Planting, 13th day, 576 CY: It was a windy, stormy night as the party made their way towards Dunhill. About a mile out as the path wound up the hill they stumbled across some corpses laying off the side of the road, four to be exact. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be men-at-arms bearing brown tabards. Shortly after inspecting their undead rotting bodies sprang to life and attacked the party. Several moments of swift combat felled the zombies. Upon entering the village the party made for the Green Griffon Tavern, Dunhill's sole establishment. There was a modest crowd and the PCs saw to it to dine and imbibe some fine ale. In the process they learned from some commoners and the tavern keep, Garn, that there was indeed strange events happening. Evil things. Villagers gone missing, the dead walking, the local cemetery no longer safe, and a large scale humanoid attack months prior that slew their old mayor, and captain of the militia. The local priest of Heironeous barely survived and his mind cracked and he is now a witless wreck.
They met several notables as well in the tavern consisting of the surly new Sheriff (Sheriff Conrad) and his two corporals. Stern men, veterans indeed. The new priest of Heironeous, a real dandy by the name of Wilfred Eldon also entered the tavern and welcomed the party of adventurers offering any aid required. Banning also met and briefly spoke with an adventurer of sorts, by all looks another ranger, named Edrek. Wilfred encouraged the adventurers to meet with the new Mayor Halbert Dunston and get any assistance he could offer.
Planting, 14th day, 576 CY: The party, having spent the night at the Weathered Hearth Inn, awoke and made haste to see the mayor. On the way they noticed two temples to Heironeous, an older ruined one, and a newer one. The Mayor was a portly but kind man adorned in furs and a large golden necklace. He spoke of the dangers the village has faced, the fact the last humanoid attack slew the previous mayor and the captain of the militia, and fears the next one. He told them the source of the troubles were a series of caves in a dark twisted vale about a day's travel away. They are called The Caves of Chaos. If the caves could be cleansed and their inhabitants put to the sword then Dunhill would be saved. The mayor even agreed to help provision the party in terms of a mule, and some extra supplies.
The PCs next stop was Nalin's Provisions, the general arms and supply establishment in Dunhill. Its owner, Nalin the Dwarf was a no nonsense bargainer but reluctantly agreed to provision them as the mayor saw fit. One thing they noticed was that Nalin wore a coat of studded leather and carried a hand axe in his belt openly. When asked he replied that Dunhill is no longer safe and didn't survive Red Hill Goblin Wars in order to be slain by a walking corpse. Having received their supplies, including a mule named "Lucky" the PCs departed.
The next stop was the ruined temple of Heironeous. Here they found the previous priest. Quite a wrecked man, his mind was broken. He babbled of "evil", "they all died", but then for a brief moment it was as if his mind cleared and he warned the PCs that the mayor is evil.
It was mid-day in Dunhill when the party set out for the caves. They travelled on the road out of town until the late afternoon. It was around 6pm when they found the knotted pine which was the point they needed to head east off road and into the forest. Upon leaving the road they noticed three horsemen behind them several hundred yards on the road. It was the sheriff and his two corporals. The party went a hundred yards or so into the woods and waited. The sheriff and his two men rode up to the point the PCs entered, and then marked strange runes on a tree. Then they left riding back towards Dunhill. Banning strode out of the Dreadwood and did his best attempt to deface the carved runes. It wasn't quite clear what they meant.
The party made their way east into the eaves of the Dreadwood. When it was nearly dark they pitched camp. This was right around the time Jannish noticed a mannish face watching them from behind a tree some 50 yards away. Immediately he sprinted after the man in black. After chasing the man for some two hundred yards or more the man's pace was no match for Jannish's elven quickness. Jannish slashed at the man from behind, wounding him and they began to battle. Jannish cut the man a second time and the dark garbed figure was beginning to stagger grievously wounded. Unknown to Jannish the man was not alone and his two compatriots, similarly dressed, crept in behind Jannish and slew the elf with a mighty backstab! Jannish the elf lay dead in the wood. Back at the PCs camp several hours passed by with no sign of the elf. Banning, by the light of a torch went forth to search for tracks and picked up Jannish's trail. Close to a couple hundred yards out Banning found blood pools on the ground and saw a man in the shadows to his front. He immediately turned tail and ran back to the camp. He told the others what he saw, the tracks he saw, etc.
The others quickly formed a defensive perimeter and took cover behind tree and log. Several hours passed, it has now turned the next day and nothing .... then all of a sudden they heard men, traveling fast, making noise coming from the east. They braced to receive them. The session ended.
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