Chapter 19: Ghost Town

[Inferno]

Chapter 19: Ghost Town

Vicar's Head, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Three. Afternoon. Monday, November 14th, 576 CY
Cold, foggy, cloudy






In search of a lost child, the despairing heroes emerge at last from the haunted wood into a cemetery overlooking a town.

Long Bo holds holly and oak leaves that he managed to collect during the day's long journey. He squints at the sky. The wan, grey sun will die in hours. And with it, their humanity.

Like specters of their former selves, they pass through the graveyard. A path adjacent to the cemetery leads to the village below and extends in the other direction as well, rising up into the dark forbidding mountains.

Hothhil notes the inscriptions upon the tombstones they pass. Devoted husbands. Faithful wives. Loyal soldiers. The oldest headstone he sees is 200 years old. The newest, mere months.



They leave the bleak necropolis through an open iron gate, beneath letters that read: "Vicar's Head Cemetery."

Vicar's Head. The words of the Reverend Gideon Ashblood, spoken just two day ago, echo in their minds:
"...Our troubles seem to hath started in the Spring, in a nearby town named Vicar's Head.
"They art a good people, and we tradeth with them. However, we hast not heard from them in the last few months.
"Just before they hath fallen silent, there wast word of an outbreak of witchcraft, and a pox forged by black magic, afflicting the town. Then, nothing.
"...They art faithful to Pelor and true...though their doctrine is not as orthodox our own."

From their vantage, they see the town below is as strangely quiet as the accursed forest they leave behind. Nestled in the foundations of the dark, wooded mountains, the isolated settlement is days from the main road between Shiboleth and Hookhill.

A steady rain continues to melt the snow into a mist that casts a ghostlike pallor across the eerily silent village.


(Heroes are standing beyond the upper left of this image, above the path leading from the town up to the graveyard.
On the bottom right is the path leading toward the main road between Hookhill and Shiboleth)

The heroes descend toward the town. Smoke smolders from a few burned structures. Telkis can discern several stone buildings through the mist. Urdur finds no sign of rabbits or mice on their path. Long Bo sees carrion birds circling over the town. But of Sephus, there is no sign.

As they reach the edge of town, a ramshackle wooden sign blocks their path. Upon it, a hasty scrawl of red paint urgently warns:

"PLAGUE! KEEP OUT! THIS TOWN IS DAMNED!"

Beyond it lies the forlorn desolation of Vicar's Head.




Actions?!


Area Map:

X marks the supposed location of an ancient shrine; the source of the evil that plagued Briarsgate.





PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 11/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 7/15, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Hothhil Thornbush, Elven Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 13/20
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 12", AC: 10(8), HP: 16/22, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 18/30, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl
  Mondegreen Cindereye, Human Magic-User 2: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 2/8, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Pyotr Whitetip, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 9/30
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 5/12
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 10/32
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 4/9, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl and 1/1 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)

[Rusty Tincanne]

Poor souls... mutters Hothhil as he fidgets the ring on his finger, the last of his posessions. He is glad for its magical properties. The elf stainds still and listens for any signs of life, hoping there are none. Let's carefully hurry and find the sheriff's office to see if the cells might hold us. If not, then perhaps there was a bank, of sorts. We can only hope to find keys, too. He hefts the makshift club he is carrying just in case.

[OGRE MAGE]

Astonished at the distance they have already traveled, Bo actually laughs when he reads the sign blocking the path. He speaks for the first time.

"This place is damned, huh? Well, we should fit right in then."

He continues walking with the others, looking out for any buildings that still stand that might offer them some supplies, clothing, weapons, or anything else they still need.

If he can position himself close enough to get 40 feet from the vultures, he attempts a spell that will allow him to pry them for information, if indeed he still has the power to do such things.

[Urson]

Pyotr

Pyotr stops to puzzle out the message. He sighs deeply. Better a plague than a curse. He begins a house-by-house search, looking for dry clothing, boots, and places to secure werewolves.
Anything he finds, he will make sure the others know about it.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur helps to look for supplies and a jail that the group might stay in for the night.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The taciturn cleric finally breaks her silence. I am afraid of what we did...what we may still do. But, I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from my soul. Losing my possessions has actually been beneficial to me.

I have a confession to make to all of you. I did not destroy the necklace. I meant to do so, but when I was alone, studying it, I- I was enchanted by its terrible beauty. I could no more harm the necklace than I could harm a child or suffer the dead to walk. The necklace felt so right that before I knew what I was doing, it was around my neck. Now that it is no longer in my possession, I realize how bad an idea entering the woods at night during a storm truly was. At the time, it felt like the most important thing in the world.

I am truly sorry. My weakness was responsible for the situations we have faced since we set foot in the wood.I must beg forgiveness- first from Tritherion, whose largess and glory I have not faithfully supported of late, and from all of you, whom I have unintentionally led down a dark path that you did not deserve to follow. My spirit was weak, and the evil of the necklace was allowed to fester in my soul.

[Inferno]

DM:

Those who survived the unspeakable horrors of the Hell Mouth know the necklace of which Ingrid speaks.

[ChubbyPixie]

Telkis glares blankly at Ingrid for a moment before turning away and continuing his look out for a blacksmith’s where they might find a hammer and spikes to aid them in securing themselves for the night. “We have right now problems,” is all he says.

[ravenn4544]

Mouser listens, without seeming to be listening, to Ingrid's confession. He keeps his own thoughts - and his own demons - quietly to himself...

With a deep breath, seeming to cleanse those dark thoughts, he continues into the town with the group. He pokes a head into open windows and doorways as they arise for anything interesting...

