7 Himer
Three mercenaries are hired by a wealthy collector, Martin Hatherol, in the town of Calebridge. The mercenaries are:
- Caleb, the offspring of an angel and a mortal whose nature allows him to wield divine power.
- Wisica, a 'reformed' halfling thief who has mastered a form of unarmed combat.
- Yort, a goliath warrior who uses his immense strength and mastery of his enchanted greatsword to cleave through opponents.
Martin wants them to find the ruins of Kes'ras'ths, an outpost of an ancient empire long since destroyed. He wants also wants them to see if thay can locate the Sis'sath'sis emerald which was supposedly kept there. He previously hired an explorer Vernt Erasmus, a human in his early 40s, short, slightly overweight with short unkept grey hair, and brown eyes. Vernt had found information leading him to believe that the ruins may be in the Pudarig Forest and had set out for the village of Leelon. Martin tells them that:
- The ruins belonged to a race of snake people who ruled an empire in ages past.
- The snake people are long since gone.
- He received a letter from Vernt confirming that he had arrived in Leelon.
- Vernt was an experienced and trustworthy explorer who had worked for Martin before.
- The gem is of historical significance as it is cut in a way that may aid magic and may be useful for research.
Hearing about the snakes the group decide to invest in an extra antitoxin potion.
15 Himer
The three spend a week travelling to Leelon, arriving in the late afternoon. They head straight for the local inn, The Afterbite. There they meet the innkeeper Hogarth and arrange for a room. Despite Yort's immense size, Hogarth has a suitable bed available, and he offers the group a drink while they wait. They all agree to try the local spirit, Red Bite, working on the principle that since it is made from fruit it must be healthy. They question Hogarth about Vernt and learn that:
- He visited the village about three weeks ago.
- He only stayed a few days.
- He asked a lot of questions about ruins and the forest.
- The main two he questioned were Othar (the local priest of Seyr) and Sydney (the village smith).
- He left in a bad mood when he couldn't get the answers he needed.
7:00 in the evening. The group go to the well attended evening service in the village church and wait around afterwards to talk to Othar. He clearly recognises Caleb's heritage and offers to help however he can. From Othar the group learn that:
- Vernt asked him about any ruins in the forest.
- Othar wast able to help Vernt and explained that the people in the area didn't have time to go exploring the forest.
- That he only learned of Vernt's departure from Hogarth.
Caleb doesn't believe he is telling the whole truth, but is unable to get anything more out of him. Wisica decides to loiter in the village square while everyone else goes to The Afterbite. Yort and Caleb look around for the smith in the inn but don't see him so find a table to have a drink.
7:45 in the evening. Wisica checks to see if anyone is watching and then heads into the church. He hunts around but only finds a chest. The chest turns out to be trapped which he discovers by opening the chest and inhaling a cloud of poisonous gas. The chest contains copper and silver coins. Remembering Caleb's opinions on stealing from churches good aligned ones at least) Wisica regretfully re-locks the chest without taking any coins and returns to the inn.
8:30 in the evening. Back at the inn Wisica and Yort take on a group of villagers at darts, but the villagers emerge victorious claiming the three coppers wagered on the outcome. With their winnings in hand the villagers are in a talkative mood and reveal that they have heard some rumours about ruins out in the forest that a traveller was looking for. The villagers plan to go looking when they next have the chance.
9:30 in the evening. The group retire for the night, and place Yort's bed in front of the door as a precaution.
16 Himer
6:00 in the morning. The next morning the three adventurers head down for breakfast and discuss their plans for the day with Hogarth. He recommends going to the smith early as he doesn't like to be interrupted during his work.
7:00 in the morning. The group head for the smith and meet him outside his forge. He tells them much the same as Hogarth and Othar. Vernt asked him questions about ruins in the forest but he couldn't tell him anything. Vernt thought he might know something as he sometimes goes into the forest since he has a charcoal hut out there.
The group don't believe he is telling the truth and persuade him to be more forthcoming. After loudly announcing that he will take a look at the dagger they want him to fix he leads them into the smithy. Inside he reveals that:
- His brother, Kevin, would suffer if he said anything but he has held his peace along enough. His brother went missing a week and a half ago.
- People go missing if they ask too many questions.
- Those who are returned are frequently changed.
