Session 93 - Open House

22 Flaurmont 1011 - 24 Flaurmont 1011

General Summary

After some debate, the party decides not to attempt to chase down the Purple Worm that fled underground, coming to the conclusion that it will take quite some time to recover and will be too deep for them to reach anyway.
They set up camp away from the overturned field and continue their journey the next day. After a couple hours, some of the more observant party members notice that some goblins are following them on a parallel path in the woods, shadowing the group. Tork slips away to scout it out and finds two Goblins.
With his outrageous speed, and good stealth, he moves right up to them and knocks them both out uncontested. He rejoins the group carrying the two unconscious Goblins. The party heals them up, and has a little talking to the Goblins, who don't seem a real threat to the party.
They have been following the party, hoping to get some benefit, to see what they're up to and possibly to steal something if they can. They don't appear to have any real plan of how they would pull that off, but figured if they followed, maybe opportunity would strike.
The party feels charitable and does not off the Goblins, instead pressing them into service. They ask them about the road ahead and find out about the Elven village that lies about a day up the road. Apparently, Goblins occasionally go into the town looking for plunder, but none have ever come back. The party asks them to lead them to this village, not really give them an option to say no.
The group travels on and, at the end of the day, the Goblins explain that the town is on the other side of the river, just a short distance further. They ask to be released, but the party keeps them close at hand. Using Walk on Water they cross the river, dragging the Goblins with them, and set up camp on the other side. Leo plays some games of chance with the Goblins and soon has won all their meager coins, though he returns this later, playing more for the sport of it. They set up watches, to make sure no Goblin tom-foolery takes place, and rest for the night.
The next morning, they force the Goblins to lead them within sight of the village, then let them loose. The road seems to be relatively unused and, as they approach the village, the lack of occupants becomes clearer. The buildings all appear long disused. After some investigation of a few sampled houses, they estimate that the village has been abandoned for at least 80 years. There are trees growing from within some of the houses, and the buildings are in disrepair that is far gone. The less damaged homes appear to have been abandoned in an orderly manner, with no significant belongings left behind, while the houses showing signs of destruction are in disarray with seemingly all belongings still in place.
In one however, they find a journal. Skimming through the journal, they don't find any indication of something that would cause the town to be abandoned, but they do find reference to a neighboring family having a baby. The last name Cairan, and the dates seem to align with the timeframe of Elincia's birth. Perhaps she is from this abandoned town?
As they move north through the town there are more signs of urgent departure. Some homes seem to have had meals laid out before being hurriedly abandoned. Near the center of town, however, they find one larger building that does not appear to be in disrepair, but actually in a very well maintained. Curious, the party approaches. Seraphina moves to knock on the door, and finds it unlatched. It simply pushes open. She calls out "Hello, is anybody there?", and a feminine voice calls from the distance, "Come on in, I'm just downstairs in the cellar".
The party walks in and the home seems well lived-in. The only thing that seems out of place, is the fact that all the rest of the town is so blatantly abandoned. Perhaps this home is occupied by a hermit, or some other evader of society?
As they enter the first room, the voice calls out "Can you help me out? I'm just in the cellar, and I am trying to move this furniture." The party shrugs and heads toward the voice, finding the staircase down to the cellar. The stairs seem a little soft and yielding, but firm enough to support their weight. In the first room of the cellar they seem a large wardrobe and some other home good, but do not find the source of the voice but, after a while, it calls from around the corner, "I'm over here, can you give me a hand with this?" The party is becoming a bit suspicious, but confident in their ability to deal with whatever trickery may lie ahead.
They continue into this second cellar room, past some barrels and other furniture, and find a tunnel extending what seems to be beyond the scale of the building they entered. The voice calls out again and is clearly coming from down this hallway. As the party enters the hallway, however, it seems to be more than just a hallway - it seems to be flexing and shifting and gradually getting narrower. Now fully alert, the party probes the walls, and the walls shudder, it seems to be alive!
After another few seconds, slits open within the walls and spray a cloud of acid at the party. Seraphina strikes at the wall, and begins to back away from the "esophageal" hallway. Tork moves forward, apparently intending to guard their exit, but the party is unsure if he plans to stand and fight or retreat, so instead the party makes a fairly slow, but orderly exit from the hall. Leo throws a menacing spell of his own down that hallway, leaving a wall of utterly black magical darkness just beyond Tork. He announces "Don't go in there, it would be bad" as he backs his way up the hallway into the more classical home part of the cellar.
As the party is attempting to leave the dangerous cellar, more and more of the "house" seems to react, trying to keep them from escaping. The walls shudder and tentacle-like appendages part from them, battering at the party; as well. the shelves, dressers, and barrels coming to life. One barrel is clearly a mimic, biting at Stavos and grappling him with its tongue, while the wardrobe also attacks the group. Another cloud of mist erupts down the hallway, the acid temporarily blinding a couple party members, and another fold opens from a cellar wall, spilling out a shower of small, biting coin-shaped creatures that swarm over Leo. As the party continues their orderly retreat, and fighting various mimics, the battering continues, slowly draining the party of health. The party has been able to destroy most of the threatening "creatures" in the cellar, and they move back up the stairs.
Here they find more menacing furniture, as dining table and chairs are all of one larger mimic. By the time the full party is upstairs, this mimic has been overcome as well. The voice keeps calling from different parts of the house, upstairs and down, asking for help, but the party trusts none of this as genuine. Seraphina moves to the door to escape, but the door lashes out at her with tentacles. The house continues to thrash at the party and releasing more acid, further battering them. Elincia has used a large-scale healing spell on the party, and then later uses a high level heal on herself, as somehow she has taken the brunt of the damage.
As Seraphina struggles with the door that is for once fighting back, Tork decides to take a search upstairs, possibly fooled by the voice calling for help. As the rest of the party escapes through the now defeated door, Tork rushes up the stairs and investigates. Not finding a legitimate source of the voice, he returns to the main floor - his fleetness keeping him almost apace with the party even with his detour.
As the party spills out onto the street, the entire building pulls itself out of the ground and away from any lingering spell effects in the area. The party continues to assault the exterior of the false home, the huge creature almost akin to a snail, with the roof and outer walls as its shell. Just before the party fells the lumbering behemoth, Tork comes out of the now-raised doorway and lightly drops to the ground. The great monster lets out a rumble and a groand and collapses onto the ground and in on itself, laying not far from the vast hole it made within the ground. Hopefully this marks the end of its threat to creatures great and small.
The party is alive, but has spent a lot of their magic and effort, and needs to find a place to take a rest before continuing their journey.

Report Date

20 Dec 2024