Session 3: Alastor Land and the Owlbear

Session 3:
Well we can wait for one of the others or keep exploring. Let’s get some more rope and stuff in town, sell things, and then try to get across that damn room, said Mouse.
During the night Vance heard something outside. The group had dumped the goblin, dire rat and badgers in a dry ravine 75 yards away from the Mine Office. The noises seemed to be coming from there.
The trio, Vance, Mouse, and Bornir armored up and went out to investigate. They spotted a large humanoid hunched over the corpses. Vance yelled a challenge, the creature was startled, then started whirling a sling. The three approached and saw a half orc in hides, with a great axe in one hand and a sling in the other. The half orc ducked behind some trees then climbed a maple, quickly scrambling up 20’ off the ground. It loosed the sling bullet which hit the ground in front of Bornir.
The trio advanced, and this time the half orc hit Vance squarely in the chest. Mouse loosed his crossbow hitting the half orc. Vance and Bornir came forward. Bornir eyed the tree and then his Dwarven war axe. The half orc sprang from the tree rather than get cut down. It wasn’t able to get far before Vance’s glaive cut him down with a mighty hit. Bornir cured the half orc to keep him from dying and they dragged him to the Mine Office. It seemed the half orc had been scavenging meat from the dire rats and badgers.
Later when the half orc came to, it was bound and disarmed. It spoke common, and seemed somewhat intelligent. (DM note: Vance, Bornir and Arga the half orc all have 8 intelligences, while Mouse is a heady 12) After speaking with Arga, as the half orc was called, Vance convinced Arga that Arga owed Vance his life since Vance had saved him. Bornir convinced Arga that he would kill Arga if he got out of line. Thus the group gained a fourth member, again.
The four set out for the Whispering Cairn a day later. They climbed to the iron sphere room. Mouse and Arga climbed down to the iron spheres and started walking across them. They were attacked about half way across by a snake-like green creature with a beak mouth surrounded by four octopus tentacles and no obvious eyes. Vance and Bornir both hung over the edge and dropped down to the sphere surface to fight. The fight was over before they got there. Mouse suffered a bloody wound from a razor sharp tentacle, but Arga killed it with a mighty blow from his axe.
Gothen was curing Mouse when an apparition appeared. It was a glowing blue figure hovering about the ground. It’s neck was bent at an unnatural angle and it’s fingers were like daggers. It spoke ‘I am the last of the Land Family. Alastor Land was my name in life.’ With that it dove into Arga’s body. Arga writhed and his neck bent like the ghosts. The ghost spoke through Arga’s mouth but with it’s grave-born voice. ‘I have need of you strangers and you have need of me. My need is simple. Over yonder lay my bones, I wish them to be interred with my family at our family farm. You search for treasure as once I did. The door across the hall is impassable. It has no handle or means of opening on this side. But to one such as I, a ghost, it is simplicity to open the door from the other side. What say you?’ The group discussed and agreed to the ghosts trade. Alastor Land then disappeared.
The group spent a few hours digging through the spheres, they uncovered some treasure and Alastor Lands bones, which they wrapped in a blanket. They then set out for the Land Farm, which when they asked the ghostly voice spoke ‘ The farm is some 20 miles distant to the East of this Cairn.
After some searching the four located an old run down farm in the place the spirit directed. It was a farm, and an old iron gate had the rusted name ‘Land’ above it. There hadn’t been any inhabitants in a decade or more. They did locate a family burial plot, and fourd the headstones for 4 members of the Land family. All had died of the Red Death plague, dated 12 years ago. Their graves had been recently dug up, and their bodies missing.
The four dug a shallow grave for Alastor and buried his bones. They hoped this would be enough, but doubted it. They decided to explore the Land Farm House for any clues. Who would dig up long dead bodies? Why so recently?
In the Farm House the group stumbled over the scene of a fight. A dead Owlbear, and two dead young lay inside, another heavily wounded Owlbear was eating a human arm, and clots of blood and flesh lay about the place.
Vance advanced and struck it, but was then enveloped by it. It was crushing the life out of him. Arga yelled a blood curdling scream and tore into the beast with his axe, It quivered and slumped, Vance fell from it’s grasp alive, but barely.
No treasure to speak of, but the arm had a strange tattoo. Mouse scribed a copy of the tattoo onto some parchment and they set out for the Whispering Cairn. Alastor Land was not pleased that his family was missing, and wouldn’t rest until they lay beside him.
So they went into town to try and find out who had been killed by the Owlbear. Mouse determined through carousing at the Emporium and showing the tattoo copy, that it belonged to a gang of toughs, all were branded by an old mine owner with his sigil. They lot of them worked for Balabar Smenk now. Smenk being a notoriously corrupt mine owner and confidant of Lannod Neff, the Mayor of Diamond Lake and Sheriff Cubbin.
The four went to the Feral Dog to check out the rest of this gang. They found an albino half orc, a man in chain mail with a pole arm, a man dressed in gray with a bow, and a balding man dressed in soiled dark red robes.
After some attempts to talk, Mouse bought them a round of beer and then chatted them up. It seems they four had lost a friend recently fighting the Owlbears. When pressed about the bones, the half orc got quiet, but Mouse was able to negotiate a bribe. 200 gps in exchange for the bones from the Land Farm or their whereabouts. After the money was produced the half orc, named Kullen, told them the bodies had been dug up for a necromancer named Filge. Kullen seemed to loath the spell caster. Filge had some to town recently, and Kullen and crew were on Smenk’s orders to assist him in any way. Filge was holed up in the old observatory on the hill. One last condition to the deal, said Kullen “You give me Filge’s eyes. I hate that bastard.” With that Kullen fingered his great axe and then licked the cut it made.