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Chatterbeak is getting excited and he's flapping around, pecking at the wall. When you examine the spot he's pecking at, you find a secret door. It's actually quite obvious, once you notice it!

They bolt townwards, still screaming.

You see some lights coming on, and a dog starts barking.

Would Chatterbeak care to make a roll to see if he gets a beakfull?

You follow the other passage (roughly south-east and if anything even narrower!) and find that it too ends in a deadend... only no spyhole this time. Do you wish to search?

Neither Ashe nor Majenko can find a secret door in the wall beside the peephole.

Una and Varrel, do you want to try the other passage or are you waiting for Ashe to stop tapping on the wall?

The youth screams!

His young lady promptly joins in... and clutches on to him. He seems frozen in place.

Tre', you cannot see what set him off.

The youth doesn't look that bothered.

"As you're strangers, you'd not know that this is a traditional place for... ahem... trysts. As for some clown painting letters on the monument, it seemed to have some of the old folks in a tizzy, but it doesn't bother me none."

There is, perhaps, a shade of bravado in his tone. It seems to be working on his companion, who is gazing at him adoringly.

After another ten feet you come to steps leading down... which end in a blank wall.

Majenko chirps in Ashe's ear, pointing out a spyhole.

It looks out onto a corridor, empty and dark.

A map update seems appropriate, she says, hastily doing one!

The light from Tre's 'glow-worm' illuminates two human faces, both young, one male and one female.

The male speaks (the same voice as you heard before), "Strangers? You are a bit outside of town, but you must have got turned around as you came from the town... go back the way you came."

It is about 10 feet to the steps going up, then the passage continues for another 10 feet or so before splitting - one branch (to your right) going west then curving north, the other going south-west with an almost immediate branch off to the south-south-east.

It's very narrow. Ashe's shoulders brush both walls, and Majenko has to keep shifting his tail to avoid getting it crushed between Ashe and the wall!

At least, there isn't anybody - or anything - wishing to give you battle at the moment!

As for the detect evil scans, there is quite a lot south and west of your position.

The heron says, "It is quite all right, my good man. There is plenty of room... we just see so few human beings up here, you gave me quite a turn."

Yes, he has a posh English accent... :)

Majenko, all you can smell is that sort of musty, dusty, slightly damp smell common to crypts...

The track, meandering along beside the river, goes through the dip. There isn't really any cover apart from the clump of trees...

Barnabus comes nose-to-nose with a very startled-looking heron, which was perched up the tree in question.

The shadowy shape at the foot of the monument moves, and you can now see that it is not one but two creatures.

"Help you? What with?" says the voice.

And then Dyfrig will no doubt find a suitable recipe... :)

Roast leg of bandit with moonradish sauce and root mash, perhaps?

"Well?" says the voice again. "Is that you, Drebbit? If it is, I'll kill you!"

There are not many trees here, it's mostly rolling grassy plains... but a small clump of trees can be found including one which is strong enough for Barnabus to climb.

The track at this point goes into a slight dip. Looks like it would be possible to set an ambush here....

Dyfrig, meanwhile, is exploring the area and has found several herbs and berries to collect. He's showing the kobolds how to make 'bubbly berry pies' which they find delightful. The berries are dark purple, and very sweet and juicy, they make for good pies! Dyfrig calls them gloamingberries, as the small violet flowers the berry-bushes produce in spring alway open in the dusk (or gloaming, in some archaic form of language that it seems Dyfrig grew up with). If they have a proper name, he doesn't know it!

The kobolds, apart from liking the pies, are amazed. They didn't know such tasty stuff was to be found growing a scant 15-minute walk from their cavern!

It is now late afternoon.

All right, with varying levels of assistance from your winged companions, you search the chamber thoroughly with eyeball and magic alike.

Bones.

Lots of bones, fortunately the regular dead sort, no more of the leaping up to attack sort.

No treasure, though. Perhaps they were put here rather than settled here of their own accord?

Then Chatterbeak gets very excited. He's poking around in the east bone pit, and through the racket Varrel finally discerns that he's found a 'hidden hole' in the south wall... this turns out to be a secret door opening on to a very narrow passage.

Map Update

Peering along it, you can make out narrow steps going up...

The other exit to the room (apart from the steps back up to the mauseoleum) is an opening to the south.

It's dark, apart from the glowing paladin.

Between them, Shakhan and Varrel pulverise the last skeleton.

Everything is quiet, save from a chirp of satisfaction from Majenko, somewhere above your heads.

@Varrel: I tend to suggest that, when we are in combat, everyone posts their next action whenever they drop by rather than wait their turn. I sort out the combat order in the summary post. Otherwise we end up waiting on someone...

