Subterraneum Monasterium
Wolves, bats, rats and maps - by Lukas Devante After returning to Outhgill, the party settled in to recuperate. It took a few days for others to realize that Finn hadn't been seen in days.
But no one questioned the party. And since they returned, they hadn't seen Petyr Lackwitt nor Phillip.
After two weeks of recovery, the party decided to chance another visit to the underground ruin. Having lost one member, they decided to take others into their confidence and added Pietro, Chauncey and Cummy into their ranks. Now six-strong, they could face down any of the challenges that might face them in the ruin.
When they arrived at the entrance, it was clear that someone/thing had been going in and out of the entrance. Heinrich discovered both paw and human foot prints in the muck at the foot of the stairs.
After forcing a door open, beyond which they could hear a moaning/groaning noise, they were disappointed to discover it was just the rush of wind from a natural cave with both a stream and a small pool in it. There were lime/calcium covered barrels around the pool. After closer investigation one of the barrels was actually a lime coated skeleton. There was an axe head lodged in the skull, also coated in lime - Bruce scooped it up. In the skeleton's hand was a jewel encrusted cylindrical scrollcase. Cummy scooped it out of the stream before it was washed away. It contained a water-damaged map of the underground ruin. Cummy couldn't make hide nor hair of it, so he gave it to Lukas.
Using the map, the party moved more confidently through the halls of the ruin even discovering a hidden doorway. Their confidence was soon challenged by swarms of bats and rats. Bruce forced open a door and took a lung full of dust (dried rat/bat feces). They decided to retrace their steps, away from the hordes of vermin. The secret door was closed when they returned. Either someone had closed it or it had closed itself.
They continued up a ramp and encountered a long storage room with crates and mouldering sacks. After referencing the map, they decided to check out a couple of rooms. The first room contained the bones of a couple of people. After inspecting one of the skulls, a small emerald fell out. The bones were gnawed upon, but otherwise did not resemble the skull with the sharp-fanged teeth in the first room at the foot of the stairs. Heinrich was surprised by wolves that bolted from their den. Almost immediately he was felled by the pack leader. Battle ensued and an errant arrow was lodged into Heinrich's unconscious body, dealing a death blow. Cummy was bitten by one of the wolves, but shortly after that, the four canine's were dispatched; one attempting to flee having been pierced by Lukas' long sword. Bruce snapped a couple of their necks with his club while arrows from Lukas, hammer blows from Cummy and a stroke from Pietro's battle axe took down the rest of the pack. The party investigated more of the skulls and found 2 more emeralds.
After dressing the wolves (taking about 80lbs of meat and 4 furs), the party created a stretcher to carry Heinrich back to town. This whole process took them well into the evening to return home.
Cummy brought the small, child-sized skull with fanged teeth back to Outhgill to see if anyone was familiar with this phenomenon.
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