A Beast in the Mist and the Hunting Lodge

Session Summary: 05/07/2023

Ahhhh, a departure and a destination! Thulnir the dwarf gathered his axe and his considerable collection of barely-managed grievances and informed the party that clan business demanded his immediate return home. The head of his clan had died and his treasonous uncle was pressing a claim to lead, a situation that Thulnir evidently found more threatening than corrupted elf gates and murdering fey lords. The party bade him farewell, somewhat perplexed by dwarf political priorities but willing to respect them, and reorganized themselves around the absence of their resident shield.

They joined Radu the peddler on the old Timber Road toward Schloss Wulfen, the hunting lodge jointly owned by the Baumgartner and Pendergrast trade families. Radu had business there with the red-haired porcelain doll. The heroes had business with everyone associated with the Pendergrast name.

The road through the Dunkler Wald's border was an EDUCATION. A reddish mist materialized from between the trees and trailed alongside them at a distance, never approaching directly but always present. One by one the heroes felt a compulsion taking root in their minds, a pulling sensation toward the forest, a certainty that the trees held something they needed to find. They walked off the road into the shadows. They came back to themselves after only a short distance, shaking their heads and blinking away the enchantment before the forest fully swallowed them. Kiren, who knew more about the Dunkler Wald than she had initially shared, confirmed this was the Beast's territory and that the reddish mist was its hunting sign. They rejoined the road and did not venture off it again.

Schloss Wulfen was an imposing structure of dark wood and darker reputation. Two Earth Mephits named Hans and Franz guarded the entrance and challenged the heroes' right of passage with considerable self-importance. After some negotiation the party convinced them to summon the lodge manager Heinrich, who in turn was convinced to bring them before Beatrice von Baumgartner herself. Beatrice was a composed woman who did not particularly like the Pendergrast name attached to her family's property but had not yet found reason to distrust the strangers before her.

Then a guard burst into the room. Oleksandra was screaming. The library door was sealed from within. And the heroes had about thirty seconds to make the right decision before something TERRIBLE was done to a child!