Previous: Running around the Forest
Little House on the Hill (Session #4)
The caravan continued traveling for the next two days uneventfully. Carokk caught up with the group on the first day.
Then the party saw a large plume of smoke coming from the top of a small rock formation. Being the nosy people they are, the companions told Kel that they were going to check the fire out and catch up with the dwarves when they were done. The rock formation rose out from behind a ring of trees. Before the party could break through the trees, a large form broke from the treeline with a loud screech. The creature was a large owlbear. The owlbear charged towards the characters as they hung back shooting the beast with missile weapons. When the creature passed within range, Carokk and Kerzog rushed forward to finish it off. After killing the owlbear the party continued to what looked like a manmade path circumnavigating the formation.
The party made their way up the path until they reached the final ascent to the top of the plateau. The final ascent was exceptionally steep and strewn with loose gravel so as to make for a difficult climb. Fortunately Carokk is a good climber, so he was able to climb to the top of the path with a rope to tie off so the rest of the group could climb up. Just as he was finishing the tie-off, he heard a sound behind him and as he turned around he saw four large black dogs with glowing red eyes and smoke drifting from their nose and mouths. Carokk yelled for the group to hurry then turned to accept the charge of the hell hounds. The group was able to make their way up the slope easily with the aid of the rope. When they got to the top, Carokk was in trouble. His armor was smoldering from flame that one of the hell hounds had breathed on him and he was being hounded by the rest of the hounds. Kerzog was the next character to the top and he quickly attacked the nearest hell hound. The rest of the group made it to the top just in time to see Carokk fall to the hell hound's onslaught. Grundel waded into battle while Cassandra rallied the group with inspirational songs, and Whistler summoned a celestial dog to help attack the evil hounds. A hell hound breathed flame on Whistler and Kerzog, but the hell hounds were defeated with minimal injury. Whistler and Grundel healed Carokk using the power granted by their respective deities.
After the battle, the characters noticed that the smoke was coming from the a building at the other end of the plateau. The hell hounds had apparently been trying to burn the building when Carokk stumbled upon them. The group approached the building and noticed a smattering of blood near the well just outside of the building. The characters looked down the well and saw two mangled bodies floating in the water. Grundel climbed down and the group hauled the bodies out and saw that the bodies were priests of Oldarin. Figuring that they would bury the bodies they laid them out on the ground so they could search the building for necessary tools to dig a proper grave.
The group entered the building and found themselves in a mudroom. There were three doors leading from the room: one to the left, one to the right, and one on the wall directly to their front. They decided to go through the door to the front and entered into a large room with a curtain covering the west wall. Directly in front of the curtain was a set of stairs leading up to a row of columns. Grundel and Carokk went to the stairs to peek through the curtains, while Kerzog, Cassandra, and Whistler searched around the rest of the room. Grundel started searching for an opening in the heavy curtain when a sword cut through the curtain dealing Grundel a minor wound. Carokk, Grundel, and Kerzog rushed to the ends of the curtain to attack who ever was behind the curtain. When they passed through the curtain, they saw a creature with the lower half of a snake but the torso and head of a human. The creature told Kerzog to go outside and enjoy the weather, and there was some sort of magical compulsion in its words because Kerzog turned and left! Carokk attacked the yuan-ti halfblood savagely, until the creature used some sort of magic that caused Carokk to back away from the beast. Since Carokk had hurt the creature, the rest of the group was able to dispatch the evil, snakeman with out further help from their most proficient warriors. The group searched the room and found a bag of treasure in a secret compartment under a statue.
Little House on the Hill (continued)(Session #5)
After defeating the yuan-ti halfblood, the group continued to search the entire first floor of the house. As they searched, they realized that the house was a small monastery of sorts for the Church of Oldarin. The first floor was nearly devoid of any useful information, so the group moved to the second floor.
Just as Grundel crested the steps to the second floor he saw someone go around a corner in the distance. He told the group to stay on the stairs and quietly moved followed the figure. As he rounded the corner he saw that it was another yuan-ti halfblood. The yuan-ti had heard Grundel and jumped out from behind another corner. The group sprung into action. The battle was over relatively quickly. On the creature, the group found a letter written in an unintelligible language. They searched the remainder of the the house and they found a letter written from their friend Karl McKain.
The letter read:
Dear Father Brittingham,
Soon compatriots of mine will be passing very near to your sanctuary. If you could see it in your heart to deliver this message that I have enclosed it would be greatly appreciated. They will be traveling with a caravan of dwarves and should pass within range of you in 2 days. Also if you could extend any hospitalities the party may need I will surely owe you a great favor, for it has already been a long journey for the group.
With the greatest respect.
Your friend,
Karl McKain
Figuring that the other letter might be important, Whistler rested and prayed for the ability to comprehend the writing. Kinsu answered his prayers and Whistler cast the spell that allowed him to read the other letter.
It read:
Compatriots,
It has come to our attention that a group of outsiders posing as a humanitarian group will be arriving in our beloved city of Arkhan within the coming weeks. This organization will greatly affect our way of life and our ability to make a living as we have been accustomed to. The member that brings me the heads from this party will not only receive a monetary reward but also gain status within the clan. We are slowly becoming a dying breed and we must fight for our survival and way of life. To this I extend my resources to you along with a dagger for those who interfere with our business.
Rigel Asbury
The group then searched the entire house top to bottom for the message mentioned in Karl McKain's letter. Unfortunately they were unable to find any such message. The group then built a funeral pyre for the priests found in the well and set out to catch up with the caravan. The group caught the dwarves in less than a day.
The caravan continued on its way for two days before they came across a trading village built into the cliffs of a ravine. The group stopped to shop for supplies and find someone to identify some of the magical items that they had found. Fortunately they were able to deal with a local sage named Thomas Stringfellow. Thomas was able to identify Cassandra's cloak as a cloak of etherealness which she promptly gave to Grundel. He was also able to identify Carokk's ring as a ring of sustenance. The party had bought and sold the necessary supplies and were ready to set out from the village when they were stopped by a woman yelling something about monsters attacking her family. The group rushed to her house and she explained hurriedly that her husband had been digging in their basement for a new well when he broke through into a large cavern. Two monsters came out of the hole and attacked.
The group rushed to the hole just in time to see the woman's husband get knocked to the ground unmoving by what looked like a large, floating brain with a beak and several tentacles hanging from beneath it. A second creature, also a grell, was behind the first creature carrying their young son into the darkness. The group rushed forward hoping to be able to get to the second monster. Unfortunately the first grell blocked the group's path. They hoped to dispatch the creature, but its tentacles had spiny barbs that delivered some sort of toxin that paralyzed the companions for a brief period of time. Kerzog was the only member of the group that was able to slip by. He had to stop and light a torch since he can't see in the darkness, and that small amount of time allowed the grell to get deeper into the cavern with the unfortunate young boy.
The rest of the group was able to defeat the first grell, but both Carokk and Whistler were paralyzed when it fell. Everyone that was able rushed into the dark cavern to try and save the boy. The group found the boy's dead body, but the grell was nowhere to be seen. Next thing they knew it burst from the darkness, attacking the would-be rescuers. During the melee, feeling returned to Carokk and Whistler and they also rushed into the cavern. Whistler summoned a celestial dog to attack the grell and shot it with a magic missile. Carokk charged forward to attack it and the grell was defeated.
Unfortunately the young boy was beyond the ability of the group's cleric to save.