Seventh Session, 11 Sep 2019

Valldel Amakiir - 2nd Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 2nd Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 2nd Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Shiso Shinjitsu - 2nd Level Male Human Fighter

Kethry - 2nd Level Female Human Fighter

26 May 981, Thursday, continued

Fine spring weather, few clouds

The grey hooded figure finishes with, "The Charred Hag comes.  Flee this place.  Flee now.  Find the blessed Medallion of Light.  Use it and free us all."

With that he bursts into flames, and rising out of the flames and smoke is a tall female figure in black robes, unnaturally white skin, long black hair, and claw-like hands.  Evidently this is the Charred Hag.  The band of adventurers led by the obvious light priest moves to attack the Hag joined by Shiso, Dolin, and Kethry.  The Hag swipes at the light priest and he bursts into flames.  Dolin hits it with holy fire, Kethry protects herself, and Shiso takes a hack at it.  Valldel flees out the front door and sees a changed landscape.  The sky looks as if a thunderstorm is about to hit, and there is no sign of the village.  Akadum gathers up the thug who was telling his sad story at the bar, and follows the bard who is leading them up the stairs.

In the courtyard of the Inn Valdell sees a horrifying scene which seems to be overlaid on reality as if a movie were playing on top of it.  The Inn is burning and a woman drops from one of the second floor windows into the courtyard, calling up to her husband to lower their children down to her.  Just then the burning Inn collapses on the man and the children. The despairing woman goes to the well, shouts out "I curse you all.  May your suffering last for eternity.  As my family has suffered.  As I have suffered.  May you never know peace for all the days of your wretched lives!"  With that she wraps the rope from the well around her neck and jumps in.  Valldel can hear the snap of her neck, and scene starts again.

Inside the adventurers fighting the Hag try to stop the flames on their leader, Dolin gives it a shove, but does not stop her.  Shiso attacks it, and it swipes at him, and he feels as if a jet of flame is passing through him.  Kethry uses Mage Hand to lift a wooden chair and drop it on the Hag.

The bandits have fled down the hallway under the stairs. Valldel climbs up to a window on the second floor, finds the two young boys hiding, and he goes out and finds himself in the living quarters of the family that runs the Inn.

Below the fight continues with Dolin being sent sprawling, Shiso striking hard, and Kethry dropping another chair on the Hag.  The adventurers are carrying their leader, who is obviously very hurt, up the stairs.

Valldel opens the next room and finds the daughters of the family cowering, moves on and sees a living room with stairs leading down.

Below Shiso strikes hard at the Hag and it crumbles to ash.  With the lull they can see and smell they are in a transformed Inn with smoke every where and everything being very warm.

Valldel goes down the stairs, finds himself in the kitchen behind the bar, and heads back towards the main room. Shiso, Dolin and Kethry head up the stairs following Akadum, the bard, and the sad thug.

Valldel passes through a door, and encounters the bandits. They trade insults and one of the bandit leader slugs Valldel.  This leads to pillar of flame erupting next to them, and the Hag reappears amidst the bandits and Valdell.

Above the others get to the family's living quarters.  The leader of the adventurers, Xander is badly burned and laid out on a couch.  The bard, who seems to know the lay out, is leading them to look into a storage room, where she guesses the Medallion of Light might be.

Below Valldel retreats back through the door and holds it shut.  On the other side he can hear screams and smells burning flesh.  He improvises a bar to the door, and heads down a stairway to the basement.

Above they find a room filled with boxes, furniture, and decorations.  When Kethry looks in she sees the glow of something magical in one of the boxes, and an apparition of a jar with three floating eyes in it on top of the box.  She manages to hold back her revulsion and finds what is obviously the Medallion of Light within.  Dolin heals Xander to the thanks of the his companions.  Kethry gives Dolin the Medallion and they head back towards the main room.

Valldel spends some time looking around the basement finding it filled with food stuffs.  In the end he gathers up two bottles of fine wine and heads back upstairs.

The others come back down the stairs the find the Hag chasing one bandit who is fleeing towards the front door.  Dolin wraps the chain of the Medallion about his fist and uses it to strike the Hag calling on the power of Apollo.  She again crumbles to ash, and the Inn returns to normal.

Valldel comes up the stairs to the kitchen, notes the transformation back to ordinary, hears the fleeing bandit, goes out to the courtyard, but is unable to figure out where the fleeing bandit has gone as he has disappeared among the buildings of the village.

