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Review Svartaland, Season 02
Svartaland, Season 03: Värmsådd / The Warm Seeding
Session 35
As Season 2 comes to a close, most everyone on Lenore Island is busy harvesting cold weather crops. This includes members
of the Red-Gold Party, as Commander Holt has loaned out several under his command to give assistance to the farmers. In between
digging up potatoes and onions, or using Floating Disk spells to help carry crops into storage, or helping to shear sheep, the
adventurers also work at training their own class skills; they are so close to achieving 8th level they can taste it. So,
they study up on new spells and abilities, and work at improving themselves mentally, spiritually, and physically.
Early on during the harvesting, the Party sights a familiar ship sailing into port. Viggo uses his telescope and confirms that it
is The Queen Ingagerd's Revenge. The group heads to the western end of the city to meet with Kingswell, Davey, and crew. Along the
way, they also spot their old swash-buckling partner, Wang Hongwen, who also has come out to meet with the pirates. With Wang is the Priestess Marria
and Sister Maiken Lind. Greetings all around are shared as well as various gold coins, gems, and IOUs. Kingswell pays back
much of what is due on the purchase price of the Queen, while Wang exchanges his share in the Silver Rose Company and makes up the difference
to the Party for what is owed on the Queen. Although Wang still has the motor-planning disorder apraxia that prevents him from doing
time-critical rogue activities, he is still quite knowledgeable as a ship's captain. He and the Priestess are planning a voyage to
the Svarta capital to see if a 6th-level Cleric spell there can cure the Swashbuckler of his ills.
After the outstanding finances are cleared up, The Party learns from Holt they will soon be reassigned under the command of Captain Michael
Otso. For him, they will travel to Atua Wahrs in Northern Svartaland. There they will undertake a scouting/infiltration
mission to the independent island nation of Norr, a mostly-frozen mountainous island said to be ruled by various "pirate" kings. There haven't
been any real pirate raids from the north for many seasons, though. And, in the past, those who ruled Svarta never believed there
was much in Norr of interest--as natural resources were slight and agricultural land was quite limited for settlement. However, recently,
a great many ships are known to have been carrying rich cargos to Norr, and those ruling Norr have been spending a considerable amount of Svartriki
Golden Eagles to buy this freight. Svarta leaders wish to know why the purchases are being made and where the money is coming from.
And, this is just the sort of mission and information gathering that the Red-Gold Company has recently proven to be good at discovering.
Three days later, they gather in Holt's office and meet with Captain Otso. After receiving some additional information about Norr and
given a cover story--if they ever need one beyond being Adventurers Looking for Treasure--The Company is led down secret stairs into the
city's garbage recycling area. They pass a chained-up Otyugh named Toby who is greedily lapping at a pool of pigs' blood, and are directed
into a prison cell. Inside, Holt works a secret mechanism on the legs of the prison bed and pulls it away to reveal a concealed door
that opens into a room with a permanent Teleportation Circle (back to Kuststad). In a blank circle to the west, one of the Mystics from
the Jon Harkens Tower (Inventor Zak Munten) draws out fresh sigils using expensive chalks and crushed gemstones.
The Company then steps through the Teleportation Circle that Zak created, which takes them to the underground basement of the guard barracks
in Atua Wahrs. A couple of the party members get queasy and throw up from the first-time teleportation experience but not Stroop, who
would never willingly surrender any of his breakfast. Captain Otso shows them a map depicting what is currently known of Norr. Four stone towers
with stone- and spear-throwing engines protect the harbor area around the capital city of Freeport. Three farming and fishing communities along Greenhook
provide the bulk of the food needed for the entire island's population. Another fishing village, Garl, is secluded in a harbor further to
the north where the warm fogs of the Scållande Dimma obscure most outside sea travel. Koss, a mining community provides Freeport with
coal. Little is known about the northern city of Preicis, and there is no wide-spread knowledge of how to travel to it past the frozen Joklhops
Mountains.
Their cover story is that they are looking for the lost workshop of the witch-priest Colafar, a gnome who, two hundred seasons ago is said
to have settle down in Norr to tinker with creating clockwork creatures and to worship The God of Order, whom the Svarta Military believe
must be the god Vhereum Steadfast, a popular god among sailors. Most pirates will know of this god so the back story make a good
conversation opener that may help lead to further questioning. As Rock Gnomes typically live 2000 or more seasons, it is quite possible
that Colafar is still living on Norr somewhere. The Svarta government has no actual interest in locating Colafar, but the information
about him and his history is genuine and a credible lie The Red-Gold Company can employ.
Captain Otso shows The Company to a room in the barracks, which has been set aside for their use when they are in Atua Wahrs. He also
indicates the shipyards (where they will meet up with the ship that will carry them to Norr) and "The Rats' Market" (where they
can find shops to buy the sort of equipment and tools that adventurers typically want). There, the Monk Sagan purchases a nice +1 Quarter
Staff. The following day, The Company boards The Queen, which has spent the last three days sailing up from Kuststad. Wang dropped off the
priestess Marria at the Capital City, where she has started searching for the high-level cleric, Brother Thalius on Wang's behalf. In
the meantime, Wang and his crew will be traveling every 4th day to Freeport to drop off trade goods (and possibly pick up the adventurers
once they have completed their mission).
Once deposited in Freeport, The Company immediately visits the various inns and churches and attempt to root out rumors and information.
This leads to Yrsa visiting The Church of The Mortality Cycle, whose main deity is Ooveraree, the Evening Queen of rest and recovery. In
the center of the church is their holy font, which slowly trickles out cool water, which clerics enrich by powering the font with their
Healing Spells. Once per day, anyone who drinks from the pool can regain one lost hit point. Yrsa uses some of her spell slots to help
in this community cause. Later on, Timador also casts a Healing Word there.
In the various inns, Stroop samples the drinks and the food, while his companions seek out what information they can. At the second inn
visited, Stroop notices a large banner proclaiming in large letters: "One Night Only: Stroop Berrent." Everyone else in the party
just sees big flowing sheets flapping in the breeze above the door. Stroop asks the bartender about it, and the Bar Keep says, "Oh, you
must be a bard." Turns out that the owner of the inn, Meseekn Ystava, loves bards, and he uses his enchanted banner to detect and entice their egos to
come inside to ask questions. One assumes that most of the bards, then, agree to perform in exchange for food and alcoholic drinks. Stroop
does this and agrees to let them use his name on the banner--for real--for all to see. The owner, Ystava, also has a secondary motive: usually someone in the
bard's company tends to be a fighter of exceptional fighting skill. Ystava then backs this locally unknown fighter to take part in a six-person arena fight.
This encounter with Stroop leads to Sagan agreeing to join this arena contest.
Sagan wins this battle--and the prize money--and every member of The Company who bet on him doubled their 50 gp even-money bet. It was a good
melee. The main opponent for Sagan ended up being a burly Barbarian, but the monk was aided in winning the fight because it was a free-for-all,
and several of the others had decided to specifically target the big brute. After the contest, the warriors who were knocked unconscious are
hauled to the church to receive a drink of the healing waters to jump start their natural healing. Timador went along after helping to bind the wounds of one of the finalists. From
that fighter, the wizard learned a group of five adventurers traveled north a few days ago to Koss after they learned of an obscure trail there leading through the Joklhops
to Preicis.
In the last of the three Inns/Taverns in the city, Sagan and Timador play a hand of Poker with some ostensibly high-level adventuring types who have
various gear that glows in the presence of a Detect Magic spell. When
Timador begins to put questions to these men, the men in turn evolve the card game into an exchange of rumors, where each player needs to ante up a real
rumor about Norr to play (along with another 100 gp entrance fee to get their cards). Sagan--having a good night--wins the hand. The Company also learns some
additional information about "The Pirate King" who lives in Freeport. Retired now from adventures on the high seas, Jarl Maddocks resides in
a well-guarded keep in the city and likes to purchase any sort of magic item (even cursed ones), and he pays a better than expected price for
them.
The session ended on the night of Day 73, with The Company assembled in the large room that the owner of Kirkko Miatalo tavern provided to Stroop
in exchange for the hobbit performing that evening. Therein the room, the adventurers begin to devise plans about how they might find a way to
reach Preicis, what they might try to sell the Pirate King so that they can gain an audience with him, and how they might gain access to the two
mines in Freeport, which look like they
might contain interesting things the locals don't wish to be discovered.
Session 36
Day 73, roughly 35 o'clock, the elves of The Company finish their long rest and set into motion their scouting missions. Only Yrsa stays behind
in their room at the Inn as the priestess continues her praying for new spells. Under the dark of first night, Timador and Kime head out of the town to
the north where the ranger circles them around to the west and finds a way up into the hills above the northeast cavern of Freeport. There, Timador will
fly his (made invisible) owl familiar in the cavern to watch the activities therein by looking and hearing through the owl's senses. Before this happens, though,
Sagan, Viggo, and Stroop travel to the pit arena, where the monk puts on a display of acrobatics and fighting techniques, added by the cantrip
magic of the bard and the sorcerer. Most of the city is sleeping, and--being bored--several of the guards neglect their duties to watch the
arena performance instead. As such, Timador's owl slips inside the caverns undetected.
Inside, the wizard discovers three large chambers and also that some people in the city are not actually asleep. As night fell, many of the warehouse
workers in Freeport busily started moving freight into the caverns. Also, more than half of the way-too-many guards hanging around Freeport, who were seen earlier in the day also
head into these tunnels where they loiter near a shaft heading to the northeast. Wide mining cart rail tracks here also lead out of the
left chamber and head to the northwest. Some of those standing around mention the "steam wagon" should be here within the hour. And
indeed, several large wagons all linked together rattle and roll themselves along the rails into the chamber. Timador cannot see far enough
into the tunnel to see what was pushing them. Out of the wagons, four or five dozen rowdy dwarf workers exit the wagons and head into the city. And then
freight and most of the guards who were standing around are loaded into the wagons. As soon as those tasks are completed, whatever was pushing the
linked wagons carts into the cavern apparently pulls them out again, and they are soon gone from sight.
Not long after this, Yrsa, back at the inn room on the third floor, hears a soft rapping at the door. She then hears a low voice asking, "Miestro,
Miestro, are you awake?" It turns out that the establishment left the "One Night Only Stroop Berrent" banner up, and several of those arriving
dwarfs now want to drink and eat and be entertained, and they are demanding to hear this Stroop fellow perform. Yrsa heads out to the arena to inform
Stroop (and to give him the 100 gold salary that was being offered for this job). Stroop agrees and Yrsa carries the halfling on her back so that they can
get back to the inn quickly. Sagan and Viggo join them as the need for their distraction is now over. Timador and Kime also return a few minutes
later.
An hour or so later, while Stroop is performing, one dwarf who is getting up from the bar accidentally bumps into another, and that dwarf topples into a
third dwarf who was seated at a table playing Solitaire, spilling his wine all over his cards. At first, it looked like this dwarf was extremely
angry and had spun his head around to complain--but, it was a second, ghostly head inside of him that had spun out of him and groaned horribly. A melee breaks
out, which includes Sagon (who was accompanying Stropp on the pan flute) leaping from the second floor bandstand down to the bar ready to
swing his magical staff into the ghost if it attacks anyone. It does so, utilizing some type of Hideous Visage attack. Nearly all of the dwarfs
in a 60 foot radius and most of the serving girls are magically frightened by the apparition--several of them so scared that they rapidly aged
and their hair turns white. Yrsa is also frightened but not enough to age her.
The ghost then begins leaping between host bodies while The Company and several other bar patrons takes whacks at it.
Most of the attacks are directed at the ghost, but current and previous hosts are also struck (some with grappling and subduing damage). The ghost was
being harmed--more so by magical weapons--but as it grabbed another host body, it would drain the host's life energy to regenerate its own health. At one
point, the body containing the ghost was knocked unconscious, which neutralized the unseen ghost within, but this also protected the ghost from a couple of attacks which
otherwise might have scared it off or harmed it if it had been awake. When the unconscious serving girl host is brought back to consciousness by giving her a
Good Berry, the ghost reawakens and then is destroyed as Yrsa Channels Divinity and fries it (and a dwarf still under its control) with Radiant Damage.
