Session 1: "Encounter Outside Deepcut" (1 Flamerule, DR 1372)

Quick Summary:

• The group meet during an ambush by three on the road, south of Daggerfalls

• Kelnor dispatches one bandit, later slits the neck of two, and wounds a boar

• Gaerfinas, Rania and Rio collectively dispatch one bandit between them

• Artus slays a bandit at his feet in one blow, killing him outright

• Stolen ale barrels are discovered in a nearby copse

• The bandits are revealed to have been of Lord Morn's army

• Rania pockets a strange-looking feather/leaf from the bandits' gear

• The group travel north, and find Deepcut, surrounded in a palisade

• Gregor the sentry is more watchful for goblins than he is for bandits

• The group convalesces to the Honorable Hound inn, securing bunks

• The group communicate the location of the stolen ale, and patrons are pleased

• Patrons promise to send out a sortie to collect the ale

• The barkeep gives the group a sample of his "Goldleaf Mead". It's bad

Some loose-ends:

• Where did the scraggly teenager go? ["Twelve" later turned up at the Turnfork Inn]

• Where did other bandits go? [Session 5, Twelve said bandits betrayed each other]

• Rat Race at the Honorable Hound [The party later made some money]

• Rania's Feather [Later revealed as a magical item]

It was afternoon of the first day of Flamerule -- the month of high-summer on Faerun. The sky at the horizon shimmered with the heat. Our party had been hiking along a dirt road for some miles alone in the realm south of Daggerfalls. They each had been savoring, for whatever reason, the solitude.

As time wore on, they caught up with others on the path who were hiking in the same direction. And so it was that they formed a socially-distanced kind of convoy, all hiking along the way north. They still did not know with whom they walked, but there was something about the air - or these people - that made them question not.

There were six in all, spread out in a long tail: a shaggy-haired teenager in front, and then the others following behind. We would find out later they were named Kelnor, Artus, Rio, Rania, and Gaerfinas.

Of a sudden, the teenager at the head of the group stopped and looked around the tree-scattered heath. With no other signal, he pounced forwards and dashed off out of sight.

The remaining hikers found themselves in an ambush.

Three bandits rose up from the heathland scrub, and took all but Gaerfinas by surprise. At the vanguard, one fired a crossbow that missed, before charging at Artus with his scimitar brandished. Another capered off of a ledge, firing his bolt into the earth in his nerves and tumbling over, falling prone at Artus' feet. At the rear of the party, the alert Gaerfinas spotted the vanguard bandit, but failed to strike true after hefting his crossbow.

Overcoming their surprise, the weary travelers collected their senses properly and took swift action. Kelnor arced around to the back of the man who had charged Artus at the vanguard of the line, dancing around him and stabbing him in either side -- dropping him immediately to the floor. Artus, greatsword readied to hand, plunged it into the tumbled bandit at his feet, his foe's wobbling scimitar provided no significant parry.

At the rear of the line, Gaerfinas charged his man, landing his mace with crushing force on the soft flesh of his stomach. Rania and Rio stepped into line to his flank, in no doubt who their true foes were, and loosed bolts into, first, the bandit's side, and then into his neck. He collapsed backward with the force, falling to the floor.

With the frenzy of the last seconds of combat checked, and each bandit mortally wounded, the group looked uneasily at each other for a moment. Kelnor took no risk and slit the necks of the bandits he'd helped to down. With business dealth with, he looked up and recognized Gaerfinas from his time serving in Lord Morn's retinues. Some of the unease was thus broken, and Gaerfinas further broke it by healing Artus' wounds.

The group surveyed the area: an unladen cart was pulled over by the side of the road, with its tethers cut. But, as they inspected it, they noticed the sound of bloody coughs from one of the bodies. This unfortunate man, with a bolt through his neck, had not had his throat slit by Kelnor. As he tried to crawl away into the brush, the party round upon him and made it clear he had only a few words left to speak in the mortal realm.

With his final words, the man pointed the group to a nearby copse and revealed that there were meant to be more in his group as they attacked. For some reason, they did not turn up to fight.

In light of the real possibility that other bandits are abroad nearby, the group debate whether to inspect the copse or not. Rio advises the group to head on to the nearby settlement and safety, while Kelnor - freshly blooded from the fight - assured the group of his competence to scout the copse, and encouraged them to take command of their situation.

The group acquiesced, and he lived up to his words; while the group waited, Kelnor scouted the copse and discovered an abandoned campfire. (And chases away an errant boar.)

Kelnor called his new acquaintances into the copse, and the group searched the little glade. They found some coin, as well as three voided sub-lieutenant's commissions. They are for the retinues of Lord Morn, and they are pinned to a tree with darts through them. It seems that the bandits had left the army (much as Kelnor and Gaerfinas, and even Rio), but chose to engage in less wholesome pursuits with that freedom.

Rania finds a curious feather cut in the shape of an oak leaf, and of a dull green hue. She pockets it. The others note the dirty wine barrels nearby, and Gaerfinas surmises (correctly) that they had been rolled from the road to this discreet location.

Satisfied that they are beyond immediate peril, the group agree to head on towards the nearby settlement indicated by the road's milestones -- they travel on and, as the sun creeps down the sky, approach what they later learn to be Deepcut pallisade.

The group are welcomed in -- it seems the town is more alert to goblins than bandits -- and they head to the Honorable Hound. Finally somewhere comfortable, they find some of the inhabitants of Deepcut, including the barkeep. He's very pleased when they drink his "Goldleaf Mead", and even more so when the group reveal they know the whereabouts of his lost consignment of ale.

The excursion continues...

Experience:

• Kelnor (30+ 30 = 60)

• Artus (30)

• Gaerfinas (30 + 30 = 60)

• Rania (30)

• Rio (30)