Grim News

"Should we take Jamis body back to town for burial?" wondered Baru as they loaded the cart with the seeds and tools.  "Do we have a cloth to wrap the body with?" asked Ralom.  Varrid sped back down the hill to ask Grald if they should take the body with them.

Grald said that the body needed to be brought back to Introsia.  The townsfolk would want to bury their own.  So the party loaded Jamis onto the cart and started down the hill.   It was easier going down than up, even with the cart so a short while later they added Grald and headed back to town.   Baru was pulling the wagon so they send Grald ahead to bring back a horse.  When they finally pulled into Introsia, Irronauchs, Renee and a few other villagers were waiting in the streets.  They appeared anxious waiting for the party to share the results of the quest.  After a few moments of quiet, Renee asked, "Did you recover the seeds?"
When the party answered in the affirmative , the villagers became animated for the first time since the heroes arrived.  The villagers cheered and laughed, some began to dance, others appeared to find out what all the commotion was about.
"The heroes have saved us from what would have otherwise been a bleak and most likely deadly winter," Irronauchs proclaimed, his strong deep voice instantly silencing the rest of the villagers.  "In addition to the meager reward we offered, I propose we do something else for our new friends. I propose we prepare a feast and celebrate this miraculous turn of events!  What say you, people of Introsia?"
"Aye!" the villagers shouted as one, "A feast for the heroes!"  "And dancing," Renee adds quickly, a smile lit up her face.  "The time has come to dance again!  Let music fill the streets of Introsia this night!"
Before the party could protest, the villagers let out another collective cry of joy and excitement, then everyone started rushing around to make preparations.  Within minutes the village's meager supplies were spread out and work commenced on creating a good and hearty feast with the ingredients on hand.  Hidden stores of ale and wine were happily revealed, the best from Irronauchs store, and some villagers broke out musical instruments.  Soon the happy sounds of song and activity filled the air, mixed with the smells of food cooking over great fires.
A village youth boldly asked Baru to tell the tale of their adventure.  Baru gave a modest account of the abbey, ettercaps and giant spiders in his usual lugubrious style.  The villagers were enthralled anyway as they stared at the Tiefling.  Every woman in the village started approaching the heroes with a special dish that most presented in a shy, unassuming manner, but some were more bold with the presentation.  Most of the dishes were of middling fair but Drovic found one so delicious that he downed the whole bowl before he knew it.  A couple of dishes were so bad that even Arvien had a hard time keeping the food down.  Ralom, casting about for poison refused to even try the first dish offered causing the young woman to run away in tears.
Renee rekindled her conversation with Arvien and was regaled with stories of Tymon, second breakfasts, pastries and lavish meals.  Renee could hardly believe that these stories were true but she was clearly in the spell of Arvien's tales.  Later the two danced away the hours together.  A few hours after dark Renee leapt atop a table and shouted for everyone's attention.
"Let's hear it for this brave band of adventurers," she shouted as a wide smile stretched across her pretty face.  "We haven't offered them much more than this feast, our friendship, and our gratitude, but we hope you realize what you efforts mean to us.  Now, we have one other reward to bestow upon you."  With a contagious laugh, Renee tossed keys to Arvien.  "Those open doors in my parent's boarding house.  The rooms are small but comfortable, and you may stay free of charge for as long as you like.  Now, who wants another mug of Irronauchs' ale?"
Irronauchs clambered up on the table to address the crowd, "In my younger days this weapon served me well, " he stated as he drew fort  the ornate warhammer.  "It helped me battle evil and right wrongs, but that was a long time ago.  My time has passed, but this weapon is still in its prime.  I want it to carry on the fight.  For that reason I'm giving it to these brave adventurers.  May it serve you as well as it served me."  The party thanked Irronauchs and started to study the hammer, especially Grunyar who seemed pleased with the balance of the weapon.