After the battle, it is discovered that the dwarf who originally had the ghost lurking inside of him had picked up some type of jade reliquary figurine,
which may have been a repository of some sort for the ghost. The dwarf had picked the item up as party loot that he and some others
(on a side mission for the Foreman of Preicis) had found after killing zombies. When questioned further about this, the dwarf Guzel realizes
that he wasn't supposed to talk about such things, so he clams up about it. More is learned about that situation when Farbor Kirt, a dwarf cleric
of Eyeqweetus chums up with Yrsa when he asks her about her Divine Light abilities. He then tells her that,
if she is interested in fighting and destroying undead (and possibly earning some rewards and treasure),
Kirt will put in a word for her with the foreman of Precicis. But, due to the secret
goings on in Preicis, Kirt says it would take at least seven days minimum before Yrsa would be allowed to ride the Steam Wagon to Preicis.
Farbor Kirt then remembers that there once was a path to the north that adventurer types might still be able to utilize, but he also mentions that portions of the path
were deliberately destroyed many seasons ago to prevent large military groups from using it. This path seems to correlate with the rumor The Company
heard earlier about another adventuring party who had gone looking for a trail four days earlier.
Before the party sets off to search for this path the next morning, Timador and his owl check out the northwestern mine. It appears to have once
been a coal mine but the tunnels have been widened now and converted over to growing mushrooms. Sagon also meets with the Pirate King,
Jarl Maddocks, intending to sell him the magic sword Wang's Bane, but the monk instead ends up selling his Rope of Mending, not feeling
that the 20% extra being offered for the sword was enough to make selling it worthwhile.
They then travel to the coal mining village of Koss, speak with the donkey salesman there about the previous adventurers and other information,
and then Kime locates the old trail. On it, she leads The Company to where the mountain path had been broken away by a rockslide.
Not deterred by this, they make the difficult climb up and around this probably man-made chasm. Kime finds faint footprint evidence of
several humanoids, who look like they made a similar venture over the chasm. The prints were most obvious at one gathering spot, but
evidence of further tracks beyond are few and far between. Kime eventually finds where a human-sized body looks like it had been dragged into a large hole.
The party's movement through this part of the old trail alerts two young Remorhaz polar wurms. The icy worm-like centipede creatures overheat
their spiny bodies and come steaming out of the frozen ground to attack. Although quite young, the two wurms are powerful and have a dirty-big
bite. Worse, they generated a heat so hot that a person standing within five feet of them is close enough to receive massive amounts of fire damage.
The party soon learns that ranged weapons and spells are their best option. As the fight gets underway, a monstrous sized "Mother" Remorhaz also
shows up. It is a difficult battle, but, luckily, the smaller wurms were mostly dispatched already and then the large wurm is bested by twinned Diseased spells, Lightning Bolts, Guiding Bolts,
Spiritual Weapons, psychic damage, arrows, and a well-placed Witch Bolt.
Crawling down then and exploring into tight wurm tunnels, the party discovered the charred remnants of animal bones, slagged metal, and several magic items that
managed to hold up against the raging fires of the Remorhaz, who must have dragged down victims into their lair to consume. Timador Identifies
the items and the party decides who will carry which items for now. Each of the them also advanced to 8th level.
The next session will begin on or about the morning of Day 75 and they continue their trek to Preicis.
Session 37
The new magic items are auctioned off among the group members. Then, after a long rest, The Company continues on west along the remnants of the
icy, snow over-blown mountain trail in the Northern Joklhops mountains. They find another portion of the trail has been deliberately destroyed by
a rockslide. This time, Kime determines the best way across is to climb down, across, and back up. They travel for about five hours
before it gets too dark to continue. Timador casts a Tiny Hut so that the
party can rest inside it safely and wait out Ferstmurk. At the end of the first night period, Timador and his owl hear some sort of conflict involving large dogs or wolves about
a mile away. Looking throwing his familiar's senses, Timador sees that a pack of giant white wolves are battling with even larger pale blue toads.
As the gas giant Eyeqweetus is beginning to illuminate TheWorld again enough for safe travel, the adventurers decide to head down towards the conflict
using their quickest means possible. Even so, they arrive too late to stop or take part in the melee.
Most of the wolves were slain, swallowed or dragged off into a nearby frozen lake. Timador noted that one lone wolf had managed to crawl himself away
from the conflict to escape. Kime is able to track down his trail and finds him, torn and bloodied, hiding beneath the snowy branches of an evergreen.
They are surprised when the injured white wolf speaks using the Common tongue. They befriend him by feeding him some Good Berries and eventually heal him near to his maximum.
The wolf's tale is that he is called AraAru. He speaks of his former pack, his lady RrrFafir, his leader GrrrOwloo, and others, all lost now. He is
the last of The Winter Wolves. They were displaced from their den by a knot of Ice Toads, who had moved into the area along with a larger humanoid
and some six-legged reptiles allies. Once displaced, what remained of the wolf pack migrated south three miles, where they were making due... until some
more ice toads just now managed to track them down and all but finish them off. The Party is interested in helping AraAru getting revenge, especially
after learning that the humanoid was carrying some metal necklaces and jewelry. AraAru agrees to lead them. He makes a useful guide. The region is
hilly, swampy, frequently snow-covered, and spooky and foggy, due to the heat inversion above the swampy snow-melt runoff areas.
The Red-Gold Party needs to cross a frozen lake to reach the den, and, as they likely will be visible to Ice Toads standing guard along the more obviously
used trails, they use their magic to help whiten their dull gray spider silk tents, and use this additional camouflage covering and Kime's Pass Without a Trace
spell to stealth their way across the snow piled and blown lake surface. They then get the drop on two Ice Toad sentries, but, while dispatching them with some
fire and lighting attacks, this alerts three other toads who were hunkered down nearby the cave entrance beneath frosty pine tress, one of the toads
dashes and hops away towards the
cave den opening in the hillside. Soon, some larger warrior Ice Toads from a pond near the entrance join the conflict. It is a long drawn out conflict
as these Ice Toads are
essentially "big ugly bags of hit points," and can absorb a lot of punishment. They also have a freezing bite attack that, once it hits, allows
the giant toads to grapple and restrain their victim. This
can easily lead to their victim being swallowed on the next round into their acidy stomachs. Stroop manages to escape such a bite with his newly-learned
Dimension Door spell,
and the companions of Sagon the monk managed to beat down the toad that was about to slurp him down.
As the battle raged on, additional toad and basilisk-like reinforcements arrived from deeper within the cave. These six-legged reptiles did not
have a more typical petrifying gaze attack, but they did have petrifying bite, which could incapacitate their victims, eventually turning such prey to
stone, if they remained petrified for too long. This ends up happening to AraAru while he was busy valiantly battling with some purple-stone speckled
undead version of his former pack leader, GrrrOwloo. A large, bloated Cone of Frost spitting Toad also joined the conflict and was making life
difficult for Viggo, Kime, and Vogelfest.
The leader of the Ice Toads, some sort of combination of a Medusa and a Beholder arrived and shot a few arrows from her longbow before settling
into using her tentacles and eyestalks to shoot paralyzing, poison, and necrotic Enervate streams and beams at her enemies. At one point,
the monk battling on the front lines dropped unconscious and would likely be eaten by the reptiles, but Viggo arrived in time to force feed him an healing potion. Still, the huge number of enemies pitted against them were
slowly taking their toll as the Red-Gold Party was running out of offensive magic and taking damage. A well-placed Flaming Sphere spell
cast by Yrsa helped to clog up the cave entrance, preventing three of the basilisks from being very effective. When the body of the Medusa
was slained, her head detached, hovered in the air, and continued fighting until monk's flurry of attacks against it and Yrsa's Channel Divinity took down
most of the remaining monsters.
The battle apparently ended, and with some of the party stepped through some type of necrotic field in the cave entrance, they discover some type
of golden chalice suspended above a small pool of water, which had collected beneath a slow dripping ceiling. The golden cup is suspended by dark web
like strains of purple, the webbing embedded with faintly glowing flakes of purple crystals.
The session ended there about 45 o'clock.
Session 38
After the combat (since they are already inside the cavern beyond the necrotic-damage dealing field that stretches across the entrance) the monk
and the Earth Elemental and Timador's owl familiar (summoned inside the cavern) examine the cave system. They find a stone alter-like area,
which contains metal vivisection/torture tools, braziers, charcoal, wood-resin incense, a pouch of crushed ruby dust, and shards of purple Faerz'ress
crystals. The crystals are placed into a light-proof bag once it is discovered (outside) that similar crystal shards embedded in the
undead winter wolf have already lost their glow.
A little more time is spent examining the golden chalice. It is suspended above a small pool of brown water, tied up with some type of
necrotic-empowered magic. The cup is also wrapped tightly with purple cord embedded with flakes of Faerz'ress. The purple cord clings so tightly
to the gold
cup that it merges with metal, and that cup area is stained (orhad been altered to) brown. The cup is suspended in such a way that it catches the
slow dripping water of the cave ceiling; once caught, it apparently converts the water to a brown liquid. This has been slowly overflowing from
the cup, oozing down
and discoloring the pool of water in the cave floor. Since the elemental took damage when trying to handle the cup, the monk cuts the black
web threads and the elemental dumps the contents of the cup into a separate jar and quickly brings jar and the chalice out of the cave. It takes
damage for as long as this takes.
Timador then was unable to cast Divination spells near the chalice and the Faerz'ress crystals, but his Detect Magic spells work when he casts
them first from 30 feet away before approaching these items. Various magics: Faerzr'ess, Necrotic, Transmutation, and at least one Curse are
entwined
together in and around the chalice making it difficult to Detect and Identify. Chalice and Faerz'ress crystals were then foil wrapped and inserted
into the Company's Portal Hole.
Yrsa and Kime discovered that the Medusa-like creature's arrows had been slathered in poison, so Yrsa was able to use her skills to salvage two
vials of poison from the head, a head that, upon closer examination, appeared to have been a separate creature that had somehow been grafted
onto the snake-woman's body. That body also was wearing rings, bracelets, a necklace, and gem piercings, so those were also collected
to be later divided among the party. Before resting, Timador, Kime, and Vogelfest practice with a Polymorph spell so that if the Wizard ever
chooses to turn the cat into a giant ape during combat, Vogelfest will have had some experience in what it will be like.
Before long resting, The Company takes time to rearrange the contents of their Portal Hole so that they can make room for the Earth Elemental to
place the statue of the winter wolf inside. Yrsa's Restoration spells are not quite powerful enough to revise him. Then, after resting, The Company
decides to travel straight west from the wolf caverns instead of circling back to the more southern trail they had been on before encountering
AraAru. On this trek, they discover the body of a frozen dwarf north of a 60-foot tower situated along the northern shores of a small lake. The dwarf is not
dressed for winter travel and no tracks lead to where he is found, although, it does appear as if he may have been thrown there. Suspecting that
the hairy creature they spotted in the tower may have something like a trebuchet, and being at least a little interested in the note found in a
book carried by the dwarf, the adventurers decide to head to the tower.
Using the owl familiar and Viggo's telescopes, they are able to see one large creature in the tower (who also appears to see them and occasionally
ducks down where it cannot be seen). There are also seen a few smaller hairy white-ape like creatures who appear to be lying in wait, ready to
ambush anyone who approaches too close to the tower. It turns out, though, that additional creatures, powerful ice trolls, are also waiting in
ambush, much better disguised and camouflage within the deep snow and nearby icy ponds.
Ambushed, and facing powerful creatures, many in The Company fear that they may soon be overwhelmed so they immediately consider retreating. But,
surrounded as such, and managing to hold their own for the first few rounds--using fire-based magics--they hold they ground and make their stand.
Viggo's Minute Meteors, Yrsa's Wall of Fire, and turning Vogelfest into a giant ape help turn the tide of battle, and fire damage
in general is found to stop the ice trolls from regenerating their lost hit points. After a difficult encounter, the adventurers dispatch their
enemies, then make their way toward the tower to see what answers and/or treasures may lay within.
Session 39
Yrsa collects some Ice Troll blood using some of Kime's storage containers. The others retrieve bone, claw, and tooth
ornamental necklaces from the bodies, which might have value in the right markets. After a short rest, The Company begins to explore
the tower, with the owl familiar flying into the lower levels and the monk climbing through a second story window. A pair of the
hairy ape-like creatures hidden inside attack them, but the beasts are quickly dispatched by the monk and the rest of the party.
