Shades of Gray: Session 1

Palmer's Field and Orc-Reaver

Summary written by Vin Breaux and Andrea Huskey.

General Summary

Having made their way to the Ram's Den tavern at the heart of Palmer's Field, the party stood before the open door of the kitchen. Rotten food, abandoned in mid-preparation litters the few tables, a thick layer of congealed grease on the stew pot, all signs of a staff that fled in a hurry. Across the room came a soft, almost rhythmic thumping from a root cellar door in the floor. An iron bar having been slid through it's rings to secure its closure. Oddly the sound stopped when Everleigh crouched to touch the door. The Ram's Den was searched. The common room, like the kitchen, was littered with unfinished meals and half-drunk steins of days old ale. In the proprietor's room a register told of the previous week's customers:

Surovy Donegal, a minstrel
Markham Dorrestal, priest of Talana, accompanied by an elf maid
Karn, a merchant with a manservant.[br]

The dates showed the minstrel, priest and maid had only arrived three days prior to the party's arrival, no record of their leaving was noted. In fact items likely belonging to them still remained in two of the three guest rooms. Karn's entry showed he had arrived four days prior then leaving two days before the party's arrival. In the large guest room, likely the one Karn had stayed in, a single mystery was found. In the hearth were the remains of a burned letter, the only recognizable mark being a sigil from the kingdom of Acregor, a petty kingdom far to the north of the plains of Mayfurrow. Returning to the kitchen they found the thumping had returned. Their curiosity too strong, Agnes removed the iron bar. With a burst the cellar door sprung open and a gray sickly ghoul now freed from its prison lunged to attack. Without pause, Brandt raised his holy symbol invoking the name of his god. The symbol glowed with a fierce light that appeared to disintegrate the ghoul instantaneously. A fine acrid mist exploded out from the ghoul covering Agnes and Tunde, leaving a burning rust smell in their nostrils. As quickly as the ghoul exploded, the mist dissipated leaving behind no trace. With only a few hours left before sunset, the party searched the remaining abandoned businesses around the town square. All appeared in the same state of abandonment, tools left scattered on the ground, projects unfinished. Leaving the midwife's shack they spotted other armed figures searching among the houses, orcs! Agnes, Brandt, and Everleigh sneaked across the open field separating the standing stones from the homes to the east. Tunde tried the same but was spotted by the orcs. As the orcs charged Tunde, his companions staged an ambush from behind. As the battle ensued a second pair of orc warriors accompanied by a shaman joined the fight. Brandt crumpled before one of the orc assailants. Enveloped in a shifting caul of pure darkness, Everleigh gathered the shadows into her hand and summoned from them a tenebrous bolt, sending it flying into the beast's face. The orc toppled over before it realized it was dead. Everleigh's lips curled into a sinister grin as she approached the fallen body, and she pulled a knife from her boot. "What a lovely addition you will be," she whispered and began sawing though the monster's braided hair. Though a tough battle, the party survived slaying all the orcs in the process. To the north of town Agnes spotted a pair of silhouetted figures watching the them from a hilltop. Once the last orc in town fell, the pair disappeared behind the hill, likely scouts returning to camp to report what had transpired. Having previously found wagon tracks heading east, and suspecting them to belong to Karn, the party had several options; follow the wagon tracks to Darnagal now that Karn was their primary suspect regarding the plague, or follow the orcs north. During the battle Brandt overheard the orcs discussing their camp and prisoners. Deciding that prisoners were likely worth saving, the group headed north following the trail left by the scouts. First they needed a night's rest and commandeered one of the many abandoned farm houses on the outskirts of town. Within an hour of settling in, Tunde began to feel ill, the power draining from his body. During the battle with the orcs, Everleigh and Brandt had taken near fatal blows and were still unconscious. Brandt being their only healer, the team could do nothing but watch as Tunde continued to worsen over the late night hours. Each hour Tunde's skin, hair and clothing all began to gray, the color seeming to fade from his entire being. Shortly after midnight Brandt became conscious. Seeing the condition of his companion he tried using a remedy found in the town's hut belonging to their priestess. Reading one of the scrolls found there bless and remove disease were cast upon the monk. With no immediate visible effects the party could do nothing but hope. Their hope was rewarded when Tunde appeared to stabilize, even regaining some of his color by morning. The spell combination had worked. Still weak from their ordeal, they stayed a second night in the farmhouse. After two nights the party followed the trail north. The trail eventually led to a hill lined valley. As they descended slowly, still following the trail of the scouts, a thick fog rolled in obscuring everything beyond a few feet. Agnes passed her rope to each companion, tying