November 28, 2017 Session

Setup

This session began with the party drinking in The Rusty Spigot in Overtown. /wiki/spaces/CAM/pages/74285137, Dawngreeter Yornan Hawklight, and Rhagal had been drinking for an hour, when Ser Shadow and Bakdor Hammerwang, having just finished helping The Resistance move the stolen wagon of weapons to a hidden base just outside of Highbridge, entered the bar. Bakdor caught the attention of a barmaid, ostensibly based on a combination of his recently acquired 50 gold pieces and his innate charms, and quickly disappeared to the second floor of tavern, not to be seen again.

Trouble in Overtown

In hopes of acquiring cash, equipment upgrades, or magic items, the remaining party members crossed the main square of Overtown and entered The Last Chance. The Last Chance has a high counter at the front of the store while the remainder was filled with shelves and racks containing all sorts of equipment. The shop's proprietor, Timith, upon identifying Ser Shadow as a potential assassin, offered to sell him poison and a dagger specifically constructed to aid in its use. Some haggling took place, after which a resigned Timith eventually consented to sell Ser Shadow new studded leather armor, the dagger, and the poison. Upon completion of the sale, Ser Shadow went full-on murder hobo, attempted but failed to cleanly leap the counter, and swung his newly poisoned dagger at Timith. Timith yelled for aid and then quickly dispatched Ser Shadow, burying a dagger in his back.

As Ser Shadow laid on the floor, bleeding out, Yornan stepped forward and healed him. Guards - or perhaps merely thugs from nearby - that had rushed into The Last Chance scooped up Ser Shadow and dragged him back across the street to The Rusty Spigot. The party and Timith trailed behind at a distance. The thugs dragged Ser Shadow behind the bar, down a darkened hallway, and then forced him to his knees in a room in the back of the tavern to face judgment. Amidst continued attempts to strike out with his poisoned dagger, Ser Shadow was offered a deal by Selma Longbottom. Based on the fact that he never drew blood, Selma decided that Ser Shadow could either consent to perform any task for Timith that she deemed reasonable or wind up in a dumpster behind the bar. Ser Shadow agreed to perform a task and Timith stated that he wished for the party to take up his offer of searching for a reported, abandoned village, search for magic items, and then, instead of giving him first opportunity to buy the items, simply give them to him instead. Timith objected on the basis that HE had nothing to do with Ser Shadow's behavior and a compromise was reached. Ser Shadow's share of treasure would be forfeit to Timith while the remainder of the party was responsible for ensuring that Ser Shadow fulfilled his side of the bargain.  The party agreed.

Search for the Village

Timith showed the party a map that marked a hidden inlet on the north bank of the Green River that contained a barely visible path of ancient origin that wound back into the Black Forest. He knew only that previous expeditions had traversed that path and returned with magic items or had not returned at all. A guide was procured and the party rowed a skiff across the river to the inlet from which a small creek emerged. The guide warned the party that he would wait three days for their return and then head back to Highbridge.

The party followed the trail into the forest. Ser Shadow repeatedly pointed out that it was scary and dangerous and that the gods obviously had something horrible in store for them that they would be better off avoiding. Nonetheless, the party soldiered on, intent on finding treasure and adventure.

After a few hours of travel, following each branch of the trail that continued to run alongside the creek, the party spotted a small campfire located a few feet off of the main trail. Surprised to see a fire, Rhagal stealthed forward, getting close enough to see a man in a brown robe gazing intently into a campfire, a large cat laying across his feet. Rhagal reported back to the party. Ser Shadow worried that the man was probably dangerous, that he could easily be avoided by turning around, and that he was probably placed there by the gods in an attempt to kill them all. Nonetheless, the party moved forward to greet the man.

Yornan and the man, a cleric dressed similarly to the fearsome clerics previously encountered at the hilltop fort, recognized each other. Ammon, the newly met cleric, scoffed at Yornan's past behavior and beliefs, offering that perhaps Yornan's youth and inexperience were the cause, and offered to spare him if he would renounce his old allegiances. Yornan told Ammon that he was steadfast in his beliefs and would not be swayed. Ammon shook his head and clicked tongue, signalling a second, large cat to spring from the forest and knock Yornan to the ground.

