Wheat Hollow Adventure Log - May 24th, 2012

Player Characters
Chip – Squirrel - 1^st level - Ranger (Nick Perk)
Fist – Mouse – 1^st level - Wizard (Chris Brown)
Maple – Squirrel - 1^st level - Ranger (Anna McConnell)
Munk – Chipmunk – 1^st level - Illusionist (Bruce Heard)
Filch – Squirrel – 2^nd level – Rogue (Steve Polasky)
Melbo – Skunk – 3^rd level – Fighter (group)

This session began with the adventuring group helping Farmer Thistlewhite and the rest of the farm hands by getting things together for the trip back to Wheat Hollow. They were able to get the harvested goods back to the farm without a problem. From there they headed back to Wheat Hollow where they were met by the much relieved villagers, with lots of cheering and hugging going on. A big feast was held in their honor the next day for their heroic deeds!

It was at that time that they met up with Filch, a squirrel rogue, who had been investigating a situation that was happening to the south – in a large forest called Linden. It seems that a gang of rats called the Long Fang had been waylaying travellers as they went from Wheat Hollow to the Village of Scurry. The Village of Scurry is about a two and half day travel from Wheat Hollow and consists of large group of woodchucks. Everyone in the area noticed that there hadn’t been any robberies or sightings of the rats for a few seasons now. Which isn’t a bad thing, but what happened to them? Also, the rats had taken a lot goods and money from the surrounding areas and it would be nice to find out what happened to it and get it back, if possible. There was also a rumor that a rabbit wizard had lived in a tower somewhere in the woods and hadn’t been seen for quite some time too. Were the incidents connected?

They decided that heading to Linden Forest sounded the best out of the all the different things they had heard during the party. So, early the next morning the group set out down the trail, making for the White Caps Inn, a stop-over area for those travelling to Scurry and areas beyond. A few hours into the trip the group found themselves confronted by four rag-tag rats that had jumped out of the long grass, demanding that they give them food and money or they will suffer horribly. Well, the group was having none of that and Melbo quickly hewed one down with one stroke and Munk cast a Hypnotise spell, trying to convince the other three rats that the group was sick with a very contagious disease. Two of the rats, being of very low intelligence, thought they were sick and decided it was a great idea to leave and go home. The third rat, smarter than the other two, resisted the spell, but quickly decided that the odds were not in his favour and shot off like a track star to parts unknown. A quick search of the deceased rat revealed little. He was equipped with a short sword and a dagger and wore patch-worked leather armor and had five silver pieces in a small pouch. They found nothing else of interest on him. With nothing else to be gained from the body of the rat, the group continued on down the road.

Towards dusk on that first day of travel, the group could hear something rushing towards them from the long grass. Not knowing what was heading their way the group quickly armed themselves, ready for anything. Bursting out onto the road ahead of them, the group was met by a large beetle with three large horns sticking out of its head. It rushed towards them trying to stampede over them.  Its first pass was unsuccessful. It turned around for another attack and rushed at the group again. Munk was fast on the draw and cast a Color Spray spell at the beetle, causing damage to it and stunning it for a short bit. While stunned the rest of the group was able to attack it, quickly killing it. As they were searching it, a slight tingle of electricity seemed to radiate from the body of the beetle. Hmm, that’s strange they thought. It quickly faded and nothing of value was found on the beetle.

With night quickly coming on, the group decided it was a good time to find a safe place to spend the night. Being at least a half day from the Inn, the group found a low spot in the rolling hills to conceal themselves in. They must have picked a good spot for the group was not bothered the whole evening, passing it safely without as much as a rustle of wind.

At first light the group was up and on the move. The morning passed quickly as they made their way to through the countryside and they reached the inn in the early afternoon. As they approached the Inn, they noticed a pier behind it. There was a single long boat attached to it with an otter scrubbing down the deck and cleaning the boat. Maple hailed the otter and inquired about the area and the recent happenings. The otter had little information to tell them other than it was nice not having to deal the rats anymore. While Maple talked with the otter, the rest of the group decided to go into the inn to look for the owner, Seamus “Stikkle Back” Waterglide. The group was met by another otter that was behind the bar. When asked if Seamus was in the otter said that he would get him right away.

