As Dreav branishes his holy symbol he shouts, "You will find comfort within the mists!"
For the DM, Part One:
24
5
18
12
14
Tham charges toward the strange child-creature, and as he moves, the shadows swirl around him, making Tham difficult to see. He raises his pata, ready to strike.
For the DM:
If Tham can attack, his attack roll is 5, to its not likely to matter. Regardless, if its legal to charge, he did, getting a whopping 7, and incurring a 2 point penalty to AC.
The complete round 4:
Borden's stab goes high (as I said before), although the creature is unable to react to the miss. The creature opens her mouth wide, and attempts another bite at Borden's leg, but Borden deftly dodges the small creature's fangs. Moonpate takes a step back, and takes a look around while tham advances and strikes the creature square in the chest. Dreav opens up the brightness of the heavens for a moment, healing both Borden and Moonpate of their wounds, and causing the creature to twitch just a little. As Dreav completes his channeling, Kysstaa attempts to use his bedroll as a kidnapper's bag, which is unsuccessful.
Looking at the creature, now, you all see that the stab wounds are not bleeding in any measureable way, and the only fluid that seems to be in the creature are the tears streaming down its face.
Moonpate
Tham
Dreav
Kysstaa
For the DM:
For the DM:
Standard Action: Attack with Pata, attack roll 12 + 3 = 15 to hit
Moonpate
For DM:
To the DM:
Clinging Shadow Strike
Shadow Blade Technique
Wolf Fang Strike
Steel Wind
Never have I seen such misery before, let us help you child so that you may rest. Let us continue on so that we may visit the same misery on whoever visited it on you.
All:
Remember that you all have action dice (three d4's), and they will refresh at the end of the adventure, or they can be granted by doing something heroic. Also remember that the action die may "explode" when the maximum is rolled, rerolling the die and adding the result, even multiple "explosions." Just a friendly DM reminder :)
Borden
Moonpate:
Dreav:
Do with this as you will, and proceed with further actions for this round as you deem appropriate (you still have your round's actions to go).
"Beware the child for its hair bairs a terrible curse!"
notes on the last 3 rounds of combat:
Dreav:
Borden:
Tham:
Moonpate:
Also, remember to make a fortitude save to determine whether or not Moonpate is ill from the horror of this sight.
Kysstaa:
"Blessed of Chauntea, what horror's were visited upon this child to create such a vile creature?!"
Moonpate digs into his robes to produce a large flask, pouring a double measure of what appears to be a very potent whiskey into his stein. He mutters something under his breath and gulps the liquid in an attempt to fortify his soul against what has just occurred.
"Stlarn," Tham curses. "No matter what corner of Faerun I find myself in, something always stinks like cesspits in the Nine Hells."
Tham stalks away from the party, still trailing shadows, with a grim resolve chiseled into his features.
For the DM:
Dreav walks over toward the once horrid creature and prays: "By the Mist, may the gods look mercifully upon you now, by the mist."
"Poor child", "I don't know what trickery has been worked to cause a child to act like that, but whatever caused it might still be around. We should take a few minutes to search the area before we settle back down for what is left of the night."
"What could produce such an abomination? Dreav, do you know anything about what forces might be at work? Was this poor child under the control of some vile necromancer?" "How far are we from the town? If there is something terrible going on we should not wait until the dawn. I, for one, will not be able to sleep again tonight."
Dreav lifts his mask ever so slightly and runs his hand over his face. Sighing he says, "They are known as killpalls. They are created by being betrayed by someone close stealing their lolly-pops. By the mist, I will make the person that did this pay, by the mist."
For the DM:
Tham walks back to the group, shaking his head.
"I'm not much for knowing prayers outside of Mask's, but by Mask I pray that all of the plots of whomever did this come undone, and that the eyes of the vigilant fall upon them at the worst moment."
Tham thinks for a moment.
"Its sad, but the best I could do is come up with an appropriate curse. I will say this to whatever ears Chauntea might be listening with . . . if you've got any compassion in your earthen bossom, you'll make sure this child's spirit makes its way to you, or someplace safe."
Tham turns to Dreav and Kysstaa.
"What do Chaunteans do with their dead, anyway?"
For the DM:
"Dreav, blast your stinking mists! What kind of answer was that?! Look, let's bury this child in the good earth of Chauntea's bosom, away from this cursed waystand. And then let's ourselves get away and to the town. This horror didn't just come from the "mists" looking for its lollipop! I want to put at least a couple of miles behind me and away from this place."
For the DM:
Dreav weaves his hands through arcane motions. Mists flow from his fingers and combine into an image between everyone:
It is a sunny day in a field of wheat. The small child is skipping through the field. She runs toward a person that shifts shapes between a man (father), a woman (mother), and a priest of Chantea.
The scenery shifts to night time and the child is sleeping in her bed. The shifting person is walking towards the child crying and holding a pillow. The scene shifts again as the person descends upon the child's face with the pillow.
Now the child breaks out of a shallow grave in the monstrous form that it once had.
"Perhaps we should barry her in the ground."
"Dreav...you are a little morbid, aren't ya?" "Hey Kysstaa, I don't know about you, but I know I wouldn't want to be left out here, alone. I think we should take the child back to town, where I am thinking she belongs. Once there, we can find her parents and they can know what we have seen."
Moonpate/All:
Dreav:
As to the imagery... nicely done sir. That is a wonderful image (disturbing as it truly is), although incorrect as far as the actual origins of this particular slaymate, but the imagery works wonders describing the general disgusting and disturbing origin. RP award here: 30xp
For all, a change in policy, due to the problems I had with the previous combat:
"Yeah, the dead child got me once, but it isn't serious, if we are gonna press on after this, then I suggest that you all save your resources, if tonight is any indicator, we are gonna need them."
Unfortunatley, I don't know where the creature came from. I was surprised and chomped on, though thanks to Dreav and his mists, I am healed.
I agree that we should bury the child, but a bit away from this waystand, and I would like to get a mile or two away myself before we rest again and consider what we might be facing.
The day goes smoothly, and the next evening is absolutely silent, not even crickets. You are a short distance from the Laelont Haeler at this point. On your horizon, you see a small building surrounded by a field of vines you recognize to be grape vines. It seems that you have come across a vineyard of some sort. The building itself is dark, prompting the thought that the residents are either asleep or gone for the time being.
There are plenty of places here to set up camp, or you may investigate the dark building.
"Maybe I'm just jittery at this point, but I have a bad feeling that if we ignore the big dark scary building, some big dark scary thing will rush out and bite us in the arse . . . so I guess my vote would be to secure any potential dangerous areas first before we move on . . what say you all?"
For the DM:
He also grabs his dagger in his off hand on top of having his pata strapped on.
"I agree. That slaymate that bit me didn't just manifest from thin air. Maybe that unfortunate girl's death had nothing to do with what is before us, but it will take several rounds of drinks in a good pub before I forget what happened. Until then, I am going to be cautious and inspect where we are."
"Well, between getting bit in the arse and getting bit in the face, I would prefer the arse...though I guess that would make it hard to sit."
Despite half-hearted disagreements from Dreav, something about not minding the biting, the party makes its way towards the small hovel. As you get closer, you begin to smell an awful stench. You all recognize the stench... death.
Borden and Tham listen at the door, and recognize that the stench is coming from inside the hovel... Kyssta, Borden and Tham prepare to barge into the door, while Dreav and Moonpate stand at the ready with spells and such.
The door opens to a horrifying sight. There is a small altar to Chauntea, which has been thoroughly desecrated, with what appears to have been a priestess of Chauntea lying on the altar, apparently sacrificed in some form of ritual. This ritual happened several days ago, by the amount that the body has decayed. Although a hint comes from the branding on the face of the priestess... A simple human skull. over an inverted shield shape.
On the wall to the north is a bookshelf-like structure holding many, many skulls. Each skull is named, as if it is a log for whose it was. Apparently, whomever did this didn't care so much about everything else in the shrine, just that the priestess was dead.
Thankfully, being a shrine to Chauntea, they have shovels, hoes, rakes, and other implements lying about the shrine. Borden, ever the investigator, finds a journal along with some prayer books. All of them are damaged.
Borden:
It reads:
"Something wrong... Nearby plants dying, ...e for animals. Sight cannot penetrate, death is coming... but from where?"
