This being the continuing exploits of our group of heroes in the Village of Larm:

•     Dai, a human fighter
•     Melian, an Elf
•     Arsenios, a human Cleric
•     Adrog, a Dwarf
•     Ruby, a Halfling thief

Flush from solving the mystery of the dying Olde Oak, the party rested overnight and visited commander MacMillan the next morning. They were glad to learn the rogue Holtz was still in custody, so they inquired about rumors of a Goblin camp outside of town. The Commander told them that a small group of Goblins have been raiding Dwarven trade caravans, and have been even approaching the gates of Larm as of late. Patrols had recently discovered the Goblin encampment 3 miles to the northeast of town, off of the trade road. He offered a reward of 50 gold each if the Goblins were slain and the camp razed.

A village guard led the party along the trade road, to a point where a small path left the road to the south. The path, he said, led to the Goblin camp. He wished the party luck and returned to Larm, unwilling to assist.

After some discussion, the party agreed the best course of action was to scout ahead and see what they were up against. Ruby obliged, leaving the path but following it several hundred yards to a large, circular clearing, surrounded by dense forest and undergrowth. Ruby spied two Goblin guards  standing in front of an opening in a palisade fence, itself made of wooden timbers and perhaps 10 feet tall and 15 feet across. The opening was just wide enough for two Goblins to walk abreast, but Ruby saw no gate.

Ruby headed back to inform her companions of the situation. They proceeded down the path, but stopped before they were within eyesight of the Goblin guards. Ruby scouted more of the encampment, discovering it was indeed a circle, about 200 feet across at its widest and surrounded mainly by dense forest, with another small section of palisade fence to the south. Within the camp, Ruby could see three tents, several Goblins milling about, and two wolves.

Arsenios devised a plan of attack – the party would approach the main entrance, surprising the guards and hopefully creating a diversion, allowing Ruby to proceed undetected into the camp through the line of trees to the west. Ruby proceeded south as quietly as her Halfling feet allowed, while the party confronted the guards, arrows ready. As Ruby was approaching the camp and making her way through the thick underbrush on the camp’s west side. She heard a ‘crack’ as her foot broke a stick, and  the wolf inside the camp growled and approached the tree-line. Meanwhile, at the camp entrance, Melian and Dai had surprised the guards and loosed a volley of arrows. One guard escaped behind the palisade wall and into the camp, while the other was impaled and stuck to the wall by a well-paced arrow from Dai. The party heard a bell, then saw a large bonfire erupt, just inside the palisade opening!

Arrows started to fly out through the open palisade from within the camp, and the party took cover. Ruby saw Goblins converge in the center of the camp, around the fire-pit – eight in all, with bows and swords. Thankfully, the wolf who had been approaching Ruby turned and joined the Goblins, along with one other wolf who had come from the far side of the camp. Ruby moved in behind the Goblin group and lit a tent on fire, then quickly ran back into the woods. Two Goblins broke off from the main group around the fire-pit and moved south, searching for the troublemaker.

At the front of the camp, Arsenios sought to catch fire to the inside of the palisade wall itself, first by dousing it in oil, then setting  it alight with a torch. Arsenios and Dai carefully tried to do so, staying concealed as much as possible from both the arrows and intense heat of the bonfire, even so Dai caught an arrow in the arm for his troubles, dropping his torch in the dirt. The party waited for the bonfire to die down a bit, then started in on the Goblins with their own arrows and sling stones. It was difficult firing through the opening, but even still several Goblins were wounded by lucky shots.

Ruby, now in hiding in the underbrush just south of the camp,  took aim on one of the searching Goblins with her bow and felled it with an arrow to the throat, revealing her position. However, the remaining Goblin, having just seen his companion fall, was in no mood for a similar fate, and ran back to the center of the camp for reinforcements. By this time, the fire had died down enough that Goblins and the two wolves were rushing the entrance. Melian stood in front of them, uttering a sleep enchantment that put three of the Goblins out of commission.  The two wolves were unaffected, however, and charged through the palisade. Adrog confronted one, killing it but gaining a painful wolf bite in the process. The other fell to Dai’s sword.

