Golf Clap

 Present:

• 

  Golf clap - an instance of deliberately
   restrained clapping, expressing
  sarcastic approval but can
  ironically be used for appreciation

  Phoebe Lacrosse. Human Barbarian from Pugtown – Andrew
• Griza Muso. Human Thief from Lakeside – Jeff
• Balder Dash. Gnome Wizard from Toluene - Jamie
• Red Leicester. Human Wizard from Spite Anti - Darryl
• Red Feuersturm. Human Temple Fighter of Hob from Toluene - Chris
• MARMALADING Malcom Gandhi. Gnome Thief from Brian – Kevin
• Napolean Twig. Elf Priest of Caribou Gorn from Pugtown - Ian
• Joe Manco. Human Fighter from Toluene – Shane
• Galena Alfdis. Elf Priestess of Vingt et Un from Palantir - Steven

By Phoebe Lacrosse

Poor Sushi

Jo, Red, Griza, and I stood over the still-warm body of Sushi. Killed by the basilisk.

Actually, that was a wicked lie. The basilisk had no direct blame in Sushi's death. Sushi had impaled himself on the handle of his own club. Not only had he caused a sucking belly wound with his club handle, but he completely snapped off the reinforced hard-wood handle, and embedded it deeply behind his rib cage, so deep that it came out his mouth, and gashed open an aorta. 

It was a rather impressive sight, and the basilisk would have been grateful to do as much damage - with its MERE razor-sharp teeth, goring claws and petrification gaze. 

We left Sushi's impaled messy body off to one side, and continued the search for the basilisk's owner, the mage.

Slyth's Cave

Napolean, Balder, Galena arrived on the sorry scene and prepared to sneak into the cave.

"Balder?" I wryly suggested. "Why don't you cast Invisibility on Griza? And then he can go explore the cave. We will all wait out here."

"Unless he wants to impale himself on his sword handle," someone mused.

Balder dutifully cast his Invisibility spell. There was a loud fizzzzzztt! and shower of sparks, and, instead of Griza going invisible, suddenly Balder, Griza and Joe shoved to the ground, forcing them flat on their bellies; twice their weight. Balder had fumbled [ "Bizarre Gravity" fumble - the AoE was a 3m circle centred on Balder. Griza was the target, so he was automatically affected. Everyone else got a Luck save to be out of the way. Only Joe failed. ].

Golf clap.

"The magic user may be dead or unconscious," said Balder, wheezing as he lay on the ground, trying to regain some face.

Impatient to get on with things while the three lay squashed on the ground, we formed a line, two abreast, and entered the cavern: Red, Phoebe, Galena, Napolean, followed by the crawling slowbies.

In the first cave, were two stinking sleeping areas - where the two basilisks had presumably rested.

Across the exit of this cave, Red spotted a shimmering magic screen. We suspected it was a Glyph of Warding, or something equally dangerous.

We waited a bit for Balder to regain his composure. Balder was out of magical power - it was all expended to flatten him to the floor, you see. So, Napolean donated some of his magic energy to Balder [ there is a 1st level spell called Transfer where you can gift D6 of your magic points. Casting Transfer costs a point, so there is no free lunch. The laws of magical Thermodynamics are as tough as reality. ] 

With his new power, Balder cast a Dispel Magic spell on the shimmering with great difficulty [ He failed; no Fumble, but it cost him 5 Luck to succeed ] and eventually the shimmering sputtered out.

Golf clap.

In this next cave was a small small cooking fire. We scanned about; there was no-one here - the mage had plenty of time to exit while we were fighting the basilisk, mourning Sushi, and golf-clapping,  but there was an escape tunnel. 

I rushed down and it ended in a wall ladder through to a ceiling hole. It was a difficult climb in heavy armour, so Red collected Napolean and Joe and they hurried outside to find the top of this chimney outside on the hill. 

I, wearing only stylish barbarian leather armour, easily climbed up and met up with them outside in the woods.

Someone brought some of the rags from below, and that allowed Tiny (Napolean's dog) to be let loose with the mage's smell. Tiny found a track, but it wasn't long and it soon stopped.

Fine-tooth comb

We got out our fine-toothed combs and thoroughly searched this area, but there was no trace. Being a wizard meant he could have changed into a crow (still plenty around), used the Fly spell, teleported, or even levitated away.

Red wanted to satiate his Hob desires and burn the forest here. Napolean said no !

We all returned to the two caves and got down to a more thorough search. Significant finds were an elf skeleton,  a bag of 300gp, and a bow. And a half-burnt letter:

Balder still had some power left, so cast Detect Magic ... and fumbled ! Suddenly, Balder glowed with a blinding light, bright as the sun. We all shielded our eyes - no-one could look direct at the glowing gnome lest their retinas be burned. But it did help to search out each nook and cranny of the cave.

Golf clap.

By the light of Balder, Napolean - one of the few of us who could actually read - read the half-burnt letter:

"A. They good. Especially the wee gnome. Will join with Sylvia, signed Slyth."

The ink was fresh. 

"Who do we know that starts with an A?" I asked.

"Alexandria Montrose", cried Napolean.

Hmmm.

In a pouch, we found four ruby gems (these were of the 100gp size - Identify gems), plus a miniature golden box, and an unburnt, but sealed, letter.

Balder stopped glowing. He was still insistent of getting off his Detect Magic, but Napolean stepped in and did it himself.

The bow glowed, and the little golden box too.

Griza bravely broke the seal of the sealed letter and that allowed Napolean to read:

 "Slyth. Test them. A"

So, was the mage Slyth, and was A our patreon? 

Did we wreck the test, by wiping out the tester, looting his home, killing his pets?

Would there be any ramifications on doing this?

We hurried back to the road and our wagon.

We had only been gone a few hours, and our wagon was as we left it, next to the petrified driver, other petrified horse, and our dead horse. We lifted the petrified driver onto our wagon, to sit up front and accompany our driver. I think he will be long dead, but we can leave him at the next town. Not our problem.

What of Sushi? 

He was forgotten in the rush to catch the mage. Sushi's club-impaled body still lies by that deserted cave to this day.

To paraphrase Rupert Brooke: "There is a corner of a foreign forest that is forever Sushi's."

Off to Spite Battle

Spite River delta
Torbin & Koalt bottom right
The pink circles are star-fall remnants

We arrived in the next village called Torbin by the end of the day. Here we dropped off the petrified driver. The locals didn't know what to do with him. Maybe he will make a fine statue for the Torbin town square or war memorial.

We stayed the night at the Polite Frog (rather than the Frigid Monkey). And made futile enquiries about Slyth.

"That's an unusual name," was the most common reply. 

"Aye, Miss, that name not be from the local name generator, to be sure. Foreign muck."

Next day was peaceful and we arrived at the coastal town Koalt.

