Session 8
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
In the morning, Swanhild and Huzn met up at the Bent Wheel tavern, along with Huzn’s henchman, Denis. Meinard, the former henchman of their paralyzed companion Taredd, met them and asked if they would take him on so he could seek the fortune he needed to open a flower shop. Huzn agreed to take him on as a 2nd henchman.
Then a newcomer arrived, a huge northerner who went by the nickname Snak. Everyone (including the DM) forgot his aggressively long real name immediately. Snak was eager to prove his worth as an Eldeskur warrior and kill some people with his battleaxe to make his mother proud. Swanhild saw an opportunity in this earnest youth of her tribe, and described the creatures they’d seen in the underground river. As expected he practically begged to be allowed the opportunity to fight them.
The party went down the secret passage from Swanhild’s room, to the river, and there spent several minutes searching, and finally taunting the river dwellers to appear. And finally, five of them swam up and attacked the annoying interlopers. In the ensuing fight, Denis blinded one with Light, which fled back into the river, and the other four were slain. Swanhild suffered a nasty bite, but the men were unharmed.
The party watched as the river dweller with the light spell swam upriver, and got a good view down the huge tunnel it flowed through. About 100 ft. upriver they spotted something out of place: a suspiciously smooth white column.
The party then used the woodworking tools, lumber, furniture and broken door from the hideout behind to fashion two simple rafts, lashed them together with rope, and rowed upriver. The two barbarians used the oars from the hideout and paddled the rafts up with pure brute strength.
The effect proved worthwhile as they got within range to see the column with torchlight, and found that it was the upper leg of a huge statue. They immediately realized that this must be directly beneath the stone head protruding from the ground in Priorsford’s western square.
Treasure: none
XP: 200 (banked until the party returns to safety)
Current XP totals:
- Jason: 2734 (level 2)
- Swanhild: 2886 (level 2)
- Huzn: 6589 (level 3)
- Taredd: 400 (level 1)
- Denis: 3194 (level 3)
- Meinard: 207 (level 1)
Downtime after Session 7
Sanguis 19, 1181 EC
The confrontation between Huzn and the soldiers of the House Horn was resolved in downtime.
After setting up his campsite, Huzn personally moved a cart toward the sinkhole, backed up by his 6 mercenaries. The 3 Horn guards nervously held their ground at the edge, and first one, then a second began climbing down the rope ladder as Huzn roared threats and brandished his axes.
Only one guard remained, his sword drawn and blocking Huzn’s way. Going into a rage, Huzn tripped and pushed the guard into the sinkhole, where he fell 40 ft. to his death. Huzn then pulled up the rope ladder, trapping the other guards underground.
Unfortunately, this violence spooked the workers and 2 of the mercenaries, who fled back to Priorsford.
About an hour after None, Denis returned to the Shrieking Hollow with news from the town. He was turned away from Lady Riele Horn’s house in Priorsford, then visited the Count’s Manor and found out that Riele had indeed purchased the forests around Shrieking Hollow, only a few days earlier.
After a debate with Denis, Huzn retreated from the Shrieking Hollow and sought an audience with the Steward. Unfortunately, he was unable to convince the Steward to intervene and guarantee him access to the Shrieking Hollow, since he had no immediate knowledge of a threat to the town.
Finally, Huzn returned his building supplies to his house in Priorsford, and pondered his next move.
“Monster” XP: 10 for Huzn
Huzn is now at 6589 XP
Session 7
Sanguis 17-19, 1181 EC
- Matt - Huzn Erste: Dwarven Fury 2
- Brooke - Swanhild of Eldeskhur: Barbarian 1
Sanguis 17
When we left off, Jason, Huzn and Swanhild had been checked on the rumor of a cave-in in the Rythan graveyard. Huzn had his henchman, Denis, and his two hunting dogs. Since Jason was unable to adventure, Huzn and Swanhild stayed at the graveyard and made camp for the night. They kept a sharp watch, but the night passed peacefully.
Sanguis 18
In the morning, after a further search of the graveyard yielded no other sign of cave-ins or disturbed ground, the party resumed inspecting the cave-in and the stone brick hallway leading off of it.
