Quillax's Account
We left Elwin behind as there was some Cleric-related task he wished to perform; I didn't understand the details of it, but he had to do it this day and was happy to catch up as soon as he had completed it. I believe it was some sort of protection against evil spell on a large scale. Neril volunteered to stick around for a short time longer to make certain that Elwin would be safe in our absence and to ensure that no one followed us.
Jarrick, Sepheria, and I set out, with myself in Elk form carrying the others. Additionally, should we need to flee suddenly for some reason, I would be able to carry everyone away mostly swiftly, well, except Clank, but I would return for my metallic companion.
We walked down Lost Coast Road to Foxglove River. As we crossed the bridge, Jarrick noted the goblins huddled underneath watching us but not daring to attack. We then continued for about another 10 miles to the bridge over Bleaklow Moor. This final bridge before Foxglove manor was in ill repair and after some examination, we determined that it would safely hold if we crossed one at a time, but it would still not hold up to the weight of my animal form. We finished the journey on foot, noticing the land dying the closer we came to our destination.
The manor itself was rotting and dilapidated, looking more like a condemned building then a once-stately home. The plant life was dead or dying, the area was silent of animal life, and even the air was foul. There seemed to be a miasma of death around the place, turning even the sun into a pale shadow of itself. The whole area was sickened and as a Druid, I found this distressing. It took much evil to kill so much of nature.
We crept closer, not wanting to announce ourselves if we could avoid it, checking out the nearby ruins of an outbuilding for enemies to avoid an ambush. We found an old water well, which looked in fair shape still, startling a flock of ravens, who flew weak and uncoordinated towards the house, disappearing onto the roof or into the eaves. They were silent, which was unlike ravens at all.
Sepheria was more interested in the architecture of the house than the well, but something about it had drawn Jarrick's interest. He called out softly to us that he heard noises - some sort of rustling, leathery sound - coming from inside. Sticking our heads into the well, we would smell death, the undead, and rotten meat. Sepheria sent Moncey down to investigate and found a tunnel near the water, hidden from view by a ledge. After a quick discussion, we decided to see where the tunnel went. We strapped Jarrick into the climbing harness, with Dark Vision applied, and sent him down with the support of a long rope held by Clank. Moncey went along while Sepheria and I waited above.
Sepheria relayed back that there was a drop into a cavern with some beast inside. Jarrick wished to know our plans.
It was around then I realized one of the ravens was staring at me still, not with the normal curiosity of that bird type, but with an intentness that was unnerving. I stared back and soon realized why the flock had been so clumsy - they were all dead. Or rather, undead. I looked around more closely and spotted more and more of the birds, in the dying trees, in the rafters, and rooftops; we were likely surrounded and vastly outnumbered. I relayed this to Sepheria and we decided to chance the tunnel rather than be attacked or spied upon.
We left a note for Neril and possibly Elwin (depending on how long he needed to spend on his ritual) with Clank, telling him to hold the rope and wait for our return, and to defend himself should he be attacked before we started planning our descent down the well and into the tunnel, preferably without ending up soaked.
With a bit of careful acrobatics, the use of my feather fall ring, and a lot of luck, both of us made it into the tunnel without landing in the water. Unsettled by the birds, I did not watch my path as well as I should have and I scuffed a bit of rubble as we shuffled along on hands and knees, sending a rock clattering noisily along the tunnel. I ducked my head at the chastising look from Jarrick at my mistake. From ahead of us, the shifting of the creature was more prominent. It reminded me of the large bats' wings down by the giantess' quarters some months ago.
We were just very, very quietly debating on how to proceed when there was a loud splash from the well behind us. The rustling of wings stilled then a head poked up from the hole just as Neril came crawling down the tunnel.
We were correct about it being a bat, or rather a skaveling. Jarrick took the brunt of its attacks as it ducked in and out of the tunnel. It screeched at us, a near deafening noise which sent little Moncey reeling but thankfully did little to us, before I was able to summon up a moonbeam to send it retreating back. The size of the tunnel made arranging ourselves for battle a bit tricky but we were able to ready ourselves for further combat. Neril bypassed the tunnel's small quarters all together and teleported into the cavern beyond, attacking the skaveling. Once the rest of us were prepared, I moved the moonbeam and Jarrick and I leapt down into the cavern. There wasn't room enough for Sepheria also to start, so she sat in the tunnel and prepared her spells.
