Middle Plains Campaign Session 20, Panem 12-14, 1181 EC

 Matt

• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Crusader of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 2
• Gustav, Mage 1

Brooke

• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Hilda Zorig, Barbarian 1

Mike

• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, Fighter 1

Panem (August) 11, 1181 EC

After some discussion (and the influence of their moral compass, Denis), the party decided to come clean about the bars of gold they’d found. Meinard, more familiar with noble customs, went to the Count with the information and apologized profusely for the tardiness. His apology charmed the Count so much that he levied only a 10% tax on the gold, leaving the party with a significant chunk of money.

Panem 12, 1181 EC

On the morning of the 12th, the party made ready and set out into Truber Forest to look for the home of Ehsan, the Rythan wizard. They traveled through the forest uneventfully until toward sunset they came across a large chunk of black basalt. About 100’ long and 20’ high, it jutted out of the forest, totally out of place with the surrounding terrain.

After exploring carefully, Snak discovered a glowing crystal in a nook in the rock. He broke it off and took it.

Panem 13

Midmorning the party stumbled into the nesting grounds of six eagles which swooped in the attack. The party slaughtered the raptors with only a few scratches, and proceeded to cook them.

Later in the afternoon, they heard the sound of a cart. They met a man with a mule-drawn cart heading south. He was wary initially, but calmed down after seeing Denis the crusader and realizing the party were not bandits. After a short discussion, Swanhild asked him about Ehsan. For a bribe, he gave directions to the wizard’s compound. The party immediately changed course.

Toward evening, they had another strange encounter. An armed troop of elves crossed their path and the leader stopped to parley with them. He spoke to Denis in terse celestial, only long enough to ascertain that they were no threat. The party wanted no trouble, so the elves jogged off on their way.

Panem 14

The party set off, nearing their goal.

Swanhild’s sharp eyes spotted something strange - in the hollow of an old oak, a small wooden box nearly buried in leaves and rot. Inside they found an old vellum map showing a section of the Titan Hills. A location was marked, but no further information recorded.

About noon, the party found what appeared to be the compound. A small collection of wooden cottages and gardens enclosed by a wooden palisade. At the gate, a bored spearman snapped to attention and challenged them. When they asked for Ehsan, he told them to wait at the gate and sent a gardener running for him.

Ehsan was a man of Rythan ethnicity, with curly, long hair and beard of pure white. He wore a gold-fringed robe and carried no weapons. He greeted the party politely and asked if he could be of service.

When Swanhild laid out that she was looking for Adan Rosul, her father, he invited the party into his hall. Over wine, he explained his history with Adan.

Ehsan had come to him about 6 years earlier, desperate for help with a cursed sword that was so deeply attached that even magic had failed to remove it. Ehsan had offered a solution, but one that required a rare ingredient - pure etherium. Adan had struggled to find it, but three years ago he had disappeared.

Treasure: 1 glowing crystal, 1 strange map

Enemies defeated: 6 large raptors

XP: 36

12 per PC

6 per henchman (Meinard and Gustav stayed behind)

Current XP totals:

Huzn: 7466/12400 (level 3)

Swanhild: 3696/5200 (level 2)

Snak: 726/2600 (level 1)

Denis: 3632/6000 (level 3)

Meinard: 3020/4000 (level 2)

Gerrit: 330/2000 (level 1)

Gustav: 150/2500 (level 1)

Hilda: 156/2000 (level 1)

Middle Plains Campaign Session 19, Panem 9-11, 1181 EC

Session 19

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Crusader of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 2
• Gustav, Mage 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Hilda Zorig, Barbarian 0

Panem (August) 9, 1181 EC, 2pm

Having routed the goblins behind them, and with the black knight ahead, the party continued their retreat and left the dungeon. On the way out, they heard the two goblins who had fled before them splashing in the flooded chamber east of the sinkhole. The party left without further incident and returned to Priorsford (and scored the XP that I accidentally gave after last session).

On the way back they pondered creative ways to destroy the goblins, including alchemical poison gasses.

Upon arriving, they ran into a commotion with two wagon teams entangled, and limestone bricks spilled across the road. After calming the tensions, the party helped clear up the mess and talked to one of the wagon drivers. He was bringing limestone down from the town of Altberg (yes, berg, not burg) to the north. Altberg was familiar to Huzn as the closest human settlement to the Dwarves of Bronzegate, his home.

