February 15, 118 SE
As the party are led into the city, Dark Star tries to use his telepathic powers to confuse one of guards by mentally contacting him. It works to a degree, as the guard stops and tries to figure out where the sound is coming from, but when the other guards can't hear it, he shakes it off and ignores the voice.
A crowd rapidly forms around the party and the guards, who announce that they've captured the murderer of the Arch-Prelate. By the time they're several minutes past the city gate, the streets are practically lined with onlookers.
While the guards are momentarily distracted, a figure slips past the crowd and approaches the party. They can see that she is a short female tiefling, but her cloak hides her face. Keeping low and hiding among the six adventurers, she lowers Elvish's gag and asks him who he is and what happened. Elvish explains the situation and asks her, if they are unable to, to deliver their message to the King. By this time, one of the guards has noticed her, so she deftly slips past them and back into the crowd, shouting back that she'll "think about it".
The rest of the trip is uneventful; the party make their way through the New City, past the inner wall, and through the Old City to the Palace Massive, where the King resides. Kaplan is confused by this, as this isn't the normal location of the prison. The guards lead them through the palace, which is a gigantic, mazelike collection of towers and spires, until they eventually arrive at a small prison area, where the party is separated, with each party member locked in a separate cell. Once his gag is removed, Calanon demands to see a priest of Vorn.
Inside the cells, the party are able to talk with each other by shouting down the hall that connects the cells, but the guards can also hear anything they say, so they are unable to discuss anything of consequence. They also soon discover that the area seems to be warded against magic, as none of their magical abilities function.
Within an hour, a priest of Vorn arrives, and Calanon is escorted to an interrogation chamber. The priest casts a ritual that he claims will detect falsehoods, then begins questioning Calanon.
The priest is a lean, wiry middle-aged man named Aralakk. He first questions Calanon about the tenets of the Church of Vorn, intending to discover whether he really is a paladin of Vorn as he claims. Calanon is able to answer Aralakk's questions to his satisfaction. Next, he questions him about the events of the last few weeks. Calanon explains his side of the story.
Calanon is eventually able to convince Aralakk that his story is true, and that Kaplan could not have murdered the Arch-Prelate, as he was nowhere near the city at the time it happened. However, Aralakk informs him that Kaplan probably doesn't stand a chance anyway. With the death of the Arch-Prelate, the various Prelates under him are scrambling to fill the power vacuum, and the Prelate in charge of the gate watch, Gorith, intends to use his capture of the Arch-Prelate's murderer to shore up his position and prestige. Kaplan is almost guaranteed to not receive a fair trial. Furthermore, their message to the King will probably be useless. In the best of times, the King is a puppet of the Church of Vorn with little actual power; with the Arch-Prelate dead, the upper echelons of the Church are in disarray and are unlikely to be able to organize any significant assistance.
With this un-encouraging news delivered, Aralakk sends Calanon back to his cell, promising that he'll do his best to get the rest of the party freed, but explaining that he cannot get Kaplan freed.
Aralakk is good to his word - several hours later, the order arrives at the prison that everyone but Kaplan is to be freed, as they were not involved in the murder and simply had the bad fortune to be travelling with him. Their gear is returned, except their weapons, which are left at the city gate for them to pick up after they leave Vornheim. Calanon, as a paladin of Vorn, is allowed to keep his weapons.
It's now late afternoon, so the party have a few hours to make use of. They return to the area near the gate and find an inn to stay at, then split up to gather information.
Dark Star asks around about the mage they saw at the gate, wondering who he is and why he was there, but learns nothing. Grrrr Yip asks about the Master of Trials, the reclusive figure who presides over Vornheim's courts, but also learns nothing of consequence.
Calanon asks about the previous crimes that Kaplan was charged with a few years ago. He learns that Kaplan, or someone who looks like him, was accused of several crimes ranging from theft to murder. He underwent a trial in which he was dumped in the wilderness to the north with only a single item of his choosing, under the assumption that if he lived, Vorn must favor him and therefore he must be innocent. He survived and was cleared of all charges.
Ellyanna asks around about the circumstances of the Archprelate's murder. She learns that he was killed in public, while addressing a crowd in front of the palace. A man wearing a burgundy cloak appeared to come out of nowhere and run him through with a shortsword; the man's hood fell back during this act, revealing his face for hundreds, if not thousands, of onlookers to see. After this act, he managed to flee the city through the city gates.
Finally, Elvish asks around about the tiefling who they met earlier. He eventually encounters a street thug who claims to know her, who says for a few gold pieces he'll arrange a meeting tonight. Elvish agrees and pays him the gold.
After a few hours of information gathering, the party regroup at the inn and share their findings. Once the time comes, they gather their things and head to the location given by Elvish's contact.
