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Session 25, Shynkyf and the Bridge

Coins End 

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Session 25 – 2024-06-15

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==== Summary ====



==== Detail ====

They started the session in the tavern in Keltar. They had healed at the temple, ate and then turned in. They set up watches over night, listening and watching for the sword wraiths but none appeared in town. The next morning, the towns folk turned out to thank them. They still weren't positive that they'd gotten them all and returned to the mounds. They searched the mounds and found nothing. They determining that the rogue, having entered the mound to rob the graves, must have been what woke the undead and sent them out into the world in the first place. Deciding that they'd successfully cleared it out, they set out for Shynkyf. They travelled for two days. On the first night, as the party settled down for a needed rest, Brandy walked over to Oglesby and said something quietly to him. He nodded and got up, then together they walked off just out of earshot and seemed to begin discussing something. 

At first, it seemed a bit comical, with the large burly man talking downward, and the small Halfling girl speaking upward. As everyone watched, the conversation seemed to grow more intense. As it went on, they both became more animated they could make out the words they were speaking to one another.

“What are you saying?” Asked Brandy becoming more and more agitated in her high- pitched Halfling voice.

“You need to be nicer to her. She doesn’t deserve to be harassed like this,” answered Oglesby.

“Harassed? Ogg, I don’t trust her. She’s up to something I can tell.” Replied Brandy sounding somewhat exasperated.

“How do you know that?” Growled Oglesby.

“Ogg she’s running a con on you. It’s plain as day. You of all people should be able to see that.” stated Brandy sounding a bit desperate.

“No, I don’t see that at all.” Said Ogleby growing angry. “You’re the one who is blinded this time Brandy!”

“Me?” Yelled Brandy growing angry in turn. “You must be drunk or something!” 

“I’m perfectly sober my dear and I’m asking you to treat my dear friend better,” stated Oglsby.

“Dear friend? Ogg, What the fuck is wrong with you.” Brandy replied not believing what she was hearing.

“Nothing is wrong with me! She is dear to me and I don’t appreciate your attitude towards her.” Oglesby replied smugly.

“Dear to you? Dear to you!? Ogg, you only met her a few days ago at a shitty roadside tavern along with five pints of ale. How the hell can she be Dear to you?” Her voice was now shrill and sounded shocked.

“Well, she is! She’s my best friend now and I won’t put up with any more of this from you.”

“Best friend!” Yelled Brandy. “She’s your best friend? What the hell does that make me after all these years together?”

“I don’t know Brandy, what does it?” asked Oglesby with an odd tone.

“What’s she doing Ogg giving you blow jobs on the quiet?” yelled Brandy extremely angry at Oglesby now.

Oglesby’s reaction to this shocked everyone including Brandy. His jovial demeanor melted away and was replaced by that of an evil-looking man who had been seemingly pushed too far.
“How dare you talk about Selson like that you mangy-sawed off little Halfling bitch! You always were nothing more than just an itty bitty pain in my great big ass!”

Your group in the short time being together had seen the courage and determination of Brandy. She had taken bites, blows, swords, arrows, even words and always seemed to shrug it all off and press the battle home with any opponent be it physical or verbal.

This blow however was like a knife to her heart and soul. She staggard back slightly with tears welling in her big brown eyes. Showing a depth of emotional pain you didn't think the tough Halfling was even capable of.

“So If that’s how you feel, I guess we aren’t friends anymore, huh?” She said in a broken voice. Her body quivering with emotion.

“I guess not.” Came his reply in a cold tone.

The moment seemed to pass and Brandy blazed once again with anger. Her face was red and wet from the tears now running down her face.

“Well, hear this Oglesby Percival Hawthorn the 3rd. The next time your fat ass gets stuck in the fire I won’t be the one to pull it out for you!” she screamed at him.

“Oh, I think my Selson is more than capable of that my dear.” Came his reply rather dismissively.

