A summary of what happened during the game sessions:

March 31, 2001 - Session 5

The group set sail up the river, following the magical compass. Using triangulation, they guessed it would be near Riverfell.

Jack and Rylan perused the captain's maps, to help with trying to help identify the location. Jack noticed some markings in specific areas of the river, and asked Thomas what they meant. He said that there had been attacks on boats when they had stopped for the night. The attacks were made by beasts and fell creatures, either on a migrating/travelling path, or just because they knew the riverfolk stopped there. Captain Thomas was planning on not stopping there, but Jack told the others, and they decided to take watches.

Just before dawn on the night they passed the first spot, the boat was attacked. Sailors were awake, beginning to move about and ready the ship. The four men at the stern fell asleep due to magic (as did the captain); the ones in the front resisted the spell. Sana and Jack, who had last watch, also resisted the spell and called the alarm.

Arrows sang out, and one sailor was felled instantly. Sana was also struck, and Jack fired back with his light crossbow. Jon moved to the rail and prepared to deflect arrows. Others prepared their own attacks or defenses. They could see five ogre figures one of the far shores, with huge longbows.

Just as Jon was preparing to deflect the attack, it came in an unexpected manner. A figure stepped forward from behind the five, and while remaining indistinct, he gestured and pointed, and Jon was wreathed in cold. A bit chilly, he stepped slightly back.

However, help came from Rylan, who cast a fireball at the attackers. He was only able to get four of them in the blast, but three of them died instantly. One managed to evade the blast, but still took damage.

The two ogres who remained talked in a strange language to the shadowy figure, who wasn't so shadowy anymore, revealed as an ogre mage, and then fled the scene. The group took some more pot-shots at the mage, but he managed to survive and flee into the overgrown forest.

The sailors who had fallen asleep, and the captain, were awakened, and healing was passed around for those who needed it. Thomas apologized and thanked the group for their help. Margaret cast Gentle Repose on the dead sailor, and he was covered by a tarp in the back of the boat, for returning for proper burial when they went back down river.

The sailors and Thomas talked during the day, and approached Sana, who had proven able to cast the Light spell around the boat on the previous evenings. He talked to her about sailing later into the night, and taking a shorter break, and starting earlier in the morning. With her Light spell on a pole in front of the boat, and those who could see better in the dark would help guide them along the river's path. Sana talked it over with the group, and it was agreed that they would do it. The captain also agreed to not charge them any more than they had already paid if they needed to go beyond Riverfell.

The remainder of the journey to Riverfell went uneventfully, even if the sailors were getting a little punchy from lack of sleep near the end. And sure enough, the compass was pointing northward from here, away from the river and into Riverfell.

Riverfell was once a larger village than its current size. Perhaps twenty cottages now lined the riverbank. Further inland, the remains of the former Riverfell were obvious. After the plague had decimated the village's population, the buildings had been burned to the ground to stop any further spread of the disease. One of those houses had been Margaret's, but no one still lived here from that time, so she was not recognized.

To one side of the burned-out plain, the forest had been cut down and an orchard was being tended by many of the villagers. Fruit trees seemed to be the main crop, and the buds of the flowers that would be fruit were just starting to appear.

The group was disembarking, and gathering some minor attention from the few people in the village. Thomas told them he would speak with Marrick on his own business, then send him over.

Not much later, Marrick came to speak with them. They asked about resupplying them for their trek inland, and he offered a deal. There was a smaller village to the north, named Darbin. It was started a few years before the plague hit Riverfell, as some folk wanted to head to a valley in the north to start their own orchard. They had done well, but they had not been heard from after the winter had passed. Usually they had a number of the Darbin inhabitants come down in early spring to get whatever supplies they didn't have yet, and no one had come south as of yet. And Marrick couldn't spare anyone from the village to go and check on them, as it was a few days to get there.

If the group agreed to check on the village and send word back to Marrick, he would see to their resupply, as much as they could spare. The group agreed to the deal, and began to make a list of what they might need.

No quote of the evening was recorded.