Disenchanted

Eleasis 19, 1373 DR, east of Graypeak Mountains

Areon and I took the first wagon (he drove, I sat with my crossbow ready) and the humans took the second. A little ways out of the despicable town of Llorkh, we encountered an elderly traveler whose donkey and cart were stuck in a muddy ditch by the road. In spite of the fact that he was heading towards the Zhentish town, we stopped to help him and “Bessy” pull the wagon out of the ditch. Afterwards, the near-sighted “Trevor” offered to sell us any wares he had in his wagon; even though we’d just shopped for everything we needed in town, Ebin bought all the holy water the man had, and I bought all of his fishhooks and twine (somehow I didn’t imagine he encountered a lot of fishers where he was coming from). I just gave him what coin I had— I couldn’t imagine I’d need it in the desert anyway. Tyan thought it was odd that I’d do that, as the peddler would have to be rich to have the amount of exotic items he had in the wagon— I couldn’t honestly say what came over me. Trevor thanked us and wished us a good journey, and I swear he winked at us as he and his donkey headed off towards the town.

A while later, I noticed the twine I’d tucked in my robe pocket had become much heavier and began to spill out; upon inspection, I saw that it had turned into some sort of rubbery rope that smells, well, like a troll. The rope seems to be able to generate any extra length needed. The fishhooks had become 5 very fine (and obviously magical) bolts. Right as I was noticing that, I heard Ebin say that his vials of holy water had taken on the same hue as healing potions. I feel bad that we didn’t give Trevor more gold for these obviously wondrous items, but then, I suspect now that Tyan is right that the man didn’t really need our coin.

Our first night out was so completely uneventful, that during my watch, I showed Glitch how to tie knots. Now, I’m not sure why a rat would want to know how to do this, but he seemed pretty pleased with himself as he scurried off to find Tyan afterwards.

The next several days and nights also passed uneventfully as we traveled through the Graypeak Mountains, though we occasionally found ourselves using a camp that the Zhents ahead of us had used just the prior evening. We also once saw a red dragon in the distance, but it either didn’t see us, or didn’t care.

The fifth night we were attacked in our camp. It happened on Areon’s watch, and either he was completely surprised (which is unlikely) or did not feel that he was threatened, as I didn’t register that he was in trouble enough to come out of my reverie right away. When I did, it was to see him being pulled down by goblin-riding worgs; there were six of each and they were attacking my friends! From the entrance of my tent I shot at several that were attacking Tyan; all of my friends were prone by the time a goblin-wolf creature (which I now know is called a barghest) went after Ebin, so I moved to attack it. Most of my bolts passed right through it, including one of the ones Trevor had given me.

Soon we had dispatched the wargs and goblins who had not run away and were left with the wolf-thing. I pulled out my wand to enfeeble it, thinking perhaps that would work better than a bolt, when Ebin stepped in front of it and told us not to attack it, lest we incur his wrath. Well, Deitricha and Areon both ran forward to attack the creature and Tyan cast a damaging spell at it. Since Ebin was moving to intercept my friends, I cast the enfeeblement on him. He seemed to go into some sort of rage at that point, and, even though wounded by Tyan’s spell, elected to charge me. Bad move. I enfeebled him again, and he managed to trip over what I can only assume where boot laces that had been mysteriously knotted together. The barghest took this opportunity to vanish from the camp.

At that point, I was able to plant my own boot in the middle of Ebin’s back, and my rapier was pointed at the back of his neck; all the while, Ebin continued to make threats at me, until Tyan cast something called “Touch of Idiocy” on the human fighter, causing him to drool more and threaten less. Tyan said we had a few minutes to deal with Ebin before he got his strength back, so we tied him to a wagon wheel for the remainder of the night.

Thankfully, by dawn, he wasn’t making threats any longer and seemed more himself, so we opted to untie him before moving the wagons out. I am not sure I can trust him, though it was obvious he was under some sort of charm spell, which I know humans can easily fall prey to; it should not have made him bloodthirsty towards his real companions.

By evening, we had traveled out of the Graypeak Mountains and were headed for the plains….