Maren is escorted to the entrance where she and her son are reunited. Xander stays back and guards the entrance while the patrol goes deeper into Woodruff’s grove.

A large house, well maintained, sits nestled far in the back of Woodruff’s Grove. Two large doors banded in iron lead into a large Hall. Pillars flank the sides of the hall and in the middle are three large braziers, hot with well stoked fire, are strangely engineered to be chained to the ceiling. A chair, atop a raised platform far at the end of the hall, turns slowly to face the patrol. Boneless sits, glaring at the patrol from atop his platform. He pulls a lever and combat begins. The lever seems to activate the pillars which shoot darts at the patrol members. Springing into action the patrol races toward the platform and the mouse who has engineered this gauntlet. He pulls a second lever and the large braziers burst, sending hot coals scattering along the floor, impeding the group’s path.

Dameon and Connor make attempts to dash forward and they pay off. Connor closes the distance after the group takes a few bad wounds from the gauntlet and runs the mouse though with his sword, killing him instantly.

After searching the rest of the building they find many important things. In the laboratory some extraordinary strong cording is found as well as a a cipher guide. In his chambers there are an abundance of books. Some over a decade old and all written in what appears to be Boneless’ handwriting. Using the cipher found before along with the code book from Stallin’s, Dameon begins to understand some of the words among the pages. He takes a few key books with him. In his desk they find 4 keys.

Exploring behind the large building Roddy finds a natural cave. Inside is a very old doorway which looks to be of weasel design. Scrawled along the top arch is a riddle and the door seems to have 4 keyholes.

Making their way back to the entrance they see that a bandit patrol has arrived back at the entrance of the Grove. A bandit, huge and carrying a large club embedded with teeth, steps forward, identifying himself as the leader of the group and demands an explanation.

In the root cellar beneath Pebblebrook’s town hall the patrol is faced with a difficult choice. The captured bandit, in a final effort to save his own life, leverages the information of a secret passcode to the entrance of the bandit camp against Connor with the condition of him being let go. The group makes their opinions clear. Some vote to disregard this code and just execute the bandit. Others vote to promise the bandit safety, get the code, and then execute him. Night falls without any action being made.

The next morning Xander looks in on the bandit, his intentions unknown. The bandit is gone and his cause for disappearance a mystery.

With all the resources they have now the patrol decides to strike out and find this camp, taking the action to them. They gather the trainees, including one of Dale’s sons after some persuasion, and set off.

Traveling for the better part of the day the patrol’s scout Xander finds tracks on a well used path. There seems to be a group of six mice traveling away from the camp. They decide to disregard the tracks and head towards the camp. The sun sets as the group sees the entrance to the bandit camp, nestled inside the crag of a large stone mountain with the river flowing out from inside. Only a watchtower is visible and a dark shape within the top.

Using the bandit’s armor as disguises Connor and Dameon make their way to the entrance. They’re hailed by the sentry atop the tower and the two guardmice manage to make entry. Dameon doubles back and using some clever thinking causes the sentry to turn his back as he climbs the tower. He dispatches the sentry and signals for the rest of the group to join them.

Now inside the camp the patrol and company begin systemically killing the bandits as they’re preoccupied with various entertainment and as they sleep. Dameon finds his way through the canteen and finds a surprise. What looks like an older and haggard version of Kiera greets him. This must be Maren Dale.

Sven calls a town meeting. He begins by letting Roddy explain what he found past the scent border. In a flourish to the ending of the story Vermina comes out of the town hall with white paint on in the style of one of Pebblebrook’s ghosts.

After the shock to the crowd dies down Sven again steps forward to address another issue. He asks the opinion of the Mouse Guard and the other town elders on what they should do about the bandit problem. Elliot Gray reasons that they should strike a bargain with the bandits and is quickly overshadowed by Josef Dale. With an outburst, Dale claims that Sarah is unfit to serve as matriarch any longer and he calls for the crowd to appoint Kiera early. In addition to that, he says that the town should fortify, train, and prepare to fight the bandits but on one condition: he will dismiss the Mouse Guard patrol and replace them. He refuses any possibility of working with the patrol. Sven steps forward and puts Dale in his place with the support of Sarah. Dale finds his words fall flat on the town’s crowd and their support to be with the current matriarch, so he stomps away in anger.

The patrol settles in and goes about their preparations.

Early in the morning Dameon finds a note under his door. It appears to be from Kiera and it says to meet at the graveyard late at night. Once there, however, he finds it was a trap set by Josef Dale and his sons. Fortunately Xander was there to help and between the two guardmice they knock out Josef and his two sons out of the box. They take Josef back to the town hall and report the happening to Sven.

Disappointed, Sven takes Dale and in and says he’ll look after him during his recovery. At this time a cry rings out from across town. Dameon can tell who it is immediately. It’s Kiera.

Sprinting across the the field, the whole patrol in tow, Dameon finds Kiera being carried off by two bandits, appearing to be scouts. A young mouse, one of Connor’s trainees, is already on the scene. He attempts to fight one of the bandits with pitchfork in hand. He’s wounded as the bandit deflects his blow and strikes him in the chest. Dameon draws his bow and nocks an arrow as he runs. He fires an arrow with a special poison at the young mouse’s killer, hitting him in the side. Switching his attention to the hostage taker he deceives the mouse into making a run for it, without Kiera. Dameon attends to Kiera while Roddy looks after the boy who has been wounded. He’s been mortally wounded, and the only thing Roddy can do is console him. The rest of the patrol chases the fleeing bandit, resulting in Vermina catching him with a fatal throw from her hook.

