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Review Svartaland, Season 03
Svartaland, Season 03.5 Värmsådd / The Warm Seeding
Session 51
Having returned to Kuststad on Day 85, The Red-Gold Company meets with Commander David Holt, and he
informs them they (aboard their knarr, the Silver Rose) are to serve as military escort
for Countess Lovisa Cederholm, Assistant Legal Adviser for the Office of Treaty Affairs, who
is working for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. They are to accompany her (and her
crew aboard her knarr The Tumlare) to Guddirkn, "The God City" of Frittlandr. There, she
will take command of The Company. To assist with navigating and guarding The Silver Rose,
Holt has assigned the party the services of Kruesh, the Lizard Man.
Holt also gives to Yrsa one of a pair of Sending Stones--"Rocky Talkies"--so that she and
the Countess can keep in communication. Lovisa and her ship and crew are currently docked
in Restenford, where she is staying with Baron Grellus and the Lady Fairwind. The Company
needs to get to Restenford and be ready to sail at the beginning of Bright Night (40:00).
This gives them time enough to sell off much of what they have gathered and stashed away in
the Portal Hole; some of this is sold in Kuststad, some later on in Restenford. They also
sell their newly acquired "Dark Journey" mirrors to the Baroness Fairwind and the Amulet of
Proof Against Detection to Countess Cederholm. As Lovisa is not carrying much in the way of
treasure, she makes payment in the form of a special family-minted promissory coin valued at
10,000 gold pieces (which can be redeemed in major cities in Svarta). Kime "buys" the coin
from the party. The party also divides treasure after various members purchase their recently
acquired magical items. This includes Kime purchasing the "Hank Bow" for
6,000 gp, and Viggo the Blooming Hue vial for 3,000 gp.
The 15 mile trip across southwestern Lake Wimranda goes without incident, and both ships arrive in the
Guddirkn harbor at 45 o'clock. Guddirkn is a community of roughly 14,000 citizens and pilgrims
spread out over 20 miles. Much of Guddirk is built upon a mostly inactive shield mountain,
2000 feet at its highest but the bulk of the city sits upon gentle sloping hills centered
between The Fey and the Skoogleetanbe rivers. The region is best known for its celebration of
the Divine Domains; they have integrated that worship into every part of their daily economy.
Countess Lovisa takes along Yrsa and Viggo as personal body guards as she meets with a
diplomat in Sanctuary, a safe house and hospital found in the heart of the city. The rest
of the Red-Gold Company pairs up and has about an hour of free time to explore the parts
of the city that most interest them. Timador looks for magic shops with Sagan joining him,
while Kime eventually joins up with Stroop, who is frequenting the taverns.
While standing guard, Viggo and Yrsa overhear some of the discussion between Lovisa and a
red-robed Ogress Magi, Pohja, who they learn is a sorceress-conjurer, also a member of the
Punaiset Taikurit (also known as the Red Magicians or The Louhi).
Countess Lovia wishes to send the Red-Gold Company on a dangerous mission. As she was informed
before she set out that The Company was just five days short of completing their military obligations,
she tells the whole group (once reassembled at Santuary) that it is within her power to send
them anyway, but she would rather they "volunteer." As incentive for re-enlisting, she also has it
in her power to immediately place them into Svarta Peerage (as Knights: Sirs and Madams) if
they undertake the mission willingly. (Normally those who enlist in the Svarta Military
require many more addition seasons of service to achieve the status of Knighthood and to
gain with it "Bastion" lands and buildings under their control.
The ogress Pohja (or "Mistress Thicc" as Viggo accidentally volunteers telepathically to
his friends) then explains the mission. She explains how 1.) she is patriot of Vildar
(aka The Rimemarch), that 2.) Vidar is normally a loose confederation of provinces that,
occasionally, rally behind charismatic or powerful leaders, which often leads to World
Wars (such as the 162 Season War, which has only recently resolved). 3.) Such a leader
has arisen now in the form of a Lich Lord Eero Kivi. 4.) This Lich has taken control of
The Vault of Conclusion, once a collection of laboratories dedicated to researching the
physical and metaphysical parts of humanoids. 5.) During the last war, which Vildar was
losing, this Vault had been repurposed into creating "end-game" desperation weapons of war.
6.) In peacetime now, Eero has repurposed the Vault a second time and is attempting to transform
himself into a deity. 7.) The Vault is positioned between two states of existence, and it
behaves in much the same way as a Lich's Phylactery, making it nearly impossible to locate,
enter, or destroy. It's current state is made possible (powered) by having direct connections
to The Elemental Chaos and due to its positioning upon Ley Lines. 8.) Pohja originally worked on
creating Teleportion Portals (Black Gates) into the Vault. 9.) Unknown to Eero, Pohja
also created a Backdoor Black Gate within her own Keep. 10.) The Red-Gold Company and a
second Strike Force team (and possibly a limited third backup team) are to enter through
each of the eight Black Gates, make their way to eight Extraction Shrines, which they then
are to stealthily corrupt by touching them with magical devices called Runic Keys.
11.) Once all eight Extraction Shrines
have been thus corrupted, the connection to the Elemental Chaos should weaken causing the Vault to
fail. Pohja also believes that shutting all eight down will also reveal the hidden location
of The Phylactery Vault within the Vault, where Eero may be keeping his phylactery as well as
the phylacteries of other liches that he has forced into servitude. 12.) As they aren't
likely to be able to destroy the phylacteries quickly, the assault teams are to steal them
away if they can. Once safely away from the Vault, ways can be found to destroy them or to liberate the
slave liches convincing them toward peace or in working against Eero.
Pohja teleports the newly titled Knights of Svarta to her personal Keep, where the party
meets the second team (three dwarfs and three alfs, who are doing their best to disguise
themselves as Orcs and Ogres), and two members of the "Second Stringers," the reserve
team: an enchanter names Hugh Serchka, and Pohja's ward, a young ogre magi lad named Onny.
The reserve team also has a cleric available, who is able to cast Revivify, if a team member is
returned to Pohja's Keep in time. The window of opportunity is very short. Another snag
revealed in the mission is that--as The Vault operates essentially like a gigantic
phylactery, "resurrection" type magics may not work quickly enough to bring back any team
member who falls in battle within. Also, The Vault blocks some types of Teleportation and Conjuration
magics from functioning properly.
As such, before the teams begin the mission, Pohja explains to them what she knows of the
eight lab regions within The Vault. The spell casters on each team then can make their best
selection for spells. Also, she wants them well rested, so, if they need to retreat from
The Vault using one of the Black Gates to her Keep, they will be able to immediately Long
Rest and return with 4 or 8 hours to complete the mission.
Even though each of the labs are isolated (physically and for secrecy) from the others, and many of the
chambers in each lab are additionally sealed apart by magical barriers called
"Pass-Through Gates," Pohja does not believe their assault actions can go undiscovered for more than
ten hours total.
