Feint

Flamerule 23, 1373, south of the Night Trees

We followed a caravan right into the little town of Beorunna’s Well. The sky had already darkened, so we headed straight for the closest inn— the Lion’s Den— which had four rooms available. Areon paid for our room (I’ve yet to pay for room or board since we left Silverymoon), and I am just assuming everyone else took a single room. Deitricha’s room was furthest from ours for a change, so I have no clear idea of what transpired there, if anything.

Once the sun was up, I figured our companions had probably slept long enough, so I went around and grabbed them all before we headed down for breakfast, so we could divvy up our loot. Beowulf cast a spell to see if we had any magical items— I was surprised to discover my lock picks had a magical aura— I guess I’ve not had need of them for some time and never discovered their hidden properties. I decided to find a mage that could tell me what the exact magical enhancement was, and wanted to get that mermaid ring identified too. We all headed off to the marketplace a while later, first to get some items identified, then resupply. Turned out my lock picks can cast a spell called “Knock” which will actually be very handy if I want to open something I can’t (or shouldn’t) touch. The mermaid ring, unsurprisingly, makes the wearer a better swimmer. I took one look at Rosorc, trading in his heavy spiked armor for what looked like heavier spiked armor, and just handed it to him. I felt a little bad that the waraxe he risked life and limb to gain in Barransar turned out to be a fake with an illusion cast on it. I traded in my beat up old leather armor for a nice mithral chain shirt, as did Deitricha and Areon. While Deitricha and Beowulf wandered off to purchase some wands (and Shadow was greeting some of the other wolves freely roaming through the barbarian town), I saw Rosorc striding purposefully over to a goldsmith. I was pretty sure he wasn’t buying a courting gift for anyone, but felt a lot better when I saw that he’d acquired a gold holy symbol to Clangeddin.

In the midst of all this, we managed to find a caravan going to Silverymoon that needed guards— 25 gold per day per person for a 15-day trek, and we get horses to ride. My only disappointment is that at that speed we won’t make it to Silverymoon by Midsummer’s Eve— holidays like that are perfect for picking up odd bits of information.

Areon and I continued to meander around the marketplace, getting equipment for the travel home. I got myself a magically enhanced cloak so that Areon doesn’t have to keep casting spells on me in camp to keep me from freezing to death. Of course, now it’s fairly warm out. Since we had plenty of time, I suggested we look around just on the off chance that the marketplace had a silver Uthgardt tiger. Imagine our surprise when we found one a short while later.

Of course, it wasn’t the one he was looking for, that would have been too easy! It was an obvious fake, but just as obvious to him, made to look exactly like the stolen one he’s searching for. We were able to talk the merchant down to 75 gold for it; Areon wasn’t going to bother getting it, but I was already thinking ahead— what if we find the one we are looking for and need to make a quick switch? We also found a smith’s mark on it, a half circle “C” with a diagonal line “\” though it.

I did not recognize the mark. We talked further to the merchant (who had no idea that this statue was a copy of a stolen item) who thought the smith that made it was from Silverymoon. I suggested to Areon that we let our companions in on the situation— or at least Deitricha, since she’s from Silverymoon. Unfortunately, she didn’t recognize the mark either. I feel like we made a bit of progress though!

After another night’s rest at the Lion’s Den, we met up with the caravan heading to Silverymoon. There were a total of 25 of us guarding and driving 12 wagons, and we were warned to watch out for the Sky Pony barbarians, who have been ambushing caravans midway between Silverymoon and Beorunna’s Well.

We headed out, with Areon, often accompanied by Shadow, and Beowulf (again in bird form) scouting ahead. Other than a few deer, we saw no other creatures of any sort. By the second day we were between the Night Trees. We did see some strange lights at the end of the forest while we camped, but they didn’t move and we didn’t get closer to see what they were. An owl glided through our camp during one of the early watches, but nothing else happened that night.

We continued on south of the Night Trees for a few more days without meeting a soul. It’s now our fifth day out, and the scouts just came back with news of at least six barbarians on the road ahead. It seems they know we are coming and are hiding in the trees beside the road. Areon and I are going to go check, by walking through the trees behind them, as we can move quietly enough without our ambushers hearing us, but I don’t have a good feeling about this….