Manhunt – In Search of RocSingers Past

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Summary

• GM: Bernard Hoggins
• Time: Spring 811 WK
• Day: Wednesdays
• Level: Medium

The Party

1. RocSinger – Party Leader and partial employer (Elf)
2. Zanak - Former pirate, now a warrior priest of Ahura Mazda (Scribe)
3. Elenna - E&E Mage. A shy human, not very pretty but quite practical
4. Skafloc valGalen – a naïve earth mage elf, with some understanding of military things
5. Robert –
6. Garrick – A dwarf Illusionist, thief and alchemist
7. Rowan – Helen
8. Djulius the Witchboy – Dylan the young
9. Sau'rus – Necromancer on his own Guild business

Employer

The Guild and RocSinger

Mission

RocSinger’s birth, parents and family are a mystery. He was raised in the Enchanted Forest by a human male old mage. He has been unable to talk about this, and being saved by the mage from wolves, and the mage himself, by a magical compulsion for many years, until this was removed by Merlin recently.

The Enchanted Forest is north of Seagate. The forest was once home of the Dire Oaks, expanding yearly, created by Wulgruth the Wraith , who was defeated by a Guild party 27 years ago. The forest was prone to strange weather conditions (hailstones the size of footballs, acid raid etc, and a bound goddess. All that stuff was sorted out after Wulgruth’s death and the goddess was set free.

Rocsinger is keen to find out his origins. In addition to this, Merlin suggests that finding relatives may assist in getting back to male.

Garrick is also keen to find a powerful alchemist as he has some books he needs translating.

Payment

RocSinger is offering a scroll each. The guild is offering the standard rates, plus we can keep anything we acquire. Sau'rus is a Necromancer who offered at the Guild Meeting to provide Speak with Deads if required. His requested payment is corpses of any rare or unusual beasts we kill. If we happen to actually only encounter (or fail to kill anything interesting) mundane things, then we've gotten some freebie rituals.

Scribe Notes

Slippery Rock

We meet in the normal place and give our introductions. Sau'rus is rather quiet and offers to "be around when he is needed”. He says he will stay a safe distance from us when camping. We decide he has lice or he knows something about the forest that we don’t. Most likely lice! Just as we are deciding to wander around town seeking information on the forest a messenger arrives for Julius. "Helga at Slippery Rock has a package for him”. Julius doesn’t know Helga but the offer of "presents” is too tempting for him so off we go. We rent some horses (sedate beasts) for the ride. 3 hours later we arrive and 2 pretty young girls in white offer us garlands. They skip and dance and offer kisses till we mention Helga. The girls look horrified and race off. The townsfolk look at us like we have the plague but one brave soul comes forth and directs us to Helga’s place (round the back of town and past the big oak). We had planned to ask questions of these wiccan folk about the enchanted forest but we aren’t so sure they will be friendly anymore. We begin to wonder who Julius is and what mess we are getting ourselves into.

Turns out Helga is a nice old crone with a fetish for young male wicca (Julius). She offers him various enticements and the promised bag of goodies. Did we overhear something about sacrificing souls? Surely not. He comes out with a special amulet of luck.

She doesn’t tell us much about the forest except that the dire oaks have been moved to another safe place (she did it apparently). We don’t ask how or why, being too afraid of the answers. Garrick asks her about alchemists and they have a private chat in her house. He comes out muttering about "I’m not giving her a blood sacrifice just to read a book” although as we leave the place and head back to town he does look back wistfully.

The townsfolk won’t talk to us because we are obviously "less than desirable individuals” through our association to Helga, but they will trade, so we get down to business and buy some potions and amulets.

After lunch we ride back to Seagate. For some reason it takes even longer on these silly horses and it is evening by the time we get back. RocSinger invites us all to attend the theatre and to stay with a friend called Roberton. Some of us have adventured with him in the past. The evening passes in relative calmness. Garrick talks to some more alchemists but doesn’t gain much information. Roberton doesn’t know much about the forest but the closest town is called Stoneborough and they must know more.

The next morning we talk to some philosophers but again we don’t learn much of interest. There are reports of some undead but that is not unusual.