- There are a set of ruins in the forest. After crossing the bridge over the stream the entrance is in the hill on the right.
- Hogarth and Othar are involved with the disappearances.
He agrees to help them find the ruins and will leave the village.
8:00 in the morning. As the group head outside they see Othar and several armed villagers approaching. Wasting no time Wisica charges Othar, swiftly followed by Yort. Caleb makes a token effort to defuse the situation before unleashing a volley of fire bolts. Othar and his untrained villagers prove to be no match for the 3 experienced adventurers, though Sydney does get hit by a stray crossbow bolt. Caleb sees what he can do for Sydney while Yort and Wisica search Othar's corpse. They find an amulet of the serpent deity Merrshaulk on him, confirming his true allegiance.
With their attackers dealt with, and Sydney patched up, the group discuss whether to check the inn or the church first. Wisica claims to have already checked the church thoroughly until Sydney mentions the crypt. However they decide to head back to the The Afterbite first in hopes of catching Hogarth. Yort creates a distraction by building a pyre with the bodies of Othar and his minions, so that the other two can investigate the inn undisturbed. They find the side door open and the inn deserted. Wisica carefully checks the storeroom, kitchen and cellar (which is mostly used to store sides of meat). With no one around they head upstairs and investigate Hogarth's room. They find a locked chest which Wisica is unable to unlock, so Caleb leans out the window to call for Yort. With his prodigious strength Yort has no trouble breaking open the chest. Searching through the chest and the desk in the room they find a map to the ruins and an unfinished letter. With nothing else to do in the inn, they check in with Sydney before proceeding to the church.
9:30 in the morning. With the church, or at least the church leader, now considered evil Wisica gleefully loots the chest he left alone before. Yort and Caleb (mostly Yort) lift the flagstone covering the entrance to the crypt. At the bottom of some stairs they find sets of robes and various vials of different coloured liquid. After choosing three sets of robes that come closest to fitting the party members, they carry the rest out and set them to burn on the pyre. Yort then disposes of the vials of liquid by throwing them on the fire. This results in a large cloud of gas that makes Yort and Wisica very happy. Wisica even goes so far as to hand over various silvers he had pocketed when looting corpses and the chest. The cloud then drifts over the village resulting in some very happy villagers. Caleb manages to get Yort and Wisica moving towards the forest though it takes twice as long to get there as he and Sydney have to keep herding Yort and Wisica in the right direction. Fortunately the extra time it takes to reach the forest allows them to regain their senses.
11:30 in the morning. The forest is shrouded in mist as the group slowly make their way towards the ruins. The journey is briefly interrupted by an attack by poisonous snakes but they are swiftly dispatched, although one of Yort's blows goes a little wide and ends up hitting Wisica. Despite the interruption they make good time to the stream, which is about 10ft wide and fast flowing. Wisica strides confidently onto the bridge which promptly collapses under him. After some debate about how to get across, Caleb remembers he was gifted a magic ring which allows him to walk on water so he goes striding across. Yort picks up Wisica and hurls him across before tying a rope to himself, which Caleb and Wisica tie to a tree. Yort the simply walks through the stream and is followed in a similar manner by Sydney. With everyone across the stream, Sydney shows them the entrance to the ruins. He then goes to find somewhere to hide while the adventurers go inside.
12:30 in the afternoon. Moving into the entrance the group find that it is made from worked stone, and that there is a light coming from up ahead. Cautiously peering round a corner they see several humans working at moving crates while watched by a couple of humanoids with scaly hides. Deciding to try deception the group put on the robes they acquired in the church. Caleb's doesn't fit too badly, but the robes were not made for halflings or goliaths making the disguises less than convincing. The attempt to bluff their way past the scaly guards fails and the creatures attack the party. The human slaves flee in various directions, allowing Caleb to drop a fireball on the scaly creatures. Despite this giving the group an early advantage, the creatures throw caution to the wind trying to tear the adventurers to shreds.After a furious exchange of blows, the adventurers emerge victorious but not without some wounds.
