Our heroes awaken after being engulfed in a deep green glow, and find themselves lying face down under the treetops of a forest. The sun is high in the sky, and the wooden orb sits lifeless, clutched within Radamyr's hand.
It would seem the strange wooden orb somehow pulled them from their cavernous prison, and released them in the same clearing where they first encountered the Kobolds. Radamyr shows the group the orb, and then tucks it away within his robe. Seemingly unchanged in any other way, the group counts their blessings and begin to make the trip back towards the Forum, to reunite father and son.
The return trip is a much shorter one, and they arrive at Boro's house in the late afternoon.
Eternally grateful for them having rescued his son from certain death, he offers them a very fine piece of fabric. It is a shade of dark green, with black images on it, and bordered by some ancient writing. It looks quite old, and has been repaired over and over again. They accept the gift, and they place it amongst their belongings. They relate their tale to Boro, and they mention the worg, which is news Boro finds most disturbing. He tells them Worgs have not been seen in a very long time, and the dark magic bringing them back to life is even worse.
Curious as to where Eric practices being a cleric, he leads them into town, and relates to them that he studies under a very powerful being. Eric is delightfully simple, which makes Radamyr a bit sceptical.
Eric brings them to a tree just outside of the Forum's church.
Radamyr checks to see if the tree is magical in any way. It isn't. It's just a tree. Eric looks at it and smiles, and the group all rolls their eyes.
The group is met with a hearty hello from the priest of the church, named Versteeg. The group chats for a bit, and Radamyr asks if the priest knows anything about the orb they came across. He tells them it is surely crafted of Verrawayan wood. Verraway is the province to the far west of Dahldrum, home of the elves. The magnificent trees of Verraway are said to have magical wood used in the creation of powerful artifacts and items. This was an incredibly lucky find, but he cannot tell them anything more than that.
The group heads back to Boro's where they have dinner, and rest for the night.
In the morning as the four leave, they encounter Versteeg, who is making his way up the stairs of the house. He claims he is here to see Eric about a matter of some importance. He passes by the group and heads inside.
Arradel decides to eavesdrop outside a kitchen window, and she learns that the priest was trying to recruit Eric for a mission, but Eric doesn't want to leave his father again so soon. Versteeg understands, and leaves. On his way back into town he meets up with the four again, and they attempt to get some information out of him. He is reluctant to give up much, but they manage to convince him to open a bit. He tells them he's found a group of adventurers named Sheifle, Jorga, and Cypress to retrieve an item for him. After revealing this information Versteeg makes his way back into town.
Curious as always the group heads to the town registry, hoping to get more information on these three. While the clerk doesn't have much information on Jorga, or Cypress, he does tell them that Sheifle is a cleric, who happens to be the son of Versteeg.
With not much else to go on the group heads to the Drunken Donkey to see if they can gather information on anyone in need. The innkeeper tells them about several farmers having problems with wolves howling in the night, and that there had be one particular farmer that came into the walls looking for help the other night. The group takes directions on how to get to his farmhouse, and they leave the Forum hoping to aid the poor farmer.
Upon arriving at their destination they are greeted by a burly, somewhat rude man who claims that he has been hearing terrible howling coming from the nearby woods at night, and that he would reward them if they would be willing to deal with any potential dangers to he and his livestock. The group attempts to tell him that it could be worgs, but the farmer named Stuart laughs, and tells them that worgs are just fairy tales told to keep kids out of the woods. They are most likely just wolves or coyotes.
The group agrees to help, and decides it might be a good idea to scope out the forest beforehand. They walk a short ways into the woods when they spy an eagle flying overhead, that seems to be taking an interest in them. Radamyr's magical Familiar, an owl, flies up to meet it, only to have the eagle fly directly at it, knocking it from the sky. Laughter can be heard as Radamyr runs to catch the poor thing, and three silhouettes emerge from the forest. A male elf druid, a female human fighter, and a human cleric all emerge from the woods. These appear to be the three adventurers Versteeg spoke of, and the eagle from above happens to be the animal companion of the the druid.
This is a very tense meeting between the two groups. The three commissioned by the priest are a few years their junior, and clearly a bit mischievous. Both sides exchange quips, and minor spells but before it escalates any further they decide to depart on their respective missions.
The four travel for about an hour, until Liaathvain detects evil nearby. A single Worg emerges, and turns to flee, but not before Arradel is able to land an arrow in it's hind quarter. The group now has a small trail of blood to follow, and it leads them to small clearing area where the Worg is just sitting. The group has not yet been seen, which is a good thing, for a number of other worgs appear as if to come to the aid of the one that has already been wounded. There are four in total, and not wanting to take them all on at once, Radamyr is able to lead two of them away using a spell called Ghost Sound. Believing they heard the sound of the other three travellers (now apparent rivals of the group), two of the worgs take off in the direction where the sound came from, leaving the other two behind.
With the fight now in their favour the group engages the worgs in combat. They have the numbers advantage, but are once again met with a strange howl when the first worg falls, only to come back to life. They decide it would be a good idea to remove the heads of the creatures upon their first death, hoping it prevents their reanimation. The tactic proves successful, which comes in handy when the other two worgs return after having heard another member of their pack howl in death. They finish off the remaining beasts, and decide they want to have proof of their battle, so Bogor skins one and uses it's fur as a cloak, Radamyr pulls the teeth out of their muzzles, and Liaathvain wraps the head of one and places it in her bag.
Feeling a tremendous sense of accomplishment the group heads back to the farmhouse, but as they approach the house, something seems terribly wrong. Smoke can be seen billowing from behind the house, and the front door swings loosely on it's hinges. The air around this house is thick with evil, and our heroes brace for whatever it is they are about to find.
To Be Continued...
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