Otho's Children
Otho of Blackthorn sent his twisted minions to break into the covenant. Godwyn, Joseph, Randolph, and Bloody Bill tracked down the intruders. Along the way, Joseph got his first taste of battle, they rescued John the Pedlar from the clutches of evil, and Godwyn met an ancient ally of Stranggore who asked him to make a harrowing choice.
Time and Place
Late Summer 1201, at the covenant of Stranggore.
Dramatis Personae
In order of appearance:
Intruders at the Door
The new kennel had been built the previous season and Randolph had bought two bitches to breed to Amadán. One night, late in the summer, Joseph the stable boy was sleeping in the hay-loft of the stable as usual when he was awakened by a clamor from the kennel. All three dogs were baying as if in alarm. Joseph climbed down to check on them, but he could neither calm the hounds nor see the cause of their dismay. A bleary-eyed Randolph joined him at the kennel a moment later.
While the grogs were searching near the kennel for the cause of the disturbance, Godwyn came down from his sanctum and out the front door, dressed in his enchanted leather clothes as always. Evidently, he sleeps in them. When the grogs could tell him nothing, Godwyn abruptly changed into wolf form. That startled Joseph, who had heard that Godwyn often turned into a wolf, but had never seen him do it.
Immediately, Godwyn smelled an unsettling scent on the wind. It was man-like, but neither beast nor man. His hackles went up and his lips curled in a snarl. The scent was still very fresh. He put his nose to the ground and quickly found a trail -- leading right up to the front door of the covenant!
Godwyn darted off to follow the trail. Seeing that the grogs did not follow, he looked back over his shoulder and barked, jerking his head in the direction the trail led. The grogs hesitated, but seemed to get the message. When the three reached the rampart around the covenant, Godwyn stopped. He turned around, snarled, and nodded his head back toward the covenant. This time, the grogs apprehended his meaning without delay, and went back to fetch their weapons. Joseph grabbed the staff he keeps in the stable for practice, and Randolph fetched his bow, arrows, and sword.
Godwyn easily followed the scent a mile north from the covenant, to the edge of the bishop's forest. There, he turned back into a man's shape. "We're following something supernatural that trespassed into our covenant to work some mischief. I want to find out what. We're getting close. It could be dangerous, so I'm going to cast a couple of spells on each of you." (The spells were Eyes of the Cat and Doublet of Impenetrable Silk.) Joseph marveled at how a moonless night was transformed into dusk; then his eyes chanced to meet Randolph's and he saw a pair of slit-pupiled cat's eyes gazing back at him. Then Godwyn returned to wolf form without another word.
Ambushed!
A few minutes into the woods, Randolph spied a pale figure darting amongst the trees up ahead. It was man-like, but smaller than a man. The two men and wolf stopped and began moving cautiously, stealthily, toward it.
Without warning, a half-dozen twisted creatures leaped from the undergrowth and attacked them! They looked like pallid, grubby, naked children, but misshapen and gangling, with sharp claws, pointed teeth, and feral eyes. Boggarts, Godwyn later learned they were called.
Joseph was startled and momentarily confused, but he stood his ground. A horrid little creature leaped onto his back and clawed at his face. Another tried to seize his leg, but he kicked it away and fended it off with his staff. Randolph was pulled to the ground. Godwyn tried to get his teeth on one of Randolph's assailants, but the little creature nimbly evaded him and delivered a vicious series of punches and kicks.
Godwyn, bruised and winded, broke away from the fray. He saw that Joseph had regained his wits and driven off one boggart and pinned the other to the ground with his staff. Randolph was down and being dragged off into the undergrowth by three or four of the horrid creatures. One of the boggarts had stolen Randolph's sword and flung it away, so he was flailing about with his knife.
Godwyn realized he was in no condition for further hand-to-hand fighting, so willed himself back into two-legged form so he could cast spells. "Joseph! Give me your staff!" he cried. The boy released his squirming captive and tossed his staff to the wizard, who deftly caught it and cast Piercing Shaft of Wood. The staff, transformed into a heavy, barbed javelin, streaked toward one of Randolph's captors and pierced it through the throat. The boggart dropped to the ground, choking on blood, and promptly died. The other monsters released Randolph and scampered away into the woods, pausing only to carry away their fallen comrade.
"Joseph, you did great," Godwyn panted. "You stood your ground, you followed orders. You handled yourself all right." Randolph cast him a rueful glance, but didn't say anything.
