Post by hubertbartels on Oct 14, 2017 15:05:07 GMT -5
After a long day's travel - we arrived in the ruins of Harefeld. A few farm houses showed signs of rebuilding and light and music flowed from the "Dancing Hare". While Gideon led the horses around the back to the stables, we entered the common room. After a meal of stew or baked chicken, we made inquiries. The owners, Demoura, a priestess of Farlangan and Gladys (an ex-NCO, serving from behind the bar) answered - there were three Pholtan priests here about four days ago, headed back to Willowstrand. They were closely observed by a couple - a roguish man and a half-orc woman who left very early in the morning of the priests' departure.
The next morning, we backtracked our way from Willowstrand, looking for a good ambush site. In the ruins of the last village before Haresfeld, we found signs of a struggle and tracks leading deeper into the woods. Between Wolfram's tracking and Gideon's scenting, we followed the tracks to a clearing in the forest. Tucked into the clearing was a charburner's stead with several charburners working at their craft - and a few more brigands in leather armor, watching.
Gideon, in the form of a dire wolf, ran around behind the buildings to frighten off the charburners. At his howl, we fired out arrows and charged in to attack. The two brigands outside dropped. The rest retreated into the barn.
Gideon led the way in the form of a bear and we moved to engage the brigands.
Seeing that the fight was almost over, the leader of the brigands offered to give up the Pholtan priests and their backpack with the bequest. We would have to leave the charburners out of our report and let the brigands flee. We agreed. Then the leader, a woman in studded leather, added that the brigands had been hired to ambush the three Pholtan priests and take the bequest. They had been hired in Trembly by brown-haired woman, about 5'4" in height to carry out the ambush and report back in a week when it was done. As the brigands left the charburner's stead, we decided to make that meeting in a week in Trembly.
Escorting the three priests and the bequest back to Abbess Wilhemina, we arrived late that evening. The Abbess was disturbed by our news, saying that she didn't know who would want to stop the rebuilding of the abbey.
The next morning, with a few days to spend before traveling to Trembly, we decided to look into some of the other problems in Willowstrand. The Abbess mentioned that the farmers on the north side of Brewer's Ridge were suffering from livestock losses. We went to visit Delia's farm, the farm closest to the ruins of the abbey.
Delia welcomed our aid and told how she had been attacked by the singing ghost of the Sacred Light Abbey. It tried and failed to charm Delia into walking out into the night, then killed several chickens. Gideon, taking the form of a Dire Wolf again, smelled the area of the killing, discovered a foul scent - something that ghosts were unlikely to have.
We followed the traces of the foul scent, walking for an hour up the ridge until we stood in the ruins of the abbey. The ground was carpeted with bones - both animal and human - and the air reeked of a foul stench. Then the harpy perched on a column, shot at us with a longbow.
We took her down, putting an end to the singing ghost. Then we returned to the temporary quarters of the Pholtan staff to report on our defeat of the ghost.
After a quick lunch, we returned to the woods, hunting the manticore that was preying on the livestock in the area. Gideon's and Saphie's Talk to animals helped us locate where the monster was laired. Following the squirrel's information, we found outselves walking along the Little Shady creek to the ruins of a village called Thistle Grove. It was now dusk so we began looking for a place to camp for the night. Then the manticore jumped us. With Sir Thabo and Gideon keeping it busy, the rest of us used spells or arrows to take it down. Looking around for the manticore's lair, we discovered the monster had a mate. Aerwyn's Thunderwave killed the manticore kits and pushed the creature through the lean-to out into the open. There, Gideon and Wolfram killed it.
In the morning, Gideon searched for a garden containing the fabled four-lobbed apple, grown by a famous herbalist and rumored to have healing properties - it was his reason to look for Thistle Grove. Among the ruins of the village, there was one house completely overgrown with vines and plant growth. As we approached the brick structure, the vines reached out and attacked. Aerwyn was almost killed by one of the assassin vines before we managed to destroy them.
Now, we need to enter the house itself.
The next morning, we backtracked our way from Willowstrand, looking for a good ambush site. In the ruins of the last village before Haresfeld, we found signs of a struggle and tracks leading deeper into the woods. Between Wolfram's tracking and Gideon's scenting, we followed the tracks to a clearing in the forest. Tucked into the clearing was a charburner's stead with several charburners working at their craft - and a few more brigands in leather armor, watching.
Gideon, in the form of a dire wolf, ran around behind the buildings to frighten off the charburners. At his howl, we fired out arrows and charged in to attack. The two brigands outside dropped. The rest retreated into the barn.
Gideon led the way in the form of a bear and we moved to engage the brigands.
Seeing that the fight was almost over, the leader of the brigands offered to give up the Pholtan priests and their backpack with the bequest. We would have to leave the charburners out of our report and let the brigands flee. We agreed. Then the leader, a woman in studded leather, added that the brigands had been hired to ambush the three Pholtan priests and take the bequest. They had been hired in Trembly by brown-haired woman, about 5'4" in height to carry out the ambush and report back in a week when it was done. As the brigands left the charburner's stead, we decided to make that meeting in a week in Trembly.
Escorting the three priests and the bequest back to Abbess Wilhemina, we arrived late that evening. The Abbess was disturbed by our news, saying that she didn't know who would want to stop the rebuilding of the abbey.
The next morning, with a few days to spend before traveling to Trembly, we decided to look into some of the other problems in Willowstrand. The Abbess mentioned that the farmers on the north side of Brewer's Ridge were suffering from livestock losses. We went to visit Delia's farm, the farm closest to the ruins of the abbey.
Delia welcomed our aid and told how she had been attacked by the singing ghost of the Sacred Light Abbey. It tried and failed to charm Delia into walking out into the night, then killed several chickens. Gideon, taking the form of a Dire Wolf again, smelled the area of the killing, discovered a foul scent - something that ghosts were unlikely to have.
We followed the traces of the foul scent, walking for an hour up the ridge until we stood in the ruins of the abbey. The ground was carpeted with bones - both animal and human - and the air reeked of a foul stench. Then the harpy perched on a column, shot at us with a longbow.
We took her down, putting an end to the singing ghost. Then we returned to the temporary quarters of the Pholtan staff to report on our defeat of the ghost.
After a quick lunch, we returned to the woods, hunting the manticore that was preying on the livestock in the area. Gideon's and Saphie's Talk to animals helped us locate where the monster was laired. Following the squirrel's information, we found outselves walking along the Little Shady creek to the ruins of a village called Thistle Grove. It was now dusk so we began looking for a place to camp for the night. Then the manticore jumped us. With Sir Thabo and Gideon keeping it busy, the rest of us used spells or arrows to take it down. Looking around for the manticore's lair, we discovered the monster had a mate. Aerwyn's Thunderwave killed the manticore kits and pushed the creature through the lean-to out into the open. There, Gideon and Wolfram killed it.
In the morning, Gideon searched for a garden containing the fabled four-lobbed apple, grown by a famous herbalist and rumored to have healing properties - it was his reason to look for Thistle Grove. Among the ruins of the village, there was one house completely overgrown with vines and plant growth. As we approached the brick structure, the vines reached out and attacked. Aerwyn was almost killed by one of the assassin vines before we managed to destroy them.
Now, we need to enter the house itself.