Stop the Poaching - Group 3, Session 6

General Summary

After a night's rest, the party returned to the livery and "borrowed" mounts for themselves: a horse for Dhraanggh, with the goblin Gambit riding along, and a pony for the two Halflings, Tom and Kleone. They headed out after Amaric Duncanson and the merchant - the two behind the poaching. On the second day, they caught up to their quarry.

The merchant was still being protected by the three sellswords that the party had encountered in the roadside camp when they were first on their way to Spirit Lake. These three were mounted, but apparently not on war-trained horses since the three decided to dismount to face the party rather than charge them while mounted. As they were dismounting, a crossbow bolt fired by Amaric flew wide of any target. The merchant, in the meantime, was spurring his horses into galloping the wagon away at its best speed while the mercenaries dealt with the party.

Party members also dismounted. The battle was brief and decisive, with one mercenary slain and two surrendered. After securing the two to trees alongside the road, the party remounted and took off after the wagon. Catching up to it, all four managed to successfully leap from their mounts into the back of the wagon, and from that point, it was clear to the merchant that they were captured. The wagon was brought to a stop without a fight.

Careful infvestigation of the wagon at first brought no sign of any fey creatures - but the party knew they must be here somewhere. Finally, they discovered the secret - the ring of keys the merchant had hidden were magical. Making the motion of turning them in an imaginary lock caused a small chest to appear, and inside each chest was a cage with a captured fey. Further finds, and questioning of the merchant revealed that these were the product of "Chest"-type Feather Tokens. One unused token remained, and the party even recovered the formula for magically crafting more of the items.

The party gathered their prisoners and returned to Spirit Lake. The journey took two days, but was uneventful. Upon their return, they turned over their prisoners to the Elders of the Village, who in turn contacted the Elven Rangers outside the village. Despite howling protests for mercy, the perpetrators were led away into the forest to face whatever judgement the Fey and the Elves had in store for them.

The party, in the meantime, was thanked graciously for their work in lifting the burden of the whole poaching incident from the village. The remaining Elders hoped that things would return to normal, with the village and the denizens of the forest surrounding it living in peace. The few fey that were recovered were returned to their home areas.

Amalthea the Druid appeared outside the resort the next morning; the party was informed of this by the two Brownies that came looking for them. Amalthea provided them with a pouch containing 50 pieces of gold (as promised). In speaking with the group, Dhraanngh mentioned that they had learned that the real source of the poaching problem was in the far off city of Endmere, where apparently it was fashionable to wear pixie wings on fine clothing. Dhraanngh explained that as long as there were nobles willing to pay for things like this, the threat would continue. But when it sounded like Dhraanggh was considering having the party travel to Endmere to "finish the job", Amalthea had an alternative request.

Amalthea wished to ensure that there were no splinters of the poaching operation operating out of the city of Karnstown. This city, by far the most lawless place in the Feywood itself, was certainly capable of such a thing. There was no hard evidence of any poaching going on there, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure, and Amalthea would be more comfortable if the party were to ensure they were leaving no traces of the operation in the Feywood before they headed out of the forest. The party said they would consider it, but planned on spending a few days to rest and recover in Spirit Lake before going anywhere.  

The Session ends here.

Rewards Granted

The party attained Level 3.   The party received the following loot from either Amalthea or the merchant and Amaric:

Missions/Quests Completed

The Poaching Ring and its mastermind have been defeated. Some fey were freed, and the immediate threat has been eliminated.