A Brief Summery of Events Prior to the Battle of Layfell

Celebrating the Knights' Return- The party attended a celebration in Tellgart. A fat dwarf stripper was involved. An Asian woman was spotted. The party learned that bandits were preying on the eastern road between Tellgart and Klingsberg.

Securing the Eastern Road- The party fought through an ambush of human and goblin bandits on the eastern road. Their new friend Tycho the Shadow Ranger tracked the bandit's trail back to their lair in the mountains. After clearing about half of the lair, the party found the bandit leader holding a paladin hostage. After a three-way negotiation between him, the party, and the goblin king (who had taken another paladin as his bride) the party slew the goblins and walked out with the prisoners. Then they promptly walked back in and slaughtered the human bandits. 

Journey to Bauchfort- The party headed south to find instructors for the new Tellgart militia, passing through the Great Forrest en route. On the way they met an armature artist. While camping with the artist, the party was assaulted by a band of gnoll raiders. They slew all but two- the great grey gnoll lord and his only surviving minion. They tracked the two gnolls to a clearing in the woods, where they killed the gnoll lord in a difficult battle. They continued on to Bauchfort, where Lautrec (after some negotiating) was able to find decent instructors for the town. 

Journey to Wellwald- After escorting the instructors back to Tellgart, the party took the eastern road to Wellwald. There they discovered that a local farmgirl was murdered. One farmer claims that it was a mysterious creature known as the "owlbear". The Kato the dog tracked the trail of the supposed beast to a pond-side tent in the woods, where a mean hobbit shooed them away. They spent the night reconnoitering the hobbit. It was then that they met the owlbear (who was trying to steal food out of Lautrec's pack). He proved to be a nice creature, and informed the party that the hobbit was the real killer. The party entered a tussle with the hobbit, culminating with Clay severing one of the murderer's legs. 

The Owlbear- The owlbear (his real name being Jonathan) took the party to his cabin in the woods, where they all had lunch. The owlbear explained his story. He used to be a human adventurer, but was killed by a gnoll lord in the Great Forest. His girlfriend, a young druid, tried to reincarnate him. Unfortunately, the spell was too powerful for her to control and she was killed. The spell worked, in a fashion. Jonathan isn't sure if owlbears are real creatures or if the spell fused several animals together to create him. While they are eating, the cabin is approached by two Shadow Rangers. Tycho had gone off to get help to fight the owlbear, and returned with the captain of the Wellwald Bluecloaks. The captain declared that the owlbear was sentenced to death for being a magical creature. He would return at sundown with his band of Shadow Rangers to carry out the execution. 

Dilemma of Zaros- Zaros felt conflicted with the current situation. The owlbear was a nice fellow, but he was a resurrected being; an abomination in the eyes of his religion. Zaros went to the local temple to meditate. There he met a wise old priest. Using cups of water, he and Zaros concluded that his resurrection did not disrupt the balance of the world- the druid's death set everything right. Zaros realized that he had been missing the cornerstone of his faith; he needed to fight for the sacrament of death because death brings balance into the natural world by feeding life. He was so touched by this realization that he later purchased a grey cloak to replace his black one. 

Flight of the Owlbear- The party (minus Zaros) fled with Jonathan. Their goal was to get him to the druids of Hanlin, where he would be well treated. They ran for two straight days, finally stopping in Tellgart. Meanwhile, Zaros crossed paths with the Shadow Rangers, who were in hot pursuit. The rangers stole Kato to use for tracking, and Zaros tagged along. They reached Tellgart soon after the party, but wanted to rest a few hours before fighting the monster. They released Zaros, who immediately found his friends and warned them. They went to the church were Marcus, the owlbear, and the shadow rangers were staying. In the ensuing battle, four shadow rangers fell to Zaros's sound burst spells. The fight was broken up by Sir Derruk and Sir Reyndard, who sent the two groups out of town at separate times. The party got the owlbear to the druids, then promptly slept for two days.