The following moring, the party left Wittkopf to continue their journey north. Dharmina, their new guide, explained that the quickest way to Avenshire was through Seiriitemn's Valley - a haunted valley with more than enough giants and other monsters.

The first day through the valley went without incident, save for a Giant Owl that demanded some food. The party refused it any of its horses or mules, and the Owl flew away.

The next morning, the party was attacked by a Ghast, evidently with some sorcerous powers. Regardless, the party quickly surrounded and dispatched it. Cugaer found a pair of thin silver bracers on it, as well as 102 sp, 1 pp, and two potions, one with a symbol of a flame upon it, the other with a symbol of a bull's head on it.

Everyone receives 235 XP.

Cugaer quickly shoved the braclets and money into his pocket and then studied the potions closer.

"Tanari, what do you make of these?" Cugaer asked, and handed the potions to him. "Let's get away from this smell, any way."

Tanari accepted them and studied them one by one as they proceeded onward away from the horrid smell and into the wilds. The one with the bull's head he had a good idea what might be.
Bull's Strength most likely..
Feeling rather secure of his idea, his attention however was turned towards the one with the flame on it.
If any magic on this, it could be very interesting indeed
He then casts a detect magic spell to examine for magical properties, and the other potion as well.
(if he succeeds his spell failure check)

The aura level of the two potions is Faint, and Tanari cannot figure out the school of magic involved. The aura level of the bracers is Moderate, and it is of the Evocation school.

Ratchett carries a small bundle of firewood that he'd been able to gather back to the party and dumped it by the ghast's body. He looks about him and scratches his head. "I reckon it'll probably take some good time yet to build a proper pyre...I want te see this thing burn, but I'm no too keen on hanging around to see if the owl was exaggerating about the local trolls or not."

After the encounter with the Ghast, the party continued northward, where they were beset by a Troll. Fearing that they could not defeat, Melvin, Tanari, and Dharmina fled, while Yrinnyn faced it, and Cugaer cast Darkness upon the Troll. In the ensuing confusing, the Troll fled, under the impression that it had been struck blind. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

The rest of the day was uneventful, save for a downpour that occurred during the night, leaving Ratchett sick, although Cugaer tended to him, leaving the Dwarf better afterwards.

In the morning the next day, the party came upon the river of Seiriitemn's Valley, a large one that could not be crossed without a boat. Fortunately, the party stumbled upon an orc hermit, who agreed to ferry them over in exchange for Ratchett's weaponsmithing tools. In fact, the orc decided the payment was so nice, that he told the party that there was a great and unnatural blight north of the river.

Later that day, the party came upon the blighted forest. A Druid wandered into them, one that had slashed her own eyes out, leaving her blind. She told them that they too must "cut out their eyes to guard their heart," and that they would come upon three women:

The first was her, the Druid, who she said the party must obey.

The second was a she-wolf, who the Druid said the party must defy.

The third was a nymph, who the Druid said the party must slay.

Cugaer grappled the Druid, and suddenly, the woman, naming herself Marda, claimed to have been knocked unconscious and woken up blind and in Cugaer's grip. The Cleric let her go, but again something came over the woman, and she laughed madly, fleeing, leaving a masterwork silvered dagger and a cloak to the party, saying that it would "help them guard their hearts."

After deciding on an approach of action, Tanari then tries to track down the girl that just ran away from them. Finding her trail, he pursues her into the blighted trees. Following the trail while crouching, he grasps the hilt of Lunaris with one hand and feels the dirt with the other.
As the group follows behind, they see him suddenly rising up and turning around to face them. His facial expression seems like that of surprise as they stand among the trees at no particular location.

"Either I lost her track or she.. just vanished." He says in a trailing voice as he looks up to study the nearby trees.

Rathcett narrows his eyes. "Are ye sure of what ye say, elf?" he asks, "If so, I'm likin' this less an' less - an' I'm damned if I'm goin' into some cursed wood afore I get some proper answers. Is there anywhere else we can look? If she really was "Marda" who got possessed by whatever force, then there must be some form of settlement where she lived - even if she just has a hut on her own. If we could find that, perchance we could learn a little more about this Marda."

"Well, till we find such a place there's not much we can do. Let's head back to the main road, answers might lie at the end of it."
With that Tanari returns to the fork road, and heads down the one that leads into the blighted area with his senses on full alert.

Ratchett reins his mule in. "Just hold on there. we are going around that blasted place until we know what in the nine hells we can expect to find in there!"

"Go around to where? I dont think anyone would set up camp near this thing if aware it's there. I'll go to the root of this thing, try to scout and see what I can figure out."
And with those words, Tanari made a gently smirk, and tried to merge with the forest. Keeping a look out for movements, he held his breath at a near soundless pace finetuning his eyes and ears to the forest sounds.

Ratchett mutters to himself. "Blasted elf won't be happy until we're all dead or insane, I reckon...if that silver dagger the crazy woman left's meant to be some sort of clue, we might be runnin' up against werewolves! Now I've got five silvered bolts, but I don't reckon that'll be enough, and I don't know about the rest of you. If we backtrack a bit so we can get water, I could set up a makeshift forge and melt down silver pieces. I could probably cast a few bullets or arrowheads, but anything bigger will probably end up taking too long - and using too much silver. "

In one day, Ratchett can create three silvered bullets. More can be created with the help of his party members however.

[ December 06, 2003, 16:04: Message edited by: Oaz ]

Cugaer looks down the road towards the forest, thinking about what to do. After a short while he turned to Ratchett, and shook his head.

"No, it's already going to delay us long enough. I don't want to spend any time longer than we have to, in this vally."