Session XXXIII - Hadnir the Demon Hunter (2002-07-02)

The loot was divided. Quintus went his way while Jobrik and Gronthor went to Shopik. There they met a man who had heard of their reputation and had been looking for a group to join with in his guest to rid the world of demons. He introduced himself as Hadnir, from Glome.

Hadnir was saddened to hear of the death of Radagast, and agreed to help take his remains to Capernaum with Gronthor and Jobrik. The first stop on the way was Hightower, where they shopped for rations and equipment.

As the first travel day was nearing evening, they saw smoke coming from Hightower. Fearing the first, they hurried back, only to find that someone had burned down Kjadbrek's house, and nearly killed him. Kjadbrek had been taken to the temple, where he was still unconscious. Jobrik was able to heal him though. Kjadbrek told that he had awoken to the fire, but was unable to move from his bed. The party searched the ruins but could not find the demonic disc, as they had suspected. They spent the night in Hightower, and set foot to Durenheim the following morning since there were no leads for them to follow.

On the third day Hadnir spotted movement close to the road, in the bushes. He called out to whoever was hiding there, at which two orcs run into the forest. Hadnir didn't want the robbers get away, and urged his horse into the woods, cutting ahead of the orcs. Unfortunately the two orcs regrouped with another pair of orcs that were no longer running from Hadnir (Jobrik and Gronthor had not followed). Hadnir was not scared though, and shot an arrow at one of the advancing orcs. The orcs charged, spooking Hadnir's horse, so he had to resort to his two trusted blades. Although Hadnir was cutting deap almost every strike, the orcs were able to gang up on him and things were starting to look grim. He had downed one when Jobrik and Gronthor joined the scene, having heard the sounds of fighting. Jobrik's burst of sound stunned the orcs, which gave Hadnir the edge he had been looking for and quickly dropped two orcs. The last one was able to escape. They found 19 gold and 53 silver from the orcs.

On the sixth day, just a day's journey from Dhunraven, they came to a small village that seemed unoccupied. The graveyard was circled by heavy fence, apparently to protect against the recnt incidents. While they were riding through the village, Hadnir spotted a tentacle in a doorway to one of the more damaged buildings.

Hadnir would have preferred quick approach, but Gronthor convinced him it would be better to check out the area first for they did not want to lose their horses to demons or their worshippers. The house opposite the burned building Hadnir saw movement in had a family that was too afraid to leave, and they said the house next door also had a family. Gronthor had them trusting him in no time (they were really suspicious of Hadnir because according to them it was a sign of something bad if one could see a demon). It was agreed next day the party would take the rest of the villagers to Dhunraven.

Their backs covered, the party proceeded in tracking the demon. The house where Hadnir saw the tentacle was empty, but he was able to follow some kind of drag marks to the next house, where they found a trapdoor in the floor. Inside they discovered a zombie of a man, which Gronthor and Jobrix blasted to smithereens before Hadnir could even react. Checking out the room Hadnir realized the door looked partly like flesh. Taking his magical sword in both hands he drove the blade as deep into it as he could. The flesh/ground rippled like the surface of water when something was thrown into it. It turned back to regular earth again.

The party could not figure out anything else, and decided to camp for the night. There was a three story tower in the middle of the village which they decided to camp in. First Hadnir had to get the bear out, which had decided to camp in before them. It proved to be no trouble. They put the horses downstairs, took Radagast's coffin to the second floor and tied ropes around it (they had gotten the impression from the townfolk that dead tended to rise again during the night) and set watch.

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