IK:On The Road Again

Attendance: Joe, Herman, Ryan, Randy, Joey
XP: 300. Hope you had fun. More at end of segment. Level 'em up.  

Leaving Corvis

Caitlyn: As we gathered our things to leave the city of Corvis, Dook brought with him lil' Jannis Riordan Junior who looked the part of an angel. He was so cute and I so looked forward to babysitting him during the trip. I had baked some oatmeal cookies, so that he could have a tasty snack during the journey.

It turned out that lil' Jannis' parents are "absentee" parents, at least in the area of discipline. Caitlyn had to repeatly remind the boy that a lady was present and that he should watch his mouth and behaviour. After a few unsuccessful days of chastising him Caitlyn took the liberty of spanking the boy, which seems to quiet him up, as least as far as in his interactions with Caitlyn.

Fortunately the boy had found comfort with Tolmek, which was odd, but then boys like strange things. If only Tolmek had felt for Caitlyn what she felt for him, they could have felt like a family for the journey.

Encountering a Thief

Caitlyn: In the Thornbrush forest we saw a fresh trail crossing our trail. Always believing himself invisible, Dook went to scout. He found a campsite but we decided against looking into it, fearing a similar encounter to the one with the mechanothralls.

During the next sunny afternoon, we heard a shrill cry from ahead in the forest. Since Dook was present and accounted for, we assumed it was a women in distress. Approaching carefully we encountered the poor lass and created a defensive ring around her to defend her from the strong, mean-looking men chasing her. Caitlyn consoled her, telling her that it will be alright and that seems to calm her down, as she took deep breaths and slowly stopped shaking. During the combat the soldiers informed us that she was a thief. Caitlyn didn't believe it until they pointed out that the woman had removed Caitlyn's potion of Hide from Undead.

Caitlyn was furious. It wasn't that the woman was a theif, it was that the woman used her feminine wiles to trick us into defending her frail female form from the big strong men. How were women to be respected as equals if they continued to pretend to be weak. She was immediately turned over to the soldiers. They introduced themselves as Sgt. Harrison Gale, a marshall and Gregor Fisk, a cleric. Fortunately they didn't bring Dook up on charges for blowing the head off one of their mates, though I think that Dook should be careful interacting with soldiers in the future.

Jamison: Crud. I knew there was something wrong with the Ordish woman when she was being chased by Caspians and Thurians. I just wish one of the soldiers wouldn't have lost his life in the fight.

Harlet: They were empassioned by the heat of battle and lost their diplomatic sense. Sometimes humans can appear very Trollkin on the surface, but we always maintain our wit.

Dook is lucky the soldiers don't want to bring him up on charges. Hopefully, we'll not have this sort of bad luck much more.

Arrival in Fellig

Caitlyn: We arrive in Fellig. The largest building in the entire city is made of stone by the back-breaking labor of the faithful to Morrow. To see such a magnificent church nearly made we weep and I would have, were it not for my attention being diverted by Jannis trying to run off on his own. If only I had learned the spell Child Tracking from the woman who taught me to cast spells. ::sigh::

The streets are are muddy as most roads are, but some of the boys seem to be distressed that they are not paved. Not far from where we entered the city is another quite large buildings with troops going in and out of it, and some men are repairing a warjack. Perhaps I would give more thought to joining the military, but that just isn't woman's work. Judging by the baudy sign and poorly craved grafitti it seems that this military headquarters used to be a tavern named Flagon Mist. The city is walled and with jacks on every street, it seems that this is a city ready for war.

Jannis really wants to visit his uncle Lenny and Dook takes him. Apparently the uncle grants the child permission to stay, and while I enjoyed taking care of the child I am *very* releaved to not have to watch him for a few days. (Even if we are going to try to sneak across the border into a war zone.)

Jamison had a great idea, and we approached the military about trying to get us across the border. While we were at the Flagon Mist we saw none other than Lord General Olan Duggan, Duke of the Northwood. We weren't permitted to get close, but it was an honor to see him in person. We presented our plan to Colonel Decker and since he could gain a large group of fightingly fit Trollkin out of the deal, he agrees.

Doing my part for the crossing, I did everyone's makeup to make sure that everyone but Jamison looked properly like a slave.

Jamison: I'm glad I recommended that we ask the Military for help. The disguises were a great help. Hopefully, we'll have some good luck crossing the border.

Crossing the Khadoran Border

Caitlyn: We crossed the border with everyone disguised as prisoners except for myself and Jamison. We were nearly across without incident until we ran into a Khadoran scout party. I quickly cast Tongues so that I could parley with them. I spoke with a young man named Aleksandr Oksa, who had improper amorous intentions towards me. It isn't often that I find myself at the center of such attention but I somehow managed to convince Alek that we could perhaps get together at a later date. As an aside, while he was cute, he was far too forward for my tastes.

When we arrived at the Trollkin village we found that it had been recently abandoned. The trail was easy to follow as it seems all 300 trollkin all departed in the same direction. Along the trail we saw a labor steamjack chopping down trees and easily avoided it. I daresay we could call it a lumber-jack ;)

The trail ends at what seems to be a concentration camp that may or may not be housing the trollkin. We make arrangements and Tolmek goes off and does a Fell Call that gets several responses, confirming that the trollkin are indeed inside. To gather some more information I cast Invisibility on Dook and he wandered around inside, figuring out the layout and how many guards there are. (Who needs Prying Eyes when you have a fearless invisible gobber?) Inside Dook found 8 guards in units of 4 and they are heavily armed and armored.

Caitlyn's Tactical Analysis of the Guards

• Front Gate Guards
  • Scale Mail (+4 armor bonus, max dex +3, 20' move)
  • Ransuer + pick/shield (1 guard)
    • AC 14-17 with Ransuer, AC 16-19 with pick and shield
    • Ransuer (2d4 dmg, x3 crit); Pick (1d6 dmg, x4); and likely at least +2 for Str
  • Double Axes (3 guards)
    • AC 14-17
    • Double axe (1d8 dmg, x3), they'll be taking two-weapon fighting penalties; and likely at least +2 for Str
• Inside Gate Guards
  • Scale Mail
  • Ransuer + pick/shield (1 guard)
    • AC 14-17 with Ransuer, AC 16-19 with pick and shield
    • Ransuer (2d4 dmg, x3 crit); Pick (1d6 dmg, x4); and likely at least +2 for Str
  • Warhammers and Tower shields (3 guards)
    • AC 18-20 (Tower shield +4, max Dex +2)
    • Warhammer (1d8, x3) and likely at least +2 for Str

Jamison: Raiding a Khadoran outpost. Not an easy task. But, between the seven of us, I think we can manage. Silence plus a night raid seems like a good start.

Loot

• Acid sold for 210 gp and added to slush.
• We find valuable furs in the empty village of the Trollkin.