Apart from mounted balistas and spear ammo, all that is found inside the tower is some torn dwarf armor and dwarf-crafted weapons.
Timador casts Detect Magic and discovers that much of the disgusting contents of the latrine pit on the ground level is a
Major Illusion cast to
help hide that the pit is secretly the access to a lower cavern full of food and water supplies. Behind a further concealed doorway, Sagon finds
additional storage, water barrels and ale vats (with false bottoms, which hold some minor dwarf treasures).
Leading west away from the storage cavern is a mile of low-ceiling tunnel. Often running parallel with this low tunnel are several
chambers and shorter-length passageways designed to give a crew of hearty dwarfs many opportunities and advantages over any creatures
fool enough to attack them in these confined areas. There are also many minor trip hazards, murder slots, rock falls, and pockets of supplies and
minor treasures stashed along the way. What the tunnel was only lacking in was... dwarfs. None were to be found. Left all on their own
and with no opposing force to face them, The Company had little difficulties in navigating through and across the traps. Eventually, they came
outside again through a mountain doorway secreted behind bushes and a small pond of run-off snow melt. Beyond this door paths led north
and south, and also west to a stone bridge arched across a small, mostly frozen river. Near the
bridge, a Company of ten dwarfs is seen camping near a couple of derelict buildings.
The Company successfully stealthed their way from the hidden tunnel around the pond making sure that the Dwarfs would not be certain of
which direction The Company has come. When the dwarfs finally spotted the company of mostly elves, they hailed them, surprised to
see anyone in the area that they didn't recognize. Tentative information was exchanged, including news that the
Dwarf Tower had been overrun by Ice Trolls (which The Company then dispatched); these dwarfs here at Vendla's Bridge mention that they
also have just battled an Ice Troll, one that locals had spotted coming down the Trumble River from the northern Ice Lake region.
The Troll the dwarfs killed was studded with shards of glowing purple crystals, and, as the likely Faerz'ress infested crystals
were still glowing, the hill dwarfs were planning on dragging the corpse back to one of their home villages in Dwarfland, where they
believe someone they know--Lamador--a male hag--would wish to examine it. Feeling at ease with elfs, these dwarfs share some addition
map information of region and especially details about their neighbor's lands on the other side of the bridge,
a land that they call "West Trumble,"" where gnomes and mountain dwarfs live.
The Company reveals the journal book they found on the dead dwarf with the leader of this dwarf company. As Laqr begins to scan
the pages, he seems noticably dizzy. About that same time, a purple ghostly image steps out of the slain ice troll. Lagr and the
other dwarfs go glassy eyed and stand rigid. Party members race forward to engage the ghost in combat. As they do so,
passing the seemingly motionless dwarfs, a couple of the dwarfs take attacks of opportunity on them, using their axes to hack at
the adventurers.
It requires silver or magic weapons to hit the ghost, who is not attacking itself, but it appears to have complete
control over the dwarfs, who employ their axes and crossbows to attack for it. During the battle, as the ghost began to take a great
deal of damage, it drained the lifeforce of various dwarfs under its control to regenerate itself. But, eventually, the ghost troll
is dispatched. The dwarfs, then freed from itself control, are embarrassed and apologetic to the adventurers. They offer to help heal
them and provide them with a place to rest (a concealed basement in one of the half-burned buildings). Within, the dwarfs provide a
hot meal, whiskey, tobacco, and additional deatails about the area
and what they know about Colafar the Witch Priest and the undergoings going on at Preicis--which appears to revolve around
some heavy industry having been implemented.
At least five dozen seasons earlier, the hill dwarfs relate, Colafar discovered a land above The Top of the World, a realm north
of the Norr Mountains, which the Witch Priest called Meida. (The citizens of Meida called their lands "Homeland.") Colafar found
the inhabitants to be quite peaceful and not at all caught up with the conquest and domination fever that was common
amoung the three nation states to the south. Colafar attributed this to the isolated people of Meida not having any neighbors.
And "a lack of neighbors," Colafar believed, "were the best kind of neighbors." But, while Colafar was living among them and
learning their ways, something extraplanar/extraworldly occurred, as if their nation was swallowed up and/or overlain with another
realm, a land gloomy and necrotic. The Witch Priest claimed that he was barely able to escape back to Norr. Then, finding evidence
that the contagion that took Meida was creeping southernly, the Witch Priest made haste to informed the leaders of the Svartriki,
Okenveldt, and Vidar peoples hoping to rally these city-states to join their forces against this threat to all of TheWorld.
Colafar was denied any help.
Apparently, Colafar then decided to go it alone, dedicating the rest of his life to assembling forces and supplies and
technologies that would help him to move large amounts of troops and supplies passed the barren Norr mountains to the
conquered Meida areas, which the gnome had renamed "The Over Dark." As the Norr Mountains and the Meida realm were
rich in Faerz'ress magics, teleportation spells could not be employed in this undertaking. To bypass this, Colafar hired
mountain dwarfs and rock gnomes to precision engineer steam wagons and a (mostly-underground) rail system through the Norr
mountains.
This venture, he funded by somehow mass producing artificial diamonds, which he then distributed discretely and widely
among the major governments of TheWorld in exchange for gold coins.
After this information--and more details of the western land--are revealed to The Company, their dwarven hosts give them
a wagon that they can use to help pose as fur traders. They are also told the best ways to avoid the West Trumble
guards and where they can buy furs from trappers for trade goods and what prices they can be expected to pay.
The Party does this, and
soon finds themselves at the southeastern entrance to Preicis, which is a totally unremarkable village. They exchange
words with a lone, ill-equipped guard, who directs them to Miss Polly's Inn, who stables their "weird" horses and
arranges to have a couple of rooms made ready for their use. In the meantime, the guard goes to fetch the Mayoress of the
village, who subsequently meets with the party; she has little of consequence to relate to them. As the Mayoress is called away,
Viggo notices a tell-tale rogue employing the universal Thieves' Cant message of "I have information for sale for gold."
The rogue, Ranni Kolla, answers The Party's questions and agrees to lead them on a long, roundabout path to the Preicis
Industrial Area that avoids all of the guards (who would make a direct trip there problematic for The Company). Ranni does so
and leaves them when they can can see the outskirts of the industrial area. The Session ended there on Day 77, approximately 14 o'clock,
with the daily eclipse about to occur.
Session 40
Session begins on Day 77 approximately 13 o'clock. The rogue Ranni Kolla leads The Company within twos miles of the Preicis
Industry area. The adventurers climb down the 60 foot cliff and work their way across mucky group from the east and approach
the factory complex. Deciding to hoist a ladder or two and walk up as if they belong there, the party is intercepted near the
partially constructed stone walls of the city by Dug Sojne, a city guard wearing Undead-detecting goggles, who is paid to
keep an eye out for anything strange. And four elves and a human and halfling who have weird animals qualifies. After the party
mentions
two names that Dug recognizes: Farbor Kirt and Foreman Barin Dorf Trender, Dug whistles for his son to go contact the Foreman
to see if he has any interest in metting with these travelers.
An audience is granted and Trender reveals that he is the grandson of Colafar the Clockmaker, and the Foreman reveals also that he
has inherited Colafar's mission to provide a means to easily ship troops and supplies under/through the Norr Mountains to the
northern lands of Meida, where necrotic powers have taken root and begun spreading undead contagions. Trender has now
completed about 75 miles of Steam Wagon tunnels and tracks, having at last reached the southern edge of what he believes to be Meida.
Preicis' Industrial
complex and Colafar's funding had made all of this possible. Three Steam Wagon stations have been established north of Preicis:
Benton Lake, Trunds Station, and the new Fort Framlin. At the initial founding of these stations, each constructed in locations where
the mostly level tracks have risen above ground, work crews and guards have had to battle undead creatures before gaining a foothold.
Now, however, the first two stations are well established, and are mostly self-sustained by nearby farms.
There is a great need for troops and adventurers, though, to help establish Fort Framlin and to explore further overground. Foreman
Trender attempts to recruit The
Company to help him in this regard. What is needed is for scouts to seek out the necrotic epicenters, find the source of the localized
contagion there (typically some magic item that has been deliberately cursed and allowed to fester its malignancy--increasing
in power and influence the longer it remains in one location). The Company discusses and shows the corrupted Golden Chalice that
they found in the Winter Wolf den. A local cleric, Farbor Falgore, in brought in to examine it, and he is able to successfully
cast Remove Curse on it at a high-enough spell level. Similar treasures might be able to be retrieved if the party join up with
Trender, so The Company agrees to
travel by Steam Wagon to Fort Framlin. Trender further sweetens the deal by arranging for a few members in The Company a chance to
upgrade some of their existing magic items (+ gold) for items that are more powerful or more class-specific and useful for them.
When the Steam Wagon returns from Free Port, Stroop is recognized by one of the passengers, Utetro the Towncrier from Kuststad.
Utetro assumes that Stroop, like himself, has completed his military duty--but the Halfling gives no acknowledgement of this aloud.
Utetro has recently signed on as Bard and Chronicler for the dwarf paladin, Makgram Grimhide, who has agreed to come out of
retirement to assume command of the recently established Fort Framlin. With Makgram is a gnome necromancy who is introduced
as Professor Luga. With Luga are six skeleton warriors. Their arrival causes a stir, as several of the guards are equipped wearing the Undead-detecting
goggles, the ones with built-in, automatic warning siren functionality. Makgram charismatically calms the scene and vouches for the undead, concluding
with informing the workers that he is now the new Commander of Framlin, and he has need of a necromancer (and his personal guard) to
help them to better understand and battle necromancy.
The Company then ride the Steam Wagon system, which travels primarily only at night because the driver employs some type of
Abyssal-realm creature with 150-feet Witchvision as his familiar/"eyes." This creature helps ensure safe navigation of the Wagon in
the deep, narrow, but well ventilated tunnel system. However slight, there is always some chance something may have gotten
into the wagon tunnels or sabotaged the tracks. The wagon typically operates at a speed of 4 mph, so it will take 15 - 16 hours to cover the
distance to the border of Meida.
The journey is uneventful, and most passengers spend the time sleeping. Upon arriving, five different adventuring groups are
designated locations to explore and are dispatched. The Red-Gold Company is requested to head East, which they do, Timador employing his owl
to help search for any signs of animal life. The contagion sites discovered so far have centered upon locations where small groups of
humanoids live and work, as well as animal groups, such as wolf and bear dens. The owl notices some animals in a wooded area, and Kime, once she reaches those locations
identifies moose tracks and later on some caribou and lynx. Nothing appears unusual or out of the ordinary. A range of small
mountains and cliff faces blocks passage to the north, so the adventurers continue exploring easterly.
As the harsh terrain of frozen scrubland gives way to the beginnings of rough trail. A wagon with two human riders is spotted
heading from the east toward them. This is about the same time that a marking sign along the trail indicates: "Lamordia: 2 Miles -->"
The wagon riders are Madge Hogan and Turnip, who are carting a load of hay and willow bark another 12 miles west to Ingostadt.
The two women ask about road conditions up ahead and are puzzled to hear that there is no road and there is no city in that
direction. Madge disagrees as she can clearly see a pathway ahead. The Party follows the woman as they continue, noting that the
wheels of their wagon seem to be rolling much smoother that the landscape would indicate they could. Sagon, wearing a pair
of Undead Googles did not notice any necromancy about the two wagon riders. Some in The Company try to "disbelieve" or 'wake up" from the dream
they must be having. But everything seems to be as they see it..., until the wagon and Madge and Turnip fade away.
The adventures continue on to Lamordia and find it to be pretty much as Madge and Turnip said it would be: a gloomy, overcast
village with a few prominent buildings, the most impressive being the cliff-side keep of Baron Vashon Mordencain. As it is
still night, the only building in the village that has oil lamps burning is The Stagger Inn, so they stagger in. Inside the
rustic tavern, the barkeep is asleep but the serving maid brings them all some ale and she takes their food orders. The only two
other patrons in the place are Dr. Henry Clerval and Dolaris Fenn. Sir Henry mistakes Stroop for a young boy and tosses him
a coin to play his instrument. Totally nonplussed about it, Stroop retrieves the coin from the floor and performs a lovely
little diddy on his Crwth Harp. Henry is delighted and hires the Bard on the spot to come to his manor to perform at and partake
at a breakfast fest that Henry is giving for a few of his friends, including Baron Vashon Mordencain. Henry also mentions that
he is a retired Alienist, and gives a decorated business card to Stroop. "An 'alienist,'" Henry explains to puzzled expressions,
is a doctor who helps to treat patients who feel alienated from society and even themselves.
