My Adventures in the Land of Thea - Part 5

A brand new day in Ostoya saw Vshebora, Miroslav, and Zoska completed our first Herbalist Hut. The village now had its own supply of herbs, which were used for both medicinal and cooking purposes. Our craftsmen then turned their skills to construct two Leshy's Hairs -- two-handed pikes that were made out of the ancient woods and moonstones that the first expedition managed to bring home. Those pikes would add significant advantages to our non-warriors in everyday's challenges.

Further south, the first expedition ran into another group of slavers. With the last slaver encounter still weighted heavily on their mind, the group did not accept their offer to free half the slaves. Instead, we stood and fought until they were no more. After all the fighting, we managed to free just one slave, and she came with a heavy price. Four of our people were badly injured, and Bronia, our only medic, was near death. We simply had to camp and hope that we would survive the night.

While our first expedition was camping to lick its wounds, a group of four Malicious Spiders descended on our Mushroom Camp. This time, Tosia the warrior helped Sobiebor in taking care of the threat. A few nights later, a group of six Malicious Spiders descended on Ostoya itself. Armed with the newly crafted pikes, the villagers swiftly took care of the threat. We started to suspect that there was a spider lair nearby.

The earth shook again, and once again many of our people were injured.

Once Bronia was fully healed, the first expedition broke camp and headed east toward another rogue Bugay. After defeating the Bugay and its minions, another Pineconnetes joined us. We named him Bob.

After picking up Bob, we went south to talk to the Treasurer and convinced him to resume trading with the goblins. Before going back to report our success to the goblins and trade, we decided to head west to clear out the spider nest that had been troubling our camp and village. That also gave us time for the craftsmen in Ostoya to make some light armors for trading.

One night, an old dwarf stopped by our village for a drink and told us about an abandoned mithril mine to the north. As mithril is an invaluable mineral for making great weapons and armors, we kept its location marked for later excavation.

After clearing out the spider lair, the first expedition camped to rest and heal. During that time, Vyszeslava, the freed slave girl, became a warrior. After everybody had finished resting, the expedition broke camp and continue down the peninsula west of the lair, where they encountered many groups of roaming spiders and dispatched them all. Further down the peninsula, the expedition discovered a natural vein of mithril, which could be excavated with the appropriate research and equipment. The enemy composition also shifted toward skeletons and other undeads, but they didn't think much of it. At the very tip of the peninsula, they finally discovered a source of sandstone, which we sorely needed. After many easy fights within the resource-rich peninsula, the expedition casually traveled to the eastern tip, the only unexplored corner, and almost ran into a group consisting of an Unliving Giant, two Unliving Lords, and four Enchanted Skeletons. They decided to keep as much distant as possible.

Back in Ostoya, the guards spotted a group of wolves moving toward the Mushroom Camp. The decision was made to send Veroslav as reinforcement.

That night, the wolves attacked our camp. With Veroslav's help, the trio made quick work of the five wolves. The first expedition, however, wasn't as lucky. As they feared, the group of Unliving Giants also spotted them and moved to attack. Unable to withstand their powers, the expedition had no choice but to retreat, suffering significant casualties in the process.

Once again, Thea reminded us of how fragile we were, and how hostile the darkness was. After retreating to a safe distant and taking stock of the situation, the expedition quietly moved as far away from the giants as the injured could handle, and set up camp to treat everyone. Even though everyone was wounded, their focus was on Bedgost, Vyszeslava, and Bronia, whose wounds were the most severe. As much as they tried, they could not save Bronia, who passed away the very next night. It seemed being a medic was a perilous path for many of our members.

The next night, our people woke up to more tremors. This time, however, our prayers to Mokosh were answered, and we started to decipher that they were not natural phenomenons. In fact, the tremors now felt like something very heavy was moving across the land.

The next day, after the dangers had passed, Veroslav disembarked from the Mushroom Camp and returned to Ostoya with a sizable load of mushrooms. On his way, he ran into a single gaunt, tired Elf. Unable to effectively communicate, he simply left some food for the elf and received a blessing in return. With a steady supply of mushrooms, our village started to make more variety of meals, which helped both health and morale.

The first expedition discovered a new wolf lair on their way back to the village. However, as they were already burdened with gains from their adventures, they decided to leave the lair be for the time being. Once back to the village, they unloaded everything and picked up the medic Mila along with new equipment that our craftsmen produced, then headed back out to visit the wolves.

With the leather and grains bought back by the expedition, our craftsmen began to construct a manger. which should help attracting more people and beasts to our cause. A few days later one of the children, Dobrognieva also grew up and became a medic in the face of constant dangers to that profession.

After dealing with the wolves, the first expedition came back to Ostoya to resupply and headed north to check out the Dwarven smithy's love interest. With the resources they bought back, our craftsmen began to construct a watchtower out of quartz and steel. The watch tower would significantly enhance the vision around the village.

As they approached the location indicated by the dwarf, the first expedition found themselves in the presence of a Rusalka.

The water demon then asked us to go after a group of Orcs and take back the children that she claimed they took from her. On the way, we ran into a group of Dwarven bandits. Once again, we convinced them to sit down and break bread with us. For our troubles, they gave us a small amount of mithril and a blessing of speech, which came in handy when we talked the Orcs into relinquishing the four captive children. With the Orcs' warnings about dealing with demons, we took the children back to talk the Rusalka. On the way there, the expedition fell down an old tunnel and met an old dwarf. For their trouble, they gained a bit more mithril to bring home. Almost back to the Rusalka, they also encountered a group of Vilys and crows and gained some moonstones as well.

Once back to the Rulsaka, we learned that she planned to make them her owns. After an internal debate, we decided to release the children to her -- another regrettable decision. After getting the children, the Rusalka gave us her word and a lock of her hair to bring back to the Dwarven smithy. Having no other immediate objectives, the expedition began heading back.

That night, Yanko grew up in Ostoya and chose the warrior path. The next morning, the first expedition came home. Just outside the perimeter of a village, they rescued a child from a pack of wolves. With the resources they bought back, our craftsmen started to make two-handed swords for the warriors. Not waiting for the swords to be completed, the first expedition left to report their success to the smithy. He gave them a small amount of equipment for their efforts.