Things started out with Hadar, our new employer, giving us all contracts saying we will be paid although he is insisting on being given first pickings of any treasure we find. On the other hand he is paying "expenses" which means a LARGE collection of receipts will be heading his way at each further meeting.
We traveled to the nearby Miner's Rest - the inn that used to service the Mines of Doom before they became known by that name. There we set about eating the place out of house and home and having a bath. Difficult decision on where to start, but after standing at the bottom of the stairs for a minute, the smells of the roast "meat" were too much and I piled into the tap room behind the others and waited for food.
We got a package from Hadar containing 100gp and a selection of potions (which Beard swiped...) including another potion of Delay Poison. Frankly I'm scared. There was a note containing some instructions which was in the process of being read when food arrived. In between mouthfuls it got passed round the table with each person reading out a line or so before leaping back into the food. Ug even managed to get the paper the correct way up to pretend he could read...
Anyway, we're off to see the wizard. The wonderful wizard of ... the woods... We need to ride north and track down a witch by the name of Margaret Street and bring he to see Hadar. He's lost contact with her and apparently there are rebel wizards about causing trouble. Emily heads off for a bath because, food or not, she's not going to pass up the opportunity to clean the thick layers of mud from her body.
Several hours pass pleasantly with Beard teaching Ug the rudimentaries of the written alphabet and Mishkal and Arthur drinking themselves silly at Hadar's expense. Emily finally cleans herself and has another bath for good measure before getting out and realising she has literally NOTHING to wear (her new travellers garb is being washed). So when a maid comes in to check on her, she is standing in the middle of the floor wrapped in a towel looking very pathetic. The maid takes pity on her and lends her a serving girls outfit (and a comb!) so eventually, many hours after starting out, Emily wanders back to the tap room to find Mishkal singing a rowdy song about gold with Arthur trying to join in. Beard is the only one who recognises her so there ensues an interesting few minutes where Ug sits oggling her and the others wonder why she isn't serving them drinks. Eventually Mishkal passes out and Beard and Emily get down to planning the adventuring trip. However Beard turns out to be just too boring and ends up doing much of the planning himself.
So next day we go shopping and buy more food than we know what to do with along with some clothes (hurrah!) and an adventuring kit for Emily - suit of leather armor and a couple of daggers which thanks to some really innocent wide-eyed looks and cut-throat haggling (including something approaching a sponsorship deal) we got at reduced price. Then it's off into the wilds of the land.
As we ride north Ug feeds us bits and bobs from hunting expeditions. First time he does this, we discover the strange rituals of his tribe which involve roasting the kill over a fire prepared in such a way to thank the spirit of the animal. So half the party got stoned when Ug threw a fistful of "funny leaves" on the fire. On a different night we find a cave to sleep in, which on closer inspection is home to a group of Stirges. The vicious little buggers flew round attaching themselves to the faces of members of the party whilst Ug runs round delicately cutting them off the faces using his Great Axe. Eventually the Stirges die, but not before we're treated to Gregore running to the cart to get his crossbow (his magic missile once again failed to kill its target - I think it's just a fancy light show) then running back into the cave and shooting a Stirge, missing and THEN realising his box of quarrels is still back on the cart.
After this little fight the journey to the village is pretty quiet. When we reach the town the party goes off to find out where this witch lives in their own special ways. Mishkal wanders to the blacksmith and asks for them to fix his armor and drops it into conversation. Emily walks into the inn and gets some information out of the innkeeper. Beard walks the streets poking anyone younger than him and demanding the information. Emily somehow manages to tell the innkeeper she is a storyteller (mistaken identity I can assure you!) and the WHOLE VILLAGE assembles to hear her exciting tales. Yikes. Thankfully, using some of my other skills (I'm very good at juggling and can dance a bit) I put on a more than passable performance to the yokles (whose idea of directions appear to be "Where does she live?" "The forest" "That way?" "Yes, that is the forest") and, it turns out, Ug who enjoys my tales of slaying orcs and my dancing...
Anyway we head into the woods with our new guide (a seven year old girl called Hayley) who seemed quite happy to be led into the woodds by some complete strangers. After some time, whilst I tried to teach her the ways of the storyteller (crikey) we ran into a wolf who talked (Worg, although we didn't know it). It claimed it wanted to help us and despite my natural 20 on a sense motive and it CLEARLY LYING the thing didn't attack us or threaten us, so in the end we agreed to follow it to the house of the witch. Hayley said it was the correct way to we followed on dutifully.
It was several hours later, with the house in sight, that the wolf decided to talk to us about payment for his services. He seemed under the impression that a few pounds of flesh wouldn't be missed. Naturally we were under the impression we needed all our limbs in fully working order. There was a disagreement and the worg, along with his mate, beat the living daylights out of us. Mishkal dropped when he discovered a breastplate doesn't make you invulnerable. Ug followed suit when he realised not everything dies just because you insert your axe in it. Even Emily had to fight in the end; leaving Hayley alone with Beard for a moment (as painful as that was) she sneaked up on the worg trying to eat Sword and stabbed it hard in an unpleasent place. Arthur managed to hold it at bay a little longer until Ug, who realised he wasn't dead after all, got up and skewered his wolf before wandering over to finish off the last one.
Session ends with the party about to head through the last bit of woods to find out what has happened to Margaret and are fully expecting the house to be made of gingerbread...