The Fright At Tristor

The Road to Tristor

The Party had been in Wintershiven, the capital of the Theocracy of The Pale, for several days looking, as most adventures do for opportunities to get some gold. A couple of opportunities were quickly identified. Firstly the Constable of Tristor, a village near the Trollfens,  was offering a substantial reward for some help with some local difficulties and secondly there were rumours of orc raiders in the same area.

The Party set out next morning, and being short of cash, camped along the road each evening, Rockford and Darrow managing to locate good campsites and forage enough to keep them fed over the next four days. They were only a few  hours from Tristor, when suddenly they heard screams coming form the road ahead of them, Halfdan led the way charging forward, the others close behind. As the  party rounded a bend in the road, a shrill female scream coming from ahead. In the distance, a strange four-legged feathered creature menaced an overturned wagon. An elderly man stood
between beast and wagon, attempting to fend the creature off with a pitchfork. A young woman stood nearby, presumably the source of the screams. Halfdan charged forward, Rurik and Rockford followed a quickly as their dwarvish legs would allow. Darrow and Jhilsara hung back peppering the beast with arrows. A brief, brutal, fight ensured, in which Halfdan and Rurik were both badly wounded before the owlbear was slain. 

The farmer who introduced himself as Gaeren Aramis and his niece Brynn were thankful for their rescue and invited the party back to their farm-stead for a meal and to rest. That evening over a slap -up feast of fresh beef, Gaeren told that that there had been trouble around some of the local farms recently, and in fact, that someone had killed the cow in his barn the night before. The party examined the area around the barn but could find no real track and settled in to in the front room for the night.

Later Jhilsara had just finished a tour round the perimeter and was heading back to wake up Rurik when a javelin slammed into her out of the darkness. The farm-stead was under attack! While Jhilsara was rousing the others, three orcs crashed in through the front door. As the party turned to face this threat, three more crashed in through the open back door. The battle that followed destroyed most of the front room of the farm-stead as well as leaving Jhilsara and Darrow badly wounded. Rockford managed to keep both of them alive with his healing. Rurik held  the line Halfdan danced about singing words of encouragement as his longsword flashed. Garrick the cleric slept through the whole thing despite nearly having his head removed by a orc warrior.

Next morning, the Aramis's, deciding the farm-stead was too dangerous at the moment, decided it would be best if they  accompanied the party in to Tristor. A short distance outside the village Rockford spotted a solitary oak tree standing on a hill. Something caught his eye about it and he went to investigate, noticing a bundle of dried flowers at the base of the trunk. The flowers were at least two weeks old and bound together with a small piece of string. He also noticed a patch of dead bark about the width of a rope on one of the sturdy branches, about fifteen feet above the ground. Darrow, who had followed the druid over, pointed to where the words “Death for death,” was etched in the trunk immediately above the flowers. 

While Rockford prayed at the base of the Hanging Tree, the others headed on into the town. After a rather bizarre encounter with someone apparently called Maccabin the Hunter, which Halfdan defused with his fascinate ability, they took rooms at the Sogenford Inn. After lunch Jhilsara went across to the garrison and reported the events to Rontir Athlone, the Guard Sergeant, who informed them the Constable was out on patrol. They spent the afternoon exploring the village, before retire back to the inn for dinner and then bed.

That night Halfdan and Jhilsara were waken by sounds of disturbance outside the gates. Heading out to investigate, they found a crowd of townsfolk listening to a young lad with a bloodstained shirt explain how their farm had been attacked and his da was now in the church being looked at by the clerics. Curious, Halfdan made his way to the church where he found one of the acolytes trying to reassure a hysterical woman. He used his Bardic ability to calm the woman and peered into the room where the clerics were healing her husband. Before the healing magic took, he noted burns and scratches on the man that did not look like the work of orcs.

On his way back to the inn, Halfdan ran into a weary Constable Parsons, who confirmed that that was indeed a reward of 1000gp in gems for assistance in dealing with the local troubles.

Farms of Tristor

Next morning The Party decided to investigate the recent attack on the Selford farm. Before they set off, Halfdan and Garrick went to speak to Tarn Selford, now fully healed. Selford told them that he had been on his way to the barn, when something large attacked him out of the darkness, the next thing he remembered was waking up in agony in the Church of Pholtus surrounded by clerics. Selford also asked them to check on his neighbours the Boskos an elderly couple who ran a farm near his place, to which Halfdan readily agreed.

They set out heading west from town they walked for about a mile or so before arriving at a cluster of farms. The first of the farms, a small, two-story farmhouse stood at the centre of a yard ringed by a low stone wall. An animal pen beyond the home lay empty, its tall wooden door creaking quietly as it swung open and shut in the wind. Faint candlelight emerges from closed shutters on the first floor windows of the farmhouse. They approached the house and were met by a rather truculent spear-wielding gnome called Zebble Cullen. He informed him that in order to stall the "animal killers" he had already slaughtered his animals and sold the meat. He was horrified to hear of the attack  on the Selford Farm and advised that he though he had heard the growling of a large animal somewhere in the woods to the north. Darrow and Rockford decided to check out the woods to see if there were any tracks, while the others made their way to the Bosko Farm.

The Bosko Farm was a scene of carnage, all the farm animals had been killed, their bodies lying where they had fallen. The found the body of Mrs. Bosko in the bedroom, horribly mauled. Examining the body, Garrick noticed something strange in one of the wounds and was able to extract a broken-off prong of metal from the wound. They found Mr. Bosko buried in a shallow e grave in a nearby copse, also horribly mauled, something had also taken a large bite out the man's arm! After giving the Boskos a decent burial the Party went on to check out the Selford Farm, following tracks that led through the woods .

Things looked pretty much as expected as they approached. The barn was partially destroyed by fire, but the house looked untouched. Unexpectedly , the  heard cries coming from the bar and found a calf trapped under a heavy beam. They eventually managed to free the trapped beast but not before a visit from it's enraged father - Cedric the bull. Fortunately a combination of Halfdan's Bardic ability and Darrow's animal handling managed to calm the irate bull, but not before Jhilsara had belt the brunt of Cedric's anger! They rounded up some useful bits and pieces for the Selfords and headed back to  Tristor, dragging Cedric and his son back with them after Garrick had healed the two animals.

On their way they encountered a fellow called Jagadis on the road who informed him he had seen the Constable earlier to the south and Parsons was looking for them. Jadgadis was an unpleasant fellow, and he and Rockford came to blows before he rode off. The Party quickly returned to Tristor and reported the deaths of the Boskos to the Garrison, turned Cedric and Son over to the Selford's care and then set out to locate Constable Parsons.

Darrow's tracking skills enabled them to locate the constable fairly quickly, which was fortunate as the Constable was in a terrible state when they found him, lying wounded and dying, partially hidden in deep grass. Garrick healed Parsons, but noticed to his horror that the man's fingers had been sliced off! Before he passed out he uttered "Help" Help" The Burrens! The Burrens!". The Party headed back to Tristor, leaving the unfortunate Constable  in the care of the clerics before heading out to the Burren Farm which was on the other side of town.

Everything seemed quiet, and although initially suspicious,  Farmer Burren and his wife welcomed the Party when told that Constable Parsons had sent them.  Conscious of the Constable's warnings the Party decided to help the guard the Burren Farm that night. Garrick and Jhilsara took up position in the house, Halfdan and Rurik took up position in the farmyard near the back door, while Darrow and  Rockford took up a spot in the barn near the animal pens.
Things were complicated when after sun down a dense fog rolled in from the fens to the north, creating an eerie, disturbing effect. The Party were on careful watch so Halfdan and Rurik were not taken by surprise when a large beast lunged out of the fog and attacked them. Garrick was more surprised when a crossbow bolt slammed into him through the open window as he was peering out into the fog. Halfdan and Rurik managed to drive off the beast, though Rurik was badly wounded, and Jhilsara was able to deal effectively with a lit torch that had followed the crossbow bolt through the window.

Next morning after the for had lifted with the sun, Darrow and Rockford headed out to look for tracks. Fortunately the dampness of the fog ensure they could easily follow the large beast-tracks which then met up with boot prints. Peculiarly,  the large beast-tracks suddenly shrunk to half-their size. The tracks led them to a steam where they found the body of a horse, which Rockford recognised as the one Jagadis had rode earlier. Nearby they found Jagadis's body. He had been stabbed in the back.