BDC RECAP, 1-17-25

When riding the carpet proved too much for the sore travelers from White Moon Cove, they landed, made camp. Simon created an illusion to hide the camp behind an illusionary thicket. But near sundown, Thrax heard something outside the magical border, so he and Calidar went outside to check it out. They saw two riders, loping slowly toward the camp. Both human, on riding horses of some quality, Calidar and Thrax cautiously let them approach, observing all the while:  two men ahorse, one of them massive, a veritable destrier bearing an enormous man. They noticed one disconcerting fact: neither horse’s hooves actually touched the ground.

Thrax and Calidar watched them approach, clocking them as obvious travelers, moving at a trot. They have gear for sleeping rough, caparisoned in leather armor. It wasn’t long before Calidar and Simon were spotted, and the riders approached.

“I am Blasphar, this is Kennick, we are Royal Huntsmen,” said the smaller of the two. “And we’re here to inspect your camp.” In the Principality, the Royal Huntsmen are widely known as the Prince’s woodsmen, sanctioned by Stern himself. These two both had arrowhead pendants, one copper (Kennick) and one of gold (Blasphar), the larger one. They dismounted and approached. “We’re searching for a fugitive, a half-elf.”

Simon and Calidar had not seen any half-elves but invited the two Huntsmen to enter camp. They seemed familiar (certainly unsurprised) with Simon’s illusionary protections. By way of security, Jarlebanke True Seeing’d them, but they were what they appeared to be, so the party invited them to stay for dinner and drinks… but even more so, to pick their brains about the region. Once over their initial suspicions, the Huntsmen were very helpful:

• We’re going into a very lawful area, emphasis on “lawful.”
• Dannon is a large town (15000), and a center for activity and commerce.
• These two Huntsmen handle the river area.
• There are a couple lords that hold sway over the plains. They are hereditary lords, far from Sternhaven and left largely to their own devices. The first is “Goselif” a count who controls the southern regions, based in Dannon. The other Count controls the plains and they are mostly agricultural, small villages scattered about, a breadbasket of sorts.
• There are many ruined locations, and a few dungeons. The other lord is based out of a tower, toward the western hills. The Huntsmen had never been to it, however.
• The enchantment on their horses is Shoes of the Zephyr.
• The half-elf the Huntsmen are searching for can teleport, a large scar on his forehead, and killed two farmers in cold blood. A 2000 gp bounty is on his head – no name, no motive.

The Huntsmen stayed the evening, rise early and are gone by the end of third watch, headed west along their original path. After they left, the party broke camp and decided to go west as well, fording the Amedio River away from Dannon and then turning south, in what was effectively a large loop.

Across the Amedio River and west of Dannon, the party reached the main road and joined a fair amount of activity moving in both directions, toward and away from Dannon. Everything along the road was extraordinarily tidy – the farms were well laid out, with many workers per acre. The entire region seemed well kept, with sturdy homes made of both stone and wood. That said the region felt very old, almost ancient, and gave every clue of having been here for a long time without much change.

Dannon is a walled city, with the guards in full plate, archaic looking but well cared for, below Their tabards have a red dragon on them. The queues entering the town were orderly and without rancor. It’s a copper to get in and horses must be stabled, so the party paid, entered, and Calidar sent Thrax back to his homeland to avoid any problems with a talking horse. Peace-knots are required, and so weapons were bound upon entering. The lanes were cobbled, plants and flowers were everywhere, very pleasant and refined.

There’s a farmer’s market, with tinkers and cart-men, and most of the buildings are two stories tall. Peaches mentioned she thought the place could be a good spot to sell wine. Our caravel (The Mandible) has a shallow enough draft that it could easily sail up the Amedio. One item of note: a group of individuals, dressed similarly, potentially mages? Who meandered around town in small groups. Beyond that, there were some well stocked apothecaries, and the party availed themselves of their stock of CLW potions. Dannon didn’t have a magic shop, and the entrepreneurial Peaches reminded everyone that this is another commercial opportunity.

Ultimately, the party chose to purchase a coach, one that Thrax could pull, and planned to follow the road toward B then turn south, leaving the wagon there and then following the direction of the Rod.

It’s a largely boring trip, and the party passed a lot of farmsteads and small farming villages. The people were friendly, with children running up and gawking at the wagon as they pass. There are coffee and tea houses, far more prevalent than the taverns normally along rural roads. We often see patrols, armored men, typically accompanied by a cloaked wizard.

The party kept moving west, taking azimuths on the road from the Rod until they reached about halfway to B, then left the road. A half day’s travel off the road and the party began to see fewer people and farms. There were remnants of old farms, even orchards, but that have been inactive for decades, perhaps even centuries.

Once people grew scarcer, the party reverted to their old mode of transportation: Thrax and Carpet. As they entered the targeted hex, they began to see signs of habitation again – tiered farms, roads, hop plants as tall as 30’, held up by cunningly designed trellises and rope braces. It’s almost a giant hedgerow, being maintained by scores of people. Oddly, there were no horses, and the foot patrols were heavily armed with some sort of halberd or other polearm. Simon borrowed Peaches’ disguise hat and made his way past the hedgerow to scout out the area. A road threaded through the hedgerow, but everything was otherwise very unusual.

