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• Aros – Lightfoot Halfling, Rogue – Missed Second Half of Session
• Galiena Erenaeth – Half Elf, Celestial Warlock / Druid
  • Dearbhán – NPC, Fairy Dragon (Galiena’s pet)
  • Kavium – NPC, Tiefling Paladin (Oath of Conquest)
  • Darko Wintersage – NPC, Undead Wizard (Flame Skull)
• Baldur – Human, Pack Chain Warlock (Spear) / Paladin
  • Hellina Kaitlyn Deramu – Human NPC, Wererat

• Heading out to the apple orchard (see Session 28), the party sees eyes lurking just beyond their sight – glowing yellow eyes, but they can’t make out what it is – or it seems to be made of the shadows and darkness itself
• Baldur, who has amassed a crowd around him, as he talks about how he single handedly destroyed Bloodwing, sees the glowing eyes and turns to the people around him, “Please! Everyone! Be cautious! It would seem we have two headed forest gnome riding wolves! We have seen this before!” (See Session 11, though Baldur was incorrect about what it was! In truth it was revealed to be a Death Dog, see Session 13!)
• Galiena hearing Baldur turns to face him, “No! He’s lying! It wasn’t forest gnomes! It was a two headed wolf dog thing.”
• “Come on,” Baldur sighs. “Which sounds more reasonable? Two Forest Gnomes – like those Ettins – riding wolves, or some two headed dog?”
• Galiena turns to Kavium (who wasn’t present, as Ramgor was on the date) and explains that it wasn’t a two headed forest gnome
• Baldur tries to persuade the towns people he is correct, but the people turn against him, lose interest in his story and head back to the tavern

• Baldur comes to stand next to Galiena and mutters, “Thanks for ruining my mojo.”
• Galiena snarls at Baldur, “Well, you were lying to them. There were no two headed forest gnomes.”
• Baldur shakes his head, “Well, let’s go see what this thing in the dark is…”
• At that moment, the party sees the eyes in the dark, just out of range of their sight again – and whatever those eyes belong to – appears to be larger than human size – it looks to belong to a rather large creature
• Galiena notices that it appears to be focusing on the Drunken Dragon Tavern before vanishing back into the darkness of the forest
• Galiena drags Kavium, Aros and Baldur over to where the creature was last seen and spots a number of foot prints – and all of them being bare footed

• Galiena and Aros both notice that the footprints, though bare – near the big toe of the footprints there seems to be another indentation – like a claw
• They look around and notice that several of the trees have massive claw marks in them that look as if they could have been made by a bear

• Finding the shredded tree, Kavium mentions, “One of the towns people said that there’s been reports of ogres near the orchids… but whatever clawed up this tree definitely isn’t an ogre. Ogres have thick, baby fat hands, and definitely no claws. This looks to have been from claws not any form of blade.”
• “We should track this thing down,” Buppido points out.
• “Well, a few of us,” Kavium clears his throat, “if you recall our armor is still being tended to, after the fight with Bloodwing.”
• Aros offers his armor to Galiena to use, though it fits her like a half top; while Kavium heads into the town and acquires some leather armor

• Galiena wraps some leather straps around her waist to cover her abdomen
• After struggling to find any tracks, Baldur keeps leading them astray, but it’s Galiena who finally finds the large tracks in the forest mud
• The party makes their way through; and finds themselves atop of a small hill and when they peer down they see a graveyard; and looking off to the side, they can see a path from Greenhaven to the Graveyard (the party realizes they’d taken the long way there)

• The graveyard is clearly unkempt, due to the curse that lingers over the island where everyone is ageless, so death only comes in the forms of tragic accidents or battles (and the latter is essentially quelled after Lord Brenmoon who took over the island, outlawed weapons and armor, to quell any form of rebellion)
• Aros points out that several of the graves have been dug up; and by the looks of it, recently, because the soil is still moist
• Aros points it out to the others, and both Galiena and Baldur now also notice that it there is a lingering taste of wet, moist soil in their mouth
• Galiena examines the soil, despite it looking fresh; she determines it looks as if it was dug up by claws and not by any form of a shovel; they do note that several of the coffins are empty
• Aros points out a pile of bodies near one of the mausoleums; Baldur walks over to examine them, and points out that they appear to have been recently dug up – however, what he doesn’t notice is one of them springs up and attacks him; then the others rise up
• “Ghouls,” Kavium warns as he draws his weapon and rushes in, “and hopefully not ghasts,” he explains knowing that ghasts, though they appeared to be exactly like ghouls, could be considered far more dangerous due to their noxious touch which can cause paralyzation
• As the battle goes on, both Baldur and Kavium confirm, that it is indeed ghasts they’re fighting; they can feel the toxins enter their blood, but they’re able to successfully shake them off time and time again
• Aros lands a critical shot, bouncing the arrow off of Baldur’s shield, and striking the ghast between the eyes, slaying it just as it was sneaking up on Kavium
• As the battle rages, from inside the mausoleum, a massive hand and claws at Baldur, raking him in the back
• The Oni, attacking from the mausoleum, begins using its glaive; while Galiena tries to help take down the ghasts, and lands a critical hit, killing one with a shot through it’s undead heart
• By the time the battle with the ghasts has ended, the party rushes into the mausoleum, but the Oni creatures is nowhere to be found; shattered windows allow for the cool night, making the stone tomb even colder; in the center is a large tomb that is broken apart, and next to it three smaller tombs
• Unable to locate the Oni, Baldur and Galiena make their way back to Greenhaven while Aros continues to scout around and look for clues (DM Note – Aros had to leave before the session could be completed)
• When they reach Greenhaven, a man approaches Baldur and asks about “a band of dangerous gnomes” that Baldur had talked about previous
• Baldur confirms that he’s aware of two headed gnomes that ride on wolves
• The man explains, “I wonder if it’s the same gnomes… a merchant coming from Felhorn to here, traveling the common road, says that… what he could only describe as ‘vicious gnomes’ attacked his caravan and managed to kill two of the hired help!”
• Baldur explains that they will look into it; but they have something else to do first
• They head for the mountain, and meet with Eric, who escorts them into the secret cave and takes them to Crescent, the Moonstone Dragon
• They talk to Crescent and explain what they encountered at the graveyard – and Crescent and Eric explain that it sounds like the work of an Oni – though not many have seen them – they’re often stories to frighten children to go to bed; and are often centered around tragedy of children, and their primary food source is children; appearing to be a mixture of Ogres and Demons; and often mistaken to be called “Ogre Mages” – but Ogre Mages are simpletons in comparison to the Oni
• Baldur and Galiena piece it together that with agelessness here, and people often celebrating as if it was their last day, there’s a lot of fornication and a lot of children born, which is what may have drawn the Oni here
• Galiena says, “I wonder if we can trick the Oni into thinking that Aros is a child…?”

TO BE CONTINUED.