Seamus was glad to speak with the group, always glad to hear what was going on in other parts and to hear how his old adventuring mate Lord Monax was doing. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any other information to tell them. Yes, the rats had been an ongoing problem for quite awhile, but that he had better things to attend to – that being the inn and sailing his long boat. He did add that he had seen the rabbit wizard from time-to-time, but that it had been quite some time since the last visit.

Asking all those questions made the party hungry and thirsty, so they decided to spend the night at the inn. Unfortunately, Filch took a strong liking to the nutty ale that they had at the bar, resulting a bit of a headache the next morning. However, Munk, seeing what was happening, asked Seamus if they had anything that might help the inebriated squirrel the next morning. Seamus handed him a small tube saying that the contents worked well for taking care of motion sickness, but also helped for “other” things as well. Having a rough time getting Filch to move, Munk handed the tube to Filch saying that it would help him. Filch opened the tube and sniffed the contents. The smell was bitter and made Filch wrinkle his nose. Saying a quick prayer he quickly gulped it down, retching most it back up as quickly as it went in – spraying poor Melbo in the process. But, whatever it was it seemed to do the trick and the group was quickly on its way out the door to investigate the Linden Forest.

The group made it to the edge of the large forest without any problems. The squirrels quickly took to the trees, leaping from tree to tree and running along the branches in front of the group on the ground. The forest was thick with vegetation and the going was slow. Fighting their way through the thick underbrush, the group could hear something large tromping through the woods not too far away from them. From Maple’s vantage point, she could see a rather large creature that looked like it was part bear and part owl. The group quickly decided that this was not something they wanted to meet up with. So, it was decided that Melbo should give a nice shot of spray into the wind, hoping to deter the creature from continuing towards them. It seemed to work for the creature caught a strong whiff of the spray, shook its head and started off in a different direction away from the group. 

With the immediate threat gone, the group continued on through the forest. A couple of hours later, the group came across the remains of what appeared to be a squirrel of some fighting-type. It was dressed in scale mail (rusted), a long sword (rusted as well), and a backpack. Inside the backpack was a small log book that was old and water-stained. The writing inside was hard to read, but what was readable was written in squirrel. It talked about a rabbit named Cheelik that lived in a tower somewhere in the northern part of the forest. There was a rough map of the forest in the book with an “X” marked in the north part of the map. They group quickly decided that this must be the tower they were looking for and started heading in what they thought was a northerly direction.

After a couple of false starts, the rangers agreed which way was north and headed out. They made good time and it was nearing dusk when Filch spotted a slight clearing up ahead of them. However, he also spotted a dark, flying object heading their way and it was moving very fast. As the object got closer, the group could see that it was a black owl with white spots and had yellow glowing eyes. As it flew over-head it dropped a dark object from its talons onto the group below. When it hit the ground it exploded sending shrapnel all around, hitting both Maple and Munk solidly, with Filch being able to dodge most of it, only slightly wounded. As the dust settled, they found Munk lying on the ground with a large chunk of egg-shell jutting from his chest. Acting quickly, the group force-fed Munk a cure light wound potion, helping to stop the bleeding. A second one brought him back from certain death.

The owl swung back around for another attack and was met by an arrow by Chip, causing it significant harm, but not enough to bring it down. The owl quickly flew back the way it came and landed on top of what looked to be an old tower approximately a hundred yards or so away. From there, the party could see at least three, maybe four, sets of glowing eyes looking back at them.

The decided it might not be a bad idea to back off for a moment to think about trying a different tactic. Maple came up with the idea of trying to make a camouflage suit for Filch to wear to see if he could make it up to the door that was visible to them on the side of the tower. Maple was successful in making something similar to a Ghillie suit with branches and leaves sticking out of it, looking like a harmless “little” bush. Donning the suit, Filch slowly made his way to the door of the tower. He made it about halfway to the tower when he accidentally stepped on a large branch, making a loud cracking noise and brought a lot of unwanted attention from the owls towards him. One of the owls swooped down for the attack and a second owl that was getting ready to attack was drawn off by a diversionary tactic by the group.

