Meeting the Lucky Pears

Meeting the Lucky Pears and the First part of the journey.

From previous enquiries when looking for a job, the group are all aware that were no caravans which were actively seeking additional paid guards or the like, but that most caravan's would be happy to accept additional people travelling with them, provided that they could provision themselves, and share the various duties and responsibilities. At the caravan staging area, there are currently two caravans which are preparing to leave, and look like they will be leaving this day.

The first belongs to the Lucky Pears Trading Coster, taking a cargo of Water Clocks in 2 wagons to Triboar. Upon enquiring, it transpires that the Lucky Pears consists of only 3 guys, Gavert Surkh, Lise Kampfwut and Kibbit Gudarn, each of them an experienced fighter, but a surprisingly small group to brave the Savage Frontier! One wonders where they got their name from! The other caravan is a fully dwarven outfit, called Battleaxe Transport.

Gavert initially greets the group as they approach.

"We're only heading to Triboar. So we can't go with you all the way. But you're welcome to tag along if you want. I remember when I was first heading out in the world. I made the journey from Everlund to Neverwinter in only 15 days, killing 5 trolls, out-running 3 bands of orcs and 2 bands of barbarians. The only trouble I really had was with a bugbear, when I tried to share it's cave to get out of a summer thunderstorm! Still, I managed to decapitate it with one blow, and it's where I got these from!" He pulls up a necklace of wicked looking claws from below his tunic. Already you have gained the impression that this guy is either very skilful or very lucky, and in either case, a bit of a braggart. "Of course, I did have a pretty fast horse under me for that journey." He looks at your horses. "They look like Longsaddle horses you have there. Good horse breeders at Longsaddle! I reckon it's the Harpels - they probably put a bit of magic in the horse feed!" He laughs at his own joke. "If you want to leave with us, we'll be going in an hour. We should make Thundertree before nightfall."

The Lucky Pears are finally ready. The party end up having to wait for them as the three guys fiddle around checking and re-checking their two wagons. Gavert mounts a horse, and the other two each sit at the reins of the wagons. Each wagon is pulled by a couple of horses, and has a couple of spare horses trailing along at the rear. Gavert rides up to where the party are waiting, and speaks to them as his companions Lise and Kibbet drive the wagons out onto the street.

"Well, I'm glad to have you join us. Should be a fairly easy run from here to Triboar. Tonight at least, we will be in the relative safety of Thundertree, at least if we can get our butts moving! I'll introduce you to the others once we get onto the trail outside. The streets are a bit too noisy and busy to do so here."

With that, he wheels his horse sharply, causing it to rear, and at the same time stands in the stirrups. "Wagons HO!" he shouts, before flashing a grin back at the party, and cantering the 30 yards or so to catch up with the more slowly moving wagons. "Flash git" mutters Ceely as the others goad their horses to follow.

The party trail along through the streets of Neverwinter, passing some of the famous fruit gardens, and many of the various craft shops that produce the goods that make Neverwinter famous throughout the North as the "The City of Skilled Hands". All of you reflect as you pass along these streets how much this place means to you, and how you will miss it's comfort when you are out "on the trail".

As the party pass through the South East gate, Gavert waves to the guards and leads the wagons out onto the lesser trail heading eastwards towards Thundertree. The city walls start to receed behind the party and the trail passes several farms, all clustered near to the river, benefiting from the warmer climate that the river brings. The usual mist rises from the warm waters, but dissipates before becoming a problem to visibility.

After a short while, Gavert finally gets around to introducing the party to the two other members of the Lucky Pears Trading Roster, raising his voice slightly so all can hear over the constant noise of the horses and wagons. Leading the first wagon is Lise Kamfwut, a tall well muscled man wearing chain mail under his travelling cloak and holding the reins loosely in his left hand, his right hand never straying far from his array of weaponry that sits at his side.

He leers a little at the female members of the group as they are introduced, and looks condescendingly at Yvandel with his puppet sitting on his shoulder. "Hey, use that if we get attacked by Orcs or the like - they'll fall dead with laughter" he says sarcastically. Introducing himself, he starts into a long tale about a journey he once made in Icewind Dale. "If you want to know about cold weather, then visit there! Some days it's so cold it could freeze your balls to your saddle!" he crudely jokes.

