January 30, 2018 Session

Setup

The session begins with the party elated and only slightly damaged in the aftermath of their victory over the Orcish priest and his orc and half-orc minions that had appropriated this manor for their unknown, vile purposes. As the party gathers before the remaining unopened, temple door, they notice that Ser Shadow has gone missing amidst the looting of the other portions of the manor. Unflustered by his absence, the party prepares to press forward in their quest to find the stolen crate and return it for the reward.

Fire Lizard Babies

The party entered a huge room that looked as if it had been recently redecorated. Faded paint and scuffed floors showed where ornaments and furniture had previously existed. Now the room has been repurposed as a temple with one end filled by a large altar constructed of freshly hewn stone and a large brass brazier suspended from the ceiling. Other brass ornaments, perhaps with religious significance, were strewn about the room and smoke still wafted from the brazier. The room was otherwise empty though and the items most of note were the large hole broken through the stone floor in the far corner, a set of steps leading down into the darkness, and a brass lever on the wall nearby.

Throwing caution to the wind, the party threw the lever and the treads of the stairs collapsed, leaving only a steeply inclined slide reaching at least twenty feet into the darkness. A grinding of gears was heard in the distance, quickly followed by whimpering cries from a vaguely human source in the foreboding gloom below. A quick examination revealed nothing so the party leapt and slid into the basement.  Immediately upon reaching the dirt floor below, the party was encircled by a family of lizards, a protective mother and her two hungry babies. The party fought bravely and quickly defeated the lizard family with a great deal of credit going to the Bane spell cast by Corliss that rendered the babies largely ineffectual. 

The crate was discovered amidst the lair of the lizards while a set of cages was found in the far corner of the basement. Two of the prisoners appeared to have been killed and partially eaten by the babies that had been able to slip between the bars of the cage. The third cage, however, contained the last remaining Polonian prisoner captured by the orcs during their ambush of the two legionary squads a few days earlier. A quick interrogation of the prisoner revealed little other than that the Orcs also had no idea as to what the contents of the crate were and how they might be used. /wiki/spaces/CAM/pages/74285137 suggested that the prisoner had outilved his usefulness, but gentler souls such as Rhagal suggested that killing him in cold blood might not be morally conscionable. As the party debated his ultimate fate, the prisoner bolted from the manor and the party refrained from giving chase. Instead, they loaded the cart up Ark of the Covenant-style and began the journey back to Highbridge.

Road to Highbridge

The journey on the trade road back to Highbridge was largely inconsequential with the exception of a single meetup with a Polonian patrol that offered to take possession of the crate and return it to Highbridge. The party politely demurred - with the possible exception of a few scatalogical comments from Yornan - and continued on their way, reaching the outskirts of Overtown in a day and a half.

As the party came near the town they were approached by two men. One of them was recognized by Rhagal as Cirnan Sulo, a member of The Resistance that had accepted the delivery of the stolen caravan at the green barn during one of their earliest dealings with them. Cirnan attempted to convince the party to forego the reward and give the crate to him. The Resistance did not know what the crate containing, but they figured that if the Empire of Polonia wanted it then it was too valuable to let them have. Again, the party refused, intent on collecting their reward. Cirnan and his partner scampered off.

The party continued their journey towards the The Baron's Grounds in order to deliver the crate, but were intercepted in the Farthing Yards by an official delegation of Polonians led by Warrane du Houndstrail, a well-regarded Captain in the Legions of Polonia. After some negotiation, the party retained possession of the crate but continued on under the escort and close supervision of the Warrane and the Polonian squad. However, the party noticed that, unbeknowst to Warrane, two members of his squad appeared to be Cirnan and his partner, each in the disguise of a Polonian legionnaire.

Baron's Isle and The Polonian Court

Warrane led the adventures through the military encampment in the Baron's Grounds and towards the castle on Baron's isle. The castle itself is dominated by the largest structure in Highbridge, a tower reaching one hundred feet into the air. However, before reaching the castle they had to cross a wooden bridge extending twenty feet across the water to the small island in the Green River. As they crossed the bridge, Dawngreeter Yornan Hawklight had a change of heart and attempted to throw the crate over the edge of the bridge, but before he could do it, Cirnan signaled and some sort of explosion occurred beneath the bridge, damaging the bridge pillings and causing it to begin collapsing.

Aware of the plan and with a few short moments in which to act, Cirnan and his companion ran to the far edge of the bridge and dove into the water and swam away. The party and their escort were not as lucky and slid into the water with the wreckage of the bridge. The crate itself fell two dozen feet to the rocks below, smashing open and revealing a small, stone cupola with what appeared to be a weathervane locate within. Alas, the cupola and weathervane were irrevocably damaged.

As alarms sounded, guards fished the party from the river and quickly escorted them into the castle just as court was beginning. Presided over by Adelaide du Eagleroost, the Governor of Polonia and also attended by Gascard de Gravenford, a much maligned chancellor of the Southern Mercantile Company, and other Polonian dignitaries that the party did not recognize, it appeared as if the delivery of this artifact was of significant importance such as to merit the presence of the highest ranking Polonians in the city. In the aftermath of the explosion of the bridge and the destruction of the artifact, the mood of the court was thick with danger and hostility.

The party gamely recounted their story about the explosion, omitting details about Cirnan Sulo and The Resistance, but openly impugning the competence of the Polonian escort that had allowed this to happen. As the party attempted to extricate themselves from the situation, they noticed Percy du Ramshead located amidst the Polonian officials. He was staring intently at the group as if he might have recognized them, but appeared uncertain, perhaps due to the absence of Ser Shadow and Bakdor Hammerwang and the fact that Corliss had taken the lead when discussing the situation with the Polonian officials.

At the inconclusive end of their audience with Governor Adelaide, they party quickly left the castle.

Aftermath

Helped across the small span of river by Polonian boats, the party huddled on shore, happy to have escaped unscathed and ready to make their next move.