Freae always felt closer to her father than her mother or sisters. That may have been because she always looked a little more elven while her sisters looked a little more human. It may have been simply because she was always interested in nature, like her father. Either way she holds fond memories of being with her father in the surrounding woods and forests. It's only in the shade of trees that she ever truly feels at peace.
Unfortunately her father died while Freae was very young. Freae was simply told that “there has been an accident, your father is dead”. She never got to see his body or find out exactly what happened. Since then she's felt herself somewhat more distant from the rest of her family. She sought out Shona Darkeye, the local Druid (who has black irises), and asked to be taught the ways of the Druid.
Returning after her training with her new companion, a wolf called Graymalkin, she has arrived back in Watersmeet for her majority decision. She's already been told by Shona that she isn't wanted as a continuing pupil, so her only choice is to wander the world, maybe go adventuring.
Once there she met up with her friends, the other 3 “outcasts”. The one nice thing was that with Graymalkin by her side the bullies suddenly found other things to do. They enjoyed an evening of good food and drink while catching up on the past. A number of members of the council suggested that they shouldn't plan on leaving the immediate area quite yet, that there were things they could usefully do. A spectacular display of shooting stars took place later in the evening, while watching this they all realised that the Council were watching them, very closely.
Spending the night by the lake they were awoken by Graymalkin growling at the water. Nothing happened and they eventually all went back to sleep.
The next day they went to the ceremony and stated their desire to leave. When asked by the Council if it would be enough, Freae responded, “Ask me when I'm dead.”, which caused a few laughs. Then the horn of alarm was blown...
Things rapid turned ugly when the group were attacked by a couple of Orcs and 6 Goblins. With the aid of the Sheriff they were able, eventually, to see their attackers off. However they were attacked by powerful death magic, probably by a Cleric of Gruumsh One Eye. Fortunately the Cleric of Pelor was able to keep the party from serious harm, though Yuma was unwell for some time.
The party separated and went to aid the others of the village, the whole village having been attacked. Freae realised that the most likely route of the attackers was through the forest where her family lived. Their absence was surprising and Freae was concerned.
Setting out the next day they tracked the attackers path and eventually arrived at Freae's family's farm. There they discovered that her mother and sisters had been ritually slaughtered. Freae dragged the bodies into the yard and set a funeral pyre.
In the morning Freae collected the smaller bones as spell focuses and gave the larger ones to Graymalkin. The rest she crushed. One of her neighbors arrived shortly afterwards and she asked him if he could arrange for the farm to be looked after, on the understanding that she might be looking for somebody to manage it.
They set off to the South and after a day or so's travel they camped by the bridge for the night. They were disturbed by a pair of Trolls who chased them for some distance. Eventually, tiring, Freae cast Flare at the remaining Troll, who was temporarily blinded, allowing them time to escape.
They returned home, stopping by Shona's grove. The others found Shona disturbing, but Freae was at peace for a short period. While passing the lake Graymalkin stopped to stare at it. Once home they suggested to the sheriff that they investigate the next day, and he suggested that he joined them.
The next day they arranged for a boat and sailed the lake for the morning, finding nothing. After discussions over lunch, including discussions with one of the Council members, they set off towards the ruined mansion.
En route they ran into a badger, which left them alone, and a couple of Zombies, which didn't. After a brief fight they saw off the Zombies. The next morning they reached the mansion and showing true Paladin abilities, the Paladon decided to kick in the front door, assisted by the Monk.
Despite words of caution from Freae they decided to continue into the house.
This proved an experience as they fought their way through a number of Zombies, eventually facing a rather large Zombie that almost proved the end of them. In this final fight Freae was blinded by a mis-cast spell of Veddicus and despite this managed to cover the Zombie in lamp oil, allowing Veddicus to set light to it, killing it. After looting the rest of the building they collected a number of sets of silver cutlery. In the process they decided that a greater undead (like maybe a Vampire) still lived there.
They moved on, rapidly, to the Monestary, where they rested. While there Veddicus did some research into the cave complexes and a magical pool (the Cleansing Pool) somewhere in the forest to the north of Watersmeet. Apparently valuable herbs grew next to the pool.
He also discovered that Elves lived in the Elder Forest and the Dwarves in the hills beyond the High Fort. Even further north there were apparently nomads.
Upon return to Watersmeet the cutlery was sold for some 8 silver a setting. We were also warned about vagrancy, as if sleeping with nature was somehow wrong. Discussions were raised about selling the farm and buying a town house.
With 5 coppers from the Sheriff for taking messages to the forts some torches were bought and the party set off. Unfortunately the resting place turned out to be home to a couple of water Ogres. A nasty fight followed, resulting in the party being badly injured, even after the use of Freae's spells.
