Fair is foul and foul is fair; we find an old lady in a cottage who lets us spend the night if we help her with her yardwork. Trade happens, and we end up helping a nearby town where her granddaughter, the daughter of Boris Highhelm, lives. Things don't go well.
It is the beginning of our third day's trek towards The Sky Diamond Academy. It is the third day of the first week of Mirtul.
Day Three
For the last watch of the night, Salris and Ryltar had shared the watch. Salris was staring past Ryltar creepily, so Ryltar cast Darkness on him to put him out of sight and out of mind. Salris sang "Hello Darkness, My Old Friend."
Morning comes and everyone wakes up.
We load up the horses and continue onwards towards the Sky Diamond Academy. Bugfood again casts Animal Friendship on his horse, charming it.
The terrain is getting a little more hilly, and the trees are denser.
And then we continue traveling throughout the day. As the day winds to evening, we see a wall of trees, and the path leads down straight towards the wall of trees. It's about 4 p.m. The trail parallels the trees for a bit.
History tells us that this is the edge of the woods that branch off into the other parts of the country. This is the starting edge of denser forest. The trail skirts the forest for a while, then cuts into the forest. Ryltar sees a small cottage where the road bends to follow the treeline.
The cottage is modest, with lazy smoke rising from its chimney.
As we near the cottage, we see a porch that stretches the entire length of the house. On it sits a rocking chair with an old human woman, rocking in her chair. Vurguron and Jerry think that the situation seems like something they might have heard before. But Vurguron doesn't know what, exactly.
Jerry says that we should pass with caution. The cabin has a spinning wheel, washbasin, and broom. Jerry says that, as someone who lives on the edge of the woods, jerry would not want to be disturbed.
She waves and greets us; Salris and Ryltar hop off their horses to greet her.
She asks Jerry and Tula for help with yardwork. There's an old tree fallen in front of her barn that could be chopped up.
Bugfood wanders off to the trees of the forest, and casts Speak with Plants to ask them what the provenance the wood of her cabin.
Tula asks if she could use an axe or hatchet. Salris resummons his pact khopesh as a greataxe, and lends it to her.
Jerry asks if take care of the tree, we can stay at her house unharmed and unmolested. She says sure, but offers the barn instead, and Jerry accepts.
Bugfood asks a poplar what has happened to travelers; the answer is that they didn't stay inside the house. He returns to the Party.
The barn is nicely sized, but the tree has fallen in front of the door, scraping the front of the barn.
Half the tree has rotted through. Bugfood casts Speak with Plants again, and asks it politely if it would get up and move, as it's blocking the way. The tree does not reply. The tree is no longer living. He turns to the party, a tear running down his face, and says that is too late; the tree is dead. Jerry and Tula start limbing the tree; Ryltar Mends the barn.
Tula leads the operation; within an hour we've completely cleared the tree and split most of the wood. We stack the firewood behind the cottage, where there was already a pile started.
Chopping done, Salris dismisses and resummons his pact weapon.
We leave our horses in the barn, with the lone horse there.
The old woman invites us inside, for stew.
The old woman's cottage
As we enter, we see that the two-room cottage has a large wood living room with a hearth. The rug is covered in rags and books. The walls are covered floor to ceiling with portraits of people. On the mantle are random items: mummified hands, a pipe, a statue of a smug halfling, a block of stone, two silver spoons, two toy soldiers (one without a head), bagpipes, two horseshoes tied together with wire, a snuffbox, a metal urn. Next to the hearth is a towel rack; the towel rack covered end to end with rags and towels. The coat rack near the door overflows with discarded hats and coats and bags. The hats are piled right to the ceiling! One of the bags has an obvious hole in it. And there's a cabinet full of containers filled with various liquids.
She leads us to the table, which is full of chipped and cracked serving dishes. The smell of stew is rich.