The location given turns out to be an abandoned warehouse in a seedy part of the New City. Wary of an ambush, Dark Star stays outside to keep an eye on things while the rest of the party head in. Inside, they find about a dozen thugs, along with the tiefling, who introduces herself as "Ash-Daughter".
Ash-Daughter explains that she and her gang make a living by smuggling people and items into and out of the city; her job is to watch the gates and approach any potential customers who are rejected by the guards. When she saw the commotion with the party's capture, she was intrigued and went to investigate.
The party ask if she can help them free Kaplan, as it seems unlikely they'll be able to get him out via legal means. She says that she and her guild can help. The palace is a maze of corridors and strange construction, so it is definitely possible to sneak in and out. She demands 100 gold pieces for this service; the party negotiate her down in return for a future favor.
Ash-Daughter requests to speak with someone from the group in private; Elvish goes to speak with her. Heading to another section of the warehouse, she asks him for details about the undead threat that they came to warn Vornheim about. After Elvish explains in more detail, she offers to help them out - this time, at no charge. After discussing ways in which she could help, they decide that she will try to find a wizard or similar individual who can possibly help them understand what has happened.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Session 7: The Voyage To Vornheim
February 2, 118 SE
Having finished at Frosthaven, the party spend the rest of this day traveling back to Duskveil. Again pushing their mounts, they travel throughout the evening and the night, arriving during the early morning of the 3rd.
February 3, 118 SE
After a short rest, the party awake the next morning and prepare to set out. The mayor of Duskveil provides them with a sealed and signed missive to be delivered to the King of Vornheim. Before leaving, they stock up on provisions for themselves and their mounts; notably, Kaplan buys a cloak that largely conceals his face when worn.
February 8, 118 SE
About halfway through their journey to Vornheim, the party come across a wagon stopped at the side of the road. Normally, this would not be a cause for any special scrutiny, as they've passed several traders and other travelers so far during their journey, but as they approach they begin to see that the wagon is open and its horses are missing.
They carefully approach the wagon, and a closer investigation confirms that foul play is involved - three corpses lie on the group near the wagon, and the contents have been looted. The corpses appear to be of two guardsman and one merchant, who have been killed by sword blows. The party consider whether this is the work of the undead, or simple bandits. A Detect Magic spell reveals nothing, but a more mundane search reveals a trail leading away from the wagon, off the road into the wilderness.
The party follow the trail, which leads into the foothills of the mountains. After about half an hour of traveling, they spot a lookout keeping watch from a nearby hilltop. He spots them at the same time as they spot him, and he dashes away. Hoping to prevent him from alerting anyone else, the party charge after him.
Cresting the hill where the lookout was standing, they see a small encampment not too far in the distance where several men are gathered as the lookout runs toward them. Ellyanna immediately charges; Calanon follows and tries to hold her back. As Ellyanna and Calanon approach, the men draw crossbows and attack!
The rest of the party charge into the fray and battle is joined against the eight bandits present in the camp. The bandits are able to inflict a fair amount of damage to the party as they approach, but once the party close in to melee range they are able to defeat all eight bandits. In the end, the party suffers no major injuries, seven of the bandits are dead, and the last one, given the opportunity, decides to surrender.
Interrogating the prisoner, they discover that his name is Jalin. He was a farmer from a nearby settlement who was conscripted into Vornheim's army the previous summer. Returning from his service, he found his home had been destroyed by monsters and his livelihood as a farmer was therefore gone. He had joined with a nearby gang of bandits out of desperation.
Ellyanna is moved by his story and wants to free him and offer him a spot in their group, but everyone else disagrees and insist that he remain bound. While interrogating him, he lets slip that there are several other bandits around who could return at any moment. The party decide to try to leave before this happens.
The camp contains a large number of provisions, as well as a few hundred gold pieces worth of plunder and trinkets, and the two horses stolen from the raided wagon. The party take Jalin, some provisions, and some of the loot, and head back to the wagon. With everything they've collected, they now need the wagon, so they load Jalin and the loot into it and continue their journey, traveling a bit slower now due to the wagon.
February 15, 118 SE
Finally, after nearly two weeks of travel, the party arrive at the outskirts of Vornheim. Kaplan, who spent several years living there, explains the general layout of the city before they head in.
The core of the city is the Old City, which houses the King's palace, the High Temple of Vorn, and all of the various nobility and other well-to-do individuals. It it walled off and surrounded by the New City, which is a much larger and more varied part of the city. Various districts range from wealthy to poor, and most of the city's population lives here. It is also surrounded by a wall. Outside of this wall is the Outer City, a ramshackle collection of overflow from the New City. The Outer City has no walls and is technically not part of Vornheim, so it is not patrolled or policed. Consequently, it is a dangerous and crime-filled area. The only sections of the Outer City that are actually patrolled are the paths that lead to the various gates.
