Hugo Tuya’s guards have returned from exploring the mountains, and there is no more reason for them to remain in Estala: the time has come to escort Hugo Tuya’s trade caravan through the Middlemarch to western Hadun, even though they know that a deepfolk raiding party has entered the pass ahead of them. The roster for this session:

  • Bao Tap, human stormcaller
  • Calim “Ambros” Nefari, human rimewarden
  • Itzel, elven astrologer
  • Kyansei of the Eilika Tribe, wildling barbarian
  • Quangbae, wandering blacksmith

They spent only another day in Estala, gathering supplies and weapons for the journey, and then set off for the pass. Amestra, the Myrmidon who had sent them on the mission to Cauldron Lake, was eager for them to continue their journey into the pass, even though they knew deepfolk hid there: she wanted to know if another raid was planned on the town, and what numbers hid there. To this end she gave the guards a stormrider, a strange flying animal something like a jackal on wings, made of a strange mixture of bird and bat and lizard parts. This beast could fly fast and high, was tough against the mountain weather, the same colour as the rocky passes it flew over, and trained to return to Estala. Should they learn of the deepfolk situation in the pass – or even if they needed help – they were to tie a message to it and release it to return to Estala, where she would have a small squad of guards ready. This was not enough to ease the guards’ misgivings, but at least gave them some hope of rescue if all went wrong. They were ready to leave!

They took the wagon and their striders back the way they had come just two days ago, along the road to Cauldron lake, and passed the southern edge of the lake until the trees all around them began to change shape, the ground became rockier and more hostile, and they reached the scree-scattered slopes of the mountains near the Middlemarch. Now the forest thinned and the trees became smaller, stunted from trying to grow in the hard ground and bent and twisted from the harsh weather of the mountains. It was here at the edge of these trees, as they began to move into the open rocky ground at the entrance to the Middlemarch, that they were attacked by a manticore.

The beast dropped straight down on their party, not even bothering to strafe them with its spines first, but they saw it coming and were prepared when it hit the ground. Itzel cast her blur spell, Quangbae and Kyansei attacked it, and although it was able to knock Kyansei down with a vicious clawing attack it was no match for the party of five: after a brief and terrifying struggle it lay dying on the road. They wasted no time, but harvested the spines from its tail even before its breath had stilled, and leaving the butchered corpse to cool among a throng of gathering ravens, continued their journey.

They made quick progress on the first slopes of the Middlemarch, finding the path quickly and even managing to locate the Manticore’s nest, where they found an egg. They used the nest as a camp for the night, choosing to steal the egg to either hatch or sell when they arrived at a larger city, but disaster stroke as they were bringing the wagon up the road to the camp: one of the wheels cracked, and the wagon broke. They had to leave it near the camp while they rested, and in the morning would have to devote considerable time to repairing it.

Morning came and, well rested after a night spent in the safety of the Manticore’s nest, Quangbae set to work repairing the wagon. With some magical help from Itzel he repaired it very quickly, and they were able to look forward to a whole day of travel. Ahead of them the Middlemarch rose to more forbidding heights, the road barely visible among the scree and clinging mist of the pass. They packed their things back into the wagon, cast salt to the road in hopes Quangbae’s repairs would hold, and set off on day 2 of their journey across the mountains. What did the pass hold, and would they make it to the other side?