Session 15: Only mules rush in (11/20/22)

Pulyana 29, 1423.

The PCs notice something strange about the window clerk at the Jewelers, he has a strange sense of movement about him and always offers the same set amounts for exchanges (4gp, 40gp, or 400gp that they've heard). Still, Bjork manages to sell off some of the lower valued trinkets the party has accrued, like copper candle-holders, while the others consider the offers and decide to hang on to their items.

The PCs decide to follow up on a rumor they heard and inquire at the Novakovsky Farm about the owner's troubles. They arrive to find two lazy young humans fishing in a pond they built themselves, rather than working the spoiled harvest, and one anti-social mule chewing the crops. The humans offer Rucia some pie from the farmhouse and let him in on the racket they are running, scraping together just enough coin for gambling 'and whores' while giving the false impression that they're working. Rucia grabs one of the boys and the party approaches the farmhouse where they meet Sofiia Novakovsky. She has had troubles keeping employees on the farm for well over a year, a lot of them just up and disappear, she says she also hears strange singing on some nights.

Nebol'shoy finds some watery tracks near the edge of the Skorbi waterway parallel to the farm, and Aldren heads back into the town's walls to find something to protect the PCs ears in case the 'singing' has nefarious qualities...he ends up getting some rotka bottles at the Bolt Street Brewery for their corks. He is too late, however, as Bjork is caught under the spell of the strange farm song, once darkness falls, and decides it could be a hit! Nebol'shoy, Rucia and Mockleg follow him out of the farmhouse to the waterway, where he wades across to a strange looking female in a willow tree. Rucia notes that the being is undead, and something tries to snare Bjork beneath the water, but he breaks free! Rucia misty steps across to confront whoever is charming his minotaur companion, while Nebol'shoy summons up a pair of giant toads. He and Mockleg attempt to ride them as they leap across, but both plunge into the waterway, where they too are grappled by something below the water...



Rucia initiates combat with the strange woman, but she summons forth a watery humanoid creature and other drowned undead that crawl up from the Skorbi's banks. Though the dragonborn fights valiantly, he comes near to losing his life at the savage creature's attacks, all the while Bjork is fighting to protect her! Eventually the available heroes prove victorious, finishing off the watery temptress which causes the other undead and the elemental to collapse. Aldren rejoins the party, and they regroup back at the farmhouse, where they find that Sofiia has also collapsed! They search through the house, finding an old chest with some coins, baubles and a sketch book of a younger Sofiia with a black-haired daughter and a husband. The PCs think it would be a crime to leave behind her lovely pie and cooked goods, and even manage to find a recipe before they head back into Borgaborsk proper.

Rucia takes the old woman's body to Kaptain Krummel of the Soverat, who urges the dragonborn not to start a panic and keep the story simple, without the undead and curses and such. The rest of the group heads to the Hammer's Rest, where Aldren acquires three double rooms for the night, and Bjork ends up performing for the nightly crowd from the fist-fighting sport pit built into the floor. Rucia turns up after a bit, and the rest of the night is uneventful.

Pulyana 30, 1423.

The group heads back to the farm to search further, but first stops off at the Sleeper's Spinney shrine. When they arrive at Skorbi waterway, a shirtless Soverat soldier is digging graves for the bloated undead bodies the river-witch had called forth. He manages to convince Bjork and Rucia to do much of the work while he partakes of their leftover pie and a bottle of rotka. Our heroes then head across the waterway to search further. They find the faint reedy remains of the 'rusalka' that they had fought, but then Aldren stumbles upon a trio of booted tracks heading south along the water. The party finds a crate covered in foliage, trapped with a poison latch that they don't thankfully trigger. It's full of sets of clothes that look like they were discarded quickly, a couple of poison vials, and a piece of stationary inviting 'the Three of them' to the Cup and Quill at Arkany. The PCs surmise this might have been a stash belonging to the Bitter Berg sisters, and further tracks lead to what appears to be a boat launch.

