Session 1x4

Session 1x4 took place on 11 Feb 2021. The players were Arkanjil, Cbum, jschlies8, LannGeal, and Ghost in the Machine.

### Summary

Participants: Aldieth, Ayute, Esroh, Harlac, and Tolgyrd

The party tried to convince refugees to join Dryvault, but were unable to overcome their fear of Myrkul.

The party encountered a wendigo on hex 015.024 and killed it. Its lair may be in the mountains to the south, in 014.025.

The party's path was as follows: (013.023), (014.024), (015.024). The party attempted to enter (016.024), but was stopped short by the wendigo encounter.

### In-character tales

#### Harlac's Tale

**Day 1, Morning.**

Leaving town! Yes. I like it. Pink walls are different, but they are still *walls*. I prefer AIR.

(013.023) We come across what looks like a pyre or failed camp. The fire remnants are perhaps a bit too big for a campfire?
We decide to push on to the southeast, crossing the river before it gets too late.

(014.024) We hop from rock to rock across the river, and manage not to so much as get damp. Esroh looks nervous about something, but decides it's just his imagination.

**Day 1, Daytime**

We stop to make camp while it is still light out. While I set up camp with Tolgyrd's tent, he and Aldieth take my net and go fishing and catch a couple of tasty trout. Ayute tracks down a boar... and fells it in one shot. He catches sight of another group of travelers, families it seems, and short on food. Meanwhile, the wind tears through the campsite, damaging the tent. This campsite has shelter from the elements, but the wind is horrendous. There will be no sleep for us here.

**Day 1, Evening**

With more food than we can eat and no campfire to cook with, we take some of our bounty to the refugee camp. They are very suspicious of us. They recognize us as being from Dryvault, which lowers their esteem of us. Apparently they had a bad run-in with some other group from there. Aldieth sweet-talks them - aided by the food we brought, and we are able to camp with them. Aldieth is a good cook, and while there is not nearly enough food for everyone, spirits are fairly good. The refugees think we are enslaved by Myrkul, and fear to go to Dryvault. They have heard stories of him working with the Rust Brothers that they are running from - working on some sort of foul experiments.

We hear an Orcish legend from them:
*"A long time ago, before the humans came and the mountains were raised, there was a greedy Orcish king, He sought a sword to protect his people. he traveled to a village on a lake, far away to the east. The legend says that there he was possessed by a god, and taken to the skies. The legend says he found the sword, and it remains yet somewhere to the east."*

Our companionship and Aldieth's sweet songs *almost* convince them to come to Dryvault to work with us, but alas, their suspicion is too strong. They invite us to perhaps join them in the future, when they have established a stronghold of their own.

At night, the hydra song reaches us, and Aldieth is unable to sleep, his minstrel voice joining the howling cries in song, despite the sod stuffed in his ears. Luckily I got some of the tallow from the boar, it worked better than the sod!

**Day 2, Morning.**

We take the time to let Aldieth rest. In the meantime Torgyrd repairs his tent, Ayute catches a coney and Esroh finds a deer, but it gets away.

**Day 2, Daytime**

(015.024) The winds and the snow obscure Esroh's vision, and a low fog has descended into the valley. Suddenly, a frantic, beleaguered person - perhaps one of the refugees - runs past us, leaving a trail of golden snow. Clearly running for his life from \*something\* from the SW (14.25). A gust of icy winds from the northern mountains threatens to bowl us over, but we all cluster around the  strong Tolgyrd and avoid being knocked down. As we recover, we are attacked by a hideous creature. It's body is the size of a human, but it's legs and arms are easily twice as long.

The fog and snow are making archery impossible without being in reach of the thing's claws. I scramble up a rough cliff, falling prone. I can barely make out what is happening with the rest of the group. The fools seem to be... advancing??? Are they mad??? The creature lunges forward and tears into Esroh's horse. The poor animal's foreleg is torn clean off, and Esroh goes tumbling into the snow. Aldieth calls out that this is a Wendigo, a creature of hunger and malice. If we leave the horse behind, it may stop and eat it. If we keep fighting, though, it will surely seek to kill us all...

Ayute draws his sling and sends a stone at the creature, which mostly bounces off of it's hardened armor-like hide. Tolgryd lunges foward with his sword and slashes open the Wendigo's torso. No blood spills, but the remains of it's last meal spill out - a wolfkin we met at the refugee camp.

Esroh attempts to crawl away from the Wendigo's long reach, but the creature attempts to grab him and drag him back. Tolgyrd steps between and knocks the strike aside. A shard flies off of his sword cutting into his face.