The two strike forces divided up which four lab regions would be their responsibility
to undertake. For the most part, the team from Frittlandr was willing to undertake whichever
of the four that the newcomers passed upon (as they had had more time to consider how they could
best equip for all eight regions). Pohja reveals that she also has two friends (members of the
Red Magicians) who are likely still assigned and serving in The Vault labs. She describes and
names each of them and assigns one of these potential allies to each strike force.
The Red-Gold Company selects their four locations: Epistene Conclave, Golem Forges, Cinder Graves,
and Duplicitous Cysts. This leaves Frittlandr the locations: Life Vats, Tempest Apiary,
Acrimonious Flats, and Alchemical Arena.
On the morning of Day 87, two hours before the start of the Eclipse, both primary teams use their
Runic Keys to travel from Black Gate #0 into The Vault of Conclusion. The start time was delayed
specifically so that any magic item possessed by the strike teams could be used and then be close
to recharging after the first or second sortee into the lab locations. The Red-Gold Company arrive in the
Epistene Conclave, a series of circular rooms connected by short hallways. Each of the
circular chambers appeared to have illusionary vegetation growing in them, along with some
very real creatures: Thought Eaters, Intellect Devourers, Cerebral Parasites or combination
of the three. Physically, none of the creatures proves much of a threat, and dies quickly
and easily when attacked, but each of them possessed "brain spiking" psionic attacks.
They were also
accompanied by a Mind Flayer, which Viggo and others immediately attacked, much to Timador's
chagrin, and he was cloaked in a Red Magician's robes and acting like he belonged there.
Their cover blown and intent clear, Timador tosses a fireball into the room with the Flayer.
The Flayer, surviving, psionically hits most of the party, but only Yrsa is damaged and
stunned by the blast. The party then finishes off the Flayer.
Alerted by the fireball blasting in the room next door, the Red Magician Leika turns invisible and
creeps into the room undetected. But, the ogress magi underestimates the speed that "Sir"
Vogelfest could move, and the beefy caracal accidentally smacks into her. Her immediate
presence alerted--and the party calling out the name of Pohja--Leika, still invisible, asks,
"Who are you people?" Eventually, once satisfied that the intruders appeared to be working with Pohja
(and Leika not the least annoyed the local Mind Flayer was killed), Leika shares her
Pass-Through Key with the party, uploading its information into their Runic Key. She also
commands the Thought Eaters in the next room to let the party pass freely to and fro.
After traversing a Pass-Through gate, Viggo discovers a Glyph of Warding on the door to the
Extraction Shrine; Timador casts Dispel Magic, and the group gains safe access to the chamber.
Inside, they discover a shrine to Kree Hweef, depicted in his role as the God of Knowledge.
Also, they find a frail human seated on a stone throne, which was attached to the what Pohja
had described as being an extraction Siphon Pump, which connects the shrine to the Elemental
Chaos. Viggo touched the Runic Key to the pump and felt the key uploading the Transducer,
which corrupts the shrine, but which won't activate until all eight shrines are similarly compromised.
Their first sortie completed, the party returned to Black Gate #6, and used the Runic Key to
transport them to Black Gate #1, The Golem Forges. The session ended on Day 87, somewhat after
14 o'clock. The Party can Long Rest whenever they choose.
Session 52
Several of the Red-Gold Company quaff healing portions and/or slather on the Keoghtom's ointment
en route to The Golem Forges. They also get a Sending message via the "rocky talkies: indicating
the other Strike Force had great difficulties in the Life Vat Labs, losing one of their party, who
was said to have been totally dissolved. They were successful, however, in corrupting the shrine
in section 3, and, having returned to Black Gate #0 to rest, the reserve team needed to go in
sooner than expected, choosing to attempt the Alchemical Arena, believing that their charms and
enchantments might prove successful vs. the "super soldiers" there.
At the Golem location, Timador walks boldly into a large Iron Golem construction area, announcing
that he and his super soldier are here and asking if Lord Kiva is there for "the testing." The
Ogre Magi--Larsonel, garbed in a silver asbestos fire proximity suit and working with an assistant--
says he knows nothing about it and will have to speak to the Lab Commander, Ben Riley. Sagan gets
in Larsonel's way as he's moving south towards the pass through gate. Larsonel had momentarily
brandished his runic key--"You need one of these to get through"--when Timador, disguised as a
scrawny Ogre Magi said he'd go talk to him himself. Viggo used the distration to move in close to
Larsonel and used the Company's runic key to duplicate the one being shown.
After giving the Ogre Magi a few rounds to get to where they expect he's heading after he passed
through the gate, the party dispatches one nearby ogre and passes through the gate themselves.
Inside, they catch a group of five ogres (one literally in the crapper with his pants down). A
well placed Fireball spell, Sacred Flame, Poison Sprays, and melee attacks make short work of
the ogres who were sans weapons and armor. Then, heading south towards one of two pass-through
gates, Sagan over hears Larsonel holding open the gate and saying something to an unseen companion
about not knowing "who the hell these people are." That was just moments before a second ogre
magi stepped through the gate and the whole area was silenced by Yrsa casting a spell.
But, even
though the Silence managed to curtail the ogre's sorcerer and warlock spells, it did not stop them from
using some of their innate magical abilities, such as Cone of Cold, which managed to affect nearly
everyone in the party. Still, silenced and taken by surprised, two ogre magi could not hold up long against the six knights
of Svarta and their caracal cat--once Timador polymorphed him into a giant purple ape. After that,
passing through the Flesh Golem factory area proved not much effort, as the one and three-fourths
golems stationed there had no orders to attack the intruders.
Having heard earlier via Rocky Talky that the Glyph of Warding on the Extraction Temple door in
Lab 3 was an explosive rune, they did not try to dispel this one, this time. Instead, they just
backed off and used a Mage Hand to set it off. Inside the shrine here, they found a statue
depicting EyeQweetas, the Reshaper, depicted in his role of God of the Forge (he only looked like
a giant bear due to bad lighting in the place caused by the elemental siphon, honestly). Viggo
used the runic key to corrupt the device, but, as they did in the previous location, the party
did not try removing the shriveled, barely breathing humanoid seated in the nearby throne.
They mission completed here, all that was left was for them to return to the original area and
either sneak or fight their way past two Iron Golems. It ended up being the latter, as the
golems and some fire exploding lava imp set up a barricade of ore carts to slow them down.
Choosing then, to whittle down the golems from a distance, the party had Vogelfest-Ape hold
the gate open so that they could attack with spells and missile weapons. One of the golems
surprised them, though, by getting close enough to use its gaseous poison breath on them.
Still, they fended it off and eventually destroyed it. The other golem, possessing enough
intelligence to know that it was quite damaged, took a breather from combat to take a quick
refreshing dip in the lava stream at the north of the room, thus healing itself completely.
