Post by hubertbartels on Nov 12, 2017 14:59:13 GMT -5
It was late afternoon after we arrived in Willowstrand. Aerwyn wanted to go to the Lavender House but the other insisted we had to report to Abbess Wilhelmina. There was plenty of time - it would be six days before we needed to be in Trembly to meet the mysterious woman in brown that hired the bandits.
After making our report, we finally headed to our inn for a good bath, dinner and bed. In the morning, after breakfast, we decided to hunt down the secret library rumored to lie somewhere under the ruined abbey. Our starting point was the locked door we found while dealing with the ghouls in the cheese cave.
Opening the door, we found a narrow stair, spiraling upward through the rock. It ended in the middle of a broader hallway. On one side, we found a archway and a pair of double doors. Writing on the archway told us that it led to the abbey's catacombs. We said, nope, nope and went the other way. At the end of the other way, we found another stairway and a lift shaft. The ropes having rotted out on the lift, we decided to climb the stairs.
The stairs rose, going straight, hitting a broad landing, then going up some more. After 3-4 landings, we came across the aftermath of battle - skeletons of hobgoblins and Sacred Flame priests, lying where they had fallen. Just beyond that, the stairs finally opened into a wing of the chapel.
It was dark. We had spent hours climbing but outside, the sun should still be shining. Looking around, evil forces had looted and defiled the chapel, leaving their foul carvings everywhere. It was still dark.
Suddenly, out of the darkness near the ceiling, a shadow demon descended upon us. Duncan hit it with radiant energy which hurt badly. The demon went after our priest. Sir Thabo, armed with a magical weapon thanks to Aerwyn's spell, attacked, carving large chunks off its unholy carcass. Finally, it dissipates,
tendrils of shadow flow toward a unholy sigil carved into the altar. We deface the sigil, banishing the demon from our world.
Leaving the chapel, we wander onto the grounds of the ruined abbey. Aerwyn suggests starting our search in the abbey library. In the looted library, most of the books are gone. The shelves are splintered and befouled. While looking around, phase spiders appear, attacking Sir Thabo. We hit the spiders hard before they can escape into the etheral, killing them.
Searching for their lair, we come across a concealed door hiding a ladder going down. At the bottom of the ladder, we discovered a barrel-vaulted chamber containing books. The secret library. Aerwyn lays open a handy haversack to carry the books out of the room. Three vapors came floating through doors at the end of the vault. Aerwyn suffers under their ghostly touch but Duncan ends up destroying them. But we're not finished with ghosts - another ghost, clad in black and wearing the iron mask of a priest of Iuz came floating into the chamber. Gideon, in dire wolf form bites at the ghost and Aerwyn almost empties her wand into the thing. The ghastly thing is broken up and disappears.
While Aerwyn finishes collecting books - even the forbidden books - the others decided to search the room behind the door the ghost came from. It holds a small study. There are skulls on the shelf, a skeleton still clad in plate armor and sword lying on the floor and another skeleton sitting in the chair, holding a chalice in one hand and clutching at its chest with the other. These bodies are much older than the sacking of the abbey. Searching the desk in the study brings up troubling references to being friendly to the Severan family. In the corner, covered in dust, is a teleport circle.
Opening the other door, we found a passage leading to a secret door in the long hallway. We went through the secret door, down the narrow stairway and out through the cheese cave.
A few hours later, we reported our cleaning out of the abbey to the Abbess. She thanked us and gave us a letter of thanks. The next morning, we left Willowstrand and returned to Severan's Mill. Aerwyn turned over the books to her great-uncle, Kerselar.
A day later, we left for Trembly. Our journey would take two days with a night's stop at Motte Severan. About halfway to Trembly, our group is overtaken by a half-dozen riders headed to Trembly. Sir Thabo identified them as Dame Ingrid Brownhawk and her retainers. Dame Ingrid is one of the people in Sir Severan's inner circle.
At the meeting place in Trembly, a tavern on the west end of the village, we wait. Dame Ingrid is also there, waiting. While she's waiting, a halfing server comes up and slips her a pouch filled with papers. Finally, disgusted, she gets up and leaves. Wolfram goes around behind and questions the halfling. All that he can get out of the halfling is that the pouch is filled with 'love letters'.