Jarrick managed to knock the skaveling prone and we managed to take down the skaveling without much further damage to us. Sepheria dropped down to join us. We realized that this was also an undead beast - once a giant dire bat from the look of it. This was concerning as from the marks on the skaveling, it had been savaged by human ghouls.
As a precaution against further undead, I sent the moonbeam around the room and over all the dead bodies in the chamber then through the next tunnel until my spell was done. Finding no further nearby enemies, we turned our attention to the room. There were several rotting bodies, the normal type of dead, which we examined. One was realized was a notorious bandit lord known as Shaz Redshiv Billger, who hadn’t been heard of within the last year. We now knew why. He was recognizable by the giant pearl earring, the hat of disguise (which Jarrick gleefully claimed) and his finery. He was also known to have a bounty. Hedging our bets, we beheaded the corpse, wrapped the head in a cloth, and scrambled back to to tie it to the end of the rope that Clank held as no one wanted to put it into a bag of holding. Plus, the bottom of the well was cold, which would help preserve it for longer.
We burned the skaveling's body to be safe.
Finding nothing else of interest, we proceeded forward with Jarrick and Neril taking point, Sepheria in the middle, and myself as rear guard.
The tunnel forward lead into a small cavern, obviously carved out with metal tools. Several paths lead off this cavern; There was a distant sound like rhythmic breathing coming from all the paths. We guessed that perhaps it was waves as we were very close to the ocean. We temporarily split up to check out the tunnels. One tunnel lead to another cavern with abandoned tools, including a particularly well made axe. The other tunnel seemed to just go on for a bit. Sepheria called us over and we headed down the tunnel to the cavern with the tools. There was some kind of yellow mold there, which we managed to recognize as extremely dangerous before anyone got too close but we knew it was easily destroyed with fire, which we started to do. Neril wandered off briefly, then popped back with a warning call of 'Ghouls coming'. Jarrick stayed to guard the entrance ahead of us while Neril moved to defend the other which we had used to enter the cavern.
Sepheria requested that we block one of the choke points into the cavern to prevent us being attacked on multiple sides. I summoned a moonbeam and she threw a cloud of daggers inside of it. Anything approaching that side would hopefully think twice.
Unfortunately, our deterrent did not work on all the Ghouls. One particularly large one jumped through, despite the damage. Jarrick stepped up to engage it while Neril stood in the entrance of the other tunnel leading to our little cavern, blocking the Ghouls who had decided not to try to jump through the spells. I misjudged the height in the shadows of the cavern and accidentally struck Neril with fire, wincing at his unhappy response. Despite being singed, he continued to hold the Ghouls back and then lead them into the tunnel where they lined up nicely. Luckily, Sepheria's aim with her lightning staff was far better and most of the Ghouls were at least charred by her attack. Jarrick had destroyed his Ghoul Lord and came to assist. Those that survived us tried to flee and I gave chase. Neril chose to go the opposite way to try to cut it off and pointed out a Ghoul we had previously lost track of; it was destroyed also.
Once the area was safe, we dismissed our spells and examined the pick axe. It was dwarven-made and went into the bag of holding in case it could be of use. If we had to dig our way out, a dwarven axe against the soft limestone of the walls would be like cutting through butter. We took the time to drag the ghoul bodies back toward the well entrance and burn them. It was during this time we discovered one of these ghouls had what looked like the small stone wing from some sort of statue driven into his head. It looked as if it had been done in his pre-ghoul life. There was also one who had once been a carpenter if the rotting tools he still carried were any indication.
