Session 14

General Summary

Our heroes found themselves in an old abandoned and ruined village on the edge of the Forest of Ninn. They were inside the basement of a broken down old tower. Lynott and Drax stood by the remains of a smashed door, looking into a tunnel down which a hill giant was approaching. Another giant was up on the surface, crossing the ruined village in their direction, watched by Elijah who was hunkered down in the shadows up there. Jaina�s holy symbol was glowing gently, spreading comforting light to those in the basement with her.   Elijah decided that staying to melee the giant on the surface alone was a bad idea and so scampered to the stairs back into the basement. From there he aimed a solid slingshot right into the giant�s face. This seemed to annoy it and it bellowed and charged towards the tower. At the same time Drax unleashed crossbow quarrel at the giant in the tunnel and that foe also charged in towards the basement through the tunnel. The two giants arrived at the same time and Snow Patrol were sorely pressed. By combining their attentions on one giant at a time, however they were able to prevail. The giants tried to stomp on Drax, but the wily dwarf, veteran of many campaigns in the mountains, was a match for them and nimbler than he appeared. Elijah rolled between one giant�s legs and flanked him. Soon the giant toppled, blasted back by a ray of holy fire from Jaina�s holy symbol. Lynott stepped up and skewered the last one and the others swarmed over it and it too fell.   Taking a breather they searched the giants for anything of interest but were disappointed. They moved down the tunnels and into the lair of the hill giants and set up camp for the night. About this time a figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Fett, who had returned from Pembrose where he had returned Lordana safely and collected the six hundred gold Imperials for killing Delvo and rescuing the farmer�s wife. These he distributed to the group.   The night was peaceful and quiet � perhaps nothing was stupid enough to enter the lair of two hill giants � and the sun dawned in the east as Fett was on guard. The sharp eared elf heard a noise coming from the village ruins, just detectable over Drax�s snoring. It was the sounds of something being dragged. He peered out and saw a small giant, perhaps a forest troll, dragging a large deer along through the ruins in the general direction of the hill giants� lair. Fett woke the sleeping group and they all quickly armed and armoured themselves, splitting up to hide as best they could. The troll dragged the deer carcass into the clearing, presumably bringing it for breakfast for the two hill giants, and the team ambushed it. Even a large and dangerous giant like a troll was no match for the combined efforts of Snow Patrol. They quickly subdued it and then grabbing torches from the fire, set light to it, knowing that if left alone the troll would regenerate and rise again. It burnt quickly and fiercely and was soon gone.   With the troll vanquished the group returned to the tunnels beneath the village. They noted that the tunnel leading to the shrine was cold and felt somehow evil. They decided to investigate and found that it lead to some sort of basement with a spiral staircase which lead up into the ruined shrine. The iconography was old and indistinct and it wasn�t clear who the shrine was dedicated to but it appeared it might have once been to Pelor but had now been desecrated. The group didn�t feel up to dealing with this evil shrine this day so retreated back into the tunnels. They went the other way and found themselves in some tunnels which were being used and created by the ankhegs. Two further ankhegs were discovered on the surface where these tunnels emerged and even though Fett and Elijah were quiet and soft-footed the insectoids detected them and scuttled to attack. One dug right into the ground where it stood and moments later emerged behind the group. The two creatures sprayed acid all over the tunnels where the team were grouped and no one escaped without getting burnt. But there were five strong armed adventurers and only two giant insects and the result was never in doubt. Soon both ankhegs lay dead, their chitinous bodies cracked and ichor oozing out.   Searching further they found that one of the tunnels in this area lead onwards and onwards to the west, gently sloping down. They followed it for some way and realised that it must be leading deeper into the Underdark. It seemed they had found the entrance that Crus had hinted might still be here. They decided that they didn�t want an extended foray into the Underdark right now and so returned to the ruined village. At this stage they were unwilling to further search the evil shrine and so they returned back to Twain.   