Where we left off

Recap

The party spends the morning resting in the shelter of the wooded ravine south of Talynbourg. By early afternoon, they feel sufficiently rested to continue on their way.

Daethin recommends that the group stay off the roads during daylight hours in order to avoid turning heads and arousing unwanted attention as anybody traveling with a unicorn and a direwolf is likely to do.

They follow the ravine south until it ends, and then make their way along the treelines and copses that border the cleared farmlands in this part of the Cydonic countryside. Picking their way along in this matter is slow, but they manage to travel without incident.

Late in the afternoon, a wall of ominous storm clouds begins to rise over the mountains to the north. The ranger estimates that they have a couple hours before the storm hits. The group decides to stick with their current tactic of traveling cross-country until the rain starts. Then, they will risk the open road, trusting the weather to keep peering eyes behind shuttered windows.

They travel until nightfall when they make camp in a ruined granary that offers them some shelter from the worst of the storm. They view the storm as a mixed blessing. For while it makes travel miserable, the rain will make their trail much more difficult to follow. Hopefully their pursuers will decide that they are not worth the trouble.

And so it goes for the next several days. The weather continues to fluctuate between overcast gloom to raging tempest, soaking the travelers to the bone and slowing their progress. Our heroes stick to the shelter of the woods when traveling by day, risking faster travel on the road by night.

Soon, the landscape begins to show evidence of the Blight. Villages gates remain locked during the day, fields stand unplanted and overrun with weeds, even the trees begin to appear twisted as though writhing in agony.

On the evening of the fourth day, as the group is searching for shelter from the latest wave of rains, they stumble upon an abandoned farmstead. As Kit and Daethin cautiously approach the vacant facade of the farmhouse, grunts and porcine squeals drift through the rainfall from the barnyard beyond.

Creeping to the edge of the house, the two scouts peer around the corner. through the gloom, Daethin’s elven eyes are able to make out a writhing mass of swine desperately trying to force their way through the closed barn door.

There is movement from an overturned barrel in the yard and another pig looks up from its rummaging and stares directly at the two scouts. Letting out a hideous squeal, it charges forward as Daethin and Kit run for the safety of their companions.

Aware of the presence of easy prey, the rest of the tainted hogs take up the chase. Upon hearing Kit and Daethin’s shouts the rest of the party closes to aid their friends. The pigs charge the adventurers with little regard for the wounds inflicted upon them. Eleanor reveals her holy symbol infused with the light of a Celestial Brilliance spell. The sun amulet throws a brilliant light across the combatants and draws the pigs’ attention to the cleric.

Upon seeing the tainted swine, Santiago pulls out the blue ribbon taken from the corpse of Mr. Oinksley back in Fenwatch and pins it to his robes. This battle was nothing new to our heroes and they made quick work of the swine. A wayward fireball from Rayne took care of a pair, but also damaged the already dilapidated farmhouse, blowing away the boards that had previously covered its windows. Kit’s rapier and short sword flashed as she tumbled about the battlefield sticking any pig flesh that came within reach as Daethin let fly with volley after volley.

Soon, the battle was over with only minor injury to the party. As the rest of the group collected their breath and wiped the swine blood from their weapons, Eleanor approached the abandoned farmhouse to peer inside. The small, one room abode appeared empty except for some abandoned furniture, but in the silence after the battle, she could hear the shrill screams of a horse drifting through the pattering rain from the barn beyond…