Did you have any other questions or actions before you leave?
"Perhaps we should leave Habe here with his meager gold... he has inmates to feed... otherwise, we should release them all and escort them and Habe back to Sandpoint, where the authorities can deal with them all. Not sure that's the best action though as Sandpoint probably has no place to house such unfortunates."
Brin looks around.
"Habe will be running a respectable inn. Easier to serve drinks and food than work with the mentally ill. I will make sure we order enough equipment to set up a good establishment. Maybe Midori can give some decorating advice?? We, my friends, have still some evil to uncover and destroy. I am itching for another challenge. Strapped to a table and helpless was not for me!!"
Taking Habe into custody, you arrange for local farmers and Rangers to see to the patients while you take him into Sandpoint to see a judge.
The Mayor arranges for a new physician to take over the sanitarium as you rest and relax for the next week.
Amidst the wreckage of the rebuilding effort after the pirate attack, the bars and clubs welcome their most famous heroes. Drinks are on the house!
Early one morning, you receive a visitor at the Sheriff's offices.
A historical scholar by the name of Brodert Quink saw your request for information about that odd star pattern you found at the crime scene at the Sawmill.
He shakes your hands eagerly.
"Bordert Quink! Professor of Thassilonian History! Honored, really honored to be of aid!
"Yes, yes, to business.
"Unfortunately, much of the lore about ancient Thassilon has been lost; what does remain has been gathered from barely legible carvings on the surviving monuments or extracted from the myths and oral traditions of Varisian seers and storytellers.
"What we know about Ancient Thassilon is that it was a vast empire ruled by powerful wizards.
"The sheer size of the monuments they left behind testifies to their power, and the unnatural way many of these monuments have resisted erosion and the march of time testifies to their skill at magic.
"Most sages place the height of the Thassilonian empire at 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, but I think the empire was even older—I suspect
it collapsed no sooner than ten thousand years in the past!"
He continues to natter on and on...
To those of you who don't tune out, you can tell that much of what Brodert has to say is vague theory based on conjecture—his belief that the Old Light was once a war machine capable of spewing fire from its peak is relatively unpopular among his peers, for example.
Yet he tells you a few things of interest about the star— namely, that it seems to be one of the most important runes of Thassilon.
The star itself is known as the “Sihedron Rune,” and signifies not only the seven virtues of rule (generally agreed among scholars to have been wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger, and rest), but also the seven schools of magic recognized by Thassilon (divination magic, Brodert points out, was not held in high regard by the ancients). Brodert notes with a smirk that much of what is understood about Thassilon indicates its leaders were far from virtuous, and he believes the classic mortal sins (greed, lust, pride, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth) rose from corruptions of the Thassilonian virtues of rule. In any event, the Sihedron Rune was certainly a symbol of power, one that may well have stood for and symbolized the empire itself. The fact that the killer carved it into the flesh of his victim might point to the fact that the murderer is some sort of scholar—although as soon as Brodert comes to this conclusion, he just as quickly proclaims himself to be innocent.
That map of the Sandpoint hinterlands that Caizarlu has been using to
track what he calls “ghoul activity.” It has been bothering you and you spend some little time trying to analyse it.
From the notes he left, the necromancer gathered this information over the past several weeks, and has noted in particular that there’s been an increase in ghoul sightings around the southern farmlands and along Foxglove River.
Caizarlu’s current research is clearly concerned with developing a method by which one could track a ghoul’s lineage back through several “generations” of ghoul attacks. His research had been stalled however, and he was hoping that Grayst would succumb so that he would be able to dissect the body to gather more data before it rose as a ghoul and became much more difficult to study.
One takeaway from his notes is the very strong possibility of what he calls a “ghoulish source” having risen to prominence in the region.
"Well, thank you for sharing your knowledge with us, Mr Quink. Can you perhaps tell us who else in the area is a scholar of Thassilonian lore and would know about this rune?"
The large giant continues to drink ale and look around, partaking in any songs.
"We do need a scholar!! We can pay from some of our treasure!!"
PART THREE: WALKING SCARECROWS
One afternoon, Sheriff Hemlock sent deputies to gather you all back at the gaol.
A man in farmers clothing, introduced as Maester Grump, and covered in mud and sweat is babbling with fear in the Sheriff's office.
Maester Grump
Farmer Grump breaks into frantic babbling as soon as you arrive.
