Expedition 9: The Fields of Moseley
Expedition Party: Gregor, Feodor, Gossamer (Jack)
Gregor, Feodor, and Gossamer come together for another expedition into the Fields of Moseley, this time with the goal of more deeply exploring the space beneath the well they had previously found during Expedition 4, and started to explore during Expedition 6. Before leaving they also hire Jack, a farmhand, to come with them. They predominantly want Jack as another back to carry gear and loot. They gather a few supplies, pay Jack an advance to come with them and set out in the early morning.
The day is overcast and breezy, but it is a welcome break from the Summer heat and humidity that has created so many challenges for the last few expeditions. They head south to the ruined tower but before getting there find a long stretch of grass heavily trampled. Closer inspection reveals horse hoof prints that appear to have singed the plants and earth around them. The party speculates as to what this means, but keep their pace and quickly make it to the ruined tower.
Once at the tower they go to the basement larder to investigate what progress they have made with the goblin trading post they have set up. In the darkness of the basement they find a stack of 3 books written in the old tongue, they are in really good condition and largely legible. Two of the books appear to be ledgers, accounting the payment of workers working on a castle while the last book is titled “The Sacred 9” and seems to be focused on nine different trees and their religious significance. The goblins also left a drawing of the next item they would like. The expedition party decides that they are requesting a wolf pelt, and they also decide to leave the books there for the time being, planning to collect them on the trip back.
The group leaves the tower and treks south to the area of spring-fed ponds and lakes. Before reaching the hill with the ruined shrine, the charred oak tree, and the well, they find a strange plant. Long green threads of grass woven together in uncanny geometric patterns. Jack tells the group they are known as knitting onions and that some people believe the images and words in the oddly woven grass of their stalks can be read as prophecy. Before they can be examined Feodor pulls them up revealing slender carrots-like onions white white flesh. They also unleash a strong aroma that causes everyone’s eyes to tear up and noses to run. Gossamer tries to read the pattern, but it is clear that pulling them up has ruined whatever message may have been.
They pack the onions in their packs and make their way to the well, where they set about making camp in the ruined shrine on the hill. That night Feodor sees something the size of a draft horse moving around in the grasses beyond the hill. It appears like a massive version of the skeletal-headed hounds they have seen in the past, and it is surrounded by an undulating cloud of black flies. Feodor is unsure, but believes that it may be “Vermes the Plague Hound,” a beast they have heard rumors about in Stortherhine. Fearing confrontation with the beast, he wakes the expedition party and they flee down the well.
Once in the darkness of the well, the party realizes that they don’t have any torches nor any wood to make a fire. So Feodor sneaks back up the well, seeing the beast still stalking the grasses, gathers up some wood and then drops back down the well. They make a modest fire using the well as a chimney and manage to get some rest.
The next morning the weather is warm and Summery with a pleasant cool breeze, but in the depths of the well, the expedition party hardly notices it. They search the surrounding area and find the remnants of an almost spent torch, lighting it on their small campfire. They see a familiar space, a hallway directly in front of them with a trap floor, a blank wall to the right, where tapestries once hung, and an old wooden shelf to the left. They know that the shelf conceals a hidden passage to a room beyond and decide to go that way squeezing through one at a time.
Inside the room they see a wooden door as well as the empty barrels of ale that the goblins had been drinking when they were last in the well. They investigate the room, but find little of value and decide to open the wooden door. It opens to a tee shaped hall, with a wooden door directly ahead and a small hallway to the right, that they know leads back to the room they camped in. They approach the wooden door and Gregor hears beyond the door that something is moving. The expedition party decides if the thing beyond the door is hostile they can use the trapped hallway to their advantage.
Three of the party members wait beyond the hall, in the room that they camped in, while Gregor opens the door and begins to run back to his companions. The door swings open and Gregor can see a body on the ground and a grey skinned, human-like, creature feasting on the body on the ground, it charges at him. Gregor jumps over the trapped floor but the ghoul chasing him triggers the trap and falls into the pit below. The party attacks it from above and dispatches the ghoul without much trouble. Feodor then hops into the hit, removing the head of the ghoul, hoping it will prevent it from reanimating. They help Feodor out of the pit, leave the ghoul down there and reset the trap.
They enter the room the ghoul had ran out of and see the figure on the floor that the ghoul had been consuming. They recognize the remains as the man that Reike had killed. In the room they also see a wooden trapdoor. Opening the door reveals a ladder extending to a dark room below. Seeing little else of interest in this room they go down the ladder and see that it has two halls exiting it, one to the south and the other to the east. They follow the hall to the south.
There they find a room with a large stone door to the east. Above the door it says in the old tongue "Beyond this door rests King Mosley the Wolf Rider, may his wolf guard him in death as she did in life." They also see two bodies on the ground, both wearing the brigandine armor and basket-hilted swords common among Imperial Soldiers. A torch lays just beyond the hand of one of them and they both have packs on their backs. Upon closer inspection they see that the two dead men also have cursive “S” tattoos on their necks as well as some kind of black mold-like growth around their nostrils and mouths.
In the packs they find a short handled shovel, some spoiled rations, a mallet & chisel, a pulley, some rope, a map from Storherhine to the well, and over 200gp. Scrolled on the side of the map they see a note that reads: “the tomb door was locked when we found it, we think the key is hidden in a tomb to King Mosley's Wolf which we believe is in the pine forest near a river, we haven't found it, perhaps you can break through the door? Just remember it's 100gp for each of you now, and another 100gp if you can get into the tomb.” The party collects the gear, including the armor and swords and decides its best to leave the door alone. They talk for a moment and all agree that these two men are members of the missing garrison.
They return to the room with the ladder and then head east to explore the other room, finding a long room with an altar on the opposite side. On the altar the party sees a stone wolf skull with garnet eyes and ceramic and wooden bowls around it; there are braziers on both sides of the skull stature. Unsure of what killed the two garrison guards, they decide its best to leave the altar alone and head back.
Feodor suggests that the party has a responsibility to bury the bodies they found. The others agree, so they use the rope and pulley they recently found to rig up a way to get the bodies up the trapdoor. It takes a fair bit of effort, but they get the bodies up the trapdoor, and then repeat the process to get the bodies out of the well. Once above ground the group decides to divide up, Feodor and Gregor will stay behind and dig graves for the bodies while Gossamer and Jack will hunt for rations. Both teams are successful and the party both buries the two garrison guards, as well as gets a few rabbits for dinner.
That night they make camp again in the shrine. During Jack’s watch, Gregor looks at his star charts and gets a sense of the presence of the ley lines in the area and during Gossamer’s watch he sees a strange tree he hadn’t noticed before. It is a fat squat tree, its bark is warted and coated in a viscous film, the leaves droop like wet mayfly wings and several plump fruits dangle like melted tallow. Gossamer approaches the tree and attempts to speak with it, but it resists him. He picks a pear like fruit, despite the coolness of the night, the fruit is warm to the touch. He bites into it and it's like eating a fistful of fat and gristle meat and grease. Despite its disgusting nature, Gossamer feels very full and restored, so he gathers a few more of the pears.
The next morning Gossamer shares what he found in the night, but the rest of the group is weary of the fruit. They march through the tall grass making their way north to the ruined tower. They collect the books from the basement and continue on their way to Strotherhine. On their way from the tower they see a skull child and hear laughter, they toss a whole ration to it, which disappears leaving in its place a small satchel with 6 gold. By early evening the group is back in Stortherhine, with the first news of what happened to some of the missing garrison.
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