The Clerics Three – Session 2 (5e)

In our first session, the Clerics Three (Delg, Otilia, and Pallas) were traveling together for reasons, well, reasons yet to be determined…we just jumped right on in. They arrived in a small village called Oakheart and headed right for the local tavern, the Rusty Armadillo. They quickly found employment with Roscoe Copperkettle, a halfling, who was seeking assistance. He was looking to expand his business but encountered some problematic vermin as the renovations had begun. The clerics, eager to help, agreed before the pouch of coins was proffered. A short time later, they had accomplished their quest…mostly…and were heading back to report to Roscoe. That is where we pick up after the break.

The trio are now all 2nd level.

There are potential spoilers for both “A Most Potent Brew” and “Horror at Havel’s Cross” from Winghorn Press. Both are free and nice adventures available at DM’s Guild. This write-up is from yours truly but my my GM comments are still in [brackets and italics] as usual.

Having returned to the brewery from the ruins, presumably of the wizard’s “tower” that is the namesake of Roscoe’s brewery, the trio found said brewery empty. Scorch marks from the fiery spider that had escaped from below were obvious throughout. The led outside, up the side of the building and down the other side, and then off towards the hills in the distance. Concerned about the village and hoping that Roscoe and his workers had escaped to its relative safety, the group hustled off in that direction. Fortunately, the village looked to be fine and Roscoe was waiting, head (and headache) in hands, at the Rusty Armadillo as the harsh music of Orctallica, the tavern’s regular entertainers, boomed out.

Escaping the ruckus, Roscoe and the clerics three headed back to the brewery. The group explained what they had found–and fought–beneath the brewery (see our Session 1 recap for more details). Roscoe gave each the promised pouches of coin and then offered to allow the group to stay at his home.

The next morning, Roscoe was led into the corridors and chambers beyond his cellar. The Clerics Three also wanted to make sure that the giant centipedes encountered previously would be dealt with so they’d pose no threat to Roscoe or Oakheart. The centipedes had shrunk back to normal size and there were not other signs of danger, outside of the trap that is. Roscoe was quite excited about the prospects of using the existing space as additional cellar space rather than having to do some significant excavations. With that, all returned up to the brewery.

One last loose thread was left…the spider. The Clerics Three set off towards the hills in the hopes of tracking it. Given that the spider left scorch marks as a trail, it was not very difficult to do so. It had not followed anything resembling a straight path or with an obvious destination. The charred carcass of a rabbit was found along the path and then that of a deer. Each appeared to have been burned from the inside out, conjuring images of the spider as its fangs, dripping a fiery venom, sunk into Delg’s neck.

After about four or five hours of tracking the rambling spider, they came upon the spider’s corpse. It was on its back, legs curled inward, with a large spear impaling it to the ground. Very large humanoid footprints were also spotted…footprints of something that probably stood at least twelve to fifteen feet tall. Discretion being the better part of valor, the Clerics Three made the long trek back to Oakheart and straight to Wizard’s Tower Brewery.

Some workers were about and Roscoe was tending the small bar in the back corner of the brewery. He was entertaining a young, rather short and slight, woman. As they approached, the group could hear her lamenting about her predicament. She needed to find some folks to escort and guard some colleagues. Roscoe looked up at the approaching Clerics Three and a grin spread across his face, explaining that he thought he might know some folks who could help out. Roscoe introduced Winsome Landy to Delg, Otilia, and Pallas, and let her explain the predicament. Barely taking a breath and illustrating that focus is not her strong point, Winsome launched into a long, quick, and rambling monologue.

She is an archaeologist and works for an elf named Calador. He was leading a team that was investigating the ruins of an old temple of some elven death cult. They had uncovered something at the excavation site, something important as Calador had sent a message asking her to hire some guards. Showing some innocence and naïveté, she blurted out that she’d been authorized to spend 100gp on such escorts. [I think that was the amount…I might be wrong…I’m sure one of the players will correct me if I am.] Winsome was easily distracted, first becoming fascinated that Delg was something called a “grunge dwarf” (or so said Pallas) and then disappointed and not amused when it was pointed out that Pallas had been joking about that. Roscoe left the trio to get to know Winsome a bit better while he went off to finish up some brewery business, much to the chagrin of Delg who was going to need a lot of ale to nurse the headache he felt coming on from their new employer’s incessant chatter.