Ayute sends another stone careening off the side of the monsters head, a ringing crack indicating significant damage done. The beast lunges at Tolgyrd, but only manages to snap a tooth on the heroic dwarf's armor.

I scramble back down the loose stone of the hill, once again losing my footing in the loose icy scree. The Wendigo roars, and the chilling wind rushes around us again. Esroh is thoroughly chilled to the bone, but everyone else manages to keep to their feet (well, except for me already on the ground).

Esroh scrambles away from the combat, huddled up a short distance away, desperately trying to return some warmth to his frigid limbs. Tolgyrd throws himself at the Wendigo with all his remaining strength, once again cutting a large chunk out of the beast. Roaring in pain, it lowers it's head and runs the valorous dwarf through, pinning him to a tree.

Ayute slays the beast with another swift stone, and then rushes over to Tolgyrd to assist Aldieth in carefully extracting the antlers from the dwarf, narrowly saving his life. Even Esroh's horse was not as injured as it appeared, and Aldieth was able to bind it's mangled hoof, too.

We make camp - the patch on Tolgyrd's tent false off again... oops. Regardless, we all made it back... barely. That Wendigo had to have a lair in the mountains too.... maybe we can find it the next time we head out. (014.025)

#### Tolgyrd's Journal

**Day One**

I'm still getting a read for how well everyone can handle themselves. Anyway, the morning went off without a hitch, as we crossed the river and decided to set up camp early. Those clouds look like trouble.

Harlac's a good lad, we agreed to swap my tent for his net while I went out fishin'. He set up camp well enough, but the ground is rocky and the tent got a hole ripped into it. On toppa that, we're in the middle of a damned wind tunnel! Got lucky and yanked two fish outta the stream, but the others were luckier and snagged a boar! We're eatin well tonight.

I hear tell of a group of sorts that's down on their luck. We're gonna bring our fresh meat to 'em and try to break bread. If all goes well, We'll convince 'em to head to Dryvault, but if nothin else, we'll get nicer ground to sleep on.

Good news and bad news. We're sticking with them for the night, but they ain't goin to Dryvault. Aldieth has a way with words, but they're too damn stubborn. Following their lead, I'm puttin sod in me ear before bed.

**Day 2**

Hoo! I slept like a baby last night. Unfortunately I can't say the same for Aldieth. The poor bloke stayed up all night singin along to the hydra's tune. We postponed our march until the daytime and spent the mornin gatherin ourselves. I managed to patch up my tent with one of them boar pelts, while the riders went out and got more of that juicy game.

The fog rolled over us as we headed further east, and before long one of the group we saw yesterday runs past us from the South West in a fit of terror. Concerned, we re-doubled our efforts to head North East along the North edge of the river into the mountains, but a strong wind seemed to be holdin' us back. Having everyone huddle up, we manage to stay on our feet before the most fearsome creature outside of my old drill instructor showed up.
Harlac started runnin', and Aldieth posted up behind a nearby tree.

Esroh charged in, but got stopped short when his poor horse took a rough slash from the vile thing. Ayute provided covering fire with his sling while I charged in myself. If any of ya doubt the power of a sling, lemme tell ya it's certainly capable of crushin a skull just as well as a hammer. I dealt a hearty blow to the thing's chest, but it wasn't lethal. Esroh's fight or flight kicked in and he started crawlin away. The beast took this opportunity to pounce him, and I damn near twisted my ankle running in to swat his arms away with my trusty broadsword. Our melee continued a bit; my leather must've been blessed by Huge himself. Right as we're about to knock him down, I tripped while tryin to dodge it's blood-soaked antlers. I got gored and broken by the beast. Luckily, Ayute was ready to deal the finishing blow. I don't think I would've lived to tell the tale if the damned thing pulled the antlers out.

The rest of the night is a blur, but I remember shoutin about my tent gettin ripped again.

#### Esroh's tale

I’m not one for words but a fellow kin member gave me this journal before I left my clan in the hopes they could read all about my adventures if I ever returned. I’ve carried it for a long while now neglecting it, it’s still as blank as the day it was crafted. I suppose now is as good of time as any to write in it give our scrape with death fighting that monstrous Wendigo.

Day 1 was innocuous enough apart from encounter we had with a band of refugees who claimed they had escaped the rust brothers. I believed them but still harbored doubt about how such a large band was able to escape without being caught or hunted down in retribution. I shook my doubt long enough to enjoy food and drink with them for the night as they were willing enough to share camp in exchange for our freshly hunted game after our own attempts at making camp went awry. The campers were kind enough to warn us of the hydra’s nightly wails and lent me some saw dust to plug my ears with while I slept, worked like a charm and didn’t lose a wink!

