Session 20: Lop Sighted

The adventuring party, now minus one member, prepare to leave Blackwater still hot off their betrayal from Maurice. The group tacked up their horses, with Aggie now riding Zeus without access to Hercules.

They were shortly out of town before running into a mysterious human-sized rabbit who approached them on the path. She hopped up to them on their horses and requested a lift. She explained that her name was Hazel and that she was travelling. The group questioned why she was, you know, a *rabbit*, but Hazel was not forthcoming with answers. They managed to ascertain that Hazel was from the same magic world that Elisen was from, and that Hazel also had a similar mark on her hand that the rest of them did. They agreed to give her the lift, and she hopped onto Abe's horse to share with him. While travelling, Aggie tried to converse with Hazel and ask her more questions, but Hazel was quite cagey and curt with her answers.

On the road north from Blackwater, the group came across a small lockbox in the middle of the road. The rest of the group was quite cautious about it, but Hazel approached the box and discovered that it was actually a small creature disguised as a box - a mimic. Hazel managed to befriend the mimic and it climbed into her shoulder and stayed there as the group continued to travel.

The following day, the whole group found a selection of murdered body pieces cut up and nailed to a copse of trees. When standing in the correct spot, the body parts spelled the word "WARMER". Aggie was able to find some strange runes carved into one of the trees. When she touched them, it caused a huge explosion that blew up not only the trees but also reached most of the travelling group. Aggie was badly burned, but saved by Elisen who was able to heal her. Unfortunately, the two horses Zeus and Zebediah did not survive the blast. Once healed, Aggie was convinced that this must be the same enemy who owned the Murder House. With the help of Billy and Hazel, Aggie carved a return message into the trees: "I lived, you lose," followed by a heart. She then made an effort to move and burn the horses' bodies to cover the fact that they had died, but later made grave markers away from the explosion site.

Next day of travelling, the group was attacked by a swarm of bugs. Everyone except Billy was bitten and infected with a disease that slowly affected their eyesight and caused their eyes to bleed. The group was forced to stop and rest overnight until Hazel and Elisen were able to use their magic to heal everybody, as Hazel turned out to be quite skilled at healing magic.

Once they were back up and travelling, they found a head on the stick just off the road. On a wooden sigh just below the head, the word "Liar" was written. After the last time, the group were hesitant to let Aggie touch the head at all after what happened prior with the body parts and the explosion. Still, Aggie set the head on fire and carved into the tree "Coming 4 U" just for good measure. Elisen and Hazel saw that the head looked rather normal, though, and wasn't necessarily linked to anything.

Finally, after all the delays and obstacles, the group made it to Strawberry.

Aggie confessed to the group that Strawberry was her home and where she had been living before her arrest and this subsequent quest to uncover the truth about their powers, the marks on their hands, and the Bibble, and so Aggie was particularly distressed to find Strawberry appearing totally deserted.

Immediately, Aggie went to visit the saloon to check on her old friends, and Billy and Hazel went with her. The doors were blocked and the windows covered. Aggie banged on the doors, and found that the saloon was full of people hiding. They let Aggie and the others inside once they recognised her, and explained that the town had been under attack every night for several nights in a row, causing panic and desolating the town. The whole town have been hiding wherever they can, or at least those who had survived.

Elisen and Abe went to see the sheriff. Instead they found Deputy Farley managing the office. He explained that the monsters attacking every night resembled humans, *dead* humans. And that the sheriff had been attacked by one of the monsters and now he was locked in one of the cells n the basement afflicted with some sort of disease.

In the time that the group was split and getting information, the sun had properly gone down and the town was set upon by a horde of walking corpses. The group ran out into the centre of town, fighting them off. Aggie made sure that the survivors hiding in the inn remained safe, and she joined her companions in the town street. They were successfully fending off the zombies until a two banshees arrived, and with their terrible scream they managed to instantly down all but Hazel, who succesfully revived the group and together they killed the monsters attacking the town.