Ruby was forgotten as the remaining three Goblins were sent through the opening, swords drawn. Only one Goblin stayed in the camp, Arsenios surmised he was the Goblin leader, as he was ordering his troops to attack. In a pitched battle the party emerged victorious, but at great cost – Melian was slain by a Goblin blade. As the party ran through the opening towards the remaining Goblin, he backed away from them, unsure of what to do with his entire camp gone.

As luck would have it, the Goblin leader was headed towards Ruby’s hiding place. She rose and quickly fired an arrow, striking him in the back but only serving to anger him. He growled, turned, and gave chase. Ruby headed out of the dense underbrush and ran north, back towards the entrance, but when she arrived, the party had already proceeded into the camp. She saw Melian’s body and was for an instant stunned – then, spying the party yelled to them and ran into the camp. The Goblin leader followed, his rage getting the best of him. Together,  Dai, Arsenios and Adrog made short work of him and at last, the battle was done and Melian’s death avenged. Dai and Adrog quickly dispatched the three sleeping Goblins, while Arsenios and Ruby searched the camp. They found scattered gold and silver coins on the Goblin bodies, and a large chest which when smashed open contained a large quantity of gold, a wand, and an old, hemp rope. Together the party returned to Larm with Melian’s body in tow, not at all in a celebratory mood.

This being the continuing exploits of our group of heroes in the Village of Larm:

•     Dai, a human fighter
•     Melian, an Elf
•     Arsenios, a human Cleric
•     Adrog, a Dwarf
•     Ruby, a Halfling

After resting overnight in the Borderlands Tavern, the party returned to the abandoned temple, to investigate the stone crypt that was as of yet unopened. With Adrog’s help, the stone lid was moved aside and within they saw the desiccated remains of the 1st Abbot of Larm, Brother Denzel. He appeared undisturbed and the party wisely covered the sarcophagus back up and retreated from the old temple, their job finally done.

They paid a visit to Brother Salor, who greeted them in the new temple and gave thanks for a job well done, then offered the rest of the reward money. Their purses a bit fuller, the party headed to the Mayor’s residence, to read the proclamations. One stood out:

The Olde Oak is slowly dying. (150 gold pieces if you can find out what is happening – another 150 gold pieces if you can stop it.)

Arsenios took the lead, questioning the Mayor, the innkeeper Jebediah, and guard Commander MacMillan about the particulars of the oak tree. He learned that each Friday night, all the villagers meet around the “Olde Oak” celebrating creation, as told by the Holy Book of Glenys. This celebration consists of dance and plenty of drink, and usually only ends when the last person is no longer able to stand without help. The past few months the townspeople had noticed that the tree appeared sickly – with leaves brown and withering in ever-greater numbers. Rumors circulated that if the tree died, the Village of Larm would die with it, and anxiety spread.

As it happened to be Friday, and about 5 hours before the celebration started, Arsenios and the others decided to quickly investigate the tree itself. They made the short walk to the large, fenced-in lawn on the bank of the river Dolm, and examined the area. The majestic tree did indeed appear to be dying, the only potential clue was a large patch of damp, darkened soil on the side of the tree facing the river, as if a large bucket of water had been poured there but did not evaporate. Melian took a small bit of the darkened soil and put it into a pouch, and the party returned to the Borderlands Tavern, asking who in town could confirm the presence of poison in the soil. Jebediah offered the name Gareth Holtz as a rogue of some notoriety who lived in town and who might be able to examine the soil, for a price.

After a hearty lunch offered “on the house” by Jebediah as he had heard of their success with the old temple, the party headed down the road to the Holtz residence. They approached small and nondescript residence and Arsenios knocked on the front door.

A voice from behind them spoke “I’ve heard you might come looking for me, state your business!”. A slender man with dark features and a prominent sword belt emerged from a copse across the street and approached the party, hand on hilt.

“Mr. Holtz, I presume?” said Arsenios. “We have heard you are the only person in Larm who has the knowledge and ability to examine this soil. We suspect someone may be poisoning the Olde Oak, and we have a small quantity of dirt taken from its base.”

