Ill Omens

Having defeated an ambush of moss trolls in the Grungir Forest, the party paused to catch their breath. Wondering if the trolls might have a lair nearby, they sent Spivey flying off into the forest to make a quick survey. She returned about half an hour later, reporting that she might have found something.

They followed her through the forest, and smelled the trolls’ lair before they saw it. In the top of a grove of trees was something like a cross between a nest and a treehouse. The ground below it was littered with carcasses in varying states of decay: deer, horses, boars, people. Being greedy buggers at heart, the party wrapped rags over their noses and mouths, and began digging through the pile of rotted corpses looking for loot. And found quite a bit of useable equipment, but no money. Spivey solved that mystery as she explored the trolls’ nest, where she found three beds and three bags of coins and gems.

They returned to the caravan with their loot and proceeded on their way (although Sandru made them walk well behind the wagons until they found a stream they could bathe in). The next day they began to pass out of the forest; the trees became more and more spaced out, and from the top of a hill, they could see that the land ahead was mostly rolling grassland.

But before they could go much farther, they heard a distant bellow, and a pair of forest drakes came dropping out of the clouds, heading straight for them! The party opened up with arrows and ranged spells as they passed overhead, belching out streams of acid that burst into dense clouds of greenish mist, catching several of the party members. The party began to scatter, trying to avoid offering tempting clusters of targets. Bella raced off and drew her bow, aiming at a drake that was circling back for a second pass. “Come and get me, sucker!” she shouted as she let fly an arrow. The drake did just that, augering into the ground just inches short of her feet, her arrow buried in its gullet.

The other drake also circled, but instead of breathing acid, it landed briefly. It snapped at Nicki with its jaws and lashed out at Sawyer with its powerful tail, then leaped into the air again and sped off. Marie caught it with a crossbow bolt, and Shinjiro leapt to the top of a boulder and surprised it with a blast of force from his Ring of the Ram. The drake was jerked backwards, then tumbled to the ground, dead.

Once again, the party trundled onwards. The clouds overhead began to break up, and flocks of ravens shadowed the caravan, hoping for scaps of food. Shinjiro noticed that one of the ravens was much larger than the others, almost the size of a small dog. It almost seemed to be aware of him watching it, and immediately took off and flew away. As it did so, he noticed that it had a single blood-red feather in the center of its chest. He mentioned the odd bird to the others, and Kelda immediately made a gesture that they took to be the Ulfen equivalent of the evil eye. “You saw a blood-feather raven?” she asked with a worried tone. “That’s a very bad omen. Something bad is going to happen.” Hearing Kelda, Zhustin also remembered hearing of a superstition about “blood-feather ravens” being evil omens or creatures in the service of dark powers.

Blood-Feather Raven

Several of the party saw the blood-feather raven again the next day, and Kelda became even more worried. “Seeing it once is bad, but two days in a row?” Her voice trailed off. “What kind of things could it mean?” Sawyer asked, and Kelda spent the rest of the day telling tales of horrible fates that had befallen people who ignored the omens.

The next day dawned clear and sunny, a welcome change from the recent rains, although the air had a sharp chill that reminded everyone just how far north they’d travelled since the start of their journey. They rode along, listening absently to the rumble and creak of the wagon wheels on the road. Gradually, they became aware that the rumbling sound was growing louder, and didn’t seem to be coming from the wagons at all. Looking up, they saw a cloud of dust rising from beyond a slight rise to the northeast. Suddenly, a herd of woolly rhinoceros came galloping over the rise. There was no way to know what might have spooked them, but they were in full stampede and headed straight for the wagons!

Sandru whipped the team of the lead wagons on, hoping to get ahead of the far edge of the herd, while Sawyer ran off towards the rhinos, with the thought of somehow trying to divert the massive beasts. Kelda, knowing she was far overmatched, ran the opposite direction from her position at the tail of the caravan, just trying to get out of the way. Nicki was clinging to Sandru’s rumbling wagon, but managed to get off a Flaming Sphere, hoping the flames would cause at least some of the rhinos to divert away from the lead wagons.

The rhinos kept charging, but began shifting course to avoid some of the larger boulders and trees. Hoping to gain cover, Marie’s and Zhustin’s wagons tried to divert behind a few nearby trees, hoping the rhinos would see them as obstacles rather than just trampling them down. Unfortunately, the wagons weren’t designed for maneuverability, and it was difficult to change directions quickly. Koya also whipped her team and left the road, angling off to the northwest, trying to buy some time while heading towards a large boulder that might provide cover. Shinjiro briefly considered trying to leap on the back of one of the beasts, but then realized he had no idea what he’d do even if he succeeded. In a burst of good judgment, He instead dashed the opposite direction, and climbed atop a boulder.

The herd bore down on the caravan, and it looked like there was no way that some of the wagons would avoid being smashed. At the last second, Zhustin threw one of the Thunderstones into the rhinos charging his wagons. The loud blast startled the animals, and they lurched away from the sound. One passed just behind the wagon, narrowly missing it. The other went around the front. Unfortunately, the wagon’s horse was in its way. The rhino gored the poor horse, throwing it from its harness and shattering the wagon tongue, and continued on as if nothing had happened. Marie’s wagon also appeared to be in danger of being overrun, but the configuration of rocks and trees caused the rhinos to alter course just enough to avoid collision.

Nicki sent his Flaming Sphere into the hindquarters of one of the trailing rhinos, giving it an extra incentive and forcing it south just enough to miss Koya’s wagon. The herd thundered off out of sight, leaving the party to catch their breath and change their pants. They spent the rest of the day helping Sandru’s wainwright repair the broken wagon, then harnessed one of the riding horses to replace the dead draft horse. Through it all, Kelda kept muttering, “I told you something bad was going to happen.”

The next several days passed without event, although the blood-feather raven was spotted every day. It was always well out of bowshot, and would fly off as soon as anyone noticed it. The party’s apprehension grew; it was clear that someone or something was watching them.

Finally the caravan reached the Thundering River. Here the road veered to the west, following the south bank of the river. Kelda began to relax a bit; she was very familiar with this area, having taken longboats up the river from Kalsgard to Ullerskad many times. The caravan stopped for the night at an ancient bridge that crossed the Thundering River. The weather had turned damp again, and as the sun set, a freezing mist rose from the river, dimming the light even around the campfire. As the mist rose, they noticed the blood-feather raven perched atop one of the lintel posts on the far end of the bridge. With a croak, it rose into the air and flew away.

They ate a cold supper and prepared for sleep in a freezing fog that clung to blankets, cloaks, and Varisian mustachios alike. Sandru, Koya, and Ameiko made camp with the rest of the caravan, while the party huddled around their own fire near the bridge. Suddenly, several people heard a muffled sound from the downriver side of the bridge – a sound like muffled oars in an oarlock, out on the darkened river. Alert for danger, the party began to fan out. Was this just a riverboat making its way up the river on a commercial run? (In the dark. In the fog.) Or was this a new threat?

The PCs earned 514 XP, putting them at 10,598 XP, with 15,000 required for level 5. We’ll be at Roger’s next week.