The party make their way through the Outer City with their wagon, until they arrive at the city gates. There, they see a lineup of travelers waiting to get into the city, with a contingent of guards inspecting them one by one. Kaplan explains that it is illegal for commoners to bear weapons within the city, but he also remarks that the security seems tighter than when he was last here. There is even a wizard checking each traveler for the presence of magic.
When the party's inspection comes, it seems normal at first, but as soon as one of the guards sees Kaplan, he seems extremely suspicious and sends one of the other guards back into the guardhouse. Shortly after, that guard emerges with an entire armed squad, who announce that the party is under arrest for the murder of the Arch-prelate of Vorn!
The party protest their innocence, especially once they learn that murder took place about two weeks ago, when they were back in Duskveil. However, the guards respond that Kaplan was clearly seen by multiple witnesses at the scene of the crime and his description has been circulated throughout the city. Even Calanon's status as a paladin of Vorn does not seem to sway them, and they are stripped of their gear and escorted into the city by the guards.
Having finished at Frosthaven, the party spend the rest of this day traveling back to Duskveil. Again pushing their mounts, they travel throughout the evening and the night, arriving during the early morning of the 3rd.
February 3, 118 SE
After a short rest, the party awake the next morning and prepare to set out. The mayor of Duskveil provides them with a sealed and signed missive to be delivered to the King of Vornheim. Before leaving, they stock up on provisions for themselves and their mounts; notably, Kaplan buys a cloak that largely conceals his face when worn.
February 8, 118 SE
About halfway through their journey to Vornheim, the party come across a wagon stopped at the side of the road. Normally, this would not be a cause for any special scrutiny, as they've passed several traders and other travelers so far during their journey, but as they approach they begin to see that the wagon is open and its horses are missing.
They carefully approach the wagon, and a closer investigation confirms that foul play is involved - three corpses lie on the group near the wagon, and the contents have been looted. The corpses appear to be of two guardsman and one merchant, who have been killed by sword blows. The party consider whether this is the work of the undead, or simple bandits. A Detect Magic spell reveals nothing, but a more mundane search reveals a trail leading away from the wagon, off the road into the wilderness.
The party follow the trail, which leads into the foothills of the mountains. After about half an hour of traveling, they spot a lookout keeping watch from a nearby hilltop. He spots them at the same time as they spot him, and he dashes away. Hoping to prevent him from alerting anyone else, the party charge after him.
Cresting the hill where the lookout was standing, they see a small encampment not too far in the distance where several men are gathered as the lookout runs toward them. Ellyanna immediately charges; Calanon follows and tries to hold her back. As Ellyanna and Calanon approach, the men draw crossbows and attack!
The rest of the party charge into the fray and battle is joined against the eight bandits present in the camp. The bandits are able to inflict a fair amount of damage to the party as they approach, but once the party close in to melee range they are able to defeat all eight bandits. In the end, the party suffers no major injuries, seven of the bandits are dead, and the last one, given the opportunity, decides to surrender.
Interrogating the prisoner, they discover that his name is Jalin. He was a farmer from a nearby settlement who was conscripted into Vornheim's army the previous summer. Returning from his service, he found his home had been destroyed by monsters and his livelihood as a farmer was therefore gone. He had joined with a nearby gang of bandits out of desperation.
Ellyanna is moved by his story and wants to free him and offer him a spot in their group, but everyone else disagrees and insist that he remain bound. While interrogating him, he lets slip that there are several other bandits around who could return at any moment. The party decide to try to leave before this happens.
The camp contains a large number of provisions, as well as a few hundred gold pieces worth of plunder and trinkets, and the two horses stolen from the raided wagon. The party take Jalin, some provisions, and some of the loot, and head back to the wagon. With everything they've collected, they now need the wagon, so they load Jalin and the loot into it and continue their journey, traveling a bit slower now due to the wagon.
February 15, 118 SE
Finally, after nearly two weeks of travel, the party arrive at the outskirts of Vornheim. Kaplan, who spent several years living there, explains the general layout of the city before they head in.
The core of the city is the Old City, which houses the King's palace, the High Temple of Vorn, and all of the various nobility and other well-to-do individuals. It it walled off and surrounded by the New City, which is a much larger and more varied part of the city. Various districts range from wealthy to poor, and most of the city's population lives here. It is also surrounded by a wall. Outside of this wall is the Outer City, a ramshackle collection of overflow from the New City. The Outer City has no walls and is technically not part of Vornheim, so it is not patrolled or policed. Consequently, it is a dangerous and crime-filled area. The only sections of the Outer City that are actually patrolled are the paths that lead to the various gates.