Back in town, Huzn solidified his plans to begin a massive house over the Shrieking Hollow, complete with a stone basement enchanted with Protect Dwelling from Evil. He put down the majority of his remaining gold (5000 gp) for it and began hiring workers.

Meanwhile, Swanhild took their potions to Searlus, who luckily was able to identify all four. They sold one to Searlus and two to Count Schulte, and kept a potion of extra-healing.

Meinard and Gustav went to Riele Horn’s house, and Gustav smoothly convinced Sir Niklaus to allow him to search the wizard’s laboratory. The two spent three days going over the laboratory with a fine-tooth comb, and came up with two more interesting finds.

Swahild, meanwhile, tracked down rumors of ‘Ehsan’, the name mentioned in Adan Rosul’s journal. Uwe, the bartender of the Broken Wheel, told her that Ehsan was an old Rythan Wizard who lived in the Truber Forest to the east. He kept to himself due to the general prejudice against Rythans in Ostheim. Her father had known Ehsan, but Uwe didn’t know if they were allies or not.

Panem 10

Meinard found small bars of gold hidden in a hollowed-out book, and like with the earlier potions and scrolls, he hid the goods and took them.

Panem 11

Gustav finally found a mechanism to open a door behind the south bookcase by tracing a particular rune. The door opened to a staircase, which went down below the ground level. The two opted to report this finding to Sir Niklaus and not explore further themselves.

Current XP totals:

Huzn: 7454/12400 (level 3)

Swanhild: 3684/5200 (level 2)

Snak: 714/2600 (level 1)

Denis: 3626/6000 (level 3)

Meinard: 3020/4000 (level 2)

Gerrit: 324/2000 (level 1)

Gustav: 150/2500 (level 1)

Hilda: 150/2000 (level 1)

Middle Plains Campaign Session 17-18, Panem 7-9, 1181 EC

 Session 17

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Crusader of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Gustav, Mage 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Hilda Zorig, Barbarian 0
• Mike
• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, Fighter 1

Sanguis (July) 25

We began by going back in time to figure out what Snak was up to during the downtime. Gerrit had to make a loyalty check due to being dropped to 0 in the previous adventure, but passed with a 12 and redoubled his commitment to adventuring with Snak.

We also rolled the monthly death save for Taredd, and the unfortunate elf passed away due to complications from his broken neck. Due to his previous service to the town of Priorsford, the brothers of Blessed Anthony Priory volunteered to keep vigil over him in the traditional elven fashion, watching over his body until the elf-moon, when it will disappear and return to Fairyland.

Gerrit and Snak then spent the next two weeks aiding the fishermen in forming an unofficial citizen militia. A patrol from the town watch checked up on them and found no seditious plans, so they were left alone.

Panem (August) 7

We rejoined the main party in Shrieking Hollow, with Snak and Gerrit catching up to them after their skirmish with the goblin sentries.

The party inspected the sinkhole leading to the second level, and smelled woodsmoke and oil. Meinard dropped a torch down the hole, and ignited a large pile of oil-soaked rags which had been piled at the bottom. Goblins were heard fleeing from the area.

The party let the fire burn out, then proceeded.

Following the goblin tracks, they checked a side passage to make sure nothing was behind them and came across a few sleeping goblins. They were quickly dispatched except for one, which Huzn took prisoner. Under questioning, the prisoner, “Grik”, informed them that a warband of goblins had come here with the intent to “wait for the dwarf to return and kill him”. The goblins knew of the necromancer and black-armored man, and the necromancer woman had paid them in “shiny silver” to come here. Huzn also asked for the location of their secret tunnel, and was told it was “in the chasm.”

Despite his hatred for goblins, Huzn felt that he ought to go above and beyond in showing mercy due to his recent conversion, and he decided to press the goblin into service instead of killing him. He branded Grik’s hand with the back of an Ostheim-minted gold piece, whose ‘tails’ side shows Aura Hill in Summa, the site of the Compact.

The party carried on to the chasm chamber, and were met by a volley of slingstones. Four goblins fired from behind a barricade on the far side of the chasm. The barbarians immediately leapt the chasm to attack, and the goblins sprung their trap with the blowing of a horn.

Four more goblins attacked from the side chamber where the party had once found the body of Brother Ambrose. Ten more including a sub-chieftain charged from further down the passage across the chasm. Fortunately, the second flanking party of four had already been dispatched on the way in.

