More exploring of the mountains near Muleshoe leads to shrine to scorpions where Ghevont is nearly killed by a poisonous sting. Hobos are found living in the Ophin Family Tomb. The party discovers Geda’s Drop.
After a brief rest (3/3 – 3/5), the party was ready to search once more, this time armed with intelligence gathered by Jerker’s agents. He relayed the options to the team, and they came to the consensus that searching near Muleshoe should continue. Mirana and Caelith were busy honing their skills. This time the team consisted of Kimo, Jerker, Elaria, Ghevont, Caolan, Nate and Aderian.
Smashing Scorpions at a Shrine
They strolled down the road form St. Orlan to Muleshoe over a couple of hours, then hiked up into the mountains to the east (hex 0510). The rest of the day (3/6) was spent searching and discovering nothing remarkable. In the afternoon of the following day (3/7), Kimo, who was scouting ahead, came to an unusual break in the forest.
The forest’s thick canopy broke to reveal a 7-foot-wide vertical shaft plunging into the earth like a jagged throat. Around the rim, two ritual stone basins were filled with stagnant rainwater and the remains of forest lilies. A heavy scent of black lotus and dry musk rose from the depths, where a rhythmic, clicking sound echoed like hundreds of fingernails tapping on stone in unison. This presented the juxtaposition of savage predators and disturbing, religious adoration.
Kimo scooped up some of flower petals and then crept back to the party to relay what he’d found. Aderian, perhaps misunderstanding, tried chewing the wilted petals marinated in rain water then spit them out, finding them bitter and not at all intoxicating. Soon, they all were standing at the hole, looking down into darkness. Ghevont dropped his glowing rock. It went down about 40 feet and bounced out of view. Kimo climbed down 20 feet until the tunnel opened another 20 feet over a vast cavern floor. He poked his head down to get a better view and spied a giant scorpion, then climbed back up to the surface because Aderian and Ghevont were anxious to get into the cave.
Jerker stood at the hole, holding a rope that was attached to Aderian’s waist. Aderian grasped Ghevont by the shoulders and the two of them began to lower into the narrow tunnel. When they were 30 feet down and still 10 feet over the cave floor, a scorpion on the ceiling reached out to snip the rope. The two of them tumbled to the cave floor. Aided by the glowing stone, they could see a the cave expand about 50 feet in all directions. Along the walls were smaller passages. Aside from the scorpion on the ceiling, another one of the beasts was facing them on the floor.
Ghevont responded immediately with a spell to the charm the two scorpions. The next moment, 5 more scorpions emerged from the passages, then advanced. Aderian easily dodged the many claw snaps and tail strikes, but the lightly-armored cleric was not spared. Fortunately, he shrugged off the poison of two tail strikes. Jerker let down more rope and hollered to Ghevont to ascend to safety. The cleric disregarded the danger and instead cast a spell to speak with the two charmed scorpions.
Aderian smashed one of the scorpions, and before Ghevont could take another action, one of the scorpoions struck him again, and he could feel the poison taking effect. He quickly pulled a flash of anti-toxin from his belt pouch and drained it in one gulp. He used what would have otherwise been his last breath to order the two charmed scorpions to protect him.
Kimo scrambled down the hole and across the ceiling. Seeing that Ghevont wasn’t coming up, Nate grabbed the rope and repelled down 20 feet. Elaria cast a haste spell, and then Nate was down on the floor beside Aderian and Ghevont. Kimo, still hidden in the shadows, dropped to the floor and struck at a scorpion from behind. Aderian followed up by squashing that scorpion.
The two charmed scorpions joined the fight, and between them all, the aggressive scorpions were killed. With only a minute or two before the charm spell wore off, Aderian dispatched them. The tunnels were searched and found to be only about 20 feet deep, scorpion nests. Aderian crushed eggs in one of the nests.
Eliminating the scorpions reduced the threat level of the hex to 1:20. Before night fell, Elaria used her crystal ball to see the mirror stolen from the homestead months before. It was no longer in the damp tunnel. It was now submerged in shallow water in a grotto where stingy moss hung from a thick tree canopy.
They spent the entire following day (3/8), completing a search of the area (hex 0510), finding nothing more of interest. They retired to Muleshoe that night.
