Crown of the Giant Queen - Session 2: Shadlaharl, Meet Shadlaharl

 When last we left our heroes… The companions first treated their wounds, then headed on to the village of Mjathkor where they met the local Well Priestess, Falaru. The Priestess Falaru was able to fill them in on more details about the missing package: It was the “Serpent” – the specially forged ritual serpent (made of a secret alloy) which was ritually slain and buried once a year at the Cleansing of the Water for the Feast of Orusen. The serpent was forged in Hurakarr for this feast, but it has not arrived and now there is a real danger that it will not arrive at all, in which case the ritual cannot be prepared. Priestess Falaru believes that if this happens, evil things will befall the community.

The companions set out on the road north towards Hurakarr, looking for signs of the missing acolytes and their escorts, who were supposed to have been returning with the package. Along the way they had a few mishaps – including diarrhea caused by tainted water – but pressed on until they encountered a Shadlaharl (a great horned beast) in the middle of the forest. Avoiding what might have been a costly and disastrous battle, the companion Shadlaharl seemed to bond strangely with his namesake, taming it and allowing the companions to continue on their way.

Another two days north of the village, the companions found the first traces of the missing acolytes—clear signs of a struggle on the road, with tracks leading away both east and west. Following the west tracks first, the companions found the bodies of the two escorts—young men who had been sent to protect the acolytes on the road. They seemed to have died from tearing out their own eyes. After burying these men with a proper funeral, presided over by Varjalis [Augusta], they followed the tracks to the East, which led them into a clearing in which they saw a large standing-stone which had been transformed into an altar. On it, they saw one of the acolytes splayed out in the dark ritual known as the Bloody Vulture, while the second (still-living) acolyte was tied to the stone, awaiting her turn. All around the clearing, clearly waiting for the companions, were a number of massive vultures with the heads of ugly hags, led by one otherwise beautiful woman with the ungainly head of a vulture.

Monsters avoided: 

• 1 Shadlaharl