Records of the Plague Dogs

Session 0.1 - The Mad Hands of St. Calastair

Lady Xanfinas explained the history of St. Calastair, who was a knight and a scholar who studied the hands of criminals to determine if a sinner could be identified just based on the characteristics of their hands. He cut off and collected hundreds of hands.

Inside, the Hounds found the church had writing all over the floors and walls. Four Gutter Knights were studying a book of heretical writing that called for the deification of St. Calastair, calling it the "6th Descent." Old, rotten hands, kept in clay jars and urns in alcoves on the wall, were coming to life and attacked the Hounds.

The Gutter Knights fled down a staircase under a secret door behind the podium. Lady Xanfinas talked the Gutter Knights into surrendering.

Odulf figured out how to open a door shaped like a demonic claw after Lady Xanfinas translated the celestial riddle "A chain of hands, when hands of law, cannot be rent by demon's claw." When characters of the lawful alignment formed a chain of hands, the stone door was lifted. However, when Erios, a neutral character, attempted to pass beneath the door, it slammed shut, and two armored crawling claws burst from the wall.

As Elran, Ronwin, and Odulf fought the armored crawling claws, Lady Xanfinas and Erios descended the stairs to a study. Crawling claws holding quills were writing more heretical texts. A huge swarm of rotting claws had pinned down Mother Galilene.

Erios coated the swarm in oil, but they soon swarmed Lady Xanfinas, who fell to the necrotic claws.

Elran and Odulf worked together to open up the stone door. Elran dragged Lady Xanfinas out of the swarm, then cast a firebolt to ignite the oil. Erios stopped the worst of Mother Galilene's wounds. Ronwin fired arrows into the swarm, to little effect. Odulf searched through the study's library, and found a book about Pox Demons, and a second book called "A Treatise on the Sixth Descent." The book looked aged, but was bound in human leather. He threw the book into the fire.

Lady Xanfinas recovered just as the book rolled itself out of the fire. She applied Blessed Ink to her hands and picked up the book. The flesh cover started to smoke beneath her touch. The Hounds had found their demon.

Session 0.2 - The Mad Hands of St. Calastair

As the Hounds fought the armor, more and more crawling claws popped out. Ronwin entered the fray, skewering the hands with his yklwas. Lady Xanfinas summoned vines through the armory tiles to reach up and entangle the armor. Finally, Vyr breathed fire down into the armor, turning the claws to ash.

Inside the storage room, the Hounds found saint's rags rope, a heavy crossbow, a glaive and a shield, as well as a scroll translating the Celestial language to Common.

Odulf asked Mother Galaline what was behind the other closed door. She revealed that the temple held an artifact called the Gilded Hand of St. Calastair. Odulf was quite excited by the prospect of a golden hand, and led the group towards the treasure. At the bottom of a narrow flight of steps, the Hounds found a diamond-shaped chamber with a black-tiled floor, statues of chained criminals with no hands, a pedestal with a golden hand, and a statue of the Scribe. When Odulf approached the golden hand, a beam of fire lanced towards him from the Scribe's raised finger, and Odulf collapsed.

Odulf was dragged back to safety and healed by Mother Galaline. Set on getting the golden hand, Odulf dashed behind one of the statues, and avoided most of the fire beam. Vyr, trusting his draconic resistance to fire, strutted towards the hand and lifted it from the pedestal. The statue of the Scribe opened its own hand and fired five beams of fire at Vyr and Odulf. Both fell to the floor unconscious.

Lady Xanfinas and Ronwin lassoed their two fallen companions and dragged them to safety, and working together the Hounds were healed. Ronwin then lassoed the golden hand and then knocked off the hand of the Scribe to take its jewels.

The Hounds decided to attempt to exorcise the demon from the book back at the Great Citadel. They brought Mother Galaline, and Vyr locked her arm to one of the beds in the dormitories.

In the morning, Odulf started to show signs of the pox. Vyr cured him. Then the Hounds turned their attention towards Mother Galilene. Through careful questioning, they learned that Mother Galilene had worked as a priest for the Faithwater guards for years before becoming the head of the Temple of St. Calastair two years ago. She had been sickened by the crime rampant in the city, and believed that the problem would be solved if St. Calastair were worshiped to the same level as the other Five Descents. This seditious belief allowed the entrance of the demon Leatherbound.