The party make their way through the Outer City with their wagon, until they arrive at the city gates. There, they see a lineup of travelers waiting to get into the city, with a contingent of guards inspecting them one by one. Kaplan explains that it is illegal for commoners to bear weapons within the city, but he also remarks that the security seems tighter than when he was last here. There is even a wizard checking each traveler for the presence of magic.
When the party's inspection comes, it seems normal at first, but as soon as one of the guards sees Kaplan, he seems extremely suspicious and sends one of the other guards back into the guardhouse. Shortly after, that guard emerges with an entire armed squad, who announce that the party is under arrest for the murder of the Arch-prelate of Vorn!
The party protest their innocence, especially once they learn that murder took place about two weeks ago, when they were back in Duskveil. However, the guards respond that Kaplan was clearly seen by multiple witnesses at the scene of the crime and his description has been circulated throughout the city. Even Calanon's status as a paladin of Vorn does not seem to sway them, and they are stripped of their gear and escorted into the city by the guards.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Session 6: The Fate of Frosthaven, Aftermath
February 2, 118 SE
Having spent nearly a week recovering, Elvish and Grrrr Yip are finally feeling better and ready to continue adventuring. During this time, the mayor of Duskveil has summoned the leaders of the other nearby villagers for a council, and he requests that the party attend.
They arrive at the town hall and are escorted into the council chamber. There, the mayor explains that the council's highest priority, apart from organizing local militias and patrols, is to send a message to Vornheim for help. With the ongoing war, the roads are not completely safe due to bandits and monsters, and they aren't confident that a typical messenger could make it through successfully. The villages don't have much money left to pay them with, but they offer them free horses and 100 gold pieces in order to go to Vornheim and get help from the King. In the meantime, the villages will organize another expedition to finish clearing out the shrine at Frosthaven and searching through the town.
The party, however, don't want to leave the shrine to someone else to explore, and eventually convince the council to let them finish exploring the shrine before leaving for Vornheim. The council asks the party to take Ellesera, Duskveil's guard captain, along with them, so that she can see the shrine for herself.
Wasting no time, the party head to the stables, where they receive their free horses and meet up with Ellesera. They head out for Frosthaven, pushing their horses in order to make it the village as quickly as possible.
They arrive in the late afternoon, and head directly to the shrine in order to continue exploring it. Near the room where they found Gelden and Kira, they take the other path they hadn't explored, and arrive at a small bedroom. This is probably the least unusual room they've seen so far, as it appears to be a simple bedchamber, containing a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. The desk is empty and the wardrobe contains mostly black robes, but the bed is somewhat interesting - the frame is inscribed with arcane runes. They are able to determine that the runes are somehow intended to prevent change.
Taking another door from the main shrine, they find a larger chamber that seems to be a storeroom for rituals. It contains some mundane items such as linens, cloths, candles, and the like, but also some grisly containers full of bones, skulls, and in one case, a mysterious dark brown liquid.
The final door in the main shrine leads behind it, to a complex of crypts. The halls within contain hundreds of burial alcoves, all labelled with names, but all empty. The floor is covered in a strange, crumbly vine that appears to be dead. In the main section of the crypts stand about two dozen skeletons and zombies; while clearly animated, they don't seem to notice the party.
Dark Star sneaks up to the undead creatures to try to figure out what they're doing, but he stumbles and makes a lot of noise as he approaches. They don't seem to react. Curious, he stops sneaking altogether and approaches them openly; they still don't react at all.
Unsure of what's going on, Ellyanna heads back to the shrine and plays the organ, wondering if this will affect the undead creatures, but it does not. The party decide to simply destroy the creatures. They attack, and the skeletons and zombies make no effort to defend themselves, allowing the party to easily get rid of them.
With the undead creatures taken care of, the party notice a pedestal in the center of the main crypt, upon which stands a book. Dark Star takes a look at it; it's written in High Imperial and is titled "Book of the Dead". Inside, it is simply a list of names; probably about a thousand in total. He is able to match some of the names to inscriptions under the alcoves in the crypt.
There are no other obvious unexplored areas in the crypt, so the party split up to explore the various rooms more thoroughly. Kaplan and Dark Star search the bedroom, while Calanon and Elvish investigate the organ, methodically playing each key, but none of them discover anything of interest. Meanwhile, in the storeroom, Ellyanna discover a secret passage hidden behind a large crate.