They meet in the tavern of the Inn.  The Mortigan family, who had fled to their quarters or were hiding reappear and tell them that the Inn was famous for the apparations that some of them saw.  But they had never seen the Hag or any thing like that.  It is as if the restless spirit that haunted the Inn got stronger or was able to manifest it self more easily.  The events that Valldel saw happened hundreds of years ago.  The story the bard, who is called Helen Cross, is that the Inn was destroyed in a fire caused when a fight broke out among adventurers patronizing the Inn.  All within were killed; most tragically the family that ran the Inn which included young children.  There is a famous folk song about it that she knows.

To put an end to this haunting Valldel is lowered into the well and finds bones of the grieving woman.  She is a distant ancester of the Mortigans.  Dolin oversees a burial of the bones in the family's graveyard which is in back of the Inn.  They also bury three bandits who were killed fighting the Hag.  It is the leader, the halfling, and one of the thugs.  The remaining thug has escaped.  The Mortigans tell them that Medallion of Light was left here many years ago by Alan Harker who was a famous undead hunter.  He said that it would help protect the Inn which sat on a weak spot in the veil between the worlds.   Dolin thinks the Medallion should stay here, but all the others think Dolin should take it as what has haunted the Inn has clearly been defeated and the Medallion will be needed out in the new world that is arising.  Akadum realizes that the ash covered, raving man called himself Alan  Harker, which is creepy as he died many years ago.

The party notes that this is further evidence that what they observed at Drigbolton has clearly triggered some sort of change.  This spirit had been around for hundreds of years, but never had it appeared so strongly.

6th Session, 22 Aug 2019

Valldel Amakiir - 1st Level Male Elven Rogue

Akadum Ironbeard - 1st Level Male Dwarf Fighter

Dolin Stoneflare - 1st Level Male Dwarf Light Cleric

Shiso Shinjitsu - 1st Level Male Human Fighter

Junior Lubbins - 1st Level Female Human Fighter

Kethry - 1st Level Female Human Fighter

25 May 981, Wednesday continued

Fine spring weather, few clouds

At the edges of their vision they see some skeletons in ancient armor amid the piles of coal.  They rush forward to attack, but as they do Dolin notes that a black dot has extinguished his light on his shield and the Darkness begins to spread snuffing out torches and miners lamps.  They hear hideous laughter and taunts saying "The veil has torn.  Join us below."  As the light winks out they see three hideous creatures with clawed hands and dog-like faces appearing over the tops of coal piles and sweep down on them.

Dolin casts a new Light which seems to do nothing, while Akadum hangs back and lights a new torch which illuminates the cavern.  The others are struggling with the skeletons and creatures which Kethry tries to Sleep, which fails.  Two descend on Junior, and after being raked by their claws she stiffens and falls.  The two creatures stop to feast on her flesh.  Shiso calls for a withdrawal, but is ignored.  Akadum uses his strange pistol and scores an effective hit on one of the creatures.  The party begins to get the upper hand destroying the skeletons and using fire spells from Dolin and Kethry to destroy the other things.  Unfortunately the fire ignites the coal piles and the cavern begins to fill with smoke.

Kethry sends her Rook to view the far parts of the cavern, while they hastily withdraw carrying the paralyzed Junior.  She is near death, they recall the healing potion Griya gave her, dig it out, and force it into her.  They manage to retreat with the mine cart full of the dead lost miners and militia men.  Kethry's Rook tells her that at the back of cavern there is tunnel that comes from deep under the earth, but it could go no further as the fire had grown worse.  Akadum is distressed and suggests they go back to explore the deep tunnel, but the fire and smoke are too thick.

When they reach the mine head, Willis is very distressed. The fire is a disaster for his mine.  He hastily closes off the mine head in hopes that the fire will be choked out by lack of air.  He does not want to pay them, but Edgar, the town guardsman, insists that they get paid.  They have done what was asked, retrieved the missing.  He asks what they saw down there and they speak of the skeletons and creatures which now they realize were some sort of ghoul.  It was clearly some sort of strange ghoul as they spoke and clearly were able to do some sort of magic.  Edgar reveals that similar sorts of Fell Creatures had appeared in the bigger mines and were defeated by the town guard with the support of Imperial troops.  Willis pays them 60 GP.

They suggest that Junior should be taken as soon as possible to the Pretorium where the Imperial forces will have the resources to treat her.  Accompanied by Edgar they are treated well and there they say they will bring Junior to the Temple of Hephaestus for treatment.  They think she will be OK, but she will be terribly disfigured.

During all this the others talk with Kethry and tell her of the strange happenings they have witnessed over the last few days.  She is intrigued and wants to visit Drigbolton, but they tell her of their urgent mission to visit the new Miss of Drigbolton and escort her back.  They invite her to accompany them and she accepts.

They return to the West Coach Inn and plan to continue on their way the next morning.

