After Abe, Slate, Fran and Summer returned from their riverside shenanigans, they reconvened with Tariel and Torbin and filled them in on why half the returning crew were so badly beaten up.
After a lecturing from Tariel and Torbin, the party stayed one more night with the Vistani to make sure Francesco and Summer were in good enough shape to travel the next morning. Francescos jaw was still badly bruised and broken in places, so he was very quiet as the party travelled along the mud path they saw the day before they turned back to the Vistani camp.
Following the path alongside the river, the party enter a canyon that rises almost two hundred feet on each side while slick with moisture. Further ahead under the bridge the group wanted to reach, the party see the source of the humidity: a waterfall crashes before them. Seems like a dead end to Abe and Summer, while Slate sent out Skowl to scout over the canyon.
Once above, the skeletal owl was able to spot the path the party detoured from to end up where they were leading directly to the bridge. If they stuck to the main path, they'd already be at the bridge! And it's a TWO HOUR walk back AND TWO MORE HOURS following the path to reach the bridge!
Torbin approached the waterfall, noticing a gap in the rock wall obscured by the waterfalls mist. Looks like a set of ancient stone steps! The Gnome Druid points it out to the group and Slate asks Skowl to locate anything that looks like stairs from above.
With Skowl discovering a set of stairs obscured by overgrown shrubbery, the party head for the stairs to see if they can climb it. It's slippery from the moisture being thrown around by the waterfall, but it should be climbable!
With the sounds of the waterfall making it impossible to hear each other, Slate uses his Message Cantrip to teach the group some hand signs in case the party needs to be told something while they can't communicate. Once he's sure the group understood, Slate leads the party slowly up the stairs.
Taking a few steps up the old uneven steps, Slate notices several black birds gathering on the tree branches and bridge above the party. Skowl lands on the tree, scaring off some of the ravens.
Seeing them too, Abe points out that they've seen ravens on the road before. Like the one they saw before they encountered the farmers on the side of the road...
The path is slick with wet moss, making they groups ascent painstakingly sluggish...
After reaching the 50 foot ascension, Slate feels like the path is too dangerous to continue and want to head back. Tariel, who was behind Slate in the marching order, notices something sticking out from under a rock wedged in the stone wall. Cloth?
Pushing the rock aside, Tariel pulls out a bundled up cloak. Unfurling the tattered cloak, the group finds a small collection of items:
- a worn and torn map.
- an decorative ornate silver dagger.
- An empty coin pouch.
- A small vile of clear liquid.
- A potion bottle containing red liquid, labeled with a raven emblem.
- and a key.
Tariel and Abe aren't able to work out what the map is but once Summer turns the map upside down, she notices that the map is a vague layout of the canyon! And there's markings on it!
Lowering the map to tell the party, Summer notices something under a bush beside the steps.
Pushing on the bush, the Kobold reveals a skeleton underneath!
Tariel and Abe drag the skeleton out, finding the skeleton only in a tattered undershirt and underwear.
Was this the owner of the cloak?
While Tariel pried a ring from the dead mans hand, Slate casted Prestidigitation on the dagger they found to discover the dagger is made out of True Silver. This thing can do some damage!
Tariel puts on the ring, looking at the 'M' insignia on it curiously.
Looking over the map, Summer works out that the stairs the party are on will lead to the stairs Slate described Skowl seeing. If they take the right turn that is.
But with the path being so slippery and more perilous ahead, Torbin begins casting Mold Earth to create a more stable pathway up. It makes the process even slower, but still faster than walking four hours to take the other way to the bridge.
After an hour of casting the Mold Earth spell, Torbin collapses once the group reaches the overgrowth. Tariel swaddles the tired Gnome while Slate and Abe cut away the plantation, leading the party to the bridges edge.
They made it!
Looking at the ornate bridge, the group decide to take a couple hours to rest up on the bridge.
Curious about the potion bottle, Slate opens it and rubs some of the contents on the back of his hand, watching his hand turn translucent. An Invisibility Potion!
But he's open it, so the potion is bound to lose its potency in... like 14 days?
After their break, Tariel carries Torbin in the swaddle as the party sets off again.
The path leads the group along a mountain path, taking them uphill for a while before the coming to a fork in the road. Confident the road to the left is they way they want to go, the party finds themselves walking through a forest. Before arriving at a pair of gates similar to the ones they walked through when they arrived in Barovia...
As they draw closer, the gates open on their own as if expecting the party to walk though.
They expected correctly.
Once through, the path seems to decline back down the mountain through the forest.
Looking off the path, Abe notices a strange rock formation off the path. Stopping the group, the Ranger approaches the rocks to discover an odd grave.
Before he can call out his findings, a hand reaches out of the earth and wraps around Abes throat!
The party watch awkwardly as Abe flails around, pointing at nothing on his neck. What is he doing?
Torbin looks over to see Abe in disctress and casts Enlarge, making Abe extremely tall and girthy enough to free himself from the spectral hand and attempt to fight back. But the hand is already gone before the Huge Human can retaliate. Dammit!
Stomping back to the path, Abe rejoins the group as they continue out of the forest.
The party eventually finds themselves on a hill edge, overlooking more of the forest but with two sites in sight: A windmill they've seen somewhere before and a town a little further beyond that.
Seeing that they wouldn't reach the windmill until dark, the party decide to turn back to the gate. They at least know they have some form of fortification if they set up camp for the night there.
With their camp set up, the party begin settling in for the night. As tomorrow: Pie Time!
No comments:
Post a Comment