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.
No comments:
Post a Comment