The Speaker In Dreams

The Fair Gets Foul

The Party arrived in the small town of Brindinford, following more vague insane ramblings from the Madman's Journal warning of someone called The Speaker In Dreams affecting the town. When they arrived however all seemed normal, Annoyingly they all had to submit to their weapon's being peace-bonded before being allowed into the town as there was a fair on and the town was absolutely crammed with visitors. This made finding accommodations difficult, but Garrick eventually secured sleeping quarters, albeit in the hayloft of the Brindinford Arms. Speaker Prophecy

While Rockford and Rurik stayed in the bar sampling the local ales, and Garrick headed off to pay his respects to the local temples, Darrow and Jhilsara went to see what was on offer at the fair. The streets of Brindinford bustled with activity as the fair engulfed the main street through town. The main street, none too wide in the first place, was narrowed further by the carts and booths lining its sides. Fortunately, wagons were barred, but pedestrians clogged the road effectively
enough. Artisans, entertainers, and merchants staffed the fair booths, calling to potential customers and trumpeting their wares.

Suddenly, a shout from the middle of the busy fair spread into an expanding ripple of cries and screams, accompanied by loud crashes that sound like carts and booths being overturned. These ripples of sound immediately transformed into a wave of people, as bystanders try to escape whatever was wreaking havoc behind them. Jhilsara and Darrow were working their way against the tide of fleeing people when suddenly Darrow felt a sharp pain in his side. Someone in the crowd had stabbed him. Consequently Jhilsara arrived first to see numerous dire rats biting viciously at the crowd.
She stepped forward to intervene, but as she did she was attacked by two hooded were rats. Darrow, still bleeding, moved to help, but the two quickly found their weapons ineffective against the were-rats, though that did not stop them bludgeoning the dire rats with their staffs. Garrick, leaving the nearby Shrine of Heironius, heard the tumult and moved to investigate, only to come under attack by a were-rat perched atop a cart firing a crossbow at him. The cleric retaliated with a spiritual weapon spell, which caused his assailant to dive for cover.

By the time Rockford and Rurik arrived they Party were making hard work of the were-rats. Jhilsara's spells were making some inroads, but a badly wounded Darrow had to withdraw from the fight. As he approached, Rurik came under attack by the sniper, and charged in to attack only to find his weapon was ineffectual as well. The arrival of the Watch was accompanied by the were-rats fleeing either into the sewers or nearby alleyways, shifting into rat for as they went. After briefly discussing whether to pursue the Party decided to retreat back to the pub.

In the aftermath of the battle, the Party decided to ask around about whether there were any other unusual events. Discovering that not only had the Guard Captain disappeared the day before, but that there had been a number of grisly deaths in Southspur recently. No bodies were found, but the sheer quantity of blood found at the scenes left little doubt as to the victims' fate. They also discovered that Residents and visitors in West Hill have heard strange, otherworldly laughter through the streets, with no definite source. Tales say that a scholar, driven mad by his explorations into "things mortals were not meant to know", took his own life, and his ghost now haunts his old neighbourhood

They decided to investigate the Southspur murders first, and after a nights sleep headed out. As they departed Darrow informed them that his dream shad been troubled by a strange whispering voice, though he was unable to recall anything that was actually said.
As they headed to Southspur Rockford noticed that they were being followed, presumably by thieves. Telling Darrow of his suspicions, the Druid went to confront the men, only to be stabbed for his efforts! Warned by Darrow, the rest of the Party moving to support him caused the two ruffians to flee the scene.

Grimlock Attack

Though the fair really did not extend much into this neighborhood, at least one group of entertainers had obviously decided to set up a stage in Southspur, presumably hoping to find an attentive audience. Prancing about in the back of a wagon, a trio of actors were engaged in what appeared to a lame farce, though the object of their lampooning was not immediately obvious. Passersby slowed their pace for a moment, watching, then shook their heads and moved on. Suddenly, the back curtain of the stage was torn open to reveal a massive, gray-skinned humanoid with wild black hair and no eyes. It lifted a stone great axe high over its head, and struck one of the actors, while more of its kind spilled onto the surrounding street attacking random citizens. The Party immediately charged into the fray and in short orde

r the grey-skinned humanoids that Rockford identified as grimlocks, were slain, though not before Jhilsara was badly injured.

True to form, the Watch arrived too late to be of any help, and as Darrow healed Jhilsara. Garrick explained to the guards what had occurred, and then leaving clean-up to them, headed into the alleyway behind the wagon to see if he could find anything. He couldn't.

However, summoning Darrow, enabled the ranger to find a faint trail. The Party followed the trail to an abandoned warehouse by the river. The doors and windows were boarded up, but one window about 20 feet up appeared to be open.

While Rockford went to examine the front of the warehouse, Halfdan borrowed a grappling hook from Jhilsara and began ascending the wall. A sudden shout from Rockford warned the others that he had come under attack and Darrow, Garrick and Rurik rushed to his aid, seeing the druid was being attacked by three more grimlocks! Garrick called out sharply to the creature and was somewhat astonished when they immediately fled dashing round the corner of the warehouse. Rockford, pausing only to heal himself chased after.

Halfdan meanwhile had reached to open window and swung himself in - only for find there was no floor beneath! He fell the full 20 foot onto a crumpled heap on the floor. The interior of the warehouse was in complete, unnatural, darkness, though the bard cold definitely hear movement towards him. Staggering to his feet he clambered atop a nearby crate, beginning to strum his war-mandolin!
Outside, Jhilsara began clambering up the rope, Rockford pursued his assailants round the building while the others prepared to break into the front door utilizing Garrick's shiny new crowbar and Rurik's strength.

Inside the warehouse, Garrick danced atop the crate as two shadowy figure swung stone axes towards him. Suddenly a dull thud to his right announced the arrival of Jhilsara. And a loud crash of splintering wood to his left announced the rest of the Party's arrival. The darkness spell in the interior of the warehouse complicated the fight, but two of the grimlocks within were quickly dealt with. The third proved a more difficult prospect until Halfdan hit her with a Tasha's Hideous Laughter, at which point the whole of the Party stood round her and whaled away at her until she was dead.

Outside, Rurick finally caught up with his assailants and ruthlessly dispatched them.

The Party retrieved a nice looking axe and ring from the female grimlock, and, while Garrick went to fetch the Watch, Darrow located a small treasure chest which he secreted in his sack. Returning to their hayloft, after stopping for a spot of lunch, the Party eventually resorted to smashing open the crate, retrieving some gold, another ring, some scrolls and what looked like vials of poison.

Wystes on the Hill

Next morning the Party headed to visit Sagius to get the benefit of his wisdom on were-rats. The elderly sage informed of off all the information he had been able to gather in a single day, the most salient fact being their vulnerability to silver weapons. For a small additional fee he pointed them in the direction of Shoomma, a master weaponsmith who had a forge in the town. Somewhat reluctantly the dwarven smith agrees to forge silver Wyste

weapons for Garrick, Rurik and Jhilsara, her preferred approach to dealing with were-creatures being to " just hit them harder with good dwarven steel!" Darrow also took the opportunity to head to the market and put in an order for some +1 leather armour. Acting on information about lycanthropy from Sagius, Garrick also stopped by the Temple of Pelor to have his were-rat bite dealt with unwilling to wait three days till the next full moon to find out whether he had been infected. Their shopping complete the Party decided to head for West Hill to investigate the laughing ghost.

Not long after they arrived in the somewhat posher area of town when two huge wormlike creatures appeared in front of them. Their translucent, purplish skin revealed strands of pulsing organs beneath it, and a ring of hooked tentacle-like limbs surrounded gaping lamprey-like mouths. Garrick and Rurik took the brunt of the creatures attacks, Garrick being sorely injure and Rurik nearly killed by the huge monstrosities before they eventually managed to destroy them.

As usual the Guards arrived too late to be of much use, though the guards seem puzzled by the fact that the Party had to intervene, commenting "I wonder why Alein is not here. She’s usually on top of anything that happens in West Hill.” Further questioning revealed the fact that Alein was the Champion of Heironeous, lived in the shrine nearby, though she had been absent when Garrick had visited a few days ago. At Garrick's urging they decided to check out the shine, finding it shrouded in unnatural fog. Entering the fog, the managed to foil the attempted kidnapping of Alein's junior paladin, Torea, by two men. The men managed to escape into the nearby streets, but Torea, after she awoke from the sleep spell they had used against her, informed that that not only was Alein missing, but that she recognised one of the men from the Reality Wrinkle, a nearby occult bookstore where a strange "accident" had occurred a few days ago. The Party swung past the bookstore but it was all closed-up for the night, so they resolved to return in the morning.

Entering the bookstore next morning was a strange experience. Something was clearly not right in the place. The angles
formed by walls, bookshelves, floors, and ceilings seemed wrong, as if space itself were warped here. Scrolls and tomes, some bound in materials they did not recognise, filled shelves that lined every wall. A small table stood in one corner with two chairs pulled up to it. A counter jutted from the opposite wall. Behind the counter, a brocaded curtain hanged
in a doorway, its design depicting an alien landscape filled with tentacled creatures of unimaginable monstrosity.

While Jhilsara and Rockford browsed the shelves, filled with various arcane tomes and books on occult and alienism, Garrick chatted to the proprietor an unpleasant looking chap called Jellik, though e was able to glean little information of seeming use.