With that, Arsenios displayed the pouch but kept it in hand.

Holtz pauses. “Aye, I can look at your dirt…for a price.”

Some haggling ensued, and the agreed upon price was 25GP. Melian relinquished the pouch, and without a word Holtz entered his house and closed the door.

With nothing left to do, the party waited. After about half an hour, Holtz emerged from his house and stood before the group.

“This…” Holtz paused to hold up the pouch “…is dirt.”

He held out his other hand, expecting payment.

Arsenios, feeling cheated, countered “We know it’s dirt, what can you tell us about it?”

“Nothing more than that, I don’t know why you think this is poison, it’s clearly nothing more than a bag of dirt. I’ll take my 25 gold and you may take your leave,” Holtz said as he moved his hand to his sword.

A tense few moments ensued as Arsenios and Holtz eyed one another. Arsenios offered 17GP, which seemed to appease Holtz. He took the money and turned, as he did so he said “I don’t take lightly folks who break their agreements with me, you’ll want to watch your backs.”

Thus warned, the party returned to the tavern and waited, walking to the Olde Oak just as the sun was setting, joining most of the town, including the Mayor and Commander MacMillan. News travels quickly in Larm, and the party found themselves the center of attention, as word of their exploits in the old temple spread. The party availed themselves of some fine food and drink and waited, watching for anything that seemed out-of-place.

Holtz appeared after a time, with his wife and three children in tow. He made no mention of the incident with the soil, in fact he ignored the party and spent most of his time near the ale taps, drinking heavily. After several hours Holtz was having trouble walking. It was then that Arsenios noticed him stumbling towards the Olde Oak, a full mug of ale in hand. He tripped over a root, spilling his beer on the ground.

Arsenios approached Commander MacMillan, quietly outlining a plan and asking for cooperation from him and his guards. Commander MacMillan agreed and quietly left the celebration. Arsenios then informed the party of his plan and they waited…

~

As Holtz stumbled towards the ale taps again, Dai approached.

“I can’t believe my companion did not pay you the agreed price. I don’t blame you for being mad,” Dai said.

“He will pay, one way or another,” Holtz said calmly, a bit of a slur in his voice.

Without warning, Dai moved closer to Holtz and yelled to the crowd “He pickpocketed me!”, then swung his fist into Holtz’s face, knocking him back. Holtz was stunned for but an instant, then leaped at Dai, striking back and connecting with a solid blow himself. A gasp went through the crowd, as people scrambled to get out of the way. Arsenios and Adrog joined in the melee, but Holtz was both tougher and far less drunk than he appeared, and he held is own until the fight was broken up by Commander MacMillan and three of the Village guard. In the confusion, no one noticed how quickly the guard seemed to arrive, but the villagers were glad for the fight to end.

“Come, we will take you back to the guard barracks, where you can cool off,” the Commander said. The Commander motioned to the two guards who held Holtz. The other guard motioned to Dai, Arsenios and Adrog to come along. Holtz stared at Arsenios, but said not a word. The guards escorted the group to the barracks, and as they did so one of them reached into a pocket on Holtz’s tunic,  and withdrew a small, leather pouch.

Holtz reached for the pouch and struggled to break free from the grip of two guardsmen, who, along with the third, jumped on him and bound his wrists together.

“You will all pay, mark my words…” Holtz sneered as they continued to the barracks.

Once in the barracks, Holtz was taken to a room for interrogation and the guards handed the pouch to Commander MacMillan. He opened it, giving it a sniff. His face twisted at the foul smell of the black, sandy substance within. He offered it to Arsenios, who noted the smell.

“It seems we have found who and what was killing the Olde Oak. I have some contacts in Dolmvay who can verify that this is indeed poison, in the meantime we will interrogate Holtz and present him to the Mayor in the morning. Many thanks for your fine work on this, you are truly friends of Larm – at least most of Larm,” said the Commander with a grin.

