Another one-shot before holiday season is finally upon us. The adventurers arrived during winter time in a village plagued by disappearing children and monsters appearing out of nowhere.
- Emanon, human sorcerer
- Famine, hexblood ranger
- Legholas, wood elf druid
- Tork, half orc barbarian
The party arrived on the outskirts of the mountain town just around dawn. Passing by a lone farmhouse, they noticed two villagers chased out of the building by a band of goblins. They intervened, saving the people.
The two villagers told a story of horror and surprise: their children disappeared and strange packages appeared in their house instead. As they investigated, the packages burst open and goblins jumped out. The adventurers heard enough and decided to ignore their pleas, going into town in search of a hot breakfast. Instead, they were set upon by the town guard, who got scared of the half-orc barbarian. Fortunately, the sorcerer managed to calm down their spirits. The militiamen then led the adventurers to the temple of Saint Nikolaus, under siege by a giant.
The adventurers beat the giant, but got badly beaten up in return.
They were patched up by Father Ollanius, the local priest, and asked to carry on purging the town of monsters.
They found some monsters destroying the town market, including a flying bear, which they beat again at great cost. Then, they surprised and killed a couple of goblins getting drunk at the inn. There, they found the innkeeper and his wife hiding in the cellar.
The adventurers just about had enough of these happenings and sat down to have breakfast, fussed around by the innkeeper (who had also lost a child, but who cares). Once rested, the party finally decided to investigate the packages themselves, as well as look around the inn, finding a wreath of black mistletoe on the door. Further investigation determined that the black plants are a novelty to the townsfolk, and they were persuaded by the priestess Morraine to look for them in the woods and hang a wreath on their door.
The adventurers confronted the priestess at the temple. She tried to lie her way out, but failing, threw two packages the floor and ran away. The adventurers battled the giant spiders coming out of the packages, then chased down the priestess on druid-turned-horseback.
The adventurers (along with the elderly priest) beat up and straight-up tortured the priestess, who turned out to be a cultist of an entity called "the Krampus". This demon-thing stole the children and replaced them with monsters. Morraine was "convinced" to take the party to its lair.
The monster lair turned out to be a large decorated pine tree. Morraine did the ritual of summoning (then Famine stabbed her in the back, just in case). The Krampus rose among hellish flames, and first tried negotiating with the adventurers (among frequent bouts of evil laughter). He demanded the villagers tear down the temple of Saint Nikolaus and worship him instead. The adventurers decided to fight instead, so the Krampus pulled two winged bears/dinosaurs/manticores out of its sack, and combat was joined.
Some town guardsmen escorted the adventurers as well, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the monsters (and two died to Emanon's fireball).
The monsters were slowed, thus barely (bearly?) presenting any threat. But the Krampus passed almost all his saves, barely getting damaged. And then he started stuffing adventurers into his sack. Who then got transformed into monsters and joined combat on the demon's side.
Emanon tried to negotiate their way out, but it was too little, too late. As the Krampus prepared his final assault, Emanon cast invisibility and ran away. He still heard the death cries of Tork, though.
As for the ending, the town was soon under assault by hordes of monsters. The townsfolk ran or died, and soon, only cultists of the Krampus dwelled among the ruins.
At least the TPK was denied - always keep a slot for invisibility!
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