For lunch we visit an Ork pub called the F&F (no prizes for what that means…) and we talk to Horatio. He looks like a dandy human merchant but his behavior indicates he is a skilled bard. RocSinger bares the brunt of a friendly scuffle with an Ork but after she picks herself up from the floor a table becomes vacant for our group and Horatio. (I did mention RocSinger is a male in a female body didn’t I ?) As we leave we feel pleased with ourselves, even though we only got directions and the fact it is a logging town. He must be a very good bard!

We decide to spend the afternoon in Seagate equipping ourselves and depart the next morning.

Stoneborough

The trip takes a whole day and we pass through 3 small villages, Harth, Goodmill and Hughs Farm, before reaching the walled town of Stoneborough. There are 3 inns and we pick Masons Hole to rest for the evening. The innkeeper is in his 50s and tells us a bit about the Enchanted Forest. He says the best source of information is "old Jim”, an old trapper/logger who lives about 10 miles to the north east. Follow the tracks into the forest and then wait. He should find you soon enough.

We set up watches for the evening and settle in for a restful night.

During the second watch Julius, RocSinger and Rowan start hearing whispers from the wall. Julius feels happy to hear them while RocSinger and Rowan are not so happy. RocSinger and Rowan wake the rest of the party. Julius, Robert and Rowan listen and appear to hearing the voices clearly. Skafloc puts on his cloak of shadows and he can hear the voices too. He quickly takes it off and tells us the voices are saying "we will protect you”. Julius, Robert and Rowan promptly walk through separate walls and disappear.

Skafloc puts a tunnel through one wall into the next room but all we see is a sleeping occupant.

Elenor, RocSinger and Zanak do some locates and the arrows all point upwards. A wizards eye fails to see them. We suspect they are very high up. Within a minute they drop through the ceiling (leaving no hole) looking none the worse for wear. They do have a cute white kitten though. It seems the group had a nice chat with a demon prince who offered them a few enticements which they say they all turned down. The demon also offered to help the party in exchange for a kitten. This one or some other one. RocSinger divinates Julius to see if he is telling the truth and that he hasn’t been pacted to demons but all appears as they said.

Travel to the Enchanted Forest

The next 3 days are spent in traveling through the outskirts of the main forest. We only have a vague idea of where the enchanted forest is so we just keep heading north’ish. During the first watch we hear a giant boar in the distance. Sleeping it and DAing it seems to get no response. We try to sneak up on it but Julius falls flat on his face, alerting it to our presence. It wanders off. We follow large boar trails through the outskirts of the forest. During day 5 we have an opportunity to capture a giant boar as it comes along our path. We all hide in the undergrowth or up some trees. Zanak, being the brave soul that he is, steps forth and engages it in conversation. The giant boar doesn’t appreciate Zanaks friendly behavior and snorts derisively at him. As Zanak prepares to cast a spell (a bit of smoke so he can hastily retreat) the boar goes berserk and gores him. The rest of the party leaps forth and a mighty battle is joined. Well it would have been if all our spells didn’t reflect back at us and the best Garrick can do (our party assassin) is scratch the beasts toenails. Eventually Zanak stops moving (unconscious) and the boar ambles away, ignoring the rest of the attacks. The party reluctantly decides to lick its wounds and rest up for a few hours. We think the boar had some demon magics about it.

We continue on till sunset, at which point we think we are about 25 miles from the enchanted forest. The clearing we pick (Skafloc found it) looks idyllic. We immediately suspect traps galore but there is nothing we can find. We rest for the night. Some creatures we call "brownies” that look like possessed twigs wake us during the night. After a little mayhem we decide to offer them some food and drink and a note saying "We are peaceful. Come and talk to us”. These are delivered by a rag and string golem. The wine and food we offer get tossed aside, presumably they aren’t to their liking. When they get to the note though we realize our mistake. The note is written on paper. Paper comes from dead trees. These are wood creatures. The golem doesn’t survive!

On day 6 we follow large boar trails again and find one sleeping under a tree in a boar hole (a cave under the trees roots). Roberts ESP indicates there is a malign mind very close to us. We make the earth roof transparent and divinate the boar. It is the same one we encountered the other day. It is possessed by a demon and we begin to wonder why a demon would be scouting the area in the body of a boar. After much discussion we play it safe and leave the boar alone.

We continue on the trail and by evening we are entering an area of the forest that hasn’t seen any logging. The young trees are more normal (straighter) than the older warped ones.