The others then made a dash for the Black Gate, making it about two-thirds of the way there
before the Golem was nearly close enough to slam them with its fists and use it's breath
weapon. Yrsa slowed it down by casting a Guardian of Faith. Vogel-Ape also ooked his way
up there to provide cover. But, as the Iron Golem was making to spew his poison, Vogelfest
transformed back into a caracal, and the breath weapon harmlessly struck the Wall of Force
cabinet that Timador was now concentrating on around the golem.
Mostly depleted of spells and needing to rest soon, The Company chose instead to try to contact
the reserve party to see if they needed a hand (or at least someone to hold open the gate for
them as they made their way back). Pohja was in the middle of combat so could not say much.
So, the party decided to head to Lab 8 just in case. But, they found some dead bodies and
that they were unable to get by the local pass-through gates in that location. Eventually,
the reserve party appeared, battered and beaten up, but successful. They all then used the
Black Gate to return to Pohja's Keep to long rest.
During the long rest period, Timador was able to determine the two items taken off the
bodies of the Ogre Magi were magical: a +1 Glaive and a Lightning Glove that allowed its
wearer the limited ability to use the Shocking Grasp cantrip. Next session will resume on
Day 87, about 22 o'clock, with the next long rest available at 42:00.
Session 53
Using the Black Gate to gain access to the Cinder Graves, the appears within a sunken stone
gazebo area within a larger chamber. Four sets of short stair cases lead up the cardinal
directions, with three Flame Skulls hovering at the top of three. To the east, a large
ogre is seen about to use a guillotine to remove the head from an orc, who is crying out
for mercy.
Yrsa tries to jam up the guillotine's blade by casting her Spiritual Weapon
under the blade; Sagon meanwhile rushes forth to grab the chain away from the ogre. Various
attacks are leveled again the ogre and some against the flame skulls. Kime receives a
vicious burning as all three skulls focus fiery eye and mouth beams upon her. Meanwhile
the ogre uses a silver bell to summon additional add, and four Ash Ghouls race forward to
attack. Yrsa returns them to ash and dust with a well placed Radiance of the Dawn. One of
the flame skulls returns the favor by casting a Fireball on most of the party. Another hits
Sagon with Magic Missiles.
Alerted by the silver bell sounding, three orcs, another flame Skull, and an Ogre Magi come
up from the southern room. The Ogre Magi becomes invisible and looks for the best opportunity
to hit the intruders with his Cone of Cone. Orkash, the orc that was saved from the guillotine
thanks Viggo for having helped to free him, asks if he can borrow a weapon to help fight their
mutual foes. Viggo loans him a dagger, which Orkash eventually is able to use on the ogre
magi, but not before he uses his freezing blast on Kime, Sagon, and Grape Ape Vogel-kitty.
After retrieving the white portal key from the ogre magi, the party heads north into the
living area. Orkash explains that some of his fellow orcs serve further west as kitchen staff,
preparing food for the various lab areas. In exchange for helping them escape, these orcs
agree to help the party, who plan on "poisoning" the food by including excrement to it and
then casting Prestidigitation cantrips on the food to make it taste good. A little
before this gets underway, Yrsa receives word over the Rocky Talky that the other group of
adventurers were successful in uploading their corruption to the Elemental Siphon in Lab #2;
there are now Short Resting. Viggo and Sagon race further west from the supply kitchens
and work there way into the Extraction Shrine to corrupt this shrine as well. They encounter
some type of giant Lurker that breathes dust and ash and tries to suffocate them, and, as they
flee, the creature tries to lure them to back to their deaths using a charming song. As both
heroes are of elfish ancestry, they manage to shrug off the effects of the charm.
The party returns then to "Mistress Thicc's Love Shack" to likewise complete a short rest
before continuing on to Lab #7. They then port into the Duplicitous Cysts labs and find
themselves immediately in the Antimagic cone of a Beholder. The party also sees that close
at hand is a two-headed ogre magi and a crew of humanoids wearing resin-armor who are
working on some type of giant, armor tree-scorpion hybrid, sloshing the creature with
buckets full of liquid resin. Fearing that they will not be able to outrun the Beholder's
antimagic, Sagon rushes forward to kill the Beholder. As he gets closer, her sees that
the creature has many of its eye stalks toed together facing each other. It is also chained
to the rocky edges of a partially open rift to the Far Realm. After failing to communicate
with the Beholder, attempting to get it to shut off its eye, Sagon grabs and wrestles the
Beholder so that it's facing the Ogre Magi and those working on the tree-scorpion.
A melee breaks out, mainly with the party racing north towards the portal; the orge magi,
also races, but towards the Black Gate, hoping to escape. He manages to open it and step
with it, but he is slain before he can use it to get elsewhere. Sagon gets the ogre's lab
key while the rest battle with the aberrations in the lab, which include some gas-bag like
creatures that emit poisonous orange gases, cast Cloud Kill spells, and open up their
underbellies to shower acid rains down upon their foes. Orkash is killed in such a manner.
The session end at approximately 24:00 in mid battle, with some spidery-looking creatures
standing guard on either side of the white portal on the northern edge of the cavern.
Session 54
Picking up from last session, the party ventures north and engages the spider-legged Otyugh
creatures apparently standing guard over the white portal to the extraction shrine. Both
creatures, despite their unusual attacks of spitting sticky resin and odorous gases, were
dispatched rather handily by Viggo and Sagan forcing them through the cyst-like tears into
the Far Realm. Then, Viggo was able to use the runic key to gain access to the chambers
beyond, where he was able to trigger off the Explosive Runes with a Mage Hand.
Unlike the other extraction shrines, which had an obvious statue of a deity, the statue in
this room was invisible. The party debated whether or not they could get it into their
Portal Hole, as it might be cool to own. They has also, by this time, received a message
from the "Mistress Thicc" that the other team had been successful in completing Lab 4, so
as soon as Viggo uploaded into the chaos syphon behind the throne, the elemental energies
that maintained and powered the Vault of Conclusion should be cut off. This, she speculated
would reveal an entrance (entrances) into the inner phylactery. But, it might also power
down the black portals, so, if possibly, she suggested that they all meet at Shrine D, where
she would would try to escape using a Teleportation Circle.
As the elemental chaos siphons were powered down, this revealed openings behind the thrones
into the inner vault. Both parties and the reserve team then entered the vaults hoping to
locate the lich phylacteries and also to rescue the frail unconscious people who were somehow
connected to the thrones in each of the shrines. Almost immediately, the Red-Gold Company
discovers the inner vault seems to be split down the middle, so they cannot easily find a
way to join up with the other teams. They have to instead venture into side rooms and hope
that they join up in some other way.
Before this, they encounter a Death Tyrant and battle with the undead Beholder, who does not
appear to have the antimagic central eye that the mostly-comatosed one in Lab 7 did, but it
did have ten nasty eyes, which where shooting deadly magics at them, including a Death Ray,
which the monk was able to stealthily avoid. Eventually the party defeated the creature
owing in no small part that many of them were elves and immune or highly resistent to the
Tyrant's magical attacks.
