Session 36 - Dwarrowsteel - Monster Hunter

Mon 18th Jan 19:45 - 23:30

In-game timeline: Uktar 17 - Uktar 18 DR1489

Fresh from a comfortable rest in the Ol' Boar Inn in Oakhurst, our "Heroes" tool up and head out, aiming for the ancient stone circle in the woods. They'd spent an inordinate amount of time discussing what clothing they may possibly need when they get there - a discussion that, given they had no idea where they would end up - could be desert, could be icy mountains - was a little moot. In the end they just loaded Drogan up with everybody's rations. They decide to go at night, to hopefully avoid prying eyes when they 'transport' to the new location via the circle.

The journey to the circle was uneventful, though the teleportation via the circle was strange, mysterious and powerful. In the end they arrived at the destination circle without incident.

The circle was well lit, despite it being the early hours of the morning, due to the full moon and clear skies above. They looked around the new circle, which seemed to be further south than their starting point, as evidenced by the warmer climate, and found it to be set on a mountainside, with a small town just visible in the valley below. Alwaith and Dwarrowsteel discovered a strange painting on the rear of one of the stones. A pretty dull painting, really, as it just depicted what looked to be an empty, underground tunnel or cavern, lit with torches. As Dwarrow studied it, however, he was sure that the torches seemed to be flickering. He could also make out a single rune, as if painted on the stone behind the picture, showing through the image a little:  E

They headed a little way down the mountain side, following a fairly well defined track, and tried to spot movement in the town below. Sending Nige on a scouting mission he reported no movement, and only a single light on in one building. But then it was 3am, so understandable, really.

Our "Heroes" decide to wait until just before dawn, rather than head into town at this early hour.

As the sun started to rise, they made their way down to the town, but there remained no movement. No sign of life in the town. As they reached the base of the mountain, Drogan headed to the nearby church and checked that the gravestones were as would be expected - i.e. neither lots of recent burials, nor no recent burials, whilst Dwarrow broke into the nearby farmhouse to find it empty of people, though tidy and well looked after.

Cautiously entering the town they find a large statue in the centre square, which turns out to be of a relative of Devon - Milo Bottlebanks, and which proclaims him to be founder of Moonfall, and friend to man and beast. 

The only light seems to be coming from what looks like the town hall. The main doors are slightly ajar. Drogan tells the others to wait, and heads in alone, to find a scene of blood and carnage has taken place. Dead bodies lie in pieces, and blood is splattered and smeared on the walls and floor. With some investigation from the others, they discover some empty barrels and casks that seemed to once contain a strange herb, and, slightly more interestingly, a living half-elven child named Suriel, who was hiding in a chest.

Suriel didn't know exactly what happened the night before, but the general story seemed to be that every few weeks the parents head off to a cave in the mountainside for a night, leaving the children in the care of some guardians. Something, or someone, it seems, had attacked and killed the guardians, and there was no sign of the children, except Suriel. There was also no sign of the parents, though Suriel said that they are normally back from their overnight stay by now.

As the mystery deepened, a teenage, female gnome named Lispeth, who seemed quite talkative, wandered into town. She had come from the nearby 'city' (more of a large town, really) of Elturel (which confirmed the group's suspicions of where they had ended up) in order to help out the villagers with various tasks. She too seemed surprised that the adults had not yet returned, but agreed to look after Suriel while the party headed out to look for the villagers. Lispeth thought the cavern they went to was to the north-east, taking the right hand path at the fork.

Our "Heroes" headed off, keen to solve some of the mysteries, including why Devon seemed to have such an exotic family history for a halfling. They reached the fork and debated a while which path to take, not knowing whether to trust Lispeth, or whether she was just unsure as to the directions. Nige was sent a-scouting and spotted a cave entrance down the right hand track, so that's the way they went.

And found themselves in the lair of three cave bears. Drogan's affinity with bears was not allowed to show as Dwarrow, then Alwaith, attacked the bears. The bears didn't really stand a chance, but did put up a good fight, injuring Dwarrow and Drogan before they were taken down. Drogan found out that his new, magical axe, Cleave, seemed to retain some of the temperament and personality of its creator, and he was "encouraged" by Cleave to, well, cleave the foes in two. Which Drogan proceeded to do.

Bears now dead, they realise that this rather small cave is possibly not the one they were intending to get to - Lispeth must have got the directions wrong. And so they head back to the fork and continue up the left hand path.

After an hour or so they reach the base of a mountain, with a scree climb ahead to a ledge where they can see a wide cave entrance. As they arrive at the ledge they are challenged by two human guards. Our "Heroes" respond that they are here to see the villagers and they drop a few names like Suriel and Lispeth into the conversation to validate their claim. The guards let them pass, and follow behind.

And they are led into an ambush. The tunnel is well lit by torches, so they were not surprised, but the three rat-faced humanoids who fired crossbow bolts at them did catch them a little off guard. The party tried to parley, hoping that the villagers would listen, but neither the rats, nor the wolf-guards who now fought them from behind, would listen. These must be were-rats and were-wolves! One of the rats seemed to have purple blood, something this group remembered from Belak's grove, who proceeded to confirm their fears by vomiting over Devon and Drogan, both of whom managed to dodge. Our "Heroes" proceeded to pull out new moves from their respective bags, Dwarrow effectively using his Spirit Guardians, and Alwaith - not to be outdone - matched this with his slightly less reassuring Spirit Shroud. Devon struggle as he was surrounded and couldn't easily hide anywhere, whilst Drogan was still working out if he actually liked his new, bloodthirsty axe or not. The fight was again short, but eventful. The party did take damage, including a nasty bite wound on Alwaith from one of the wolves, which seems to not be healing particularly well. Drogan seemed to throw his new magical battleax away for no reason at all, and everyone was surprised at the number of perfect his being scored by both sides. What is even more surprising is the number, and variety, of "kills" that Dwarrow is managing to rack up at the moment!

Rats and wolves taken care of, the our "Heroes" are unsure what to expect further in the cave…..