Wherein a Dream is Had, a Duel is Won and Vile Gremlins Are Slain…

• Arn Dreams of the desert. He is alone, dying of thirst and generally being killed by the sun. During this dream, he is stung by a sand scorpion and then, delirious, finds an dry cistern. A shadowy figure appears and offers assistance … which Arn accepts. The cistern is suddenly full of water which is bitter and cold. He wakes … and can still taste the bitterness of the water.
• Meanwhile, as the rest of the warband departs Defiant, Zistral heads north, seeking out his tribe to inform them that the Spear of the Hunter has been found. He is disappointed to discover that the truly important leaders are absent, but passes on information regarding where he is heading before departing to rejoin the warband..
• Leaving behind both Haruki and Yusuf at Sir Malfoy’s request, Finn and the rest of the warband depart Defiant and begin heading south, accompanied by Rashid ibn Al’Dafar and his lovely sister, Ammerah el’Iyana bint Al’Dafar, as well as a handful of Fa’iel.
• Many days out of Defiant, the warband encounter a large gathering of centaurs waiting alongside the River Kashk. These are many tribes, including Zistral’s, gathered here to judge whether the the Spear of the Hunter has truly been found. Zistral must undertake three Trials – one of endurance, one of wisdom, and one of strength. He will be opposed by the chief warrior of his tribe, a complete jerk by the name of Gilthorax, who insists that Zistral is unworthy.
• The first Trial is a race to get a message to a distant location and back; Zistral easily wins this race, much to his foe’s irritation. The second Trial is a question regarding who to warn first in the face of a terrible threat, a village of hunters or a village of warriors; his foe opts for the warriors, choosing to sacrifice the hunters, while Zistral choses the hunters first who he will then lead to join with the warriors. Zistral is determined to be the victor in this as well. Finally, the third Trial is a duel between the two and Zistral so easily defeats his foe that it is almost embarrassing. He is declared the First Scout.
• Setting out the following morning, the warband presses on, finally reaching the Fa’iel encampment some days later. Rashid is alarmed to discover it in chaos, with men attempting to recapture panicked animals or attempting to put out a fire. Finn quickly issues orders – Zistral to aid the recapture, Arn to help with the fire, everyone else with him. He then assists Ammerah with the injured, utilizing his weaving to save one from the brink of death much to her visible awe. The rest of the warband stand ready in the event that this is an ambush.
• Afterward, the warband learns that this is due to the unluck aura of some local creatures known as pugwampi that are gremlin-like creatures. One evidently snatched a goat and, in the process, caused this mess.
• Eventually, the warband opts to seek out these creatures due to a persistent and irritating noise in the distance – this leads to a comedy of errors as they trip and stumble and cause accidental brushfires, but the pugwampi themselves are not particularly impressive physically. The goat is rescued and the nasty gremlin things are slain.

Player Notes:

• CommJunkee continued as GM for this adventure arc.
• Since we’re livestreaming our games every Saturdays (6:00PM Eastern) at Ronnke’s Twitch channel and then later uploading the stream on the YouTube channel, we’ve decided to dial back on the extensiveness of the recap to just the overall outline.