In the side chambers, they encountered a number of floating bubbles containing memories or
bad emotions, and were able to destroy a crystal cylinder, which held a very angry energy
and one of the lich phylacteries. Had the lich reformed with five feet of its phylactery,
the energies inside likely would have destroyed it or at least kept it from reforming. This
was apparently the threat that Lord Kivi held over them. Once the phylactery was retrieved,
the various party members continued their exploration of the tunnels, mostly running back
and force between locations and hauling the unconscious throne occupants with them. Luckily,
they were all frail and weak and not very heavy to carry. But all of this was taking up
valuable time, and there was no telling when the outer or inner vaults might be torn
asunder and returned to their dimensional original spots (or elsewhere).
In another series of side chambers further north, the party encountered a large room filled
with polished stone, high wooden vaulted ceilings, and ceramic floor tiles, all of which
created a type of echo chamber, where even the slightest of sound seemed to increase in
volume and linger for longer than expected. This room led to another chamber filled with
five large tuning forks labeled A, C, D, E, and G. Before they could experiment with them,
however, a gem-encrusted skull rose up from a pile of bones, dust, and rotting fabric and
death howled at them. Many of the party were frightened but luckily not drained of their
life energies. A portion of the outer vault was torn away also at this point, knocking
several of the adventurers prone. Kime's armor, however, wobbled her upright again instantly,
and she was able to continue her arrow attacks at the floating skull. "Grape Ape" Vogelfest
also flung large rocks, but they proved to be ineffectual and caused it no harm. Each of
the members of the company did what they could to keep whittling away at the creature, who then
used it's abilities attempting to directly draining the life of Sagen and the throne occupant
that the monk had carried into the room. The monk managed to shake off the effect but the
other guy was completely drained of his life, which caused the skull to regenerate.
Another round of attacks caused the skull to crumble into dust, then The Company was joined
by the other teams who had rescued four throne occupants and recovered one phylactery from
some type of force-void prison. They had to brute force their way through it, taking much
damage themselves in the process.
No progress could be made into the final chamber until the tuning forks where sounded in
the correct sequence. Whenever a fork was sounded incorrectly, anyone in the chamber took
psychic damage and the "trap" reset itself. It needed to be sounded in the corrected
sequence of C, D, E, G, A. They arrived at this through trial and air by striking the
forks from outside of the room with mage hands and missile weapons. Another section of the
exterior vault was lost while this was happening. At any moment, the inner vault might
likewise be destroyed. So Mistress Thicc started preparing her Teleportation Circle in
the tuning fork chamber.
Sounding the notes in the correct sequence, though, had opened the door to the south,
wherein another crystal chamber, this one containing a gyrating fluid of some type and a
third phylactery. Members of
all three parties trained missile and spell and monk-attacks against it until it shattered.
As it toom damage, the crystal chamber also thundered out damaged of its own. Finally, once
the prison was destroyed, the phylactery dropped to the floor, but the fluid inside continued
fighting on as a giant water elemental.
At that point, everyone raced to the Teleportation Circle and the spell was finalized. The
teams and seven of the throne occupants then found themelves safely back at the ogress magi's
keep, where their breathed a sigh of relief and will rest. Instead of taking their share of
immediate treasure from dismantling the lich phylacteries for their gem and precious metal
components, the teams voted to see if greater wealth could be obtained by Mistress Thicc
negotiating with the liches whom Lord Kivi had enslaved. Such contact and exchanging of
treasures, however, would likely require a lot of time to resolve. Still, none of the party
was exactly hurting for cash, so they decided it would be best to wait.
For the time being, Viggo chooses to remain with "Mistress Thicc," to act as a go-between between
Svarta and the Punaiset Taikurit (Red Magicians/The Louhi).
The next session should begin on Day 88, with the party returned to the God City to see what
awaits them now as "Knights of Svarta."
Session 55
The Red-Gold Company leave Guddirkn at dawn of Day 88 aboard the Silver Rose serving as escourt
to Countess Lovisa Cederholm aboard her ship, the Tumlare. They travel, without incident, the
40 miles on Lake Wimranda passing the Frittlandr outpost city of Oppning into Todes Harbor between
rival City State towers Klor and Kralle. They dock their ships along the southern quay of Aftur
Klau, which appears to be a typical fishing village with roughly twenty house-sized buildings and
a fish market area near the docks. Their ship and lizard man navigator Kruesh will be cared for
by the city guard. Further inland and up into the higher hills, there is an Inn/Tavern, Temple,
Manor and guest houses, and several farm buildings and fields.
What makes Aftur Klau not quite a normal fishing village is that it is populated mostly by retired
military personelle (and their lower-level family members), and it also has some secret stone
underground sections. For example, the Red-Gold company discovers a small hidden basement and
storage area beneath the guest house (Halbling Shutte) where they are staying, the former home
of a semi-famous halfling song writer, Thaddeus Stiez-Füsa.
The party is left on their own to relax while the countess attends to her duties after her return.
They are currently under her command as she is to instruct them on the ins and outs of how and
where they wish to obtain their Bastion properties, and there will also be a small matter of their
being formally knighted, a ceremony at the capital that may include meeting with the Queen. The
Countess also makes good on her token, and they party is paid in platinum by the house master
Friedrick Altenburg.
The party is alerted at the guest house the next day by Otto, the manservant assigned to them
that their presense is desired at the manor house. There, they are told that a giant bird has
snatched a knarr out of the Todes River and flown off with it into the Wachberg mountain region
near the village of Jard Vördur where the Südost River flows between the Wachberg and
Berg Split mountains. There also, there are reports from visiting pilgrims of boulders, seemingly
with a mind of their own, rolling down from the Mountain Shrine of Gentle Earth, a popular shrine
and nature climb dedicated to the God Shrueka. Normally, visiting the mountain climb is said to
be rewarding and time spent at the shrine is said to have a calming effect on troubled minds.
The party journies overland west to the region, stopping briefly after 15 miles to rest at the
Svensson Farm, currently run by Heinrich Nauer, who gives them comfort and refreshments. Another
nine miles west gets them to Jard Vördur, and they meet with the mayor Anesen who gives them
further details. Ascending the mountain, The Company sights the shrine but also sees nearby a giant
nest constructed of uprooted trees and broken hulls of sailing vessels. In the nest is spotted a
fledgling roc, who they determine must have hatched recently and yet, based on when the nest was
first seen, is apparently maturing very rapidly. Through his owl's senses, Timador is able to see
four trails leading up the shrine, one of which comes from the opposite of the mountain. The magic
user would prefer to go around the muntain and ascend from that point, but time may be critical in
the Baby Roc's development, so they chance going up the same trail that the pilgrims used when they
were attacked.