The owl dove down for the attack and just barely missed hitting Filch with his talons, being distracted by an improvised “whistling” arrow by the ranger, Chip. Filch made the most of it and was able to make it to the door without any other attacks coming his way. A quick check of the door found it to be locked, but he did notice what appeared to be a door bell to the right side of it. Upon pressing the button, a chiming sound was heard to come from within. Shortly after, the door was answered by a chubby woodchuck dressed in a smart looking butler’s uniform. He told Filch that he was sorry, but the master of the house could not be disturbed at this time and could you please come back another day. Before Filch could react, the door was closed. Further attempts to get the woodchuck, or anyone, to answer the door were unsuccessful.

Filch was attacked again as he made his way back to the group. Maple, trying to protect the rogue, was hit by a talon as she tried to climb a tree. The hit spun her off the tree and onto the ground below, unconscious. The owl was hit by a magic missile cast by Fist and it retreated back to the top of the tower. Maple was given first aid by the group with one of the few remaining cure light potions given to them from the previous adventure. It was a strong potion and she was quickly back on her feet.

 The night’s session ended with the owls and the party having a stare-down as the party decided what their next move would be.  With night time coming on and no place to camp as of yet, the party was at a loss on what to do.

Wheat Hollow Adventure Log - March 10th, 2012

Here's the latest adventure summary from last Thursday. Enjoy!!

Wheat Hollow Adventure Log
May 10^th, 2012

Player Characters
Bucky – Badger - 1^st level - Fighter  (Bobby Smith)
Chip – Squirrel - 1^st level - Ranger (Nick Perk)
Fist – Mouse – 1^st level - Wizard (Chris Brown)
Maple – Squirrel Ranger – 1^st level - (Anna McConnell)
Munk – Chipmunk – 1^st level - Illusionist (Bruce Heard)
Persephone (Pip) – Mouse - 1^st  level - Rogue (Rebecca Rudaski)

When we last left the adventuring group, Bucky and Munk were guarding the front door of the mansion, Pip was checking out the back door, Fist and Melbo were guarding the rats that they had overcome, with Maple having climbed up to the third window from the right and Chip having climbed through the second window from the right and into an empty room.

Pip having rolled a “1” on her listening check, accidentally slipped on some rocks/debris near the door knocking her head against the door, possibly alerting someone inside to her presence.  Silently cursing her bad luck she waited to see what would happen. Much to her dismay she could hear someone/something opening the door. She quickly hopped behind the door as it opened out, hoping she would not be spotted. Again, luck was against her as the rat that opened the door noticed a foot poking out from behind the door and investigated. Spotting the mouse, the rat cook (he was wearing an apron and wielding a butcher knife), wanted to know how the mouse got out there and what it was doing outside.  Not believing her story, the rat told her to get back inside. Pip disagreed and quickly took off and headed to the front of the mansion. The rat cook followed her shouting for her to come back. When she didn’t he chucked the butcher knife at her, missing badly.

As the rat came around the corner, he was very much surprised to see a bunch of other critters lying in wait for him. Before he could utter a word or shout, Munk hit him with a Color Spray spell, knocking him senseless.  The group quickly bound him up and added him with the collection of others rats that werehanging from the trees in the woods.

Sensing some urgency was needed, Chip told the rest of the group to climb up the rope to the second floor – which was done quickly and without any difficulty. Maple climbed through her window and met them in the empty room. Before they could decide what to do next, they heard something coming up the stairs that led up to the room. Looking down, the party saw two rats dressed in shabby leather and armed with short swords and a couple of other dark, furry creatures they had never seen before.  Munk quickly hit them with a Hypnotism spell, suggested that they flee the area.  The four creatures suddenly had a funny look in their eyes and decided that the mansion wasn’t the place to be. The group could hear more sounds coming from down below and decided to head down the stairs to investigate.