The residents were all very tall, with ruddy skins and blue noses – hobgoblins, and Simon returned to the rest of the group quickly. Calidar, Thrax and Jarlebanke decided to do a night recon, checking Rod azimuths and observing as the site as closely as possible. There’s no question that the Rod is pointing to this place, towards a cluster of ruins in the very center of the community.

The town is relatively well lit – streetlights, almost certainly made from Continual Light spells. The area around the ruins were well lit by these lights, and Calidar could see at least 50 guards surrounding the area of the ruins.

The hops hedgerow goes all the way around the community, with entrances at the NW and SE – the NW road goes toward the hobgoblin village shown on their maps. The two places are connected by a well-worn trail going into the hills. The hobgoblins send patrols outside the community, so the party moved their camp further away, to the ruined farmland, to keep from being discovered.

The next night, Jarlebanke and Calidar decided to conduct a commando raid. Thrax would fly the pair up over the community, focused on the ruins. Jarlebanke and Calidar would then cast Fly, Haste, and Invisibility, drop down into the ruins, survey the area quickly and sufficiently to teleport in later, then fly back to Thrax and escape. In the meantime, Simon’s scouting turned up roving patrols – each consisting of twelve hobgoblins, plus a human mage of some sort. There were no children anywhere near this site, meaning it’s likely some sort of military outpost. The SE Road headed toward Homily Way and is cobbled. The mages were dressed similarly to the mages in Dannon, which led the party to suspect that there might be some sort of alliance with this hobgoblin village. Simon also saw a couple wizard types exit the SE gate and disappear, presumably teleporting away.

Jarlebanke and Calidar conducted their commando raid and saw from on high that the ruined area looked like it was once a larger building, with collapsed towers and various ruined walls.  Calidar surmised that these ruins would have been a church or churches at some time. As they fell toward the ruins, they saw that the lights were in some sort of formation, a geometric shape. At 50 feet above the top of the structure, Jarlebanke saw a magical dome covering the entire area – an antimagic dome, rising about 20 feet above the tops of the ruins, and being emitted by the light sources. Jarlebanke and Calidar immediately aborted the mission and headed back to camp.

After regrouping, the party revised their plans:

• Simon and Peaches to stealth into the city and test the power and breadth of the antimagic shell, while looking for possible ways of ingress/egress.
• Thrax, Calidar and Shepherd fly air medical support in the event Simon and Peaches are discovered and need immediate medevac.
• Jarlebanke to go back to Dannon and gather information about the mages and the hobgoblin site.

Back in Dannon, Jarlebanke went back to the apothecary they’d met before, in hopes of capitalizing on the potential goodwill of the party’s previous trade. At first, the aging potioner was cautious (one previous sale does not a confidant make) but he thawed somewhat, perhaps out of simple fear for the ignorant in a dangerous place.

“One thing you have to understand, sir, is that Dannon is not part of your Principality,” the potioner explained. “Those mages that you’re so casually discussing, and their divine counterparts, were all part of an organization that was broken during the last war.”

Jarlebanke said nothing. As much as the and his friends had done over the last couple years, the 3rd Canistani War was very far away from White Moon Cove. This man spoke of it with the authority of someone who saw it up close, who participated in it, who suffered from it.

“There was an agreement…” the potioner continued, “… with the Sunset Tower, stepped in for the academics, that advocated for researchers and sought ability. Through this agreement, they were able to meet their obligations to the conquerors, while maintaining their authority here and continuing to advance their knowledge.”

One thing these mages did not do, was join or support the mages of Sternhaven, practicing “different” magics, and developing “affiliates,” which Jarlebanke took to me fomenting alliances and bargains with otherworldly creatures.

“We’re still under the Prince’s law here,” the potioner said archly. “But the old alliances and prejudices still exist, strong as ever. To their eyes, it was better to assimilate… or at least, appear to assimilate.”

Jarlebanke, gently, probed the subject of hobgoblins. The potioner’s reaction was sudden and forthright. “You’d best not talk about that,” he said, lowering his chin to look over his monocles. “And you’d best avoid those hobs, if you ever want to get back to Sternhaven.”

Jarlebanke thanked the man and left, assuring him that the conversation would not pass the transom of his shop. But as he later enjoyed a small marc at a local public house, Jarlebanke pondered what he’d learned:

• If there was a defining characteristic about Dannon and the region, it was their embrace of law.
  • That being the case, if the mages here are indeed lawful, and (as is widely known) hobgoblins are lawful evil…
    • An alliance makes sense
    • The alliances and affiliations the potioner alluded to are almost certainly Infernal.
• Assuming the above, then why would lawful evil Infernals (devils), regional mages, and hobgoblins be working together? A syllogism recommended itself:
  • If (as the Rod suggests) the next piece is within the hobgoblin village ruins;
  • The magical protections around those ruins are far more significant than hobs themselves would be able to bring;
  • The mages have maintained their alliances with the hobgoblins, at minimum providing magical support and protection in exchange for military support.
  • The mages are forming alliances with devils, essentially forming a triumvirate of lawful evil powers.

All this evidence suggested to Jarlebanke that this alliance, among other possible benefits, was at least in part dedicated to protected the part of the Rod that lay somewhere in the ruins of the hobgoblin church. And, if that is indeed the case, it might be possible to make a deal with them.