02.1 Standing Stones

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Carlton Blacks Mercenaries
Company members:-
Krachtig (Vervalsing Voorwerp de Meesten Krachtig) – Gnome Illusionist/Thief
Taran – Half Elf Fighter/Priest of Mannnanan Mac Lir, cousin to Carinne and Galvish
Carinne Rhianne Talynnart – Half Elf Ranger/Mage, Cousin to Taran and Galvish
Galvish – Half Elf Fighter/Thief, Cousin to Taran and Carinne
Barrigan Stonebeak – Dwarf Fighter/Priest, Company Engineer.

We bid farewell to the captain of the Sea Witch, wishing him safe return with Tarans newly ordered mounts. A ruckus is heard in the town and we discern that a boy has gone missing and the rumors fly around, one being that Orcs were seen nearby.

We move to the woods North of the town and Taran casts a spell on a chipmunk to try and discern whether the missing boy might have come this way or if orcs have been seen in the area.  Barrigan is muttering something about treehuggers but us Elvish types chose to ignore him.  No news from our furry friends

We head back to the town and Isabella wants to see us as does our CO.  We stop by and visit with the mistress of herbs, she informs us that a new druid has moved into the area, a lady by the name of Sharin Cal, who is a worshipper of Kai, a nature deity.  She would like to meet with us as she may have some beneficial news.  Next we meet up with Khalan Ghent who is with the Lord of the Manor, looks like we have been volunteered into looking for the missing child.  We speak to one of the children who says they were playing up by the standing stones on top of the hill, much to the dismay of the boys father, as it is getting late we state our intention is to start in the early morning suitable prepared.

The next morning there is more uproar within the town as two more children are discovered missing.  It appears that there are four children playing together and that three of them are now missing, we bid the rest of the company to make their way to the standing stones as we go out to meet the new druid.
We venture into the woods and find a pleasant glade, soon enough a beautiful woman comes into view of an indeterminate age – this has got to be her.  She greets us and we swap pleasantries.  She warns us about the history of the area when evil minded druids held sway here back in the day.  They used to worship Qar who was a death god.  If we find any artifacts of this cult we should bring them to her to be cleansed of their evil, with that she warns us of undead and hands each of us a moonstone which will give some degree of protection against undead attacks.

We head to the hill with the standing stones and talk with the boy Hank who spills the beans about what the four friends were doing there, under the hostile eyes of his father.  He shows us a tunnel, which the father claims was not there some years previously, and explains how he and Becca, Klard and Darwin crawled in there and saw a mummified body on a stone slab, one of the children touched the corpse which stirred to life dragging the unfortunate child away.  The other children fled at this point.  Later the other two went back to see if they could rescue their friend and have not been seen since.  
The tunnel is quite narrow and only Krachtig can fit easily down there, he heads inside and shortly gives us the OK to follow him, it is a tight squeeze for the taller and broader members of our party.

We soon come to the slab the child told us of and note some sacrificial altar implements like a silver knife and bowl, all fairly reeking of evil, we continue onwards until we come to stairs leading down.  The last flight is trapped and turns into a slide which deposits most of us in a heap at the bottom, when we are set upon by a horde of ghouls they immediately overwhelm us and if not for Barrigans deity smiling on him and turning the hideous creatures we feared for our lives.

We regroup and continue to explore the corridors and doorways leading off, as we do so we are assailed by Shadows, Wights, Wraiths and Mummies, several of the party count their blessings by being protected by the moonstones.  Through these battles we are stretched to our limits and have run out of our healing magics and are low on hit points, even though we had managed to rest briefly in here.  Eventually we come to the final doorway and steel ourselves to what we might encounter.

We open the large double doors and see a commanding figure standing in the midst of a magical circle, at each point of the triangle inside the circle is one of the captured children secured to a frame and suspended above large bowls, a number of armored figures start to come our way, as Taran tries to wash away the powdered silver that forms the magical barrier he is hit by a flame strike by the malevolent figure knocking him to the ground, Carinne binds his many wounds and Krachtig uses one of the magical wands we had found previously to form an ice wall between us and some of the advancing creatures.  Battle is waged between the skeletons in the armor and ourselves whilst Carinne and Krachtig try to distract the evil druids attention, lightning flashes back and forth and wounds us sorely.  More undead creatures join the fray and it is only through the timely use of a haste spell from Carinne that we gain the upper hand, Taran rushes against our antagonist and rains blow after blow on him delivering grievous wounds to him but he is dropped to the ground by a spell.  It is just Barrigan and Galvish left standing at the end and they rush about binding their comrades wounds, even Barrigan who is long out of healing spells grumbles as he staunches blood flows and bandages us up.

Hours pass as we rest before heading back out of the tunnels with the children in tow.  Once more we receive acclaim from the populace and some gifts from Sharin Cal the druid who also has to restore some vitality to the Gnome who was attacked fiercely by the undead.