[AD&D] The village of Hommlet session 9 summary

From the notes of Alric Brethencourt of Veluna

Waterday turning Earthday, 20^th day of the Readying, the hills north of the ruined moathouse

Heironeous be praised! His divine benevolence lend strength to the arms of my comrades, and evil stood powerless before their wrath, terrible to behold! My only regret, not having been able to do my fair share of the smiting…

We awoke in a small room, deep in the lair of Lareth and her vile servant Silas Rac, the pale-skinned, silver-haired lieutenant of the Temple’s Keep. In the room were three private altars devoted to the dread deities they worshipped. Noted among them one which could only be attributed to Lolth. Bound and in some instances gagged, the situation looked hopeless for Chryseis, Ellaria, Wilstan and myself. But fortune smiled upon us, in the guise of one of our bravest companions. The gnome Philius Tilm, barely recovered from his ordeal with Lubash the executioner, and now ex-ogre, had followed us as we were being dragged deeper into the bowels of the moathouse ruins. Later learned he managed this using a magic ring which turned him invisible. Philius started to free us, but at that moment a gnollish guard entered the room to keep a watch over us. This complicated matters, but the sneaky and dexterous Philius managed nonetheless. Contemplated jumping the guard at this point, so we could make our way back, to our companions and freedom, but this plan was cut short. At that moment Lareth and Silas, together with a few guards, entered the room, making all too clear their nefarious intentions toward us. As a guard came to drag me away and subsequently discovered my bounds were undone, our hastily conceived plans turned sour, and our hope wavered. Tried to knock down the guards, but being unarmed I stood no chance. With a mighty blow of his two-handed sword Silas knocked me to the ground. Before I once again passed out, I heard Wilstan surrendering, and saw Chryseis likewise being subdued. For a moment it looked like Ellaria managed to break free, and Philius had once again disappeared. Then darkness reigned.

Awoke later, minutes or hours, it was impossible to tell. Wilstan and Chryseis had managed to undo their bonds again, and proceeded to do the same for Ellaria and myself. Of Philius no sign. Luckily the gnomish whispering stone had not been taken from me, and I used it to contact Weebrian. Relieved to find out all our companions were still alive, and on their way to our location. Excepting us, the room was empty now, so we decided now was the moment to attempt another breakout. One way leading further into the basements of the moathouse and to Lareth, the other towards the outside and our companions, we chose the latter. We armed ourselves with what was available at an adjacent armory, and then, divines be praised, we came upon our battle-worn companions, who by the looks of them had just fought the skirmish of their lives. Learned that Silas had been defeated, but mysteriously - magically - disappeared in total darkness shortly afterwards. No doubt the evil hand of Lareth was behind this. Though we were all weary, hurt and balking at the idea of getting ourselves entangled into another fight, we could not yet leave. The Song Spear was unaccounted for, and without my most precious heirloom, I would not have left the place, no matter if it killed me. So we pressed on, through a door trapped with magical runes to bar our way, and discovered two rooms, a bedroom, probably belonging to Silas, and another, more opulent room, with luxurious trappings and lecherous, depraved mosaics covering the walls. In a brazier some papers had been hastily burned, though on searching the rooms we managed to extract a few intact documents, including a letter from Lareth to the Lord Patriarch of the Temple, and an account of the battle of Emridy Meadows by Mellium, the sage of Verbobonc. The intended recipient remained unknown, but the wax seal on the scroll had been broken. We grabbed a few valuable possessions as well, but we did not linger long in this godforsaken place. Using an ingeniously locked posterior gate, we could quickly depart the moathouse, and found ourselves near the woods, quite a distance away from the ruins themselves. We made camp there for the night, deciding to return to the moathouse the next morning, to retrieve our gear left behind and then make for Hommlet with the wagon of salvaged gear and the ballista for the town militia.

We did just that. Some argument broke out over whether to take the wagon and risk the old road north, or to leave it behind and cut west through the swamp. A vote decided in favor of the former. Kazireh went to retrieve her belongings down in the cellars, and had some trouble of persuading Chryseis to leave again without removing the infestation of ghouls then and there. Promised to Chryseis we would return at a later time to clear this place of any remaining horrors.

So we started for Hommlet by way of the road north, in the direction of Nulb, to then take a left turn and return south and west by means of the unused road. Fair enough weather and steady progress marked the first leg of the journey, until we, perhaps not surprisingly, ran into an ambush. A whole clan of diminutive, goblinoid creatures, wearing the black cloaks emblazoned with the burning eye of the Temple, started raining down arrows from the trees on both sides of the road, while their leaders, a shaman and a giant ratman, both mounted on riding rats, stood by to watch their minions at work. While my companions deftly dealt with their cronies, I attempted to charge the shaman, but a mortal fear seemed to have gripped my otherwise stalwart steed Harros; a similar dweomer seemed to have gripped Chryseis. Dismounted and attempted to fight the creatures on foot, but again a dread feeling came over me, making me unable to harm them, despite my reason. But the Song Spear is not so easily defeated…