When Henry and Dolaris depart, the barkeep finally "wakes" up and comes over to the party's table. "Did you notice anything
unusual about Sir Henry," he asks? And, not "really," they admit, apart from his having invited Stroop to come sauna with him
within a minute of having met him. The barkeep then relates that Sir Henry has been a little off lately, believing him to have
had a falling out with Baron Vashon. This occurred about the same time that Vashon announced his engagement to Elizabeth
Lavenza, who, up to then, had been Vashon's ward. Henry apparently also desired Liz. Complicating this triangle, the party
learns several members of Elizabeth Lavenza's family had died tragically in a house fire. Liz's parents were killed, and her brother Adam
was burned so badly that he lost most of his limbs. Years later, after returning from Ingolstadt, where both Henry and Vashon
had studied to become doctors, Vashon worked at questionable surgical techniques to help restore Adam.
Learning all they could at the Inn, The Company arives at Sir Henry's manor at the schedule event time (Day 78, approximately 1 o'clock).
The butler shows them into a lounge where they meet with Sir Henry, Thomas and Dolaris Fenn, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Roam,
a gentleman with a heavily scarred face. After introductions are exchanged, Sir Henry announces that Baron Vashon regretfully won't
be attending breakfast as expected. The house guests then reassemble in the dance room, where Stroop excels playing a popular
song on the host's grand piano, even though the other guests have never it before. Likewise, Stroop doesn't know any of the songs
that they then suggest he play next.
Soon thereafter, a loud knocking on the front door is heard, and Sir Henry moves to answer it. Sagon follows. A tall, disfigured
man says something to Henry and pushes his way passed him. As the disfigured man, Adam Lavenza, passes the monk, Sagon's googles
register that at least parts of the man (right arm, right foot, and left leg) reek of undead/necromancy. Immediately wishing to
do something about this, Sagon's hand (and flailing feet) are stayed by Henry who says, "let him through to do what he needs."
The would-be breakfast matinée begins to unravel then as various members of The Red-Gold Company "wander" about the mansion.
As they do so, they begin to encounter other people in the house, people who are a bit eccentric, vacant, or erratic. Oh, and the
cook who is frying the bacon registers as Undead. Sagon does not attack immediately but he begins informing the others. About then,
a fire breaks out in the spacious kitchen. As everyone does what they can to extinguish the flames, a hag-like creature appears
from out of the hearth and immediately rips the cook in half. Melee breaks out, during which the butler is attacked and screams,
"They're out!" as several "asylum patients" come up stairs form the basement, a few of whom become violent. Adam Lavenza also appears,
but he seems intent on making a bee-line for the front door.
After the hag is neutralized (and the most violent basement dwellers is subdued), the main focus of the conflict shifts to where
Adam grabbed his sister and tries to darg her out of the house. Henry and others (Kime, Timador) move to stop this, and Adam then
releases some type of lightning canine creature from within is body. Adam is a worthy opponent on his own but his dog "Sparky"
begins releasing powerful Chain Lightning attacks, which manage to knock Henry and Vogelfest unconscious and near death. But
Adam falls in combat and the lightning dog fizzles out a round or two later.
The Party begins inquiring WTF is going on. Liz doesn't know but is relieved that her brother at least isn't dead. But, Adam's
prostectic left arm dropped off (later this registers as magic but not cursed). His mechanical right arm is still attached and
not magical (but Sagon thought it had registered as Undead earlier). Adam's right foot was also destroyed when Yrsa tried
Turning Undead on Adam. Yrsa also heals up Sir Henry, who seems momentarily confused and overwrought when questioned. He gets
up, enters a closet, and emerges with a crossbow proclaiming, "Vaschon Mordancain is responsible for this! He sent this monster
[Adam] to plaque us while he himself avoided coming to breakfast."
The session ended there, Day 78, approximately 2:00.
Session 41
While Timador and Yrsa are examining the artificial limb that fell off of Adam Lavenza when he was knocked unconscious, Kime
heals Vogelfest, and Viggo and Stroop attempt to persuade Sir Henry Clerval to calm down. The rest of the manor guests there
who had come for breakfast (destroyed in the kitchen fire), settle down at the dinning room table for a liquid breakfast
consisting mostly of Sir Henry's ale. The scarred gentleman, Roam, scrounges up some bread and cheeses from the pantries
and brings them to the table to share with the others. The maid and butler meanwhile succeed in gathering up the wandering
mental patients and direct them back down into the basement facilities when Dr. Sunn (Sir Henry’s junior partner) would take
charge of them.
At Elizabeth's request, Kime and Yrsa carry Adam's body into the spare bedroom, and, although Adam is still unconscious, Liz
agrees to allow him to be tied up while he hopefully recovers. The Company still seeking what answers that they can asks them
while also eating (and Stroop drinking) what breakfast can be had. Good Berries are shared and everyone does their best to
relax and take a short rest to heal. Timador and his owl familiar also perform a test to see if Corniho is able to
carry a live-captured field mice in flight for 30 minutes to the east, to see if the mouse, like the two women met driving the
wagon earlier would also disappear.
Before the owl returns with the mouse, Sir Henry leads many of the The Company down into
the basement for a tour of his first-rate medical facilities. What Henry is discribing, however, does not match with the
horrible conditions that The Company experiences for themselves. When asked about a staircase that leads down into another
deeper basement, Henry announces that they are mistaken and that it's just mostly an empty closet area. Henry says this as
he continues walking on and then soon discovers the murdered body of Dr. Sunn. Most of the adventures quickly advance up
them to examine the crime scene. The Monk Sagon, however, decides to instead go into the closet and then immediately down
the dark stairs for a quick look on his own. Sagon finds himself immediately in a new location, one of bright blue stonework
and bluish mists. As he turns back to look he also discovers the stairs behind now no longer lead anywhere but a dead end.
Sir Henry is distraught to see Dr. Sunn has been killed. Both Henry and Yrsa determine the cause to be blunt tramma to the
small doctor's head. Also on the floor is a type of female mechanical construct (just from the waist up). If the construct
had a left arm, it has been taken from her, and there is some belief that Adam was involved in this. Further north, Henry
also finds the corpse of the hag on "her bed," which is situated in the furnace room (a fire pit that connects to the hearth
in the litchen on the floor above). It looks as if the hag had been shackled before to the bed, with chains long enough to
allow her freedom to feed coal into the furnace. Sir Henry does not make note of the broken chains, mentioning instead that
Brenda enjoyed living close to the fire.
Back in the previous room, Viggo makes note of the precision tools and writing pens on Doctor Sunn's work bench. As the
good doctor will have no further need of them, Viggo discretely slides many of them into his welcoming belt pouch.
Without Dr. Sunn to perform the day-to-day duties of the medical facility, Sir Henry bids his leave of the party so that
he can look after the neglected patients. About this same time, Timador arrives and inquires about the monk. Many tests
then are performed upon the entrance to the dark stairs once it is discovered that sending Corniho down to investigate
resulted in the owl apparently ended up in some pocket realm. In this realm, Sagon has had some encounters with a couple
of clockwork creatures, a small winged orbed on and a more sturdy humanoid who greets the monk and bades him to quickly
race up the side stairs and through the portals before the Modrons become aware of him. "There may still be time, yet,
to liberate the Wall of Faith from the NFluors and free my people." While saying this, this metal humanoid, named Bionon,
also shows signs of battling against some great headache or migraine. He seems to lock and freeze up when Sagan tries
to question him further. From eight alcoves in the round room between the two sets of spiral staircases, eight
mechanical creatures armed with spinning razor shields and arm spikes, seem to awaken and start rolling out from the
dark recesses below the stairs. They have a large rollar ball instead of legs, so they have can only slowly ascend the
stairs that the monk runs up. While Sagon prepares to battle them with his staff, he receives a Sending from
Timador, and the monk needs to immediately come up with 25 word reply to explain his situation. Then melee begins.
Soon the entire party passes into the pocket realm to join the monk (they will all have to worry about how and if they
can get back later). The Company also encounter Bionon, who continues to struggle with migraines that incapacitate him,
making communication impossible. The other clockwork men, however, rolling toward them with hydraulic spikes and
whirling buzz saws have no difficulties communicating their purpose. They attack everything made of flesh. A terrific
battle takes place then, as Heal Metal, Fireball, Polymorph, and Lightning Bolt spells are
directed against the mechanical horde, and Yrsa gets off a couple of Radiance of the Dawn Channelings of Divinity.
Much damage is also taken by the adventurers as some characters fall unconscious but healing spells and potions are
able to restore them enough so that they can continue the fight. There is some hesitation as to whether or not to
attack Bionon, because amid his struggles the clockwork man dealt some powerful damage to Yrsa. Eventually, though,
the clockwork creatures are destroyed, and Bionon recovers enough to repeat his message that there may still be time
to stop the platinum-wired NFluors, liberate the Shield of Faith, and free Bionon's people.
Venturing through the blue portals at the top of the spiral stairs leads the adventures to what appears to be a giant
heap of metal gears metal scrap. Some more, spider-like Modrons are scavenging and salvaging parts and they mostly
enough the humanoids who appear near them. That is, until a silvery-white looking humanoid appears, creates electrical
arcs to take control of them and turns them against the party. This silvery mechanoid also pulls out a magic wand
that fires six psychic-damage missiles into the monk. The party concentrates their efforts at taking down the
silvery-white humanoids, this includes some serious damaged caused by Vogelfest, who has been polymorped into a giant
ape. Vogel-Ape pulls heavy cogs out of the scrap heap and chucks them crashing into the humanoids.
Once the final silvery-humanoid is destroyed, the clockwork realm starts to shake and rip apart at the seems. The
Company drag the bodies of the NFluors (including a smaller one that they found attached to a large shield) into the
original chamber where they encountered Bionon. Bionon points back up the stairs, indicating the path back to their
world has been restored and he thanks them. Once The Party returns, however, they find now that the medical facility
now looks like what Sir Henry was describing to them earlier. It's definitely changed or at least their perception
of it has. It something to consider after they rest. They do take about 30 minutes first though to cast Identify
on The Wall of Faith Shield and the missile wand. They also salvage about 25 pounds of platinum from the deactivated
NFluor bodies.
The Session ended then, Day 78, approximately 5:00.
Session 42
The Company divide up what they discovered for treasure. Yrsa sells her +1 Shield to Kime so the Cleric then can afford
to purchase The Shield of Faith from the group. Timador scrapes together enough wealth to purchase the Namor Candle.
Some time among these internal group transactions, members of The Company decide that Dr. Sunn might be the Wizard
Priest gnome that they are looking for (since in life the doctor demonstrated a great interest in clockwork mechanisms,
specifically prosthetic limbs), so they sneak him into the Portable Hole just in case for identification purposes later.
They also realize that Betta, the clockwork woman that Dr. Sunn was working upon before his death also includes internal
platinum components, so these too are stripped for for their monetary value.
Where Sir Henry questions what happened to the body of his former colleague, it is suggested that he must now be in one
of those pocket dimensions that appear to be common to the manor's basement location. (Later on, when The Company decide
that Dr. Sunn is probably much too young to have been the Witch-Priest Colafar, they tell Sir Henry that they found him
in a pocket dimension when they searched some more.)
Henry invites the adventurers to rest in his home above while he tends to his patients. The Company does so; they also
accept 25 GP from Liz Lavenza, who asks them to travel quickly to Ingostadt and get word to Vashon Mordancain about
the medical condition of Adam Lavenza. Adam's body seems to be functioning after rest and healing, but there appears to
be no regular brain activity.
While the party is resting, there is also some testing made using the monk, a Phantom Steed, a mouse, and Timador's
familiar to see if it is actually possible for the group to travel to Ingolstadt--since there was no such city there to
the west when they traveled that way from Fort Framlin. Based on these tests, they determine they likely can travel to
Ingolstad and also that the long stretch of Norr Mountains that they expect to be in the south are not there; instead,
Sagon discovers that six or seven miles to the south leads him to the shores of a great sea.