We continued forward after a short rest and Neril went to scout ahead. He came back quickly with the announcement of Goblins ahead, four by his count. We hurried forward but could find none. Employing the same tactics as before, we blocked one tunnel to discourage attackers and went the other way. Jarrick was immediately set upon from above by two Goblins, a third coming from behind where we had lay our magic. Neril took on the one that tried to attack from behind, unable to help Jarrick, who was paralyzed by their claws. I shifted forms and carefully lashed out at one, trying not to hurt Jarrick. Sepheria attacked where she could. We realized that these, too, were undead. A fourth one, injured, came limping around the corner and jumped on Jarrick. Sepheria blasted the area to try to chase the ghouls off Jarrick, rocking Jarrick's shield which had been parted from him but not damaging it.
We eventually managed to kill the goblins and were considering a rest when a voice spoke inside my head. I recognized it as Alden Foxglove, whom you may remember I had previous dealings with at the beginning of my Pathfinder's career. I relayed this to my companions, and also my creeping dread that this was not a place to rest, as if one slept here, one may not wake again. Additionally, I feared that the voice in my head was getting more difficult to resist, so I insisted we press on. He was very close - I could sense it.
We burned the goblin-ghoul bodies and moved on into the next room. It was an odd natural cavern, which had an entrance to the sea, where the ocean bubbled up from a hole in the centre, but the room dipped down sharply into a spiral down to the sea, like a reverse snail shell. There was a stone door just a bit further along but we had to clamber down and edge along the wall to not risk slipping towards the water. Jarrick used the Manor key he had been carrying and the door opened.
Down a small, winding tunnel, we came to a dank room, complete with rotting meat, an odd mold growth on the far wall, and a chair covered with blood. In the chair sat Aldan, whose eyes shone with madness. Jarrick cast Protection against Good and Evil on me, to help block the call of the voice. Aldan verbally called for me, but when I did not respond and we instead readied ourselves, he shifted into an odd, ghoul-like form and attacked. Jarrick went down heavily as did Neril. I tried summoning some fey spirits to assist but the mold growth bewitched them and started to infect them, turning them into ghouls before our very eyes. I dismissed them, aghast. Sepheria decided to go for the direct approach and dropped a fireball into the room, burning some of the mold, revealing an odd box on the ground, as well as torching a hideous painting of what appeared to be me painted in ichors and unmentionable substances. Luckily, it also burned the lock of what appeared to be my hair. Though how he got that, I do not know. I was unaffected by its burning, which was a relief.
Sepheria tried to get Neril out of the way and so I pushed up to the front to try to defend Jarrick also. I hoped the madness of his obsession would provide me some protection. And it did. Despite being in bear form, Aldan managed to drag me around the room in a sort of waltz, giddy with himself and the others forgotten. With no alternatives, I changed forms and aimed for distraction. That in turn caused him to change back to his human face and with a bit of pandering to his obsession, I was able to redirect his attention away from the others and even my own actions.
I dug out a bottle of liquor from the bag, hoping Sepheria would not mind, and poured it along with one of my poisons into the Djzet goblet of Lust, hoping that despite his inhuman form, this human one would be susceptible to the poison or the memory removal part of it; the cup was a backup measure, something in the drink I hoped would to give us an advantage. I noticed a scrap of paper that had survived the fire blast and pocketed it, feeling it important.
The drink must have given some small advantage as he allowed himself to be talked into providing information. About debts and curses and plagues, and his relative who had attempted to turn himself into a lich but instead ended up as a undead lichen and revealed the whole house was a (phylactery), which made me very glad we hadn't attempted to sleep inside it. I managed to get him to explain the box on the ground, which was part of this Vorral's spell, but I didn't understand it, so I played a hunch and managed to talk him into letting Sepheria and the others come into the room without attacking. Much to my surprise, it worked.
I thought Jarrick would bite off his tongue the way his jaw clenched as he held himself back as Sepheria spoke to Alden, but he heeded my subtle gesture and did not draw his weapon. Likewise, I hoped my warning look to Neril kept his fists in check as he kept curling and uncurling his hands, tense but unmoving otherwise. While Sepheria spoke, I offered my verbal support where possible, trying to keep Foxglove calm, sometimes pandering to his obsession.
Sepheria managed to get far more information out of Alden than I, but we could not talk our way out of his obsession and eventually his patience snapped and he once again shifted to that ghoulish form.
We were almost back where we started, but with more information and far fewer spells.
No comments:
Post a Comment