They noticed a set of dirty boot-prints going in and out of the hallway. Down the hallway they found a series of 4 chambers marked with bronze plaques with Rythan writing. Each had a wooden coffin with further symbols of the dominant Rythan religion, the Path of Assent. Huzn very carefully broke the first one open from a distance, and so avoided contact with a black smoke that poured out when it was broken.
Inside, he found a clay statue of a snake-headed warrior. After tapping and determining that it was hollow, he carefully broke this open, avoiding more smoke, and found a snake skeleton with a small gold amulet. This amulet was inscribed in a language neither could recognize or understand.
With the same precautions, the two adventurers broke open three more coffins, encountering the same thing, except that one clay statue wore a silver ring. This Huzn took but didn’t put it on.
At the end of the hall, the party encountered a door blocked by a heavy stone bar. The dirty footprints stopped short and turned back at this point, and after some deliberation, so did the party. Swanhild was eager to return to exploring the underground chamber that had belonged to her father, and had relatively little interest in robbing Rythan (or snake-man) graves. Before leaving, they pried off and took away two bronze plaques.
They returned to Priorsford and stopped at Searlus’ shop. For a small fee, he agreed to cast Read Languages on the snake amulets, and do some research on the silver ring. He also bought the bronze amulets after reading the Rythan inscriptions, which appeared to be names of scholars and guards of a noble house.
Finally, the party descended into Adan’s bedroom and searched it more thoroughly. A couple of small pieces of parchment were discovered. Under the bed was a rough sketch of a woman, perhaps Swanhild’s mother, Berinda. Stuffed inside the mattress was a small map. It showed what the adventurers figured was the underground river, with 4 landmarks marked on it: a house, a waterfall, a humanoid figure, and a fang.
Sanguis 19
Planning to set some things in motion before beginning his training, Huzn hired a bunch of workers and bought materials, intending to set them to work at Shrieking Hollow. It amounted to 15 laborers, 6 hired guards and 4 carts full of building materials. However, arriving at Shrieking Hollow, he ran into 4 armed men claiming to work for House Horn, and asserting that they owned the land containing the Shrieking Hollow.
Huzn refused to back down and a standoff resulted, as Huzn had 7 fighting men with him, and their loyalty held. Huzn began to set up his tent, and sent his henchman Denis to attempt to speak to the mistress of these soldiers, a noblewoman named Riele Horn. The Horn guards sent one of their number away as a messenger as well, and remained in the area. Heavily outnumbered, they threatened dire consequences for trespassing, but made no aggressive moves.
Treasure:
2 bronze plaques (5 gp as historical curios)
4 gold amulets (400 gp)
Monster/Special XP: none
Total xp: 405
PCs gain 162, henchmen gain 81
Current XP totals:
- Jason: 2734 (level 2)
- Swanhild: 2886 (ready for training to level 2)
- Huzn: 6589 (ready for training to level 3)
- Taredd: 400 (level 1)
- Denis: 3194 (ready for training to level 3)
- Meinard: 207 (level 1)
Session 6
Sanguis 3-17, 1181 EC
- Matt - Huzn Erste: Dwarven Fury 1
- Andrzej - Jason of Tattersail: Mage 1
- Brooke - Swanhild of Eldeskhur: Barbarian 1
Last session we adjourned as the party deliberated about selling magic items to Searlus.
After concluding that conversation, the party split up for the evening: Huzn to visit the monks, Jason to write a letter to his master back in Summa, and Swanhild to have a beer (and mashed potatoes, as is now tradition) with her fellow northerner, Zane.
Huzn learned that their acquaintance Brother Karl was being sent to Summa to inform his superiors about the cleansing of the altar, the use of the precious scroll of Dispel Evil, and to obtain a replacement. Huzn entrusted the young monk with some gold and asked that he request a healer for Taredd, and look for a scholar who might be willing to study the ruins beneath Shrieking Hollow. The monk agreed, despite letting Huzn know that there was no guarantee that a cleric of sufficient power to heal Taredd (level 7) would be willing to visit the backwater of Priorsford County.
