Isle of the Strawman

This session began where the last left off; fighting the Invisible Stalker that appeared partway through the party's dinner. The Invisible Stalker is akin to a medium-sized air elemental that latched onto Ethelred and started battering him with its tendrils. Whatever this thing was it was certainly intent on killing the party. When Derek used his greataxe on the blue indigo wind the air seemed to simply part out of the way partially, while Korth's magical maul crushed and splintered it like it was a living creature. When the party eventually disposed of it and the House Orien guards stormed in a small tied bag the size of Ethelred's closed palm popped into existence and fell to the ground. Later after the guards filed everyone out of this dining cart they found that it contained some occult ingredients. A severed finger, two knuckle bones from a rare species of rat, and a scrap of parchment with all of the party's names on it. In one corner was the seal of House Cannith and a bloody fingerprint. Ethelred identified these as the ingredients to a spell that summons the stalker and commands it to KILL those on the list. From the Invisible Stalker's body Korth pulled a Cloak of Lordliness that gave him a regal and dignified appearance (and advantage on Persuasion/Deception).

Soon after Williams arrived to make sure Korth was alright. Ethelred used the thunder clap spell during the fight which loudly resounded to the entire train. Korth (rolling double 18s with his advantage) convinced the Bullywug Butler to join him on his quest to understand the Draconic Prophecy. Apparently Williams was displeased with his position because the other bullywugs wouldn't unionize (for fear of what House Orien would do) so he gladly joined. The city of Passage is amid a confluence of major roads, lightning rail lines and on the shore of Lake Galifar. Much of its economy is driven by tourism and imports are a result of cultural export. As such the area around the Lightning Rail was a loud booming town with all of its stores still open (even at 9 PM). Heading towards the docks they found that the rest of the city is much gloomier than what they would want you to see. Most people kept their heads down as they passed in the streets, and even though the street lamps providing bright illumination most had their windows shut and doors locked. 

When they reached the dock Ethelred noticed the water looked funny. It had an unusual brackish quality, had small patches that had a fetid green tint to them, and noted that the water had an acidic taste. Also all of the boats staying in the docks should be moored in, since it was 9 PM and the sun had set long ago; yet the docks were almost completely empty. One elemental yacht was moored amidst the empty docks so the party moved up to it. Out came the boat's owner Krenshaw; a minotaur sailor who answered some of their questions.

"Ay laddies, there be no more boats left on the water because they're all afraid."

"Afraid of what?" Ethelred asked.

"The Isle of the Strawman. About a month 'yonder an isle popped up out of nowhere in the Lake and turned it all into turgid brine. Any who venture too close get taken by the scarecrow."

"What if...we use a boat?" Ethelred proposed.

"That's the POINT you landlubber! The scarecrow can get 'ya even when you're on a boat."

Using the map Caoven gave them they confirmed with Krenshaw that the island where the Khyber Dragonshard is located is also the "Isle of the Strawman". He agrees to take them to the island for 35 gold pieces in the morning. As they set out in the morning a powerful storm rocks the lake and batters Passage with heavy rain. This didn't faze Krenshaw since his elementally powered boat skid through the water like butter. Krenshaw and Ethelred made small talk about his past. Krenshaw had been a pirate with another band of minotaurs a long time ago until they were all eaten by an Ancient Bronze dragon. Korth is not amused.

"The darkness creeps in like the life draining from the world, gusts of strong wind rock the ship from starboard to port. You grip the mast and pray to the Gods that your journey ends safely. The last thing that goes through your mind, is the image of a glowing green fog looming in on the ship."

They awoke to see the elemental vehicle shattered to pieces amid Krenshaw's dead body. 

"The chill of the freezing wind caresses your back, like the talons of a harpy. You awake soaking wet and in strange surroundings.

Gathering your senses you look around you. You realize you are standing on a beach, where you don't know, but you can see a tree line along the edge of the filthy sand. A stench of rotting fills your nostrils as you gag on the smell. Looking down you see the ground is littered with dead fish.

An eerie glow illuminates your surroundings like a flickering candle. You look up to see its coming from a huge pulsating illusion of a clock face. Its pulsating green light fills you with dread. Looking to the tree line you can see a path ahead to the north and one to the north east, a trail also leads around the island in both directions. 

The forest looks to be a tangle of thorns and trees, like some kind of natural fortress wall.

Suddenly a shrieking sound fills the air, so high pitched your ears feel like they will burst, you look up just as the shriek turns to silence.... and then the sound of a single resonating chime rings out across the trees, and the clock... begins... to tick."