Some boulder shape creature emerges when Sagon runs passed a stone outcropping on his way up to the
bird's nest. This creature, later found by Yrsa to have been a Galen Duhr, commands to life two
boulders, which he directs to attack the monk. Meanwhile, as the rest of the party attempts to
catch up to the speedy martial artist, the encounter three very tall elves (Eladrin?), who explain
they they too are sneaking up to the Roc's nest. These elves also behave strangely,
invading personal space and deeply smelling Yrsa.
One of them also apparently magically rips Kime's weird animal companion
apart and reassembles him. Another one insults Timador's personal hygiene likely as a result of the
high elf asking too many questions of them.
The Galen Duhr and the fledgling Roc are dispatched, and the tall elves seem surprised, now claiming
they were only sneaking up to get a closer look at the rare Roc's offspring.
Stroop, having riden
up to the shrine on Timador's phantom steed and then climbing to the top of the shrine using his
sticky spider slippers, discovers tracks leading into a pile of boulders. Further investigation
by those with greater perception discover some type of concealed door beneath the rock pile. The
party opens it and climbs down a ladder and descends down winding tunnels and stairways. At the
bottom, they encounter a makeshift pallisade of sharpened long branches and a couple of Duergur
(miners?). The deep dwarfs tell them not to enter, but the monk does anyway and a fight breaks
out and alarm is given. Another duergar appear, some with magic casting abilities, and at least
one of the dwarfs warns them to beat it--otherwise the Dao earth genie will grant them a wish,
assuming that their wish is to get their asses beaten, or something to that effect.
The duergur are defeated rather handily, even once the Dao shows up to join the fight. Once her
Greater Earth Elemental is defeated, she decides it would be prodent for her to Plane Shift her
way out of here, but Stroop managers to Counterspell her 7th level escape spell.
The Dao is thus forced
to remain and do what she can against many foes, which isn't enough. When she dies, she shatters into tiny crystals,
which soon disintegrate completely. The Company gathers up her belongings from the cavern and those of the duergar,
which include a Scroll of (Drawmij's) Instant Summoning, a blue sapphire worth 1,000 GP, various
loose pages, a map of the Grottberg Plateau Region, and religious poems describing the gods and the
moons and their realms. There is also a small amount of magical muscovite, which apparently the
dwarfs were extracting physically from a chunk of temple column granite that they broke off from
the shrine above.
The session ended there at roughly 14:30 on Day 89, and the next session will take up at that
point with the party still in the caverns underneath the mountain shrine.
Session 56
The Red-Gold Company decides to rest after the encounter and as the eclipse is coming on. But first,
Yrsa casts Speak With Dead questioning the dead duergar wizard and a duergar miner about what
they were doing here. It apparently had to do with harvesting ten pounds of magical muscovite from
the granite of the earth shrine, which could then somehow be used to control the Elemental Chaos and
tectonic forces to move mountains. This was then somehow in the best interests of a dwarf faction
that wished to leave Frittlandr and join instead with the Svarta City State. The party finds out
later that they are unable to remove the harvested 12 ounces of muscovite that they found further
than 400 feet from the shrine. Likewise, they were unable to place the muscovite into their Portal
hole and close it up. The muscovite didn't seem to want to leave.
The party buries the muscovite near the shrine and then returns
to the surface to camp within Timador's Tiny Hut. As Sagon is on first
watch (and only requires 4 hours of rest) he is on watch, looking for any sign that either of the
mating pair of rocs might return. It was discovered, when the party returned to the surface, that
the body of the dead fledging roc was gone, as were the tall elven "bird watchers." Some speculation
arose that those elves may have taken the corpse. During his watch, Sagen spots the male roc return
close to the nest, scanning apparently for its young, and not seeing it. Sagen wishes to kill the
giant roc to prevent it from continuing to be a hazard in the area. To this end, he shoots arrows
at the roc; the roc sees no real purpose in sticking around, so it leaves. Yrsa wakes from her
rest and tries to get a good look at the roc so that she can later cast Scrye to see where
it goes. She also gathers feathers from the nest to help in locating the right bird.
The Party is instructed via Rocky Talky by the Countess to stick around for at least a day to make
sure that the rocs do not return to poise an ongoing threat. They do not return. The party members
also start making use of the time to begin training to 10th level. On one of her Scrying attempts
during training, Yrsa hits upon the right feather and the roc fails its saving throw and she can
see it and its mate appear to be flying south beyond the borders of Svarta.
The party returns to Aftur Klau, and, as the Countess has no immediate mission for them, the
adventurers continue their training. On Day 96, however, she summons them and informs them that
she has a mission for them that involves them discreetly returning to Lenore to look into possible
Okenveld troops having landed on the island, possibly with the help of Baron Grellus, whom some in
the Svarta Peerage feel has ties to smuggling operations and possible subversion. As Grellus is
a popular figure on Lenore and helps to maintain the peace for Svarta, they do not wish him accused
directly or killed, but rather the Red-Gold Party is tasked with finding more evidence, possibly
exposing the allies of Grellius, breaking any foreign plans or communications, and destroying any
Okenveld troops or activities on the island. A delicate task that requires stealth more than
brute force. Plus, some of the friends and former associates of the Red-Gold Company may be
involved, so they cannot be used as resources. In fact, it would be best if the party was not
known to have returned to the island at all.
As they complete their final two days of training, the party is also looking over maps of Lenore,
examining lists of important people, and coming up with a plan for caring out their mission. The
Countess gives Timador the sigils he needs to use a Teleportation Circle near Fort Mouth and a
contact they should Send a message to before attempting to use the circle. Kruesh and a few
hired seaman from Aftur Klau sail the Silver Rose close to Lenore at night, and the party slips
over the sides and approaches the western side of the island at an unused old landing dock
now known as the Hollowdocks. There, they are spotted by their contact, Justin Guy Y'No, who
spots their arrival and signals to them with a bullseye lantern. Unsure of who it is and thinking
it might be smugglers welcoming their own, the party approaches him, but that is soon cleared up.
Justin tells about activities he has spotted up at the ruins of Botten Houd, a former stronghold
keep on the island, that was destroyed and is no longer occupied openly. Justin has seen some
evidence of smoke, but it was very little and only recognized because he was actively observing
where he thought some Okenveld troops might have been gathering.
Continuing to make use of the benefits of Kime's Pass Without a Trace spell, the party
climbs the rugged cliffs and takes the roundabout way to the ruins vial the woods near the Bald
Mountains. From there, they cut through the barren War Zone and, instead of following the only
road up to the keep, instead climb the steep northern slopes to it. Good thing, too, as troops
were stationed and watching the southern road but not the northern slopes. The party takes out
a crossbow man and archer before their attack is finally realized. This attack came only after
the party was certain that some type of subversive activity was happening. It wasn't that men
were feeding something into stone kilns, but that a Yuan-Ti warrior slithered out of the nearby
woods to ask who they were progressing with the quicklime production. The Yuan-Ti are most
certainly associated with the Okenveld City State, so that was enough incentive for the Red-
Gold Party to attack.