Swanhild learned that Zane recognized the family crest she had from her father. He said it belonged to an adventurer by the same of Adan, who had explored the caverns beneath priorsford years ago.
Sanguis 4
The next day, as Huzn, Denis and Jason began training to level 2 (and Jason finished copying the Sleep spell) Swanhild confronted the innkeeper of the Bent Wheel with the name Adan. Clearly caught off guard, he revealed that he knew the name. He then sighed and quietly shared with her that he had a room in the inn permanently paid for by Adan, which no one else was allowed to use, but that Adan had gone missing 6 years ago. He handed over the key and tried to wash his hands of the matter.
Swanhild searched the room thoroughly and found a small stash of gold and a potion under a loose floorboard, as well as a strange carving of her family crest in the wall. She got behind it with a blade and exposed a strange mechanism, but couldn’t make sense of it.
Sanguis 12-16
After finishing his training, which he spent largely beating straw goblins out at Reinard’s farm, Huzn visited Searlus at his shop. He perused some of the rarities, which included a dwarven mithril-reinforced shield, but elected to save his money for other things.
He visited the Steward and gained some information about the rumors of caverns under the town. Notably, he learned that the Etheri head in Priorsford’s central square is believed to be part of a full buried statue. Asked about digging up the statue, the Steward absolutely forbids it as a danger to the town.
After this, Huzn hatched a plan to buy a house and dig in the basement to find out more about the giant statue. He successfully found a resident who would sell a house facing the square for the exorbitant price of 1000 gp. He was unable to hire any workers due to laws against digging deep basements within the town (which could allow goblins or worse up to the surface). He spent the rest of the time clandestinely digging a basement by himself.
Sanguis 17
The party reconvened at the bent wheel after completing their training. They met up in Swanhild’s private room and discussed their options. Swanhild showed Huzn the strange dwarven contraption, and he correctly guessed that it was a button that would activate if the family crest was pushed into it. Doing so caused a wall panel to slide away and reveal a narrow staircase hidden between the walls.
Lighting torches, they carefully descended a staircase which went over 40 ft. down into the bedrock beneath the inn. At the bottom a stone door of obvious Dwarven construction opened with a lever. Beyond was a ruined workshop full of smashed furniture and goblin graffiti. Through a broken door to the south they heard the sound of flowing water.
Another dwarven door opened off this room, unlocked by the family crest. Inside was a dusty bedroom, clearly abandoned but unspoiled by goblins. The party uncovered a small chest of gold here, and decided to make this room their own as a safe storage location and forward operating base.
Proceeding south through the broken door, they found a muddy beach opening on an underground river. At a post was tied the broken remnants of a boat.
Before they could explore further, Swanhild spotted humanoid figures moving in the water and alerted the party. After Huzn got their attention by throwing a piece of silver, the figures advanced toward the shore with obvious hostile intent. They were seen to be hairless, albino humanoids with fangs. The party retreated, closed the Dwarven doors, and went back upstairs.
Having only spent about an hour on this adventure, the party turned to questioning the local fishermen, who were happy to tell tales and rumors of the men of the underground river. Actual information was conflicting and revealed little, except that the fishermen feared them.
In the afternoon, the party decided to visit the Rythan graveyard and see the site of the cave-in. In about an hour’s walk, they were able to find the place and observe the hole. At the bottom was a hallway walled with stone brick, which Huzn reckoned was human-work, roughly matching the style of the graveyard itself.
Treasure: 700 gp found in the underground bedroom.
Special XP: 100 for finding Adan’s Landing.
Monster XP: none
Total XP: 800
PCs gain 228
Denis gains 114
Current XP totals:
- Jason: 2734
- Swanhild: 2724 (ready for training to level 2)
- Huzn: 6427 (ready for training to level 3)
- Taredd: 400
- Denis: 3113 (ready for training to level 3)
- Meinard: 207
Session 5
Sanguis 1-3, 1181 EC
- Matt - Huzn Erste: Dwarven Fury 1
- Andrzej - Jason of Tattersail: Mage 1
- Brooke - Swanhild of Eldeskhur: Barbarian 1
We pick up again as the party licks their wounds following the fight with zombified dogs which had left their companion Taredd paralyzed with a broken neck.
