Session 39: Off to the Lucky Rabbits Foot Report

General Summary

* We had set up camp for the night and the next morning, Tyrian crossed the river to investigate the area. I heard a familiar whisper after some time and headed across the river to my brother. He was staring ahead and said as I approached, "What do you make of that?" Looking where he was staring, I could see 6 female apparitions. Tyrian began to pull his sword out and said that it was probably not going to be helpful in this situation. I suggested that a magic-user would be better. I moved off to call the rest of the party over. * Moving back to the river, I called out to the rest of the party to come across. I then heard a noise from Tyrian, turned and saw that the apparitions had headed over to him and one of them had passed through him. They were now headed towards me. I stepped aside, as they glided past and headed to the other members of our party. I knew the guys would be fine as I checked on my brother. We headed back to the party after some time. They were talking with one of the spirits. * There was discussion around the retrieval of the relic as it seemed to be connected to the calamities of the town of Crossroads. There was also promised reward with the exhumation of the bodies. I bulked at the idea of disturbing anyone's eternal rest, even if they had consented. Mal was very eager to assist the town so we all agreed. * A plan was formulated on the way back to town to have Mal and I search for the idol and the rest to disable the plague doctor without killing him. He had been the centre of the idol going missing. Mary had alluded to that the doctor was evil. * Once back in town, Tyrian and Petros carried Struth in as if he was sick. Tyrian yelled out for help as Mal & I hung back a bit but still followed. The doctor came racing out of the tavern and called that they should bring Struth in. We all headed over. As Tyrian and Petros popped Struth on the ground, the doctor began to examine Struth. They kept him distracted as I headed behind the bar as I could see there was a side entry to another room. Mal seemed to forget what he was doing as he became concerned for Struth, once he had cried out because the doctor had laid his hand on him. * I found a trap door behind the bar and entered that quietly. Descending the ladder, I found myself in a cellar room. Alf was pleased and said we should help ourselves. It was here that he accidentally revealed that this was not his original form. A search of the room showed that it was a normal cellar room and that the idol was not hidden here. I gathered some Elven and Dwarven liquor, stashing it in my Bag of Holding. * Leaving the cellar room, I came back upstairs and popped my head back up. I could see that the doctor was now dead, with my brother hanging over him. "Was it necessary to kill him?" Mary answered that he thought he was helping but he was not. I shook my head as this was not enough to simply kill a man. Petros was not with the party. * The next minute a patron walked in and yelled he wanted a drink then stopped when he saw the scene before him. I quickly grabbed a glass and cloth and started to clean the glass as I had seen plenty of bartenders do. The man looked at all of us with wide eyes. Tyrian told the man what he had been doing and that he was the cause of everyone in town dying and that we had saved the town. The man looked to the doctor and spat at him, then said he would tell the rest of the town and that the doctor's body would be burned. He then ran out. * We could hear his cries from outside. I knew that we would need to move so exited out the back door. The rest of the party quickly followed and we headed back to where the spirits were. Petros spoke with them and put the idol back in his resting place. This placated the spirits and they returned to their graves. * Tyrian and I sat on a rock, while Mal watched Struth with worry as he began to dig at the first grave. Struth had dug out most of the grave when I walked over to look as I was curious about how a dead body would look after some time has passed. Petros seemed to be curious too. As Struth lifted the coffin lid, I looked to see the body and almost gagged. There was no treasure as the spirit had told us. A moment later, the body began to rise and went to attack Struth. He screamed and Mal jumped in to help and tried to grapple with it. His face contorted for a bit as the creature touched him. * I was not going to jump into the grave to help as there wasn't much room and I did not have any ranged weapons. I turned to look at Tyrian who was grabbing a rock to throw down on the body. Petros cast a spell and the creature froze. He ordered them to put the creature back in the coffin and to close the coffin. We could then hear moaning and knocking from the other graves. Struth pushed the creature back into the coffin and Mal closed the lid. Tyrian handed the rock to Struth to weight the lid down. I began to toss dirt back in to bury the body again. * The others were still moaning and wailing. There was some quicky discussion and we figured out that the idol was attached to the spirits. Petros recalled a tale he had heard about some witches who had been buried alive. It was decided to leave the idol where it was and to simply leave the area. We continued on to Mal's tavern. * Finally arriving, we could hear music and merriment from The Lucky Rabbit's Foot. Tyrian and Mal went to walk around the building to discuss some things while the rest of us headed in. I was making my way to the bar when I saw Mal in the middle of the room, making a speech of how wonderful everything was and how grateful he was. The next moment, the music stopped, someone said "Malar Naskin... Get him!" then the entire room got up and tried to jump him. He managed to push several away then with the words "Fukkus Rukkus." Mal disappeared. I knew then that it was not Mal. He only had very simple spells and could not teleport himself. * The room cheered and then went back to their own business. I sat down on a barstool, waiting until a patron came up and asked what just happened. It was a halfling named Snipes, ordering some beers, who cackled as he told me that Mal had single-handedly run the bar into the ground then disappeared. Obadai the new owner, had brought the tavern back to a thriving business. Mal's best friend Manny had also been strung from the rafters and killed. He cackled at this as he gathered his beers and walked off. * I ordered a beer and Petros came up to the bar and sat down 2 seats away from me. Struth was nowhere in sight. Probably out picking pockets. After some time, my brother came to the bar and sat between us, he talked to the bartender Obadai who retold the story of how he came to take over the bar. He then remarked on how similar Tyrian looked like me. Tyrian looked to me and said hi, you do look like me then turned to Petros and asked if he liked to gamble. Petros said yes and Tyrian invited him to a game with me. We agreed and sat at an empty table. Petros was sending us messages and it was agreed that it would not be revealed that we travelled with Mal and that he was currently safe in a room. Tyrian then yelled that we would like a room to continue our game. Obadai then turned to me, believing me to be a prostitute and tried to come to an agreement that we would split whatever money I made 60/40. I said that if I was inclined that way, why would I share my profits? He said that it was his tavern. I said that I was here to simply play a game. I could see that Tyrian took offence on my behalf to the suggestion of my profession. * Once out of earshot, he asked if I was going to cut him or should he. I said that he was welcome to it. We went to our room, which conveniently was the same one that Mal was in. Mal was seething, thinking about the death of his friend and the take-over of his tavern, and simply wanted to burn the place down. Petros convinced him that we should wait till the next day as he knew that Mal was not thinking clearly and that he would regret his actions if innocents were killed. He had a plan and we would execute it the next day.

Rewards Granted

It was a great face to face game and we progressed the adventure along quite a bit. Therefore I reward you 3100XP

Missions/Quests Completed

You have finally made it to Mal's tavern and discovered the horrible truth about its fate. you now have a choice, burn it to the ground, take on the band that's in charge and possibly all of nearby Bandit Town, or just walk away.