Chapter 30: Forgotten Lullaby
General Summary
Date: 18th of Eleasis to 24th of Eleasis, 1491 DR
After the events of the Wizard Trials the heroes enjoyed a refreshing night in the Gilded Horseshoe in Longsaddle. As morning arrived they purchased a riding horse and a wagon and set off towards Xanthral's Hold to seek out the outlaw Weevil. The horse was named Roach #1, in memory of Roach #1.
The journey however did not go without trouble. Nomime screamed a warning to Ranvas as a massive boulder came hurling towards the wagon. Ranvas managed to pull out of the way, but doing so the wheel broke and the cart came to a stop. The ground shook as two Stone Giants came charging towards the party. Battle was on them! Ranvas emptied his gun, riddling the giants with bullets while Bene sliced them with his daggers. Nomime and Virion both hurled several fireballs on top of the giants that after a gruesome battle the giants eventually fell.
While Bene and Nomime were searching and dismembering the giants, Ranvas and Virion found a cart full of corpses that the giants were transporting somewhere. The heroes held a rest, repaired the broken wheel and gave the corpses a funeral pyre. As the bodies burned, all of them thought about the same thing: The giants must be stopped.
As night gathered the heroes had arrived to the walled village of Xanthral's Keep. Many of the houses looked empty and cold, but the adventurers managed to find a cozy inn called the "Bear and Black Buckler". They were greeted with
Darid and Isalda Shalebrow, the two owners of the inn. ... Isalda, the sole owner of the inn. They had some dinner and asked about Weevil, thus learning that the
blacksmith hired a new apprentice a month ago and the church would know if he came with refugees.
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Suddenly a beggar rushed into the tavern and tried to communicate with the party. It drew a face on a paper, growing more desperate as the heroes were trying to understand what was the matter. To their horror, the beggar shoved a pen into his ears, sobbing and crying as he is pierced eardrums were now bleeding onto the ground. Darid the innkeeper escorted the beggar to the church to be healed. This event left the party with more questions and a low-sinking feeling of dread in their stomachs.
Bene met with a halfling rogue who was brooding in the corner. The teen belonged to an infamous group of River Rats situated in Rivermoot. After a few exchanged words Bene left the edgy and mysterious gang member to himself. The party made their way to their room where they would enjoy a good long nights rest.
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During the night the party awoke to the screams of their friend Fardas the party druid. Long elongated arms were dragging the gnome through the window where a pale face bit into his body. The party rushed to aid their friend but all of them quickly halted and stood by the window. Fardas watched as his friends turned their backs and headed to their beds before he was dragged to the dark underground, where he would eventually lose his life.
When morning arrived Ranvas noticed a broken window and a some mysterious gear in one of the unoccupied beds. They found a health potion, adventuring gear, Dirinor's Herbalism Guide and a quarterstaff. The party had no idea to who the items belonged but they made a unsettling discovery when they found a drawing among the gear. Coming to the common room they met Isalda who seemed quite overwhelmed with the tasks at the inn, but managed to cook them a decent breakfast.
The heroes then began questioning the innkeeper about her husband, which she had no idea of knowing since she wasn't married. The adventurers pointed out that she had a ring which was confusing since she knew not where she got it from. After the strange occurrences the heroes continued their task of finding Weevil. They headed out to the blacksmith which was empty and abandoned since there hasn't been a blacksmith in this town since forever.
With no luck they made their way to the church where they met Tammith, the priestess of Lathander. She told that no refugees were at the church but the blacksmith's house had a similar looking fellow like in the wanted poster. The Goodfellas were stuck and traveled throughout the town searching for clues about Weevil. They found the apothecary empty with bottles of quicksilver at the counter as well as a poem. At the town keep which was also empty, they found a page ripped from a book that had information about a creature who was susceptible to fire and quicksilver.
They found the body of the blacksmith half-eaten inside his own home with his ears cut off. The heroes also had seen glimpses of strange arms and faces in the corner of their eyes, but that must have been their imagination.
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The heroes came back to the church seeking out the basement where they made a horrified discovery; the numerous bedrolls were empty, all the gear were covered in splatters of blood and a tunnel was looming ominously at the end of the room. The heroes knew the monster was on the other side of that tunnel. They readied their weapons and charged inside the tunnels. They came to a realization that the network of tunnels connected to numerous different residents within the village such as the apothecary, church, blacksmith, inn and several other homes.
They were quickly surprised by an army of elongated arms that attacked the party. They fought against this eldritch horror before they heard a soothing lullaby. All troubles and memories faded and the adrenaline inside their bodies vanished. The arms grabbed them and guided the four members of the party through the tunnels into the inn where they would order lunch before finding out where Weevil is.
As the innkeeper brought them their lunch, they were ready to set out to find Weevil. At this point however, the feeling of dread and nervousness filled the party. They weren't sure what was really happening, but decided to venture into the church to seek out refugees. There they made a horrified discovery in the basement; the numerous bedrolls were empty, all the gear were covered in splatters of blood and a tunnel was looming ominously at the end of the room. The heroes made their way inside the tunnel to face whatever lurked within it.
Inside the tunnels, Nomime noticed that the party was unaware of the dozens of hands that were gently tugging and guiding them through the same tunnel they had gone before towards the blacksmith's. With her help the party managed to arrive at a large underground cave with a shallow pond at the center of it. Their mind began to play tricks on them, throwing strange sights of a massive bulbous pile of skin that was coming towards them. They came to the realization that they were under attack!
The False Hydra squealed and attacked with its many heads. The party shifted between alert to unknowing of the horror that stood before them. Bene managed to hide and plug his ears, thus rendering the song of the Hydra obsolete. He commanded the others to do the same and soon the tides of battle turned. With fire and quicksilver the party was able to stop its regenerative abilities and eventually with all the heads destroyed the Hydra fell down
or so they would believe.
After the Hydra was defeated the memories of those lost came flooding to the settlement as well as the party. They remembered sharing many of their adventures with Fardas who now was lost with many of the other loved ones in Xanthral's Keep. There was no time to rest however as a dwarf came to seek out the ruckus made by the Goodfellas.
Worvil "Weevil" Forkbeard was curious to see the monster defeated. The heroes told the dwarf that they came to Xanthral's Keep to capture Weevil and would have to take him to Phandalin. Weevil wasn't interested in being captured and now that the memory-erasing monster was dead, he knew the place wouldn't be safe for him. The dwarf threw a smoke bomb and made a run for the tunnels and the heroes took chase. With already beaten and bruised facing a known criminal with a similar weapon as Ranvas, will the heroes manage to take down Weevil or will Xanthral's Keep take more than one life from the Goodfellas...?
Rewards Granted
- Giant toes
- Artistic Stones worth 100gp each
Character(s) interacted with
- Fardas Strongfoot
- Darid Shalebrow - Innkeeper of Bear and Black Buckler
- Isalda Shalebrow - Innkeeper of Bear and Black Buckler
- Tammith - Priestess of Lathander
- Alston Folkor - Caretaker of the church in Xanthral's Keep
- Oliwer
