Session 02

General Summary

The party headed north to Hasturton, taking a surprisingly uneventful 3 days.
Upon reaching the first farmhouse before town, they encounter the resident, large, burly, big black beard and longish hair, raise a heavy crossbow to them, significantly stunned by the appearance of a tiefling. He has several questions of her before remembering his manners and asking if he could offer assistance. On request, he goes inside and brings back out a pitcher of ale and a pail of a variety of food and bids them good day, watching the party go all the while.
The first place the party goes to in town in the Burning God inn. The proprietor, a dwarf named Naldr’k, very warrily serves the party drink, and conversation leads him to telling them of a creature that came into town, hanging dead in the town center.
Irina makes the acquaintance of an elven woman named Sariel who seemed to find the whole thing amusing. She suggested she knew Irina’s former benefactor, on her “travels up and down the coast,” but never knew of Irina.
Most of the townsfolk give the party sidelong looks, and even make superstitious warding signs, although most of the more wizened and experienced looking among the townsfolk seem simply curious or even amused.
In the town center indeed hung a terribly disfigured and decaying corpse of some kind of aquatic creature with horrific webbed claws and teeth. Hanging on the body was a wood sign with this symbol:

A young boy, Joe, is throwing rocks at the creature. He’s excited meeting the party, particularly Malex, and is impressed by his connection to dragons. He tells the party about the creature coming to town, and having seen more of them on top of the lighthouse the last couple days, before being pulled away by the ear by his mom.
At Joe’s suggestion, the party meets with Roselind, the town’s elderly priestess and de facto leader. (Who, she lets slide, has had her own life of adventuring.) Curious about Irina, and having heard rumors of an “infernal one” living in Portville, she otherwise seems to accept her without bias. She tells the party of black-cloaked strangers in town for a couple weeks, up until the time the lighthouse went dark about a week ago. Since then, a local fisherman went to go check on Donall, the lighthouse keeper, but he didn’t return. Then the man’s wife went to go find him, and she too didn’t return. Now, sussing the party’s martial abilities, Roselind has asked the party to investigate and if possible, bring back any captives or bodies, for a reward of 20 crowns.
Immediately through the door, the party discovered the dead and chewed upon fisher, and signs that people had been living in the lighthouse recently. Along with the body of the wife, they also discovered 2 monstrous undead aquatic creatures with a putrefying stench.
At the top of the lighthouse they discover an 8-foot statue of an armored man in defensive pose. Around the base of the statue, Irina discovers a line of very ancient arcane text, but no idea what it says or means. No obvious source of light for the lighthouse is discovered.
In the basement, after dispatching an ochre jelly, the party discovers a hole dug below the lighthouse leading to a subterranean cavern. The cavern contains a pool with a wide hole in which water flows out and rushes away, while also a column of water pours down from the ceiling into the hole. Also, patches of mushroom and fungi, with poisonous properties Yorrick detects, growing around the pool and out. No one has seen these species of fungi before.
While fighting with another ochre jelly, it would appear the use of magic brought forth a large monstrous creature with pincers and tentacles. After nearly killing Malex, Walrick, and Yorrick (in wolf form), they were finally able to kill this awful creature. But not before Irina seemed to indicate it might return to the water -- though, it did not quite.
Exploring the caverns, the party discovers several more undead aquatic horrors at the end of a rushing stream, evidently having also been climbing out of the hole in the pool.
Some kind of magic circle overlooking the hole is found, the site of the tiefling Manea’s death some days ago.

Character(s) interacted with

• Burly black bearded "farmer"
• Naldr'k (dwarf innkeeper)
• Sariel (merchant marine and Irina's new acquaintance)
• Joe (a young boy)
• Roselind (Hasturton leader and experienced cleric)

Report Date

12 Jun 2018