Since Mike (playing Taredd and his henchman Meinard) couldn’t make it, we carried on assuming that Meinard was following along, but occupied with carrying his wounded master.
Finally having the time to survey the room they were in, the party noticed that there was a break in the wall of the cave, and beyond it a hallway walled with stone bricks. Not only that, but there was a light source coming from the hallway. Jason noticed immediately that the light was not torchlight, but a steady light resembling a light spell. Huzn inspected the stone and found it to be of human construction, and very old - his best guess was about 1000 years. He also noted that the construction didn’t match that of the Abyssal altar, which was newer.
After a tense discussion about whether to play it safe and return to Priorsford, or to explore one step further, Huzn went down the hall and peeked around the corner. Open wooden doors lead into a massive hall, lined with marble pillars and statues of skeletal warriors. Two light spells floated in the air, illuminating the room, and at the far side were two massive marble doors, one carved with an angel, the other with a demon. In front of the doors was a dead man sprawled on the ground.
Wary of entering, Huzn caught the body with a grappling hook and pulled it all the way back into the hall, discovering it was a middle aged human with his face terribly burnt. They searched him and discovered a spellbook and a dagger with an onyx-eyed skull on the hilt.
From here they began the painstaking process of returning to town with a dead body and a paralyzed man. Their luck held out, and no enemies were encountered on the way out.
Denis met them on the road, reporting that the monks had been afraid to come without support, lacking the leadership of their prior Theodoric, who is on campaign with the count.
They returned first to the farm of Reinard Simon and told him about the fate of his dogs. Huzn gave him the head of one dog to bury, and he took this about as well as possible, giving them leave to stay the night in his barn.
Sanguis 2
The party returned to the Priory to discuss their findings with the monks and hopefully convince them to dispel the evil of the Abyssal Altar. Brother Wilfred was convinced to cast Detect Evil for them, and inspected the loot they’d got, not finding any obvious curses or traps.
From the priory they went to the Count’s manor and sought an audience with the Steward Waldemar. He paid a 40 gp reward for the goblin ears, and the party convinced him to assign a detail of guards to protect the monks as they went to cleanse the altar.
They set out that afternoon, and the Abyssal altar was destroyed with a scroll of dispel evil! The altar itself crumbled into dust, leaving behind the gems. After they were sprinkled with holy water, the party collected 100 small aquamarines.
Another night was spent in Reinard’s hayloft to save money.
Sanguis 3
The players decided to ask one of the monks who was artistically inclined to draw a sketch of the man with the burnt face. They succeeded in convincing him, and spent the afternoon asking around the local taverns if anyone had seen the man.
At the Bent Wheel, they ran into a strange pair: a small, balding gnome and a massive, black-haired northern barbarian. The gnome introduced them as Searlus and Zane, traveling merchants and collectors of arcane and historical curiosities. After some discussion, the party sold two of their recent finds to Searlus: a +1 dagger, and a ring of fire resistance, for a tidy sum of 15,000 gp.
They also picked up a couple of rumors from Searlus. Firstly, while burying the hanged Nimbus Cultists last week, the gravedigger had seen a cave-in at the old Rythan graveyard. And secondly, there was a local rumor about a place to the north of town where lightning strikes continuously, even from a clear sky.
Treasure: 40 gp from goblin ears. 24 gp from dead man. 500 gp from aquamarines. 5000 gp from +1 dagger sold. Total: 5564 gp
Huzn only: 10,000 gp from the ring of fire resistance sold.
