The Curse of the Witch-King Chapter 4

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain on seeing their host going to check on her father stops trying to dry his wet cloths via standing by the fire(not being affected the by cold as benifit of his Cloak of Comfort) as wearing soggy clothing is still annoying . Well at least he can help his hosts by alleviating extremes of temperature by him being within 30' of him . With a resigned look at the fire he looks at his companions he prepares to follow the woman out the door . "We shall accompany you then ."Alain says

[ewancummins]

Alain on seeing their host going to check on her father stops trying to dry his wet cloths via standing by the fire(not being affected the by cold as benifit of his Cloak of Comfort) as wearing soggy clothing is still annoying . Well at least he can help his hosts by alleviating extremes of temperature by him being within 30' of him . With a resigned look at the fire he looks at his companions he prepares to follow the woman out the door . "We shall accompany you then ."Alain says

Lara says, ''I thank you.'' She grabs a wide brimmed hat from a wall peg and snugs it over her blonde hair.

Karll nods to Alain before hastening to open the door for his boss's daughter. The farmhand tugs on his shirt and a ratty old cloak before stepping out.

[kintire]

Kat watches with some interest as the farmhand displays his muscles, but her attention is distracted as they prepare to depart, her face displaying no particular surprise as the party heads out, rising and leaving with a pleasant smile. It is her instinct to scout ahead, but this is tempered by the fact that she doesn't know where she is going, so she contents herself with keeping a sharp lookout as they move forward

[ewancummins]

HEADING OUT into the rain, now fallen to a steady drizzle, the party moves north to the fieldstone fence, about a mile from the farmhouse.

Lara's father isn't anyplace in sight.

Fala finds tracks, muddied and all but washed-away by the rainfall. Looks like a man, a dog or wolf, and some sort of three-toed, web-footed beast that could be as big as a man. Maybe more than one of the latter creature. A faint, foul odor hangs near the strange prints. A nose less sensitive than a gnome's might have missed the smell.

Kat discovers what seems a very large burrow on the far side of the fence, about ten feet from the breach, concealed by tumbled rocks and a bright yellow-flowered shrub. A closer look shows that the shrub has been partly uprooted.
The earthen burrow looks big enough for a child to walk into upright or a man stooping low.

Alain notes a small tuft of gray-brown fur smeared with red and green stuff, scraped against the broken fence section.

[kintire]

Kat kneels a little to one side of the mouth of the burrow and listens carefully, trying to work out if any sound is coming from within. She also looks into the burrow but doesn't expect much from that, although there is the chance some light is within

[ewancummins]

Kat sees a hazy lump, which after some squinting in the gloom, she identifies as a boot. It looks as if someone just dropped it there in the dirt of the burrow floor.

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain says to Kat :"So you see anything in there ?"

[Lord Skybolt]

Fala goes to what Kat is looking in and takes a good long look with her superior vision .

[kintire]

Kat glances back

"Discarded boot, I think. Could be worth a look..."

[ewancummins]

A closer look in the dank tunnel reveals not only the empty boot, but more of those three-toed beast tracks alongside what appear to be drag marks, as if the thing or things had dragged away the owner of the boot.
A musky, rather putrid odor hangs in the damp air of the passage. Maybe a skunk, or maybe something else.
The burrow continues more or less straight for several paces before dropping and winding leftwards out of sight.
It's big enough for the party to walk through single-file.
Whatever excavated this tunnel seems to have either had large chopping claws, far bigger than a mole's nails, or else used some kind of mattock or pickaxe.


Once the boot has been brought out, Lara takes one look at it and stifles a scream. When she calms down, she tells you all that it looks exactly like her father's footgear.

Karll nods grimly, and casts nervous glances about at nearby boulders and shrubs.

While searching the mud and dirt strewn about the entrance of the burrow, the party discovers a piece napped flint, which looks to have calved off a larger blade of some sort.

[Lord Skybolt]

Alain move close to the burrow were the boot was found and casts a spell after he moves there concealing* his movements in such a way to make it hard to see his casting .









*Conceal Spell Casting Skill trick being used here .

[ewancummins]

Alain finds more signs of passage in and around the tunnel mouth, and signs of a struggle.

When Fala looks, aided by Kat and Alain, the gnome quickly reconstructs the scene.
At least three of the creatures came out of the tunnel and ambushed the farmer and his dog at the fenceline.
They may have carried away or eaten the dog, as its prints just stop near the fence.
But the farmer they dragged into the tunnel for sure.
No blood spilled anywhere in sight.
All this happened very recently. Certainly not more than an hour past, as the rain hasn't obliterated prints outside the tunnel, only blurred them.

Lara clutches at Klokulf's arm after the gnome relates her findings to the other adventurers.

''My father! I've got to go after him. Can you help, please?"


END OF CHAPTER