“Don’t you ever call me “Dear” again you big ass hole. All you big folk are all the same! I thought you were different. So FUCK you.. and FUCK her!

She quickly turned away and began heading away from Oglesby and the party.

Tony being as ineloquent as ever and always commenting at the most inappropriate time spoke up loudly.

“Hey yo, Brandy. So like I'll be your friend and stuff ya know.”

Walking away with her tiny shoulders wracked with emotion her head hung low she tilted her head slightly in the group's direction.

“Fuck off Tuna!”

Elenor and Pyreece approached Brandy and were able to calm her down some. There was talk about whether or not Selson may have cast a spell on Oglesby. Elenor moved closer to the edge of the tree line and from across the field, she cast a Detect Magic on Oglesby. It only told her the types of magic associated with him. She read the magic of the sling, the short sword, and the cloak he wore. She and Brandy talked for a time and created a bond, not the same depth of bond as Oglesby and Brandy had shared, but a bond none the less. She also approached Selson to try and get a read on what she was doing. She point blank asked if she'd cast some sort of spell on Oglesby. She reacted as though innocent. Elenor then approached Oglesby and tried to convince him that he needed to talk with Brandy. He kept saying that, "She gets like this!", and that he just needed to leave it alone, "Generally, she get's over this kind of stuff!". 

While all of this was going on, as Kipp was resting, he felt a sort of need to pull the coin out from beneath his tunic, he reached for it but then thought better of it and left it put away. Elenor and Pyreece, while talking to Brandy, learned that Oglesby had said something to Brandy that went beyond anything she felt she could overlook, it was a racial slur. It made her feel as if their friendship had been nothing more than Oglesby using her. As things calmed down, they turned in with Kipp taking the first watch. Later that evening, he spotted green flashes and streaks of green lightning coming from the north, beyond the Marching Mountains. As he turned in, Audra took over. She experienced more of the same but nothing else happened during her watch. Pyreece took the last watch with nothing happening. 

They reached the settlement of Shynkyf by early evening. The guards carefully checked everyone coming in the gate. Some of the people entering the gate looked to be refuge's. The guards searched the group but didn't confiscate anything. They appeared to be searching for signs of the witch. They met with the commander of the place. He asked where they were headed and Kipp told them, "North!". The commander asked why they'd want to go there. Kipp told him, "To help take care of it.". The commander indicated that he understood why mercenaries might what to go there but why would an adventuring group want to go there. Kipp told him that they were after one person. He asked who that might be. Kipp said he wouldn't say her name but would say that she was a witch. Brandy muttered, "Not witch, bitch!". Kipp told him that they knew she was gathering armies of different creatures.

While they are talking, several in their party noticed that the soldiers behind them were watching them. They definitely seemed to have their attention. Kipp asked the leader what they were doing here. He told them that they were preparing for battle. That forces were moving down from the north, "The witch Daresh and her armies are moving through the Forest of Mir and the Marching Mountains. They've already taken over two Dukedoms and are quietly taking over this Dukedom as we speak. Their forces are moving through the land of Edrin Takdar right now. We are the southern most part of that Dukedom. The armies are said to be made up of Gnolls, Orcs, Goblins, Hobgoblins, and undead. We have reinforcements coming. But I don't think it will be enough to slow her roll right now. She seems to take anything she wants, as it's going right now! It's inevitable that Shynkyf will be attacked.". Kipp asked if he had a time frame as to when this might happen. He didn't. He didn't believer they'd made it through the mountain area yet. They'd had refugees from the north side and south side of the river who have seen that some of their scouting groups have begun raiding farms. 

