Mattiverse Next - Session 5

Post-Festival Hangover

A bunch of tired, blurry-eyed saps break camp and split up. The party mills among them, in the direction of the beacon behind Bobwhite's eyes.
- They resolve to start brewing roadwater in earnest, picking up some starter and a recipe.
  - Bobwhite, in general, is keen on really getting into the Wolfen-Khan lifestyle (inasmuch as he can gather/imagine/make up what it must have been like), at least to try it on and see if it suits.
- There isn't much to shop for, but they pick up some ammo and rations.
From the Cragbon they head North, toward a Petty Kingdom that split successfully from Alexia during the Schism.

- The travel is easy, and the weather clear. They feel pretty upbeat about it all.
Through a pass, they run into some hillbilly Ogres and their pet dire wolves. The ogres honestly should have just offered up some beer.

- Beldon tries to make one of the wolves his friend, but is not successful. They do, however, successfully skin them into fashionable and warm accessories for their clothes and the cart. And some nasty-ass jerky.
They run into a village that probably has a name, and Beldon very successfully gets a little shindig going. Banner is able to spread the good word and get his curse lifted.
- Bobwhite picks up a pearl, for later identify casting.
A few days pass without incident, until the group finds themselves in a foggy, shrubby wood.

- Many of the shrubs (and two of the trees) are awakened! The trees hit pretty dang hard. The shrubs mostly tickle and get in the way.
After dispatching, the party continues North... only to find themselves in the same clearing!
- They try the other directions, finally ending up a new place when they head West.
- Here they see dimly glowing lanterns... which end up being will-o'-wisps.
  - This fight is a surprise, although once they get a grip they're able to fend them off without too much terror. Unfortunately, two of them nope out and life to fight another day.

- Investigating afterward, they find the corpse of a halfling. He carries some mundane gear and loose change, but most importantly, has some scribbles on a piece of paper.

- The party figures this is probably a map. Bobwhite decides on a way to parse it while Beldon keeps insisting that they should head North. Luckily, the party listens to Bobwhite.
They carry on through some idyllic and/or creepy scenery.
- The demon spiders they fight end up being more on the creepy side.

They find a camp (perhaps from the dead halfling?). It was expertly torn down.
At one point, Bobwhite gets to direct the party into a clearing, then right back out of it into a completely different clearing than they left. He gets a kick out of it.

The rest passes without incident, and they come upon a cave entrance. It has ominous writing they can't read (ancient halfling?).
- Some grunt work clears the way, albeit not without a bit of exhaustion to pass around.
Inside is a crude, very large sarcophagus with more writing on it. They give it a pass.
There is a chest just after. While fiddling with it, Bobwhite is surprised by his own shadow..which separates itself from the darkness and grabs him sapping him of vitality.
- The sarcophagus, perhaps not completely surprisingly, bursts open. Clawy scary things jump out and rush everyone.
- Four poofs the shadow with one solid hit, which makes Bobwhite feel loads better about things.
- The ghouls go down shortly after. There is more noise from the west, from a sarcophagus decorated with a black hand.
- Some creaky dead monster covered in scraps of cloth lunches out and gives the stink-eye, first to Banner and then to Four. It closes the distance while the party hits it from range.
  - Four can only stand in terror as the creature pulls back to unleash a mighty blow into him... Only to explode into dust from Banner's eldritch blast.

The party takes stock and opens the chest. It's full of bunches of fairly low-quality gems (but money is money!)