RPG Recap: Beyond the Temple of the Abyss, 2015-02-28
Friday, 3rd day of the Frost Moon, 937
After a strange and gloomy day spent creeping through the elven woods, Argo had led the party to a clearing in which a small village stood. He fled, promising to return, but nobody believe that for a second. As night fell, they headed in without him.
They neared the gates and Brenda and Rago opened them and went inside. The place seemed deserted, although not ruined by any means. As the party moved forward, they were suddenly surrounded by a pack of stray dogs. They quickly put them down with minimal injuries, although Rago suffered a few broken ribs.
Through they melee, they’d been slowly approached by two torch-bearing men who were cirling the town’s wall from the east. They claimed to be devotees of Ibrim, although they were a bit muddy on any details whatsoever. Knash interrogated the clerics, and a villager appeared from behind a building, carrying a dim red torch. He asked whether the group was entirely human, and when assured (especially about Brenda the Greenish), told everyone they could stay the night. He led them through the deserted street, past an occupied gallows. “Don’t touch the hanged man,” he said, the only instruction he gave. He left them at a small guest house. The group went inside, turned on the space heater, and got their first tolerable night’s sleep in days.
Saturday, 4th day of the Frost Moon, 937
In the morning, the party made a slow circuit of the village. They saw a small bakehouse with a pile of many-colored logs beside it. There were several small houses, seemingly unoccupied; a reinforced and especially warm building; a few buildings burned to the ground to differing extents; a big pile of stones; a spiraling metal structure; a closed-up stable; and the large, high building in the middle of the town, where the gallows stood.
The man in the gallows (later identified as “Halewin”) looked fresh, based on the pink flesh of his chest. His shirt had been pulled up over his head and tied to the noose. The party left him alone.
Eventually, their circuit completed, a few went into the bakehouse and there found their host, making bread, which he shared. He said that things were difficult because he was unable to contact his superiors, due to damage to their communication equipment. Knash suggested that the group could help, and the host was dismissive until he was shown that the party had a scrying screen. He immediately asked to use it, and he and Knash went off to connect it to the rest of the village equipment while the rest of the party enjoyed some fresh bread.