Shadows Creep Report

General Summary

The party is finally, finally leaving Tafeld - on their way to Hydrus and then to Castle Nimue. The first stop on their journey is Brenbrooke, about four days walk from Tafeld, and so the party sets out.   After slaying the creatures that were once their doom, Rickee spots his old pack with his four-week-old rations in it and happily retrieves it, much to Rishaa's shock and disgust. But, as Rickee argues, the rations are meant to be resilient and travel well. Rishaa wants to argue the point, but lets it go.   Meanwhile, Marianne, walking beside Dimitri, notices with some alarm that his nose is beginning to turn grey and crack slightly - fingers and toes doing much the same. Marianne knows frostbite when she sees it, and rushes over to assist him in making sure that he doesn't lose anymore bits. Dimitri looks down at himself with surprise, then loathing. He despaired more and more with each passing day - hating the body that he inhabited.   Rickee is somewhat oblivious to the general angst of the group, carrying the three-legged fox She-Who-Chases-The-Bluebirds underneath his cloak to keep her warm and feeding her dried jerky. Though he does notice Dimitri's condition and makes a face.   "Oh.... Oh, that's gonna peel."   As they all set down for a rest, Marianne takes the first watch. It goes relatively smoothly, and when she goes to get Rishaa up, she jokingly slaps Rishaa on the ass to get her up. Rishaa does not take this well, sitting straight upright and staring at Marianne accusingly, but Marianne doesn't notice.   After her watch is up, Rishaa wakes up Rickee, cuddled together under a mountain of blankets with Dimitri. It's all very heart warming and cute - even cuter when Rickee decides to let Dimitri sleep through the night and takes on the wizard's watch as well as his own.   As Rishaa enters back into her tent, she winds up and - smack! -  hits Marianne as hard as she can across the ass. Marianne awakens with a yelp, and stares at Rishaa aghast. Rishaa simple shrugs and lays back down. Marianne stares at her for a long moment before slowly and cautiously lowering herself back down, still staring at Rishaa's prone form until she drifts off herself into an uneasy sleep.   The next day is mild in comparison to most Vespmaran winters, and the party takes some time to hunt and forage in the surrounding areas. Rishaa finds a jackalope corpse in the woods, and although she desperately wants to use the antlers for her own project, she tears off the entire head and hands it over to Dimitri.   Dimitri, meanwhile, has found a poisonous plant known as Moonhallow, and is attempting carefully to harvest it - though 'carefully' doesn't seem to be working out for him, as he keeps shredding the leaves off the plant instead of taking them whole. Rishaa gives it a shot as well, but isn't doing much better. They call over Marianne, who despite not being trained as a healer, has had to tend to a few wounds in her lifetime and knows how to harvest herbs for those purposes. With practiced skill, she slices off the best unspoiled parts of the plant to be used later (critical success to harvest).   Rickee, meanwhile, has found himself some extra rations to keep in his pack of various nuts and roots that have survived the bitter frost, and Marianne has found some moon nettle, but unfortunately finds her concentration spent on the moon hallow and is unable to harvest it.   The next night, Rishaa takes the first watch. It is uneventful, with simply the sounds of the forest surrounding her... until she hears a wolf howl. It immediately brings her to her feet, and she rushes to wake the others. While they stare at her grouchily ("a wolf howl in a Vespmaran wood? Is that it?"), Rishaa sees a gout of flame over the treetops, behind her companions' heads.    Dimitri sighs as Rishaa continues to yell and point to the darkened forest, and reluctantly sends out his three raven familiars to take a look. To his surprise, her senses are correct: a werewolf stands, surrounded by what he guesses are nearby villagers that wield weapons and torches against it. Rishaa now insists that they follow her as she rushes out into the woods.   They run, getting closer and closer to the werewolf, seeing it in the distance and preparing to assist the villagers when suddenly.... the "villagers" win. Indeed, their movements are so precise and practiced that it casts doubt into the party's minds as to who these people are - mauled, disfigured Vespmarans that glance at them suspiciously as the four run up to the scene.   The leader introduces himself as Bloodcrafter Brennan, of the Order of the Blood. He thanks them for their attempted assistance, but as one would a little child, insists they go back to sleep now. A member of the order accompanies them, and in the morning the party awakens to find one of Brennan's number in the trees, watching them carefully for any signs of lycanthropic corruption. She seems satisfied, and leaves the party to do as they wish. The party packs quickly and makes a break for Brenbrooke, not wanting to push their luck of the fanatical hunters not having seen their undead friend.

Character(s) interacted with

• Bloodcrafter Brennan

Notes

Quote of the Session

Jay: "What do my several raven eyes see?"
Will: "I was gonna make that joke, you fucker!"