A Restless Dawn
The party stirred from their restless slumber in the creaking inn, haunted by visions of the spectral encounter that had sent Sylvar fleeing into the night. The morning sun cast long shadows through dusty windows, but its warmth could not chase away the chill that had settled deep in their bones.
New Allies and Dark Discoveries
Descending the worn wooden stairs, the heroes found themselves face-to-face with a rowdy group of individuals who had clearly started drinking well before noon. As tensions began to rise in the room, one of the calmer individuals, Alaric Silverthorn, slipped through the tavern’s back door following a crimson trail snaking across the floor where Trina’s lifeless body had once lain.
Following behind Alaric scuttled a diminutive two-foot aasimar with a name bigger than herself: Fizz, The Galaxy Destroyer. As they moved through the back rooms, Fizz claimed bottles of cooking wine from the inn’s storage, perhaps sensing that liquid courage would be needed for the trials ahead.
The blood had been dragged like macabre breadcrumbs, leading the party through the inn’s shadowy back rooms and out into the grey morning air. The grisly path ended at two weathered graves: Trina Millbrook and Meredith Millbrook, mother and daughter, united in death as they had been in life. But this was no peaceful resting place—emotions could still be felt pulsing through the air as if someone’s soul had been ripped from their body far too early in life.
Following the Unnatural Trail
With keen eyes and keener instincts, the party discovered a new trail—footprints made of soot and ash, as if someone had walked through the very fires of the underworld. These unnatural tracks led them eastward, away from the relative safety of Millbrook and into the sprawling farmlands that stretched toward the northeastern horizon.
The Whispering Fields
The peaceful countryside revealed its sinister nature as the party began to hear their names carried on the wind—not shouted, but whispered with malevolent intent. The source became clear as three scarecrows materialized in the fields ahead, their burlap faces twisted into expressions of hunger and hate.
No matter which direction the heroes turned, those hollow eyes followed them with unblinking malice. These were no ordinary guardians of the harvest—they were sentinels of something far more dark and ancient.
Battle of Paper and Steel
Steel met straw as the party engaged the animated scarecrows in deadly combat. But these creatures held a terrible secret—each time a weapon found its mark, an explosion of papers erupted from their forms like the death cry of a literary demon.
The papers were not random debris but bore words of power, three words that seemed to resonate with dark purpose:
Only by speaking these words aloud were the scarecrows finally laid to rest, their papery souls scattered to the four winds.
The Spoils of Victory
In the aftermath of battle, the party secured what treasures they could find:
- A mysterious brooch attached itself to Fizz like a parasite seeking a host, though its purpose remains unclear
- The Inked Pupil—an artifact of unknown power—was initially entrusted to the warlock Marcus, but through the sacred laws of “dibs” was passed to Alaric’s sticky fingers
- In a moment of either brilliance or madness, Alaric detonated a mysterious candle, the consequences of which have yet to reveal themselves
Unanswered Questions
As the sun began its descent toward the western hills, the heroes stood among the remains of their strange foes, surrounded by the scattered papers that had once given the scarecrows their unholy life. The words LISTEN, WATCH, WAIT echoed in their minds like a prophecy—or perhaps a warning.
What force had animated these scarecrows? Who or what had left the trail of soot that brought them to this cursed field? And what did the three words of power truly mean for their quest ahead?
The farmlands stretched endlessly before them, and somewhere in that vast expanse, greater dangers surely awaited.
Session 4 begins with the party having camped for the night following their encounter with the animated scarecrows.