With good positioning, some epic cleaves and a fair bit of luck, the party carved through all 18 goblins without anyone going down. Huzn took out ¾ of the flanking force in a single cleave to save his mage henchman. The vulnerable mage took a hit but luckily only min damage. Hilda, the new 0-level barbarian, managed to kill the sub-chieftain. And with a miraculous loyalty roll, Grik didn’t betray his new master Huzn when the opportunity arose.

As the dust settled, every goblin except Grik lay dead, several PCs were at very low health and all spell slots were used, but everyone in the party was still standing.

Session 18

We picked up as the party licked their wounds after their battle with the goblin warband. They quickly did some looting, pocketing a small iron key and a carved brass dagger from the chieftain. Then the party ran for the exit.

When they reached the top, Huzn decided to leave Grik at the bottom of the sinkhole, since goblins can’t stand the sun. He instructed the creature to wait and promised to return with food.

Upon returning, the party employed a local physicker’s apprentice to help heal their injuries, and rested. They had a great feast in the Broken Wheel Inn.

Panem 8

When Huzn returned the following day, he found Grik gone and the wooden door smashed from inside. He left immediately.

Panem 9

In the morning, Huzn visited the Priory and talked to his friend, Brother Karl. He identified the books and scrolls which Meinard had found.

In the afternoon, the party returned to Shrieking Hollow.

On the second level, they found that the bodies of the dead goblins had been removed. At the bottom of the chasm was a new pile of rubble - apparently the remnants of a collapsed tunnel.

After crossing the chasm they met goblins again. After the goblins blew their war horn and missed a few initial arrows, the barbarians Swanhild and Snak drove them off with terrifying war cries (2 characters with Intimidation + goblins who just cleared away 20+ of their dead buddies = morale check on which they got a result of 0). The goblins fled deeper into the caves. A small flanking force came up behind the party in response to the war horn, but since the party was unengaged, the flanking force was ravaged by ranged attacks and a light spell.

As the ranged fight across the chasm took place, some of the party searched the goblin camp, and Huzn piled up bedding across a choke point and soaked it in military oil. As predicted, the fearful goblins reappeared, and behind, driving them on, a black-armored figure with a flame-wreathed sword. The goblins, already terrified of the party, were not eager to cross the fire despite the fiery sword at their back. This gave the party time to find the goblin chieftain’s chest and unlock it with the key recovered last time.

As soon as the gold was secured, the party retreated, leaving the black knight and the remaining goblins behind.

Middle Plains Campaign Session 16, Sanguis 24 - Panem 7, 1181 EC

Session 16

Sanguis (July) 24, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Crusader of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Gustav, Mage 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Hilda Zorig, Barbarian 0

This session was mostly downtime activities for the two PCs who were both on bed rest, with a couple mini-adventures.

Sanguis 25

Meinard attempted to involve himself in the Count’s investigation of Riele Horn. He met with Sir Niklaus, a Celestial Knight who the Count had put in charge, and Sir Harmand Horn, defending the interests of the Horn family. After a stellar reaction roll, the knight in charge not only let Meinard in, but told him of his suspicions about a secret underground entrance in Riele’s house and gave him time to privately inspect her room and private study.

His luck continued as he was set upon by a rug of smothering in the study but made his save. Unfortunately, he failed to find any secret exit, but he did pocket some books, and a cache of scrolls and potions.

Sanguis 26

While eating her usual mashed potatoes at the Bent Wheel Inn, Swanhild was approached by an admirer from a local Eldeskhur family. The young woman was desperate to become a warrior and looked strong enough, so Swanhild gave in and agreed to take her on and teach her.

Sanguis 28

Brother Karl returned from Summa. Huzn had given him money in hopes that a high priest would be convinced to make the journey to Priorsford and heal Teredd, but it hadn’t worked, so the brother returned his gold. He had succeeded in another request though - to find a scholar interested in studying the Shrieking Hollow. He introduced Gustav, shorn of his family name, a Mage and historian from the Towers of Knowledge. Huzn promptly offered him a large signing bonus and hired him.

Sanguis 29 - Panem (Aug) 1

All work ceased in the town for the yearly Festival of the Sun, marked between the ascension days of two closely related Lords of the Compact: Ion the Sun King and Phanriel the Lord of Light. Phanriel’s feastday fell on the first of the month, the Day of Sacrifice for followers of the compact, so the feast was especially important to the faithful. Particularly, Huzn’s henchman Denis, whose patron is Phanriel.