Here we stayed at the Fist and Hammer (not the Monastery). Koalt had a small dock, so I checked if there were any ships due that would be heading along to coast the Spite Anti or Spite Battle, our destination. But, no.

Next day was a peaceful trip along the coast to Sular. Quiet night in the Chaste Monk.

The next day we made Spite Anti; this is a big city, 34,000, full of half-elves mainly. But plenty of elves. There are regular ships crossing the Spite river delta between Spite Anti and Spite Battle, so we booked passage on one for the next morning. (If you don't want to travel by boat, you can make the long road trip around the delta roads up to the main city of Spite itself, and then down the other side, but that trip takes two weeks.)

We stayed the night in the Wanton Pug.

Red Leicester

 

The next day we went to the docks and boarded our barque Celestial Wave-cutter for the trip to Spite Battle. This is a two day trip.

Other passengers of note: 

• A weedy human wizard in velour called Red Leicester
• A big muscled barbarian man, Otto Turner.

• 

  Red Leicester

  Four elves: Elysia Young half-elf, Melog Elitsia elf, Tored Dubious elf, Manus Stormcaller, elf wizard

Red Leicester approached us. [ Darryl's new character ]

"I am looking for work, " he stuttered.

"That is a rather gaudy outfit, " proclaimed Balder in an interesting way to greet a stranger. "Anyone can wear velour now, I see!"

"Gauche," said Red. "You are gauche. And no they can't. Velour is reserved for the Wizards' Guild."

"We have a 'Red' in our group already," I sniffed. "We can't have two. We will have to call you 'Lester'."

"Red. Lester. All are fine." said Red Leicester.

"Our Red marmalades a lot," I added. "So we can call you Red when that happens. I can't ever see THAT causing confusion."

The rest of the trip went past peacefully. The other significants on the boat didn't cause any trouble and neither did we. Red Feuersturm managed to keep his Hob burning lust under control - a wise move in a flammable wooden sailing ship.

Spite Battle

We arrived in Spite Battle. It's a little smaller than Spite Anti, with a population of 32K, and in spite (that joke never gets old) of this, is the poorest and roughest of the three Spites. Spite Battle has the largest standing army. This is to fend of trouble from the Wild Coast (battlewards). The temples here are REAL, IMAG, Aquamarina, Mr Quail, Gelding, Kliban, Smackwater Jack, and Soixant Neuf.

Following the tradition of the other cities in the magic-rich Spite-Emerald region, there are four Wizards' Guilds here: The Normal UGW, Guild of Apothecary (potions), Under-Guild (necromancy), Guild of Truths (Illusions).

We headed for the Jolly Jester inn, which was our destination to meet Lyra Silvermoon. She was an elven barmaid ("bar-elf"?) here and arranged to meet us after work that night.

Balder presented her with the (unopened) package.

"I zee you 'ave not opened eet," she observed.

"We are not stupid."

"I weel return at sun on with your money."

"Do you know of a Slyth or a Sylvia?" Napolean asked.

She thought for a while then said "Sylvia is a common name, but zis Slyth, is rare. Non, I 'av not 'eard of eem."

Balder's Identify attempt

We retired for the night. Around an hour later, there was a mighty BANG, followed by bang bang! whizz BANNG BANNG! The whole inn rocked, and people came out of their rooms in panic. Lyra was there too in a tiny elven peignoir. The noise was coming from Balder's room. Smoke was wafting under his door. 

Lyra quickly unlocked his door, and Joe and I rushed in. 

Balder was sitting on the floor in his gnome undies holding the magic bow (from Slyth's cave), surrounded by crushed ruby. The room was full of sulphur smoke, and there were still sparks and pin-wheels and various other fireworks going off around the room. 

Eventually the fireworks stopped.

"I... I was just looking at this bow," stammered Balder.

[ Balder was doing an Identify on the bow. He had fumbled AGAIN. How we laughed. ]

Golf clap.

We hastily diverted Lyra and calmed her and the inn guards down: "No need to summon the Militia."

Then returned to Balder.

We gave the bow, and a ruby to Red Leicester and he spent the rest of the night to Identify it. It was a bow of Elven-kind: +1 (to hit) bow.

In the morning, we got our payment from Lyra, as agreed: 400 per each of the eight survivors.

I am not sure why Alexandria Montrose didn't use Gnome Post. Maybe the package contained powerful magicks, explosives, or live creatures after all.

"Maintenant, *I* 'ave a travail for vous!" said Lyra. "Une letter is to be delivered back to Mademoiselle Montrose."

The deal was similar payment, so we agreed.

"Mais, will not be ready for few days," said Lyra. "Quatre days."

The next day we stayed in at the Jolly Jester, and Red Leicester Identified the little gold box (also Slyth's cave). It was a consumable magic box - four doses of invisibility powder (same as spell).

While Red spent the whole day doing the Identify, (it takes eight hours), Balder, worried about his seemingly common fumbles, took himself off to the Spite Battle WG (the normal one). 

He returned later that evening and told us that he'd seen the head of the local WG Elowyn Frostglobe. She had done various experiments on him with needles and such. The gist was that he reports as very evil (we knew this) and still seems to have some of the Blue egg curse on him. (This was a previous adventure a year ago) We thought that was all fixed. Elowyn suggested he go see Owen Sunfire and Matilda Fletch in the WG in Spite city itself. Or go to see Falmor Archaea in the Wizard's tower (a week's travel klibwards of Emerald city).

Phoebe at the Spite Battle docks

While Balder and Lester were busy that day, I went looking for work down at the Spite Battle docks. Lyra's letter would be another three days, so we had some time to kill.

Here, I got the usual cat-calls and hooting - the usual fare for barbarian women - but found a job for us through the Fishermen's Guild. It was in Murch (one day down the coast road, half way to Quoll). "Adventurers wanted. Problem with dead fish. Contact Eric the Hook. Murch."

So, next morning, we headed to Murch. It was drizzling.

Murch Lighthouse

Murch was a little fishing village with a single tavern Rambling Shark.

We found Eric the Hook, and the pay was 200gp each. Eric showed us lots of dead fish washed up on the near beaches. It was localized to this bay and had started happening two weeks ago, so Napolean didn't think it was algal bloom or any such environmental problem

Galena and Napolean cast Detect Poison - no poison on the fish. And there was no magic.

The locals had a number of theories: creature in water, warmer water, lights at point, algal bloom, orc faeces.

Murch lighthouse

Out on the point, there was an old abandoned light house. And someone had seen suspicious lights out there. This immediately raised more questions than it answered.

If the lights were the fish killers, why aren't the dead fish out there?

Maybe they are, but no-one goes there to check.

"If the lighthouse used to be functional, what is stopping the ships running aground now? The cliff and rocks are just as dangerous."

"We don't get many ships in here," said Eric.

"Did you ever?"

"No Miss."

"So, why build an expensive lighthouse?" I asked.

