Our tale begins in the Brown Tooth Inn (of course). Benzren and Kyra are enjoying a meal and sharing tales of their last adventures when a winded messenger approaches their table.
"Master Benzren...a message for you." The messenger hands a rolled parchment to Benzren and scurries out the door.
Looking at Kyra, puzzled, Benzren opens the message and reads it out loud to Kyra.
"Dear Benzren,
My name is Rothgo, you probably don’t remember me, but we played together as small children. I am your mother’s sister’s brother’s uncle’s nephew. I am writing to you out of dire need. I live in a small village called Falcon’s Hollow near Droskar’s Crag. Something terrible is happening in town, the townsfolk are falling ill. Each one suffering from a hacking affliction. Our local priests have tried praying to the goddess Iomedae, goddess of valor, justice, and honor to no avail. Even one of the town elders has perished from this sickness. Our local herbalist, Laurel has traced the source of this disease to Brookman’s Well, a small spring on the edge of town and a rare fungus called blackscour. Unfortunately the town constable has banned the use of the well, so now, not only are we getting sick, but……sorry, my throat is starting to itch…..now we can’t even use the well!
I beg you, please come to Falcon’s Hollow and help us! Sincerely, Rothgo"
"We must leave at once!" Kyra exclaims, her holy valor calling her to action.
After gathering their gear and signing on to a caravan as guards, they make their way to Falcon's Hollow.
A quick stop at the constable's office proves futile as he is not there. After asking around a bit, Kyra and Benzren make their way to the herbalist's shop. They explain to the waiting people that they are there to help find a cure (DC check on Diplomacy rawked) and are allowed to enter the herbal shop unharmed. After a discussion with Laurel, the get the list of ingredients from her and head to the lumber camp. A brief meeting with the camp foreman and a little gold, get them a meeting with Milon Rhoddam who points out on a map the general location of the tree (moss), the witch's hut (rat tail), and the dwarven ruins (iron bloom).
The next day our heroes leave the lumber camp and make their way north in search of the tree when they come across a small fox in a trap, after attempting to free it, they are attacked from something in the nearby woods. Arrows come flying at them from the brush before they are able to chase the hobgoblin off. They free the fox, bandage it and it hobbles off into the forest. By this time it is getting late and the PCs find a spot to make camp for the night with a rotating watch.
After an uneventful evening, they head out at sunrise in search of the eldest tree. They find it, fight off the tatzlworm and gather the moss. Then it is on to the witch's hut. Benzren finds the rat tail in a jar on the bookshelf (they are using candles to see in the shadowy confines of the hut so they aren't touching anything). As soon as he grabs the jar, the cauldron activates and manages to swallow Benzren, who in turn manages to fight his way out of the cauldron.
But alas, as soon as he frees himself, Kyra is swallowed whole. She is knocked unconscious and Benzren has a failed spell backfire on him...he is CURSED!!
......to be continued.......
Will our heroes make it out of the hut alive?
Will Kyra ever wake the heck up or is she doomed to sleep in the belly of an overgrown kettle?
Will Benzren find out how to deactivate the cauldron?
GM Notes: This adventure got off to a rocky start, and now I find myself in a bit of a predicament. With the wizard cursed (dang you Critical fumble deck!) with a -4 to pretty much all rolls except damage, and the cleric unconscious inside the cauldron I don't know if they will make it out of this encounter alive.
The last we heard from our heroes they were in dire straits. Benzren had seen enough! Turing on his heels he high tailed it out of the witch's hut with the animated cauldron hot on his heels. Not bothering to clear the brush, Benzren charges into the forest! After a few seconds he stops to take a breath and realizes the cauldron is no longer in pursuit. Puzzled, he heads back to the clearing and sees the cauldron walking back to hut, when all of a sudden he feels the cold steel of a blade against his throat. "I knew I'd find you here." whispered a familiar voice. "I knew you'd come looking for me when your own business was done...Merisiel!" Laughing, and very relieved that it wasn't a bandit on the other end of the masterwork dagger, Benzren turns around and gives his companion a warm hug. "Just how DID you find me?" "It was easy...when I got back to the Brown Tooth Inn, Amond told me about a messenger, your relative and Falcon's Hollow. I was only a day behind you. Once I got to Falcon's Hollow, following your trail was easy!" "well, I'm glad you are here, this is what is going on..." After Benzren takes a moment to get her cuaght up, Merisiel draws her rapier and dagger and heads to the hut. "Lets go get Kyra!" They cautiously approach the hut and peer inside where they see the cauldron has settled back into its place on the firepit. No motion is made by it as they throw a rock at it. Slowly they approach it and peer inside, where they see Kyra still unconscious at the bottom. They both reach in and uncerimoniously haul Kyra out and drag her to the outskirts of the clearing. After casting some cure light wounds on her, she comes to and our heroes head for the monastary. Arriving in the glow of a full moon, our heroes are attacked by two roving wolves. They manage to chase them off and head into the yard of the monastary where they immediately investigate the guard tower. Merisiel's prowess with a rapier shine through as she eviscerates the giant spider with one blow. They find some treasure and head into the monastary. It is almost as if fate is guiding them as they head straight for the wolf lair, dispatching both wolves with ease. As they enter Greypelt's lair he makes his presence known. "What are you doing in my lair pink meats?", snarls the worg. "We are looking for ironbloom mushrooms." Answers Benzren. "I will let you take some....for a price human. Clear this monastary of the pests and you can take all the mushrooms you want."
GM Notes:Score another victory for role playing games! Both kids had dances tonight but neither wanted to go. They wanted a full family session of Pathfinder! Neither of my kids is what I would call "social inept" so I had no problem with them wanting to stay home. It has been a while since the whole Company of the Black Fang was together. I was struggling with how to get Benzren and Kyra out of the predicament they found themselves in. I want to thank the GMs on this site and others that I posted to for their suggestions. I have tucked those ideas away for future use. It was uncanny how the party managed to go straight to the room they needed to go to. Prior to starting the session, we agreed on a time to stop playing and the timer went off, right after Greypelt made his offer. Can't wait for the next session! Till next time!