Post by hubertbartels on Jun 16, 2018 14:28:31 GMT -5
Affidavit in hand, we began our journey back to Severan's Mill. There was one stop at Trembly to bring the reeve up to date on what we had found out so far. Dame Bronwyn suggested that we continue to Lord Severan's house while she and other agents stop at Motte Severan. At the ruins of the castle, she can help her investigators collect information while waiting for a message from us. She will be only a few hours away if we find something.
So we're left with a question - how to search Lord's Severan's house - and especially, the cellars, without getting into trouble. And won't our presence in Severan's Mill cause the Iuz worshipers to take precautions? Aerwyn suggests staying at her great-uncle's house - it is remote and adjoins the woods.
At the end of the day, we had arrived at Motte Severan. While the others are unpacking for a night's stay - Aerwyn cast Alarm on the area. She was on watch with Duncan when the alarm signaled that something had come. Against the darkeness of the secret door to the escape tunnel, a demonic creature stood. It resembled a dog, covered with an oily thickness and something like a hook-shaped head. Blood coated it as it prepared to attack. Aerwyn shouted and threw a fire orb at the spot. Then the others joined in. The demonic creature went down.
Tracking the oily and bloody footprints back, it had killed Dame Bronwyn's two investigators. The footprints led down the secret tunnel and into the forest. We decided to track this summoning back to its summoner in the morning. Gideon sent off an animal messenger to the reeve, explaining what had happened to her men.
Under a warm and sunny sky, we followed the footprints. Gideon and Wolfram doing the tracking. Several hours later, we arrived at a farmstead on the far outskirts of Severan's Mill. It was a large farmstead called Ramshead Cottage. The tracks indicated that the creature had been summoned several times and sent to hunt.
Avoiding the shephards and their flocks of sheep, we entered the farmstead through a side gate. That side gate led to a lane, protected on either side by tall, thick hedges. At the end of the lane, there was a yard and a stone building. We could see that the stone building was separated from the main house. When Wolfram tried the door - he found it was locked. When he failed to pick the lock, it was magically locked. But a second story window allowed Wolfram to get inside. The rest of us followed, thanks to a climbing rope that Wolfram let down.
Inside the stone building, we were surrounded by incense and candles. On the ground, a slab of stone, carved with a permanent summoning circle. When we descend from the second story - an alarm went off. A few moments later, the front door opened and two shepherds, armed with crossbows entered the stone building. Behind them, an old woman with a staff was following.
We dropped the two crossbow men and knocked out the old woman who was a spell caster. But when we went to question her, she teleported away. Running outside, we saw her, standing on the roof of the main house. The old woman threw a cloud kill at us. We got out and ran around the main house. Saphie used a eldritch bolt that knocked her off the roof and then Sir Thabo and Duncan finished her off.
The fight being over, we searched her hidey-hole. Questioning her family, we learned that Glenda - the old woman - was a former adventurer and a long-time Iuz worshiper. Aerwyn collected Glenda's spellbook. The mother of the family did mention that Glenda was a old friend of Lady Severan and that young bard of hers - Melander.
After a discussion, we decide to look in on Blackbriar Cottage as well. Old Man Eldon did set Moira and her bodyguards on us and we were going to find out why. When we met the old man, he became very nervous and defensive. Pushing a bit harder - we learned that Old Man Eldon had traveled to Trembly and hired the assassins as a way of paying back an old favor to Old White-Eye Callie.
In further questioning, White-Eye Callie was a witch that did favors for people and in turn, people did favors for her. In fact many people in Severan's Mill had favors that White-Eye Callie could count on. We decided to go pay a visit to the old woman.
Skirting Severan's Mill, it was dusk by the time we arrived at White-Eye Callie's small hut. There was something unsettling about the clearing in which the hut stood. The hut seemed to be both in the real world and the fey realm at the same time. Approaching closer, we were suddenly attacked by two large hounds with unnatural humanoid faces.
We drove them back into the fey realm.
Rounding the corner of the hut, we found twelve small blue fey-like creatures, giggling and poking sticks at a group of orphans from the Temple of Beory. White-Eye Callie was negotiating the sale of children for more fey-power. With green-tinted skin, warts and opal-colored eyes, she was a real hag.
Our first attacks were on the blue fey-like creatures. They were taking children. When they had been put down, we turned our attention to White-Eye Callie. Her spells gave us some problems but then she went down under Sir Thabo's smites.
Inside her hut, we found she had been collecting favors for a long time. There were potions, a wand and weird things that she collected or found. Then we gathered the orphans and headed back to Sevran's Mill. Duncan knew of a priest of Pelor that would watch over the orphans - the temple and orphanage had been set on fire. In fact there was a lot of damage in Severan's Mill with several building burned to the ground - and a few dead townsfolk.
