Carrion crown

What has gone before part 6

Moving deeper into the dungeon the party started to hear a mournful dirge playing on a pipe.

"It's the Piper dude", saild Billy, quickly stuffing some rags into his ears. The others did the same.

At the moment the ghastly figure of the Piper of Illmarsh appeared, and it looked annoyed. Thinkly quickly David opened the haunt siphon, drawing the spirit of the creature inside, trapping it.

The party cheered, all except for Renthie who said "WHAT" as he had forgotten to remove the rags.

Moving onwards they entered a strange room, it appeared to have once been the torture chamber, Renthie appeared to full down for no apparent reason. At the same moment Renthie saw a jolly bearded figure who told him the others were evil and had to be destroyed, particularly Millicent. Renthie then started to attack Millicent with his mace. Pleased with his work Father Charlatan then did the same trick on David who turned and attacked Billy. While all this was going on, indeed in quickly turned into a grappling competition between those affected and those not, Charlatan targeted Robyn.

Robyn, however, was made of sterner stuff, "Prove it" he replied to Charlatan's declaration that the rest of the party were evil.

"My friend, the goddess Ehlonna told me so"

"Oh did she now so you worship Ehlonna do you?"

"I worship all faiths my son".

"Funny that, cos all your symbols are ones of death and destruction, to which Ehlonna has no truck with"

"Honestly, my...

"B****cks Charlatan, interrupted Robyn, "I know who you are." Saying this Robyn fired several arrows at Father Charlatan, destroying him.

At this point the remainder of the party returned to normal (well as normal as they can b, anyway!!!!)

What has gone before part 7

Moving into the final, deepest level of the dungeon everyone felt the presence of evil much more strongly than before. Strangely the majority of the rooms were deserted, there did not seem to be any indication of the presence of the other 3 ghosts.

Slowly the party looked around an oubliette chamber it appeared to be full of boxes. Investigating one Renthie was surprised by the ghost of the Lopper, brandishing a huge axe, who nearly cut him in two. Backing away he stopped to cure himself, whilst the other members of the party finished him off.

They had no time to rest however, for no sooner had they finished the Lopper off they were all struck by an intense headache. At the same moment the Mosswater Marauder appeared, and attacked. The party managed to finish him off, but not before both Robyn and Billy had taken nasty wounds which Renthie cured.

What has gone before part 7

Heading deeper into the dungeon level Gabriel realised that they were getting nearer to the source of the original fire. Everyone became more apprehensive as they realised that they would soon meet the final ghost, the Splatter Man.

Suddenly they saw pieces of parchment appear that started to spell out their names, ignoring them the party looked around, sure enough the Splatter Man stood in one corner. Realising he had been spotted he hurled a sphere of glowing, yellow energy at Millicent, winding her. Enraged, she orked herself up into a frenzy, charging and attacking, although due to the creature's incorporeal nature she missed him several times, she did manage to keep him busy, allowing the others to surround him and attack. Although the Splatter Man was surrounded he was able to fire off two more spells at Billy, interrupting his concentration and stopping him from casting the spell he had prepared. Soon, however, due to sheer force of numbers, the party won through.

As the Splatter Man fell the overwhelming sense of evil faded completely. Vesorianna's ghost appeared once more, thanking them for her service. All of the party's wounds were healed and those who had been tainted by contat with the evil were cured. Heading back into Harrowstone the party were given a huge welcome by the townsfolk.

"What next", said Robyn, "Should we head to Lepidstadt?"

"Wait a minute", replied Billy. "I've been looking at Lorrimar's journal again and I've been able to decipher some of it - it makes mention of a voodoo cult possibly operating in the Port of Crabs. It's on the way, why don't we head there?

"It's as good a place as any, said Renthie, let's go!!!"

What has gone before part 8

Heading into the Port of Crabs the party found it to be a wild, seedy place. The only reference they could find in the Professor's journal was to a pirate called Cinnabar.

Heading into the nearest tavern Gabriel decided to talk to the barmaid whilst the rest of the group spoke to a grizzled old sea dog.

It seemed that Cinnabar was a pirate who had been killed in a battle with a bounty hunter about a month ago. But maybe he wasn't really dead, rumours abounded that his second in command, Mirel had taken the body and had had it risen by a voodoo priest. Cinnabar was even now somewhere in the Port of Crabs, planning his revenge.

"Let's split up and look for clues", said Renthie

What has gone before part 10.

Heading off their seperate ways the group realised that they needed to discover where Cinnabar's hideout was.

Gabriel and Renthie decided to head to the Governor's Mansion and tell him there were pirates operating in the town. Theyir interview with him was cut short when he yelled at them, "For the GODS' sakes CINNABAR is DEAD!!!!!!!!!! Will you leave me alone and stop wasting my time with a child's fantasies?" In a subdued mood they left.

Millicent and Billy headed to the nearest pub, finding nothing they moved on to the Gambling Pit where Billy asked the roulete wheel owner where Cinnabar was, the next 5 minutes were a little blurred he remembered hearing a voice in his head that said what a good idea it'd be to feel up Millicent. The last thing he remembered before waking up upside down in a horse trough was an armoured barbarian fist heading towards him.

