Glancing over Charon's shoulder periodically, Legiald nods to give the implication that he understands. "Possibly a necromancer?"
Abruptly realizing that Legaid doesn't speak Elven, Dolelan provides a quick update in Common and explains the map. "There's a chasm southwest of here that I think the person creating the shadows might be using as a base of operations. I suspect our antagonist has some aptitude for magic, but I doubt he is a master of necromancy. His greatest asset seems to be his mastery of the Heart. En-route to the chasm I'd like to speak with the locals at this trade village to see if they know anything of the Shadows or other unwholesome influences."
Abruptly realizing that Legaid doesn't speak Elven, Dolelan provides a quick update in Common and explains the map. "There's a chasm southwest of here that I think the person creating the shadows might be using as a base of operations. I suspect our antagonist has some aptitude for magic, but I doubt he is a master of necromancy. His greatest asset seems to be his mastery of the Heart. En-route to the chasm I'd like to speak with the locals at this trade village to see if they know anything of the Shadows or other unwholesome influences."
So packing up and heading out? To what destination.
Nera
Charon
Legiald
Well apparently no one disagrees with you so without further ado you head to the old Frontier Fort of Deepriver Hollow. Keeping the sound of bubling water to your right you reach a point about an hour away from the decrepit house where the gnarled and twisted trees begin to look more and more healthy. Trees the color of brown ash give way to warm browns and soft greens.
Unless you stop to rest you reach the fringe of Deepriver Hollow about 3 hours after your encounter with the elf woman. Deepriver Hollow is a ramshackle ruin though much of the structure itself is still intact. It's a very simple affair and it lacks some of the features that usually define a fortress. It lacks a stout gatehouse, crenelations or an upper floor for it's one and only building. It sits at the crossing of several small streams, it's walls are coated in a thin veil of green that stretches over every visible surface. The things that might have once been the barred doors lie sideways within the threshold half rotted. Coming towards the fortification from the north you see distinct, yet overgrown road that seems to lead away from the fort, into the woods to the east.
All of you can see a large amount of tracks moving near and around the keep.
On approach to the ruin, Legiald carries his bow. "Looks like nobody stays here, but let's take a look anyway. I've stayed in worse places. No sentry this time and stay together, eh?" Pending approval from his companions, Legiald goes to the ruins to see what he can find, taking a moment to check what sorts of creatures made the tracks.
Dolelan had included the ruins on their route mostly out of curiosity. He had been able to recall that it was there, but couldn't remember any scholarship on the topic- not even a footnote in an atlas. As they approached the weathered and overgrown stones he casts a well-studied eye over the structure and jots down a few notes about its construction, age, and state of decomposition for publication at a later date.
As he's considering the erosion from the streams and hazarding a guess about where their beds had lain at the time of the fort's construction he notices the tracks. His first instinct is to dismiss it the activity of children from the nearby hamlet, but he abruptly recalls just where he is and the circumstances that brought him here. He rests a hand on his sword as Legaid examines the tracks, and considers what he might say to anyone .
Legiald takes a moment to examine the tracks.
Okay.
A whole lot. It's something, while you may not immediately recognize what that is, you hear a pretty long way off, you have to remember that this is a huge creature moving through a forest, it's not dense at all but there's still only 10-15 ft of clearance at some points so "Magic Tree" has to squeeze through.
Charon keeps to shadows as they travel. Not wanting to be in thecenter of attention with the large loud tree.
To Legiald, "I wish this thing was quieter, it's like having a stupid drunk dwarf sing songs while leaving a tavern,full of cut-throats, with gold clinking from his waist."
*Bump*
*Bump*
After looking the building over critically Dolelan judges it safe to explore (from an architectural standpoint, anyway). He finishes his note taking and approaches to enter the fort and get a better look at the details of the construction. He steps carefully out of habit, so he doesn't spook any wildlife that might have taken up residence in the ruins. He pauses at the threshold of the decayed door and looks about for anything of interest before proceeding with a thorough examination of the area.
Peeking inside the door Dolelan's gaze falls upon a courtyard full of mangled humanoid bodies in different states of decay. A number of crows peck at the dead bodies, pulling off scraps of rotten meat.
Dolelan is taken aback at the sight. He pulls an ointment from a pouch and daubs it on a cloth that he holds to his face before he proceeds to examine the scene.
He approaches the closest body and looks it over, trying to determine what particular type of humanoid he's looking at and how the poor fellow met his or her demise.
Though the bodies are quite mangled, upon closer inspection you can clearly distinguish them. A couple partially intact pointy ears give away that at least some of them were elves. The others (without heads or faces with which to judge by) were either elves or humans judging by their size.
The cause of death seems to be bodily injury, as you see the bodies in a number of pieces it's hard to know if it was anything else besides the obvious that killed them. You do know however that most of the damage was done while they were still alive, the ground is absolutely saturated with blood stepping into the courtyard proper the ground actually squelches like rain drenched grass. The breeze seems to be carrying the worst of the scent away but it's still pretty bad.
After a short time in the courtyard Dolelan reports back to the others, looking rather unsettled. "There was some sort of massacre in there, relatively recent. There are dozens, maybe as many as a hundred dead. I'm going to see if I can discover anything more about what happened here... but I don't blame you if you'd rather stay out here."
He summarizes in Elven for 'Gûl Orne' then returns to the carnage to look for some answers.
The bodies are mostly the same size from what you can tell, there don't seem to be any child/halfling sized bodies laying about. It's a bit harder to tell if they were male or human, the few that remain that still have distinguishable features are male but the rest are little more than hamburger at this point.
Perception
Knowledge
Searching through the carnage you happen upon a couple rings and one tattoo from a severed arm that was laying about. Wiping away the gore from the ring you see a raven clutching a pouch between it's beak. You know this to be the sigil of Pern, one of the bandit leaders known for causing trouble for the trade routes just outside the Folly.
Ugh. After one last look around to make sure he hasn't overlooked anything significant about the site itself in his focus on the bodies, Dolelan heads to one of the streams (upstream of the ruin!) to wash up as best he can. Afterward he shows the ring to his companions and explains its significance. "I think this was Pern's gang. He's one of the bandits that lurked around the Folly- when I first heard the rumors of the Shadows, I figured it was his bunch and they'd just found themselves an illusionist. Unless any of you can think of a good reason to stay, I think we should get to the crossing and see what the news is. Maybe the locals will know something that can make sense of all this." Privately Dolelan is beginning to suspect that their foes might not be as crazy as they had seemed. If this was the work of Walter and his bunch, and they'd killed off the bandits to win the support of the locals, then it pointed to acts of ambition and cunning- an attempt to care out a kingdom rather an a homicidal rampage.
Charon fidgets with a dagger, "If they did this to the bandits, I wouldn't be surprised if "it" did the same to the locals. The carnage isn't something I'd take lightly. I haven't seen a scene like that for many years. So what's the plan?" Charon waits for an answer.
Dolelan sighs. "Nothing's making sense. If we're dealing with some sort of necromancy, it seems odd that they'd leave all those bodies... there's power in that much death, and I'm don't understand why the sort of people we seem to be dealing with would just let it be. I think we should get to the chasm and put an end to this, while we still have some degree of surprise on our side. We didn't make very good time cross country, I think it might be a bit quicker to follow this road to the crossing even if it does take us a bit out of our way."
He mutters a spell under his breath and surveys the area one last time before setting off along the trail.
You blink as your eyes adjust to the magical sight, you see several faint auras (aside from those carried by you and your companions), some are on the bodies but strangely, a small number of them seem to be coming from behind the gate.
"Erm... before we go, Nera- do you see that?" Dolelan points out the auras on the bodies and gate, gingerly stepping back into the courtyard to get a better look, if necessary.
"Erm... before we go, Nera- do you see that?" Dolelan points out the auras on the bodies and gate, gingerly stepping back into the courtyard to get a better look, if necessary.
The auras lingering around the gate are that of Abjuration and those emanating from the chunks of bodies are mostly auras of Transmutation.
"I think... It looks like the bandits might have retreated here and tried to defend themselves from whatever did this. I think they might have cast a protective spell on the gates, and a few of them bear traces of spells to enhance one's physique."
"I think... It looks like the bandits might have retreated here and tried to defend themselves from whatever did this. I think they might have cast a protective spell on the gates, and a few of them bear traces of spells to enhance one's physique."
Not that you know of, no.
Charon states, "Dolelan lead on. I'm along for the ride as long as I can kill this 'Walter'."
Nera and Legiald mill about, Legiald kneels near the tracks and Nera whispers quietly into her sword.
Unless anyone proposes a different course of action, Dolelan will lead everyone along the road to the East, then Southwest to The Crossing.
Gathering the party Dolelan leads you all away from the carnage down towards the crossing, a small village that has somehow managed to keep it's name somewhat reputable despite dealing with the local banditry. As you reach the fork in the road Dolelan leads everyone towards the right fork. Charon, intending to follow Dolelan you head in that direction when the wind shifts and you catch a whiff of smoke. Turning your left you see the faintest trail of smoke dancing it's way into the air just over the horizon before the winds disperse it.
Charon ponders for a minute. Charon pointing in the direction of the smoke and in a anger tone states, "Dolelan, we may want to check this direction. I caught a glance of smoke. Maybe survivors or the people we're looking for."
Dolelan sighs slightly and nods. He'd seen enough carnage at Bosh, and now at the Deepriver ruins, that he had little doubt of what would be waiting for them at Orp. He'd been avoiding the little hamlet, figuring that at least the Crossing was large enough to potentially defend itself but Charon's mention of survivors shamed him into taking the little detour. Sometimes one's conscience spoke with the oddest voice.