Behind the secret door is a larger room, that appears to be an armory. It contains rack after rack of ancient shortswords, as well as stand after stand of ancient armor - enough to equip hundreds of soldiers or more. They appear to be the same type of weapon that the skeletons were using. On closer inspection, Ellyanna realizes that these are specifically the standard arms and armor of the ancient Legionnaires of the First Empire.
Continuing their search, Ellyanna decides to detect magic throughout the entire shrine. She finds four major sources of magic: the bronze doors at the entrance radiate Necromancy, the bone organ radiates Enchantment, the bed radiates Transmutation, and the summoning circle radiates Conjuration.
Having investigated the crypt to the best of their ability, the party decide that it is clearly a place of great evil, and should be destroyed. Thus, they finish their expedition by going through and burning or otherwise destroying everything that they can. The only thing that they leave intact is the secret armory.
The shrine destroyed, the party leave and return to Duskveil. The remaining undead are gone, but they still have no idea why the village was attacked, who was responsible, or where the bulk of the undead creatures have gone.
Having spent nearly a week recovering, Elvish and Grrrr Yip are finally feeling better and ready to continue adventuring. During this time, the mayor of Duskveil has summoned the leaders of the other nearby villagers for a council, and he requests that the party attend.
They arrive at the town hall and are escorted into the council chamber. There, the mayor explains that the council's highest priority, apart from organizing local militias and patrols, is to send a message to Vornheim for help. With the ongoing war, the roads are not completely safe due to bandits and monsters, and they aren't confident that a typical messenger could make it through successfully. The villages don't have much money left to pay them with, but they offer them free horses and 100 gold pieces in order to go to Vornheim and get help from the King. In the meantime, the villages will organize another expedition to finish clearing out the shrine at Frosthaven and searching through the town.
The party, however, don't want to leave the shrine to someone else to explore, and eventually convince the council to let them finish exploring the shrine before leaving for Vornheim. The council asks the party to take Ellesera, Duskveil's guard captain, along with them, so that she can see the shrine for herself.
Wasting no time, the party head to the stables, where they receive their free horses and meet up with Ellesera. They head out for Frosthaven, pushing their horses in order to make it the village as quickly as possible.
They arrive in the late afternoon, and head directly to the shrine in order to continue exploring it. Near the room where they found Gelden and Kira, they take the other path they hadn't explored, and arrive at a small bedroom. This is probably the least unusual room they've seen so far, as it appears to be a simple bedchamber, containing a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. The desk is empty and the wardrobe contains mostly black robes, but the bed is somewhat interesting - the frame is inscribed with arcane runes. They are able to determine that the runes are somehow intended to prevent change.
Taking another door from the main shrine, they find a larger chamber that seems to be a storeroom for rituals. It contains some mundane items such as linens, cloths, candles, and the like, but also some grisly containers full of bones, skulls, and in one case, a mysterious dark brown liquid.
The final door in the main shrine leads behind it, to a complex of crypts. The halls within contain hundreds of burial alcoves, all labelled with names, but all empty. The floor is covered in a strange, crumbly vine that appears to be dead. In the main section of the crypts stand about two dozen skeletons and zombies; while clearly animated, they don't seem to notice the party.
Dark Star sneaks up to the undead creatures to try to figure out what they're doing, but he stumbles and makes a lot of noise as he approaches. They don't seem to react. Curious, he stops sneaking altogether and approaches them openly; they still don't react at all.
Unsure of what's going on, Ellyanna heads back to the shrine and plays the organ, wondering if this will affect the undead creatures, but it does not. The party decide to simply destroy the creatures. They attack, and the skeletons and zombies make no effort to defend themselves, allowing the party to easily get rid of them.
With the undead creatures taken care of, the party notice a pedestal in the center of the main crypt, upon which stands a book. Dark Star takes a look at it; it's written in High Imperial and is titled "Book of the Dead". Inside, it is simply a list of names; probably about a thousand in total. He is able to match some of the names to inscriptions under the alcoves in the crypt.
There are no other obvious unexplored areas in the crypt, so the party split up to explore the various rooms more thoroughly. Kaplan and Dark Star search the bedroom, while Calanon and Elvish investigate the organ, methodically playing each key, but none of them discover anything of interest. Meanwhile, in the storeroom, Ellyanna discover a secret passage hidden behind a large crate.
Behind the secret door is a larger room, that appears to be an armory. It contains rack after rack of ancient shortswords, as well as stand after stand of ancient armor - enough to equip hundreds of soldiers or more. They appear to be the same type of weapon that the skeletons were using. On closer inspection, Ellyanna realizes that these are specifically the standard arms and armor of the ancient Legionnaires of the First Empire.
Continuing their search, Ellyanna decides to detect magic throughout the entire shrine. She finds four major sources of magic: the bronze doors at the entrance radiate Necromancy, the bone organ radiates Enchantment, the bed radiates Transmutation, and the summoning circle radiates Conjuration.
