Session 2: Arrival at Burrhenge

General Summary

Travel during the day was tainted by the downpour. The part kept up a strenuous pace, pushing past and saving from exhaustion.
When the party arrived the third night of travel to Burrhenge, the area was pitch dark due to the thick thunderclouds and occasional bouts of rain. As they approached, the rumbling lightning revealed the plain in flashes. Rising from the ground was a massive 300 foot-long turtle, silhouetted in lightning. The back end of the shell was swaddled in vines and grass and pulled low to the ground, as if the beast had just broken through the soil. The anterior of the turtle was raised from the ground by the bone pillars that were his legs, rising to nearly 100 feet from the soil, as if in defiance of his ultimate fate. Curiously, the whole city had been tipped to the right, and the left legs of the beast are nearly on the tips of their toes. All the flesh of this once-magnificent beast had been siphoned away, leaving only the bony remnants and the structures built upon the shell. Where the grasses pulled most strongly at the shell, strange bioluminescent fungi had sprouted, and were beginning to flourish, giving the rear end of the giant skeleton a faint blue glow. The whole skeleton creaked as the grass inexorably constricted Ol' Cockleburr.
Deciding to climb at an area not covered in deadly plants, the party hooked ropes to the shell and ascended the dead city. As they searched the city, they noticed that there were hardly any bodies. The few corpses they found were pinned in place by javelins. The javelins appeared oddly thick and brutish. Realizing the feat of strength it would take to accurately throw the weapons, they gave the spikes a more thorough examination. Close inspection revealed the weapons to be wrought iron fence posts, of a classic Gothic make. The scavenging crew also found charred swathes cut across the city, especially around its legs. In some of the deeper burns, there were still hot embers holding on. Plant growth was strong at the edged of the burns.
At the tail of the city, where plants held down the shell, Kestrel investigated the stables and found that all the horses had died. Two were weirdly untouched, but dead.
Homes and work building in Burrhenge had well-made gardens hanging off the sides, maximizing gardening space in the city. Spending some time, the party was able to determine their make, and loaded some of the garden boxes as loot.
They made their way up the steep incline of the city, noting that Burrhenge had an unusual amount of garden and green space. The city center even had a zen garden. They made their way into the wizard's tower. The first floor was mostly empty, except some plants have broken through and are tangled around two skeletons. The desk had some stationery of a minor value.
Second Floor: Sparse but fine decoration. Three barrels here held purified water. Hodari took a sip, finding that the water was completely untouched by the usual haze of arcane accumulation. Oddly, next to the barrels of water, was a potted lily. Knowing that keeping a plant in your bedroom was usually suicide, Hodari examined the plant. It too was miraculously free of corruption, and was being watered from the barrels of purified water. A chest in the room contained 10 empty glass flasks, about a gallon each, and 3 with a viscous green fluid. Tasting these revealed them to be extremely bitter and soapy.
The bed in this room was simple, but the sheets were silk, all but confirming this was the bedroom of the reclusive wizard. Near the small window stood an exquisitely made suit of samurai-style armor. The pieces seem to be an enameled, fired clay, and sized for a Firbolg. On a placard at the base of the stand was an engraved message: “For all your help, we managed to bring you a reminder of home. Love: Kegora, Armistein, and Vitalgio” (A DC 18 History Check revealed these are the names of the heroes from the Fall).
Basement: not quite under the shell, but nestled deep in the original mud from the turtle's back, the old wizard set up his library. In it are about 400 books, on natural history, agriculture, (now mostly irrelevant) history of the old world, and so on. With a successful Investigate check, the party can find 5 books on agriculture that will be worth 5 gold each. All other books are worth an average of one silver. Searching the desk reveals a Magnify Gravity (Wildemount 188) spell scroll. Over the course of searching the room, they notice an odd sound beneath their feet. This is the secret door beneath the rug making an odd, hollow sound.
Secret Ritual Room: prying up one of the bone scutes of Cockleburr's shell, there was a spiral staircase leading down. The room was lit by two eerie blue lanterns. Dark spots on the floor were found to be blood seeping up through the shell from when Burrhenge was attacked. A ritual circle emitting a faint green glow sat on the floor in front of a black marble dais. The dais held a reading stand with a large, green leatherbound book. Looking through the book revealed encoded notes that appear to be related to diagrams of a strange construct, and hastily scrawled calculations leading to some notes in the margins:

Far too dangerous! Even for how the world is now. I'll have to try for Thywicket, and see if they are still sane enough to help. If not... I may have to try appealing to Spindlewick. They may know something about this mysterious Chapel of Light as well.

To do: Convince the people to start moving East
Plot a course to intersect with Thywicket
Bristlebelly getting more active, cut ties?
(Here, a blood smear has obscured the last words)

Alongside the book is a letter, just small enough to be sent by bird:

Master Folgorath: We need to decipher this now
Sibriil Lives, and he knows

Using his knowledge of Arcana, Visayan determined that the ritual cicles inscribed on the floor had been set up as a way to translate Arcane sources of magic to Primal magic, and vice versa. He determined that Folgorath was doing some sort of work that sought to meld or piece together the two types of energy.

Rewards Granted

• Salvaged about 300lbs random foods and goods

• Magnify Gravity (Wildemount 188) spell scroll

• Hodari filled the empty flasks with the purified water, and took all pieces of the samurai armor, along with the silk sheets and robes.

• some papers and inks, worth about 10 GP

Most importantly: A large, green leatherbound book, written in an unknown code

Report Date

17 Dec 2024

Primary Location

Burrhenge