- GM’s note: Some sessions cover many days and some sessions focus on just one day. This is one of those sessions where there was a lot of exploration and action in one place.
Day 19 – Swordsday – 4th Day of Rainmoot (Spring)
- The next day it continues raining heavily, further delaying the villagers’ plans to smoke out the bees. Ethan leaves with Alfrin early in the morning and they begin heading downriver towards Cutting Field to search for Alfrin’s missing kinsman.
- Back in the Sheriff’s Tower, Salthia makes breakfast for Grant and his deputies. Tellurian outlines their plan to deal with Tennelgast’s tribute collectors – he expects that they will come from the sky so they’re going to try to capture them when they attempt to collect the tribute (a poor sheep that has been loaned). Grant is curious to see if this plan will be successful – he wishes them ‘good hunting’ and heads to the Good Omen Inn to see if the three Steel Eagles still want to meet with him.
- The Steel Eagles are having breakfast. The sergeant, Parth, is a veteran of the Necromancer Wars. The other two, Pyke and Rein, are younger than Parth but both look like experienced sellswords.
* Image sourced from Google Images. From Left to Right, Parth, Pyke, Rein
- Parth attempts to gauge Grant and asks him about whether there might be work for the three of them. They’ve heard about Cutting Field from the locals and figure that Tyland Mills might need some good soldiers. Grant is surprised by this but is willing to consider it – these three seem willing to leave the Steel Eagles and work directly for the Mill Lady. He agrees to talk to Marian about it.
- Grant then heads to the fortified Mill to talk to Marian. It is now pouring with rain. He returns the horse (“Brick”) and talks to her about Red. He recounts what Red told him – that he had tried to rescue her. He also tells her that Red is now the leader of a community, not just a group of bandits. Marian listens to this and confesses that she finds dealing with Red very problematic. Red is her half-brother, but he resents that their father left his lands and titles to Marian, and nothing to Red. The bandits are criminals and should be hanged, and Red has chosen to be a bandit. She agrees to Grant’s request to visit Red, but she admits this will be difficult for her.
- (GM’s note - At this point, we performed a flashback. Grant has High Ranked Warfare and he would reasonably know about the military assets across Tyland Woods based on polite inquiries with Ventur, Prigg, Theod and so forth. There is no way that he would not have had these conversations and built up an understanding of the military forces in Tyland Woods.) As such, Grant knows that there roughly 100-120 Steel Eagles – roughly a third are based at the Weeping Castle, a third at Stone Bridge, and the other third are mobile. Red is supposed to have 30-40 bandits. Grant doesn’t know exactly where Red’s lair is but he does know that it is by a river. The dwarves at the Hexenhoof Mines supposedly left many years ago when the ore ran out – not much is known about them. It is possible that there are some of them still at the Hexenhoof Mines. There are also three treemen in the area – Grant has met Oldroot in the old temple to the west of Tyland Mills. There are some giant hawks to the mountains in the south but they seem to be under the control of a wizard called Tennelgast. Vendra is said to be the most powerful sorcerer in Tyland Woods, and from what Ethan says, she appears to be friendly but she is also suffering from a malady which makes it difficult for her to leave her home. Then there is Jacob, a fellow Warden of the Stair spent time with the dwarves many years ago – he may still be here. As for the fey, such as Lord Wynterlyr, Grant has his doubts. Grant doesn’t know how many fishmen there are, or what is left of the Nyrathi people but so far there seem to be enough of them to wipe out Cutting Field so he assumes there are hundreds of them. He also doesn’t know how many goblins there are in the area – they don’t seem overtly hostile but they certainly aren’t afraid of the villagers either.
- The conversation with Marian then turns to the catacombs beneath Tyland Mills. Grant believes that the fishmen have been here, lurking, for some time. He knows there is something going on given the ritual sacrifices that have occurred (he’s already found the bodies of Brother Horace and the former Sheriff, Thaddeus Tystamere) and wonders if there could be anything in the histories of Tyland Woods that might help him.
- Marian shares what she knows about her ancestor, Tyland Redmantle and refers him to an old book of children’s stories which tells the story (with pictures). He sits down to read the book and is horrified by what he reads. The legend of Tyland Redmantle begins with the disappearance of Sir Baros who came to these lands in search of adventure. When Baros did not return, his friend Tyland went to investigate.
* Image sourced from Google Images
- The story goes that Baros had fallen under the sway of the Nyrathi and turned to darkness. The Nyrathi themselves were a dark and twisted people who had fallen under the sway of a mighty ‘dragon’ that had fallen from the stars. The picture in the book looks like nothing like any dragon that Grant has ever seen. The creature described is some sort of gigantic aquatic caterpillar with a horrible eel-like head surrounded by a crown of tentacles. In its terrible head are five great, green eyes. In some of the pictures, the fishmen are also shown but they are never described in the text itself.
- Reading on, Grant reads the children’s tale as to how Tyland performed many great deeds in the area. There is a fleeting remark to an encounter between Sir Tyland and Sir Baros which left the hero at a loss as he could not imagine what wonders of the Nyrathi would make Sir Baros turn away from him. But it is only a brief note in the tale.
- Ultimately, the tale tells the story as to how Tyland fought and slew the mighty ‘Wyrm of the Lake’, but Tyland was wounded and his white mantle became red from the blood. He leaned on a tree near the Dusker River to rest and that is the place where Kora, the daughter of the local miller, found him. The young girl tended his wounds with compresses of chestnut leaves and fey incantations and Tyland recovered. In the end the two fell in love and lived ‘happily ever after’.
- Reading this story, Grant quickly concludes that the ‘Wyrm of the Lake’ isn’t dead. Tyland probably wounded it, but it isn’t dead. He assumes that it has been sleeping and the fishmen are trying to wake it up again. Marian listens to this and is alarmed by the possibility.
- With renewed purpose, Grant returns to the Good Omen Inn and decides to hire Sergeant Parth and the others. He tells them to report to Gareth and Tellurian and help capture the tribute collectors, and then he returns to the Sheriff’s Tower and the lower level dungeons. Red and Bart are still there – neither has escaped. Red makes a quip about the breakfast being ‘lovely’ and Grant mentions that he’s spoken to Lady Marian and Red should expect a visit. That shuts Red up.
- Opening the door to the cell which leads to the underground, Grant catches the unmistakable smell of fish. The fishmen have been here, scouting around. It was lucky that he Warden-locked the cell door. They would not have been able to open it via normal means.
- With this, Grant heads into the catacombs and begins exploring. There are many rooms that have sustained damage from earthquakes over the years, and the ceilings appear unstable. At one point, simply opening one of the stone doors triggers a rockfall. He notes that the stonework here is the same as that in the river caverns and he suspects that the two are connected. He also wonders if the Nyrathi had a presence above ground during Tyland Redmantle’s time. Perhaps there was a township or other structures here. He wonders if the ruins of the fabled city of Nyrath could be here, centred around Tyland Mills.
- The catacombs beneath Tyland Mills are quite extensive. He finds chambers which look abandoned, chambers which have embalmed fishmen (which suggests that they venerate their dead) and he finds a dead human (presumably Nyrathi) priest who died during one of the earth tremors. He kills an ancient snake whose scales glitter like gold but it only seems to be guarding an old storeroom. The wooden door to the storeroom has been added recently but he can’t tell whether the snake was there to guard the storeroom or prevent intruders going deeper.
- He also encounters two large groups of fishmen in the catacombs. Clearly, they have been here for a while and are working steadily on clearing passageways of fallen debris. Grant guesses that they are trying to reconnect the catacombs under Tyland Mills with the river caverns which are not far away. At last Grant decides to ambush them and there are a number of terrible battles in the darkness – the fishmen (Lurkers) respond, attacking in waves but they are no match for an angry Lord of Gossamer. Grant cuts them down – their soldiers, their priests, and their Vaarathi lizard ‘hounds’. He takes only one fishman prisoner whom he subdues and imprisons in the Sheriff Tower. Red can’t believe his eyes when Grant shows him the fishman and tells him that these creatures were responsible for the destruction of Cutting Field.
