1621, Dark Season 54, Truth Week, Wildday
 |
| One walktapus, two walktapi - just cut off a piece! |
he lucrative encounter with the fake Etyries ogre gang has made the adventurers a wealthy bunch, and they spend several months living the good life, hiring the best trainers in town, and studying and improving. Daerius and Herculon even manage to fail to show up for the Rain Calling Ceremony, and will have to make amends at a later date for this oversight. The adventure begins as the party, minus Daerius, who has a job as a bodyguard for a customer he did not want to disappoint, are wandering through the Farmers Quarter of town. One of them spots a silhouette keeping an eye on them, and they surround the spotter and find out it is a young street hoodlum, called Hinko. Unaware of whether this fellow was keeping an eye on them or burglarizing or whatever, they try to find out more about events in New Pavis. The only information the youg guy reveals, is about a house in the center of New Pavis where rumour says a Chaos presence can be detected. It quickly becomes apparent that the house that is being talked about it the former ogre hideout, so the rumour might be true as well. The party learns that the Lunar guard have woodpanelled the house, and they decide to head over to the house and investigate. As they are checking out the building, they cross a Lunar Guard captain from the Silver Shields, who finds it suspect to see them staking out the closed mansion, but they manage to convince the Lunar they do not mean trouble.
fter pretending to leave they return and break in to the house. They are confronted with a putrid smell of decay, and carefully advance further, down to the cellar, where they hear a rumour underground. They inspect the floor, and find a hidden trapdoor that leads into a stone corridor about 3m high. Herculon guards their rear as they descend into the hallway below, and they soon discover a fullgrown Walktapus as it charges towards them. During the ensuing fight, Jaya suffers a grievous wound, as her left arm is practically ripped off, but by a weird stroke of luck none of the arteries is cut. Raiko then takes the front, only to be badly hurt as well, and if not for the armor the consequences could have been very grave indeed. It becomes clear that Herculon is required to dispatch the chaotic abomination, so the barbarian descends and confronts the beast. Now the fight ends rather quickly, as Herculon keeps stabbing the monster in the same location until it drops.
ith the monster dispatched, the party starts investigating the corridor. They find a hidden compartment beneath the floor, but it seems to be full of ground, with only a minimal storage space. Either the compartment is unused, or they were unable to discover it's secret. They do find a small chest with some money and baubles. One of the jewels bears the mark of Duke Raus of Rone. Then a weird noise, emanating from the dead walktapus becomes audible. Only now the chaotic ability of the Walktapus is revealed: as Herculon heals both Raiko and Jaya with his newly learned Heal Wound, thereby expending his entire devotional mana pool, the beast starts to regenerate, and nothing the party can muster seems to be able to turn this around. The party decides to take drastical measures, and they put fire to the beast, after covering it with crinkled up linen soaked with lantern oil. Then they quickly leave the house, considering their mission accomplished.
