Fire!

Nymm 2, 998 YK
near Mossmantle in the Eldeen Reaches

Well, I didn’t exactly find “evil” in Mossmantle, but I did find a cause to champion. I had just entered the local tavern of this tiny village, with a warforged named Defender in tow (I’d found him by a signpost at the edge of town— to all appearances he was waiting for instructions that the sign wasn’t providing), in my normal travel attire and Templar tabard, when the town council (who evidently has their meetings there), came up to us and expressed concern over bandits hitting caravans on the 200-mile road between Varna and Mossmantle. While I don’t think for a minute that the bandits are the Evil falling from the stars, it is good to know that they felt they could trust me with this task. Defender volunteered to go readily, as did a local shifter woman named Alayi. The council also “provided” us with Tomas, one of their wayward youth, who needed to do some “community service.” Apparently they felt his could best serve them by leaving town for a bit.

I suggested we travel by night, both for the sake of my eyesight and the better opportunity to come across any evil keeping late hours. The others readily agreed (well, Alayi and Defender agreed, anyway), so we rested up and headed out at nightfall.

This proved to be useful; several hours into our walk, for we weren’t provided with mounts, we saw a glow over a hill. Alayi, with her wolf companion Fang, and I decided to head towards it, and soon we heard shouting as well. A barn was a blaze, and a bucket brigade of local farmers was doing its best to put the fire out. An old man from the next farm over told me it was “Mevin’s farm” and that there were no apparent survivors in the nearby farmhouse (also ablaze, and we could not get close enough to enter). He indicated that about a dozen humanoids had been seen leaving the scene heading north. There was little left to salvage at the farm, so we opted to track down the arsonists.

Fang and Alayi were able to easily track the group. We followed their path for four hours, through forest, eventually arriving at a low hill with a cave entrance. Entering this, we found the way forked left and right— we headed right first, soon coming to a cavern with water pooling in it, faint voices coming from an exit at the far side. Alayi crept over and determined that it would be unwise to pass through the cavern beyond, as it was filled with purple shriekers (mushroom sentinels). We backtracked and went to the left fork, hoping to avoid having the fungi announce our presence.

Defender insisted on leading at this point (he was “protecting” us), and he accidentally stepped on a tripwire. With an ominous sound, a gate came down at the far end of the hall, and right between Tomas and the rest of us! Worse, a large, growling blue creature with tentacles came skulking towards us, blurring and shifting with each step— a displacer beast! I attempted to smite it but my attack seemed to go right through it. Frustrated, I wanted to get closer but Defender insisted on “protecting” me from getting around him in the narrow hallway. I tried hitting the creature with an arrow and managed to hit the warforged in the back instead. A few more arrows and none were managing to hit, though the shifter and warforged had a least wounded it. Unfortunately, it was holding its own and wounding them as well.

I heard Tomas manage to get past the gate behind us and was running towards the beast. Worried, I yelled, “Get back!” and produced a flame from my hand, intent on hitting the beast. Instead, Tomas tumbled past the beast, coming up behind it. I lobbed the flame at the creature, and it went right through without harming it. Worse, Tomas thought I was trying to hit him!

Thankfully Alayi managed to strike the beast a fatal blow. While Tomas ranted about our situation (and my method of attack), we searched through the creature’s den, finding some gold, a potion and a gem, plus the bones of its untold victims.