It was a crisp, early Spring morning in the farming town of Eveningstar. Though it is a small town of only 400 to 500 people, it was quite prosperous due to its location at the crossroads of The High Road and Suzail Road. The scenery around this small but wealthy town was breathtaking, what with it being at the base of the eastern Stormhorn Mountains to the north and with the gargantuan and ancient King's Forest to the south. Aside from the beautiful views and the wealth of its small population of farmers, this was not much different from the many other farming towns that dot the landscape of Corymyr. The arrival of three strangers in town that morning caused many raised eye brows at the Lonesome Tankard Tap Room and Inn, a place that didn't see too many people like the three adventurers eating breakfast at a table in the corner.
Ember brushed a a few crumbs of stinky cheese off of her gray robes. Naivara drank a glass of water as if she had just traversed a desert. The two elves were different in many ways though they were both strong women who had seen many trials and tribulations in their years. Ember's fiery red hair and grey robes stood out about as much as the large wizard's staff she had resting against the wall. Eveningstar was not a town that attracted many magical types. Naivara kept a close eye on the few patrons in the room eating that day, for her many recent troubles made her perhaps too alert to the possibility of danger, perhaps sensing it where there was none. Wood elves are always alert, but Naivara prided herself on never letting anyone get the jump on her, something she considered essential to the thief's trade. Their companion Torvald paid no attention to anyone else in the room, including the two elves. He was battle hardened enough to know when danger was afoot, and he sensed none in this high-end tap room. He simply ate his plate of sausages, bacon, ham, and a single piece of fruit and enjoyed the quiet of the meal, as he was never one for superfluous conversation, which is why he let out an audible sigh when a wizardly woman approached their table to strike up conversation.
"Would ye mind if I sat down?" asked the beautiful woman standing at their table. Ember greeted her and bade her to sit. "I am Lord Tesseral Winter, ruler of Eveningstar. You three aren't from here, are you?" Torvald lifted his head and began to speak but was immediately and instinctively cut off by Naivara, who quickly learned when Torvald was about to be cross with a stranger, which was almost always. "We are travelers on our way south, what is on your mind Lord Tesseral?" She began to tell them about a series of abductions that had been occurring in the town recently. Since Eveningstar's population of adventurers, warriors, and wizards was exceptionally low she was hoping that perhaps Ember, Naivara, and Torvald could be of some assistance in helping uncover the mystery of these recent troubles. "What's in it for us?" Naivara said with a grin. Taken aback Lord Tesseral offered them 100 gold pieces and maybe more to save any abducted townsfolk. "Who has been abducted?" asked Ember. "Some men, some women, but mostly younger women. This quiet farming community has never had troubles with anyone and we like to keep it that way. Would you help us?" After conversing amongst themselves our adventurers decided to take on the mission to the Haunted Halls, where Lord Tesseral Winter said she suspected there could be some answers. The three decided since it was early they would finish eating and head north west immediately.
The trail to The Haunted Halls meandered north west along a gorge. It was about 30 miles from Evening Star to their destination. Ember, Naivara, and Torvald started walking along the river when around noon-time Naivara heard a growling and scratching in the distance. She continued walking and ignored it for a bit when with a piercing screech a large, bear-sized creature with feathers and the face of an owl appeared about 50 years away with blood dripping from its maw. The fierce monster stared at the party as they slowly backed away hoping to avoid angering the creature. It watched them for a minute and then returned to its meal. As evening approached the party set up camp for the night, only about a half-day away from their destination. A watch rotation was agreed upon and the night was uneventful. All three party members were confident this was be an easy mission and a fine treasure to boot. They fell asleep soundly and were eager to rise again and continue along the trail.
After waking up the party continued their march towards The Haunted Halls. They arrived at two large cracks in the gorge and went into the north crack as Lord Tesseral Winter had indicated. the crack was clearly man-made and was about 10 feet wide. The party came upon a pair lichen covered doors and entered. They moved softly (with Torvald the warrior inadvertently doing everything he could to sabotage the efforts of the elves to remain quiet) and entered a dimly lit room. On either side of a doorway straight ahead was a skeleton in tattered leather armor holding a sword. Naivara suddenly has the urge to check the walls for secret doors. Though she was able to determine there was most likely a hidden door, her and Ember collectively could not ascertain the trigger. "Hello Sir!" Ember jokingly said to one of the skeletons when to her surprise both began to come to life. Springing to action Naivara shot an arrow at one of the skeletons and easily knocked its head clean off and it once again fell to the ground. Sensing the danger his wizard companion was still in being so close to the other skeleton Torvald charged at the undead foe and cut off its non-sword arm with a swing of his long sword. Ember haplessly missed the skeleton with her staff to which the skeleton responded with a swing of his own sword. Torvald attempted to stand between them to no avail and Ember felt the sword stab into her. Thankfully Naivara's bow work once again was on point as she landed another head shot causing the second skeleton to de-animate and fall to the floor.