Godwyn Leads the Counter-Attack
Randolph had suffered a nasty-looking gash in the fight, so Godwyn cast Bind Wound on him. The staff had fallen out of the dead boggart once its enchantment wore off, so Godwyn recovered it. He thought the blood on it might come in useful, but he didn't say that aloud. "Randolph, cut me some sticks about as long as your forearm. Get five or six, quickly. They don't have to be sharp. Then we're moving out."
Knowing he was in no condition for another skirmish, Godwyn led his men back to the covenant. "Randolph, get your armor. And Amadán. Joseph, rouse Bloody Bill and tell him to make ready to bring Stranggore's vengeance to these intruders. You can come along, if you wish. If you do, get yourself some armor -- and a spear." He caught his breath while the grogs were helping one another into their armor, and fetched his wand and some vis before leading them back out. Godwyn remained in human form. "We cannot let this intrusion go unanswered," he told the men, "but the magi must find out why those creatures came here. Don't attack them unless I command it, or they attack you first."
Amadán followed the trail effortlessly, back to the ambush site and beyond. A half mile deeper into the forest, they came upon what looked like a tumbled-over cairn with some pieces of clothing and items strewn around it. Godwyn ordered the grogs to go investigate it while he stood back, watching for danger. As Joseph was approaching the cairn, he cried out, "That's John the Pedlar's cloak!" With their enchanted eyes, the grogs could see even in the dark that the cloak was torn and spotted with blood.
When Godwyn saw this, he gathered the men around and said, "Remember what I said about needing to know why these creatures came? We just found out. Forget about not attacking them. Your mission is now to rescue John, if we can find him alive. Use unnecessary violence to do it." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Try to take at least one of them alive for questioning. I said 'alive,' not 'unharmed.'"
With Amadán's unerring help, they ran down the boggarts within a couple of hours. They caught up to them in an open pasture. There were five left -- evidently they had hidden the body of their fallen comrade along the way. As Godwyn and his grogs drew closer, they could see that one of them was carrying something that looked like a rag doll.
When they overtook the boggarts, a fierce battle ensued. Godwyn scored a couple of hits with Piercing Shaft of Wood but the smaller, wand-sized sticks only inflicted minor injuries. Joseph speared one of the boggarts and wounded it seriously. Bloody Bill wrought havoc with his battle-axe, first dealing another major wound to the boggart Joseph had hit, then cleaving the skull of another. Amadán and Randolph also rushed into the fray, but two boggarts badly clawed the faerie hound during the desperate struggle. Two of the creatures fled and Joseph chased after them without hesitation, while Bill and Randolph cut down the third boggart, which had so fiercely assailed Amadán.
Randolph had sustained another nasty cut during the fight. Amadán was too wounded to continue the chase, though his life did not appear to be in danger. Godwyn again used magic to bind Randoplh's wounds.
"What about Amadán?" Randolph asked anxiously.
"This spell doesn't work on beasts," Godwyn growled, annoyed at his powerlessness to help the faerie hound. "Someone is going to have to take him back to the covenant, right away. Since Joseph ran off, I'm afraid that will have to be you, Randolph." Without further discussion, Randolph regretfully led his faithful hound back home.
Meanwhile, the two boggarts had seen that Joseph was pursuing them alone. They turned and attacked him. Joseph again stood his ground, spearing one of the little horrors and fending the other one off. Then Bill caught up to them, and there was another brief mêlée. It ended with another boggart writhing wounded on the ground, and the last escaping into the distance.
During the second struggle, the boggarts had dropped the limp rag-doll-like object, which Joseph and Bill now saw to the be unconscious form of John the Pedlar, magically shrunk to the size of a cat, naked, and covered in scrapes and bruises. From his field experience as a mercenary, Bill could tell that John was badly beaten, but alive.
Otho's Children
Godwyn ordered Bill to question the two surviving captives. It did not take him long to get them to talk, for boggarts are cowards at heart. The twisted little monsters were soon blubbering and groveling for mercy. They claimed they were Otho's children, sent to rescue Thorin from Stranggore's dungeon. They had found John the Pedlar on the forest road, captured him, and tortured him for days until they learned all about Thorin's capture and where he was held.
Otho's children promised a reward if we returned them to their master, but Godwyn doubted that anything good would come of releasing such cruel minions. He ordered Bill to kill both captives to prevent them reporting back to their master -- he didn't want Otho to know Godwyn had learned who sent them, and he wanted to deny the wicked magus further use of these servants. Bill complied without hesitation, wringing the creatures' child-sized necks as if they were chickens. Joseph and Randolph winced as the boggarts' squeals were cut short.