Session 135: Dim Light, Bright Light

 Day 22 of Harvester

The party spent the day shopping and exchanging gold for various gemstones, jewelry, and other valuable trinkets with Pascal the merchant of Orlane. They did this in preparation for their trip back to the Barrow Maze the following day.  

Day 23 of Harvester

After a day of shopping and inventory management, the group awoke extra early to get a jump on the day's activities. They had an enjoyable breakfast at the Foaming Mug before heading out towards the Barrow Maze in the early hours of the morning. The farmlands and the dim forest were especially quiet during this morning commute. They arrived in the Barrow Marsh later that morning, the familiar smells of the swamplands hitting each of their nostrils. They opt to go inside the second entrance to the Barrow Maze so that they can continue their Fount of Law quest. Upon entering the familiar stone labyrinth, the group begins to notice that the Fount acts as a directional compass of sorts: it grows brighter in some directions, and dimmer in others. They begin to head east first and are shortly attacked by a small group of Huecava. They dispatch this group of undead with a combination of arrows, spells, and sword strikes. Following this battle, the group heads in a north-northeast part of the Barrow Maze. Armatzi notices that the Fount has dimmed a little, indicating that they are proceeding seemingly in the wrong direction. The group then turns around and backtracks to the where then came in from, then travel in a northwestern direction. They proceed to travel into a passage that they haven't been in quite some time. The passageway led to the area where they encountered the undead king and his ship. In the area of the ship, Armatzi notices that the Fount is somewhat dimmed, so group decides to eat lunch prior to heading back to the entrance yet again. Before they got there however, the group notices the Fount acting curiously in the hallway. The Fount pulsates and grows brighter when near one of the hallway's rooms. The group searches the nearby rooms but are unable to find anything. They proceed to the entrance area again and head towards a door to the north. This door, the group believed they had traveled through once upon time, they had not. This door led to area not yet explored by the party. It opens up to a larger room with a porta coulis on the right and door to the north. Lhoss first tries to unlock the northern door, but it apparently is beyond her skill set as it remains locked. Feno decides to try to bash it down, and shockingly it remains on its hinges. After the failure at unlocking the door to the north, the group instead heads down the passageway towards the porta coulis, it being precariously balanced above them. The group follows the small footsteps of Arnd into a room filled with small holes, with each one being roughly two to four feet deep. Armatzi is the first to look inside a hole and discovers an unknown green substance. Lhoss, being near a hole herself, looks inside a different one, and discovers a lever inside. Feno discovers a lever in the hole near him. Kyro makes a more disturbing discovery and finds a severed hand in his hole. Feno moves to another hole and sees a metal circle about 4 to 5 inches across on the bottom of the hole. When Lhoss moves to another hole, she sees something odd: a straight stick roughly 12 inches across. She then moves to yet another hole and discovers a scrap of paper or piece of vellum on the bottom. Armatzi and Kyro both search different ones near them, but both come up empty. The group also discover in one of the holes a small golden object glinting at the bottom of the hole. Having visually searched all of the holes in this new room, the group decided what to do next. This room has three doors to the north. Lhoss decides to search each door to see what if any traps lay in wait for the party. The first door, she discovers, has a gas-trap installed into it. The second and third doors are found to be trap-free. Armatzi opts to open the second door, only to discover a room with a rusty cauldron filled with yellowed teeth. They head back into the hole room after being creeped out by the teeth. Feno, feeling both brave, and a little impatient with the group, volunteers to press one of the hole levers to see what happens. Arnd loudly objects, stately this is a terrible idea, but Feno doesn't care. Armatzi tries to cast bless, but apparently lacks the required components for his clerical spell. He instead moves to the doorway and starts chanting, hoping that he can help Feno in this task. The groups anxiety rises as Feno gets ready to pull the lever...

The Fount of Law has its first use

Day 14 of Patchwall.

Rough notes from Arnd's scratches:

We stopped to eat lunch and it was relatively peaceful, for the Barrowmaze.