Even taken by surprise, the snake warriors are fast, strong, fierce, and many of them employ
poison on their swords, so it is not easily won battle. The monk Sagan goes down and the snakes
continue to attack him to make sure he is finished. But his Periapt of Wound Closure helps
stabilize him and Yrsa is able to cast a couple of 5th-level Healing spells to help revive
him so he can rejoin the battle. Timador makes good use of fireball spells and is able to
turn Vogelfest into a giant snake-smashing ape. Yrsa likewise uses her Spiritual Log to
smash down on some snakes, while Stroop makes a point to slap a snake man a couple of times
after his spells manage to fright off the Yuan-Tie on two occasions. Finally, the Yuan-Ti
are defeated, and one one of the crossbow men, Ele, switches sides near the end of the battle.
The session ended about 33 o'clock on Day 98 and will take up just after the conclusion of the fight
with the Yuan-Ti forces at the ruins of Botten Houd. The Party can Long Rest again at any time.
Session 57
The adventurers question Ele, a local guard from Lenore, who hired on with his pal Gordon (now
deceased) from Virkplats. Ele claims to have been hired at Restenford by a recently arrived
merchant named Felix Harden. Harden took trade goods north to Afvoer, Kuststad, Orkerei, and
Kraut. The adventurers also track down two other kiln workers, who ran off to the south and were hiding themselves
in the ruins: Happ (a Frittlandr alchemist hired by Harden at Strendin) and Poopy (a Virkplats
Hill Dwarf, who claims that Harden's men took several Dwarfs hostage and are forcing the Hill
Dwarfs to produce pine resin for them).
Further study of the area reveals supplies of quicklime, crushed limestone, saltpeter, sulfur,
and sugar, as well as resin coated barrels, which serve as relatively air-tight containers for
the quicklime. The adventurers' cleric, "Mr. Underhill," also casts Speak With Dead
on a slain hireling to find out what the quicklime and "smoke sticks" being produced at
the ruins of Botten Houd were meant for. The answer is apparently for traps, water well poisoning,
and for causing confusion among others on the island. There is also a supply record booklet, with
odd words here and there in the margins, which might be codenames written near delivery notes.
The wizard "Gandalf" casts "Mordenkainen's Noose" on the captured prisoners and threatens that the
noose will tighten, killing them, if they betray the adventurers. Some of them and information about what was
discovered is then teleported back to Fort Mouth.
The adventurers also meet again with Justin
Guy Y'No, a local spy, who says he will be traveling north now to do some reconnoitering to see what he can
find out about Felix Harden and his local trade partners. Justin plans to meet up with the party later
near a well-know oak tree south of Kuststad, where he will tie a yellow ribbon on a directional limb to indicate
where he went if he is not there to meet them.
The adventurers (along with Ele and Poopy) then stealth their way north of Virtplats toward the Hill
Dwarf's sentinel tree fort, where the dwarf hostages are being held. The ranger Aragorn's battlecat,
"Cringer," provides a destraction, scaring away the bandits' five horses. The monk, Kwai Chang Caine,
made invisible by the hobbit Fro-Yo, uses Cringer's distraction to attack from the
north, taking out two of the crossbow men that were holding the dwarfs hostage in the tree fort. Fro-Yo
also stealths his way up and helps free the dwarf prisoners. The others, Gandalf, Aragon, and the
dashing, pencil-mustached Mr. Underhill, take care of the two hired mercendaries, who had been hanging
out and drinking
in the main tree-stump entrance. Once questioned, the two mercendaries revealed little in the way of
new information
except that they, too, were hired by Felix Harden. The bartender, however, is rather confusing, as
he seems to lie about most everything, apparently trying to get the adventurers to waste time checking
out his stories. Gandalf teleports
some more of these people to Fort Mouth while he frees the previous prisoners from their "enchanted"
nooses. The Hill Dwarfs who were at the fort are thankfull for having been saved; they say that their
whole thorp will leave their homes and hide out near Bald Mountain until things settle down.
The mysterious, look-nothing-like-the-Red-Gold adventurers then head north, stealthing their way
eventually to Kraut, where they hope to track down a possible lead from the shipping records: "Sweetie's,"
as Sweetie's is also the name of an inn located in Krout. There, they meet up again with Justin, who hasn't
discovered too much yet. At Afvoer, he learned that the news is that their local witch, Grenhay, has left.
The adventurers conclude that she likely joined with the other hags in their recent conflict against the
lich ruler north of Nor. The only news from Krout is that the local knight, who runs the sugar beet industry,
held a public auction of 500 pounds of sugar,
which was expected to be sold to the Baron's man, but it went instead to Felix Harden. Since the adventurers
only discovered about 100 pounds of sugar at Botten Houd, they are interested in tracking down where
the other 400 pounds got to. Apparently, a visiting cleric at Kraut, Surcepou Venstang, "The Crypt
Keeper" hailing from the Resten spa area a few miles south, helped out Harden by allowing the merchant to
use his wagon to help carry his unexpected, big sugar purchase. The adventures plan then to travel to the
crypt to question the cleric about where this shipment actually ended up at. Then, their plan is to perhaps
search at the stone works and quarry any additional information that might be tied with the Baron.
The next session will begin there on Day 99 about 11 o'clock. The party can next Long Rest at 30:00.
Session 58
The party travels roughly 5 miles southwest from Kraut to the Milk Maid's pond, then stealth their way
another mile across the East Resten river to where Curcepou Ventang, cleric of Kree Hweef resides.
Dressed as pilgrims, they follow a trail from the river, slightly north of the red mud spa, toward Sir
Jesper's manor house on the north side of the mountain. This trail splits before reaching the manor
grounds, with one path dipping into a worn gully that leads to the entrance of the crypt. No one can
be seen to the north working the fields; likely they are already settled down somewhere for the siesta--a
four-hour rest period during the two-hour daily eclipse.
They note a pack animal tied to a hitching post close to a stone well. Beyond that, the cave opens at the
mountain's base and immediately slopes downward 30-40 feet down. The locals have carved a curvy switchback
ramp leading to the bottom. Kime is able to recognize that the mountain's exterior is red-stained marble
(iron-rich limestone transformed by heat and pressure). Deeper inside, the rock turns to gneiss (tough,
banded, and gray with faint red flecks where iron seeped into cracks). The ceiling above the entrance is
low and jagged. A natural karstic cavity, occasionally dripping. It appears the nearby river once ran
to the mountain roots and dug down, wearing into the limestone. As they make their way inside, the party
notes that the ceiling does rise higher in spots, and they can see ledges and small cavern openings--but
these are generally too far inside the cave and high up to be reached easily from the large cavern champer
below. Although, a tall wooden ladder can be seen stretching up to one ledge from the cavern floor. It's
near a cavern corner that has been walled in with rough timbers. The party sees some bodies inside the
walled-off area, reposed on sleeping cots. They had no light sources, so likely they've just begun a snooze.
