When the gang wakes up, the ground is frosty but rays of sunshine make their way through the canopy, mist hovering lightly around auburn and gold leaves. It’s a beautiful day, with a clear, pale blue sky.
The adventurers look around, wrapping extra layers around them as they wait for the chill to ease off. The valley seems different in the light. Miss Moss and Thoradin shake off a light hangover and the adventurers shuffle around, clearing up what in the dark of night was invisible. Thoradin gives Boris an apple and a pat as he jumps into the cart, lights his pipe and puts his feet up. The others finish clearing up the campsite.
As the gang set off on the second leg of their long journey, Gunther is up front on the chookybirdy, followed by Londer and Osric, then Miss Moss and Lia on Patricia. Leshanna, next in line, is mulling over a new name for Maxium, deciding on Maximillian. It is agreed that it is a fine name. The tressym is nestled in Leshanna’s lap. Boris and Thoradin bring up the rear, Thoradin keep watch behind. Turns out Miss Moss didn’t need to lead him after all; he’s got this.
Today, the roads are far quieter. The journey is long and uneventful, the adventurers amusing themselves as they jiggle along the bumpy track.
Lia, sick of Miss Moss trying to get her to play idiotic games, “goes hunting”, but comes back gleeful, a kite made from old clothes trailing behind her. Londer is proving himself to be a deft whittler, having managed to stay on Osric long enough to settle into the task. Gunther is playing with his ball of twine, it dawning on him that he has the distinct sense that he’s seen this countryside before. He’s intrigued, struggling to capture the fragments of memory and drag them into his consciousness.
All wanting some action, Gunther, Londer and Miss Moss trot ahead for war drills with the axebeak. Gunther wants to teach him to dance, with Bill showing his affection with fewer and less severe bites.
After a few drills, Gunther sneaks off the trail behind a tree. The gang all look at each other, what is he up to over there? Miss Moss trots Patricia over to look, and sees Gunther baby birding Bill his lunch. Miss Moss is amazed and disgusted, making sure each of the gang know what he’s up to behind the tree. Gunther shrugs at Miss Moss, “A puss has gotta do what he gotta do for his chookybirdy!”
Miss Moss pulls out her notepad to record this gross event in her journal – which has nothing previously written in it at all except a shopping list for taco night – while Leshanna, an avid, religious notetaker, pointedly holds Maximillian’s reigns in the air with both hands. This can pass unrecorded, she laughs.
As the shadows lengthen, the trail leads the adventurers into a beautiful, green valley, lush with glossy leaves and bright flowers. A tower emerges, 35 metres tall, a mossy, circular structure emerging from a square stone base. The gang can see arrow splits and banners around the wood-and-stone cylindrical upper. The Lords’ Alliance emblem and orange flags come into focus. A tall spire emerges from the top of the tower bearing another Lords’ Alliance flag.
Miss Moss, a recently appointed member of the Lords’ Alliance, remembers her previous encounter with Sildar. Lia casts a survey spell, finding nothing of note. Miss Moss, now perked up from the lazy ride, suggest they all go over and check it out, see who’s around.
The gang trots over. Miss Moss’s history check reveals she has not visited this place before, or if she did, it was quite some time ago. A perception check reveals the flags are a little frayed at the bottom, giving Miss Moss pause. As the gang gets closer, the place starts to look less Galata Tower (glam tower in Instanbul) and more The Broken Tower (GoT). The grounds have not been well-kept.
As the adventurers start to poke around, the come across a small piece of man-made timber sticking out of the dense brush. As Miss Moss pokes around further, a cart is revealed that seems to have been deliberately hidden under branches at the side of the base of the tower. This situation is starting to seem fishy and the initial excitement starts to drain from the gang.
Inside the cart, the gang find very fine clothes. Leshanna stares at Gunther, wondering at his lack of action, but his eyes are glazed. The next minute, Gunther swoops in, rifling through next to Miss Moss, finding two sizes of men’s garments. “These are very fashionable!”Gunther exclaims, holding a shirt up to his chest for size. He is purring and salivating. Leshanna nods. Everything is right with the world.
There are no name tags, but interestingly, the clothes seem freshly discarded off a warm, clean human body. There is no mildew or mould, no dirt. Gunther is ever more pleased with the find. Thoradin stands up on the cart, looking around, suspicious. The gang can’t glean any more information from the clothes: they are apparently from noblemen. Gunther strips off and re-robes.
As the gang – except Gunther, who is frantically de- and re-robing – moves on from the cart, they wander around to the front of the tower. There are benches, trestle tables and crates with piles of parchment paper. The tables are empty, which gives the scene an eerie quality. Like a party with decorations but no people.
As the adventurers’ rifle through the papers, they discover it is an inventory of the caravans, merchants and traders who have come past. This tower seems to have been a checkpoint. There is fruit in a pile, not super fresh, but also not rotten. The parchment, while undercover, is not weather damaged.
Leshanna is buried in the parchment, her eyes darting from left to right, absorbing their contents. Thoradin is searching the perimeter of the bush with his steely dwarven gaze, not sure what he’s looking for. Lia approaches Londer and Miss Moss at the front door, where they talk about whether they need to be stealthy or not. They decide to knock, though they are not realistically expecting to find anyone. It just seems polite.
The firm knock by Londer’s demanding knuckles destabilises the door, which has been propped up sans hinges, and it falls onto the floor. The first thing the trio see is another trio, but this lot are dead. The three bodies on the floor appear to be from the Lords’ Alliance. The live three screw up their noses at the smell of guts, which is spewing out of the men. “Gross,” Lia mutters.
