They Met at a Tavern 13: "Harlow's an Odd Duck..."

Time to return to playing with random strangers. Or a least one random stranger, since my Meetup attendance has been quite spotty lately. Fine, we run for who shows:

• Dane: Cogarn, Human Thief
• Seana: Halibarn, Human Fighter

In the flavor of Shadowdark.

Fallback onto an old reliable, "Requiem for Atticus Stumps."

It's good for a small party, with its small encounter areas and typically singular foes. The pair started off as the usual two broke adventurers. "Random Headgear" gifted them both with long flowing locks (odds of 1:25,600? I'm not sure - didn't take enough stats). Maybe they are siblings.

Anyway, they were solicited by Kellen and Lois, and accepted the job. Kellen told them to seek out Harlow the halfling, but be aware that he was an "odd duck." Fair enough. But let's buy a honey cake from the local baker to sweeten the pot.

Away they went, finding the halfling sweating away in his rocky garden. He snatched up the cake as quick as a viper, and returned with his spear and weird lantern.

Off they went, Harlow keeping up a running commentary. "Oo, those berries are almost ripe. That's where I found the dead deer with the weird growths. Oops, look out for that bear trap, almost forgot about it..." 

But he prevents random encounters, so there's that.

To the first barrow, and the pair begin to pry off the sealing stones. Harlow sits back, eating his honey cake and "looking out for bears." Cogarn notices the flowers growing around the barrow, and Halibarn remembers that they warn of evil. It's probably nothing. Inside the barrow, and Cogarn sees the runes denoting "prison." It's probably nothing. The pair investigate a mysterious urn, then poke at it with a stick. It breaks, releasing poison gas, but the pair shake it off. They crack open the tomb and are pondering its interior when they are set upon by a wight. Much frantic battling, mostly whiffs. The wight hits Halibarn, but fortunately doesn't drain her. After more damage and little success, the pair beat a retreat. 

Harlow looks up, dusting off the last honey cake crumbs. "Find anything?"

Halibarn quaffed a healing potion. "Could we find a different barrow?"

Sure. Over the hill to Barrow 2. No warning flowers or runes on this one. Definitely safe. Harlow continues to watch for bears. Pry off the sealing stone and creep in. No poison traps either. Things are looking up. Sarcophagus. No wights. Excellent. Pry it open. Damnit.

NOT THE BEES!

The pair took a healthy amount of stings and bites as Cogarn flailed about with his torch and Halibarn wielded her battleaxe as a large flyswatter. Finally, the swarm dispersed.

The skeleton in the sarcophagus thankfully stayed dead, and they relieved it of its "death coins." 

Covered in welts, the pair emerged, and with their guide, headed back out of the forest.

Harlow noted that the shelf fungus were coming in nicely this year. He halted the party, warning of something ahead. Goblins, hoping to get a drop on them. Cogarn sniped their leader, and the pair dispatched two more before their peers beat feet. (Yeah, I know goblins aren't supposed to be surprised, but the PCs needed a win.)

Relieved, they returned to Harlow's hovel at dusk. Harlow offered them a place to sleep outside, because his cabin wasn't "set up for company." No problem, the pair set up camp and dozed off. They were awoken by odd noises, possibly of a struggle, coming from Harlow's cabin. Creeping to the door, they saw a trapdoor open, with candlelight. Obscure words were heard and Cogarn (former cult initiate) recognized summoning. Uh oh. He dropped into the cellar, finding Harlow bleeding a bound prisoner at a summoning circle as a manes demon emerged. 

Not this guy

Will this day never end? Cogarn struck at it as Halibarn dropped in to aid. A fierce, cramped battle. Everyone, including Harlow, was temporarily blinded by the noxious demon, and flailed blindly for a round. Finally, Halibarn dispatched the demon, and Cogarn took Harlow to the edge of death. He surrendered, but Halibarn looked the situation over and made a judgement call. SHANK.

The prisoner, Ewald, a local hunter who had stepped into a bear trap, thanked them profusely. The trio gimped back to town in time for the funeral. They washed up and passed over a couple of coins to the mourners to send their friend off in style. 

DM Notes:

Some good play by the pair, including calling a retreat in the face of resilient undead. Treasure at each location is generated randomly, and the death coins appeared in Barrow 2. Which was fine, as they were already dirty, injured, and covered in welts. Plus it gave me an opportunity for a bit more random or improv play.

Per the adventure - "Harlow’s Secret: Harlow keeps a prisoner in his cellar. Possible fodder for a future adventure." I know that Tim has used demon-summoning shenanigans before on other unfortunates, so Harlow was up to no good that night, as well. And it was a fun callback to the bear trap.