We follow deer trails on the seventh day. As we set up camp for the night Skafloc talks to some trees. We get some useful information about a malign influence that was about 5 to 8 years ago. It had an effect on the trees of "warping” but it doesn’t appear to be here now. Zanak tries to heal the warping out of a tree limb, with some success, but the tree doesn’t seem to notice. As day 8 turns into day 9 RocSinger realizes the boar has been circling us each night. It always stays a mile from us though. This is rather disconcerting but there isn’t anything we can do about it. As we get further into the forest a general ominous feeling increases throughout the party.

The Succubus Attacks

As the party awakens we find ourselves surrounded by 4 semi substantial creatures. A quick DA shows they are sentient animate undead who can drain. We pair up and prepare to attack. This does us little good as we are showered in blackfires and most of the party becomes feared in some fashion. Garrick is the only one who can effectively resist and he starts attacking the nearest undead. As he does a Succubus appears in the camp and demands we surrender. She gets a nasty surprise when the draining attack on Garrick is deflected to her. She bellows with rage and comes after Garrick.

Rowans staff appears to act independently and shots a lightning bolt at one of the undead, knocking it out of the battle. The staff then goes for the succubus but she resists its effect. As more blackfires hit us one undead switches to whitefire and targets Garrick. He digs deep and resists as he swings on the succubus. She is stunned by his ferocity and after a few pulses falls to the ground dead.

Robert gets into the battle and mental attacks an undead but the second one he tries resists. Just before the succubus attacked Garrick she called out a name and a spectral creature rises in the middle of the camp by RocSinger and Elenor. It quickly drains them. It only stops and fades into the ground again as the last 2 undead are dispatched by RocSingers fireballs. One of them manages to get a final whitefire targeted on Garrick though and he crumples to dust.

We move to a safer location and let Zanaks lizard memorise the area. He then opens a portal back to Seagate where we can get Garrick resurrected and all our ailments cured.

The Enchanted Forest – Finally

While in Seagate we get our auras altered (courtesy of Garrick) so we don’t DA as guild members. We do this just as we depart. We also ask about the price on our heads and it turns out the agents or Seer want to ransom guild members back. Garrick repeats the name he heard as the spectre was summoned. It is an ancient drow name and he was a knight who died in the ‘dark circle’ incursions. He was a mage of minor power.

RocSinger does an astrology reading on "best place to find the missing guardian” and it comes back as "in the lands of twilight where time ceases to pass”. We think he is dead. On day 10 we leave to go to Ono Picketts farm (a friend of RocSinger) who will cast shadow wings on us. He is rather inebriated but some wings appear. We fly off and head for the enchanted forest. RocSinger was disappointed with our progress so far and wants to get to the heart of the matter. As dusk approaches we find a mountain protruding from the forest and RocSinger recognizes it as where the goddess used to reside. There is a flat area on top (about a mile wide) and a huge lake. RocSinger doesn’t remember the lake being there before. We land on the edge of the lake. Robert splashes down in the lake and takes some draining. We all decide the lake is a bad place to have a swim. Robert does a bit of ESP but he can’t locate any life within 60 feet of the lake edge. Garrick scoops some lake water into a flask but it turns instantly into normal water. What a shame. We had planned to use it as a weapon. So it is the lake that does the draining, not the water.

We wander round the rim of the mountain for a while. The slope down is manageable, if not a little dangerous, and there are trails we can follow that curl around the mountain side. From this vantage point we can see forest. Lots and lots of forest.

We camp for the night and RocSinger speaks to a rock. It saw a great glowing thing rise from the lake and ascend to the heavens. We assume this was the goddess departing. RocSinger agrees to take the rock either to the sea or to a river so it can flow to the sea. The rock tells us that is what all rocks want to do.

Just before dusk some dark clouds gather and some huge hail stones fall from the sky. We make cover under a tarpaulin for the duration (about 10 minutes) only to find the tarpaulin is now useless with pitted acid rents. Rowan makes us a hut for the evening.

As dawn rises on day 11 it begins raining. The rain is steaming hot and a thick mist forms covering the area. We stay put and Zanaks lizard memorises the location. About lunchtime the rain stops and the mist clears so we explore or a better campsite.