Still wanting more evidence, the party heads to the Baron's castle looking for a map of the region. The Baron's castle
serves primarily as barracks and headquarters for the military police of Wissenschaft county. After paying a small bribe,
Viggo is able to get into the office of the Commander in Chief. There, he is able to study a high quality map.
The Company then heads south along the road to Ingostadt, eventually turning a bit southwest as they enter the city. For
this journey, they hired an old man and his young nephew as "guides"/guinea pigs. (There was still concern that the
party or these locals might disappear/dimension shift at some point on the journey--as had happened to the two women in
the wagon when The Company first arrived.)
Once past the farm and livestock areas of the surrounding villages, they work there way across dirt paths and cobblestone
streets, inquiring in the city if anyone has seen Baron Vashon. The citizens of Ingolstadt are engrossed in celebration:
they have recently completed the first seasonal harvest of the cool season and just completed plowing the land and
reseeding for the summer crops. Eventually it is learned that that Baron sought a meeting with Provost Waring at the
local college.
Climbing a spiraling arched stone stairway to the campus area, they found that another celebration was occurring on
campus--attended by the students, most of the college faculty, and many large crows and grackles, who seemed intent on
absconding away with the corn decorations. The festivities also included four of the storngest students who
were carrying around a young women dressed in a white dress and adorned with rings of colorful flowers. This woman,
(elevated in a throne-like chair by the students who held it aloft upon two strong horizontal poles) noted the arrival
of "elves" and seemed to take exception to them. She was heard to utter: "Ah, elves... you possess an unwavering
focus; ONLY personal endeavors--however fleeting--impress you." She then began casting a spell.
Only Viggo had time to respond to this, but he held back shooting his arrow, waiting for a more definitive attack
made against them. The woman finished speaking, "If you can't charm an elf, make them CHARMING!" The nature of the
magical attack washed over the group. Some were able to shake it off, and those who could not where left wondering
what had happened to them. What appears to have happened is that Stroop, Vogelfest, and several of the nearby
students all felt compelled to lovingly embrace and rub up against the closest party member. This led to awkward
grapples, lost actions, having to fight with students who were enthralled and enchanted.
All physical and magical attacks directed at the woman in the white dress either appeared to do her no damage or
to pass harmlessly through her. The same woman, meanwhile, was able to cast a Sphere of Darkness covering some
of The Company. Into the darkness, several crows swooped in trying to swipe the monk's circlet of blasting
and the ranger's magic arrows. They were only partially successful, and, when emerging from the darkness they
were now wearing the form of bat-winged imp humanoids. The imps were resistent or immune to fire damage, but
only a small amount of piercing and radiant damage were required to slay them. Meanwhile, in the darkness, Kime
was fighting with a student who had grappled her. Another then grappled her and kissed her, draining a significant
amount of hit points from her.
Yrsa's Daylight spell negated the Sphere of Darkness and revealed Kime's attacker to be some type of horned
humanoid, possibly a Succubus. This woman's cover blown and her advantage neutralized, she disengaged and immediately
fled. As she did so, it was observed that as she moved, the woman in the white dress moved along in-step with her,
matching her moments exactly, but not her appearance. Both women seem to fade away then as they ran--not appearing
to have become invisible but possibly shifting out of normal existence. Several of the imps also fled and could be
seen shape changing into crows and grackles as they moved off. Most of these were killed and any magic that they
had grabbed was recovered.
Questioning the faculty and students afterwards, it was learned that a few of the students had found this woman in
a local tavern, and she was all too happy to go with them to take part in their Queen of the Harvest parade and
then had agreed to attend their end-of-the-school-year party afterwards.
With nothing useful learned on that front, The Company spoke with Baron Vashon and/or took a tour of the college.
In the library, while flipping through some old tombs, Timador discovered a magical scroll, which he pointed out
to Viggo (who managed to have in squirreled away inside his clothing when he departed). They also discovered
another map of the area, which showed the same features and locations as the one examined in Lamordia.
When the events of what had happened to Adam Lavenza were discussed with the Baron, Vashon Mordancain explained
that due to some actions taken by a hag and a local witch woman in the forests near Lamordia, that Adam had
become a host for some type of lightning elemental. He then blamed further tinkering by Dr. Sunn and the inclusion
of clockwork components into Adam as likely being responsible for whatever Adam was doing.
Then after money from the family and enough diamonds are located, Yrsa casts Revivify on the one student
who had been killed in the conflict. The Baron reveals that some type of magical shock therapy might likewise be
able to bring Adam back to the world of the living. They ride then back to Lamordia, physically heal Adam's body
and then Viggo energizes Adam with a Witch-Bolt. And, though the lightning damage was burning Adam's flesh,
Yrsa was closely examining Adam for sings of movement, eyes flickering, etc. After four rounds of this, Adam's
eye's flickered open. The spell is dropped and Adam continues to be aware. However, he had lost his short-term
memory, so he had no awareness of what had recently happened. As a reward for bringing back his soon-to-be
brother-in-law, Vasho awarded each member of the party 300 gold pieces worth of diamonds--as he had seen first
hand how valuable such gifts might be to them.
Not knowing exactly where to go next since they seem trapped in a dimension not their own, The Company decides to
head 20 miles east into Glauben, where members of Elena's Holy Order at Faith-Hold are known to be seeking for some
type of lost magical item.
The session ended there on Day 78, approximately 41:00 o'clock, with nine hours remaining of Bright Night.
Session 43
Based on maps of the region and a quick analysis of the terrain, Kim estimates that it will take the party about
seven hours to reach the outskirts of Faith-Hold. They head out, with the Monk and Cleric walking; Kime and Viggo
sharing a ride on Timmehäst, the clockwork horse; and Timador and Stroop sharing the back of a Phantom Steed,
although the Wizard makes the Bard promise first not to be all "handsy."
After traveling a few miles, The Company notes that the seemingly perpetual overcast skies of Lamordia have thinned
out into a rather clear night sky. The scrub brush plains likewise begin to give way to softer grasslands. But,
something is amiss as the rocks about begin to shake and the flatlands begin to tremble then sink away. Emerging
from underground, a squat, armored, roughly 7' by 10' Bulette burrows up, apparently ravenous and intent upon
swallowing Stroop. The tasty Bard, however, survives the clamping bite of the beast and wiggles out of its maul
and off the horse. Not content with just a couple of feet of safety, Stroop casts Dimension Door to scoot
away to safety. Then The Company train their attacks on the creature, who, despite its thick armoring and sturdy
Constitution, dies before it can do any more serious damage.
Afterwards, Yrsa thumbs through Grenhay Sumpers' Guide of Best Creature Bits, locates a drawing of something
close to it referred to as a "land shark," and additional directions on how to best remove its back armor plates,
a biological bone-metal useful for enchanting into sturdy shields. She removes two plates, potentially valued at
500 GP apiece and loads them into the Portal Hole.
Past the outer farming area of Faith-Hold, while passing over a small bridge into Faith-Hold, the adventurers see
a few remnants remaining from a Cold Spring Harvest festival, decorative cloth flags and--as Yrsa notes--a banner
strung between two trees bearing a round, aqua colored wave symbol, the exact same symbol that is painted on the
clerics recently-acquired Wall of Faith magic shield. Hesitant that this shield might be the magic item that the
town has recently lost, Yrsa uses a cold-weather leather wrapping from her previous shield to cover up the emblem.
As Bright Night is soon ending, most of the townsfolk are tying up their fishing boats or already home ready for
sleep. A few hearth fires can be seen in the houses, smoke in their chimneys, but the brightest lights in Faith-Hold
are sining on the northern half of the city, lights that illuminate The High-Rock area with the Temple of Nässe
and a large Inn surrounded by many market stalls and tents. Stroop encourages his companions to the market square,
where they hire lodging at the Gentle Rossi Inn. Sagon calls over a couple of local militia men--who visually made
their presence and occupation known to the new arrivals upon arrival. Questioning the guardsmen, The Company learns
of a town curfew (between 30-40 o'clock and 50-60 o'clock) and of potential work that might be available hiring out
to the local clerics in helping them recover their lost relic.
After some brief drinks and food, the party heads to the temple before the local curfew begins. There, they meet
with some of the local clerics in different parts of the compound. Each of the areas visited have at least a couple
of well armored knights or clerics on guard. Viggo and Sagon are led through a doot and meet with Sister Carmella,
second in charge. They discuss the missing relic, something called the Geomancer's Pickhammer, a magic weapon that is
also a fine mining and crafting tool. The reward for it's safe return is 6000 GP. The head of their holy order,
Mother Elena, has already set off questing north for the item. Other members of the congregation and adventuring
types have been "deputized into service" and sent out in other directions.
While this is being discussed, Kime, Vogelfest, and Stroop visit the dining facility and meet with someone known
only as "Chef." The food here is good, but mainly oatmeal, vegetable soup, and a fish stew that is currently
being prepared. Chef gives some raw fish to Vogelfest.
Timador visits the library, but, finding the books there to be mostly of a mostly religious nature, the Wizard
becomes more interested in finding a discrete location to cast Detect Magic so that he can study instead
what the locals are carrying. Finding the the bathroom in this place is actually just a long outdoor balcony
over-hanging a spot on the High Rock, Timador makes do and manages to cast his ritual. He discovers a few
items of note, mostly potions carried by the clerics, but one of the clerics was carrying a magical staff,
which seemed to be able to drain liquids from unbelievers--or something like that.
Yrsa spends her time at the temple in the rock grotto and sculpture garden; there she contemplates the relationship,
if any, between freehet and Nässe. Yrsa racks her brain and tries reaching out beyond herself, and finally
recalls (or is nudged into believing) that Nässe is some type of elemental demi-goddess, and, as such, at
least likely to have some relationship to Freehet, Nodebra, and Shuekra. In the grotto, Yrsa also meets with
two armored guards who have been stationed near a platform that overlooks the lake below. Yrsa asked about why
the grotto requires two guards and learns that a murder took place just recently. One of the Brothers who was
using the relic hammer to carve a new statue was killed and the relic stolen--the thief then apparently escaping
35 feet straight down the shear cliff below the overlook platform.
Undertaking the quest, The Company head north along the eastern shores of the Klar Bergseen lakes and streams.
Kime identifies two sets of tracks, 1) six heavily booted military types, and 2) a fainter set of earlier prints
of someone wearing normal shoes. The faint tracks have been mostly destroyed by those who followed afterwards,
but, Kime is able to occasionally make out the original prints. At the second lake in the chain of three, the
Ranger notes six other faint prints and indication that they entered the water here. The heavier tracks split
at this point, widening out further north and east. Possibly the thief entered a boat here or went underwater.
Sagon dives into the lake carrying a Continual Flame torch and begins searching. The mountain stream-fed lake
is cool and clear, but only 40 or 45 feet at its deepest. In an underwater cave entrance, the monk spots a
humanoid creature that has eight octopus-like lower legs.
After telling of his discovery, the monk is joined in the lake by the others, who, with the aid of a Water
Breathing spell, are able to reach the submerged caverns. There, they battle with a Giant Snail Slug,
many octopi, and several Cecaelia humanoids, some of whom were employing magic spells and monk-like abilities
during the melee. Defeating them, the party presses deeper into the caverns and discovers two identical
octopus women, one (holding some stone tablets) who immediately surrenders, and the other (tied with rope),
who looks at the other and says, "Kill Her!" As Viggo approaches the second to untie her, he notices that
she is not actually tied, just holding the rope with some of her tentacles to appear she is bound. Her
ruse easily discovered and her "twin" still very much alive, the one pretending to be tied up also raises
her limbs to surrender, leaving just one tentacle free in order to use it to hand over a small ornate pick hammer to Viggo.
The Session ended at that point, on Day 78, at approximately 52 o'clock. And each of The Red-Gold company has gained
enough experience to go up a level, but they will need at least 10 work-periods of training to gain all of their 9th-level
class abilities.
Session 44
While Timador goes to the surface to cast Detect Magic and Identify rituals on the items acquired
from the Cecaelia, the party question the two captives (Siliea and Astuon) separately. Both give similar stories
explaining of how they were cast out from their "family" (the ruling class "Oikogeneia" of Malikkio, an undersea
kingdom to the south in the AvaNorr sea). Seeking to regain their position by gaining a magical enhancement
a legend of theirs describes (in the Tablets of Thrylos), a band of the octopus creatures ventured north through
the water system of the Klar Bergseen. Part of the ritual required them to precisely shape a rare crystal to
be used at the mountain shrine of the goddess Nässe. To help them in this task, they sought to steal the
Geomancer's Pickhammer from the clerics of Faith-Hold. Siliea obtained the instrument but ended up killing one of
the clerics in the act.
