Terror in Tierhaven

## Synopsis

The story begins with Wilhelm Wolfsbane and Rudi Whittaker making their rounds of patrolling the town, when they are approached by a rotund man with round face and red cheeks named Danforth William, known as the town gossip. He tells them hastily that there's a haze coming from the Hurlick farm area, and that he's worried for old Gunter, also stating that the only other time he has seen that color is from the observatory where the new mage Raphael is living.

Rudi and Wilhelm hear that Raphael knows much more about this octarine color of haze, as he is knowledgeable with magic. They get a little more acquainted and leave together to question Danforth. After confirming it was the color of magic, as presented by Raphael, the group heads with urgency towards the old dilapidated Hurlick farm.

The three make their way and on the way notice that not just the farm is being unkept and left dead, but the surrounding area has all withered away and show no signs of wild life. As they approach the barn, they hear what sounds like the gurgling of a dying horse. Wilhelm, deciding to approach by stealth, opens the barn door a crack to find a ghoul like creature feasting upon a sprawled out horse. With his stealth successful, Wilhelm relays the information of what he saw and from that the trio decide their approach: Raphael and Rudi to come through the back big door and Wilhelm to approach from the main door with stealth. What they see inside, is a trio of tree monsters shoveling chunks of horse flesh into their maw.

Quickly dispatching the tree monsters, some ranged alligator monster start throwing their spiked barbs from their backs in the rafters. After a few of their allies are slain, the last ones fly away West towards the forest.

The group then sets off to Gunter's farmhouse to check in on him and find him slumped on a table. Waking him to find that he's speaking cryptic messages about leaving his wife upstairs and apologizing for his family. He is cut off by a massive pain in his stomach and as Raphael goes to open his shirt and inspect the area, a skull like protrusion and fingers clawing at the insides of his skin trying to make it's way out. As it begins to pull at his skin, his neck starts spinning in a circle and Rudi cuts it off, only for the head to sprout legs and begin crawling up the sides of the wall. Raphael blasts it with Eldritch energy and destroys the head but the body is still transforming into a monstrosity. Wilhelm destroys the body and as he does a strange translucent jellyfish like being comes out of the newly formed mouth in the body. Rudi firebolts it, but it seems wholly un-perturbed and slices a small gash in the air and slips through into it to vanish, leaving Gunter's animated body to cease moving.

At this, Raphael decides to investigate upstairs for his wife, using magic to disguise himself as Gunter before heading up and using his amazing acting skills to mimic his voice. Hearing what sounds like low moaning noises, Raph decides to go downstairs and check Gunter for a key first before proceeding. Unlocking one of the doors in where he hears the noise, Raphael sees a monstrous being and hears another in the adjacent room. The monster lunges towards Raph and snaps the rope holding it back as it goes to attack.

Rudi and Wilhelm, having flanked the sides of the door, wait for a surprise attack once it passes the doorway, initially missing due to fear. Raphael destroys the mother, then the trio head towards the other room to repeat the process on what they fear is the sons. Raphael ends up killing one and Rudi the other, and as the latter does she looks out the window to notice a palpable menace coming from the well as well as a shed constructed in a very irregular place. She also notices giant prints leading out towards that shed from the farmhouse. Upon further inspection, they notice that the shed looks like it was built above something else that was buried before at the same spot, but has since either been dug up and taken away to the forest or has left into the forest.

They go to check out the well to find a black goop that corrodes a bucket they drop in. The group take a moment to decide that they need a short rest and wait for nightfall. During this time, they see what Danforth was talking about, the octarine glow in the night emanating from both the well and the shed. During the night, it's much more obvious that the octarine stones riddle the area. Wilhelm goes to try to pick one up and Wrath stops him, advising the group on what this really is, Delerium.

Given that they found something so dangerous, they decide to go follow the tracks and afterwards send a message to the Amethyst Academy. They find that the prints lead to a creek then vanish in it. Wilhelm climbs a nearby tree to see over the tops of the trees and finds that octarine glow down the stream towards the horizon.

As they get near the source of this mystery, they come to find that there's tracks being printed into the ground but no visible creature to be seen. As such, Raphael uses Bruce to detect what's invisible and tells Raphael that it's huge and looking for something and that they must find it. They notice the footprints are approaching a nearby deer drinking from the creak, and it reveals itself in the shape of a man in a hooded cloak as it mauls the creature to death. It begins dragging the corpse and turns the deer invisible as well. During this time the group hides and decides to follow it to it's lair. They start devising a plan and that's when the episode ends.