Introduction
Heyo! I’m Snipper the great mage, I’m a little gnome who likes having a good time! If you haven’t already encountered me I’m sure you’ll soon hear of my crazy illusions and pranks hihi. Anyway, this is the story of my first outing!
Let’s get straight to business, there were rumors of undead sightings to the North of WMC, a small team assembled to check it out. Here are the party members:
- Khora (Team captain, a fish person, likes to tinker.)
- Pup (Khora’s metal dog, likes belly scratches)
- Gaven (Also a gnome, seems to also tinker, doesn’t like pranks as much as me..)
- Zandaris (Tall guy, wears a mask, shoots a bow and doesn’t like me or my pranks hihi)
- Dimble (Small fellow like me, seems to surge with magical powers, I don’t know the source)
- Yeldan (A giant tree hugging firbolg)
- Snapper (My owl familiar/slave **friend hihi)
A Cottage and a Prank
It was the first day, we left from the Blood-Eye Clan and made our way East on the road. At some point during the day, we spotted a chimney and what appeared to be a small abandoned cottage. It was overgrown with moss and vegetation, as was the path leading to it, yet, the grass had been recently cut. This was strange so we decided to waste no time and investigate. The pets scouted it out, Snapper flying and Pup making sure it was structurally sound. Once we knew it was safe we all barged in and explored every corner of the tiny single room hut. Among the piles of rubble and dusty furniture, here’s what we found:
- A burnt human skeleton, surrounded by ash.
- Three letters written in blood on the ground: ‘WMC’
- An odd book, hidden under a floor board: “Delving into Dark Pits of Chaos” by Marquise Aredglor the Trifold
The book spoke of adventures in a forest and contained odd references that we didn’t comprehend. On the back cover, there were bizarre markings that we later found out were gibberish, written by a crazed man.
All of this was quite dark, I wanted to change the mood so I pranked Yeldan. I found an old rotten rocking chair that just barely supported my weight. I called Yeldan over and convinced him to sit on the chair, which instantly collapsed under his superior mass hihi!
A Sacrifice in the Night
We set off, and made our way further along the road until we encountered a makeshift sign that read ‘Undead’ with an arrow pointing to the West. At that point, night was falling and after a bit of hunting, we set camp and went to sleep.
During my watch, I looked through Snapper’s senses, flying around. All was clear. The next watch however, didn’t go so well. Zandaris and Yeldan woke us all up because they had heard a high pitch scream, presumably that of a child or woman.
With no time to waste, Snapper flew in the night, to investigate. He soon saw a hill, illuminated by fire light, covered in cloaked figures attending to a woman tied up on a poll. I whispered what I saw to the party and Zandaris instantly ran off heroically. He joined up with Snapper and pulled back his bow, preparing to unleash a volley on the cultists. He would get murdered, were he to be engaged without us, so we ran to his rescue.
As we sprinted through the woods and broke into the clearing, Zandaris fired his bow instantly killing what appeared to be the leader. Feeling inspired by this amazing feat of bravery, we all ran in and quickly killed the fools. The only people who were attacked, were Pup who was a little scratched up and Snapper who was brutally murdered, snapping back into his dimension, awaiting to be summoned once more.
We untied the woman on the poll. Her name is Amanda Fitz, she is an archaeologist from WMC. Her party was slaughtered by these evil cultists and she was spared as a sacrifice for some sort of ‘Dark Gift’. We looted the evildoers and found a few coins, 2 gems and noticed that they had a weird skull shaped tattoo.
Amanda’s Camp
We finished our night’s rest and ventured forth to Amanda’s group’s camping site. She did not want to see the horrors, so I stayed behind and distracted her with illusions! After a few minutes the party returned and we continued our journey to the West. Khora filled me in, apparently the scene was gruesome, the corpses mutilated, everything looted and broken… Horrible stuff!
The Shrine of Lathander
As we ventured on, we found a small shrine in the forest, dedicated to the god of dawn, Lathander. Apparently it had been reclaimed recently from evil by a party that included Khora (at least that’s what I understood). There were two people dressed in white. I don’t remember their names but I presume they were priests. They were very powerful (capable of implanting images in our minds) and we thought they might have answers to our questions.
We asked about the book and the cult, they told us the tome was in fact related to the cult which was in turn dedicated to Cthulhu the Great Old One. They said a powerful evil man named Tsarin led the cult and we should stay away from him.
I decided this was a good time for a prank, using my minor illusions I projected a voice in the distance that said “I am the great and powerful Tsarin, how dare you stand before me” most of the party caught on but Zandaris got spooked hihi!!
Back to business, the cultists were the ones who had taken this site over and if we wanted to help wipe them out, there was a cemetery to the East overtaken by his people. There was another site far to the West but the priests were going to take care of it on there own time. We decided we would go clear the cemetery and reclaim it in the name of Lathander.
The Cemetery and the Birds
Guided by a mental image that had been projected in Zandaris’ mind by the acolytes, we made our way to the East, encountering a tall hill, surrounded by a clearing. On top, was the famous burial ground. We climbed, well aware that we were in the open. There was a stone wall and a giant iron gate, surrounding graves and mausoleums. The place seemed barren, until a man shouted to “prepare the troops”. The man ran off, undead and other cultists taking his place. Us gnomes managed to gain cover by hiding behind the walls!
A fight broke out, Zandaris jumped a wall, Yeldan opened a gate and everyone was shooting all sorts of projectiles, from magic to arrows. We totally smoked em, literally, I burnt a fool to a crisp hihi! I love fire!!! Call me a pyromaniac, I just find it beautiful, and powerful.
Once the enemies were killed, we began exploring all the mausoleums, one at a time. There were four in total, the first two were empty, the third was inaccessible from the outside and the fourth was very interesting. Double wooden doors marked the entrance, they were impossible to open. Khora tried lock picking but nothing would make them bulge. After a few minutes of trying we heard voices, two stone statues of ravens began speaking. They told us we were not worthy, we carried the book but we hadn’t passed the trial yet. This was very cryptic and as we pried for answers we were told to “Seek out the Locitum”. Whatever it is, we need to find it to access this place.. Before we gave up, I had one last idea, FIRE!! I shot a bolt of flame at the door. It appeared to be absorbed and then suddenly, was shot back at me diffusing into a circle on the ground. I got a minor burn.
At this point, we decided we would have to retire and come back at a later date to figure this out. The travel back was safe and mainly uneventful.