There Wolf? What Do You Mean, There Wolf?

After their wild west adventures, the gang headed to Midsommer Faire - after picking up a new member, that is. Lys Cerys, a diminuative fairy healer, played by Robyn. They picked up some healing potions and cured some wounds, then gave the scroll they had picked up earlier to the cleric - it was some sort of teleportation scroll. Their hope for magical weapons, however, was sadly quashed. There was, however, a possibility - the classic "old hermit", a couple days' travel to the south, may be able to provide both information on the scroll, and magical weapons! Additionally, at the prompting of a totally not shady guy, they also purchased 10 bottles of "Undead Awakening" hotsauce.

Cazeon, hoping to get some information, magical gear, and sweet, sweet glory points, took the quest to find the old magic-man. The first part of the trip was uneventful, right up until they reached a dark forest. The dim light inside made it hard to spot anything, but Kenny caught sight of something moving - a man in tattered clothing. Caz was... less than cautious, and decided to walk right up to the dark shape, creeping through the creepy, dark forest, and say hi. The werewolf - because that's what it was - changed, and a moment later, they found themselves in a fight with a monster that... er... couldn't be hurt by non-silver.

Spooky DALL-E-mini-created wolf-man!

Ingenious lot that they are, of course, they didn't let that stop them. A little creative, er, cheating gave Kenny some silver weapons; some screaming and flailing from Caz gave it... probably confusion, honestly, it didn't do much; and a thrown bottle of hot sauce actually shook it. Magically delicious! Wait, no, that's Lucky Charms, sorry.

Caz, of course, couldn't do a dang thing to the werewolf, and only managed to take a couple good-sized wounds from trying; luckily, he avoided the werewolf's curse from getting bit. Kenny and Lys used their weapons and spells (respectively) to batter the magical creature into a formerly-living man.

Further along, just outside the forest, they found a burned down shack - not a lot of useful things left inside, just some goblin armor, and a "secret escape hatch" that turned out to be a latrine. Caz kept up a (terrible) marching beat with his bagpipes, and they moved on. Nearing sundown, they came across a merchant caravan, bodies littering the ground, even the horses dead. All that's left is some silk in one of the carts. At least the carts still worked - they hooked up Caz's horse and rode off with a little more storage space.

Deciding, finally, that maybe stealth would be a better use, Lys, Caz, and Dan went sneaky-sneaky, leaving Kenny to travel the rapidly darkening trail with nothing but his once-again-hacked glowing sword. Seriously, the guy was googling glitches like a QA tester during a bug hunt. Hiding or not, though, they were spotted by a band of goblins... and not just any goblins. These nasty brutes were not only tougher than your usual goblin, but they were very much not members of the "still alive" club.

With Duramine riding the cart, Kenny still ahead with his glowing sword, they walked into the goblin ambush. Eight of the creatures, carrying short spears, attacked from the rear and sides; three more with crossbows shot at them from a short distance away, and once they had chopped through the first few, a much, much bigger hobgoblin with dual swords charged into the fight.

Duramine got bit by one of the nasty little things, but shook off whatever ill effects that would have brought; the other goblins were taken down in short order, without much lasting damage. The hobgoblin seemed to be alive (until he wasn't); they pulled a sachette from its neck, as it seemed magical. After looting the fancy swords, and using some repair skills to turn the three broken crossbows into a single working one, they headed onward, pushing into the darkness in the hopes of reaching the hermit's cave before they were attacked again.

Finally, late that night, they reached their destination. The hermit welcomed them in, and happily identified the few magical items they had - the sachette seemed to be some sort of protection against the undead, for one. The scroll is, in fact, a scroll of mass teleportation; very powerful, especially since you can use it multiple times. Realizing he hadn't introduced himself, the hermit did so - "Herman Hermes, the Hermit, that's me!"

Moving on to the topic of magical things, Caz negotiated a magical tattoo, for 350 gp. Fancy! He traded most of the hotsauce, rat tails, and several miscelaneous magical items in trade for the tattoo, a piece of quartz, and 20 magical sausages. Yes, you read that right, the hermit enchanted sausages. No one, not even the hermit, knows what effects they will have.

On the way out, the hermit beamed brightly at Caz, and said, "Tell the hag hi from me!"

Caz muttered, "I knew it! I knew it. I just... Just ignore him, just ignore him..." and slunk away, grumbling about witches getting in his head. The scroll turned out to be quite helpful, as they used it to teleport back home, horse, cart, and all.