Rafael listens to the babbling, trying to glean some message of import from the stream of vocalizations... "Just calm down, good Farmer and tell us briefly what is wrong."
While his words seem to have no affect on the man, Rafael does seem quite perceptive to the man's words and meanings..
Alkaid replies to the farmer's babbling
"Good sir could you please calm down and explain what is wrong."
Brin demanifests his sword to be less scary.
Alkaid calmed the man down so he could tell his story.
Rafael can tell the man at least believes the story he tells.
"Just the other day, I started hearing some of the other farmers talking about wierd things. 'Walking scarecrows' that came out of the fields at night to feed. No one I talked to saw nothing—but they heard plenty.
"Screams in the dark, glimpses of folk being chased through fields and out over the moors by… things.
"When neighbors visited farms in the morning, they found them empty!
"We thought we could deal with this ourselves, but yesterday... it got to be too much. We got a bunch of us farmers, all armed up with torches and pitchforks went to look over the Hambley place...
"And I'm the only one that got out alive."
He hung his head for a minute.
"We were attacked by folk that looked like corpses... but fed like starving animals!" He shouted, having worked himself into a lather again.
“They even ate the dogs!” He shrieked, near hysteria again.
While you calmed him down, Sheriff Hemlock took you aside and explained that his men picked up Grump as he ran into town screaming about walking scarecrows.
He really hopes that Grump’s story has been enhanced by the booze he can smell on the old farmer’s breath, but worries that the moonshine may actually have dulled the man’s memories of the grim fate that has been visited upon the Hambleys, and that the situation there is even worse than Grump knows.
"The assistance would not be amiss, and we gladly will accept whoever you can spare. thank you... " He looks to the others and shrugs. "I think we should look into this... it sounds like it might be more ghouls and we've seen some ghoul action already... perhaps they are related? It would be great if we could find the source and stop it before it spreads further."
Brin nods at the offer:
"Sheriff, just provide one of the locals. We do not want to stretch you thin, and we will use them mostly for local knowledge."
Taking a local guide, you travel south on the great road until you enter the river valley with the farmland where Gump described where the violence occured.
The news of walking scarecrows spreads quickly through the farmlands, and when you stop to visit farms on the way you find the normally friendly locals unwilling to chat with visitors.
Over three dozen farmsteads dot the fields and vales southeast of Sandpoint, the farthest being some 6 miles from town.
Farms to the east and north have heard stories of the trouble to the south, but it’s not until you move south of Ashen Rise and approach Soggy River that the rumors turn into firsthand accounts.
Footpaths, dusty tracks about 10 feet wide hemmed in by fields of corn and other crops, connect the farmsteads.
You come to the crossroads and you are surrounded by tall crops. A lonely scarecrow overlooks the roadway.
Your guide isn't sure which farmhouse is which. Which way do you go?
Left, right or straight ahead?
"We could easily get lost in this field... Shall we pick one direction and always turn that way when we reach a crossroads? That way we are less likely to get lost... Right sounds as good as any direction to me."
Brin nods, forms a blade off energy, and leads off.
Fields of tall-stalked (and mysteriously overgrown) plants transform the paths into oppressive tunnels, making it dangerously easy for visitors to become lost.
In the gathering glome, you come to another crossroads after about a hundred yards. Another scarecrow is visible among the crops off to your right.
Again, which way do you go? Left, right, or straight ahead?
Was that movement? The scarecrow moved! I saw it.. wait, it might have just been a trick of the light and wind.
"Um.. I thought I saw that scarecrow move... it might have just been an oddity of the light and some wind... but be cautious near it."
You look back, but there is no scarecrow.
Suddenly a slavering madman dressed in crude scarecrow clothing burst out of the cornrows and leapt on Rafael!
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul Fever disease.
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul Fever disease.
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul Fever disease.
Round 1___________
Players take their turn in order of posting, enemies will go last.
Rafael leaps back away from the scarecrow... "What in the name of the gods is that??? It's animate? alive?"
He first 2 quick shots at it...
Brin moves up with his formed mind blade. Unable to charge, he closes and hits at the slavering mad man.
Unfortunately the blade swings wide, off the mark.
Alkaid closes in on the mad man and kick him.
Round 1___________
Rafael Morganis_______
Rafael leaps back away from the scarecrow... "What in the name of the gods is that??? It's animate? alive?"
