Strange Aeons / The Rushton Terror pt. 19 / Eire the 12th, 3592 CE / 1-20-21

In the rain-soaked streets of the seaside town of Rushton, a vicious fight is in progress between a group of Adventurers and mysterious cultists who have emerged from the very walls to assault them. The adventuring party consists of Hemlock, an escapee from a cursed asylum who has lost his memory; Garrok, the brutish hobgoblin orderly who helped him escape; Sigvald, a mysterious northman; and Gleorn, a dwarven hunter seeking to find, or possibly avenge, his kin. They have been joined in this fight by a seemingly normal washerwoman who has revealed herself to have control over the very elements of ice and water. Despite their vicious surprise attack, the cultists prove to be no match for the party's martial prowess, and soon all of their assailants lie bleeding in the street, with one unfortunate cultist having been crushed to death when the hapless Garrok fell onto her from the roof he was attempting to cross. Among a few useful potions found on the bodies of the cultists, the party also discovers a disturbing symbol which the washerwoman identifies as belonging to the cult of an elder creature named Hastur. The newcomer introduces herself as Desh. She seems to have some sort of vendetta against the cultists, and the party, grateful for her help and intrigued by her powers, allows her to join their cause, which, prior to the attack, had been to investigate Orchid Hill, the estate of Hemlock's former employer, Baron Haver Lowell IV, and the possible source of the troubles plaguing Rushton. But now with five injured and unconscious cultists on their hands, the party diverts to Fort Hailstorm, recently cleared of monsters, in order to inter their prisoners in the fort's stockade. Along the way Desh devises a plan to gain information from one of their prisoners, by taking the form of his comrade, The group leaves Desh and the Hastur cultist in a room together, where, upon his awaking, the weak-willed cultist inadvertently reveals that he will be easily bribed for information. After the others interrogate him, they are given a description of the layout of Orchid Hill, along with a description of some of the forces interred there, including cannibalistic savages hailing from Taresh, the "Dark Continent." The cultist tells them that the savages were brought to the cult's leader, Melissa Korova, by an alien creature resembling the one depicted via sketch in a torn journal page the party previously discovered in the cottage lent to them by the Church of Accuris. The cultist also warns the party that Melissa did not allow him and his compatriots in some parts of the mansion and that there may be other more dangerous creatures there waiting to be discovered. The main focus of the cult's activities at Orchid Hill appears to be attempting to tap the power of a stelae located in the mansion's basement, one that appears to be related to the stelae Gleorn previously observed on a hill south of town. The powers of the stelae are what allowed the cultists to transport themselves throughout the town, travelling through charcoal sketches of the dream city Carcosa. Armed with this knowledge, the party leaves the cultists interred in the fort's basement, despite the threat that the ghost of the dead occultist Clyde Pratt may re-manifest at some point, and once more travel to Orchid Hill. Now they stand before the gatehouse and the massive hedge which surrounds the grounds, planning their next steps.