The heroes discovered five sets of child-sized footprints meandering northwest towards the orphanage. Their first stop in their quest to find the missing children was Elara's Halfway House, the scene of the infamous dare and the last place any of the children were known to be. The halfway house stands on a small hill about 8 miles outside of town, right on the edge of the wood. Elara's motives for building the orphanage so far away from the relative safety of town are a matter of some speculation in the village. Her isolation cost her her life and the destruction of everything she built.
As the heroes approached the site of the burned orphanage, they saw its blackened husk lying atop the hill. Charred timbers are strewn among piles of caked ash and the only edifice left standing is a soot-stained stone arch. A small stuffed doll lies below the arch, her face seared off and her patchwork dress spilling dirty stuffing. Beside her, a troop of half-melted tin soldiers stand in formation, their bodies twisted and deformed by the blaze that claimed their owner's life.
There was little of interest among the debris here, but the heroes found a charred trapdoor beneath an inch of ash at the center of the ruins. The lock was melted shut, but the door was badly damaged and easily smashed open.
The heroes breached the door and the stench of rot belched forth from this rank cellar. A chipped, blood-stained oaken table rests against one wall, with all manner of blades and barbed instruments laid out on it. A single pair of rusted shackles is bolted into the opposite wall, whose bricks are stained in a bloody account of pain and cruelty. The robed corpse of a woman on the floor is the source of the reeking stench of decay.
The woman did not die by fire. An examination of her corpse revealed the nature of her death (throat torn out) and a band of discolored skin on her ring finger.
Her corpse now plays host to the brood of spiders nesting in the basement. As soon as Wrackomelor approached the carcass, a swarm of spiders scuttled from her nose, eyes, mouth, and rent throat. Their proud mother lurked in a ceiling corner and descended to protect her children. After the heroes dispatched the spiders, they found two masterwork silver daggers and a damp rotten bundle of herbs among the implements on the table.
The heroes had tracked the children this far, and when they searched the area around the orphanage, they discovered a campsite not far from the ruins. A large, makeshift tent lies shredded on the ground beside a crude fireplace of flat stones. Signs of a struggle are everywhere, with broken twigs, crushed foliage, scraps of clothing, and patches of blood on the ground. The heroes also found a few reptilian scales around the fire pit. The reptilians made little effort to conceal their tracks through the forest and the heroes began to follow their trail.
Following the tracks of the reptilians, the heroes at last entered the perilous Darkmoon Wood. Even at high noon, little light breaches the rocky eaves and thick forest canopy, making night one with day.
On their second day of travel through the forest, the heroes happened upon the fresh corpse of a large wolf. On the branches above they noticed a manticore which hadn't seen them yet, so they decided to avoid it.
The heroes resumed the tracks of the reptilians and as they were trying to figure out how to cross the river, they noticed a teenage girl stalking them. When the heroes discovered her, she introduced herself as Jeva, a traumatized survivor of the orphanage fire. She begged the party for food before breaking into tears. Jeva was the young daughter of a well-to-do family of potters living in Falcon's Hollow. Her parents dead, Jeva ended up at Elara's Halfway House. Her ragged clothing hung off one shoulder to reveal horrible scars, and she avoided questions about them.
When asked about the missing children from Falcon's Hollow, Jeva was eager to help. She witnessed the kids' abduction because she was stalking the band of children herself before the kobolds attacked them. She was happy to help the heroes find the kids, and could show the way to their lair, Droskar's Crusible.
Jeva is a rail-thin, green-eyed girl of fourteen years, although she is particularly diminutive for her age. Her mouse-brown hair is a tangle of twigs and brambles and her face is smudged with dark stains. Her back, arms, and legs are covered with brutal scars.
No comments:
Post a Comment