Jobob, Val, Gideon and Thyrinn went into the Mournland by themselves after Gideon heard Cernan singing in the distance, followed by shouts. The party commandeers the remaining elemental cart and enters the Mournland. The party quickly became disoriented and Val seemed to despair much worse than the others.
After wandering aimlessly through the Mournland, they began to hear noises in the distance so they proceeded in that direction. Before long, the mist cleared and they saw before them a large pavilion. They approached the pavilion only to discover what appears to be the meeting place for a slave exchange - exclusively young women. The exchange is run by a group of Hobgoblin slavers lead by Earl. The slavers allowed the party to approach - they seemed amicable enough, except for, you know, the slave part.
The slavers, and their customers, far out number the party.
The party does not find Cernan, nor his "two hot scouts", at the slave pavilion. They do, however, find two very familiar twin males negotiating with Earl for some of the slaves. These men bear a haunting resemblance to Cernan's scouts.
Before the party becomes too suspicious, the party does see Cernan capering off in the distance. He is being pursued by the two scouts, not that he seems to care.
Before the scouts could close on Cernan, he simply disappears, mid skip. The scouts try to disappear into the scrub, but the party is able to track their movements. They appear to be searching for Cernan still.
While at the pavilion (open bar!), Jobob see's a slave he recognizes as Lina exit a tent on the outer perimeter of the pavilion area, looking very much the worse for wear. She, too, has an iron collar about her neck. She is cleaned up by the camp mage and put into the general pleasure slave population.
Thyrinn takes pity on the slave Lina and purchases her from Earl, the hobgoblin slaver, for 115GP. This does not include her silks, nor her iron collar.
For those of you who may not remember, Lina, is the young woman whom the party "rescued" from the Ruka Downs - leader of the Wroat gang, The Downers. Lina was married to Ruka. Ruka suspected rival gangs of Lina’s abduction.
This sparked off a gang war within Wroat, ultimately leading to a large part of the "Downs" and Docks area of Wroat being destroyed. Martial law had to be declared by the King to contain the violence and restore order.
Near the end of the rioting, the party witnessed the execution of Ruka Downs by a rival gang leader, along with most of the leaders of his crew.
Lina had not been seen since and was rumored to have been shipped upriver just before the rioting caused by the gang war.
Jobob, Val, Gideon, Thyrinn and Lina climb back into the elemental cart and head deeper into the Mournland. Presumably in search of Cernan.
They find that there are dangers in the Mournland.
*****
Petyr, Niben, and "Big A" (sorry, don't remember V's character right now) carried word of the ambush on House Cannieth, at the edge of the Mournland back to town. When they returned, they found the party was gone, presumably into the Mournland. They, too, enter the Mournland attempting to locate the rest of the party.
Petyr, Niben and “Big A” become lost and disoriented quickly in the eternal twilight of the Mournland. As despair reaches its height, the party clears the mists, only to find what appears to be a small dwarf sitting on a rock outcropping, smoking a cigar.
The dwarf introduces himself as Pox, “your looking for your friends. You wanna find them, you talk to me.”