A few meters off the coast they can all see that a sickly green mist sat atop the water and slowly drifted towards the island. They wouldn't have much time before the gas would surround them (it had a sickly sour apple smell mixed with chlorine that reminded Ethelred of the green dragon's breath). They had a few different paths to choose from so they went left. This lead them to a graveyard filled with graves. The tombstones were tall rectangular prisms of black stone inscribed with glyphs of an odd dialect of Giant (which Ethelred knew) that had smatterings of Elvish words in it. As they attempted to leave this glade in the sickly woods tendril-like vines crawled up and formed a barrier like a solid wood door. The party could hear a dull moaning as zombies pulled themselves from the loam and turned to attack them. 

Derek felled the first incredibly easy with his serrated axe and entered a RAGE. As he did so the party could hear the silent trees saw and give way under a huge gust that descended on them. Forming from this air and out of a large burst of flame was a decrepit scarecrow. Orange light leaked out of its mouth and shone on the party as it attacked them with its long bladed fingers. The whole while it slowly chuckled like it delighted in dealing and taking pain. Eventually Derek struck down the scarecrow by severing its head. The detached cloth continued to shake with the chuckling laughter as it slowly dissolved into the ground in a flash of red light. During the fight Korth fell into a small alcove where a grave should have been, and was able to examine it after their foes were slain. It contained a wooden chests with 50 gold pieces and a magic item called a Bottle of Fireflies. A palm-sized glass bottle that provides bright illumination in the form of twinkling firefly-like lights that only flares when the bottle is fed a serving of wine. They let Williams carry it and went on their way.

They made it to the center of the island where the glowing green clock-face levitated above a decrepit stone tower. In of the tower an overgrown and rotten pumpkin patch sat in disarray. Four of the moldy pumpkins unfurled barbed tendrils and drew themselves towards the party; seeking the only flesh they had smelled in millennium. Four skeletons armed with shortbows circled the perimeter of the tower and attacked the party once the pumpkins had identified prey on the path. A haunting tune of whispering wind and creeping voices bore down on all of their minds, and only Williams and Ethelred were affected at all. Williams simply shook his head until the unnatural green faded from his iris; while Ethelred (in dire wolf form) attempted to pick up a sharp rock on the ground but could not. After a small period he became unaffected by what he called the "Song of the Damned" and helped his friends fight off the undead.

As the corrosive gas slowly began to fill the island with it's sour smell they tried to open the door to the tower. It wasn't locked but had been warped by exposure to weather and wouldn't budge. After a few minutes both Korth and Derek were able to bust it open and dodge the falling rocks from a sprung trap. The room was dimly lit by torches ensconced underneath human skulls and a chandelier made from bone. A large stone altar that once might have been holy now laid desecrated in the name of the Dragon Below and as such had maddening patterns carved into it. Behind the altar lied the scarecrow nailed to a large wooden cross; the party realized that a dozen House Cannith mercenaries were daisy-chained to the wall in death. Atop the altar was what the party had been payed to find: a Khyber Dragonshard twice the size of a large football. It was a semi-translucent black stone laced with maddening webs of blood red. 

Standing in worship at the altar were two gnolls. One could only be described as a Deathknight; wearing half-plate bolted to his flesh and covered in mad scribbling from a small knife. In one hand he wielded a huge greatsword that seemed to be made of various scrap-metals bolted together to form a chopping tool. The other gnoll was female and dressed much more decadently. She wore layers of silk over a human-skin cardigan and wielded a kukri stained with black ichor. Upon their arrival the scarecrow began to laugh at the top of its voice, pulling itself off of its own crucifixion from doubling over. The party watched in horror as rats began to fall out of the cracks in its body where hay normally would fall; some would simply fall while others tried to skitter away with what little of their bodies weren't rotted away. The Gnoll deathmage cast a spell; waving her kurkri back and forth to produce an occult symbol from the black void it left behind. Three hyenas scarred by hellfire erupted from the stones of the floor and attacked the party. 

The Gnoll Deathknight was a foe to be reckoned with since it would swing its great chopping sword, and its bite left wounds tainted with foul necromantic energies. The hyenas felt no pain so they continued to thrash and tear even when their bodies were skewered. The Deathmage bolstered her armor with shadows leaking from her kukri that swirled and formed into plate-mail above her skin before blasting them with foul magic. The fight was very tough and Ethelred was drawn from his animal form multiple times, only to fall in battle and almost bleed out. Derek entered a frenzy laden rage at seeing the Deathknight and was finally able to cleave and sever his tainted flesh in 'twain. Upon seeing her mate fall in battle the Gnoll Deathmage cut a rectangular doorway into the air with her kukri and stepped through it, leaving a shimmering pink seascape inside the black void. Soon after the floor underneath the hyenas shattered and opened up into fire as they were sucked back into the abyss. The scarecrow was the only one left and was quickly dispatched by Williams who tore it apart with his dual-warpicks. As Derek brought Ethelred from death's edge with a healing potion Korth investigated the magical doorway the Deathmage had left behind. Williams said "Oh my goodness, that's a portal to the Ethereal Plane!".