Session 3: August 29, 2023: Walking (About Town) With the Dead (5th Day of Springrise, 1165 AS)

Session 3: August 29, 2023 (5th Day of Springrise, 1165 AS)

Dramatis Personae:

• Echo, Wolfkin Hunter, played by Mike "Sonar" P.
• Kelter Tealeaf, Halfling Rogue, played by Mike "I much prefer the open skies" Y.
• Vinny Boombatz, Dwarven Fighter, played by Eric "Urn-ing his keep" M.

Quod Occurrit:

Pitter Patter, Let's Get at 'er

At 6 am, the party confers as to whether to brave Weatherstone again, as the winch had not yet been pulled up by the undead guards, who aren't known for their intelligence. In the end, they decide against it, as they had already amassed a fair-sized amount of loot and an actual magic sword, just like in the stories. The would-be bandits were released on their own recognizance, although one looked at Rustbite with a covetous gaze which set Vinny's spidey sense off. She'll probably come back to try and procure Rustbite by either gold, guile, or force, he reckons.

More Goddamn Harpies

Retreating back along the mountains, they encounter nothing of note for a while, but as they round the mountains and head southeast, they spot a flock of Harpies in the distance. The heroes manage to avoid detection, but in the scramble to safety Kelter further sprains his already damaged ankle quite badly (3 damage to Agility from a pushed roll).

Safe at Last! Or Are We?

In the afternoon, they finally arrive at The Hollows. They note the sign about "the dead walking by our sides" with apprehension, and the guard at the gate gives Echo the stink-eye. Wolfkin have an evil reputation, which to be fair, is not entirely undeserved. Noticing Vinny, he cautions against visiting the Three Skulls Tavern, as they don't take kindly to his folk there. They proceed to the Dead Man's Hand Inn, and Kelter enters first to get the lay of the land. Inside is a portly innkeeper named Olm (visualize Barliman Butterbur, because I knew you were going to do just that anyway), who addresses Kelter as "little master" just for the LOTR reference. Kelter purchases lodgings for the group in the dorm and asks what they have for drinks. Olm offers both mead and wine, but Kelter is unimpressed. Looking around, Olm breaks out a small cask of beer (which was delicious), and informs Kelter that the beer is "on the QT". When asked why, he said that the beer was brewed by Yawim, who Mrs. Pollmor (the village elder) has a longstanding feud with. Something about both of them wanting to be the person in charge around here. Kelter then let Olm know his fellow travellers were a diverse lot, and not to be alarmed at their appearance. Kelter then brought in Vinny and Echo, and Olm almost dropped the stein he was cleaning when he saw Echo, clearly terrified of having a Wolfkin in his inn. Echo however, proved to be very amiable, and did not take offence when Olm asked (with the best of intentions) if tankards were ok or if he needed "something else" (i.e. a bowl). Once everyone had calmed down and realized that Echo was not about to eat all the patrons, the party had an early dinner and spent the evening chatting with the locals.

A Dwarf Gets Scared out of His Wits (Literally)

Later in the evening, Kelter noticed that he patrons, when leaving the inn would ring a brass bell to the right of the door and say “I come in peace and amity in the hour of the dead.” When he asked Olm about it, he was initially reticent, but Kelter is exceptionally charming, and hard to say "no" to. Olm confessed that sometimes the dead of The Hollows like to get up and wander about, but are usually harmless, and that the bell and litany helped to avoid untoward meetings between the living and the restless dead. He then instructs Kelter to get Vinny to talk to the guy at the end of the bar. Vinny is not exceptionally devious, and goes and talks to him. The worthy in question just happened to be "living impaired", and when he poured his ale down his etherial gullet, it just puddled on the floor. When he turned to look at Vinny, the dwarf became acutely aware of the undead status of the bar patron, and suffered a point of Wits damage due to the Fear attack that he had inadvertently (from the perspective of the ghost) or deliberately (from the perspective of Olm and well, everyone else) been exposed to. GM fiat limited it to a single point of Wits damage, as the to the locals it was a harmless prank, as evinced by the entire common room erupting into laughter at Vinny's discomfiture. As a consolation, Olm poured Vinny a shot of his own personal whiskey, and the locals declared the dwarf "a jolly good sport" and bought him enough drinks to at least partially mollify him. Thus the party ingratiated themselves to the patrons of The Dead Man's Hand. Having had enough of the admittedly strange festivities, the party headed to bed. Oddly enough for a town full of the restless dead, the night passed uneventfully.

Takin' Care of Business (I'm Working Overtime)

The next morning, the party decided to get shit done and get the hell out of this weird podunk town. Vinny insisted that the first order of business was to get rid of the urns pillaged from the lab in Weatherstone that were weighing him down. They head to the midwife's house, thinking she might be willing to heal Kelter's ankle in exchange for some urns. The midwife Nirvea appeared to be in her forties with poker straight black hair streaked with grey. In exchange for an urn, she healed Kelter's ankle with little effort. Her healing abilities are obviously magical, and Echo and Kelter both hear a flutter of wings as the spell takes effect. Echo was able to determine (canines hear very well) that the wings were that of a raven. Nirvea then proceeded to help Kelter get over his trauma (Wits damage), reducing his healing time by a couple of days, and purchases another urn and a rabbit pelt from Vinny, who didn't hear a damn thing. Echo mentions the sound of raven wings to Nirvea, who feigns ignorance, saying there were a lot of birds around her hut.

Echo then asks Nirvea about the religious climate around The Hollows. She answers by talking about the Raven Sisters, the Rust Brothers, the Bloodmist. They ask about the local Rust Brother, whom she says is called Sturkas. She says that he's seen and done some horrible things, and is not as bad as some Rust Brothers. Regardless, she says that Sturkas would not hesitate to kill any Raven Sister he encountered. While the Rust Brothers may hate non-humans, Nirvea tells the party they are safe with her. Echo says likewise that they are no danger to Nirvea, who they assume is a Raven Sister. With Kelter feeling better, Vinny somewhat richer, and Echo more curious, the party bid her good day and head over to the smith, Ness.

Ness was willing to alter the armour they pillaged in exchange for one of the longswords they had, and sold Kelter a bow and arrows, and agreed to fix Vinny's old longsword. As he had no pressing projects, he predicted the armour would be ready by morning.

Bad Moon Rising

As it was still early in the day, the party decided to head up the hill to examine the Old Temple (a ring of standing stones). Even in broad daylight, the place was incredibly creepy, with Echo's hackles raising all the way down to the base of his tail. Looking about, they notice some writing on the central obelisk. It said “The road to Nepola’s last resting place is shown at the midnight hour of the full moon.” Checking the calendar on Foundry VTT, it so happened that tomorrow was indeed a full moon. They resolved to investigate the area tomorrow at midnight. What could possibly go wrong?