The day was spent in rest here, enjoying the noise of the waterfall and the colours of the light on the water. A mostly peaceful night followed, except when Veddicus annoyed a passing bear which then approached, following the light that Veddicus had cast. After much persuasion he finally doused it, but too late. After careful work by Freae (and all her food) they fled, resting a mile or so up hill.
The next day saw them at the first fort, where they delivered their messages to a complete shit of an officer. Staying overnight while waiting for return messages a scout, Jacko, returned to the fort, the rest of his party missing. He was in a bad way, having been ambushed and only just managed to escape. The officer immediately declared this as cowardice and treason and had him slapped in their cell. None of the party were happy about this, but after some soul searching decided to let it be. Freae returned to bed before she did or said something she'd regret.
The following morning the idiot lead the majority of the fort's company out on patrol, having ordered the party to escort Jacko back to Watersmeet for justice. Reluctantly they agreed, however they detoured via the local caves on the way back. This uncovered a bear's den and another fight. Freae tried to heal the bear after the fight, it being guilty of nothing but defending itself. However Yuma killed it before she could do so, much to her annoyance.
Investigating the other entrance they discovered some form of engraving inlaid into the floor, a large double circle with Dwarven runes between the 2 circles.
The walk back to Watersmeet was uneventful, other than Freae remonstrating with her friends about the killing of the bear. Valanthe seemed to understand however Yuma was flippant about it, annoying Freae. They did however discover that the wand Veddicus had found was a wand of lightning.
Once back in Watersmeet they handed Jacko over to the jail, the sheriff being out of town. That night Freae was awoken by a scream, however being uncertain as to what she heard she returned to sleep. The following morning they discovered that a girl had been found dead by the lake's edge, apparently attacked by some creature. A wolf was felt to be the cause and Graymalkin was chased away by the locals.
Freae found tracks of the creature, but couldn't identify them. It certainly appeared to be 4 legged and quite heavy, certainly heavier than any wolf. Unfortunately she lost the tracks before being able to work out where they went to or came from.
Veddicus undertook some research and it was felt that a were of some form was probably the cause. As there was to be a full moon that night it was expected that it might return. Freae however was more concerned about Graymalkin and so set off in search of him with the aid of Yuma.
Freae stayed with Graymalkin that night and was woken by Yuma shortly after midnight. It transpired that 2 others had been killed that night, so she returned with Yuma to see if she could assist. Working from what she could see in and around the house whatever had attacked came in through the front window and left via the roof. Attempts to climb onto the roof resulted in a rather badly bruised Valanthe when she broke Freae's fall.
Scouting around nearby houses she finally picked up tracks that led to a sewer grate. Valanthe was able to identify that nothing had left via another sewer grate, so the creature had another exit somewhere. After much discussion it was agreed to go down immediately, despite being so ill prepared.
Scouting around nearby houses she finally picked up tracks that led to a sewer grate. Valanthe was able to identify that nothing had left via another sewer grate, so the creature had another exit somewhere. After much discussion it was agreed to go down immediately, despite being so ill prepared.
After some time following the creatures tracks they eventually found an iron door in the sewer wall. While discussing what to do a were-rat leapt out and attacked the party. In short order the only one left standing was Yuma with both Freae and Valanthe being critically wounded. Fortunately Veddicus was able to hit the creature with his wand of lightning, killing it. Unfortunately it turned out to be Veddicus' brother.
Veddicus did find a large lump of gold coins and a small comb along with a gray Bag of Tricks. The gold was about 200 gold coins, which they arranged for the money changer to store.
After some rest and healing they gathered with Veddicus and his family for the funeral of his brother. Freae approached the council about swapping her farm for a property outside the town wall. This the council agreed to and also decided to make Jacko her responsibility. He was to look after her house, but was to go no further than 5 miles from the center of Watersmeet.
With their new found wealth, and the trade of a dagger Freae had found, the party purchased chainmail for Valanthe and arranged to have her sword properly balanced.
With the new chainmail and sword the party accompanied the Sheriff to investigate the bandits to the South. While stalking through the woods, with Freae about 30 feet ahead, the rest of the party was ambushed. Freae found herself up against another Druid, though (s)he escaped. The rest of the bandit force was slaughtered by the rest of the party along with the Sheriff.
A brief search found the bandit's base which the party looted, turning up a couple of wall hangings, a lute, a small cask of something alcaholic, a couple of dresses and a few other items. These they took back to Watersmeet to sell.
