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[8
Neth 4707 continued]
In
the caverns below Foxglove Manor, the adventurers who successfully vanquished
The Skinsaw Man discuss the safest way to leave the house. Artemis notes that there must be another way
in and out since the front doors were locked yet goblin ghasts were found
inside. Kang says it is possible they
swam in through a submerged passage from the large, deep pool nearby. Briza is happy to continue exploring, but is
also willing to leave. With Arnald
remaining terse and Bey swallowed up in her mystery after the rigors of confronting
a killer with a twisted obsession, the others make the decision to risk the
swarms of undead ravens outside.
The
climb up the long spiral staircase to the basement is uneventful, as is the
much shorter ascent to the main floor.
The horses, although hungry, are still in good shape. Edging the curtains aside carefully, Artemis
looks out several windows and sees no sign of the foul necrotic manifestations
of undeath known as carrionstorms. He
carefully opens the front door and then everyone mounts up. Briza goes out first into the chill wind and
sees no sign of danger until she looks back at the house—and there, on the
roof, are the carrionstorms! Their cold,
dead eyes swivel towards her in unison as they launch into soundless flight
towards her.
The
others rush out on their mounts at full speed.
Kang hurls a bomb over his head, and the resulting flames engulf
hundreds of the swooping attackers!
Artemis spurs his steed to escape, but Briza finds herself unable to
control her bucking horse and is swarmed.
Her armor mostly protects her from the hundreds of beaks trying to peck
at her, but the sheer stench of rotting flesh nearly overcomes her. Arnald bravely enters the fray and knocks
several of the birds out of the air with his greataxe. Seeing how well it worked, Briza does the
same with her greatsword and soon the attackers are dispersed. Although frightening, the fighting results in
only minor wounds, though Briza’s horse is in great agony.
 |
| Boars--Ouch! |
The adventurers journey east along the northern banks of the Foxglove
River. As they start to put some miles
behind them and the accursed mansion, the wind dies down, the overgrown path
starts to clear up, and a beautiful, crisp autumn day hangs before them. Nothing troubles them as they skirt the southern
edge of Bleaklow Moor and then reach the Lost Coast Road and turn north. Traffic along the road makes it clear that
its recent closure due to ghoul activity has been lifted. Once the adventurers reach the long stretch
of the road between the overgrown swampland of Brinestump Marsh to the west and
the limestone escarpment of Ashen Rise to the east, horns can be heard in the
distance. Artemis identifies them as
hunting horns of some kind and, seconds later, four large boars emerge from the
underbrush, running frantically straight towards the adventurers! Kang spurs his horse to run away, but Arnald
and Briza dismount to fight. The boars
seem more interested in getting away from whatever is chasing them than
fighting, but the adventurers have the bad luck of blocking the boars’ escape
route. Briza’s sword, Arnald’s axe, and
Artemis’ arrows are enough to kill three of the four boars while the last one
squeezes through a gap to run east. The
horns continue to sound closer and closer, and the adventurers are worried
about what could be chasing the boars.
Briza’s horse, severely wounded during the attack, is partially healed
by an extract force-fed it by Kang. The
adventurers make speed north leaving a trail of blood behind them as Artemis
brings one of the dead boars with him.
Farmers,
happy to be returning home after having fled to Sandpoint, wave at the
adventurers as the group crosses Cougar Creek.
After a brief rest along its banks, a strange, floating orb of light
appears, hovering several yards away.
Kang instantly identifies it as a Will o’ Wisp, and says they’re utterly
alien, malevolent creatures known to lure travellers into traps. He strongly urges the others to ignore
it. As they pass by, Briza notices a
shovel stuck into the ground near where the Wisp is bobbing. Artemis fires an arrow at the ground near the
shovel and hears the clang of metal on metal.
The travellers hear a strange voice call out, “foolish, foolish, why do
you leave? Treasure!” But Kang remains steadfast in his determination
that no one approach and even Arnald, who would usually be lured by such an opportunity,
remains silent with his eyes downcast.
 |
| Gorvi's a jerk. |
The adventurers reach Sandpoint in the late afternoon. Arnald takes Bey directly to the Rusty
Dragon. Artemis reports to Sheriff
Hemlock at the Garrison that the source of the ghoul infestation has likely
been found and dealt with, and that a ghast was behind the murders in town. Artemis notes that clues were found indicating
that the ghast may have been directed or controlled by a mysterious “Xanesha”
in Magnimar. Sheriff Hemlock authorizes
Artemis to follow up, stating that he doesn’t want anyone responsible for what
happened to Banny Harker and Katliss Vender, not to mention the many other
recent murders, to go unpunished.
Meanwhile, Kang and his “assistant” Briza take the mounts in the
direction of the Goblin Squash Stables.
Kang receives some strange looks on the way, but it’s actually Briza who
is accosted. Gorvi, the town’s half-orc
dungsweeper and junk-hauler, is pitching shovelfuls of dung at passerby and
laughing heartily. Briza confronts him
about it, and has to narrowly jump out of the way when a pile of dung is flung
towards her. She calls him a fat,
out-of-shape slob, and when Gorvi angrily runs towards her, he halts after just
a few steps, out-of-breath. Briza and
Kang laugh and continue on their way.
Daviren Hosk isn’t pleased at seeing Briza’s injured horse, but she pays
for the damage and Daviren is satisfied.
That
evening, at the Rusty Dragon, Artemis finds Briza and Kang and reports that
he’s received permission to continue the investigation in Magnimar. The watchman then returns to the Garrison for
a night’s rest. While Briza walks to the
Sandpoint Mercantile League hoping to book passage on a charter for the next
day (only to find it closed for the night), Kang is brought almost to tears by
the stunning performance of a stranger playing the lute on the Rusty Dragon’s
small stage. By the time the bard’s
performance is over, word of mouth has spread and the inn is packed.
[9
Neth 4707]
 |
| Nisk Tander doesn't like competition! |
A new day dawns with the sun hidden behind dark storm clouds. As cold rain pours from the sky and bolts of
jagged lightning flash, the adventurers decide the group’s planned departure
for Magnimar will have to be postponed for a day. Instead, that morning, Artemis skins the boar
he collected the previous day, while Kang enlists Briza’s help in preparing a
pungent chemical concoction that she doesn’t realize is actually a formidable
poison! When she heads downstairs to
collect some breakfast, she notices Arnald devouring an entire buffet table’s
worth of food. When Arnald moans that
he’s still hungry, Briza suggests he head toward the Hagfish for some fresh
seafood. Meanwhile, in his chambers on
the second floor, Kang receives a visit from a fellow alchemist: Nisk Tander,
proprietor of Sandpoint’s local store, Bottled Solutions. Tander is obviously angry at Kang’s presence
in the town, and threatens to reveal to the authorities that the tiefling has “visited
places that would bring the authorities down” upon him. When Kang is not cowed, Tander notes that
“alchemists are known for having accidents” and storms out. Briza notices the angry figure stomping down
the stairs, and asks Kang what happened—he explains that he’s just had a run-in
with a sub-par, lonely chemist who is envious of Kang’s genius.
 |
| 'Pillbug' Podiker might just be up no good! |
That afternoon, Artemis risks venturing out into the storm to sell the
boar’s hide to the local tannery, and the meat itself to the kitchens at the
Rusty Dragon—making a tidy profit on both transactions. Kang goes to the
Fatman’s Feedbag and gets a lead on where he might be able to sell his
morning’s work. Tucked between several old tenements across from the Town Hall, Kang finds a small building with a
painting of a pillbug perched on a mushroom: “The Pillbug’s Pantry.” Inside, a small rotund man named Aliver
‘Pillbug’ Podiker seems quite impressed at what Kang has concocted. However, he carefully hints that he can’t do
any business with a stranger like Kang unless Jubrayl Vhiski approves. When Kang returns to the Rusty Dragon, soaked
and disappointed, he talks with Briza in the common room before each start to
smell smoke. When they investigate, they
realize that flames have engulfed Kang’s bed!
Worse, buckets of water don’t extinguish the flame, and Kang is forced
to throw the burning bedclothes out the window.
When the inn’s staff arrive and see the alchemical implements scattered
around the room, Ameiko kindly suggests that Kang might find better
accommodation at the White Deer. After
they’re gone, Kang whispers to Briza that the fire was no accident: it was surely
sabotage!
 |
| Hannah Velerin, Local Healer |
Artemis has a very different, but no less eventful afternoon. After planting seeds in the shape of an arrow
as a prayer to Erastil to protect Sandpoint, Artemis notices a young, thin
watchman determinedly trying to advance through the wind and rain towards the
docks. When Artemis asks the lad, Benmo,
what he’s doing out in such foul weather, the nervous recruit explains that
there’s word of a disturbance at the Hagfish.
Artemis takes the burden of investigating upon himself, and arrives to
find that Arnald is there, grabbing food off of other people’s plates and
greedily devouring it! The patrons are
reacting with a mixture of incredulity, hilarity, and hostility, and the
establishment’s owner, Jargie Quinn, tells Artemis that he better get Arnald
out of there before violence erupts over the axeman’s strange behaviour. Artemis persuades Arnald that they’ll be
plenty of food he can eat at the Garrison.
The watchman leads him to the Garrison’s basement and tries to lure him
into a cell, but Arnald doesn’t fall for the trick and starts to grow
angry. Artemis does manage to lock him
in the morgue, however, and then he runs to get help since Arnald is clearly
not in his right mind. With Father
Zantus unavailable and Bey still lost in her mystery, Artemis is forced to run
across town and ask for help from local healer Hannah Velerin. She says the symptoms sound like ghoul fever,
and need to be treated soon before the disease is irreversible!
Although the adventurers have defeated the source of the ghoul infestation, they have not escaped “The Misgivings” unscathed. Will help arrive for Arnald in time?
-------------------------------------
Director's Commentary (October 23, 2017)
As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, the carrionstorms were fantastic atmosphere and the PCs were terrified of them. It was rather anticlimactic when they actually attacked, however, since they were so easily dispatched! Still, the rush to escape the grounds made for a cinematic end to the Foxglove Manor section of the chapter.
There wasn't really anything awful chasing the boars--just hunters on horseback. It's hard to think of good stuff for random encounters, but the element actually added more drama to the encounter than I expected.
A lot of great interaction with Sandpoint's local colour. I was happy to get a chance to introduce some of the town's inhabitants that had thus far remained invisible, including Gorvi, Nisk Tander, Pillbug Podiker, and Hannah Velerin.
Arnald's ghoul fever was a fun subplot--I got the inspiration for his behavior from something in Classic Horrors Revisited.
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