Chimneyhaus Session 1 - Honey in the Rafters

General Summary

The life of adventure for our party of mice starts with a notice on the local job board. Burdock Summerholme, a local alchemist is working on a new concoction, but he needs sunflower seeds. He believes he's heard rumors that there might be a patch of sunflowers over by First Shack, and is asking them to check and bring back some seeds if they can. Ideally, he's hoping to plant them and get a steady supply moving forward. Thatch, Thistle, and Mace took up the challenge (Daisy had too much mouse gin the night before and wasn't in any shape for an adventure). With Chimneyhaus being embedded within the living area of the Bigs, they took the precaution of heading out at night so they could slip past the fence unseen. Their first night and day in the brush outside the fence were uneventful, but on the second night as they were closer to their destination they heard what sounded like a wounded bird of some kind nearby. Sneaking close, they formed a pincer around whatever was in the dark ahead, Thatch activated his RA2 lantern, and startled a saddled pygmy quail that bolted. Thatch skillfully hooked the reins of the bird as it slipped by with his hook polearm, and managed to bring it to a halt. The bridle and saddle identified the quail as having been one owned by a member of the Order of Green Mice. The quail was in bad shape, appearing to have worn the riding equipment for some time. The party debated for some time about letting it run free, but in the end decided that although it had appeared to have survived for some time on its own, it was in pretty bad shape so they removed his saddle and pulled him along by his reins. Despite Thistle being the one who offered food to the quail to gain its trust, Piggie (the name they gave him) was enamored with Thatch almost from the get-go. When she was upset about it, I reminded Thistle that she was playing a stinky mouse. The next morning, the trek resumed through the brush, and around midday the group was startled by an enormous black eye breaking through the brush and staring right at them. The initial fright passing, they realized that this was actually just a huge sunflower that was drooping over. That being said, the initial willies never receded and the feeling of being watched as they trudged forward never left. Although none were ever personally familiar with sunflowers, they did not recall anyone ever describing them as "evil". This one was clearly evil. They approached the flower cautiously, eventually arriving at a clearing containing a small, dilapidated Big shack with the black sunflower in front surrounded by a number of smaller, normal-looking sunflowers. There was a decidedly "someone's making candy" smell in the air. Walking slowly and stiffly from the shack to the garden under the sunflowers was a mouse wearing what looked like green robes. Thatch called out "Hey! We have your quail!", and the mouse slowly turned and started to shamble closer. A moment later, two other mice in green robes started shambling out of the shack. Keeping his bow at the ready, Mace a threatened the mouse with a warning shot and it didn't flinch or falter. In the meantime, Thistle sneaked wide to catch a glimpse inside the cottage. They still allowed the obviously zombie mouse to approach, and as it got closer they could see that the first was coated in what looked like a hard shell that cracked and reformed as he moved. They then noticed that the shell completely covered his face leaving no way for him to breathe. Since the zombie moved so slowly, Mace was able to keep him following him eventually also reeling in the other two. Leading them around like he was a carrot on a stick, he kept their attention as Thistle slipped back. They then worked on looping her thread around them with the help of Thatch, and they managed to lasso them together quickly and efficiently. This was fortunate as a fourth mouse came running from the shack. He, too, was wearing strange robes and carrying a spell tablet. As he approached he, cast the Pollen Puff spell, taking Thatch out with a sneezing fit. The others were similarly impaired, but Mace managed to get a shot off that hit the spellcaster in the chest. When the enemy tried to attack Thatch, however, he learned quickly how much Piggie loves him as the quail threw him ten feet away, knocking him unconscious. With all of the residents of the area secured, the party searched the compound and found a beekeeper's outfit, with a journal inside calling out the wizard of the shack being a mouse by the name of Joseph Glace. The journal seemed to be the latest from someone who was a prolific journaler, and started a bit over a year prior. The initial entries showed Joseph to just be a reclusive hermit who just loved living by himself. He lived in harmony with the bees who had a hive within the shack. He nurtured the sunflowers that were their primary source of pollen, and the bees appear to have not been too difficult to secure honey from. But, those entries starting soon after the date when Newton Till died recorded what Joseph simply referred to as a change in the air that he couldn't identify. He then talks about the sunflower watching him constantly, and sometimes whispering to him. As the entries continue, it becomes obvious that Joseph was overtaken by some kind of madness, as he felt the bees were conspiring against him and making the honey taste bad. He then believed they were poisoning him, so he started boiling all of the honey to remove the "impurities". Then he started talking about his new god "The Sweet Tooth". Entries from about two months ago say that he had his first "follower" arrive. They claimed to be lost and looking for directions, but after eating some of the sacred candy, the mouse gave his soul to the Tooth so as to serve him forever. A few days later, a couple of his friends arrived, also looking to become followers of the Tooth. Believing it to be the source of all of the horror in the area, the party decided they were going to leverage Thistle's metal file to cut down the evil sunflower. But, the bees got fairly ornery when they started shaking the flower, so they decided to finish it at night. This almost worked, but the bees still came out of the hive to stop them. Thatch cast the Pollen Puff spell trapping the bees in a cloud of happiness that kept them thoroughly occupied. When the spell ended, they all returned to the hive, heavily laden with pollen. The sunflower was felled, spilling black seeds all over the farm, so the party stayed the next day to ensure they found as many of the seeds they could. Hopefully they found all of them! ;0) Finally, before heading out, they shoved all of Joseph's candy-making equipment and candy-coated zombies and shoved them into the pot-belly stove Joseph as using as a candy factory and burned all of it, purging the evil. They set off for home. It was meant to be a one-shot, but the players really had a good time, and I left enough open questions (why was the sunflower evil???) to lure them into playing more down the road. This won't be the last from them! Oh, I almost forgot! I feel that Thatch is similar to an artificer, so I think he would've taken notice of the black sunflower's petals being tough and rubbery so he took one with him. He eventually figures out that it's sturdy enough to act like a parachute and so makes himself a safety cape out of him to protect him should he fall from a distance!