We started with Paul’s Barbarian. The leader of his clan, Madame Eva, told him to take one of the wagons, load it with extra supplies and head east. She also gave him a small bundle that she said one of his new companions would have need of. She said all this rather obliquely as if explaining physics to a child and expecting him to understand. But eventually, Kharn figured out what he was expected to do. I think he was to gather these new friends and return to Madame Eva for further instructions. Soon after the rest of the players found themselves awakened on a lonely spooky road in the middle of nowhere. All of them, including Kharn, have been having a reoccurring dream. There were lots of handouts describing all this but it summarizes as such. A land of great evil is in need of heroes to rescue it. We’ve all been here before, reincarnating over and over again. And then Madame Eva beckoning us to see her. Each awoke with 2 tarot cards, describing their nature and their fate. We had our sleeping clothes, our heirloom item, our comfort item, and those cards. That’s it. Except for Kharn, who was fully equipped since he’s from here.
We compared notes. Loki the Ranger, Arlo the Wizard, Ambrus the Rogue, and Kaladin the Monk had known each other, although briefly, from the other side. Zolton and the Triton were from completely different planes of existence. Kharn was asked if he had any extra weapons or armor but he did not. He did have that bundle which turned out to be Zolton’s spellbook. (Note from Dan: Strangely Zolton is a cleric who thinks he's a wizard. So... yeah. Either he's nuts or that book is messing with his mind.) Loki dug into the wagon and among the meager supplies, only found a trunk of brightly colored woman’s clothes and a big tent. Kaladin noted the smell of death and a body was discovered. He appeared to be a commoner carrying a letter who had been killed by wolves several days ago. Speaking of wolves, one could be heard in the distance. The note was examined. Something about the town of Borovia needing help against some evil. And a reward. There were more discussions but when more wolf howls were heard, we hit the road. (Note from Dan: as we left the DM revealed that a horde of wolves appeared where we had been. Good thing we left.) A couple of stout pieces of wood were found for poor weapons. The extra supplies in the wagon were meager and although several had hunting and gathering skills, there were concerns about venturing off the road so dinner was sparse. The tent was erected and watches assigned. On the 3rd watch, a swarm of bats attacked. Kaladin did some serious damage (Note from Dan: I am a monk so the damage was all from crits. I stole them all from Kharn who couldn't roll above 4 most of the night), Ambrus got bit, several that were asleep never made it into the fight. After a couple of rounds, the bats flew off to seek more defenseless prey.
As we entered the town, we passed a manor house surrounded by a fence. The main house was in decent shape although the outer structures had all collapsed. Beside it, were two children. Rose and her little brother Thorn. They said there was a monster in their house. Their parents had gone into the basement to check it out and had been gone for a couple of hours. They were worried about their little brother in the nursery up on the 3rd floor. In a display of well-coordinated teamwork, everyone headed in different directions. Eventually, Brian had us roll initiative to try to get things under control. Kaladin flew up to the 3rd floor balcony. Loki transformed into a cat and climbed up after him. They went into a spooky bedroom and could hear the baby crying in the next room. When that room was opened, the crib was empty. And then a ghost of a sad woman appeared over the bed (Margaret). She asked why we were there. Kaladin explained that Rose and Thorn were concerned about their baby brother. Did she know where he was? She was confused and concerned but at least she didn’t attack. (Note from Dan: This is the second time I ended up being the contact person for an upset ghost. I think I'm getting pretty good at not triggering them.)
Meanwhile, the rest came in the front door. The mudroom (Note from Dan: I had never heard of this term before. It's the room you wipe your feet and take off your shoes so you don't track things in the house) had shoes that seem to fit everyone in need of them. Zolton found a shield on the wall which he “borrowed” as well. A search of the house commenced. A couple of long swords were also found on the wall. The dining room had a fabulous feast laid out. After two days of twigs and berries, Ambrus grabbed a plate full on his way to the next room. But the food was so tasty, he had to sit down to enjoy it. A round later when Arlo managed to snap him out of it, he realized it was all rotten and he was poisoned. Another room had 3 stuffed wolves that looked surprisingly like monster tokens so that room was deferred. It did seem to have some weapons in it. Zolton skipped the 2nd story and went right to the 3rd where Kaladin and Loki were. (Note from Dan: The ghost had blocked the door inward and Kaladin was trying to get it to lead us inward. Loki had pulled the "I'm a cute kitten scratching on the door. Please open it for me" Naturally his awesome roleplaying was negated the next action when Zoltan opened the door from the other side). A suit of armor animated and tried to push him down the stairs. He avoided that by the barest of margins. With an actual combat started, everyone headed up there. (They never did find a way into the basement unless the dumb waiter went down there.) Since the armor was plate, it’s AC was high but it was soon defeated. The good news was that the breastplate was in good enough shape for Zolton to use. The door to the ghost room was closed and she was not seen again. For now, anyway. Now that everyone was together, we decided to stick together and search the 3rd floor.
We found a body hanging from a rafter in the master bedroom. He had a suicide note. He was the master of the house and was apologizing to his kids for leaving them. Evidently, his wife had done some great evil and this was his only choice. We found another letter written by the wife, thanking a friend for her advice. Something about extreme measures needed to rid the house of evil. We started to think she killed her kids which would make the kids out front ghosts as well. On her nightstand was a jewelry box that had quite a bit of wealth in it. (Note from Dan: The DM boasted how much loot we found. Then I pointed out that it was just about the same amount we had lost on the trip to Ravenloft. So we are now baseline new D&D characters). The rest of the floor was searched, avoiding the ghost room but no way up to the attic was found. There was a balcony from which a climber could get up there however it was noted that the eerie fog seemed to be much thick up there so climbing to it was deferred.
We instead went back to the 2nd floor. It was searched. One room had 4 sets of studded leather which was taken by Loki and Ambrus. Lord Triton felt used armor was beneath him although I suspect he was holding out for medium armor. The other thing that was found was a library. But by this point, we were all tired and worn out by all these clues and descriptions. We had just lost our focus so we stopped there. I suspect the ritual books of Lord Triton and Zolton will be in there. We still haven’t found a way up to the attic or down into the basement but there must be a way somehow. At worst we can climb. (Note from Dan: There was talk of flying or climbing to the 4th floor. The ghost had explained that there was a way to the basement from the attic. However, Brian was very clear that making our way from the balcony to the 4th floor would cross the mist. We think going into the mist is death.) There was talk of making this place our new headquarters, especially since everyone seems to be dead, although with ghosts and bodies and as yet undiscovered evils, maybe we can do better.
