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With the smuggling ring discovered, and two of the members arrested, it is discovered that it runs much deeper than just those two men. A Thieves Guild, operating out of Guardstone, by the name of The Night Blades had infiltrated King Saric’s circle, and had been smuggling some of the recovered weapons and artifacts to The Broken Hand, a tribe of ever growing Orcs, hell bent on bringing chaos and war to the face of the world.
- As King Saric’s men sought to arrest The Night Blades, they got word of the capture of their two comrades, and knew the King’s men would soon be after them and immediately fled, in the cover of night, out of Guardstone.
- The King’s men tracked them traveling South East, eventually trying to lose the King’s Men in the Wildthorn Woods (where Wild Elves, typically prevent anyone from entering)
- The King’s Men returned to Guardstone to report to the King that they lost the Night Blades when they entered Wildthorn Woods
- King Saric called on the party, knowing that Luna was a member of one of the tribes that populated the Wildthorn Woods, and may be able to grant her fellow travelers safe passage.
- Luna and the others agreed; however, Omen remained behind (having worked on the artifacts that had been recovered), to go over inventory and see if they could determine how many weapons had been smuggled out.
- The party traveled South East, following the same path as the Night Blades, eventually coming to The Sunken City Lake. There, they met with several merchants, one of them having made mention that one of the artifacts, a short sword, was sold to a merchant, so that the thieves could purchase horses and make their escape more quickly.
- The party made camp here, safely among the others, before pressing on. They next made camp at the base of the mountain that borders the Wildthorn Woods. While they were camped there, a wounded Half-man, came bursting through the brush and took refuge with them (claiming that some men had followed him from the lake, and beaten him up and taken everything). Unbeknownst to the party, it was actually Quan’reel (one of the members of the Night Blades).
- Quan’reel left in the morning, escaping freely (none of the party, any the wiser of who he had been until it was too late). The party continued along their way, making their way into the mountains, moving slowly with the wagon. They found themselves attacked by human brigands, but made quick work of three of them (killing two, and questioning one – who spoke an unknown human language). The other three brigands fled.
- That night in the mountains, the party took watch, the skies illuminated by the dual full moons. Soon, they found themselves confronted by eight wererats – defeating seven of them, rendering one of them unconscious, who shape shifted back to his human form; revealing he was a member of the brigands who had attacked them on the mountain pass.
- The party made their way out of the mountains and the base of Wildthorn Woods, where Luna was able to signal her people and met with her brother, who took her to the elder (after she explained their mission). The Wild Elves had indeed seen the thieves and tried to drive them out, but the thieves were using magical weapons to keep the elves at bay. One of thieves, Frenur had been killed by the Wild Elves, and a Rune Bow was recovered. The Elder has the bow, studying it, agreeing to release it to Luna and the others if they come back, having gotten rid of the thieves (or find evidence of all of their fates).
- The party ventured down into an area known as The Crater, where not even the Wild Elves go. Almost immediately they are attacked by an insect like creature known as an Anhkeg – a giant, praying mantis like creature that burrows through the earth.
- The body of Argus, a gnome from the Night Blades was recovered near by, though he had no weapons or anything of value.
- The party continued on and spotted several Bugbears tormenting a woman, poking her, stabbing her, slashing at her, for the sheer joy of it. The party attacked the Bugbears while the woman attempted to escape. Once the Bugbears were defeated, Luna was able to easily track the woman, who turned out to be Ionacular, from The Night Blades. Eager to live, and not truly evil, she told the party that they had left her behind when she twisted her ankle coming into the Crater – and that they had continued towards the lake in order to replenish their supplies.
- The party ventured towards the lake in The Crater where they could see someone lying on the beach. Argo and Bodrag soon found themselves under the charm of two Harpies that called this lake home. Luna was enable to ensnare her two comrades, preventing them from going out into the clearing. Furious the Harpies flew into the edge of the woods to attack; one fumbled, crashing, knocking itself prone, which the others immediately dispatched, while they fought with and eventually defeated the second Harpy. The body on the beach belonged to Ureath, one of the Night Blades. The party was easily able to pick up the tracks of the other thieves in the sand, who did not hide their tracks (probably fleeing from the Harpies while they feasted on Ureath).
- Crossing through a small plains area, the party eventually entered a small, swamp like area (from the run down of the river). There, they were chased by a large creature called a Carrion Crawler, where they made their stand at the entrance to a cave, just outside the swamp. After defeating the creature, they could see it had recently devoured something – or someone – which turned out to be Brin, of the Night Blades.
- The party stopped at the cave’s entrance for the night.