Part XI: The Horrors of Illmarsh

Hot on the trail of the dark riders, we ended up in the town of Thrushmoor, nestled on the edge of Avalon Bay.  We found out that the riders had changed horses here and then split up. No-one knew where one of them had gone, but the other was seen heading south, along the coast, towards the town of Illmarsh.

As we headed along the coast road, the sky darkened, and a storm began to brew. The waves smashed up against the road edge, and a light rain began to fall. Suddenly we noticed a fishing trawler caught among the waves. It seemed to have only one crewman, who was struggling earnestly to steer the ship safely towards a nearby dock. Without hesitation, Skalif took to the air and flew over to the ship, and with his knowledge of the sea, he managed to bring the ship into the dock without any damage.

The grateful man was a white-haired old man named Horace Croon. he told us that he had been testing his new invention - a craft able to traverse underwater - when the storm hit. The rest of the crew had jumped overboard, leaving him on his own. Once we were sure he was ok, we said our goodbyes and continued towards Illmarsh.

The villagers of Illmarsh were insular and suspicious of strangers (which is nothing new in Ustalav), and our enquiries soon came to the attention of the local mayor - Early Greedle. He told us that the local church to Gozreh (god of nature, weather and the sea), the Recondite Order of the Indomitable Sea, was up to something strange and sinister, and he wanted us to put a stop to their evil ways.

So, we investigated the church, and found some clerics who were definitely not happy to see us. We also discovered that the church was actually dedicated to a demon lord known as Dagon, god of evil sea creatures, and that Gozreh was just a cover. We also discovered several corpses of locals without their heads. My medical knowledge could tell that they hadn't been decapitated with a weapon, but more like ripped off.

We also found something disturbing about a tradition of Illmarsh. Every second and third daughter that a couple had was given up for fostering to people known simply as "the neighbours". No-one knew who these mysterious people were, but apparently the young girls fostered lived a life of luxury with the people, but were never seen again. In exchange, the neighbours made sure that the fishermen's nets were always full. And it was the church that dealt with all of this.

However, it seemed that the neighbours hadn't been seen for a while, so the leader of the church had gone to a ruined manor house in the nearby swamp called Undiomede House - the house of the original founding family of Illmarsh - where he could supposedly contact the neighbours.

At the ruined house, we encountered High Priest Voltiaro and his lackeys. As usual, none of them were happy to see us. Voltiaro put up a fight, but Ichabod's strong sword arm soon brought him down. Or so we thought. As the fatal blow struck, Voltiaro staggered backwards, and then, to our horror, his head exploded, and hundreds of writhing tentacles emerged from his neck. And he kept on fighting! When we finally defeated this nightmare, four of the tentacles detached themselves as large slug-like creatures that slithered off into the shadows. One of them latched on to the grizzly bear that Ferdibrand had summoned, and it began to burrow towards its brain. Fortunately, Ellavorn was able to remove it before it got there.

What was going on in Illmarsh? What was the tentacled horror and the slug things it became? We needed to explore the rest of the ruined manor to find out...

Part X: Wolves and the Way

We headed through the Shudderwood to the ancient temple known as the Stairs of the Moon, now the throne of the packlord of the werewolf tribes. With us was Duristan from the Lodge, who was adamant he was coming with us. When we got there, we discovered the place under siege. Mathus, the head of one of the tribes, and his allies had taken the temple. The tribes who were opposed to him were surrounding it. However, as soon as we arrived, Duristan decided to find a way through to the temple on his own, and he quickly left us, despite our protests.

As the rest of us waited, Skalif used his magic to teleport himself directly into the temple, where he encountered Mathus and his allies. With some skillful diplomacy, Skalif convinced Mathus that we were not here to cause any harm, and that we just wanted to know where the Whispering Way had gone. Mathus told us that the Way, lead by a man named Auren Vrood, had taken the packlord's heart and headed east towards a place called Feldgrau.

