Expedition 8: The Fields of Moseley

 

Player created map.

Expedition Party: Feodor, Gossamer, Gregor, Koga

As soon as rumors of the large building spotted in the Fields of Moseley made their way back to Strotherhine there was interest in organizing an expedition to explore it. Feodor makes it clear that he wants to explore the building and he convinces Gossamer, Gregor, and Koga to join him. On the 23rd of Balers’ the group sets out into the hot humid marsh around Strotherhine with a course charted south through the Fields of Moseley to the confluence of rivers where the structure had been spotted. 

Their first stop is the tower ruins that they have been using as a sort of trading post with a group of goblins they had encountered. As part of the expedition preparation the party had purchased three pairs of boots, because the goblins had previously left them a drawing requesting these items. They reach the tower and make their way to the basement larder. There they put the boots on top of a rotting wooden crate, and Gregor uses his Everquill to draw a picture of two stacks of 3 books each. He then draws one picture of a book that is open as well as a picture of him and a goblin each with a mug in hand cheersing and looking happy. Feodor is convinced that the goblins will see little value in books and believes that it will be a lucrative and informative item to trade for.

While at the tower, the party also travels to look at the giant skull they had previously encountered two wolves at. Feodor is worried about the possibility of the giant becoming undead, after having seen other animated dead bodies in the fields. Much to everyone’s relief the skull remains as it had before. 

With the party’s load lightened a bit from dropping off the boots the group decides to return to the tower and split into two groups, one will search for food while the other further explores the ruins of the tower. The hunting party has good luck, and before long manages to hunt down a few rabbits, fat on the summer’s bounty of grasses and clover. Meanwhile, while searching around the ruins Gregor finds a scrap of paper outside the tower with odd symbols on it. Once the group reconvenes they all scrutinize the symbols, but they are foreign to everyone. The paper they are drawn on is rotting and falling apart so Gregor uses his Everquill to copy the symbols on his waterskin.

The symbols Gregor discovered.

The darkness of evening is setting in and the party decides it is best to camp again in the ruins of the tower. The evening is uneventful until Gossamer’s watch, he sees a figure stumbling through the field. The figure eventually turns toward the hill the tower ruins rest on, and moans loudly. It begins to limp toward the hill and Gossamer charges it, he meets it at the foot of the hill and strikes it with his gnarled staff. A loud cracking noise erupts with the impact and the figure drops to the ground motionless. The next morning the group examines the remains of the figure and decides to remove its head, as a precaution to prevent it from reanimating. 

With another hot summer day greeting them the party marches onward south through the fields until they come to the area dappled with spring fed lakes and ponds. Not wanting to waste time, they press onward to the point where the rivers meet. There in the afternoon sun, they see the building resting on the hill. They notice that the building has elements both of the foreign construction of the Ancients as well as elements that appear more like modern Imperial Construction. On one of the walls they also see a huge bas-relief of a badger like creature, with the tusks of a boar, the antlers of a deer, and the wings of an owl.

While at the river, Koga uses his River Twine with the hope of landing a big fish and before long he has a monstrous olive brown beast on his line. It thrashes in the water exposing a pale white belly and large bony plates that run the length of its body. The others rush to Koga’s aid and manage to land the fish, an 11 foot long female sturgeon. Once on land they kill the fish, and despite the growing darkness of night, they decide to spend the next few hours breaking down the fish and smoking its meat.

After hours of work they group has managed to produce a significant collection of rations, large bones, sturgeon platting, an egg sac brimming with roe, and a small silver chain necklace found in the beast’s stomach. Knowing they will not be able to transport all of this bounty, they decide to dig a shallow cache by a hawthorn tree near the river. They store everything but the egg sac, the small silver chain necklace and a few organs, such as the liver and heart, that Koga, Gregor, and Gossamer eat raw. Once they have completed this, the morning sun of the next day is already creeping over the horizon. Exhausted from the work and the day of travel the party decides to make camp. 

