Session map
After a long stay at the inn. I was back in fighting shape. We agreed to rest one more night before continuing on. You hear? And I haunted to build up our supplies, while Pelf spent her time talking with the cook in the basement and doing the accounting for the inn. Pelf concluded that the inn was spending most of its income on raw materials for the cook and that was responsible for its noticeable lack of profits.
Session map
We were all in bad shape, even the barbarian. Seeking a place of refuge, we left the area near the abbey and headed northwest following the road. Prior reports suggested to keep in this direction, but we were unsure how far we would have to travel to reach it. When it neared time to camp. We found a tree. Lit by fairy lights. Small creatures. Fluttering about with their wings. They did not appear to speak our language. But we offered them silver. And they allowed us to camp beneath their tree without molestation.
Something followed u-Heury and I up the stairs. I still cannot name it. It was a cloud with tentacles, and ominous crackles of lightning, like a storm cloud only smaller and much closer. Plus the tentacles.
Spooked by the number of enemies following him, u-Heury called for us to run and hide. We both climbed through the nearby window to take advantage of the natural terrain, and concealed ourselves nearby. We were waiting to see if the ominous cloud would follow beyond the stairs, or retreat below. When it eventually did follow us out the window, the cloud overlooked me in my hiding spot. It moved towards u-Heury instead and moved towards him. Seeing my chance, I struck with sword and shield. It seemed insubstantial, but the enchantments on both of my weapons did damage. Substantial damage. I could see it waver and flicker for a moment. But then it let out a bright flash of light. It felt as if I had been sunburned.
Session map
No one felt quite ready to take on the rag man. After some discussion, we decided to investigate the Abbott’s study. The secret door into his study had been smashed open by the party prior to my arrival. Morin and Pish scouted ahead. The study itself was empty, but Pish heard voices from close by and moved to investigate. She was immediately spotted. As it turns out, the next room had a force of knights standing guard, the ones who had refused to flee after the exit was revealed. They were not at all happy to see Pish or Morin. We managed to talk them out of fighting, and found a small anteroom filled with knights and monks who appeared unwell. u-Heury speculated they had not come all the way back from being resurrected in he pool. The Abbot himself was among the disabled knights, and he essentially threw us out.
Session map
After a few agonizing minutes, the rest of the group emerged from the tower entrance. Above, the dark bird-like construct of shadows and rags took flight towards the graveyard. Sensing an opportunity, I remained in hiding, allowing the group to visibly leave the bell tower grounds while the construct presumably kept a suspicious eye on them. Instead, I snuck into the bell tower myself.
The first floor was empty aside from an obvious statue, which presumably the others had examined thoroughly. I went straight to the second floor, this one filled with rough furnishings and possessions suitable for children. I quickly scanned the room for anything of note, anything that might be specifically linked to the missing child we were looking for, but nothing stood out. Upwards.
Session map
We rested and recuperated for a few days. I was still hurt, but not badly, when the blood moon was starting to set; Rowan and Pisha worried that might be a time limit for the missing children, so we needed to act quickly. We formed a plan.
Morin would sneak trough the window into the gatehouse, grab the monk’s body, and sneak it out the window. Rowan and Pisha would use spells to create a distraction to draw the attention of the gargoyles. Sanfire and I would try to kill one of the gargoyles (the wounded one at least) and keep them away from Morin. I loaned Sanfire my sword so he would be a threat.
Session map
I woke up late, with quite a headache. No idea exactly what happened… except there was a waning moon, just a sliver less than full. Pappy’s curse must have taken over. The rest of the group had taken their gear and left, presumably when they saw my empty bedroll and couldn’t find me. No blood or signs of struggle, so I must have managed to get far enough away before the curse took over.
When Pusha came running out of the southern corridor yelling about a cleric with a corpse crawler for a pet, we decided the better part of valor was to retreat and possibly come back later. Those crawlers are no joke; we heard about them from Feverborne when he was going after the sewer rats. And getting caught between the cleric and the trogolodytes likely already on their way would have been very difficult to escape.
Session map
The next room to the northeast had two strange vases, filled with earth and decayed flowers of some kind. u-Heury collected some in case they came in handy, and we found small bones that had been broken as if to suck out the marrtow, but a search turned up nothing else of interest in the room at first.
We had posted guards near the eastern entrance, and that turned out to be a good decision. They heard quite a lot of squeaking, enough to give us warning of an incoming rat swarm. With the door providing a natural funnel for the swarm, I thought quickly and poured oil there, and had one of our torchbearers set it alight. The rats diverted away from the fire, and we finished our search.
Session map
Pusha made crowns for the St Yggian feast of virgins, and then took us to a curiousity shop. We were discussing various job opportunities, and not really coming up with anything local. Without u-Heury to keep the troglodytes’ attention, we weren’t confident of defeating them in a straight up fight, so we brainstormed tactics and evaluated alternatives. Eventually we settled on a strategy for the troglodytes: a chest of rotting fish left as bait, laced with pest-control poison from Nifty’s contacts, followed up with my spell of magical slumber from ambush as they suffered the consequences of the poison, Nifty and Morin to assassinate and backstab simultaneously, and as many hirelings as we can bring to back us up in the fight with the remaining fish-men. I guessed that the enchantment would likely be sufficient to remove either the chieftain or his two bodyguards from the fight, but not all three at once. We would need to be prepared to mop up whoever was left.