Icemonth 1st, 11 AM. Back on the forest path after the passing of the she-ogre dragging the brown bear, we proceeded westward with caution. The air was cold and the snow was a good 7” deep, but we eventually made a clearing. Oval shaped, and set in the southern part where two rises of hills came together, there was a white clapboard cottage with green shutters in the middle. The land a good 75’ around it was denuded of snow and covered in wild grasses, flowers,, and small bushes. A gravel path, shoveled clean, ran from here to the cottage, and two other paths went from there Northwest and southwest.
No one trusted it. We discussed options and eventually decided to head into the clearing and make our way roughly northwest. As soon as we stepped onto the path, the front door of the cottage opened and two matronly looking women in homespun and aprons came out. One had a rolling pin in the bodice of her dress and the other was waving. “Welcome! Welcome!” She called out. “I am Rosalinda and this is my sister, Rosamund! Please come and be welcome! We have some drink and cakes.”
“Rosalinda? Rosamund?” “Sounds like a pair of witches.” “We aren’t going to go over there, are we?!” “Didn’t the she-ogre come from this direction?” “Get us out of here.”
The paladin did his best to deflect the entreatment from the two women. “Thank you, thank you. But we are on a time schedule right now. Tell you what, on the way back we’d be happy to stop.”
“Are you sure? We’d love to have you.”
“I’ll just bet they would,” someone muttered.
We eventually got them to understand that for now we would not be visiting but would at some point in the future. They were disappointed but understood, making their way back inside for now with the promise to meet the party later. They went back inside and wished us well and once we felt safe enough (we didn’t), we moved on. We passed the cottage, staying ON the path, and then crossed the clearing to the other side and eventually getting to the path there.
We walked through the woods for an hour and a half, cresting up the rise and then down the other side. Eventually the path just…ended. At a cliff.
Over 200’ down to the ground below. The amount of trees were mind boggling, heading off westward as far as the eye could see. While looking over the area we could see about half way down, a cave was set in the side of the cliff. A very thin switchback and barely seen set of climb points could be made out. There were signs of habitation and old bones and blood smears – as well as charred bits of wood, testament of a fire. The placement made it well protected from casual of even determined attackers. Is this where the ogre came from?
No one wanted to risk the trek down there to check out the cave, but we knew that north of here was that structure we saw. So we stayed near the cliff line and made our way northward. It was slow going and when able, we used the trees and underbrush to help us scale down the sliff edges, dropping lower and lower to the forest floor, eventually getting to a place we could travel slightly easier.
The sun was pretty much set and we could see the large clearing here. The ground was pretty churned up and the trees seemed foreboding here. Not wanting to risk camping in the open, we backed up into the forest a couple hundred feet and then spent some time finding branches and digging out some places for bedrolls and rest. We ate a meal of rations and the paladin confided he did not want to use his helm anymore to melt snow. So the cleric opted to use his and we set up a rotation of watches. It was during the second watch, well after 10 at night, that the assassin heard some crunching in the woods.
He went out a bit from the firelight and listened. Yep, broken sticks getting closer. Went back and the party was awakened. Infravision revealed nothing so the gnome dumped a fuck ton of of kindling on the fire allowing it to flame up. The assassin quickly began strapping on his armor while the new light revealed nothing.
So a detect evil went next by the paladin who told us…2, 5, 6 figures coming our way. According to the paladin it was like a dry stale potato chip. Maybe undead. He enticed the party to get closer and his aura of protection flared out about him.
And coming finally into the fire light, were 6 hobgoblin animated skeletons. They tramped towards us and the half-orc called to Thrym to turn them! The power flowed but the skeletons moved on. Then the other cleric called out to Odin to turn them! And again the power flowed, but their faith wasn’t strong enough.
The battle was joined and it was at first a slow resistance, followed by a rapid destruction of the animated horde. The paladin’s aura made the skeletons' ability to hit the party problematic and the group finished off the animated undead. We policed the area and then crawled back to our bedrolls and resumed our rest.
We awoke the next day, Icemonth the 2nd and by 7 AM, we had broken our camp and headed off into the 10 degree weather. The clearing was a third of a mile north to south and a notch over a thousand feet east to west. The land seemed to rise to the east along the northern edge of the clearing. We crossed the clearing and about half way across on the northwest edge we could see reflecting light in the woods there. To the east there was a path in the woods heading to the rise.