As we started our journey eastward, we met with the one werewolf tribe that were trying to remain neutral in the whole werewolf crisis - the Prince's Wolves. Their leader told us that some of his people had gone after the Whispering Way, hot on the trail of the Demon Wolf Tribe, who had gone after them to retrieve the packlord's heart. He also gave us tokens to show to his tribe that we were friendly.

It took us six days to reach Feldgrau. When we arrived, we saw that the village was in complete ruin. Most of the houses had been burnt down, and there were no locals to be found.

While exploring, we encountered Duristan. He told us that he and some friends had decided to follow the Demon Wolves here and they were eager for all of us to meet up. So, we set off through the village, trying to avoid the patrols of Whispering Way cultists that were patrolling the ruins.

We found the members of the Prince's Wolves who had come here. And they told us that we were walking into a trap. When Duristan had disappeared from us, he had been captured by the Demon Wolves and infected with lycanthropy. He was now one of them, and he was leading us to our doom. However, before we had a chance to confront him, Duristan changed into a werewolf, so the Prince's Wolves leapt on him and tore him to pieces.

The wolves told us of a ghost that had been seen in the ruins of the inn. We went to see it, and found the spirit of the inn keeper. He told us of the tragic history of Feldgrau: - 20 years ago, an army had stopped in town on the way to a battle elsewhere, and the inn keeper had given them a place to stay. And then, during the night, the army burnt down the village and massacred everyone. The ghost said that the Whispering Way were now raising the dead villagers as a skeletal army.

They had to be stopped.

So, myself, Skalif, and a werewolf teleported into the building that Auren Vrood was using as his headquarters, while the others took on the undead army amassing in the square.

Vrood was not an easy opponent. In fact, his first act was to cast a spell that killed both the werewolf and Skalif! I was on my own against him! Fortunately, the clerics and paladins were quick to destroy the army, and rushed in to help me.

With Auren Vrood dead and the undead army destroyed, the remaining cultists fled. Fortunately, we found a scroll of Raise Dead, and Bazak the priest was able to bring Skalif back to us. But the packlord's heart  couldn't be found. The ghost of the inn keeper then stepped in to help us by retrieving the memories from Vrood's body. We saw that the heart, along with the Seasage Effigy stolen from Lepidstadt University, and the spirit of Warden Hawkin from Harrowstone Prison had been given to a pair of dark riders who had ridden south to the town of Thrushmoor.


So, we headed south, on the trail of the dark riders...

Part IX: Ascanor Lodge

Hot on the trail of the Whispering Way, we headed into the Shudderwood towards Ascanor Lodge.

A bit of background for you. The Shudderwood is known for its werewolf tribes. They keep to themselves mainly, never interfering with life outside the wood's borders.
Ascanor Lodge is a hunting lodge for the rich and powerful, situated within the Shudderwood.

When we finally arrived at the Lodge, we were refused entry. The halfling doorman said that our passes that we had been given were not recognised, and so he blankly refused to let us in.
As we were arguing with him, a group of people barged past us. One was a gruff looking ranger. The other was a nobleman with a group of lackeys carrying his belongings. The nobleman stared at us in awe when he realised we were adventurers, and begged us to accompany him on a hunt. He introduced himself as Duristan, of one of the wealthy families from Ardeal. He was out hunting werewolves, and had a lead on where one might be.

We followed a trail to a clearing where we discovered a dead stag. We also discovered a pair of dire boars who were guarding the kill.
Once the boars were dealt with, we realised it was getting dark, so Duristan decided to set up camp. The ranger said he wasn't staying and headed back to the Lodge.
Once the camp was set up, Duristan wanted to hear stories of our exploits as adventurers. But as we were talking, the night was pierced with the sound of a scream.
Hurrying to the sound, we found that Duristan's lackeys were all dead. Standing over their bodies was a large, grey-furred werewolf.  It told us that we should stay out of werewolf affairs, and that if we continued to side with Mathus, we would end up dead. It then bounded off through the woods.