Bargaining for their lives, the two remaining Cecaelia seek to partner with The Red Gold Company to reach the
mountain shrine location and enact the ritual, which Astuon says that a dozen people can partake in, a ritual
that is said to enhance whatever is "the best of you." As the Cecaelia's know the ritual words and have an
idea of where to find the shrine, the party agrees to undertake this venture. They travel secretly another three
miles underwater through the lakes and streams before climbing the rugged hills. Using his owl familiar and a
rough map of the area, Timador is able to get a good view of the shrine locations. As six monks dressed in
magenta robes are seen meditating, the party climbs and circles around to where they have spotted a nearby
statue shrine. After climbing down to it, Astuon discovers that it is not the shrine she seeks.
After exploring the nearby western streams and waterfalls for another shrine to the water goddess without
success, the adventurers travel east to a tunnel with a warm stream and steam vents. Inside the steamy
caverns, they locate a stone temple and battle with a robed figure who appears after he summons a Steam
ParaElemntal. During the battle, the elemental explodes in a boiling blast, and the robed figure summons
a second. Before he can sumon a third, several of the party members change tactics and focus their attacks
instead of the robed figure with the staff. They defeat him and his second elemental.
Inside the temple, they find the statue that Astuon is seeking. Behind it, a grated vent to the west pours
out a geyser of steam and water, most of which flows east through some type of magical gate (similar to the
one encountered beneath the Ziggurat). Some of the runoff water, though, has settled around the statue of
the goddess, and the water there is cool to the touch. Astuon enters the pool and opens a secret compartment
in the base of the statue. Inside two crystal rods (similar in shape and size to the one she's carved) are
seen fused together and to the statue. Astuon adds the third and speaks the enchantment. Immediately, and
much to her surprised, the area around the statue begans to quickly cool. The air crisps, horefrost crackles
over the surface of the statue and water, and the pools slushes and freezes. Sagon breaks the surface of
the ice with his staff, and everyone present quickly drinks from the pool as the legend indicated. None
feel any effects other than having had an ice-cold, refreshing drink.
The cooling of the temple continues, though, and the scalding blast of west-east traveling steam also seems
to cool, such that the steam filled portal to the east has lessoned, and the party is able to see an area
beyond that appears to be a high stonework overlooking a wide expanse of sky and clouds. Although the
path through the portal seems safe to attempt, the party seems no real benefit in them making the venture,
especially after Timador's owl familiar passes through and is dispatched by a giant eagle.
Still, not satisfied that the ritual worked as intended (and seeing no other future for herself), Astuon
tells the party that she will pass through and continue on. She does, and is able to soon return unharmed.
There is some type of tall stone tower beyond, resting on a cloud and suspended in the sky. She then
immediately goes again through the portal. The others decide to follow. Soon afterwards, Astuon is
squashed and impaled by a massive trap protecting the gated entrance to the tower's courtyard. As the
the others climb over and in, they are attacked by a pair of giant eagles, who have a next nearby containing
one large egg. The giant eagles are quickly slain, and then the tower is explored, which involves a lot
of climbing of the spiral stairs. Each level, though, is populated mostly by a few crates and barrels,
mundane items and no guards, until a buzzsaw wielding clockwork man attacks the monk through a locked
grating.
Three other clockwork men are encountered on the upper levels, and the party stumbles upon a sizable pile
of precious metal coins, cups, and platters heaped on the floor of the fifth level. In a vaulted wooden
loft above, a long, wingless dragon slithered down to protect its hoard. Not a traditional white dragon,
the creature's tail and biting attacks included cold and electrical damage; plus, it had a fearsome
aspect, which it could direct against its foes.
Viggo and Siliea were awash with horror, but did what
they could to destroy the creature. Sagon delivered a flurry of blows but knocked unconscious by the
dragon's fearsome tail spikes. Kime hit with arrows while Vogelfest (in the form of a giant ape) tore
at the lizard with savage fury. Timador, Stroop, and Yrsa cast Fireball, Dissonant Whispers,
and channeled a Radiance of the Dawn to good effect. But it was the tiny Stroop, who fell
the misty dragon with a well-placed crossbow bolt released from his crwth harp.
With little time to celebrate the victory or gather the treasure, it became apparent to the party that
the cloud tower was falling. They could see that they were about two miles up and falling towards the
village of Faith-Hold. Seeing little they could do, they grabbed what they could and raced down the
spiral stairs and made their way back through the portal. As they fled, the tower jerked a few times
as if trying to right itself and stop its descent. Back in the temple within the steam caverns, the
party finds themselves faced to face with the six magenta-clad shrine monks.
The session ended there on Day 79, approximately 15:00.
Session 45
The Company and Siliea pass through the mystic gate back into the temple within the steam caverns, now
grown icy. The magenta-clad monks assembled within the chamber glare up at them, and five quickly approach
ready for combat. One remained seated at the base of the statue of the elemental goddess; he had the
secret compartment at the base of the statue open. Within the compartment, one of the three crystal rods
(the one that Astuon had inserted) began to glow and vibrate itself free of the other two. The rod then
shattered, much to the apparent surprise of the monk seated before it. The other monks racing forward
also wore bewildered expressions on their faces, faces--and their whole bodies that at least from the
party's perspective--became phantomy and transparent. Soon the monks had disappeared completely, but not
before they had seized hold of Siliea, who had also become transparent before vanishing completely.
The temple likewise faded away, and the party was left alone in a cave with very little evidence except
their experience to suggest this location was anything other than just a stream in a hydrothermic cavern.
After a quick glance outside, they determined they were "back on their world," and that they would
wait out the Eclipse here and take a short rest. Timador ritually cast a Tiny Hut to protective them
while the party examined recent acquisitions. These included 8,850 GP worth of dragon treasure,
some loose pages of erotic fiction involving a gnome and a Night Walker, a staff of Elemental Enrichment,
and a tome that contained emergency instructions and diagrams of how to use the Armillary Sphere in the
cloud tower to maintain the "lyftamotorer" and "fuktspridare," lifting engines and moisture spreaders.
Finally venturing outside, The Company explored the Feustakuss Mountains' valley. In this reality,
they do not see monks nor buildings around the stone circle shrine, but the stone circle appeared the same.
And the streams are more like creeks here; the northwestern waterfalls are smaller and much closer to the
stone circle. While examining the falls, searching for a statue of Nässe or a concealed cave behind
them, Sagon spots what appears to be a hand thrust from the waters, which flashed a circled gesture of thumb and
forefinger before it promptly disappeared. Searching that location, no hand nor creature can be found, and the water
there is found to be only an inch deep.
As Timador has recast the summonings for his owl familiar, the wizard sends Corniho up to scan the area, and
two wolves--one large buffalo wolf and one with large sabre-teeth--are discovered south of the
stone circle. With the wolves is a young woman who is camping (and vactioning) at the location. She
is Drueda Tränken, and, Kime supposes--since a 60 foot diameter low-hanging storm cloud appeared above
the party at roughly the same time Tränken was encountered--the woman is likely a powerful druid. The
woman was hestitant to meet face-to-face with the party, and communicated by speaking through the Sabre-tooth.
Tränken revealed she's from a small thorp southeast of Lamordia. She indicates there is no village called
Faith-Hold south of this mountain shrine; the lands below aren't sutible, she says, of supporting much life.
However, she knew of a larger city to the northwest, Avon Leigh, but the eastern lands she has been exploring
with her wolf companions are mostly unsettled wilderness. Of Lamordia, she said she knew many of the names the
party shared with her but not Sir Henry Clerval. Plus, the Baron there was named
Victor Mordancain; he son was Vashon.
The Company brought the petrified Winter Wolf out of the portal hole to see if Tränken could do anything
for him. She says she could, just not at the moment. And, as restoring him would require expending her
highest level spell, she was hesitant to do so amoung a large group of adventurers she barely knew.
Likewise, some of the party members didn't wish to abandon their friend to be restored among a person that
he did not know. So, AraAru was placed again into the hole, and the party traveled south to see if the three
lakes and Faith-Hold could be located. They found a small system of streams and creeks and dry land.
They then traveled westerly and decided to camp and long rest in the forests near Lamordia where Kime
discovered caribou tracks. The party continued their level training there before entering
Lamordia one hour into Bright Night. The village appeared much as they thought it might, the major difference
being that there was no stately manor house there belonging to Sir Henry. The Stagger Inn was there, and most of
the adventurers went in to drink ale, enjoy pork stew, and hear local news. Meanwhile, Sagon explored
a busy market area and ventured into the church where the clergyman was giving a lecture on raising wheat.
Kime had started follow behind Sagon, while she also directed Vogelfest to keep out of sight lest
the large wild cat frighten any villagers. Vogelfest--and then Kime--hear a cry near a small pond to the
west. A boy fishing there caught sight of a gilled humanoid monster swimming towards him.
This monster abducted the child but Kime got him to drop the boy by shooting the creature with arrows. The ranger sent her cat to
get the rest of the group. Vogel Kitty soon ran into Viggo and with Stroop, who had left the tavern to see about
a hag who had been captured and nailed to a post near the Baron's Road. They follow the cat to where
Kime was now battling a Ghoul, whom the locals could not see as being anything other their good neighbor,
Daisy--and a wounded Daisy ran towards her friends shouting "murder." The gilled creature also made a returned
appearance as it dashed away from the small pond into the southern part of the village. Well... this all ended with
two monsters killed and stuffed into the portal hole, Stroop cast a Sleep spell on a small
neighborhood, and Viggo knocked one of the home owners unconscious.
Sagan, likewise, kept busy tangling with a city crossbow man as the monk tried to discretely
question the nailed up hag while also feeding her Good Berries. When informed by the guard to get away
from her, Sagan learned that she was comdemned by the Baron. So the monkraced away up to castle to see about
that. He ran by the castle guards and Adam Lavenza, and stormed into a tower laboratory, where Vashon
Mordancain and Dr. Sunn were busy with a chemical experiment. At the interruption, Dr. Sunn made ready to throw
beakers of chemicals at the monk while a butler, who was also present, attempted to lead the
monk outside. Vashon rushed away calling for guards and his father.
Sagan heads back to the middle of town and the rest of The Company reassembles. Traveling back up the switchback
road to the castle, they encounter a force of armored guards led by Baron Victor Mordancain and Adam Lavenza.
The Baron objects to his home being barged into and demands that the party leaves and also threatens especially
to punish the monk. Sagon notes with his goggles that the Baron registers as undead (as do Adam's limbs). A
melee ensues, during which Victor transforms into a swirling dust-like creature wearing a cloak of human skin.
The Baron attacks by projecting a wide jet of dust causing dehydration damage to the monk, Kime,
Vogelfest (fighting in the Polymorphed form of "Grape Ape"), Yrsa, and one of his own guards. Viggo casts a
Burning Hands spell, which is well positioned and proves especially effective against Adam. Stroop
Dissonant Whispers against Victor, who doesn't flee since the monk took away the Baron's Reaction this turn.
Yrsa then channels Radiance of the Dawn. Disliking that, Adam releases a Chain Lightning elemental burst targeting
the cleric. Fried and smoldering, Yrsa drops to the road and three additional bolts of lightning arc from her body
to strike Kime, Timador, and Stroop.
The battle rages on. Kime heals herself. The Baron's guards fall but Victor and Adam have a considerable reserve
of hit points, but even they have a limit and cannot stand up long to flailing monk fists and superior numbers.
The Baron manages to get off a second dehydration blast but Adam is unable to recharge his devastating elemental
attack. Yrsa comes close to death, but the Company wins the conflict. They grab what and who they can and shove
it into a very stuffed portable hole. They also drag a couple of the other bodies and stash them under a tree
near the castle steps. As other guards and residents of the tower begin to emerge, the party decides to retreat
from the village back to the forest where they had camped earlier.
The Session ended on Day 79, approximately 43 o'clock. Next Long Rest is available at 51:00.