Retiring back to Roscoe’s for the evening, along with Winsome, the Clerics Three got some rest in preparation for their journey the next day.

A bit before dawn, Winsome was ready to get on with the journey and Roscoe’s wife had prepared meals for the road for the group. The destination was a fortified inn called Havel’s Cross. The inn was a short distance from the dig site and they would meet Calador there. She explained that other expedition members included another elf, Skalanis, a human, Tanlik, a gnome, Quinn, and the dwarven bodyguard, Graz Shatterbone. The whole group had been working together for a few years. For her part, Winsome was something of a researcher, staying behind and and communicating with Calador via sending spells.

The three day journey to Havel’s Cross tested the limits of Delg’s patience, given Winsome’s constant prattle. The relief of reaching Havel’s Cross quickly turned to concern. Something was clearly wrong. The front door was wide open, a dead horse was lying a short distance from the inn, and what was, presumably, the stables, was a smoking ruin. Winsome let out a little gasp and hid in some nearby bushes. The trio headed forward. The clearing around the inn was eerily silent. As Delg peered in the front door, a clap of thunder resounded.

Inside, Delg could see the common room. Tables and chairs were overturned and scattered about. A number of bodies littered the floor, blood splattered and pooling throughout. On top of the bar was a lock box with a crowbar nearby, rocking slightly as if it had just been set down. Delg roared out a battle prayer and rushed the bar, soon followed by his fellow clerics.

A half dozen goblins and a single hobgoblin popped up from behind the bar and attacked. The battle was short, leaving the clerics the only ones standing…although Pallas had been struck by numerous goblin arrows.

A search of the premises showed revealed that no one else, dead or alive, was in the inn. The bodies in the main room had wounds from claws and what appeared to be bite marks made by a human like creature. Checking the horse body showed that the wounds on it were the same and not made by some wild animal as originally thought. Otilia grabbed the lockbox and crowbar.

Winsome emerged from her bushy hiding place and peered into the inn. She immediately ran off and lost her earlier meal. Frantic, she near ordered that the group immediately head off to the dig site as whatever had done all this might have gone after Calador and the team. Briefly conflicted between giving the deceased here a proper burial and intervening in a possible attack, the chose quickly. The group quickly headed off to the dig site. Along the way, they spotted tracks and drag marks leading away from the inn and towards the temple. The marks looked like they could have been left by a dragged body.

As soon as they arrived at the temple site, Winsome knew something was wrong. The lights inside, which were normally always lit, were out. She started to run forward but Delg compelled her to stop, allowing the clerics to proceed first. Delg led the way into the temple proper. A large columned space had an altar at the opposite end. An archway was on each of the side walls also near the far end. The wet sound of chewing echoed from one of the side chambers.

The alter was made of stone with three depressions on top. Three bowls–gold, iron, and obsidian–were on the floor in front of the altar. Ignoring the chewing for the moment, the bowls were examined. Each had an inscription in ancient elven around the lip–essence of birth, essence of life, and essence of death respectively. The obsidian bowl had remnants of some sort of powder. A small box was also on top of the altar. [I don’t think anyone looked in it.]

The chewing sound evolved into the sound of cracking and popping bone followed by a slurping sound. Unable to ignore the obvious threat any longer, Delg took up a covering position near the altar while Pallas and Otilia headed to the side chamber. Winsome crouched down behind the altar next to Delg. Although they tried to approach quietly, Otilia scraped a step, making a bit of noise. Peering in, she spotted an elf, crouched over a dead body, with gore and blood dripping from its mouth. A human was crouched on the other side of the body. Unfortunately, the elf was looking directly at the archway and spotted Otilia. The pair of feasting cannibals turned their attention to the Otilia and Pallas. They were, however, no match for the divine might of the pair of clerics.

[And that is where we stopped for the night. It was a very enjoyable session as was illustrated by the fact that we hadn’t realized that it was already as late as it was.