After Lise's excuse for a joke, Yvandel is barely able to keep his own mouth shut. 'At least my puppet will give those Orcs something to laugh about, your jokes certainly won't,' he thought privately to himself.

"Ah, but you see Lise," he finally said as his thoughts once again focused, "this puppet is not meant to make those Orc laugh, it's meant to make us laugh. A human body functions better when it is relaxed. Sure, you will need the strenght of your muscles in battle, but those muscles will work better if outside battle you are able to relax them. And laughing is one way to relax a body. At least, that applies to most normal humans. Let's see if I can have my two friends here tell a little joke of their own."

"This one here," Yvandel says, pointing to the black and white part of the puppet, "is called Dolo."

(DOLO) "Nice to meet you all. I'm sure my master will need your protection when those Orcs come. I really don't think they'll start laughing before they hack my masters arm off..."

"And this one..." Yvandel continues, pointing at the coloured part of the puppet, "is Volo."

(VOLO) "Hail and well met, Lucky Pears. By the way what <is> a lucky pear? A pear that doesn't get eaten? Hm, I'd sure could do for a juicy one right now..."

Yvandel quickly scans the faces of the three "Pears" to see if they are offended by even these mild jokes.

Lise and Gavert look at Yvandel in scorn as he starts to use Volo and Dolo. As he starts into his act however, jokes bouncing between Volo, Dolo and Yvandel, their expressions quickly change to astonishment at his skill, and then to smiles, as some of his jokes start to land home, and then finally laughter, as Yvandel finally finds his audience.

Meanwhile, Kibbit, driving the wagon behind, can only see Yvandel playing with the puppet and see the others laughing without being able to hear what's so funny. He does laugh when Yvandel finally falls off his horse, Yvandel finding it difficult to ride and control the puppet. Luckily, Yvandel is only bruised.

After a few minutes of almost unbelievable stories, Gavert interrupts him so he can introduce the third member of the Lucky Pears, Kibbit Gudarn, who is trailing along in the second wagon. The party fall back a little to match pace with Kibbit, who at first glance is vastly different from his 2 colleagues. A smaller man, with nervous darting eyes, he looks the party over suspiciously as he introduces himself to them. He is wearing only studded leather, and holds the reins to the wagon in gloved hands. At his side rests a short bow, 3 loaded cross bows, and a rack of hand axes and daggers. He obviously prefers to use missile weapons!

"Gavert say's youse headin' to Silv'moon." he says. " We're only goin' as far as Triboar, but I guess you'll be wanting to head up the Everlund Way to Everlund, then cut through the mountain pass to Silv'moon. Of course," he adds, "you'll need to find someone else to babysit you for that part of your journey. What's so important you gotta get to Silv'moon anyway?"

Kibbit also asks Yvandel about the puppet. "I saw the others laughing at you - I take it you didn't leave your toys at home when you left home eh boy!". Yvandel tries to explain about Volo and Dolo, and repeat his improvised "performance" with Lise and Gavert, but quickly realises that Kibbit is not impressed, and allows Volo and Dolo to lapse into silence.

Luckily for Yvandel, Lucretia provides a bigger distraction, as he starts shouting and brandishing his weapon at Kibbet after the joke about babysitting. "Babysitting? BABYSITTING?!! YOU MAY THINK YOUR SELVES LUCKY, YOU ROTTON FRUIT, BUT YOUR LUCK IS GOING TO RUN OUT ONE DAY, AND IF IT HAPPENS ON THIS JOURNEY, YOU MAY BE GLAD THAT YOU HAVE THESE 'BABIES' AROUND TO HELP YOU!! YOU INSULT ME!!"

"If you want to ride with us, you'd better learn more restraint Lucretia," says Gavert.

Kibbet just throws his head back and starts to laugh. "What yer going to do BOY," he looks at Lucretia. "Yer may be a strong young man, with a strong sword arm, but are yer really goin' to attack me? Disappoint all yer friends as we go our separate ways? Fail in yer mission to get to Silv'moon because yer lyin' in a ditch? I don't think so. Learn some restraint or else!"

