With the new knowledge, Hound slowly proceeds into the room. "I hate to say this Ford, but if they attack I will defend my self."
Hoping that they don't Hound makes his way past Ford and into the room leaving enough room for the rest to follow as they see fit.
The stench of wet fur hangs heavy in the air. This small study looks like it has been lived in recently. Gnawed bones litter the floor and tuft of gray fur can be seen here and there. An old stone desk sits in the center of the chamber, scratched and cracked in many places.
Hound can see one of the wolves in the next room. It looks relaxed and only stares back at Hound.
Looking into the next room Alleran can see there is a gaping holes in the roof allow faint light to enter the ruined chamber. One of the stone columns that once supported the ceiling is half toppled making a steep ram to the hole. A thick patch of black mushrooms hides in a nearby corner, giving the room an earthy scent that is barely noticeable above the stench of wet fur.
As Alleran steeps into the doorway the party hears a howl and a voice, speaking in common, calls out from the hole in the roof.
"Why have you invaded my home!"
A wolf like beast walks down the column and growls at Alleran.
This beast is a Worg. Worgs are oversize, intelligent wolves that often are evil.
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Alleran narrows his eyes at the words issuing forth from the wolf-like beast. He answers, We are come for ingredients for a remedy to cure what ails the people of Falcon's Hollow."
Nodding to the sprouting fungus over in the corner, he offers, "Those mushrooms there appear to be the very ones we seek. We will take them and be on our way without further trouble."
The oversize wolf stops growling.
"I am Graypelt. These mushrooms are very tasty, but we may be able to make a deal.
Graypelt lets out a short, low howl.
Zova and Diana can see a wolf pop out of the shadow near the Library. It turns and moves into the library.
You speak of a sickness. I have heard of a sickness that has been seen in the woods. What are the signs of the town's sickness?"
"Blacksour mold has a bitter, and sharp taste. I have not tasted it in any of the surface water, but the well stinks of it. But it is also not the sickness that is showning up in the woods."
Graypelt looks over to the mushrooms. "Some others have take up residents. Unlike the kobolds they are not paying tribute to me to be allowed here."
Graypelt lifts a paw and points to the Shrine room. "There are two beast in the room on the other side of that wall. They have learned to not attack us, but now they hide up high where I can't get a bite at them.
There is also a lot of bats down the hall, left of the statue. It is one of the best places to sleep all day. So every few days we have to chase them off.
Last, on the other side of the yard is a tower. The Spiders in there get out of reach before I can kill them.
You can take any non-food you find. If you get rid of any two of the groups, you can have all the mushrooms. If you get all of them, you can have all the non-food tributes."
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Alleran sighes, "A swarm of bats, some unnamed creatures that like ceilings and spiders. Fine, we'll be right back."
With that, he looks to the others for confirmation that they are going to join him before he stalks off towards the tower across the courtyard.
[ooc]Going to go back down the hall towards the main entrance we used to enter this building. Then crossing the courtyard to the opposite tower. I will check the grounds and the door for traps.
Zova's eyes widen at the sound of the worg and immediately begin to shift colors as Alleran speaks, first shining red and then green . Assuming Greypelt flashes as either one of these alignments, Zova listens more closely to his words so as to discern whether or not he may be lying.
Right as she is about to turn into the small room, her eyes show that there is a evil aura to the North-East.
looking onto Greypelt, she sees both evil and chaos auras.
In spite of his auras, Greypelt words sounds to be truthful.
Zova shakes her head. A choatic creature that would keep his word... it is most troubling indeed that such a creature would invade this temple, but I suppose it is of no concern... at the moment. Perhaps once we have cured this plague, I could return with Ford to clear out the temple and restore it for his god.
Alleran finds no traps in the yard or on the door.
Walking back into the yard the party find a wolf laying in the collapsed stable licking blood of its coat. It glances at the party before returning to clearing it self.
The tower door is stuck (), but there are two doors opening to walkways on the Wast and North side of the tower 20 ft up ().
Thick webs cover much of the ancient crates and barrels stored inside the base of the tower. A rickety wooden staircase ascends along one wall to reach the trapdoors above.
Ford (20)
Hound (18)
Alleran (16)
Zova (15)
Spider (14)
Ford (20)
Hound (18)
Alleran (16)
Zova (15)
Spider (14)
Zova, seeing the Spider, sifts and fires an arrow at it.
The arrow sticks into the spider.
The spider tries to bites at Alleran.
Zova draws yet another arrow and fires at the spider, hoping to kill it quickly and get back to the town.
Allran swings cutting the spider head an two lags off. The spider drops to the ground dead.
looking around you find that supplies in most of the crates and barrels have long since rotted away.
There is a barrel of honey that has crystallized, and some bottles of strong alcohol in a crate.
In one crate is a masterwork Battle axe wrapped in oilcloth. The rest of the weapons and stuff in the crate have rusted to the point of worthlessness.
Alleran finds a loose tile. Lifting it he find that some of the ground had been dug out.
In the hole is a sheet of paper, some very old coins and a Masterwork Morningstar.
The Morningstar has symbols of Torag.
The note speaks of the fall of the last great dwarven kings and how many of the writers fellow clerics have stopped coming to services to Torag.
He overheard many talking of Torag failing them and allowed their people to become lazy. They hope that Droskar would push their people to new and higher greatness.