The pot is small; Jerry asks whether there is enough food for all. The old woman says that her granddaughter is coming with more food, from the town called Skyfall just up the road, inside the forest.
Bugfood is uneasy at the idea of living inside a building near the forest.
The items on the table are a hodgepodge, all lightly broken.
Ryltar asks whether she is an artist. She says that the people around here gave them as thanks. The forest was enough to give wood for the home, and the land has been farmed. The portraits are of people who thanked them. The spot for the house was chosen by her son.
Bugfood asks whether the mummified elf fingers were left as thanks. She says that, like the rest of the items on the mantle, they're the creme de la creme of donated items.
Those who eat the food think it's initially bland; but then it develops a rich, smoky flavor. The stew is magically based, but it's not innately magical, according to Salris' Detect Magic. He sees that the rag and towel, the horseshoes, and many items in the cabinet are magical. And a small pouch by the hearth. Salris whispers it to Ryltar. The woman overhears.
Bugfood turns into an ape and continues eating.
The woman comments that she knows all the items in the house, and that everyone who gave them to her placed them where they were right. Salris asks after the horseshoes, and spends an hour trying to attune to them.
Vurguron eats more stew.
Salris asks what the magical pouch by the hearth is; it's her magical spices which she uses because she isn't a good cook.
Ryltar investigates the magical rags and towels and towel rack. The towel rack has rags pierced through it. And he enjoys some of the stew. He asks what the towel rack does. She says that it holds the rags and cleaning cloths. He takes a closer look, behind it. There's nothing attaching it to the wall. It's an Immovable Rod. He taps the ends, and it falls, and she protests. He apologizes and picks it back up and puts it back in place. She says she likes it because it's very helpful.
Bugfood decides to use the Bag of Tricks to entertain the woman. It appears a Direwolf
.
The party hasn't noticed. But the Direwolf is a Large creature in a small room. Bugfood says, "Tada!" The woman protests, saying, "Get rid of that beast!" Tula takes 4 points bludgeoning damage. He dismisses the direwolf.
Ryltar asks if she would be willing to sell the rod, for a price.
Bugfood offers the bag of magical beans, saying, "They grow into various kinds of money trees." He's very persuasive, and she accepts the deal. But then he gets buyer's remorse, wanting to keep the beans.
Jerry offers two ice dragon claws in trade. She eventually accepts the idea of two dragon claws and a replacement drying rack. Bugfood offers to persuade a tree to form the drying rack.
Salris looks at the horseshoes, and has determined that they need to be part of the full set. They're useless to us, basically.
Salris looks at the spice rack full of tins and potions and vials and jars and containers. There's magic within some containers, which might be worth trading. He takes caution and looks carefully through them to find the three items. One magical item is a hand-sized section of chainmail scarred with black, which has a complete abjuration magic in it. One magical keeps getting dislocated as he moves other items. It's a broken cuff from the front of a bracer, which is wrought of gold. And a small golden rod of evocation about the size of a bullet vibe.
"What we got is three items that have to be reforged into something," says Salris. He and Ryltar look at the rod of evocation. It could be used once, but then the magic would be expended.
They look at the chainmail section. It helps protect you, single-use.
They look at the cuff of the vambrace. It looks like it has very intricate etchings of clouds, with a starry field. It's one-time use, and it conjures a cloud or mist.
Vurguron discovers that he has a crowbar, that he has no use for.
The old woman notices Salris' interest in the rod, and asks what he's good at. Salris says that he could provide some entertainment.
Ryltar says that he can repair things. She looks at the pile of blankets. He says he could do that overnight.
The room is a hodgepodge of broken items, each carefully positioned.
Ryltar takes the pile of blankets and goes to go fix it.
Salris takes the rod.
She tells us that the woods are unfriendly; people don't like to go in them. But she says the path is mostly safe.
Bugfood brings up the topic of the world ending.
We make our goodnights, as the sun is setting.
