Forgotten Realms Recap #1: Narly, Dude.

The village

21^st of Eleint (Sep), 1372 - The Autumnal Equinox
Present this week: Anniel, Grabthar, Lu Tse, Rayhil, Sephora (that’s everybody)

The curtain rises on the village of Adzo, a bare blip on the map hard on a lake in the lands of Rasheman. There’s a harvest festival going on, the same as in villages all across the Realms at this time of year. Accounting for our heroes: Anniel, an elven ranger, is going about her mundane business, trading with the four sisters (as they’re known in Adzo) who trade in herbs and poultices. Lu-Tse, a wisened old human who looks to be from Shou and has never spoken a word to confirm nor deny it,  is seemingly comatose, as always, on his stump in front of the village common house. Grabthar, a dwarven bard with the aspiration (if not the talent) to be an actor, has returned to Adzo to provide entertainment for the festivities. Jayhil is a woman of the village (and priestess of Selune) and is simply going about her routine; currently she is mending fishing nets. Sephora has come from out of the village to deliver a message to the Fyrra, Tadmek Adzolev.

Many of the party hears thunder, despite the clear morning that has blessed this feast day. Soon they realize it’s the sound of many hooves, approaching from the North. Not long after that, a shriek is heard from the same direction, then a discordant horn is blown. Pushing through the treeline is a band of nomadic barbarian raiders, all screaming “Naaaaar!” Apparently, they’re the Nar. Or from Nar. Or both. Naaaaar!

Combat ensues, wherein the players acquit themselves well. Lu Tse, in particular, seems to surprise people when he rises out of his catatonia, climbs on top of the common house, then seconds later leaps down onto a passing rider, snapping the rider’s neck as he is dragged from his horse. Sephora, exhausted from her long travels, wisely goes for cover during the chaos, Grabthar and Anniel waylay the attackers, and Jayhil miraculously calls forth a radiant energy that she then focuses and hurls at a rider, causing him greivious harm. The fighting dies down soon enough, leaving a grisly stew of fallen riders, stricken villagers, and burning yurts. (Ask your doctor if you have burning yurts.)

Udana, a woman of the village, is seen wandering through the carnage, a sheet of blood going down half her face. Rayhil uses positive energy to heal her, but the woman still seems troubled. “They took him,” she says. “They took my nephew. They grabbed him and rode away. Why would they take him?” It comes out that the boy is a 9 year old and named Seydlitz; he’s known to be stand-offish and a layabout, whom the other children dislike. He’s also known to be very, very bright.  We hear of no other hostages taken, which seems to confirm our suspicion that the raid was targeting this boy in particular.

What the hell are those things??

Udana leads the party to the ruins of the hut. With some investigation they determine that three horsemen stopped here, dismounted, then remounted and left. Four of the characters seem to fall into a loose company, compelled to help find the boy. Sephoa slept through this (she showed up exhausted and emaciated) but is hired to handle the horses – nobody else in the group knows anything about der ponies. They set out north, following the not-disguised-at-all trail of the retreating horsemen. After a day of hard riding, the party is simply a half-mile away from the riders, at the bottom of a ridge where the baddies are at the top.

After a bit of discussion, the company decides to flank the riders, despite the oncoming darkness and depleted spell-casters; it’s only going to get worse the farther north they get, we reason. However, once we get up there it looks like a bad idea, with the riders alert and restless, so Lu Tse sneaks around the encampment to beg off the attack for now. And that’s when the trouble starts.

The ground begins to shudder, then it vomits up huge gouts of stone and dirt, all the while a keening noise fills the air. Sephora almost loses her footing, and one of the Nar is crushed by the onrush of stone. The wise woman of the village had warned Jayhil to “avoid the ruins,” but apparently a convenient description of said runes was not provided. Anyway…  When the dust settles, an entire building of some kind has enveloped the company, the remaining Nar, presumably the boy Seydlitz… and “something” else that’s moving about. CLIFFHANGER!