Session II - Shallow Graves

After a brief exploration of Waelvur's Wagonworks courtyard, the party decides to venture back into the tunnels below. At the end of the last unexplored passage, they find themselves face to face with a wooden door behind which Elthas clearly hears the murmurs of a small crowd responding to a single manly voice.

Losing patience, Trash kicks the door open and finds himself in an open sky, stone quarry where Larrakh is standing on a ledge talking to half a dozen town elders wielding pitchforks and butcher knives. The chief cultist orders his followers to attack our adventurers but Tico's and Halvarth's silver tongues along with Trash's and Klaes' towering figures make short work of the crowd's motivation which starts dispersing. 

With the use of charm enchantments, the party manages to understand that Larrakh was trying to regain favors with a company he calls Black Earth by manipulating the people of Red Larch with make belief stories. They hear the name Marlos for the second time and the cultist eventually spills his own blood as an offering to an entity he calls Ogrémoch.

The party leaves Larrakh's lifeless body where it stands to head towards town where they manage to speak with Harburk Tuthmarillar, the town's constable. Harburk seems genuinely worried about the whole affair and promises to handle things with the town elders who will be spending some time in the town's makeshift jail, underneath his wife's butcher shop. Concerning the missing dwarven delegation, he points the party in the direction of Zomith, sitting at the back of the helm at high sun tavern. 

Zomith reveals that she was indeed accompanying the caravan in their way towards Waterdeep. Stopping for a day at Westbridge, she says having been given instruction to make her way to Red Larch where the caravan would meet their non dwarven escort after a detour through the Slumber Hills for some sort of pilgrimage. She says this was a few weeks ago and the delegation never showed up. 

Having gained the tavern's patrons' affection through rounds of ale, Tico manages to weave through various rumors going around town. One sheep herder, Larmon Greenboot recounts sight of freshly dug graves at the foot of the slumber hills in the form of three small cairns. He also tells the tale of his entire herd of sheep being decimated by giant vultures as he ran for his life. Amongst others, Tico also hears a rumor about a beautiful dwarven book that the town's barber, Endrith Vallivoe, is trying to sell. 

The party eventually find its way to The Swinging Sword Inn where the innkeep is convinced that the strange occurences in the region are due to ''Fell Magic'' while an itinerant priest of Lathander, sitting in the common room, confirms Zomith's tale of the caravan and affirms having seen them in Beliard two tendays ago. He mentions Summit Hall as a plausible destination for the delegation and traces a route on the party's map.

Before heading out of town, the party decides to give the barber shop a visit. They find a shady café-like shop where patrons are lounging while Endrith Vallivoe is servicing a man. To the point, our brave adventurers demand to see the dwarven book and, with more charm enchantments along with threats of arsony, they learn that Endrith got the book from some unsavory source in Womford, a village to the east. 

Decided on a course, our heroes fetch Larmon Greenboot, offer him a few gold pieces for direction and a guide to the newly found graves, planning to keep going towards Wormford afterward hoping to gather more information on the origins of the dwarven book and possibly intercept the missing delegation on its way back to Red Larch.

While on the road, they are passed by a cavalier galloping in the same direction. With his photographic memory, Trash recognizes one of Vallivoe's Sundries patrons. Shrugging it off, they veer offroad towards the Slumber Hills. 

Arriving on site, Elthas starts looking for tracks, observing definite signs of struggles, while others start digging up the graves. They find the bodies of two dwarves, a male and a female, respectively an artisan and a warrior, both decorated with the symbol of Mirabar. They also find one human male dressed in a white cloak with black feathers at the shoulders. All of which seem to have died by crushing blows. 

While Elthas eventually finds some tracks which are headed north-east, following the foot of the hills, the party sees in the distance, several miles to the north, a slender old tower circled by what appears to be large birds.

Larmon reveals this tower to be occupied by a group of griffon riders from waterdeep calling themselves: the Feathergale Knights. Halvarth recognizes the name as a group of veterans from Waterdeep's elite aerial riders which attained fame in battle and are now claiming titles of nobility. 

With their curiosity piqued, our heroes decide to switch course and head for the tower. After spending much time and effort convincing Larmon to stay put and look over the horses, tremors are being felt. From this vantage point, the party notices wave-like forms in the earth slowly making their way towards them. They brace themselves as three aggressive Ankheg burst out of the ground in front of them, spitting acid, slashing and biting.