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
- None currently.