Robyn decided to check out an old lighthouse on the shoreline. It was abandoned but looked like it had been used recently, there were cards and dice scattered about. He also found a trapdoor which he opened. He as immediately attacked by a wild, starved cat that clawed and bit before running off. At the base of the trapdoor he found a note mentioning a password and hinting the pirates met beneath the graveyard,

Meeting up with the others they elected to head to the graveyard and see what came about.

What has gone before part 10.

Heading into the graveyard at midnight the party were confronted by an apparation, a ghost of an old man.

"PAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOORD", it mumbled.

"Crossbones", yelled Robyn and the ghost faded to let them through.

As they walked down the corridor Renthie said, "Wow that was eas"

He abruptly stopped as the passageway suddenly ended, opening out into a large chamber.

There were a number of cultists in the room and at the back Cinnabar, looking rotten and putrefaying- no doubt a side effect of the voodoo magic used to resurrect him.

Cinnabar acted first, yelling at the cultists to attack, meandwhile he disappeared down a side tunnel.

The cultists surged forward, Millicent raged and charged into the fray, killing two before they'd had a chance to act.

Several charged towards Renthie and Billy, but Gabriel, tumbled in front of them and brought them down. Robyn began firing volley after volley of arrows and this combined with Millicent's swinging axe and the cultists were no more.

Looting (I mean searchin!!!) through the remains Gabriel found a map showing that Cinnabar had a second base on Bone Island and so the group decided to sail there.

Pushing their way through thick, dense vegetation they at last came to a stepped temple, climbing the stairs they found another large chamber, complete with cultists and Cinnabar. The pirate captain was enraged they had managed to track him down again.

This time Billy acted first, firing a ball of flaming energy at the pirate, damagaing him. However, this enraged Cinnabar further and he charged Billy, sliciing him in two with his cutlass. The rest of theparty thensurged forward, several of the cultists tried to cast spells at the party, however these were minor inconveniences only and sonn Cinnabar was no more.

After burning the body to ensure Cinnabar could not be raised again, with a heavy heart they scooped up (and yes that's pretty much the right word!!!) Billy's remains and buried them on the beach. They resolved to head on to Lepidstadt.

After a few hours travel the party saw the looming edifice of Schloss Caromarc. a dark and gloomy structure. Scouting ahead the party saw two strange dog like creatures by the gatehouse, that looked like a cross between a crocodile and a rottweiler. Loag quickly identified them as trollhounds and started to cast a spell. Strands of sticky fibres criss crossed the entrance of the gatehouse, causing the two trollhounds to be stuck fast. The rest of the party then fired arrows at them. Despite the Trollhounds best efforts they were unable to escape and the party quickly made short work of them.
Moving onwards the party decided to move on into the gatehous, David decided to open the door. Unfortunately the Trolls inside had had enough time to prepare and as David opened the door they advanced to attack. One of them hit David with its jagged claws and tore at the flesh. David fell and the second troll advanced on Renthie, rending him too. With both David and Renthie fallen the rest of the fighting was mainly down to Robyn and Loag, however these two were able to finish off the creatures.
After healing up their comrades Robyn tracked around the body of the gatehouse and discovered some troll tracks lrading up the stairs of the tower and there were sounds as if there was another troll upstairs. Using some broken furniture and straw the party started a small fire, causing smoke to drift upstairs. After a few rounds of this there was a roar from upstairs and a larger troll came running down the stairs. This time, however, the party were ready. Working as a team, and using fire and acid they quickly finished him off.

Moving further into Castle Caromarc the group came onto a slender stone bridge linking the gatehouse to the main manor house of the structure. At the other end was a strange patchwork hound, which appeared to be made of flesh. Renthie tried to show it that the group meant no harm and waved a troll bone at it, but the only response he got was that the Flesh Hound howled and charged forward, slamming into Millie and biting her. The rest of the party moved forward and quickly finished the creature off.

Moving further in, David came to a large iron door and tried to open it, unbeknowst to him he set off a trap. He soon discovered his error shortly after when a large air elemental appeared and atttacked. Robyn was immediately caught up in a whirlwind, spinning round, meaning he was totally unable to fire any arrows, eventually Loag cast Animate Rope and Robyn was able to pull himself along it and drag himself out of the whirlwind and eventually the air elmental's summoning soon elapsed.

The party moved through the manse, looting as they went and eventually came to a strange tower that was partially flooded.

Moving forward into the tower the group came to a closed door. David searched for traps but found nothing. Opening the door, and making quite a lot of noise about it David opened the door. Suddenly a strange, slimy creature looked at them, its very will seeming paralysing, everyone in the party was turned to stone, with the exception of David and Robyn who were able to finish the creature off. Once it was dead the others slowly revivified.
"Did you enjoy getting hard?" quipped Robyn.

Moving into the final tower the group found that the final tower hadd been set up as a kind of lightning rod. Moving into the second floor, they discovered that it had been set up as a laboratory, with a strange cabinet in which was an old man who was Baron Caromarc. Before the Baron could advise them of what had been going on a larger creature jumped down into the room and attacked.

