The first expedition into the Urtgen forest has returned! Hear the tales of the heroes who returned.
Report from Matrick:
We headed 4 days perfectly northwest from Elmhearth. We encounted some crazy freezing acid and electric storm shower nearby on the first day followed by freezing rain on the second. On the fourth day we looked south and saw a clearing with a hill. Upon the hill was a decrepit stone tower with a brass door with a lock. Most of the top of the tower was missing. Perhaps it’s stones still lie nearby. It has four windows. The floors had rotted away and we stealthily dispatched 5 drogga inside. Some of them used sorcery. There is a hole in the floor immediately upon entering so beware that as it will dump you into an underground river.
There is a basement with a hole in the floor leading to said river. There was a box with a drogga recipe on it. I discovered an ornate spear secreted away and preserved within a channel of the wall. It’s in amazing condition and was presumably of great importance to whoever hid it. I am working on deciphering it’s make,origin, and age as well as covering it in a preservative oil so that it may last for another millennia for our people to admire. I humbly donate it to The Wanderers and just ask that my name be recorded as it’s discoverer. Our return trip went without incident.
An Adventure To The Northwest of Elmhearth
(We were definitely NW, because there’s no way we got lost.)
We three brave adventurers sallied forth into the wild green forest to find out what lay NW of Elmhearth. Turns out that was a terrible idea as we all almost died our very first night out in the middle of an Acid-Lightning-Snow-Blizzard. It was horrible. Luckily, our Wylder was able to heal us enough that we made it through the storm. After traveling Northwest for approximately 5 days, we came across a derelict tower. The roof and upper stories had caved in years prior, and a 2-story shell was all that remained. Our Ranger scaled the walls and reported the presence of 5 malicious looking creatures inside. He was struck mute at the sight of them and was only able to mime how scary they looked with his hands and facial expression. We decided to ambush them from above. I, the brave and powerful Rogue, leapt down 15 ft from the broken outer wall onto one of the creatures. I was able to silence and kill him swiftly, while my teammates teamed up and ended the second. We then moved into the next room to continue our assault, but this is where things got hairy. Our Ranger dispatched one of the beasts with arrows from above, however he was then badly injured by an enemy spellcaster and retreated down outside the tower. I then removed another from the combat with a swift swing of my father’s trusty pickaxe. Our Wylder moved in to engage the final and most dangerous foe, in a battle of magical will and skill. Sadly, he lost and was flung to his doom down a deep dark hole. (Or so I thought!) I ran forward and struck one final blow that incapacitated the evil mage and picked him up to throw him down the same abyss.
Our Ranger rejoined me moments later inside the tower, to my great relief as I thought I was the only survivor. We then gathered our gear and went deeper into the tower to look for our friend. We discovered that he had barely escaped drowning in an underground river, and then got stuck in a locked room. After our group was once again whole, we searched the remainder of the tower, gathered what loot was to be found and made our way back to Elmhearth. (We most definitely did not get stabbed multiple times by the same spear trap in an effort to steal the spear because it was shiny!) We made it back to Elmhearth and gave them our report, which included exact directions back to the tower. Anyone who complains that the map is wrong obviously can’t read a map properly, as we are very good at giving directions and not getting lost!
Sincerely,
Marik Stonesplitter
The End
Postscript: At no time did anyone talk about or actually eat any of the creatures, as they were obviously sentient and that would be terrible.
Inside the Elmhearth Keep
Helfen stood from his desk and walked across Elmhearth’s common room. He pulled a large red leather-bound book form the mantle above the fireplace.
He opened it and flipped through many pages until he came to the first blank one. We walked back to his desk and pulled out a quill and ink bottle.
Ces 25th, 5704
The lads returned. The were a bit banged up, but they were smiling and trading stories over the campfire tonight. Their reports all turned in and mostly matching. They found a tower, a new place to build. This is good. More people arrived today, bringing our head count to 21. A lot of mouths to feed for a group of outcasts stuck in the woods, living around a ruined keep. But if we have good people like the lads, we will make due.
After inspecting some of the goods brought back, Ferric believes the tower was built by the eldar and then later manned by Uthgard. An ornate spear brought back definitely has Eldar runes inscribed on it, though it seems ordinary enough. I have the spear here, maybe I’ll have a display case made for it, though first I must clean it off, as the lads got it pretty bloody.
I also ordered the supply tent to craft some leather cloaks to protect from any other acid storms, we have enough to worry about without worrying about our skin burning off in the snow. Strange times, strange days. But we must endure.
Helfen stood again, placed the book on the mantle and turned and headed upstairs. The fire slowly died out in the large fireplace on a cold cold night.