Conallglen Session P2c

When we last left our heroes, they had just escaped from a mausoleum where something had been feeding upon them. The mausoleum had collapsed into a sinkhole (or so it appeared), the creature that had been feeding upon them had apparently escaped as well, and Bryn was unconscious due to grievous wounds suffered during our prior session. Shory and Drogar had stopped to rest when Drogar heard a slight noise directly behind him.

Spoilers for the adventure, “The Fountain of Health,” from Dungeon Magazine #39 are below the break.
The footstep behind Drogar turned out to be an elf named Larch. He explained that “something” was out hunting that night and that it would be best if they all left immediately. Larch knew a place they could rest and might offer something of a defensive position.

For a few hours, the party followed Larch (with Drogar carrying the still unconscious Bryn). The elf led them to a small and partially ruined cabin. Drogar headed straight in for shelter and saw a chest in one corner. As he approached, spores shot out from mold that covered much of the back of the cabin. Larch shouted out a warning but was just a moment too late.

Larch knew that the spores of the “yellow mold” are deadly but the elf also knew of a place that might help. There was an old temple deeper in the woods (about a day’s travel) that was rumored to have a fountain with amazing healing properties. After camping and resting, Larch led the party in that direction (Bryn had also regained consciousness).

The party was ambushed by some gnolls on the way but easily dispatched them. Much to Drogar’s chagrin, Bryn and Shory shared a lot of their experience in the mausoleum with Larch.

Arriving at the ruined temple, the party scouted around. There were small booted prints that led into the front entrance of the ruins. The ceiling had largely collapsed and part of one wall had fallen as well. There were booted prints leading through that “entrance” as well. The party camped in the woods for the evening and entered the temple the next morning (Larch stated that it would be a few days before the spores would kill Bryn and Drogar).

I believe the party first went in through the side “entrance” where the wall had collapsed. They explored some of the ruins. In the first few rooms, they mostly found leaves, debris, and rubble. One room contained the husk of some large (i.e., giant) insect. They also heard a loud buzzing sound coming from another room and elected to leave that room alone.

In the main hall, there were a number of fallen pillars and a marble statue of a minotaur holding a battle axe. The body of a goblin lay in front of the statue with a large wound in its chest. The axe held by the minotaur looked as though it had dried blood on the blade. When the party approached closer, the minotaur animated and attacked but the party defeated it with relative ease. Drogar took the axe.

Goblins were encountered as the party explored the rear of the temple. Drumming began to echo throughout the temple after the goblins were encountered. Some giant rats were also encountered with the goblins. The drumming continued until the party had pressed deep into the back rooms and a lone, large goblin emerged. It ripped off its shirt and turned into a ratman. Drogar’s new axe seemed to be the only thing that could damage the creature. Although Drogar killed the thing, the dwarf was bitten during the fight.

Some treasure was found in the room that the rat goblin had come from…some gems and a golden pendant in the shape of wyvern. A similar pendant had been found earlier in the temple.

The party discovered one area of the temple that had not been as badly damaged as the rest. It had walls of white marble and a shale roof that was still intact. The party, however, had not yet found an entrance to this section. Looking around specifically for entrance, Bryn found a hidden door leading into more of the ruins. The next room had a couple of giant flies that attacked as the party entered the room…they didn’t pose much of a threat though.

In the next room, some double doors led into the intact section of the temple. A skeleton lay in front of the doors. Within was a fountain with a large wyvern statue in the center. The fountain was raised and had steps leading up to it.

As the party entered the room, Larch began to laugh and turned against them. Drogar was incapacitated by the elf rather quickly (thus fueling Drogar’s mistrust of everyone and especially elves) and Larch then turned on the others. They, however, were able to kill Larch. As they did, a ghostly spirit, looking much like the image of Maeve from the carving on one of the doors in the mausoleum, rose from Larch’s body and streaked towards Shory. A bright light–that almost looked to be in the image of a woman–shot forth from the wyvern statue and struck Maeve’s ghost (assuming, of course, it was Maeve). The ghost fled from the room screeching!

The PCs drank from the fountain and it healed their wounds, including reviving Drogar. Drinking from it again, though, had no effect. They camped and rested for the evening. The next morning, they each drank from the fountain again but their were no obvious effects (although this draught did cure the yellow mold infesting the lungs of Bryn and Drogar).

Knowing that Conallglen was a valley with a river running through it and civilization lay along that river, Shory reasoned that they just needed to head “downhill” and they’d eventually hit the Conall River. It took four days and three nights but they finally found the river and the road.

Each of the first two nights that they camped, the ghost of Maeve appeared and reached out towards whoever was on watch…which happened to be Shory both times. A bright light, however, shone out from the Wyvern pendant that she wore and drove the ghost off. On the third night, the ghost appeared when Bryn was on watch. This time Maeve made Bryn an offer of vast riches if she would only join and assist the ghost. Bryn refused and when Maeve rushed towards her, the light shone forth from her pendant as well and drove the ghost off.

As the sun was setting on the fourth day, the trio–tired, hunger, and dirty–reached Broadwater. Encountering a member of the Black Watch (the town guard), they asked about a place to stay for the night. They were directed to a local inn, the Cask & Flagon. Just as they reached the door of the inn, another trio of travelers did the same. Before either group could open the door, someone opened it from the inside.

And that’s where I’m going to end this recap…