The Hunt Begins Report

General Summary

11-3-21 Session 7 – the first stream -- Watch on Youtube It’s a nice fall morning and The Keepers gather at Akhilesh’s place before heading off on the next step of their journey – tracking down the bog witch. A clattering is heard at the gates and a man (Ron) comes in with a contorted face and skin peeking, revealing sprouting horns on his head. He tells them he was in the fields last night when something bat-like flew up to him and kissed him. The party recognize this as the same curse that was put on Nefkler and try to brainstorm a solution. There are no longer any clerics around capable of dispelling the curse and Raynor mentions Jonny might be able to brew something. Nefkler offers to help and the 2 get to work but unfortunately they fail and the potion turns to black flakes. Jonny says the key ingredient is a rib from sun newts found in Radapeche that’s quite expensive and rare and he has no more to try another batch. They take the black flakes to try anyway and feed it to Ron. The results are as expected and Ron’s head pops off and falls to the ground, turning him into a Vargouille. Nefkler freaks out and walks away and the party kills not-Ron. Scanlon sends his owl (Curuxa, aka Hootise) to seek out the Vargouille but has no luck. Altariel feels a shimmer down her spine as if she’s being watched and then realizes it’s Revius sending her another message. He tells her to meet them in 8 days @7pm in their usual spot. The group decides to buy some horses and set off on their trip to Torma. About 2 hours down the road they come across a farm with the crops unharvested, weird for this time of year. They approach and see a tall man in robes flanked by 2 smaller things. Scanlon sends his owl out again and he sees 2 dead Vargouilles, riddled with arrows, the robed figure with a scythe in his hand, and 2 dretches. He hears a loud screech which is cut off mid-scream and sees another cloaked figure hunched over someone in the ruins of the farmhouse. They approach the farmhouse and the hooded figure out front has his arm up in greeting as if waiting for us to approach to talk. On asking what he’s doing we’re told he’s “conducting an investigation on behalf of Bamku.” Altariel begins to cast a spell at him and the battle commences. During the battle Scanlon sees that the scream had come from what he thought was a child but turned out to be a halfling and runs into the farmhouse to save her. Nefkler follows and kills a Dretch that was in the room as well, allowing Scanlon to knock out the Cloaked Figure for later investigation. 2 additional Dretches appear from the fields but Kai’ron, Altariel, and Raynor deal with them and the battle is won. Kai’ron heals the halfling who introduces herself as Cora Whispercobble. She was coming from Torma to Midwood since she heard from Ateer Khan that there was good money to be made there as escorts. She had killed the 2 Vargouilles and wounded some of the Dretches but was overwhelmed. The party tells her to seek out Akhilesh and tell him what transpired here and drop their names and he’d take care of her. Scanlon loots the body of the unconscious figure and finds 18 gold and a holy book and symbol of Bamkul. He slaps the cleric awake to interrogate him. “Who sent you? “I answer the call of a higher being. We were told there was a summoning and demonic activity and were sent to discover why by our high priest (Atuar Sam’Bamku).” He hems and haws a bit and Nefkler, totally thrown off by seeing what happened to Ron earlier and now 2 more Vargouilles, cuts off his left pinky. He’s asked if he’s heard of the bog witch – “yes” Can the bog witch summon demons – “I imagine there’s not much he can’t do. He’s not a worshipper of Bamku but is often hired by them” Do you know where the bog witch is? “No” What have you learned of the summoning – “nothing” What were you doing to the halfling – “investigating. I can be aggressive…” Nefkler interrupts and says “oh, you like aggressive investigation?” and cuts off his other pinky. It seems like he has nothing else to offer so Scanlon kills him. Scanlon finds it curious that the high priest of Bamku was apparently not aware of the summonings and wonders if they were indeed not involved with it and/or the imprisonment of Rok'norull in the Chains then who indeed was? Cora seems shocked at what all went on and Nefkler realizes just how far she’d gone and apologizes and walks away. She digs a grave for the 2 clerics (leaving the Dretches to rot) and says a few words to Rok'norull that he may pass on freely and sits in silence. The party prepares to head off and continue their journey to Torma.