"Maybe it was a folly, Miss. Some rich toff."

"Don't you know?"

"No Miss, I'm just an NPC fisherman."

But it was our best lead, so we headed there.

There were no trees on the point, except for one. It was a large dead pine tree. Strangely, there was a skeleton hanging from it. The rope was old, and the skeleton was long-dead; like years.

There were nine crows sitting on the tree too. Balder, Lester and Galena had the hairs on the back of their necks stand to attention.

Beyond the suspicious tree, 200 paces in the distance, we could see the lighthouse. It had a single door and a low shed next to it with two doors.

"Don't shoot the crows," suggested Balder facetiously. "That will cause the friendly local wizard to be angry with us."

Detect Evil revealed the skeleton to be evil. Balder registered evil too, but we had come to expect that. Galena could detect undead (with her innate ability). Napolean confirmed that the skeleton was male (pelvis size). And Balder did a Detect Magic. He surprisingly did this without using a spell, or a fumble.

Golf clap.

Napolean volunteered to cut the skeleton down. So, Balder gave him a live spider to eat, and then cast Spider Climb. No fumble! So Napolean scurried up the tree and cut the rope. 

The skeleton fell and broke into a thousand pieces. The crows took off, cawing at the wind. Not magic now!

Golf clap.

With no foe to block our egress, we went to the lighthouse shed. No tracks. No traps. First door was a woodshed. Second, a long-drop. It was freshly used, by the smell. There was a suspicious trapdoor in floor of the woodshed.

We'd been there an hour and someone looked over at the tree. The skeleton was back, exactly how it was when we arrived ! Oh dear - powerful magic indeed. The nine crows were back too.

"We will deal with that later," I suggested.

There was a shaft down three storeys into a cave.

So, we all went down and explored. It looked like an old smugglers' cave, with a few tunnels. Some went under the lighthouse.

Tiny was left up in the woodshed to guard. Napolean did not want him with us. I suspect that was a wise move.

Ghouls' greeting

Down in the caves, we preserved our marching order: Griza, Phoebe, Joe, Galena, Red Leicester, Balder, Lester, Napolean.

Galena detected undead. In one room there was the long-dead body of a giant lizard. She saw some suspicious moving behind it, and, as expected, three grey corpse-like creatures suddenly leapt out and charged us, fast as can be.

Griza stumbled back, Joe and I whipped out our magic weapons, and Galena wrenched out her dice holy symbol and screamed "Get ye hence, ghouls !"

To her surprise [ 3 in 20 ], they were held at bay, growling and clawing the air in futile rage.

Golf clap

Galena's Turn Undead ability allows her to keep the ghouls at bay long as she concentrates. So, I stayed with her to guard, while the rest of the group took off to explore the other tunnels. This lizard cave had two exits plus the way we came in, and these branched further to keep them busy. Salient points of this reconnaissance:

• The sea may have been in here, years ago.
• Balder's blue egg dust grants him the ability to detect undead, he discovered. There were some more undead down another passage. They wisely avoided them.
• There was a glyph to block ghouls (probably to keep them in this cave). But Napolean blew this glyph away with a Dispel Magic.
• A passage heads down towards sea.
• A storage room - smugglers?
• There was a rusty iron grill with a padlock. Balder used a Dispel Magic on it; he dispelled the rusty illusion to reveal ... rusty iron beneath. That is sea corrosion for you.
• Griza could not pick the rusty padlock.
• So, Balder blew it apart with a Knock spell. Golf clap.

Plenty of loose ends now. 

 

Basilisk Troubles

Present:

• Phoebe Lacrosse. Human Barbarian from Pugtown – Andrew
• Griza Muso. Human Thief from Lakeside – Jeff
• Balder Dash. Gnome Wizard from Toluene - Jamie
• Sushi Rolle. Human Barbarian from Emerald City - Darryl
• Red Feuersturm. Human Temple Fighter of Hob from Toluene - Chris
• Malcom Gandhi. Gnome Thief from Brian – Kevin
• Napoleon Twig. Elf Priest of Caribou Gorn from Pugtown - Ian
• Joe Manco. Human Fighter from Toluene – Shane
• Galena Alfdis. Elf Priestess of Vingt et Un from Palantir - Steven

Full House!!

Richard DM

By Ian 

Loot Summary and allocation:

• 900GP petty cash
• 5 Vials identified as:
• 2 x healing 
• 1 x Invisibility (now consumed)
• 1 x Spider Climb
• 1x Dimension Door 
• Magical Long Dagger - D6 Ignores Armour - Allocated to Kevin/Malcom
• Magical Spectacles of Infravision - Allocated to Jeff/Griza
• Magical Compass. Normal Compass PLUS acts as a programmable locate object (1 week to set it) - Allocated to Jamie/Balder

(The recently passed Kosha had no loot to recycle)

Our group are gathered in Emerald City. Unseasonably warn and settled weather makes the vibrant city buzz with commerce and festivities. 

The party catch up with Alexandra Montrose of the town guard to check in after the wild Boar task was completed. 

"Well done! I am truly impressed" remarked Alexandrea. "As you have done so well, I feel my Mistress employer can trust you for another job if you are keen to accept. we hope you will?".

The brief is to deliver a simple looking package to a 'Lyra Silvermoon' at the Jolly Jester in Spite Battle. Alexandria hands over an etching of Lyra and a package that is incredibly light, approximately 50cm x 12cm and wrapped in a thin cloth, bound and clasped with a small padlock. The standard escort contract was agreed where the couriers were not to open the package and 'no questions asked'. Balder sensed magic from the package and there was no surprise there.

 

There would be a return package from Lyra.

The pay would be 400GP per survivor with a 11 day return trip overland, or by sea around the coast. Up to the party to decide which way they want to go.

After accepting the contract and gathering at their Inn, the party gather to prepare.

"We really must check this is not EVIL" the goody-two-shoes exclaim. Napoleon casts a quick Detect Evil and there is no hint. The sulphurous odour of Evil wafted from Balder as usual, but other than that - all business as usual.

"Hmmmm" mused Griza... "We really could do with a companion to replace Kosha". The group have a restful and luxurious night in the Inn and gather in the common room in the morning. 

"Wow, we are all here! Our marmalade supplies will diminish" Napoleon observes. "Nice to see everyone up and about".

They gather their travel gear and prepare to depart. A strange, muscular, short rotund man is staring at the job offering board. He wears nothing but a leathery waist-coat and thong. A spear at his side.

The group offer the stranger, introduced as Sushi Rolle [Darryl's new character], a job to join the group - obviously only after the obligatory Detect Evil is cast by Galena and no evil detected (not that this works on people). Sushi adjusts his dark oily man-bun back into its knotted position and agrees to the offer, gathers his spear and travel bag and the party head toward Koal on the Coast; 2 or 3 days away.

