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.