Adventure 13 - Hiding the Monster

6th Month (Dark Sky) 40th - 7th Month (Harvest) 7th

The PCs heard rumors that the Shalkoy Lodge had burnt to the ground a few days before they arrived. They decided to investigate the building to see what happened. To their surprise, when they arrived, instead of a burned down building, they saw a perfectly intact, unharmed building. When they asked one of the local villagers about the building, the villager described a burned down building where charred timbers and a foul stench permeated the air. It appears as though the building was being hidden by magic, for some reason.

They entered the building through what appeared to be the only entrance. They saw a hallway extending around the outside perimeter of the building, and heard a faint sound of water dripping in the distance. They moved on only to find a door, which lead to another hallway, which also circumvented the outside boundary of the house; this one had what appeared to be a pit trap in the hall. The PCs were able to get around it with little difficulty before coming across another door, and another hallway going around the outside of the house. This one covered in slime, and warm to the touch.

It was at this time that one of the PCs, Cain, was able to discern this building for what it was, an illusion meant to confound those who entered. He saw a doorway which lead further into the building and through the illusion. One by one, the other PCs were able to determine the illusion and found their way into the middle of the building.

When exploring, they found two dead bodies inside; both of them belonging to a faction known as the Overmind (a reclusive, secretive, and isolationist group which they have not encountered yet). Also inside, upstairs, they found a member of the Silver Tree Witchdom, maintaining an illusion. She informed the PCs to not disturb her while she concentrated. However, when the PCs went into the basement, this witch went downstairs as well to prevent them from bothering the other witch who was concentrating on controlling the Flesh Golem which the Overmind had left behind.

She informed the PCs that they discovered that the OVermind was in this village only recently. The Witchdom had moved against them, as they were wary of this faction in town. They took control of the building, eliminated the others, and captured the golem. They were now waiting on more powerful members of the faction to destroy the abomination. However, they feared that the Overmind would get there before their reinforcements arrived.

They offered the PCs achoice: destroy the beast now, or defend the building when the Overmind returned. The PCs elected to defend against the Overmind. They prepared defenses as best they could in the short time they had. Then, the Overmind arrived.

They included a priest, a warrior, a tengu rogue, and a hydro-kineticist. When the battle began, the PCs were immediately hindered by the priest who was able to cast hold person onto Mordin. This allowed the invisible tengu rogue to sneak by and threaten Melir, who is normally protected from the melee of an encounter. The warrior moved in and started trading blows with Pannan and Ryoma while the priest was healing her. Melir caused some damage by casting area effect spells, while both Ryoma and Pannan ganged-up on the warrior. Unfortunately, the kineticist was pummeling Ryoma from a distance with his cold-based energy attacks, and Cain moved up to heal him.

It was a tough few rounds, but the tide turned when Mordin came out of his hold effect. The rogue went down, and then the warrior. When the kineticist dropped, the priest ran for the door, but not before Melir set him on fire. He succumbed to the flames as he ran down the hall.

The Silver Tree Witchdom was able to bring in enough people to deal with the golem after the fight.