Ryltar and the orange traveler
Ryltar exits the house, and sees a traveler in orange robes coming up the road. The traveler asks who he is and what he's doing here; he explains who he is and how he came to be carrying her blankets. She calls out to her grandmother, who answers. The woman has dark black hair and hazel eyes, and a knife. "Yeah, that sounds like her," she says. He makes his excuses and goes off to repair them.
Jerry compliments her on the table her grandmother sets. She says that her grandmother doesn't get many visitors; she trades things.
Bugfood summons a boar from the Bag of Tricks, and she is intrigued. "Can you eat that?" she asks. "I haven't tried," says Bugfood, "But I wouldn't try." Apparently the whole town is impoverished and hard on food. Bugfood offers to visit the town to cast Plant Growth and Goodberry to feed them.
Her father came back with a scroll of Plant Growth. And we remember that that was the prize for the joust, which Highhelm won.
Bugfood asks Highhelm's daughter to wake him in the morning so that they can go to the town to cast Plant Growth over 8 hours to improve the town's fertility for a year.
Vurguron is the last to leave the room. He asks if there's any more of the delicious food; she says that's all for today. But he really wants that spice. She says it would come at a high price. "That's a price I'd be willing to pay in gold," he says.
She hems and haws. He doesn't realize that he could use his caster spells to flavor food. She asks what his shield does; he explains its spike-firing mechanic. She says she hasn't seen one of them before. "I use it to defend myself," he says.
Does he trade his shield for the Eleven Herbs and Spices?
No, he decides he might need the shield more.
As he leaves, he overhears the grandmother saying to the granddaughter: "They were useful today; they could be useful tomorrow."
Overnight
Jerry, Ryltar take watches.
Jerry sees the trees blowing in the wind at night. The lights go out in the cabin. The horses are stable, fed and watered. Jerry shovels the dirty stalls, as quietly as possible.
Ryltar wakes and continues mending, finishing off the mending, and then takes a watch afterwards. He mends what he can, but ten of them have some holes that are too big for mending. Slashed nearly the entire size, or withered and wilted in a way that won't Mend. He is able to repair 12 of 22.
Day Four
We wake up in the morning, and discover Ryltar mildly upset over the fact that he wasn't able to mend all the blankets. After some suggestion, he's able to patch the bigger holes with some leftover common clothes. There are three blankets that aren't able to be patched: they're slashed and spilled with dried blood.
Ryltar takes all the blankets over, and apologizes for the inability to mend those three. But Salris cleans the blood off of them. The grandmother grumbles over the inability to mend them all. She asks if we're going to town; Ryltar says he will go to town.
We get a name for the granddaughter: Rosa.
Ryltar asks if the grandmother has any mistletoe among the spices and herbs festooning her cottage; she does not. And why would he want any anyways? It's a poisonous berry. He explains it's for Goodberry.
The granddaughter comes back; he asks her if she has any mistletoe. She says that it's 10 minutes into the forest, but we should go to the town of Skyfall.
To Skyfall.
We ready our horses; the granddaughter doesn't have one but we mount her on our spare horse. Bugfood once again casts Animal Friendship on his horse.
But she has never ridden a horse. Bugfood takes the form of a horse, and Ryltar saddles him, and we put her on him.
Two hours into the ride, she leads us off the road onto a narrow trail
Skyfall
The town is surrounded by a palisade, with a wooden gate that lies open.
As we enter, we see that the houses are almost randomly positioned. They're not orderly position. They're all made of wood, but of varying skill levels. The ony item of major orientation is the fence. There's a good hundred cabins inside the walls.
Bugfood gently tries to shrug her off; she gets off. He unhorses. Bugfood asks for to be led to the farmlands. All the people look hungry, but no one is begging. They had a bad winter. The fields are just outside town. Bugfood asks her if her father had used the spell scroll yet; she says that the town had discussed it but hadn't come to decisions.
