122211

12.22.11 - IN the Mountains...
"When the battle was done, our heroes stood victorious over their fallen foes. Very little of the bar had been damaged, and almost no blood had been shed by either side during the actual fighting. Between sleep and color spray spells Xain had managed to neutralize the majority of the villains. The party quickly dispatched the incapacitated foes and saved one unlucky soul for questioning.

"But it was quickly discovered that not all was what it initially seemed. Examining their foes, our heroes uncovered the truth that these strange looking creatures had, at one point, been the innkeeper and their family.

"Mystically conjured parasites from the plane of madness had been attached to their spinal cords, warping the very being of these poor civilians into monsters of unwonted destruction. Their bones were atomized, their arms each split in to two, and their minds sundered. From head to toe, they had become demons of insanity.

"Not wasting time (aside from sleeping off the evening's battle), the party packed up and began to head out. Several members of the group made sure to acquire what they could from the dead family.

"And so our heroes journeyed on, heading ever northward and eastward toward the city of Colebeth. Their objective was clear, get to the city, find out what they needed to know, and get back quick. It was already evident that more powers were on the move than they had been led to believe.

"So it was late in their day of travel when the foothills of the Copper Mountains rose up to meet our heroes. The river they followed took them deep into gorge after gorge, rounding sharp corners and being surrounded on all sides by rock, bush and tree. The winds cut through the canyons like a jack knife, and the river roiled with rapid fury.

"It was the druid who first spotted the bobcats. Two of them, dire in shape and size, hiding among some bushes along one of the canyon walls. The moment she spoke, the world snapped into action.

"For of course, as everyone should know, dire bobcats are the bred mounts of goblins.

"Svana thrust her horse into action, closing the distance. Combat was joined by the Glathkin and Varius at range. It when the party's attention was completely locked on the bobcats that the actual goblins launched their ambush. One lunged up on Ebiwen's horse, stabbing him

in the back. Another barreled up from the underbrush, ran underneath a horse, and stabbed Xain in the ass with a dagger.

"What followed was a cavalcade of spells and abusive attacks that left a bobcat dead and skinned, a goblin dead, pinned to the ground by an arrow, and the final bobcat fleeing into the wilderness.

"Of course, there was also one goblin who, weak of mind and body as he was, succumbed to the sleeping effects of the sorcerer's color spray. Ebiwen was not done with him however, deciding that because the creature was a goblin, it was therefore evil. And with his bare chest and bare fists, he tried to beat the evil out of the tiny creature.

"Broken, bloody, and on death's doorstep, the goblin came to and offered to tell the party everything he knew. It was quickly learned that the goblins had decided to enforce their southern border, taking back the lands they insisted were theirs before the coming of Caire Fenris, Caire Landross, and Colebeth. They were no longer content with Caire Fenris killing so many of their people with their new found strength of arms and powerful artifacts.

"Reluctantly, some of our heroes let the little goblin go, against the wishes of Svana. Now, on the southern border of the Copper Mountains, our heroes continue their journey deeper into the Wild Lands."