Session 45 — Halfwood, Old and New

Session Recap

The downtime is over: on the 16th of New Summer the party finally rolls out of Ponterford with Eldrich the Elder's caravan, bound up the river road and into the great woods toward the Menagoles. Most of the first leg is pure travel banter — foot-races against the boat-wall, I Spy, dancing lessons for Jex — until a "democratically elected" random-encounter roll (a coin that only ever reads 52) drops the long-teased zombie horse in their path: a reanimated nag tearing the organs out of a dead camper at a roadside fire. The party butchers it, then the camper rises as the GM "calls it," and they butcher him too — only for the horse's corpse to bloat and explode in a 30-ft cone of poison-and-fire viscera, the session's one real scare (Silithane and Magra each soak ~48). The grim cleanup that follows poisons a stretch of the river (Fenric jumps straight in) and yields the first clue: an Identify names the camper Michael, an ordinary 38-year-old man afflicted by high-level necromantic curse magic — a curse that spreads and that did not start with the horse.

Day two (the 17th), the party leaves the road at the Cathalon crossroads and ploughs straight into the forest, where Thalia's Favoured Terrain carves days off the march. They find old reclaimed farmland, a fast-grown "pioneer" wood, and the ruins of Old Halfwood — a village burned and abandoned ~40 years ago, now crawling with 15–20 undead. They clear it (every walker a one-hit pushover) and Speak with Dead to a half-skeletal postmaster zombie, who delivers the village's tragedy: Halfwood once petitioned the crown — 800 signatures rejecting the "false queen" Laewendas — the palace refused the delivery, and soldiers razed the town by nightfall. In the woods beyond they meet Clover, a pacifist Goodberry-eating druid who has lost her elder Stunghelm Elkheart and keeps dodging a "scary militia." She leads them, by a maddeningly whimsical path, to that militia: New Halfwood, a blue-jacket settlement being rebuilt on the old town's name by the aged ex-warrior Thanhold, complete with a flower-girl, a legendary-tier trinket peddler, and an honour-guard who bare their heads at the mere mention of Old Halfwood. The session ends as the party tells Thanhold of the corpsewalkers in the woods. One pip; still level 7.