Session 46
The adventurers avoid detection in the forest, where they evaluate treasure, dump bodies, and plot next how to
proceed. They consider returning early to search the Baron's keep for cursed items. They ponder how best to
approach, either from the south on the main roads, through the forest and down a 45 foot cliff, or underwater
from the lake to the north. They decide to wait long enough so they can Long Rest first, and they get in some
additional level training. Eventually, they approach from the cliff forest.
Using Timador's owl familiar and Viggo's telescope they evaluate the situation. Some citizens of Lamordia are
up and working in the northern section of the city near the lake. Guards are stationed on the road leading to
the keep and around the towers. The party's plan of climbing the eastern slope to the keep is scuttled when
Viggo spots a very large ship sailing in on the lake. He estimates it will be about a half hour before
it arrives and will be able to tender smaller ships ashore. Worse, Viggo spies a skeletal creature climbing
up from below its deck. They have heard the Lamordia locals in two different realities speak of a Lich King
who "unlives" north of Lamordia in the nearby city of Avon Leigh.
A more direct plan is called for, and Sagan and Viggo approach the crossbow man who is standing guard of the hag
(still alive and still nailed to the wooden post in the village square). Sagan stuns the guard and Viggo renders him
unconscious. The others quickly catch up and iron and silver metal spikes are pulled out of the hag's arms
and legs, freeing her. They ask questions of her, but for an asnwer she asks if a ship has been seen approaching.
When confirmed, she speaks of the Lich King Azlin Rex come to get her, says to hightail it out of there, and she
vanishes in a puff of smoke (only to appear 60 feet further to the North, where she calls back a "Thanks"). She
is later spotted further north diving into the lake, which strikes the party odd as the Lich is approaching from
that way. They have no time to watch her, though, as they make their way up the Baron's road as quickly as they
can without countering the stealth benefits of Kime's Pass Without a Trace spell.
The Red-Gold Company have little difficulties dispatching the crossbow men protecting the keep. Timador also
takes out a Grackle, who has been sitting in a nearby tree in the same spot for half a day. When his arrow
strikes the bird, it puffs out of existence as if it were conjured or a familiar. Timador's owl flies to that
spot and discovers an orb-like object that looks to have been attached to the black bird by a ribbon collar. (Later
that orb proves to be some type of a eye and ear device, likely the craft of some hag or another).
Many of the townsfolk are found to have gathered in the keep's tower, and Vashon, Liz, Dr. Sunn, and others
quickly surrender , suggesting that the party take whatever treasure there is if they spare the villagers. Which the party does,
even helping those that they dispatched.
Then, taking the treasure and three horses from the stable, the adventurers head southeast
(they have "let leak" that they will join the army that's coming from there to battle with the Lich King). But, after a
only a couple of miles, they turn west and head back towards Fort Framlin, after deliberately leaving false tracks.
While returning, they encounter Trandel the Cleric, Bat Bork, Zortan the Mighty, and Derek the Dashing, a party
of lower level adventurers they met previously near the Svarta capital (where the Red-Gold Company fought Kobolds and Black Dragon wyrmlings).
These other four after that had made their way further north, where they were recruited by the Colafar forces. Information is
exchanged between both groups, including maps and warnings about the Lich, and those four continue their scouting mission to explore the most
northern points of the Norr Mountains.
Back safely at Fort Framlin, the Red-Gold Company is requested to help guard the fort while many of the normal
guards are busy in the west fighting a low-powered but large zombie hoard threat. The party does so as that
will also give them adequate time to finish their level training. They also meet with Priestess Deevar Lightkeeper
(serving Vhereum Steadfast), who is able to ascertain that two of the magical items they've brought back are
cursed: the skin covered cloak and the onyx dog with a jeweled collar. The priestess neutralizes these curses,
and the items become treasure picks for the Company to be divided with the rest of the gathered loot.
Yrsa, now 9th level (with a 5th-level spell slot) is able to restore AraAru. The Winter Wolf thanks the party
for avenging and his clan and curing him from the petrification. Having no home to return to now (and intrigued
by the wintery lands of the Astrogaard as depicted on the Company's maps), AraAru decides he will try to seek
out a new home there. He says he will also try to meet with the wolf Druid vacationing near the Mountain Shrine.
The next session will begin on the morning of Day 83 with the party heading back to Free Port by steam wagon.
Timador contacted Captain Michael Otso with a Sending spell, and Otso requested them to return to
Freeport in a way that would leave open the possibility of them returning through those same logistical
channels if Otso deems it necessary.
Session 47
Day 83 opens with the adventurers ready to head back to Svartaland. They are just waiting for the steam wagon
to arrive and for Commander Macgram Grimhide and his troops to return from a mission in the northwest. While they
wait, the Red-Gold Company bolster the skeleton crew guarding Fort Framlin (still under construction). The four
"old school" adventurers, Bork, Trandel, Zortan, and Derek man the the south western walls and towers while a
couple of crossbow men keep an eye on the northwest. The Red-Gold Company are positioned along the stretch of the
eastern walls where a road enters the keep. This section is particularly vulnerable yet as the pathway remains
exposed (pending the arrival and installation of metal grating to form portcullis gates). Luckily, the last few
days have been uneventful as the party has trained up to 9th level.
This all changes when Viggo spies a large bird or dragon-like shape flapping its way ever closer from the east.
Using his telescope, the sun alf is able to determine the shape is some type of flying boat (almost as large as
the party's ocean-going knarr, the Silver Rose).
Once the vessel gets within 500 feet away, it drops off five wyverns with wraith-like riders and carrying some
type of firebomb barrels. Using their longbows, Kime and Sagon get off some arrows at long range as the dragons
and their dark riders race and dive in closer. Observing they are under missile attack, the wyvern spread out,
some veering off and seeking ground cover behind nearby cliff and rock formations. Instead of continuing to
press closer, though, several of the wraiths leap from their saddles while their mounts take again to the air
aiming to deliver their fire bombs.
Also, once grounded on the road or in the nearby clover fields, the wraiths deploy their swords, making some
type of wide cutting action in the air opening up some type of mystic gate. Ghouls and Ghasts step through
and began racing as fast as they could towards the road opening into the keep. The Company concentrates first
upon taking out the approaching wyvern, managing to kill one and causing the bomb of another to explode
prematurely.
Meanwhile, one of the wraiths, who swooped his mount out of sight to the south east somehow managed to show
up again over 300 feet to the west on the southern most tower of the fort. There, he withdrew his flaming
sword, summoned his complement of ghouls and ghasts, and set fire to the fort's depot warehouse. With
the help of a fireball from Timador, the old school adventurers manage to dispatch the wraith, his troops,
and put out the flames.
Back along the eastern walls, The Company finish off the last of the wyvern, but not before Sagon and Viggo
are hit with poisoned tail barbs. Once Kima and "Great Ape" Vogelfest fell a wyvern, they battle against
another wraith who has risen up to the top of their fort tower riding a a bolt of lightning. A well-placed
Wall of Fire from Yrsa helps to seal the exposed fort entrance while also burning many of the undead.
Their wraith commander enlarges some of the cliff shrubbery and rides it up to the top of of the tower where
Stroop's Bardic abilities and Yrsa's improved flare make it more difficult for the Wraith to hit Stroop with
an acid sword.
Some unexpected help revealed itself to have been hiding in the vegetation of the clover fields. Two giant
lizards and a trio of hags (Brenda Hyrr, Sahgae Behd, and Alice d'Goon) battled the Dust Wraith and its
undead force. (Brenda and her crew had stealthed their way in close earlier and had been trying to contact
the monk Sagan telepathically, hoping to enter the fort under friendly terms. Sagan's ring, however shielded
his mind from such communication. So they were waiting an opportunity to try something else.) Also, from
within the Fort's Command Center, the venerable Priestess Devaar then emerged and she used a overslotted
Fireball spell and then her Channel Divinity to Destroy the last of the Undead.
After the fighting concluded, the sky ship was well out of range and heading north where it could not be
easily followed. There was little to be learned of the attackers as they carried nothing of interest or
value except for five powerful magic swords, one which had been claimed by the old schoolers, three by the
Red-Gold Company, and one by the hags. The hags, however, gave the sword to The Company in exchange for
them giving aid and shelter to the hags, who wish to travel south hoping to recruit other hags to form
what they called a "Ninefold of Grandmothers." They felt that powerful grouping would give them the
powers that they would need to track down the Lich King Azalin Rex's phylactery and destroy him forever
and stop his slow southward contagion.
The Steam Wagon then arrives with some new recruits, and Commander Macgram also returns. He understands
that standing up to a Lich is dangerous and he understands that the adventurers would be wanting to head
south again. The dwarf also mentioned that a Lich would not be in any great hurry to attack directly, that
Azalin would likely prefer that they bring the fight to him, where he would have all of the advantages.
After they agree to deliver it, Macgram gives the party a letter to "some of the military people they
know in Svarta." Macgram hopes he can convince the Queen to send some champions to help in the fight.
Macgram also mentioned he would be trying to contact "some of the heavy-weights": the names he rattled off were
Colafar (if he were still alive), the Wizards Serchka, Vrasper, and Avsvarya, and the Dragon Adelgnista
i brons.
The Company then traveled via steam wagon back to Freeport, where, after contacting Captain Michael
Otso about their hag companions, got approval for Timador to use the target Teleportion Circle in Atua Wahrs.
Once there, they detailed the results of their latest mission, then were assigned to Long Rest and make ready to be
immediately deployed again, this time to southwest Svarta where some type of "sea monster" has been
causing damage to the villages along the shores of Lake Kupfersee near Neidriga Verter. The Company
also took the opportunity to visit the Rat's Market to sell off their bulky treasures and make new
purchases.
Next Session will begin first thing on Day 84.
Session 48
The Red-Gold Company assembles before Captain Michael Otso, who gives them more details regarding their
mission to the Great Lake Kupfersee. Otso informs them that the region is sparsely populated (due to
less than ideal living conditions around the lake); still, he doubts that some great sea serpent has
made it inland to and/or is now living in the region. Likely, he thinks, that an aquatic species,
such as the Sahuagin, have snuck in and think they take over the area. "No, they can not," the Captain
makes it clear.
Timador meets with the high elf wizard, Maurice Pabanise to discuss constructing a magic item. Maurice
is there to cast the Teleportation Circle that will take the party to the Bergschatz War Mausoleum.
Maurice shows Timador the sigil sequence required to get there, but he also warns that he must "Message"
Mertil ("The Root Hermit") in advance if he ever plans to use it. Maurice also gives Timador a rune-
carved wooden cane to deliver for him to Mertile, apparently this is some item that she is "Supposed to hide."
The adventurers teleport into a 12 foot deep lightless pit into two feet of water. A redheaded halfling
female leans her head in to examine them before throwing down a rope ladder. She (Mertil) tells them a
bit about herself, her dog Whiskey, and the War Mausoleum, which is mostly a cover story to explain why
various military types seem to show up in this remote mountain cave shrine location. Apart from relaying
messages and handling teleportion duties (and warding) for the military, Mertil spend much of her time
here crafting permanent illusions, mainly ways of hiding magic items from Detect Magic spells.
She also serves as tour guide of the facilities whenever visitors show up.
Mertil shares her map of the region with Viggo, who hurriedly makes a copy of it as she explains local
areas of interest, particularly around the county of Eintracht. The mayor of that area, Lars De Jong,
asked her to call in the military to explore a murder and other unusual happenings. Mertil loans the party
her trekeping, a six-oar, 32 foot long sailing ship, which she keeps camouflaged about a mile away
near the great lake. They take it to the main village of Eintracht, whose local children and fishermen
cheer and greet them.
Mayor Lars then appears and leads them to a public house, where he has various citizen witnesses ready
to relate their stories. Anika De Vries from Slange discovered a pale body that was torn and lashed
and mostly bloodless. The mayor added that they think the dead man was Kerstan Van Dyne, a well known
local criminal ("so it might be just a deal gone bad or something"). Henrick Van Den Berg from Eintracht
then realted how his sturdy chicken coop was torn down and his chickens killed or stolen. The odd thing
is that a piece of a rope that was apparently used to tear down the coop was more vine like than rope
and was just coiled around one of the framing poles, not tied at all. Then, apparently it broke off when it
was used to pull down that section. Famke Visser, a local deaf and dumb fisherwoman, then described
what she saw (using facial expressions and hand gestures). The mayor translated for her (and Viggo noted
that the conversation taking place via sign-language was quite similar to Hwelm/"Thieves Cant"). Famke
describe a lake serpent type of monster who had two glowing eyes "bright as coal oil lanterns" and also,
as it moved, fog seemed to peel off of it. Nearby along the shoreline, thorny vines bushes were trampled
and blood was discovered. A merchant guard was sent to investigate the scene and he went missing.