The discussion had narrowed to two farms, but Bugfood offers to do both places and in exchange for a drying rack that we can give to Grandmother Highhelm.
The granddaughter leads us to the blacksmith's: a forge and an anvil and nothing else, really. He's an older human, with salt-and-pepper beard. Ryltar speaks with him, and Bugfood does too. They discuss farming, and Bugfood uses Goodberry to feed the blacksmith and the Party. He agrees to make a towel drying rack, but he doesn't have anything to make it from, so the party takes Vurguron's crowbar.
Bugfood and Jerry go off to the first farm, McLaren's, and then to Allister's. (Bugfood gives the remaining three Goodberries to two kids.)
Ryltar waits with the blacksmith, as does everyone else.
At the farms
The farms are freshly being planted. Bugfood suggests two possibilities:
Using Druidcraft for two hours to ensure that all seeds sprout, and then Plant Growth for one hour to cause the plants to grow to harvest immediately
Using Plant Growth for eight hours to ensure a bumper crop.
They talk with the farmers for a bit, and it's decided that since the town has enough food to last to harvest, they'd want to improve the year's crop.
The farmer mentions that there's a blight on the land. Jerry listens while the farmer talks; Bugfood is working on things. Every year for the past three years, the crops have been failing. They're drying up. No matter what the farmers do, the seeds often don't grow. They wilt quickly.
Jerry, who owns a vineyard, asks lots of questions; the farmer replies that they're farming using state-of-the-art practices. Irrigation, fertilization, crop rotation and so on. The Plant Growth scroll that Boris Highhelm won at the joust in the solstice tournament in West Haven was to be the next step in the town's agricultural efforts. The town just hadn't decided where to use it yet.
But this appears to have been a magical blight. It appears to have started about the same time that the Foreels died. The daughter went missing; she was last seen two hours after the funeral. And according to men who had been out hunting in the woods, the dead have been rising. They weren't supposed to be out in the woods, but they were anyways.
Jerry explains that we'll need to know where in the forest they went, and what they were doing in the forest, when they were in a place where they weren't supposed to be. The farmer spreads the word, and will bring the relevant people back in for questioning when they're done planting this field.
The drying rack
The blacksmith makes a rudimentary drying rack: a bar with mail holes. He asks Ryltar if that's enough. Ryltar asks if he thinks it's crafted enough. The blacksmith takes another hour to make it finely crafted. Vurguron, Salris, Ryltar, and Tula go back to Grandmother Highhelm, and bring the fancy drying rack and a couple nails.
Grandmother Highhelm is still sitting on the rocker, mending one of the rent blankets.
Tula hangs up the drying rack.
Ryltar finishes mending that one blanket. "Sometimes, old wounds take some time to heal," she says. "Take this one back Lorraine," she says. "She may want it back." Lorraine lives in the town, and had a kid a couple months ago.
They receive the Immovable Rod, and head back to town.
Ryltar looks around for Lorraine, and is pointed to one of the better-made cottages. Lorraine opens the door, and takes the blanket. They walk away, as the child is sleeping. Lorraine is mousy, thin, blonder hair and sunken eyes. She's a new parent.
There isn't really anything this group of the Party can do, so they go back to Bugfood.
Jerry catches Ryltar and Salris up on the issue of the undead and the blight.
Salris' armor ripples across his body, like it had a chill. He doesn't comment about it.
Bugfood takes the form of a Giant Badger, and follows granddaughter Highhelm to the next field, where he digs himself a hole from which to cast Plant Growth.
Ryltar and Salris go to ask around town about the blight and undead.
Vurguron goes looking for where he can get a new crowbar. There's no general store, though. There isn't even really a store. There aren't really a lot of people in the town; the only people around are tradesmen. Vurguron's quest for a new crowbar will take some time.
Ryltar and Salris find out that there was a group of four young men who had seen the undead, who would be coming in around dusk.
