16 Kythorn 1491

Session 4 cont., 10/30/2021

The morning began with the now familiar ritual of Jerry Beard recounting his most recent dream from the night before. This one continued on the same theme as the ones before.

In the dream Jerry Beard was in a large, but dark chamber. There was a man there who was bound to the floor. This was the same man as from the dreams the night before. The man was covered in a dome of light and there were runes on the floor. The only other figure in the dream was a large dark humanoid shadow standing between 8 and 10 feet tall. The figure loomed over the man secured to the floor.

After hearing Jerry Beard‘s story, the group discussed their plans for the day. They decided they would follow up on the rumors of trouble at the Crowler Farm. Gharrus Khorvin was glad to hear this as she said Farmer Crowler had been sorely missed at the farmers market for the last week or so.

Lormin insisted that a picnic lunch was packed for their outing and the group was soon on their way by foot to the Crowler Farm. It took only slightly over 30 minutes to get there, not a terribly long trip.

Upon arriving at the farm, the group saw a fence along both the north and south sides of the road. Each fence had a gate in it and both were left hanging open in a sure sign of neglect on a farm. To the south were fields of crops. They appeared to be somewhat overgrown. There were a number of frames in the field that would normally have held scarecrows, but which were empty.

To the north was a fairly standard farmyard. The was a small house to one side and a large barn to the other. Again the gate was open, and the sense of neglect was fairly strong.

Jerry Beard deiced to try and enter the farm yard using stealth while the rest of the group waited outside the gate. He must have been concentrating too hard and did not notice a pile of old cans by the entrance. He accidently kicked them over, making a loud noise. He was rewarded by being rushed by two skeletal guard dogs. Although long since dead, they still responded with their normal instincts, rushing to attack the intruder. Sylrel transformed into her star form and opened up on the hounds, blasting them to pieces, but not before Jerry Beard was somewhat wounded.

Jerry Beard returned to the group and they decided they would investigate together from that point. The group entered the farmyard and approached the house. Lormin suggested kicking down the door and trying to surprise whatever was inside. No one objected, so he did so.

Inside they saw a fairly typical 1 room farm house. However, it appeared that there was food left out on the table that had begun to spoil, as if everyone had left in a hurry. The group moved inside the house. Lormin and Jerry Beard moving to the center of the room and Sylrel and Evelios Liriel staying by the door. As soon as the group was all in the house, the trap was sprung.

The door of the house slammed shut and the group was assaulted by a feeling of confusion. Most of the members were able to shake it off, but Lormin was overcome and wandered aimlessly. Worst of all, the fire place released a cone of flame into the center of the room hitting Lormin and Jerry Beard. Jerry Beard avoided some of the damage, but Lormin took the full brunt of it.

It took some time for Lormin to shake off the feeling of confusion and he continued to move about randomly. The fireplace repeated it’s act and doused Lormin and Jerry Beard again before they could leave the center of the room. Evelios Liriel had a moment of clear thinking and tried the door of the house, but it appeared to be stuck and quite immovable.

There was a ladder to a loft in the corner of the room, so to escape the fire Lormin followed by Sylrel and Jerry Beard headed up the ladder. In the loft they found the family sleeping quarters. There was 1 large bed and 2 smaller beds as well as several small trunks.

In the larger bed and one of the smaller beds was a most gruesome scene. The family Crowler had been murdered in a most horrific and brutal fashion. The group spread out to search the area. The guys noticed nothing, but Sylrel heard some noises coming from under the second of the smaller beds. Looking under the bed, she saw a young child who was clearly terrified and hiding.

Sylrel assured the child that it was safe and coaxed her to come out from under the bed. The child shared that her name was Karise Krowler and she was the youngest of the Crowler children. Her family had been slaughtered by the farm’s scarecrows, which had come alive and attacked them. She had hidden under her bed and was somehow missed in the carnage. She had remained hidden under her bed since. When pressed about it, she remembered hearing someone say “the Council has been restored” during the attack, but she had no clue what it meant.

While talking to Karise Krowler, Evelios Liriel noticed that the fire place no longer spewed flames into the center of the room. He also determined that the door was no longer stuck shut. He searched around the fireplace, but could not find the cause for why the fire place had behaved the way it did.

Karise Krowler begged the party to take her away from the farm and get her to safety. The party agreed, but said that they first needed to finish searching the farm to try and end any sort of threat. Jerry Beard, who had been seriously wounded previously, stayed with Karise Krowler by the road while the other 3 moved to the barn.

After the what happened in the house, Lormin was feeling more cautious and listed to the large barn doors. He heard clear rustling noises and was certain there were creatures inside. It was decided he would throw open the doors to surprise whatever was inside and the group would attack with everything they had hopefully taking the creatures by suprise.

Throwing open the doors, the group saw 2 animated scarecrows and quickly moved to attack. Sylrel and Evelios Liriel opened up with ranged attacks and Lormin rushed in with his sword drawn. As he raced through the barn he saw a third scarecrow in a portion of the barn that could not be seen from the door way. He screamed a warning to the others as he moved into position.

