# Journeys in Gavran (Homebrew)



## Presto2112 (Jan 29, 2007)

*SESSION ONE*

*26th Day of Spring, Year of Ascension 1116
(Year of the Rogue Saint)*

We begin our tale in *Dengel*, in the city of *Michaea*.  Sitting in a working class inn and tavern call the *Grey Raven* is a group of travellers.  Some of whom have just met each other, some who have previous connections.  They travel for different reasons – some to seek their fortunes, some to answer deep spiritual questions, and some with potentially serious missions – but after meeting, they decide to travel together.

*Baradax* is a brash individual, quick with his mouth, and even quicker with his rapier.  He is a tall, pale-skinned man, adorned in flowing cloaks and clothing, and adorned with a dark, wide-brimmed hat, which keeps his facial features largely hidden – a feature of the hat that suits him just fine.

The man known only as “*Fin*” is a simple-seeming fellow.  He’s simply adorned in very plain clothing, carrying very little in the way of personal effects.  However, despite his seeming destitution, he possesses a heart of the purest gold – and fists of the strongest steel.  He is on a journey of discovery, after spending his life from adolescence on in a monastery temple of the noble god Heironeous, trained by an enlightened tribe of Hobgoblins.  He is a strong believer in the tenets of promoting kindness and goodness by example, but is slow to forgive when slighted.  

*Nerys Blackwood* is a dark-skinned woman of middling height.  She is a cleric of the goddess Wee Jas; and is on the road of adventure after spending a great deal of her adult life thus far in a life of study and meditation.  She is also a woman who possesses secrets, and she is jealous over who she shares them with.

At first glance, *Rulos Carranmore* would appear to be a polar opposite of his travelling companion, Fin.  Unlike the simply adorned monk, Rulos almost seems to drip with various trinkets, tools, and scraps of paper.  An intelligent, charming fellow, Rulos doesn’t seem to know how to distrust - a trait that, while endearing, can often lead to more trouble than some can handle.

The grizzled *Vin-Keth* is a wild elf from the northern climes of Dengel, just south of the border shared by neighbouring Nosk.  More accustomed to a nomadic, simpler way of life, Vin-Keth is distrusting of human ways, customs, and laws, and is in fact on a vision quest of sorts in human lands to learn their ways – and to determine whether they are a threat.

The five sit at their table in the Grey Raven, and are talking quietly among themselves about looking for some excitement in the city, when an eavesdropping local fop by the name of *Risat* informs them that “in order to experience the type of ‘excitement’ they sought, they would have to register with the Crown as an adventuring party.”  After mulling over this information for several minutes, they decided that it was in their best interests to check out what Risat just told them, and left the Grey Raven to track down the office of the Dengel Adventurers’ League registrar.

They find the office in a modest building on the outskirts of the Temple District.  When they entered and inquired about registration, they were first requested to read over the charter, which detailed the benefits they would be afforded as members, as well as the rules, laws, and regulations to which they’d be bound.  At the sight of so many restrictions to his actions, Vin-Keth was initially reluctant to put his name to the charter, but for the sake of his own personal quest to learn the ways of the humans of Dengel, he went along with the rest.

The five neophyte adventurers registered with the Dengel Adventurers’ League under the collective name of *The Howlers*.  Once chartered, they were directed to a large pine wall where nobles, merchants, and others in need of assistance posted notices for jobs and quests that required the skills of professional adventurers.  There were several remnants of parchment tacked on the wall, but only two unclaimed posts; one seeking help in driving a swamp dragon from a noble’s wetlands, and and another seeking assistance in retrieving a family heirloom from a newly discovered pirate cache.  Realizing the limit of their current reputations and abilities, they wisely gave the dragon quest a wide berth, and headed to the Merchants’ District to see the lapidary, *Farken Stillwell*, about getting his heirloom back.

