West Marches at the Board N Brew

Echo, Aoris and Tulgey were joined by two other adventurers of the Marches, Milo and Tordek. They too had encountered the Witchcross raiders and heard the name “Murdock”, so with common purpose, they set out into the Witchwood, with Lt. Greystone’s blessing, and a rearguard of soldiers following a half day behind. Examining the raiders’ path for clues, they found a small totem object, torn and snagged on a branch, that Milo and Echo were able to identify as belonging to a particular tribe of orcs, located to the north Witchwood. The careless loss of a presumably sacred item, the chaotic state of the egress point, and the fort’s witness reports, led the party to consider the raids hasty, and desperate, as though whipped into recklessness by some authoritative force. Led by their ranger, they ventured into the forest. A day or two north, they were set upon suddenly by a pair of large and vicious beasts. Barbed tentacles curled from the horse-sized feline forms, and one of the creatur...

We all received a mysterious message from R, indicating that someone benevolent or otherwise was keeping an eye out for our actions near the vale. We set out toward Witchcross hoping to make some headway in discovering the goings on with the mysterious hooded figures seen nearby. We heard from Lt. Greystone that forces near the fort were spread thin, and offered to stake out the clearing in hopes of catching the hooded figures in their nightly jaunts. Upon seeing us they split, running to the woods, but with Tulgeys speed as a fleet footed stallion and Haakon's tracking we followed them into the woods as the winter weather became colder and a snowstorm began. Forced to seek shelter, we found a craig in the nearby mountains, and driving deeper, we discovered that the hooded figures were darklings, fey that had forsworn the sun and turned to the dark. Though Echo tried to reason with them in their Sylvan tongue they cast darkness upon us, and only Tulgey was able to draw near, a...

"They come in, take what they can, and get out, fast," Sildar confirms. "Nobody's come to irreparable harm, yet. Two of the sentry were cut up pretty badly in one raid, but nothing Maelgrove couldn't tend." In spite of its tactical value as a control point for defending the greater Vale to the south and east, the restoration of Witchcross after the Great Razing languished for one reason or another over the past five years. Conventional wisdom says both "one reason" and "another" hold seats on the Tempered Vale town council. Politics aside, Witchcross isn't making any better progress with goblinoid raids wearing away at its supplies. "These days, it's more important than ever that we hold that point firmly," Sildar declares, indicating Witchross on the map spread out on the table. "We have scouts confirming sightings of second-grade threats here, and here." He points north of the Darkinwood and at the eas...