Session III (01/19/01)

• May 7th, 183 2C(still). It is a pleasant spring day in the Verde Woods, east of Akia. Thurton, Sperin, Anastasia and Aliana are sitting with Sperin's cart, Betsy, and Lars, waiting for the return of Creyton and Jude. They debate morality and what should be done about everything. Hummingbirds are spotted darting across the trail. The day passes. They hear something. Sperin captures Ahib, who seems to be one of the men in black. He is wounded. Anastasia and Sperin play bad cop, bad cop with Ahib. Either he is lying or he knows very little. They learn a bit about him and his life. He is from Tiscot and joined this group to pay off a debt. He also has a daughter. Night comes with no sign of either Creyton or Jude. They decide to camp there. Sperin wants to go into town, but that is decided against. There is debate over what to do and where to go. The Winery? Deeper into the forest? Fort Hancock? Aliana tries to befriend Ahib, but ends up punching him in his wounded arm, angry at his involvement in Barton's death.
• May 8th. Anastasia wakes up claiming to have a dream where the group was being spied upon. Sperin checks for tracks near where Ana dreamed the spy was and finds some, confirming the vision. This is a bit creepy. They decide to head out to Fort Hancock themselves, tying up Ahib and taking him with them to turn into the authorities. What the group assumes is a Grugach totem is spotted on the trail. They stop by Creyton's house and leave a note indicating that is where they have gone. On the way through town, they notice that Drake's is all locked up and there is the sickly smell of death faintly on the air. They break into Drake's, kicking open the lock, and realize the smell is coming from the back. It is Barton's body beginning to rot in a pine box behind the store. They decide to leave him there to rot for now and will deal with that later. They pass through town, seeing both Kiltin's Rest and the burned out shell of Thurton's home as they pass through. A brief stop is made at Sperin's in the farms east of town.He leaves a note and it is back on the road again. Thurton rides Lars while Sperin, Ana, Aliana, and a hog-tied, blind-folded, and gagged Ahib ride in the cart which is pulled by Betsy. As evening comes, they reach the end of the rolling farm lands and a fork in the road. They take the north fork, which leads them to the ancient stone road. The road runs north and south at this point. They go north for a bit before finding a place to camp. Sperin sings. Aliana cooks. Anastasia plays the recorder. They camp under the broad branches of a single, old tree.
• May 9th. Anastasia claims to have another dream of the group being spied on by a creature in a cloak with long fingers. No evidence backing up this dream is found. They travel north along the road. The mighty Westworld Mountains rise up to the west, looking rather impressive. Sperin makes a few efforts to befriend a rather miserable Ahib. His gag and blindfold are removed after a bathroom break. They find a road that leads west up into the mountains. Being none of them have been to Fort Hancock before, they aren't sure if it is the way, but they take a chance and head west. The going gets hard as this dirt road winds back and forth up the foothills. Eventually, the terrain becomes rocky, populated only by sparse scrub brush. When a view can be had, the mountains seem to go up forever to the west. It is exhausting and they finally decide to camp. The night is chilly and the lame fire from the brush does little good. Thurton sings with Ana, who plays her recorder.