Apparently, Trembly is an information dump for Dame Ingrid and Dame Ingrid is involved in the plot to deny the abbey from getting re-established. Is Lord Severan involved too? The plot thickens.
After making our report, we finally headed to our inn for a good bath, dinner and bed. In the morning, after breakfast, we decided to hunt down the secret library rumored to lie somewhere under the ruined abbey. Our starting point was the locked door we found while dealing with the ghouls in the cheese cave.
Opening the door, we found a narrow stair, spiraling upward through the rock. It ended in the middle of a broader hallway. On one side, we found a archway and a pair of double doors. Writing on the archway told us that it led to the abbey's catacombs. We said, nope, nope and went the other way. At the end of the other way, we found another stairway and a lift shaft. The ropes having rotted out on the lift, we decided to climb the stairs.
The stairs rose, going straight, hitting a broad landing, then going up some more. After 3-4 landings, we came across the aftermath of battle - skeletons of hobgoblins and Sacred Flame priests, lying where they had fallen. Just beyond that, the stairs finally opened into a wing of the chapel.
It was dark. We had spent hours climbing but outside, the sun should still be shining. Looking around, evil forces had looted and defiled the chapel, leaving their foul carvings everywhere. It was still dark.
Suddenly, out of the darkness near the ceiling, a shadow demon descended upon us. Duncan hit it with radiant energy which hurt badly. The demon went after our priest. Sir Thabo, armed with a magical weapon thanks to Aerwyn's spell, attacked, carving large chunks off its unholy carcass. Finally, it dissipates,
tendrils of shadow flow toward a unholy sigil carved into the altar. We deface the sigil, banishing the demon from our world.
Leaving the chapel, we wander onto the grounds of the ruined abbey. Aerwyn suggests starting our search in the abbey library. In the looted library, most of the books are gone. The shelves are splintered and befouled. While looking around, phase spiders appear, attacking Sir Thabo. We hit the spiders hard before they can escape into the etheral, killing them.
Searching for their lair, we come across a concealed door hiding a ladder going down. At the bottom of the ladder, we discovered a barrel-vaulted chamber containing books. The secret library. Aerwyn lays open a handy haversack to carry the books out of the room. Three vapors came floating through doors at the end of the vault. Aerwyn suffers under their ghostly touch but Duncan ends up destroying them. But we're not finished with ghosts - another ghost, clad in black and wearing the iron mask of a priest of Iuz came floating into the chamber. Gideon, in dire wolf form bites at the ghost and Aerwyn almost empties her wand into the thing. The ghastly thing is broken up and disappears.
While Aerwyn finishes collecting books - even the forbidden books - the others decided to search the room behind the door the ghost came from. It holds a small study. There are skulls on the shelf, a skeleton still clad in plate armor and sword lying on the floor and another skeleton sitting in the chair, holding a chalice in one hand and clutching at its chest with the other. These bodies are much older than the sacking of the abbey. Searching the desk in the study brings up troubling references to being friendly to the Severan family. In the corner, covered in dust, is a teleport circle.
Opening the other door, we found a passage leading to a secret door in the long hallway. We went through the secret door, down the narrow stairway and out through the cheese cave.
A few hours later, we reported our cleaning out of the abbey to the Abbess. She thanked us and gave us a letter of thanks. The next morning, we left Willowstrand and returned to Severan's Mill. Aerwyn turned over the books to her great-uncle, Kerselar.
A day later, we left for Trembly. Our journey would take two days with a night's stop at Motte Severan. About halfway to Trembly, our group is overtaken by a half-dozen riders headed to Trembly. Sir Thabo identified them as Dame Ingrid Brownhawk and her retainers. Dame Ingrid is one of the people in Sir Severan's inner circle.
At the meeting place in Trembly, a tavern on the west end of the village, we wait. Dame Ingrid is also there, waiting. While she's waiting, a halfing server comes up and slips her a pouch filled with papers. Finally, disgusted, she gets up and leaves. Wolfram goes around behind and questions the halfling. All that he can get out of the halfling is that the pouch is filled with 'love letters'.
Apparently, Trembly is an information dump for Dame Ingrid and Dame Ingrid is involved in the plot to deny the abbey from getting re-established. Is Lord Severan involved too? The plot thickens.