Session 10 3/25/23

After breaking through the wall, we emerge into a rather ordinary basement. There were a handful of spiders that we easily dispatched, and then we proceed up the stairs. Expecting to find some great evil mastermind, Rex heats up the door, but all he does is burn a small child. A child! Perhaps he really is an evil mastermind. He attempts to bribe the child with a gold piece to smooth things over, which works out well - it turns out this building is nothing more than an orphanage so the kids need money and there are no adults around to cause any trouble for us. Apparently, it's jut the neighboring house and has nothing to do with the monsters down below. That mystery will need to wait for another day.
 
We return to the inn to rest up, but on the way Rex gets his coin purse stolen. It could be a way for him to transmit information to his other evil conspirators, or he could just be an idiot who lost his money. Stupid or evil - I can't yet tell. At the inn, I attune to my new flame tongue blade, preparing for wisp hunting tonight. The afternoon is nice and quiet for a change.
 
As dusk approaches, we begin to leave town towards the area where wisps were seen. Verna and Rex don some glowy headgear to try to attract wisps. It's not the most conventional way to hunt, but surprisingly it works. Not too long after dark, we stumble across a pair of wisps and an evil flaming skull! The flame skull is a surprise. We hunt the wisps easily enough, but it was touch and go against the flame skull. His opening volley nearly cleared out our party, but we managed to recover and after a grueling battle he fell as well. Rather than die, he went into a semi-dormant stasis. He could communicate, but not fight. I recall that after a short time, he would emerge from that state at full strength again unless he is fully destroyed in a proper holy ritual. We must get him to the church! Good thing the church's motto is "Semper fidelis" so they will be ready to dispatch evil no matter the time of day or night it appears.
 
He must have charmed Rex somehow because Rex attempted to save him, forcing me to forcibly take the skull from Rex. Either that or Rex truly is the evil mastermind behind all that is wrong in the world. No time to figure that part out, my strength is nearly spent and I do not have time to recover before the skull will be able to fight - we must rush him back to the church. Rex stays behind, hopefully the charm will wear off. Or hopefully not, if he's dead it's a little sooner than expected, but not too surprising given his physical strength.
 
The rest of us arrive back to town, and surprisingly the church isn't ready. "Semper fidelis" is prominently displayed in one of the stained glass windows, but unfortunately for these townspeople it's just talk. Evil could overrun this town without much difficulty. So much for protectors and guides of the weak; this church truly is as corrupt as I thought. After what seems like far too long, a frail old priest emerges and after a depressing conversation about how inexperienced he is in dispatching evil, he remembers that they have a magical room that will suffice to contain and eventually destroy the skull. Good enough for me. He asks for backup from the local guard station. We were going to make a report there anyway so I agree to send some over.
 
As expected, the person stationed at the station for the night shift is not the brightest bulb in the force. He can barely read, and isn't too keen on big words in conversation. Verna fortunately volunteers to fill out the paperwork for him; he just needs to sign at the bottom. I explain the situation while she does that. He doesn't understand how speed, distance, and time are correlated and attempts to chide me for bringing evil to the town. This brute probably only understands one thing. I simply ask him if he likes hitting things; he says yes. I tell him to go to the church with some friends and be ready to hit a fire skull. That works and off he goes.
 
We return to the inn for the night, and the next morning we turn the wisp essence in for 50 gold a piece. Not a bad nights work!
 
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Earned 25g (50 gold x 2 wisps / 4 players)
Rex is probably evil - he burns children and saves flaming skulls.