WitW - Session 31

They left the temple, setting out for the storehouse. On their way, they passed by the statue of King Melchior, which had been minorly vandalized, with "hero" struck out and "monster" penned in its place. Jeatz seemed dead set on the statue hiding some secrets. He and Horace suavely avoided getting caught using magic. The Solarian—Melchior's army—were looking for those able to cast magic. Melchior's vision for the world was that only he could permit people to use magic through his Clerics. Anyone else should be brought before him.

In the end, the rat that jumped out of the hollow base of the statue was a hint of what was to come. Bloodthirsty rats descended upon the party from the rafters. Jeatz tried to charm the rats, roleplaying as the Pied Piper, but failing that, he quicken-spelled a chaos bolt. Much to his chagrin, he was still shooting off necrotic damage, which the rats were immune to. Jeatz remembered the cursed sword he had found deep in the Winter Court, which began to speak to him. However, after dispatching a rat with it, it exploded in a sanguine cloud.

The rats chased down Almyre despite her Fey Stepping out of their reach. In her frustration, she nearly burned down the storehouse with a fireball but was talked out of it. They quickly bested the four bloodthirsty rats. Seeing Jeatz struggle with necrotic damage, Almyre cast Remove Curse and was able to reduce the curse to only activate 50% of the time. Fully removing the curse would take considerable effort.

They looked around the storehouse, finding a ladder hidden under the floor. Jeatz dropped a plank alight with the Light cantrip. Nothing immediately stood out to them, so they shuffled down. They spotted a map of the Lucem Empire and a few books with horribly inaccurate things written about non-human races—clearly fearmongering. Lastly, they saw a necklace hanging from the rafters. Horace picked it up, triggering a horrible nightmarish blood-beast to awaken.

The beast exploded in a blood storm, damaging the party considerably despite them all saving. It begged for the charm back. Horace reactively stabbed through the creature's foot with the immovable rod, hoping to pin it in place. It ultimately didn't work, as it tore its flesh through the rod to move freely once more.

More surprises from the rafters as huge blood-filled ticks descended, hungry for blood. The creature recharged its burst, dealing more damage and downing Jeatz. Horace, still focusing on the blood-beast, dealt considerable damage despite his injuries. A tick sucked his blood, downing him. Glitter entered the fray, feeding a healing potion to Horace.

Almyre finally unleashed her fireball, obliterating the beast. Unfortunately, the ticks were still alive. In an inspired move, Almyre Fey Stepped and finished the ticks with the resulting fire damage, defeating all the enemies in one fiery swoop. Jeatz was caught in the crossfire of the fireball. It was a calculated risk Almyre had to take, as Jeatz could have died there.

Almyre identified the necklace as vampiric in nature. She sensed the charm's intention was to be left somewhere, and over time, it would corrupt living creatures into vampiric tendencies. At the same time, Jeatz attuned to the cursed sword.

They made sure all the flames from Almyre's fireball were doused and left to go to the market. Almyre found a young girl who would custom-tailor a winter outfit. Glitter initially had a problem with the fox fur hat but decided it would be okay as revenge against all the tricksy fey foxes that ever pranked her.

The party rested and went to visit Lord Fresk the next morning. Fresk, an orc, thanked the party for taking care of the rat problem (and the problem beneath). This basement answered a mystery he had never solved. That basement must have been where Victor Kane hid out to assault the village that fateful night all those years ago.

Kane is likely still alive but has not been seen in Last Hearth or Duvos, though he is probably still in the north. Fresk seemed concerned there was still a curse over the land and would appreciate their assistance in lifting it.

Fresk also mentioned that Duvos would not trade with them. The east side, primarily inhabited by the exiled races, would love to trade, but the west, led by Lord Yuron Yerk, blockaded the river so Last Hearth could not trade. The road was not an option either, as something haunted the road south. The party went south along the road regardless. They were stopped by a dead halfling in the road, and an ominous voice said they had stepped into the realm of the Druids of the Blood Moon.