At dusk a dense fog rises from the ground. It isn’t magical so we aren’t too concerned. RocSinger starts an ancient divination. On the first watch a small pair of glowing eyes appear in the camp and a noose of thickened fog wraps around RocSingers neck. While RocSinger struggles to breathe Robert casts a mind healing spell but he can’t decide how many points RocSinger is getting back. RocSinger is heard to say "the suspense is killing me”. Just as RocSinger is about to gasp her last breathe the group manages to get rip the noose apart. The eyes fade away.

RocSinger tries her divination again but when she fails she decides to pack it in for the night.

On Day 12 we venture down the mountain side. Julius is quite a fumble footed adventurer and it takes the party to stop him tumbling all the way down. By evening we are about a third of the way down. We find a decent sized cave and venture in. There are claw marks from some sort of giant cat but that doesn’t stop us. The cave turns into a tunnel and it winds around for miles. One and a half miles in we reach a T junction. We go left for a quarter of a mile and then set up camp.

For the next 4 days we wander through mountain tunnels, backtracking when we reach the outside again and realizing we are on the wrong side of the mountain. For 2 of those days we sit tight while it snows outside (red snow). By Day 17 we decide to venture out. Rowan and RocSinger have kindly made us some snow shoes as the snow is still 6 foot deep. Shortly after leaving the safety of the tunnel entrance some dissolving rain pelts us. All of our armour takes a battering till Rowan manages to create enough bubbles of force to protect us. The rain lasts for 2 hours and we finally acknowledge that the really bizarre weather is at Dawn and Dusk. It may be best to avoid traveling at those times. Just as dusk falls we make it to the town a few miles to the south of the mountain.

The town has 10 foot stone walls. Every building has long eaves to help protect the people and buildings from the strange weather patterns. We are offered the safety of the town square and its large roof. We rest for the evening (under guard by the local militia of course) and aside from finding out the location of RocSingers mages’ cottage, we are told to visit the mayor and the tanner.

The plant almost wins

Day 18 starts with a ferocious Sleet storm. We wisely stay out of it.

It has only taken us 18 days to come to this wisdom

The tanner sells us leather ponchos and the mayor tells us a bit about the mage and the history of the place since RocSinger had left. There are some dangerous catacombs to the north west by the pillar (he mentions the tunnels). This is where Wulgrath came from according to the rumours. Zanaks lizard attempts to memorise the town square so we can get back as needed but the town is sealed by ritual magic to repulse extra planar portals and invaders. We DA the ruined temple. It appears to be consecrated to Asteroth. We know enough that we shouldn’t speak this demons name aloud.

We head on to the cottage and arrive just after lunch time. The house seems to be well preserved. The neglect is only about 6 months’ worth, whereas the mayor has said no one has been near it for the last 6 years. Has someone else been here? We do a divination n the building and find out the area is consecrated to Barbatos. Garrick says this is another evil demon. Garrick wanders into the house looking for traps and secret compartments. All the traps he finds appear to have been activated about 7 years ago when the mage disappeared.

Elenor steps into the garden looking for herbs and immediately gets impaled by huge spikes that erupt from the ground. Robert steps closer to help her and similarly gets impaled. In the next few pulses Elenor refuses the parties directives to drink some healing potions and instead slashes at the spikes. As she succumbs to the pain the spikes drop back into the ground. Skafloc uses some tunneling magic to expose the giant tuber underground. As a group we decide to capture it and sell it back in Seagate. A little preserving and petrification does the trick.

Garrick goes back into the cottage and finds a hidden compartment with a diary. It is cursed and will review the readers ITN to their enemies, unless they are loyal to Barbatos. RocSinger takes the chance and opens the book. She was a child here with the mage and we think the mage consecrated the ground, so RocSinger should be ok. It goes back about 30 years and RocSinger is mentioned. 7 years ago though the tone changes as it talks about the incursion into the forest which corrupts the trees and syphon’s off the magic. The horde had arrived and the mage uses some stuff from the creation of the dire oaks to help repel them. He had been studying the dire oaks for the previous decades and the information was now coming into its own. The last entry talks about still defending the forest. It appears he was either captured or killed about 7 years ago as the book has no other information.

During the day zanaks lizard memorises the location. At dusk we portal back to Seagate with a plan to get wings and fly off to the necromancer Sau’rus, then portal back here. As we update the guild in Seagate they offer to perform a summoning to Barbatos (officially it never happens though) as he is used on occasion to help adventurers. They also tell us Asteroth is a fallen angel and we should stay clear of him.

