Report: Mysteries in the Moss

General Summary

For my glorious return to adventuring, we were heading down into Mosstown to investigate the ruined city. Or continue investigating at least. Some of the others had been down there already, but this was my first time. It was actually my first time getting out of Bastion or Gravesend in a while. I had been busy in town, helping to re-establish our base of operations. But things were finally well enough in order that they could afford to lose me for a few hours.

As I was stretching out, I realized that my efforts in town had come at a cost. While I had been busy with my honest work, the others had been traversing the lands, swinging their swords, and getting into trouble. For a brief moment, I was a little concerned I might not mesh well with them anymore. But that was a silly thought. Who didn’t love the company of good ol’ Vinny Maze?

Patrick had laid out a plan for us to follow, which I was ready to oblige. But he cautioned me on my enthusiasm. We would need to take things slow to try and avoid unwanted attention. Right, the streets were crawling with shambling undead.

Not that it mattered. We could have been sneaking around on our tiptoes, and I swear those ghouls would still have caught up to us. As careful as we were, we were running into them practically every ten feet. I knew Patrick was deft on his toes (and fingers), but Russell tended to keep company with a loud elephant. I doubted that helped him keep his stealth in practice.

After some scuffles, we finally arrived at our first stop, the smithy. To our surprise, the doors were locked. Someone was inside. I knocked on the door, and called out in my friendliest voice. No answer. Patrick resorted to magically picking the lock, and we let ourselves in.

The room was in decent shape. It still looked like a smithy, but there were obvious signs that someone was using this place as shelter. We rooted around, looking for that person, until Russell uncovered a man hiding behind a barrel. It was hard to tell he was even a man at first, he was so thickly swathed in his dark clothing. Only his golden eyes were visible.

Revealed, the man started yelling angrily at us in some gibberish. But not gibberish, I guess. Pales could understand him. I realized that Pales and the mystery man had the same golden eyes - were they related? Patrick cast Tongues on himself and joined their conversation.

I could understand a bit of what Patrick was saying, but the rest of the talk was gobbledegook to me. Patrick and Pales explained the situation after. The man’s name was Rheed and he was a scavenger. He was a survivor, one of a few who had escaped the Queen’s curse. The curse was what had converted most of New Torovia into their present state - the shambling undead. I bit my lip; that explained where those had come from.

Furthermore, Rheed was in a bit of a bind. One of his fellow scavengers had gone missing. The scavenger was a woman named Magatha. Patrick volunteered us to go find her. Not that I wouldn’t have offered myself…but I was hoping we could have negotiated some kind of deal with Rheed first. Of course I wouldn’t want to take advantage of someone in such dire circumstances, but a guy had to try. Who knew what we would find here?

We began our search looking in the quarry. Something shiny caught my eye; Russell joined me in going to retrieve it. But then two giant stone golems emerged from the ground. They started attacking, and Patrick suggested we run away. That was a no-brainer.

After we caught our breath, we found ourselves at what used to be the town tavern. If Magatha was going to hide out anywhere, here would be a good option. We would need to check inside. Weirdly, the interior wasn’t as abandoned as it appeared. In fact, it was bustling with activity inside. The catch - they were all ghosts. But man, did those ghosts brew a good drink.

We took down our drinks, and then Patrick dispelled the magic that conjured the ghosts. With the place clear, Pales did his thing, looking for signs of the lost scavenger. We didn’t find any clues inside, but we finally noticed that someone had tried sneaking in through the back. And they left a trail.

As we followed it, I noticed that some of my things had gone missing. Damn ghosts. They’d said those drinks were free, but I guess you can’t trust someone you can’t shake hands with.

The trail led us deeper into the caverns. The skeletons of buildings gave way to wild flora,thick with meaty mushrooms. Pests were hidden among those stalks, but we were able to deal with them without too much trouble.

Finally, we reached a dead end. We spied a fallen aasimir stalking the grounds, looking for something. Or someone. While everyone else distracted it, I went looking for Magatha. I found her huddled behind a big mushroom. She was lucky we’d arrived when we did. Her hiding place wouldn’t have protected her for much longer. As I led her out of the clearing, I looked to the rest of the gang. I was going to give them the call to retreat, but then I saw Russell wrestling the Aasamir down. The creature fell, dead.

Now that we didn’t have to worry about that thing chasing at our heels, we returned to Rheed at a leisurely place. He was impressed and grateful that we’d brought his lost girl back to him. I asked what he might do for us in return. He offered information as reward. Patrick was happy enough with that as he peppered the man with questions. Patrick got his answers, but it still didn’t feel like the deal was quite finished.

Pales nearly begged Rheed to come back with us. Mosstown clearly wasn’t safe. I couldn’t blame the guy for wanting the scavengers to come back with us either. The resemblance between them and Pales was uncanny. The elf had always seemed something of a loner to me; now he’d finally found someone like him. I suggested it in a more diplomatic way. Maybe Rheed’s people could send someone to Bastion as a sort of envoy? We wouldn’t make them do anything they didn’t want to, but it would be useful to have another set of hands around base. And they would learn about the surface too - something that they’d neglected to do for a while.

Rheed made no promises, but at least he seemed open to working with us in the future. It would have to be enough. We’d spent enough time in the undead city. It was time for us to go home.

-Scribed by Vinny Maze
Adventuring Party:  Vinny, Patrick, Monique, Pales, Russell
Date: 24MAR23

Report Date

15 Mar 2023