Weather Conditions:  Light Rain, and then Clear Skies

Maroth:  Waning

 

Background
The King's Quarrels are his official messengers.  One of his Quarrels -- an attractive woman by the name of 'Bunny' -- is the local head of the Quarrels.  Bunny is swamped with messages, mainly because the quarrels are trying to keep track of rocs that are occasionally seen flying through the mountains.  Because there is so much work to be done, Bunny needs someone trustworthy to deliver a scroll-case of messages to Mount Rilan, and the party has come highly recommended by Lore Reeve Morone.

 

Bunny's stats.

 

A trip by boat would be uneventful, except for a pair of scrags that has recently shut down all shipping to Kashin.  The city is currently putting together a strike force to deal with the pair of water trolls, but volunteers are rather scarce.  Gideon Enterprises is unable to get word to Firestorm, it's special operations group that usually handles such problems.  The scrags will get cleared up within a week, but if someone were to knock the scrags out even sooner, then the city would probably reward them handsomely.

 

The trip by foot or by hoof down the side of the Slav River, and then down the side of the Galanus River, would be a moderately long one.  It's 200 miles following the river, and 150 miles straight away.  There is no straight away road, but the road along the river is fairly well maintained, and would ordinarily take 5 days with spare horses, or 10 days with no spare horses.  Cutting through the forests makes the time about the same, and there are no towns along the way.  The Church of Rahne has constructed occasional way-stations along the straight away trails, but the forests otherwise belong to Mother Nature.

 

The Scrags

Two scrags have blockaded shipping, about half-way down the Slav, near the small town of Nubuck (population 50).  The locals are terrified of the one scrag they've seen, especially after it ate two of their cows, and were seen dragging an elgannet beetle off into the river.  Reports are confusing, because some people say there's only one scrag -- and others say there's two.

 

One of the scrags has developed rudimentary sorcery, and uses it to full ability.  The other scrag is a savage, ferocious creature with a barbarian's rage.  They tolerate each other because their kind have become quite rare since the formation of Rakore.  The barbarian scrag has been around for several years -- and is coincidentally the same one that harassed the Black Holly II the year prior.

 

Sorcerous scrag stats.

 

Barbarian scrag stats.

 

Their lair is accessed through an underwater tunnel, that lets up into a rocky air-pocket with a small beach.  The accumulated bones of all their prey covers the beach, and the smell of death permeates the putrid air.  The barbarian scrag has accumulated quite a bit of treasure over the years -- recently augmented by the sinking of a smuggler with a treasure-chest full of gems and bullion.

 

Lair Treasures:  Armor -- large steel shield +2 (Strength +2) (16,170gp), steel helm.  Weapons -- Thermador, intelligent dagger +1 [Int: 17 (3), Wis: 11 (0), Cha: 15 (2); Ego: 11; Communication: speech; AL NG; Languages: Common, Celestial, Draconic, Gnome; see invisible at will; 'feather fall' on wielder (1x/day); find traps at will; 'stoneskin' (self only, 10 minutes per use) (2x/day)] (27,302gp).  Art -- false hand, solid silver, with ivory nails (154.7gp); gold dragon comb with red garnet eye (1,231.7gp); ebonite and platinum bracelet (930.8 gp)*; polished electrum mirror, elven visage on the back (174.5gp); small painting, a beach (94.3 gp); well-wrought fertility idol to Habrem (1,109.4gp); wrought gold anklet (572.1gp).  Gems -- jargoon (63.2gp), lapis lazuli (blue, often flecked with gold or white) (10gp), orbaline (675.8gp), spessartine (orange through red garnet) (843.2gp), star ruby (4,822.1gp).  Potions -- potion of endurance [Core Rules] (terra cotta-colored, burning/biting odor/taste, bubbling, flecked appearance) (300gp),  potion of hiding [Core Rules] (madder-colored, perfumy odor/taste, watery, variegated appearance) (150gp), potion of infertility [Magic of Faerun] (vermillion-colored, honeyed odor/taste, bubbling, clear appearance) (150gp).  Arcane Scrolls -- Misdirection (l2, cl3) (525gp), Greater Mage Hand [Magic of Faerun] (l3, cl5) (525gp), Joyful Noise [Song and Silence] (l1, cl1) (50gp), Portal Beacon [Manual of the Planes] (l1, cl1) (50gp).  Coin -- 1,214 gold coins, 1,760 silver coins.

 

*Critical to the Marksmen believing that the party has or knows more about the Hand of Storms that Doom Rex wears.  See Overview for details.

 

The lair itself has no other exits, save through the tunnel.  The barbarian scrag will rush in and attack anything that moves, while the sorcerous scrag is wily enough to stay back, and try to wear the party down, first, with magic missiles or by blocking the tunnel.  The scrags have a large boulder at the bottom of the river overhang that leads to their lair, and they use it to block access to their lair at times.  The party is thus likely to encounter only the barbarian scrag -- and not even know about the sorcerous scrag until it's too late.

 

The Trip

Spring has passed, and early summer has begun.  Elgannet beetles are out in abundance, harassing farmers, and luring larger ankhegs in towards civilization.  Otherwise, the trip should be relatively uneventful.  Way Stations would help the party, and they may even encounter a monk of Rahne, out maintaining the Way Stations.

 

Once the party arrives at Rilan, one of the Baron-and-the-Bishop's aids should be there to receive them.  The aid, Ravid Axehandle, is an abrasive dwarf with a fiery red-gold beard.  He will await the party at the Blue Tyven, but if he finds out they have arrived before-hand, he will go out to meet them and receive the scroll-case of messages from Bunny.

 

If Ravid finds out that the party has disabled or defeated the scrags, he can write them a Letter of Passage for Lok Giran and Lok Magius.  Otherwise, the party will not be allowed to go up Mount Rilan.  Ravid holds no discernable title, but is apparently high up in the chain-of-command for all of Rilan.

 

The Return
The return trip should have some minor rain showers, but otherwise will be uneventful.