Monster XP: none
Special XP: 750 for the destruction of the Abyssal altar
XP for Jason and Swanhild: 2106
XP for Huzn: 12106 (XP capped at 1 short of level 3, which is 6199)
XP for Denis: 6058 (XP capped at 1 short of level 3, which is 2999)
Current XP totals:
- Jason: 2506 (ready for training to level 2)
- Swanhild: 2506
- Huzn: 6199 (ready for training to level 2)
- Taredd: 400
- Denis: 2999 (ready for training to level 2)
- Meinard: 207
Session 4
Cor 26 - Sanguis 1, 1181 EC
- Matt - Huzn Erste: Dwarven Fury 1
- Andrzej - Jason of Tattersail: Mage 1
- Brooke - Swanhild of Eldeskhur: Barbarian 1
- Mike - Taredd Xildi: Elven Courtier 1
The party took 6 days of downtime after returning from their last adventure. Each had individual goals during the time.
Huzn immediately went about hiring workers and buying up materials for his plan to drain the flooded cavern in the shrieking hollow. With 15 workers and his henchman, he managed to construct a platform, ladder and pulley system at the entrance of the hollow, install a door to block off the mushroom chamber, and drain the flooded chamber with a bucket brigade. Along the way he encountered 3 more leeches, one of which was an enormous 4 HD one lurking in a crack. However, luck and preparedness were on his side. Huzn and Denis spotted the small ones early and dispatched them after disabling them with a net, then later poured a massive amount of salt into the crack, killing the larger one without a fight.
With the water lowered, a previously submerged tunnel was revealed!
Jason did a good bit of investigation finding out more details about Ambrose the thief and the stolen book from the monks. He also asked locals about suspicious strangers with dogs, finding out that a farmer had lost three dogs several days ago. Then he spent a few days beginning to transcribe Sleep into his spellbook.
Swanhild asked the locals about the pendant she had from her father, and found out that it was a Rythan crest.
Taredd looked into buying property in town and tried to woo some potential henchmen, but the dice were against him and they refused his offers.
On the morning of Sanguis 1, the party reconvened and decided to investigate the rumor of stolen dogs, hoping to find out more information about the other person who had been down in the Shrieking Hollow. They were very curious now since the person had not emerged again in the 6 days Huzn had been at the entrance of the cave. They spoke to a poor farmer, Reinhard Simon northeast of town and found that his 3 guard dogs had disappeared in the night without waking him. He had found blood, but had no idea where they went or who had taken them. The party felt bad for the poor lonely man and resolved to try to return his dogs, which would have dire consequences later.
With this information, the party returned to Shrieking Hollow. They followed the previously submerged tunnel, and came into a chamber with a long slab of stone at one end, streaked with green and purple, and studded with aquamarines. They all felt a sense of primordial dread from the altar, but they approached cautiously.
The gray ooze hidden behind the altar attacked Swanhild as she got close, but she leapt back and avoided being hit. Jason responded by using the wand he’d got from Ambrose, which true to its command word, perforated the ooze with a max-damage magic missile. The party then proceeded to kill the ooze in a single round, with the only casualties being two daggers (one of them silvered) which disintegrated after the fight.
After the fight, Denis and Jason investigated the altar and determined that it was dedicated to the Lords of the Abyss, the Aboleth rulers of the deep ocean. Taredd pried off an aquamarine, but when it came free he felt the aura of dread suddenly spike to debilitating levels for a split second. After this he left the gem behind.
Denis immediately decided to return to the monastery and gather the priests to exorcise this abominable altar. The rest of the party fatefully continued their exploration without the zealot, not knowing that he would be sorely missed.
Down at the chasm, they spent some time searching for secret doors, then checked Huzn’s chalk line. It had been broken by new footprints heading deeper into the caves. They were immediately explained when the party heard goblins talking in the cave ahead. Their torchlight had already given them away, so there was no opportunity to get sneaky, but luckily for the party, there were only 4 in this gang. The goblins went down quickly, but Meinard was wounded in the melee.
Determined to find out what was going on down here, the party pushed through into a new chamber beyond the fools’ gold where they had stopped last time.
At the edge of their torchlight, the party spotted three dogs - but they looked far from normal. They stood unnaturally still and their throats had all been slashed. The dogs had all been raised as zombies. The party surprised these undead beasts, but, driven by their strong desire to bring the dogs back for Reinhard, they at first tried to capture them. Against all odds, Swanhild managed to tie a rope lasso and catch one by the neck, but Taredd’s attempt to throw a cloak over one ended in tragedy.