Resting that evening at the Three Firs they met a bard, Andrew. He proclaimed the lute to be the work of a master gnome and worth “more money than I'd make in a lifetime”. A short while later he left with Yuma for the rest of the night.
The next day they sold the hangings, lute, cask and dresses. The total was some 2000 GP. In the process Freae discovered that there was a 3% import tax and that their house had a 1 silver/10 day tax payable on it.
Discussing arrangements with the house it was decided that more staff were required, particularly a butler and a maid. Jacko stated that he'd be happy looking after the horses. Freae also insisted that they get a gardener and it was agreed that somebody to watch the horses while they were away. Adverts for the positions of Butler and Cook were lodged in the local merchant's shops. The idea being that the Butler would sort out the other positions.
They then left to investigate the creatures carrying off the farm animals, arriving at Brin's farm that night. Setting off the next day they were shown the tracks created by the animals, unlike anything Freae had ever seen before. Following these to the river the party set off upstream for a couple of hours, finding more tracks that led out of the river, but no sign of a single entry point. Heading downstream on the other side they eventually found the point of entry for the tracks, just a few miles North of the Troll Bridge.
Following these strange tracks for many hours eventually the party realised that they were going in a perfectly straight line. Freae suggested that it could be some contraption rather than an animal, not knowing any large animals that moved that way. As darkness fell they camped a couple of miles south of the line.
During the night the party was attacked by 4 giant worker ants and one giant warrior ant, during Valanthe's watch. Freae used her Entagle to stop the worker ant's carrying off the horses and sent Graymalkin to protect the horse that escaped the area. The party then went to the aid of Valanthe.
A nasty struggle with the warrior ant ensued with Valanthe being put down early in the encounter. Between Yuma and Veddicus the warrior ant was killed while Freae healed Valanthe. They then dispatched the worker ants and rescued the horses. The one that had been captured by the ants was hurt, but not seriously.
At Freae's insistence they set off immediately, with Freae leading the wounded horse while the others, all significantly wounded, rode. They camped just short of the river and in the morning Freae did what healing she could, including the wounded horse. They stopped off briefly at the farm and told the farmer what they had found, advising him how to deter the ants, before moving on, reaching the lake shore just before night fell.
In the morning Freae finished healing everybody, and the horse, before she and Veddicus set off for her house (as applicants for the advertised positions would be arriving) while Valanthe and Yuma set off to inform the Sheriff of their findings.
Freae and Veddicus then rushed home to start the interviews for the positions of Butler and Cook. The first couple were an older couple, Carne One Eye and Morag, his wife. While Carne (who was pretty ugly and obviously a fist fighter) had little experience his wife had been a lady's servant for some 2 years. They had left Whitebridge to find somewhere more pleasant.
The next pair were brother and sister, Joran and Jollie Schin. They had no experience and both Freae and Veddicus decided they didn't like them.
The last pair were Churgun and Gedda. They had been servants of a landholder and had some experience. Churgun was rather weaselly and stayed silent, while his wife did all the talking.
After discussing feelings and spending a short time with Carne and Morag they decided to employ them. Discussions then resulted in a salary of 2 silver a day, which from the reaction was on the high side.
Freae then arranged for a house account to be created (password Moonshadow) into which 3 gold was paid every 10 days from the main account. Carne and Morag were given the password and the responsibility for paying Jacko.
Having settled all of this and made a number of purchases (Freae bought some lighter leather and a couple of leather cloaks) the party set off towards the Lone Oak.
Approaching it they discovered that there were no other trees within about 3 miles. Freae also noticed that the tree wasn't an Oak, it wasn't even natural!
Persuading the others of this was difficult, however in the end they bowed to her knowledge in this matter. They moved on towards the farm that was suffering from the Goblins. After discussions with Lonnie and his wife Ellie (they had a young son Brian) they set off North West. That night as they camped they were ambushed by the goblins and suffered badly. They recovered the next day and then set off again, after Freae took some of the bull's hair for a spell component.
Once more they were ambushed and badly hurt. Limping slowly they retreated to consider their options. Much discussion later they decide to try to sneak up on the Goblins. This worked fairly well until the party was part way up a slope when they were, once more, ambushed. This split the party, with Freae at the front with Yuma, the others behind the landslide. Freae decided that the only retreat was forwards and attacked the Goblins, defeating all except one, who escaped. One Goblin survived and after much discussion Freae killed it incase it became a threat later. Valanthe, having failed to stop this, suddenly found herself stripped of her powers.
The party moved forwards and discovered a cave entrance that they couldn't see into. Deciding to finish the matter (one way or the other) Yuma and Freae charged while the others brought up the rear. Finding themselves in a small cave they were immediately under attack. After a struggle and with assistance from their friends they defeated those facing them. A surrender was negotiated initially, however Veddicus became arsey about it and insisted on killing them all (take that either way). Another bitter fight ensued and eventually all the Goblin fighters were killed, leaving only the young and the women.
