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Coopertown (Session #8)

Rory and Blaine continued to the Black Shanty after defeating the rogues. They stepped through the doorway hoping to meet with Rufus and get more information. When they entered the dark bar, the few customers shrunk away from them. Blaine, trying to open the group up a bit, bought a round for the everyone, but unlike the previous day the group took their beer quietly. Blaine asked the bartender if he knew if Rufus would be in, the bartender replied, "That's unlikely since his body was found in an alley with its tongue cut out".

The young paladin realized that he was obviously watched by an agent of the Eyes in the Night, and that his questions had gotten an innocent man killed. He and Rory left the Black Shanty and went their separate ways, Rory went to the Cat House while Blaine went to the Sword of Justice to pray to his deity.  

 Rory surreptitiously asked around for directions to Darn's Rock. He found out that it is a large rock just off the coast about a day and a half north of the city. It's just off the coast from a ruined mining village called Coopertown. After getting this information, he met the rest of the group, except Blaine, at the Cat House. They decided to leave first thing in the morning to scout the village, figuring that they could at least get the lay of the land before the smugglers arrive. The group had four days until the drug deal.

First thing in the morning, the group left the Cat House and just up the road they came across a bit of a commotion. A crowd was gathered around a group of watchkeepers. The city watchmen were investigating an abduction. There was a man that had escaped from the abductors, even as two of his friends were taken. He described his assailants as small, shadowy humanoids with hoofed feet. Kruenor and Gaelen recognized the creatures by description, but didn't volunteer that fact to the watchkeeper.

The continued on their way, leaving the city, passing the Hollows, crossing the Hertlow Bridge, and following the road into the Cairn Hills. The road turns toward the coast and the party passed a caravan coming south towards Xraxus. They asked the caravan guards if they had noticed increased orc activity. The guards mentioned that they had a couple of skirmishes, but nothing overly dangerous.

The group continued until dusk, then set camp. As they traveled, Gaelen had hunted for food for the group, killing a small deer for their dinner. They had a nice meal and settled in for the night.

About halfway through the night, during Kyle's watch, he heard some rustling in the darkness. As he strained to see into the darkness, he made out several humanoid forms in the shadows just outside the ring of firelight. Kyle yelled a general alarm and charged into the fight. He quickly realized his error as four orcs surrounded him as the rest of the group struggled to equip themselves. Kyle was able to take only minor injuries in the initial melee, but with four opponents even minor injuries quickly turn deadly. Gaelen was able to release himself from his bedroll and fire arrows into Kyle's melee, aiding his companion. Blaine grabbed his shield and charged the nearest orc. Rory flicked daggers at the savage humanoids while looking for an appropriate opening to attack. Kruenor stepped from his tent, casting light on Blaine's shield as he passed. With the entire group alert and able to fight, a group of six orcs were no match. The group killed five of the orcs and sent the sixth orc running into the darkness. The group had minimal injuries, with Kyle's being the most serious. The group used some magic to heal the injured then rested the remainder of the night.

In the morning, the group headed toward Coopertown. They reached a fork in the road and followed the fork to the coast. The road doubled back through two stands of trees, but not before the group spied a huge finger of stone jutting out of the ocean just off the coast, Darn's Rock. Following the road, they emerged from between the trees into a small ruined village. Coopertown has approximately 20 buildings, all in a state of disrepair. Only two buildings looked as if they had been inhabited in several years: a small cottage near the center of town and a the largest house in town.

The group investigated the cottage first. They knocked, and when they got no answer, they entered. The one room cottage had a large table, five chairs, and a loft with five bedrolls. The cottage looked as if no one had been there recently. As they walked toward the large house, they noticed four mine entrances cut into the hills surrounding the ruined buildings.

As they approached the large house, they noticed that the windows and door were boarded up and a large sign said "KEEP OUT". Rory climbed up to look in the second story windows. When he looked in, he saw that there was furniture in the room, covered with sheets of white fabric. He decided to climb to the roof and look for an opening.

As Rory investigated the roof, Kyle and Blaine wandered the rest of the town, looking for clues. Gaelen and the dwarf were standing on the front porch of the house when they figured they'd like to enter, so in typical dwarven fashion, Kruenor began chopping the door down with the axe end of his urgosh.

On the roof, Rory found a hole large enough to creep through. He crawled through, into an attic filled with someone's discarded belongings. The banging on the door told him that his friends had decided to enter the building so he figured he would make his way to the first floor. As he was looking for the ladder to descend, he felt a cold chill and turned to see an insubstantial dwarf with a flaming urgosh ascending through the floor of the attic. Before he could make a sound, the ghost locked eyes with him and Rory felt a terrible evil emanating from the undead creature. Rory dove through the hole he had entered and quickly climbed down the house. When he reached the ground, he was so shaken that the group knew he had faced a terrible being.

The group decided that they would put the unfortunate dwarf to rest...   

Next: Rendezvous