The Mudcrabs

### **Disturbance At Oakmill**

A request was received by the Guild to investigate the appearances of some moving plants near the forest of Oakmill , a small logging town roughly 3 days travel from Trisilus.

Upon arrival, we met with the town elder, Morn, who informed us that the plant creatures appeared about two weeks prior. There have been limited incidents so far, however some townsfolk had gone missing. The appearance of the creatures happened almost entirely at night, and they avoided fire.
The team took up residence at the edge of town in an abandoned watch hut. During the night, Piko spotted movement at the edge of the forest and alerted the rest of the team. Entering the forest, Piko was able to communicate with the local wildlife (a small bird) who pointed us toward a disturbance deeper into the forest. However, we did not make it far before being ambushed by several plant-like creatures. Some were almost humanoid in size. Two were larger, covered in thorns. And a final creature larger than the others behind them. They didn't demonstrate any intelligence or communication, and when defeated: simply crumbled to the forest floor as a pile of indiscernible twigs and branches. After the encounter, we no longer had the resources or will to carry deeper into the forest. Beaten and bloodied, we returned to our watch post at the edge of the village to rest and nurse our wounds.

After resting the next day, the team posted watch again over night, but nothing out of the ordinary was seen. In hopes of trekking further into the woods for answers, we decided to enter the woods during the daylight hours in hopes of avoiding another unwanted conflict. Following the instructions of Piko's friend bird, we eventually reached a clearing around some very old, obviously abandoned and neglected ruins. Crumbling towers and walls, decorated with statues of various creatures and people. Upon closer examination, Tristan discovered that these statutes had a feint glow of magic about them.

Exploring the ruins further lead to another ambush, leaves and branches on the ground around us formed into more of the smaller plant creatures we encountered previously. Backing them up, a stone gargoyle statue from the top of a half-crumbled tower sprang to life and dropped down before us. When the plant creatures had been defeated, leaving only the gargoyle remaining, it attempted to flee into and underground catacomb before being defeated.

No rest was offered the team however, as almost immediately a small grey, almost dwarf like person (that later tripled in size), emerged from a doorway and calling to it two small scaly birds. After a decidedly tough confrontation which brought Piko to the brink, saved only by Lura summoning a truly impressive magical force far beyond his normal limits. A quick search nearby lead us to a few unkempt lodgings. One that allowed us to hide the corpses of out enemies from discovery, and another to allow us to recuperate from our injuries.

We continued exploring the catacombs, discovering a few more dwarfish creatures and a small handful of the scaly birds. Other than that, we found very little information throughout the ruins, save for a brief mention of a being called Brelom , known only by a hand on a shield (recognized as a token carried by the dwarves as well).

The final room to be explored within the catacombs contained a large, scaly lizard creature with 8 legs. None of us had seen one before, but we recognized it from the stories, a Basilisk. Known as a creature that could turn you to stone with a look of the eye, we formulated a trap in attempt to take down the beast. Dismantling the remains of the library around us, and placing a leg trap in the middle of the wood, we sweetened the trap with a dancing image of a gnome (an illusion created by Piko).

Falling for the trap, Lura immediately set the stack of wood surrounding the beast ablaze. However, the trap seemed only to enrage the beast further, for it was not long before it broke out of the binds and attacked. After finally felling the creature, we were able to examine the treasure it was protecting.

Four alters. Three of them glowing with a feint magic aura (not unlike the statues outside) and the fourth slightly shorter one with a golden urn which looked to be overflowing with blood. Remembering back to the stories, Calahan remembered that the acids inside a Basilisk's stomach are what allows it to digest its petrified prey, and can be used to reverse the magick of its gaze.

Removing the stomach from the dead creature, we were able to de-stone the three taller alters. Out poured blood and what looked like offerings to the beast. From the three alters:

* Money
	+ 1,300 Copper
	+ 1,200 Silver
	+ 100 Gold
* Gems - 8 Chalcedony
* Items
	+ Feather Token
	+ Vial of thick, translucent purple liquid.
	+ Vial of red, shimmery liquid.

The final item on the alters, the golden urn, was being examined by Calahan . Fuelled by his age-old curiosity, he turned the urn over. From it poured smoke, black as night, that formed into an eye . After staring at us for a brief moment, it blinked away through a small portal, disappearing.

Exiting the catacombs, we used the Basilisk stomach to free what statutes we could outside. There was enough stomach acid to de-stone three statutes: An elven woman, a dragonborn man, and an eagle that Piko had developed a fondness for. The eagle awoke and flew away. However, the two others remained unconscious and we carried them back to town. Sadly, after about a day, the two aged at a miraculous rate and soon died before our eyes.

### **The Fall of Westgate Manor**

We were awoken in the middle of the night by a young man being half escorted half carried into the guild by two guardsman. The story they told said the Lord of Westgate Manor, Eagon Evanwood, had gone completely mad. He slaughtered his wife and his servants, only to have their corpses rise up and continue attacking others around the manor.

With the Mudcrabs being the only team immediately available, we were sent to investigate the situation. Even before arriving at the manor, we were waylaid my the smaller plant-like creatures we had seen outside of Oakmill, as well as a pair of animated Scarecrows. We did not have much time to ponder how such unique creatures appeared at both locations before being attacked.