We moved into the next room, with the large obelisk. As Armatzi came in, we could see that he was holding the Fount of Law tightly and it seemed to be shaking in his grip—and the obelisk shook as well. After a few minutes of this, the obelisk suddenly crumbled to dust!

We decided to go south into the hallway, and as we moved down the hallway the Fount of Law became slightly dimmer, so we decided to turn back and go north.

We marched along the hallway, watching the walls and floors. Going through the double doors at the end of this hallway, we turned right and entered a room which previously had a statue. Armatzi noted that it is an ancient avatar of St. Cuthbert that has been defaced and beheaded, and the fingers partially broken off one hand.

To the south side of this room were two doors that we couldn’t remember if we had explored or not. Lhoss investigated and couldn’t determine if they were trapped or not. They were different than the usual dungeon doors and had some ancient runes on them so we investigated and tried to read them, but could not. We decided to open the left door and Armatzi opened it, revealing a group of terrifying Huecuva crawling from burial alcoves.

One came straight at Armatzi. Feno went running in and immediately destroyed one. I (Arnd) decided to go in after Feno and attack the one that was engaged with Armatzi. Armatzi then cast “turn undead” and affected some of the huecuvas. Two of them then attacked me and another attacked Feno. Kyro then attacked the huecuva that Feno was facing off with. None of us or the huecuvas made effective swings and there was no damaged to anyone or anything until Lhoss took aim with some magic missiles and took out two of the creatures. Niki came into the room and attacked one, damaging it with Mister Paws. Each time the Huecuvas attacked Feno, their large claws made horrible scratching sounds down his armor. Feno then swatted two of them down to dust. Armatzi stepped in and destroyed the last huecuva. Lhoss noticed that one of them had been wearing a pouch. Opening it, she discovered three gems, and obsidian, oriental emerald, and oriental amethyst. For a moment, Jack suddenly appeared on Niki’s shoulder, looked around, and let out a quick “Meow meow!” before taking the grape-shaped amethyst and vanishing. Niki blinked and looked around in confusion.

Armatzi decided to pray for some spells. While he did that, the rest of us searched through the burial alcoves, finding some silver earrings and a bag that felt weightless, but which contained 120 gold pieces. We immediately named it the baby bag of holding and poured in all of our gold, electrum, and silver pieces, plus 16 copper from the bag of holding. Altogether that meant it holds 500 coins or 50 pounds and 30 cubic feet.

Moving back out to the larger room, we approached the other closed door. Just as we opened it, we heard a low, growling noise from the west, down the hall. We then moved into the room, which contained 69 more burial alcoves, and began yet another search for treasure. We found 51 electrum pieces and a whole lot of gnawed bones.

We left the room and headed east, finding a room with an arrow made of ugly yellow teeth, pointing west. We searched around that room, which contained burial alcoves, and found a bunch of platinum. Jack also reappeared, exclaimed, “These grapes can’t be eaten!” and handed them back—slightly damp—to Niki before vanishing again.

Heading north, we found another room with a pyramid-shaped pile of stones and graffiti on the wall saying, “Something is following us. Beware the eyes in the walls!” We could hear something from behind a door to the east, which sounded like an old lady saying “Help!”

Lhoss checked the door for traps and didn’t see any.

Armatzi decided to open the door, since he was holding the protective Fount of Law. Inside was a creature that appeared to be part tiger, part louse, and part ant. Also on the floor was a lot of treasure! Another mongrel-man was a mixture of a lobster and a mouse, and another was a mixture of different breeds of dogs. They quizzed us to see if we were necromancers of Set, and Armatzi convinced them that we were not. We entered the room and noted that it was filled with coins on the floor. They told us that they had escaped from the necromancers. We gave them all some rations and they took them eagerly. They then said they wanted to escape to the west and we moved aside so they could leave. They ran out the door and down the hallway toward the south. We then picked up the coins on the floor—also discovering 4 emeralds—and pocketed them all carefully. It was a lot of coins! We went north, “Star chamber room” and the elves wanted us to move out. We then investigated the eastern wall and Lhoss discovered a latch on the wall. Another star chamber room. The two elves, Lhoss and Feno, went in and closed the door behind them. After a few minutes the door opened again and they invited us in. They had found another door! We went through that and out into another hallway, Heading north we sorted through some rubble in the hallway and west into another dirty room. Moving north a bit more, we found ourselves in a section of the Barrowmaze that we had recently visited, where we battled the Band of the Black Hand. We decided to go back to Orlane from here for the evening, and headed out west through the rooms we had previously visited, finding that we had finally linked our way through the Barrowmaze from one entrance to the other.

