Session 22: Road Trip Day Three

General Summary

The party starts off seeing something shoot out the woods nearby and hit a horse. Not being able to see it well, they move forward to investigate, finding the horse covered in a sticky webbing substance. Looking around they see some horses being led off into the woods by some purple-skinned humanoid shapes. The party decided to chase and after some trekking through the dense trees and underbrush of Misty Forest for about an hour they came upon a small clearing with three of the creatures, which turned out to be ettercaps, and two giant spiders along with their five stolen horses. The party killed the monsters and saved the horses from probably becoming lunch and led them back to the caravan. The owners were exceedingly grateful to have their horses back.

The next day while riding at the head of the caravan, Tanaelia spotted what seemed to be a head lying in the middle of the road. Stopping the caravan and going to investigate, with the rest of the party joining, she saw that the head was actually a person buried up to his neck with the word "Oathbreaker" written on his forhead. He appeared to have been stuck here for a few days at least with wagon tracks showing others had gone around him. They debated leaving him or saving him, with Noohar Serelim, Rahl and Nivek employer chiming in that "He probably deserves it and should be left there." before walking off. Waking him up he begged for water and for help. The party was hesitant, but gave him water and listened to his story. Amoffel's story is that the oath he broke was a promise to marry a woman. He broke the engagement because he discovered that her father and brothers were all bandits and that he was expected to join them. Sensing that this wasn't the whole story they decided to help him anyway with the proclamation that when freed he would share the truth. They spend a couple hours digging him up and filling in the hole in the middle of the road. Amoffel was only wearing a loincloth and had no other gear on him, but the party did notice a Harper tattoo on his arm. Once night fell and they were eating their dinner and resting they questioned him further. Nivek realized that he actually knew him from back home and Amoffel was in debt to him, though he had left Greenest a few years before. Amoffel asked about back home and Nivek informed him of some of it. He then quietly told what he said was the true story of why he was in the state they found him. He was on exactly the same mission they are: tracking a shipment of stolen loot north. But the smugglers-he's sure they're members of the Cult of the Dragon became suspicious of him. Amoffel passed information to another Harper at a roadside inn, and members of the caravan witnessed the meeting. The cultists manufactured a story that he was passing information to bandits. The merchants were unwilling to kill him outright, but they were willing to leave him buried in the road and "let providence decide the man's fate." He told them that he has Harper contacts in Waterdeep and knows his way around the city and can be a useful ally once they reach the city.

A day or so later some of the scouts and hunters in the caravan as well as the party spied a heard of dear on a hill in the near distance, one standing out with a coat of gold and platinum antlers shining in the afternoon sun. The hunter and scouts were debating on hunting the creature or letting it be.