26 May 981, Thursday

Fine spring weather, few clouds

The party catches the Midlands Ring Road Coach, which is a sort of super stage coach drawn by a team of six hourse.  They head north out of town on the Midlands Ring Road descend out of the Teal Hills and head north and east down the road.  At the end of the day they get to Weston Netherly, a drab hamlet in a patch of swampy terrain.  Just to the north of the town, a large dilapidated mansions sits on the bank of a river running to the east.  They come to the Weston Coach Inn where the Coach will stop and rest for the night.

As they are heading into the Inn Akadum notices that the bucket on the windlass above the well in the Inn's courtyard briefly looks like a hangmen's noose.  He feels a brief flash of heat, but it all passes quickly.  In the tavern/common room of the Inn there is a pretty bar maid, a burly bar tender and a number of patrons.  At one table is group led by a priest of Zeus, plus a female magic user

and a female thief.  At another table are five rougher looking types, humans plus one halfling who are obnoxious to the bar maid and drinking heavily.  There are two loners, one looks to be a female bard as she is sitting in front of the fireplace and is tuning up a lute.  Another is figure in a dark corner, wearing a dark grey cloak which is pulled up over the head.

Two young boys with wooden swords appear and asks if the party are adventurers.  They want to be adventurers and say they plan to explore the Netherly Mansion, which is haunted, someday.  There is a big dog who wanders in.  Some of them note that the shadow the dog casts is some sort of demonic beast.  Akadum shares some of his dinner with the dog.

There is a problem with the food order, and the proprietor appears and introduces himself as James Mortigan.  He says that the mistaken meal is free.  He is an ex-adventurer.  They ask after Netherly Mansion, and he says is is the Netherly Family home, and they suddenly disappeared about 50 years.  The mansion has stood empty since then, has been looted, and is nothing but a dangerous ruin.

Akadum talks to the man in the shadowy corner.  On closer inspection he seems to be covered in soot and ash.  He seems to pay little attention to what Akadum is saying, but blurts out "The fire burns us all.  In the end we are nothing but ash." and "Ash.  All is but ash."  Then he disappears and few can recall seeing him there.

There are ads posted on the wall.  "Brave adventurers needed to deliver a delicate package.  See Guildmaster Faunel in the Brewmasters Guild for details."  "Armed adventurers needed to guide a small party over the Moon Peaks.  Interviews held tomorrow at lunch in the Weston Coach Inn."  "Fell Creature infestation up the Moonwash River.  See Captain Grimmel at the Town Guard Post.  Bring weapons and armor for inspection."  Some of them note that the ads morph to say "Brave adventurers needed to die." "Armed adventurers needed to die."  "Fell Creature infestation up to death."

At this point Valdell says they should get out of here.  Shiso, who has seen none of these apparitions, wonders why some of them are freaking out.  They try to explain.

The obnoxious bunch is saying rude things to Kethry, and she puts one of them to Sleep.  His companions think this is hysterical and begin drawing dicks on his face.  One of them gets up from their table and goes to the bar.  Akadum approaches him and asks what is up.  He looks very unhappy and says he joined that group to try to find his cousin who disappeared after a bandit raid on his hamlet.  It was north of the Two Goblins Inn and west of Stattleford.  They claimed to be adventurers and explorers, but really they are just bandits and army deserters.  They raid farms and pillage and rape.  He is disgusted with himself for being with them.

Akadum asks about Zelda Spinewith at the Two Goblins, and the sad bandit says that she is famous around here.  She is a powerful magic user, but it seems there is more that he wants to say.

Just then the bard starts playing.  The obnoxious bunch tells her to "take it off" and the party has had enough. Kethry Sleeps one of them, but they seem to have noticed, and begin accusing her of being a witch and to come over to them for punishment accompanied by exceptionally explicit gestures.  Akadum challenges one of them to a wrestling match and the apparent leader gets up.  Shiso tells them that perhaps this should be taken outside, which seems to enrage the man and he charges at Shiso brandishing a beer bottle.  Meanwhile Kethry has Slept one of them, and uses Mage Hand to pull the halfling's hat over his eyes.  This distracts him as he struggles with the hat while babbling

about sorcery.  Shiso is easily able to side step the charging man who is sent sprawling to the ground amid the crash of the breaking beer bottle.

Appearing to all in the center of the room is the grey cloaked figure.  He screams "No, no! You should not have come here.  All is cursed and only suffering and death await those who stay!  It is too late.  She comes!  We and all who came before us are trapped now.  She comes!"

All smell smoke and see the walls are smoldering and turning black.  A bell begins ringing, and heavy footsteps are approaching...