OCTOBER

2019

NEWSLETTER FOR ADVENTURERS OF FANTASTIC REALMS

 Scroll XXVII
I have stepped through the tremendous gateway of matrimony. Wow what a sensation! My
wedding was one of the most intense moments of my entire life—in every meaning of the word—
and it certainly was the most joyful experience I've had. The moment the ceremony concluded, I
desired nothing more than to run, leap, dive, and shout from a mountaintop.

But the prospect of marriage was not always there. For many years I followed a bardic path
indeed, one of numerous romances and pursuits. Flames of passion engulfed me, and I became
involved with one lady after another. I was searching for something, that deep sense of connection
and care, combined with electrifying attraction. "You are looking for the impossible," some friends
said to me. "You sure have had a lot of girlfriends, man," griped others. Well, this date-the-rainbow
mode had not always been there either. My first real girlfriend and I fell deeply in love, and
promised each other we'd be together forever. I genuinely meant it and believed it, despite my
young age at the time. When she broke up with me, I was absolutely devastated. I plunged into
the depths of heartbreak. Then I eventually recovered. Then I fell head-over-heels with the next
girlfriend, and we promised one another eternal love. She ended up leaving me too. Can you
guess what happened next? The same thing with the third girl, and the fourth. At that point, I lost
faith, you could say. I went through years with pain, resentment, and cynicism buried inside.
Sometimes not so buried. This all led me to make bad decisions where my love life was concerned
(of course I was mostly blind to this at the time). Thankfully, my neverending interests in reading
and learning kept me on some kind of track, and I slowly but surely became aware that I needed to
develop and have some good adventures. To make a long story short, this all led me to finding my
wife, that "impossible unicorn" I had sought. Would I do things differently if I could do it all again?
Of course. We all would. Was it worth it though?
Shouted from the mountaintop: YES!

It is easy to hate and it is difficult to love. This is

how the whole scheme of things works. All good
things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are
very easy to get.
—Confucius
This month's soundtrack:
"Ruiner (Reconstructed Remix)" Nine Inch Nails (industrial/electronic)
"A Warm Place (Slow)" Nine Inch Nails (ambient)
 Terror at Hattawick Inn A mini horror adventure for characters of any level
While spending the night at the inn, the characters
experience terrifying disturbances, such as:
* Footsteps plod through the adjacent corridor. The
door to the room slowly creaks open (even if locked). If
a character goes to take a look, footsteps quickly
scurry away, and no one is there.
* In the dark of the room, a strange voice rasps,
“There’s an intruder in here!” If the characters
illuminate the room, they see a murdered corpse that
disappears as soon as they blink.
* The characters hear tapping against glass. When
they check the window, they discover the sound is not
coming from there. It is coming from a handheld mirror
hidden under a bed near the window. A character who
looks in the mirror sees a shadowy figure creeping up
from behind with its hands grasping out.
Attempting to Rest: A character that tries to take a
long rest at Hattawick Inn must make a DC 15 Wisdom
saving throw. On a failed save, the character
experiences disturbing nightmares, is unable to rest,
and suffers long-term madness.
Solving the Haunting: The following skills, while by no
means an exhaustive list, are some of the main
courses of action the characters might take at
Hattawick Inn.
Persuasion DC 10: Question the innkeeper, servants,
and other guests. The innkeeper says once a guest, a
traveling wizard, reported ghostly terrors and fled the
inn. One servant says she has heard strange, eerie
sounds at night around the inn. Overall, it is not
common for anyone to experience these hauntings.
Religion DC 15: Deduce that evil spirits are haunting
the inn. They are riled up by magic (the character’s
magical abilities and items), and would not typically be
so active. It seems that they met grisly fates at the
hands of a magic user of some kind. Burying their
remains and having a cleric or priest consecrate their
graves will relieve the inn of the haunting.
History DC 15: Recall that a necromancer named
Gravenhorst once resided in the region of this inn.
History DC 25: Recall secret information that
Gravenhorst’s true name was Spencer Hattawick, the
grandson of the inn’s founder. He hid his victim’s
corpses in a secret cellar below the inn.
Investigation DC 20: Search around the inn and
locate a secret stairwell that leads down to a cellar.
Bricked behind wall sections are the bony remnants of
the victims of Gravenhorst’s necromantic rites. Failure:
As the characters investigate the inn, ghostly arms
burst from floors, walls, and ceilings and grasp at them.
Use the statistics below for 5 spectral limbs, which
surprise the characters and attack immediately. If
destroyed, spectral limbs return after 24 hours.
Aftermath: If the characters
successfully put the spirits to rest, they
are soon visited by an angel
representing the god of the cleric or
priest who performed the consecration.
The angel will provide one weapon or
one suit of armor of any kind. A weapon
has a magical +1 bonus to hit and
damage and deals an additional 1d6
radiant damage to fiends and undead. A
suit of armor has a magical +1 bonus to
AC and the wearer gains resistance to
necrotic damage.As for the necromancer
Gravenhorst, he moved onto bigger
plans years ago. He might revisit his
family’s inn one day, or the characters
might attempt to track him down.
Spectral Limbs
Medium swarm of Tiny undead, neutral evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 36 (8d8)
Speed 0 ft. (affixed to any surface)
STR 20 (+5)   DEX 14 (+2)   CON 11 (+0)
INT 6 (-2)   WIS 11 (+0)   CHA 9 (-1)
Damage Resistances fire, lightning, psychic, thunder
Damage Immunities acid, cold, necrotic, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing
from nonmagical attacks
Condition Immunities all conditions
Senses blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond this radius), passive Perception 10
Languages understands Common but cannot speak
Challenge 3 (700 XP)
Ethereal Awareness. The spectral limbs’ blindsight reaches 30 feet into the Material
Plane when it is on the Ethereal Plane, and vice versa.
-ACTIONS-
Etherealness. The spectral limbs enter the Material Plane from the Ethereal Plane, or
vice versa.
Grasping Limbs. The spectral limbs reach out for a creature within 5 feet. The target
must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is restrained
(escape DC 15) and suffers a level of exhaustion. At the end of each of the creature’s
turns, if it is still restrained by the spectral limbs, it suffers another level of exhaustion.
 YouTube Livestream Campaign:
The Land of Dreams and Nightmares
Episode 37
World: Ichoria
Realm: Drekkengrim
Locations: Dusk Isle

Carderock (Human,
Vengeance Paladin
2/Blades Bard 8) 
Noxiqual (Human,
Hexblade Warlock 10)
Lykar (Half-Elf, Storm
Sorcerer 10)
Drake (Elf, Shadow Monk
8/Rogue 2)
Robin (Half-Elf, Arcane
Trickster Rogue 9)
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October 2019 Special Thanks
to get in on the action.
 Lorekeepers: Mikael Kjellgren,
Adam Wood
  Adventurers: Adam Wood, 
    Warsor, Dennis Cropper,
Vince, Nick

Additional thanks to MyFreeTextures.com for the background texture.

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Esper. Permission granted for personal, non-commercial use.