Lucretia starts to goad his horse nearer the wagon, but quickly finds himself facing a loaded crossbow at point blank range, and decides it may not be such a good idea. He kicks his horse, and turns, dropping back on the trail, before following the wagons from a distance. Ceely says "I'll go talk to him," and drops back as well.

> Milo turns to Kibbit and assures him, "We do appreciate the company on our
> travel but I assure you that we do not need babysitting. I may very well be
> the one who brings you out of the cusp of death. Yvandel may be the one who
> diverts a hungry troll from feasting on your bones. We are green, I must
> admit, but we can hold our own and then some in a pinch. And, " he adds,
> "I would jump to the defence of you 3 as eagerly as I would my companions.
>
> "Please tell us about what we may see on the way to Silverymoon. Is there
> any place we should avoid?"
>
> Milo rides and continues the polite conversation as long as the man will
> keep up...

Kibbit puts his crossbow down and enters into conversation with Milo. He describes the Troll Moors, Everlund and Silverymoon itself. He also talks about Triboar and another village on the way, Yartar.

For the rest of the afternoon, small talk is occasionally entered into between the group as they make good progress along the trail towards Thundertree. Farms cover most of the land around the river, and it is only when the river meanders significantly away from the trail that the temperature drops significantly and the Lucky Pears show signs of being more alert to their surroundings.

On one such deviation away from the river, when the trail leads over the top of a small hill, a view of the surrounding countryside is gained. In the fading light of late afternoon, what looks like snow can be seen in the distance to the south, whilst to the east the dark band of the forbidden forest stretches out to the horizon. When pointed out, the faint outline of the village of Thundertree nestled in the forest's shadow can just be seen. "If we keep our pace up, we'll get there just before it gets dark," says Gavert.

Milo watches as Balnor canters his horse ahead of the party. As he disappears from sight, he hopes that the young rogue won't get himself into too much trouble.

The journey continues as the afternoon wanes. About an hour later, Balnor is found sat on his horse, trying to get it to stop eating some particularly tasty folliage off the side of the trail. Seeing the other horses travelling along the trail, his horse finally gets the message from it's inexperianced rider, and stops eating to join in with the rest of the party. Lucretia and Ceely still tail along at the back of the caravan, although only a short distance behind. The other's pass the time riding along side the wagon's talking to Lise and Kibbet, and occasionally Gavert on his horse.

Just as the light is starting to fail, the trail winds around a small copse of trees, and the villiage of Thundertree is visable ahead. Dispite the night falling, the temperature seems if anything to be rising, and the river is almost steaming here in the cooler air. The village is more of a hamlet than a village, although it is surrounded by a solid looking stockade wall. Gavert rides ahead and appears to speak to a gate keeper, who after a few moments, opens a large gate. The wagons roll through, and then park in a small area just inside the walls. A number of houses and other buildings are dotted around, you estimate probably less than 40 in total. As Gavert follows you in through the gates, he waves at the gate keeper, who shuts them behind you.

As Gavert dismounts next to the wagons, he speaks to you all. "There is no Tavern or Inn here in Thundertree, so basically we camp here with the wagons. Lucky we wern't much later or we'd have to camp outside the walls!"

Lise gets down from his wagon, and stretches before adding "Of course, that was the easy bit of the journey. It should take us 3 days to get to Conyberry from here, and if we are lucky," he grins, "we should also get there without incident. We will however need to be more alert than we were today. The trail follows the edge of the Neverwinter Woods, and who knows what might come from there!"

As the rest of the party dismount, with various wincing from those unaccustomed to spending the last few hours on horse back, the Lucky Pears go about caring for their horses. The evening is turning out to be reasonably fine, and it currently looks like a clear night.

Once the "camp" is set up, Gavert talks about the night ahead. "Despite being in the relative safety of Thundertree, we will be having three watches during the night. Part of your duties for travelling with us is to also share those watches with us, after all, 3 or 4 pairs of eyes in the night will always be more watchful than only one."

Gavert gets a large stewpot from one of the wagons and a bundle of firewood from another. Setting up a fire in a spot that has obviously been used before by travellers camping inside the walls of Thundertree, he sets himself for cooking. "Any of you have rations you've brought with you that might go in the pot?" he asks.