Summoning a Demon

The summoning takes place at 9pm. Only Zanak, Elenor and Julius refuse to attend. When Barbatos appears he uses the ITN of each party member, including the ones who didn’t attend. Needless to say the party members take note of all the names, they say for honourable reasons but the three left outside aren’t so sure about that. RocSinger tells the tale of seeking her parents and the mage being the only lead she has. Barbatos laughs and says he knows all about the party’s quest. He offers some information freely. The mage was pacted to him but is currently "lost to him, but not dead”. He says he can’t restore him as he can’t sense him. It appears the mage has been turned from Barbatos or is hidden somewhere unusual. We reflect on the astrology reading that implies he is in the land of the dead.

Barbatos is willing to share knowledge with RocSinger and Garrick (Garrick wants knowledge to read his alchemical book) in exchange for a sacrifice. Both politely refuse at this time. Barbatos says he will be waiting for them to return and bestows a blessing on RocSinger.

Day 19 dawns and we wander the town getting new potions. Garrick buys a kit that includes magically enhanced solvents. It costs a pretty penny (5000SP). We offer to take it out of party funds if it comes in handy.

Day 20 sees us reaching Ono Pickets farm again where we get some shadow wings. Ono is in a drug addled state and believes he is turning us into bats as he hangs from the basement ceiling rafters. It is all rather peculiar and we are glad to be on our way. We reach Sau'rus and portal back to the cottage.

Death Greets us – Thanks to Garrick

Sau'rus starts talking to the dead spirits and after a few tries a very unusual thing occurs. Instead of a spirit manifesting itself a grey portal appears. A quick DA indicates it goes to the "realm of the dead”. Garrick says "Death. Are you there?” and he instantly falls over dead. While we decide on our next course of action Zanak, Rowan, Elenor and Skafloc fall over dead too. RocSinger, Robert and Julius devise a plan whereby RocSinger will step through the portal while the other two and Sau'rus remain outside. After a set amount of time they will take the bodies back to Seagate for resurrection. Only a moment after RocSinger enters Deaths realm Robert and Julius follow. RocSinger is not so happy that they couldn’t wait outside.

It turns out Garrick was pulled through to have a discussion with Death. Deciding there was little chance he could get out on his own he asks Death to bring his fellow party members through, which is where RocSinger, Robert and Julius managed to resist. Technically Garrick is not responsible for a party wipe as RocSinger, Robert and Julius actually committed suicide by entering the portal.

We are all standing on a barge on the middle of a river. The ferryman is ready to take us to either side of the river. To the left is the way to Death. To the right is the way to Life. After a discussion with Death we opt for the path towards Life. Death tells us the portal opened because we tried to summon someone who was "dead but not quite”. This equates to RocSinger’s mage escaping to the lands of death but being strong enough to resist the call of death. Death hasn’t seen the mage so we think he must have gone towards Life.

After some discussion Zanak offers Death a years’ service in exchange for Death communicating with Sau'rus through the portal (any of us going through will mean a high risk of becoming a ghost or revenant) and telling him to take our bodies back to Seagate, then resurrect them after 2 weeks. Zanaks idea is to buy us some guaranteed time in Deaths realm to try and find the mage. The party eventually decides against this plan as any adventures death here is deemed to be irresurrectable. Whilst they think the mage is likely here the risk is too high. Sau'rus will no doubt take our bodies back to Seagate and get them resurrected immediately.

Finding Karsus

We use RocSinger’s memory of the mage to help locate him in the realm of death. The first attempt leads us to a hut which turns out to be a demon with a powerful illusion on it. Only Zanaks holy light is strong enough to make the illusion waver and we see the demons true form. It looks like a 10 foot tall crow and it flies away once we prepare to battle it. Skafloc says to us "it looked like Attila the Hut”. Apparently this is some comical reference to Attila the Hun but most of us don’t get it.

RocSinger tries to locate the mage again. It takes a few tries but we eventually find him. He is curled up in a ball unconscious. As we approach a draining effect hits us. We back off. It looks like the mage is severely wounded with draining wounds but he has managed to place himself into stasis. Zanak has a spell that makes him resistant to Draining so he volunteers to step forth and attempt healing. The rest of the group buffs him with their will power to help fortify his spirit. Zanak gets the mage almost completely healed before succumbing to the effects of draining and dying. His spirit dissipates while a helpless party grasps at straws to bring him back. Death arrives and says he is "beyond your ability to help him”.