Key Events

• Out of Ponterford at last. After a final round-robin of unfinished town business (none — Cara's pudding challenge goes uncrossed), the party sets off on the 16th of New Summer, walking ~20 ft ahead of Eldrich the Elder's galley-wagon caravan, with Faethlyn, the recovering Pavid (he "fell down the stairs"), the merchant Carmichael, and the distrusted knight-to-be Rowan strung out behind, Eldrich reading on horseback in the middle of the pack.
• The road montage. With nothing happening yet, the table plays out hours of travel roleplay: Thalia races (and beats) the jogging Fenric into the map wall, the party plays I Spy and teaches the "goo-school" Jex to dance, Lash confesses to seducing-and-dumping a Ponterford rabbit-girl "to let her down easy," and they recap the dungeon/downtime for the freshly-arrived Magra (Mia present and player-run this session).
• The encounter, "elected." Eldrich has the party democratically pick a roller for the random-encounter table; the result is a rigged "coin" reading 52 — the zombie horse — found cresting a hill, tearing an arm and organs off a dead camper at a guttering fire.
• Don't let the horse get bit. Thalia sprints back to halt the rear caravan before it crests the hill, sparing their own horses; Faethlyn dismounts to help.
• Identifying the dead. After the fight, Silithane casts Identify on the camper: his name was Michael, age 38, human with a trace of halfling blood (a great-grandparent), not created by a spell but affected by high-level necromantic curse magic — the kind that could make a man rise an hour after a horse chewed him open. The party reasons the blight spreads by biting and didn't begin with the horse (and won't end with the camper).
• Wetzel, still ignored. Silithane again Sends a message to the alchemist "Wetzel's Pretzels," and again gets no reply — the GM hinting it's because Silithane never tells him he can reply.
• A night in the abandoned house. Eldrich leads the party off-road to a "predestined" two-storey ruin — collapsed wall, exterior stairs, a master bedroom with a tree growing into it, two cupboard-sized children's rooms, a rainwater tank — defensible and homely. They long rest; the date turns to the 17th.
• The whip, silvered. Over the rest Lash silvers Thalia's thorn-whip with a bought silver bar, hiding the silver among the natural thorns so that it's DC 13 Investigation to even tell the weapon is silvered — a deliberate tactical edge (relevant "when you order control," i.e. when hatting a whole room).
• Into the woods. At the trifecta crossroads (left to the capital Cathalon, right toward Saltwater and Ornston Keep), the party does the un-sensible thing and slams straight into the forest. Thalia's Favoured Terrain (forest) negates difficult terrain for the whole group, makes them unloseable, and roughly halves the travel time.
• The reclaimed farmland. Investigation turns up old field-squares, collapsed fence posts, and a quarter-mile signpost: this was farmland abandoned ~20–40 years, overtaken by fast-growing pioneer-species trees. A path leads to a settlement.
• Old Halfwood, and its dead. They reach Old Halfwood — half the buildings fire-blackened, half simply abandoned, a herbalist's hut and a witch church-hall still intact. Thalia's Primeval Awareness scan of the hex reads 15–20 undead (one a dragon — Silithane; two eating bodies in the church undercroft; several wandering; one weirdly inside a tree). The party clears the village's ~8 walkers, all trivially weak (4–13 HP).
• The postmaster's testimony. Silithane casts Speak with Dead on a half-skeletal postmaster zombie in a blue uniform. He was stationed at Halfwood, carrying the mayor's petition to the crown at Cathalon — a motion of dismissal rejecting the false queen Laewendas, signed by 800 citizens. "The palace refused this delivery. Several days later, soldiers seized Halfwood. We fought what we could, but the blue jackets did not prevail, and we fell red by nightfall." The undead, he confirms (before flopping dead), have no awareness of what they do.
• A spreading blight, no local source. Fenric's magic-sight reads every corpse as carrying the same dark-crimson necromantic affliction despite ranging from one week to ~40–50 years dead — proof it spreads and reanimates. His Arcana lap of the village finds no artifact, curse-source, or lingering power here: the undead wandered in from elsewhere and chewed the old battlefield dead awake.
• The pyre. The party stacks 9½ bodies (the morgue patient got up mid-cleanup) on a makeshift pyre of collapsed roofing and burns them, standing upwind.
• Clover, and the lost elder. In a hollow fallen tree they find Clover, a druid trying (and failing) to Speak with Animals to a zombie elk. A pacifist who eats only Goodberries (instantly bonding with Lash), she lost her elder Stunghelm Elkheart ~two weeks ago — he charged off to "hold them off" and never returned — and has been walking in circles since, dodging a "scary militia." She agrees to lead the party to it.
• Two questions for the chain. The party resolves to follow the undead to their source rather than press straight on to the Menagoles, reasoning a spreading zombie blight could become a nationwide epidemic. They'll let Clover show them the militia and see if the undead trail leads there too — checking in with Eldrich, who waves them off on their side-quest (the caravan will take the slow road; the party can catch up).
• New Halfwood. Clover's convoluted, backtracking path eats most of a day and delivers them, by evening, to the "scary militia": New Halfwood, a blue-jacket settlement being raised on the dead town's name. Scouts accost them, a flower-girl and the trinket-peddler Tony hawk their wares, and the project's patron — the lean, aged former warrior Thanhold — bows them in. At the words "Old Halfwood" every soldier in earshot bares their head in mourning. The session ends as Thalia reports the corpsewalkers; Thanhold, impressed they pyred the dead, offers to send men, and the GM awards one pip for exploration and roleplay.

