Chapter 20 - Aldur and Neela Make Very Different Impressions

Days 41-43

The remainder of the night passed without a further appearance from the old lady. At morning light, after dutifully attending to his prayers, Aldur bestowed the blessings of Isten upon his companions, healing their injuries. Aldur appeared to be suffering from an infection that emanated from the rat bites he received the night before, and Leandrie called upon his god to delay the progress of the disease.

Back on the trail, Aldur could still find no trace of the wagon tracks, but the party decided to follow the trail northwards anyways. After an our's travel, the trail ended at a farmyard, where an old wagon rested in front of the house. This clearly wasn't the wagon the party had hoped to find, but they decided to look around, finding signs of occupation but no occupant. Trykaar wandered around to the back of the small cottage, where he found a garden. Identifying some turnips growing amongst the other vegetables, he picked them and filled two bags provided by Leandrie. Leaving a gold piece to pay for the turnips, he and the rest of the party returned to the highway with haste and resumed their quest for the elven wagon.

Once back on the road, Aldur resumed his tracking, but had no luck in finding any signs of the wagon. Within two hours, the party reached a junction where a well-traveled road led to the north. The old highway continued, showing evidence of lighter traffic. The party continued westward, but after another hour without a trace of the wagon's passage, decided to return to the junction and proceed northward to the location marked as Viz on the map they had captured from the Genasi.

As the party walked northward along the new road, they could again see many signs of habitation. On either side of the road could be seen peasants working in fields, and smoke drifted from cottage chimneys. Stopping to talk with one of the peasants, Aldur received a warm welcome as a "child of Miriel". When he was questioned, the peasant remembered seeing a wagon full of human women and children, escorted by about a half-dozen elves and a small number of human males. It had passed by several days before, and the humans appeared to be in good spirits.

The party stopped for the night along the side of the road, watching a squad of Genasi infantry march past while they prepared a trap for the old woman. The two bags containing the mundane turnips were placed at the edge of the camp, and the party resolved to keep a close watch for any attempt to steal them. Shortly past midnight, while Jrak patroled the perimeter, Trykaar was alerted when the ground began to writhe under magical influence. In short order, a swarm of centipedes had appeared to attack the party members who had been sleeping by the fire and who were now forced to retreat through the needle-sharp vegetation. Another are of entangling growth blocked Aldur, Jrak, and Trykaar from easily rendering assistance, and to make things worse a cloud of fog rose from the ground to enshroud the campsite and turnips. The centipedes and enchanted vegetation were easy enough for the party to avoid, but not in time to prevent the old lady from sneaking in to the camp and stealing the sack of turnips that had served as bait. It was a close affair though, with Jrak almost catching her as she exited the fog bank, and a concerted party effort nearly prevented her escape across the neighbouring fields.

In the morning, Leandrie provided healing and once again suspended Aldur's infection. The party resumed their travels and by that afternoon had arrived in Viz. The town was splitting at the seams with humans and a good number of elves. Throughout the town, new buildings were under construction, and it was sprawling out in three directions. To the north, the trees of the Dryad Woods towered over the edge of town, and the shadowed undergrowth appeared unnaturally forboding.

To be continued as the DM's time allows...

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