• May 10th. The going gets even harder. Betsy can barely pull the cart. Everyone is made to get out, including Ahib, and walk. At late morning, they reach the twin needles and the road squeezes up between the two towering spires of rock, revealing a mountain valley on the other side with a lake in the middle of it. They travel down through the trees and rocks until they reach the lake and take a midday break there. The day is beautiful. The water is icy cold, but very refreshing. Everyone is tired, but the decision is made to move on. By afternoon, a strange whistling/moaning sound can be heard. The trail is even harder going as it climbs up the western end of the valley. Anastasia plays her recorder a bit as they walk, but the tough going quickly puts her out of breath and that idea is scrapped. Aliana has a few digestive issues along the way which makes for semi-frequent stops. Eventually, the group reaches Whistling Pass and moves through it to yet a higher valley. There is a short downhill bit for which everyone is thankful. Beautiful red flowers can be seen growing on the southern face of the mountain sides. Aliana identifies them as Mountain Rose, which, according to her, has healing properties. Sperin considers attempting to acquire some, but they are too far up to make the effort worthwhile. The trail comes up to the end of the world. It is still winding west, but to the south, it drops down hundreds of feet into a breathtaking view of the valley below and the mountains all around. A steady thundering sound can be heard in the distance and it is soon revealed to be a waterfall that tumbles over the edge of the cliff and down hundreds of feet into the valley below. Thurton speculates that this might be the Contu River or one of its tributaries, but he isn't sure. The road turns to the northwest and follows the river roughly, sometimes right on its banks and other times moving away through patches of pine trees. Going is hard and it is back to climbing uphill. The river reaches a wide point where it rushes over a flat section of rock, only two or three inches deep, but with a very fast current. Thurton goes across first on Lars to test it, then everyone else follows. It starts growing dark. If possible, the trail gets even steeper, going through a very difficult series of switch backs, which take forever to get the cart up. Breathing is very difficult. Finally, the ground levels out into a dense forest of pine trees. Dead tired, the group decides to camp. Aliana, Anastasia and Thurton sit around and talk. A wolf's howl is heard in the distance and soon, the pack comes. The horses are spooked, but kept close as the group keeps the predators at bay. Something draws the pack away. A few moments later, a figure is spotted coming up the trail. During the confusion of all of this at some point, Ahib, who has been untied, manages to slip away. The figure, however, is Creyton. It is decided that everyone is too tired to go searching for Ahib in the forest and they let him go. Creyton joins the camp and reveals that he and Jude attacked the mercenary camp as planned, but someone woke up. Chaos broke up. Creyton did all he could to round up those who fled through the forest, but he suspects a few like Ahib got away. He last saw Jude in the camp, but he was gone when he got back. He went to the meeting place, but the group already left. He found the note left in his house and has been following the group ever since. They sleep.
• May 11th. They leave Betsy and the cart at the camp and move down toward Fort Hancock. There is another amazing lake right at the edge of a cliff. The lake is right up to the cliff, where it spills over its excess water. The lake is fed by several small streams that cross the path. Fort Hancock is only a couple of hours away. It sits at the base of a trail that winds up further into the mountains. It is noted that the fort is only half way up to the pass., let alone to the mountain tops which tower even above that. Fort Hancock seems to be deserted. Nyrgil tracks are found outside. One of the gates has been knocked off of its hinges. Sperin, Anastasia, Aliana, and Creyton explore the stables and barracks while Thurton sits in the courtyard. Everything seems empty, as if the place where running normally at one minute and, in the next, everyone just vanished. The main building is explored. This door is also bashed open. Creyton and Thurton sit in the main hallway while Sperin and the women check all the rooms. They deduce that the Nyrgil raided the pantry, but, outside of that, the place still seems rather deserted. Sperin goes up into the tower. It offers the most amazing view. One can see all the way down to the Blue Sea. When they start to go down into the basement, Anastasia gets a bad feeling. Creyton is recruited to go down with them in case the Nyrgil are hiding down there. It seems the basement is deserted. Rooms are explored. Creyton and Sperin go into the room at the end. They freak. They say evil is there and everyone needs to get out and now! A few things are gathered and, wasting hardly any time, the group flees back up to the cart which was left at camp. Sperin and Creyton describe how there were runes on the walls of the room, painted in blood, and how they felt dead when they entered the room. Everyone is scared. People are too exhausted to travel, though. They decide to camp and head away first thing in the morning.
• May 12th. Nightmares come. Everyone wakes up frightened. A black fog gathers in the pine trees. A figure can be seen walking toward them in the fog. The group freaks, rightfully so. Things are grabbed and thrown onto Betsy. Sperin takes off with her. Anastasia and Aliana sprint after him. Thurton quickly saddles up Lars and moves. Creyton shoots at the figure, and back pedals as it keeps getting closer. Ana and Aliana nearly kill themselves, falling over a small cliff about ten feet when the steep switch backs begin. Stumbling blindly in the dark, they nearly kill themselves several more times, but the group manages to make it down to the river. There is no sign of pursuit. Too spooked to sleep and ignoring their tired legs, they group pushes on until the sun comes up.
• May 13th. They don't even stop then. They fight exhaustion, pressing onward, down the mountains, through the valleys. It starts growing dark again and still they press on. Whatever was up there in Fort Hancock has them so scared, they almost kill themselves in exhaustion, but, finally reach the ancient stone road that runs north and south through the foothills and collapse. Everyone is tired and grumpy. An argument over what to do next ensues and it isn't friendly. Thurton wants to go to Beantown and Pitwatch. It seems most everyone else desires to go back to Akia. Finally, a compromise is reached. They will go to Akia first, then either head up to Beantown, or send word. A nygril wail is heard in the distance, but it is far off. Finally, people go to sleep.