March 23rd, 2024
Iustitia, Lux 23rd, 1194
We settle on visiting Hallendren’s Deep to investigate the cult activity, which will take about 7.5 days of travel. Later in the day, Ralzer gets a delivery of the Thunderstrike Duo.
Mors, Lux 28th, 1194
At a crossroads we find a dead human woman hanging from a tree. It attacks once Graynor gets close to it. Upon closer inspection, we can see an incorporeal form within the body. During the combat, we are assisted by Marcus, a human male. The tattoo on his hand signifies him as a “Hand of Barnabas“, which is a mercenary group.
Marcus’ traveling companion was killed by this thing early this morning. Marcus then hung the creature from a tree to keep it in one place; he used a rope threaded with nephelium, as it has properties that affect undead. This is the same transparent metal that the Nightcaller whistle was composed of. He explains that a cult in the area will bind incorporeal undead into living bodies, where they remain dormant until the host expires. This one may have been a specter, since it inflicted negative levels.
Marcus wants to get his friend resurrected, which we cannot do. We ask him what he knows about the cult in the area. According to him, it’s composed of humans, elves, and orcs. However, there are some skum in the swamp that have also begun collaborating with them, since they have no aboleth masters in this area.
We bury the hanged person and converse more with Marcus. He will accompany us to Hallendren’s Deep and we will magically preserve his friend. While traveling, Marcus tells us about what he’s seen in the swamp.
- Marsh giants – dangerous, produce fog effects and curse people
- Dimensional shambler – teleports a lot, spellcasters want to study them
- Color out of space – powerful ooze that has many immunities and spell resistance. They have a disintegrating touch, an aura of lassitude, and it grows bigger by blighting large areas of land or feeding on the living. In the Harmonic Dissonance, Investigator Vale needs to lure one of these into the aura of another creature with an aura of high energy.
- Cerebric fungus – they read minds and adjust their appearance based on their findings. It has an otherworldly mind that resists detection and can inflect debilitations. They have fast healing and can cast spells. They’re vulnerable to sonic damage.
- Shambling mounds – lots of them.
Vita, Lux 30th, 1194
We arrive in Hallendren’s Deep in the evening and Marcus recommends the Lonely Witch Inn. We secure lodgings and Sigmund will gather info about this cult. The cult seems to be located west of the city, which goes deeper into the swamp; most people avoid the swamp due to the obvious danger and there are no small villages in the swamp.
Graynor visits his temple to see what they know about the cult. He learns about some townsfolk that have gone missing.
Mare, Artis 1st, 1194
It’s the Summer Solstice. We investigate the missing townsfolk and get the names of two young ladies that have gone missing within the last month. Brey Shanks has been missing for 3 weeks and Sadie Shaulfer for 5 weeks. Both knew each other, but not very well. The families didn’t notice any changes in their behavior and they’ve had no new friends. Neither of them returned from school.
Graynor talks with the school admins about the missing girls, but doesn’t get any new information. Sigmund follows up with the town guard and also doesn’t get anything new, while getting the feeling that the guards are not really interested in the case.
At night Ty stakes out a western exit of the city, with a spell that will allow the rest of the party to track her while staying a good distance, and follows someone to a meeting deeper in the swamp. They meet up with three others outside of a small cave; all of which look to be human and they speak in undercommon. Ty catches the name Carcosa.
After about 90 minutes, they each depart in a different direction. Ty follows a new person, heading west.
This person heads to another gathering with 7 total people. They are joined by a skum about 30 minutes later. At this point we decide to engage them.
Everyone at the gathering is a spellcaster with holy symbols related to Kaajh’Kaalbh, with the skum and one other being a little stronger casters. We dispatch them, but not before the skum flees into the swampy depths. We manage to subdue one of them for questioning. Another person here is a dead woman with the same Architects symbol carved into her that we saw in the plane out of time. She is not one of the missing girls.
According to Ralzer, the Pnakotic Manuscripts references Carcosa as a plane that is supposed to touch the other planes, like the plane of shadow.
We should follow our trail back to the small cave that the first meeting was near.