@Ashe: Thanks :)

OK, what now?

Don't tempt me, Sorin... :)

As the pair of you creep closer, Dillan strains his ears... filtering out the sounds of Tre' lumbering along behind him.

The 'creature' stops moving.

A voice calls, "Who's there?" Sounds young, male, human or at least humanoid.

Nakpik scratches his head.

"The bandits ride along on the far side of the river, usually, heading north-east-ish... they don't come back this way. It is about as close as they come to our caves, thankfully. And we stay out of the way around the time they usually come by as they are not above taking pot-shots at any kobolds that they see."

I think you took horses, in which case Nakpik would have welcomed a lift on Sunset...

Sometimes I just hate combat...

The big skeleton pauses, allowing Ashe to come towards it, raising its fists high to bludgeon him... Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12.

The five remaining smaller ones seem somewhat shaky... but two move towards Shakhan, the rest towards Una.

Ones on Shakhan: attack 1d20 ⇒ 5 and 1d20 ⇒ 7

Ones on Una: attack 1d20 ⇒ 11 and 1d20 ⇒ 4 and 1d20 ⇒ 14

Shakhan sweeps his axe round in an attempt to deal blunt damage with the flat of the blade (Would you care to make an attack roll?)

Una fires again. More bone chips fly!

Varrel gets his mace out and swings... connecting. The skeleton comes apart, bits everywhere.

Majenko hisses like a teakettle.

Ashe lets rip with 'Dauntless Heart' (which shines with a pale golden glow), his swing connecting and pulverising the large skeleton.

Hytogg, undeterred, lets fly again. Two more skeletons begin to crumble under the onslaught of positive energy.

So, the big one's gone, and there are only 2 of the standard ones left (1 if Shakhan gets in a good blow...)

Ravengro has a Sheriff and four part-time deputies. They do keep order at the town's taverns and when the tax collector comes a-calling, but that's about it - no watchmen patrolling the streets.

Dillan and Tre' can go down to the monument (Location O on the map, down by the river). When they get there, they see something moving at the base of the 25-foot-tall moss-covered statue.

Nakpik looks rather fragile this morning, but is willing to do his Chief's bidding and takes Rhasa', Barnabus and Lothar south to the river. Here he points out a track on the far side, saying that is used by the bandits.

He then excuses himself to be very sick in the bushes.

When he comes back, he says that if you are on a horse you can get across here but it's really too deep if you are kobold-sized. He points out the fording point to you.

Initiative for skeletons: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Round 1

(No surprise, as the detect evil gave ample warning.)

Skeletons lumber up out of the bone pits. A full half-dozen from the one to the west and a single, much larger, one from the east. They advance on you...

Shakhan whips out a potion bottle and quaffs the contents.

Una raises her bow and looses two bolts towards the larger skeleton advancing on her from the east bone pit. Chips of bone fly... but it keeps coming!

Varrel enchants his scimitar, swishes it through the air and then points it at the nearest skeleton, snarling something you don't quite catch. Said nearest skeleton crumbles in its tracks!

Majenko flutters up above the scene as Ashe strides forwards preparing to do battle.

Hytogg collects himself, shaking his head and making arcane gestures towards the five remaining skeletons to the west. One stops in its tracks, the others keep coming....

OK, actions & rolls for the next round, please. Enjoy your holiday, Hytogg, we'll look after you :)

It is a clear, crisp morning as you awaken to the smell of bacon frying. Dyfrig brought extra when he heard you wanted to visit the Sootscales tribe, remembering the glee with which they fell on it before.

Who is going with a rather hung-over Nakpik to see where the bandit patrols pass through this area?

How dark? Imagine a night with heavy cloud cover and no moon. That's what you have got. And of course consider that Ravengro doesn't have street lights.

Tell me the shift sequence, please, and where you intend to place yourselves.

Will give Hytogg until Monday, and then will resolve the first round with or without him.

It is cloudy tonight, thick heavy clouds that promise rain. Visibility is poor even for elf eyes.

Who is going to the Monument?

Most of the kobolds drink themselves insensible, and by about midnight all you can hear is snores as they sleep it off. Sidewinder is still awake, he apparently does not like alcohol (!) - yet another reason for the derision he receives from the other kobolds.

Two rather grumpy kobolds are also awake, they drew the short straws for guard duty and are stationed at the entrance to the caves.

The night is clear and chilly, stars twinkling above. An owl hoots in the distance.

Anyone doing anything in particular before morning?

(That was quick!)

"From what I recall, the Spatter Man's graffiti always appeared at night," says Kendra, who has brewed some hot chocolate and brought mugs in for everyone. She passes them around as she continues "Perhaps his evil spirit is capable of possessing a living being, and forcing him to do his bidding..."