Having investigated the crypt to the best of their ability, the party decide that it is clearly a place of great evil, and should be destroyed. Thus, they finish their expedition by going through and burning or otherwise destroying everything that they can. The only thing that they leave intact is the secret armory.
The shrine destroyed, the party leave and return to Duskveil. The remaining undead are gone, but they still have no idea why the village was attacked, who was responsible, or where the bulk of the undead creatures have gone.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Session 5: The Fate of Frosthaven, Part 5
January 23, 118 SE
Having dispatched of the mage, Kaplan drags the corpse back to where the rest of the party are gathering. Grrrr, Elvish and Calanon are all badly injured and unconscious; the rest of the party are battered but intact. Looking over the mage's body, they see that he is a human, and underneath his robes he has many tattoos of necromantic sigils. Ellyanna takes his spellbook, and they also find, inside a pocket of his robes, a black pearl covered in mystic runes, which they also take.
Grrrr and Elvish are too badly injured to be easily moved, but the party is in a cemetery - nearby, they find two carts designed for transporting corpses, which should be sufficient to move the two injured adventurers without too much roughness. Ellyanna and Dark Star pull the two carts, while Kaplan slings Calanon over his shoulders, and the group retreat back to their fortified position back in the town.
Between pulling the carts through the snow and Kaplan carrying Calanon and his gear, the going is slow, and it takes about an hour to get back to the house. Shortly after they arrive, Calanon regains consciousness. He heals Elvish and Elvish then heals Grrrr, so everyone is again up and moving. However, both Elvish and Grrrr are still very badly hurt; their armor is ruined and they are very weak. They'll need a week or two of bed rest in order to recover their full strength.
It's getting fairly late, and Elvish and Grrrr's injuries will slow their travel greatly, so the group decide to rest for the night and set out the next day. Kaplan spends some time erasing their tracks around the house, in case anyone from the cemetery tries to track them.
January 24, 118 SE
Before leaving, the party decide they should retrieve the mage's corpse, so Dark Star and Kaplan head back to the cemetery, leaving Calanon and Ellyanna to guard Grrrr and Elvish. When they arrive at the mausoleum, they see that the undead guards have not been replaced. Dark Star decides to risk investigating the mausoleum before they leave.
Peering in, he sees that the guards are indeed gone, and he starts making his way down the stairs. He travels past the alcoves where they fought the shadows, and all the way to the end of the stairs. He arrives in a small entryway, a room whose walls are entirely covered in carvings of screaming faces. Across the room is a set of huge, bronze double doors. One of the two doors has been smashed off its hinges. The door is lying in the next room - it has been smashed in by someone breaking in, rather than someone breaking out.
Dark Star decides not to risk going further on his own, so he returns to the surface, and he and Kaplan cart the mage's corpse back to the house in Frosthaven. Once they rejoin the rest of the party, they head out back to their cabin in the woods. Carting Grrrr and Elvish again slows them down, and it takes most of the rest of the day.
January 25, 118 SE
With their injured companions in a place of relative comfort and safety, the party decide to return to Frosthaven to investigate the shrine below the mausoleum. Leaving Calanon behind to care for Grrrr and Elvish, the rest of the group head back to the town, return to the mausoleum, and head down to where Dark Star ended his search the previous day.
They are hesitant to step past the bronze doors, as they are covered in death curses written in High Imperial, the language of the 1000-year-gone First Empire. However, Dark Star steps through and appears to suffer no ill effects, so Ellyanna and Kaplan follow shortly. Ellyanna investigates the broken-off door, deducing that it seems to have suffered from a single impact, about the size of a fist, as if an impossibly-strong person simply punched it right off its hinges.
Beyond the bronze doors is the shrine itself, which is a large room filled with rows of benches and a bloodstained altar at the back. The walls are covered in scenes of torture and death, and from the ceiling hang chains ending in human skulls. An organ made of bone sits in the back corner, and three doors exit the shrine in various directions.
Dark Star decides to try playing the organ, picking a key and pressing it. The organ emits a low tone, so loud that it shakes the entire room. He quickly releases the key, and in the comparative silence that follows, they hear the faint sound of someone calling for help.
The voice seems to be coming from a door to the left, so they open it and head through. Beyond the door is a passage leading to a four-way intersection. They voice is coming from the left passage, which shortly ends in a door. Beyond the door is a room that appears to be a prison of some sort; manacles line the walls, and two people are locked up in the room.
The two prisoners look like townsfolk; they are a man of about fifty years age and a woman who looks to be about twenty. Both seem to be in pretty bad condition, though the man is better and is at least able to speak. He introduces himself as Gelden and the woman as Kira. Kaplan recognizes Kira, but doesn't recognize Gelden, which makes him a bit suspicious.
