Session Nine: The Reeve’s Tale

A Tale of Two Locations

A slight retcon from the previous session finds Maurice, Magnus, and Garnier hiding their loot from the bandits in the forest before going to Berjols to report to Captain Julien. They find that Bartholomule and Ambrose have been summarily ejected from the town, likely due to intestinal distress, and have been tied up just outside the front gates. They also see quite a commotion, which comes from the guards telling visitors that Berjols now has a case of the Bloody Flux.

They meet the captain, who is pleased at the death of the bandits. He sends two guards out to collect the corpses and the evidence. The trio are paid three Crown total for the dead bandits and then promptly leave to collect their loot and return to Montressor.

They meet with the rest of the company, apart from Squire Henri, who is still lost. After a brief catchup, Pierre, Renee, Sabina, and Frieda go back to Berjols to tell Captain Julien what they discovered in the mill. Frieda also stops by the temple of Verena to research the weird symbols everyone keeps seeing everywhere.

Captain Julien

Captain Julien—now sporting his brand new “enchanted” sword, takes the news that his missing guards are likely dead as well as can be expected. He looks over the shredded tabard that the company discovered and deems it suspicious enough that the miller should be arrested. He pays the group ten Crown and says that he is off to get a warrant from the Lord Mayor of Berjols. 

The group collects Frieda a short time later and returns to Montressor.

While they were away, Maurice, Magnus, Garnier, and Sir Jean-Marc were able to flog their recently acquired goods to the villagers of Montressor. The group’s smooth patter, combined with Sir Jean-Marc’s social status, earns the company another four Crown.

Once the mercantile work is done and almost all the company has reunited, it is decided Squire Henri has been missing long enough. Several members of the company venture out into the woods to locate him, managing to find him by following the faint scent of onions on the wind.

The Cave

Squire Henri, meanwhile, has found a stream and followed it up into the hills, where he discovered the entrance to a cave. The air within and around the cave is incredibly putrid. Its stench drives the squire back, but not before he sees several footprints and a dusting of flour near the cave entrance.

Suspecting that this was the miller’s original destination, Squire Henri resolves to go inside and explore. He soon realizes that he lacks anything that could be used as a light source. Desperate to make one, he tries to build a fire.

When the search party locates him, they see him squatting behind a bush, sweating profusely, and rubbing a pair of sticks together.

The search party is also without any means to make light, but Sir Jean-Marc insists that his keen eyesight will allow him to defeat the darkness of the cave. Peering in from the entrance, the knight sees little but a set of steps at the back of the cave leading down.

The search party (and Squire Henri) decide to return to Montressor to purchase flint, tinder, torches, and lanterns.

An Arrest

The company is, at last, all together again.

Frieda quietly informs them that the symbols they saw on the deathship in Annecy were those of Tzeentch, one of the Ruinous Powers. She also mentions that she searched for information on the “wish scroll symbols” that the company keeps finding everywhere, but that she didn’t turn anything up. She says that she might find more information in a larger Temple of Verena, but warns that additional research on the Ruinous Powers might be dangerous.

Sir Jean-Marc visits Roland the Miller’s cart and dares him to eat one of his own baked goods for a potential reward of six silver shillings. Roland calmly selects a tart and eats it, suffering no ill effects. It occurs to Sir Jean-Marc that it Roland has likely not been altering the flour that he himself uses. Disgusted that his cunning plan was so easily defeated, Sir Jean-Marc pays Roland the cost of the tart and leaves, grumbling.

Roland finishes his workday sometime later and takes his tray of baked goods up to the mill. Magnus, who wishes to both keep an eye on the miller and engage in psychological warfare, takes a stool, goes up the hill and sits down a short distance from the mill’s entrance.

The rest of the company buys light sources and makes plans to return to the cave, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Captain Julien and six guards. Julien has his guards hide around town while he approaches the company.

He tells the company that he wants to get Roland out of the mill before attempting to arrest him, as he is afraid there is other evidence that the miller might try to destroy. He asks Renee to think of a clever distraction to draw Roland out of the mill. Renee agrees, marches to the miller’s now abandoned cart, and proceeds to kick it to pieces while screaming and swearing as loudly as she can.

Roland comes roaring out of the mill, demanding that Renee stop. When she doesn’t, he rushes at her and tries to clout her in the skull with a rolling pin. Renee ducks out of the way and readies her net while Magnus, whom Roland was too enraged to notice, slips up behind him and breaks his stool over  the miller's head.