Back in the town, they do some more exploring. Aldren and Mockleg returns to the Smeltworks to have a steel quiver custom-built from a suit of armor, while Nebol'shoy visits Rivet's Rings, where he learns that there are at least three magical rings for sale! Bjork and Rucia head over to Scoff's Pawn, where they manage to knock over some of the clutter before being confronted by the proprietor 'Scoff. Bjork notes a strange mechanical timepiece the owner wears, appearing to lack function, and he casts mend upon it...and soon it begins to tick...tock...tick...tock...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Kapitan Krummel (dwarf male): One of the broadest dwarves you’ve ever seen, with shoulders so square that in the dark you might mistake him for a crate or small building. He wears a suit of studded leather armor beneath a Soverat duster that denotes his rank as Kapitan, but no cap above his blocky skull. A cinnamon-orange wedge shaped goatee dominates his stubbled chin, and his receding hair of the same color is combed up about his bald pate to create an almost flame sensation. Scars from both burns and blades are in plentiful supply on his cheeks, neck and forehead. A masterwork battleaxe and warhammer are both slung from his belt, nearly dragging on the ground as he lopes about with the confidence of his station.

Lucien (human? male): A reedy, bespectacled man looking to be in his 60s, he runs the window at Forge Row Jewelers, offering peculiar fixed rates for trades of gems and jewelry. Claims to be an employee of the F.R.J.A. (Forge Row Jewelers Association), and has a series of ticks or quirks to his movement that can make the observant suspicious of him.

Ozahlin Flaskbelly (dwarf female): A dwarf female that would be quite comely if not for the mess in which she keeps her clothing and appearance. Her stained white tunic is half-tucked into a belt that looks as if it’s about to drop her breeches, and her golden-blonde hair, which seems as if it was tucked into a neat, braided bun, is now spilling out everywhere and frizzy, mingling with her considerable sideburns. The leather armor she wears beneath her clothing is clearly too large for her, and she sways around a wooden mug full of dice that makes an obnoxious rattling sound, while taking a drink from another that froths over with ale. Her leather gloves have tears in them, barely covering her left hand at all, but the one point of focus is the deadly-looking saber through her belt, its pommel, hilt and blade, all polished and sharp.

Rivet Runeblender (??? male): A short, strange looking humanoid with cracked gray skin, floppy ears, wide eyes and a long snout that covers up its mouth. A pair of thick spectacles sit atop the snout, that occasionally slide off, and have to be replaced by a thick set of nailed fingers bearing silver and platinum rings of its trade, some of which glow with faint, fiery light. It wears a dense leather vest with a few tools poked through it, and a pair of boots with the toes sticking out since they are also of an unusual shape.

'Scoff' Scherbakov (human male): A trollish, pudgy human with a large, beak-like nose, his beady eyes lie between empty-rimmed spectacles, one of them white foggy and possibly diseased. His balding gray hair is slicked back, with a bit of grease or oil too much, so that it remains shining on his liver-spotted scalp. He wears a deep blue tunic, torn most likely from struggling to move about his own shop, and has the finest object in the shop, a strange timepiece, hung about his neck.

Sofiia Novakovsky (human female): A kindly but crooked old woman wearing a hand-made but dirty dress, she has numerous beads and flowers glinting from her braids in her knotted hair, and a pair of wooden earrings shaped like cornucopias. Her hands have the scars of a crop-picker, but she wears some colored wooden bead bracelets to distract the eyes away. More importantly, she clutches a steaming, crusted pie in an iron pot and look as if she’s about to offer you a slice!

Session 14: You called. I came. (9/20/22)

Pulyana 28, 1423

Silvermane loses contact with Rucia almost as soon as he confronts the new threat outside the Flapping Salmon...the PCs spy an adversary, the masked figure from the Fairgrounds, and several move to confront it, although they are partially barred by a stampede of tavern customers to escape this bad, developing situation. Several of the PCs get out first and are greeted by a trio of white, taloned hands that float about in small shadowy voids. They attempt to grasp onto our heroes, and when they are successful, they are ported into shadowy pocket realms of limited size...each containing a separate, shadowy creature or group of creatures trapped there. 