After a short mourning period RocSinger is reunited with his mentor. He also finally remembers the mages name as Karsus. Karsus explains the followers of Wulgrath came for him and he had to "cast himself into the Fates”. He found himself in the realm of the dead, being pursued by the Dark Circle followers. He managed to escape them but not before taking some grievous wounds. A Stasis spell was his last hope.

Karsus agrees to return to his cottage once he has fully rested, now that the woods are no longer controlled by the forces of Wulgrath. Karsus seems very weary of the draining lake. Another good reason to avoid it. RocSinger asks about her parents but Karsus doesn’t know much about them. He did put some notes into a diary but we suspect it was a looted one.

We tell him about the demon possessed Giant Boar. He says he will check it out but a giant boar is not unusual. There is a spring of growth at the base of the "tree”. We don’t get any more time to question him on this before RocSinger and then the rest of the party disappears. They all reawaken in Seagate, freshly resurrected. The sad news of Zanaks passing is relayed to the guild but miraculously a blinding light bursts forth in the center of the room and Zanak is standing there next to his god, Ahura Mazda. The god has pacted Zanak to save his soul. Ahura Mazda was touched by Zanaks attempts to follow the true path and by the parties scrambling efforts to find a way to get him back.

Into the Catacombs

The party rests up for a few days and gathers new supplies. On day 22 they leave town and make a portal back to Karsus’s cottage but the portal is a bit unstable. RocSinger puts a few wizard eyes through but they get damaged. Rowan sends a golem through. It makes it to the other side but crumples on the way back. We come up with an ingenious plan to put a golem in a bubble of force, then using another golem to push it through the portal. The bubble of force passes through the portal space but isn’t transported and continues to just roll on through. The poor golem pushing the bubble though is transported and crumbles back into clay. A divination shows there is a non college effect making portals randomly unstable. Rowan remembers something about this in the Seagate Times. Something to do with the Kalimar?

We wisely decide to stay another day in Seagate and try again tomorrow.

Day 23 shows the same portal instability so we wander off to Onos farm for more wings. Ono doesn’t remember our last visit when he was so drug addled that he thought he was a bat. He gives us shadow wings. Garrick gives him some "special spices” and also gives Sau'rus one of his communication coins. Sau'rus will wait for us at the guild while Ono offers to join us n the next day, once he has finished ploughing his field. Garrick gives him a leather poncho to keep him safe in the chaotic weather in the enchanted forest.

We fly back to Karsus’s cottage and then realize there isn’t a clear landing strip. Zanak crashes and shatters his pelvis. Karsus offers to heal him in exchange for Zanaks ITN. Zanak refuses and convinces Rowan and RocSinger to fly him to the town (on Rowans magic carpet) to check for a skilled enough healer. The town is devoid of anyone who is useful so they fly back. RocSinger reluctantly uses a gold brick to heal Zanak, when reminded that Karsus couldn’t have been saved without Zanaks noble sacrifice.

We talk to Karsus for a while and quiz him on the local area. There was a mansion on the top of the catacombs but it is likely destroyed by now. Rumour had it there was a tower in the woods that provided Wulgruth with access to the catacombs but Karsus never found it. Wulgrath had a secret laboratory in the town but that is hidden too. We ask about the spring of growth again and this time Karsus tells us it is at the foot of the great tree. This tree is 1 mile tall but of course hidden by great magic. RocSinger, still smarting from having used one of her gold bricks, suggests letting Zanak fly around till he smacks into the invisible tree. A locate on Zanak at the time will show where he disappears (dropping dead from the impact no doubt) but RocSinger sees this as a reasonable price to pay to find the spring of growth. We get a bit concerned when Karsus mentions Wulgruth used to wander the tunnels under the mountain and the lake, particularly when he describes a legend about the beating heart of a god that killed the sky snake being at the center of the mountain.

RocSinger asks more about the missing diaries and gets a description of the clasp that had more of his history in it. The clasp had 2 oaks, a serpent and a deer. The other diary had Karsus’s research on how dire oaks were made. This had 3 oaks, a stream and a bird.

