Heather Under Moonlight

Session 9, 8/7/25

The party start out in Tor, on the 9th of the Worm Moon, intending to sit out the winter. Valeucoux trains to level up, then everyone spends a few weeks carousing. Valeucoux finds out about the local bare-knuckle boxing circuit and heads out to punch some guys, while Nissa hears about a Bare Pines Nomad who needs transport to see her lover in the Wolf Children, West of Thysrus.

Relimi goes with Valeucoux to do some boxing - as they pass by an alley, they're ambushed by a wererat, with a sword and money from Thysrus. Relimi grapples the rat while Valeucoux beats it to death with his silvered battleaxe, eventually wearing it down after a very long fight. He then walks, bleeding and disheveled, into the bar, enters the ring, knocks out his opponent in one punch, takes 25 GP from the guy who told him about the place, and leaves.

In the morning, the party heads South. They encounter an abandoned funeral barge and caravanserai, then skate around the Needle and finally find the Bare Pines clan encamped near a creek. Relimi enters to speak with the Shrine Mother, and learns that one of the people in her locket, the cleric, went West, to the Sea. They then continue on toward Thysrus, finding a peeling yellow fishing hut and an observatory-monastery before finally finding the Wolf Children, camped in the shadow of an ancient tomb.

After delivering the girl, they attempt the tomb. The door opens - a pair of ghouls! Relimi turns them and they flee into a large central area with a mass of rubble. The fighters hack one down as it flees, then the whole party gives chase. As they turn the corner around the rubble, they see one ghoul holding a skull as another creature sits on a throne and picks out bits of brain. The fleeing ghoul reaches its master and, emboldened by its foul presence, turns to face the party.

The one on the throne stands and charges, arriving in contact before the party can react, but both sides fail to inflict any hits. The two following ghouls take some damage from oil and holy water, then reach melee. Valeucoux and the woman from Greik fight the ghouls, while Relimi and Nissa stay in the rear. As the melee wages on, Nissa hears a sound from the door behind her, and realizes that another group of ghouls are trying to attack from the flanks - she throws herself against the door and struggles desperately. Valeucoux takes a claw hit and is paralyzed, but Relimi rescues him with a casting of Sanctuary.

That's where we ended the session. I felt it was kind of aimless, but it's nice for the players to get out and around. I really need to refresh the rumor table in Tor, because most of it's been heard now. Some new stuff would be good. I think the ghoul tomb should prove a valuable expedition for the party; some decent loot and maybe a hint at an even richer area, not to mention a reasonable sum of experience from the ghouls themselves.