Chapter 13 - Exterminators
Days 28-30
Recognizing one of the mysterious figures as an Empire agentby the name of Mihaly Kassak, Trykaar caught his attention and inquired as to the reason for his being in this remote village. Mihaly revealed that he and his companions were in the area to round up any nobles who might be witholding their personal troops from the defence of Wasteward. After exchanging news with Mihaly, the party retired for the night.
The next morning brought rain, but the party continued their journey. The road had more traffic than in the previous days, most of it being peasants with their meagre personal possessions. Stopping one who Lajos recognized, they discovered that the locals were fleeing Genasi raiding parties that had struck communities near the frontier. The rain finally let up later in the day, and the party gladly retired to a warm inn for the night.
Once again, they were not the only guests of the inn; also in the common room was a strange man, huddled in his cloak and startling at the slightest noise or motion. Approaching him, the party found a man who was clearly on the edge of sanity, telling strange tales of spending 20 years studying magic at an dark elven temple deep underground before escaping at the loss of some part of himself. Indeed, some part of himself did appear absent, as was evidenced by the fact that he did not have a shadow, even though he stood solidly before them. The party did their best to ease his paranoia of being chased by elves, with most of the party choosing to spend the night in the barn, watching over him. In the middle of the night, his feverish dreams caused him to startle awake, blasting the roof of the barn with streams of eldritch fire. After some calming words from Leandrie, he managed to fall back into a fitful sleep. In the morning, he took his leave, saying that he was headed for the capital, to get as far away from the Feywilds as possible.
Lajos promised that another half day's travel would bring them to his village, and he wasn't wrong. After a couple of hours, the party turned off of the trade road onto a smaller local path. After passing through one village that had recently suffered a Genasi raid, they finally arrived at the scene of the kidnapping. After questioning the villagers, it became clear that the kidnapping had indeed taken place, eight days before. Overnight, most of the village's children and a small number of young women had disappeared, along with an elf who had stopped in the village overnight. A search party of local men had set out the next morning and they too had disappeared. Wasting no time, the party set out on the trail of the kidnappers and their pursuers. Blixhaven was able to find a faint trail leading northwest from the village, which they followed until dusk. Nightfall saw them at a small collection of peasant huts, hidden away in a remote vale. Approaching the huts, the adventurers discovered the impoverished residents huddled in squalor. Leandrie did what he could to ease their suffering and assuage their fears before the party made camp for the night in an abandoned hut.
The next morning, Blixhaven once again sought out the tracks of their quarry. He found some tracks leading southward, over a narrow path that proved too difficult for Jrak's cart to maneuvre. Deciding to abandon the cart and all but two horses, the party sent them with Lajos to keep in his village. These new tracks soon faded out, and Blix realized that he had been mistaken, causing the party to backtrack to where they had started the morning.
To be continued as the DM's time permits...
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