Hollow's Last Hope

The adventurers have drifted into Falcons Hollow looking for adventure, excitement and gold…..

 

Lia decided to visit the local Temple of Iomedae to see how the Priestess, Lady Cirthan, was dealing with the illness. The priestess told Lia that she was unable to cure the illness and could only make people comfortable. Lady Cirthan added that most townsfolk are seeking help of the local Herbalist, Laurel.

She asks Farren & Lia if they would be willing to find these ingredients. Both readily agree and say they will gather a party to help. Unfortunately, Laurel can’t be of more help on the location but suggest talking to Milon Rhoddam, woodsman, who can be found at the Consortium Lumber Camp to the East.

Heading back to the Sitting Duck Tavern, Lia and Farren recruit Ulthgar, Roscoe C Leafgallow and Hogradin to their cause. The adventurers get some necessary provisions & equipment and head out towards the Lumber Camp. On route they discover some Glowmould that can be used as a light source.

On reaching the Consortium Lumber Camp they are direct to the Camp Foreman, who summons Milton Rhoddam. Milton is only too pleased to help as his nephew has been taken ill. He sketches out a map of the Forrest marking the locations of Ulizmila’s Hut, the Eldest Tree and the Dwarven Ruins which hold an old forge.

The Adventurers head into the Forest using Rhoddam’s map heading towards the river and the Eldest Tree. As they approach the river Roscoe hears an animal whimpering. Telling his companions this they edge forward and discover a fox, bleeding, caught in the jaws of a crude iron trap. The adventurers move forward to free the fox and get ambushed by a Hobgoblin. After a brief fight the Hobgoblin is killed and the party free the fox, Lia heals the fox which looks at her gratefully before disappearing into the Forest.

The Adventurers continue on until they reach a large clearing, dominated by a titanic darkwood tree. Guessing this is the eldest tree, the party moves forward to investigate. Seeing no signs of Elderwood Moss at the lower part of the tree, Roscoe climbs up. Some distance up he discovers the Elderwood Moss. Before he can harvest any of the moss, he spots movement coming towards him. Calling out an alarm, Roscoe descends the tree quickly as a Tatzylwyrm erupts from the branches above and attacks the adventurers. After defeating the Tatzylwyrm, Roscoe heads back up the tree and harvests the Elder Moss. Whilst up there he discovers three corpses hanging from the branches and recovers some loot.

Droskar’s Crucible

As it was only mid afternoon, the adventurers decided to push on through the forest towards the location of the witch, Ulizmila’s, cottage. After a few hours of forging a path through the forest, the light was fading and the adventurers found a place to camp. The night passed uneventfully and the adventurers headed out early.

Continuing on the adventurers reached a clearing with a dilapidated cottage in the centre, and the trees ringing the clearing seemed to bend away from the cottage. The clearing was dotted with gruesome thatched scarecrows. The party approached the broken, wedged door an Ulthgar peered into the gloom with his dark vision and spotted a cottage that appeared to be long disused. Shelves lined the walls containing all manner of witches’ paraphernalia, a large, rusty cauldron stood in the centre of the room and what appeared to be a mummified body sitting in a chair at the far side. Cautiously entering the room, the party started to investigate. Ulthgar studied the mummified figure to find it was just another scarecrow type thin. Hogradin stood in the doorway watching. Roscoe looked but did not touch. However, Lia and Farren reached for bottles. Lia touched the bottle she was looking at first. As she did the Cauldron animated and attacked. The Cauldron proved resilient to the party’s weapons but was eventually destroyed. Searching the cottage the party found the  pickled root, Rats Tail, some loot and a strange amulet like a grotesque shrunken head which Farren took.

Leaving the hut and pressing on,  short time later the adventurers heard angry voices coming from the left of their path. The voices soon turned to combat. Roscoe ghosted out of sigh through the trees to investigate, followed by Farren who blundered to the edge of a small clearing where they say a Bugbear finishing off a party of 3 Kobolds whilst standing over a human corpse. Roscoe called out “to battle” then hid behind a tree. The rest of the party moved forward, but not before the Bugbear spotted Farren standing in the open at the edge of the clearing. The Bugbear through a javelin at the hapless wizard, which fortunately missed. As the Bugbear charged in the rest of the party arrived and a fight ensued. Roscoe moved in and the bugbear was quickly put down. A quick search of the corpses found nothing of interest.

The adventurers headed on, finally reaching the edge of the trees to see the Dwarven Monastery, Droskar’s Crucible. The building was in a state of disrepair. The gates broken and open. Part of the roof and the east wall had collapsed. As the party approached the entrance, Roscoe noticed some large animal tracks. Entering the courtyard the, the party were greeted with tall grasses and stone debris across the yard. There were three doors. One to the tower that was locked and two that hung open.

Farren moved across the courtyard to find a well with a human corpse lying beside it, partially eaten by a large predator. Also a rotten back pack with some loot. Whilst Ulthgar peered into the broken & open double doors, Hogradin forced the door to the tower. Inside the tower was old crates & barrels covered in dust, debris and webs. On calling this out, Farren, every inquisitive, pushed passed Hogradin into the tower and was immediately attached by a giant spider. Calling out a warning, Hogradin went to the aid of sis companion and the spider was dispatched. There was little of value in the tower. Just some ricket starts which Roscoe gingerly climbed to the next level, which was empty.

The Party then heading into the double doors that Ulthgar was investigating. Whilst dusty and full of leaves there were tracks of small reptilian creatures plus 4 legged, clawed animals. As the party started searching the rooms, the party discovered a single Ironbloom mushroom, a Dwarven Corpse holding a silver light hammer with a symbol to Droskar carved into it. Further into the complex, Roscoe managed to avoid a simple trap and deactivated it by the simple process of tripping it from a distance. A load clatter was heard as the net holding metal debris and an anvil dropped to the floor. There weas a closed and locked door from the trapped room. Roscoe picked the lock and opened the door into what looked like a small cramped bedroom. Roscoe moved in followed by Ulthgar. As Roscoe moved to look at stuff lying across a bed, he was attacked and stabbed by a Kobold who was hiding under the bed. Despite his wound, Roscoe, aided by Ulthgar killed the Kobold. Searching the corpse and the room they found some loot and a small ruby.

Across the hall was a room that was partially ruined. Bookshelves lined the walls but all the books were covered with fungus & mould. Roscoe spotted what looked like an intact back with gold lettering on the top shelf. Pointing this out, the ever impetuous Farren stepped forward, reached up to grab the book, catching some fungus and releasing the spores. Fortunately, Farren was able to exit the room hastily without any adverse effect. The book was beautiful and Ulthgar said it contained Hymns to Torag. In the back of the book was a scroll of spititual weapon.

Moving up the hallway, the party looked through another set of broken doors that opened into a large shrine. The pews were tipped over and broken, but there was a large Anvil Alter. The party moved in to investigate and Lia noticed there were 5 indentations on the Anvil that looked jewel sized. Lia placed the ruby they found earlier in one of the indentations and the party was hit with a wave of positive energy, healing those wounded and bolstering their moral. As Lia retrieved the ruby, three Darkmantle’s dripped from the ceiling, casting Darkness and attacking Lia, Ulthgar and Hogradin who were at the front. Despite being hampered by the darkness, the Darkmantle’s were quickly dispatched.

Ironbloom Mushrooms

The party left the shrine and headed north to the last area that they hadn’t checked.

Farren listened at the first door he came to, and when he heard a low rumbling snore, opend the door and ducked behind Ulthgar!  Peering into the room Ulthgar caught the smell of wet fur and saw that gnawed bones littered the floor. Stepping in cautiously he was confronted by a growl as a large wolf stood up behind the desk in the room. Combat was joined, the noise drawing another wolf and a large Warg from the adjacent room. Eventually the Wolves and Warg were killed, but not before Hogradin was badly wounded. Whilst Lia tended to the unconscious Hogradin the rest of the party searched the two rooms and found 6 ironbloom mushrooms and some loot.

Leaving this room Roscoe checked the last door and entered a long disused armoury. A search revealed some magic bolts and a secret door in the North East corner of the room. Roscoe moved through the secret door into a passage containing 4 cells with rusted doors hanging open. Each cell contained the bones of long dead dwarves. As Roscoe entered the first cell, 3 sets of the bones animated into Dwarven Skeletons who moved to attach. Roscoe retreated into the Armoury and again battle was joined. The Skeletons proved resistant to the party’s edged weapons but were eventually put down. Roscoe cautiously headed back to the cells. In one cell, the bones of one Dwarf laid on the bed within in a peaceful pose. On searching the bones, Roscoe found a gold ring with a large red gemstone, which he surreptitiously pocketed.

Now having all the ingredients for the herbalist , Laurel’s cure, the party headed back to Falcons Hollow with all haste. With the ingredients, Laurel was able to concoct a cure for the Blackscour Taint and towns folk started to recover quickly. The party were greated as heroes and the landlord of the Goose and Gander Inn gave them all discounted rooms for as long as they wanted, as his wife was one of the townsfolk cured. Hogradin was able to get free lodging and also earned some coin with his bardic performances.






 

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