Adventures in Azuran – Part 3

With the crystal skull stolen, our new members of the Guardian Corps are in pursuit of the thief, Kolthoff.

Will they track him down? What else awaits them?

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Present Players

Fenjor – a Firbolg Druid
Oso – a Shifter Mystic
Thunder Riding the Storm (aka “Thunder”) – a Tabaxi Bard
Amrahen – a Warforged Artificer
Nikola – an ape-like mechanical servant to Amrahen
Ashton – a Half Elf Rogue
Gilandria – a Wood Elf Cleric

Absent Players
Amonamarth Ensiferum Kivenkantaja, (aka “Ensi”) – a Goliath Barbarian
Be’el – an Aasimar Sorcerer


Thunder began running full speed.  Ashton, Oso, and Fenjor proceed quickly, but not without caution.  Amrahen is unable to see in the dark, so he went to get his mechanical servant who can.

Thunder came upon an opening and he bellowed out a roar to let it be known that he was there.  He entered the room and noticed that it had a 50ft radius and there were 19 other tunnels going in all directions.  Eventually, everyone else arrived.

Oso motioned that he heard someone – or something – coming from a certain set of tunnels.  The echoes and reverb made it difficult to distinguish.  Trying to determine which way to go, we began to hear quiet voices which appeared to be getting closer to us.  A small ball of light was seen getting brighter as it got closer… it illuminated two Elven females.  They were obviously a bit surprised finding our group in the dark.  They greeted us with a hello and said they didn’t want any trouble.

The blonde Elf was wearing a Guardian Corps badge.  She asked us if we were the new group.  She introduced herself as Ardneena.  The other Elf was Gilandria, a Cleric.  They were entering the city through the tunnels and were coming from the West.  We decided to return to the museum with Ardneena and Gilandria since we were unable to determine which way the thief may have went.  We explained the situation to the curator and Akira Sapphirebraids.  It was about 11:00 at night.

Per the condition we had with the curator – to return things to the way they were – Amrahen and Nikola removed the nails from the windows and repaired any damage using the Mend cantrip.  Gilandria and the rest of the group went to a local tavern to get acquainted; they grabbed a table in the corner near the fireplace.  Thunder introduced everyone.  Gilandria came to Moons Crossing for the recent celebration because she worships the moon goddess.  She happens to play the lute and played a tune with Thunder.

Ashton and Gilandria went over to the Halfling girls’ house.  It was dark, yet they began to sing and play music for them… poorly.  A light came on and Nu asked them what the hell was going on.  She threw a rock at the serenade performers and told them to go away because they were drunk.  Shutters were slammed and the light went out.  The team went to their respective rooms for the night – Amrahen and Oso to the barracks, the rest to the inn.

The Halfling girl, Or, arrived at the inn around breakfast time and told everyone that there was a meeting at the barracks at 8:00 AM.  Thunder began to question Or about the sisters and their interests (favorite flowers and whatnot).  She spilled the beans.  Nu was fond of daffodils; Lu, violets; and Or, dandelions.  The group left the inn for the barracks about a block down.

In the meeting room, Thunder took the podium and began to have his own recap meeting of the failed security job the day before listing both good and bad topics.  While he talking, Nu arrived with Karyn and Ardneena.  Ardneena tells us that she feels we did the best we could and let us know that Mr. Brandt was not upset with us.  In fact, there was another mission for us to take care of.

Nu stated there was a friend of hers in Havektown, a few miles away.  Something has been plaguing a farm for a while and we were being asked to investigate.  Ardneena approached Oso and spoke with him telepathically, informing him she will try and work with him to resolve some of his issues.  We had the morning to gear up and do whatever before we left at 1:00 to get to Havektown before nightfall.

Ashton sent some flowers and an apology notes for being a drunken buffoon the night before.  Amrahen stopped off at the Tinker’s Guild to check in with the Gnomes.  He also picked up crafting items to work on his wondrous item that he will get at level 2… a wand of Witch Bolt.

Telyma is a human friend of the Halfling sisters.  She lives in Havektown.  Telyma has a friend named Sybil O’Vana whose family owns the farm that is in distress, Telyma owns a small inn.

The road to Havektown was easy and uneventful; it was evening when we arrived at Telyma’s inn.  We introduced ourselves then got a meal and rooms.  The inn only has six rooms, three of them were already in use by other patrons.  After dinner, the group settled in for the night.  The next morning, Telyma informed us that something horrible happened at the farm a few years ago.  Sybil went to town a few years ago and while staying there, she had a bad dream.  When she returned to the farm, her parents were gone, and she has the same recurring dream every night.  Sybil would arrive at the inn in about an hour.  The members of the group who are musicians passed the time by playing some music.  Amrahen took a stroll down the Main Street to get the lay of the town.

Sybil arrived and was not very fond of talking about the incident but agreed to tell us about it.  Her dream consisted of a bunch of crows that heralded in a group of scarecrows who attacked her parents and killed them.  People have gone to the farm to check on things over the last 15 years, but some don’t return.  She thought that the weather around the farm was gloomy, but it may not have been gloomy in town.  Blood was found but there were no bodies.  There was a small house of worship for Cyrrollalee where there may be some records of the townspeople.  There is also a mayor’s house which was thought to contain records of land ownership and whatnot.  Gilandria and Amrahen went to investigate, and they stopped at the house of worship first.  The priest remembered the tragedy, he visited the farm within a month after the incident and he said it just felt evil.    He was not aware of any grudges or ill feelings between any of the townsfolk.  He also did not feel that Sybil was under duress or illness of any kind.

The rest of the group went to the mayor’s house to investigate.  Unfortunately, no relevant background info was determined for either location.  The team met up and decided to go to the farm.