The stairs led down to an empty room with a closed door in the north wall. Bucky opened the door and looked out. He saw a hallway that ran east-west and an open arch that lead into the kitchen (Pip could see the open doorway that the rat cook had gone through).  They could hear someone yelling , it coming from somewhere down the hallway to the west. The party decided to follow the sound of the yelling to see what it would bring them. As they started heading west down the hallway, they saw a couple of rats rush past ahead of them, coming from an opening from their right, and out the front door. As they got closer to the yelling, they could tell that someone (or something) was being terribly berated for their poor work. When they reached the point where the rats went through, they could see the front door to their left and room to their right that had an opening to the east and west. Pip quietly snuck up to the opening to the left to take a peek at who, or what, was doing all the yelling. When she looked in she could see a very large creature standing at the far end of a long table with a bunch of rats gathered around it. He had large red eyes, a torn left ear, and a scar that ran down most of the left side of his face. He also had a slightly pugged-nose and big, sharp teeth. Pip came back and quickly told the party what she saw. It was decided that Bucky would go back down the hallway and would start taunting the bad guys in the room, to draw them out so that they could attack.

As to be expected, the rats ( eight in number) quickly came running out of the room with the large creature yelling orders behind them to find out what was going on out there. Being deathly afraid of the leader, the rats ran past the adventuring party, not one of them noticing the group. Fist then casted a Sleep spell at the rats which dropped the back four in a heavenly slumber. Munk walked into the doorway and tried to cast Hypnotism on the larger creature, now indentified as a wolverine. Much to Munk’s chagrin, the wolverine just smiled and asked the chipmunk, ever so nicely, to come to him. Munk didn’t think that was such a great idea and quickly turned and ran with the wolverine quickly on his heels.  Fist then hit the wolverine with a Magic Missile.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party was battling with the four remaining rats – three with the main group in the room and one with Bucky out in the hallway. Bucky quickly dispatched his rat with a mighty whack and Maple slightly wounded one with an arrow shot. Following his success from the previous rat, Bucky came into the room and the three remaining rats were quickly slain.

However, for Pip, things were not going so well. As the wolverine came through the doorway, she attempted to back-stab him and missed. The wolverine feeling the ineffective attack, turned towards her. Swinging the large spiked mace that he was carrying with him, he smacked Pip with a nasty blow, sending her flying back into the wall, bloody and unconscious. Sensing a very deadly foe, Munk decided to try and cast Hypnotism one more time to see if it would work. Luckily for the party, it did. The wolverine was mesmerized by the spell, the spiked mace slowly sagging to the ground.

Fist took this time to quickly go over to Pip and give her a healing potion, saving her from a certain death. While Fist was doing this, Maple, ever so gingerly, climbed up on the wolverine’s back with the idea of strangling it with her bow string. Bucky, seeing that the foe was a wolverine, had a different idea. He quickly went into a battle-rage and hit the wolverine with a mighty blow. The attack, causing the wolverine serious injury, also broke the Hypnotism spell, sending the wolverine into a rage. Maple, surprised the explosive fury of the wolverine, did all she could to hang on, dropping her bow string in the process. Luckily for Bucky, with Maple hanging on to the wolverine’s back for dear life, the wolverine was unable to get a good swing at the badger. With a couple more hits from the party and the wolverine was down.

With the evil wolverine and rats defeated for the moment, the party took a moment to rest and assess their situation. Other than a few nicks and bruises, the party was in good shape – well, Pip was recovering and alive, but not all happy. While resting and discussing what they were going to do next, the two rats that ran outside earlier returned. Finding the leader and buddies dead on the floor they turned tail and ran for greener pastures, never to be seen again.

Searching the large room that the wolverine and rats were originally in, they found a map on the long table and fireplace with a large shield above it. The map was rough map of the surrounding area with a large circle around the area where the village of Wheat Hollow would be. It was quickly deduced that the wolverine and his crew had an eye on taking over the area and was using the old mansion as a base of operations until the village could be taken over. Bucky, having taken the shield off the wall, found it to be surprising light and strong (magical, perhaps?). It was painted with stripes (red, yellow, and blue) with an orange starburst in the middle).

With the room searched, the party decided to check out the rest of first floor of the mansion. They found a bunch of empty rooms, the kitchen, and a room with a stairs leading down. The group decided to finish checking the upstairs, not wanting to have anything that might be up there come sneaking up behind them.

