The Abandoned Manor, Blackchapel, Hookhill, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Three. Nightfall. Monday, December 26th, 576 CY
Freely and of their own volition, the doomed heroes spend the night in the haunted house. They are more comfortable amongst the horrors they oppose, than amongst the people they wish to save. Have they stared too long into the abyss? Were they growing apart from humanity, becoming something entirely other?
Long Bo finds a large rusty cauldron in the wreck of the kitchen and, with divine blessings, Ingrid miraculously provides healing, food, and water that they may clean themselves.
All around them looms the great empty darkness of the ominous, otherworldly mansion. Creaking can be heard in the distance; no doubt the wind.
Alone in the night, Urdur the sorcerer studies blasphemous secrets from the arcane tomes he willingly brought into this world from the frightful Dreamlands. The inhuman occultist discovers...
-A family tree of the House of Blackchapel and how its branches are interwoven amongst the nobility of Hookhill for generations.
-A dream journal of one Lord Blackchapel, filled with vivid descriptions of his otherworldly voyages through wonder and beauty...
...and his ruminations upon those fantastic visions:
"I have always believed that such strange, inaccessible worlds exist at our very elbows, and now I believe I have found a way to break down the barriers.”
The hair on Urdur's neck stands up. This notion of an unseen world, coexisting closely alongside our own, is something he once heard amongst the
rantings of a madman in the doomed village of Vicar's Head.
-Lord Blackchapel also writes that he believes the Dreamlands are slowly changing the waking world, subtly invading it like an infectious contagion of reality; something he is thankful for. Urdur's leg jumps involuntarily. This too was frighteningly familiar. Urdur remembers:
Inferno wrote: ↑Tue Oct 05, 2021 12:51 am
"The Oerth is changing. This is not how Greyhawk is supposed to be..." Mouser and Urdur read from one of the heinous tomes of forbidden secrets they found in the lair of the Wolf Pack to the Dark Mother.
-Finally, in another tome, Urdur finds writings of a dark ritual of black magic that he does not fully comprehend.
He gleans the unholy spell is aligned with the Old Feast Days, culminating with New Year's Day which now lies but four days hence, and that this mysterious, unspeakable rite involves multiple human sacrifices.
Urdur looks up from the alarming manuscripts from another world. Outside, dawn is upon the miserable city, a dull grey splotch that slowly infests the smoke-clogged sky.
He shares his discoveries with his wakening friends.
Four days until the Hookhill Ripper strikes again.
Plans for the day?
PC Status:
Faron, Human Thief 5: Move: 9", AC: 4, HP: 22/22
Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 4/5: Move: 9", AC: 5, HP: 21/21, Spells: 3/3 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl
Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 5: Move: 6", AC: 3(1), HP: 14/25, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl, 5/5 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl
Jerome, Human Paladin 4: Move: 9", AC: 3(1), HP: 23/23, Laying Hands: 1/1
Long Bo, Human Druid 6: Move: 9", AC: 2(1), HP: 41/41, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 4/4 2nd lvl, 2/2 3rd lvl, 1/1 4th lvl
Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 5: Move: 9", AC: 0, HP: 37/37
Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 5: Move: 12", AC: 4, HP: 15/15, Spells: 4/4 1st lvl, 2/2 2nd lvl, 1/1 3rd lvl
PC Magic:
Player Resources: