The stopover in Old Lawson Town is a welcome respite for most of you, most notably the indulgence in the local brew which proves to be extraordinarily potent. This plays out about you over the evening as Artaith stoically demolishes all drinks placed in front of her even as the bouncers periodically are forced to restrain many other patrons as they lose complete control of their faculties.

Spoiler: Black Wiz drunkeness?
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Black Wizard Stout vs Artaith

Fort save DC13 or very mild confused state (1d20+5)[15]
After the primary effects pass, the drinker continues to be affected in a much milder version (no mechanical effect — roleplay only) for 1d6 days


After the unexpectedly boisterous evening you gather your belongings the next morning and prepare to set out again, spirits high in the knowledge that your destination is but a couple of days away.

After three more days of traveling, you and your companions are at last approaching the small village of Grimmsgate. The narrow road that leads for miles through this forest is overgrown with weeds, beginning to blend and disappear entirely back into the wilderness. Indeed, everything you have seen since the last real signs of civilization has had the same feeling of slow retreat and disintegration. More than once, you have passed by strange signs and indications — bones arranged in a circle around a human skull; a small, red-stained wicker basket by the side of the road, an unmarked grave in the dappled shade of the trees.

Through occasional gaps in the trees you spy a small hill not far to the east of the trail. Your path meanders about some distance from the base of the hill and on the distant crest you can just make out several large obelisks or columns jutting through the foliage.

Spoiler: Map - environs
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Finally, though, you see ahead of you the distinctive hill upon which the village of Grimmsgate is built. At the top, there is a small cluster of buildings — you can just barely see the half-collapsed roof of the old Temple of Law that was once said to be the pride of the village. Even at this distance, the place looks run down. Although the village is not fortified, the hill is very steep and only one path leads up to the top.

The village sits atop a steep hill, with a single pathway leading around the hill’s natural curve and up to a gatehouse that protects the buildings at the summit. There are three farmhouse-type buildings along the path, but the rest of the village appears to be located behind the gatehouse, so that any attackers would have to take the gates before they could reach the regular buildings.

Three stone farmhouses were once built beside the pathway that leads up to the top of Grimmsgate Hill, but they appear to be abandoned now. One of them has a wooden shutter that bangs open and closed in the wind. A cat sits in one of the dark windows, watching you as you pass by.

The trail up to the hilltop is blocked by a half-ruined gatehouse. The gates have fallen off and have been pushed to the side to keep them from blocking the entrance. However, the rusting iron portcullis has been lowered, and there is a guard standing atop the building with his crossbow leveled at you. "Halt! Who goes there?!" squeaks the young lad guarding the way. "Philemon? Is that you?".

Spoiler: Map - Grimmsgate Village
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