The creature quickly dropped Renthie. Millicent attacked from the ground but the creature criticalled her, her throat and ribs constricting in a gout of blood and tissue and Millicent knew no more. At this point the creature caught sight of its reflection in Millicent's blade. Giving an animalistic growl, almost a scream it move towards the edge of the tower roof and leapt off into the icy waters below.

Once recovered the Baron revealed that the Whispering Way cultist had stolen a device the Bondslave Thrall that controlled the creature and they were on their way somwhere to the north.

[FONT=&quot]The following morning Renthie was first up and walked a short distance to pray. She did this for a few minutes. In the meantime Loag had woken up and was just in time to see what appeared to be a pillar of flame run down from the sun to strike Renthie. Worried, Loag moved forward, calling out Renthie's name to no effect. There was also a sound, similar to an earthquake. Getting increasedly worried Loag moved forward again but Renthie was completely obscured by the pillar of flame, although he could hear Renthie screaming in pain. Loag cast a spell on himself to protect him from the raging inferno and moved into the flames. Suddenly he was thrown back 40 feet and was knocked unconscious. When he came to, Renthie walked out of the pillar of flame, completely unscathed.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]When the rest of the party awoke they decided to investigate the crimes that the Beast was accused of. They headed to the village of Hergstag where the Beast was accused of killing six children. Arriving in the village they found in deserted, the only sign of life being 3 sisters living in a windmill, Garrow, Starle and Flicht. These three told the party the story of how the Beast befriended the children of Hergstag and then killed them, one by one. He was finally found out when he was seen carrying the body of the last child, Elsa and laughing. Realising that the villagers were prepared to stick to their story at all costs, the party felt they had no option but to investigate the village.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]They first headed to the old chapel, a small whitewashed building. It showed considerable signs of dilapidation and disrepair, all of the religious icons and imagery had long since been removed, the only feature that remained was the font, that was half full of scummy, green water. Renthie advised that this would still count as holy water so the group filled vials with the stuff. Looking round outside they found 6 small graves, 4 of which appeared to be empty.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"Hey guys, said Loag, "Renthie can do stuff with dead people".[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]"I don't wanna know", replied David.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]At this point, Renthie pointed out that Speak with Dead did not appear to work.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The party then headed to one of the children's houses which they found strangely boarded up from the outside, looking around the sadly empty building the only thing they could see was that the window was unlatched in any way and the timbers in the wall would be too difficult to climb. Finally, the party decided to head to a strange, low hill on the outskirts of the village, where a rotting scarecrow appeared to be leaning on a scythe, with a pumpkin face. As they were looking round a strange blue skinned young girl floated out of the top of the hill and attacked.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Robyn, hesitated, saying "I feel weird shooting ghost children". Nevertheless, he struck the child with several arrows and destroyed it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]At this point several more strange children floated out of the ground, together with a strange wraith like creature that seemed to consist of a number of eyes. Moving back Renthie managed to turn one or two of the children and Robyn was quickly able to finish off the wraith. As he did so the rest of the children fell down dead. Sadly, the party took the children's bodies and reburied them.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]The party then moved on to the village of Morast, where the Beast was accused of killing 10 villagers. Arriving there they spoke to one of the villagers who advised the party that they had seen the Beast at the murder site of one of the villagers and had chased it away with pitchforks and torches. They then found a blood trail, presumably left by the Beast, leading to a small island in the swamp. Following the trail to a band of trees the party were ambushed by a Manticore. Although the creature managed to fire off a couple of tail spikes to little or no effect, Robyn was able to shoot it cleanly, killing it. Loag found a page torn from a diary that seemed to indicate that a man called Reiner Heydrich was implicated in events. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]With proof that the Beast was innocent of the crimes of which it was accused the court acquitted it and the group was amply rewarded for their services. Robyn elected to leave at this point and was replaced by a Knight called Andurin. Asking around, David discovered that Reiner Heydrich was a name no one had heard of, although it did sound a bit like a Mortvanian name of someone who'd died about 200 years ago. With no other leads the party decided to head across the border to Mortvania.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]After crossing the border they quickly came to the town of Barovia, which appeared strangely deserted and deathly quiet. Going into 1 street, they saw what appeared to be a dead body lying on the ground at the other end. David was 'volunteered' to go an investigate it and he did so with some trepidation. Before he could get very far two strange bat like creatures burst out of a building and attacked him, At the same time, several zombies appeared from the other side of the street and moved relentlessly forward. To cap it all two large maggots moved away from the body, scenting fresh meat. The bat like creatures acted first and tried to bit a large chunk out of David's torso but he nimbly managed to step out of the way. Loag managed to cast a fireball, catching one of the Maggots and several of the Zombies killing them ad only mildly scorching David. Andurin then step forward and cleanly decapitated the bat like creature. Finally, Renthie cast turn undead and the remaining creatures were no more. The battle was over but the sense of impending doom and decay remained.[/FONT]