It's getting quite late. Do you intend to set a watch rota? Or do anything else this evening before retiring for the night?

Sootscale offers "In the morning, I shall send Nakpik with you to show you the routes the bandits normally take around here. But now, we drink, and feast!"

Thank you, Calinder. The Preparing to Teach class I have been doing since the end of November should help, it's been a fascinating time and a valuable addition to previous secular teacher training - both the regular sort and military 'methods of instruction' - that I have done. I tend to teach by the Socratic method anyway, so it is just a case of prayerful preparation of the material...

... and the old preacher's prayer: "Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff - then shut it when I've said enough!"

Close inspection and spellcasting reveal nothing untoward with the trapdoor, so Varrel feels safe in opening it. A flight of steps leads downwards...

All appears clear, so Ashe leads the way down into a large room supported by four wide pillars of stone. The ceiling above arches in a dome nearly twenty feet high. The walls are lined with skeletons caked into the mud — human bones mostly, but here and there smaller bones might be from halfings, or perhaps children. Fifteen-foot-square pits sit to the east and west, each filled with a large heap of hundreds of bones. To the south, a crude hole has been gouged into the wall, providing access to a tunnel.

Map - please excuse scruffiness, the one in the AP is very DM-only so I've had to hack it about a bit!

Sidewinder shuffles from foot to foot, seeming quite embarassed by all the attention. He's happy to demonstrate his throwing action, saying that it 'just works' and he has no idea how he came up with it in the first place.

Mikmek has a fit of the giggles, and takes Rhasa' aside... "You see, Sidewinder is fine with targets, but he hasn't brought down a single game animal and he... he actually fled from combat! Half a dozen mites ganged up on him and he ran away."

Drinking is indeed involved in the axe-throwing contest, Barnabus... perhaps Gorguk should have thrown before drinking, though!

A small kobold with an odd bluish tinge to his scales wins the contest, throwing with deadly accuracy and an odd action, a bit like a baseball pitcher's windup. He's called Sidewinder, and apparently is regarded as a bit of a joke except when he has an axe to hand and a target in sight.

Pigs cost about 20gp a head, Gorguk. You think that one of Oleg's sows may be near farrowing, maybe you could get a couple of piglets a bit cheaper but they won't be ready to leave their mother for a couple of months.

As for the patrols, they don't show much interest in the area but just ride through. They number about 3-6, mounted and often with a pack animal or two. The kobolds tend to hunker down and stay out of sight until they've gone.

You move in cautiously, senses alert and wary....

Ashe: You are staggered by the 'return' from your detect evil - there are certainly a fair few evil creatures below the ground. Nothing up here in the mausoleum, though.

Una: The strange four-toed tracks cover the debris-strewn floor, but seem to congregate in one corner near the back... peering closer, you spot a trap-door, not particularly well-concealed although it appears that an attempt to hide it has been made.

Varrel: As soon as Una points, you can see the trap-door too.

Hytogg & Shakhan: Behind everyone else, you cannot see much, yet.

Una is nearest to the trap-door...

Not to fret, Lothar - you take care of the important stuff first. Every good wish to your player for her swift recovery.

As for the calling, everyone else (including my family) seemed to have expected it - me, I'm still startled at it all happening so quickly. The whole of the meeting on Sunday, people were coming and congratulating me. We have enough teachers that I shall be called upon about once a month. One of my fellow students in the Preparation to Teach class gave me a wonderful gift, a really nice set of scriptures which he said he just happened to have spare... I usually study online, but it will be convenient for church rather than juggling a motley assortment of books.

As you well know, Korvosa's vast graveyard, the place known as the Gray District, is a mournful place even by day. Alone in the city, this place is quiet and calm in the face of the civil unrest, yet this calm is an unnatural stillness in the air, almost as if the graveyard were preparing itself for a vast influx of new dead. Certainly, this ominous feeling is nowhere more noticeable than in Potter's Ward, the final resting ground for Korvosa's poor and homeless. Mounds of unmarked dirt stretch far and wide, indicating sites of mass graves, while crumbling mausoleums from years ago, abandoned by their families as the Gray District expanded to the west, dot the bleak landscape, forgotten and empty. Mourners do not visit here, for the dead buried in Potter's Ward leave behind few who regret their passing.

Chatterbeak reports that there is no sign of Gaekhen's body in the area, although he does spot a man's tracks aand a wheelbarrow trail. There are several smaller humanoid tracks, each bearing only four toes, cluttering the site as well. These tracks lead to the mausoleum which Ashe has already identified. It is partially collapsed, and a toppled and headless statue of a sword-wielding gargoyle lies in the dirt near the mausoleum's entrance.