themselves together in a train so nobody could wander off. Carefully they continued their descent. In the distance a flickering light could be seen, a muffled voice called to them "Over here! There's a path you can take!" After some discussion about this possibly being one of the survivors the party reluctantly followed the light as it veered off to a side path of level rocky ground. Brandt cursed under his breath believing them all about to fall prey to some dastardly trap. The light, a will-o-the-wisp with no good intentions had indeed led them straight to the cave of a mother black bear and her terrified cub. Caught off guard the bear immediately attacked Everleigh, its massive claws bringing her to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out quickly. In seconds the bear took down Agnes and Tunde. Brandt, fearing for his life and the lives of his friends took a risk, dropping everything he collapsed to the ground hoping the bear would think him dead. Luckily the plan worked, as Brandt fell to the ground, the whine of the bear cub could be heard off in the fog. The mother bear, thinking its adversaries defeated, left them to search for its cub. With the bear gone, Brandt attended to the fallen as best he could, waking Tunde first so he could help carry the bodies of Agnes and Everleigh into the cave. Searching the cave Brandt found a path through the rear just large enough to squeeze through. Hoping it would prevent the bear from reaching them, he and Tunde brought the rest of their team through the fissure and into the wider cavern beyond. Here they sat and tended to their wounds. It was then when a robust voice filled their heads, "Orc slayers come to me! Find me! Free me! Let us REAVE these foul orcs. Come to me, into the cave COME!" Further into the darkness ahead could be heard the sounds of running water. Though wounded and weak the party let their curiosity take hold. Brandt lit a sunstick and the group headed deeper into the cavern. After a short walk they came to an underground stream, across from which could be seen a ledge and natural stairs descending off into the darkness. To their left the stream abruptly became a waterfall emptying into a cavern below from which a faint blue glow could be seen. Again the voice echoed in their heads calling for them to come and retrieve him with promises of power in their quest to slay orcs. Brandt entered the water preparing to drag the body of Agnes across. As soon as he did an unnatural darkness filled the cavern and the party found themselves beset upon by darkmantles. Thinking quickly Brandt tumbled down the falls hoping to escape the darkmantles and the magical darkness above. Calling to his companions they did the same. At the base of the falls a water elemental rose up and began to slam into Brandt. Again he called upon the favor of his god and after much effort his symbol glowed, rebuking the thing and sending it in fear downstream. The party made their way to the landing at the base of the natural stairs. Upon doing so a magic mouth appeared on the cavern wall warning them that the sword Orc-Reaver had been banished here for good reason and that no good could come from its removal. Two small statues, gnome warriors, flanked the stairs and as the mouth spoke they began to animate. Up the stairs the party hustled. With no one left standing on the landing the statues became idle. Above were the darkmantles waiting for food, below were the statues ready to defend the sword from retrieval. Here they slept. Upon waking the voice again boomed in their heads stating he hoped they had slept well and again asking to be retrieved as there were orcs to slay. Brandt made his way upstairs, searching the ceiling for the darkmantles and finding two hidden among the stalactites. Beneath them were two backpacks, Brandt's and Agnes'. During the previous days fight they had been left behind. It seemed the darkmantles had perched above them waiting for someone to come and retrieve them. Darkmantles are very sensitive to sound as Brandt then found out. Again the room was cast into darkness and he found himself being assaulted by the foul beasts. Tunde could hear the sounds of Brandt's struggle and rushed to his aid only to find himself blocked by Agnes currently wedged in an opening only big enough for one. In their heads the voice called out that it had magical light and could dispel the unnatural darkness above. Agnes decided then that she wanted the sword, that only it could help them get past the darkmantles, it was certainly destiny! Tunde tried to prevent her from doubling back and a brief struggle ensued. Deciding that getting to Brandt was more urgent he slipped past her and into the darkness. Freed to move Agnes bounded down the stairs to retrieve Orc-Reaver. She deftly avoided the statues and grabbed the sword. With exaltation the sword rejoiced at the wise decision she had just made. Running back up the stairs Agnes wielded Orc-Weaver, its magical light dispelled the darkness around it. With the darkness gone Tunde spied Everleigh on the ground unconscious, a darkmantle wrapped around her neck and shoulder preparing to feed. With a flurry of blows Tunde hit the creature, killing it and knocking it to the floor. Its mate defeated the remaining darkmantle retreated up the river into the caves. Wounded and tired the party made their way back to the rear of the cave entrance and settled down to rest.