[rredmond]

The hobbit shrugs, unperturbed by anything anymore. And continues searching for a safe place for them to lock themselves up. Though the cleric's admission perks him up a bit, and he realizes as suburban as this town may be, it is still a town, full of unsafety, and a place he is more comfortable than the wilderness. He puts his senses to work to start looking all over to see if there are anything here that wants to kill them, or anyplace he can guess that they can use. He's seen his share of jails prisons in much larger, as well as more podunk places than this - where might such a place be?

[wolfpack]

Brevos shakes his head

you bear no responsibility, none of us were enchanted and are each free people. Anyone who wished to stay behind could of, we all only hold responsibility for ourselves and no one else.

With that he joins in looking for a suitable place to capyure themselves for the night. A jail cell would be best or perhaps a cellar with heavy doors that could be spiked shut.

[SocraticLawyer]

When Urdur hears Ingrid, he speaks up as well.

"I, too, retained an evil enchanted item," says the gnome. "Ingrid and I meant to destroy the cursed things, but we could not. And while I dearly need to find our missing items, such as my spellbook, I am relieved to be dispossessed of the wretched dagger."

[Inferno]

DM:

Those who survived the unspeakable horrors of the Hell Mouth know the dagger of which Urdur speaks.

[Urson]

Pyotr
When Pyotr hears Ingrid's confession, he actually smiles.
I understand now. I yam gladt to know dat you were not being dangerously foolish. I apologize for my anker at you.

[Inferno]

Vicar's Head, Gran March, Greyhawk
Day Three. Afternoon. Monday, November 14th, 576 CY
Cold, foggy, cloudy






Beneath the wheeling avian scavengers, the heroes ignore dire warnings of plague and damnation and enter the eerie, silent town of Vicar's Head.

With the sun starting its long descent, the cursed heroes urgently search for a way to restrain themselves before they once more transform, against their will, into horrific, bloodthirsty abominations.

Hothhil the elf listens for any sign of life, but the only sound is the falling rain.

Suddenly, Ingrid and Urdur make unexpected, shocking confessions. But they receive no absolution for their sins.

Pyotr the half-orc parts from the group and breaks down the door of a dark, abandoned home. He finds candles within and gets one alight. By its quavering glow, he quietly searches the shadowy home as floorboards creak beneath his feet. Pyotr finds moldy, rotten bread and produce, good smoked fish, the clothes of an absent family that do not fit him, candles, flint and steel, and several blankets and quilts.

The others continue on.

There is a feeling of being watched.

At the first desolate crossroads they encounter, a posted notice reads:

"Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
By Order of the Mayor and the Magistrate!
All Citizens Found Consorting With Witches or Werewolves Shall Be...

The rest is defaced and torn and rendered illegible.

In the wending lane to their left they see a mercantile 30 feet away whose large shop window has been shattered. A storefront across from it had been burned.

In the winding street to their right, they see a ruined corpse in the street, 40 feet away, crawling with black rats. The filthy vermin stop their grisly feast to glare at the heroes.

Straight ahead, a dead body hangs above the street. In life, it might have been a woman.



More human remains splay beneath the cadaver. And beyond it, in the distance, looms the tallest building of the forsaken town, where the carrion crows swarm thickest.


Actions?!



Map:

X = Heroes' location





PC Status:

• Brevos, Half-Elf Ranger 3: Move: 12", AC: 10, HP: 11/31
  Grey Mouser, Half-Elf Magic-User/Thief 2/3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 7/15, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Hothhil Thornbush, Elven Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 7, HP: 13/20
  Ingrid Esthof, Human Cleric 4: Move: 12", AC: 10(8), HP: 16/22, Spells: 5/5 1st lvl and 4/4 2nd lvl
  Long Bo, Human Druid 4: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 18/30, Spells: 6/6 1st lvl, 3/3 2nd lvl and 2/2 3rd lvl
  Mondegreen Cindereye, Human Magic-User 2: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 2/8, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl
  Pyotr Whitetip, Half-Orc Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 9, HP: 9/30
  Rudolf Rassendyll, Halfling Thief 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 5/12
  Telkis Brassfang, Gnome Fighter 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 10/32
  Urdur Shimmerstone, Gnome Illusionist 3: Move: 12", AC: 6, HP: 4/9, Spells: 2/2 1st lvl and 1/1 2nd lvl

PC Magic:

• None currently.

Player Resources:

• Tale of Terror (the story so far)
  A Dark and Terrible World (maps)

[wolfpack]

Brevos will enter a building that looks like it might be atavern or shop lookinf for anything that could be used as a weapon. club, butcher knife, chopping axe, anything.

[Urson]

Pyotr

When he finds the clothes and blankets, he wraps himself in a blanket and calls to the rest Hoy! I haff dry clothes undt blankets!

He studies the notice intently, trying to puzzle out the meanings of the words. When he sees the sign is incomplete, he shrugs and moves on, offering blankets and clothing to anyone who needs it.

[Scott308]

Ingrid Esthof

The cleric will get a change of clothes and blanket before helping look for any tools or weapons they can use, as well as a lockable location that they can transform in that will (hopefully) prevent them from running wild again.

[SocraticLawyer]

Urdur gratefully accepts the clothes and blankets. He joins the others in the search for additional supplies and an appropriate resting place for the night.

Rats are burrowing mammals, right? If so, Urdur questions the rats. "Greetings, my friends. What happened to this place? Are there any tall folk about?"

[Rusty Tincanne]

Hothhil accepts whatever clothes Pyotr has to offer, donning them hastily. Pyotr, let's not go shouting for now. Not until we know what else is here. He offers the suggestion to the others as well, then suggests they try the mercantile for more supplies. He is wary of the dead, hopeful they remain so. If the dead rise, the party is in no condition to fight.