You make your preparations to enter. Varrel gets ready to go in first, the others following. Peering in, you see a roughly rectangular chamber, strewn with detritus. Apart from these odd four-toed tracks, it doesn't look like anyone has been here for ages.

"Since you liberated us of that fraudulent shaman, we have been doing fine, thank you," said Chief Sootscales. "We have started to plant some crops, and will try to get a few goats... and a bacon-animal, if we can find one. We like bacon."

He offers you hospitality for the night, which it seems will include feasting and drinking and an axe-throwing competition.

They do not know much about the bandits, although they can confirm that their fort is on the lakeside. They don't usually range that far, and not since the bandits have been there - the bandits apparently view kobolds as 'vermin' and shoot them on sight. Bandit patrols come this way every moon or so, but it isn't an area that they seem interested in and they do not stay around long. The next one should come by in about a week.

Sootscales is delighted to see you all, and is quick to offer hospitality.

"Deal with them bandit-scum? Excellent idea! How can we help?" he says.

So, to the Deadwarrens?

As Ashe can tell you, you need to find an area here in the Grey District that is known as Potter's Ward. This is the final resting ground for Korvosa's poor and homeless.

It is easy to find. Mounds of unmarked dirt stretch far and wide, indicating sites of mass graves, while crumbling mausoleums from years ago, abandoned by their families as the Gray District expanded to the west, dot the bleak landscape, forgotten and empty. Mourners do not visit here, for the dead buried in Potter's Ward leave behind few who regret their passing.

What do you want to do?

For the Saints here: Bit gobsmacked. Got summoned by the Bishop and given a calling, to be a teacher in Relief Society. A year ago I just had a vague idea when the LDS church in Crewe was...

"All right then," said Mikmek, "I'll come along. In the meantime..." he began leading the way towards the Sootscale caverns.

The Bishop bows her head for a moment, then leads the way into the main worship space of the Cathedral.

"It will be my honour to bless your sword, Sir Asherick," she says. "The High Altar would seem appropriate..."

When you are all - that is, whoever comes along - gathered in the sanctuary, the Bishop raises the sworn aloft.

"Lady of shadows, lady of grace, grant through the authority vouchsafed to me a blessing upon Dauntless Heart that it may, in the hands of your servant Asherick Whiteplume, smite undead abominations in thy name. So may it be, according to thy desires."

The entire cathedral is flooded, momentarily, with a bright light that drives away all shadows.

The Bishop returns your sword, Ashe. It feels... different... as if it were alive.

"Yes," says Mikmek. "Do you not recall the delight with which we sampled your bacon. Some of the smoked buck would be an unusual delicacy. As for me, do you want me to come along to see the Staglord's fort? I have never been down that way before."

The Bishop smiles and produces a leather box holding six vials of holy water.

"Take this with my blessing, Una. Does anyone else want some?"

She looks at Varrel.

"Creatures... in the main you will find wererats, otyughs, and goblins; there are also derro in some of the deeper places. Watch out for glowing moss, the derro cultivate it and hold it to be quite a delicacy, if you see it you are likely entering their territory."

Dillan starts to rummage, and soon comes up with some material on The Splatter Man, whose real name was Hean Feramin. He was a Professor, a celebrated scholar of Anthroponomastics (the study of personal names and their origins) at the Quartrefaux Archives in Caliphas. Yet an accidental association with a succubus twisted and warped his study, turning it into an obsession. Feramin became obsessed with the power of a name and how he could use it to terrify and control. Soon enough, his reputation was ruined, he’d lost his tenure, and he’d developed an uncontrollable obsession with an imaginary link between a person’s name and what happens to that name when the person dies. Every few days, he would secretly arrange for his victim to find a letter from her name written in blood, perhaps smeared on a wall or spelled out with carefully arranged entrails. Once he had spelled his victim’s name, he would at last come for her, killing her in a gory mess using a complex trap or series of rigged events meant to look like an accident.

Hunting is quite good, a couple of white-tailed plains bucks are soon added to your supplies. Dyfrig says that he'll roast one for tonight and smoke the other to take along. Makes for a smokey evening, though, and you all get woken up in the middle of the night coughing because the wind direction changed...

Mikmek thinks that regular visits will help his people feel part of the community. He intends to stay there for a bit, unless you really want him along, but says that an increase in dealings between the kobolds and other denizens of the Stolen Lands would be of benefit to all - "If only to stop you biggenses thinking of us as 'monsters' instead of people," he ends up.

When you get there, they've cleaned up the cave entrance a bit, and a couple of kobolds are turning over a patch of earth.