Without event bar the minor domestic issues around the camp, the evening quickly turns into night with the sun finally setting completely at about 8:00pm. It seems that darkness has only just fallen, before Kibbit and Lise have bedded down under their wagons, and Gavert sits on a small water keg next to the fire in anticipation for his watch. "Who is watching with me?" he asks.

Balnor, Herod and Serena sit the first 3.5 hour watch with Gavert (8:00pm to 11:30pm), Milo and Cleo taking over with Kibbit for the middle watch (11:30pm to 3:00am) and finally Yvandel, Lucretia and Ceely taking the early morning watch with Lise (3:00am to 6:30am). Dawn breaks at about 4:00am due to the fairly northern location, although in the western lee of Neverwinter woods, it actually remains quite dark until at least 6ish.

The night passes uneventfully, although the various members of the party find it hard to sleep, as the saddle sores from an unaccustomed afternoon in the saddle catch up with them on the hard cold ground. It is a stiff and tired group of adventurer's who find themselves getting their gear together for their second day on the trail.

Once loaded up, the wagon's roll out of Thundertree on the forest edge trail heading south towards Conyberry. Gavert is riding the first wagon, Lise the second, and Kibbit is riding slightly ahead on a horse.

Lucretia takes up the rear of the party again, with Ceely by his side, riding about 2 wagon lengths behind the party.

The morning passes slowly, a cold west wind quickly chilling the party as the temperature drops rapidly the further from the warmth of the Neverwinter River valley they travel. Snow appears on the ground, and in short order, everyone is wearing their warm weather clothing against the chill. The trail, marked more by the edge of the wood than by the definition of the track, is clear, any recent tracks covered by the recent snowfall. Throughout the day, there is little to look at bar the rolling white countryside on the right and the darkness of the woods on the left.

About mid-afternoon, the trail ahead is blotted by a large number of fresh tracks in the snow. Kibbit pauses on his horse to look at them, and calls back to the party. "There's been a large group of orcs here in the recent past. I hesitate to guess how many, but a sizeable war party I would say!" He looks up at the woods and the surrounding countryside. "It looks as if they came to and have returned to the woods.... strange!"

Gavert frowns. "Are you sure?" he calls to Kibbit. "Even orcs normally avoid Neverwinter woods!" He turns to look at the party. "We may need your help after all if we encounter them. - crcs don't tend to take prisoners!"

Ceely rides up to where Kibbit is still examining the tracks. She recalls her training, and examines the tracks carefully to see if she can add anything to Kibbit's observations.

After only a few minutes checking the area, Ceely announces that it appears as if there was another group of people who had camped just off the road here, and she guesses from the marks that they had been ambushed by the orcs coming out of the woods, and subsequently dragged off into the woods by the orcs.

Kibbit rubs his chin and nods as if agreeing with her analysis of the large mass of marks in the snow. "I guess only a few hours ago, probably at dawn this morning" he adds.

Gavert goads the horses pulling the wagons to move again, and calls out to the party. "Let's get a move on. And when we camp tonight, we find somewhere out of sight!" Leaning his head around the edge of his wagon, he yells back to Lise on the second wagon. "Hey Lise, do something about our tracks!"

Lise nods, and stopping the horses for a moment, clambers back over the wagon, until he reaches the rear. When he gets there, he takes a small pouch out from his belt, and sprinkles some dust over the rear of the wagon. Lucretia watches in almost disbelief as the tracks on the trail behind disappear behind them. Lise winks at him, and says "Make sure you ride in front of this wagon!". He then clambers to the drivers seat and the wagon continues. Lucretia watches as the wagon's tracks and all other on the road disappear only a foot behind the wagon.

The afternoon wears on, the cold wind doesn't let up and the weather stays overcast and grey. With only an hour of daylight left in the sky, Kibbit again pauses as he examines some more tracks. After only a few moments however, he shrugs and carries on riding. As the rest of the party catch up with the tracks, it looks like a herd of deer or some other hoofed animal have crossed the path here in quantity.

