Location: In the forests south-southeast of Mount Lavanor

Date: Summer, 1333 Avard

Characters: Este, Halite, Nalani, Galadriel, Isaac, Xydeco

After the long chase of the roc-hawkes, the team turned to Este for answers. Only he had none. And then they heard a scream from the nearby forest – Este's scream, that of his twin brother. Xydeco let Este know in no uncertain terms that his life was forfeit if he did not do as Xydeco said; Este's misadventures had cost the team too much heartache and trouble. The familiars and companions investigated the compound, and then returned, telling of a multi-acre walled compound of stone, overgrown with vines, trees – and webbing to a height of seven feet within, and tunnels of webs running throughout. Onwynn briefly saw something with giant claws pulling Este's brother through the webbing. Rather than attack through the webs, the team sends in the roc-hawkes, which eat half a dozen carrion crawlers moving through the webbing. Those that infest cities and sewers rarely make webbing, but those seemed to be making cocoons of it – enough silk to make them all quite wealthy. The roc-hawkes got a tummy ache from the carrion crawlers, and encountered something else, something Galadriel had read about long ago. Carrion crawlers are only the larval form of a horse-sized creature called chuul. The team entered the compound to the fluttering of torn silk that they were collecting, and took down one of the carrion crawlers without incident.

Date: FRI12MAY2017

DM's Notes: No comment.

Reference: Campaign IX
Previous: IX-11-19
Next: IX-11-21

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(in-game date: Trivor 1)

It's nearing dawn; we crowd Este, but our interrogation is interrupted by a distant scream. We send Onwynn, Poppy & Edyeard to investigate. Galadriel pins Este and we negin our interrogation. Este reveals that his brother killed his father, and that Este is now Baron of Grey Lakes, inheriting the title Count of Autumn Stones.

Onwynn sends back images to Nalani and reports seeing 'fog'. Poppy lets Galadriel knows that she sees webbing at ground level. Edyeard tells Este that he sees lobsters. We aren't getting any further questioning Este, so we decide to head out to see what the fuss is about.

(missing scene - during which we discover the ruins that the animals told us about and guided us to. There is a great wall surrounding a structure with a single opening in it. The entire structure inside the wall is covered in webbing up to about 8-10'. The webbing is thick and there seem to be tunnels, but that's about all we can see.)

We decide to stay put inside the tree line and try to get warm, eat and wait for the sun to rise, which will be the first in 2 days. About an hour after dawn, we approach the ruins from the south side. The forest is quiet - there are lots of small animals, squirrels and things, around. Isaac notices that there are spiders - big spiders, which Nalani is ambivalent about. This is an old growth forest. The path we took through the forest is clear; from our resting place we can see the stone walls of the compound. It's overgrown, and is about 10' tall, and encompasses about 2 acres. The webbing comes to the top of the stone wall, and in some places, stretches from the top of the wall to the ground outside the structure. There is a wooden gate, slightly rotten, with the opening of a tunnel inside it that covers the entire entrance. The walls surrounding the compound are rough, and climbable. There used to be a lot of farmholds in the area; populated - people would set out on their own in this area years ago, but things are pretty deserted now. Issac climbs the wall and reports vegetation and foliage inside the compound; all covered in thick webbing. There are 2 buildings; the webbing comes up 7 or 8 feet over all of the structures. The tops and taller buildings are clear of the webbing. Xydeco creates a map of what he can see with Isaac's input. We send the animals on recon. Poppy can see and smell clearly; reports death; decaying bodies (human and animal), and sees something crawling through the tunnels.

We decide to enter the gate and tunnel. Este steps in first; the webbing is sticky, which slows his progress greatly, so we retreat. We decide to try to burn away the webbing; Xydeco spills oil all over and Isaac tosses a lamp inside. The webbing melts in place but doesn't burn. There is something coming towards us. With the webbing, we suspect overly large spiders and decide to call the birds in hopes that they will eat the spider. Este lets out a whistle that temporarily damages everyone's hearing. The birds arrive, and we ask Morning Wind to dig a trench for us. She does, and we take a defensible position outside the wall. Morning Wind steps over the wall, and we discover that it's not spiders; it's a carrion crawler (think 4' tall, 12' long maggot with poisonous tentacles coming out of its face). They normally inhabit sewers. The birds report seeing a larger one, but different; it has 4 legs, is bigger than a horse and claws. Carrion crawlers and the larval stage of chuul; there is at least one chuul somewhere in the compound, but we don't really hear or see it. We start in; the birds destroyed a lot of the webbing, so we have some space to move around. Este leads that party into the compound, in the space beyond the tunnel where the birds broke the webbing up. Halite points out that the webbing is silk, and quite valuable. Most of us start collecting bits of silk as we go. Our hearing is still compromised thanks to Este's whistle earlier, but we hear occasional hissing from beyond where we can see. Este stays close to the wall inside the compound and the party follows. Nalani releases Ray of Light, and draws Elidor's Blade. The webbing collects like spun sugar or cotton candy on the blade. There is a carrion crawler about half in the tunnel, half in the clearing. It doesn't see us. We contemplate whether or not this is a trap of some sort, but attack and kill the crawler. Galadriel and Nalani collect samples of teeth (which are transparent and can be sued to make small bucklers??), 2 poison sacks (one each for G and N), and skin.

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