On the 1st, Huzn officially parted ways with Dwarven paganism and became a convert to the Compact. He made the traditional monthly sacrifice and was accepted into the new religion.

Panem 2

A letter arrived at Huzn’s house from the Count’s Steward.

“His excellency Count Shulte is pleased to offer accommodation of your interest in the portion of his domain known as the Shrieking Hollow…”

Huzn acquired ownership of the 10 acres of uninhabited marshy forest surrounding the Hollow for a mere 100 gp, with two conditions:

• Agree to a 20% tax on any income from the land, including mining and treasure excavation.
• Agree to make the entrance into a building, whether above or below ground and have it ritually protected at your own expense within one year. (projected expense: minimum of 1500 gp for a dwarven caster, 2000 gp for a human)

Panem 3-6

Huzn hired 4 guards to watch over his house in town. Everyone finished healing.

Panem 7

Having finished their bed rest and returned to full health, the party set out with their new henchmen to inspect Shrieking Hollow.

Everything was undisturbed up to the heavy wooden door Huzn had installed before the mushroom chamber. Unlocking and opening it, they met 4 goblins on watch. The party caught up to one and killed it, while the survivors fled deeper into the caves.

Middle Plains Campaign Sessions 14-15, Sanguis 23, 1181 EC

Session 14

Sanguis (July) 23, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Mike
• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, Fighter 1
• Andzej
• Charr Untarskjur, Assassin 2

At 3 am, Huzn and his henchmen were awakened by a banging at their door. As Huzn leapt out of his bed and snatched up weapons, he heard the church-bells of Blessed Anthony Priory begin to ring out. Huzn swept open his front door (naked) to see another revenant in the livery of House Horn. But this one was not mindless.

“Murderer…” it snarled. It was the revenant of the man he had killed at the Shrieking Hollow. Huzn’s dwarven bravery was an easy match for the revenant's paralyzing gaze, and he fought it in a fury. Though he took a couple light wounds, his ferocity tore apart the revenant.

Swanhild, Snak and Gerrit, awakened by the church bells, arrived just in time to see Huzn madly chopping apart the undead creature’s head, hoping to prevent its regenerating.

They proceeded to the priory. Outside, they met the evacuated monks on the lawn, and their paralyzed comrade, Taredd. The two remaining watchmen informed them that goblins had burst into the basement of priory. While the watchmen awaited reinforcements, the party hurried into the church.

In the crypt and sacristy they fought and wiped out two small groups of looting goblins. Gerrit had a close brush with death as a goblin blade caught his head. Luckily, he had only been dazed. He got to his feet, reporting a vivid vision of Dirge, the Keeper of the Dead passing him by.

Approaching the priory storeroom, they heard a loud noise of breaking wood and plaster. Snak cracked the door open and peeked in to see seven goblins and two humans running through the dark storeroom from a hole in the wall. One figure was tall and black-armored, the other small, hooded and robed. Assuming this to be Riele and the black armored warrior the Sporecasters had spoken of, Snak quickly closed the door and allowed them to pass by.

After some deliberation, the party decided to follow.

They descended the cellar steps and followed through the obstacles that had been supposed to keep the priory basement safe: a heavy wooden door (broken), a ward against evil (dispelled) and a stone brick wall (broken). They carried on down a rough-hewn stone tunnel which ended in what appeared to be the facade and front doors of a church.

They threw open the doors to a horrific scene, the torchlit nave of a church with a black stone altar. On the floor was a carved rune that glowed with red light, and at eight pillars stood skeletons in ceremonial armor.

Session 15

Sanguis 23, 1181 EC

4:20 AM

We picked up as Snak opened the door to the underground temple. A goblin cackled and disappeared down the south staircase, and eight skeletons turned toward the door.

Snak closed the door for a moment to deliberate with the party, and when they reopened it they found that the skeletons had formed up into two ranks - shield bearers in front and spearmen behind.

Gerrit began the battle by destroying a skeletal warrior with a single crossbow bolt, which seemed to give the party confidence. Perhaps… too much confidence. The barbarians charged forward and Denis attempted to turn undead. But to Denis’ shock, the evil rune in the floor pulsed, and his turning had absolutely no effect. More to the barbarians’ shock, they found themselves bloodied by a flurry of counterattacks from two ranks of skeletons.

The party announced a fighting withdrawal, but initiative was unkind to Swanhild, who was attacked and taken down.

Unwilling to leave Swanhild to die, the party committed once again to the attack. This time, they attempted to flank and target the spearmen. It was a brutal slugfest. Huzn, already wounded by his fight with the revenant, went down. Snak and Denis were badly bloodied. But the party prevailed.

With Denis having spent his last healing spell to treat Swanhild during the fight, Huzn had no help on his mortal wounds roll, and when he rolled a grievous wound, the party nearly despaired of finding him help within the 10 minutes he had left. But, Meinard had been sent for reinforcements before they entered the cellar. So Snak picked up the dwarf and charged back through the basement.

As luck would have it, the Count himself accompanied his knights responding to the attack on the priory, and Huzn had the honor of being healed by him personally.

In the end, Swanhild had a badly broken leg, permanently reducing her carrying capacity, and Huzn lost his left arm. Both were subject to bed rest to recover from their terrible injuries.

The count and his men set about restoring the basement wards. Snak looted the weapons from the skeletons, and noticed that their bones were attempting to knit back together. He gathered all the bones in sacks and removed them from the temple before the wall was sealed. The priests agreed to bless them and rebury them in consecrated ground to prevent their animation.

Middle Plains Campaign Sessions 12-13, Sanguis 21-22, 1181 EC

Session 12

Sanguis (July) 21-22, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Andzej
• Charr Untarskjur, Assassin 2

The PCs awoke to the blowing of horns and cheering in the streets. Count Schultz has returned from his campaign against the orcs.

They spent the morning listening to the Count’s speech and joining in the general festival in the streets, then went to check Searlus’ Rarities. This time, their knocks were answered and they met the gnome and his giant barbarian bodyguard. He gave them back the gold amulets and silver ring, with minimal information except that the ring had a poisonous element to its enchantment. Swanhild hung it on a chain around her neck.

Searlus also translated the journal they’d found in the fireplace of the sideways house. The PCs learned:

This was one of the journals of Adan Rosul (presumed to be Swanhild’s estranged father).

Contains a large amount of notes on the construction of the hideout and landing beneath The Bent Wheel tavern. Construction was done by dwarves known as The Ironborn Company.

An emotional margin note: “How could I have attacked her? Curse you!”

Adan had found Etheri ruins, which he’d been searching for. He thought someone called Ehsan could help him.

Armed with this information, the party decided to try again to question the werewolf, now that they’d presumably bought his friendship with meat. To hedge their bets, Swanhild bought a sack full of pork, and they walked out to the forest. Charr had no trouble remembering where the tunnel entrance was, and they followed it down.

Everything at the bottom was as they had left it the day before, except that the crystal ball was missing.

The Werewolf, glutted with meat, was happy to lazily chat but had little to tell. Huzn asked him why he allowed the cultists to pay for their passage with fish, when a werewolf cloud surely kill them instead. The werewolf seemed embarrassed by this question and demanded they leave before he killed them.

After this, the party returned to the surface. On their way out, they again met the sporecaster dwarves, this time rowing upriver in a small boat. The dwarves recognized them and talked briefly with Huzn. He questioned them about Adan, and they said they’d known of him and the Ironborn Company for some time, until the Company left the area and Adan disappeared as well.

The dwarves also noted that this disappearance was immediately before the necromancer became more active, and she began to be seen with a black-armored knight with a flaming sword.

Sanguis 22

Huzn and Swanhild went down through the Bent Wheel staircase and explored the area beyond the stone leg further.

Huzn narrowly avoided a rot grub, then burnt the offending body. Beyond a red skull marked on the wall, they found a refuse heap and a rivulet of filthy water running downhill.

Session 13

Sanguis 22, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Andzej
• Charr Untarskjur, Assassin 2

Midmorning Sanguis 22, Huzn and Charr decided to explore the sludgy slope beyond the bandits’ garbage dump. It sloped down until the footing became sheer, so Denis and Meinard held a rope for Huzn and Char to descend to the bottom.

Following a volcanic cave, the filthy water continued gently downhill until the passage was blocked by a thick swarm of insects. After several attempts to disperse them, Huzn ran through using his shovel like a train cow-catcher. He immediately found himself attacked by swarming, cat-sized prawns and a tentacled beast that had been hiding in the shadows.