Who was Mathus?

Returning to the camp, we spent the night, then returned to the Lodge with Duristan.
The halfling doorman was waiting for us, and he apologised about not letting us in. he said that our invites were indeed valid, but he had not recognised them. He also said that the Lodge's overseer would like to meet us.

The interior of Ascanor Lodge was finely decorated, as befitting a hunting lodge for the upper class. We were shown upstairs and into a library, where we were met by the Lodge's overseer - Estovion Lozarov. He also apologised for us not being let in, and said that the Lodge and all of its facilities were at our disposal.

Once we had settled in, we set about finding out about whether the Whispering Way had been here. Most of the other guests knew nothing about them. One guest, though, a woman known as Madame Ivanja, knew something, but wasn't telling. Skalif turned on the charm, and soon he was in Ivanja's good books. We found out that the Whispering Way had indeed been here, though not for very long. They had asked Estovion to arrange a meeting between them and the man called Mathus. The meeting went on for about an hour in secret, and then they left.

Mathus again. We needed to find out who he was.

Using the Lodge's libraries, we found what we were looking for. Mathus was the leader of one of the five werewolf tribes that inhabit the Shudderwood. A ruthless leader, unliked by the other tribes, and one that wanted to be packlord  (the one who ruled over all of the tribes).

The current packlord of the werewolves had been killed by the Whispering Way and her heart had been stolen. Normally, when the packlord is killed, the person who takes her place eats her heart. But with the heart stolen, war had broken out among the tribes over who would be the next packlord.

The information also told of an ancient temple of Desna, known as the Stairs of the Moon, that was now the highthrone of the packlords, and the gathering place for all of the werewolf tribes. And also where the Whispering Way had stolen the packlord's heart.

It was time for us to venture deep into werewolf territory and discover what was going on...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Part VIII: Rescuing the Count

We continued our exploration of the castle. We entered a series of interconnected towers that were partially flooded. It seemed as if someone wanted to stop us continuing, as all access to the upper levels had been severed. Fortunately, our dwarf cleric is a master with stone, and managed to shape a staircase for us so we could reach the top floor.

From the top floor we crossed a slender bridge to the final tower. Shining in the sun was a large lightning rod protruding from the roof.

As we entered, we were met by a huge, slavering beast, stitched together from pieces of animals. It packed quite a punch, and despite the fighting skills of our paladins, and an unusual display of Skalif's sword-wielding moustache, it would not die. Ellavorn then had an idea and took out a Harrow card that she had and threw it to the floor. With a command, she told the creature to flee. The beast fled through the door, and in a mad panic, fell over the edge of the bridge into the waters below.

We explored the tower and found notes and diagrams talking about a machine that could be used to summon and control The Beast of Lepidstadt. So that's what the Whispering Way were doing here. They had used the device to make the Beast steal the Seasage Effigy from the Lepidstadt University.

Suddenly, a small imp-like creature appeared and told us that Count Caromarc was being held prisoner upstairs by an enormous, ravenous beast.

Cautiously we moved upstairs. We found the Count imprisoned inside some sort of iron maiden device. And guarding him was an enormous creature - part human, part spider, part scorpion. We knew it would be too strong for us to take on, so we had only one choice - get to the roof and summon The Beast.

Skalif flew out of the window and up onto the roof. There he manipulated the machine, causing a storm to break over the tower. As the storm raged, Skalif said "I can sense him inside my head. He's coming."

A short while later, the door crashed open, and The Beast stood with us. Furiously he charged at the creature, and an immense battle began. We aided The Beast as best we could, and soon the creature lay dead.

We rescued the Count, who thanked us for bringing his "son" home to him. He also told us that the Whispering Way were headed into the Shudderwood and a place called Ascanor Lodge.

We left the castle and continued following the trail of the Whispering Way once more.