Forest of Andor/Back to Oakenspire
Vege-mitespygmys
More time had passed than they thought and, as they left the 'temple', Grel stayed behind to re-active the defences. Immediately upon clearing the edge of the shaft, several of the party could smell a mouldy, rotten odour to the West.
It didn't take long to track the stench to a pile of bodies that presumably belonged to the rest of Thomas Drinkwaters adventuring party. While the cause of death was clearly the mauling Tommy Dee had described, each of the bodies had a small hole in its chest that looked to have been caused by something bursting out of the chest!
Some discussion reveals the suspicion that the corpses had suffered russet mould/vegepygmy infestations, a condition thought to only exist in legends. Fletcher suspects that the general populations plant familiars provide some sort of immunity a theory backed by the conspicuous absence of the ones belonging to the temple assailants. A faint trail can be seen heading to the North West, however with night drawing in the party decide to camp at the base of the temple.
The night is peaceful until the camp is set upon by a group of vegepygmies, led by a larger, older looking specimen. Running low on spells, Fletcher is the first to fall. With his trusty mount sleeping Cordon is downed not soon after but not before taking one or two with him. With his arrows seemingly ineffectual, Grel is forced to retreat up the temple steps, however Jadrol eventually lays the attackers low with a few well-placed bombs.
Grel swiftly brought the fallen pair back to consciousness, however they were still badly hurt.
It had not been a good night!
Simon the Bastard
Knowing that their route to the temple was slightly meandering, the group was reasonably sure that the path to the West would eventually curve South the firebreak cutting 1/2 a day off their travels! Trudging onward they eventually encountered a traveller heading North.
The man introduces himself as a trader called Simon and tells a sad tale of being robbed by his two adolescent assistants and following them to recover his stolen goods and return them to their parents. He quickly recognised the dashing cloak being worn by Fletcher, and is told of the would-be adventurers fate.
With no reason to continue North, he joins the group as they work their way back towards home.
Night draws in and the party make camp, Fletcher and Cordon opting to keep watch. Dawn breaks and it appears the watchers were doing more talking than watching, since Simon was gone along with a substantial sum of gold!
Its only then, that Fletcher puts two and two together and recalls talk of a Simon the Devious, a rather notorious trader who was not above stealing to make a living.
With no other information, they head on Southwards and soon discover fresh footprints. Had Simon some method of short range teleportation??
They cross the river again, and are approaching the firebreak, when from out of the bushes burst a group of small reptilian creatures.
The attackers crowd the party together, however Cordon and Fletcher are able to break out only to be set upon by a larger version of the beasts.
Cordon draws the larger one off and makes short work of it with his lance, while the rest of the rest of the group kill 3 and drive off the remaining 2.
Catching their breath, they continue into the clearing only to find Simon's body, trampled and mauled. It seems the local wildlife saw right through his bullshit!
