Session 23: Road Trip Day Four: On the Hunt

General Summary

With some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff we picked up with the party a bit earlier in the journey. Traveling down the Trade Way the party encountered a wagon broken down in the middle of the road. From a distance it looked like they were surrounded by guards. With Corran's sharp eyes though he was able to tell that they were actually a particularly aggressive tribe of hobgoblins called the Urshani . He also noticed some people around the wagon hiding behind crates of cargo. Riding up and with and seeing this Corran shot and took out one. Getting closer Tanaelia and Jameak also so what was happening. Tanaelia took one out with her spiritual weapon and a backslap of inflict wounds. Briefly they tried to rally, the commander giving orders, but after failing to strike Jameak with his greatsword and having the same said weapon shot out of his hands and skittering 10 feet away, they decided it was time to cut their losses and run. The party still managed to take out the commander and all but two of the hobgoblins before they got away. Diverting their attention to the scared and wounded guards and merchant, they were thanked for saving all of their lives. When the merchant asked if they would be able to buy horses from the caravan, Tanaelia gave hers to the merchant, informing him that the horse's name was Sparkles. Corran and Jameak sold theirs for 75 gold, with Corran taking 75 gold for Tanaelia's horse as well (later slipping the 75 gold into Tanaelia's bag.) The party talked and introduced themselves and learned a bit about each other before settling in to talk around the fire during camp and supper.

Later on down the road a day or so later one of the cult wagons that the party has been watching, hits a rock at a bad angle while taking a sharp corner and breaks a wheel. One of the crates spilled out and Jameak and Corran are close enough to hear the sound of jingling metal see the glint of metal as some dozens of beautiful items of jewelry wrapped in wool for protection come tumbling out. The cultists are quick to try and collect the spilled cargo and hide it from sight once again. Despite this several traveler's take notice and comment. Losvius approaches and offers to help them clean up the mess and repair the wagon, but is glared at and told to get lost.

A day later the party spotted a heard of dear on a nearby hill, with a majestic deer the size of an Elk with gold fur and platinum antlers gleaming in the sun. A gathered group of caravan hunters and scouts discussed hunting the stag and how much it would be worth. Some spoke against it, saying that the creature was probably blessed by some being and killing it would bring ill fortune. The party spent some time discussing what to do before eventually deciding to chase the stag when they saw that the hunters with the caravan were charging off towards the herd. They decided to see if it really was a being under a curse as the halfling storyteller mentioned in his tales around the bar. On the way Corran took out one of the regular deer in hopes it would keep the other hunters from bothering to continue to chase the golden stag. With some good tracking the party eventually found themselves in overgrown ruins with few stones still standing together and the stag nowhere to be seen. Instead they saw a thin person who resembles a wood elf with bright golden skin and wearing a delicate antlered headpiece. The elf dropped to his knees in supplication, speaking in an elvish language that none of them could understand. Through trial and error they were able to get some basic communication between them, with Jameak drawing in the dirt and gesturing, and Corran speaking dwarvish, which the elf seemed to be able to speak a few words of. They gathered that he was indeed cursed and was asking for help. Tanaelia cast detect curse and discovered that there was indeed a transformation/transmutation curse placed upon him that was of fae origin, specifically a night hag. Corran also found some barely discernable marking in some of the raised stone that must have once been a floor. They depicted a large pair of curving antlers with a bow laid horizontally between them. After some more work and perservering throught the difficult communication challenges, they convinced the stag that they would help him. Corran rode him back to the caravan with many eyes upon the stag, some in awe, some hungrily, and some with greed. Corran found some ex-soldiers and hired them for 5 gp each (for a tenday) to help guard the stag while they traveled. He stayed with the stag as he didn't feel it safe to leave it alone. Tanaelia brought dinner over to them (making sure to not bring venison). After a bit Losvius came over and told them that the people who spilled their crate the other day have been looking at him angrily and it's been making him feel uncomfortable and asked if he could stay with them for the night.