The “clerics” invite the PCs into the dining hall for a meal. Suspicious, Athron and Vermillion decline to drink. Duran pretends to be ill and makes his way to the privy down the hall. While Broc begins to feel the effects of the drugs in the food, Duran is attacked by a half-orc, Gurta, wielding a greataxe. As battle breaks out in the dining hall, Duran takes several direct hits, and is saved only when Athron steps out and casts a spell upon the half-orc to freeze her in place.
In the dining hall, the leader of the bandits, Tallon, flees upstairs, leaving one man to die and another to surrender. As Vermillion creeps up the steps after him, he sees a mage crouched at the top, who unleashes a fireball down into the room, killing one of his own men and taking the last close to death. In the front hall, Raz – the purported bard – crouches in terror, and says that he “didn’t think it would be this bad.” The PCs eventually make it upstairs and kill both Tallon and the wizard, Seril.
Under questioning, Raz admits that he knew the bandits, and ran with them until only a few months before, when he became a student of Father Hilaire, the keeper of the WayStation. Father Hilaire was called away to Obber’s Mill (where Cyrus Fletcher, former member of the Nightsong agency, is the missing sheriff), which is two days away. The bandits have wanted to clean out the WayStation for a while, and when they saw Father Hilaire leave, they immediately moved in. They felled trees on the road on either side of the WayStation to delay any travelers, but were unable to loot the building before the PCs arrived.
The PCs search the rest of the WayStation to make certain there are no other attackers. Cassick finds a half-written letter to a “Brother Landry,” in which he speaks of his student, Raz, who thinks he has fooled Father Hilaire into thinking he is a bard – though Father Hilaire knows he is a former thief. Cassick also finds a hidden door connecting Father Hilaire’s office to his bedchamber. However, when he attempts to enter, he suffers a surge of electricity. The party decides not to try to search that room.
(DM’s note: When we first played the search, Chris had Broc charge through the field into the room beyond. Broc then searched the bedchamber and found a hidden compartment in the floor under the bed. He opened the compartment and was ready to loot the contents until Athron denounced the potential theft (“that’s no better than the thieves”) and that he would not heal Broc of the damage he had taken from the electricity. Between this week and next, Chris asked if he could have a “rewind,” and say that Broc never searched the bedchamber.)
The next day, Duran, Boeden Narwin and Athron decide to stay behind to await Father Hilaire’s return, while Vermillion, Broc and Cassick all travel towards Obber’s Mill.
(DM’s note: This split in the party, which I did not want, was my fault. In planning, I had failed to take into account the fact that Athron would never leave the WayStation unprotected until Father Hilaire’s return.)
While passing the days, Athron studies the wall-sized mural and sees that it shows an old map of the immediate region – including a more complete copy of the symbol he saw on the piece of leather in Retta Pierce’s papers in a heavily wooded mountainous area. This helps him better pinpoint where the Eye of Hamal might be located. Boeden remarks that he saw something similar in the city hall of Halveet when he was stationed there are as a guard for the Jotunn shipyard.
At the WayStation over the next couple of days, merchants stop, a group of local farmers arrives to size up the interlopers – and stays to make sure they do not harm the Waystation. Further, a haughty Shal couple arrives to take rooms. However, once the woman sees the mural, they immediately turn around and leave, heading north on the road.
Meanwhile, the others reach Obber’s Mill and turn over both Raz and the other surviving (and badly burned) bandit. They meet Ghini Eglund, an elven ranger, who has taken over the job of sheriff, and learn that Cyrus Fletcher’s body was found about a week ago, thoroughly gnawed and half-eaten. Ghini confirms that merchants have reported thefts, including one who accused his guard, Dormain, of being involved. Dormain now works as a bartender at the Sylvan Glade Inn.
Ghini tells them that some of the locals think the miller, Cloten, is involved – he is generally not liked, is suspected of skimming grain, and feeds and nurtures a pack of feral dogs that are a menace to the community. Ghini also tells them that she asked Hilaire to come to Obber’s Mill because a number of townspeople were injured by wild animals and needed healing.
Hilaire is summoned, thanks the three for helping with the WayStation, and hurries back home.
(DM’s note: The mini-adventure in the town of Obber’s Mills is taken, in large part, from an adventure in an issue of Dungeon magazine. If I can dig up the issue, I will give a direct cite and credit to the author.) This photograph used under Creative Commons license.
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