Post by hubertbartels on Apr 8, 2017 14:16:06 GMT -5
(Aerwyn reporting)
So we rode back to Severan’s Mill. It only took a day because we had the horses that we captured from Greyfox’s men. Wolfram and I shared one horse. We arrived shortly before dusk.
It was getting late before we stood in front of the assessor’s house in Severan’s Mill. It was a large structure, two stories, high-pitched roof and free-standing with a fenced yard around it. In the back, there was a gate in the fence. Wolfram climbed the fence and sliding back the bar, let us in.
The background looked neglected. It was overgrown and dirty and needed some loving care. We started to walk around to the side of the house. Then the weeds rustled and two animated scarecrows rose out of the debris. Saphie gave us a cry of warning as they stalked toward us. Their painted-on eyes shone with a malicious red glow.
We took a beating but finally destroyed them. Then we hurried down the steps to the basement where Wolfram was busy unlocking the door. The door opened to a very neat kitchen with several doorways out. Exploring it, we began to realize that the basement wasn’t as large as the footprint of the house.
A spiral staircase led from the kitchen up to the dining room on the ground floor. The dining room was also well equipped with a single door out. Unfortunately, that door was locked. Locked with sliding bar.
Thabo used his strength to force the door. First the scarecrows in the garden and now the burst bar on this door – we were leaving signs everywhere that this house was being searched. The door led into a short hallway with sitting rooms on either side. From the darkness came the sounds of clawed feet hitting the wooden floor.
We quickly moved into one of the sitting rooms as a pair of death-dogs erupted from the darkness. These two-headed dogs gave us some anxious moments before we finished them off. While it is unusual for someone to have these dogs as guard animals, it is not unheard of. We continue our search.
In examining the sitting rooms and living room and stairs going up, we became aware that one of the walls was thicker than needed. There was no hidden doorway or anything so we decide to look upstairs.
Upstairs, we found a master bedroom, a spare bedroom and a bedroom being used for storage of stuff. In the master bedroom, we found a collection of very expensive chamber pots under the bed. On a writing table, the assessor had a collection of rare pens.
In the storage bedroom, we finally found a latch to a hidden stairway leading down. The hidden stairway ran all the way into the basement, opening to a large room. As we entered the room, small creatures like pudgy, hairless apes came at us from all corners. Duncan channeled for damage and killed one outright and injuring the others. Between Thabo and Wolfram, we dispatched the rest.
I identified them as dretches, the least of the Abyss’ demons. The dretches were dissolving into ichor as we watched but Saphie was able to save some of the ichor as evidence. We were getting closer to the proof that we needed.
There were two doors – both were arcane-locked. Breaking down one of them, we found a small room with a chest and cupboard. The cupboard held potions, 13 of them. Then we turned to the chest. We had to break the chest apart to examine inside but inside, we found thousands of coins.
Leaving the coins on the ground, we moved on to the other door. Again, we had to break down the door to get inside. This room contained a complete alchemical lab. Against one wall was a bookcase with a row of books. While the others were busy breaking into a locked desk, I browsed the books. One of the books seemed to be a ritual book. Slender and small, it contained only one ritual but a powerful one. I would need to study it more closely to learn what the ritual accomplished.
The locked desk gave up another book and pages of notes. These notes were on Nyrond troop movements, twenty years of detailed information, gathered through collecting stories and rumors from people. They were very accurate and very damaging.
I was busy studying the slender book. It turned out to hold a ritual to attract the attention of an other-worldly entity and to form a pact with the entity. This entity was Iuz. The ritual was foul and forced the person to do some horrible things. There were mortifications of the flesh that the ritual required. But the pact would give the person some gifts. Gifts like low level demons and death dogs. Gifts that gave the person an invisible familiar.
As I was about to say something about the invisible familiar, Magnus appeared in the doorway to the lab. He took out his anger at my handling of ritual book by launching two eldritch blasts at me. I fell.
The others fought and finally dropped him. I was healed and stood up. The mortifications of the flesh described by the ritual were present on his body so he was totally guilty.
The next day, we brought the evidence back to Trembly and Dame Bronwyn. She brought the affair to a priest of Zilchus who had us swear to the events as they happened. Dame Bronwyn then put us up for a reward from the crown. I got a ritual book from the assessor – not the one with the pact – and the others split the chamber pots and collection of pens.