The fight lasted some time, with Sylrel transforming to her star form and having a great affect with her holy magics. Evelios Liriel also had some success with his ranged attacks and magic shots. Lormin hacked away with his rapier to some affect, but mostly he worked well as a focus for the enemies attacks. Jerry Beard continued to protect the child, at one point trying to convince her it would be ok if he joined to help his friends, but she was clearly in no condition to be left alone.

Once the third scarecrow joined the fight, it appeared to be going poorly for the group. But the tide turned when Sylrel was able to use her magic to a devastating affect and totaly destroy one of the scarecrows in single burst of magic.

After the battle the group searched the barn for any information they could find. They found nothing that shed any light on what had happened at the farm. But during the search, Evelios Liriel found a wonderous item hanging upon a hook in a corner. It appears to be a Howard’s Handy Haversack. A backpack capable of carrying an immense amounts of goods.

At this point the group decided they would head back to the Roc’s Nest to get the child to safety and figure out their next steps.

Session 5, 11/6/2021

Upon returning to the Roc’s Nest, Evelios Liriel retired to his room. He was not feeling well, perhaps the scene at the Crowler Farm had disturbed him more than he let on.

Ysildea was waiting for them in the common room. She had a large sack of onions with her and seemed very intent on them. While everyone seemed curious, no one had the guts to ask what she was up to. Some things are better left unknown.

The group discussed what to do with Karise Krowler. The consensus was that they were in no shape to care for her long term, but that they did not want to turn her out on the streets. After discussing it with Karise Krowler and asking Gharrus Khorvin if she knew if the girl had any extended family, the group decided that they would go to Fulram Madheart at Madheart’s Academy and inquire if he would have space for her or know of some place that the girl could stay.

Upon arriving at Madheart’s Academy, the group knocked on the door and spoke to Fulram Madheart. Ysildea immediately asked for enrollment papers. Madheart said he doesn’t currently have any adult classes, but would have some in the upcoming month is she was interested in reading. This must have angered her and she took her forms and promptly left.

The remaining members of the group took some time discussing the possibility of Karise Krowler being placed into the program. Madheart stated that he took no borders, but that he would be happy to check with the children in his program and their families to see if there was anybody willing to take the child in. He also agreed to allow her to attend the program free of charge after her recent experiences. The group decided that would be an acceptable solution, but that first Karise Krowler would need a few days to recover before attending class.

Right before the party left the school, Jerry Beard thought to ask Madheart about the recent disappearance of so many children. Madheart was upset about the children being taken and the ones killed, but claimed to have no idea how it was happening. He did admit that some of the children that had gone missing were students of his. And he claimed that all the children that had disappeared were “troubled kids”. They were the ones known to be bullies and who picked on and harassed the other children. The group paid close attention to his answers, but sensed no duplicity.

After leaving the school, Lormin, Jerry Beard and Sylrel decided that it would be better for Karise Krowler to stay at the Roc’s Nest and not attend class until such time as the issues with the Disappearing Children was cleared up. They also realized, that perhaps Constable Hawthorne would have more information and decided that it was an opportune time to visit him with Ysildea currently occupied with her onions and trying to fill out admission papers in triplicate.

The group proceeded to the Townhall where the entered and asked to speak to Constable Hawthorne. The clerk gave them a bit of a run around until they said they wanted to speak about the Disappearing Children. The clerk went to get the constable at that point.

Constable Hawthorne was fairly blunt, but not unfriendly. He appeared (and claimed) to have much going on and to be very busy. The constable asked what the group knew about the children disappearing and Lormin shared what little they knew up to that point. The constable then asked why the group was interested and Jerry Beard explained about what happened at the Crowler Farm and that we were concerned about Karise Krowler and if she would be safe.

Constable Hawthorne thanked the group for what they did at the Crowler Farm and said he would send a team out to verify that everything was handled and there was no more threat. He then discussed the Disappearing Children case with the group.

He really did not have much more information to add. He admitted that the town constables really had no leads in the case. He dismissed Fulram Madheart‘s claims about the children’s behavioral issues. He had a pronounced “boys will be boys” attitude. Ultimately, he was glad if the party would look into the issue and said there would be a reward if they could resolve it, but could offer no assistance as they were stretched thin as it was with the Recent Murder from a week ago.

This piqued the groups interest and they asked about the details. Constable Hawthorne told them about the case, a recent murder from a week ago.

Jayla Floren was working late at the Gilded Pegasus Restaurant by herself. It was after close and she should have been cleaning up for the night. When Gryffen Freed showed up the next day to open the restaurant, he discovered that one of the upstairs windows had been smashed in. When he went upstairs to look, he found the body of Lukas Wynter (Jayla’s ex-boyfriend) in his upstairs dinning room. Jayla Floren had not returned home that night and was nowhere to be found. However, Perrin Morse (Jayla’s current boyfriend) was found nearby wandering the streets. He was confused and covered in blood and wounds, as though he had been in a struggle. He claimed to have no recollection of the night before.

Constable Hawthorne explained that they were holding Perrin Morse in the cells as the most likely suspect, but had no real proof of what happened that night and no clues to go on. Again, he offered the group a reward if they could somehow solve the issue for him.