The party ventures further inside with Timador examining the area with a Detect Magic spell
operating. Nothing of interest magical is seen, but Timador locates a concealed door leading south,
and the monk wanders ahead in the cavern east and triggers off an explosive glyph. He also runs into
three clerics who had been sleeping, one who summons some type of shadowy figure, apparently ready to
attack with it. The cleric is called off by Curcepou Ventang, who emerges from a southern chamber.
Timador sees the old cleric summon some type of magical armor as he appears. There is some explanation
given about why the party is here (from Krout), and Ventang also explains that some traps have been
established to help ward off crypt thieves. Given news about the potential of poisoned sugar, Ventang
excuses himself momentarily to cast a Sending spell to warn Harden in Restenford. Once he returns,
there is some more conversation; the party continues hide their true identities. Ventang then starts
to cast a spell, apparently targetting "Mr. Underhill." Timador casts Counterspell.
The session ended there as combat has apparently begun.
Session 59
A lengthy battle ensues with various opponents arriving and joining in the fight as the party first
contends with the head cleric (later shown to be "possessed" by a shadowy creature) and his three assistants
(wererats, who each controls an undead shadow creature). Other wererats and werebats arrive from the
caves to the west and east, along with large regular rats and bats from the southeast, gooey slime creatures
and magic user rat woman from the northeast, and a half dozen Yuan-ti archers and rogues from the east
slipping in from behind a statue that is pushed forward. Behind that hallway is a hallway ramping up
with a trap of quicklime and water ready to heat up anyone trying to opened the inner chamber door.
Behind that door are several more Yuan-Ti brumating in the cooler inner chambers. There was even
an Ixitxachitl in the waters to the north and some difficult-to-spot gelatinous cubes serving as traps
to block the water-filled passages. It certainly seemed there for awhile that an endless supply of
creatures were on hand.
The toughest opponents were the possessed cleric, an arcane knight werebat, and Orda Ensict, a rat-faced
magic user who managed to escape from the party during a previous encounter. Orda had come from the
northeast with an active fire shield on her, and early on, she used a magic scroll to somehow transform
herself into a a very buff fighter. This made her difficult to attack physically; Sagan was taking more
cold-damage from hitting her than he was dealing out. The scimitar-weilding werebats were also a problem,
but Stroop managed to catch two of them with a hypnotic pattern and was heroically able to keep his
concentration as the third repeatedly hit the halfling two or three times a turn with its scimitar. It
also helped that (like Orda), the barb was able to put up a 4th-level version of Armor of Agathys
making it very painful to attack him.
Kime and "Great Ape" and Sagon dished out a steady diet of damage while Yrsa and Timador covered large
areas with damage from Divine Inspirations and Fireballs. With the crypt dwellers defeated, the party
then focused on tying up and questioning those who survived. Eventually, the captives will be telported
to Fort Mouth. The Party's immediate plan is to sneak out and hide out at the bottom of Sir Jasper's
pond using Water Breathing and a Tiny Hut. They can long rest starting at 30:00.
Session 60
The party recovers after the epic combat in the Mount Xerbel crypts. While forcing the eldritch knight
werebat to bond with two spoons (instead of his weapons), the party questions the other captives. As many of
these are "were" creatures (shape shifters), the party decides that tying them up is not a good enough
percaution. After questioning, the prisoner has to be knocked unconscious. Eventually--along with
notes pinned to each of them to help identify their nature--the prisoners are teleported back to Fort Mouth
for more thorough questioning by the military. After
completing a short rest, Sagon recovers his lost Ki points and Timador recovers some spell slots. Eventually,
the party identifies magic items and clears out the rest of the caverns. This includes finishing off the
Yuan-Ti troops that was sleeping behind a sliding statue that Yrsa Stoneshaped and sealed shut. Also,
Orda's lair was explored (after using Rock to Mud to tunnel directly to it (avoiding the gelanenous
cubes and destorying a gray ooze guardian). The lair was found to contain her spell books, 35 applications
of Teleportation Circle chalk and oil, invoices and purchase orders for various "smoke stick" components,
and a frail young man who was chained up to Orda's bed. This was Davric, who didn’t much understand the
language being spoken to him. After Yrsa cast "Comprehend Languages,"" Davric included some additional
information: he said he was from "Drandle,"" he didn’t recognize the names of nearby countries or cities
(though a pointed out the dwarf mountain range on a map of Svarta as looking somewhat familiar), and said
that he and a friend broke into a wine merchant's wagon and drank a lot of what they found there. His friend,
"Lormann,"" apparently died from it. Davric then claimed that the "rat girl" had found him in one of the
caskets in the crypt. She was feeding him scraps and rotted food, and Davric had no idea what she wanted
him for.
Not getting very far with Davric, the party switched their attention to the purchase orders. They found
what seemed to be nearly identical sets of invoices for potassium nitrate from Aardmann-Geestgard, charcoal
from the Kelman Woods, sulfur carried from Tsad to Arat to Restenford, and crushed limestone from the Steenverks.
The major difference was that one set of invoices was signed by Sir Viggo Jesper of Kliefrom and the other set
by Pelitar of Restenford (the baron's chief advisor). Believing that one set must have been being created to
incriminate an innocent party, the party decided that they should look further into it. Before leavin the area,
however, they tracked down and killed the Ixitxachitl and the Cubes, which had moved out of the underground
tunnel leading into the pond behind Sir Jesper's estate.
Also, seeking to test Sir Jesper's loyalty, the party left behind most of the charcoal, limestone, etc. in the
crypts, and informed Jesper of the goings on in the crypt (this message was attached to a note tied to an arrow that Kime shot
into the outside door to his manor house. If Jesper turned over this material to the Queen's officials, they feel
that he could probably be trusted. The party also decides to take the horse that they found tied up outside
of the crypt by the well. Davric was allowed to ride it and Kime led them both across the East Resten River
and left him near "The Tweens," along with another "from a friend" note (shot by Kime) explaining that they
should look after him. Kime also put 1,000 GP in the saddle bags to help out her young wards.
The party then took the difficult climbing path up and across Mount Xerbel to arrive at the Steenverks.
Bribing and talking nicely to the dwarf foreman (Harold Francis), they were able to learn that Francis did
not sell Pelitar any crushed limestone on the date in question, but he did sell such to Sir Jesper. Also,
Harold related that he received a mental message that he and his workers were to avoid the limestone quarry
housing and market areas for four days (he received that two and half days ago). This didn't sit well with
Harold, but he decided not to go as informed. But nothing, he felt, was stopping him from telling these
mysterious adventures (claiming to be some type of royal inspectors) about the situation. Harold even sold them a
map of the quarry area, which allowed them to determine the best, least-expected way for them to approach
the market area. Coming in from the ruggest trail from the east (the road running to the quarry from Aardmann),
the party scouted the area, noting that two guards were doing perimeter checks, with one guard being relieved
by another ever hour. They determined that there were five guards in total, so they ambushed one and
knocked him out. They dragged him off and questioned him. The guard, Dwayne, said that he was told to
do to watch the place by his boss, Rolf Bangstead, and to make sure than one one saw or bothered the dozen
or so Yuan-Ti soldiers who were bivouacked in the market area shacks and buildings. Dwayne convinced the
party that he didn't want to do what he was doing, and expressed a dislike for the Yuan-Ti being there. The
party then knocked out Dwayne and injurned him up so that he "had an excuse" for why he didn't warn the rest
of the guards about intruders.