Mother Galilene was unrepentant and refused to help the Hounds exorcise the demon. As punishment, Ronwin cut off Mother Galilene's hand.

The Hounds retreated to a quiet chamber in the Great Citadel for exorcisms. Ronwin made a magic circle from Saint's Rags Ropes, and Vyr and Odulf heated brands in the fire. Lady Xanfinas called forth the demon Leatherbound from the book. Leatherbound appeared and felled Lady Xanfinas with a massive bite from one of his toothed hands. Vyr branded Leatherbound, and Odulf, using iron bells, drove the demon into the hand of Mother Galilene.

Session 1 - The Golden Valley

From their perch in the mountains, the Hounds could see all of the Golden Valley. Endless fields of barley and hops shone golden in the morning light. The valley was divided into three small settlements: Helm & Hearth, Barleycorn, and Churchfield. Up on the tall Cragline Mountains across the valley they barely saw the white walls of Citadel St. Davien.

Descending the Hagstooth, the Hounds felt the heat of the late-summer sun. Both Elran and Lady Xanfinas were exhausted by the endless heat.

Down in the valley, the characters found a strange field of rotted, collapsed barley. In the center of the clearing was the dead body of a young woman, being torn at by starving wolves. The Hounds quickly dispatched the two foul creatures.

Elran and Ronwin examined the body. Strangely, the the young woman, a priestess of St. Vitaine, had not been killed by the wolves, and showed no signs of plague or disease. The blight harming the barley seemed to be of demonic origin. Ronwin looked closely and found small clawed tracks vanishing into the healthy barley.

Carrying the body of the young woman on their way, the characters came to a large three-story inn called the Helm & Hearth. Townsfolk immediately recognized the young woman as Sister Brielle. The Hounds brought the body into the tavern, and there met Colver Voss, owner of the inn, and his son Honor Voss. Colver begged the characters to heal his wife, Klarin, who had been attacked by a vicious giant boar known as Boneshaker.

Odulf reset Klarin's bandages, but the poor woman seemed a day away from death. Lady Xanfinas used her druidic magic to close the wounds.

The Hounds questioned the Voss family about the blight, and found out patches of the barley had started dying about three months ago. They also found out that thirty years ago, the Cult of the Ivory Chain had killed all the elderly and young, leaving a single generation of men and women who have struggled to have children of their own. Many of the young people in town are orphans.

Two of those orphans work in the Helm & Hearth: Lyra Fairhair, a half-elf, and Small Bron, a towering, talkative half-orc. Small Bron helped carry the body of Sister Brielle to the Church of St. Vitaine. On the way, the hounds passed Barleycorn, a second tavern that the Featherfolk set up camp behind.

At the church, the Hounds met Eustace Voss, Colver Voss's uncle, a survivor of the pox. He gave the characters the key to the church, then went back to his smithy.

The Hounds searched through the church, and found that both Sister Brielle and Father Roland's journals were missing. Furthermore, strange noises were echoing up from the basement.

In the basement, the characters found giant rats making a mess of the place. Though the rats swarmed Small Bron, and delivered many bites, they were eradicated by attacks from the Hounds. On a desk beneath the stairs, the Hounds found Sister Brielle's illustrated journals. They detailed how Father Roland had drowned three weeks previously, and how he had told Brielle of witnessing the birth of small imps from blighted barley. Sister Brielle had planned on trying to see this dark magic for herself.

The Hounds also found Sister Brielle's notes from the townsfolk's confessions. They were able to discover that Colver Voss had amorous feelings for another woman, that Norris suspected his brother Morris of stealing from their employer, that Johana Barleycorn was worried about marrying the much younger Honor Voss, that Lyra Fairhair had purposefully dropped a rude customer's food, and that Quail, the blacksmith's apprentice, was having bad dreams of the dead speaking.

The Hounds decided to talk with Quail before heading back to the Helm & Hearth. In the blacksmith shop, they found Eustace with his apprentice, a shy but strong girl of 15. When Eustace was called away to a town meeting at the Helm & Hearth, he ordered Quail to ready a horse and cart for the Hounds.

Back in the paddock, the Hounds pressed Quail about her bad dreams. Finally, with Lady Xanfinas' persuasions, Quail confessed: "Help me, my life is in danger!"

