Iron Realm Log One
Year of Darkness 1123
1st day of the Wolf
The boat was sinking. Captain Ranik had made the journey from the Western Isles along the Iron Surge and into the Iron Realms a hundred times. He carried passengers into the civilised lands and towards Castle Haddon; today was no exception but the boat had been breached from beneath twice.
The passengers were concerned. A disparate bunch but willing to fill the holes and head for the south shore. Captain Ranik was thankful for that; it was not much of a boat but it was his business after all.
Dwarves, Wildlings, and even vampyres he thought. In his day these creatures were monsters but now - in the enlightened times of King Vainner of castle Stormstone - anything was possible and he even thought some of them were pleasant enough.
But now his precious vessel was sinking.
Isirion was a comely vampyre sorceress and seemed to have more wits than most, it was she that crammed the spare sail into the breach and barked orders at the others.The second female was a Wildling Barbarian called Wyrin, Captain Ranik was still not convinced that these strange folk were trustworthy but she was helping like the others.
They reached the south shore to much relief and captain Ranik wondered how he would mend the breach when the water erupted in a chaotic mass of tentacles and anger. A massive sea octopus, bviously venturing inland for food, swiped and slashed at the party and there was violence in the air.
A dwarven paladin of fire called Storth reacted quickest; his longbow larger than him but his skill was exemplary - he managed to strike two of the tentacles and put one out of action. His companion, a Wildling battlemage called Kysan'tel, struck at the creature gamely and without fear. Selmenor was a quiet human who sneaked into the shadows rather than get involved.
The remaining two rose to the fight. The first a human fire priest called Faye and a dwarf sorcerer called Brainsound, who hurled magic missiles at the creature.
The octopus was vicious and threatened to overwhelm the party; when Captain Ranik's head was ripped from his shoulders they decided to make quick their retreat. Once away from the wide and fast flowing Iron Surge they were safe.
The citadel of Castle Haddon lies at the southern tip of Hell's Ridge, but before that was a vast swamp that did not look inviting. Brainsound decided that it would be better to head south towards the Volan Hills and then head north up to the citadel.
Isirion casted six mount spells and with a collection of light horses and mules they headed off towards the hills.
Before long they saw the crest of the Volcan Hills in the distance. A single flash from the lens of a telescope alerted them to a watcher. Isirion threw her natural clairvoyance at the watcher and saw a bandit with twelve of his companions out of sight, obviously weighing up the potential risks of an attack.
The bandits decided that the party was ripe for the picking...a mistake that they would lead them down the dark paths with Koosh 'ti leading them into Limbo for their last journey.
As the bandits rode in the party had time to prepare defensive spells and set themselves for the fight. The dwarven paladin Storth was lethal; putting three arrows into the throats of three bandits and a fourth into the belly of a fourth, a wound that would later prove fatal.
Magic missiles flew from Isirion and Brainsound as the bandits closed and struck. Wyrin and Faye engaged with heavy blades and began to turn the tide of the fight as the bandits realised they had made a mistake. Selmenor crept from the shadows and wrapped his scourge round the throat of a bandit on horseback; with a quick snap of the hands the bandit's neck snapped as easily as a twig.
Isirion received a heavy blow to the chest but survived the strike, only to see the battlemage Kysan'tel carve a bloody line through the bandit's throat.
But Brainsound was not so lucky. He turned too slowly towards a bandit attack, the longsword smashed through his skull and left his brains spilled at his feet. Faye cut down the bandit as the remaining two decided to flee...but it was too late for them.
Storth clubbed the first one to death as Selmenor saw off the last one. With the dust settling the party now had twelve reasonable horses and a host of bodies to search...