Moonpate
All
"I believe that this is the symbol of Chantea from eastern Fearun."
"Well, this was unexpected. It also puts us in an awkward situation. This happened within the last few days but obviously has not been discovered by the local townsfolk and in between us being outsiders and carrying the doll of a dead child, if we are found here it could cause serious problems.
"What say Moonpate, Tham, and I give the body final rites and bury the poor woman. Borden and Dreav continue to investigate this place and try to find something that gets us closer to ending the sickness that is causing this."
"Damnation!"
"Sickness indeed Kysstaa. Some sick bastard is going to pay for this. And Dreav, I think your mists are fogging up again, because there is no way that another Chauntean from anywhere would do something like this!"
For DM:
Dreav
Moonpate
"The journal had said something about the plants dying and there being a garden around here somewhere, I am going to take a look around outside to see if I can see what happened to this said garden."
"Perhaps it is more Silvanus. The whole dusk of nature thing. hehe. Though this one has already met his dusk. Of course I'm talking about the fallen but not forgotten god Lathander."
"Lets get this over with. Damn Chauntea has let quite a bit happen to her followers in this corner of Faerun, whomever might have done these deeds. I guess vigilance isn't one of her interests."
Tham makes the gesture of Mask's faith that invokes Mask's shadow to hide them from the eyes of other gods, but then realizes that he's making this gesture out of habit rather than intentionally.
Although annoyed with Dreav's Mists, Moonpate continues cleaning the altar, and afterwards assists Kysstaa and Tham in laying the priestess to rest properly. The rites are simple, but then again, Moonpate would be lay clergy at best.
During that time, Borden and Dreav search about the grounds, finding little other than a half dead garden, possibly salted to be infertile. Within the shrine itself, Dreav and Borden search around and find a small alcove containing two beds. One is obviously for the priestess, and another would hold a halfling or child nicely.
All:
After all the investigation and burials and renewing the shrine, it is about midnight, where do you plan on sleeping? Not a sound is being made even by crickets or any other insect or animal that you can hear at this time.
"Whoever did this really hated this place, the garden is wrecked and possibly salted. I found an alcove that should be able to hold us all with a little squeezing. From what I can tell, the 'child' that we fought must have come from this place because the alcove had two beds, one for who I assume would be the priest and one that is big enough for a child. Anyway, the alcove looks defensible enough should anything attack at night and beats sleeping in this macabre chamber of death."
"I'm all for staying in here, but then again, I have to be honest and say that I'm hoping to draw the sick bastards out by lying right here in their midst."
"I agree with Tham, though it looks like the bastards who did this are probably done here."
The night goes smoothly, although very silently. It takes each of you quite some time to fall asleep after the horrendous scenes you've witnessed over the past two days. The morning comes soon enough, though. The rest of the morning is spent in an awkward silence, a mixture of respect for the dead, and perhaps confusion at why someone would attack a Chauntean shrine.
The walk to the Laelont haeler takes a shorter time than you expect. The haeler has a wooden-walled and dirt-reinforced wall, and it appears that a few families share the space. Surrounding the walls are wheat fields to the northwest, and vineyards to the west, with a small path leading into the foothills to the south with what appears to be ruins of some sort in the foothills you can see (it's only a few miles away), and you see a tower overlooking everything from the northeast.
At the haeler, you announce yourself, and present yourselves to the nominal leaders of the walled compound. Once inside, you meet a halfling named Berene Tricalter, who runs an inn along the gateside wall. There are no signs of the two that contacted Balthasar, however.
Berene does speak to Kyssta openly: "Kindly, oh great scaled one, would you please show peace with your weapons while you are within the haeler." She offers Kysstaa a peace ribbon to tie over the hilt of his sword.
As Borden and the others approached the small fortressed community, Borden grips the small journal that he had taken from the desecrated temple. They would have to find someway of warning the haeler about what happened at the temple so that they could prepare themselves for what was to come. As they meet with the leaders, Borden files that aside as he says, "Good day, I am Borden Alhurst of Calimshan and these are my carravan mates. Balthasar told us a little bit about why we were sent here, but I would like to hear what you have to say."
DM: