Chapter Four: The Lost Villages (Chalksmere)

The party sets out for Chalksmere by way of Hockton Barrow on the morning of March 18 after meeting with Lady Arigane. It has been fourteen days since the heroes discovered the letter warning of the Duergar army.

On the way to Chalksmere the party stops in Hockton Barrow for lunch and observes the war preparations that are under way. Captain Lucie Jabril has set to fortifying the town and all able-bodied soldiers are manning the walls or working ambush/patrol teams in and around the area. There is a great deal of cooperation between Hockton Barrow and Churney-on-the-Green. The Duergar are likely to get a bloody nose when they pass this way.

After lunch the group heads east towards Chalksmere. Later in the afternoon a wyvern attacks! Things get quite hairy as both Casey and Rumus suffer from the beast's poisoned sting. The creature repeatedly passes among the heroes dealing out vicious poisonous attacks. A raging and enlarged Tilk manages to bring down the monster with assistance from the rest of the party.

Determined the heroes press on towards Chalksmere. At the border of the village they find a warning sign and barricade: TERN BACK NO BODY HEAR! On seeing a pair of glowing eyes among the trees the heroes turn away and decide to brave the village on the morrow. They find an abandoned farmhouse and make their rest there.

The next morning they enter Chalksmere and find the inhabitants most uncooperative. The villagers won't say much, but Neil manages to convince one old codger to tell them a bit about the place: the villagers are obviously scared about something, but they wont' say anything. The are followers of Wohoon. The heroes find a shrine to Wohoon in the woods near the village.

In a clearing in thw woods is a gigantic oak tree, which has been shaped somehow so that the trunk has a human-like face in it. The face is hideous, with a wide-open mouth and hollow eyes. The lower part of the mouth is full of black water. The branches of the tree have old, faded ribbons tied in them, as if from some festival long ago. The place is obviously sacred.

There are three piles of bones set at the base of the tree. The bones are picked clean. Each pile has the skull set on top – the skull of a human being. Tilk, a follower of Wohoon, quickly recognizes the place and makes an offering to his god.

As evening arrives the villagers gather in the townhall and the village idiot, Wem, locks everyone inside. He babbles inanely and tells the heroes that "they's all pigs now." It seems the village has been cursed: they have all been transformed into wereboars. After nightfall a creature called the huntsman arrives to dispatch the wereboars. He is something like a man, seven feet tall and with antlers branching from his shaggy head. He is naked but for a fur cape. A stout bow is slung over his shoulder and he carries a long flint-tipped spear in one hand. His eyes are pits of green fire. Wem interposes himself between the hunter and the townhall and holds him at bay. It is obvious that the hunter does not want to harm Wem. The creature will not speak and his only response to the heroes is to threaten them with his bow if they attempt to stop him from reaching the villagers.

As the evening passes the huntsman tries several times to get into the townhall. Eventually he breaks an upper window in the place and leaps into the building. Wem opens the doors and the townsfolk/boars run out into the forest around village. The huntsman waits patiently for a few minutes and then begins his hunt.

Near midnight, as the heroes gather near the shrine of Wohoon, the huntsman returns with a human body over his shoulder. He holds the man out to the tree and it is quickly roasted in a divine fire. The hunter sits down and methodically consumes all of the flesh from the body. After he is finished eating, the hunter carefully stacks up the bones and the skull and vanishes. Now there are four piles of bones around the shrine.

The heroes return to the village to rest overnight in the local inn and discuss plans. The next morning they convince the town council to tell them what's going on. It seems that Garstang, a local hunter, has killed a sacred white boar and the villagers are now under Wohoon's curse. After a great deal of arguing and convincing and eventually fighting they manage to bring Garstang to the shrine of Wohoon along with the skin of the white boar. They lay Garstang, wrapped in the skin, before the shrine.

There is a sudden silence. The face on the tree blinks its wooden eyes. The yawning mouth slowly begins to speak, water sloshing out of it as it moves. The words are in some barbaric, ancient language, but you instinctively understand what is being said:

"Wohoon accepts the offering. Do not kill that which is sacred to Me again. As you have made right that which you did, I give you now my blessing. You will run with the boars in the woods at night, but it shall be by your own will. No Hunter will come to slay you. Your children shall be human by day and boars in the hours of darkness, as they will, for as long as your bloodline shall continue. I have spoken."

Afterward the heroes warn the village of the coming Duergar attack and manage to convince them to go to Saragost. The "War Tusks of Chalksmere" will be a great boon to the defenses of the city and the villagers will be safer there.

The party then sets out for Astercote via Hockton Barrow and Saragost. They stay a night in Hockton Barrow. In the morning while on the road between Hockton Barrow and Saragost a party of drow ambushes the heroes. The fight seemed a great challenge at first, but when the party discovers a way to overcome the darkness and faerie fire that the drow unleash on them . . . they quickly dispatch the foes.

They find a letter on the drow leader . . .

Greetings of Night and Fire!

Since you clearly hanker to visit the upper world before the rest of us, my nephew, then by all means do so. You have my blessing to visit the human settlements and ensure that none is forewarned of our little friends’ arrival. Deal with rumours in the usual way – laughter is much more effective than a slit throat.

Be especially sure to pass any pertinent information along to our agents in Saragost. Be diplomatic about it, damn you – they have been in service longer than yourself and are not likely to appreciate a smarmy brat parading his expertise about. We are all of House Arakh, remember, from the highest to the lowest and respect is our watchword.

Most importantly, ensure that the Circle has not been interfered with, if you can. I have had dreams – troubling dreams, which cannot be dismissed as so many dust-visions. There is nothing in that part of the world but rocks, fish and inbred peasants, so our course should be clear. Yet I wonder. I wonder.

Send word to me often. Fail, and I disown you. It is only what you would expect.

Your affectionate Uncle,

A.

XP Awards: 1,714 xp each
Treasure: 650 gp worth of coins and gems, masterwork longbow, masterwork longsword, magical mithral chain shirt (+1), scroll of invisibility, four chain shirts, four light wooden shields, four rapiers, four light crossbows
Total Treasure Value:2,480 gp sell value of gear plus coins/gems

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