We left the marsh, went through the dim forest, and as we entered the farmlands found a large bull staring us down. We cautiously moved down the trail, avoiding looking at the bull, and passed it without instigating its territorial instincts. Returning to Orlane at dusk, we found a delicious hamhock, rice and bean dish being served, and hungrily ate our dinner. Jack had two servings and ignored Niki while he ate. She interrupted him to ask about the teleporting and he said that he had discovered he had the ability to teleport to his favorite pets. He then teleported over to Armatzi and then back to Niki, then went back to his food as Niki exclaimed about how he was her pet and not she his. The bantering continued and the rest of us calmly polished our armor and chuckled quietly as Jack ordered Niki and Armatzi to eat some dinner, saying it would put hair on their chests. He then snapped his paw and a bespectacled little man came up and explained that Sir Jack was paying him from a wealthy account to write his memoirs. As Niki became more excited, Jack turned her over to Lhoss with the instruction to get some sleep, then sauntered out, saying he had a date waiting.

Session 133: At last, the Font of Law

It is well into Day 20 of Harvester when we find that an old friend has decided to join us once again. As Feno, Arnd, Niki, Kyro, and I (Lhoss) contemplate whether we are full sick of trudging out to the barrowmaze, Armatzi strides up full of vigor to complete his long-assigned task of finding the Font of Law. It's an assignment that has buzzed in the back of our minds for weeks and months, but we have faltered, as of late, with any genuine motivation to get it done. Niki had a burst of inspiration from her deity just yesterday, but is already easily swayed by Feno's tantalizing description of a personal quest to find and defeat a displacer beast. Frankly, we all are interested in something new. There is also the pull to bring the temple some troll blood and a few tasks to be done in Hochoch. Arnd reasons, impressively so for a dwarf, that the guidance of Armatzi may be what we have been missing and we should utilize his righteous skills to locate the artifact while he is with us. We all decide this is wise and plan to set out early the next morning. Meanwhile, Zach returns to the inn and informs us that he has chosen to become an acolyte of Merikka and will perform two weeks of penance at the temple. He then expresses a strong desire to wipe out The Band of the Black Hand and liberate the underlings who had been enslaved like himself. The party agrees that this is a noble quest and adds it to the "to do" pile. The remainder of the night is spent eating a hearty dinner and listening to a bard sing about brave adventurers. I am awash in feelings of goodwill (and ale) as I nod along to the lyrics that mirror my own life and am joined by Feno, Dorian, and Llewelyn. Is there anything as glorious as the company of elves?

Early the next morning, we all set off. The weather is gorgeous and the first leg is pleasant enough, with greetings from the farmers in their fields. The mood is quashed as we enter the Dim Forest, though. It's always a gloomy place, but something feels off. More that usual, even. But we press on and emerge into the stinking barrow marsh. The main entrance, as we have come to call it, displays no oddities. There is no fragrant meal; in fact, even the mysterious table is gone. The chalk writing on the wall has been smeared with a hand  (or paw?). This place is wild. All the more reason to find the Font and be done with it.