We decided to check the metal first and came upon, just inside the woods itself, the remains of a graveyard. Stone walls, some wrought iron covered in rust. White tombstones and markers peeking up through the snow and brush. We gave the area some reverent silence and then left, not wanting to trod upon the resting grounds right now.
The path to the east here had NO blaze markings so our druid made her own and we went east. It was 30 minutes of hard walk before we arrived at the broken ruined walls of the monastery. The grounds here are overgrown with brush and trees. Three large buildings are still visible and whole- one on the south west section of the grounds, a midsized one on the east, and the larger monastery proper in the north and east. The garden here is a mass of overgrown thorns and vines. There is a pool, artificially made, by the crumbled mass of stone that might have been a trellis or bathhouse. A natural steam vent, 100’ long and 4’ wide took up part of the main grounds. A section of columns ran to the east, with a 12’ tall bronze statue of a rampant horse. And on the main building someone defaced the side with a painted and graffiti stylized depiction of Maglubiyet.
We discussed options and wanted to leave the main building for last. So we went to the smaller building on the south end. It was a garrison quarter at some point. The ravages of time were evident on it. Two main doors in. We tested the larger western door and it crumpled open, the woods soft and spongy tearing off at the hinges. We laid the door aside and it was a dining room. Long tables and some chairs. Most have been looted and tossed but the furnishings were still here. A few other doors here, one west, two others east. West door led to the kitchen. Three cracked pots and the oven was still here. The other doors led to 4 small rooms where a pair of well rotted wooden beds and tables and chairs remained. Private quarters once upon a time.
Decision was to use this building as a home base for now. We took the door of the kitchen and repurposed it on the broken one we took off the front of the building, making sure it opened and closed. One of the pots, a 3 gallon soup pot, had a crack in it about 1/3rd down, but would hold water for now. That took care of a better thing for us to use as water instead of someone's helm. And the gnome assured us without gathering, there was enough wood in here to fuel the oven, still operable in the kitchen, for 4 days should we need it to cook and keep warm.
By 11:15 we had the place set up and decided to head north and check out the monastery’s gardens. The original markings of the garden were in place and the plants seemed to be thriving, but only within the garden boundaries. The plants had intergrown and were a mass 4’ tall. Pretty much the Halfling and gnome were the only ones who could navigate the garden. There were so many types of plants – flowers, herbs, and food stuffs.
Along the east side of the garden were 3 large mounds of piled stones, some sort of original statue work? We went over there to take a look. And bursting out of the nearest one came a short spear stabbing at the party’s face! Goblins. Three of them. They burst from the stones and attacked the group, clad in garbage armor and sporting spears and shields. And the other 2 mounds had the same, more goblins coming out.
We fired bows at the distant ones, knocking a few down, while the party hit the goblins hard. A summon monster spell followed and a giant ant joined the fight. One of the goblins had an enchanted shield and while trying to splinter it, it rippled and flexed – but lasted! Until he splintered it again later and it burst.
Finally the 9 goblins were taken down and the party hit the druid who had been pretty fucked up with some healing, getting her back to positive. The party’s wizard was the surprise bruiser, clubbing at least 2 of the goblins to death – without using magic. We decided to use machetes and axes to cut paths into the garden here, gathering up food stuffs (potatoes and turnips, and carrots). The half ogre dragged the dead goblins to the side of the garrison, eating the left arm one of them – making the party’s cleric just point and say, “See!?! Monstrous races are not always…civilized.”
One of the surprise finds in the garden were some lengths of Teraniv Root, a mildly numbing plant that if purified can be used to make a deleterious poison. The party’s assassin took the 6 lengths we found and would be working on them later. Finished by 1 PM, we decided to check out the pool and bathhouse next.
The pool was artificially made, original swimming or duck pond from the monastery. It was large and dark green, rimmed by moldy well worn stones. No one wanted to risk going in or touching it. The bathhouse was originally 4 rooms and the ceiling had long ago fallen away. We looked through the broken stones for anything of interest, the half-orc and gnome doing most of the looking. And the gnome was attacked by a foot and a half long giant centipede! He was bit and the wound hurt! The paladin meanwhile had done a detect evil and outside of knowing that evil was done here some time ago, in the stone building just north of us at the end of the columns, had 12 points of evil within. And they tasted exactly like the skeletons we had fought last night. He let us know and we were going to have to take care of them and the situation tomorrow.
But the centipedes were easily dispatched and ran back to the cracks in the stone. It was now 20 to 2 on Icemonth the 2nd and we were going to decide what to do next.
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