Combat & Encounters

• The Zombie Horse (and the Undead Camper, and the Explosion). A roadside random encounter that escalates through three phases. Phase 1 — the horse: a reanimated, rancid nag (immune to nothing useful; a "rancid" trait deals 2 poison back to anything that bites it — Salamandine takes the hit). Surprise-blasted by Magra (a 20, advantage), bitten by Salamandine, Green-Flame-Blade + sneak-attacked by Silithane (with Lash's Help), double-shot by Jex (43), and clawed by Fenric; it clings to 2 HP to earn one turn — a missed hoof, then a 15-ft cone of vomit forcing CON/DEX saves. Silithane fails the CON "contract the blight" save but, with Lash's reroll and Magra's luck, Lash hammers his head aside so the spray misses; Magra finishes the horse. Phase 2 — the camper: the dead man rises as undead (two missed bites — a nat 1, then a 2) and is cut down by Silithane, Jex and Fenric. Phase 3 — the burst: the horse's corpse inflates and explodes for a 30-ft radius of hybrid poison/fire (16 damage per 5 ft inside the 30-ft mark): Silithane 48, Magra 48, Fenric 32, Thalia & Lash 16 each, Jex clear at 32.5 ft. Silithane shaves 5 with Absorb Elements. The blast leaves a 30-ft pool of flaming viscera and green sludge. No PC dropped.
• The undead of Old Halfwood. Roughly eight walkers in the village (15–20 in the wider hex), all level-1 trivially-killable zombies: two morgue/church-undercroft corpses (one-shot by Jex's arrows), several wandering villagers, a half-skeletal postmaster (~30+ years dead), a pitchfork-through-the-neck farmer (13 HP; Thalia holds the fork while Silithane stabs him dead), a morgue patient (chest split for organ-removal, gets up mid-cleanup, headshot by Magra), and a zombie elk in a hollow tree (cornered by Clover, shot by Magra). All burned on the pyre. A lone undead stuck inside a tree-trunk turned out to be the cornered elk.

NPCs & Factions

• Eldrich the Elder — leads the caravan out of Ponterford toward the Menagoles at last; offers the party first-rank position "to pierce the first line of defences," and cheerfully lets them peel off on Clover's undead side-quest, the caravan taking the slow road while the fast-moving party catches up. Adds "the party actually has two horses (bought by Draak)" to his to-do list.
• Faethlyn — rides guard on the caravan; dismounts to help at the zombie-horse fight and later shovels and buries the gore off the road (extending a shovel-handle to work from 10 ft) to keep the blight from spreading.
• Clover (new) — a young pacifist forest druid in a red coat, met trying to talk down a zombie elk; eats only Goodberries (kindred to Lash), can cast only a few spells before "half-time," and has been lost in circles ~two weeks since her elder vanished. Agrees to guide the party to the "scary militia" (New Halfwood) and toward finding her elder.
• Stunghelm Elkheart (new, mentioned) — "Stungy," Clover's druid elder; told her to flee while he "held them off" against an unknown threat, then disappeared ~two weeks ago. A druid grove on the party's map (identified earlier by Daewynn) is the one he forbade Clover to visit until trained.
• Thanhold (new) — the thin, ~70s ex-warrior nobleman raising New Halfwood; "purveyor of this settlement to be constructed," land-title owner, who fought in the original battle of Old Halfwood ~40 years ago. Bows the party in, mourns Old Halfwood, and offers men to clear the corpsewalkers. (Name heard as both "Thanhol" and "Thanhold".)
• Tony (new) — "10 Trinkets Tony," a coat-flapping trinket peddler at New Halfwood; Fenric's magic-sight reads nine minor magic items and one genuinely legendary-glowing item dangling from his coat. "Open 24 hours."
• The blue jackets of New Halfwood — Orathi loyalist soldiers (the same faction whose forebears "fell red" defending Old Halfwood); a frosted-blonde young scout, the scout-leader Hollander, and a one-eyed lantern-bearer escort the party in. A flower-girl (~12) and a laborer round out the camp. (Scout/soldier names — "Ailendyr"/"Ailendyras," "Hollander"/"Holland" — are unsettled and one collides with an existing name.)
• Michael (one-scene) — the dead camper Identified by Silithane: 38, human-with-halfling, killed and reanimated by the spreading necromantic curse. His bits (a finger/jaw) pocketed by Silithane "to notify next of kin."

Locations

• Old Halfwood (new) — a farming village burned and seized ~40 years ago for petitioning against Laewendas, now forest-reclaimed ruins infested by a wandering undead blight. Its witch church-hall and a herbalist's hut still stand; the party clears and pyres its dead.
• New Halfwood (new) — a blue-jacket settlement being built on the dead town's name by Thanhold, a day's whimsical travel through the woods; reached at evening. Home to scouts, a flower-girl, the trinket-merchant Tony, and an honour-guard that mourns Old Halfwood. Clover's feared "scary militia" — and, the party hopes, a lead on the undead source and her lost elder.
• The abandoned house — a two-storey ruin off the forest road where the party long-rests on night one; defensible, two exits, a rainwater tank.
• The great woods / Cathalon crossroads — the party leaves the road here, choosing the forest over the capital (left) and Ornston Keep (right), and discovers the reclaimed Halfwood farmland within.

