Session #3

Session 3

Moot, 4th of Hailhold

A Sweltering Hot Day in Lankshorn

A young breggle man sits across from an ancient, scraggly-toothed human woman at a table in the Horned Stoat Inn. As they sip their tea, they recount the rumors they have heard…

Florence Crumwaller, the elderly woman, recently came into an inheritance when a distant relative passed. She is now in possession of a map that leads to a predecessor’s tomb. Brigford the Wise is known to be buried alongside his brother in a tomb, along with his sword and ring.

Eleye, the breggle, has had dreams of walking alongside an elderly elf woman. She shows you to an underground complex, where she opens a coffer containing a skeleton and many jewels. She tells you these dreams are real, and you must come find her. When he awakes, he feels loneliness.

Rodger descends the stairs, and is greeted by these two companions. I, Florence, ask him to read the map, since he seems like he’s from here. He recognizes that the tomb is located to the northwest of Lankshorn. The three of us agree to venture together into the forest to find the tomb, and presumably treasure.

We gather some necessities from the market, including pipeweed, healing herbs, torches, and a mule, whom we temporarily dub Mulanie. Rodger asks the apothecarist if they know anything about the tomb in the woods. They haven’t ventured that far into the forest, staying near the edge to forage for herbs and components.

Walking through the market, we pass the Church of St. Pastery. Rodger recounts a rumor he had heard, that there is a tunnel hidden within the church that leads out to the forest. We are worried about taking the newly purchased mule into the chapel, so I (unnecessarily) feign paralysis in order to ride the mule into the church. We greet the pastor, a scrawny, stooped and bespectacled man named Father Eggwin Dobey. He asks me to pray with him, and I agree, sliding off the mule and taking a knee while signalling to Rodger & Eleye that they should take a look around while the pastor is distracted. In Father Dobey’s quarters, Eleye discovers a long, red hair that definitely does not belong to the pastor. I received a blessing from the church, and now has a single casting of Cure Affliction in the chamber. We say goodbye to the pastor, as the crowd files out, I mutter “God be with you,” to which he responds “Praise Malbleat!” We know Malbleat to be the Lord of this area, a scion of House Ramius.

On the way past the window, we notice a light shining onto the font, which I now see is oddly bare and without inscription. We quietly re-enter the chapel, and inspect the font. I discover a handle to a cellar door, peeks in and sees a staircase descending into darkness. We decide to leave it for another day, and stick to the plan of venturing into the woods the old-fashioned way, in search of the tombs. 

We exit through the farmland, west into the forest. Along the way, we are able to forage some herbs and mushrooms. As we walk, I weave a few wreaths. About a mile in, we reach a pine glade decorated with dark stone plinths, which Eleye recognizes as Trotstone. Longhorn nobility venture here for weddings at the ancient stone monolith. 

We come across a cavern with hanging stalactites. Peering into the darkness, we see several sets of violet eyes looking back at us. It makes us feel small - like the world is closing in around us. I light a torch and venture a short way in, throwing a spatchcock mushroom toward the eyes. The smell of rotting game attracts the large birdlike creatures, with milky-white-feathered wings flapping wildly as they fight over it. Behind them I can see a 5ft high roughly human-looking statue, encrusted with crystals. One of the Witch Owls looks over and makes eye contact with me, its eyes deepening in color as a third, deep velvety amethyst eye opens in its forehead. I am a small mouse, running through open fields, until I am snatched up and torn apart by owls. I come to and suffer a hit to my wisdom as I drop the torch and run out of the cave. The owls move their attack to the torch, swiftly snuffing it. 

Exhausted, we set up camp for the night. Eleye lights a fire, which I use to cook up the other spatchcock mushrooms for my compatriots. We rest, and in the morning, I find a large, milky-white feather by my head. An ill omen, indeed.

5th of Hailhold

An overcast day

We continue to search for the tombs, picking Hellhorn mushrooms along the way, and discover a circle of standing stones atop a little hill. They are engraved with runes we do not recognize, although Eleye can see they are made to reflect in moonlight as some sort of eldritch summoning ritual. There is a number of metal owls with pentagram eyes dangling in the wind, like a necromantic windchime. We look further into the stone circle to see a twitching skeleton of a stag, green acrid slime evaporating off of its bones into a mist that rises from its body. 

We continue to explore the area, stepping over roots and vines to approach a massive granite slab, overgrown with lichen and wild roses. We are unable to move the stone, so we weave some of the vines into rope to harness the mule, now named Kong, into our efforts. With his assistance, we are able to move the stone to the side and reveal a staircase descending into the mound. As we enter, we can see scratchmarks along the wall going off to the right. The ceiling and walls are wet, the floor matted with dust. We come to a room with 4 stone plinths in the corners, some mildewy items atop them. We notice some color under the dust on the flooring, sweep some away and uncover a tile mosaic of Sir Chaid (sp?) atop a white charger fighting a frost elf which we know as the Frost King. 9 centuries ago, there was a cold faerie prince who ruled the land and trapped it in endless winter. The tale of Sir Chaid is that he fell in love with the Lady of the Woods, and they were engaged to be married. He was tragically slain in battle, and the Lady was never seen again.  As we gaze at the mosaic, the moldy stone plinths begin to reverberate and float into the air. The four items atop them begin to levitate: a wooden cherub statuette, a thick candle, a silver chapes, and a moldy book that I recognize to be a liturgic doctrine of St. Sedge. I begin to whisper the miracles of St. Sedge, and the book falls back to its plinth, as the other three items fly forward and attack Eleye, knocking him unconscious. Rodger swiftly heals him with herbs and he springs back up, breaking the wooden cherub into pieces. Rodger snuffs the candle and I trap the chapes in my cooking pot. Eventually the rattling dies down and I carefully reach into the pot and pick it up. I have a vision of St. Pastery saying, “Be still,” as I look down at the silver holy symbol in my hand.