Esk notebook continued:
After the trouble with the gorgons the party with Ricardo, K’Tau, Davons Doemas and Cristoff travelled further towards Sorø. They were able to hook up the snakestaff to the carts so they could be dragged faster however more trouble however didn’t take long to find them. A big cloud had sprung up from the north and seemed to approach the party. Not knowing what it was they fled back to the woods to take cover.
Cristoff described it to me: “We had to leave the carts to get in between the trees in time. I carried.. you. And we made it just in time. The sky was turning black with all the birds in the air, even when we between the trees there were birds flying everywhere, many of them falling out of the sky from exhaustion. After the storm of birds had flown over we decided to camp, but a couple hours a new wave of creatures came rushing by. First it was just was squirrels and the like but after a while, deer, boar, bears even some owlbears came rushing by. I think I saw a giant toad bouncing through but you probably know better than me if that is really possible.”
After the hordes of fleeing beasts had gone by, they slept for the night to take of early in the morning again. Not long after starting travel again they saw the probable origin of all the fleeing beasts.
An army of skeletons.
At least a 1000 of the undead buggers where heading towards, what seemed Sorø. The horde was accompanied by a number of large beetle like creatures carrying ballista’s and trebuchets. We think they are heading towards the shiny beacons that are the cubes that are still in Sorø
K’Tau had prepared a very useful spell this day, message. They were able to send a message to commander left in charge of Sorø by Davons. They were warned of the rambling horde, and were asked to put as much effort as possible into fortifying the city. Also they were told to gather up the surrounding farmer, most importantly the Finley’s and westvalers, as they would in to much danger otherwise.
Also a message was sent to a certain gnoll trader they have apparently met 2 times before already, as I have heard he only trades objects that hold a high sentimental value for the owner. Before the interaction went difficult due to language barriers but K’tau had prepared a spell to overcome this. A meeting was set up with the trader for the following morning.
Arriving at the designed spot, Ricardo spotted a Halfling during his watch time. Deciding that warning the Finleys directly was prudent he went with the Halfling on his back to their little farming community, where he was able to convince them to leave their home and head towards Sorø. Of grandma finley herself he was able to buy diamond earrings. Paying 500gp due to their sentimental value, they only contained 20gp of diamonds however.
The rest of the party was visited by the gnoll trader in the morning and were able to have a talk for the first time. They traded a piece of art (that was designed to me) for 150gp worth of diamond dust, and Cristoff told me in great detail about a dwarven.. spoon. Apparently it had a symbol on it that sparked his memories of an ancient dwarven empire that started on “a different continent” before coming to the place we used to call home.
Furthermore they told the Gnoll about the death of Gartholomeux, which the gnoll already knew about, the existence of the cubes, and the location of the ancient tomb we found. In exchange the gnoll told about the region.
-In the North east is the realm of Darakhul, a mausoleum filled with intelligent undead creatures. The place is relatively recent, only existing for a couple of centuries. There used to be a different empire there, but this empire crumbled overnight
-In the West is the gnoll empire, this empire is huge, and they are certainly a main player, if not the biggest force in the North of the continent. They have a history of infighting and slavery, which they have overcome in the recent past.
-To the south east there is a tribe of kobolds.
-even further sound there are many lizardfolk with apparently a not so nice demeanour.
-Dragonborn used to live of the continent of Sorø
-Around the area of Sorø two tribes of “gloebgloebs” life. The two groups have a religious conflict. Sorø is placed right in the middle of their conflict. They can be reasoned with, and the gnoll advised to seek help from them in our conflict. He/She also however also mentioned that our changed of peaceful conversation have been diminished by settling in their territory.
After the meeting with the gnoll they travelled further to Sorø. On the way the met up with the Finley group, and just as they saw the city on the horizon, a griffon came flying back.
For my own experiences during this time I’d like to point you to page 705 of this notebook.