Rebuilding
The game began roughly two months after Max left the group
for training. Wilhelm and Bartleby stayed in Stony Hollow to help it rebuild,
which led to some chatter in the local area about Belle and Wilhelm playing ‘Hide
the Stake’ late at night. After about a month, a squat dwarf with a pipe and a
penchant for explosives named Milgrom Silverhelm came to the village, looking
for a job. Toward the end of the two months, Petra came to Stony Hollow. Max
had come to tell her of the opportunity, and seeking a new start for her
siblings after the Whispering Tower, she came with all of them and her new
charge, Isaac. The boy did not look like her other siblings. She did her best
giving her siblings chores, but either them or George’s kids painted polka dots
on Wilhelm’s Warhorse.
Supply Run
After a supply run into a bigger town, the group of
Bartleby, Max, Milgrom and Petra were using the coach to ride back. On the road
they came across two dwarves with spiky orange colored mohawks. The dwarves
were off traders who said they were seeking a mighty trading doom by trying to sell
Holy Water and Masterwork Stakes to Vampires. They would not sell the
masterwork stakes to any of the party members, but they did sell Bartleby a
fine new hat.
The Watery Road
Suddenly, Bartleby saw water welling up onto the road from
every direction, and a massive light. He started trying to outrace the water,
even though no one else could see it and they kept yelling at him to stop.
Soon, in an effort to get off the road and away from the water, Bartleby stranded
the coach on a set of jagged rocks which caused the axel and wheel to break.
Unable to repair the coach and faced with spending the night unprotected in
Sylvania, they welcomed a stranger offering them assistance and a place to
stay.
The Vertical
Village
The villager was a nice, honest man who offered shelter with
his wife and sons. One of the little boys had a cut on his arm that had been
wrapped by his father, which led to a conversation about the missing priestess
of Shallya in the village. She was normally very attentive of her flock,
especially since the village was being terrorized by a vicious vampire, Lord Jonas
Von Krieg who takes the blood tax twice a year instead of once, and takes more
than he should. Without her work many of the villagers would die. She
disappeared three days ago. The group decided to investigate the next day, and
because no one is trusted, watches were set up. During the night, the boy with
the cut on his arm told Milgrom that he saw the sister walking away with a man.
She left her stew and bread like she was planning on coming right back, but she
never did. Milgrom thanked the kid for his information, but didn’t share the
information with the group.
The Sister’s Home
The next day everyone went to the small temple of Shallya,
the only temple in the village. The front door was locked, but working on a tip
from Milgrom, Wilhelm was able to open the back window. He helped Petra go
inside. She discovered moldy stew, hard bread, and a candle that had been
allowed to burn down into nothingness. She also found a half written letter,
which she gave to Wilhelm. After opening up the building, Bartleby cleaned out
the old stew, and almost chipped a tooth when he tried to eat the dried out
bread. Wilhelm discovered that the letter was to the rest of the Shallyian
order, asking for supplies to help her efforts. Petra also discovered a lockbox
which had money and a jar. The jar she took as a clue, but the money she hid in
the temple. Once it was clean, and they had all the clues they could find, the
group headed outside and locked up. They noticed they were being stared down by
three older ladies. After questioning the trio of harpies (and Wilhelm almost
getting molested) they learned that the sister took off at night with a man who
had either black or auburn hair. She went of her own willingness.
Tracking Beasts
Winding their way through the forests, the group was able to
use various means to track the sister of Shallya and her kidnapper. While they
were tracking, they also found the tracks of several animals that were walking
on two legs but had cloven feet. Eventually, Milgrom was able to find an
outcropping to view the surrounding area. From there he could see the ruins of
a outpost. Heading up, Petra noticed a crossbow being pointed at her by a
familiar face, Gunther. After a few moments of bickering, he let them up. There
they found Sister Kara tied up, and a dead man. Gunther himself had an injured
leg. He said they were attacked by Beastmen. The area was lousy with them.
After untying Sister Kara they also found out Gunther had been ordered to kill
Sister Kara by the man he was escorting- Von Bloomberg. He had a book bound in
skin with a baby’s skull, and he was seeking out the missing pages. Just as
everyone was trying to figure out what to do about that information, they
learned that they were surrounded by Beastmen. Setting up the best
fortifications they could, they prepared for war, but it was apparent that the
Beastmen did not want to attack until after dark. Needing to start the fight
earlier, Bartleby, Wilhelm, and Milgrom started taunting them, while Petra took
the more direct route of shooting them. Finally that brought on the attack.
Oh God, Oh God, We
Are All Going to Die
Immediately swamped, everyone attacked and defended the best
they could. Sister Kara used her powers to heal as she could, but even with
weapons, armor, shields and bad words the group was barely able to hang on.
Sister Kara took heavy damage as did everyone else. At the end, though Petra
used the sister’s wellcrafted healing salve on Kara, it was not apparent if she
was going to live or die. Also very critically injured were Wilhelm and his
horse, both of whom were bleeding heavily. While trying to decide how to get
away, they heard the war cry of a Minotaur.
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