Pax Tharda

In this issue, I've just got the various game summaries. I've left out a fair amount of detail in the hopes of just keeping the sailent points straight.

The Campaign

The following section details the events of the Pax Tharda campaign from the 10th of Nuzyael (roughly April) thought the 29th.

Peonu 1st, 719

A quiet day at the fort. Not much happened other than the fact that everyone got paid.

Peonu 2nd, 719

Toliam, the local timberwright (#101) is escorted to his timbercamp in the woods by Themeson I:I:I and II. The camp is two-watches away as the ox-cart plods. The party arrives to find the woodcutters dead and the camp destroyed and on fire. The heart wood the woodcutters should have gathered over the last few days is also missing and cart tracks lead north, into the woods.

Something very large charged through the camp several times. The dead are trampled, torn and burned, but not eaten. A beast charged through the cabin at the edge of the clearing, leaving large, ragged holes at either end.

As the party helps to burry the dead, Toliam draws up plans. He splits the party in half, taking Themseon I:I:II with him to the local village to recruit locals to finish the job.

Atop a nearby hill, the party encountered Hiril (#101) a wary sheppard boy tending his herd of goats. He saw the Gargantuan pass by in the night. It killed a few of his goats, two nights prior, but he ran away. Hiril also met three men who claimed to be from a nearby village and searching for the Gargantuan. Hiril had pretended he knew nothing because he did not recognize any of the men.

That night, with the camp rebuilt and everyone returned, the Gargantuan made its appearance. Its mind was malicious jumble and it attacked anything that moved by charging it. The beast was 4' feet at the shoulder and over 6' long. It has no tail or ears outside the hard spikes that cover its body. Each spike has a sharp edge and is actually made of metal and sewn into the beast's hide. Its eyes are tiny black orbs buried within the spikes. The party fought it valiently, but it seemed immune to pain. Eventually Caius managed to overturn the beast and the group came forth and slaughtered it.

Peonu 3rd, 719

The next morning Themeson I:I:I left early to try and track the Gargantuan back to its lair, and possibly find the missing heart wood. Themeson I:I:II and the locals would help Toliam gather fresh heartwood for the Caer.

The party discovered tracks in the forest, also headed north into the foothills. Following the tracks they encountered a man in a gulley, watering four horses. The man claimed to be a huntsman, his three friends were off hunting and it was his turn to guard the horses. He'd heard rumors of hte Gargantuan, but claimed he'd never encountered the beast himself. While his tale was reasonable, the party didn't believe him. They warned the stranger about the Gargantuan, and recommended he cut his hunting trip short.

Later that day, the party found a cave-entrance. They climbed down and into it. It was a series of limestone caves, but the floor was reasonably flat and free of stalagmites. Further in, they found gouges in the walls near the ground and places where stone and mortar had been used to block off caverns and repair crumbling walls.

Eventually the caves led into a large room with 9 pillars evenly spaced along its width and length. At the head of the room, opposite their entrance, was a Navehian alter. When they approached it a Gytevsha apeared and began to talk to Johnson about the pillars in the room. When the party tried to run, or speak to it, the Gytevsha divided itself again and again so that each of the five party members had their own Gytevsha to talk to.

The party carefully set off a trap on the door to the north-west. The door exploded open and caused the door to the north-east to also explode. The room filled with flying splinters. Fortunately the pillars provided good protection.

When someone came down to find out what the noise was - a Gytevsha raced to the north-east door, opened its incredibly large mouth and shouted: "GO AWAY. I'M HAVING A CONVERSATION". It then turned into the door and the trap appeared to reset.

The party was then charged by a gargantuan from the north-west door. They managed to kill it and its blood began to flow towards the alter. Everything they did to stop the blood just seemed to make it run faster. The Gytevsha tried to stop the party and help the blood reach the alter.

The party re-opened the doors and managed to escape the clutches of the Gytevsha and ambush some very unwilling soldiers on the ground floor beyond the north-east doorway. After a particularly messy combat (and stopping the dead's blood from flowing to the alter), a green gas that had begun flowing down the stairs at the end of the corridore. The party retreated and tried the north-east doorway.

The doorway led to a corridore and ended in a set of stairs. Upstairs they discovered several rooms and a kitchen. Most of the rooms appeared unused and a few contained a lot of boxes. Corneilus discovered Wiskok's Pen, a magical pen and parchment that writes down whatever the holder of the parchment says.

They found a second set of stairs and proceeded further up into a room with 12 cages. Six cages held sleeping Gargantuans and three held very large puppies. The others were empty. The party managed to cover the cages with drapes and blankets (some of which came from downstairs) which seemed to keep the Gargantuan quiet. One of the large puppies (seemingly a full grown dog, but with huge feet) followed the party.

Caius and Corneilus went back downstairs to find two cooks in the kitchen. The cooks assumed Caius and Corneilus were new recurits and showed them a way around the cage-room through a secret passage.

The party met up outside the cage room and they continued to explore. They found a room with 24 men asleep and decided to pass it by. Further on they found a man asleep in a rich chamber. Caius served him with a list of charges including: running an un-taxed temple, running a Navehian temple, holding a private army, avoiding the census, and numerous other charges. He was informed he had to be at the next Moot in Themeson to respond to these charges. He accepted the paper, although he claimed not to be the leader of the facility.

The party continued up and out, and eventually left a small hunting cabin behind. The puppy followed and, eventually, went his own way.

That night Fennelisa heard wolves.

Peonu 4th

After reporting in, the party went to sleep. The next day, around noon, the group was ready to return to Themeson. It took Toliam until after lunch to get started.

They returned to Themeson late in the day.

Peonu 5th-14th

A quiet time in the Caer.

During this time Johnson met Chronas, a journeyman metalsmith who made a shield, sword and helm. He had Johnson pick which he'd like. Johnson took the shield. Johnson also met a light-elemental, which he named Muse.

Muse only speaks in single-word sentences and seems to be quite perturbed that he's paired up with someone so involved in combat.

Peonu 15th

The Moot was held on the 15th. Many cases were held and Brother John (#124) had to explain the rules of the Moot quite carefully to all in attendance as this was the first moot held under Republican rule in just under 20 years.

The men from the Navehian temple arrived after the Moot was ended. Their insistance to be heard started a bar-brawl.

Peonu 16th

The manus assembled before dawn and marched to the old timberwright's camp. There they broke their fast and drew up tactics.

Peonu 17th

The Auxilliari were sent to the cave-entrance and the rest marched up the road to the hunting lodge. As the group approached the hunting lodge, Corneilus, Johnson and Fennelisa detected something was wrong. With the help of a Halean priestess/Savorian mage, they dispelled an illusion that hid 20 soldiers waiting in ambush.

The battle lines were quickly drawn up and the combat began. Fortunately it was over before the two Gargantuans (racing to the line from opposite sides) arrived. The legionnaires suffered only a few injuries. Their opponents were not so fortunate. Eight fled and the rest died trying to hold their discentigrating line.

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