Intrigue in the Tablelands

Second Day of Owlbear Moon, Year of the Knife
Carrier Hawk Memorandum from Loremaster Walaka
To Sir Sveinn of Hilltop, Paladin Emeritus of Toesch

Executive Summary, Incident 1104

An operative team comprising the wizard Nyro, the cleric Kahlan, the bard Allys, the thief Samael, and a new recruit - a strange druid hight Kioska - was sent on a routine escort detail¹ for training purposes. While the escort was completed without incident, the party became lost taking a shortcut on the way back to Toesch. In the exurbs, they encountered hostiles in the form of a powerful cleric and two fighters, all human. A confused communication preceded the eventual conflict: from the reports of the agents, the hostiles were apparently on their way to meet someone after having completed a "mission," and upon discovering that our agents were not their contacts and were in fact League personnel, they attacked. Our agents dispatched them with little difficulty and returned to report to Paladin Thor.

Thor almost immediately dispatched the team to confront a skeleton troop advancing on Toesch from the north, since the knightly corps was still somewhat diminished by the recent unfavorable encounter with elements of the Northern Orc Army². The party chose to engage the enemy at a tactically advantageous position on a mesa, and through a stratagem proposed by the druid, executed a daring manoeuvre that split the undead ranks by forcing half of them off a cliff with a bison-dragged rope. The wizard Nyro's exuberant opening fireworks set the tone for a successful engagement; by all accounts, the party pressed hard and smart. The thief Samael displayed considerably improved aim and combat accuracy, and the bard Allys employed her spellcraft strategically. The cleric Kahlan, styled Confessor, was in the thick of battle as usual.

The party's reports indicate that the bugbear and orc skeletons comprising the attack force displayed some unusual behaviors: to wit, at least rudimentary employment of phalanx formation and military precision in advancement. This observation, if true, is doubly disturbing in light of the recent development of new tactics among the Orc warriors that League troops have recently encountered. There is some outside agency gaining influence in the Tablelands' whether this be the work of The Corporation or some other adversary remains to be seen.

Detailed report sent under separate cover.

¹ ref. Log entry OW1.04
² ref. Incident Report 2103

Personal Note:

I am worried, old friend. I fear that something great and troubling is afoot. Let us hope this apprehension is the imagining of an old man who has seen too much. Mayhap these new agents can set things right in one night. I wish I could visit you to see the migration of the swallow-cranes; it is a beautiful spectacle. Best to your wife.

ps: I told you that all Samael needed was spectacles!