With the first floor searched to their satisfaction, they proceeded to go back up the stairs to the second level of the mansion. They exited the empty room into a hallway that went east-west. They came upon a doorway on their right side about 10-15ft from where they exited the other room. Bucky tried forcing the door open, but could only budge it about a foot, just enough for Munk to peak in and look around. He saw a large room with books scattered all about and bookcases that had been knocked over. After a good hour or more of searching, they discovered books about birds, plants, and other rather mundane subjects, but nothing of the magical sort. They did come across a book that had a badger fighter holding the same shield that Bucky had found displayed on the cover. It was written in a language that none of the others could read except for Bucky, for it was written in badger. It was a book about the badger, Sir Ignatius, and the adventures that he had had. They kept it thinking that it might prove useful in the future.

After thoroughly searching the library, they exited the room and entered a large intersection. The area to their left had a large statue of a strange creature none of them had ever seen before – a winged creature that had three heads. The other direction led to a hallway that ended in a window. They continued straight on down the hallway they were already in and found four doors – two on right and two on the left. They decided to check the doors to the right first.

The party tried both doors and found them locked. This was quickly remedied by Bucky knocking one in. Upon entering the room, the party saw a large four-poster bed and a wash stand. The bed was old, but looked recently slept in. The party searched the room with Bucky pulling the mattress apart and Munk finding a large, locked flat-box underneath the bed. Pip tried to search the lock for traps and failed – getting a prick in the finger and some damage from a weak poison. Bucky used his strength to smash off the lock. Inside they found a bunch of gold and silver coins, five gems, two potions (cure light wounds and neutralize poison), and a nice dagger.  

Satisfied that they room contained nothing else of value, they decided to check the doors on the other side of the hallway. The first door was unlocked and the room empty. The second door had a drop bar in front of it with the words, “bee wer” written on it. The party listened at the door and could hear what sounded like a humming, buzzing noise. They correctly deduced that there were bees of some sort on the other side. They removed the bar and opened the door. Directly by the door were the remains of a rat that had been stung to death. They quickly closed the door before the large yellow-jackets reached the door. However, before the door was closed, they noticed a large hole in the ceiling that led to the outside. They decided that they would smoke the hornets out before trying to enter the room. They gathered a bunch of rags and other debris, stacked them on a shield, lit it and slid it into the room. One yellow-jacket was able to buzz past the door before they could close it, but was quickly whacked down the hall by Maple’s staff. Once the room cleared of smoke they found nothing of value, but the room was now cleared of the yellow-jackets.

 Having searched and cleared the second level of the mansion, they decided to head down to the basement. The descended the stairs that were located in the kitchen. When they got to the bottom they found a small room with a couple of spears lying on the floor; other than an opening in the west wall, the room was empty.  They went through into the next room and found a door directly opposite of where they came in and a door that was locked on the wall to their right. Pip was able to pick the lock and Bucky opened the door. Inside the found a group of rather dirty and beat-up looking animals wearing farming clothes – rabbits, squirrels, and mice. The Harvesters!! They quickly checked them all over to make sure they were healthy enough to travel back to the village, which they were.

Behind the other door to the north, they found a large room filled with boxes, barrels, and crates – all filled with food - the remaining crops of Farmer Thistlewhite’s. 

As the curtained closed on this night’s session, the adventurers and the harvesters were gearing up for the road home...

Wheat Hollow Adventure Campaign Finally Gets Goin'!!