The day dawns warm and pleasant. Everyone is refreshed, restocked and raring to go. Balder wisely choses to program the compass with the package's location. 

Nearing the end of the first day, the group enter the abandoned village in the middle of the Emerald Forest, known as Downs Groves. This was the spot infested with the green eyed goblins. Today, however, there is a hive of activity as a group of carpenters, overseen by three town militia soldiers, are building a substantial structure and performing various clean-up tasks around the village and woods.

"Hail keen workers" Phoebe offers. "What is happening here? This looks exciting!". 

A Dwarven soldier approaches... "SOME IDIOT started a fire here a couple of weeks back. Magical fire. Like why???? Why would someone do that in Emerald Forest?" 

(Balder shuffles and looks at his toes)... 

"Oh" Phoebe continues..."That was those vermin goblins that live here. We come through here a few weeks back and THEY tried to burn us out! We had to run away with the flames all around us". 

The soldier frowns, "Yeah, bloody Goblins. Wish they were all gone. Do you lot want to clear them out of town? We will pay 100GP each if you do? How about it?".

The party shuffle and squirm and decide they wouldn't for now.

They stayed in the workers camp and during the night the little gremlins looked in from around the town. Based on the watches set and size of the worker camp, the Goblins were reluctant to cause any trouble. The night eventually passes quietly.

Next day on the road again, Dovin bound. The day was again fine and warm. The Emerald Forest was stunning in all its glory. The trip was easy and nothing untoward happened.

Dorvin Village (pop 418) was welcoming and the party stop at the Dove and Pine. 

Next day the group move on further toward the coast. Next town is Torbin. The Emerald Forest stretches endlessly to the left of the cart track. To the right a deep drain and cleared plains stretch to the horizon. As the group winds their way with their cart and horses, a large dark swirling cloud appeared in the distance. As it swirled up and down and round and round, it seemed to be a large collection of dark birds - probably crows.

The cloud seems to 'notice' the party and swirls toward the group. The party set themselves and ready for trouble. The crows circle above and 5 or 6 individuals break from the cloud and dive on the group. Balder prepares a portion of sulphur, readying for the air burst fireball. "NNOOOOO" yells Napoleon. "Not near the woods. Please! for the love of Caribou Gorn".

At the last minute, the individual crows get close to the party, seem to be satisfied about 'something' so peel away and return to the cloud and the skies clear as the crows depart back toward Torbin.

A few hours later, up ahead is a cart stationary in the lane. They are pointing toward Torbin. You can see the back of the driver sitting in the seat. The strange thing was the cart and driver seemed totally motionless ... ?

Gandhi and Griza snuck forward as the party waited 100m back. As they neared, nothing changed. The horses and driver seemed to have a strange grey colouring and flat texture. Still nothing moves. A successful skill check revealed a fallen fighter in the drain. Blood pooling around the body. Now that they are closer, they see the horses in MID STRIDE. They were frozen in that position?? 

The recon team return and inform the group.

"Bet they are stone" says one. 

"A Beholder!" states another. 

"No - Medusa it must be"... 

"Or even a spell"... 

"Could be a basilisk" someone adds.

As the group are standing around pondering their next move.  "What if it is a trap??". "We can't get around that cart?".

The conversion is abruptly interrupted by the loud crashing of bush and branches emitting from the forest side. The sound was to the rear of the group and seemed to be moving FAST.

The party realise there is also a similar sound crashing from ahead.

The group leap across the ditch in a mad scramble. Malcom and Balder dive into the drain. Well, Balder dived, Malcom kind of fell on his face as he missed a purchase on the far side. 

The party sprint for 30 meters into the plains and turn and ready. Quickly, the bush parts and a massive lizard-like creature bursts onto the lane. 

"Damn - basilisk," Napoleon confirms. "DON'T look at its eyes!!!". 

The fighters lift their shields to in front of their faces, and magic users grab for mirrors and anything that would prevent the direct gaze to and from the creature. Napoleon covers Tiny's eyes and looks away and listens. The monster startles the group's horses and cart. It lurches dangerously forward and veers into the ditch, horses attached and all. Supplies are spread over a small area.

The fighters and basilisk engage in the field. 

Round 1 Joe, Phoebe, Sushi and Red strike at the creature.

[ For the purpose of this fight, to replicate not looking directly, the mechanics changed to add the penalty of removing the extra bonus die for the secondary attacks. Where the fighters had 2 D20 die and take the best, for this fight they use a single D20. The basilisk is Richards rules - so, don't quote D&D rule books about needing magic weapons to hit :-).]

Slashing and crashing and heavy bouts of damage are shared. Joe takes a big hit. The lizard takes multiple swipes. 

Meanwhile the two gnomes (Gandhi & Balder) cowering in the ditch hear a strange chanting from near them - in the forest edge. 

"What is that?" exclaims Malcom. 

Balder replies, "Not sure but I would think that chanting is controlling the monster. Lets do something about that..."

Next round and Griza joins the attack and Phoebe breaks and goes toward the drain where the gnomes are. A ferocious round of combat with two-handed weapons carving and crushing the basilisk. It stares at Red [saves vs Arcane magic] and the revolting creature falls to the ground (the basilisk - not Red).

Meanwhile, Balder casts Silence in the area of the chanting and the chanting ceases immediately. 

Malcom approaches the area totally hidden, Phoebe and Balder crouch and carefully step toward the area. No sounds or audible communication can be used. As the three exit the sound barrier, they hear large crashing disappearing off deeper into the forest and they make haste to follow.

Napoleon heals Joe with the gifts of Caribou Gorn. Joe is now on full health again. 

The fighter group check the dead fighter in the ditch. He seemed to be a standard guard type and had leather armour and a standard long sword.

The advanced three return and report. Balder, Napoleon, Griza and Sushi head off on the trail of the enemy. After a short while, three crows are circling above and descend. Balder draws his clump of sulphur, nips the edge and releases upward. At exactly the same altitude as the crows, the fireball spell ignites and a loud fwump deletes the crows. In the near distance there is a howl of pain and anguish. Followed by deep sobbing. It seems that one or more of the crows must have been a familiar for the wilderness mage (or whatever he is). Napoleon winces and glowers at Balder. 

The advanced party decide that was a battle win for now and return to the party back at the stone cart. 

Napoleon tries and fails to calm the horses [fails on animal handling]. He uses Untie spell to release the harness of one of the horses. It runs off to the distance and calms itself. The other horse had a broken leg and had to be relieved of its pain and is no more.

The group take over the other cart and push the frozen stone horses off the trail. They gather all their goods and supplies and grab all that they can from the existing cart, along with the stone statue of the driver who is carefully placed in the back.

"What now?" They party consider their next action. 

"We have to deliver the parcel says some"

"Lets get that wild mage thing" say the others.

Sushi says that no! The decision is made. We have agreed to deliver the package so that is what we will do.