The group thanked him for the cases to work on and the reward offers and asked if there was anything else they should look into. He said, yes, there was one more thing. There had been a reported Assualt on the Temple of Tyr in town. Lorien Yost had reported that a group had shown up at the temple and invaded his privacy. They had then ransacked the place, including his personal quarters damaging and destroying some of his possessions. Again, there would be a reward if they could find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

Lormin promised that the group would take over the investigation and go out soon and talk to Lorien Yost about what happened. Constable Hawthorne thanked him and said he would leave the matter in the group’s hands then.

Afterwards, the group decided to go to the Gilded Pegasus Restaurant and investigate the scene of the Recent Murder, since it was located near the Townhall. At the restaurant they met Gryffen Freed, the owner. They asked him what he knew about the murder. He did not have any specifics details, but filled them in on some background info.

He said that Jayla Floren was one of his best workers. Always very reliable. He also said that Lukas Wynter had always been ok, until after the breakup. It seemed that he took it pretty hard and kept pursuing Jayla. At some point he caused several disturbances at the restaurant and was no longer welcome there.

On the night in question, Jayla would have been working after close finishing up the cleaning. She should have been alone. Lukas Wynter was banned from the restaurant and Perrin Morse would not have been allowed in to visit Jayla after hours.

Gryffen Freed allowed the party to investigate the crime scene, although it had already been cleaned up. The group asked about the broken window and he verified that it had indeed been broken inward. He was puzzled and mentioned several times that he did not understand why the intruder broke the window since the balcony had a door.

The group went out to the balcony and took a look around. They saw not obvious access to it from the ground floor, but found no other details. Back inside, Jerry Beard investigated the spot where the body had been found. He found a clump of dark brown hair that had been missed during the cleanup. Closer examination revealed it to be animal fur.

Finding nothing else, the group decided to go to Floren House and speak to Jayla’s Mom. She let the group in the house and answered their question the best she could. She had not seen here daughter since that night. Her daughter had friends, but spent most of her time with her boyfriend, first Lukas Wynter and then Perrin Morse. Jayla’s Mom had liked both boys, but had wished that Lukas Wynter and taken the hint a little better when Jayla Floren broke up with him.

The party then searched Jayla Floren‘s bedroom. In the room Sylrel found a letter from Lukas begging to meet, that he had information for her. She also found a small unopened present from Lukas. Inside the present was key. It had no identification marks on it and Jayla’s Mom did not recognize it. The group took the key and the note with them when they left.

Next they decided to go to Lukas’ place of work and see if they could find anything. Lukas Wynter had worked in the Townhall as a records clerk. At the records department, they interviewed the other records clerks. They said they did not have any of Lukas’ possessions and that he did not have a special work area. The only thing they would have would be the work log that shows what each clerk had been working on.

The group reviewed the log and found out that Lukas Wynter had checked out some files himself several weeks ago. They were genealogical records of some sort. But the log did not indicate exactly what records he had taken. The clerks could not be of any more help, so the group left at that point.

Lukas Wynter had lived a ways outside of town, so it was decided that it was too late to head to his house to search it. That would have to wait for the next day. But they were not ready to head back to the Roc’s Nest yet. They decided that they would try and continue their investigation into the Disappearing Children.

The plan was to find a local park, identify kids they thought were naughty and then follow them home as stealthily as possible. Yes, it really was that creepy. But it worked and Sylrel found some children they could follow.

While following the children, they noticed a large/dark figure moving in the shadows behind them. They went into the alley to see if they find and confront the creature, but they found nothing. They spread out a bit at that point and Jerry Beard decided that maybe the creature had gone to the rooftops. He put his natural climbing abilities to good use and headed up to the top of the buildings to get a better advantage point.

From up high, Jerry Beard could see a large creature lurking in a shadow and called out it’s location. Lormin cast dancing lights and revealed a large humanoid undead creature. Lormin and Jerry Beard rushed in with Sylrel coming up behind to support them.

As we engaged with the creature, it appeared more inquisitive and defensive then aggressive. The creature asked “why do you track these children, these ones have done nothing wrong”. He then tried to flee from the group. Lormin struck out and hit the creature preventing it from leaving. The creature grew frustrated and said “you have done nothing wrong, I do not wish to harm you”, then he struck out at Lormin with a mighty blow and crushed Lormin to the ground. Sylrel healed Lormin so he could rejoin the fight.

Jerry Beard charged the creature and it again tried to escape. What followed was a short running battle of the creature trying to flee and the group using dancing lights to keep if from disappearing into the shadows, with both groups shouting at each other. The creature kept repeating that it did not want to harm the group because they had done no wrong (but he would strike out most effectively when cornered) and the group shouting back questions as to the creatures motives and purpose. The most meaningful revelation was right before the creature escaped when he said “I fulfill my master’s desires” in response to being asked why he was killing children.

Luckily for the group the creature then managed to slip away into the night. If they had been able to corner it and force it into a fight, it probably would not have ended well for the group.

After the beating they had taken, they decided they would head back to the Roc’s Nest and regroup before deciding the next day what they would do next.