Dragonbane

As we were getting our bearings at the crossroads we also noticed a mysterious stick figure hanging from a tree to the east. We decided to head to the west following a winding trail and travelled for a good six hours until it started getting dark. Orla scouted out an old abandoned cottage just off the trail that would make the perfect campsite. Makander was on watch just before dawn when they heard the sound of angry wasps outside that had been disturbed by some lights in the trees nearby. There were signs that someone had been tampering with our gear but fortunately nothing had been stolen. Probably just fire fairies (fuckers!)

We carried on our way and by the afternoon we came upon a large clearing that looked like a giant termite mound with a cave like opening at the base. There were stone heads arranged around the entrance of an elf, a dwarf, a wolfkin and a human but no halfling head, thankfully. Or maybe that meant they needed one, Krisanna gulped. Wooden posts with cloth nailed to them like markers pointed the way into a kidney shaped room with tunnels leading off and a large beast sleeping. It was the white wyrm!

Of course, it was only pretending to be asleep and it rudely demanded treasure to let us go. Krisanna looked horrified at the thought of surrendering any treasure other than a few tarnished copper pieces. It then lunged at Krisanna who managed to evade, but its head sideswiped Makander knocking him across the room and out of the entrance passage. Orla loosed her twin arrows, Bastonn attacked with his sword and received a face full of acidic phlegm in reply. Krisanna sneaked around behind the beast that was by now doing some serious damage to the others, and she managed a backstab before the wyrm swallowed Bastonn whole! He hacked his way out, unzipping the creature in the process.

Makander harvested scales, horns and teeth from the resultant pile of gore but Krisanna was keen to push on.We headed north into a circular room with a glittering pile of coins, gems, a sword, a chewed saddle, a horn, a box and a birdcage. Krisanna sorted out the nicest looking gems, Makander inspected the box which turned out to be a chess set so he claimed the sword as a spare, Orla found a bottle of perfume and spritzed herself to take away the smell of monster guts.

Krisanna was determined to explore some more and scurried into a narrow tunnel, closely followed by Orla. To their joint horror they found a dead body that had a giant bear claw on a loop around its neck, so they retraced their steps back to the main passage into a cavern with a hot spring lit by brightly glowing mushrooms. Orla jumped in to bathe and was scalded by the hot water, but at least she was clean.

We went back to the original crossroads and took the eastern path this time where we found a hermit living in a tree. He told us that in the last two or three months, everything had been turning bad with orcs appearing. He didn't seem to be very friendly though, suspiciously refusing a biscuit

We carried on to the east arriving at a swampy area, only to hear a crashing sound from the north! A 15 feet high bear appeared blocking out the sky. Bastonn did a huge amount of damage, followed by a sneak attack from Krisanna, causing the bear to turn tail. Orla chased it and finished it off with an elegant stab. We headed back and found a treehouse to sleep in, woken only by a mama sky bear crying for her cub (oops)

We finally took the northern finding a stone troll and a path leading to the hunters cabin where a chained up, starving dog took a lot of biscuits but then decided to be our friend after giving Krisanna a nip. The cabin looked to have been abandoned in the middle of a meal leaving the poor dog behind. Using some bedding, Bastonn and Swift now picked up the scent trail of the missing hunter and his son and followed it into the forest and into a clearing where a young boy was being menaced by five orcs.

CHARGE! Unfortunately Krisanna charged straight into a scimitar blade which caused a substantial amount of damage. Fortunately the rest of the party were more competent and quickly finished off the orcs before taking a traumatised Mulder back to the cabin where he seemed to suffering from amnesia.