"That'd be the hamlet of Orp, about a mile off. They were-" he reminds himself that they don't know the worst has come to pass and corrects himself, "-are known for breeding rather large swine, if memory serves. And aye, we should check for survivors..." His tone implying that he expects the worst, Dolelan sets off on the path heading left.
The walk down the road is filled with quiet tension, the forest around you seems still with little to give away the current state of things save the smell of smoke and fire which grows as you grow closer, to the point where you smell it even when the winds aren't blowing in your direction. About a quarter mile outside of town the road bends and you're presented with a scene reminiscent of the day after the attack on Bosh.
Mangled bodies lay strewn about in strange, jutting angles, like dolls tossed aside by some child. Large smears of blood paint themselves in long curving lines running from the hard packed earth up the sides of the wooden houses. Most of the houses are still standing though you can see some of the insides have been blackened due to the soot tinged doorways.
Dolelan moves off the road as he comes into view of the village. He draws and string his bow, and holds an arrow nocked and at the ready as he cautiously approaches through the scrub to search for survivors or deal with whatever did this. The enormous tree shambling down the road will certainly attract the notice of anything lurking ahead, with any luck he can get the drop on anything unpleasant that might be drawn out by the noise.
Charon drawing closer to the carnage, will stealth into the nearest shadows as she travels. Nodding at Dolelan as she disappears.
Both of you break off and approach from the scrub as Nera, Legiald, and Magic Tree move up the road. They make it to the center of the village, Legiald with his greatsword drawn, Nera with Walter and the magic tree lumbering. They move slowly and cautiously as both of you watch with baited breath.
As the lumbering tree and much smaller humanoids make it to the center of town just waiting for something to throw itself at them...nothing happens. Save for the crackling embers and whistling breeze it's completely silent.
Dolelan puts his bow away and draws his sword, making a quick circuit of the small hamlet and looking into the buildings for threats before calling out loudly. "Hello! Is anyone here? We're here to help!" If silence still prevails then he'll sheath the sword and look around for clues as to what happened here before setting off for the crossing.
As the eerie silence continues you search through the seemingly quiet village. Walking slowly through the village you see a strange collection of bodies around a small one floor building , it's neither the largest nor the finest building in town but still, you see a clear concentration here.
Dolelan calls Legaid over and moves to investigate the building, again calling out to any survivors. It could be pure happenstance, but perhaps there was a reason so many people made their last stand here...
Charon will continue to stealth to the one floor building and try to see what she can...
Everyone starts making their way towards the building, except of course for the tree who stands outside. Legiald and Dolelan do their best to determine what happened here, as they ponder the circumstances Charon investegates the actual building.
Charon, while looking around inside your feet are hitting the floorboards step, *thump*, step, *thump*, step, *thuuuuump*. When you reach about the center of the room your foot hits the floor and you freeze, that last step sounded much more resonant than the other foot.
Hearing the noises as she walks, Charon will try to move a little more silent. After which, she will move to inspect that last board.
Stealth:
Perception:
Hearing the noises as she walks, Charon will try to move a little more silent. After which, she will move to inspect that last board.
Stealth: 1d20 + 13
Perception: 1d20 + 6
Inspecting that board you notice that there are several others like it nearby which also are hollow underneath. You follow the line of hollow floorboards and it leads to the pile of dead bodies which upon closer inspection seems to be obscuring a trapdoor.
Charon will careful shift the bodies and check for traps on the door.
Perception:
Disable Device:
Charon will careful shift the bodies and check for traps on the door.
Perception: 1d20 + 6
Disable Device: 1d20 + 14
You shift some of the bodies and once the trapdoor is clear you search it for traps and after a couple minutes you're fairly certain that it isn't trapped.
Charon will slowly open the door with her magical rapier in hand. Preparing a strike if needed.
Charon will slowly open the door with her magical rapier in hand. Preparing a strike if needed.
Opening the trapdoor you see a wooden ladder that descends into the basement, the light quickly transitions into darkness with what little light there is flitting through the open doorway illuminating the dust motes floating below.
Charon will retrieve a sunrod from her handy haversack and activate it. Tossing it down the steps she'll quickly follow, hoping to get a jump on whatever maybe down there.
Charon will retrieve a sunrod from her handy haversack and activate it. Tossing it down the steps she'll quickly follow, hoping to get a jump on whatever maybe down there.
As you drop the sunrod down into the dark depths you hear a high-pitched, inhuman shriek that pierces the darkness as well as a skittering into the darkness.
Upon being fully descended, Charon will grab the sunrod and keeping her magical rapier in the other. She'll try to spot what skittered into the darkness.
Perception: