I want to thank Knight Captain Dawes for his expediency in helping the Holy Rollers conclude our recent task in Gradsul. Without his aid, we would have undoubtedly erred through ignorance. This report will explain.
Fr. Cassian prayed upon his wounds suffered in the service of Pelor and was granted the restoration of his flesh by our Holy Lord. During his convalescence, we learned more about the task the Khajit Danconia wanted us to perform. He also offered a solid reward. I am troubled over the moral implications of completing it and will pray on it for guidance.
Our party renewed our quest to recover Sir Willers' remains from the wilderness. We offered to escort some halflings along the road and spent a little time investigating for rumored bandit activity which was ultimately fruitless. Depositing the halflings at my vassalage of Starnsville, we carried on.
The scout Zimon reported a hub of activity ahead, where men in aprons were loading wagons with harvested nuts. He took this as an illegal nut-butter operation and acted accordingly, setting a distracting brushfire and spurring us to attack. We arrived on the scene to armed but unimpressive men fleeing in panic. I quickly gathered their leader, asserted control over the situation, and organized the extinguishing of the fire.
Their story was that they worked for a grocer of sorts named Mr. Whole. He dealt in organically sourced, high quality produce and provided it to a discerning clientele. In other words, he picked berries out of the woods and sold them at an obscene markup to delusional morons. (DM had recently visited a Whole Foods for the first time. RIP). We met with Mr. Whole, quickly determined that while absolutely a den of Chaos, it was not one worth immediately burning to the ground without further investigation, and departed to revisit the place with cleansing fire at a later date. A scowling harridan threatened me on several occasions to "go back where I belong". I nodded politely and saluted her. We will meet again and her howling under the attentions of my Inquisition will soothe my irritated soul.
Zimon led our party onwards, where eventually we discovered the site of an old battlefield. Our teachings tell us that places of concentrated death often develop into sinkholes of evil and begin spawning undead, but none of that was happening here. We investigated and found it was clearly Sir Willers' resting place, where he had his heroic last stand against hordes of beastmen, primarily orcs by the bones.
A few hours after we had collected his remains and those of whatever officers we could find. This site clearly needed further work to set to rights so Zimon flew back on his magical steed to get a work crew while Fr. Cassian sent a magic message to Gradsul to notify the church of our success. We aimed to follow all proper procedure to avoid any confusion that we were simply grave robbers.
Thanks to Knight Captain Dawes, we made contact with the Willers family and estate, apparently well-connected at court in Gradsul. I borrowed the flying steed and delivered Sir Willers home. The family hosted me and offered a reward which I accepted. It also improved our standing in all the right places with the nobility. The Holy Rollers are known now, and will continue to grow in renown as we fight the good fight on the frontier.
We set Fr. Jasper and his pilgrims to restoring the site and continued combing the territory for threats. Some foul creatures, undead constructs of heinous and unknown origin, were dispatched at the cost of much of Zimon's blood.
A warband of ogres stumbled into our party and said something absolutely foolish like, "You got trade?" with the glint of greed and naivety in their beady, retarded eyes. I suppose they missed the banner, holy symbols of Pelor, and resolute purpose in ours. As we rode them down, they scattered, seeking to notify their nearby village of attack. We prevented their escape but we may have been discovered and while I relish the thought of wading in ogre blood, chose the better part of valor against hundreds of them and we retreated.
Our trackers suggested doubling back and making false trails before heading home. It was a sound tactic. We will begin preparations to exterminate this nest of pests as soon as possible.
Yours at the tip of the spear,
Knight Justicar Percival, Lord of Horizon
Musings:
We're approaching the level of the game where it begins to beg for a wider scope. We're gaining renown with nobility at home, making allies abroad, and taking on larger tasks like domain building, vassals, and the like. The ogre village is our first large scale encounter. Something we're learning is building an army is possible, but it isn't fast without taking some extra steps. The markets available to us are small or distant. If we're going to clash on a battlefield with anything, we're gonna have to grow beyond our handfuls of troops. Our recent allies, recovered magic items, and market class manipulation should see us with a decent recruiting pool in May.
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