A summary of what happened during the game sessions:

July 20, 2001 - Session 12

After the fight with the winged wolves, the group decided to spend another night in Portsmouth, recovering from the attack. Ivana was sent for, and was willing to, for free, help Margaret attend to the various injuries done to the group.

And the next morning, they headed west, and slightly south.

The journey to the next settlement would take a few weeks, and fortunately the first week presented no difficulties. At the end of the first week, one of them spotted a lone figure on the side of the mountain, watching them. In short order, it was revealed to be a dwarf, a female one. She called herself Hildegaarde, and told them a little of herself. Unlike most dwarves, she was a lover of the outdoors and nature, so found herself on her own most often. She had heard of their coming from the woodland and mountain creatures, so came to speak to them.

Hildegaard warned them that the settlement ahead, at the mouth of the next river, which she did not know the name of, had recently been attacked by creatures coming down from the mountains. The settlers had fled down river, and the monsters, known as bugbears, had taken over what little structures were there. She had not stayed, but had noticed this from a distance and continued on.

The group took precautions, as usual, at night. And about two days out from the settlement, during the late evening/early morning watch, they were rewarded for the vigilance. A patrol of bugbears were stomping through the woods, and were loud enough that even with the darkness of night to hide them, their location could be discerned.

Sana set some arrows alight and within a few shots the bugbears' location was seen, and then targeted by Ryland with a fireball. Two of the eight in the patrol, the two at the rear, were not hit, and two managed to avoid taking all the damage, but four of them were incinerated.

The two at the rear immediately turned tail and fled, and Ezhno charged one of the remaining two, spitting him with his lance. The other died shortly thereafter. Intent on catching the two who fled, Sana lit the end of Ezhno's lance and ordered him to track and follow. She, Ezhno, and Winter set out after them. Winter's armor impeded his movement, so he fell behind, but kept on going.

The two bugbears had split up, and Ezhno only managed to find the trail of one of them. But it was soon evident that these creatures had sight on their side. They could see in the dark nearly as well as most folk did in the day, and knew some of the terrain. After some more tracking, Ezhno lost the trail. And then discovered, fortunately not by falling in, a pit trap that the monster had lead him toward. Winter had caught up by then, and they decided to head back to camp.

The group decided to keep moving onward, but with Hildegaard's help, moved into the foothills of the mountains, to avoid future pits and to better hide their tracks, as well as just stay safer in general. Late that night, they found a place to camp; a small cave with enough room for the horses at the back, and set up a cold camp.

No quote of the evening was recorded.