Chapter 1: Into Haranshire

25th of Readying (Spring), 576 CY
It's been about two weeks since you responded to that note seeking "able bodied, adventurous types" for a "package delivery to the village of Thurmaster in Haranshire". You know the region and the pay sounded good, so you decided to investigate further. Your employer turned out to be a middle-aged, dark-haired and slightly portly wizard who introduced himself as Gordrenn, "purveyor of magical paraphernalia, material necessities and related items to many wizards of note" as he said, rather pompously. As for the job, he asked you to deliver a chest (some 12" x 18" x 18" box weighing about 20 lbs. including contents) of arcane spellcasting components to the wizard Tauster, who lives in the village of Thurmaster in Haranshire by the end of this month, the 28th of Readying.

In questioning him what's the cargo, or the rush, or the risks of the journey to warrant such pay, he assured you the way to Haranshire is rather safe and the goods are "nothing terribly expensive or important, but Tauster gets very huffy if I'm even a day late and all my usual couriers seem to be tied up in other activities". He also warned you the chest is magically sealed and tracked, so don't even think of stealing it, or opening it, for he will send all sorts of bad things after you. Once you reached an agreement, Gordrenn insisted on drawing up a formal contract that lays out the terms of your employment, witnessed at the nearest temple of The Lawmaker by one of the acolytes. As per the contract, Tauster will have to add his signature upon delivery of the chest and then the document can be turned in -there is no specific mention to whom exactly, but you assume another temple of The Lawmaker- in exchange for your reward, a total of 150 gold coins to be shared amongst you.

With no upfront payment, you couldn't afford horses, or even a river boat or barge upstream the Churnett river to take you to Haranshire, so you had to get there on foot, carrying the chest all the way. The journey so far has indeed been mostly uneventful and you've finally made it to Haranshire from the west, following the road which skirts the Lyrchwood. Thurmaster lies further to the east, but you're pretty sure you should make it to Milborne before nightfall, just in time to enjoy a proper meal and a night's rest on an actual bed.

The sun is descending and if your estimations are correct, the group should be a few hours away from reaching Milborne, because the road to the left seems to be opening up from the thicket of trees, so according to the map, you should be at the easternmost edge of the Lyrchwood. Furthermore, there's a bunch of farmers coming up from the opposite direction, clearly from somewhere around Milborne. They seem to be heading towards you at a steady, weary pace. As they draw closer, ready to pass with a wary nod, two arrows, followed quickly by another two, fly out from the woods and dig themselves into the ground just inches away ahead of the party's path!

Two of the farmers hold onto their instruments, a pitchfork and a staff respectively, that they were using as walking sticks, while the other two brandish weapons: one has a club and the other a sword. "Bandits!" they yell, and hurry forward to close ranks with your group in order to mount a joint defence. As they get near, two warriors come rushing from the woods armed with swords, having shouldered their longbows. To your surprise, the sword-wielding farmer points at Scarlet, saying "there, get that one!" as the "farmers" move out to attack you!

The two bowmen close in with their swords and try to flank Aldeera, but she deftly avoids one and the other's blow grazes off harmlessly against her armor.

Likewise, Almadel is able to dodge the apparent leader's blow as it didn't quite have the killer instinct behind it.

It's even easier for Umbar, who can tell these folks are not used to swinging their weapons at targets smaller than human size.

Caradoc isn't so lucky. In fact, luck seems to be on his attacker's side as the "farmer" manages to land a nasty blow with his club to the side of the cleric's head that rocks him, dropping him to the ground (-4hp, Caradoc is unconscious at 0 hp and bleeding).

Hanzel gets a prick from the pitchfork, enough to knock the wind out but not quite the decisive blow the "farmer" should have struck. It seems like he's intentionally holding back from an outright impalement.(-6hp, but half of that it subdual/non-lethal damage. Hanzel is now at 1hp).

Attacked from all sides, the party fight back but it's only Umbar who manages to land a solid hit with his footman's flail, knocking the wind out of his opponent (4 damage to Farmer B).

With Almadel having made a break for the woods and no one directly engaged with her in melee, Scarlet has enough space to maneuver sideways and point her spell against the entire front row of the attackers, catching all three "farmers" and their leaders in its area of effect. "Gah, my eyes!" cries out the leader in pain, as he squirms away for a moment. "Get the witch!". All around him, the frontline has collapsed and all three of his men drop to the ground (all three "farmers" are Unconscious for 8 rounds, the Leader is blinded for 4 rounds).

At their leader's command, the two swordsmen work together with one keeping Aldeera busy, so as to allow the other to disengage and move up to Scarlet. The distraction works, but no blow gets past Aldeera's defence, while Scarlet is quick to dodge a rather clumsy sword swing from the other bandit.