Session 2 - Gold Below

On the river, the characters started to notice dead, partially-eaten fish washing downstream. In a fish weir, they found two man-sized demons made of decaying flesh and vegetation. As Meatbag and Er'born fought the two rot demons, a third climbed onto the raft and bit Wren's arm. With help from Tamra, the guards subdued the third demon and prevented Wren from dying.

At the Helm & Hearth, Wren was given a room, and overall was left alone by the townsfolk.

Back in the smithy, Quail lead the hounds to a locked closet in which Eustace Voss kept his more expensive tools. On the floor was piled ancient armor and weapons covered in gold leaf, as well as a bloody smithing hammer. When asked about townsfolk who may be turning against Tael, Quail admitted that one of the Featherfolk, an elf named Stick, was known to worship an elven goddess named the Briar Queen.

While Elran and Lady Xanfinas patrolled the barley fields, Odulf and Ronwyn rode their horse and carriage towards the town meeting at the Helm & Hearth. On the way, they ran into Johanna Barleycorn, owner of the Barleycorn tavern. Pressed about her wedding, she admitted she was set to marry the young Honor Voss, and that she felt quite embarrassed about it. However, due to poor crops and few travelers, the marriage was the only way to save the two taverns.

In the Helm & Hearth, Odulf and Ronywyn met Wren, and they all decided to work together. Talking with many of the townsfolk, they found out that the twins Morris and Norris had been working for Johanna Barleycorn since they were orphaned children, but that Morris was rather untrustworthy and had been stealing from the tavern. Furthermore, the half-elf Featherfolk Silvy was romantically attached to Morris, though he seemed to take it more seriously than her. All the young folk of the Golden Valley, including the twins, Small Bron, and Honor Voss, spent evenings gambling in the Featherfolk Camp.

Ronwyn pressured Honor to take the hounds gambling. They started riding over to the camp.

Meanwhile, Odulf stealthily followed Eustace Voss as he left the town meeting. Instead of heading back to the smithy, Eustace made his way back to the blighted clearing where the Hounds had found the body of Sister Brielle. Eustace started digging in the soil, and uncovered ancient armor similar to the ones found in the smithy, also covered in gold leaf. He loaded the armor onto his horse and rode back towards the smithy.

In the Featherfolk Camp, Wren and Ronwyn played cards with Honor and his friends, as well as Stick. Wren witnessed Stick cheating, and Ronwyn watched as the young gang lost game after game, losing hundreds of gold, and yet did not show any sadness. Silvy invited Ronwyn for a drink, but Ronwyn noticed a half-elf stealing from him. Both Hounds ran outside and lost the thief, and when they returned to the gambling tent, Honor, Small Bron, Morris and Norris, and Silvy were all gone. After intimidating Stick, the elf admitted that the group had escaped through the back of the tent and ran off through the barley.

Wren and Ronwyn followed the trail through the Barley. They came to another field of blight, and encountered three figures covered in ancient armor and cloaks. A voice spoke from the air itself, warning the Hounds to turn away. After a tense stand-off, the characters retreated, and met up with Odulf on the road.

After trading information, the three Hounds realized the armored figures were Small Bron, Silvy, and another one of the young gang. They snuck back through the barley, and managed to injure Silvy, who ran off. However, Small Bron shot down Odulf with a heavy crossbow, and knocked out Wren with his maul. Ronwyn convinced Small Bron to calm down, and the half-orc explained that he and the young crew were after the golden armor buried under the blighted crops. For some reason, every time there is a blight, they find golden armor under the soil.

Bron ran off after the rest of his friends, and Ronwyn helped Wren and Odulf recover. They made their way towards the Helm & Hearth. Just outside the tavern, they witnessed a dead horse being dragged into the barley by a Rot Demon and three Barley Imps. As Wren distracted and intimidated the demons with his magic, the other two hounds ran inside the tavern.

Inside, they found Lyra Fairhair and Klarin Voss drinking good wine from the cellar. Klarin admitted that this blight likely meant that the Golden Valley was financially doomed. Lyra finally admitted that Honor wished to marry her instead of Johanna Barleycorn, and that he planned on taking her to the city of Hillhaven to start their own brewery with all the money he claimed he had made gambling.

The two women said they would help the Hounds, if they promised not to harm Honor.

