The party awakens once again in Nightwick Village
Brother Breagdoir (Cleric 1)
Grodsworth van Snorly (Frogling 1)
Ianthi (Changling 1)
Luminal Space (Changling 1)
Mayfly (Magic-User 3)
Sotar (Cleric 2)
Hirelings: Assmus, Bartel, Elger, Fidgety, Grolmes, Heyno, Ticze, Mach, Ticze
AT THE MEDUSA'S HEAD...
Having returned from Lychgate every so slightly richer by retrieving the bounty on Hoppin-in-the-Hood and selling the location of the lost shrine of Richard the Pryor (PC NOTE: Basically Session 25) the party makes plans to plunge once again into Nightwick Abbey. The goal is to refind the stairs to the second level of the Abbey and potentially more of its treasures. Mayfly quickly grabs this "heretic" as described by Sotar:
A peasant, Hartnid is branded with a strange sign (a # inside of a square, making a 3 x 3 block of nine squares). The clerics among you know this is a sign of the Xagygian heresy, which states that alignment is not a line but a quadrangle spectrum. Hartnid claims to not even know what a quadrangle is. 5sp per outing
...DOWN IN NIGHTWICK...
WEST TOWER: In a rare break with tradition, the party descends into Nightwick and quickly travels back to the (former) Butcher's domain.
PC NOTE: The interesting bit of procedure here. If we could post a map to our Discord, the DM is happy to move us near the room we desire in Nightwick; rolling of course for any random encounters. I think it is a nice way to reinforce the value of mapping. And cuts down on having to walk through rooms one by one.
LEVEL TWO: The party descended down into the second level and after some stomach-turning sensations, arrives in a room with two columns and 3 standard Nightwick doors. Having a couple of Changelings on hand, the party fans out to listen at each door. At the north door, a shuffling can be heard; at the south door, the crying of infants (that can't be good); at the east door...nothing (perfect). The party moves through the east door with van Snorly in the scout position. Two doors, north and south, in this hallway which continues east and turns south.
SIGIL ROOM: The party listens at the door and hearing nothing, opens it. The room is filled with a pulsing red and blue light. Mayfly asks Hartnid to enter and scout around...for 5 SP. The new hireling agrees, walks in, and calls more detail about the strange symbols on the floor. Then he screams and runs back out, slamming the door behind him. The party immediately pelts him with questions, but he can only stutter back something about walking plants.
The party readies themselves and peaks in to see three large ambulatory plants with hunched "bodies" but large pitcher plant-like heads. Through the bizarre sensory organs, the vegetation makes a move toward the party. The party backs up and readies themselves to strike!
Several slow seconds later, because those plants ain't fast, the plant emerges. The party was quick to set up oil across the threshold and construct a trip wire. The rest of the party let loose with slings and arrows. One of the strange creatures goes down! A second steps through the door. Mayfly fumbles the torch, missing the oil, and having it extinguish on the floor. The fearsome flower lashes out at Luminal with a barbed-tipped stinger from its large flower, hit!, but Luminal pass the save throw and avoids being poisoned!
The next few rounds go toward the party's favor and the abominations are dispatched. Luminal and Mayfly make quick work to remove a stinger from each of the vegetative beasts.
Mayfly investigates the sigils and notices that one contains what looks like the drawings of stairs. Thinking it a way to level 2, he presses it with his foot. A hum, then a crack and flash of lightning occurs behind the door to the south. A cacophany of animal noises is heard from the southern room and a stampede of shuffling misshapen bodies bolts out of the door and to the hallway west.
LIGHTNING ROOM: The party of course decided to investigate. Upon entering the room they found a metal column topped with a sorta thick metal wheel that was anchored to the floor but appeared to be moveable. They also discovered 3 charred corpses of the animal-folk. Oops. Rooting through the burned bookshelves and bodies, the party discovers 3 red potions and 200 SP.
SOIL ROOM: Returning to the SIGIL ROOM, the party moves east and turns north in a small room with really nothing in it.
THE SHACK: After a walk up a short flight of stairs, the party is struck to find a shack built on top of a dirt floor. About to investigate, the party hears a barking cry: "Halt! Who goes there?" And fading into view is another animalistic figure arising from the ground. Quickly and just as mysteriously others fade into view. After a quick negotiation by Luminal, the manamal group agrees to lead the party to the garden. As they march down a western corridor, they promptly fade from view.
What?
Luckily a new group of manamals showed up. The second time around the party has no luck in convincing them to lead, so the group turns west and proceeds down the hallway. Mistake. Immediately, the group is set upon by 6 man-sized creatures, undead assuredly, but with large puff-ball-like heads. The skirmish does not go the party's way. Solid hits are struck, but those blows bring more trouble as the head bursts open with a cloud of spores. The front rank passes their save! Snorly then leaps into the action in an attempt to disrupt the undead grouping. Snorly's spear is driven home, killing another spore-head. But the party could only watch in horror as these horrible creatures pummeled Snorly to death!
The party could only do one thing... RUN!
...BACK TO TOWN.
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