More Role-playing (Continued)!

From where we left off, we continued our journey north. In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, weeks are called Tendays, and they consist (surprise!) of ten days. Our journey was going to last 60 days, so DJ chose to break up the journey into these weeks.

Two events occurred during the second Tenday. The first happened on day 13, when Beyd's wagon, the third in line, overturned, and its contents spilled out. The cultists quickly had their guards circle the wagon and kept everyone else out. Corrin failed to sneak past the guards, and Censura failed to bargain his way through. Thok, however, was let through to assist with the beer. Fortunately, all of Beyd's kegs of beer made their saving throws and survived the crash. While re-stacking the kegs, Thok managed to spot some of the treasure as the cultists re-packed it.

A small family, a mother and her son, also emerged from the wagon. Beyd had allowed them to ride against the wishes of the Cult. The Cult chased them out. I tended to their wounds and allowed them the use of my horse. Unfortunately, the next morning, they were found dead. Examing the bodies, I found that they had been murdered by poison. I then used gentle repose to preserve the .bodies, hopefully for later use with a speak with dead or a similar spell.

The next event occurred on day 19, as we were rounding the Trollclaws. We came upon a gathering of 200 hundred people led by a trio of priests. They were blocking the road, and were on their knees whipping themselves. We eventually learned that they were followers of Loviatar, the Forgotten Realms god of torture, and they were honoring a high holy day with their actions. They offered us a chance to join them. Ultimately, we bribed them into wallowing in thorn bushes at the roadside instead. D.J. had learned that one of the adventure's writers, Steve Winter, had written this encounter, but it had been edited out of the final draft of the adventure. However, it still has an entry on the random encounter table for the journey. As I've mentioned before, the editing on these adventures books leaves something to be desired. As a Realms fan, I was expecting them to be followers of Ilmater, the god of endurance and suffering. Loviatar worshippers generally fill more of a dominatrix role with Ilmater worshipers more interested in self-flagellation.

As the second Tenday ended, we made another round of "getting to know you" rolls. This time around we learned a bit more about Edhelri, two of the shield dwarves also acting as guards, a rock gnome travelling with us, a lawyer travelling with us, and Werond. Edhelri seems to prefer the company of her animals and her wagon to the company of people, and Werond is secretly a romantic. She regaled Censura with a Romeo-and-Juliet-esque tale that brought them to tears. The rock gnome, Radecere, turns out to like games of chance, and played some with Lokeo. One of the shield dwarves, Eldkin, brags about having made this journey many times and was very nit-picky of supposed mistakes the other travelers were making. The other shield dwarf, Tyjit, is an honest, but temperamental person. Aldor, the lawyer, wouldn't talk to us, but a fellow traveler had learned that he was fleeing a scandal of some sort in Baldur's Gate.

The third Tenday was quiet, with the major event occurring on day 28. A herd of deer was spotted near the wagon train, so we went on a hunting expedition. A large buck was spotted among the deer. A buck with a coat of gold and antlers of platinum. Not surprisingly, some of the hunters wanted to chase down the deer. Sandi, Corrin, and Censura opted to follow them. Sandi suspected that the buck was a powerful fae creature, so they wanted to make sure nothing happened to the other guards or the buck. The buck led the party to a crumbling ruin. There, it turned into a moon elf male with a tiny pair of gold horns. He begged the others to put their weapons away. All but one of the guards did.

A short battle ensued. Corrin used Disarm, an optional action found in the DMG to knock the bow out of the guard's hand. Once he was disarmed, the other guards restrained him. The moon elf explained that he was a noble of a now forgotten kingdom (there are lots of those in Faerun), who was cursed to turn into the stag whenever he left his castle. He was cursed because of the father of the woman he loved did not approve of the union. He was hoping to get to Waterdeep to find a cure for his curse.

While three of the four guards were on board with hiding the game animal made of wealth, the fourth, the one Corrin had to disarm, seemed very shifty about it. He had been spending an awful lot of time with the cultists, too. They disguised the nameless prince (yes, he had even forgotten his name) with a saddle blanket and some ample mud. Alek and Thok were informed of the situation when the party returned, and agreed to help protect the prince on the way to Waterdeep.

Once again, a nearly combat free session in which a great deal of actual plot was covered.