Our fearless group of PCs continued their trek into the abandoned temple of Larm. This time, Dai, Arsenios and Melian were joined by Adrog and Ruby. The full roster:

• Dai, a human fighter
• Melian, an Elf
• Arsenios, a human Cleric
• Adrog, a Dwarf
• Ruby, a Halfling

The party showed some nice tactics in the face of a cleric who could not make a successful turn roll to save his (or anyone else’s)  life.

~

After resting a few days at the Borderlands Tavern so Dai could regain his strength, the party headed back to the old temple, emboldened by Adrog and Ruby’s presence.  They were unable to secure any more healing potions from Abbot Salor, but they were gifted with a walking stick of continual light. They entered the temple and descended into the crypts, proceeding quickly to the last occupied room, now ready for the four undead skeletons within. Adrog opened the door the skeleton room, but did not enter. Melian took one skeleton out with his bow, while Ruby stayed at Adrog’s side and together they made short work of the three remaining skeletons, as the creatures moved to attack one at a time, their movements restricted by the doorway and wall.

After determining their was nothing of interest in the skeleton room, the party entered another long and narrow room through a door on the west wall. Inside, as if in wait, four zombies slowly hefted silver war hammers and moved to attack.  One zombie fell to Dai’s bow, while the others were killed by Adrog and Ruby, again waiting at the door to pick off the undead one at a time. Ruby was not so lucky this time however, and was wounded by a zombie hammer strike. The party collected the four war hammers, which seemed of fine make and had the symbol of Thaxon engraved on their silver heads. Arsenios tended to Ruby’s wounds, then the party proceeded through the only door available, on the north wall.

Beyond the door, the party saw yet another long and narrow room. Inside they saw four twisted, greyish creatures wearing Thaxon robes and wielding silver swords. Each was kneeling in front of an unlit  black candle, with each of the candles perched on a glass candlestick. Arsenios surmised they were ghouls, and further suspected they had been priests of the temple, given their robes and armaments. The ghouls rose to attack. Two of them were wounded by arrows while Arsenios attempted to turn the creatures. He was again let down by his God, however, and the party was forced into melee. The wounded Ruby hung back, while Adrog and Dai took the front position in the doorway. This battle was not so easy – both Dai and Adrog were wounded, with Adrog succumbing to one remaining ghoul’s paralyzing touch. Melian stepped in for him at the last and finished off the beast. The party gathered the candles and silver swords, and examined the rest of the room while Adrog lay paralyzed but out of danger. Arsenios tended to him while the others searched. They found an inscription over the only exit door, it read “Only the will of the Gods can help you now”.  Try as they might, no one in the party could open the door. However, all was not lost as Arsenios remembered he was still in possession of the Thaxon holy book from the party’s first incursion. With Adrog healed and no longer paralyzed, Arsenios was able to study the book for a time but found no clues to the mysterious door. He passed the book to Melian, who found references to the Sword of Thaxon, which it was said imbued the wielder with powers if they spoke the name of the God. Dai drew the sword and spoke ‘Thaxon!” aloud – immediately the sword glowed with a blue light and thus empowered, Dai was able to open the door.

Beyond this door was a small room containing a stone pedestal, atop of which sat a gargoyle. The  gargoyle jumped from his perch and approached the party. “I see you display the mark of Thaxon. You may proceed,” the gargoyle said as he pointed to a door across the room. Not wanting to tempt fate, the party proceeded across the room and Adrog opened the door. As he did so, the party was surprised by thick, black smoke that poured from the open door. They ducked and waited for it to subside, when it had, they saw a stone sarcophagus in the middle of a small room, with what appeared to be paper ashes scattered about the floor. Four undead creaturers surrounded the sarcophagus, each holding a candle and each dressed in robes of Thaxon. Seeing the party, they turned to attack – a skeleton, a zombie, a ghoul and one undead creature Arsenios had not seen before – a grisly, twisted human-like form.  In the ensuing battle, Melian, Dai and Adrog were wounded, Adrog seriously so. The party was victorious in the end, however. They decided not to open the sarcophagus, but collected the candles that had been held by the creatures, and returned to the Village above to rest and seek advice on the candles and silver weapons they had collected.

~