The party question Gelden and Kira, and they explain that there were originally eight other prisoners. On the morning that the undead attacked, at first they were simply rampaging through the town, but at a certain point, they stopped for a few seconds, then started to grab townsfolk and bring them back to the mausoleum. Over the last week or so (both prisoners have only a vague idea of the time that passed while they were imprisoned), the other prisoners were taken away one by one and never returned. The party consider the fact that eight prisoners vanished, and they fought eight fiendish creatures - it seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
Despite Kaplan's suspicions, they free the prisoners, who need help walking as they are too weak. They take them out to safety, then continue investigating the shrine. Back at the four-way intersection, they head straight through it, and arrive at the large room dominated by a magical circle. In front of the circle is a podium, and sitting on the podium is a grimoire of some sort. Dark Star is able to read the book, which is written in High Imperial, and finds that it is a ritual book that covers the summoning of various fiendish entities. They take the book.
A side passage out of this room leads to another, smaller, room, which contains three large chests. Opening the chests reveals that they are full of coins; mostly copper and silver, but with a smattering of gold as well. The party take the treasure.
The party decide that they've discovered enough for now, and that they need to take Gelden and Kira to safety. The trip will again be slow, because both ex-prisoners are very weak and need help walking. They exit the shrine, leave Frosthaven, and head back to their cabin in the woods.
Back at the cabin, Kaplan interrogates Gelden and Kira, who clarify their story and give as much detail as they can. He still doesn't recognize Gelden, but Kira seems to know who he is, which alleviates his suspicions. Ellyanna studies the dead wizard's spellbook, looking for magic that she could learn for herself, while Dark Star studies the grimoire. It contains instructions for summoning about a half-dozen different types of fiends, including the small, pudgy devils that they fought earlier. They are called "manes", and the ritual described calls for the sacrifice of a human being for each one that is summoned.
The party decide that it's time to return to Duskveil and report in; with Grrrr, Elvish, Gelden, and Kira in various states of injury and exhaustion, the trip will be slow. They decide to set out the next morning.
January 27, 118 SE
Having travelled the last day and a half, the party finally arrive back at Duskveil. They head to the mayor and explain their findings. He rewards them with the gold as promised, then they consider what their next steps should be. They decide to gather together the leaders of all the nearby towns in order to form a council and decide their course of action together.
After finding temporary housing for Gelden and Kira, the party settle down at the inn. They'll spend the next week or so waiting for the council to be called, and waiting for their injured companions to recover.
Having dispatched of the mage, Kaplan drags the corpse back to where the rest of the party are gathering. Grrrr, Elvish and Calanon are all badly injured and unconscious; the rest of the party are battered but intact. Looking over the mage's body, they see that he is a human, and underneath his robes he has many tattoos of necromantic sigils. Ellyanna takes his spellbook, and they also find, inside a pocket of his robes, a black pearl covered in mystic runes, which they also take.
Grrrr and Elvish are too badly injured to be easily moved, but the party is in a cemetery - nearby, they find two carts designed for transporting corpses, which should be sufficient to move the two injured adventurers without too much roughness. Ellyanna and Dark Star pull the two carts, while Kaplan slings Calanon over his shoulders, and the group retreat back to their fortified position back in the town.
Between pulling the carts through the snow and Kaplan carrying Calanon and his gear, the going is slow, and it takes about an hour to get back to the house. Shortly after they arrive, Calanon regains consciousness. He heals Elvish and Elvish then heals Grrrr, so everyone is again up and moving. However, both Elvish and Grrrr are still very badly hurt; their armor is ruined and they are very weak. They'll need a week or two of bed rest in order to recover their full strength.
It's getting fairly late, and Elvish and Grrrr's injuries will slow their travel greatly, so the group decide to rest for the night and set out the next day. Kaplan spends some time erasing their tracks around the house, in case anyone from the cemetery tries to track them.
January 24, 118 SE
Before leaving, the party decide they should retrieve the mage's corpse, so Dark Star and Kaplan head back to the cemetery, leaving Calanon and Ellyanna to guard Grrrr and Elvish. When they arrive at the mausoleum, they see that the undead guards have not been replaced. Dark Star decides to risk investigating the mausoleum before they leave.
Peering in, he sees that the guards are indeed gone, and he starts making his way down the stairs. He travels past the alcoves where they fought the shadows, and all the way to the end of the stairs. He arrives in a small entryway, a room whose walls are entirely covered in carvings of screaming faces. Across the room is a set of huge, bronze double doors. One of the two doors has been smashed off its hinges. The door is lying in the next room - it has been smashed in by someone breaking in, rather than someone breaking out.
