That's Ruhd

First Session

Cast of characters

Scar – swarf (Kathy, what the hell's a "swarf"?)
Swifty – Cleric
Jax – fighter
Valdemar – monk
Leif – druid

Some recent history
There was a recent challenge to Hyrannustar, a council member. Lordship battle is a big deal. Ciran vs. Krytow – rumored that the dispute was that Krytow came to power in an undeserved manner.

We begin in the city of Sard. Jax, Scar and Swifty stay at a local temple. There's a big commotion out in the street. We run out to see a horse and cart charging down the town, almost trampling a family. Swifty stops the horse. Inside the cart is a mummified knight and an urn, wooden shield, long sword and helmet in a hidden compartment. A priest from the temple runs out to stop us. We bring the cart and horse into the temple.

We find out that two priests from Ruhd were bringing this cart to Krom's temple. The urn contains a special potion. Priest’s story: His counterpart (Theodoric) in Ruhd was behaving strangely and began to cast out followers. Most people took refuge in Sard. He was having some people bring back the urn, which contains the Elixir of Life, and the body of this lord.

Someone must have jumped the two who were bringing the cart back, spooking the horse. The priest offers us 750 in gold and services and the protection of Krom to go find Theodoric.

The party leaves town, heading southeast with the cart and horse, two mules, and a local who knows how to handle a team of horses. We make it to the next town – Brie. Scar talks to a thief at the bar. He was roughed up in the town of Ruhd by a mob of skeletons who were wearing strange armor.

The thief, a halfling named Tunnely, is heavily armed and agrees to join our party. During the conversation, we spot someone eavesdropping in on Scar's and Tunnely's conversation: a shabbily dressed human eating a decent meal (nice flavor text, Kathy). Swifty engages him in conversation. He scoffs at Tunnely's story, says it's spreading rumors. When he leaves, Scar follows him. He goes to a hidden gate on the south side and talks to the gatekeeper. Scar hears him say, "There's a party of 6 and they are headed to Ruhd."

Heading to Ruhd, we travel the next day without incident, arriving at Comb on day two. Comb is a much smaller town. It's across the river. We stay at an inn. News is: Ruhd is a bit dire – nothing has come into Comb. Night passes uneventfully.

We enter Ruhd the next day. We see no smoke coming from the town; it's as if the town is deserted. As we hit the town limits, a group of 20 meet us with a woman at the lead. They are flying a flag, a yellow triangular bit of cloth with a riding red sun. The woman introduces herself as Solaras, the leader of the Singing Dawn. She carries a shield, spear and bow. She's a 5'6” blonde with a very athletic build (much like a linebacker... think female dwarf, but without the beard). She is following up on reports that armies from the Chesarian empire have been seen marching toward Ruhd. The Chesarian, however, have been dead for years.

Solaras and company have only been in town two days. They say it has been abandoned. We find fresh tracks, about 1-2 days old that lead to the east, and look like troops. After tracking them into the woods, we come to the conclusion that whoever passed through Ruhd two days ago were a heavily armored group.

Tunnely's tale: Four nights ago, there was a huge storm in Ruhd. Skeletons rose up from the floor. He ran to check other homes and found them empty, although he had heard screams, and a sound like the beating of wings. He was assaulted by skeletons on his way out of town.

We follow the tracks into the woods and find a mass slaughter – all the townspeople dead. All of their heads are missing. Odd, that.

On our way to Theodoric's we are attacked by winged creatures, much like ugly flying monkeys – gargoyles. We take a beating. We go back, and get Solaras, who has some magical arrows. We kill one gargoyle but the second one flees. The party licks its victorious wounds.