Dusk-ish
At the end of the evening, towards dusk, the people return to town from the fields and surrounding areas. They go to their homes. The four young men are pointed out, and brought to Ryltar. They're nearly the same age as Rosa granddaughter Highhelm.
We talk with them; they say it was up the creek, past the raspberry bush, up the hill, a swinging vine, and then this guy (the older one of the bunch) broke the vine, and stumbled across the thing, and the last person who came down the hill (the youngest) saw a skeleton. On the other side of the valley. Farther away from the town. He saw it about 200 feet away from where he stood, but that was the only one he saw, and only he saw it. But maybe the Foreel girl saw the skeleton, when the funeral was held?
Who were the Foreels? They were the first family, who had started the town. The parents died several years back; the person to talk to about the Foreels would be the father Boris Highhelm.
Bugfood finishes casting the spell two hours into the night, and catches back up with the rest of the group.
The townfolk are skittish about letting us sleep in town, so We spend the night camping in the amphitheater just outside town.
Overnight
Tula and Salris take first watch. It's pretty quiet, save that Salris's armor is writhing over his body. Eventually it contracts, and stays contracted. It's uncomfortably tight, but not squeezing him too tightly. He doesn't mention this to the Party.
Bugfood takes second watch. It's brisk; Bugfood still feels one with the plants. There's a slight fog overnight. He tries to wave the fog away.
Ryltar and Jerry hear the sounds of the woods go quiet. The crickets stop. We see nothing.
Ryltar and Vurguron share the fourth watch. The fog has rolled in; they can't see shit.
Day Five
We debate what we're supposed to be doing.
Ryltar is in favor of pressing on to Sky Diamond Academy.
Salris wants to help the people, because hunger sucks, but also wants to move on.
Jerry is not opposed to moving on, because we've already helped them.
Tula votes to stay and help.
Vurguron says to stay and help, and to find a new crowbar.
Bugfood wants to help.
That's three for staying and two for moving on, but since Ryltar is happy to help the town if the majority have voted to help the town, so we do.
We go up the stream, find the raspberry bush, go up the hill since it's obvious. The trees are noticeably denser in here. Up the hill, we a couple valleys and several broken vines. One broken grapevine on one side, two on the other. One of the broken grapevines has a broken vine on the ground. We follow the broken vine.
Tula uses Divine Sense to sense celestials, fiends, or undead within 60 feet. She detects one presence behind us. She spins around and looks for it, but doesn't see it, drawing her maul. She trips Divine Sense again, and it's no longer there. Salris's armor flexes as she pings again, and he says nothing.
So we continue onwards across the valley, to the top of the hill, and Tula casts Divine Sense again. It pings, straight forward, at the very edge of her range. She walks towards, keeping her eye out.
We come across a pair of wrought-iron posts. Vurguron tries to uproot one, and fails. Salris fails. Jerry pulls it out with ease, and puts it in her bag of holding. It squishes against the three sacks of organ meat, which at this point are eight days old.
The graveyard
We follow a short trail between the posts, and come across a field of headstones.
On the far side of the graveyard is a mausoleum. Bugfood shoots it with his bow,and the arrow bounces off it. A small human girl squeaks, and jumps out from behind it. The mausoleum is on a 10' rise above the graveyard. The girl runs back into the mausoleum, saying, "Mom and Dad, protect me!"
It's an overcast day. Ryltar calls out, "Your town can protect you!"
The child responds, "Go away! I can protect myself!"
"We want to help you!" calls Salris.
Bugfood sends his panther to grab the girl and fetch her back. When it's halfway across the graveyard, the graveyard rings with a ghostly tolling of a bell, and two ghostly figures appear next to the child, hand in hand.
One is a tall male figure with a metal band around his head. The other wears flowing robes, and is vaguely feminine. The child ducks behind a rock wall that rings the mausoleum on its rise.
Out of the wall under the mausoleum drift two figures, incorporeal with empty eyes and gaping mouths and outstreched arms. One is blue and one is silver.