The party then systematically eliminated the Yuan Ti, under the added stealth protection of Kime's Pass
Without a Trace spell and some well placed Silence spells cast by Yrsa. The snakes were just chilling
out in the many shacks either by themselves alone or in pairs. Sagon and Great Ape were able to quietly get the
drop on most of them, and Kime, Strope, and Timador provided ranged attacks whenever possible. The
elimination of the Yuan-Ti was so quick and down so quietly, that the party decided to heal up Dwayne and
send him back inside the walled part of the comunity to finish his guard duty and be releived by the next
watchman--who wouldn't see what had happened. The party even produced a note, which they left on the bodies,
citing that they had destroyed the Queen's enemies at such-and-such later time, a time that Dwayne was not on
duty.
The session ended there around 51 o'clock on Day 99. The party is able to long rest again starting at 58
o'clock. Next session, they will seek to clean up any loose ends, but, as they have apparently exposed the
traitor, squashed multiple subversive activites, and likely eliminated the (suspected) three groups of Yuan-Ti
forcess that had been shipped/smuggled onto the the island, their mission may have been successfully
completed.
Session 61
The Red-Gold considered their mission likely completed, then arranged to Teleport into the arena at Fort Mouth.
There, they were debriefed and turned over their evidence. They also learned that through various mind spells,
the Svarta military was able to ascertain that the lead werebat prisoner was Sir Viggo Jesper of Kliefron. The
party then was informed (since they mostly all wished to establish bastions in Messer county) that they were to
report ASAP to their new "handler," Bart Van de Berg, in Messersachs. Also, Kruesh, the lizard man navigator that
had been temporarily assigned to them by David Holt, was reassigned to serve under them permanently (for the
remainder of his mandatory military service).
Sailing aboard the Silver Rose with them to Messersachs was "Rollan," a human at Fort Mouth, who agreed to help
row and defend the knarr as needed in exchange for passage. After a nightly stop over at Sandborg on Kedelig
Isle (and a meet with Shaman Chjell), the sailing ventured continued. A strange, unnatural fog appeared. The
ship was attacked by two water elementals and a water giant. The party defended the ship, greatly helped out
when Yrsa successfully cast Banishment at fifth level, removing the two water elementals from the melee. The
giant was dispatched, searched, and his gills harvested. They found pearls, an ivory scroll case with scrolls,
and a water-proof spell book.
Upon arriving in Messersachs, their knarr docked and Kruesh settled, the party met with Van de Berg. Bart gave
them a basic rundown of the county, what peerage was active in the region, etc. They were also informed of a
Knighting Ceremony they were to attend on Day 109 in Hartewald, but their immediate duty was to scout out and
map locations for their bastions, noting whether or not anyone else was already occupying those locations, etc.
They learned of some unusual activity up near the ruins of the Rune Lords (where they previously fought with
kobolds and black dragon wyrmlings).
D&D Svartaland Page, Season 3.5
Meeting with Krem Kleij, the lead Bóndi among the pig farmers in Moeras, more specifics of the sighting are
revealed. (The party had worked with Klem before and saved his daughter Darla from the kobolds. Klem was able
to use the copper coins gained in that encounter to help establish himself and several of the orphan children as
tradesmen in Moeras.) Krem relayed to them that more kobolds were seen in the area, and that the kobolds drove
some kids off but did not otherwise harm them. Kobolds were also seen polluting the mountain runoff stream that
flows to the east into Hartewald. (Based on his experience with them) Krem believed that the kobolds should be
quickly eliminated and, if the party could manage, to seal off the caverns to help prevent future infestation.
The party sneaks up to the caverns while Sagon walks up and openly encounters the winged Kobolds near the ruins.
The kobolds warn him off, stating they were instructed by archaeologists not to let anyone near a dangerous
collapsed pit. Despite their claims of authority, the monk pushes right past the kobold guards and they
respond by attacking him with bows and poison arrows. Sagon and the rest of the party quickly dispatch the
kobolds, including a few without wings that were observed earlier dumping mud from buckets into the stream.
Almost immediately upon entering the caverns beneath the collapsed ruins, the monk encounters several humanoids
(likely the archaeologists), who are resting in a cavern near a 40x40' pit. One of the waking archaeologists
questions why Sagon is even there, and this archaeologist provides some apparent written authority of his right
to dig there and demands to see Sagon's authority. Not happy with Sagon's claim of having verbal authority,
the archaeologist calls for his comrades to "get him!" The monk flurries blows on several of their asses,
laying low several. The party also kills another kobold and dispatches a pseudo dragon that was helping to
protect one of the archaeologists from the monk. The rest of the archaeologists try to calm the situation
and choose to surrender. They are bound and questioned; some of the ones knocked unconscious were later
given a Good Berry to revive them, but they proved to be uncooperative and verbally hostile or dismissive,
the first one who had been attacked even verbally "curses" a dry anus upon Sagon.
Among their possession looted, the party finds a Handy Haversak, a small amount of small coinage, and a book
with various runes, rune patterns, sketches, and other information about the Runic Temple written inside of
it, most of is rather cryptic and/or personal ruminations about the area. While searching the pit area where
the archaeologists were digging, and casting a Transmute Rock spell to dig down further, the party is
surprised that the mud quickly turns back again to stone. Timador and Yrsa combine then to Stone shape
a shaft further down and briefly sight a dwarf-size Xorn (wearing a magic necklace). They tried baiting the
Xorn with silver coins to emerge, but with no great success. Using Tongues, they are able to
communicate with the Xorn, who normally speaks Terran. The necklace, he relates, was once part of the
dractolich's treasure horde, which the Xorn stole. It somehow traps him now in the area, but also feeds him.
He does not wish to be "free."
Suspecting a curse, the party decided to attempt to remove it. They lured the Zorn's fingers up by throwing
coins again. As his fingers grabbed a coin, Ursa successfully cast Remove Curse. The curse was lifted,
and the Xorn discarded the necklace and disappeared deeper. The party secured the necklace using Mage Hand
to avoid touching it directly. They decide not to tell the archaeologists about the Xorn or the necklace,
and march the tied-up archaeologists back to Messer Sachs for the magistrate to handle the jurisdictional
dispute.
Next season will begin next session; party will be able to long rest whenever.
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