However, unlike the party's previous experience with the order of brown-robed clerics, Ammon was quickly dispatched and the two cats fled into the wood. The body was looted and a magic ring was found on the hand of the dead body. Subsequently, Yornan added logs to the fire until it was a formidable blaze and then dragged the body of Ammon into the fire to burn. 

Zombies!

The party continued down the trail running alongside the creek. As time passed, the presence of a valley became apparent. The trail continued along the upper edge of valley while the creek ran below. After another hour's travel, the valley widened abruptly into an area approximately two miles wide and a mile across with a waterfall at the far end. The creek continued around one edge of the widened valley, but the remainder of the valley floor appeared to contain a quiet, perhaps abandoned village. Access to the village appeared to be provided by a dilapidated bridge crossing from the upper lip of the valley to a tower located at the edge of the village. Ser Shadow again protested that the bridge looked scary, the village was probably dangerous, the entire setting was probably just based on the design of evil gods that wished to kill them, and that plenty of magic items were probably available somewhere ahead if they just avoided the village all together or, better yet, just turned around and went home. Nonetheless, the party moved to investigate the village.

Rhagal stealthed across the bridge and peered into the tower, noting two decayed bodies that had the appearance of guards. Upon Rhagal crossing the threshold, the guards stood and advanced towards the edge of the bridge. Rhagal quickly retreated as the zombie guards stationed themselves to block the entrance into the tower. A plan was hatched and Gronth sprinted across the bridge, using his strength to push through the guards and engage them within the solid confines of the tower. The remainder of the party took advantage of the situation to follow Gronth across and safely gain footing within the tower. Primarily due to a few tremendous blows from Gronth's great axe, the zombies were quickly defeated.

As the party searched the top floor of the tower and debated their next move, Ser Shadow fretted that each floor of the tower was likely filled with dozens of zombie guards that would kill them. Nonetheless, Rhagal crept down the spiral staircase in the center of the tower and found it to be abandoned, everything coated by a thick layer of dust that suggested that no one had traveled this way in a long time.

The party exited the tower and walked out onto the floor of the valley. The closest target was a large great hall. Upon inspection by Rhagal and then the entire party from the outside and through the opened door and shutters, the hall seemed to be set up to host a feast. However, the various tables were now covered with either the desiccated remains of food or large mounds of mold and insects where food may have once been. Only a large fresco of a stylized design above the head table was of particular note.

Peering around the corner of the great hall, the first sign of the presence of something was noted in the village. A collection of small forms seemed frozen in place in a small yard between a dozen huts, all located approximately 100 feet beyond the hall. Ser Shadow cried that the forms were just there to kill them, that they should be ignored, and that they would probably be their doom. Nonetheless, Rhagal walked out to examine the forms and upon getting closer appeared to trigger some response. A horde of zombie, elven children rushed Rhagal, tearing at him with small teeth and raking him with their fingernails. They swarmed over him and knocked him to the ground. Gronth and Yornan rushed to aid Rhagal while Ser Shadow circled the great hall, hoping to look into the huts.

Rhagal regained his feet and teamed with Gronth and Yornan to fight off the speedy, zombie children while two large adult zombie forms eventually entered the fray. In particular, one blow from Gronth cleaved a zombie adult clear in half while Rhagal speared a zombie child through the eye socket with his rapier and skilfully tossed him away with a flick of the wrist. After the outcome of the fight was no longer in question, Ser Shadow joined the battle and dealt a few blows as well.

Aftermath

With the zombies dead, Yornan moved to examine a gazebo-type memorial, topped with a weather vane and covered with flower petals that seemed fresh. Strange glyphs in an arcane form of his temple language covered the structure. Rhagal had peered down into a large well and noted multiple large gems at the bottom, approximately twenty to thirty feet down. The entire party joined up to look at offerings on a small platform that led to an opening into a tunnel leading down into the side of the valley wall.

The party paused here, debating their next move.