After collecting themselves for a moment the party walked through the door. Ember immediately put her arm in front of Torvald and Naivara and hushed them. She whispered that she could hear something coming from the hallway to the left. They stealthily moved down the hall and now all three could hear an unknown language in a room about 10 feet down the hall. They looked into the room and saw what used to be quarters, there were broken beds and old chests. There were also three creatures in front of a make shift altar. One of the creatures was facing Torvald as he led the way into the room and held a jagged dagger. The chanting stopped and the creature with the dagger looked at the party with an evil grin. It was a human male wearing blood-red plate armor and a black hooded cloak. "Can I help you?" he asked in a sinister way. The other two men in the room were wearing masks and standing at the armored man's side. "We were just exploring and heard voices," said Ember, ever level-headed and even tempered. "You are liars!" exclaimed the man in the blood-red armor. "What are you three doing here?" inquired Ember. The man then held a dagger to the throat of a young woman on the altar and demanded the party leave or she would die. Torvald was becoming increasingly agitated as he knew there was only one way this was going to end regardless of the actions of the party, and he was proven right when the man in the blood-red armor drew his dagger across the young woman's throat, ending her life in the flower of her youth, right after Ember asked him why she must die.
Riddled with righteous rage Ember loosed a firebolt at the murderer and missed. Torvald followed with a shot from his crossbow and managed to hit him in the shoulder between two plates of armor. At that the evil man extended his arm and made a fist. He raised his arm as if pulling some up, and two skeletons animated from the ground. Immediately a skeleton moved on Torvald. One of the cultists next to the apparent leader unsheathed a scimitar as Naivara hit him with an arrow to the stomach. Torvald turned to the two elves and angrily said, "pity the arrow was loosed after the throat was slashed." Ember in turn unleashed a magical bolt of lightning at one of the scimitar wielding cultists and hit him directly in the chest, nearly killing him. Torvald turned to a skeleton and proceeded to swing his sword with the fury of all his years of battle and severed the spine of the foul creature and it immediately fell apart. At this point the cult leader looked at Torvald and the elves and smiled "This has been fun, but I'll see you another time." A pin prick of light appeared and opened into a doorway into which he disappeared along with the door itself as the light went out. The party had no time to consider the extreme oddity of what they'd just seen, for they still found themselves in combat with two scimitar wielding cult members and an undead skeleton.
The two cult members looked at each other panicked and unsure what to do without their leader. It is possible even they were unaware he held such power. They were shaken out of their stupefied gazes when Naivara shot an arrow towards them, which missed wildly and hit the wall behind them. Her unusual lack of accuracy was punished by a slashing cut to the arm from one of the cultists. Ember momentarily forgot her lack of melee combat abilities and ran to her injured friend with noteworthy courage. She proceeded to run right up to the cultist and try to push him into the fire, totally ignoring the difference in weaponry and strength. Torvald then swung his sword at a skeleton and missed badly, to which that skeleton responded with a punishing cut to Torvald's chest. As each member of the party continued to miss on one attack after another their situation grew perilous. In the raging melee Naivara finally managed to kill one of the cultists with a forceful stab of her rapier into his chest. Torvald was once again cut badly, this time in the chest as the other cultist began to fight like someone afraid for his life now that it was just him and one of the skeletons. Ember too was now hurt badly as she was wounded by one of the skeletons. As Naivara swung her rapier with all her might at the remaining skeleton she cut right through his spine and the skeleton fell to the ground. She looked at her two mortally wounded companions and swung her rapier once more, this time at the last cultist, knocking him out and saving the party from tragic doom in the Haunted Halls.
After tying up the cultist the party rested for the night to regain their strength. After rising Torvald looked at the cultist and told him about the large owl-faced monster they had seen on the way to the Haunted Halls. He then told the cultist the party would feed him to the monster if he didn't explain the abductions and the meaning of the ritual they were conducting. The terrified cultist tells the group that their leader forced them to conduct the ritual and that five people had been abducted and killed thus far. At that moment the group reflected on the fact that when they saw the cult leader disappearing into the light doorway, he was going into a nicely furnished, stately room, not at all like the dingy room in the ruins of the Haunted Halls. The cultist then told the party that his name was Bram and that their leader had promised him wealth and power one night when he was drinking at The Old Man's Face inn in Tyrluck. The party headed back to Eveningstar and had an uneventful two days trip. Naivara entered town alone and found Lord Tesseral and told her of their adventure. Torvald and Ember then brought Bram to the small town jail. Lord Tesseral was visibly shaken by the body of the young woman, deeply moved by the murder of such a lovely young woman that she felt personally responsible for, as she did for all the denizens of Eveningstar. Torvald looked at Lord Tesseral and asked her if there have been any abductions anywhere else lately. "Minroe to southeast and perhaps Suzail further south on the Dragonmere. The party decides to head for Minroe all the way on the other end of the ancient King's Forest. The party agrees to spend the night at the inn and get some rest before the long trip, for on this day they had nearly perished in The Haunted Halls.
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