Arriving there late afternoon they took the two hill giant heads to Constable Duggin and collected their reward of three hundred and fifty gold Imperials, and then set out to see Crus. Once more they were greeted by a door with a mouth which asked who they were and then let them in. Crus greeted them and bid them come up to his lounge where trays of meats, sweets and drinks magically floated up to them. Crus quizzed them on their discoveries and listened as they told him of their battles and their success at finding an Underdark entrance under the ruined village. He was pleased to find this knowledge out. In return he told them a small amount more about the pillars on their map. He said that the pillars were inscribed with magical words and that the order in which they were read was significant. The group noted this information and then made their excuses and left. They were sorely tired and in need of a good night�s sleep.   That night Drax dreamt once more of the human in platemail. He was striding through the dark, quiet streets of a grey and very wet city. A dull continuous roar could be heard in the background. Drax wasn�t sure what this all meant but at breakfast he told the group and they agreed this sounded like Dun Eamon, a city to the north called the Grey Citadel. It was built in the middle of two huge waterfalls and was said to always be wet and the waterfalls would explain the dull roar that Drax could hear. Quite what this meant the group weren�t sure � other than perhaps this was the next nearest demonologist � which meant there were none left in Quail Valley. Drax knew that Dun Eamon was home to some of the finest dwarven smiths in the Empire, and Fett knew he had a contract to find the Begley Brothers and return them there. Perhaps it was a place they might visit soon?   Thursday 14th September dawned bright and cheerful. The group broke their fast and then set out into the warm morning sun. They followed the river downstream on the northern bank and around lunchtime camped in the shade of the trees on the edge of the Ninn Forest where the tributary from the ruined village flowed into the river. Here they turned into the forest proper and as the sun set over the far off Stoneheart mountains in the west they came across the site of the ruined village once more. They moved slowly and carefully to the site of the old ruined church and in the fading daylight Jaina was able to confirm that this was indeed an old shrine of Pelor. Approaching closer to a broken down wall they could see in to the inside properly. The place was unnaturally cold and gloomy and Jaina felt a chill run down her spine. The shrine had been defiled by agents of the Demon Prince. 4 old sarcophagi were placed in a row in the middle of the shrine and plaques described them as the graves of four old priests of Pelor. The group readied themselves and Drax stepped across the broken down threshold and into the shrine proper.   As he did so the place fell eerily silent. Then two ghostly figures rose from two sarcophagi. Jaina gasped in shock and Drax almost stumbled backwards. These were two evil wraiths, and they were drawn to the life energy of the living. The flowed out of the sarcophagi and towards Drax. Jaina stepped forward and brandished her holy symbol, calling on Pelor and blasted one of the ghosts with a lance of holy fire. Its ethereal form burned and it writhed in pain. Jaina and Lynott summoned magical weapons of pure force to battle the undead after Fett�s arrows, Elijah�s sling bullets and Drax�s axe passed mostly harmlessly through the incorporeal undead. The two wraiths sunk into the floor away from Jaina and the party dropped back into the evening sunlight � Jaina telling them that wraiths hate the sunshine.   All was quiet and the wraiths were nowhere to be seen. Eventually Drax decided to bravely move into the centre of the shrine. He planted his feet, hefted his axe and waited. The others took aim with spell and missile weapons waiting for the wraiths to return. Sure enough, as if they could sense his warm life form the two undead drifted up through the floor to try and engulf the dwarf. Magical weapons swung, arrows hissed and the two wraiths were stretched a bit thinner. Then Jaina�s holy fire lanced right through one destroying its link to the Shadowfell and all that gave it power. It fizzled out with a echoing dying scream. One was left. Like the troll before it, even a wraith was no match for the combined might of Snow Patrol. Soon it too was destroyed and the shrine fell silent once more. It was notably warmer in the area too.   Jaina spent some time whilst there was still some daylight left removing the corruption of the evil Demon Prince on the old shrine of her god. She realised that properly re-consecrating this place was beyond her given the ruined state it was in, but she was able to remove the taint that it was under. The sun had gone by the time she had finished and the group decided to find somewhere to rest up and camp the night before they headed home. In fact they decided there was no need to head back to Twain in the morning � they could set their sights on returning to Pembrose and then from there maybe head north again and try and finally make it to Bostwick. They retreated to the shelter of the hill giants� lair and made camp. All wondered what the morning would bring�
Report Date
10 Apr 2024