Case 03: Entombed in the Midnight Hour

Session 1 (12/21/14): After departing from Stavian's Hold and fellow Skeleton Farmer Brando, Arnhelm and Malfin travel for weeks through the passes and dells of the World's Edge Mountains to their next assignment, at Faldamont. Curious early winter storms hold up their progress, but they at long last arrive to meet with Scarpa and some local townsfolk. They are here to investigate a series of disappearances, mostly involving tourists and traders who make up the location's lifesblood, as a popular spot for hikers, prospectors and mountain climbers to stage their expeditions. Scarpa departs shortly after the meeting, but introduces them to another new recruit, Klarita Gallows. They also take on a local, eccentric boy, son of the grave digger...Lors Vidditch, who knows the region. He leads them to a possible center of the disturbance, the Orelord's Sepulcher, where the remains of a local Bearded noble Marcian Alberthaw are located. They are set upon by ectoplasmic wolves, and realize quite quickly that necromany is afoot. Heavily damaged, they return to Faldamont before exploring the Sepulcher further. Here, amidst some stocking, shopping and resting, they learn that the local wizard Helhyke's former apprentice Archimede Sleed might have something to do with the foul goings on in the community...

 
NPCs

Beggins (human male): A local hired guard at Faldamont, may have been responsible for letting in some undead creatures during his watch.

Blochy (dwarf male): Dour dwarven smith in Faldamont, doesn't seem to take well to hippies and other musical types, does not seem to like Lors, the local boy.
 
Gruenor (human male): Short, square-jawed man wearing spectacles, he runs a clothing shop in Faldamont and seems very persistent in making all prospective customers look the best they can.

Gruklik (mongrelman male): Mongrelman who serves as the doorman for the wizard Helhyke, who is generally absent from his tower at Faldamont. Claims to have been a slave previously, and also desires to become his master's apprentice. Befriends Arnhelm when the cleric investigates the tower.

Novitiate Droff (human male): A balding, broad man who wears a pair of steel shoulderguards over some substantial robes. He's a follower of the god Torag, and constantly on the lookout for those who would convert over to the faith and make donations.

Scobb (human male): A local hired guard at Faldamont, may have been responsible for letting in some undead creatures during his watch.

Strom Vidditch (human male): Father/uncle (or both?) of Lors Vidditch, and a local grave digger and caretaker of numerous cemetery lots around Faldamont. Spearheads the movement to hire on the Skeleton Farm to deal with the disappearances that are affecting trade and tourism in the town.

Case 02: Harvester of Sorrow

Session 1 (12/21/14): After several weeks of training, the Skeleton Farm is tipped off to a possible location where they might track down the elusive hunchback Udmer Thull. Arnhelm, Brando and Malfin journey several days east, through the World's Edge Mountains, to the town of Stavian's Hold, where they are seeking a former miller named Ancin Toke. They meet the man rather quickly, as he is down on his luck and out of work, and he tells them he's seen Thull talking to his former employer, a trust fundee libertine named Szaldor who took over the business from his parents. Ancin and his creepy daughter reveal that the noble was into all sorts of 'blood orgies' and other debaucheries, and may be the 'evil seed' that blights some of the local crops. Searching the abandoned mill, our heroes are assaulted by a violent murder of crows. Malfin is blinded in the attack...

They also find that, upon returning to the Yellow Husk inn, that Malfin's prized pony has been bludgeoned to death right in the heart of town. Later that night, they too are stalked by a being with heavy footsteps, which turns out to be Thull, who knows he has been followed to the Hold. In a grueling combat, he is subdued by Brando's superior fighting and the assistance of the others, magical and otherwise. Thull is taken into custody by Sir Hany the Half-Orc, a local knight of the Taldan Phalanx who is the 'official' law of the town.

They become suspicious of Ancin's 12-year old daughter Stelle, who is rather creepy and seems to know too much. She also sews straw dolls which have an unusual divination property. They return once again to Szaldor's Mill to further investigate, and discover that the guy was barely running his business, signing off receipts and orders that he was 'bored' and so forth, totally unprofessional. In the end, when trying to exorcise Stelle, they instead discover that it was an old spinster living with the Tokes in the local hostel/shrine to Sarenrae, who was the object of possession by one of Szaldor's experiments before his flight from the region. The haggard old woman calls forth an animated scarecrow, which the heroes just barely defeat...

Characters: Arnhelm, Brando, Malfin
XP Awarded: 1066 each (combat), 1000 each (session bonus), 400 each (case bonus)

NPCs: 

Ancin Toke (human male): Down on his luck local miller in Stavian's Hold, he's the one who tips off the Skeleton Farm to the possible presence of Udmer Thull in town. His daughter is Stelle. Ancin is a hard spoken man who wields a sword in case of trouble, but then doesn't seem able to muster it for use when that trouble actually presents itself...

Bedsalt (human male): A gaunt farmer wielding a ho, he manages to bribe the PCs after he catches them breaking in to Szaldor's Mill soon after their arrival in the Hold.

Bedsalt's Brother (human male): A balding, thick-jowled man with little family resemblance to Bedsalt, but nonetheless tries to bribe the characters when they return to search Szaldor's Mill for a second time.

Cece  (human female): A well-to-do woman with a fox companion, she is the 'mayor' of Stavian's Hold, appointed by the Emperor's court, though she seems forced to share leadership with the knight Hany and his wife Lene.