Grald then stood up and displayed a small composite short bow.  "I have spent months conditioning and treating this fine hardwood.  It is specially made to take advantage of a bowman's strength."  Grald presented the bow to Seglun who tested the tension of the sting and let fly an arrow.   Seglun admired the excellent craftsmanship and thanked Grald for the gift.  The party wound down and the heroes followed Renee to the boarding house where they spend a restful night.
The next day arrived with sunshine as the party left Introsia, heading east again as the townsfolk were seen hoeing and planting the fields.  At dusk of the second day on the road the party saw a roadside inn on the edges of a small burg.  The inn looked warm and inviting, and the smells wafted from the attached tavern reminded them of the feast in Introsia.  The tavern was a busy place, full of wonderful smells and cheerful conversation.  A group of soldiers occupied a table in the far corner.  They talked and laughed between mouthfuls of steaming stew and hot bread.  At a table near the door, three hunters discussed techniques for stalking deer as the emptied a pitcher of ale.  Other people in the large common room included a variety of travelers: merchants, adventurers, and others between destinations.  The heroes spotted an empty table that they took for their own and a serving maid asked if they wanted wine or ale, stew or mutton.  The party ordered up  pitchers of ale and stew, which was again fair to middling.  As the group finished the meal, the serving maid approached and said that if the wished accommodations, they should talk to the bar tender.  Three rooms were procured and the party spent another restful evening.  Arvien led the charge for first breakfast, bread, meats and cheeses and as the party finished the last of the repast  The door swung wide open and a dusty exhausted figure stumbled into the tavern.  It was Grald, the hunter from Introsia, though he was in much worse shape then when the party last saw him.  He noticed the party as one of the serving maids rushed over to help him.  "I'm sorry," he said as the group noticed cuts and bruises on his face and neck.  "I couldn't help any of them."
"Talk sense, man," the innkeeper said, handing Grald a mug of hot tea.  "Who couldn't you help?  And what it pity's name happened to you?"
Grald took a big swallow from the mug, coughed, wiped a bloody sleeve across his lips, and continues, "The ettercaps," he said looking at the heroes with tear-filled eyes, "there must have been more of those things out there.  They struck two nights ago, right after the sun went down.  They killed everyone, even Irronauchs and Renee.  I fought as best I could, even took one the monsters down, but in the end I only had two choices -- run or die.  Forgive me, but I ran.  When I think about poor Renee, how they set fire to the boarding house while she was still inside, it just makes me sick.  I should have let them kill me too."
The party was devastated, Ralom mused that they didn't even have the warhammer of bow to help defend the town.  Arvien helped Grald to sit at their table, consoling him that he had acted bravely even as he tried to find help.  After a few moments to collect himself once more Grald explained that he a run all night and day trying to reach Tancos for help.  The innkeeper summoned the guard who arrived and hearing the tale made plans to leave for Introsia immediately.  The party wished to join them even though the innkeeper assured them that Captain Falog's men were the best around.  "They'll track down those monsters and bury the dead."  The heroes insisted, so Captain Falog told them to meet in a hour at the stables where horses would await them.  The party went shopping in the meantime and Arvien settled Grald down, paying for this room and board with the innkeeper.
When the party left the inn for the stables a bank of thick fog rolled in, restricting vision to only a few feet and muffling the sounds.  Somewhere in the distance they heard the slow gonging of a large clock.  Bong... Bong... Bong... Bong...  Twelve o'clock, it was nowhere near noon though Drovic, and it was certainly dark even without the fog as streetlamps appeared nearby.  The dirt road seemed to suddenly be cobblestones.
Keeping close to each other, they passed a small dark alley.  Suddenly , a woman's shrill cry of terror pierced the fog shrouded night.  The cry was cut short at its peak and was followed by a low gurgle.  Ralom, Seglun and Baru rushed forward and saw a black cloaked figure, illuminated only by the dim light of a distant street lamp, crouched over a body.  He whirled to face them.  The man's face was splattered with blood.  Under a high top hat, his wild, feral eyes were matched by a tangled mane of black hair and a thick beard.