Two of the party were bitten in quick succession, first Huzn, who was reduced to a single hit point (saved only by his Dwarven Fury damage reduction) and then Taredd, who was taken down by a single savage bite for 7 damage. The party rallied and took the beasts down, with two more uses of Jason’s wand of magic missiles finishing off two of the three, but the damage had been done.
Jason used one of his healing potions to save Taredd, but the dice were harsh in the party's first roll on the Mortal Wounds table. The magical healing of the potion kept him alive, but his neck was broken and he was left paralyzed!
Treasure: 5 gp in loose coins from the goblins
Monster XP: gray ooze 65, goblins 4 x 5, zombies 3 x 29. Total: 172
Bonus XP: traversing the submerged tunnel: 100, alerting the forces of good to the abyssal altar: 250. Total: 350
XP gained per PC: 138
XP per henchman: 69
Session 3
Cor 25, 1181 EC, Priorsford, around sext.
- Matt - Huzn Erste, Dwarven Fury 1
- Andrzej - Jason of Tattersail, Mage 1
- Brooke - Swanhild of Eldeskhur, Barbarian 1
- Mike - Taredd Xildi, Elven Courtier 1, Meinard, Fighter 0
- Greg - Denis, Cleric 1
After looting the lair of the two mini-ropers, the party backtracked and explored the tunnel to the east. They went through a small chamber full of gypsum flowers. They spent some time looking for hidden doors, but found nothing. Further east, they came across a chamber split by a chasm, with a man in plate armor lying on the ground.
The party roused the fellow, who turned out to be a warrior dedicated to Ero, the lord of the sky and leader of the Compact. He had come here like them, seeking after the thief who had taken the book from Blessed Anthony Priory. He remembered seeing a dark figure ahead, calling out and giving chase, then blacking out suddenly. Jason, the mage, immediately realized he had been hit with a sleep spell.
There were also footprints in this room, clearly showing that at least one person with several dogs had crossed the chasm, and one set of footprints had gone off alone into a tunnel to the southeast and not returned.
Swanhild climbed down and inspected the bottom of the chasm, 20 ft. down, finding nothing except human and dog footprints. Meanwhile, Huzn, Taredd, Denis and Meinard scouted down the southeast tunnel. They found a chamber with another person lying on the ground, and on the ceiling, six stirges!
The party had an incredibly effective fight against these bloodsuckers. They won surprise, immediately smashed two of them, then retreated into the tunnel where Huzn attached a camp blanket across the tunnel with iron spikes, leaving only a small gap at the top. This succeeded in tricking the bugs into crowding through the gap single-file, and the party efficiently mobbed them as they came through. In the end not a single hit was scored against the party.
The figure on the ground turned out to be the thief, Ambrose, who had been completely drained of blood. His backpack turned out to be an incredible haul: in addition to the stolen book, the party recovered his spellbook (with Sleep), and an unidentified wand, with the command word inscribed on it (albeit, in celestial which nobody speaks).
After this, Huzn and Swanhild made a brief trip across the chasm, and Huzn left some chalk marks on the floor, hoping to check later and see if they were disturbed. Then the party took their loot and returned to Priorsford. No encounters happened on the way back, and they successfully claimed their reward of 500 gp from Waldemar the steward.
Treasure: 618 gp in gold and gems
Monster XP: Stirges 13 x 6. Total: 78
Session 2
After spending the night at the Bard’s Song Inn, the party recollected in the morning and were all eager to set out immediately toward the “shrieking hollow” where the suspected book thief was thought to have fled.
So, without any more time spent in town, they retraced their steps to where they’d given up the previous day, and followed the trail north into the forest. The trail followed a downward slope into a swampy area. After some time (halfway between prime and terce), Teredd spotted something off the trail - a hemp rope tied around an old stump and hanging down into a sinkhole.
Not fully trusting the old rope and rotten stump, Huzn and Swanhild tied new ropes to stronger-looking trees, and the party climbed down 40 ft, into a natural cave. At the bottom were clearly visible footprints - at least 2 men and 3 dogs.
