Session #4 - Nobody Home

Session #4 Recap:  Nobody Home

 

Gerrett runs up with a woman of dusky skin and yellow eyes.  Delix is dead, and this has thrown the village into a serious dilemma.  Gerrett will be going after the leukodaemon and other summoned creatures which are attacking the town and surrounding farms.  He is leading in farmers to the town to centralize against the attacks, and using friends of his to assist, including the woman, Quaithe, a ranger he is training.  He runs off after briefly talking with Cenn and the party, more concerned with those under his protection.

 

Cenn and the party have an uncomfortable discussion about what to do next.  Cenn is hoping the group of heroes will assist in one of two ways:  either keep to the task of going to the next villages on the tax collector’s route to let them know the tax collector will be delayed, or take Delix’s body to Korvosa and explain the situation.  Neither situation is optimal.  If the adventurers go to the villages, Cenn will go to Korvosa to explain the situation.  The city will definitely send in soldiers and investigators, which will likely mean some of the villagers or surrounding farmers will be conscripted.  Cenn can also visit the temple of Sarenrae to ask for a replacement priest.  If the adventurers instead go to Korvosa, Cenn will go to the villages and spread the word.  The adventurers might be able to calm the authorities in the city and prevent conscription, or they might make matters worse, depending upon how they are received and what they say.  In either case, Quaithe will join the group to help lead them through the countryside.

 

After much discussion, the group decides to go to Korvosa as they already have impetus to go there (i.e. research, need for resources, the need to search for Morgrym’s brother, etc.).  Cenn will write a letter explaining the situation, and one of Delix’s bodyguards will accompany them to help with backing up the details witnessed.  The other two bodyguards will go with Cenn as there are still summoned creatures in the surrounding areas as well as other dangers.  Robinn insists on going with the group as well.

 

Cenn, as a thank you to the group, arranges to have winter gear provided at no charge, especially since it is getting late in autumn and there is a real crispness in the air.  The blacksmith also provides Juliet with a very basic short sword.  Once outfitted and resting for a day, the group leaves the village and heads south towards Korvosa.

 

The first village, Hunnell, is located 1 ½ days away from Clearwater’s Gate.  The trip passes through country with several ruins and ancient buildings or keeps, sitting empty (hopefully) and broken in the empty lands around.  These ruins and spires in the distance remind of a prior age many eons passed, and lay as gravestones to those times forgotten.

 

Upon coming up to the Hunnell, the group finds the village to be eerily empty of anyone.  Doors are open, curtains thrown wide, but no one at all in the street.  The village is probably 3 times the size of Clearwater’s Gate, but not a soul in sight.  The only out of place thing seems to be large boulders near buildings which should likely have been cleared out of the village, but might be kept around for some other reason.  Also, a song is playing on the wind, a female singer and then female singers, but no particular direction from where it comes.  The group is uncomfortable and decide to just walk through the village and leave quickly, not spending the night.

 

As they hustle through the village, some party members see movement out of the corners of their eyes.  But when turning to see what caused the movement, they see nothing, just empty building and out-of-place boulders.  Morgrym, not liking the situation, takes a grenade and rolls it towards one of the boulders, but upon touching the boulder, the grenade is flung into the air and thrown hard into a nearby building where it explodes.  Something is definitely wrong with the boulders.  The party hurries on even more quickly.

 

Near the southern end of the village, a large townhall is standing, with a scaffold platform about fifteen feet in front of the building, likely where someone would get up and make a speech to a crowd.  On this scaffold is a stuffy man hanging by its arms from a cross of wood, a scarecrow not in the field.  Around its neck is a pale blue gem pulsing with an internal glow of power.  Morgrym recognizes this gem as the type he and his brother were tasked with mining before the mine they were in collapsed and his brother went missing along with the men who hired them.  Morgrym and Io climb the scaffolding to examine the gem more closely.  Reaching for the stone, Io and Morgrym awaking the scarecrow, but are so fascinated by it that they just stop and stare.  Juliet climbs up and tries to cover the gem, thinking this is causing the animation of the scarecrow and the magical fascination on her friends, but the scarecrow then attacks Juliet. 

 

Battle ensues, and while trying to stop the scarecrow, the “boulders” around the village begin to turn back into villagers and strange inhuman creatures called Urdefhan, creatures in the midst of attacking the villagers.  The group quickly put an end to the battle, even as more villagers and creatures “appear,” including a man who races to assist and appears to know Robinn.  The Urdefhan, per knowledge which Io has, are a servant race to the daemons, and try to “explode” with negative energy when close to dying, taking opponents with them.  The Urdefhan in the village all exploded, but the group and villagers survived.

 

Upon connecting with the mayor of the town, who now is freed from a magical effect along with the rest of the villagers (the song was being sung by members of the church of Sarenrae when the magical effect blanketed the village), everyone quickly realizes that in some way the scarecrow and the gem laid a time-delaying effect on the village, which had just begun to be attacked by the Uderfhan.  The scarecrow walked into the village at the beginning of the attack and walked onto the scaffold.  To the villagers, this was moments ago, but in reality, it was 3 days prior.  The gem seems to be tied in to the effect somehow, although nothing can be completely confirmed.

 

The man who knows Robinn is named Trufargus, who knows Robinn as one of the orphans in Clearwater’s Gate and wonders at him being here in the company of the adventurers.  Robinn just says that he needs to be with them for now.  Trufargus and Juliet have an argument concerning protecting Robinn.  Trufargus states that he has been hired by a patron in Korvosa to investigate rumors of strange happenings in local villages close to the city.  He is tasked to bring this information back soon, and is going to continue the investigation for a little while before heading back to Korvosa.

 

The mayor also points out that a small group of unsavory folks, 2 humans and a dwarf who seemed to be under stress from the 2 men, had come through the village earlier, right before the magical effect took place.  They were heading towards Korvosa.  Morgrym believes this is his brother in captivity with the former employers of the mine, and angrily insists upon going after them now, with or without help or the rest of the group.  Once pointed out that 3 days have passed, he calms down enough to wait for the rest of the group.

 

Trufargus points out to the mayor that the village was rescued by the adventurers, and in thanks, the mayor offers each party member a magical or mundane gift up to a certain amount in price.  Aean is also able to have the local priest cure him of his lingering disease from the summoned creatures by the lake.  They party gratefully chooses their rewards, and then set off again for Korvosa.

 

As they continue their journey to Korvosa, it begins to snow.  Winter has arrived.  It takes two days to reach the next village, Wilheim Lodge.  However, a couple of miles outside the logging community, the way is blocked by soldiers from Korvosa, who insist the village is quarantined and the group must find its own way around the village as no one is allowed access into or through.  They can return the way they came and take a western road a couple of miles back to get around the village easily.

 

The adventurers back track a ways and make camp.  Io, Morgrym and Quaithe decide to sneak into the village to see what this “quarantine” is about while the rest stay behind with the body of Delix.  When they sneak down into the village, the 3 see the village butted up against a rocky Cliffside and hill.  There is a 30 foot tall bore in the hill, closed up with a rock stopper/ gate of some type.  Before this gate, many soldiers are collected, as well as arcane and divine spellcasters who are using incredibly powerful abjuration magic in connection with each other.  As the group watches, some of the spellcasters pass out, and the stopper cracks open on one side slightly.  The adventurers see daemons and uderfhan escaping and attacking the people in front of the gate.  The spellcasters quickly get the stopper closed up again, but some of the creatures have escaped into the surrounding forests, including some towards the party’s campsite!

 

The 3 race back to the others, who are being attacked by Cacodaemons and Uderfhan.  Io, who has magically accelerated his pace, arrives to help first, assisting Juliet and Aean who are already deep in combat.  Quaithe arrives next, followed by Morgrym.  The party dispatches most of the creatures, with one Cacodaemon escaping, and while examining the bodies of the Uderfhan, who were not able to “explode” this time around, find amulets around their necks almost like holy symbols, with the strange rune from the lakeside etched into them:  the eye with 5 tendrils coming out from it.

 

The session ends.