Less than half an hour after passing the tracks from the herd, Gavert calls ahead to Kibbit, and asks him to look for somewhere to camp. Kibbet spurs his horse, and rides ahead to check-out some minor dips in the terrain. Here the land is relativly flat and barren, rising slightly in smooth untouched snow to rolling hills to the south and west, with the forest looming close to the north and east. After only 10 more minutes, as the light starts to fail in the west (about 7:30pm), Kibbet waves from up ahead, and points off the trail to the south.

The party approach his position, and notice a relativly small hollow a few hundred yards off the trail. It looks like the hollow might provide good cover from casual observation. As Kibbit rides his horse into the hollow with Ceely by his side, he jumps down and scuffs some of the snow away from the ground to check the terrain. Satisfied that it appears solid enough, he waves the wagons down.

In short shift, the wagons are settled, the horses watered and fed and groomed. "I know it's a cold night", Gavert says, "but after the orc tracks we saw today, I suggest we make do without a fire. Cold rations only tonight!" As he sits on crate, taken from one of the wagons, he starts to chew on beef jerky, and starts to tell a tale about his time in IceWind Dale. "Now THAT was a cold place. It was so cold that if you went to draw your weapon without gloves on, your flesh would freeze to the hilt! Wearing metal armour was the worst! The heat from your body was just sucked straight out. Of course, when you've just had to battle 4 winter wolves single handedly, you tend to build up a bit of warmth, so I was alright. Lucky they attacked me when they did - I ended up spending the night wrapped in one of the still warm carcases! Not nice to wake to in the morning you understand, but the temperature was so low that night I could have easily frozen to death in my sleep!"

Lise looks up from where he is already wrapped up in blankets under one of the wagons. "Yeah, we all wished you had! Then we might have got some peace for sleep!" He grins and then continues. "Of course, winter wolves are nothing but overgrown puppies! In really cold weather you want to be attacked by hell hounds! The'll breath fire at you and warm you up just fine!!!" He laughs at his own joke. The rest of the party are too cold and saddle sore to laugh much at anything.

Kibbit looks up from where he has been clearing snow out from under one of the wagons ready to lay down his bedroll. "Of course, there is a real risk of you young'uns freezin' to death durin' the night. I notice not many of yer have got real winter clothing or heavy blankets on yer. I guess livin' in Neverwinter tends to soften yer. How many of yer have actually seen it snow in Neverwinter?"

He continues. "Anyway, if any of you laydeees want to share my blankets to keep warm, yer feel free to just come on over and snuggle up" He leers just a little and grins a lot to show he wasn't really serious. As he lays his bed roll and blankets out and climbs in, he adds "There are a bundle of 5 extra blankets on the other wagon if anyone thinks they might be a little cold tonight. Help yourselves yer big......", he trails of muttering something to himself about girls blouses.

"I'm sure that your comments are pure jest, my friend," Milo says as he stands, looking down on Kibbit, "but I can not tolerate such crass remarks to certain (pointing to Ceely , Cleo, and Serena) members of our party.

"They are worth as much respect as you or I, and I kindly ask you to apologize. A joke is only funny if everyone laughs, and although I appreciate the hospitality you have shown us so far, I cannot sit down while you make "harmless" gestures at my friends' expense." Milo waits for an answer. He does not move until this situation is resolved.

"Aw get a life!" Kibbit snaps. "I'm sure they can defend themselves if they feel their honour is really stained by my comments - assuming they don't just carry their weapons for show!" He leans up on his elbow looking sideways out from under the wagon. "Anyway, if they want to spend a night with me, ain't that their choise not yours?" He leans further to look past Milo at Ceely, Cleo and Serena. "Hey girls, are you mortally offended? Have I made you feel worthless and dirty by my 'crass remarks'? Is my 'harmless' gesture causing you heartache and turmoil? Do you feel hugely insulted by my appreciation of your feminine side? " Hearing Cleo and Ceely's comments, he continues. "See! No harm done. Now shut up and let me sleep". He puts his head back down, muttering something inaudible, but probably mildly insulting as he rolls over and turns his back on Milo.