Faced with two tunnels running east and west, the party decided based on smell (always follow your nose, Meriadoc). While both tunnels smelled dank, the east one was a tad more rotten and wet smelling, while the west one smelled like mushrooms. They chose the wet east tunnel, and unsurprisingly followed the tunnel into a flooded chamber.
Wanting to know what was around the bend, Teredd stripped off his chainmail, tied a rope around his waist (which Huzn held) and waded in. He was immediately attacked by a giant leech which wrapped itself around his leg! Luckily, although he took some damage, the party hauled him out and hacked the leech off before he was hurt too badly.
At this point the party heard behind them a loud shrieking! Clearly the inhuman shrieking that the hollow was named for. They decided to backtrack and check it out. Down the west tunnel was a cavern full of mushrooms, including two groups of giant shrieking mushrooms. In here they easily hacked apart a violet fungus and harvested some mushroom flesh for later study.
Continuing, they found another chamber filled with bats, and a suspicious pile of loose stones. They dug through these and found their first treasure of the campaign: a wooden chest full of old Rythan gold coins and a silver necklace.
After this, the party found another sinkhole leading further down, with an iron spike and rope leading down. They bypassed this and confirmed that the tunnel they were following looped back to the mushroom cavern, then proceeded downward. The rope attached to the iron spike was torn, so they used one of their own. Huzn’s dwarf senses alerted the party to weak spots near the edge so they avoided a potential fall.
At the bottom of this hole was more evidence of people ahead of them: two discarded stubs of burnt torches. Again, they faced a choice between east and west. They spent some time listening down here and heard a slight noise of falling rock to the east, then went west.
They explored a cavern full of stalagmites and stalactites, with two roper-like creatures nesting on a high ledge. Due to the party’s numbers and armor, the ropers tried to hide instead of attacking, but the party searched the room carefully and noticed the ledge. Swanhild climbed up and was attacked by the Ropers. In an unlikely drawn-out combat full of bad dice rolls on both sides (Teredd failed at least four strength-checks trying to climb up to join the fight, ropers missed almost everything and rolled minimum damage) the party prevailed with only slight injuries.
As spoils, they found a number of useful things among the bones and scraps of previous victims (all quite old). Along with a scattering of weapons and loose coin, they recovered a belt pouch with three intact potions!
Jason then attempted to identify the potions with his knowledge of alchemy, and succeeded in identifying two as healing potions. The third substance he could not identify.
Treasure: 212 gp, 14 ep, 17 sp, 22 cp, silver necklace (treasure XP will be awarded after returning to safety)
Monster XP: Leech 13, violet fungus 25, mini-ropers 25 x 2. Total: 88
Interlude 1
Taredd Xildi, asleep in a comfortable room at the Bard’s Song Inn, has a terrible dream:
"During the night you have a terrible nightmare. An old woman opens your window in the middle of the night and you lie paralyzed as she climbs inside and draws a gleaming silver dagger. With an evil grin she stabs it into your calf.
At this point the nightmare ends.
In the morning you think nothing of it until… you notice a small wound on your leg, and blood on the sheets which matches it."
Session 1
The campaign began with Taredd and Jason approaching Priorsford and chatting with the affable guard on the road, Jed. The two revealed that they were looking for a rare potion ingredient. Swanhild and Huzn came along soon after and the group entered the town.
The Barbarians ran ahead all the way to Count Schulte’s manor in a ‘race’, while Jason and Taredd talked to Brother Karl in the lower town square about the great Etheri statue buried there. They also found out about a book stolen from the Priory by a postulant named Ambrose, and that the Count’s Steward had set a reward for its return.
The party all wound up at the manor and heard from Waldemar the Steward. They got a hint about Shrieking Hollow being his suspected hideout, but didn’t ask what the reward was.
They then visited the Priory and spoke to Brother Wilfred. They got a scrap of clothing from Ambrose. Huzn’s dogs then led them along the path presumed to lead to the Shrieking Hollow, but they turned back as night was falling.
At the Bard’s Song Inn, they found out about a few more things happening in the town, and Taredd hired a henchman: Meinard, a young swordsman, proud but untested.
