Past Meet Present - To the Treasure!

On a night where I was suffering from little sleep after the week began as hectic as any in recent memory at work the group found themselves not only battling the setting and the game but occasionally a memory lapse or incorrect information from their GM.  All in all I think things went fairly well though considering the condition of the man "behind the screen".

Our party woke in the middle of the afternoon after having traveled all day and night before finally getting some rest.  As they woke and the party prepared to continue on Shadow scouted out.  Nearing the edge of the forest he could see across the foothills beyond a group of humanoids at the very edge of her vision.  The distance and the fact that they were moving over the hilltop made them look much like ants, and other than being able to tell the group was fairly sizable and not mounted not much more could be made out because of the great distance between them.

Returning to the party he relayed this information.  Temeris, fearing that they were headed to the treasure as well got a spring in his step and quickly threw the rest of his items on his horse and only giving the others a few seconds to get things together began riding rapidly towards the Southwest.  The others catching up he slowed a bit to allow Shadow to take her spot scouting ahead and before long the party was traveling out of the forest and across the rolling hills themselves.

As evening neared they could see the next stretch of forest ahead of them and could also see a trail of campfire smoke not far into the treeline trailing up into the sky.  Fearing that this could be the group Shadow had seen earlier in the day and thinking it was a good idea to get ahead of them and push themselves once again they prepared for another long night.  Before heading on however Shadow decided to scout things out and headed towards the forest to learn what she could.

As she approached she could see that the campfire was surrounded by humanoid figures and it wasn't long before she could tell that they were orcs.  Near the fire however she could see that they had a prisoner.  A man lay bound near the fire.  Ready to return but first wishing to check for sentries around the camp she backed off then began around the camp to the North.  As she moved around a branch cracked below her feet just as she saw two figures moving through the trees.  She tried to duck into the shadows but she was too late as the figures yelled out in their native orc tongue and began chasing her.  She turned and began to run as fast as she could back towards the rest of the party.

As she reached the party and yelled out that she was being followed by orcs and their camp held a prisoner she turned and pulled arrows from her quiver and fired at the first one, striking it solid in the chest and taking it from its feet.  However the party saw as Daisy rushed forward to meet the charging orcs that the orc's yells must have attracted those from the camp as others followed the initial pair.

As Daisy braced to engage the first orc to meet her and Shadow pulled more arrows to fire, and while Crispin began to play a tune practiced with Karath that would inspire courage in his fellows, Temeris lept atop his mount and raced out around the orcs towards where the camp would be in order to get to the captive they held.

He pushed his horse through the trees trying to stay out of the fight, unsure what he would come across once he did reach the orc camp.  What he saw wasn't what he expected though.  Before him stood a man with sword in hand above a fallen orc body.  It appeared the man had squirmed free of his bindings and defeated this orc as the others rushed off.  As he approached the man introduced himself as Forsvarets.

Seeing that this man had just fallen an orc and seemed friendly there seemed no other reasonable action to Temeris than to introduce himself and offer to give the man a ride back to fight the remaining orcs.

As they charged back they saw that the fight was being won and as they drew near to the orc Daisy and Howler fought he turned and fled right back at them.  Pulling a dagger quickly he slashed out at the surprised orc and with a single slash through the neck the orc fell.  With only one orc remaining and it being surrounded it didn't take long before the party could all see that Temeris rode with a passenger.

As they dropped down the group introduced themselves even as Shadow slipped off to check for more orcs and to check for the other camp.  During their introductions Temeris could hear the hint of a Cormyrian accent and immediately asked where the man was from and sure enough he was from Cormyr as well.  Despite a strange story of a barmaid dragging him out for the orcs after a lost wager, they accepted the man for who he was, even Shadow, and invited him to join them in their travels.



Figuring that they had only a couple of hours of sunlight left, and that the trail may be treacherous for the horses even with others having gone before, they decided to tie off the horses nearby and leave Howler to watch them.  They then began the march up the trail which despite being overgrown and unused in quite some time showed signs that at one time it had been well tended with some areas even having stairs cut into the stone.

They traveled for a couple of hours and as the sun began to set they saw a glimmer in the distance.  As they approached they saw that it was a small lake and near that lake sat a pair of white buildings.  Shadow went forward to investigate, the others coming along behind.  Shadow noticed that someone had camped in one of the buildings perhaps the night before, and noticed that the buildings were desecrated shrines of some sort.

Reporting back to the others "the desecrated shrines of foul gods where others had recently camped" Crispin reminded Shadow that evil followers don't generally go around defiling shrines to their evil gods.  With that Crispin and Daisy set off for the nearest one, and behind them Temeris headed for the other while Shadow remained behind beseeching her god to help her create holy water while the new member of the party watched.

While Crispin looked around the desecrated shrine of the first building he could deduce nothing, however, nor could Temeris in the other.  Passing each other outside they switched buildings, and in those Temeris found a writing upon a statue asking about the "Triune virtues" of the god.  He began muttering virtues he could think of as Shadow walked in annoyed that Temeris had gone off alone to create trouble.  Meanwhile in the other shrine Crispin found enough markings and symbols to realize that this was long ago a shrine to the god Helm, a good god.  He also found writings on the statue that stated those that prayed to the god would be watched over.  After a moment of thought he uttered a prayer for Helm to watch over him and to protect him, and suddenly the statue began to move.

As it began to reveal a room below he sent Daisy rushing to get the others.  Once they finally all joined up they descended the stairs.  Below they saw no desecration and found themselves before only a single door with an engraving on it stating one of Helm's common phrases.  Temeris looked it over and felt himself strangely "safe" as a warmth filled him as he touched the door.  Shadow cursed out about the situation and the gods and Crispin in the neutral tone he has become known for told her that she was in the place of a good god and she should watch herself and her actions in here.  With that he stepped forward and stated "I believe that this is a safe place for people who do not cross Helm" and with that pushed on the stone door.

The door swung easily open, revealing a room beyond which appeared to be a barracks long ago.  In front of the cots sat neatly piled swords, spears, and similar equipment.  At the end sat a few beds with chainmail instead of the leathers the others had.  Crispin curious as to if any of it held magic cast a spell which allowed him to see auras and soon saw that there was a sword and chainmail that were magical, and that there was a scroll case which they later determined to have clerical scrolls as well.  After looking around briefly Temeris found what he believed to be another doorway, and despite his best efforts could not find a way to open it.  After finally giving up and believing that it may lead to under the other statue anyway, they decided to close the stone door and bed down for the night.



This is where we leave off for the session.  Where does the other door lead?  Who is the other shrine dedicated to?  Who else had camped here recently?  What will they find further up the pathway?  Lots of questions, but the Treasure Map is certainly going to lead to exciting times...