After thanking Karsus for his hospitality and information we walk back to the town and plan to rest for the night. We almost immediately stumble across Wulgruths lab though. It is a magically sealed building. The mayor says he will unseal it for us but only for a few minutes. The ground is consecrated to "president of deceivers”. None of this stops us from saying ok. The mayor says it will take 2 days to make it ready for us.

On day 24 we wander off to locate the catacombs. We come across an unnaturally dark forest tunnel. Robert uses his esp and identifies some malign minds in the area near, but under us. RocSinger uses her wizards eye to go underground but it hits a barrier at 70 feet. Skafloc volunteers to tunnel down because he has an item with allows him to teleport between shadows. He tunnels down successfully into a crypt (about 90 feet down). He hears a soft metallic sound very much like the sound of metal armour moving. He shouts out Hello and then hides. The sounds stop… Skafloc triggers his item and then panics when he reads the fine print to discover his chance of success is extremely low. He manages to tunnel his way out with the last of his mana points. The party chastises him for being so stupid as to say hello in a crypt. Well everyone except Zanak, who thought it was a good idea.

We go back to town to rest up. We see people ritualizing around the laboratory. By midday of day 25 the binding has been removed. It takes the rest of the afternoon though to remove the block wall. Garrick, Rowan and a golem enter the building. There are 3 doors down the corridor. The one to the left is warded with death. The center one leads to a stairwell going up. The right one is a simple living space. RocSinger and her wizards eye give plenty of warning to the rooms and the traps. Rowan gets rid of the wards and associated problems while Garrick checks out the rooms. The room on the left was the lab but it has been stripped of anything useful. There is a leaver built into a table though. Garrick and Rowan exit the building while the golem pulls the leaver.

A secret tunnel opens in the living room. The building is about to be sealed again by the townsfolk so the party makes a hasty decision to enter the tunnel. Zanak protests so Garrick knocks him out. In the basement we find a sacrificial laboratory. Garrick is intrigued but sense prevails and the group takes the only exit. A long tunnel is followed for 2 hours and we find ourselves at the catacombs.

Administration

Comments of the Day

• Day 11 - RocSinger says "the suspense is killing me” when Robert takes too long to figure out how many endurance points he is transferring from a spell.
• Day 20 – Skafloc calls a fleeing demon "Attila the Hut” in reference to Attila the Hun.

Day Counter

• Day 1 - Trip to Slippery Rock
• Day 2 - Equipping in Seagate
• Day 3 - Trip to Stoneborough
• Day 4 – Travelling to the Enchanted Forest
• Day 5 - Attack a Demon Boar and insult some brownies
• Day 6 – Find the boar asleep
• Day 7 – Ominous feeling starts
• Day 8 – Ominous feeling grows
• Day 9 – Garrick dies
• Day 10 – resurrect Garrick at Seagate and fly back to the enchanted forest. Land on mountain with draining lake
• Day 11 – RocSinger attacked and almost dies
• Day 12 – Traveling under the mountain
• Day 13 - Traveling under the mountain
• Day 14 - Traveling under the mountain
• Day 15 - Traveling under the mountain
• Day 16 - Traveling under the mountain
• Day 17 – Make it to town
• Day 18 – Barbatos offers knowledge
• Day 19 – Seagate and buying new potions
• Day 20 – Zanak dies a true death, then is brought back by his god
• Day 21 – Rest in Seagate
• Day 22 – Portal instability
• Day 23 – Wings from Ono and back to Karsus’s cottage
• Day 24 – Skafloc says hello to a creature in the catacombs crypt
• Day 25 – Wulgruths laboratory in town and the passage to the catacombs
• Day 26

Combat Order

• Front – Zanak, Garrick and a golem
• Middle – Skafloc, Elenor, RocSinger and Rowan
• Rear – Robert and Julius

Watch Order

• Garrick, Robert and one of Rowan’S golems
• Julius, RocSinger and Rowan
• Elenor, Skafloc and Zanak

Death Register

• Garrick – Day 9 – whitefired by an undead creature.
• Whole Party – Day 20 – we enter the realm of the dead. Zanak is pacted to his god.

Treasure

Amulet of Luck for Julius from Helga – Slippery Rock

Treasure Rolls

• RocSinger –
• Zanak -
• Elenor -
• Skafloc –
• Robert –
• Garrick –
• Rowan –
• Julius –

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