There was one item missing – what happened to the magic mirror that Magnus took from Lozery? We never did find it...
So we rode back to Severan’s Mill. It only took a day because we had the horses that we captured from Greyfox’s men. Wolfram and I shared one horse. We arrived shortly before dusk.
It was getting late before we stood in front of the assessor’s house in Severan’s Mill. It was a large structure, two stories, high-pitched roof and free-standing with a fenced yard around it. In the back, there was a gate in the fence. Wolfram climbed the fence and sliding back the bar, let us in.
The background looked neglected. It was overgrown and dirty and needed some loving care. We started to walk around to the side of the house. Then the weeds rustled and two animated scarecrows rose out of the debris. Saphie gave us a cry of warning as they stalked toward us. Their painted-on eyes shone with a malicious red glow.
We took a beating but finally destroyed them. Then we hurried down the steps to the basement where Wolfram was busy unlocking the door. The door opened to a very neat kitchen with several doorways out. Exploring it, we began to realize that the basement wasn’t as large as the footprint of the house.
A spiral staircase led from the kitchen up to the dining room on the ground floor. The dining room was also well equipped with a single door out. Unfortunately, that door was locked. Locked with sliding bar.
Thabo used his strength to force the door. First the scarecrows in the garden and now the burst bar on this door – we were leaving signs everywhere that this house was being searched. The door led into a short hallway with sitting rooms on either side. From the darkness came the sounds of clawed feet hitting the wooden floor.
We quickly moved into one of the sitting rooms as a pair of death-dogs erupted from the darkness. These two-headed dogs gave us some anxious moments before we finished them off. While it is unusual for someone to have these dogs as guard animals, it is not unheard of. We continue our search.
In examining the sitting rooms and living room and stairs going up, we became aware that one of the walls was thicker than needed. There was no hidden doorway or anything so we decide to look upstairs.
Upstairs, we found a master bedroom, a spare bedroom and a bedroom being used for storage of stuff. In the master bedroom, we found a collection of very expensive chamber pots under the bed. On a writing table, the assessor had a collection of rare pens.
In the storage bedroom, we finally found a latch to a hidden stairway leading down. The hidden stairway ran all the way into the basement, opening to a large room. As we entered the room, small creatures like pudgy, hairless apes came at us from all corners. Duncan channeled for damage and killed one outright and injuring the others. Between Thabo and Wolfram, we dispatched the rest.
I identified them as dretches, the least of the Abyss’ demons. The dretches were dissolving into ichor as we watched but Saphie was able to save some of the ichor as evidence. We were getting closer to the proof that we needed.
There were two doors – both were arcane-locked. Breaking down one of them, we found a small room with a chest and cupboard. The cupboard held potions, 13 of them. Then we turned to the chest. We had to break the chest apart to examine inside but inside, we found thousands of coins.
Leaving the coins on the ground, we moved on to the other door. Again, we had to break down the door to get inside. This room contained a complete alchemical lab. Against one wall was a bookcase with a row of books. While the others were busy breaking into a locked desk, I browsed the books. One of the books seemed to be a ritual book. Slender and small, it contained only one ritual but a powerful one. I would need to study it more closely to learn what the ritual accomplished.
The locked desk gave up another book and pages of notes. These notes were on Nyrond troop movements, twenty years of detailed information, gathered through collecting stories and rumors from people. They were very accurate and very damaging.
I was busy studying the slender book. It turned out to hold a ritual to attract the attention of an other-worldly entity and to form a pact with the entity. This entity was Iuz. The ritual was foul and forced the person to do some horrible things. There were mortifications of the flesh that the ritual required. But the pact would give the person some gifts. Gifts like low level demons and death dogs. Gifts that gave the person an invisible familiar.
As I was about to say something about the invisible familiar, Magnus appeared in the doorway to the lab. He took out his anger at my handling of ritual book by launching two eldritch blasts at me. I fell.
The others fought and finally dropped him. I was healed and stood up. The mortifications of the flesh described by the ritual were present on his body so he was totally guilty.
The next day, we brought the evidence back to Trembly and Dame Bronwyn. She brought the affair to a priest of Zilchus who had us swear to the events as they happened. Dame Bronwyn then put us up for a reward from the crown. I got a ritual book from the assessor – not the one with the pact – and the others split the chamber pots and collection of pens.
There was one item missing – what happened to the magic mirror that Magnus took from Lozery? We never did find it...
