Session Report #7
Following the lead of Theodor and Gwydion the party seeks the lost records of St Olham's Monastery. In order to do this they go to Blulach on Ruislip and speak to the bishop there who goes by the name Rodrick after his predecessor had been recalled due to evil portents that had befallen the city.
Going to the church in Blulach they speak to Rodrick about the possibility of getting those records and while he is willing to give them to the group he can't pass on the opportunity to have this group of adventurers fix an issue that has plagued this town for some time as a way to rebuild this towns faith in the church following the plagues that had befallen it.
He is willing to give the party an advance (on credit given by having a letter bearing the seal of the Archbishop Mab) of 1000hs in order to have them destroy the once-men that squat by the river south of town. These things demand pagan rites of those that pass by the offering of water. This upsets the church and keeps pagan worship fresh in the minds of converts on the edge of christiandom.
The group accepts this quest and go to speak to Glas the Baron of Bluloch to see if he can spare some men.
He refuses as he has already lost several of his cousins fighting these creatures and the men he has left he needs to defend against intrusions by the druids and orcneas and the fight off pirates of Guthrem. Instead the party commisions a ship ride across to Caernyff and Caernfan where they recruit a sizable force of mercenaries using the funds. They then sail back and set to the task of marching south against the mudmen.
Some of the party while others went on the recruiting drive decided to gather lime by the baking of shells gathered from the shore in a rough built kiln. They took this Lime (which acts as a material for quickly drawing moisture from a thing) and made satchels of them in order to be able to quickly bombard an area with them via sling.
At this point I actually had severe internet issues and was unable to run the battle with the mudmen south of the city. Instead my once co-GM Canyon agreed to run the battle for me so that the prep the party had worked to do to get to this point didn't go to waste. What follows is more based on what the players said after the fact.
The troop marched south and found the mudmen squatting at the river. 13 in total half on one side of the ford and half on the other. The troop fell on the nearest ones and slingers hit the far bank and a great fight fell there. The Lime worked to dry the clay and mud making the once-men brittle and fragile to attacks.
Despite the loss of several men the gargoyles where broken and largely slain. A remaining few fleeing further down river into the mudflats leaving the roadside in an effort to preserve their lingering lives. Unwilling to pursue the remaining once men they gather up the corpses of the mudmen and carve away the mud on one revealing the human corpse within. Still perfectly preserved inside as it was on the day it squatted on the side of the river.
They go back to Blulach and report their success and are celebrated before releasing their mercenaries having spent more on hiring them then they were given in funds for answering this threat.
The bishop is a little upset about the remaining few creatures but is willing to accept this partial victory and gives the massive number of papers that where pulled out by a previous group from the ruins of St Olham's. With the task of working through this paperwork ahead Gwydion knows she will take forever to do this alone and works to teach others the reading of Latin and settles in for a long haul.