In our last session, the heroes had found the lost boy, Ulfar. Unfortunately, he was no longer alive. They returned, with the body, to the village and turned it over to Celine, Ulfar’s mother. With heavy hearts, the three clerics headed to the Fisherman’s Flagon and filled in Peder on what had happened. It was also confirmed that Nefton was banished from the village for the mistaken identity he made while very drunk on pickled fish wine. During the discussion, it was also decided that it would be best to head back into the hill to determine what happened to Charisma, the young woman who disappeared before Ulfar did (and who is Winsome’s cousin). We pick up after the character’s rested for the night below the break.
There are potential spoilers for “The Glow from Hollow Hill” from Black Abbey Press as well as “Troll Trouble” from Gary Whicker. Both, as always, are significantly modified for our use. This write-up is from Rachel and my GM comments are in [brackets and italics] as usual.
After spending the night in Peder’s shed, we decided to head back to Hollow Hill to search for Charisma. We climbed up to the top of the hill and took the rope down to avoid having to cross the fragile chambers again. Once inside the hill, we checked on the room where the lichen had been and it did not appear to have grown back. We moved into the grotto to check out the chambers and passages off it that we had not yet entered.
There was a small stone cave off to one side with light coming in. There was also a tunnel that quickly split into three. One of the three opened into a large stone chamber with a hole in the ceiling/side, where it looked like someone could slide into the hill. From tracks we saw on the floor, it looked like this is where Ulfar entered the hill and walked through the chamber to the grotto. The middle passage of the three went all the way back to the first fragile room we had encountered. The third opened into a chamber with two large wasps that attacked Delg. We were able to take them out and heal Delg so we could continue our search for Charisma.
We moved into some of the water in the grotto and moved into a passage off it. Delg let out a cry and we saw that a jelly creature with a pseudopod had attacked him and corroded his armor. We were able to take it out though it corroded Pallas’ mace as well. The passage opened into a chamber with a mound that rose above the water level. There was a woman’s body on the mound and it appeared to have burn marks and corroded spots on it. We checked out the pack next to the woman’s body – it contained a book and a scroll tube. Otilia looked at the book and found an entry about Faeglow Lichen, and how this particular type of lichen is found only at places near the Feywild and is meant to prevent non-elves from entering. Charisma had planned to destroy the lichen in the Hollow Hill with a special potion she purchased in the city and wrote that fire and radiant energies could annihilate the lichen. The lichen’s spores induce sleep in non-elves and drain the life from people, allowing the lichen to grow and spread. Charisma planned to go to Trevills to ask some questions about how the village might be linked to the Feywild. The scroll in the pack was for Burning Hands so it appears she may have wanted to use this spell to destroy the lichen as well.
[Trevills is one of the larger settlements, some three or four days from the village. We’re kind of making up the setting as we go.
There was no metal at all on the woman’s body.]
We took Charisma’s and Anders’ bodies to outside the tavern. Peder said they bury bodies in the lake. We discussed whether to bury Charisma’s body in the lake or return it to Winsome and/or other family. Peder offered Otilia some pickled fish wine – she distracted him and pretended to swig some while he was looking the other way. Peder was very impressed by her fortitude in not making a face or being fazed at all by the fish wine. He says he would like to marry her and Otilia says when she decides to settle down, she may take him up on it. Meanwhile, Delg and some other villagers get drunk and pass out from the fish wine. Pallas choked on the little bit of wine he tried and stopped at that.
[Ahhh…pickled fish wine. Now responsible…apparently…for an engagement along with some porcine fornication. Such romance.]
We decided to take Charisma’s body to Winsome, so Otilia asked Peder if he could procure a cart for us. Peder worked with the merchant (including plying him with some fish wine) to get us a cart […anything for his beloved.]. Otilia used the sending stone Winsome gave her to let her know about her cousin’s misfortune and that we would bring her body to her. Winsome quickly replied that we could go ahead and bury Charisma and that we should come to Oakhart, where she currently is. We thanked Peder for getting the cart but let him know that we no longer need it. He assured us they would bury Charisma.
We headed off to Oakhart, stopping by Hollow Hill to get Nefton and his sons. Near the end of the day’s travel, we spied something smoldering ahead, just before a [stone] bridge [across a gorge about forty-feet deep]. Otilia and Pallas tried to scout around the hills a bit. Otilia smelled burning hair and saw smoke rising from the gorge that the bridge crosses. Pallas moved down the hill to look in the gorge and heard a deep voice signing about cooking and eating someone or something. Pallas also saw a horse tethered on a ledge in front of a cave opening in the gorge.
[Turn turn, sizzle and burn
Pop pop, crackle and slop
Juicy, crunchy dripping meat
Down me gullet oh so sweet!]
Meanwhile, Delg, Nefton, and his sons had moved closer to the smoldering wagon. One of the sons saw a trail of grain going into the hills and Delg bellowed out that they had found something [(using Thaumaturgy)]. The singing from the gorge stopped. Delg rushed to follow the trail of grain but lost it. As we moved among the hills, Otilia and Pallas felt like they were being watched. We saw some unnatural hybrid creatures moving about – a chipmunk with bat wings, a toad with a bluejay’s head, and a snake with a turtle shell.
We returned to the wagon remains and Otilia picked up the grain trail again. After we moved further into the hills, Otilia and Pallas spied rabbit ears on a hill just before two wolves with rabbit ears [and rabbit hindquarters] came down to attack us. Three orcs appeared from behind the hills in front of us. They threw javelins at Otilia before one took off to get others [fortunately Delg understands Orcish and let all know what the orc said]. Pallas was hurt but we were able to take out the rabbit wolves and two orcs. Delg tried to go after the 3rd orc but did not see him.
We moved across the bridge and saw the silhouette of a large creature in the cave on the far side of the gorge. Delg insisted we need to go down and take out the troll and we discussed some options for doing this. We sent Nefton and his sons ahead to seek shelter/hide in the hills. [Delg yelled out a greeting into the gorge.]
[And that’s pretty much where we stopped for the night.
The group is pretty torn right now about what to do. Clearly the “troll” in the gorge is cooking someone or something. The horse outside the cave quite likely had been attached to the smoldering wagon, before it was smoldering of course. The grain trail meant that supplies had been taken. Given that supplies, wagons, and horses typically don’t travel on their own; they typically have people with them. So where were these people? Also, Delg argued that they couldn’t just leave a troll (not quite under a bridge) to harass and attack travelers. And what about the orc that got away to go get others? When will he and the reinforcements return? And what’s up with the weird animals?
Maybe we’ll find out at the next session.
Beer Log: Here’s what we sampled this session, using, as always, our hit, miss, crit, and fumble rating scale.
- Westbrook Lemon Cucumber Gose: Yep, we had it again since RJ was missing the prior session and didn’t get to try it. Still a near crit for me.
- Toppling Goliath Pompeii: A great single hop, Mosaic, IPA. Great stuff and a near crit for me.
- Exile Brewing Pineapple Bohemian: I think this is the third of the Bohemian series from Exile that we’ve gotten to try. A great job nailing a natural pineapple flavor but not as good as the prior two in the series. A hit.
- New Glarus Wild Sour Ale: Thanks to RJ! One of the Thumbprint series. Nice tartness and a hint of oak and wine. Pretty good. A hit.
