Session 3 - Riesenhain's Secrets

General Summary

After returning to the village, the party decided to stop at the manor. Ferdinand decided to stay at the manor, offering to keep it safe and start preparations to make it more livable. The rest of the party searched the manor for a key to the one room upstairs that seemed to still be locked. During the search, Klein realized all the keys had been taken, likely due to the Riese.
As such, when he met with the rest of the party, he explained that the locked door was not likely to hold anything of immediate importance. So the party split up to learn about the townsfolk, and people around town. A young lady named Inga - one of the daughters of the inkeeper, came carrying food from the local tavern, and showing some...interest in Ulrich.
Klein and Ulrich then went to meet with the village headman Franz and his wife Maria (who did most of the talking), while Brother Ernst and Chlothar went to speak to Brother Matthias, the overseer of the church compound of Saint Raban's.
After some discussions with both, the party was able to learn the following information:

• The townsfolk were being prevented from leaving by wolves who patroled the swamp to the west of the village;
• The Riese were disguising themselves to look like the townsfolk, but didn't live in the town;
• The church was enchanted/hallowed to keep the Riese from entering the holy grounds;
• The Riese would likely attack the village if a large enough group tried to enter the church;
• The rare and magical book that they assumed was held by the Duke was actually likely somewhere in the village, possibly at the church itself, because Anselm had spoken of it, and probably brought it with him when he came;
• Anselm didn't tell anyone where he left it, for fear the Riese would torture whoever knew for the information;

After checking to see if the hallowed ground would harm him, Klein decided to see if they could sneak a group together at the church one at a time. It seemed to work, but Brother Matthias, who came into the church to see what was happening there told them that the Riese probalby wanted them to enter the church and retrieve the book. After some discussion (during which they confirmed to their satisfaction that Brother Matthias was not a Riese), the party decided to try to delay the Riese for a few more days, so they would have more time to press the orcs to bury Ulrich's comrades, collect weapons to arm and lead the peasantry.
When they left the church to turn in for the night, Inga was hovering around, and invited Ulrich to go mushroom picking with her in the morning. The bemused soldier agreed, and the party returned to the mansion to rest.

Report Date

10 Sep 2024

Primary Location

Riesenhain