Chapter Seven

 A Family’s Sacrifice

Day One

The party returns to Copry and heads to the city notice board. There they find:    

Have you seen our dad? Please help! We afraid for his life.

A wild beast is terrorizing our village. We need brave hunters to rid us of this monster

A gang of thieves is attacking our community. First it was grain and crops, but now it is our livestock too.  We need to live.

Reward: Find the pillagers who attacked our Circus! A band of four did heinously attack “The Wonderous Targo and His Wild and Exotic Creatures” to kill innocents, release the exotics and steal the most rare and joyful young treant. What foul deeds will they inflict upon this charming, friendly and happiest of trees?  Bring the foul fiends to justice. I will handsomely reward the person or persons who returns them to me. —Targo

The party chooses to find the father. They follow the directions listed with the posting and the roadway is simple but well traveled and clean. They pass through a serene woodland, flanking the road with oak and maples. Shortly, they encounter a handsomely dressed man with a tall hulk of a man standing a little behind him. With a brief discourse in which he gives little information other than lying about the affairs of a local village, the party sees movement in the trees and they can tell that they’ve entered a trap. 5 to 4 against the party.

A battle quickly ensues, but the band of thieves are no match for the party and quickly fall to party’s flurry of blows. The handsome man (clearly the leader) runs away and disappears into the forest. The brute remains and battles our heroes. The handsome man as disappeared. The party spares the brute’s life in exchange information. The brute merely grunts when questioned however, and Diggles realizes he cannot speak, but he doesn’t appear to be deaf. Upon inspection, he has no tongue. Through blinks, gestures and grunts, the brute agrees to take the party deeper into the woods.

Day Two

The woods get darker and the trees are thicker. Sunlight dims, although it’s not dark. There is heavy undergrowth. The brute has to pick his way though the dense foliage and it doesn’t seem like he has a clear sense of a trail.  But he keeps moving forward.  Lemonbutter, at Diggle’s recommendation, bonks the brute on the head to help him focus on the task at hand. The brute resumes his trek through the forest—and into another ambush. 2 swordsmen on the ground approach and ask for the return of their friend. When the party asks too many questions, the swordsmen signal and the party can now see a dozen archers perched in the trees. The party tries to gather more info and they refuse to give up the brute. Icky launches a wind wall which shakes four archers from the trees who plummet from their deaths. 

The battle goes quickly with one swordsman dying and the other receiving mortal wounds. The remaining archers make a final desperate move and launch arrows from the trees toward the party. But not AT the party, apparently, because the arrows find their target in the brute. Due to his weakened state, he falls with just two well placed arrows. As suddenly as they appeared, the rogues all disappear back into the trees. 

The party tries to interrogate the last swordsman, but he is unwilling to give up any information. They tie him up to take him back to the road and on to the village, but they are a little lost. After only an hour, though, Icky recognizes a few landmarks and then it’s easy to get back to the road. The party and the swordsman travel onward to the village. 

When the party gets to there, they are greeted by all of the residents. The party asks if anyone knows the wretched captive, but none do. They leave the captive with the villagers... who now... accept the burden...? (Seriously, what are they going to do with a gravely wounded swordsman from a band guerrilla rogues? Attempt to rehabilitate him?)

A woman and her daughter approach and they lament their father’s abduction. He is a hearty woodsman and very capable. The family and the entire community is distraught.  It appears that this has happened before. Years ago the strongest and most versatile man of the village suddenly disappeared, seemingly without much of a struggle. Both were very loyal to their family and devout in their faith. 

This time however, there was more signs of struggle. Human foot prints are trampled into the earth near where the woodsman had been working. Several men took him and the human tracks end and wagon tracks begin.  They lead to the road and south past the village. With some perception, the party notices that the cart turns off the road onto a very hidden cart path. The cart is found where the path ends. Human tracks resume but very orderly now. There are no signs of struggle. They move through the forest until it opens into a clearing. 

Within the clearing they see an unholy ritual. Splayed out on a large stone altar is a large man (or other humanoid—an orc perhaps?), and it’s abdomen is split open. The corpse is a bloody mess and one cannot make out any features.  At the head of the altar, robed figure stands holding an ornate dagger with arms upraised, his face upward to the sky.  Around the sides of the altar stand 6 robed figures. The party can hear a rhythmic chanting from the participants. 

A cage sits off to the side. A forlorn and defeated man sits in the bottom.  He is not watching the proceedings. 

A number of skeletons shamble in a circle along the outside of the clearing. They are dressed in rotting clothing, and don armor and carry swords or javelins, and shields. 

When the man at the head of the altar stops chanting, the party can see the body on the altar move its head and hands and it groans slightly.  Then the chanting resumes, growing louder. 

Day Three 

The party assesses the situation and decides to launch an immediate and direct assault on the apparent leader (Idreth), at the head of the altar. Lothriel expertly buries 2 arrows into his chest before any enemy notices the party, but when the leader dies, the skeletons and acolytes all descend at once.  They focus on Lothriel, quickly rendering her unconscious. With a few attacks, however, the party discovers the skeletons and acolytes are glass cannons. The party also hits hard, and they have more resilience. The ritualists fight to the death, but they do all die. (The leader’s Imp familiar also attacks the party, but it had very little interest in fighting. Imp familiars will fight to avenge a death if the battle looks easy.  This Imp flees quickly.)

When the party examines the creature on the altar see it has been badly tortured and some of the organs removed. Judging from the trail of blood, they were thrown into the fire behind Idreth. The creature, an Orc, groans again. With mercy, Lemonbutter ends its suffering.

The party frees the woodsman. He knows the way home and is in fine shape (and highly motivated) to move quickly. When the party returns with the woodsman, the villagers have little to give, but they offer their mule and an ornate branch covered in rare feathers, teeth, scales and leaves.  Icky recognizes this can be used as a Druidic Focus.