Armatzi says a prayer to St. Cuthbert and indicates the Font is in some natural caverns. Luckily, we know just where to head to start searching. On the way we see some grayish-white powder trailed on the ground. The archway that had been emitting hot air has gone cool again, but is now covered with a mass of multi-colored mold. Niki shivers. Some teeth are seen scattered along a set of stairs, including humanoid teeth and one six-inch canine cuspid. A low moaning groan is heard in the distance and dies off. The obelisk covered in evil runes that we had destroyed is now intact. The rest of us had seen this, but Armatzi is stunned. He approaches it to investigate, and it... tracks him. He does not engage with it any further! Any one of these oddities might make a more cowardly soul turn back, but we all press on.

Entering the natural caverns, Armatzi declares the Font is near. Down a corridor, we see an amorphous golden blob trickling down a wall. It is quickly defeated and as Feno delivers the killing blow, the ochre jelly separates to reveal the partially digested remains of the cave fisher. I shiver.

We soon come upon a new room we haven't seen before. There are three stone statues of male warriors around a rough-hewn sarcophagus marked with dark runes. Armatzi is immediately on edge and casts detect magic, but the spell is unable to penetrate the stone. Suddenly, two of the barrow guardian statues animate and attack the party. They are quickly dispatched with and our attention is pulled to the sarcophagus. Armatzi pushes the lid aside and casts protection from evil on himself. Inside there is a glowing white orb. He hesitates; is this some trick? But as he approaches the orb, the air sweetens and he is filled with hope because he has finally found it. He has found the Font of Law! A strange alien noise sounds out twice but then dissipates. Armatzi grips the orb tightly and holds it slightly in front of him. It glows brighter as if it is guiding him. The mission is not yet complete.

Session 132: An Evolving Viewpoint and New Ally

Days 19 of Harvester

The Orlanian Heroes gathered around the unconscious body of the surviving member of the Black Hand party. Niki cast a healing spell on him to assist in binding his wounds, but his unconsciousness remained. Due to his unconsciousness, he was unaware of the charitable acts that some members of the party had taken, in response to the harsh actions that some had done when he was in a defenseless state.  He did feel the healing spell, nor was aware of the cleaner clothes being provided. The magically inclined members opted to use this time to memorize the spells they had used, while Arnd watched over the prisoner, ensuring that Chiki steered clear from him. Those that were not magical casters, or who had completed their memorizations quickly, went to work in the search of the nearby burial alcoves. The party finds a large, finely cut sapphire, an ivory demon idol, and decent amount of gold pieces that they split amongst themselves. Shortly after the searching and the memorizing, the body of unconscious prisoner begins to stir, and he awakens. After some brief questions, the party finds out his name: Zach Stone. He hears various options from Lhoss, and Arnd, but initially doubts their intentions. Through intense discussion that nearly broke down a few times, the group learns that most members join the Black Hand through kidnapping and intimidation. Chiki, the group member who initially caused Zach to fall unconscious, continued to antagonize the prisoner through hostile questions and actions. Feno, grown frustrated by Chiki chaotic escalation of the situation they found themselves in, struck him hard in the back of his Gnomish head with his palm. Because of Feno's excessive strength, this blow caused Chiki to wince in pain. Lhoss, hearing how Zach was forcibly pressed into the service of the Black Hand, is moved into offering him a position as a torch bearer for the party at a rate of 2 GP a day, new clothes to change into, and offers him a ration to eat as well. Seeing this charitable act causes Zach's eyes to swell with tears, and he tentatively agrees to the arrangement.  The group decides to head back to Orlane, and to put him in the back with Kyro, in order to put as much distance between him and Chiki as possible. Kyro, seeing his recent struggles, offers to untie him, and says that if he were walk next to him the whole time, he can remain untied the remainder of the trip according to his word. Zach of course agrees and Kyro removes his rope bindings. The group makes their way through the dusty passages of the barrow-maze with their new companion Zach in tow.  

As the party approaches the Dim Forest, they notice that Zach has been shielding his eyes from time to time from the sunlight. Lhoss begins gently asking why that it is, and he informs the party that he has been in the barrow-maze for a while, and he is having a hard time adjusting to outside light and freedom the group has given him. Lhoss continues to gently probe him about his previous life. He tells the group that shortly before being pressed into service into the Black Hand, he went into the Dim Forest and saw a glimpse of a white deer. Kyro is amazed by this, but others are unaffected by this, unaware of its significance. Zach furthers mentions he was once a follower of Merikka, but has fallen out of favor since joining the Black Hand. 

