Episode 4 - The Nightmare

General Summary

The story begins after Darla and Davwyn finish up their Dragon Tear Whiskey circa 336 in the Picky Cricket Tavern. Davwyn feels compelled to spend the night in Greg The Mariner or "Old Greg"'s house to watch over the estate in order to prove his bravery to Darla, while the female Halfling spends her night alone in the honeymoon suite. Slem Jem stumbles into the tavern after a very jovial Harvest Festival and collapses face first on the ground, after which he is escorted to a nearby booth. After waking up alone in the bar, Slem Jem regurgitates a strange frothy pink substance all over the booth and floor. He quickly destroys the water magically, making manna like substance on the floor. The group receives an emergency message from Darla’s sparrow, sent by Davwyn, indicating they needed to rush to Old Greg’s house. After bursting through the door, the party finds Davwyn in a compromising position, wearing only whitey tighties. Darla finds this downward facing dog position less than an emergent and punishes Davwyn by cursing his backside with Kim Kardashian like size.
After gathering their composure, the party reenters Old Greg’s magical doorway and begin diving through his study looking for clues on The Viscount's activities. Davwyn locates an astonishing amount of information compiled by Greg that included shipping manifests, volume transported, crop cycles, and more. Davwyn further located correspondence between the Viscount and Old Greg that indicated that the hermit was not originally from Bucklewell; instead they discover Greg was a resident of Raiford’s Keep. Gregory's Journal Entry further noted that he had been intentionally sabotaging the Veg Corp’s assets through the Kobold raids as well as summoning the scarecrow. Darla located a book concerning the history and origins of magic. The novel discussed the theories of whether or not magic had created the land or whether the land had created magic, as well as the concepts of how nature seemed to be the key to a greater understanding of magic and acquiring magical prowess. Davwyn located a book concerning “Gregory the Mariner” and his exploits of discovering different forms of magic, eventually revolving around illusions and summoning. Chief discovered a book on the history of the warring tribes of the dwarves and the elves. This book not only discussed the ideas that the world was relatively young but also provided insight into battle tactics, allowing Chief a slight advantage when considering encounters in the future.
The party then meets Gan Lan at the Veg Corp main office and provide him with the ledgers drafted by Old Greg. Gan Lan then provides the party with a Covered Wagon, two horses (a chestnut named “Blanche” and a paint named “Dorothy”), as well as three days of supplies. The party then ventured into the mountain pass where they encountered a strange oozing black tree that Darla set on fire. Slem Jem then doused the tree causing it to petrify and removed the soil from around the roots. The party then continued traveling through the cold night, passing a cave with bears inside, and located a German style inn later down the road. The party settled down for the night in their respective rooms and fell into a deep sleep. In the middle of the night, Chief was awoken by a beautiful blonde woman knocking at his door that he refused to entertain. She then went to Slem Jem’s room for company, finding him to be much more hospitable. After she excused herself for a moment in the restroom, Slem Jem sent a swarm of fleas in the bathroom after her, suspicious of her intentions. Turning towards him from the bathtub, the once beautiful female’s face was turned into a horrible rotting snarl. Thinking quickly, Slem Jem locked her in the room by creating a wall of ice. He then woke his friends and tried to explain the odd turn of events but not before a strange red ooze began pushing down their hallway towards them. They were forced downstairs into the foyer and eventually into the ballroom where they located a room full of people, apparently enjoying a lavish ball. The party quickly discerns the room contains one giant illusion; the party then chooses to continue to the back of the room where they locate a descending stair case into a basement.
Slem Jem leads the party downstairs in the form of a bat when he discovers a hideous night hag receiving dark energy from the undead petrified corpses surrounding her, mounted to the wall. The night hag eviscerates Slem Jem into dust and one by one destroys the party members, deflecting their most devastating attacks as if they were mere magic tricks. Slem Jem violently awakes to find himself back in his bed. He rises to wake Davwyn only to find the hag standing over his body, pulling a strange translucent substance from his head. He moves to attack her but she vanishes. He then goes to wake the others, finally crashing into Chief’s room. Slem Jem hurls his weapon at the witch but she vanishes once again, just before the blow lands.
During all of this chaos, Chief remains in the dream state, overcome by the night hag’s power. She forces him to walk over to her, as he no longer has control of his own body. The hideous creature smiles at him with a sinister grin and slowly points her finger at Chief’s forehead. She begins slowly inscribing an unknown rune into his forehead, etching it into his skin. She then leans forward and slowly whispers into his ear “She misses you.” At this time, Chief snaps out of the dreamscape to find Slem Jem standing over his bed with his weapon drawn and the other two party members standing in his doorway.
Upset with the type of hospitality they received, the party tries to confront the inn keeper who appears to be very offended and tells the party to leave. Prior to vacating their rooms, Davwyn catapults Darla’s potted plant out of the window because she felt due something in return for the poor service. The party loads up their wagon with their packs and the dead potted plant and soldier forth into the early morning hours, unhappy, uneasy, and weary. Why had the night hag attacked them in their sleep? Who was this “she” the night hag referred to? Why does Chief hate beautiful women trying to get into his hotel room late at night?!

Report Date

20 Feb 2022