The Conqueror Worm
11 Marpenoth, The Year of Twelve Warnings (1494 DR)
Barony of Tanistan, Erlkazar
"The worm? You will like the worm. It is a noble creature." -- Count Lebrim MoldaviaWith Alice joining the adventurers, the others gained some measure of confidence knowing a healer in their midst could help ensure success in finding out what happened to Baroness Elenore Rennet. After defeating two more of the guests who despite having been killed by plate-sized bites rose up and attacked the group, everyone introduced themselves to Alice. The cleric said she was part of an adventuring party who was hired by a local village mayor who was having trouble with orc bandits raiding from the High Peaks mountains. While traveling through the Thornwood Forest after following a lead from loggers, the cleric's group was ambushed by the orc bandits and human bandits who seemed to be working together. Alice's adventuring party was outnumbered and found themselves fleeing in different directions. Alice tried to stay close to the halfling ranger but lost him in the thick underbrush and was soon separated from him. With several bandits chasing her, Alice barely managed to escape. Eventually, she found herself lost in the woods but was grateful to be alive. With only two days of rations left, she did her best to find her way out of the thick forest. She told everyone how she managed to find her way out after two days of wandering in the forest. With darkness falling on her second day lost, she spotted the light of a torch and also heard the ungodsly sound of a lute string being plucked as if in anger or to intimidate all those within hearing range. The others welcomed her into the group and explained what they were doing at the manor and their quest to find the baroness of Tanistan. Noting the injuries on Bolte and Tanjarra, Alice offered to heal them both despite knowing she would not be able to cast healing spells until she rested and prayed to her deity again. After, everyone turned to the drunkard they met earlier. When pressed for information, he pointed to a door at the far end of the main hall. He said the door would lead to the "beast in the cellar". He was forced to lead the way. The door led into a master bedroom. Luxurious carpets, paintings, and antiques adorned the room. A young man in his early twenties with short black hair and vivid blue eyes sat at the edge of a bed, his hands over his ears. He rocked back and forth and mumbled. A dim lantern on a nearby bedside table gave enough light to barely see a five-foot-wide hole surrounded by rubble on the floor at one end of the room. Brostaff asked the young man who he was. The man looked up and stared at him. "I am Count Lebrim Moldavia. Do You think I am mad? A madman cannot plan! I knew what I was doing when I killed the old vulture. I was so careful that night, so very careful not to make a sound as I entered his room. It had to be done. He watched me with his eye, watched me through the walls!” Count Moldavia looked past the group towards the hole on the floor. The man was asked about the beast in the cellar the drunkard alluded to. The man slapped his ear as if swatting away an annoying bug. "The worm? You will like the worm. It is a noble creature. It will triumph in the end. It will reduce the world to red powder and white bone — and the blackness of the pit. Only then will the incessant heartbeat stop! Only then!” The group walked up to the hole after forcing the count and the drunkard to join them. A lit torch was then dropped into the hole. It landed some fifteen onto a dirt floor. The torchlight revealed a large cellar. Casks and bottles of wine were stacked around the damp cellar. Several were destroyed. Pungent wine pooled around the room. Another stench, that of slowly rotting flesh reached the group from below. A rope was secured to the floor with a grappling hook. Each took turns lowering themselves to the cellar with Tanjarra going last as he kept watch over the count and the drunkard, whom the monk noticed was eyeing the casks and bottles of wine with a yearning thirst Tanjarra felt an entire cellar full of wine couldn't quench. To prove Tanjarra's assumption, the drunkard leaped into the pit. He struck Alice below then landed next to her, landing on his head and breaking his neck in the process. He died instantly. The group in the cellar became suddenly aware of a large presence in the room. A blood-red worm the size of a horse was feasting on the mangled bodies of masqueraders stacked nearby. Alerted by the adventurer's presence, the worm moved towards them, its maw opening and closing like grasping fingers. The battle against the worm proved almost deadly for Nip'hto. The ranger managed to avoid being swallowed whole by the worm which still scraped his entire upper body with its lamprey-like rows of sharp, serrated teeth. As the adventurers battled the worm with spells and weapons, Tanjarra who had not climbed down the rope yet, leaped into the hole from above and landed on top of the large worm. With shortsword in hand, the monk stabbed at the worm's head and struck it hard with a solid punch. The battle raged on. The worm, severely injured by the adventurers' attacks, tried to shake off