Things looked dire, even with Charr and Denis running to his aid (through insect swarms). But the dice were in a strange mood and many misses were rolled (in the open) before Huzn and Denis finally struck down the tentacle beast, and a couple good cleaves wiped out the pesky giant prawns.

Having miraculously come out of the fight barely hurt, the party carried on into a chamber with a number of wall graves, mostly filled with bones. The inscriptions were in an unfamiliar language, so they took a rubbing of one and returned to the surface.

That night, Huzn and Charr (at Huzn’s house) awoke to a loud bang against the door in the middle of the night…

Middle Plains Campaign Sessions 9-11, Sanguis 20, 1181 EC

Session 9

Sanguis 20, 1181 EC

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Mike
• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, 0-level fighter

We picked up just after the party had paddled upriver on makeshift rafts far enough to spot the leg of the Etheri statue in the underground river. After Denis healed Swanhild with his last spell slot, Huzn and his henchmen left. Snak and Swanhild decided they wanted to explore further, but needed a proper boat.

The two of them went up to the surface and talked to the fishermen down at the docks (the same ones they’d talked to about the river monsters before) and this time Snak won them over with his rousing story of defeating the monsters. In fact they were so incredibly impressed that a teenage fisherman’s son named Gerrit signed up to be his apprentice, and fetched a homemade spear.

Swanhild purchased a small rowboat and the men carried it back to the Bent Wheel. This brought on a warning from Uwe the innkeeper. He reminded them that the staircase into the underworld was highly illegal, and that they would arouse suspicion by doing things like carrying a rowboat into his common room.

They promised to make it up to the innkeeper. Swanhild asked some more questions about Adan, the man she suspects is her father, and then they carried on with the boat.

Rowing upriver, the trio rounded the statue only to be shot at with a crossbow! They relentlessly rowed forward and leapt out onto a wooden dock hidden behind the statue. Luckily for the party, only one crossbow shot hit its mark, and that one grazed Snak for a single point of damage. Once on the dock, the barbarians charged at their attackers and quickly dispatched a group of four leather-armored men.

Gerrit even got a lucky kill, hurling his homemade spear.

After the fight, Team Huzn returned, paddling upriver on the corpse-raft from earlier.

The party, now 6 strong, explored the newly conquered beach. There was a rowboat docked, as well as supplies for the men here, but the party found no conclusive evidence of their allegiance.

A tunnel led away from the beach, and so the party began to explore it.

At the first junction, they came across a pillar with a black, glass orb on it, which smelled like lightning. Swanhild lassoed a rope around the pillar, and Snak pulled it over. The glass hit the floor and Snak decided to poke it with his axe, which earned him a shock. Luckily, due to his gloves and wooden axe handle (and a second minimum-damage roll against him) he wasn’t hurt much. In the end they threw a cloth over the orb in case of watching wizards, and left it alone.

The pillar, now knocked over, revealed a mechanism underneath it. With a little meddling, the party opened a hidden door to a staircase leading downward.

The party decided to try to secure the current level further before heading down.

Session 10

• Matt
• Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 3
• Denis, Cleric of Phanriel 3
• Meinard, Fighter 1
• Brooke
• Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 2
• Mike
• Snak, Barbarian 1
• Gerrit, 0-level fighter
• Andzej
• Charr Untarskjur, Assassin 2

This session picked up exploring the mysterious cavern behind the Etheri statue’s leg.

The tunnel branch to the west hadn’t been checked, so the party explored down there and found a wall of heavy wood planks with a barred door. On the way, Meinard fell in a pit trap covered by cloth, but barely survived, still able to fight. The wall had a mysterious symbol carved in it: a circle made of stylized bones.

After listening, Snak decided to knock on the door, but swiftly replaced the bar after something shuffled up to the other side and began to scratch at the wall. Swanhild experimentally pushed the hand of one of the dead ambushers under the door, and it was swiftly grabbed and devoured by the unknown creature. The party decided this door was doing a great job keeping trouble away, and left.

Deciding this was enough scouting on the current level, the party then created a little fort around the hidden door they’d discovered by overturning the wooden bed frames. They left Denis and Meinard behind to watch their backs while the rest went downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs they found something very strange.