Session 3 - Boneshaker

In the morning, Vyr was happy to see Odulf and Ronwin, and got to know the new Hound Wren. With Lyra Fairhair's help, they broke into Honor Voss's room, and found a small box full of newly minted gold bars.

The Hounds traveled with Lyra down to the smithy. As they left the Helm & Hearth, Odulf told a group of farmers to dig at one of the sites of blight. On the way to the smithy, the Hounds encountered Yorena and three Featherfolk guards. Yorena accused the Hounds of disrupting her camp, telling them that Stick had vanished, and a lot of money was missing too.

At the smithy, the characters saw smoke pouring from the chimneys, and a barricade of old, rusted spears set up before the door. As Ronwin and Odulf snuck around to the back, Wren possessed Lyra's senses and sent her to the door. She convinced Small Bron to let her into the smithy, in which she also found Honor Voss, Silvy, Morris, Norris, and Eustace. They were all busy smelting the gold-plated armor into golden bars. Honor told Lyra how they had worked with Stick at the Featherfolk Camp to exchange the gold bars for coins of the realm. They had more than enough money now to escape to Hillhaven and start their own brewery.

In the back of the smithy, Ronwin and Odulf hid while Small Bron and Silvy prepared horses for a long journey. When the two went back inside, Ronwin and Odulf unhitched all the horses.

Wren attempted to trick Honor, but instead made everyone inside paranoid about the boy seeing into their minds. Eustace and Small Bron stepped out to deal with the Hounds, readying a large hammer and a heavy crossbow. Rather than engaging in battle, Vyr stepped forward, removing his armor and dropping his weapons, and removed Eustace's pox scars, hunchback, and limp with his healing hands. The smithy collapsed in religious ecstasy, pledging himself once again to Tael and admitting that he had killed Father Roland to hide his secret plan.

At this moment, Norris, Morris, and Silvy started firing on the characters and Eustace from the windows. Small Bron ran to the back to try to escape with Honor and Lyra. Wren forced Morris into a laughing fit as Odulf jumped through the window and knocked Silvy out. Ronwin ran into the smithy and fired an ensnaring arrow at Small Bron. Vyr unleashed his dragonfire through the window at Morris and Norris. Finally, Odulf ran around the back and tackled Honor from his horse. Honor, Small Bron, Norris, and Lyra surrendered.

Honor told the Hounds how, two months ago, he had received a dream in which the dead called to him. He took a midnight walk to clear his head and found the first blighted field. Later, when tilling the soil, he found a golden helmet. He realized he had been given a vision of where to find gold, and that through this wealth he would be able to escape his fate of marrying Johanna Barleycorn and taking on his family's business.

After locking up Honor and his friends in the church, the Hounds decided to try to find Quail. They tracked her to the old shrine of St. Vitaine, where she had been trampled by Boneshaker. Vyr grabbed Quail and they ran, chased by the giant boar who was bleeding from a multitude of small wounds and had madness in her eyes.

The Hounds escaped across the river and helped revive Quail. She explained that she was trying to get answers from St. Vitaine because of her dreams of the dead. There had been some new candles lit at the old shrine. Suspicious, the characters decided to camp out and watch for travelers visiting the shrine. Later that night, they saw a group of more than 30 farmers, including Colver and Klarin Voss, carrying torches and walking to the old shrine. They were arriving to thank St. Vitaine for leading them to the countless gold pieces of armor and weapons they had found at the sites of blight. Many farmers started running into the barley fields to find more blight. Suddenly there were screams in the barley. The farmers ran out, pursued by rot demons and barley imps.

In a challenging combat, the Hounds were swarmed by biting flies and clouds of miasma. One by one, the rot demons and barley imps were shot at by Ronwin, struck down by Vyr's holy smite, blasted by Wren's eyes, and chopped at by Odulf's sword and fists. Though Vyr and Odulf were poisoned, and Ronwin collapsed, the Hounds were victorious.

Shaken, Colver Voss ordered all the barley field burned. Quickly they heard the sounds of demons burning to death.

In Boneshaker's cave, the Hounds found the great boar dead, torn apart by demons. Vyr detected no demonic presence in the cave. They still hadn't found the source of the blight.