"Hang on" considers Joe. "I don't remember voting for that? Lets vote!"

Turns out the majority of the group would rather clear out the magic user that is controlling basilisks than leave him to destroy other innocent travellers.

The group park their cart carefully off the edge of the track and head off up the track that the enemy had fled up 30 minutes earlier. Joe has offered to carry and protect the package.

About an hour and a half later, following a fairly easy track, the forest clears as a hill side lifts ahead. Further up in the steep clearing is a cave entrance. Our adventurers pause at the edge of the forest. 

The plan involved Balder making Malcom invisible so he could sneak up to the cave mouth and see what was in there.

Malcom got to the cave entrance and an overwhelming smell of decay and rot wafted from the cave mouth. Malcom retched and composed himself. He snuck closer and in the entrance of the cave mouth, two large nostrils were drawing breath in and out. Another basilisk! Seemed to be smaller than the first one, but a significant threat nonetheless. Malcom quickly retreated and said "No way losers. I am not going past that thing".

Napoleon chimed in; "Oh, let me try something. The glorious Caribou Gorn will allow me to take the form of a creature that should be perfect for a Cave". 

With that, Napoleon twisted and turned and emerged as a bat. He flew through the cave mouth, over the snoozing basilisk, using the bat-sonar so immune to the deadly gaze. A quick flight [the shape-change has a ten-minute duration] showed the cave to be made of a shortish entrance tunnel that contained the sprawled out lizard creature, to a larger cavern that contained two sleeping areas for large creatures. At the other side of the chamber a smaller tunnel that went into an adjoining smaller chamber that had a wild-haired, dirty looking human who was sobbing alone at the far end.

A quick exit, short flight, and Napoleon reappears at the group and details the findings. 

"Hmmmm" ponders Balder, "If I get this just right, I will be able to set off a cave explosion that should fill the cave, therefore damaging the basilisk and the wild mage".

Sushi then argued "But we will need to have a follow-up plan. Us fighters will move to engage after the blast.". 

"Good idea - lets do this" everyone chimes in.

Balder consumes the Invisibility potion as he is low on power points. He walks boldly up to the perfect range to the cave middle for the Fireball spell. More sulphur and kkkkkwwwuumpffff.

[At this point Richard offers that the spell success roll would determine how accurate the casting is. The lower the better and more accurate. With the zones defined and the use of luck allowed, Jamie made the roll and spent 6 luck (maximum allowed) to make the perfect release point.]

A blast of hot air and smoke exists the cave mouth, and there is a howl from a large basilisk. Movement from the cave mouth and it rushes outside. In the mean time the fighters had rushed forward and the two sides engage.

Sushi, Griza, Phoebe and Joe surround the fearsome creature with the shields raised and carefully looking away. Round 1 and the party do a lot of damage, but poor Sushi trips and imbeds his spear into his own gut [rolls a 20 fumble]. He takes damage from the basilisk AND his fumble and falls over with blood pouring from his chiselled abs. 

[Darryl spent 2 luck and rolled 2 D10 and decided to take the "hit self ignore armour" fumble rather than the "free extra hit from the basilisk". As Sushi is a strength-fighter, it turned out that this was only marginally better than the basilisk's free hit. Ouch]

The fight continues and another round of teeth, swords and axes smashing together. More injury bestowed upon the lizard. Napoleon heads to the fallen Sushi and hopes to cure soon. It does not look good the geyser of blood erupting from his middle.

Round 3 and the heroic fighters drop the basilisk once and for all.

"Wait, what???" Napoleon arrives at Sushi just as the last pitiful dribble of blood oozes. "He is gone already? Dead."

End of the session. Mad Mage to go next time.

Epilogue - analysis of Sushi's death 

For the readers, this gets rather funny and pretty bad for poor Darryl's new character Sushi Rolle. 

1. Fumble - To start with, as a group we had forgotten that on Darryl's fumble of two D20s, someone should have nominated a 'primary dice' (so that the odds of fumble are not doubled when using multiple attack/fumble dice). Only one of the two die should have been checked for the "1" fumble. A 50/50 roll was made and the result was that it WAS the primary die - so the fumble stood... Sushi took the hit to make him: -3 HP - Bleeding
2. Con Rolls for Death - We have a game mechanic that IF you take a hit and end up unconscious and bleeding (HP less than 0), you have to roll a CON check every round or risk dying (0 HP is okay). Luck can be applied to this check EXCEPT if a natural 20 is rolled. The first CON check was made: 20 - Dead.
3. Luck to Take Off Damage Rules - Darryl argued that he was not fully aware of the new rules as he thought we were operating under the old rules where you bleed 1 HP per round until death at negative CON. As Sushi had an incredible CON, he quite-rightly thought he was safe for a number of rounds and would easily be healed in time (we haven't used those rules for two years, btw). There is a rule where a player can chose to spend 3 luck and subtract D6 from the damage done to them. Initially, Darryl declined this, for the above reasons as Sushi was on -3 HP.  Plenty of time to -CON right? Richard agreed that was important information to have, so allowed a retrospective D6 roll. So, Darryl could roll a D6 and take that off the damage. If a 3, 4, 5 or 6 came up, the -3hp would be 0 or higher, which means no bleeding (so no CON roll required, and no death). We all held our breath, Jeff rolled the D6.... 1 - Dead

We roared with empathetic laughter and went home. Ok, Darryl probably did not laugh that much. There were too many tears in my eyes to see properly.

We are looking forward to the return next week of the newly found Nori Rolle somewhere on the road to Torbin.

Kosha's Were-troubles

 Present:

• Phoebe Lacrosse. Human Barbarian from Pugtown – Andrew

• 

  Phoebe

  Griza Muso. Human Thief from Lakeside – Jeff
• MARMALADING Balder Dash. Gnome Wizard from Toluene - Jamie
• Kosha Pickle. Human Rogue from Lakeside - Darryl
• Red Feuersturm. Human Temple Fighter of Hob from Toluene - Chris
• MARMALADING Malcom Gandhi. Gnome Thief from Brian – Kevin
• Napolean Twig. Elf Priest of Caribou Gorn from Pugtown - Ian
• MARMALADING Joe Manco. Human Fighter from Toluene – Shane
• Galena Alfdis. Elf Priestess of Vingt et Un from Palantir - Steven

By Phoebe Lacrosse

(Unable to read or write, this missive was dictated by Phoebe to Napolean Twig.)

Recap Summary

We were currently in Darius's pig farm, outside of the town of Arque. We were hunting two were-boars. Suspects were the owners of the Pig and Whistle inn and this farm,  Darius and Abigail.

In the pigsty here, we had found an abattoir with four human bodies: three burly wood-cutters and a girl called Sofia Blade - the most recent victim.

We had thoroughly searched the pigsty and adjoining farmhouse, and had found 5 vials, a magical long dagger, and 300gp.