Stillwell’s Gem-porium was a modestly sized shop for the class of goods in which he dealt.  The Stillwell family had been trading in gems, jewels, crystals, and fancy stones for five generations, and they had a reputation for remarkable work, even if the prices they charged were a little steep.  However, the family’s fortunes took a tumble after their prize stone, the *Mos Emerald*, was taken from a merchant vessel during a pirate raid.  The current proprietor of Stillwell’s, Farken, had recently happened upon a map, won during a late-night card game from a dim-witted sailor named Ginder Eldmor.  It seem to be a standard map of the Dengelian coastline, except for two things – the detail of the mist-shrouded *Fog Coast* was much more detailed than on most maps, and there was a location marked on the Fog Coast that no other map contained, a location marked *Haven’s Hollow*.  This name was significant to Stillwell, because the pirate captain who stole the Mos Emerald from his family was the infamous *Captain Jules Haven*!  What Stillwell wanted the Howlers to do was to board one of his ships, travel up the Fog Coast to Haven’s hollow, and attempt to track down and retrieve the Mos Emerald and return it to him.

After some preparations and some minor personal issues to attend to, the Howlers found accommodations for the night, and the next morning, boarded Stillwell’s ship, the “*Flight of Fancy*”.  The Flight of Fancy was captained by the able and competent Hink Falnar, and the crew was a mix of humans, dwarves, and halflings.

*27th Day of Spring*

Not too far removed from a rough Winter, the Flight of Fancy encountered fairly choppy seas, even keeping within sight of the coastline.  The group tended to keep to their cabins, out of the crew’s way.  Most of the Howlers were able to cope with the conditions, but Vin-Keth spent most of his time with his head either in a pail, or over the side of the vessel.  Vin-Keth came to dread the coming six day journey.

*30th Day of Spring*

Fortunately, the sea calmed considerably once they turned to sail the Fog Coast.  However, the coastline lived up to its name, and the lack of visibility forced the Flight of Fancy to slow its progress considerably.

*32nd Day of Spring*

The fog thinned enough on the sixth day of travel that they could pick up a little speed, and finally arrived near the point on the map so that they could be rowed through a small, shallow cove with a black-sand beach, a greenbelt, and a narrow path running roughly southeast.  Being without mounts, the Howlers walked the trail for roughly 45 minutes before they were stopped by a young man armed with a longbow, pointed in the general direction of the party.  They said to the archer, whose name was *Jess*, that they were sent to Haven’s Hollow to look for something.  Suspicious of all strangers, Jess decided to lead the Howlers to Haven’s Hollow, to be dealt with by the village Council leader, *Arlen “Cap” Galen*.

However, when they reached the village, they were met with a most unusual sight; the entire village was encased in thick spider webs, with monstrous spider the size of dogs crawling about it, as if scanning the ground below for fresh prey.  The town appeared empty, as if abandoned, but from within they heard the muffled sounds of children crying.  Stunned, Jess exclaimed that when he left the village three days prior to hunt, everything was normal, and that “they never came close to the village before.”  A couple of the Howlers raised an eyebrow at this, but Jess did not notice, as he began to search for a way through the web sheet into the village; after a moment, the party started helping him.  It didn’t take long before they found a small five foot hole, seemingly cut in into the web, but no sooner did they touch the webbing than they were set upon by four of the dog-sized arachnids.  Luckily, they were able to quickly dispatch them before they got too close or attract any of the other spiders.  After clearing the predators out of their way, Jess led the Howlers through to Haven’s Hollow and brought them to the *Good Fortune,* which was actually a ship, somehow dragged from the beach and built up into a pub and tavern in the center of town.  It was here that the group met Cap Galen, discussing (quite loudly) the situation in the village.  With him were two other councilmen – *Harc Longarm* and *“Keel” Friston*.  The trio turned to see who the newcomers were, and upon seeing a quintet of strangers, Galen almost immediately accused the Howlers of the infestation.  Naturally, they rebuked this claim, saying that they just arrived in the village.  Jess confirmed the Howlers’ alibi, and that seemed to appease the council.  However, Galen demanded that unless they could somehow help with the situation, they should go back from whence they came.  The Howlers suggested that they could help evacuate the villagers to the Good Fortune first, and then they would see as to what was causing the spiders to invade Haven’s Hollow.  Hesitantly, Galen agreed to accept their help.  He informed them that out of the population of 42 villagers, 20 were missing, so they would probably find some empty houses.  Jess said the first place to visit should be the doctor’s house, so that’s where they went, since a doctor would be appropriate to have, in case any were bitten or injured by the spiders.  

