Verstaadt and the Cleric Kryan were traveling east into the country of Andoran as emissaries of the church of Milani. Along the road they joined up with the Ranger Ella Gray. They happened upon the small town of Falcon’s Hollow. A lumber town located just south of the Darkmoon Wood. They quickly observed that a plague of somekind had befallen this town. Many were deathly ill. They quickly set upon seeing what they could do to help. The church was over matched and was of little aid to the town or the party. But there was one woman doing her best to aid the people of Falcon’s Hollow. This was a herbalist called Laurel, propieter of Roots and Remedies. She told the party she believed she could brew the cure to this plague but would require three obscure ingredients. Moss from the Eldest tree, Rat Tails thought only to be possessed by the old witch Ulizmila, and Blue Mushrooms thought only to be found in the ruins of an old dwarven monastery. Ella had a passing knowledge of this geographical region and thus was to roughly gauge where these locales were located. The party set out north into the Darkmoon Vale after trying unsuccessfully to procure horses or a boat.
The party took rest at two separate Lumber consortium camps before entering the woods. They fell under attack by two wolves who they dispatched. These wolves had been marked as part of a special pack. While traveling in the Darkmoon Wood they saw many strange and mysterious things. Ella guided them flawlessly to the old part of the forest and eventually to the Eldest tree. As the party approached they were attacked by a Tazzlewyrm, a strange offshoot of dragonkind that had the head and arms of a dragon and the back end of a snake. This one was only medium sized but very deadly. The creature almost killed Verstaadt before the party defeated it. Along the side of the tree the party recovered the Elder Moss. One of the ingredients they would need.
The following morning the party traveled east and came upon the witch Ulizmila’s hut. Inside there was a corpse wrapped in burial wraps. The party began to search the hut and soon fell under attack from an animated Cauldrin. No doubt a trap left to guard the hut. The party destroyed the item and procured the Rat Tail’s they required. They soon headed north and came upon the old dwarven Monastery. The dwarves who once lived there had turned to worship of the evil deity Droskar. This eventually lead to their end and now the Monastery was nothing but ruins. Inside the ruins the party battled a giant spider and another pair of trained wolves. These wolves too had the strange mark. Eventually the party came upon the new master of this ruin. It was a large Worg named Graypelt. The wolves the party had encountered were his. The mushrooms the party was seeking were sitting right there in Graypelt’s lair. Graypelt agreed to give them the mushrooms if they killed some of the monsters in the monastery. The party suspected this would be a trick. As a result they simply left the room for a while and told Graypelt they had killed the monsters. As expected Graypelt then attack the party assuming they had been weakened by their previous battles. The party killed the beast and claimed the mushrooms. They now had all three ingredients needed to stop the plague. In the back of the room were stairs that descended but the party had no time to explore. They made haste in returning to town.
On the return trip the party was attacked by a notorious Hobgoblin named Grung Knifetongue. The party killed that jerk and returned home. Laurel was able to mix the cure and within days the plague was halted. The party was celebrated for their efforts. Though later that week the rest of Grung’s Hobgoblin raiding party came to the town seeking revenge. They had tortured and killed Kyran the cleric who had been traveling with the party. Now they were looking for Ella. Ella was able to pick many of them off and when they did reach the party this band was cut down. The party gave Kyran a burial and booked a room at the Jackn Apes Inn for the next few weeks.
1/26/2013------2467 XPThe party had been staying at the Inn in the village of Falcon’s Hollow. They were still enjoying the good will they had earned by helping cure the plague even if they were still struggled with the cultural barrier. They soon began hearing rumors of missing children in town. They decided to launch an investigation. They found that the Sheriff had left because of some labor dispute. So virtually no one was addressing this. They spoke with the magistrate but he had little answers aswell. The party was soon joined by Mason Foegrinder, a local dwarf they knew in passing. Mason had done some adventures a long time ago and was the only parent to a two year old. His conscious made him take arms against what was occurring. He broke out his old equiptment and joined the party. His information gathering was very helpful and led the party to some older kids who said the five kids that went missing had dared each other to go camp out near the abandoned half way house.
The following morning the party purchased horses and rode out to the burn ruins of Elara’s Half way house. The house had once been a shelted for children but the whole place had burned down killing all inside. Now it was simply a burnt out mess. Within the remains the party found a trap door that led to a far less damaged basement area. Inside the basement was Elara’s corpse which had it throat ripped out. Small spiders crawled out of her corpse then two large spiders attacked the party. Also in the basement was a wall with shackles and an assortment of silvered torture devices. Also there was some wolfs bane. The party did not know what to make of this but Verstaadt suspected werewolf activity. They rested that night and made silver bullets and arrow heads. The party searched the area and found a small kids camp nearby. This seemed to be where the children had camped and were ambushed by small scaled humanoids. The party began to follow the tracks and soon found a young teenage girl following them. Her name was Jeva and she claimed she was a survivor of the fire and had been surviving out here in the wild. The party was suspected and tried to see how she would respond to Wolfs bane and silver. She transformed revealing herself to be a Werewolf. Using their silver weapons the party killed her.