The group arrives in Orlane in the late evening, but still early enough for dinner. They arrive at the Foaming Mug for a delicious dinner being served. Lhoss and Kyro split the cost and ensure their new friend is taken care of, both with food, as well as bed and bath for the evening. They all gather around the tables of the tavern and enjoy the delicious food, especially Zach. He relaxes a bit and relays the troubles of his past and the inner workings of the Black Hand. He reveals that many members are charmed into service, while others are threatened into it. He also reveals that while the few upper leaders are truly evil, most of the members are pressed into service. The leaders send the members into the barrow-maze to look for and collect treasure for them, and if unsuccessful, the members lose their fingers. Lhoss, further moved by Zach's story, offers a heartfelt apology for those things that has befallen him. Chiki, on the other hand, in his usual chaotic fashion interupts and asks where he can go to further train his magical abilities. Arnd off-handedly mentions that Rainn, who lives here in Orlane usually trains the other magic users but is unsure if he will be willing to train Chiki. Following dinner, the group clean themselves up, and Zach really enjoys his bath, this being one of the first time his was given an opportunity in recent days to do so. Once scrubbed clean, and clean clothes put upon him, and with a large smile he gave Lhoss and Kyro each a large, warm hug of gratitude. Lhoss and Kyro both notice that Zach is quite a young man, barely reaching adulthood. Following dinner and conversations, the party head to their respective rooms for the evening. 

Day 20 of Harvester:

The group awakens to the usual amazing smells of breakfast, and Chiki decides to ask the owner of the Foaming Mug, Florian if he can cook breakfast for Zach with some eggs that were from his inventory. Florian agrees and says that the cook is more than willing to cook it if Chiki wants to provide the egg. Chiki looks into his backpack and discovers that it is overflowing with eggs. It appears that he hasn't been paying attention when his chicken has been laying eggs, and now his backpack is overflowing with eggs. Meanwhile, Niki, seeing her self-aware cat Jack, begins to argue with him. Jack, sniffs the clutch of eggs, determines which are good eggs, and which are spoiled. Feno, who had gotten up to get a start on the day, decides to sit down to watch this interesting show that is developing right in front of him.  Chiki starts talking to Florian about a business deal that doesn't make sense to the party, or to the owner, to donate eggs in exchange for storing them. Florian asks: "What exactly is being offered?"
Chiki responds with: "Let me paint you a picture..." Feno immediately tunes out and rolls his eyes. Chiki apparently wants the tavern to hold his good eggs, and he will collect an egg a day, (or so this is what the group thinks Chiki is talking about). Florian agrees to store the eggs. 

Following the breakfast drama, the group splits in a couple groups and heads in different directions in town. Feno, Lhoss and Niki head towards Dorian and Llewlyn (the resident elves of Orlane), while Gnorcia, hearing Chiki needed guidance took him to Rainn. Meanwhile, Kyro took Zach to meet the priests at the temple of Merikka. 

After a warm greeting, Dorian greeted Feno, Lhoss, and Niki and welcomed them inside. After exchanging pleasantries, Feno asked the elves about information a personal quest he is on locating displacer beasts. The elves tell them what they know, including where to find them, and what to expect, and they bid the party good luck with a traditional drink of elven spring wine.  Following this, the party members head towards store to meet up with the rest of the party.

Kyro, upon bringing Zach to the temple, speaks to lay members to help bring Zach back to the faithful. Zach is asked to follow an acolyte to a prayer room, where he is discussing his vision of the white deer and his feeling of Merikka, so he can assist in helping in what to do. 

After introducing Chiki to Rainn, Gnorcia leads him back to the group, and then goes back to her training. 

The Band of the Black Hand Loses for Once

By Arnd

We turned the corner and as Niki walked ahead, sweeping the floors for traps, she found herself face-to-face with a 10-legged creature—a pseuropod—that looked like a floating giant brain with a beak! It grasped her with two tentacles, paralyzing her, and pecked her with its beak.

Lhoss cast magic missiles and hit it, then Feno cut off one of the tentacles, allowing Niki to fall back and stepping in front of her. Feno was then hit by a tentacle and paralyzed also! 

Kyro stepped in and finished it off with an arrow and it fell to the ground next to Feno and Niki. We planned to rest for half an hour as they recovered from the paralysis and Lhoss memorized her spells.

As we waited and kept watch, Chiki noticed a strange pile of rubbish farther down the hall and then spotted a familiar glowing red light approaching: fire beetles. The beetles also appeared to be attacking from behind us around the other side of the hallway.

Feno immediately destroyed the first beetle to approach, Kyro hit another, and Lhoss interrupted her spell memorization to levitate a third. More fire beetles advanced on us and Kyro nearly killed one, firing point-blank with his bow. One hit me but I couldn't seem to hit anything. Lhoss tried hitting the levitated beetle but missed and it somehow managed to spin itself around with a leg on the wall and faced her down! Feno smashed two more into pieces and Niki and Chiki finished off the rest of them.

Chiki then examined the rubbish and noted that it seemed some of it had gone missing during the battle. Feno used a torch to start the rubbish on fire and smoke began to fill the hallway. We moved back north to the brick wall and decided to break it down. Four of us wielding sledgehammers made short work of it and we discovered it was hiding a room full of over 100 burial alcoves, plus a large, bricked-up space with the words "Vermingretrix the Reaver" written on it in ancient common.

As we were busy looting the alcoves, Feno—who was guarding the door—heard quiet footsteps in the hall. He stepped back in and the rest of us moved up to the north wall, prepared to ambush who or whatever was coming.

Someone called in to us, “Drop your treasure and come out and we won’t harm you!” We taunted the bandits to come on in after us and instead they tossed in two fiery vials of oil. One broke and splashed and I found myself hit with burning oil. Bother! We all stepped out into the hall and began attacking them.

It was the Band of the Black Hand! Feno smashed a couple. Kyro and I smashed two more. They stupidly kept coming at us and got in a few hits, but Kyro and I quickly damaged two more. One then turned to run and was immediately smashed by Feno. Kyro finished off another and the last one—nearly dead—dropped to his knees and begged for mercy.

He was a young man. We began questioning him angrily and as he blubbered about joining the band from his home in the forest. Chiki then slapped him across the face and he passed out, but several of us began feeling guilt about the kid. We discussed hiring him as a torchbearer. I decided to bind up his wounds and wash his face. Chiki slunk away back to the burial alcoves and Niki cast a healing spell on him.

Kyro then went through the pockets of all the dead and Lhoss gathered tokens of the black hand from their armor to take back to town for a reward. Lhoss also pulled out an old tunic that had once belonged to Derrick and Kyro pulled out some old pants with holes in them. I took those for the young man and stood guard over him as the others went back into the room to finish searching the alcoves.

Session 130: Mysteries of the Sphynx

It's late morning on Day 19 of Harvester and our small group of Feno, Niki, Arnd and me (Lhoss) approach the main entrance to the barrow maze. We've climbed down this rope dozens of times, but all of the strange happenings (the containers of body parts, the theft and teasing note from another group, the ghast) have put me on edge and I decide to have a look around. I am drawn to a scene by a delicious scent and what I see is most curious: a stone table set with a plate with beef, potatoes and gravy and a side of vegetables along with a silver goblet filled with some liquid. There are even tendrils of steam still rising from the dish. It looks tempting, but it is so perfect a display in such a dangerous place, that we all feel as though it may be a trap. Feno tosses a small pebble and it hits squarely on the chair sat at the table and bounces away, dismissing his suspicions that there may be an invisible person in our midst. The group splits to search the nooks and crannies and finds nothing. If we have interrupted someone about to enjoy and early lunch, the only direction they could have gone is down the rope. So we descend into that familiar gloom, with Feno going down head-first in a daredevil manner.