An eventful night transitions to a new morning. The patrol begins to interrogate the surviving bandit. He tells them many important facts after being brought to the brink of consciousness from pain. The bandit camp with it’s remaining sixteen members, is being led by a huge mouse named Boneless. The scouts were in Pebblebrook checking up on the town when they saw an opportunity to grab Kiera while she as alone in her house.

The group makes plans to give Finn’s son, the young mouse killed in last night’s activity, a funeral fit for any guardmouse.

At first the greeting the patrol received in Pebblebrook was cold. But it warmed with an explanation from the village elders and a small feast. Introductions were made and now the patrol has new contacts within the town. The village elders, Finn the blacksmith, Kiera the matriarch-to-be and daughter of Josef Dale, Sarah the matriarch and town healer.

Connor wastes no time in finding and enlisting some of the able bodied young people of Pebblebrook as trainees. Xander tries his best to come up with some weapons and armor using the blacksmith’s humble facilities. Daemon catches the eye of Kiera and begins to slowly gather information from her as an inside source as well as working with Sarah to develop a different lethal poison. Vermina and Roddy have similar ideas of going to the scent border. There they find a hidey-hole that reveals key information. Thankfully, the scent border is intact and well maintained. They cross over the border into uncharted territory. There they find what the denizens of Pebblebrook have mistook as ghosts for generations. With a bold step Roddy shows he knows no strangers and manages to make the best out of a precarious situation. With the help of a little Breezy Willow, which just so happens to be a particularly good batch, he gains the admiration of the primitive mouse tribe and even gets the better end of a trade from it as well.

Fortune seems to have favored the bold… this time.

Heading towards Pebblebrook the patrol stops for the night at Barkstone. At the gates they’re met with a familiar face, Groger, Connor’s rival and newly appointed “City Guard Captain.” He antagonizes the patrol and tries to draw them into a conflict. During the argument he reveals a dubious fact about Dameon’s parents.

During their night’s stay in Barsktone they meet three village elders from Pebblebrook looking for any help they can get. They get their supplies and guide the patrol back to Pebblebrook. On the journey the patrol encounters a shrike after moving through it’s hunting grounds. The supplies don’t suffer any damage and the patrol is off to a good start on their mission to rid the bandits from the area.

The epidemic is quelled with minimal damage done to Copperwood and the surround towns. During the closing ceremonies Stallins himself make a rousing speech congratulating the Mouse Guard and names Dameon as the Hero of Copperwood. Dameon and Vermina chat up Stallins during the party after the speech in hopes of stalling him while Red and Xander dig up dirt on Stallins. Gaining entry into his personal home they find a codebook, an important piece of the puzzle needed to break the code of the map found on the Grain Peddler.

The following day they’re ready to leave with all the recruits that had previously signed up. The local head teamster asks them to escort a caravan heading to Lockhaven since they’re going there anyway.

One of the recruits, Goose, a lanky and overzealous young mouse, takes it upon himself to break up a fight between two of the traveling merchants. He panics and overreacts, killing one of the merchants. The patrol decides to take him to Lockhaven and have him tried there. Roddy talks down the merhcants, wife, Goose’s cousin, and Connor gives an impromptu speech that quiets the concerns of the other 8 recruits.

They return to Lockhaven to rest and recuperate and improve some of their skills during their downtime.

After a few weeks Summer begins. Gwendolen calls the patrol into her office and tells them of an ongoing problem that is only getting worse and requires the Guards help immediately. A roving group of bandits has been ravaging farm land and the village of Pebblebrook. The group is to travel there and find a solution.

Two mice try and ambush the patrol during the night, their intention clearly to attack. Everyone is quick to react and the fight goes by quickly. The group searches the first mouse and finds signs that he belongs to The Black Paw and then saves the other from the brink of death. While resuming their travel to Sprucetuck with the queen they realize they have to make a difficult choice: continue trying to help and transport the injured enemy mouse or put all their efforts into keeping the queen safe. They decide to do the latter.

With the queen arriving safely and healthy in Sprucetuck they’re awarded with some of the famous Spruce Brew from the apiarist there. Shortly after a message arrives with instructions to go Copperwood and set up a recruitment tent there while a spring festival is in full swing.

Recruitment goes well and soon enough, after a short squabble with some squawking sodomites, ten recruits are found for the guard. The next day a sickness has infected many of the visitors and inhabitants of Copperwood and the patrol are ready to help.

The gang gets tasked with transporting a queen bee to Sprucetuck. Connor’s enemy Groger gets demoted and reassigned to Barstone. In order to transport the queen bee they needed to make a carrier for it which would be mounted on a beetle. Upon making it to Elmoss they inquire about Betsy, their newly formed contact. She refuses to talk with them. The owner of the Inn gives them an important clue as to why. The group moves onto Sprucetuck. They make camp for the night and as the weather changes, so to does their safety.

Betsy, the barmaid of the Everymouse’s Inn in Elmoss, added as a contact/friend.

All goals met.

Before next session:

• do the awards
• give people persona points for playing their characters correctly
• give anyone who used their traits against them their checks
• reset conditions to healthy because we ended in Lockhaven
• allow Ritchie to use Instructor skill if he wants
• allow Margo to make her Weather Watcher role

Award Persona Points
(discuss these with the players to make sure I didnt miss anything)

• Acting on Your Belief
  • Lex (rushing to aid Jamal)
• Working Towards a Goal
  • Ritchie (patrol leader stuff)
• Playing an Instinct
  • Jamal (destroying eggs)

Trait Checks

• Lex (Fat)