Flickering lantern light glinted off the bloody blade he held in his left hand.  It was a wicked looking knife of gleaming steel, with and elaborately carved oval guard.  With a guttural growl, the man made a superhuman leap into a waiting carriage.  As the coachman's head turned, Baru caught a glimpse of a dark, brooding face, long and narrow, with a drooping mustache.  Like the bearded man, the coachman wore a black cape and black top hat.  With a sharp call and crack of the whip, the coachman jolted the carriage into motion.  Its wheels rattled on the cobblestone street as it gained speed.  As the carriage flew past, Grunyar and Seglun unleashed arrows and Arvien threw a web in front of the fleeing horses.  The missiles found their mark but the coach crashed right through the webbing and disappeared into the darkness.
Ralom and Seglun rushed to the woman's body, which lay twisted on the cobblestones.  Here throat had been neatly slit, revealing bone and muscle.  The wound gaped like a second smile.  From the look on the woman's face, she must have been driven to the brink of insanity before death freed her.  She appeared to be about 20 years old.  There was very little blood on the corpse or the street.  As Baru and Drovic joined the a door slammed in the distance, followed by raised voices and the sound of many feet.  At the far end of the alley, several dim lights bobbed hazily in the mists.  A dozen people appeared through the fog, lanterns held high.  The approached to within a few yards, then stopped frozen in their tracks by the sight before their eyes.  "Murder, murder most foul," came a cry from a dark clad young woman in the crowd. 
As the heroes looked around for a place to run, five figures strode out of the fog toward them: a man in chain mail and four armed guards.  The lead man stepped forward as Seglun held his unbloodied blade int he open, his clean shaven features were probably quite handsome before he received the blow that broke his nose.
"Leaving so soon?" he said calmly.  "We've hardly gotten to know you."  The party pointed to the lack of blood on their blades or clothes and they hadn't fled but were inspecting the scene.    The man introduced himself as Inspector Andrew Logan, chief inspector of the Paridon guard, and ordered a man to inspect the body.  The young woman from the crowd also moved to look at the body. 
"You are the only people known to have seen the killer, so your lives may be in danger.  If you ever need my help, just ask for it.  I may need your help at some points as well.  I beg of you, if you discover anything useful, tell me immediately.  The sooner we stop this murderer, the safer we will all be.," admonished Inspector Logan.
The woman identified the corpse as Beatrice Bump, a woman who walked with men at night to keep them company.  "She won't be missed, except by her clientele,"  she added introducing herself as Ire McMoran, proprietor of the Winking Eye Stitchery.  A strapping fellow with thick, wild brown hair and an eye patch moved up and offered the heroes rooms in his Twilight Yawn Lodging house.  "I'm Koth Rigsby, my wife  Mariel, and I run the place together."
Among the other citizens were a pair of twins, James and Jeremy Williams, owners of the Twin  Sons Pub, just up the street, Hoag van Render the butcher of the Minced Meats shop; Morton von Keller, the undertaker, who left with the guards to take the body to his establishment; Tibble, the town drunk and a few other citizens.
Inspector Logan asks the party to join him a the Paridon Guard Headquarters tomorrow at dusk to help patrol the city. 
Koth led the group around a corner to the Twilight Yawn, saying "a madman has escaped from Bedlam and has committed the murder to further some insane scheme."  Arvien asked how he knew this.  Koth explained that 13 years ago there were 6 murders on 6 consecutive nights and they put a madman away in Bedlam. At the Inn, Mariel, who was past her prime but not old welcomed them and collected for the rooms.  Change was given in pence and shillings, silver and copper coins, unknown to the party.  The learned that the realm was called Zherisia and the city Paridon.  Tourist maps of the city were available from the Inn.
Even though they had just risen the group felt as though a long day had passed as they fell into bed.  In the morning Arvien was late joining the party for breakfast, unusual, and when she joined them she was subdued and quiet.  Varrid asked her what was wrong, to which Arvien mumbled something about a dream involving Renee and Introsia.

DM's Notes: The party earned 200 XP for the night and stand at 14928 needing 8072 to reach 5th level.