The Mouth of Doom: Session 12
General Summary
Take Two
Report Date
09 Jan 2021
It has been a few weeks since the group of Wrenjers and their friends had left Zelkor’s Ferry for Castle Calaelen with the hope to turn the occupied ruin into an outpost for the Wrenjers. They all fell to the evil within and currently walk the halls as more servants for the Master. Now on the 28th of Zhira a group of adventurers have assembled in the only town that has survived out in the Brume for many years. They had rested just outside the town the night before and had arrived by the docks. It was just above freezing and very windy, it seemed that winter was making a resurgence.
Arddan had been gathering adventurers to help stop the growing darkness that was festering in the Forest of Hope and underneath the surface. This mission was incredibly important to him, not just to resolve the unfinished task but to rectify his previous group's death. The new recruits had been warned that it was an extremely dangerous mission. Some sort of force was acting in the eastern part of Gylidd, something that hadn’t been wiped away by Vrokíva’s Brume. The only way that this could happen is if there was a leyline involved. Arddan and the others who know of the highly sensitive mission have come to believe that there is a civilization festering and whatever power that has accumulated is most likely from those who fled the sacking of Tsar.
As they make port, the guard captain greats the newcomers. He had been appraised of the bounty placed by the Bristlebacks and the disappearance of the previous group. Arddan hadn’t accompanied this group stating simply that they were gathering more assistance; however, they explain that Arddan has sent them and they are there for the necromancer which the bounty had talked about. The Captain invites them out of the gusty winds and they head across the small town square. All the shops and homes are closed up, reserved, as if the whole town has gone into hiding.. And indeed the guard Captain explains that they are relieved to see another group of Wrenjers as they were starting to lose hope.
Cutting right to the case, he explains there is another necromancer in town and that Olman is a nice old man who wouldn’t cause anyone any harm but they knew that the best way to get a lot of eyes of the bounty would be to announce that there was a Necromancer that needed slaying. He continues with explaining the location of the castle and a couple of different paths. It was less than a day’s travel on land or a group could row upstream and arrive there quicker. Castle Calaelen was an old fortress set into some cliffs. The last group had been requested to investigate the surroundings and had dealt with some gnolls south of town. He had last seen, alive, after dealing with the gnolls around a giant pumpkin. A could days after that he saw them once again but this time accompanied by a goblin and turned into zombies. The bounty is two thousand gold for proof of the necromancer’s death, another hundred gold each for the bodies of the fallen. The last being paid by Capatain Akrad himself.
The Captain tried to recount what little they could see of the goblin. It seemed like they didn’t care about their upkeep, had metal armor, a mace, a shield with a holy symbol...that looked gold. Kanndra Dark, Olman’s wife and the town’s scout, had reported that the castle seems abandoned with no fires at night, no extraneous sounds, just a silence and a pull of the grave. The new recruits ask for a map and a couple of them start to copy their own from it making sure to note the labeled areas. In particular, the large red bear that was mad either naturally or not needed to be dealt with soon as it was not healthy for this beast to exist.
Two of the adventurers needed to stable their mounts before leaving the town and after doing so they all decided to talk with the local necromancer and scout for various reasons. Olman has taken ill and Kanndra as home so they all head to the Dark’s tower. Leofric, the cleric gave them all a boost of health and determined that Olman was sick and old and that there wasn’t much hope of his condition improving. Going into more detail, Kanndra explains the castle used to be lit at night and now it isn't and that there are now more footprints all around the area. It seems that the gate house is left open and unattended, some muse that there are other ways to arm an entrance then closing the door. Te’Leyuura asks if there is another way into the castle and Kanndra explains that the only other way would be a difficult but passable cliff face.
Before heading out they head to the Inn, rent some rooms and store some of their items. During this time they talk about what each one of the adventurers could offer in a battle. Amelia Bristleback overhears them and offers a prayer and some food to go. The area outside of the town walls is thick with mud and dirt. The conifers are thriving while the other trees have lost their leaves weeks ago. They decide to investigate the ‘sign post’ first and then find a spot to ford the stream. The area is hilly enough to just obscure the area until they are nearly upon the massive stone statue. Looking down, they can see that the area leading to and from the statue is well trod and it looked like it had been traversed recently as there are still footprints in the snow. The tracks look to be from bipeds with one set of smaller prints that must lead the charge as they are trampled by other footprints. At the statue the snow has been lovingly wiped from the commanding demon shape. While the others ponder the statue, Sidrwd uses their magic to cover their tracks.
They are able to ford the streams and head north of the castle’s hill, at this point they can either head through the lowlands and approach the castle from the gatehouse or they can climb the hill and approach from the cliff face. Weighing the options, they determine that the risk is worth it and they head up the hill. Most of them manage the difficult climb surprisingly well with only Leofric taking a rather harsh fall into a rock. All but Artem remain resting and taking some time to heal. Artem moves forward scouting. They can see a hole in the south eastern tower and as they approach they swear they can see the glint of two eyes that are very wide apart. They decide to retreat backwards as stealthy as they could until the instinct to run takes over. The tabaxi moves much faster than the massive corvid. Artem determines that it must be some sort of crow/raven but there is something about the sheen to its feathers that might be fiendish.
As Artem explains what they have seen, the group talks about what they should do. It is pointed out that they are not in any rush and they can take their time. They are worried that if the corvid grabbed one of them only Zelon could fight it off. All of them worry about being picked up and dropped. They discuss luring it out or just waiting for nightfall. The courtyard is empty and the gatehouse is completely open but then all the climbing would be wasted. After some talk, they decide to wait until nighttime, try to get within fifty feet of the edge and make some spots for them all to take cover in to help prevent the giant bird from snatching them. Then after they have either determined if the corvid is asleep, or fight the bird, or flee from the bird, or whatever happens they will repel down into the castle.
During their waiting, they notice two deer wander out of the nearby woods, eat some leaves then head back. It seemed like one of the party members wanted to hunt but changed their mind. After a short time they see the same two deer wander out to snack, however, the smaller one gets pounced upon by a mountain lion. Artem makes themselves a bigger feline and the mountain lion wanders off. Nearing the end of their waiting they notice the deer, farther down, come out alone to eat.