This last Thursday night we finally were able to get together in Lake Geneva to get this campaign started. After multiple false starts due to unforseen events we were able to convene at Lake Geneva Games and have some fun. Here's the first installment:

Wheat Hollow Adventure Log

May 3^rd, 2012

Player Characters

Bucky – Badger Fighter (Bobby Smith)
Chip – Squirrel Ranger (Nick Perk)
Fist – Mouse Wizard (Chris Brown)
Maple – Squirrel Ranger (Anna McConnell)
Monk – Chipmunk Illusionist (Bruce Heard)
Persephone (Pip) – Mouse Rogue (Rebecca Rudaski)

As the curtain rises on the beginning of this campaign, it finds Lord Monax, Mayor of Wheat Hollow, holding court with a group of aspiring adventurers, locals from the village. The Mayor has called them together to investigate the unsettling disappearance of some of the fellow villagers, eight to be exact. The villagers had been helping out at the farm of Farmer Thistlewhite, a mouse very well thought of in the community. To have a villager disappear or die due to an accident or predation is not unusual, these things happen often enough in the wild areas in-and-around their village; but, to have a large group like this go missing is definitely not the norm. Lord Monax has asked the group to go to Farmer Thistlewhite’s farm to find out what is going on, to find the villagers and bring them home if they can.

So, bright and early the next morning, the hardy group of adventurers headed out to the farm. The morning was cool and crisp and, thankfully, uneventful. As they approached the farm, they noticed a couple of crows sitting atop the roof of the farmhouse, keeping a close eye on them. As they grew nearer, they took flight and headed towards a copse of woods off to the south of the farm. The party approached with caution, keeping an eye for anything unusual. Upon reaching the front door of the farmhouse, they found the door hanging askew, dangling off on one hinge. The inside of the farm was found to be ransacked and the rangers noticed some footprints in some flour that had been scattered on the floor – most seemed to be that of rats, but they found others that were new to them, strange and unknown. The mess was completely not to Monk’s liking and he proceeded to do his best to clean up the house as best as he could with the time allotted to him. They checked out a small barn that was located behind the farmhouse, finding that it too had been ransacked  –  the food storage bins that normally hold all the harvested crops were gone, only a couple of farm implements were left.

Next, they decided to check out the surrounding areas, focusing on the farm fields and orchards that were located directly south of the farm. As they were walking through the cornfield looking for clues, they found the half the corn had been picked and noticed that the ground had been torn up with spots of blood here and there. Bucky thought it would a good idea to grab a couple ears of corn for later. The rangers, using their tracking ability, noticed what looked to be a large path containing many footprints heading off to the west/southwest, heading directly to a large wood. It was at about this same time that one of the party members also noticed some smoke coming from a small wooded area to the southeast. After a quick vote, they decided to check out the smoke.

Shortly after heading towards the smoke, they came upon a small, shallow creek that was easily forded and continued on to the hill. As they got closer, they noticed that there was a small door built into the side of the hill. Chip the Ranger and Pip the Rogue went up to the door to investigate it. They found it locked, but Pip could hear what appeared to be some moaning coming from within. Before they could come to a decision on what to do next, Bucky decided that time was of the essence and proceeded to knock the door in. Unfortunately for him, as he ran through the open door, he was greeted by a wall of stinging spray from the backside of a skunk. Failing his constitution roll, he quickly fell to the ground retching - tears streaming from his eyes and snot rolling from his nose. Maple, the other ranger of the group, was quick-minded enough to cover her face before trying to enter the abode of the skunk. Using a mirror, she quickly scanned the inside and she noticed a dark shape heading away from her into an adjacent room. After a quick discussion, she and Pip decided to enter the room after Monk was to cast a Light spell. After Monk casted his spell, the two entered the room and found a small blood trail leading into a back room. Following the blood trail, they found that it led right into the side of the back wall. They quickly searched the wall to no avail.

Outside, Monk and Fist were busy helping Bucky collect himself. Chip decided to go up on top of the hill above the skunk’s home to see if there was anything else that he could find.  When he got there, he had the strange feeling he was being watched. With his keens eyes he was able to spot what appeared to be some kind of platform built into the branches of a large oak tree. He also noticed what appeared to be an eye in the side of the tree watching him that quickly disappeared. Chip decided to climb the tree, which he did with ease, to investigate further. He came to the conclusion that there had to be some type of secret entrance to the tree, but try as he might he could not find it.

Having come to a dead end inside, Maple and Pip came back outside. Chip also returned and reported what he had found. The group thought it best to try and make contact with the creature inside, most likely the skunk that had sprayed Bucky. After calling out to the skunk and getting no reply, the group persisted in trying to persuade the skunk that they meant no harm. Their persistence was rewarded. The skunk, who was known as Melbo, told them to go back to the house and he would meet them there. Maple did her best to mend his injured arm when they returned to his house. Melbo then told them how he received his injuries.

