Session 4

The session opens with Pete stealing from the general store. Instead of using brute force, he attempts another way, but only manages to get a signal whistle before he left to avoid potentially being caught.

He then returns to the Tavern to meet with the rest of the group. They discuss whether they want to stay in town, or leave town to chase the vampire. The longer the group waits, the further away it'd get.

Discussion circles around the group not knowing where the vampire's going, and that they might be too tired and not in the best condition to search for the night. Plus, the vampire wouldn't be able to travel during the day.

The group also discusses the sickness going around the city. They debate where the sickness might have been originating from. Athtar suggests that the general store could have been a place that people were infected.

The group then stays the night at the saloon, waking up at the crack of dawn. They all pay a copper for breakfast. Beans with bits of bacon and coffee, before getting ready for the day.

Theodore takes a table large enough for the group to sit and discuss plans. He takes a sip and begins the conversation suggesting we'd need to get some information on the people here, trying to figure out what's going onto the towngowers. He suggests splitting up into groups to cover more ground. Recalling what Una's father told her, Farmer Brown's son was sick as well as the general store shopkeeper's daughter. He, Athtar, and Una decide to speak to the townsgoers and Dirge wants to visit the mortuary. Pete joins him there.

As Dirge and Pete head in, they hear sounds and know they are not alone. On the all, they see a holy symbol for the Goddess Pharasma. Dirge, being undead, smirks at the symbol. From directly beside him, he hears a voice from someone he did not notice approach, asking if he can help Dirge. As Dirge turns around, he sees that he is around 6 feet tall, wearing a fully black trench coat. The man's hair is a little grey, and is clean-shaven outside a magnificent mustache.

He then asks Dirge to explain who he is and why he's interested in the woman who died the night before. Dirge mentions that they were investigating the case. Pete chimes in saying that they had witnessed the murder. The man says he cannot just let anyone view the body, noting that they are not of the Black Sword, but the man stays firm.

Dirge mentions he works closely with the dead, he also mentions that if he is unable to find the cause now, there will be many more deaths. Pete then mentions that Dirge can raise the dead. The man visibly responds. Dirge also doubles down.

The man firmly suggests that they leave. He opens his trench coat partially, and reveals that he is carrying a blunderbuss.

The two leave. Dirge reiterats that there will be many more deaths.

-- The othersss

Knowing that the daughter of the general store owner is dead, Athtar, Una, and Theo head to the farm. Una leads the way. As the group leaves town through the northern end, a man has set up a soap box and is preaching about the new god. Saying that those who seek ascention, they can seek more.

He motions to Theo, and asks if he's seen the coming god. Theo responds that he's not very religious. He mentions that if Theo ever ends up in Ridgewater, that he should visit the church. He also reveals the machinery keeping him alive.

The man also asked Theo about the arm, which theo revealed it was of his own design since he lost his own and then ended up in a dust storm.

He bids the group farewell, and a warning about a construct. He mentions that it was something akin to a large butterfly with knives. Theo thanks him for the warning, and returns to preaching.

Around 30 minutes from town, they see something atop a hill, which looked like a tree, or maybe a statue...it's a humanoid creature made of wood. Surrounding it are some butterflies. They move naturally but have metallic, bladed wings. They circle the tree creature, and Theo can hear them speak. They express that the tree doesn't seem normal. they mention a big orb.

Theo speaks to them, saying that it looks like some kind of leshy.

Una and Athtar approach the creature. The butterflies turn to Athtar and Una, exclaiming they look tasty. Theo says that they are not tasty. The butterflies turn to him, shocked. They note he is able to speak the tongue. They exclaim that he smells tasty. Theo responds deadly, and points to Una's gun.

As Theo speaks to them, he only moves his arm to generate sounds. The butterflies chirp back with their own sounds. He relays this information to Una and Athtar. Athtar doesn't know whether to be flattered or not, but also notes that he's probably poisonous.

Theo and Athtar think on using them to help track down the vampire, but they immediately respond negatively. They don't like the smell, and saw what the creature did. They mention that they saw a woman with 'bad nectar', and she went into a box.

Theo manages to about convince them to help, but they require Nectar.

The wooden creature recognizes these creatures as Ferrous Butterflies. They're harmless to those of the metal plane but thirst for blood and go into a frenzy when around a bleeding creature. They are also immune to lightning.