The writing becomes rushed at the end as the writer says that they are trying to break down the door. He ends with saying that the Morningstar is his last and greatest work. he hopes never falls into the hands of the followers of Droskar.
The coins are from the time of the last Dwarven Kings. They may be worth 300 gold to A collector of dwarven items.
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Alleran points out the items as he finds them. "A barrel of crystallized honey. This can be reconstituted.
Holding up one of the bottles, he remarks, "Well, here're some duty free libations. Always welcome in a soldier's life."
"Oh my, now this is a surprise!" He exclaims unwrapping a finely crafted battle axe.
Rising to step away, he notices a loose tile under his foot. Lifting it up, he brings out the piece of paper, morningstar and gold coins. "Here's a little treasure trove." Handing up the items to the others for inspection, he stands and awaits their determinations.
As the room is searched Hound takes the time to keep an eye out. Talking big wolves aside this monastery has been very creepy of late.
At the discovery of the coins Hound pours a couple out into his palm, something seems familiar about them...
But for the life of them he cannot remember, "I think the coins are old, their stamp is unfamiliar to me." Flipping the coin over to so what might be a dwarven face on them. "Plus, finding them here means they might be dwarven, could look into it later for some fun if don't mind?"
Once the search is done, "So where to now? Plus are we just going to leave that talking beast alone?"
"If not now, I would like to return some day and deal with the creature if that's ok with you?" He shakes his head, "So were are these deadly bats again?"
1) Kill Bat swarm that Allerna knows could be a little harder to kill.
2) Go stairs going up tower to explore more.
3) Go to the last door in the north hallway.
4) Go to Worg to get the Mushrooms.
5) Kill Worg that Zova knows is evil.
6) Other ideas?
If I got it right:
It looks like Alleran wants to get the mushrooms and return to town quickly.
Hound wants to clear out the Worg, but looks to be willing to put that off till some other day.
Zova also was thinking about maybe clearing the place after curing the plague.
"Wait! Lemme see that weapon!" Ford suddenly piped up, having been in a quiet state of thought as he followed the others. Taking hold of the Morningstar, he turned it over, before smiling as he spied the symbol of Torag marked on it. "Thank you, Torag. Even in this forsaken place, your forge's light arms me with masterpieces."
Ford looked over the coins, his expression somewhat neutral, but nodding as he looked up. "These coins are ancient... well, obviously. I'd wager from several centuries at least, but without my books, I'm at a loss for their exact date. If you don't mind, I'd like to hold onto these... I can identify them with more accuracy later."
Ford smiled as he looked back at the group. "I hate to leave these ruins alone... but I have to agree. We should get those mushrooms and return to Falcon's Hollow post-haste. We can come back and clean up later, if you want. I mean, I probably will on my own, but you're welcome to come. Look, point is, let's get back."
"Oh I intend to come back and help that is a promise." Hound smiles with a feral grin, a bit unnerving for the party. "So are we just going to get the mushrooms and go or finish exploring the place, who knows we might find mushrooms in other parts of the temple?"
Zova nods to her companions. "Aye, I have some time stored for free days from my work. I would absolutely be willing to come back here when we get the chance... but first let us get the mushrooms and... she drops her voice to a whisper. "Should we attempt to eradicate the worg now? It radiates auras of both chaos and evil and I am afraid leaving it here will cause trouble. The kobolds we can communicate with but that thing is likely to be hostile no matter what."
Ford smiled gratefully at the assurance of aid, giving a nod. "Many thanks, friends. I hope I can find some way to repay the aid."
Ford frowned a little at mention of dealing with the worg and putting it down. "...I understand the fear of the worg. But, if possible, I'd like to try and give it the chance. If it ends poorly, I will not hesitate to come to blows with it, and will take the brunt of it's wrath... but it is sentient, and capable of speech and thought. I realize the chances are slim, but if reason could possibly win out, I'd like to try first. After all... this is it's home."
"So lets get the bats and get then get to rescuing the town."
Hound take the lead heading in the direction of where greypelt said the bats were to be residing.
"I thought he required all the creatures dealt with, but I'm going to assume I miss heard what the creature said." With a shrug, he turns in the direction of where greypelt is located.
Zova follows at the back of the group with her bow in hand, wary of the worg.
Ford opts to lead the group and casts Lead Blades on his morningstar before entering the room. Should be active for 8 minutes, or so he guessed. If this did turn into a fight... he wanted to be ready.
The wolf to the south keeps laying there as you walk by. But everyone but
Zova can tell that the wolf follows the party and stops at the altar room. They can also see there is a 2nd wolf in the doorway of the library.
As the party walks into the Worg's room, the Worg speaks up.
"I see the spider. Did you take care of the rest?"
The Wrog growls but nods to the wolves. The wolf in at the north side of the room turns heading to the south wast corner of the room.
"The mushrooms are over there," the Worg says swinging his head to the north wast corner. He turns and followers after the wolf.
Zova nods and heads to gather the mushrooms. "Thank you kind... Worg. For your help, I will be sure to return to this place with my allies once we have cured our own plague. I remember you mentioning an illness spreading in the forests as well... the least we can do is to help you find a cure in return."
The look gives the worg is a bit dark, but except for keeping a hand clos to his weapon Hound makes no threatening gestures and speaks no ill of the foul creature.
Zova finds six ironbloom mushrooms in the dark corner.