Week 7 - Temple of the Elk

After a couple of nights at Oleg’s the group set off into the wild again hoping to find Tuskgutter’s lair. They had decided it was in the forest, so the travelled down to the bandit camp that destroyed earlier and decided to use that as a base for exploring the region. Hebrin laid out some snares overnight and caught a small deer. They cleaned it up and hung much of the meat in a sack high up in a tree so that it was ready for that next evening and went out exploring.

However, that day they discovered an even better campsite, the old temple to Erastil they had been told about. It was in a run down state with a large pool of stagnant water, and as they were exploring they were attack be the guardian bear they had been warned of. Underestimating its speed, they tried to stand off and use missile weapons, but it charged across the uneven ground and took an almighty swipe at Hebrin, almost gutting him in the process. Eventually the crazed bear was defeated, and turned into the body of an old man, and then a skeleton. The party started to relax as they had beaten the guardian of the temple and released his soul – when the skeleton rose and started to attack them./ It was but a moment’s work to dispatch the skeleton, but it served as a reminder to stay on their guard. As the skeleton crumbled to dust, the whole area seemed to take on a new life and the stagnant pool miraculously cleared. They even discovered that it had healing properties, after a fortuitous detect magic and a bit of experimentation, however, they had already used up some channelled healing by that time. Although the healing effects wore off from the water very quickly, the party decided to make it their new base.

Next day they continued exploring and discovered the body of a trapper who had been killed when his own trap went off prematurely, and investigation revealed that the trap might have been set off deliberately. During this trip, they attracted the attention of the Fey – they didn’t know that at the time but they worked it out over the following days. From then on, they had pranks played on them fairly regularly, everything from crop circles appearing over night, to dead pheasants being dropped on them! Nothing dangerous so far, but some have been irritating, others amusing ..

The next day’s exploration found the source of the Skunk River, thwo hot bubblinfg springs feeding a warm pond, all smelling of rotten eggs. As they were checking the pond out, a giant frog tongue whooshed out from the water and caught Hebrin and started trying to drag him back towards the frog. Worse, its mouth was clearly large enough to swallow Hebrin whole … Still the party was too strong in the end and the frogs were defeated. And it was frog legs for dinner that night. They tasted a bit like very bland chicken …

Next day they found a Toadman, called a Boggard, and his Slurk living in a some ruined buildings in a swampy area close to the river.. The Boggard could speak a few words of common – but only very few – and among shouts of ‘Truce’, ‘Hungry’ and ‘You Go’ the party decided to leave him be.

The next day they did discover Tuskgutter’s lair almost back to the Thorn River Ford that they had started out at! The great boar disturbed them before they had secured their horse, and Hebrin sat the combat out as he was rounding up and securing their mounts. Ox, the party’s fighter, took the boar by storm and charged it before it could charge him, then it all developed into a pitched battle as the great boar fought to defend his home.

Then it was back to the temple for a last night before returning to Oleg’s. The party has decided on trying to befriend and appease the fey that have been following them around, and have started leaving them gifts and offerings – while Rudy almost continuously plays music for them. The tricks the fey are playing are all fairly good natured, although Rudy did trip over a log that he hadn’t seen once. However most times it has been unsuitable offering and other things hanging in trees, or falling on heads.

Then it is back to Oleg’s with the boar’s head as evidence …

It is easier to see how Oleg’s is developing now and the works that were started before are turning into a shallow ditch and earthwork that will surround the trading post.. It won’t do all that much in real defensive terms but it will mark out a boundary and make life a little bit more difficult for intruders. There are a couple of rudimentary buildings taking shape inside the ditch, huts with what look like they will be small gardens, but it is difficult to tell more than that at the moment. It is far from a village, although some sort of settlement is starting to develop here. Apparently Svetlana gives a meal to anyone who works on the ditch …

OOC – Everyone has gained enough experience to go up to Level Three

Game Time = 1 week
Total Game Time = 5 weeks

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