@17/01/2026

• First Game of 2026!!!
• The heroes of Ragged Hollow basked in the glory of praise and adoration that they received from a thankful village and recognition of valor from the Holy Church for all that they did. As Will, Elara and Paradox enjoyed the heroes role, Drakor Ironfist decided he would make his way onwards to other lands and adventures.
• One evening Lady Constance and the remaining leadership of the of the Church in Ragged Hollow summoned the PCs to a meeting where they introduced Brother Pom Pilip, a Soulwarden of the Order of Saint Venarius, who had traveled from Nodensgate by ship and caravan to the Church in Ragged Hollow to ask for support. Brother Pom had been tasked by his order to find and assist Sister Ysobel, a Reliquarian from the capitol in Dundrake sent on an important mission to Cullkirk Cathedral and who had failed to show up at her next waypoint on the journey to Cullkirk.
• Lady Constance begged the heroes of Ragged Hollow for one last effort to assist in this endeavor to which they agreed, especially after the Holy Church promised a reward of 1,000GP for each hero willing to find Sister Ysobel and bring her safely to Cullkirk and help her complete her mission.
• The group agreed, but asked that they all be provided mounts and the church paid the townsfolk for the horses and supplies. Everyone made their preparations to leave and Brother Pom joined the adventuring group as they headed out through the woods towards the small village of Hawthorn; the place where Sister Ysobel and her escort were headed to before they went missing.
• After a long day spent navigating forested trails towards Hawthorn, the party started to smell smoke as they came up through a wooded vale. Once they crested the vale's edge, they beheld the remains of the burnt-out remains of Hawthorn village still smoking behind the wooden palisade walls surrounding it. The gates of the village were shut tight and the party split and stealthily circumnavigated the perimeter carefully watching and listening for danger. At a certain point, a sibilant whispering sound was heard that increased the level of caution.
• The PCs discovered that the palisade wall was breached in the rear of the village away from the gates and nearest to the dark forest beyond. Many tracks in the ground led in and out of the breach, some human, others strangely bestial, and one set deep, giant and mishappen. By the light of a swiftly setting sun, the party reconnoitered the immediate area around the breach and discovered the bloody corpses of slain villagers and the smoldering foundations of the villages buildings. Nearest to the breach were the stables and blacksmith's shop.

• The PCs decided to quietly investigate the open entrances to the stables, and split into two groups, each taking one of the two dimly-lit arched openings. Paradox was skirting around a stack of hay bales when he was suddenly attacked by a long-eared, hairy humanoid armed with a spiked club. On the other side, Brother Pom and Will were similarly attacked by a pig-faced biped while Elara stayed distant readying her sling. Paradox pinned the beast-man to the stable wall through the eye with an arrow while Brother Pom, Will and Elara took down it's companion. Once dead, the beast-men morphed back into their human forms showing them to be be simple villagers as the powerful stench of dark chaos magic swirled and evaporated into the air.
• The group used the last remnants of dusk's light to search the remainder of the village and discovered no survivors, nor remaining valuables as the village had been emptied of both people and potential loot. They decided to rest and recover in the barricaded shelter of the relatively undamaged blacksmith's home. As soon as the sun arose dimly in the east, they gathered their gear and followed the strange spoor into the misty woods beyond the breached wall.
• Deeper into the shadowy forest they went following the obvious crowd of tracks. After a few hours they came to a large glade in the woods where a stony hill rose from the earth surmounted by massive tree, its roots spreading around part of the hill and into the ground. Set into the hillside, directly below the tree was a wooden door, small window and chimney with sooty grey smoke coming out of it.

• They also noted that tracks, including horse hoof prints, went around the far side of the hill. Before exploring the hillside hut, they followed the tracks all the way around to the opposite side of the hill.
• Here they found a wooden corral with five horses kept within. While they searched the area further, Elara used Animal Friendship and Speak with Animal to befriend one of the horses and have her tell what has been going on around here. In Elara's mind she could see the images of the horse's thoughts showing a large party of two-legs putting them into the corral while opening a hidden trap door in the ground and all going down below in the dark. After a moment the party was able to discover the trap door and opened it to reveal a deep shaft with a wide and reinforced ladder leading down. They decided to leave it for now and Elara asked the horse to stand on the trap door so no one could come out and surprise them.
• Going back to the hut door on the other side of the hill, they listened carefully and peered through the small window. They only saw a small peasant's hut inside and heard the voice of an old woman muttering to herself. They knocked and on old crone answered the door and let them in. While they were questioning her, Elara used the Staff of Orora to illuminate the hut with radiance that caused a magically hidden door to appear, upsetting the crone. Brother Pom detected that the crone was an evil thing of chaos and the party attacked her, dropping her dead in her tracks.

• The party quickly moved to access the secret door and found a tunnel with stairs descending into darkness. They lit a torch and entered. The stairs ended in a curving corridor which twisted and turned until it came to a section with odd roots penetrating from the ceiling above. Holding the torch to the roots, they saw them move away from the fire and knew that these were no ordinary plant life. Using the torch to burn their way forward, they cam across another secret door in the wall of the tunnel and went through.
• One the other side was an alcove with one wall composed of the back of a large tapestry. A few small holes in the tapestry allowed them to get a view of the other side which was a large chamber. Arcane artifacts hang from chains, shelves filled with enchanted orbs, containing imprisoned spirits, trapped in a perpetual state of torment, emitting ghostly wails that echo through the chamber. In one corner, a sinister library of forbidden tomes, bound in flesh and secured with chains, exudes an aura of forbidden knowledge. Other shelves are adorned with vials of pulsating liquids.