He had been outside looking for around for some food when he heard a commotion coming from the farm fields. At first, he didn’t think anything of it, only that it might be the farmhands calling back and forth to each other. Then, the sounds took on a more menacing tone, causing him to take notice and to go and investigate. As soon as he came out of the small woods that surrounded his house, he was beset by a group of rats with swords and it was by sheer luck that he was able to fight them off and hit them with a shot of his spray, forcing them to run off. Being wounded, he retreated to his house to try and recuperate.  

Feeling better after Maple’s first-aid, he asked if he could join up with them. It was quickly decided that that would be a great idea and Melbo went into the back room and returned wearing his chain armor, a helmet, and wearing a long sword – some remnants of his old, adventuring days. In the discussions following this, it was suggested by Melbo that they should go talk to Marrietta the muskrat. The party agreed and went to search out the muskrat that lived in the marsh that was east of the farm and north of where they were at the moment.

The walk to the marsh was short and they were greeted by a host of armed toads soon after they entered the cattails of the marsh. They were asked why they were there. The party quickly explained the situation and was, for a moment, greeted by the blank, bulging eyes of the toads. The lead toad then asked the party to wait a moment while he consulted their leader. After what seemed like an eternity (the toads are not know for the conversational skills), the lead toad returned and requested that they follow him. Another short walk lead to a platform that was located on the shore of the small pond that was in front of them. They could see a large muskrat house out in the middle of the pond. No sooner than they got there than a snow white muskrat came from behind the house riding on the back of a large snapping turtle.

When she reached the platform she introduced herself and explained that she knew that they would be coming. The party could tell by her far-off look that she was blind. Marietta explained that though she cannot see, she seems to have an ability to sense/feel things and to have visions of what may happen in the future. After Marietta answered some questions from the party , the party knew that some foul, evil beast/thing from the north had entered the area and would most likely be found in the woods to the west known as Spider Woods – a place where one rarely ever enters due to it being infested with large, nasty arachnids!

The party thanked Marietta for her help and she wished them all the best on their quest. The party then proceeded to head towards the woods. This was easily done by the wide trail that was left by the rats. The adventurers followed the trail into the woods with Maple leading the way on the ground and Chip running through the tree branches up above. It didn’t take long until they approached the edge of a clearing in the woods. Chip barked a warning signal to Maple and the group stopped. Chip and Maple went out ahead to get a better look. When they got to the edge, they could see a two-story stone mansion that was guarded by a couple of rats with spears that were standing in front of the front door. It appeared that they had heard something from the direction from where the party was located and they seemed to be arguing about something – most likely who would go into the woods to investigate. Before they could finish their argument, Fist casted a Sleep spell which quickly put both rats to sleep.

The group quickly ran out, bound up the rats, and brought them back to the woods. After the rats had been securely tucked away, the party advanced towards the mansion. Pip went up to the front door to listen – she could hear some voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. Both Maple and Chip decided to climb up the walls and check out some open windows on the second floor. After checking the front door, Pip went to look around towards the back of the mansion. Bucky and Monk decided to guard the front door while she did that. Of the four windows on the second floor, the two squirrels decided to check the inner two windows – Maple found an open hallway that, with the exception of a statue, appeared to be empty. Chip found a 10’x30’ room that also appeared to be empty. Having found his room empty, Chip lowered a rope for the others to follow.

Pip made her way to the back of the mansion. Upon coming around the corner of the building she found a door about 20ft away. Unfortunately, she stumbled on some loose rocks near the door causing her to knock her head against the door (she rolled a 1). Cursing her luck and hoping that no one heard her, she tensely listened at the door, hoping nothing would happen. However, it appeared that something on the other side had heard her and was starting to unlock the door.

Unfortunately for those of you that have been reading this, this is where we stopped for the night. So, please stayed tuned for next week’s installment to find out who/what is living in the mansion and to see how our brave adventurers will fare…

Enjoy!!