On with the show

Deciding that it was now time to bring in the authorities, I suggested we send Red & Kosha into Arque to go fetch the guards.

While they were away, Galena awoke from her marmalade state.

An hour or so later, Red and Kosha returned with town guards from Arque: Toby Blade, the father of Sophia, plus Bo Harper, Larry Flint and Derek the Axe. Toby was rather agitated and angry, but his rage turned to grief when we showed him the body of his daughter.

Griza sneaked in and joined the group, coughing up marmalade as he awoke from his restless slumber.

Bill of Lading

With Toby inconsolable and rather distraught, the most senior guard, Bo, took over, and we showed him the bills of lading, bills of ladling, ladle bills and ladle receipts. This was enough evidence to convince them that the Darius they knew, the head guard of Arque Militia, was not all sweetness-and-light after all.

We told them we suspected Darius was indeed the rogue boar that Lague was hunting - a were-boar, in fact - and that we were after him. Also, Darius's wife Abigail was a suspected were-boar too.

With this, we left the guards to secure the farm. Bo came with us and Larry was put in charge of the crime scene. Red stayed with the guards too, to secure the evidence. We didn't want any of the four murder victims' bodies vanishing suspiciously (and blaming us!).

We then went back into Arque and straight to Darius and Abigail's inn, the Pig & Whistle, to search. 

Kosha first sneaked in to see if we could catch anyone by surprise, but it was deserted; no sign of Abigail or Darius. But the ashes in the hearth were still warm.

The Tunnel

We broke in to the inn (with Bo's blessing) and searched the place. It turned out that there was a tunnel entrance under the kitchen. We headed down the walkable tunnel with Bo and me in the lead.

After 200 paces, the tunnel started to rise. We guessed our position was certainly out of the town, and well into the forest.

There was light up ahead and we could hear growls. These growls turned into two large mastiffs, and, to cut off a long story square, Bo and I ended up fighting them. One dropped Bo, and pushed us all back, but with a determined flurry of blows, I killed my dog, and headed to help Bo while the other dog was taken on by Griza and Kosha. Kosha finished it off with his double-sword.

But it was too late for Bo. He lay there in a pool of blood, dead. Oh dear.

The tunnel emerged into the forest, as we predicted, but druid Napolean did not recognize this area.

We needed some evidence that poor Bo was killed by the dogs (again, we didn't fully trust these guards), so decided to take him and one of the heavy dogs (mastiffs) back to town. Napolean buried the other dead dog in the woods. I picked up Bo's body, and Griza and Kosha lugged the other dog back down the tunnel to the inn.

Griza then fetched Larry and Toby (from the farm) to tell him about Bo's death & the dogs.

With Bo gone, Larry declared Toby as the new "mayor" of Arque. Then Toby scolded us for taking an elderly guard with us down the tunnel.

"I was fighting with Bo," I exclaimed "He didn't look old to me! He was 63." 

We retrieved Red from the farm and reformed the group in the Pig and Whistle. As it was now two bells, rather than head into the forest for only two hours, we stayed the night in the inn - no room service!

It would have been a peaceful night, but it was punctuated by noises in the town as Toby and Larry rounded up a bunch wood-cutters to form a posse. We let them do their thing, and we caught a good night's sleep.

 

Search the Forest

The next day at first light, we headed out into the woods to search, and went off road to the spot where Sofia's body was found. From this place, we spiralled out, searching for tracks, and with Napolean's pet mastiff Tiny sniffing. Toby had given Napolean an item of his daughter's clothes.

Tiny soon caught up the track, and so we hurried after him.

An hour later, we came to across some boar tracks. Big ones and a smaller set. They headed into a stream. We followed.

Then, early afternoon, at about five bells, we came across a trail in the direction of Lague (funkenwards towards Torque and Emerald city). The trail opened into a clearing with a hut, an outhouse and four large mastiff kennels. On the verandah of the hut was another mastiff, sleeping.

Hut in the woods

Griza went off to sneak, but he only got a couple of paces, before he could actually see into the four kennels. All of them contained dogs, sleeping. And the kennel doors were not locked. He quickly returned.

So, Napolean cast the priest spell Invisibility to Animals on Griza. This would at least allow him to get close to them (it hides the scent too). And so he managed to surreptitiously lock the kennel doors.

Just then, the hut's main door opened. Abigail herself walked out. Luckily, she did not notice Griza standing there, slack-jawed, next to the kennels (of course he wasn't invisible to her). She went to the outhouse.

The Fight

We made a quick plan:

• I would take on Darius - I have a magic sword (Longsword of Healing) and we are pretty sure that you need magical weapons to harm were creatures, even in non-were form.
• Red, sans magic, would take on the verandah dog. 
• Kosha, sans magic, would go behind the hut to watch the back door from the forest, in case someone tried to sneak out that way.
• Griza would take on Abigail with a magic knife.
• Galena and Napolean would provide moral (and spell) support.
• Balder, Joe and Malcolm would dutifully drool marmalade back in Arque, lying in our wagon.

Then we enacted it.

Red and I rushed the verandah dog, which launched itself at us. Until Darius joined the fray, it made sense for me to help Red with the mastiff. But it wasn't a hard fight, and the dog was soon killed; Red's mighty war hammer caved in its head.

The four locked-in dogs went berserk, barking their heads off. 

The outhouse then exploded, and a large boar charged out! This was, of course, Abigail in were-form.

With the dog down, and still no sign of Darius, I decided to help Griza with Abigail (Red had no magic weapon, so no point in him helping)

A mighty blow from my sword, opened the were-boar's belly [ critical ! ]. Griza nicked it.

The very next round, I followed up with another mighty belly cut [second critical !], and totally disembowelled the screaming boar. Blood everywhere. It soon died, then morphed back into a very dead, naked, disembowelled Abigail.

Tragedy

Unbeknownst to us (no-one heard a thing), while our fight was going on, Darius exited the hut from the back door, and ended up fighting the hapless Kosha. Kosha's hysterical screams were not audible over the noises of our fighting and the enraged barking dogs.

By the time we did get around the back, all that was left was a heap of blood, spattered all over the trees and ground, and bloody drag marks into the forest. We dutifully followed.

A hundred paces away, we found Kosha's body, gored, bitten, dead and cold. Oh dear. There were many boar trotter marks all around here. 

Darius, Kosha-bane

Then, a stone's throw away, we heard noises, so we looked up. There was a giant boar there, as big as a horse. It saw us and charged. 

I moved to take the charge, and I ducked down, sword out, and dealt it a crippling belly cut [ a third Critical ! ] (obviously, enraged by Kosha's death). Griza backed me up, but missed his blow.

The boar managed to gash me the next moment, but his sucking belly wound affected his fighting prowess. Griza and I dropped it in a shower of blows.

The boar turned back into Darius's body.