- Returning to the catacombs and exploring deeper, Grant avoids traps and finds evidence that these fishmen once worshipped a ‘Many Frogs’ deity. There is evidence that the current regime does not approve of this as the older temple and artefacts have been desecrated. He also finds a library that appears to have been hastily plundered but there are still a lot of old scrolls and tablets here. He moves on but makes a mental note to tell Tellurian about this.
- In an ancient storeroom, Grant meets a half-crazed goblin, Zod, who claims that he is the world’s only ‘Gampire’ (a goblin vampire). Grant plays along with Zod’s delusion and persuades the little fellow to show him what he knows of the catacombs. Zod seems happy to have a companion who believes his story that being bitten by a vampire bat has turned him into a ‘gampire’ and tells Grant all he knows. They explore places that the fishmen do not regularly go to and in a larger cavern which has a staircase leading up, Grant finds a backpack with clothes and a few keepsakes in it. Grant knows that this belongs to Jinny, Thorn’s missing fourteen-year-old daughter.
* Image sourced from Google Images but I think this might be from MTG (Wizards of the Coast). Anyway, this is Zod.
- Searching further, Grant goes up the stairs and finds what appears to be a cellar which lies beneath a house with wooden floorboards. In the cellar is a space that has been cleared of boxes. In this space lies the body of poor Jinny. She lies in the centre of a pentagram, ritually slain with a dagger through her chest. There are black candles at the points of the star and grave blooms scattered nearby. The body is heavily decayed. This confirms Grant’s worst fears – he didn’t expect to find her alive.
- There is a trapdoor above. Grant pushes on it and lifts the carpet and the table on top of it out of the way. Opening it, he finds himself in Marius’ house. Marius is gobsmacked. He was outside tending his vegetable garden in the rain when he heard noises inside his house and rushed inside.
- Grant assumes that Marius must know of the cellar, and he demands the truth from him. Marius claims to have no knowledge of the cellar – he acquired the place from Old Olo’s cousin when he died a few years ago. However, when confronted with poor Jinny’s death, Marius breaks down tearfully. He confesses that Jinny had been planning to leave Tyland Mills and had been coming to Marius for advice. One evening she was determined to leave and Marius believed that he had persuaded her to at least explain to her father before departing. He had assumed all along that she had simply reconsidered and left without telling her father. After Jinny left, he helped himself to booze (as usual) and didn’t hear a thing. He can’t believe that she’s dead and that she was murdered beneath his floorboards.
- Zod asks to come up to understand what is going on and Grant calls down to him, telling him there is too much light above for a ‘gampire’. He says that he’ll explain soon.
- Grant thinks quickly. He believes Marius to be telling the truth, but no one will ever believe that Marius has nothing to do with Jinny’s murder if Jinny’s body is found in his cellar.
And that’s where we left Session 249…. out of interest ….
- Ethan and Alfrin head downstream to Aunt Millie’s shack. She’s about a mile inland from the river but Alfrin knows that his Uncle Breldo often visited her. They moor the riverboat and then head to her little cottage. Aunt Millie is an old, blind woman who lives alone, except for a tame wolf that gives them a wide berth. Millie likes conversation and is happy to chat. She hasn’t seen Breldo in many weeks but is pleased to have company and they share tea. She doesn’t get many visitors. She does mention that the three sisters from the Good Omen Inn (Sylvia, Irina and Nadia) visited her about six months ago. She offers them some apples from her orchard for the journey and asks them to stop by again.
- Heading further downstream, they moor the riverboat by a bridge that crosses the Dusker for the night. Ethan asks Alfrin about his Uncle Breldo and the young haulfin tells him many stories of his Uncle’s adventures and what kind of haulfin he is. Alfrin asks Ethan about his family and Ethan tells him about his daughter, Hilda, and about Isabelle. He shows her the necklace that Isabelle made for him. Alfrin seems surprised that he would choose to be so far away from his family. Ethan explains simply that he’ll see them in a few months.
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