Session Report #4
The party starts in Diserth and decides their goal is to go west to Caernfan to claim the ship of Druisten then sail to Blulach to reclaim the lost knowledge of St Olham's Monastery for the sake of Brother Gwydion the mendicant monk.
They set out on a winter morning the weather just barely above freezing and soon encounter a figure sitting in the road upright and nude except for a wolves pelt worn around the shoulders and head.
Setting up an archer as overwatch they approach and find the figure to be a sleeping man. Waking him they try to speak to him and he tries to communicate back but he has no tongue and only writes in Brythonic a language none of the party knows how to read or write. An attempt to pantomime a request is made but there is a lack of understanding beyond him pointing SE deeper into the Moerheb Weald which is not a location the party wishes to go. The group parts way with the man and he runs into the forest on all 4s like a hound beyond the sight of the group.
Making their way further SW along the road they come across the village of Ryddenfre which is a large village straddling the shallows of a river. Around the village are many crude carvings of arboreal hunters cats, wolves, owls, hawks etc. The buildings of the village are predominantly made of wood outside a trio of squat windowless stone buildings made in a fashion unfamiliar to the region. The party encounters the villagers netting fish from the river and offering prayers of thanks to the river itself.
The party requests a place to stay for the night and one of the villagers offers to shelter them for 2sp per head and they agree. They are led to one of the stone buildings which has a metal gate set into the door and the door itself is a fresh wood door that still leaks pine sap.
The party finds this place is the home of the villager and 2 others who offered them a place to stay and those three will stay with a friend in one of the other huts. The party investigate this strange abode and finds not much out of place outside scratches around the doorway out. They speak to the owner before the night and ask her about the best way to Caernfan and she says they may wish to avoid the road south as the fallen druids have been seen around there. The party wonders about how this small village protects itself and the villager will express that they don't fear the Druids as they are mere men in the end. She will also tell them of the witch Enid who lives to the west of the village at the headwaters of the river.
The party decides to visit the witch and go cross country to Caernfan. When they arrive they discover the woman Enid of middling years out working her garden at the small lake. When they arrive they speak to her and eventually come to a conclusion that she desires an apprentice to take over for her in the coming years at which one party member, Aymeri, agrees to do. When going around the area Brother Gwydion discovered a familiar sent. The smell of boiling Lilac and blood a spell familiar to him. That of Enlarge Animal.
Gwydion requests if he could have a dose of this concoction. Enid agreed on a condition. To the north of her home is a hill made of all the things collected by a couple that goes by the names Rurik and Anna who seek to possess nothing but each other. Among these items is the ring Hulghavar made of wood. Enid wishes to have this ring back.
The party heads out and discovers the hill as tall as the trees on the edge of the Moerheb Weald. Reeking as it is made of the corpses of hundreds of animals and humans along with all the detritus of a forest and home that is not cared for. A single hole on the southern face marks an entrance into this mound.
Dorgas boasts that he will draw away those within and rides up on his horse shouting out. 2 ogres poke their heads out and notice him and then soon proceed to give chase while he rides away staying close but not too close. Once they are out of eyesight the rest of the group decides to go search the mound.
Most of them then start digging through the mound finding all sorts of loots from coins to gems and even a single wooden ring attached to a dessicated hand. Gwydion who through his faith and sacrifice of boasts has gained the ability to speak to animals gathers a massive writhing handful of ants and offers them a great amount of food in exchange for them digging through the mound to find shiny objects. Doing so the ants dig into the mound and soon emerge with a handful worth of silver coins.
This process takes many hours and the party soon grows wary of the return of the 2 ogres and they flee while Dorgas eventually rides around a big arc back to Ryddenfre and then up the river back to Enids.
The tired group shares of their success before going to bed for the night. In the morning they mean to continue on their journey.
Unfortunately this is not to be as when they awaken they find those that dug through the mound have been afflicted by the terrible disease known as Corpserot and they are rapidly wasting away. Even with Enids help and shelter 2 end up passing of this disease. Aymeri who would have been apprentice to Enid and had dutifully served Druisten and Eivan who just joined the group today.
With that the group makes a goal of returning Eivan's belongings and news of his soon demise to his family back in Diserth before they will seek to hire a force to kill the 2 ogres who may still have treasure in their mound.
This is where we ended the session.
5 PCs-
3 boasts made 1 successful 2 failed 2 PCs perished of corpserot.