Ravenloft XIII

The Death of Lord Frak? (1^st August 2018)

The Manticore (Day 14 – early afternoon)

As we began to gather our wits we heard the thumping sound of a great winged beast approach us from the skies above. The manticore that landed offered us greetings from his mistress and relayed that for the return of the witch in the cart and to leave off our investigations we would be granted the fiefdom of Pureforge to use as we wished. We said that we would think about it and signal for the manticore to return once we had made up our minds. It took us next to no time to realise that we would most likely be duped, and even if we weren’t Pureforge had its own horrors to be dealt with. Besides, we all wanted to return to the Prime Material Plane as soon as possible. We signalled for the manticore to return and it flew back to its mistress with our answer.

Just as we were about to return to our journey to the village of Dwine in order to investigate the second possible location for the Dark Lord’s remains who should appear from around a corner but Lord Frak. This time there would be a reckoning between him and Grumbold. As the pair squared up to fight we were simultaneously attacked by a pack of gnolls. Whilst Millie and Grumbold took care of our nemesis, Malfeseus and I laid into the gnolls. Sadly, these were just a small family pack upon whose territory we had infringed, and they were slain for trying to use this opportunity to supplement their diets.

The battle with Lord Frak swayed to and fro, his dark magical abilities kept him alive far longer than would ordinarily be possible. That was until I weighed in with the coup de grace – Magic Missiles. They always seem to hit their target and always at a timely moment.

Banshees again (Day 16 – early hours)

After putting paid to our nemesis, we continued with our journey towards Dwine. The first evening passed without event, but the nightmares came back. This time I was the only one seriously affected.

The following day’s travel was a drudge but the miles slowly plodded by at a cart’s pace. That night, we camped as usual and hoped for a good night’s rest. Unfortunately, our dear cleric had not got rid of the banshees' jewellery when asked so we had a repeat visit from them this night. If it was not for Grumbold surviving their wails we would have all been slain in our sleep. Luckily, I managed to get some sleep after this encounter and get rid of the weariness from the dreams of the night before.

Cabin in the Woods (Day 16 – late afternoon)

The following morning, we made sure that the banshees’ items were buried deep and that our esteemed cleric did not return for them. We carried on with our travels and finally reached a small wooded copse. We heard a few wails as if from an infant and then noticed a small cabin there. We decided to approach it in an open and friendly manner.

We were invited in by the yeoman owner on the proviso we were not vampires. We convinced him that we were not. We were offered food and shelter for the night which we gracefully accepted. However, Malfeseus was insistent on finding out about the baby we had heard earlier. Well, it turned out the baby was a zombie and had been so for the last 50 years! The yeoman, who turned out to be a half-elf, hence the longevity, had been looking after his daughter with a confused mind. Grumbold was able to let her spirit free and console the father in his loss.