Loot, Items & Rewards

• Thalia's silvered whip. Lash silvers Thalia's thorn-whip with a bought silver bar, hiding the silvering in the natural thorns — it now counts as a silvered weapon, and it takes a DC 13 Investigation to even tell.
• A legendary trinket, sighted. Fenric's magic-sight flags one legendary-tier item among Tony's wares at New Halfwood — unbought, but noted (priced "1 gold to 500"). A thread to pull.
• Goodberry feast. Lash cooks Goodberry stew and cookies (4 temp HP each) seasoned with cave spices and Thalia's medicinal herbs; Magra's claw machine (50% drop chance) and a candle feature in the comic cleanup.
• One pip awarded for exploration and roleplay. Still level 7.

Decisions & Open Threads

• The undead blight. A spreading, reanimating necromantic curse is loose in the woods: it infects by biting, has no single local source, and afflicts corpses from a week to ~50 years old alike. The party commits to following the undead trail to its source before continuing to the Menagoles — fearing a nationwide epidemic.
• Whose curse? Silithane suspects it's Laewendas's reprisal (as she sent The Snatcher to Ponterford) for some defiance; but Fenric notes the fresh undead aren't local and the blight is ongoing, so the source — a cursed item, a spell, an area, a necromancer — is unknown. The capital itself "a week away" is floated, half-jokingly, as a possible fallen source.
• Clover's lost elder. The party has agreed to help find Stunghelm Elkheart, last seen fleeing an unknown threat near a druid grove marked on their map. New Halfwood's "scary militia" may or may not be connected.
• New Halfwood and the blue jackets. The settlement's loyalist builders are "the good guys" — heirs of the soldiers who died defending Old Halfwood. Their exact relationship to the Reclamation, and what Thanhold wants, are open.
• The legendary trinket. Fenric has spotted a legendary item on Tony; whether the party returns to buy or investigate it is open.
• Carryover: the caravan march to the Menagoles and the eventual strike on Knucklebones at Lambert's Crossing; Eldrich's wish to visit the grove; the held soul candles, cursed mask and cave symbiotes; Jex's deciphering tablet and legal non-existence; the imprisoned Caressa; and the eventual siege of Cathalon.
• Roster. On screen and all player-run: Thalia (Cara), Fenric (Fantom), Silithane (Johan), Lash (Kadie), Jex (Nat), and — back this week — Magra (Mia). Valmora's player (Neko) is at the table but has no active PC (Valmora departed Session 44); Ashlyn's player and Draak remain away. Still level 7.

Memorable Moments

• "You may as well have one on the map." The GM's confession that the zombie horse was previewed live because moving the random-encounter tokens off the map would guarantee a reposition — followed by a rigged "coin with no backside, both sides say 52."
• The d28. The GM fat-fingering 2d8 into a d28 for the corpse-explosion — "that's still huge though" — atomizing the camper and very nearly the front line.
• Open-mouth combat. The table arguing whether Silithane's Bladesinging keeps his mouth open during a zombie-horse vomit-cone — settled by "combat is simultaneous and you cast a verbal spell," earning him a face full of zombie sick.
• Contaminating the river. Fenric cannonballing into the river to wash off the zombie slime and rolling 957/1000 on "how bad an idea that was" — "bordering on a different game now," i.e. zombie apocalypse.
• "It's part of the job." Thalia apologetically looting a shambling postmaster zombie's bag — finding fingers, lips and a liver instead of mail — then conducting a full Speak with Dead interview, complimenting his decades-late professionalism.
• The pacifist's loophole. Clover philosophising whether killing a zombie breaks her pacifist oath — "is it ending a life if it's not alive but just animated?" — and resolving to make the call "probably fine if I don't watch," eyes closed.
• "Even if he was a mushroom person, he's not a fun guy." Clover's affection for her humourless elder, and the table's three-way fae/mushroom-person guessing game about him.
• Off the path, off the path, off the path. The GM relishing that the party "wandered off the path to find a path, followed that path off the path to find a village, and then found a druid leading them further off the path."

SUMMARY: The party leaves Ponterford, destroys a spreading zombie-horse blight, learns Old Halfwood was massacred for petitioning against Laewendas, and meets the druid Clover and the rebuilt New Halfwood.