Session 19: the Killer instinct Report

General Summary

A week had passed since tragic deaths spoiled the Steigs pie contest (Session 18: Lord of the Pies! Report). Our heroes had discovered a gulabus, a demon of gluttony, was behind the loss of life. They confonted the evil creature and by slaying it, forced the demon back to the abyss.

Now after some well deseved rest (and leveling up!), the party, minus Qira upstairs with a nasty cold, was enjoying an afternoon meal and ale when Rathello McDiggers, the blacksmith’s apprentice rushed into the common room: “someone has killed Master Dumboldt!” he yelled. With Daktarin Stren leading the way the heroes rushed to the blacksmithery. At the door, Brimble Knackles spied strange elongated and clawed footprints, made by no typical humanoid, and the smith’s body lay half-obscured in the building behind a bench. All could see the blood pooling back behind his neck. As Mi'tsuru'gi moved in through an open window and the others cautiously advanced, two husks of human skin arose and attacked Dak, who now stood between the strange creatures and Brimble. Although arrows pierced them and Brim’s firbolt scorched them, one Husk, a human like thing without bones, a sack of skin with a gaping slit from throat to groin, smothered Dak. As the heroes continued to fight it, both Dak and the creature suffered the fire and piercing damage meant for the the creature only.   After the Husks were ruined, the heroes were able to look around the smithy. Dumboldt’s arms had been cut so cleanly off it was as if a surgeon’s scalple had been used. A journal in the upstairs noted some recent intricate smithing for Kisset Alwin of the apothecary, but nothing out of the ordinary. A small bottle found on the ground floor might have come from the evil laboratory of the Druid Argus (Session 14: Argus Defeated! Report). This bottle contained a thin blue residue and was first noticed by Rat moments earlier.   Leaving the smithy, Nala tracked a scent from the strange footprints. These prints traversed the road between The Rest, the smithy, seemingly into the forest, and from the road north to the Everwood (and Argus’s abode).   Unclear what it all meant, the heroes thought it best to first pay Kisset a visit. At the apothecary, the grandmotherly woman seemed confused by the party’s questions, but then curious about the hullabaloo. As the party was about to leave, a Husk came from out of the backroom and attacked. Again, the heroes prevailed, but immediately after, Nala’s barking drew all outside. They followed the dog towards The Rest and off into the forest beyond from where the trail went cold.   Without clear leads, the heroes retired to The Rest, wary though they were. The inn was full of the ususal folks, some Steigs locals, although perhaps fewer than normal, some travelers. Sedona Myth was there again, trying to catch Dak’s eye. Later in the evening a soldier came through the doors: Garret DuBois, former commander of Ironwall Keep in the Gran March. Dak, ever-driven to learn more about the war (for particular reasons), spoke with DuBois, and the commander recounted the story of his company’s destruction at the Battle of Shalla Crossing, and that he is now searching for the winged riders who brought doom to his men. And yes, DuBois had seen the red arrows of a Kettish force sought by Dak and suggested that if he seeks these arrows, and those who fired them, he should head south to Thwar and then east to the crossing.   The evening had gotten late and most had retired. Brimble was upstairs in his room while Dak and Mitsu finished the last in their mugs. As Dak moved to the bar, a looming, impossibly long figure rose up from behind the keg. The creature threw back its cloak revealing two arms ending in razor sharp glaives, with two more arms (the blacksmith’s) beneath these, sewn to its torso. Dak was stunned and the creature’s voice grated “the book” as its bladed arms sliced into him. Both Dak and Mitsu engaged the creature; it must have been upstairs in hiding. The horror’s only focus was Dak and it continued to attack, slicing and slicing, the wounds it created spilling more blood than one would think. Brimble appeared at the head of the stairs and fired into the creatures back, all the while it still intoning for “the book”.   Eventually, thankfully, it fell. And the heroes, gulping air, wondered why here? Why this creature? Then they remembered. The book was taken from the Druid Argus, himself receiving it from someone unknown. The Husks resembled the outerskins of zombies they had seen at Argus’s abode. And of course the smith fashioned the lead sheath within which our heroes hid the book. Someone was hunting them.

Rewards Granted

3 x Husk = 300 xp 1 x Limbcutter = 1800 xp putting 2 & 2 together and getting close to 4 = 300   total XP for three PCs: 800 each

Notes

150 sp spent for the party for room and board at The Rest.