Date: September 1, 2025
After travelling through Lumsano Woods for many days, the party finds an old cabin far from civilization. The building is in a state of ruin, with mossy walls and a gently sagging roof, suggesting that it has been standing for a reasonably long time. After a brief discussion on what to do next, the group decides to continue through the front door of the run-down building. Oak perches in a nearby tree to keep a lookout while Big, Darius, Lavender, Marigold and Olonan enter the cabin. The interior of the building is dusty and smells faintly of mold, yet it still seems to be relatively protected from the elements. Marigold searches the entry room and finds two pairs of old clothes in a deacon’s bench. She takes a robe and offers it to Olonan as a joke, the high elf is deeply displeased by the gesture. Lavender finds many dusty jars on a shelf and a rusty dinner knife and fork on a table, she places them all in her backpack. Darius follows a path of torn papers into a nearby room, where he tries to piece together which text they could be from. After a short investigation he determines that the pages are from a common book of prayers. A small wooden chest sits against the back wall of the room with the papers, but upon investigation it appears to be locked. The group continues into another room, while Olonan stares into the empty fireplace with disgust. The party finds a swarm of bats perched in the rafters of this room, next to a small hole in the ceiling. Lavender attempts to communicate with the bats, but they provide no information the party does not already know. The party leaves the room to search other sections of the structure. They try opening another door, but swiftly reconsider after hearing the scuttling of a creature in the next room. Darius leaves the cabin and searches the outer wall for a window leading into the room with the unknown creature. After peering through a dirty window, he spots two giant centipedes lurking near a wooden chest in the room behind the door. He returns to inform the group of his findings, they ultimately decide to search elsewhere in the cabin.
The groups lifts a wooden bar, unlocking a door which leads to a dank staircase. Fearing he would lock the door if given the chance, the group sends Olonan down the creaky stairs first, before following him into the darkness. Darius struggles to see in the darkness, so he quickly lights an eerie candle before continuing down the stairs. The basement is filled with empty boxes and smashed bottles, with a small shrine in one of the corners. The group searches the small room, but they find nothing else of interest. Darius investigates the shrine, which is dedicated to Anima. A few large candles, two copper coins and a wooden statuette of the goddess are placed on the table. Darius does not disturb the shrine, as it is associated with his own religion. The party continues into another room, finding it filled with oily sludge. A single human skeleton lies slumped against the back wall, its torso filled with the slimy grey substance. Darius runs back to grab the copper coins from the shrine and places them into the eyes of the skeleton. Darius feels a sense of spiritual peace, as the coins will help the skeleton’s spirit acquire safe passage into the afterlife. The sludge soon begins to bubble, as if alerted of the party’s presence. Lavender identifies the creature as a grey ooze and lashes at it with her thorn whip. The hungry ooze pours out of the cadaver and lunges at the party, who narrowly avoid its attack. Marigold lights a torch and tries to hold the slime back as the party exits the room. The ooze is relentless and remains unphased by the open flame. The party retreats to the previous room where they hold the door shut, hoping to stop the slime. The sticky creature pries the door back open and spills into the room with the party. Olonan charges the grey ooze with his glaive, carving it in two before watching it dissolve. The elf quickly begins to gloat of his combat prowess and superior equipment, but is silenced by the disapproving looks of the group. The group walks through a stone archway to the north, finding a single wooden chest placed against the wall. Marigold opens it with ease, finding nothing inside. She takes a moment to look closer and notices that the chest has a false bottom. After removing the board, Marigold finds a significant amount of treasure and a mysterious red liquid in a small bottle, which she takes.
Back upstairs, Lavender looks for a safe way into the room with the centipedes, she tries to communicate with the creatures through the door but finds that they are quite hostile towards her. She decides that fear is the best method to get past the centipedes and transforms into a brown bear before pushing the door open. Both the centipedes and Olonan are shocked by the transformation, the giant creatures flee under the wooden floorboards as the elf cries out in terror. Lavender charges into the room and attempts to pry the chest open with her bear paws, she is unsuccessful and only manages to toss the chest around the room, making Olonan scream even more. She moves the chest into the main room before transforming back into a gnome. After trying to open the chest with her hands, she finds that it is firmly locked. Lavender jams the rusty knife and fork she found into the lock and twists them around for a while. Remarkably, the lock was damaged enough by the process to open. The party finds a steel sword, a silver ring and a bag full of coins inside the chest. The party decides to try the same tactic on the small chest they found in the room filled with torn paper. Amazingly, this tactic works a second time and the chest springs open to reveal several blank sheets of parchment, an inkpot and a large quill. The group determines that they have thoroughly investigated the cabin and so they head towards the exit of the decaying structure without further incident. The party leaves the cabin and journeys back into the perilous Lumsano Woods.