New Friends

17 Mirtul 1489

Sedrax and Undeenie cautiously approach a band of stragglers. In the brush, they make out the shapes of two humans watching the makeshift encampment. The two, an entertainer named Ulrich Nordstrom and a right brute named Rainer Davi were following the band as well, hired to investigate the raids taking place in the area. Ulrich realizes that, if they combine their forces, there will be enough strength to overcome the band of some 12 humans and kobolds before them and perhaps get a bite to eat.

Ulrich begins to explain his plan to Sai, Undeenie, Sedrax. When they look back for Rainer, they see that he has his warhammer in hand and is just walking into the encampment. Sedrax laughs and starts walking with him, lifting his greatsword high. The others stare at each other briefly, and Undeenie shrugs.

They all stand up. From the rear, Ulrich begins playing bagpipes which causes the band to begin running into the center of the camp. At the sound of the pipes, the kobolds scatter into the brush. The battle is quick and furious. The kobolds attempt to regroup and attack the bard, but he quickly puts one group to sleep with a spell he once picked up from a very talented lady friend, while the fighters finish off the other. The battle ends quickly. One of the humans is left and the band of heroes interrogates him while Sedrax sends the kobolds to go meet Tiamat. The lone survivor divulges that the raiders have a rear guard, and the main camp is not that far away. The party chooses to camp in place for the night.

18 Mirtul 1489

After waking, the band of adventurers leaves the informant tied up in a bush and press on. They easily spot and avoid the ambush site. After another mile or so of walking, they proceed to the camp to look for the missing monk and poke around. The camp itself is located in a hollow surrounded by cliffs and under observation by two short guard towers. They are able to walk into the camp without raising suspicion, passing themselves off as fellow raiders. After talking up their "fellow" raiders, the group discovers that the raiding force is collecting treasure hoard to prepare for the return of Tiamat, that there are prisoners here, that their leaders reside within a large tent in the center of the camp, and that Leosin, the monk, is held in a stockade near the entrance of what everyone is calling the "Nursery"

Sedrax approaches the "Nursery" but is turned away by the guards. Sai and Ulrich come up with a plan to secure Leosin. They decide that Ulrich will light some of the huts near the entrance to the hollow on fire. Sai will create another diversion by freeing the prisoners and the abandon them by scaling one of the cliffs that surround the camp. The others will free Leosin and run out of the camp.

They wait for nightfall and act. Ulrich douses a few huts in oil and then lights them on fire. Sai releases the prisoners and leaves. Everything goes as planned until Leosin is freed and realizes that the prisoners will be slaughtered. He runs to the prisoners and insists that they, too, be helped out. He glares at the suggestion that they leave the prisoners. The party reluctantly begins fighting their way out of the camp. Eventually they escape through the entrance in the confusion, and then evade capture in the grasslands. They quietly rest in the Greenfields before heading out to Greenest the next day.

19 Mirtul 1489

Upon arriving at Greenest, Leosin is reunited with his apprentice. The master of the town, Governor Nighthill, rewards the party with a considerable amount of money. The party stocks up and relaxes. In the evening Leosin informs them that he will be heading to Elturel to disclose what he has discovered about the raiders to his friends. He asks the party to return to the raider's camp to watch for a week. They are to report any movement or any other major events to him in Elturel. The reward wouldn't be much, but Sedrax urges the party to accept, seeing more opportunities to avenge Bahamut. The band of adventurers agrees, and continues to celebrate well into the night.

Maya Marondel Departs

Discovery of the ultimate end of their quarry weighed heavily upon Sai and Maya. Undeenie kept watch as Sedrax assisted the elves in cremating the remains in accordance with the wood elf traditions.

Sedrax the dragonborn, had happened upon the two wild elves Sai Amastacia and Maya Marondel, and their friend Undeenie "the Undying", in the depths of the Haunted Halls. He had been sent back some 200 years at the request of his lord in order to save someone. He knew not who, but being a paladin comes, for him, with the price of always saving those who can be saved.

Upon returning from the Haunted Halls for rest, the enigmatic human fighter known as Undeenie was perhaps the first to notice that all was not right with the Lonely Glade. A once modest, yet lively, small glade in the King's Forest of Cormyr was now desolate. A few orc corpses lay about, obviously a raiding party of some sort. This was an almost unprecedented occurance within the borders of Cormyr!

Maya rushed up to her library to discover that it was gone. For her and the other wild elf, Sai, this represented a terrible loss. The books and records within the library contained all that had transpired since the arrival of the wood elves. It recorded the planting of the Amastacia Tree, the wide-ranging domain of the wild elves before the arrival of men. It recorded deeds both great and insignificant. It was the entire history of their culture.

