KINGMAKER:
The Wardens of the Greenbelt
Entry 8.
Gold In Them There Hills, More Bandits & A Trip to Restov
As the Wardens left Puck's Hollow they headed north west intending to loop around to the south before heading back to Oleg's. They hadn't travelled far when they came upon a clearing in a wood which was covered in what appeared to be corpses of various creatures, some human. There were also discarded rusting weapons and armour amongst the piles of bones. As they speculated about the cause, a large trapdoor spider leapt out at them. The group quickly defended themselves and were then attacked by a second spider. The two creatures were soon dispatched but not until T'lef had been bitten and poisoned by one of the monsters. Searching through the remains of the spiders' den, the Wardens found a good supply of treasures including another Stag Lord amulet and a possible treasure map. They also took the spiders' poison sacs which they thought Leonid might be interested in. T'lef had the poison cured and his wounds bound before the party continued their exploration.
The Wardens were once again riding through the plains of the Greenbelt looking out for places of interest. Their track led them into a hilly area overgrown with bushes and stands of willow. The dwarves' ability to sniff out treasure led them to one thicket on a hillside far away from the nearest track. Pulling aside the brambles and bushes they discovered a narrow opening in the rock which led to a cave. Exploring the cave they discovered what appeared to be seams of gold in the rock face. Unable to do much more at the time, the Wardens marked the location on their maps, covered the entrance with the brambles and bushes and went on their way again.
As they returned to one of the larger tracks through the area they came upon a couple of dwarves accompanied by a human fighter. The dwarves, Rogar and Grunyar were looking for a gold mine that was rumoured to be in these parts. The shifty fighter, Falgrim, was a mercenary they had employed to protect them in case bandits were about. William realised that the mercenary might be the deserter that Kesten Garess had told them about and was wanted in Brevoy. Ione confirms this and sends Sidhe into the undergrowth to keep an eye on him. Ione let Rogar know about Falgrim before Sidhe and the Wardens waylay him. He was injured in the process by Sidhe but was soon manacled and his wounds bandaged. The Wardens decided to return to Oleg's with their prisoner and the dwarves asked to accompany them as they didn't want to spend any time in the wilderness without a guard. The Wardens had also promised the dwarves a share in the reward for Falgrim.
At Oleg's they handed over the prisoner to Kesten. He gave them a letter allowing them to collect the master work weapons from an armourer in Restov. Falgrim was thrown into one of the pits inside the trading post.
A letter had arrived from Yelanda Lebada in Restov requesting them to call on her at their earliest convenience. Ione and William decided to go. This allowed William to purchase more spell crafting materials and to research some spells, to collect the weapons they wanted and to update their patron on their progress. When the next patrol passes through the post it took Falgrim with them and William and Ione accompanied them.
The Wardens also discovered that the Stag Lord's bandits were back. The bodies of the two lumberjacks had been left outside the post one night along with a ransom for the two guards that had accompanied them. Kesten had paid the ransoms as he was instructed to do by the Swordlords. The rest of the Wardens decided to accompany Kesten and a patrol of his men to see what remained of the logging camp and to chase down the bandits if they were still around. They reached to logging camp to find it burnt down and much of the timber ruined. The useable timber was loaded on to the two wagons they had brought with them and returned to Oleg's with a couple of the guardsmen. The rest of the force pressed on into the forest chasing after the bandits. They came upon them in a clearing where the bandits ambushed the patrol from front and rear. But the battle went the way of the Wardens and the bandits dispatched, only one was taken prisoner.
Back at the trading post Havrik produced traps to improve the defences whilst Jarn, T'lef and the two dwarves, Grunyar and Rogar, helped out with the continuing building work. The dwarves had decided to go to King's Kiln to see if the miners there needed any help and the Wardens had promised to escort them once Ione and William returned from Restov.
In Restov Ione and William visited Yelena. Peter Lebeda greeted them and slipped them a purse of 250gp for their continuing work. The two Wardens updated Yelena with their progress so far. When she heard about the teaching of the farmer's daughter Yelena offered to pay for the teacher's wages. She seemed very pleased with their progress. As they left Peter asked them about the politics of the area and pressed for the Stag Lord to be dealt with. Ione also let him know about the pigeon post system she was developing to improve communication between them and Restov via Oleg's post.
When they returned to their lodgings they found town guards requesting an immediate meeting with the Mayor. The Mayor was unhappy that he had not been informed about their arrival and reminded them that they worked for the Swordlords and not Yelena Labeda. But he seemed happier after they had updated him on their progress; especially their successes against the bandits. They also appraised him about the pigeon post system and as they left the Steward At Arms showed them to the Mayor's bird loft at Ione's request.
The next couple of days they spent buying and selling in the many specialist shops. William managed to sell some of his scrolls to one of the wizard contacts, sought out some of his occult friends and studied in the libraries around town. Too soon it seemed it was time to return to Oleg's and to meet up with the rest of the Wardens.
The only downside seemed to be that T'lef had occasional days when he didn't feel quite himself and his sleep was sometimes filled with dark dreams.
