Still seething about the cost of the drinks, they followed up on the rumors of a man with no face and the magic involved. They are joined by weaponsmith Miklas Domonkos, from Pannonia. Who had been supplying goods to the churches and townships of Ruislip.
They met
the faceless man and were puzzled by how his face seemed to not be there and
they had problems focusing on it not being there. He indicated the sign which
said a 1000 SP reward for the capture of the Manticore which stole his face and
pointed north. On the way they dispatched Yrestor (his player arrives late) and
the rowers to gather rowan berries and they bought a net.
As they
walked along the windswept grasses, they found a spoor and followed it to the sea
cliffs. Seeing the tracks enter the water, Sigmar did a tricky (tumble roll)
flight over the waves and rocks, espying the sea-cave entrance. It was higher tide,
so they waited on top of the escarpment. At low tide while night fell, the
manticore emerged from the cave and padded up the beach, it saw the campsite
and looked at it, then lopped into the dunes and towards the forest. Fearing
for the berry-gatherers, they catch up with them as they approach with torches.
They decide to crush the Rowan berries and smear it on the net for magical
warding. Sigmar volunteers to stretch the net over the entrance of the cave.
They wait till the manticore returns, who is deliberately trying to bait them
into the caves by going in at higher tide. Sigmar manages to do it without
falling over and drowning in her plate armor but is soaked through and gets
hypothermia. The manticore easily pushes the net out of the way and the rowan
berries are washed out even if they only would last two hours anyway.
Another tide
cycle passes while Sigmar recovers by the open fire and dries her clothes and
wings. Seeing this, they leave Yrestor and the rowers atop and head down during
lower tide to fight it. They find the caves alternate between higher dry
passages and lower wet ones. The guess correctly the higher passages are traps
of some sort as the manticore only uses the wet ones. The manticore uses them
to corral mercenaries who escape the high tide in the caves and kill them later.
They see a
tight turn and a skeleton with an iron spike through it, they are ambushed by
the manticore flinging spikes. Fortunately, Sigmar’s plate armor blocks all
damage as she leads from the front. Realizing the manticore was leading them
deeper on, they retreat to a high dry cave and wait for the manticore to look
for them next tide cycle. What follows is a drawn-out affair, as the manticore
can almost never penetrate the plate, slightly hurt the people behind with the
spikes and they can almost never penetrate the supernatural AP bonus of +6
(total AP 1d8 + 4). Not even the arrival of Yrestor turns the tide.
Eventually
they wear it down by 1 damage at a time to 3/4s HP and it flees through the
caves. Sigmar makes a grab for it but cannot hold on. They follow it to its
lair, where they continue to flail back and forth. A lucky critical hit from Milkas
Domonkos did 8 damages and brought it to 1 HP, severing its front left leg and
sending it into unconsciousness. Quickly they stabilize it and drag it out.
Taking it to Dorbog with a travois they make out of straggler trees.
On the way they meet a druid and 12 fanatics, seeing what they did they stayed clear
of the players but the druid warned that some things are best left untouched.
As a general way of regaining his composure and authority. At Dorbog, they are
met by the Druid Mish, who cuts away the man’s face from the dog and sticks it
back on what he now recognizes as Dongal, the treasure hunter. He then kills
the dog, saying this is so the druids remain part of the story. He sneers at
Dongal for messing with things like tombs and leaves after reciting the “poem”
from Monsters &, the party don’t feel articualrly charitable as they think Dongal
could have caused his own misfortune. Dongal doesn’t know what caused the dog
to steal his face, it might have been a working dog he set loose in the ruins
of Donenashoe as a distraction when cornered by the children.
When the party
find the reward had been stolen long ago, they demand Dongal serve them until
it was paid off, 2 SP a day. He protests and lists all the treasure sites he
knows; the dragon’s island, the true location of Donenashoe the party walked
past, the barrows and the pirate’s landing cove in the east. Also to beware the
gargoyles and they were men who sought to leave mortality behind. but that
doesn’t cover his debt in the party’s opinion. They return to the cave to collect
the treasure.
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