A small, low-ceilinged cavern with a floor of mortared bricks and a door set in the floor. But the door was not a trapdoor, it looked like an ordinary front door of a house. Huzn tested the floor and found it hollow. Since it was surrounded by bedrock, he determined that this must be a building buried by one of the cataclysms, when the earth moved and reshaped itself freely, burying whole civilizations.

Opening the door, they found a rope ladder nailed to the bottom of the frame, and were able to climb down. As they suspected, it appeared to be a stone-brick house, embedded sideways in the stone. Searching the fireplace which now hung on a side wall, Huzn made another discovery: a small carved marking that matched the one on Swanhild’s necklace, and her father’s secret room. They removed a hidden brick and found some old dry food and a small leather-bound book. None of them could read the Rythan writing, but they took it in hopes of translating back in Priorsford.

At this point, a call from above from Meinard brought them back, and they met the mysterious Charr Unterskjur (who had just finished creating his new character). This character had been investigating a lead of his own.

Charr had witnessed guards belonging to Riele Horn exhuming the bodies of the two hung cultists from the Rythan graveyard. They’d taken those bodies down a secret staircase beneath a tree in the Truber Forest, and Charr had followed, ending up here.

With Charr now joining them, the party went back down to the sideways house. Most of the windows lead out into solid rock, but one opened to a small tunnel with a stream running down the middle, and there were many bootprints along its bank. The party followed.

Downstream they passed several small goblin-tunnels too small to fit through. Then they heard the sound of a man snoring loudly. Investigating, Snak found a small campsite with a man sleeping on a straw mattress.

The party decided to wake the man up.

“You here with fish or coins?”

The party was baffled by this comment at first, but then he said, “oh you brought a Dwarf instead,” and revealed a smile full of oversized fangs.

They suspected the man of being a cannibal, and Huzn threw an axe at him. The axe deflected off the man’s bare shoulder in a way that didn’t seem natural. His face began to change, and the party realized that he must be a lycanthrope, which they were ill-prepared to fight.

At the last second, Swanhild proceeded to boast and threaten the lycanthrope, which by a stroke of luck caused the man to pause and threaten her in return.

It immediately became clear that this werewolf demanded a toll to pass his tunnel, and Swanhild cleverly offered to bring him fresh human meat. This was compelling enough for him to take Huzn hostage and allow the rest of the party to drag down two of the bodies of the men they’d slain above.

Session 11

The party had left off in the lair of the werewolf. With the lycan placated by the offering of dead bodies from above, they pushed further down the tunnel with the small stream, heading west.

About 50 ft. on, they spotted movement, which turned out to be three spore-covered dwarves. Huzn spoke with them respectfully in Dwarvish. The spore dwarves warned them that there was a party of armed humans traveling behind the Dwarves and coming this way. Then, they passed on in peace.

The party carried on, and soon encountered the party the dwarves had mentioned - 5 robed figures with swords and torches. But when the lead figures came into view, Swanhild saw that their faces were familiar. The two in the lead were the burnt-face man and the traitorous brother Ambrose, whom the party had brought out of the shrieking hollow. But now, those dead men had been buried, exhumed and reanimated.

The remaining three men doffed their robes to reveal chainmail and shields, and attacked. The party prevailed without loss except for a wound to Swanhild, and took one of the cultists prisoner.

The prisoner, Bernard, gave up some information:

• He works for Riele Horn
• She has a base in an abandoned temple down here, where she does forbidden magic
• The guards usually enter via a tunnel under a tree in Truber Forest, the same way Charr had come in

The party decided to return to Priorsford with their captive. They climbed all the way back up through the sideways house and the landing behind the statue leg, waded upstream and found the hidden stairway up to the Truber forest. They hiked east to Priorsford.

After a brief stop at the Priory for Denis to speak with some of the elder brothers about the situation, they proceeded straight to the Count’s Manor. Here, before the Steward, they delivered Bernard and made formal charges of necromancy against Lady Horn, with the witness of Denis the Zealot testifying to Bernard’s confession, and the elder Brother Engelbert to vouch for Denis’ character. The Steward ordered them to remain in Priorsford until there should be a trial, and jailed Bernard.

They spent the remainder of the evening hitting the bars, with Huzn spreading the accusation against Lady Horn as far as he could. He found willing ears among most of the people, who already saw Riele as an eccentric recluse.

Late at night, (probably very drunken) Huzn and Swanhild visited Searlus’ shop, but there was no answer.