As the rest of the party slowly fall asleep, some shivering slightly dispite the extra blankets, Balnor, Herod, Serena and Gavert try to keep alert and warm at the same time. The wind that has been blowing most of the day finally dies, and the peace of the night is broken only by the stirring of the horses every now and then, and the breathing of their companions. The breath of the four on watch hangs heavy in the cold air, and almost complete darkness decends as the night deepens. The sky starts to clear a little, some of the stars showing through, and the temperature starts to drop further. The moon starts to rise, a thin cresent promising more to come.

After a couple of hours, the distant howling of wolves can be heard, although direction is difficult to tell. Their howling keeps up for almost half an hour, seeming to come from different directions, sometimes closer and sometimes further away. Eventually it falls quiet. During this time, Gavert walks around the camp periodically, looking out into the darkness from the edges of the hollow.

At the end of the first watch, Gavert wakes Kibbit who crawls out from under the wagon. Gavert climbs into the warm bed-roll with a whispered "Goodnight", and Balnor, Herod and Serena change places with Milo and Cleo. The middle watch passes without incident, Cleo's cat staying put wrapped up in Cleo's pocket for warmth. When finally Yvandel, Lucretia, Ceely and Lise take over for the final watch, the moon is high and the sky is clear. A sharp frost has already formed on the wagons, and it is hard for the new watchers to get out of their relativly warm blankets and walk around. For those on watch, the next 3.5 hour watch passes slowly, for those asleep, it seems all to soon before they are roused to the early morning light. (6:30am ish)

As the sun crawls over the horizon, it looks to be a beautiful day, but by 8:00am, clouds have formed on the horison, and although the temperature rises to above freezing, the skies cloud over, and by mid-morning another grey day will be born.

The morning sun is quickly hidden by the clouds that form. Although a sharp frost makes the snow crunchy beneath your feet, as the morning wears on, the temperature rises slightly, and soon, the snow loses it's crisp texture. Ahead of you the trail wanders slightly, marked only by a slight ridge in the snow. The forest's edge looms near, it's dark depths hiding hidden horrors to those who believe the stories, hiding nothing but shadows to those who don't. The rolling hills to the south-east can be seen to rise into distant mountains - presumably the .

Adventuring is proving to be just a bit less romantic than the tavern tales the "Unknowns" had heard would have it. Few things are on their minds so much at the moment as daydreams of being back inside the shelter of a friendly building again, preferably before a warm fire. Upon someone wistfully mentioning the luxury of warm fire, Lise mentions that there is a warm town hall where travellers can stay, in the small village that must be several miles ahead called Conyberry.

According to Lise, the folk in Conyberry greet travellers in one of two ways. In both cases, however, locals are hidden in ambush, with crossbows ready, in case anyone wants to make trouble. Otherwise it seems to depend upon the mood of some local ghost named Agatha in Neverwinter Woods. The rural folk of Conyberry look upon Agatha as something of a protector, and when Agatha's stirred up about something, the people of Conyberry usually are too. What they get stirred up against are adventurers, because they assume the adventurers are the cause of Agatha's unhappiness.

"When Agatha and the villagers are upset, the villagers shoot first and ask questions later", jokes Gavert.

"Hell, they never ask any questions, they just keep shooting." adds Kibbit.

Lise continues. "It'll be good to arrive there in day light. when they can see that we're peaceful and won't shoot first!. When Agatha isn't riled up, the villagers still have their crossbows ready, but they ask first us if we have anything to sell or barter, and I'm sure for a price, they'll put us up in the village hall."

After a brief stop for lunch, the party continue to travel along the trail as it travels along the southern edge of Neverwinter Woods. Although the forest edge is a good 200 yards away most of the time, the terrain through which the party is travelling has started to have more and more bushes, large stands of tall shrubbery and scattered trees along both sides of the trail. If there are brigands or worse in the area, the brush certainly offers ideal ambush conditions. Lise, riding a short way ahead of the caravan has his weapon half drawn most of the time because of this potential threat, and both Kibbit and Gavert on the first and second wagons respectively, show strong caution.

"Keep yer eyes peeled, this is ambush country" warns Kibbit, his hand constantly on a loaded crossbow by his side.

AMBUSH BY ORCS