Session 18: Lord of the Pies! Report

General Summary

At Carla Ruttenberry’s cabin our heroes found naught but the dog Nala, companion of the half-elf woodsman Belfur, himself Carla’s lover. Why was Belfur’s dog sticking close to Carla’s place? After some more investigation in the cabin, Mi'tsuru'gi realized that the scarf Daktarin Stren had found upon the road must have belonged to Carla, even though she had been absent from Steigs Stand for a week or more. This did not bode well; perhaps Carla and Belfur were wrapped up in the Pie Contest deaths! Nala seemed to want the heroes to follow her in the general direction of Belfur’s cottage in the woods, so follow her they did.

Nala and the heroes moved through the light forest and quickly to the Thwar Road and then turned off the road around the spot where Carla’s scarf was found. Within five minutes of the road they happened upon a corpse, countless maggots writhing upon the half-eaten humanoid. As Dak and Qira approached, two of the maggots expanded with the sickening sound of stretching and rending flesh and attacked. Their sword work destroyed the fiends, with the help of arrows and firebolts from Mitsu and Brimble Knackles. Examining the corpse, the heroes realized that this was Belfur, attacked by something not of the forest. They continued on the faint trail with Nala whimpering softly.

Almost an hour passed when the heroes came upon a widened part of the path, flanked by two hills. As Qira and Dak pressed on, Mitsu skirted through the trees at the path’s edge. Within moments two arrows sailed down the way, missing Dak, but hitting Qira. As those two charged forward, Dak was caught by a tree-felling trap and jumped into melee with the trap-setter. More arrows came at the party from their flank and while caught between adversaries, invisibility spells, sharp steel, and arrows eventually brought down their foes. These fighters seemed to be commoners from Steigs. They must have been caught in the Gulabus’s net (or pie plate).

Shortly after the ambush, the party came to Belfur’s cottage, a slightly weedy garden out front and strangely full of rats. The party tried to see in the cottage through latticed windows, but caught only shadowed glimpses of something inside. Gil flew into the place and was quickly dispatched, by what all now assumed was the resident demon. Before their next move could be considered, swarms of rats attacked Dak and Qira, but the two soon moved to the back of the cottage as the Gulabus burst from the door. By this time all had come to the building and attacked the fiend. Poisoning claws raked the heroes and sickening bites tore their flesh, but the Gulabus was no match for the four.

After defeating the abys dweller the heroes entered Belfur’s home. The single room had a rotten sweet smell, sickening. The only item not wrecked beyond use was a carved statuette of an obese man.

Returning late to Marcus Wrathbone's Steigs Rest, the heroes debated the fate of the Pie Contest, the contestants and participants. Why did the Gulabus infect Steigs with its wretched gluttony? A few things were learned though before much needed sleep caught up with the heroes: a drunken Sedona Myth told Dak of a over-large reward offered by the Margrave for any information on the necromancers supposedly scheming in the Vale of the Mage…

Rewards Granted

XP:
Fiendish Maggot x 2: 1400
Steigs Woodsman x 6: 600
Rat swarms x 2; 100
Gulabus: 1800
    Total per PC: 1000 XP (rounded up)