While Roland staggers around, dazed, Renee deftly nets him and brings him to ground. Captain Julien and the guards emerge from their hiding spaces to rough up the miller some more and take him into custody. The miller screams and rages as the guards enter the mill to conduct a thorough search.

The Mill, First Floor

The Cave, Part Two

Once things have settled, the company tell Captain Julien about the cave, mentioning the flour dusting the entrance and the foul smell. They point out that the smell is similar to that of the mushrooms they found, and say that they suspect Roland is also hiding evidence there. The captain agrees, and orders Flora, one of his guards, along to accompany them on a search of the cave.

Hearing of the cave, Frieda begs off and stays behind in Montressor. The rest, including Flora, head off into the wilderness, reach the cave and, lighting torches and lamps, descend into the depths.

They find that the set of stairs leads them into a wet, dank chamber whose overpowering reek is enough to confound their senses. Sabina, fearful of what might hang in the air, ties a kerchief over her nose and mouth.

The chamber they discover is decorated with badly tarnished bosses of hideous design, and features numerous mushroom colonies that have grown into large hillocks throughout the room. The colonies in the back have sprouted eerie, translucent, yellow-white mushrooms, but the three in the front have mushrooms that match the color of the ones found in the mill.

Dominating the room from its plinth in the center is a statue of a bloated, festering, nightmarishly hideous daemon-thing. Much of it is, mercifully, concealed behind growths of lichen and curtains of rotting moss, but what can be seen of it is still quite disquieting.

The company sends Flora back to the captain to tell him what they have discovered. Flora is all too eager to quit the scene and flees as soon as permission is given.

Moments after Flora departs, the mushroom colonies begin to shudder and shake, and deranged, cackling laughter issues up from within. The company recoils in horror as at least a half-dozen creatures push their way out of the mushrooms to titter and giggle at them. The creatures are fleshy spheres, perhaps two feet around, and are a nightmare of ragged mouths, horns, and sharp teeth.

The company immediately retreats.

The Statue in the Temple

Mounting an Assault

The company flees back to Montressor, where they find Flora speaking frantically to Captain Julien. The company adds lurid detail to Flora’s story, and their description of the horrible flesh beasts visibly terrifies the captain, the other guards, and  various Montressori onlookers. Only Roland, who is manacled and tied to a lead that is affixed to the captain’s horse, seems disinterested at the news.

Panic spreads, with several members of the company suggesting, quite loudly, that there are likely other members of the community involved in the plot. When Roland the Miller is confronted with this, he shrugs.

“You’re right, of course. We’re all in on it. You’ll have to kill everyone in the village, just to be sure.”

Magnus, whose emotions are running high, and who has had more than enough of Roland, decks the miller in the mouth and screams at him. It takes the combined efforts of several guards to drag Magnus off of the miller.

This random act of violence from Magnus is enough to sober everyone on the scene. Captain Julien talks options, and makes it clear he is unwilling to leave the cave be if there are monsters living inside it. The company is reluctant to help the captain clear the cave, or help in any other way, until he offers ten Crowns. The company seems more interested after that, but still unwilling, until Maurice and Pierre manage to sweet talk a desperate Julien into giving them 20 Crowns.

Once they have secured their fee, the company gives their full support to the captain. Magnus, who has significant experience fighting the greenskins, is given the task of forming a battle plan. He decides that two guards will take Roland to Berjols, while the rest will go to the cave along with the company. Magnus, Sir Jean-Marc, Squire Henri, Captain Julien, and his guards will form a shield wall at the temple entrance, while the rest of the company pick off the creatures with bows and crossbows. 

The Cave, Part Three

Prepared for battle, the guard and the company descend into the cave. At least a dozen of the awful flesh things boil out of the mushroom colonies to meet them, and the battle is swiftly joined.

As unearthly giggles and cackles fill the air, the company locks shields with the guards and looses missiles into the scrabbling, bouncing, swarm. Several of the creatures die to arrows, while others are dealt heavy blows by those in the shield wall. The creatures explode as they die, their sour flesh pulling apart to release swarms of black flies that bite, sting, and attempt to crawl in the defenders’ mouths, ears, and noses.

The flesh creatures seem not to care that they are outnumbered, or that their own ranks are thinning. Still giggling, they continue their reckless attack…

The Bosses on the Cavern Walls