Adventure #3: Friends, Enemies, and Ox Carts

2023/04/01 Session 3: Friends, Enemies, and Ox Carts (Campbell, Doug, Gryffon, Madeline, Ronn, Zak)

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Our band of gentle adventure-seekers has taken upon themselves the mantle of The Order of Righteous Peregrination and under that incorporation arranged for a meeting with the town council in two days time.

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The Order of Righteous Peregrination, in conjunction with the sheriff and with the help of several locals, returned to the sea cave beneath Charnock House,  extracted the stolen goods contained therein, and delivered them to the town officials to be properly identified and returned to the rightful owners.

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After meeting with the Eureka town council the band receive a reward of 2,000 silver scepters and arrange to have the cargo from The Golden Enterprise expedited through the customs process and released into their hands.

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The road north out of Eureka makes for an easy, well traveled tradeway as it avoids the swampy shore of Humboldt Bay and passes through the village of Arcata and skirts the nearby redwood forest. The tradeway follows the Mad River north of the village and our travelers ended their first day of travel in the hamlet of Blue Lake (located in a deep valley on the Mad River) some 20-miles northwest of Eureka.  The hamlet proper had a population of perhaps 120 souls. A small tavern on the western outskirts of the settlement, providing a wagon camp for travelers and traders, known by all as Perigot Park was the band's stop for the night. No lake was spotted, blue or otherwise.

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The pace of travel slowed as the road rose out of the deep valley and the oxen trudged along a tradeway that was less road and more a well maintained wagon trail. The band arrived at Lord-Ellis Summit camp having covered 12-miles, forded four creeks, and climbed nearly 2300-ft of elevation. The wagon camp proved to be little more than a campfire ring and a cache of firewood tucked into the side of a mountain pass.

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The morning road began with a strange incident; just east of the pass, alongside the trail and apparently heading toward that very place, our merry band of travelers encountered a most curious thing. Peaceable plant creatures that seem to be about the size of a coyote, but resembling an assortment of bush and scrub species. While the creatures stood still and attempted to go unnoticed, they were seen to decidedly scramble about the roadside and seemed to display a curiosity regarding our travelers. The band moved on and left these creatures to whatever doings they were about.

The day's travel pace was a bit quicker on day three as our bold adventures first descended from Lord-Ellis Summit camp, crossing two cold mountain creeks, before starting back uphill until they reached the spot on the map labeled Burney Vista Point. After which they began to descend as the trail took to following the bank of Willow Creek, twice the path crossed the river and at neither instance was a bridge present. The final miles of the day found the tree covered mountains had given way to thicker, denser timberland canopy of maple, fir, and cedar, at which they recognized that they had crossed the border into the Six Rivers Forest. At a point some 2-miles beyond that border they found East Fork camp – a sturdy hitching post, a pair of rough hewn bench tables, paired with firepits, and furnished with dry firewood, were there awaiting their arrival. Fish were coaxed from the stream and wild mushrooms were plentiful.

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Day four was a short travel day with a bit of comfort at the end of it. The road through the forest was no better than it had been for the past two days, but it was mostly flat and made for an easier pull for the oxen. Six miles and three creek crossings into the day the band came to Willow Creek, a hamlet of 170 people sitting at the crossroads of two trails, the Trinity Tradeway and the Trinity River Trail. The wagon was about rattled to bits by this point and one wheel was on the verge of breaking from the axle. Repairs were needed and this seemed as good a place to do it as they would find in these parts. They found a local, one Marigold Buddy, willing to make repairs for them, left the wagon with her and had a meal at the Bigfoot Lodge, a place named for a local legend and catering to the passing traders. Drinks were had, stories told, mats were rented, and it was the next morning before they had gotten back to the road and the task at hand.

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With the oxcart repaired and both company and beasts refreshed, 24-mies of the mountainous trade route was covered by the time Hayden Flat camp was reached. The trip crossed a dozen streams and creeks, including three that were bridged sturdy enough to support the cart, climbed further up the landscape, passed by Salyer (pop. 39), the Wayside Chapel, Hawkins Bar, Burnt Ranch, and the mysterious monument “Gray Falls Henge“ guarded by the hoofmen. At some point they crossed from Six Rivers Forest into the Trinity portion of the Shasta-Trinity Forest, but the distinction between the two was not apparent to our travelers. In the afternoon they were overtaken by a rider headed for Weaverville with news that a dragon was spotted hunting the Six Rivers Forest yesterday. 

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The climb from Hayden Flat camp to Junction City was made more comfortably and with greater speed given the refreshed condition of the wagon and our travelers. The day's total travel was an easy uphill climb along the Trinity River and out of the Shasta-Trinity Forest, despite crossing creeks and small rivers on 19 separate occasions the oxen pulled the wagon 24-miles further from Eureka. The band passed several small thorps and the frontier fortress of Big Bar without more than brief stops to water the beasts, check harnesses, and hear the local news. A dragon was sighted the day before hunting a bit further north here in the Six Rivers Forest, according to several homesteaders the band spoke with.

Junction City turned out to be something a bit smaller than its name would imply, being a thorp of a dozen buildings and fewer than 70 people. It also turned out to be a trap. The remnants of the Charnock House bandits, having learned the whereabouts of TORP, set about to get some payback and mayhaps settle a score. 

Our gentle adventurers noticed the empty streets, spotted the out–of-place horses, and were not caught nearly as flat-footed as the Redbrands might have preferred. The fight was short and bloody, but the ruffians took the brunt of it. The mage, Glockter Sanbalet, was killed by his overconfidence and a good deal of lightning. Of the remaining Redbrands; three escaped on horseback, two were killed outright in the fighting, and one surrendered. That one being a hobgoblin named Vranden Chroz who after being bested by Chane, swore a honor-debt pledge to him to serve loyally for a month after which he can challenge for his freedom.

The community was impressed and initially thankful to the heroes, but after a heady celebration and a night to sleep on the matter, encouraged the group to move on lest they bring even greater dangers to their tiny community.

1 Winterwane 5023 VA

After defeating the ambush set for them and putting down the rabid mage, TORP set out to travel the last 8-miles to Weaverville. From the thorp of Junction City the road continues west and moves away from the Trinity River. The road leads them past the Eagle Rock Quarry at Slattery Pond and then the abandoned La Grange Mine before cresting the Oregon Mountain Summit and descending towards the valley and the town of Weaverville.