In the confusion, we began our invasion of Lord Severan's house.
So we're left with a question - how to search Lord's Severan's house - and especially, the cellars, without getting into trouble. And won't our presence in Severan's Mill cause the Iuz worshipers to take precautions? Aerwyn suggests staying at her great-uncle's house - it is remote and adjoins the woods.
At the end of the day, we had arrived at Motte Severan. While the others are unpacking for a night's stay - Aerwyn cast Alarm on the area. She was on watch with Duncan when the alarm signaled that something had come. Against the darkeness of the secret door to the escape tunnel, a demonic creature stood. It resembled a dog, covered with an oily thickness and something like a hook-shaped head. Blood coated it as it prepared to attack. Aerwyn shouted and threw a fire orb at the spot. Then the others joined in. The demonic creature went down.
Tracking the oily and bloody footprints back, it had killed Dame Bronwyn's two investigators. The footprints led down the secret tunnel and into the forest. We decided to track this summoning back to its summoner in the morning. Gideon sent off an animal messenger to the reeve, explaining what had happened to her men.
Under a warm and sunny sky, we followed the footprints. Gideon and Wolfram doing the tracking. Several hours later, we arrived at a farmstead on the far outskirts of Severan's Mill. It was a large farmstead called Ramshead Cottage. The tracks indicated that the creature had been summoned several times and sent to hunt.
Avoiding the shephards and their flocks of sheep, we entered the farmstead through a side gate. That side gate led to a lane, protected on either side by tall, thick hedges. At the end of the lane, there was a yard and a stone building. We could see that the stone building was separated from the main house. When Wolfram tried the door - he found it was locked. When he failed to pick the lock, it was magically locked. But a second story window allowed Wolfram to get inside. The rest of us followed, thanks to a climbing rope that Wolfram let down.
Inside the stone building, we were surrounded by incense and candles. On the ground, a slab of stone, carved with a permanent summoning circle. When we descend from the second story - an alarm went off. A few moments later, the front door opened and two shepherds, armed with crossbows entered the stone building. Behind them, an old woman with a staff was following.
We dropped the two crossbow men and knocked out the old woman who was a spell caster. But when we went to question her, she teleported away. Running outside, we saw her, standing on the roof of the main house. The old woman threw a cloud kill at us. We got out and ran around the main house. Saphie used a eldritch bolt that knocked her off the roof and then Sir Thabo and Duncan finished her off.
The fight being over, we searched her hidey-hole. Questioning her family, we learned that Glenda - the old woman - was a former adventurer and a long-time Iuz worshiper. Aerwyn collected Glenda's spellbook. The mother of the family did mention that Glenda was a old friend of Lady Severan and that young bard of hers - Melander.
After a discussion, we decide to look in on Blackbriar Cottage as well. Old Man Eldon did set Moira and her bodyguards on us and we were going to find out why. When we met the old man, he became very nervous and defensive. Pushing a bit harder - we learned that Old Man Eldon had traveled to Trembly and hired the assassins as a way of paying back an old favor to Old White-Eye Callie.
In further questioning, White-Eye Callie was a witch that did favors for people and in turn, people did favors for her. In fact many people in Severan's Mill had favors that White-Eye Callie could count on. We decided to go pay a visit to the old woman.
Skirting Severan's Mill, it was dusk by the time we arrived at White-Eye Callie's small hut. There was something unsettling about the clearing in which the hut stood. The hut seemed to be both in the real world and the fey realm at the same time. Approaching closer, we were suddenly attacked by two large hounds with unnatural humanoid faces.
We drove them back into the fey realm.
Rounding the corner of the hut, we found twelve small blue fey-like creatures, giggling and poking sticks at a group of orphans from the Temple of Beory. White-Eye Callie was negotiating the sale of children for more fey-power. With green-tinted skin, warts and opal-colored eyes, she was a real hag.
Our first attacks were on the blue fey-like creatures. They were taking children. When they had been put down, we turned our attention to White-Eye Callie. Her spells gave us some problems but then she went down under Sir Thabo's smites.
Inside her hut, we found she had been collecting favors for a long time. There were potions, a wand and weird things that she collected or found. Then we gathered the orphans and headed back to Sevran's Mill. Duncan knew of a priest of Pelor that would watch over the orphans - the temple and orphanage had been set on fire. In fact there was a lot of damage in Severan's Mill with several building burned to the ground - and a few dead townsfolk.
In the confusion, we began our invasion of Lord Severan's house.