Unfortunately not long into their rest the party is attacked by three hound-like beasts with skeletal heads. They seem to have been drawn to the camp by the smell of the fish, and it is evident that they don’t intend to leave until they have eaten their fill. Koga, who is keeping watch when they approach the camp, wakes the rest of the party. They arm themselves and prepare for a fight. The hungry beasts attack with an unexpected ferocity and Feodor is struck by a near mortal wound (A SCAR!). The party manages to dispatch two of the hounds and the third retreats into the fields. The group then tries to treat Feodor’s wound which has already turned putrid; it is evident that a gross, uncomfortable, infection has set into the wound. They party rests a little uneasy the remainder of the morning but does manage to get some rest.

They awake that afternoon and try to make plans to cross the swift moving river. They find a narrow spot and attach a rope to Koga, a skilled swimmer, the other side of the rope they anchor to a hawthorn tree. He swims across the river, with the aid of his water shoes, and once on the other shore attaches his end of the rope to a large oak tree. With the help of the rope the rest of the team is able to cross the river. They move quickly to the bluff the building is sitting on. 

They make their way up a slope that turns into stairs and find themselves in a front outdoor foyer with many stone pillars carved with a vine motif. To their right there are two massive brass doors carved with a rising sun and an impressive building with large stained glass windows. On the left end is a small tower, whose outer wall contained the bas-relief they had seen previously. Overhead they can see that the tower is connected to the main building above them. The tower has a plain wooden door that sits slightly open, beyond which they can hear movement. 

Feodor draws his slingshot and Gossamer pushes open the door. A outline of a figure can be seen in the darkness beyond the door, it charges out of the tower, revealing a decaying body clad in rotting vestments. Feodor shoots a stone at it and the others begin to beat the thing until it stops moving. They take a closer look at the body and see that the vestments are fairly ornate. They are covered in mildew and mold, and show moth damage, but silvery thread woven in spiral patterns around the hems can still be made out. The copes have even more of the silvery patterns, and vines on the backs and sides.

Gregor lights a torch and they enter the room the walking corpse charged out of. Inside they see a large open stone well in the middle of the room with a complex looking pulley system and several large ropes dangling down into it. Four wardrobes rest against the walls and there are two long wooden tables with red table runners on either side of the room. The tables contain broken pottery and what appears to be the soggy ashes of old incense. They notice no windows, but do see a spiral staircase opposite the door running both to a floor above, and one below. They rummage through the wardrobes and find a set of vestments that they think are in good enough condition to be worth some money, which they take.

The stairs are narrow, and the expedition party has to take them one at a time, but they decide to head up. Feodor is first up, and once upstairs he sees a long room that appears to be some kind of dormitory, but he also sees four more figures in the darkness of the room. He tells everyone what he sees and advises everyone to go back down stairs, suggesting that they use the stairs as a choke point to hopefully fight the figures one at a time. Once everyone is downstairs he uses his slingshot to get the attention of the four and runs back down the stairs. 

The plan works but the battle is a brutal one. The group takes turns standing in front of the stairs, successfully blocking the shambling priests and causing them to come one at a time. After downing the first two undead clergy, the third leaps from the stairs and mauling Gregor, who is knocked down, barely holding on to life. The group dispatches that one as well, but the fourth deals Feodor another near fatal wound (ANOTHER SCAR!) before it is taken out. 

With the party in bad condition they decide it is probably best to make their way back across the river and make plans to return home. Before they do, Feodor decides he wants to go back up stairs to grab something he thinks he saw on a table in the dormitory. Feodor heads upstairs and runs to the table grabbing a small statue of the same badger-like beast they saw on the side of the building. Meanwhile Gossamer heats a dagger in the torch's flame in order to cauterize the wound that Gregor has, and hopefully help stabilize him. Feodor returns downstairs and the group makes their way back to the rope spanning the river, crossing it just as dusk settles in.      

They make camp and have a peaceful, restful, night, waking early the next morning to a buggy, humid day that is draining to travel in. They press onward north, and make it back to the spring-fed ponds and lakes. They are attacked by another group of undead, but they decide to run for it, each making it away. The party is so exhausted by traveling in the heat, and running from the undead that they start to have to leave behind some of their possessions in order to keep the pace. Despite this, they eventually get back to the safety of the ruined tower. There they make camp, having another uneventful night. The next day is just as hot and miserable as the last, but they press north and finally make it back to Strotherhine by the afternoon.