The humans who fled into a nearby chamber are unwilling to talk to the group, with their dull eyed stairs confirming that they have been exslaved with magic. The group leave them cowering in a corner and head deeper into the ruins. The stonework improves on the next level and as they round the corner they find the body of one of the slaves who fled this way. There are no wounds on the body though the face is twisted in a horrible rictus. The floor of the corridor ahead has a 3x9 grid of letters filing it. It doesn't take long for the group to realise that they need to spell out Merrshaulk when crossing, though the debate over how to spell it lasts for some time. Caleb crosses first and makes it to the penultimate row before jumping the rest of the distance. This proves unfortunate for Wisica whose first step triggers a cloud of gas that knowck him unconsious. Only Yort's quick response in dragging him out of the gas saves his life. Yort carries Wisica over the tiles and leaps the rest of the way, ensuring there is no further chance of triggering a trap.
13:00 in the afternoon. The complex extends further downwards, and the next room the group come across contains more slaves. Despite checking for traps and finding some, they leave the slaves where they are, reasoning that the slaves won't be of any help and may well hurt themselves if left unattended. The next door leads to a large room that seems to serve as an armoury. Several more of the sclay humanoids are present along with several others that more closely resemble snakes.
Battle is joined once more, with Yort holding the doorway, while the other two back him up. The snake like humanoids are armed with bows and their arrows are poisoned leaving stinging wounds when they hit. Yort continues to hold his position while Wisica moves around trying to get a better position for attacking as caleb continues to use his spells. The scaly creatures go into a frenzy again and bothe Wisica and Yort suffer assorted wounds. Things start to look bad when Yort goes down, but he is brought back quickly and goes on a rampage, cleaving through the foes. With Caleb highlighting foes with his spells and Wisica stunning the enemies, the tide is oon turned and within minutes the battle finishes.
14:00 in the afternoon. After Caleb sorts out their various wounds the group take a look around. One area seems to be used for food preparation, another contains sides of meat that is identified as belonging to humanoids. There are also racks of weapons, shelves with bottles of various liquids and several locked chests. Wisica checks one for traps and finding none opens it and is hit with a cloud of gas. He finds and disables the identical trap on the other chest. Inside both chests are crossbow bolts and what is presumably poison for them.
The group then go to check the only other door out of the room. This leads to a corridor filled with gas. Caleb uses a fire bolt to explode the gas, destroying part of the corridor. With the gas leaking over to the slaves' prison, they decide to unlock the doors and disable the traps so that there is a chance the slaves can escape and be safe. They then descend to the lowest level of the complex.
On the final floor they discoer a large chamber supported by arches. Inside are more of the creatures they have fought previously, a human that looks like Sydney, and an immense snake like creature with a snake's tail, a humanoid torso and a snake-like head. It is resting on an immense throne, surround by chests. On the throne is a large green stone. Both sides adopt standoff tactics, waiting in ambush for anyone or thing that comes around the corner. After a while a group of the scaly creatures charge around the corner, followed by a glowing staff that floats in the air. The charge hurts the group quite badly but is slowly repulsed. After hurlign a fireball around he corner, the group retreat back up the corridor, and begin debating the merits of taking a breather while waiting in ambush. They haven't reached a conclusion when a volley of arrows strikes them from behind. Judging by the burns, it two of the creatures that had caught in the fireball. At the same time, the large snake-like creature comes around the corner and begins shooting arrows. The three adventurers turn and charge the two behind them, trying to break through and escape. They succeed, though it is a close run thing. Wisica leads the way and finally makes a decision on the correct last letter of Merrshaulk. He waits for the other two to tell them the solution and all three return to the surface.
Meeting up with Sydney again they tell him what they have found, including the news about his brother being in cahoots with the snake people. They decide to return to Leelon to get some rest and deal properly with their various wounds.
17 Himer
The next day the group return to the ruins. They find no trace of the snake people, the treasure in the throne room, or the green stone. They do Kevin's body, with two large puncture marks in the shoulder and enough evidence (Vernt's commision from Martin) to suggest that Vernt was one of the bodies in the meat locker. The slaves are freed and Caleb does what he can to help them, but realises they need long term care. The group decide to take them backto Calebridge so that they can be treated at the temple of Seyr. Sydney decides to travel with them.
2 Sush
The group arrive back in Calebridge. The former slaves are turned over to the temple of Seyr and the priests promise to do what they can for them. The group then head to Martin to report in. He is surprised by the news of the snake people, and thanks them for their efforts. He rewards them with 400gp and tells them that he will be looking to offer them more work in the future.