Once clear of obstacles, we continued to the manor. First we notice a patrol around the outside of the building: a handful of animated skeletons and corpses, including livestock. Sneaking around back to the barn, we notice that the horses within had already been slaughtered. In a two-birds-with-one-stone move, we lured the patrol into the barn and set it blazing. With one move, we eliminated the patrol outside the building and prevented any further of the livestock rising to aid in our foe's cause.

With the exterior clear, we were then able to enter the manor itself. Throughout the building, there were signs of distress and struggle. But there was no immediate excitement. Taking out time to assess the sitaution and learn what we could, we carefully explored the manor, noting where corpses lay at rest and where they walk. Unable to find anything on the main floor of the building, We found two cellar entrances.

The first lead to nothing more than an empty wine cellar. The second was guarded by undead beings, both corporeal and spiritual. After clearing the room and opening the path to the stairs, we had no time to rest as a rhythmic chanting, familiar to Lura and Tristan as magic, but the familiarity ended there.

The entire group rushed down the stairs and was greeted by two more ghostly creatures protecting the crazed Lord, pale, with a single yellow cat eye. He was casting an unknown ritual over a dark chromatic orb. Desperate to interrupt... whatever was happening, Calahan and Piko lunged for the Orb while Tristan attacked the caster himself, Lura defending the others from the spirits.

After an intense battle between us and the Lord, at the moment of his defeat, the cat eye separated from the body , easily recognizable as the same disfigured eye that appeared in the ruins outside of Oakmill, and disappeared. At that moment, the Lord's body erupted in flames, engulfing the room, knocking Piko out cold and setting the entire cellar ablaze. Calahan hasitly grabbed the orb while Tristan draped Piko's body over his shoulder and they quickly fled the growing inferno.

[*Correction, after the record has been stated otherwise by Lura.*] The battle between us and the frenzied lord was intense. In a moment of desperation, Lura reached for a magical energy far beyond his owned and summoned a great fireball that shook the cellar. The effect was spectacular, crippling the Lord and knocking Piko off his feet entirely. In his moment of defeat, the single cat eye separated itself from the lord, easily recognizable as the same eye that appeared in the ruins outside Oakmill, and disappeared. Amid the blaze, Calahan grabbed the orb the Lord had only minutes ago been casting an unknown ritual over and Piko was carried out of the burning building by Tristan.

We left the Orb under the care of the Guild Master while we went to explain to the local magistrate why the home of a very well-known and very influential family lay in ashes.

### **Calahan did what Calahan does**

After a second run in with the mysterious entity appearing before us as a cat eye, we reached out to see if the Mages College or the Temple of Helm had any useful information or history. For both, information was scarce.

The Mage's report told us that Brelom was an old God, worshiped over 1,000 years ago. He fought against an adversary that often takes a feline form. Brelom and his followers were not able to defeat this foe, but sealed it away in seven pieces.
The Temple's report contained only slightly more information. Brelom's foe was named the Predator, and was a cat-like demon. Brelom sealed the Predator away behind seven relics and split them up among his followers to protect. Two nearby temple's were known. The first we had already uncovered near Oakmill. The second was hidden away in the mountains to the northeast.
With this new information, **The Mudcrabs** and Thoradin decide it is best to check the validity of this information by searching for the Temple in the mountains.

That same morning, an unknown face entered the guild looking for us, claiming to have a message from Calahan. Introducing herself as Kiyoko Ren, she told us that she had been staying with Calahan and he had disappeared overnight.
Overhearing the reports of a powerful Demon attempting to gain freedom, Kiyoko volunteered to help since the group was one member short.

### **The Temple in the Mountains**

It took roughly took weeks for **The Mudcrabs** to find the Temple mentioned in the reports. The Temple face was carved into the side of the mountain, it's two stone doors each 20' tall and behind a pile of rubble. Immediately upon opening these doors, the party was attacked by two Ankheg, giant burrowing insects . Three more were found inside the Temple Hall, along with giant tunnels they had burrowed into the temple floor and walls.

The Temple itself showed all the signs of a God forgotten for 1,000 years. The wood pews had long since rotted away, laid out before a giant stone statue of a knight adorned with a shield of the symbol of Brelom and a simple stone alter.
The servant's quarters contained remnants of furniture and the bones of two that once watched over this temple. Each corpse contained a similar token to the one Piko still carried from the first temple outside Oakmill.

Fitting one of the tokens into an indentation below the alter caused the stone statue to retreat into the back wall, revealing an opening and a ladder leading down under the Temple.
At the base of the ladder was a single hallway. Tristan detected the entrance to the hallway to be enchanted with an unknown magic. Piko, not fearing any trap, set down the hallway at a sprint. Halfway to the door on the other side, spears lunged from above him, shattering the ceiling as they emerged from their hiding place. With a deft jump, Piko jumped out of the way to avoid being skewered, as a click was heard near the other party members. The spears and debris began to return to the ceiling as if they had never spring forth in the first place while an incredibly thick liquid began to pour out from the opening of the hallway. Not wanting to be stuck behind the growing mass, the rest of the group took off after Piko, attempting to outrun the trap in the ceiling as it is triggered a second time.