Of Men and Machines Session 8
General Summary
Decisions Decisions
Eshshann the Pocket, Keck, and Tim the Not-so-Tiny dropped into the cave system underneath Halodreth Emberwhite's barn. Malark stayed up top, holding onto the rope while the group descended into the darkness. A quick survey of the room turned up a partially crumpled sheet of parchment; this was part of Halodreth's journal that he mentioned had gone missing. The rats must've brought it down.Entry 4 I hate retirement. I don't have access to any the resources I did before. The gods-damned Viscount will regret dismissing me like he did. I'll show them all when I come back with the answers. Only I can do this.Three paths lay before them in the darkness: the first one headed northwest, the second one to the east, the third to the south. They figured one path is as good as any, so they headed northwest. The corridor was narrow and the walls clearly seemed to be naturally occuring. The tunnel opened up to a chamber about 60 feet in. A dead body carrying a pickaxe lay in the corner. Eshshann took a closer look and realized that this was the body of a Duregar - a dark dwarf from the underdark. Clearly he had been some sort of miner judging from the equipment nearby. A closer inspection showed a small tentacle sticking out of his chest sucking itself back into the corpse. Eshshann was grossed out by this and shot a firebolt at the creature. The group heard a squeal of sorts as a carrion stalker burst forth from the chest of the corpse. The party reacted as best as they could, but the small beast almost proved too much for the three adventurers. Keck slashed at it with his longsword while Tim stabbed at it with his dagger. Eshshann made several attacks but the two had unintended - but welcome - consequences. His first attack missed and burst harmlessly against the cave wall. His next two misfired and the room was quickly filled with a fog that masked everyone's actions. His next attack resulted in magic missile accidentally being cast - a welcome respite. The creature dashed back and forth between party members, each time striking at them with its tentacles. The party - Tim in particular - began to take a beating. Fortunately the group found the coordination to overcome their adversary, leaving the husk of the carrion stalker laying on the floor in a gooey heap. They took a look around the room, still liking their wounds and were able to find another partially crumpled sheet of parchment.
Entry 8 Another name has turned up… "The Black Rook." Is that some kind of code name? Could it be identifiable with this Reckoner person? Someone else maybe? I've been unable to find anything else. And on top of that, I've noticed things have started to go missing around the farm. I figured, maybe at first, it was just my memory starting to go, but then I realized that things were definitely being taken. But that's tomorrow's problem…The group realized that they would need more help, or at least some rest, before they continued exploring the caverns. They headed back to the central chamber and climbed up the rope. Malark quipped about how they looked dirty, while the group relayed the encounter to their much cleaner friend. They sat in the barn for the next hour and recovered a bit of strength before continuing along their journey.
The Party Reunited
Fel'Shu and Damakos linked up on the way out of Castleport. Fel'shu had just been at the Temple of Tyr seeking the spiritual aid of its priest while Damakos had spent most of the morning resting and eating breakfast. The duo remembered that the party was going to head to Halodreth Emberwhite's farm and began to make their way out that way. It would be an hour before they arrived at the farm and finally saw the small farmhouse and the unkept field. Fel'shu knocked on the door to the house, and a moment later Halodreth answered. He invited in the two adventurers, assuming that they were with the rest of the party. He offered them some water to quench their thirst, since it was quite a walk from Castleport. Both Fel'shu and Damakos graciously accepted, and Fel'shu offered a slice of apple as payment. Halodreth was more than happy to accept the modest payment from the monk, and directed them to the barn where the rest of the party had last been seen nearly an hour ago. Fel'Shu and Damakos entered the barn where the rest of the party was resting and recovering from their wounds. Keck quickly brought the two adventurers up to speed and the group agreed that they should all enter the cavern together. They secured the rope and descended into the darkness. Fel'Shu and Eshshann lit torches and the group headed back up the northwest tunnel where they had encountered the carrion stalker. They didn't find anything new in the room, but they did notice another tunnel leading from there. The walls on that tunnel appeared to have been dug out. The tunnel led to an artificial chamber. The party noted that the craftsmanship and the architectural style was similar to that which they had seen under the Veleta Stone Circle just a few days prior. The wall on their south side appeared to have some intricately carved murals on them. Damakos took a look and was able to decipher all eight of them. They appeared to be instructions for a blood sacrifice that could potentially open a secret door. The ritual involved an ornate dagger, similar to the one they had returned to the Veleta crypt. They headed back to the main chamber to continue exploring the caverns.RAAAAATS!!
From the central chamber the party headed northeast. Tim the Not-so-Tiny appeared to be in a rush for some reason, so he bolted ahead of everyone. He got a fork in the path when he found himself swarmed by several dozen rats. He began swinging wildly, dealing limited damage to the swarming beasties. The rest of the party ran in to assist, but it was almost too late. Eshshann and Fel'Shu began building a quick pyre to keep the rats away as they moved forward, but it was taking too long. Eshshann ran into the combat area and quickly cast a sleep spell. About half of the surviving rats - and Tim - immediately fell asleep. Fel'Shu ran in with a piece of burning wood and chased the remaining vermin away while they stomped out the sleeping ones. Tim was forced to lick his overzealous wounds for a bit while the rest of the party took the left fork. In the next, very compact chamber, they found another page from Halodreth's journal:Entry 1 It's been four years since the last murder. Four years since my disgrace. The Viscount was happy enough that it ended. So happy that he declared an end to the terror. But we never found them or their hideout. For all we know they'll be back. I've lost the trust of the Viscount. I'll find who did this find out what happened to them. So help me, gods, I'll shed light on this…The small chamber didn't hold much else, so they took the right fork afterwards and found another chamber. This one had several crates in it as well as a small pool of water at the south end. The crates held just-spoiling Duregar food and some mining equipment. Yet another page from Halodreth's journal emerged as well:
Entry 3 The Ullamir lead was a bust. It's been too long since that reported event. The hunt continues.Fel'Shu's keen eyes noticed that there was a treasure chest at the bottom of the water, which was about 10 feet deep. He dove in and also noticed a tunnel leading into the darkness. Before exploring it, he and the rest of the party retrieved the treasure chest using some rope. Keck examined it carefully, checking and double checking for any traps. They found none, but instead found nearly 40 gold pieces which they divided equally across the party. Fel'Shu decided to explore the depths. Perhaps there were more clues in there. He took a deep breath and dove into the icy water. The darkness surrounded him, but it would only be about 60 feet before it began to get shallow. The monk cautiously peeked up from the water. He was in another chamber, but he wasn't alone. Near the water and facing the opposite direction squatted a man-sized rat, twitching unusually. It apparently hadn't noticed Fel'Shu, so he took a deep breath and descended back into the water to rejoin the party. He told them what he had seen, and the party seemingly decided to take a rest, undecided about whether or not to do it in the cavern or head back up to the relative safety of the barn...
Rewards Granted
- 16xp per player for defeating the two Swarms of Rats
- 116xp per player for defeating the Carrion Stalker
- 1 Inspiration Point for Eshshann the Pocket for creative use of the Sleep spell
- 6gp, 4sp, 7cp per player (38gp, 8sp total) for loot found in a treasure chest
- 1 Potion of Healing for Tim-the-not-so-tiny
Report Date
30 Jun 2023
Primary Location
Related Characters
Comments