Round 1: Zombies and skeletons and ghostly attacks, oh my. Two zombies are killed, plus one skeleton and the blue spectre.
The panther dodges a ghostly hand that rises from the nearest grave.
Salris casts Shatter affecting the male ghost and the two spectres. The male ghost fails; they all take some damage.
The female ghost raises her hand, and a skeleton rises from the grave in front of Salris with a shortsword. That skeleton misses its attack.
"The dead shall rise…" is the flavor text for this action: Many skeletons and zombies rise from the graveyard. Total three zombies, two skeletons.
Ryltar casts Slow on the ghosts, spectres, and skeletons near the mausoleum, and the child too. It affects the two spectres, the girl, and one skeleton.
Bugfood casts Call Lightning to bring the storm, and the lightning rains down near Salris, attacking one skeleton and one zombie. They take half damage, for 5 apiece. He commands his panther to attack the closest zombie, which is immediately behind it, dealing 7 piercing.
Salris takes a bit of damage.
Jerry pops Hunter's Mark on one zombie and kills it with a dart, then throws another dart at another zombie for 5.
One of the spectres advances to the panther, and attacks it for 10 points necrotic and the panther can no longer regain life.
A far skeleton shoots Jerry with a bow and arrow for 6 piercing.
Blue zombie attacks Salris with a fist, but only punches the shield.
Jerry's Wisdom save of 12+2=14 lets her hear the tolling of the bell that raises the dead.
Brown Zombie slams Jerry for 13 damage.
Tula attacks Brown Zombie with her maul, dealing it a number of damage, downing it. Then she advances towards the zombie attacking the panther.
The blue spectre misses its ghostly talon attack on Tula.
Vurguron advances next to Tula and cuts the blue spectre with his longsword, dealing 9 with the first attack and 10 on the extra attack, killing it.
Salris attacks the skeleton in front of him for a bit of damage, destroying it.
Round 2: Tula kills the silver spectre and Salris kills the blue zombie, but the father ghost raises two more spectres.
Ryltar, having cast a spell that affects the child — nothing happens, because a tree shielded him from the sight of the parent-ghosts. He casts Mind Spike on the male parent ghost, dealing 14 psychic, and he will know where it is always.
Bugfood drops Call Lightning on the two parent ghosts, dealing 12 to the mother and 24 to the father. Then he commands the panther to attack the silver spectre, but it fails.
Lady ghost reaches out with Spectral Hand to grab Ryltar, dealing 7 necrotic, and he cannot be healed until his next turn.
Jerry moves Hunter's Mark onto the silver spectre, misses an attack, then hits for 7. She moves around to behind the panther.
The silver spectre attacks Jerry for 16 necrotic, and she loses concentration on Hunter's Mark.
Archer skeleton attacks Ryltar, but he Shields.
Zombie bludgeons Salris.
Father ghost gives 13 necrotic to Ryltar.
Tula flanks the silver spectre, destroying it with her maul. Then she runs over beneath the mausoleum hill.
Vurguron follows Tula, attacking the skeleton there with not much.
Salris moves his Hex onto the blue zombie, and attacks it quite a bit, killing it. Then he advances towards the mausoleum.
The father raises his hand once more, and two more spectres rise, flanking Tula.
Round 3: The father ghost attacks Tula through the rock face under the mausoleum. Tula kills the new blue spectre. The lady ghost, heavily damaged, turns into something less fair.
Ryltar casts Slow on everyone in the mausoleum area that isn't friendly or the girl: two spectres, one skeleton, the two parent ghosts. Then he hides behind a tree.
Bugfood casts Call Lightning on the mother and father ghosts, but it doesn't really do much damage to them at all. He tells his panther to pounce on the new blue spectre. It passes straight through the spectre, and them misses a claw attack.
Lady ghost advances to Vurguron, and attacks him with a natural 20, dealing 6d6+2=23 necrotic damage to him. She moves through the zombie and out of Vurguron's range; he can attack the zombie as she moves through it. He does, with a 19 he hits the zombie for 10.
Jerry attacks the new blue spectre twice (and misses the new silver spectre) for a ton of damage.
Jerry takes some damage from a skeleton's shortbow.
Father ghost dives into the earth under the mausoleum, then reaches out through the rock to attack Tula.
Tula attacks the slowed silver spectre with her maul, smiting it as well, for 3d8 + 2d8 = 25, poofing it. She turns to attack the slowed blue spectre, smiting it as well for 3d6 + 2d8 = 27, killing it outright.
Vurguron stabs the slowed lady ghost, slashes again, dealing total 24, then Action Surges to attack her again, for 15, for 11. Her pristine body wilts, ages, and becomes gaunt. He pops Second Wind to regain 14 HP.
Salris moves his Hex onto the lady ghost, cutting for 3 necrotic and 10 slashing, 14 slashing 5 necrotic, and then he ends his turn.
The girl, seeing her mother turn, runs into the mausoleum.
Round 4: The lady ghost, now a banshee, wails. Salris is downed. Jerry kills the banshee before being downed by a skeleton. The father critically hits Tula, killing her dead. Salris is healed, and kills the last skeleton. Bugfood heals Jerry, who rushes to find the girl-child.
Ryltar pops out from behind his tree, and with the wand of Magic Missile at six charges fires 8 Magic Missiles: two at the skeleton nearest the lady ghost, and six at her. She takes 22; it takes 8 bludgeoning and falls. He then ducks behind his tree.
Bugfood commands the panther to attack the remaining skeleton archer, and then Calls Thunder on the lady ghost, for 8. The panther attacks the skeleton with its Pounce, missing the claw attack.
The lady ghost, now a banshee, Wails. Jerry, Tula, Vurguron and Salris make Constitution saves. Salris falls to zero. Jerry falls to 1 via Relentless Endurance. Tula and Vurguron take 14 psychic damage.
Jerry pops Hunter's Mark on the lady banshee, kills her with 15 slashing, then moves over to the skeleton in the corner and misses an attack at it.
The skeleton downs Jerry with its shortsword.
The father ghost attacks Tula, dealing with a critical 8d8+3 = 55 hit exactly her max HP, but not bringing her completely dead. But she fails the accompanying Constitution save, dropping her max health hitpoint to zero. She is actually dead this time.
Vurguron uses a health potion on Salris, bringing him back to 7 HP.
Salris stands up and Eldritch Blasts the skeleton, dealing 16 to the skeleton that just downed Jerry.
The father ghost hangs out in the wall, disappearing.
Bugfood uses Balm of the Summer Court to resurrect Jerry. Then he plants a bean from the bag of beans, and waters it.
Jerry stands, climbs the cliff of the mausoleum, and dashes around to the front of it. She chugs a healing potion.
From where Jerry stands, she sees the child, cowering in the corner of the stairwell of the mausoleum.
The child says, "Mommy and Daddy told me they would protect me."
Jerry says, "Oh child, there are things your parents can't protect you from. And your parents had family in town who will take care of you. But your parents can't keep you safe anymore."
The child repeats herself.
Jerry switches to intimidation: "Your mother is gone, and your father has run away. There are things about to happen there that we cannot protect you from."
The child reaches out a hand towards Jerry, and the ground begins to quake and mound up. One minute has passed: the bean Bugfood planted has sprouted.
Vurguron has grabbed Tula's body. Salris, Bugfood and Ryltar have run off, fleeing the growth of the bean.
Next session
We're three miles outside of town, and some of us are very worried that we're about to raise a zombie lord's tomb outside Highhelm's town. It's one of the potential effects of the bean. The DM has rolled for the bean value.
Tula's dead.
We are five days out from the West Haven, having traveled three days and two hours along the nine-day path.