Suddenly, the tree creature begins talking, not even introducing itself but saying that they do indeed want blood. The butterflies scatter on hearing it speak and the group is caught off guard.

It then reveals that the creatures were metal elementals.

The group decides they can't keep standing here as the creatures may go on a rampage and not be fully satiated and could kill others in Una community.

They decide they need to kill the remaining elementals. Theo asks where the 'not tasty' is. They answer that they're going to 'the bad place' and that the vampire is going there in a box. They mention that things that smell bad are around there which is why they don't like the place.

Theo then mentions he knows where they can get some tasty.

Theo doesn't manage to communicate while combat begins. Una recalls knowledge, knowing they are immune to bleed, poison, and sleep. She then fires with her gun against the third butterfly, killing it immediately. The remaining two yell deceit!

The second butterfly dives down and shreds theo, and then swipes at Una, causing her to bleed.

The first butterfly then makes its first attack on Theo, but misses. It then swoops to Athtar, but misses. Athtar then thanks the butterfly for coming close, grabs an acid flask from his bag, twirls it between his fingers and smashes it on the butterfly. He then pulls out his coat pistol and shoots it immediately after.

Groot then smashes the second butterfly, killing it, and theo converts his arm into a gun, and blasts right through the last butterfly.

The wood creature continues waling on the broken butterfly. And as Theo speaks, he introduces himself as Groot. Theo thanks him for his help, and is happy he can explore the world once more.

As the group arrives at the farm, they're welcomed in. The son who was sick had turned out to make a full recovery and in fact, is feeling better than before.

Una looks him over, but notices no obvious wounds or bite marks, and indeed looks healthy. Athtar asks about cravings, but he mentions nothing in particular. Though he has begun making an effort to hunt on his own

Last time he went out, he hunted 5 rabbits. And while talking to us, he chews on jerky. He mentions that he only recovered the previous morning.

Theo pulls the group aside to mention that it could be a good idea to keep an eye on the boy. As the shopkeep's daughter could've had similar symptoms before turning into a vampire herself.

-- Back to Dirge and Pete The two return back to look into the building.

Dirge holds Pete up to look into the mortuary. There is a metal table in the middle of the room with a body covered by plain sheet

Another table beside the body holds scalpels, and other medical instruments. There's also a bottle with a black, oily substance on it. The barber has his back turned to them and is holding a cup of coffee. He's taking a break in the front room.

They push Pete into the room and then attempts to create a diversion. The man pulls out his gun and says "I thought I told you to leave"

Dirge attempts to climb through the window, but doesn't make it. The barber has a gun pointed at Pete's chest, but he's giving him a chance to walk away. Pete responds "Fair enough. But if you don't want to bring peace to a family, I'll have to hire the black swords." and then leaves with Dirge.

-- Meet

Both groups return to the saloon. Many people are staring due to the added tree being with them, which is almost constantly yelling profanities. Pete and Dirge are confused as to why there is a tree with the group. Theo answers that they ran into some trouble and that Groot helped out.

He and Dirge get into a spat and Dirge threatens to burn Groot. Athtar hands Theo a frost vial to help prevent groot fires Una and Athtar head over to the morgue to pick up where Pete and Dirge could not. Groot sneaks out to follow the two from a distance. Una and Athtar step inside.

Una knows the barber, Mortimer, and knows that he is a full priest of Pharasma. She explains that she is here to see the body. She introduces Athtar as a traveling companion, and asks to see the body. He agrees. He also mentions the two weird people who came earlier might be related to the group digging up bodies.

Neither Athtar nor Una had heard about this group.

Mortimer mentions the death of the body is fairly mundane, but he found something odd about the body. He shows a vial full of a viscous black liquid. And shows off a reaction with blood, where after pouring some onto the liquid, it seems to consume the blood. He mentions that it looks to be suffused with void energy.

Mordin explains his knowledge on vampires, mentioning that they need to be buried for at least three days in order to rise as a vampire. This gets Athtar thinking on the trapdoor in the general store, and the bloody cellar. He mentions that he has informed the Black Swords about this and that a vampire is involved because it would be important for them to know. He also then gives Athtar and Una a pair of Crying Angel Pendants to help in an encounter.

Athtar and Una relay the information to the rest of the group. Pete checks the general store, and notices it's swarming with Black Swords.

Athtar mulls over the information, suspicious of the chain of events and that someone may have set this up due to the cot in the cold storage room in the general store.

The group decides to move forward and try to follow the vampire