He first 2 quick shots at it...
Brindolfin Cloudcap_______
Brin moves up with his formed mind blade. Unable to charge, he closes and hits at the slavering mad man.
Alkaid_______
Alkaid closes in on the mad man and kick him.
[npc] Midori________
Midori snapped off a shot from her crossbow, but missed.
ENEMIES_______________
Seeing an apparently helpless target, the scarecrow lept on Brin and started clawing while screaming incoherently.
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul Fever disease.
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul
for a possible slashing damage plus fort save vs Ghoul Fever disease.
Round 2___________
Players take their turn in order of posting, enemies will go last.
Rafael takes a flurry of shots again at the scarecrow:
Alkaid does a flurry of kicks on the mad man
Brin swings at the scarecrow again. Luckily his cautious approach allowed him to dodge all attacks.
A vicious attack hit the creature hard and the force was brutal.
Despite being shot by Rafael, kicked by Alkaid and run through by Midori, it took Brin hacking the man's legs out from under him to bring him down. And even then, he tried to crawl towards Midori before his head was hacked free from his body.
And even now, the limbs twitch spastically, as if it were about to leap to its feet again.
"What WAS that thing?"
This was a local farmer, inflicted with the same kind of Ghoul Fever that Mister Grayst had.
"Seems to be a variant of Ghoul fever."
"Perhaps we should burn the body?"
It's pretty dead. Again.
When you press on past the crossroads, you glimpse a farmhouse a ways down the road.
"It seems we're surrounded by these animated scarecrows... there's one off to the right, one to the left, and they are moving. Be ready for them!"
Rafael takes a couple of shots at whichever is closest, right or left.
The one on the left jerked and sagged when Rafael shot him. Blood started to soak through the rags.
Brin began to increase his defenses.
The left scarecrow looks pretty dead now, which is odd for a ghoul. Usually they almost ignore arrow shots.
The right scarecrow is still twitching, feebling struggling with its bonds.
Rafael, feeling he may have just made a terrible mistake, rushes over to the left scarecrow... He tries to heal it, just in case it really wasn't an undead at all, but a living person strung up in the cornfield. "I'm so sorry! I thought you were a ghoul!" he mutters as he does so...
If it was truly a ghoul OR it's too late, nothing lost... but if it was a mortal being and not quite dead, the lay on hands charge will be well-spent.
It was a man! A farmer by the look of his hands and his wiry musculature. He was dressed as a scarecrow and gagged so as to be unable to cry for help. He was tied to a stake in such a manner as to be able to wiggle about, but not get free.
Rafael's two arrows had dropped him unconscious, and he was in the process of bleeding out when Rafael's lay on hands stopped that. He's still out cold though.
Rafael shakes his head... "I'm so sorry... " He cuts the man down and gently lowers him down, ungags and unties him, uses his wand of cure light wounds on the man.
If the man wakes up, he speaks to him gently yet firmly. "I'm sorry I shot you, I thought you were another ghoul. You will be fine now... can you tell me what happened here? Who put you up on that pole and why?"
To his companions, he says: "Someone please see to the other struggling form... check him out to see if he is alive or undead. Cut him down if he's alive and release him... slay him if he's undead."
He tries to assess how bad off the man he shot is after the cure wand is used on him...
The other struggling form turns out to be a living woman!
When freed, she told you that she was Arryn Volksman, and that she and her husband Raker (the one Rafael shot) were farmers five miles up the road from here.
"What has happened here, good woman? Why were you and your husband so mistreated? What can I do to help you?"
The woman is utterly shattered after her horrible experience. She just kept repeating "The Scarecrows! They just came running out of the dark! We couldn't do anything!"...
Your guide, clearly spooked, came up to you.
"Well yer honors, we're pretty close to the Hambley place now. Just a bowshot up the path here and on the right.
"If'n yer worried about the Volkmans, I can take 'em back ta town from here."
"That might be a good idea... get them someplace safe and where they can recover... " He offers the Volkmans a drink from his waterskin and a pack of rations to split, which they can supplement of course when they arrive in town. "You need some strength to see you to town, so drink your fill please, and have a bit to eat before you go. Then go with our guide here... he'll see you safely to town.. Probably a good idea if you stay there until this scarecrow threat is over."