Game Master = Kelly Berger
7-29-15
Spider pays us 300 GP each for the encounter with the Werewolves.
We have been contacted by Mr. a Foxx, presumably for another job. A monster is killing his tenants who are working in the bogs to harvest supplies for whiskey. He will give us 500 GP each, and 10% of the sale of the proceeds from and whiskey.
The name of the town is Cronoth Traphaven. It is on the other side of the continent. We will travel by boat, all expenses paid.
He insists that we take an associate of his with him. A tiefling named, Zurachia. He is a sharply dressed character who insults Rax right away.
He asks Balderdash if we accept the challenge. He does for the party.
We wonder how Mr. Foxx knows about the attacks if they are so far away.
We sail on the first tide the next morning. It takes us a week to get there.
We anchor and tender in to shore. It seems a frontier type town. There seems to be an “energy” in the air.
The town is known for celebration during the solstices and equinox’s. To the north is an 800 ft mountain. There are slums called the “quag”. We are directed to the White Lily Inn in town.
We are approaching an equinox, so the town is filling up fast. We get rooms.
We spend a comfortable night. Talia asks around in the common room about the problems. Several people are talking about leaving after the festival, (about 7 days).
Meena questions a couple of trappers. They tell her Rackis the hunter died a few months ago, and several farmers have died, all close by the bog.
We decide to speak with the constabulary Sgt Earl Gray. He appreciate our help and gives us deputy badges.
We ask about the distilleries. There are several (5) in town.
There are 4 widows of killed bog miners. Eight people have died (only one woman). All happen in daylight.
We speak to some widows. They tell us that their husband’s hearts were ripped out. We know this was not natural. Zorachia seems to know what it is. It is a Perryton.
We decide to use Zorachia as bait. He will dress as a peat miner. The rest of us will hide ourselves in the bog close by. After 5 days of this, we are not attacked, but another miner, about 2 miles away, is killed.
On the 5th day, it attacks Zorachia. He was working a little ways away from us, in order to give it more of a target.
It flies out of the sun at Zorachia. He sees it coming and yells “contact, to arms”. He is hit nonetheless.
He shoots at it as it flies away, but misses. We all come out of hiding and race toward Zorachia. Meena shoots but misses. Balder shoots with his crossbow and hits for 5 pts.
It flies off without a trace. It is late in the day. We decide to rest the night and head for the mountain at first light.
When he awakens, Balder realizes that Rax missing. There is no sign of a struggle or any tracks.
We walk around town asking about her. When we came to town, she met with Will Link, a local hunter. His hunting grounds are around the river. After he met with her, Will went on a drinking binge (perhaps with her money). Four days ago, Will was cornered by some locals who were interested in talking to him. After that Rax was seen with someone who was dressed well (in Bardic college colors).
We don’t find the Bardic College that day.
The next day Zorachia challenges fellow bards to a joke contest. He wins. He buys a drink for one of the bards who he beat. He asks about Raz. He says he heard about her from Merick Anderson, but Merick seems to be missing too. He thought Merick had some information that he was keeping close to his chest. Merick is an archeologists and historian. He is a specialist of local history. They agree to keep each other posted.
We check the hostel where Merick was staying, but he is still missing.
We fan out. Talia finds him at the local apothecary. He is recovering after being attacked by a group of men. They asked him about a place called Bear Island. One of the men was called “Red Sleeves”. The constabulary saved him.
Bear Island is said to be haunted and is very dangerous. The bears hibernate there in winter. It is a sacred place. Many have disappeared tying to explore it.
Merick said that Raz had information about the island. Merick thinks she was kidnapped by Red Sleeves.
We decide to go to the island to look for Raz. We tell the constable our plans. Talia has a slight feeling that we are being watched.
We take a boat to Bear Island. The boat anchors off and we tender to the Island. Mist starts to form around the island. We hear the sound of another boat bearing down on us. It is a boat of the dead. It misses our boat but heads for the Swift Sea lion, our boat. It crashes into it utterly sinking it and everyone aboard.
We row to the shore and come in on a rocky shore. The mist covers the ground as we climb out of the dingy.
Merick has drawn a map of the island for us. There is a cave just above out position, a statue is on the headland, and another cave is on the far side of the island.
We hear 3 watery forms come out of the water and attack us.
Balder uses his breath weapon against them hitting 2 of them for very little.
Talia misses her attack.
Zorachai uses his short bow against one of the partially frozen creatures.
Modax casts Ray of Frost, for 1 pt of damage.
Meena misses her first attack, but hits on the second attack and takes one out.
We feel a vibration in our bodies and a feeling of fear, but Meena and Balder don’t succumb to it.
Balder hits with her great axe.
Talia hits, but doesn’t seem to do that much damage.
Modax casts Ray of Frost, hitting one and killing it.
Meena misses her first attack and hits on the second, but only for 1 pt of damage.
Balder hits it with cold again and takes out the last one.
We hear a horn blow in the distance. It seemed like it came from above us in the center of the island.
We see an owl flying during the day circling above us. Zorachai casts Speak with Animals. He hears it say “leave this island”. “The island is Sacred”.
We cannot leave without Raz, so we head toward the rock in the center of the island. The ground is still covered in mist.
Now we hear the call of a hundred ravens, they call, then settle down.
We approach the mouth of the cave. We are all attacked by something, we are not sure what. Modax is slightly injured. Meena knows this is not natural. The shrubs are attacking as well as the rocks sliding out from under us. It is very slow going to get to the cave.
We finally reach the entrance. We hear water dripping. The cave tunnel twists to the left. We explore the cave and find it is a bear den, but it is empty. Meena reads the tracks and sees that there was a bear here within a couple of days.
As we head back out, we are attacked by an otter. It attacks Talia and bites her leg. Then it swims away.
The otter attacks Modax as we leave the flooded area. It fumbles its attack. Modax jabs at it with his spear, but misses it in the water. We finally make it out of the cave.
Meena walks out of the cave and is swooped by an eagle. But it misses her. It flies off.
We make our way to the statue on the headland. As we get closer, a blinding light goes off. Everyone stops except Meena who is unaffected by the glyph of warding. She sees a swarm of ravens heading for the group. Meena casts Fog Cloud.
They attack the group, hitting some, but they are hindered by the fog. They fly away after several attacks.
We take a short rest and the Bard heals those who were damaged.
We check out the statue. It is made of stone and wood with a bark mask. It is topped with a bear skull.
Meena offers a Druidic prayer of protection to the bear spirit. Her words seem to be carried off in the wind.
Zorachai notices that occasionally the eyes glow in the mask. It is looking between two ridges. There are glyphs on the plateau. Zorachai casts “Understand Language”. The island is a sacred place where shaman’s met in a cave to call upon the blessings of the bear for good hunting.
We decide to follow the valley that the statues eyes seem to be looking down.