Last Game Session [play report]

In my regular game the players got into a hairy situation that had an entirely different outcome then one would initially think it would.

The town had been ravaged by a witch mounted on an old Red Dragon. This seemingly random event most certainly wasn't it turned out the Brulliva the witch had somehow gained control of the the dragon Skorne and was using him to exact revenge on the people of the town for a wrong done to her betrothed Sigurd the Sanguine.

The PC's found themselves recruited (at fairly decent reward) by the Prelates of the local churches to delay Brulliva in her tower while a party of knights and clerics dealt with the Dragon Skorne.

One their quest the PC's discovered things were not completely right in the little village of Leesom not to far from the Witches abode. The people of Leesom were curious, sunken eyed and not quite dressed or groomed as normal it was if they were somehow bedazzled by magics (Brulliva ws rightfully suspected). The meetign hall at the center of Leesom was boarded up and a few of the villagers when pressed gave account of a horrible slaughter that happened within some years past (one party member noted most of the boarding up seemed to be from within the meeting hall but didn't press the matter).

The part didn't stay long in Leesom not wanting to run afoul of whatever curse it's simple people labored under and pressed on to the Witches abode. a couple miles around the dragons cave and the witch tower was laid waste to dragon-wrack. They scouted carefully doing as best they could to avoid the gaze of Brulliva and the dragon Skorne.

Before the party could gird themselves on they spotted one of the knights who would be assaulting the dragon; to their dismay he was horribly wounded. They questioned the kight who spoke about the "meetign hall" and "ghouls" before the PC's noted bites and scars on his person.
The knight was dispatched by the PC's who were fearing he bore ghoulish contagion. They abandoned the now foiled plan.

On the ride away from the Bruvilla's abode they discovered a village girl who had fled Leesom. Teh village girls was questioned and the y learned the knights were curious as to what was within the meeting hall and they were set upon by the "elder ones" within and met the same fate as Sigurd did years ago. They party moved on fearful of what they would find. The girl ran up the trail headed towards the witches abode.

On return tho the village the party discovered (at distance) the knights horses penned up in a village yard and a group of men digging graves on the edge of town. The locals were not hostile and when questioned they seemed even more stupefied then they did earlier. The party hastily moved on agaisnt the menace that remained hidden in the meeting hall (it's doors now open). the structure was quickly doused in oil while a crowd of the villagers gathered to watch. The party set the building ablaze with a pair of fireballs and fled while the villagers watched and strangely howled and moaned. Two party members tarried a bit to watch the blaze reach its end and witnessed a trio of figures alflame burst out of the blazing building and were set upon and ripped to shred by the villagers.

Waitign to witness the end of those who dwelled within the meeting hall may have been unwise however as the with Bruvilla and her steed Skorne descended from the sky. The dwarf warrior Thorgrim couldn't escape on his hapless mule which was slain and devoured by Skorne. His dwarven doughtiness and magic resistance let Thorgrim shake off a spell cast upon him by the witch but she would not relent. The offer was clear "Shoudl I have you slain here or shall I press you to worthy service?"

Thorgrim not wishing to die by witch magic and dragon flame vowed to serve the with Bruvilla in what task she set before him. She had but a simple request that she would reward if loyally conducted: bring her the heads of the prelates who sent Thorgrim and her companions against her and did her betrothed wrongly years past. Thorgrin agreed and got all but one member of the party to agree to the task at hand. So the party returned with a bloody murder plot in mind.

Gaining audience to a number of the clerics was easy enough given the circumstances of the tasks taken on. In a quick and bloody slaughter the party members were able to wrest the heads of the four prelates present from their shoulders and slew a handful of hapless guards and acolytes in the process before escaping with their foul cargo.

The heads were turned over to Bruvilla who was very happy to know the end of four who had doomed her love by their actions so she rewarded Thorgrim with an amulet that would allow her to be contacted and she would agree to magically transport him and those companions that touched him three times to anywhere in the world her magic could carry them.

So the PC's continue to the capital with an ever growing path of death and destruction in their wake.