Nebol'shoy summons a group of shadowy rats to deal with the shadowy goblins that ambush him within his pocket realm, and eventually Mockleg ends up there. Ruci and the Salmon's bouncer Smoker end up in another facing off against shadowy, snarling wolves, and after a rooftop evasion, Aldren is nabbed by one of the hands, to square off against some tentacled monstrosity that grasps and pulls prey towards its shadowy maw! Out on the street, Bjork engages in a battle of spells and wits with the adversary, and even gets it to speak in a chill, whispering voice. For the longest time, it cannot put Bjork into a shadow realm until it finally has dealt with Mockleg and Captain Condor, the latter of whom ends up with Bjork and Aldren against the tentacled thing, which is flaying the life nearly from the trio!

Once inside, the shadow wizard begins to SHRINK the pocket realms, threatening to crush all within, but the PCs manage to destroy the creatures lying in wait. As each disappears, spilling the PCs back out into Zolovny, the wizard seems to weaken, and since he accrued damage from Bjork's attacks earlier, the closing of the third pocket realm destroys him outright. All that has left behind is a Spellbook with his name ('Sadomator'), which the PCs give to Mockleg, a strange violet bag that summons balls of fur which turn into creatures (claimed by Nebol'shoy), and the wizard's mask.

After the grueling battle, the heroes do some healing and return to their sleeping tent, still squashed from the earlier prank...to find that all the surrounding tents have also been trampled, some of them torn up with what must be a sharp blade. Bjork casts Leomund's tiny hut and the PCs sleep there until the morning...

Pulyana 29, 1423

Although their long term plans include traveling towards Arkany and/or Old Bloodwalls, the PCs are waiting on a few items to be finished, and also want to hover about Zolovny in case of further attack, so they decide upon a day's journey to nearby Borgaborsk. There is a bounty upon two dwarves known as the Bitter Berg Sisters, who are poisoners and hoodwinks, and they want to look for some leads there. First, Aldren and Condor speak with the Trawlers' Union about the paperwork to repair the Slack Mallard, and then the old sailor goes back to stay at the Soverat Stockage. They rent two bows, one for Bjork and Nebol'shoy, the other for Aldren, Rucia and Mockleg, and they row on a bright sunny Fall day down the Skorbi towards their goal. En route, Aldren has a tense conversation with the dragonborn about trust issues, but otherwise there are no unusual occurrences. They arrive at Belker's Quay, moor their boats and speak with a local soldier as they take in the sights. 

They head towards the Smeltworks, the smoggy center of the town, and speak with a few of the local smiths to pick up some ammunition. One dwarf Smith, Benzhi, tells Aldren that the rare black arrow he has inquired about was made by one 'Yacoby' who lives up in the Gargoyle Steeps. Another smith, a minotaur, speaks to Bjork of the axe he found in the Deepwood Barrows, clutched in the bones of a minotaur skeleton. They hear a rumor that a local farm might be haunted, and they might follow up on that as well, but first they head over to Forge Row Jewelers to make some exchanges.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs

Benzhi (dwarf male): A weaponsmith and vendor of the Smeltworks in Borbaborks, fairly non-descript with a sooty smock over a suit of fur-trimmed leather armor. His hair is jet black and his beard is braided into two spikes.

Old Borly (minotaur female): A minotaur, white with black spots, who works at the Smeltworks in Borgaborsk. She seems to have a great love for history, especially that of minotaur-kind, and assigns great value to minotaur-crafted items.

Sadomator (? male): An associate of the villains Csunori and Borya, appearing as a white mask with a cross-shaped slit visor floating amidst a billowing, shadowy cloak. A capable mage with unique abilities that let him manipulate the Shadowfell, transporting opponents into pocket realms populated with shadowy creatures, in addition to a nasty assortment of spells. Defeated by the PCs at Zolovny outside of the Flapping Salmon.

Session 13: The only good bear is a dead bear, or doormat (8/24/22)

Pulyana 28, 1423.

While on morning watch, there are sounds of a struggle nearby. Aldren and Nebol'shoy find the recent corpse of a local floating near the shore, and then notice a figure swimming near The Slack Mallard. It appears to be a shirtless elf carrying a knife of some sort, and climbs up onto the ship to avoid them. They pursue with Bjork and a rowboat, while Rucia has Silvermane, his bonded warhorse, and Mock'leg watch by the shore. The elf evades them, swims back to shore and then heads out of Zolovny towards the West. Aldren quietly heads belowdecks and hears some snoring, apparently that of Captain Condor, but they do not wake him up. He gets a good look about the ship, keeping in mind the offer he had from the local Trawlers' Union.