Day 2 began with a light flurry of snow but soon turned into a raging winter storm. We encountered a bewildered and despondent looking refugee running faster than I thought possible from our southwest. His face was whiter than the snow falling around us. As a group we bravely decided to travel in the opposite direction, straight into a massive headwind. We plowed on nevertheless. The strong storm obscured my vision and my perception of our surroundings. It would be just our luck to stumble straight into the path of a hideous and vile Wendigo. I immediately charged it straight into a world of disaster. My beloved horse took a nasty gash from the monster and I fell hard to the frozen ground. I was dazed but could hear my fellow adventurers taking action as well. I heard a sword slashing deep into something followed by an enormous roar from the monster. I could only assume that old dwarf Tolgyrd had delivered a devastating blow. I tried to scramble to my feet but I was too dazed and the ground was too slippery and I managed to go nowhere. The Wendigo took notice of me and tried to finish me off. He threw his big claws into the air with the intentions of piledriving me into an early grave. But just at the last moment, clang, Tolgyrd was quick enough to step in and block the attack with his broadsword. Surely I owe him my life.

I snapped back to my senses and hear the snap of a sling and crack of a skull. Ayute had managed to sling a stone at speed hither to unknown to the living folk. The monster staggered and certainly was worse for the wear afterwards. Aldieth helped me scramble to my feet and ushered me away from the battle. Just as I turned around I saw the Wendigo charge Tolgyrd and run through him pinning him against a massive tree. I was certain I witnessed his death. Harlac tried to rush down from his high viewpoint to join in but made a meal of it and face planted straight into a snow bank facepalm. I could only smirk for the briefest of seconds. Thankfully Ayute had loaded up another rock and landed another heavy killing blow to this Wendigo. Aldieth rushed in and with the help of Ayute they were able to perform emergency surgery to save Tolgyrd. Surely I just witnessed a miracle. Once Tolgyrd was mended, Aldieth and Ayute were able to save my beloved horse. I owe both of them a debt of gratitude as well for saving my best friend.

When we left Dryvault I did not know any of these men very well. I still don’t to some degree. I do however know that they are all perfectly capable of handling themselves in battle. Except for Harlac of course, he proved to be very useful in his own ways though and was skillful enough to create a fire in blizzard conditions shortly after the battle to warm us all up. These are a band of adventurers I’d travel with anywhere and anytime.

#### Journal of Ayute

Word spread of a group venturing cross the streams to the east, and they had need for a few more hardy folk. Seemed a motley crew at the time, but Dryvault was beginning to feel like a crystalline coffin and I did not trust myself to stay much longer. So Valda and I set out with Esroh the swift riding half-elf, Aelith an elf of countless talents, Torgryn the dauntless, and Harlac the keen eyed if ill-fortuned goblin.

These lands never fail to surprise me with new horrors. We had made it only hours from our shared camp when the snow and winds shrouded the world around us. Pulling our wrappings tight about us we pressed on. Esroh had taken scouting position this day and paused only once attempting to discern if he had heard a call or if the winter winds were playing with him, but blinded as we were it was impossible to know. We did not have to wait long however for the truth to be revealed. From the swirling frozen mist a face appeared, then a body fleeing in madness from some unseen foe. The madened fool did not slow down when he saw us, and I suspect he has become a meal for wolves or worse by now. We had little time to ponder the strange occurrence however as the already frigid air kicked up into a gale about us and we could do nothing but huddle together to bare it out. When the wind relented and we once more opened our eyes we could see charging down the hillside towards us the wintery nightmare which had clearly broken the fleeing man.

It is true when I say I have never witnessed such horror and bravery in all my years as I did on that frozen crag. From first sight of the abomination Torgryn rose to the challenge calling for us to stand firm to its charge. Esroh to his undiminishable credit took no delay and rode directly for the beast, but paid dearly for his action. The Wendigo, so the elf later named it, leapt upon the rider seeming to grin and cackle with grizzly glee. Esroh’s horse fell in its first assault, but the beasts hunger would prove to be its undoing. As I tested the beast with sling stones Torgryn strode to the beast daring it to test his dwarven mettle. In the end I have little memory of the details, only the sour laughter of the deranged beast, and the exchange of sword and claw. Torgryn stood like a hero of legend, weathering blows and returning them with bitter interest until in an act of feral desperation the creature gored the dwarf with its antlers pinning him to the nearby tree. It was a wild attempt to take his advisory with him into death, but here to the Wendigo measured short and Aelith was able to save the dwarfs life. In the end we stood: dwarf, elf, goblin, human, half-elf together and strong.

