Story so Far
With Dohl’shelt continuing to assault the city of Rathe’s Wall with a variety of terrors, the heroes move onto their next mission. Another small landowner with a problem.
Journal
After the disaster that our mission to the Mill was I was very worried about what might come next. Dohl’shelt’s plans seem to encompass much more than just kidnapping. We used our letter of introduction to the guards and met Watch Commander Grimjaw, a rather sturdy female dwarf who seems to be dealing with the overwhelming amount of extra work the watch has rather well.
We spoke to her for sometime trying to get information about Dohl’shelt, but the guards are just as clueless as we are. Once we figured that we have no new leads we asked if there is anything else we can do to help at this time. She told us that a farm on the outskirts of town just burnt down, the owner and his family are all missing. He was seen in town last night, but no one has heard from the family. Our mission was to find the owner and his family, then determine the cause of the fire.
Conveniently no sooner do we receive our mission than Pael Calder, the farmer, walks up to the watch tower. He says that he was in town visiting friends, and that he spent the night in town. We could smell the alcohol on him which stuck with what we had heard from some of the guards earlier. We spoke to Calder to try and determine if anyone would want to hurt him or his family. He says that he has no enemies that he knows of. Following him back to the farm is a small trek, but it gave me a chance to see the surrounding countryside. I have been so caught up in everything going on I hadn’t noticed how different Rathe’s Wall is from my home. I miss the woods and the graceful architecture of home.
The farm was completely destroyed except for the grain silo. The livestock had gotten free, but after a quick head count Calder informed us that none were missing. Whatever else this fire was, it wasn’t to steal from him. The search was a quick one, Calder’s family had been in the home when it caught fire. Everything we saw pointed to this being an act of arson. The fact that both the barn and the house burnt down even though they weren’t connected being the biggest clue.
Thalous searched the barn while Kado tried to comfort the poor man. His brand of comfort doesn’t work for anyone not a follower of Hades, but is more than I can do. I understand his pain, being the last alive of your family is a terrible burden. For now though I am more focused on finding the culprits. My justice may still be sometime in the future, but Pael Calder will get his.
Thalous’s search revealed that there was a spot that had been protected from the fire by magic. The magic used was something particularly strong, beyond anything I can conjure. Thalous told me that was also having visions of tentacles crawling over the space. Remembering the mill we searched around until we found a trap door that led to a long tunnel. The tunnel headed off in the direction of the cemetery for an unknown distance. We gather up the rest of the group and head down the tunnel, Pael decides to follow us. He has no wish to be left alone with the ghosts of his family and whatever caused the fire.
As we walk down the tunnel Calder explained to us that his family is descended from an elven family. His branch was disowned for breeding with humans. That’s when they left the capital and settled here in Rathe’s wall. The tunnel led to a crypt containing the remains of his ancestors even though he has lived on this farm his whole life he had no knowledge of the crypt.
Exploring the crypt led us into several encounters with the undead remnants of the Calder family. Mostly the undead fell quickly to our attacks, the exceptions being some sort of unliving elven child who’s fell magics knitted their wounds as fast as we could cause them. During the exploration we also found some treasure, the half orc found the secret passage leading to it. The brute made the choice to keep whatever he found valuable in the chest, and leave the copper pieces for the rest of us. I hope he found enough to make up for the disfavour this caused with the rest of the group.
Once we finished exploring the crypt we found the key to the last door, beyond it was some sort of temple to Calder’s ancestors. As soon as we passed the threshold demons were summoned and set upon us. Banding together we fought them back, but it was too late. The symbol on the floor of the room turned black as obsidian, whatever these symbols are I do not think the change is a good one for us.
When we leave the farm we saw that the explosion from last night was something that destroyed a portion of the cemetery, I am unsure why anyone would attack the dead that don’t move when there are so many undead wandering around causing problems. Back at town we report our findings to Watch Commander Grimjaw and are informed that the Magisterium is purchasing the land from Calder. I don’t trust this.
Behind the Screen
This session had some of the most constant combat we have seen, and it was the first time we face the undead. It is a big difference fighting skeletons and zombies than what it was in previous editions. Before skeletons had a small of resistance to damage, 5e makes resistance automatically half damage. Which is great for the party member that does only a little damage, this way they can at least do something. It really hurts the massive damage dealers though. As a party we just weren't equipped for dealing with that sort of resistance. We then faced zombies, now these guys used to be low level fodder. In 5e they were given undead fortitude, a really awesome rule that means when they are reduced to 0 hit points instead of dying they take a constitution save based on the damage taken. Those child zombies lasted 4 or 5 turns of just passing this save. This turned a relatively easy encounter into something really dangerous.
One of my favourite parts of the new edition is that you can no longer take for granted that the party is going to destroy an encounter. Even with all the healing available and all the new skills, simple mistakes can quickly end an adventure.
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