Log

Chapter II:  Forces of Will

6/16/03: Attendance: Ken, Joe, Shawn, Dana

            Before the group made camp their first night under the stars, they made one final search of the ship and made a startling discovery…a woman in chains hidden in the hull.  Upon rousing and releasing her they found that her name was Althea and that she was from the village of Jostrenet which she reported had been attacked.  She sought to return there to find her brother and her dog.  That night, all slept well save Onoros who suffered a terrible nightmare.

            The group at this point was split…they longed to help the woman, but did not want to risk returning to the cairn too late.  After a long discussion which showed Althea’s stubbornness, Onoros and Atorin’s eagerness to help those in need, and Hawkin’s wisdom and foresight, they decided to first return to the cairn.  The journey back was much quicker than the journey out as Althea showed that she was quite well versed at traveling the wilderness.

            At the cairn the expedition was welcomed back as heroes.  After a lengthy discussion with the council, they were forbidden to travel to Jostrenet until the safety of Clorencia could be ensured.  While this did not sit well with the party, the elders saw fit to worry about their own people first.  After the meeting, Hawkins confronted Kaiden and embarrassed him in front of the Landedon youth.  Meanwhile, Onoros went off by himself and Althea made friends with both Alyssa and Caline.  Later that day the entire cairn was assembled and the news was broken to them.  Atorin stood in on the hearings and had his say about what must be done. 

            The elders also informed the members of The Second Expedition about two promises that they had made.  One, The Oath, was their duty to Kolvar in return for their aid in establishing the cairn.  The Crest of Clorencia must be taken and presented to the King of Kolvar.  This would be a great honor and it was expected that The Second Expedition would carry it out.  Secondly, Clorencia had made a promise to the nearby logging village of Dormer that they would check on the village if they emerged first.  Somebody had to travel there to see if the people had yet emerged.   One other town elder brought up The City of Tomorrow, a city that was said to be protected from The Scourge that would be a bastion of civilization in the new world.  The other members dismissed this as a myth.

            The next day the cairn set out for their old town.  Over the course of three days the supplies were moved to the new campsite.  Work began on clearing the land and rebuilding the center to town.  Patrols were sent out to help protect the fledgling town.  After a few days of helping the town, the party decided to sneak away and visit Jostrenet at Althea’s urging.  Just when they thought they had gotten away they were surprised by Bossiance who commended them on their bravery and told them of his desire to go with them.  However, the town needed him.  He told the party that they needed to make haste or the Council would give the great honor of fulfilling The Oath to others.  Hawkins gave Bossiance the fine steel sword they had recovered from the slavers.

            The trip to Jostrenet was eventful.  On the first day of their trip they came across a number of trees that looked vaguely human shaped.  Stopping for a moment to investigate, a serpentine creature with hundreds of tiny legs running down its length descended on a web and lunged at Althea.  Onoros quickly sliced it into three pieces while the thing was still in midair.  That night, Atorin spotted a large creature frolicking the river…it swam upstream.

            On the second day the party decided they must cross the river.  Reaching a place where rocks jutted out across the river they gave Atorin the duty of running a rope across to the other side.  Being a strong swimmer, he made it with little effort.  As the others began crossing, the creature Atorin had seen the night before made an appearance upstream, but left the party alone.  They camped there that night.

            After traveling less than an hour on the third day, they reached Jostrenet.  The city was mostly intact, save a few buildings which were still smoldering.  Arrows were stuck in buildings and lined the ground.  A thick, eerie silence hung in the air here.  Althea recovered her dog, Marfan, and the group prepared to leave…that’s when they saw the hag.  She cackled and called to her sisters as she pulled the finger off of a severed arm.  When she noticed the party she went around a corner and disappeared.  Right then another hag appeared…and then another.  All three made themselves known and taunted the party with cryptic words about fate, destiny, and the future.  As suddenly as they appeared, they vanished.  The party returned to camp very quickly.

            At camp it was decided that they needed to investigate Jostrenet further, as Althea could provide few details on what happened.  Onoros and Atorin decided to go back while Atorin and Althea stayed at camp.  Back in Jostrenet, the two found the eerie silence once again heavy in the air.  Making a sound seemed almost blasphemous.  A thunderstorm loomed far on the horizon.  A quick looked around revealed thick wagon tracks that followed the same path into and out of the town.  Hoof prints could also be seen all around in the dirt.  With little time before the rain hit, they went back to camp.

            The trip back to Clorencia was uneventful  except that Atorin found the severed arm the hag was pulling on in his pack.  On the palm of its hand was crudely carved the word “Riverman.”

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