Chapter Four: The Lost Villages (Vannondale)

The heroes arrive in Vannondale late on March 23. They wander into town and see villagers making hasty retreats into their homes. It is obvious that no one wants to talk to them. Seeing the manor house north of town, they decide to head that way.

As they make for the manor house a strange man approaches . . . The creature staggering up the road looks like a man dressed in expensive courtly clothing. He has a frilled white shirt that is slashed in places and stained with blood, tight breeches and boots of fine leather. His face, however, is that of a locust, with long antennae and pulsing mouth flaps. The eyes goggle at you as he comes closer. He clutches at his head and you hear a sound like stifled screaming.

The heroes prepare for the worst only to discover that the man is not an enemy, but one of the children of the local noble in need of help. He can not speak, but he etches out messages to them in the dirt. He is Eustace Colombe, the second son of Lord Padraic and Lady Martina Colombe. The wizard Petrus Carolus holds his family hostage in the manor house and he would like their help. As he speaks a pair of harpies descends on the party.

The heroes fire a few shots at the harpies and manage to bring one of them low, but the second one ensnares Eustace Colombe, Casey, the Knife and Tilk with her song. She retreats towards the manor house as the party follows. On reaching the manor house the harpy sweeps down and drags Eustace up towards a second floor window. Ranged attacks bring her down along with the hapless Eustace.

The heroes make their way back to the inn where they learn more of the situation from Eustace and decide to spend the night here and assault the house on the morrow. Eustace advises them that the wizard has with him a two-headed giantess, a handful of zombies, and some strange creature that changes shape.

The next morning the party enters the house. Eustace had fled the house by breaking glass in the conservatory on the east side of the building. The party uses this as their entrance. Inside they find a great brown bear zombie. A hard fought battle ends with the zombie destroyed and some of the heroes wounded.

For the next hour or so the heroes explore the house. They dispatch serveral bugbear zombies and a handful of hybrid dog-men while searching the lower floor for clues about the place. The Knife manages to find a secret panel in the smoking room, but they decide to leave that tidbit for later.

Eventually they find an ettin in the main dining hall. With clever planning and resourcefulness the heroes manage to dispatch the beast with little challenge. They search the place and find a nasty mess in the kitchen, but little else of interest.

The heroes finally make their way towards the foyer of the house. Here they hear, but can not see, some creature or creatures scurrying about they place. They determine that invisible creatures are not a challenge they wish to face at this time and they make for the inn.

Back at the inn Eustace orders the innkeeper to see to the heroes' needs. They plan to hole up for the day and try the place again the next day after resting and recovering the magical strength. Unfortunately, the wizard Petrus does not afford them this time alone.

About 4:00 in the afternoon a wild-eyed and dishevelled man enters the inn and immediately sets to asking questions of the heroes. He wears ragged robes and has a tiny demon creature draped over his shoulders. He wants to know who the adventurers were and why they were disturbing his work and why they were destroying his minions. A few cross words and then a bit of more calm conversation leads to a job offer: Petrus knows a bit about the Equinox of Heroes. He is trying to pinpoint some dates and such about the coming Equinox and is using the telescope in the Colombe manse for his work. He lacks a particular eyepiece for the telescope to complete his work. If the heroes will help . . . well, he'll free the Colombes and be on his way.

The heroes tell him they will accept his mission and be to the house on the morrow. They plan to meet him at dawn. After Petrus leaves the discuss the situation. They believe that Petrus must be evil, he has undead servants afterall, and they must work to thwart his plans. They will either kill him or try to get the eyepiece and keep it from him. Shortly after they mention killing Petrus the front door to the inn opens and closes . . . obviously and invisible creature has either come or gone. Assuming that Petrus left a spy behind who is now going to report, the party sets out back to the house without delay.

Back in the manor house they quickly make for the smoking room and the hidden panel that the Knife had found. He opens the panel and pulls a metal lever that was concealed there. Suddenly a large hookah pipe animates and sets to choking Alev. With Casey and Rygorh's help Tilk manages to free Alev from the pipe and they hold it steady until the animate objects spell wears off.

After the battle, the Knife enters a hidden passage revealed by the lever he activated. The passage leads up and down from the smoking room. He heads down. There he sees what he thinks is a body. Spooked by the sight he calls for Neil to check it out. As Neil examines the buried chamber with detect magic Petrus arrives with his quasit familiar. Neil comes out of the hidden passage but not before he casts locate object to find the missing eyepiece. While the rest of the party fast talks Petrus, Neil emerges from the passage empty-handed, but he can sense the eyepiece in or near the fireplace. Petrus sends his quasit into the passage. The quasit returns with a golden ring, which it hands over to Petrus.

The heroes apologize for coming back early and manage to get out of the place without fighting the wizard. He tells them he will await them at dawn the next day.

Back at the inn again, Rumus and Tilk cast detect magic to see if any invisible critters are around. There are. The heroes manage to get Neil, Rygorh and Tilk seperated from the rest of the party and the invisible creatures. Those three make plans to recover the eyepiece while the rest occupy the invisible critters.

The next morning the party makes for the manor house. They enter the atrium to find Petrus waiting for them. Without a word Rumus casts blindness/deafness on the wizard and the heroes set to trying to best the wizard. Not one or two, but four quasits appear and aid the wizard as he tries to flee the party. Neil casts silence on a coin and tosses it towards the wizard. Eventually the wizard backs away from the party and the silenced area and disappears, but not before his familiar is brought low by a scorching ray from Rumus.

The other three quasits flee and the party rushes to the smoking room to recover the eyepiece. The manage the task without incident after first removing the hookah pipe from the room. Eyepiece in hand, they make for the inn with the invisible quasits in pursuit.

About half an hour later, as they are discussing what to do next, the heroes hear a commotion in the inn. Petrus has returned under the guise of invisibility and has some zombies with him. Neil manages to turn the zombies, Rumus blasts the wizard with a pair of magic missiles and Alev gets off a burning hands spell in the wizards face. Petrus calls to the heroes to surrender the eyepiece and he will let them live . . .

Rygorh will hear nothing of surrender. He makes for the door to cast his own burning hands spell. Petrus appears suddenly as six bolts of fire from scorching rays blast Rygorh, Rumus and Alev. With Rygorh and Rumus unconcious and Alev looking much worse for the wear, the Knife decides to hand over the eyepiece. Petrus takes the missing telescope part and leaves the heroes with a stern warning not to disturb him again.

It is March 25; it has been three weeks since the heroes found the letter threatening a Duergar invasion. The Duergar army has been on the march for about ten days.

So, what are you going to do next?

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