After finishing his morning prayers and preparations, Rucia goes to grab the Captain, and the group is not far behind. They tell him of the dead body, and Condor identifies it as a local who was helping him out for the promise of a berth on his voyage to the Isle of Skorbi. They decide it's probably not safe for the drunk to remain onboard, and he agrees, so he gathers a few things and heads off to the Soverat Stockage where the PCs manage to convince the lazy local guards to keep him locked away, lest he be assassinated by the figure that was stalking the ship. Once he's secured, the PCs make preparations to journey to Smite-Eye's tower and investigate, including a stop for Aldren to find some arrows. They spend a few hours traveling and eventually, as they make their way into the woods near the tower, they find some massive elk tracks, which themselves seem to divert around the very structure that they are headed towards...

Once they arrive, they find a strange site, a tower covered in swirling ivy and thorny vines, and a strange stormy cloud visible only overhead when once is within a close proximity to the tower. A sigil of an eye floats on a banner far above, just projected out far enough from the plant layers. There are also a pair of semi-circular gardens next to it, one with unusual violets and the other unusual indigo flowers. They can barely make out the location of a door, and Rucia decides to open it, only to be entangled onto the outer walls of the tower, which then begins to pierce him with thorns as it swirls and carries him higher up. He manages to misty step to safety. Aldren, standing on one of the gardens, notes that it begins to rumble, the earth churns and the garden itself is moving. He leaps to safety and they prod the other garden to note something similar.

After a few spells and some discussion, the group decides it might be best to later make another approach, perhaps with the key they might find where the map marked it near 'Old Bloodwalls'. They march back towards Zolovny, but come upon a scene of two massive bears in a conflict near the waters of the Skorbi. Aldren and a few other party members want to jump in, but cooler heads prevail, and the half-elf instead charts them a course where they can stay at a safe distance. Night has fallen once they return to Zolovny, and they decide to split up, some headed to the Flapping Salmon after checking in on Captain Condor, who accompanies them. Nebol'shoy and Bjork instead go to the Fairgrounds again, and they see a strange figure watching from the shadows, wearing a black cloak and a white mask with only a cross-shape to see out through. Whoever it is, they soon dissolve away from the PCs' sight, but they are nervous and decide to join their companions at the tavern.

Meanwhile, Aldren attempts to bargain with Captain Condor, to get his ship repaired and the deed for himself if he allows the old drunk to remain its captain (with Ekaterina Belov as first mate). They reach an agreement, that the Captain will PRETEND to have sold it (he steadfastly refuses to do so for real), thus getting the cheaper deal on repairs from the Trawlers' Union since Aldren will have the deed. He also begrudgingly agrees to the latter request. Rucia then casts zone of truth to try and determine if the Captain is telling the truth about the 'Isle of Skorbi' urban legend, and it turns out that the man at least believes he is telling so, and that he has the only map. As the minotaur and gnome rejoin their friends, they are suddenly all within the zone, and trying hard to stay true without revealing anything extra. As the spell dwindles down, and the PCs are warned of the strange figure at the Fairgrounds, the mask is spotted again the darkness outside the Salmon!

Rucia orders Silvermane to canter around and check it out, and what the warhorse finds horrifies it!

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Session 12: Bloke on the Water (7/19/22)

Pulyana 26, 1423.

The PCs decide not to stop and rest, but to remove themselves from the Deepwood Barrows as quickly as possible. They trek towards the edge of the Tzarswald, seeing several spectral images marching through the hills as soldiers, or performing activities like camping. None of them pay close attention to our heroes as they march on. Nearing the woods' edge, they see smoke against the moonlight coming from due south, an area where there is known to be a D'Vryn camp. The group votes to check it out and then readjust their course before morning. At the camp, they indeed find a waning campfire, and the whole area has been trampled and ruined, though they find no corpses. Three sets of large quadrupedal tracks can be found throughout, and they actually seem to exit eastward towards the direction of Zolovny. Rucia finds a d'vryn fashioned, tassled purse and the PCs also find a red banner similar to the one they found rescuing Pavli.