Session 4 - The Fall of Old Rothopper

The Hounds then placed Sister Brielle's journal on the shrine. From her spirit, they learned that a group of blind and lame halflings from the Woodsmoor, led by an old donkey, had come to the valley three months ago to sell foraged trinkets. Colver Voss, owner of the Helm & Hearth, had bought a pair of large antlers. They also asked about Citadel St. Davien, and they found out than an old knight who had served there and who had fought the cult of the Ivory Chain still lived in a little stone hut outside the citadel walls. His name is Sir Bernathus.

The Hounds strode to the Helm & Hearth. Within, Lyra Fairhair was serving ale and water to tired, ash-covered farmers. As the Hounds planned how to conjure and defeat the demon in the antlers, Elran read through his Book of Names and found an entry about Old Rothopper. A blight demon, Old Rotthopper- true name of Yaogon - was a kind of blight demon called a barghest. It was physically powerful, resistant to much damage, but could be banished back to Hell if engulfed in flames.

The next morning, the Hounds awoke to a valley clogged by smoke. They took down the antlers from the wall and brought them out to Boneshaker's cave. Elran drew a charcoal circle around a pile of dry tinder, and Lady Xanfinas set it aflame.

First, Ronwin tried to call Old Rothopper out of its hidden form, but the demon resisted.

Then, Vyr called Rothopper's true name, and was marked on his forehead with two charred antlers. The demon appeared, a giant of bone, gristle, and fat, its head a deer's skull, its body the swollen corpse of a wolf.

Despite a hail of crossbow bolts, Magic Missiles, and reaching flames, Old Rothopper teleported out of the magic circle and appeared behind the adventurers. Lady Xanfinas summoned a Bear Totem to empower her allies. Odulf and Elran threw more tinder below the feet of the demon. Vyr heated up an iron brand, and Ronwin shot at the demon with an ensnaring arrow, trapping its body in thorny vines.

Elran again blasted the demon with Magic Missiles as Vyr set the tinder ablaze with his dragon's breath. Odulf ran behind Old Rothopper, attempted to grapple the fiend, then delivered a number of damaging blows with hands coated in blessed ink.

Suddenly the flames beneath Old Rothopper caught onto his arms and body and pulled him down into the ground and back to Hell.

A refreshing rain started falling from the smoke-clogged sky. As the Hounds walked back to the Helm & Hearth, they passed by other farmers being washed clean by the rain. Suddenly, light shone through the clouds. New barley sprouted from the ashen soil and grew before their eyes. All around, the golden armor and weapons dug up from beneath the earth vanished. It was a miracle of Tael.

Over the next few days, the Hounds finished business in the Golden Valley.

Vyr confronted Honor Voss and his cohort, commanding them to repent and serve the valley without profit. Honor, Small Bronn, and Norris agreed to, but Morris and Silvy held fast. After some intimidation, Morris agreed to repent, but Silvy held fast, claiming she could never worship just one god. Lady Xanfinas held down her arm and Ronwin lopped off her hand.

Vyr ordained Eustace Voss as Brother Eustace, keeper of the Church of St. Vitaine. In appreciation, Brother Eustace started work on a set of full plate for Vyr.

At the Barleycorn, Lady Xanfinas asked Johanna if she still wanted to marry Honor. Johanna admitted that with the new crops of barley, the marriage was no longer necessary. Honor would be allowed to marry Lyra Fairhair, but had to stay and work in his family's tavern.

Colver Voss gave the Hounds 100 gold for supposedly killing the boar Boneslayer. Honor Voss gave the Hounds the 2000 gold he had "won" at the Featherfolk Camp, saying the money should be used in the fight against Xeno.

Before they set off to Citadel St. Davien, the Hounds stocked up on healing potions from one of the Hillhaven merchants. Ronwin noticed the merchant sold a familiar drug called Deluge, which Ronwin had once helped charter from across the sea to Woodisle. He bought a jar of the drug, then, while the merchant was distracted, stole four more jars.

The Hounds started climbing the Cragline Mountains towards Citadel St. Davien. It was a steep and difficult ascent. Part of the path had been washed out, and the Hounds had to climb over boulders and loose stones. Later, they accidentally passed through a patch of poisonous plants. But by nightfall, the Hounds came to the hut of Sir Bernathus, and beyond, the crumbled white walls of Citadel St. Davien.