DavesGaming

Chuck

We’re in Beregost again. I like this town, its about the same size as Candlekeep, where I grew up. But its much livelier, busier. I guess that’s no surprise, its not a library run by monks.

I called a meeting this morning so we could talk about our plans. We were still in Feldpost’s Inn, definitely a comfortable place to spend the night!

Sarah affirmed that was a risky course. She was pleased with how we were all coming together as a team. But we still needed work. She was comfortable fighting along side Jaheira, but there was still room to improve that. And Minsc sure could hit hard, but he needed to trust the two women to block for him. “Minsc, think of us as your shield, don’t expose yourself. Strike hard as the opportunity presents. Imoen is becoming a very good archer, but keep working on hitting moving targets. Chuck and Neera have shown themselves to be brave and steady, but both have a ways to go to really maximize their magic.”
I’m pretty sure she was trying to encourage us with the “brave” part. This whole business still terrifies me.

Sarah suggested the bandit problem did not seem serious as yet. And we should head south and explore the area along the border with Amn. We could still do some good work of a law and order sort, but being so close to a major kingdom the major threats should be less. A good place to develop our skills.
This sounds like a good plan to me. I wish I knew how to get Sarah’s spirits up, she’s scary enough when she’s happy. She gave me an encouraging pat on the shoulder as we were heading out. Strange.
I chatted with Neera about that random fire-starting thing. Wild magic is odd, I don’t understand how you can wield arcane magic and not quite know what you’re doing. But from her, its all amusing.

We passed through Nashkel again and started exploring west from the mine, planning on going as far as the Gnoll Fortress, on the coast, then heading back.

Of course! We headed towards a large pine, that two rugged looking types were preparing to fell. I struck up conversation with them, but when I suggested they not do that they attacked us!
It wasn’t much of a fight.
Jaheira explained that the Dryad would die if her tree was killed. So I suppose we truly had no choice in the matter.

Continuing on we came across a small Xvart village. Their guards immediately attacked us! There were a lot of them! Xvarts aren’t tough, but I was intimidated by the numbers. But Sarah wasn’t. She, Jaheira and Minsc formed a solid wall that no Xvart was going to get by. I feared we’d kill the whole village, when the strangest thing happened. One, seemed to be a village elder, shouted out a prayer in the common tongue that the great bear would protect them!

We just backed away as the xvarts were occupied. We did kill a few more that came our way, but most of the trouble was over. They may need to rethink their religion…

We continued on the the coast, and set camp just north of the Gnoll Fortress. During the night, there was a terrible roar on Sarah and Imoen’s watch. I awoke to see a pretty stunning sight.

We then worked our way back to Neshkel to enjoy a night in an Inn. Tomorrow we’ll strike out to the East.