The group treks on deep into the night hours, returning to the riverside where they encounter a small canoe with a few lanterns drifting on the Skorbi towards the west. The sole occupant is a blue-robed, shaven headed human with tattoos etched on his face, who waves a the party's hails but proceeds onward. As they near Zolovny, the PCs notice the tracks they are pursuing veer to the north, dipping back into the Tzarswald before continuing. They arrive back at the abandoned tents near the docks and the spellcasters fall immediately asleep, while Aldren and Bjork split watches until late the following morning/noon.

Pulyana 27, 1423.

The PCs spend the afternoon hours performing a large variety of errands and tasks. An hour is spent with Mockleg ritual casting identify for a half dozen of the group's items, including a cloak of arachnida and an amulet of the devout dedicated to St. Rictus. Rucia summons his first bonded steed, naming it Silvermane. Nebol'shoy visits the Bloombark Tabernacle and Old Shard to identify the mushrooms he and Bjork dug out of the caverns beneath the Barrows. The dwarf says they can be made into curative potions, and offers to to so for a trade (Taanka's teas). Bjork, Rucia and Mockleg set up a stall at the Fairground where they manage to hock off a bunch of the mended short blades they found pinning the skeleton down in the tomb, as well as some copper candle holders. There is some interest in their jaw of eyeballs when they meet Iev Gravelighter, but Rucia refuses to sell them at this juncture in time. Aldern visists Olena Sallowmoon at her family's campsite and digs up some information about the Brothers Dimm, and where they might be contacted (Arkany) and whom (Rembolt Fuddlemuzz).



As the hours darken, the PCs meet up once more at their tent. Rucia decides to give the eye a brief glimpse of the spectral lantern that Aldren is carrying, as if to taunt whoever is scrying through the remote eye the chance to come after them. Nebol'shoy attempts to cast blindness on the eye as the lantern is revealed, but it is unknown if the spell succeeded. Rucia decides to ride about and warn both the Ganelari family (where he is robbed) and Sallowmoon family (where he is greeted by Bhruno, a swarthy D'vryn bodyguard), but not until he's visisted the Soverat Stockage and then dragged Senior Lieutenant Strada out of the Many Veils to warn him of the potential impending dangers to Zolovny (both necromantic and bugbear). Rucia also 'enlists' Iev Gravelighter should the necromancers come to collec their eye. The death priest seems to know of the antagonists and dislikes them as they are not followers of his god, Shroud.

Bjork and Mockleg head off to the Flapping Salmon where they converse with captain Condor who tries to enlist them for his vessel to find the Lost Isle of Skorbi. He claims he needs 3,000 gold and some time to get his ship up and running. Mockleg decides to perform and transforms into Baron Bleshmyrk, enthralling the entire tavern with his fables, while Bjork offered some musical backup. The pair was a smashing success and raked in some silver and a half dozen free drinks from the crowd. Aldren and Nebol'shoy visit the Trawler's Union where they find they can commission the construction of a river barge for themselves, or can try and purchase The Slack Mallard from Condor and have that repaired. The PCs reconvene yet again, deciding they will travel to the nearby tower of Old Smite-eye and scope that out, so that they can return for Nebol'shoy's potions and to ward off any of the potential threats that they themselves might have stirred up...

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

NPCs

'Condor' Verkhovsky (human male): An elderly man appearing in his late 60s, bedecked in a dirty Skovian naval coat that has faded from deep blue to an ugly shade of gray. He’s balding on top, but has a wild shock of gray hair behind his ears, and wears a wool cap with a copper duck pin to keep out the cold. His nose is heavily weather-beaten, his eyes a little too close tougher, and he reeks of rotja and pipe-smoke. His boots are worn through, with toes peeking out in grimy wool socks, and he wears a cutlass and Shasta sheathed at his belt.