After heated discussion it was agreed to let the Goblins go (which was what Freae had been trying to do, when Veddicus incited them to further combat). This was done in the morning, though they left 2 young Goblins behind. Deciding to take them to the Monastery, Freae and Veddicus returned to the farm and collected their horses. Setting off towards the West the party eventually arrived at the Mage's tower. Taking this opportunity the others went inside while Freae went on the hunt for a bird of prey.
She eventually found a Red Kite and returned to her friends in the tower. There she found them in some trouble, with 2 of them injured. The party camped their overnight, with the goblins secured. In the night the goblins ran for it, and fell foul of a trap in the entrance hall.
Discussions ensured over the goods the party had found while looting the tower, particularly a Dagger of Venom. Eventually it was agreed (mostly) to have it destroyed as it was an evil item. With what money was now available the party arranged for a barge trip to Whitebridge to arrange for Valanthe to atone herself.
Upon reaching Whitebridge Valanthe sought out her temple and was given a mission to undertake – a message to the Elves. Valanthe then introduced everybody to her old mentor – Sir Pentrellan. The others then visited court at his request – Freae was uncomfortable enough and decided to abstain.
The rest of the party came back with news that an Elf was at court and apparently had the ear of the Baron. Indications were that she and Sir Pentrellan didn’t see eye to eye.
Returning to Watersmeet they discovered that a Dwarven mason was working on the wall that was being built around the Western part of Watersmeet.
Having stocked up the party then set off into the Elven lands. Along the way they came across a pool of animated acid that took a lot of killing, though it was killed in the end. After a delay of a day or so, allowing everybody to be healed, the party carried on. Realising that the party was being shadowed Freae dropped back to sneak up on whatever it was. Unfortunately they got the drop on her and she was knocked unconscious.
Waking up she discovered that they’d been captured by Elves, lead by one called Elethril Readleaf. Asking about her missing (animal) companions Freae was told that they had been commanded to stay away. After some time of travel they arrived at an Elven village, mostly in the trees.
Yeah, I skipped a lot getting here, it’ll be updated eventually.
With Valanthe’s ceremony due shortly it was agreed that only Yuma would travel with Freae to try to find a source of wood that could be enchanted to make magical weapons. Freae felt that a good starting point would be the Elven priest, Cassiel Brightwater, who was staying locally. Not knowing precisely where he was staying they set off along the western road, intending to turn North at the monestary.
The trip was uneventful, except for running into a party of Fey who enchanted Freae, despite her resistance to them. Having slept overnight at the monestary they set off along the edge of the forest. A night later they were disturbed by a small party (3-6) of Orcs trampling through the forest, heading towards the hills in the North. Following their tracks East the next day Freae discovered signs that somebody with significant power or ability had been masking their tracks, though not well enough to hide them from her. Intending on making up for lost time she struck off North East, however after a couple of minutes it became apparent that Yuma was having significant problems following through the undergrowth, so Freae followed game trails instead.
Eventually they found the trail described by Cassiel and Freae followed it West for just about a day. At the end of the trail they found a small cabin and Cassiel.
Explaining her desire for some form of wood to form a weapon that could be enchanted Cassiel told her that the Elves were unlikely to sell such items to one who wasn’t an Elf. He did think however that those that lived by the lake might help. As it was getting late they all sat down for a meal and Cassiel preached to them for a while.
These turned out to be a colony of Nixies. After a number of illusions and other tricks Freae eventually found one willing to create her an enchanted staff, in return for a “big” boat. Agreeing to this exchange she returned, with Yuma, to Cassiel’s cabin. Preparing to set off Freae realised she couldn’t find Graymalkin. After a brief search they discovered that he had been turned green by the Nixies (which rather matched Freae’s purple nose). He wasn’t at all happy about this, and Cassiel suggested that he might be able to help, which Freae happily agreed to.
Fortunately Cassiel’s spell did work, and Graymalkin returned to his natural brown. This obviously made him happy, as he ran off terrorising the local wildlife.
Following the trail back to the edge of the forest Freae then took the fastest route back to Watersmeet, conscious that Valanthe’s ceremony was due shortly. They made good time, being held up by meeting what appeared to be a Beholder one night. Striking it with fire however Freae discovered that it wasn’t, when it blew up. The next morning she didn’t feel brilliantly, but put it down to last nights dinner.
They arrived outside the gates of Watersmeet just after dark, and camped down for the night.
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