Dark Star decides not to risk going further on his own, so he returns to the surface, and he and Kaplan cart the mage's corpse back to the house in Frosthaven. Once they rejoin the rest of the party, they head out back to their cabin in the woods. Carting Grrrr and Elvish again slows them down, and it takes most of the rest of the day.
January 25, 118 SE
With their injured companions in a place of relative comfort and safety, the party decide to return to Frosthaven to investigate the shrine below the mausoleum. Leaving Calanon behind to care for Grrrr and Elvish, the rest of the group head back to the town, return to the mausoleum, and head down to where Dark Star ended his search the previous day.
They are hesitant to step past the bronze doors, as they are covered in death curses written in High Imperial, the language of the 1000-year-gone First Empire. However, Dark Star steps through and appears to suffer no ill effects, so Ellyanna and Kaplan follow shortly. Ellyanna investigates the broken-off door, deducing that it seems to have suffered from a single impact, about the size of a fist, as if an impossibly-strong person simply punched it right off its hinges.
Beyond the bronze doors is the shrine itself, which is a large room filled with rows of benches and a bloodstained altar at the back. The walls are covered in scenes of torture and death, and from the ceiling hang chains ending in human skulls. An organ made of bone sits in the back corner, and three doors exit the shrine in various directions.
Dark Star decides to try playing the organ, picking a key and pressing it. The organ emits a low tone, so loud that it shakes the entire room. He quickly releases the key, and in the comparative silence that follows, they hear the faint sound of someone calling for help.
The voice seems to be coming from a door to the left, so they open it and head through. Beyond the door is a passage leading to a four-way intersection. They voice is coming from the left passage, which shortly ends in a door. Beyond the door is a room that appears to be a prison of some sort; manacles line the walls, and two people are locked up in the room.
The two prisoners look like townsfolk; they are a man of about fifty years age and a woman who looks to be about twenty. Both seem to be in pretty bad condition, though the man is better and is at least able to speak. He introduces himself as Gelden and the woman as Kira. Kaplan recognizes Kira, but doesn't recognize Gelden, which makes him a bit suspicious.
The party question Gelden and Kira, and they explain that there were originally eight other prisoners. On the morning that the undead attacked, at first they were simply rampaging through the town, but at a certain point, they stopped for a few seconds, then started to grab townsfolk and bring them back to the mausoleum. Over the last week or so (both prisoners have only a vague idea of the time that passed while they were imprisoned), the other prisoners were taken away one by one and never returned. The party consider the fact that eight prisoners vanished, and they fought eight fiendish creatures - it seems unlikely to be a coincidence.
Despite Kaplan's suspicions, they free the prisoners, who need help walking as they are too weak. They take them out to safety, then continue investigating the shrine. Back at the four-way intersection, they head straight through it, and arrive at the large room dominated by a magical circle. In front of the circle is a podium, and sitting on the podium is a grimoire of some sort. Dark Star is able to read the book, which is written in High Imperial, and finds that it is a ritual book that covers the summoning of various fiendish entities. They take the book.
A side passage out of this room leads to another, smaller, room, which contains three large chests. Opening the chests reveals that they are full of coins; mostly copper and silver, but with a smattering of gold as well. The party take the treasure.
The party decide that they've discovered enough for now, and that they need to take Gelden and Kira to safety. The trip will again be slow, because both ex-prisoners are very weak and need help walking. They exit the shrine, leave Frosthaven, and head back to their cabin in the woods.
Back at the cabin, Kaplan interrogates Gelden and Kira, who clarify their story and give as much detail as they can. He still doesn't recognize Gelden, but Kira seems to know who he is, which alleviates his suspicions. Ellyanna studies the dead wizard's spellbook, looking for magic that she could learn for herself, while Dark Star studies the grimoire. It contains instructions for summoning about a half-dozen different types of fiends, including the small, pudgy devils that they fought earlier. They are called "manes", and the ritual described calls for the sacrifice of a human being for each one that is summoned.
The party decide that it's time to return to Duskveil and report in; with Grrrr, Elvish, Gelden, and Kira in various states of injury and exhaustion, the trip will be slow. They decide to set out the next morning.
January 27, 118 SE
Having travelled the last day and a half, the party finally arrive back at Duskveil. They head to the mayor and explain their findings. He rewards them with the gold as promised, then they consider what their next steps should be. They decide to gather together the leaders of all the nearby towns in order to form a council and decide their course of action together.
After finding temporary housing for Gelden and Kira, the party settle down at the inn. They'll spend the next week or so waiting for the council to be called, and waiting for their injured companions to recover.
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