#### Aldieth's letter

Dearest Eilenora;

Once again, I offer apologies for the lack of missives for you; when I fall away, it’s very hard for me to keep focused on this endeavor, whatever the promises I’ve made. But I am here and this is now: I came out of winter into a tiny community named Drygulch, nearby to the old orcish kingdoms, I suspect. Others have also recently come to here, of many different kindred and skills, and together they have begun working on community- it is more than enough for my interest, and so I have stayed. Such things easily distract me, thankfully- as you well know.

As a group, we have determined to explore the unknown lands all about us, and so we divided ourselves into groups with just this mission in mind. I myself have just returned from my own adventure with such; my compatriots this time being a doughty dwarf warrior, a skilled half elf rider, a cunning goblin hunter, and a stalwart human rider. Together, we stepped out into a clear cold morning a few days ago, seeking our fortunes and adventure.

The local country around Drygulch is rocky and barren of most plant life, while the current season makes for no good foraging to be had. Other groups have well explored these lands, so we followed their markers eastward, as the weather above turned overcast & grey. We secured both fish from the river nearby and a boar to feed us, but perversely, we failed to secure a good campsite for the night. Luckily, there were a group of refugees nearby, previously approached by our compatriots; as they had a fire, we cautiously approached them, using songs and food as enticements.

Much as they were before, alas, they seemed hostile to our presence, thinking us no more than slaves or dupes of ‘the evil necromancer of Drygulch’ (who is a character I should speak of, sometime soon). In their eye, he works foul magics on behalf of the Rust Brothers (tho to our burgeoning community, he has bade us to fortify and prepare as we can against a Rust attack he has foreseen). I tried mightily to assuage these folks and to ask their help with our endeavors, but they again refused to consider such, in the end. Still, we shared what food we had gathered earlier with them (my cooking skills proved quite handy), and they grudgingly allowed us to camp together for the night.

The night was not without perils; we saw their careful preparation of small pieces of sod for their ears, and realized belatedly that we must be within the realm of the dreaded singing hydra that had troubled our compatriots on their own journey. One of us struck upon using tallow from the boar we’d killed, which was quite efficacious, but there wasn’t enough for us all; in the end I found the makeshift sod plugs insufficient, and was too slow to attempt countering it’s siren song with a tune of my own; thus ensorcelled, I must admit that I spent the whole night singing along with its distant hypnotic cries.

Come morning, we found fresh snow had fallen overnight; we took the morning for me to recover, while others repaired our tent and hunted the local grounds (scoring a nice rabbit in the process) After we continued on into countries unknown, as a chilly fog settled around us.

Our only warning came as hurried footfalls in the fog, as one of the refuges from before came barreling up and then quickly past our position, away from some seemingly dire threat. Initially we thought to avoid whatever it might be, given the refugees foul behavior towards us last night, but even as we turned, a great and bitter wind came blasting down upon us, seemingly driving us towards where the panicked fellow had come from. And from that direction came a hollowed humanoid creature of hunger and cold, a shape that sparked in me an old memory from my wanderings- we faced a dread Wendigo, a fell undead spirit from the far off Bitter Reaches.

Judging that the peril before us too great, I relayed on what I knew of it to my compatriots, and urged a quick retreat, but several had already stepped forward to engage with the horror. A great battle was enjoined, and though I could be off little enough direct help in such, my new friends proceeded to evince great heroism and blind fortune to whittle away its evil strength and overcame its power. Immediately after, I sprang forward to do what I could with my healing skills, and I managed to pull our dwarf back from the shaded shores and further, even salvaged the life of one of our horses that we feared lost to the wendigo’s claws.

We set up camp to help recover from the ordeal (one of the riders was near frozen to their core) and to take stock. While far from its normal climes, I knew that somewhere close by there should be a lair for the creature we just slain, and that it was normally solitary, thankfully. Depleted as we were, there was little we could do to follow up immediately, so we made our way back to Drygulch to rest and recuperate fully. The lair can wait, as can the lands beyond, yet unexplored.

That then, is how I spent the last few days, gallivanting in the wilderness with strangers who have become fast companions in my heart. They are as ambitious and alive as ever, this great gathering of many kin, and my heart is full. I hope you are well, dear Eilenora, wherever you may be.