The commander pointed out the refugee area across the bridge on the east side of town. He mentioned they'd built a sort of tavern back there. Kipp asked if they could camp here and spend the night. The man told him, "Of course!. I'll remind you though that there are spies everywhere. We will keep a close eye on you!". Kipp replied, "That's fine, we'll be keeping a close eye on you as well. We've also seen things that have happened at night when camping!". The man asked what we'd seen. Kipp told him, "Black misty looking things, we've killed sword wraiths.". The commander was unfamiliar with sword wraiths. Kipp described them as undead. He told him that we'd fought the sword wraiths in Keltar. He asked if they were linked to the witch. Kipp told him that he believed they were. The man took down notes about what Kipp had said and he called on a young man over and ordered him to take the note to the high command. Kipp rattled off some other things they'd seen. He mentioned that we'd almost died a couple of times as the battles have been hard. The commander asked that they see him again in the morning before they left. 

They moved across the bridge to the east into the refugee area. They found the tavern tent and entered. It was a good sized area with a person playing a violin. Most of the people were either soldiers or mercenaries. They ate and drank. The server asked if they were here to defend Shynkyf. They told her that they were just passing through but would help to defend the town should something happen while they were here. The server was the wife of Barry, the owner. He was very proud of his abilities with his heavy crossbow. They heard there were reinforcements coming, some 100 foot soldiers and a couple of battle priest were set to arrive the next day. Barry and his wife fled Darimar when the witch started to surround it and came down here about a month ago. The party finished eating and went outside and set up tents for the evening. They set up watches for the night and settled in. Oglesby and Selson took the first watch. Pyreece sat up with them as she wanted to keep an eye on Selson.

While in his tent, Kipp pulled out the coin and began caressing it. He heard soothing voices in his mind, telling him stories of courage and how vile Gnolls are. He got the feeling of camaraderie. The more it talked to him, the more he wanted it to talk to him. He got the sence that with this coin, he could eradicate the scourge of Gnolls and all evil. He was enthralled by that kind of power. He never thought about that before because he never thought he would have that power but now, as he held that coin, he felt he could do whatever he wanted. The coin responded to that, "Yesss…Yesss!". He clutched the coin to himself and laid back and dreamed strange dark dreams. Oglesby and Pyreece heard the occasional calling out form the guard towers,  "ONE OCLOCK AND ALL'S WELL!". That would echo around the fort and even from the precipice above from the soldiers on watch up there. Oglesby and Pyreece's watch ended and Pyreece woke Audra and turned in. Tony joined Audra as well. Every hour, the call rang out again, "ALL'S WELL!". The rest of their watch was uneventful. Tony went and woke up Kipp for the last watch. The rest of the watch passed without event.

Dawn came and they woke and ate, listening to the military running drills. They went to the commander on their way out to check in with him as he had asked them to do. He told them there were no knew events over night. He said the last thing they'd heard was that Daresh had completed her takeover of  the Forest of Mir, moving into the mountains and moving this way. The body count was somewhere between 500-1,000 troops of varying races. He told them that if they saw Daresh, to put an arrow in her for them. They agreed to do that and left. They headed Northeast. The closer they got to the mountains, the rougher the terrain. They arrived at a precipice over looking the bridge. It was nearing dark and they decided to watch the bridge from up here and camp for the night before approaching it. They camped a hundred feet or so from the egde, just below the line of sight from the cliff looking down over the bridge. 

Brandy and Kipp watched for a while, looked down on the ravine and the bridge. They saw a few figures on the other side of the bridge. They decided to fire on them and take them out. They managed to drop two of them. The third one got away, running back into the shadows of the rocks. As they went back to tell the others what they'd seen and done, the rest of the party had heard some commotion and was already moving towards the ravine. Each group travelled on different paths and didn't see each other. The second group approached the edge of the ravine and saw the two bodies on the other side of the bridge. 

While trying to figure out where Brandy and Kipp were, and who killed the Hobgoblins on the other side of the bridge, they were attacked by flying creatures they later learned were also Hobgoblins. Hobgoblins that Daresh had modified by gifting them the power of flight. They fought them killing them. As they finished, Brandy, and Kipp caught back up with them. They began hearing noise coming from the south. It sounded big and it came from behind them, following the path they'd taken to get here.

That is where the session ended.

Exp 173 + 17 = 190