Sai reached the top of the Amastacia Tree to discover a note, scrawled into the wood. Her father was killed in the assault, yet the library was safe. The remaining elves were going to go west to live on the Sword Coast within the Cloakwood with some ancient kin. The library was intact and to be taken to Candlekeep for posterity. All this was written in a coded way to make sure that only other wood elves, any stragglers, would know where to meet.

The small band of adventurers headed west in pursuit. By the time they reached the citadel at High Horn, however, they had discovered that the year was 1489 by Dale Reckoning. At some point between leaving the Haunted Halls and arriving at the Lonely Glade, the entire party appeared to have returned to Sedrax's time. Or, perhaps, the elves and Undeenie had been brought forward to Sedrax's time when they had met him. At any rate, the loss of the Lonely Glade was a recent development as evidenced by the relative freshness of the orc-corpses.

The party was encouraged as they heard tales of a travelling band of elves as they traveled the High Road through the Storm Horns to Greatgaunt and over the Bridge of  Fallen Men out of Cormyr. At the town of Proskur, the party discovered that they were barely 7 days behind the caravan of elves. The pushed west, anxious to see their friends again. Arriving at the great city of Iriaebor, the party did not stop to enjoy the wonders of the city as they were merely one day behind. After such a long journey, they were almost together again.

Some two days after leaving Iriaebor, the party saw smoke ahead on the road. Before they could react, they were ambushed by raiders. They were no match, however, for the well-armed and experienced adventuring party. What the dragonborn, elves, and human discovered at the fire though, greatly saddened them. They were perhaps less than an hour too late to save the remains of the Lonely Glade.

Maya's library lay in disarray. Sai was despondent. Sedrax and Undeenie did would they could to comfort their wild elf friends as they decided what to do. All valuables had been removed from the caravan except the library. The stupid orcs must not have realized that the knowledge was the actual treasure. Between cremating each corpse, they discussed what they would do. Sai and Undeenie were all about revenge. Sedrax felt that justice must be preserved. Maya wanted to stay with the library to somehow preserve everything possible. After a simple search, there were obvious signs left by a raiding party that headed to the southeast. The raiders wasted no effort on hiding their trail, which seemed to Maya to indicate that they were overconfident.

That evening, Sedrax had a powerful dream. He imagined that he was travelling through a wood with the rest of his party. As the fog closed in around the band, they came upon a great wall with a gate that opened for them. They turned and went in the other direction and came upon the same gate. At this time, they noticed that Maya was gone. As they called out for her, they heard her on the other side of the wall, talking about her library. As they passed through the gate, it shut behind them. Undeenie, Sai, and Sedrax walked down the path and happened upon a corpse.

And now, the latest episode:

Sedrax wakes up, slightly disturbed by his dream. It is morning. Undeenie says "Are you awake?" Sedrax nods and smiles a toothy smile. "Interesting dream," he says in his gravelly voice. Another large caravan approaches from the east. Sounds of music fill the air as the caravan approaches. Great cylindrical wooden carts with windows and doors, pulled by oxen, make their way toward the ambush site. The party is roused and prepared by the time that the caravan of bronze-skinned and weather-worn humans arrives.

The party talks with their raven-haired caravan master, who speaks with a strange accent. They call themselves "Vistani" and say they are heading to Baldur's Gate by way of Beregost, which will take them very near Candlekeep. The master of the caravan agrees to take Maya and the library in one of their "vardos" - a sort of mobile shelter - to Candlekeep for 500 pieces of gold. Sai, Undeenie, and Sedrax feel as though this is a good time to take revenge on the loss of their friends and head southeast, with a desire for revenge and justice in their hearts. Maya waves farewell as the Vistani caravan heads into the wood.

The band sets out on foot, tracking the raiding party southeast across the grasslands. Just after midday, they happen upon a young monk who has been injured. He introduces himself as Nesim Waldara.

"We were defeated, my master and I, by a raiding party that attacked the town of Greenest." He points vaguely to the northeast, in the direction of the site where the elves were killed. "He has been captured, and they left me for Myrkul." Nesim relates that they were following a band of kobolds, drakes, and even a blue dragon that had attacked the town of Greenest on the day before yesterday. "My master Leosin and I had tracked them towards that outcropping but we were challenged by a rear guard. If you go that way, be careful. The rear guard assumed we were mercenaries at first, but my master was recognized by one of their leaders. We were attacked and I fell. When I awoke, my master was gone. I am returning to Greenest, as I was instructed to do if we were separated. If you should find the raiders, you should return to Greenest with information about them and you will be rewarded. Good luck"

The party gives Nesim a few provisions and Sedrax performs a healing touch on the young monk. Nesim continues northwest. The party continues southeast. Sai motivated by revenge, Sedrax motivated by justice, and Undeenie motivated by the promise of gold.