The farmhouse was dilapidated and almost falling down.  It was noticeably more gloomy there than in town.  There was a thriving field of corn beyond the farmhouse which was extremely out of norm since nobody has been tending it.  There was a feeling of dread and foreboding as we approached.  No scarecrows or support posts were visible.  Thunder stood on his saddle and looked in the distance, he saw possible tops of scarecrows.  He then approached the corn and got an increased sense of dread.  He smelled the corn and it seemed normal.  The other buildings also appeared dilapidated.  There was a root cellar beneath the farmhouse.  Thunder entered and the steps crumbled beneath him, taking 1 point of damage.  As he looked around, he thought he saw a person standing in the shadows.  He did not move and tapped it on the shoulder.  It is a scarecrow.  He stabbed his rapier into the heart area of the scarecrow.   Natural 20 on the attack roll!  10 points of damage.  He stabbed again into to the forehead, but when he tried to attack again, the scarecrow looked up with red glowing eyes and took a swing!  Thunder let out a shocked call for help.

Roll initiative!

Ashton jumped into the cellar and charged the scarecrow. Amrahen moved to the opening and did not drop in because he can’t see in the dark.  Fenjor also approached the opening and did not drop in.  Oso did not hear the call for help and started walking around the side of the building.  The scarecrow glared at Thunder with its glowing eyes.  Thunder became paralyzed until the next the end of his next turn.  Another scarecrow emerged from the corn and moved towards Oso.  Its glowing eyes had no effect on Oso.  Thunder was still paralyzed.  Nikola moved to the other side of the cellar entrance in a guarding manner.  Amrahen assisted Gilandria down into the cellar, she cast Sacred Flame on the scarecrow, but no damage was done, she then moved into the cellar.

Ashton attacked the scarecrow with his rapier.  It didn’t appear to take as much damage as Ashton dealt.  Amrahen continued to stand guard at the entrance.  Fenjor noticed that Oso was in a defensive state and informs Amrahen.  He then moved toward the scarecrow by Oso.  Casting Ice Knife, a critical hit was scored!  Oso made a growl and then attacked the scarecrow with Mind Thrust.  The scarecrow failed his save and took damage.  In the cellar, the scarecrow attacked Thunder and Ashton and missed them both!  Oso was also missed by the scarecrow who attacked him.  Thunder was no longer paralyzed, so he attacked the scarecrow with his rapier.  Nikola moved to protect Fenjor.  Gilandria slid up behind Thunder to heal him back to full!

Ashton swung his rapier and missed.  Amrahen went next to Fenjor and his crossbow bolt hit the scarecrow attacking Oso.  Fenjor hit with his sling, but only for a small amount of damage.  Oso made another psionic attack for two points of damage.  Thunder fell victim to the paralyzing scarecrow gaze again.  The scarecrow attacking Oso glared at Fenjor and he became paralyzed as well.  Nikola threw a stone and hit the scarecrow.  Gilandria cast Sacred Flame and caused a slight amount of damage.

Ashton hit with his rapier.  Amrahen fired his crossbow and killed the scarecrow.  Fenjor moved to the cellar entrance and lit a torch.  Oso looked around for more scarecrows but did not see anything moving through the corn.  Thunder and Ashton were both missed by their foe.  Thunder attacked with his rapier and hit, but failed in a follow-up claw attack.  Nikola continued protecting Fenjor.  Gilandria landed the Sacred Flame spell on her scarecrow target.

Ashton shoved his rapier into the scarecrow causing it burst into a pile of straw… dead.

We all started to feel the ground tremble, bits of the house were starting to fall.  The party members inside ran for the cellar entrance and everyone made it out as the house collapsed.  We heard crows cawing and the corn began to rustle.  The crows flew out over the field of corn and begin to circle an area, Ashton tried to burn the corn, but the stalks didn’t catch.  Amrahen stood on his saddle and saw a clearing in the field where the crows were circling.  We made our way into the corn towards the clearing.

In the clearing, we found a larger scarecrow on a perch.  Roll for initiative!

Fenjor rushed up with his torch to try and light the scarecrow on fire.  The scarecrow glared at Fenjor with its red eyes and Fenjor became paralyzed.  Thunder provided Amrahen some Bardic Inspiration and then attacked with his rapier and claw.  Gilandria cast Sacred Flame doing some damage.  Nikola stepped into the clearing and hit with a thrown rock.  Oso cast Mind Thrust damaging the scarecrow.  Amrahen stepped into the clearing and hit with a crossbow bolt.  Ashton swung with his rapier and hit with a natural 20 on his sneak attack!  The scarecrow attacked Fenjor and missed.

Thunder missed with his attacks.  Gilandria hit with Sacred Flame again.  Nikola hit with a thrown stone.  Oso attacked with Mind Thrust and killed the scarecrow.  There was a shiny item where its chest used to be: a silvery looking knife.  The corn field began to wilt and turn brown.  Amrahen took the knife out of the corn field and he cast Identify as a ritual.  It was not magical and Oso felt drawn to it.  There are no engravings on the knife, it appeared to be a nice chef’s knife.  The environment felt less oppressive and less gloomy and foreboding.  Oso touched the knife; he froze for a moment and had a vision!

He saw the farm, years ago.  He saw a crow attack the father who then began to… change.  The mother attacked the father with the knife, stabbing him.  He batted her away and killed her.  He died of the knife wound and turned into the scarecrow.  The vision ended.

Oso drew in the ground scenes of his vision.  Several members picked up what he was trying to communicate.  Amrahen found some trinkets of the family in the ruins that Sybil would want in remembrance.

Back in town we met Sybil at the inn and told her what happened. Presenting her the trinkets of her parents, we offered our condolences. The next morning, we took to the road back to Moon’s Crossing.

Previous Adventures in Azuran:
Adventures in Azuran – Part 2