Quick Summary:
Group understand more about the industry of Deepcut
Group engage in a gambling game -- a rat race at the Honorable Hound
Group understand a goblin sortie has taken a sentry tower by one of the cuts
Group rest and recuperate at the bunkhouse, lightly barricading the door
Group wake up to find the smithy on fire
Rio leads the effort to put out the flames
Rania pursues a hook-handed man through the eastern gate
The hooked man escapes -- jumping off the quay onto a boat
Group put an unconscious guard in the hands of Festim, a healer
Group go looking for the blacksmith, unearthing a scene by the stable
Mayor Finregan is disconsolate outside the stable, comforted by Yessica
Mayor Finregan orders the gates to the palisades closed
Finregan is suspicious, but charges the group to investigate the stable
Group investigate a murder scene in the stable
Two men are dead: one flayed, and one impaled with a spade
Two shadows emerge from the corpses, which the group dispatch
Loose Ends:
Hooked man jumping from the quay into the boat (2 persons) [Updated Session 5]
Unconscious guard [Had been knocked out; recalls "Iron Gull" as the boat]
Goblin sortie
Two murders (spade man, flayed man) [Strongest lead is "Hooked Man"]
White medallion from Hoseph [Amulet of shared suffering, paired with Freli's]
Key from Hoseph [This opened a chest in Freli's house]
The group rest for a while in the Honorable Hound, partaking in a game of rat race. Gaerfinas wins some gold, picking the victor, "Guthbert". The game breaks the ice with the woodsmen in the inn, and the group take some time to find out more about the town.
Deepcut is a woodcutting township, and a relatively new venture south of Daggerfalls. The township was setup after Lord Morn retook Daggerfalls, and so cannot be more than three years old. The place survives on trade with Daggerfalls: Deepcut cuts Goldleaf trees, which are very rare (and a new delicacy across the Dale Lands), while Daggerfalls provides everything else the town needs that cannot be found or made locally.
Deepcut fields three cutting operations for the rare Goldleaf trees, led by independent bands of woodsmen. There bands are apparently named The Wolves, The Bears, and The Leopards. Members from each of the bands have a small, neat tattoo on his or her cheek for their corresponding tribe (chevron for Wolf, diamond for Bear, or cross for Leopard). In The Honorable Hound, only men of the same tribe seem to sit together
After drinking a little Goldleaf mead and eating some nutritious broth made of dried riverweed (not that bad, to be fair), the group retire to bed in the bunkhouse next to the Honorable Hound. Slightly suspicious of this little settlement out in the woods, Kelnor lightly barricades the door. The all sleep.
In the middle of the night, Rio stirs to the sound of snoring and a suspicious glow from the mottled glass of the bunkhouse window. Sliding back the barricade and waking the others, he opens the bunkhouse door to discover that there is a fire outside. The smithy is on fire.
Rio takes action quickly, and begins to pour water on the flames from the nearby well. Kelnor goes to help him. Rania, noticing a shadowy figure flit between the buildings, pursues and chases it down -- she finds a hook-handed man dashing out of the East gate, over the unconscious form of a gate guard. He runs down the quay, while Rania fires bolts into his back (both find their mark, but he runs onward). With a leap into the dark, he lands out of sight, but Rania follows him down the quay and can make out the shape of a sailed boat heading off. At this point, she can make out enough in the gloom with her elven dark vision there there is another person in the boat as they sail off.
The unconscious guard at the Eastern Gate is taken away by a healerman, Festim. And, regrouping, the party help the Deepcut woodsmen put out the flames of the smithy, forming chains of men shuttling buckets of water. The intervention can't do much for the smithy -- the building is left a burnt-out husk, with roof collapsed inward. -- but you do save the nearby carpenter from being burned down.
Wondering where the blacksmith actually is, the group begin to look for him -- and head toward the west-side of the palisade where they are told his house is located. As they head that way, they notice a cluster of folks outside the stable. Approaching, they find a lady consoling a man on his knees in his nightclothes. Finregan, a man who seems to be of some authority in the palisade, is disconsolate and being comforted by the woman, who is Yessica. They are talking about the death of a man in the stables -- it is the blacksmith, Hoseph.
As they approach, Finregan is suspicious of the group, given what has just happened around town. However, Gaerfinas' words and symbol as a Priest of Helm reassure him that the party is of no immediate ill intent. Finregan, with tight nerves, tells them to look within the stables, while demanding the gates to the palisade be shut. He is guided away somewhere by Yessica.
The group inspect the stables, and unearth the bodies of two men: one is flayed, and pinned out in a ritualistic manner, while the other is dead -- impaled with a spade at the back of the stable. As Kelnor inspects the scene, he finds a medallion and a key at the scene.
Before the group can do much else, two shadows rise up from the corpses and the group have no choice but to fend of these spirits... it is a close-fought battle, but eventually they are dispatched. (Battle flow summarized below.)
Rania takes a shot at the shadow emerging from the flayed man, wounding it.
The shadow from the flayed man strikes Gaerfinas, draining him of strength.
Kelnor throws a dagger, but it clatters to the ground behind the shadow.
The party flee the stables into the light -- with Gaerfinas leaving out the back.
The shadows give chase, but seem to waiver in the light of the dawn.
As the party emerge from the stable, guards from the gates head over.
Yessica returns, having heard commotion, and fires her bow into the stable.
Kelnor tries to sneak attack the undead, but finds no good viscera to target.
A shadow emerges from the stable, and lunges at Rania, draining her of strength.
Gaerfinas finds strength from Helm, bringing sacred flame upon the shadow.
The shadow dissipates, leaving only one shadow remaining in the stable.
The group round on the remaining creature, hidden in the dark, but cannot see.
It takes Gaerfinas' keen eyes to spot the remaining shadow -- and he brings another divine flame down upon it.
Experience
Kelnor (60)
Gaerfinas (60)
Rio: (60 + 20); extra experience awarded for realistic choices
Rania: (60)
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