us that flute playing had been in his family for as long as anybody could remember, and he could do tricks with it as well. It appeared he could summon a Wolf by playing the flute – which explained his relatively prosperous appearance – he had used the beast to protect himself from the worst of the treatments.

Having nowhere else to go – his family apparently perished in slavery – he was willing, even a bit eager, to join us. Having been through all of the upper parts of the building, there only remained one door at the back of the dungeons that we hadn’t entered yet. We followed the corridors and staircases behind it and entered what appeared an anteroom to the large cave beyond. At the far end of this room was a huge Stone Golem that immediately responded when we attempted to walk on. Retreating sent it back into its lifeless slumber. On the assumption that, somehow, the person that had planted the Golem here as sentry must have had a key to pass, and seeing that this part of the structure was considerably older than the rest of the building, we started thinking. The only other thing we had seen till now of possibly the same age, was the mirror on the top floor. On a hunch, we used the phrase that Terrak had deciphered, and to our relieved amazement, the Golem stood still and let us pass!

#### The Quest leads on

The cavern floor sloped down from the doorway, and led to a lake that filled the rear half. Not actually expecting anything particularly exciting here, we nevertheless proceeded to the waterfront and were, again, amazed when the water started rearing and seemed to boil. From out of its depths the head of an enormous Dragon appeared and addressed our young friend, “Ah, so there you are at last” he said. He continued by explaining to us that he had been set there to await the “Chosen One” who would once again restore the peace and prosperity that had once existed under the supervision of the Druids.

The boy was one of the last direct descendants. For us, he, the Dragon, had a message as well. The Thistle, while indeed originally kept here by the Druids, had long since been looted and taken away to a Bandits stronghold, much further inland. He could not help us very much, but provided us with some helpful Magic items, and Transported us to very near this Bandit’s city to save us the time and hardships of the journey.

1. Did he send us on yet another mission? We of course already have our own quest – The Thistle.
2. Could a Portal have been made there? That would explain their mysterious disappearance as well.