The scene is one we have all seen dozens of times, but considering the oddities we have just encountered, we are all eyeing the space with extra scrutiny. The room is partially collapsed on the western wall (has it always been in this condition, or are we just now taking notice?) and written on the southern wall are the words "don't go on" (how long has that been there?). There are also frescoes of a burial procession. As we gaze upon the painted picture, the figures seem to animate and move, then in a blink, go back to still. There are exchanges of "did you just see that?" and "what is going on?" and a general feeling of disquiet. We decide that we should pay attention to the bad vibes we're all sensing and retreat back up the rope. Curiously, the plate of food is now gone and not even a scent lingers. It's as though it never was.

Good thing we know of a second entrance. We head to and enter the barrowmaze through what I have come to think of as the secret passage. Suddenly, every member of the party is frozen in fear as a vision of horror plays in our mind. What entity has the power to cause our entire group to experience this sort of psychic terror? Everyone is contemplating our options when Niki's face transforms from a look of worry to one of beatific exuberance! She has received a message from her deity, Obad-hai, that it is her divine mission to seek the Font of Law. This is likely because the two driving forces leading this cause in our party, Armatzi and Chalkboi, have left the party and the group had grown ambivalent toward the goal. It seems cleansing the barrowmaze is a priority for multiple higher powers. Niki's motivation is enough to electrify the entire group such that we all overcome our hesitancy and push forward into the crypts. We are not even deterred by the gurgling cackle that is heard in the distance. When you are infected with quest fever, the only antidote is success!

Moving with our usual caution, Gnorcia notices a doorway that had been previously guarded by a goblin, but was now clear. Onward to new discoveries! The first thing the group encounters is a crumbing sphynx statue covered in moss and dust. The statue blinks to life and speaks. Apparently it has been in the barrowmaze for many millennia. It pegs us as adventurers and offers a trade: if we can solve a riddle, it will answer a question for us. Surely a being that has been here so long could lead us directly to the Font of Law. Somewhat impetuously, without inquiring about the terms of the contract, I agree to participate. The riddle is posed: "Close to the words stay I, but I wither, wane and grow dry." I am utterly befuddled. The sphynx suggests that we all discuss it over lunch, and by the way would we mind sharing some of our rations and water? We do so and the sphynx drains and entire water skin. Feno poses that perhaps the answer is tongue, as the sphynx was clearly very thirsty. That sounds like a good answer to me, but the answer we decide to give is parchment. The sphinx seems a little disappointed and informs us we are incorrect. The answer was a pressed flower. At that revelation, the sphynx crumbles to dust and a quiet sob is heard. One can only hope that the sphynx has simply moved to another room and we may encounter it again.

Moving along, Niki kicks up some poisonous mold with her 10-foot pole. She is knocked unconscious. I cast my continual light spell, but it does not neutralize the mold. Feno pulls Niki away from the mold and manages not to become infected himself. I was all for leaving the pole behind, but Arnd deftly retrieved it and cleaned it for further use. In time, Niki recovered and we pressed on. In the next room, as Niki probed the area with the pole, a trap was triggered and a steel cage came crashing down from the ceiling, snapping the pole in two. If a person had set foot in that space, they would have either been trapped or crushed. Fortunately, there is a second pole in the bag of holding!

Further along, we enter a room with piles of rubble and cobwebs on the ceiling. Niki probes one of the piles and disturbs more toxic mold. She is able to quickly retreat and avoid being poisoned this time. With a careful inspection of the room, Niki finds a hidden latch. She switches it and a passage is revealed along with a bricked off wall. What horrors are hidden behind it?

Session 129: Forest Encounters

Notes by Gnorcia

End of Day 17 of Harvester

We began moving through the thick mists of the Barrowmarsh, which felt more menacing than ever. It was as if some terrible presence was closing in on us. We tried to engage in casual conversation along the way, but it felt very superficial and everyone’s faces looked strained.