Iev Gravelighter (human male): An impossibly thin wisp of a man standing almost six feet tall, with a narrow, pale face, a long, sharp nose, and gray, dull eyes. He wears a sealed gray robe that hangs down to a pair of impressively clean, black boots, and it’s woven with a skeletal lattice pattern of interlocked bones. From his wrist hangs a silver chain, and at the end of that, a frosted lantern which glows a dull green-white. A black comb or feather above his left ear seems to help sweep a long mane of fine, jet black hair to the right of his head, below his shoulders.

Olena Sallowmoon (D'vryn female): A graceful middle-aged woman with a slender build and vulpine smile, she wears her graying hair in a topknot and a black leather vest over a billowing white shirt with silver threads. Her crafty brown eyes peek out from a face half-covered in fine pinpoint tattoos of animal shapes and lines of cursive text, and her bone-ringed fingers clasp the hilt of a fat saber with decorative owl-feathers slung from its pommel.

Sviit (D'vryn male): A small, dirty-cheeked boy with tussled black hair and thick eyebrows, he is gaunt and slippery and a known pickpocket working either individually or for his Ganelari people.

Arkany Map

 

Session 11: The Ayes Eyes Have It (6/26/22)

Pulyana 25, 1423.

Within the ritual chamber, they discover a number of animated, crawling hands that dutifully light and snuff out candles around a summoning pentagram. At each of the five points is an unlit fire-bowl which the hands seem to be ignoring. There's a platform set into the wall on which there is a collection of old wooden anatomical dummies, of bipeds and quadrupeds. One of them is actually cast in stone, a dog with a blank collar. Bjork mends the collar, and a name appears in reverse, but in a language the PCs cannot currently understand. They find a crudely painted map on the bottom of the platform, beneath the dolls, and it appears to be of the present region, denoting the tower of old Smite-Eyes in a spiral, as well as a location deeper in the Tzarswald, southeast of Svodnikha, where a 'key' symbol is marked.

Nebel'shoy and Aldren move into another chamber, a ghastly laboratory full of cells, bone-piles, and a gruesome collection of limbs and heads of different creatures suspended from rusted hooks on the walls and ceilings. Bjork and Mockleg note a concealed door in the previous area, and they find an infirmary where various stitched abominations are laid out. Bjork begins to saw off their heads to be safe. Rucia joins his half-elf and forest gnome companion in the laboratory, and uses detect magic, realizing that the humanoid victim in the stocks is actually radiating necromancy! It shakes and shudders, and comes to life, and it's not the only thing in the room...several of the piles of bones and limbs stand up and begin to assault the party, one of which is a minotaur! To make matters worse, one of the cell doors opens and a snake-like skeleton with a skull at its end assaults Aldren nearby. The other PCs make their way towards the ensuing clamor to join in the battle.

The creatures in the stocks is unable to wrench itself free at first, despite its raging, but it does get there. fortunately the PCs have destroyed all the skeletons by the time it is rampaging, but not before taking some damage from the bone-snake, and thus they eventually take down the fleshy abomination. They search the corpses and cells to find several treasure chests, a vat of acid and a basin full of brains and other organs. Bjork and Mockleg begin trying to dig out the collapses stairway in the south of the chamber, while the others head up the stairway to the east. Inside is a bed-chamber and study which contains several named tomes: Abomination: Flesh and Bone Grafting for the Initiate (E. Petrenko); Encyclopedia and Taxonomicon of  Sentient Species, volumes 5 (Karnovya) and 6 (Thault) (Pendulum Press, Nekester, 861); and Opening the Old Wounds of the World (Stasia Vlasov). Rucia also finds a number of sheafs of diagrams and other papers signed off by a Borya Mikhailovich, which he takes upon his person. Andren finds some scholarly clothes in a chest, and strangest of all, Nebol'shoy finds a featureless black rectangle on the floor beneath the bed...

With the paladin holding him, the gnome reaches into the rectangle and feels a death-like cold sucking at his arm. He removes it but takes some necrotic damage. After conferring with Mockleg about the tomes, Rucia decides to throw them down into the black rectangle. Aldren looks over some of the other implements in the bed-chamber, and in a jar of eyeballs, notices that one is animated and staring at him and the others. Even when he shakes the jar, it re-emerges to stare. He covers up the jar, and they leave the chamber behind. Bjork has used his pickaxe to clear up rubble leading to the hill-top, and he hosts Nebol'shoy through. Rucia returns to the ritual chamber to destroy the crawling hands before the party joins their short companion on the hilltop. It is night-time, somewhat crisp and cold and there's a small amount of late autumn snowfall on the Deepwood Barrows.

PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia

Session 10: King Mushroom's Arrival and Departure (6/5/22)

Pulyana 24, 1423.

The PCs walk it back down the opposing tunnel to find a sloped passaged leading deeper into the hill, and then decide to finish exploring ahead of where they were ambushed by the fungus-things. They find a skeletal corpse impaled by two dozen short bladed weapons, with some cryptic warning in code splayed out on the rock next to it. Aldren claims two of the daggers which seem to have an unusual magnetic attraction to one another, and Rucia takes a ring from the corpse's finger, which is brass, set with a jet and a swirling, unusual quality about it. Bjork takes out a bunch of the blades to mend later for sale. They head back and down the slope, to find an area with a boulder that has a small pool and a blind albino salamander sloshing about. Nebol speaks to the creature but it knows little else but 'hunger' and 'home', and 'strange shapes'.

They find a weak cavern wall which has collapsed into a proper tomb beneath the hill, but before they explore it they had back to a side tunnel full of fungus. Nebel and Bjork begin to clear out the area, but it's slow going, while Aldren sneaks down another tunnel to find a cavern containing six cairns, one of which has a skeletal arm sticking out of it. There's also a large, throbbing mushroom inside. Aldren heads back to gather the others, and they re-enter the cairn chamber. Bjork breaks off the skeletal arm and pokes the giant mushroom, which angers it, and a combat ensues. The fungal creature slams Rucia hard several times and poisons him, but its spore attacks don't pan out and its warning spores are useless since the PCs have already slain the lesser fungus creatures. The paladin finishes it off in a blaze of divine damage and the PCs set about digging up the cairns, each of which (besides the one with the skeletal arm) contains a tribute or token for whoever was meant to be buried there: a withered animal organ on a cord, a pair of bone cuff-links, a leather gauntlet with nail-spikes, a feather that is magical animated to tickle those it touches, and a dagger made of shadow-stuff. They dig up the last cairn and its indeed a dwarf skeleton.



The PCs next head into the tomb chamber, and are ambushed by a trio of undead with the ability to drain their life totals. The battle is grim, but the heroes eventually win out, and search the chamber to find a pair of silver scales and some coins. The sarcophagus up the stairs is empty, but they learn that it once belonged to Efka Deznovya, a Blood Count known as 'The Balancer' for his brutal means of settling disputes among his people. The group uses the chamber for a long rest, and luckily remain undisturbed, though Rucia notices some weirdness with the ring he took from the corpse earlier.

Pulyana 25, 1423. 

Before embarking further into the tomb proper, the PCs return to the fungal tunnel and Bjork and Nebel spend a few hours cleaning it out. At the end of the tunnel they find what looks like a seed pod or womb covered in a fungal film, and inside it contains 8 waxy mushrooms with red caps, in a sort of natural planter or incubator. Nebel digs out six of the stalks, realizing that they could be used as potential reagants for potions. After Rucia forces the stone door to the tomb open, they enter and find a study chamber which looks as if it was ransacked. Rucia finds some scales very similar to his own and his rage begins to build...they next head towards a foyer area and a rotting storeroom, in which they find the corpse of one 'Forna Grazilda', a note written from him to his 'Auntie', and a diamond-studded set of brass knuckles.

It turns out that this old tomb was being used as a hideout for the Brothers Dimm, the local enigmatic thieves' guild, until some rampaging undead, lead by an intelligent leader, assaulted it and took it over for their own ends. Forna was unable to flee in time, but sent ahead some of the other guildmembers to the city of Arkany. The PCs then find a barracks, with a trapped chest that has a map of local Dimm hideouts, including this one and a larger chapter located in Arkany. They manage to smash open the last door in the foyer and find a recreational room, in which they discover a bag of tin, copper, silver and gold candle holders, and two stoppered urns of elderberry jam, one of which makes Nebol quite ill! The next door leads to a proper ritual chamber...



PCs: Aldren, Bjork, Nebol'shoy, Rucia