An unexpected voice that sounds very close whispers, “Hold it right there”. An arrow appears around the corner, pointed directly at Miss Moss’s head. Lia stares her down and demands, “Stop right there!” The wood elf is alert. “Not another move.”
Londer starts to say something but Lia and Miss Moss in unison tell him to shut up. Lia steps forward and says, in Elven, “We mean you no harm.”
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” answers the wood elf.
“I’m Lia and these are my friends. We thought we knew the people at this building, but we do not.” Lia explains that she is a member of the Emerald Enclave, hoping to find a connection with the elf. It works. The elf lowers her bow immediately and confirms that she too is a member of the Emerald Enclave. Lia breathes a sigh of relief.
The elf’s name is Valkreth. She invites the newcomers into the tower, explaining as she walks that she’s escorting two men safely to their destination. Thoradin stays outside to keep watch, puffing on his pipe. Gunther, delighted with his finds, makes his way after the others inside.
Valkreth says she was heading down Evermore Way and found the pair cowering behind a bush. They said they were being followed and feared for their lives. Because Valkreth is a skilled ranger and has helped others with safe passage before, she offered to accompany them to Triboar, their destination, as the roads don’t feel very safe anymore. Their destination is the Triboar Arms Hotel, to see Zindra Winterbow.
When quizzed on why she was undertaking this dangerous journey, Zalkreth says, “Hey, a ranger gotta make a buck!” They all nod in agreement. Zalkreth explains she found the tower in exactly this state. Miss Moss asks if the gang can meet the men. Zalkreth agrees, and leads them upstairs.
Outside, Thoradin keeps watch, but doesn’t see anything.
Upstairs, Londer’s eyes run across the surfaces of the room, finding everything in order, undisturbed. The two men, on the other hand, look very disturbed, cowering in a corner. Once they see Gunther, one of them asks in a quivering voice why the giant cat is wearing their clothes. They look very close to crying. Gunther doesn’t answer them.
Londer introduces the group as the Heroes of Triboar. The men are encouraged to tell their story, which they do hesitantly, stilted, terror in their eyes. They still have no idea who is friend and who is foe. They explain they had to leave town in a hurry. The men are wimpering and now one is fully crying. Miss Moss, impatient with their feckless and pathetic demeanour, slaps one man across the face and says, “Man, pull yourself together!”
Obviously this doesn’t help, but one of them manages to stammer out that they had to leave their town because of some letters that were delivered under the door.
Below, Thoradin catches glimpse of a group of what appears to be thugs and bandits, a couple who look like underlings and one in a black robe, heading towards the tower from the east. Thoradin can see a huge dire wolf. Trouble is afoot.
Thoradin whistles to the gang upstairs and knowing the call, Londer and Miss Moss fly down the stairs. Thoradin, consiering his options, isn’t sure whether to fire off an ominous whisper or not, and decides against it. Upstairs, Valkreth readies herself, arrow aimed at the approaching group. Gunther and Leshanna prepare themselves at the arrow slit in the stone. Lia readies herself at another slit.
Downstairs, Miss Moss and Thoradin greet the men with manufactured nonchalance, Thoradin leaning against the tower blowing smoke rings. Miss Moss attempts to chat with the bandits, but they are not hearing of it. Without skipping a beat, she pulls out her longbow and aims her arrow at the main heavy, and lets rip. It hits. The thug returns and punches into Miss Moss with his sword, where it slams into her shoulder, the breath huffing from her chest as the wound on her shoulder opens up. Miss Moss looks from her shoulder to the thug, makes a face and says petulantly, “It didn’t even fucking hurt”. Angered, he slices into her again as Miss Moss yells, “Bring it on!”
Londer is attacked by another thug, and is hurt, but manages to escape the next swipe. Upstairs, Leshanna raises the Staff of Nezznar and fires through the stone slit, shotting out a web and anchoring it over the crates and bandits. The wolf is caught in Leshanna’s web.
Lia, standing on the table upstairs, hisses at the nobles to get out from under the bed as Gunther calls in a sing-song voice, “Yoo hoo! It’s nighty night time!” and fires his crossbow straight at the bandit’s head. It’s a tremendous shot and badly wounds him. The cloaked man, not caught in the web, ducks away behind the tower and disappears from view.
Londer, setting himself up for a brilliant shot at the bandit who attacked Miss Moss, does a sweeping two-handed axe attack with the Great Khan but much to his dismay, misses not just once, but twice, thrice, then four times…
Thoradin, pipe now in his pocket, touches the one closest to him with Inflict wounds, causing immense necrotic damage. The bandit blisters and burns in front of their eyes, Even though he’s becoming a pile of wet, ashy guts, he tries to sneer at Thoradin but can’t.
There are two more bandits stuck in the web, with one bandit trying to walk away from the mass entanglement but tripping over his sausagey intestines.
Lia is starting to feel a little redundant on the table and sneaks out through the trapdoor to join her comrades downstairs. Miss Moss, damaged but not broken, pulls out her longsword. Her biceps bulge, the sweat and blood glistening off her taught skin. She swings with both hands, inflicting a little more damage on the thug.
Valkreth finally comes to the party, firing her bow with a very sweet hit right through a bandit’s head in an immediately fatal blow. A small roar of appreciation goes up amongst the gang. That was a good shot. Her second shot is also excellent, with another bandit looking very unwell.
The closest bandit to Miss Moss struggles with the web, swinging at Miss Moss, hitting her on the first round, but missing the second. The wolf is trying unsuccessfully to escape the web.