• What Happened to the Kobold and Adventuring Party?
• What about the footprints that led Southwest?
• What was under the ice? What exactly were those Bugbears drilling?
Participants
• Skull
• Mirarim
• Eleanore
• Raziyah
Locations
The Frozen North
Short summary:
We explored the frozen wasteland, to find out more about the area. There we encountered some sort of drilling party, who had angered the spirits! At their great request, we slew many of the vermin, but had to retreat when the power of their machine was too great.
Full Report
As we set out, the elemental guardians informed us of two earlier travelers:
- A party from First Landing composed of a metal humanoid, a birdman, a dwarf, and a strangely spider-y person, who passed by a few days ago.
- A lone Kobold packing a lot of gear, just a few hours back.
After we arrived, we were guided in two directions - north by a mysterious melody, easy by a set of small footprints, and southwest a large mountain loomed. The guidance from the spirits was strongest north - so we set off in that direction, until we approached some woods. The land was dead - even more so than a wasteland - large predators actively avoiding us.
The melody changed as we approached - not playful, but worry! It spoke in a fey tongue, speaking of Fire and Metal! Bugbears and Goblins were up ahead - cutting down trees with a large metal machine , powered by some sort of explosive energy. The work of some foul alchemist, surely.
We tried speaking with the ... lumberjacks... but they were very terse with their words. They claimed they were just "gathering wood" , then were here for "Ice Commerce" - obviously a bald faced lie. We let the creatures leave , not wanting an unnecessary fight.
There's a lot of ice here, much more than we could hope for, and who knows what's under it? We got this handled, don't worry.
Looking back on events now - I wonder if this choice of words by the bugbear were hinting towards something. We still do not know what they exactly were doing, digging for something perhaps?
We did investigate the area afterwards. It did not bring any answers, but it did bring guidance! The spirits spoke to me - and death and destruction they demanded - kill every bugbear and goblin who dare offended them! No more questioning was needed - we followed the creatures to their camp and began operations to destroy it. We slew the initial guard party, consisting of bugbears, wolf-men, and a giant wolf. We then invaded their ship, and destroyed their supplies of food and gunpowder. Afterwords, the goblins begin chanting something :
Slaughter the heretics, shatter the seals, free the gods!
They activated a massive drill - and it nearly killed Miriam with a casual strike. We couldn't survive this - we had to leave.