Tanjara who held on tight. With a surge of energy Tanjarra mustered from deep within him, he plunged his shortsword into the worm. It let out a piercing screech and toppled to the floor. Tanjarra leapt off and landed on his feet next to his fellow adventurers. "Tanjarra the Worm Rider...and the Worm Slayer." the monk heard someone in the group say. Having dispatched the worm, the group searched the cellar. Alice looked to the wounded ranger and helped bandage his wounds. The group found Baroness Elenore Rennet. She was still wearing her masquerade gown. Unfortunately, she was dead. Plate-sized bite marks covered her body. Brostaff, who had earlier in the encounter wandered off to inspect a pool of blood he noticed seeping out of the cellar wall near where the baroness's body lay, took out a dagger and chipped away at the soft dirt wall. Moments later, he discovered the decomposing body of an old man inside the wall. It was dressed in noble's clothes. The mystery of what happened to Count Fortuno Moldavia, Count Lebrim's father, was solved. The others discerned from what Count Lebrim confessed, that he had indeed killed his father and then buried him inside the wall of the manor's cellar. With Count Fortuno dead, his only son Lebrim would naturally inherit his title and wealth. Count Lebrim Moldavia even went so far as to throw a masquerade to celebrate inheriting his murdered father's title. After searching the other dead guests, the group made their way back up to the manor. They brought up the body of the baroness and wrapped her with a blanket they took off Count Lebrim's bed. They discovered that Count Lebrim had fled the manor. The group searched the rest of the manor only to find more dead bodies and a rare book titled Tamerlane and Other Poems. Outside, the outlying buildings housed some horses that were near death and the bodies of several servants and guards. Several holes they found in the ground suggested the worm--although it seemed there may have been more than one worm that attacked everyone--had dug its way from below. They freed the horses which they offered to Alice to use once they leave the manor at dawn the next day. *** Early the next day, the group left Moldavia Manor behind. They rode back to Five Spears Hold with Baroness Rennet's body with them. A grief-stricken baron met them at the gates when they arrived at the keep. Yet there was hope! Apparently, as the seneschal Baudelaire claimed, Baron Rennet had acquired three scrolls of Resurrection spells. The rare and expensive scrolls had been acquired by the baron after the death of their only daughter who died eight months ago. The baron had the keep's cleric use one of the scrolls but it somehow failed to resurrect their daughter. Considering it an omen from the gods, the baroness refused to have the other scrolls used, despite missing her daughter Elisa. Baron Henrik Rennet ordered the keep's cleric to use the scroll to bring back his beloved Elenore. The spell failed again. The baron, in a fit of rage, almost had the cleric executed had it not been for Lord Baudelaire's intervention. The seneschal said he had been in contact with an archmage he knew in the city of Baldur's Gate along the Sword Coast. The archmage, Syndra Silvane, had shared recent talk about a so-called affliction people are calling a Death Curse. The affliction prevented all spells that breathed life into the dead from functioning. The death curse also afflicted everyone who's been recently raised from the dead. Victims grew thinner and weaker with each passing day since they had been brought back from death, steadily sliding toward the death they once denied. Lord Baudelaire didn't think much of the death curse as Syndra Silvane herself was still conducting her own research into the matter. Now it seemed there was truth to what others were saying about the death curse. The baron offered the adventurers each a sack of 150 gold pieces for bringing back his beloved Elenore and offered them each the title of constable in his barony. He gave them each a cloak pin and a writ denoting their status as law enforcers. He further offered the group, now five strong, a chance to help his family once again. If they traveled to Baldur's Gate to meet with the archmage Syndra Silvane and find any means of explaining and putting an end to the affliction that has affected entire regions, if not the entire world of Toril, he would reward them each with 1,000 gold pieces as well as noble titles, lands, or full pardons for any crimes committed against the barony of Tanistan. Lord Baudelaire added that Syndra Sylvane had mentioned rewarding any adventurer who helped her with a rare or uncommon magic item of his or her choice, delivered upon successful completion of the quest. When asked how they would get to Baldur's Gate which they knew was far from Erlkazar, Lord Baudelaire said he would teleport them all to Syndra Silvane's home. The adventurers were very eager to help the baron. Besides, they couldn't pass up the offered rewards!
Session played on April 21, 2020
Plot type
Chapter
Parent Plot
Blood Worm by Publisher's Choice Quality Stock Art © Rick Hershey / Fat Goblin Games
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