We lugged Kosha and Darius's bodies back to the hut and clearing. Then searched the place with a fine-tooth comb: Items of significance: Purse of 600 gold, a pair of Spectacles, and a Compass, both Detected Magic.

The four dogs in the locked kennels were barking and slathering in a rage. Napolean made a futile druidy effort to befriend them (or even calm them), but his competence with that skill is low [3] and he failed dismally. So we killed them all in cold blood. You have heard of "shooting rats in a barrel"? Well, this was "knifing dogs in a kennel".

Pyre for Kosha, Darius, Abigail
and five mastiffs

We built a pyre in the middle of the clearing from forest deadwood, and burned all the bodies: five dogs, Darius and Abigail. We were not sure enough of were-boar lore to risk trying to lug the bodies of Darius and Abigail back to Arque or Lague. But we figured we could take the skulls back as evidence.

Galena was the nominated priest to decide the fate of Kosha's body and, in true Vingt-et-un style, she rolled a die: "burned" it was. So we flopped his body onto the pyre too.

It was getting dark, so we stayed the night in the hut.

Were Sickness

It was a peaceful night, but in the morning, I awoke in a cold sweat. The site on my leg where Darius the boar had gashed me was all red and inflamed. This was despite that very wound being completely healed by Galena and Napolean the day before. I felt sick. Does this mean I am turning into a were-boar? Again, our knowledge of were-boar lore was scant.

Solanum laciniatum
contraceptive & were
cure poison

Galena and Napolean put their knowledgeable heads together and decided to try a concoction which helps against were-infection; they did know that this was a remedy for were-wolf bites, so maybe there was a chance that it would work on other were-infections. It involved making a distillate out of wolfsbane, nightshade, and solanum laciniatum. And were-boar blood, in this case.

They soon brewed up this foul-smelling slurry. I drank it all, and started to retch.

Galena pithily said "By the way, that's a deadly poison that often kills its drinker."

"Make sure you don't vomit any up," said Napolean helpfully.

I frowned, retching and gagging. Napolean cast Neutralize Poison on me.

But the poison did the trick [I made the necessary rolls]. And the sickness eased, and inflammation vanished.

Onwards

We left back to Arque, and sought the town guard and the new mayor Toby.

"We have fixed your problem," I said.

Red then showed him the charred skulls of Darius and Abigail (not that he could identify them).

"We were hired by Lague for this job, so we will take these there."

He wished us well, so we collected our wagon and the three marmaladers (Balder, Joe and Malcolm), and we left.

That evening we arrived in Lague, and claimed our reward for the Boar Job, giving them the skulls.

The next day funkenwards was Torque.

And the next day to Emerald City.

Pork and Shadow - part 2

 

Present:

• Balder Dash. Gnome Wizard from Toluene - Jamie
• Kosha Pickle. Human Rogue from Lakeside - Darryl
• Red Feuersturm. Human Temple Fighter of Hob from Toluene - Chris
• Griza Muso. Human Thief from Lakeside – Jeff
• Malcom Gandhi. Gnome Thief from Brian – Kevin
• Phoebe Lacrosse. Human Barbarian from Pugtown – Andrew
• Joe Manco. Human Fighter from Toluene – Shane
• Napoleon Twig. Elf Priest of Caribou Gorn from Pugtown - Ian
• Galena Alfdis. Elf Priestess of Vingt et Un from Palantir - Steven

By Jeff

...

Back at the Pig & Whistle inn, Galena had returned at the end of her designated shift. She hadn't even spotted Griza but knew he would have been in place before she left the pig farm. After reporting on the odd behaviour of the pig farmer and the barmaid, the party discussed what needed to happen next.

"We wait for Griza's report" suggested Kosha, "Then we go in and check out those sheds"

"Yeah" agreed Napoleon, "And Tiny can get a sniff at that farmer, and the pigs"

"No need" gloated Balder, "It's definitely him"

A few hours later Griza returned to the inn and quietly reported that the barmaid, who was also now at the inn and working behind the bar, had left the house through the front a while back. 

"Looks like she came straight here, to work" Griza concluded.

"Yeah" asked Gazala, "But did you see he go into the house?"

"Nope, just out" replied Griza.

"A secret tunnel?" wondered Phoebe.

"No doubt" grumbled Kosha, "When wasn't there a secret tunnel?"

"What are we waiting for then?" said Phoebe, "Let's go"

"Wait, let's make an actual plan first" exclaimed Kosha.

Plans were made, then Phoebe, Napoleon and Tiny, and Kosha led, off to have a chat to the pig farmer and distract him. Balder turned to Griza, "Your turn" he grinned, waving his arms in a circle.

As Balder concentrated and summoned his arcane power, drawing on the essence of the night and silence, he cast an Invisibility on Griza, who immediately faded from sight and slipped out the door after Kosha. "Ten minutes" whispered Balder at Griza's invisible back.

The stone shed of the pig farm

Unseen, Griza made his way down the lane behind the others and as they hailed the pig farmer who was working in his yard, he silently vaulted over the fence and drifted over to the big stone shed that sat to the side of the house, in front of all the pigsties. Keeping a mental timer running in his head Griza listened at the door of the shed. All silent, and the bolt slid back easily, not even locked. With a quick glance around to make sure no one was looking in his direction, Griza eased the shed door open and slipped in. 

The door clicked quietly closed behind him as he surveyed the room. The air was chill, and the room was dark. A series of salami sticks and slabs of meat hung from the ceiling. A butchering table sat along one wall, and buckets of blood slicked offal sat on the floor. The smell was bad, almost thick enough to taste, and Griza had to breathe shallowly in order not to gag. One closed door on the left wall obviously led to a further room. Griza crossed the room towards the other door, glancing quickly around. There didn't appear to be anything of interest in here, but the door to the next room was locked!

Bending down, Griza peered at the lock.

"Is there time to check for traps?" he wondered.

"Yes, and definitely not a place to be trapped alone" he decided.

His senses tuned and focussed on the lock and the surrounding door frame, Griza exercised his skills.

"All clear" he figured and slid his picks into the lock.

With a deft twist the lock clicked open and Griza eased the door open a hairs breadth, just enough to get a whiff, hear anything, and peer inside. 

The smell in the room beyond was even worse, and it looked even darker, but it was all quiet.

Slipping through the door into the small room beyond, Griza let his eyes adjust to the dark.

Which was just as well. There was a large hole in the centre of the room, just in front of him!

A hoisting frame was rigged over the top of the hole, and the top of a ladder protruded up from below.

Otherwise, the room was empty. Apart from all the bloody entrail remains and offal staining the floor and splattered around the walls. Taking a small step forward, Griza leant over the hole and peered in.

The ladder quickly dropped into darkness, and the cloying rank smell that permeated the shed was wafting up from down there.