Later that day the party encountered a drunk Hill Giant named Kardoblag. He had lost his wedding ring and demanded help finding it. Ella hesitantly agreed. After finding it Kardoblag was very grateful. The party traveled out the day and spent many hours trying to negotiate their horses across the river. After another two days of following tracks the party came to the ruins of the same dwarven monastery they had been to weeks ago. Inside the tracks lead to a sub-dungeon beneath the ruins. The creatures that had taken the children had taken them here. In the first room the party killed four kobold soldiers and freed two kobold slaves. It seemed these abductions were being perpetrated by the Kobold King. The party battled past some Dire Rats and a Grick as they continued to explore the dungeon.
As the party explored the dungeon and sub-dungeon level they faced many evil creatures including many Kobolds, a Gargoyle, A Dire Bat, Dwarven Ghouls, Skeletons, a Hell Hound, & Shocker Lizards. They eventually came upon the Kobold King Merlokepp. The King offered them to sacrifice themselves but they declined. The king fought vicsiously but was defeated. However they still needed to find the children. This is what lead to the party having to explore the entire dungeon battling every monster they came across. In time they did recover all the children and even learned why they were abducted in the first place. It seemed that since Merlokepp had taken over as King things had gone terrible wrong for him. First losing an eye during his coronation. Then the evil shadows beneath the earth had driven him and his people to this dungeon. Once here they were further preyed upon by monsters. The Truescale clan was diminishing at an alarming rate. This is when the clans old and slightly insane wizard spoke a prophecy that would bring better days if they could sacrifice some human children. Hence the abductions. With all the monsters dead and the children rescued the party turned for home. During this trek Verstaadt began to transform into a Vargouille due to a bite he had sustained. Luckily they were able to use the magic heartripper dagger to cure this disease. The party returned home to once again be praised and thanked for their good deeds.
-1/27/2013- & 1/28/2013--------(14396 XP TOTAL)Sethelian the Magus had come to Falcon’s Hollow in search of adventure. He soon saw his old friend Grim’riptor running through town. The townsfolk reacting strangely to the large turtle man. It seemed Grim had been infected by Ghoul touch. Seth got him to Verstaadt and Verstaadt had it cured at the church. They met up with Ella later and were all together when they heard the news that Quinns carnival was coming to town. The party, like most of the town went and enjoyed the many wonders of the carnival.
At one point they had a run in with Karan Bloodeye, a criminal boss. But Karan proved too clever to some and too intimidating to others to challenge. At one point the party heard screams and had to defeat Gradzaal the Minataur who had gotten loose inside the maze of ice. The party returned the unconscious Minataur to Namdrin Quinn, the carnivals operator. Quinn seemed extremely sad and withdrawn. The party performed many kind and impressive deeds during the day and this drew the attention of Syntira, Nymph Queen of Dark Moon Vale. She summoned them explained that something terrible was about to happen. She said she long ago had great anger with the people who were depopulating the forest. She had made a deal with a Cold Rider to get revenge. But now it had gone too far. She said the Cold Rider would now attack the carnival with woodland fey creatures that had become corrupted by cold and evil. She gave the party potions that would protect them against the enchantment spell that most of the townsfolk would fall under.
The party returned to the carnival to find horror. All the rides and attractions had been taken over by evil fey creatures. Each in their own way murdering the townsfolk whom were caught under an enchantment that rendered them indifferent. The party traveled about putting an end to each event. Usually they had to chase off Dark Ice Brownies. At one event they forced Ambrosia, another Nymph to dimension door away. They defeated the pig man Swinomancer who was making people into pies. They quickly slew an evil pixie who was turning people to trees. Eventually they drew the attention of the Cold Rider’s herald, the evil Quickling Prig. Prig would taunt and harass the party as he was simply too quick to catch. The party would continue to stop the evil defeating a Grimstalker, Frosty chiselers, and an ice mephit.
Eventually Prig would have bad luck simply slipping on ice. This allowed the party to recover the witch ice shard he had around his neck. This shard had in it the soul of Namdrin Quinn’s love Tessa. This was being used as leverage on Quinn who refused to stand against the Cold Rider and his minions even though Quinn was in fact quite powerful. Quinn appeared to release his love and moments later the party encountered the Cold Rider himself. The rider rode atop an undead stag as he did ride by attacks against the party. Quinn soon joined the battle and quickly killed Prig. The Cold Rider started to flee and only Quinn could keep up to battle him. This battle went on for a while with the party chasing it through the forest. Eventually Quinn broke off and as the Cold Rider regeneration he re-engaged the party. This battle was finally ended with a headshot from Verstaadt. Nearly 100 townsfolk had died but hundreds more had been saved. The party had once again did a great service for Falcon’s Hollow.
-2-14-13-
Jak’a’Napes
The Sitting Duck
The Rouge Lady
Goos’n’Gander
Low Market
High Market
Roots and Remedies
Hollow Tribunal
Lumber Consortium Headquarters