Joycie (human female): A former slave who travels with her dog Jane, Joycie maintains a wild and haggard appearance and seems to be seeking a new master, a path that Arnhelm dissuades her from.

Kater (human female): A beautiful Eastern woman with an unusual accent, she's an herbalist, a nomad of the Whistling Plains who often spends time at Stavian's Hold. As an adept who follows Erastil, the PCs turn to her to cure Malfin's condition, which she is unable to do.

Lene (half-orc female): The wife of Sir Hany, and herself an officer serving the Taldan army.

Pinard the Prestidigitator (halfling male): A rather plain-clothed vendor of exotic goods, operating out of a stall called 'The Naga's Arcana' in the town center of Stavian's Hold.

Sir Hany (half-orc male): White-haired knight who commands a Taldan Phalanx out of Stavian's Hold. He's brutally honest but also somewhat of a 'dick', exclaims Malfin. Has since taken Udmer Thull into custody.

Stelle (human female): A young girl with black pony tails, she is the daughter of Ancin Toke and seems to have a rather morbid disposition for her age. Also capable of sewing together strange magical scrying dolls out of straw, though she claims the old woman possessed by part of Szaldor's spirit was responsible for teaching her the technique.

Case 01: Pale Moon Rising

Session 1 (10/26/14): On a dire, stormy night, three Skeleton Farm initiates converge upon the town of Old Sehir, where a Constable Crowl awaits them with a mission. Several of his soldiers have gone missing while they themselves were sent to investigate the case of a number of house servants that never returned to their homes after their duties. The constable also found something disturbing on the road, a wriggling, zombified torso with no other limbs attached. The PCs and Plum Rum make their way out to Halfmoon House, where they begin to search, finding a carriage house and then a dining area, where they are engaged in battle by a half dozen crawling, amputated hands! Unfortunately, too quickly did the would-be heroes meet their demise, after a valorous act of self sacrifice by the halfling Tem Garridan...

Characters: Plum Rum (RIP), Rasp (RIP), Tem Garridan (RIP)

Session 2 (11/2/14): Malfin, the hired 'squire' to Tem Garridan, becomes apprehensive once his patron does not return from the Halfmoon manor, and so he confronts the Constable, who gets in touch with the Skeleton Farm elsewhere. Within a week, another agent named Brando has arrived, and Crowl also manages to recruit a cleric from the Reveler's Rest, a half-elf named Arnhelm who is of a good nature and desires to lend the assistance of Cayden Cailean to the beleaguered duo. They march off to Halfmoon House with hopes to learn the fates of all the missing, successfully exploring much of the first floor, where they discover that the former occupants of the manor had indeed been up to no good. They manage to exact revenge upon the crawling hands, and take down an eerie wax likeness of the lady of the house, but while they have found the remains of the servants and at least one of Crowl's soldiers, they have located no trace of their fallen companions. After the battle with the wax thing, they are seriously depleted and so spend the night to rest there and get unconscious Brando back on his feet.

Characters: Arnhelm, Brando, Malfin
XP Awarded: 600 each (combat), 400 each (session bonus) = 1000 each.

Session 3 (11/9/14):  After finishing their investigation of the first floor, and unable to explore the second story which had been burned down long before their predecessors ever set foot in the place, the trio moves into the cellar level, which seems to have been built long before the manor proper. They find sarcophagi with several local lords buried in them (and not long ago), and also two laboratory areas, one for the manufacture of constructs, the province of Lady Cress, and the other belonging to her beloved, Regas Halfmoon...necromancer of some loathsome ability. Through some of Cress's notes, they discover that the pair has moved on recently from the house, becoming wary of two creatures they summoned from the 'Tear', which they have been breeding and sending off with a hunchback named Udmer Thull. They have left the Manor ultimately to meet up with other members of what is called 'The Grand Junction', which the hunchback might also represent. Thull was supposed to burn down the manor, but due to the inclement downpours he was unable to complete this, but apparently he (or someone) keeps the lights lit in the home.

Our heroes eventually run into the foul beasts Lady Cress had referred to as 'Mother and Father' jokingly, though Regas' real parents are in some of the crypts in the basement. They defeat one of them, the female flees back through the 'Tear' in the basement level, a glowing pupil of nothingness which reaches to some realm beyond. They also discover a hidden shrine to Urgathoa, the Pallid Princess. They then barricade the door to that room with the stone sarcophagi covers, loot a little bit of jewelry from one of the old nobles, and make their way hurriedly back to Old Sehir. By the time they have spent a few hours back, Brando and Arnhelm notice their hair falling out in clumps, a result of the lethal kiss they received from the creatures from the 'Tear'. They offer donations at the Reveler's Rest to have this disease removed, and then inquire with Crowl about the hunchback, while Brando gets in touch with the Skeleton Farm higher ups to figure out what to do next. Arnhelm and Malfin seem willing to join the crew, and their recent brushes within the Halfmoon House might qualify them...

Characters: Arnhelm, Brando, Malfin
XP Awarded: 400 each (combat), 400 each (session bonus), 300 each (case bonus) = 2100 each.
Levels: Arnhelm (+1 in wizard), Brando (+1 in fighter), Malfin (+1 in ranger).

NPCs

Constable Crowl (human male): Orange-headed man who commands the small constabulary based in the town of Old Sehir, Taldor. He is the first in the campaign to hire on the Skeleton Farm to investigate some disappearance at a local manor.