44th through the 46th days of Corellon's time in the 22nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Days 39-41)

44^th through the 46^th days of Corellon’s time in the 22^nd year of King Ulodannan Wolfswift (Day 39 - 41):  The adventurers revive the guard they didn’t kill and they question him.  He doesn’t know a lot.  He was, after all, just a guard.  He admitted that they were from Redden Barrens and were Baron Songsteel’s men, but that was pretty obvious from their tabards.  All he knew about their orders was that his orders were to follow the group’s leader and do what he was told, but he thought the mission of the group was just to cause trouble in Woodlea Forest.  He didn’t know why.  He commented that Baron Songsteel was a child, merely nine years old, and mean, but he didn’t know who the young Baron relied on for advice.  He was, after all, just a soldier, not one who was taken into the counsels of a Baron.
It was decided that Sjolander would return to Lightoak Bridge and get their servant, Thoeak Silentread, their horses, and their gear.  This he was able to do without disturbing the village.  When he got back to the camp, the adventurers set off, in the dark, to Linden, except for Gladness.  Gladness decided to stay behind and see if he could find any other information or signs in the area that they might have missed.

The adventurers arrived back in Linden, with their prisoner, shortly after noon.  They went straight to Baron Silverkin’s keep and asked an audience with the Baron and his advisers.  They told him what had happened.  He withdrew with his advisors for a few minutes, then returned, asking the adventurers to let him handle the matter of Baron Songsteel and the prisoner and asking them to return to their mission in Shadowlea of finding out what the reports of missing sheep and goats were about.  They agreed and the next morning they started out.  However, on their way through the keep yard, they noticed a block with fresh blood, and assumed that the Baron had executed the prisoner.

They got to Lightoak Bridge near sunset and spent an uneventful night there.  The next morning, they set out for Shadowlea.  The geography quickly changed from the relatively gentle forested plain that constituted the majority of the Barony of Woodlea Forest to rough, rocky, almost treeless land.  The road became much rougher and much hillier.  So, even though it was not that far from Lightoak Bridge to Shadowlea as the crow flies, it took most of the day.  On the way, Thoeak mentioned that his son, Quofore, lived in Shadowlea.  They arrived in Shadowlea in mid-afternoon.

Shadowlea was a collection of mud and wattle huts, not much better than goblin-built.  But, it was fairly large, as villages go, being the home to eight or nine hundred folk.

The villagers had the now predictable reaction to the sight of a drow and a dragonborn – they all discovered that they had something to do inside.  Soon, the adventurers were sitting on their horses in the middle of the main street of Shadowlea, all by themselves.

They did not have long to wait.  Within a few minutes, Maroar Pegason, the Shadowlea Reeve, emerged from one of the buildings.  Introductions occurred and the Baron’s tokens smoothed what might otherwise have been an awkward time with the Reeve.  But, instead of holding them at arms’ length like he would otherwise have done, the Reeve invited them into his home, where they met his wife, Cailynn.

The Reeve told them what he knew about the reports of livestock missing:  that strange creatures came up from the south – from Dracmead, presumably – during the night, and stole off with individuals from the farmers flocks.  The Reeve didn’t believe that they were really creatures from Dracmead, strange or otherwise.  He expressed his opinion that it was probably much ado about nothing and that it was a case of mass hysteria over what was normal loss from predators, such as wolves.  When pressed, he admitted that he thought maybe there was some witchery being practiced, but he didn’t have a clue who might be doing it or how it might be done.

The adventurers went to Quofore’s house – Thoeak’s son.  He was about 20 and was at home alone.  He had heard of the rumors of stock being stolen by strange creatures in the night, but he didn’t know much about it.  He indicated that his wife, Zinnaatra, who owned The Crusader and Cleric inn might know more.  After all, that’s where most of the farmers stayed when they came to town and spent the night.

They went to the inn and met Zinnaatra, an extraordinarily beautiful young elf in her mid teens with the most strikingly beautiful nose any of the adventurers had ever seen.  Later, that was her physical feature that most stuck in their memories.  Zinnaatra didn’t impress the adventurers as being the nicest of folks.  Perhaps she had that attitude that the extraordinarily beautiful sometime get – that they are better than others.  Thoeak had let them know that his son, Quofore, had moved to Shadowlea within the last year to marry the beautiful young Zinnaatra and he, Thoeak, did not approve, nor did he like his daughter-in-law.  It became apparent why he didn’t like her and also apparent that she wasn’t too fond of her father-in-law.

Zinnaatra had heard the stories from the farmers who stayed at the inn.  She didn’t know if they were true or not, but she knew most of the farmers along the border with Dracmead claimed solemnly that they were true.  The adventurers decided to ride out to the east of Shadowlea to find a farm and see what they could see.

As they rode, it grew dark.  After a time, they topped a rise and saw the lights of a farm house in the valley below.  They rode down to find the house buttoned up for the night and a flock of about 25 sheep in the sheep fold behind.  They knocked on the door and the farmer answered, but he wouldn’t open the door to them in the dark.  He did, however, assure them that he had lost several sheep to these strange night raiders in the last few weeks.

The adventurers retreated to the rise where they could watch the farm, and spent the night, but it passed uneventfully.  In the morning, the farmer was willing to come out and talk to them.  He really couldn’t describe the creatures, except to say that they looked like lizards – like smaller versions of the dragonborn Keira.

When the adventurers decided to head straight south into Dracmead from the farm, the farmer warned them that they ought not go into Dracmead on horseback.  There was a wrangler in Shadowlea who kept camels just for travelers who were foolish enough to venture into Dracmead.  He directed them to her.

Back in Shadowlea, the adventurers found Nerisiries Huntinghawk, an elf woman who did, indeed, keep camels.  She was willing to trade the adventurers camels for their horses, even-steven, but she was unwilling to promise to keep the horses for their return.  It was pretty clear that she was not going to bet the grocery money that they would ever return.  But, if they did, and she still had their horses, she would trade them back for the camels, but this time at a profit.

Now riding camels, they ventured out of Shadowlea and headed south into Dracmead.  It wasn’t long before the road became a rough trail and finally disappeared entirely.  They traveled on south by dead reckoning as the land became markedly rougher even than it had been around Shadowlea.  This land would not support even sheep and goats and seemed deserted.

Unusual for Dracmead, a storm blew up and it began to rain heavily.  The ground almost immediately grew muddy and hard to traverse, forcing the camels to slog along at a slow pace.  Ravines zigzagged across the landscape in a way that they could not avoid crossing them, and it was when the party was all in the bottom of a ravine that they were suddenly ambushed by hobgoglins and a goblin on the high ground on the other side of the ravine.  A battle ensued in which Sjolander was pretty seriously injured.  When it was over, all the hobgoblins and the goblin lay dead.

It was decided that Keira would head back to help Sjolander, and Tyrion and Galloron would press on.  At the moment of that decision, the Amulet of Passage lifted itself off Sjolander’s neck and floated over to drop onto Tyrion’s neck.  Perhaps it was an omen, or perhaps the amulet just wanted to stay where the action was.

The drow and the human waved goodbye to the dragonborn and the half-elf as they set out back north, and then turned their faces to the south.