"Nope" decided Griza, "My ten minutes is nearly up"

Spinning around, Griza slipped back into the main room, relocked the door behind him, crossed to the door out, and listed to check for any problems with exiting. The murmur of voices sounded distant, and Griza could make out Phoebe's accent as she demanded answers from the pig farmer.

Griza slipped out through the door, gently closed it, and made his way back over the fence, down the lane, and back to the Pig & Whistle. Reconnaissance mission complete.

"Why didn't you down the hole?" grunted Malcolm a little later.

"No time, too dark, and it really stank!" noted Griza.

"You'll need to go back and see what is actually down there" Balder confirmed, handing Griza a bag.

"Pull the stone out of there if you need a light" Balder instructed.

A more in-depth reconnaissance mission was planned to check out the hole.

Galena slipped into the trees and kept an overwatch. 

Griza and Malcolm went full stealth mode and made their way over the fence and back into the shed. Standing over the offal hole, Malcolm declared "That ain't too bad" and started down the ladder.

"About fifteen feet down to the bottom" he whispered.

A few seconds later he stopped, about five feet from the ground below. The chill was intensifying and all the hairs on Malcolm's arms sprang up as a tingling sensation swept across him. Looking down into the room, Malcom could see a similar small room as above, but the wall on one side had collapsed, and a dark tunnel led away. The air there seemed to swirl, the darkness flickering, as if shadows were moving.

Breaking into a cold sweat, Malcolm clambered back up the ladder as fast as his little Gnome legs could carry him and burst up in front of Griza.

"Let's go" he hissed, "discretion is the better part of valour I hear" and bolted to the door.

Griza quickly pulled the magic light out of Balder's bag and shone it down the hole. The light pierced the darkness, illuminating the room below, including a hole out through one wall with a tunnel leading off in the general direction of the pigsties. Blood stained the floor and walls of the basement space, and remnants of offal were piled up around the base of the ladder. The light also illuminated a translucent shadowy figure which was drifting up the ladder just below him. With a quiet squeal, Griza turned and rushed after Malcolm, slamming the door and locking it firmly. As Griza backed away from the locked door, he felt and heard some muffled thumping from the other side.

Barely remembering to move stealthily, Griza quickly left the shed, and followed Malcolm back to the Inn.

Reporting back to the party, Griza and Malcolm relayed everything that they saw, and felt.

"We shouldn't go there again" Malcolm stated defiantly. 

"Undead" hissed Phoebe, "We must kill them all"

"What" squealed Malcolm, "Is there more than one?"

"It doesn't matter" replied Phoebe, "Any and all undead must be dispatched immediately"

"Sounds like a Shadow" noted Galena, "Magical weapons required to damage them!"

"Well, I have one" stated Phoebe, brandishing her longsword.

"Anyone want this one?" asked Griza

The discussions continued late into the evening, but nothing was resolved.

In the morning, there was quite a hue and cry in the town. Apparently, a body had been found just outside of the town, a little into the forest. A young man from the town had been out in the evening with his girlfriend. He was found by one of the woodcutters just before Light, brutally eviscerated by some huge creature, but of the girl, no sign.

"That's our giant boar!" Balder decided, "Let's go"

The party followed the hubbub out of town to where the three volunteer town militia were milling about with a number of other townsfolk arguing about what to do.

Darius, the pig farmer, and the party's prime suspect was the leader of the town militia.

Not surprisingly, Darius initially declined the party's offer of help in their investigation.

Red strode up in front of Darius, looked down at him, and forcefully repeated our offer. 

"Maybe ... you could help a little" Darius stuttered, sweat just starting to bead on his forehead.

Phoebe cast about and located some pig tracks leading off into the forest. 

Napoleon had Tiny led the way, Tiny barking loudly and racing off ahead.

"We'll follow these tracks and investigate" stated Red.

"Um ... sure" nodded Darius nervously.

Tiny led the party out into the forest, then slowly curved around and back towards the town. Tiny stopped at a fence just outside the town. It was the fence to the pig farm.

"Ha" exclaimed Balder, "Just like I figured"

There was a brief hesitation as the party considered the laws around trespass, but Red confirmed that they had effectively been commissioned by the town militia to investigate the tracks.

"So, get over the fence" he suggested.

Everyone clambered over the fence and checked the ground on the other side. 

No tracks, no smell, no clues.

"The pigsty" confirmed Balder, "Where the woman disappeared. The "tracks" lead straight there"

The pigsty was occupied, a large sow and a heaving mass of piglets were all over the floor, but Malcolm slipped past them and reported the presence of a trapdoor. Red hustled the pigs out of the way, lifted the trapdoor, and climbed down. He looked back before his head dropped below the floor level.

"Come on then" he called.

The tunnel at the bottom of the ladder was quite low, Red had to stoop to move forward. It looked to head in the direction of the farmhouse, as expected. There were no strong smells so Red led off along the tunnel. He held his two-handed hammer out to the front. There wouldn't be much room to swing it, but he figured a good thrust to the face would be just as effective.

The smell of blood and offal slowly increased as Red moved forward, until after about a hundred meters a side passage branched off to the right, probably towards the shed, where the Shadow creature had been seen by Malcolm and Griza. The stench was also pretty bad!

"Magic weapons" reminded Gazala.

There was a bit of a shuffle. Phoebe moved to the front with her magic longsword, Griza with his just behind her. Napoleon followed third, but cast a Detect Evil spell before setting off after Griza.

"Evil ahead" Napoleon reported.

"And behind" he quietly added, turning to look back.

A slight purple aura shimmered surrounded Balder.

"What the...?" Napoleon wondered briefly, before assigning that problem to later and moving on.

The stench quickly intensified, and before long a disturbance in the air could be felt.

A shadow detached itself from the general darkness ahead and rushed forward towards Phoebe.

With her magic sword raised (+0, but magic in terms of creatures) Phoebe braced for an extended battle with the undead minion of evil.

In the end, its wasn't much of a battle. Phoebe sliced and diced with her +0 magic sword, Balder loosed a Magic Missile, and the Shadow faded out with a poof, without even getting a hit on Phoebe.

(Andrew rolled a couple of critical hits during the melee, with bonus damage and the Shadow automatically losing a few attacks. It was all one way, fortunately for Phoebe! Although Napoleon had also cast a Bless spell, to help with saving throws if that proved necessary, which it didn't).

The party moved forward, Phoebe still at the fore, with Griza, Balder, and Napoleon immediately behind. Tiny and the others followed them down the tunnel and through the hole into the offal pit under the farmhouse shed.

Galena immediately threw up all over the floor, and even the sturdier party members were suffering from the stench. Griza slipped up the ladder, popped his head up into the room at the top, and reported back that it all looked just as it had yesterday. 

The party backed up through the tunnel and took the other branch, presumably to the farmhouse. Phoebe arrived at a solid wooden door.....

Refer to the part 1 post to reveal what was discovered on the other side of the door!