When they reached the house, they saw an old man standing outside the door, looking at the web above and furiously taking notes.  Jess told them that this eccentric man was *Dr. Jakob Gryll*.  Gryll told the adventurers that he was safe from the spiders, because he understood their behaviour.  Frustrated, jess went though the house, calling for Jakob’s daughter, *Patience*, who was Jakob’s beloved.  Patience did not have the affection for arachnids that her father had, so she and Jess returned to the Good Fortune, but not before Jess said that he’d go the other way around the village to evacuate villagers to the Fortune.  Jakob, however, continued studying the spider above him, nearly oblivious to the departure of his daughter.

Without warning, a pair of spiders the size of goats descended upon Jakob, wounding him grievously.  Luckily, the Howlers were able to slay the gigantic vermin before tragedy befell the doctor.  Jakob was able to drag himself to a cabinet in his house and grab a small flask that he put to his mouth.  Almost immediately, the deperate looking puncture wounds on the doctors’s body improved in appearance.  Learning his lesson, he rushed to the Fortune.

After evactuating Gryll’s home and the General Store (where the proprietor informed the Howlers of a purchase of horses that Cap Galen had made recently), they next went to the *Black Fly Pub*, which appeared to be abandoned.  They did, however, locate a trapdoor underneath a rug piled in the corner of a room in the back of the pub.  Underneath the trapdoor they found another pair of the goat-sized monsters, but given their cramped condition, were unable to pose much of a threat to the Howlers, who quickly slew both.

The trapdoor led to an unused root cellar, which wasn’t wasn’t by itself unusual, except for the tunnel dug out from the cellar leading out of town.  After fifty feet of tunnel, they emerged into the dense wood outside of the village, and a crude path leading in the same direction as the tunnel.  Confident that young Jess was carrying on the evacuation in Haven’s Hollow, they decided to investigate the path.

The Howlers hiked through the forest for about a half an hour until, at the end of the trail, they found another web sheet; this time it covered a portion of the forest floor and formed a funnel around a fifteen foot wide gaping mouth in the earth.  Below, rushing water could be heard, but not seen.  Confident they had found the spiders’ nest, they descended the dry webs to figure out what drove them out of their lair (and to hopefully find the Mos Emerald).  Vin-Keth lost his footing and plunged down the large hole, only to land on another thick websheet twenty feet below.  When they all reached the websheet they found passages that led east and west.  They chose to first check out the eastern passage, which ended in two visible doors on the north and east walls, as well as a secret door Vin-Keth located along the south wall.  The doors were opened by a complicated series of levers, along with some clever traps that the Howlers located, so as to not trip them.  They pulled one lever, to discover that it rotated the door on the north wall and pushed a trio of humanoid skeletons out into the passage, armed with scimitars and steel shields.  These were battled and destroyed by the Howlers, with most of the damage being done by the artificer, Rulos, who enchanted the weapons of a couple of the warriors to combat undead more effectively.  Another group of skeletons was found behind the door on the east wall; four attacked while two rotated a rune-covered pole that emanated necromantic magic that threw a fear effect randomly at the Howlers.  Again, superior tactics crushed the undead horrors, and once they were all destroyed and the pole was stopped from turning, the fear effects also subsided.


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