That morning (3/9), they asked the families at Muleshoe about werewolf sightings. They confirmed the story of wolves with intelligent eyes, and that these were seen since the recent clearing of the prison (see Session #235 – The Ruined Prison). That day, they searched an area long the road heading back toward St. Orlan (hex 0408). The open terrain made for a quick, thorough search, and nothing was found. They returned to Muleshoe that night.
Discovering Geda’s Drop
The next day (3/10), they followed a tributary of the Belianassa south fork, a mile or so north of the road (hex 0308). This open country was fully searched that day. The day after (3/11), they went two miles down the river to another open area. Presently, they came to an impressive waterfall.
A curtain of white water plunged 70 feet over a limestone shelf into a mist-shrouded canyon. At the precipice, 7 “teeth” snagged the river’s flow, churning the overflow into a blinding spray. The wind whipping through narrow fissures in the rock created a discordant moaning sound. The surrounding ledge was littered with sun-bleached bones, indicating an aerial predator’s feeding perch.
Kimo climbed down into the canyon, hoping to find an unseen area behind the falls. The blinding spray obscured any easy access to any such area, if it existed. Still, they knew this area was special, so they made a careful account of how to get to it from the main road. This information was shared in town a few days later, encouraging several townsfolk to investigate themselves. Much speculation was made about the bones, and one curious visitor found an inscription on one of the “teeth” that read “Geda’s Drop, 5422.”
Returning to the Ophin Family Tomb
Another efficient search was made along the road (hex 0607) on the next day (3/12). They soon found themselves in a place familiar to Ghevont, an elf tomb belonging to the Ophin family of Tosasth. (See Session #62 – Elven Entombment). This place was once sealed and protected by a fearsome hydra, but was long ago looted by Tienarth’s Raiders. Coalan slipped into the shadows and then into the cave. Not far past the bones of the hydra, he found three men sitting around a campfire. He returned to relay this information.
The party guessed, maybe hoped, that these men were werewolves, but they hesitated to confront them. Instead, they contented themselves to wait outside the entrance. And in the late afternoon, one of them emerged. He was surprised, perhaps threatened, but then relaxed when he recognized Aderian, who had some fame in St. Orlan as one of the adventurers who opened up the tomb originally. They shared some ale, and the man explained how he and his friends were comfortable living in the cave over the past few months.
When asked if he was an adventurer himself, the man, who was called Miter, but did not actually share this because no one asked, said that he’d was adventurous but in no way made a profession of it. He said he and his friends looked for treasure to be found without any risk of struggle, otherwise living off the land. Ghevont made an ardent pitch for he and his friends to come find the cave formerly used by the hill giants (see Session #236 – Snakes Versus Giants), where Ghevont had been planning to build a temple. He explained to his companions that he meant this as a way to recruit followers of his sect.
Regardless, the party felt confident the men were not werewolves by their easy nature and Nate’s keen knack for detecting evil. They parted ways and headed to St. Orlan to celebrate a successful week of work at the Iron Knight where they shared the news about finding the spectacular waterfalls.
More Reports from Jerker’s Agents
That evening (3/12), they also received more information from Jerker’s agents. In fact, they brought along Hobart, a shepherd working a flock in the elevations west of Muleshoe. Hobart of Muleshoe repeated this story. “I seen ’em, masters. Seven of my finest ewes, snatched in a single heartbeat of a moon-shiver. They didn’t just eat ’em like proper beasts. They dragged ’em southeast-by-south, toward that limestone ridge where the Oak of the Snapped Limb stands—the one the pointy-ears used to pray at.”
End Notes
- Days
- 3/3 – 3/5 Downtime
- 3/6 – Searching near Muleshoe
- 3/7 – Investigate a shrine to scorpions
- 3/8 – 3/11 – Searching near Muleshoe
- 3/12 – Discover Geda’s Drop
- Treasure: none
- Discovery: Geda’s Drop 2,500 xp
- Combat (1960 xp)
- 7 scorpions 280 xp each
- Characters (6 shares of 743 xp)
- Aderian (human, fight, in front) 832 xp
- Caolan (hireling) 372 xp
- Elaria (hireling) 372 xp
- Ghevont (human, ministers) 825 xp
- Jerker (human, strength) 825 xp
- Kimo (unnoticed, outdoors, curious, skills, surprise attack) 780 xp
- Nate (human, fight) 825 xp