As we moved through the forest, we came to the same area where we had found something on the trail before and saw aother something. It appeared to be a body with something sticking up out of it! Calbach suggested throwing a torch at it, I suggested casting dancing lights, and ultimately Lhoss cast continuous light on the entire area.

In the light, the figure appeared to be a human with two arrows protruding from its back. Niki swept the path carefully toward the body and used the pole to push it over. It's face was frozen in a look of horror and it was missing both of its eyes! We didn’t recognize the person—a male human dressed in worn clothing in woodland colors, and it appeared to have had a purse that had been cut from its strap. Kyro deduced that the eyes were cut out post-mortem.

No one wanted to touch the corpse, but we determined to move it off the path so Calbach and Kyro lifted it off the trail and off to the side, and the group gathered leaves and a few branches to try to cover it a bit. Lhoss then dispelled the continuous light and lit a candle, Calbach lit a torch, and we continued our march back to Orlane.

The sun set about half an hour after we left the quiet, creepy forest and we hurried to arrive at Orlane before dinnertime ended. The farmers we passed on the way seemed in a hurry to finish their tasks and get back inside their homes. We made it back in time for dinner and were met with a relatively quiet atmosphere in the common room of the inn. Innkeeper Florin mentioned that there may be another shopkeeper setting up shop soon.

Day 18 of Harvester

The next morning we slept a bit later to recover from our late travel, then decided to spend the day in town. At breakfast, Calbach took extra bacon and stuffed it in his pockets for a snack later. Lhoss, Niki, and Kyro spent some time just outside of town, searching for rose petals and holly, and Calbach went down to the lake where he practiced hopping between rocks and managed to fall in a few times.

The group then went to visit the mayor and show him what we had found in the Barrowmaze. He was very interested in everything but especially in the Barrowmarsh Scroll and the lost journal, and offered 100 gold pieces for the scroll and 150 for the journal. He also said we should consider going to Hookhill and approaching the local gentry to see if they would be interested in the Gran March Royal Edicts, and that the codex and the alchemical grimoire would probably be very valuable in the right hands (such as an alchemist) as well. He suggested taking the mummification documentation to a house of worship.

Calbach was dripping water, munching on soggy bacon, and behaving a bit rudely so we set him on “guard duty” outside and “helped” him out. Lhoss told the mayor that she would bring the journal at the end of the day after she had read through it and transcribe information of interest to our group.

We then went to the temple and Kyro took the mummification scrolls to Priestess Misha. She was thrilled at receiving them and said the temple would be willing to give a gold credit for future healing or items, or to trade some holy water and healing potions. We purchased 10 healing potions and now have an 820 gold credit.

Calbach was behaving a little oddly so Misha had some acolytes help him to a resting place to teach him meditation. I decided to stay with him and make sure he didn’t wander off. Niki went with Lhoss to have Ramne identify the magical studded leather armor, which they learned is +2 to AC.

Calbach leveled up so he will be spending 2 weeks at the temple and will be back on day 5 of the Brewfest festival, and Chiki the Turtle has now joined the group in his place. I also leveled up so will be back in 7 days, and Arnd has now joined the group in my place.

Notes by Arnd

Day 19 of Harvester

We ate a hearty but oddly-meatless breakfast—methinks this must be similar to the strange diet of elves—and headed out for the Barrowmarsh.

The group filled me in on what happened during their last trip through the Dim Forest, and when we got to where they had left the eyeless body, we discovered it standing! It then began to shuffle toward us and with that motion we quickly recognized the movement and foul stench of a ghast. It headed straight for Niki, managing to hit and paralyze her. Kyro and Feno both ran in and attacked, destroying it but stinking up the woods even more with its nasty corpse.

Chiki kept trying to slap Niki's face to wake her up, but I lifted him by his collar and set him to the side. After a tense minute, Niki came to herself and could move again. We quickly continued on our way and made it to the Barrowmarsh, which seemed even more cold, dank, and smelly than usual.