Two local pig farmers, the Slattengren Brothers, burst in then claiming that they've captured a thorn plant
creature in a net and
had tied him up. The party and one of the brothers (able to borrow a fresh horse) then head north to their pig farm.
When they arrive, they find that a second monster has freed the first and killed a third
Slattengren brother, who was left behind to guard the creature. While the party battles the vine and bark creatures
(one attacks with blood sucking throny vines while the other is a more sturdy, woody monster), the monk
Sagan detects the creatures releasing a pollen when they are destroyed. This pollen either alerts or
creates newer plant creatures nearby, for two others appear and join in the fight. No more appear after
the newcomers are destroyed, and even the two that did weren't apparently shrubs/trees that were on
the farm property earlier, so the pollen appears to be some type of warning system.
Kime, Vogelfest, and Sagan follow the creature's tracks east into the southeastern part of the Slangmyr.
Once in the swamp, the ranger leads them to a spot near the shoreline of the great lake where the
four creatures apparently uprooted themselves. Nearby, they also find evidence that a ship was hauled
ashore and one humanoid bare foot print. Someone had also taken pains to remove some other footprints
that look to have moved inland to where the creatures had uprooted.
returning back to Eintracht, they report to Mayor Lars. Lars then introduces them to a trade merchant,
Etu Brutay, who makes dairy product runs between Eintracht and the northern village of Felson. Etu tells
of strange lights that he saw on or about the central lake island of Sumpø. The party then
decides to take Mertil's ship on a three-hour tour around the island, which is a thin, three-mile long
outcropping of stone, covered with loose rocks, mud, tangled roots, and shrubs and hedges. They row
and sail around Sumpø while Timador views the island from above using the senses of his owl
familiar. He spies a stone ruin, but before going ashore to investigate it, they continue a full trip
around the island looking for other areas of interest. The waters in the central part of the lake are
100 feet or more deep, but the monk Sagan spots a submerged/sunked boat about 20 feet down on a rocky
ledge along the northern part of Sumpø He swims down, finds it weighted with stones. He
also finds a chest. The party bring the ship up and the chest is examined: it contains a couple of
jars of fish oil, glass and metal lanterns, and metal hoops, which prove to be ways to hang the lanterns
on the front of the ship.
Heading ashore and inland then, the Company explores the ruins. There they see a skeleton lying in a
stone casket, an ash tree has grown straight through its ribcage and upwards. Once they are positioned
for possible melee, Timador Firebolts the tree, burning many of its wet leaves and seed keys.
The fire blast disturbs some giant-ass spiders and additional plant creatures, a larger variety that combines
the bark toughness and thorny tendrils of the ones previously encountered. After the battle, the party
thoroughly examines the area, finding no apparent secret doors or entrances. Yrsa does however discover
that the skeleton is also made of stone, not bone. And, in a small roofed building, the rest of the party find a stretch
of one inch diameter copper piping. The end of it is about two feet off the ground, its opening covered
with a mesh of wire, and the pipe then bends and heads straight down into the ground through solid stone.
Much is attempted then, including digging, a Stone Shape spell, and dropping sling bullets inside
the pipe on strings and without string. Frustrated, they determine that the pipe goes down about 60 feet
before the pipe bends again, which was discovered by dropping a bullet with a Light spell cast
upon it. Assuming an underground lair must be down there, Stroop risks taking damage by using his
Dimension Door spell to port down there, which works, but he is immediately attacked by blue-
skinned humanoids. Stroop also notes some coffin-like boxes down there on raised platforms in a dark
10 feet wide by 12 feet high by 30 feet long passageway. Stroop uses his first opportunity then to
Dimension Door back to the surface.
The Session ended then about 10:00 on Day 84. The party can long rest again come 12:00.
Session 49
The Company decides to further search the area near where they discovered the sunken ship; this includes
on the island nearby, but they find nothing above water of interest. The monk Sagan then dives back to
the island cliff area 20 feet below the water's surface. Again, finding nothing new, he heads further
down into the murkiness bu keeps near the cliff-like edges of the island. At 60 feet down, there is
no more light to support any lake plant growth. But, once deep into the dark, Sagan spots a glow
further down and about 150 feet to the west. As he gets closer, he discovers a shimmering pool beneath
a stone shrine and a settlement of ruined stone houses; one of the buildings, built against/into the
base of the cliff is still intact.
Relaying this information to his companions above, the monk and the rest of the Company decide to rest
for 8 hours within a Tiny Hut. Afterwards, they all swim down to examine the ruins. Within the
intact home, they find three bluish-skin humanoids (apparently Water Genasi), who are drugged or charmed,
and residing aimlessly inside, just going through the motions of eating clams, gazing at stuff that isn't
apparent, or caring for aquatic mushrooms growing upon bones and wet, decaying compost
It isn't until the party goes into the basement that they encounter opposition: two blue-green skin
lesser vampires, who attacked immediately.
In the room that they were occupying, Yrse recognizes a
stone statue depiction of the goddess Freehet. Around the base of her statue small piles of clear
and light colored quartz crystals were placed as offerings, four of which had Continual Flame cast
upon them to illuminate the room.
The fight going against them, one of the vampires manages to escape to the next room, where it swims
through a full length mirror attached to one of the walls in a sunken portion of the floor. Viggo and
Sagan attempt to follow, but instead of passing through the mirror, their encounter equal and opposite
reflections of rapier blades or palms and fingers that push back at them and prevent passage.
The other vampire, once defeated, dissapated into a gas and/or watery form, which, despite the vampire
being unconscious or dead, began traveling the same direction as the other vampire had fled. Physical
attacks and magic had no affect upon the creature while it was in this form, but, as it needed to be
able to flow to continue, Timador commanded the water elemental creature he had summoned to entrap the
creature by enveloping the creature within its own body. Having success with that, Timador then unbolted
all four of the full length mirrors in the room, tied them together in pairs facing each other, and the
party returned to the surface--after seeing no other way to proceed.
Back at the island ruins, Yrsa and Timador then use a combination of stone manipulation spells near the
60 foot long copper piping to remove stone and to turn the rest of it into a mud so that it slides
down at an angle into the area where Stroop previously gained access by casting Dimension Door.
In this way, they are able to create an unexpected new entrance to the underground lair and surprise
three additional vampires. After opening a 3x3 shaft, Yrsa and Timador also toss down Daylight
and Fireball spells. Sagan, Kime, and Viggo quickly slide down the shaft and engage the
creatures in melee. Two are destroyed and turn to gas and seep into their coffins, which are right
at hand in the cramped 10x30x15 passage. The third turns to mist before it is destroyed and flows
through another pipe that runs horizontally to the north, to another chamber. Having none of that,
Yrsa rattles off a couple more stone spells to open a passage through along the pipe.
After destroying the three vampire, a fourth one, one very fishy-looking creature, appears at the
north end of the room through another pipe and into a space protected behind a metal grating. He
announces himself as "Velya Straub, once the high cleric of The Cozener (Freehet), and now the Lord
of Kupfern (apparently the settlement beneath Lake Kupfersee)." The aquatic vampire seeks some
resolution to the conflict and parlays with The Company. The conflict quiets as both sides then
discuss the situation.
Velya reveals that he (and his children) have not made any of the attacks against the surface
dwellers. In fact, he states that he has a treaty with three gods (Freehet, Shruekra, and Kree Hweef)
not to. In exchange, Shruekra, supplies a limited number of Water Genasi to him for him to use as food.
The attacks, Velya surmises, were carried out by a former underling of his, Di Genova, who recently
disappeared and left the underground layer. Di Genova apparently employed Blights (The vine creatures
that grow upon the Gulthias Tree like seedlings) to carry out his bidding and stir up the villagers.
The "lake monster" ship was likely designed to attract the army or adventurers to Sumpø island,
where Di Genova hoped that they would destroy his former master.
Velya agrees to pay weregild or 300 gold pieces for each human slain, and he also informs the party
that he and his children will be moving on to a new location in a few days. They may have first
pick out of anything they leave behind. He also gives them 5,000 gold if they will track and hunt
down Di Genova for him (Velya shows them a painting of the rogue vampire). If Stroop thought he
recognized the man, he kept mum about it. When the Company suggests that would try to lure Di
Genova back to the crypt area by announcing that they had killed Velya, the vampire lord removes
the magical vest that was protecting him against Yrsa's Daylight spell, and he suggests
that they "brandish this openly as evidence." The magical vest absorbs 8 points of Radiant Damage
each round and allows a vampire to continue to regenerate even if they take radiant damage. "Such
a prize would no doubt tempt Di Genova into action to acquire it."
The session ended there, Day 84 at approximately 23:00. Able to Long Rest again at 40:00.
Session 50
After returning to the surface of Sumpø, Yrsa and Stroop rest to recover from exhaustion while
the rest of adventurers relay Sending messages and prepare a potential barrel trap and Alarm
system in case the rogue vampire returns to the island and attempts to access the crypts below via
the copper piping. Timador also Skywrites a message about they're battling Vampires to alert
the villagers in Eintracht, while also trying to convince Di Genova that it would be pointless for
him to kill more innocents hoping the murders would lead back to Velya.
Also while encamped long enough to require Tiny Hut to be cast twice, The Company examines
and divides treasure, and they hold a bidding auction on the much coveted Ring of Protection +1,
which eventually is sold to Sagon for 10,000 GP. Also, during the rest periods, both Viggo and
Kime occasionally step out of the hut to check on things, and they both confirm each other's
observations and suspicions that the Gulthias Tree (magically burnt by Timador) is showing signs
of regenerating now that night has once again shrouded the island. Noting how slowly the tree
is recovering, they don't suspect it will be an issue.
Once the group has recovered their spells, there is just enough Bright Night left for them to
sail back to Eintracht before Second Night. They are interested in reaching the village before
people go to sleep to parade around a bit, showing that Sagon is wearing Velya's Umbra Vest,
hoping that it will entice Di Genova to make an immediate attack. Upon arriving at the thorp,
they discover that the low land quay dock area near the major's house has given way, and the
Reeve's Tax office (where they met previously with Mayor Lars de Jong and witnesses) and a
nearby farm yard are flooded. Inquiring at the nearby fish market, they learn that the Mayor
has set up temporary shop at the Krog Tavern across the bridge to the south to Utsprång rock.
As they make there way there to speak with Lars, they also announce to passersby that they will
be holding a victory celebration and that there will be free drinks to be had.
Upon trying to enter the tavern, two guards (one of who they recognize as having been in town
when they met before with the mayor) directs them to a Lizard Woman behind a counter. "Please
check your weapons before entering the inn. Sorry, it's local policy to help curtail bar room
fights." Yrsa checks her mace and Timador surrenders his shortbow before entering, but the
others in the group decide to hold onto their gear and instead sit at an out-door picnic table
next to two other men in armor, who look to have made the same choice. Drinks and food can
still be served to them via nearby windows opening into the tavern.
Inside the tavern, Tysa makes her way towards the stage, on which a quartet of musicians are
performing. Mayor Lars, the deaf fisherwoman, and a gnome are seated below them drinking.
Timador, meanwhile, makes his way up to the second level, where a burly barbarian wearing
bear skins in drinking alone. They exchange cigarettes and cigars and the wizard offers
to buy him a drink. It is about then that Yrsa reaches the Mayor, and she (medically well
versed in spotting drunkenness) determines that Lars is not drunk but is instead showing
signs of being mesmerized. The hobbit lute player takes this same moment to come down
from the stage and makes crude gyrations and showy codpiece thrusts at Yrsa. Ignoring
him for the moment, the cleric casts an upslotted Restoration. Lars recovers with
a start, twists and points behind him, shouting "They're back there!"
Melee ensues in the tavern while outside, Viggo spots one of the men at the other table
pulling a dagger in responses to his seeing Stroop climbing up to and leaning in the
window calling inside for a drink. Melee then ensues outside as well, which includes
the dagger-weilding man's friend trying to shove Kime off Utsprång rock into the
lake below. Many of the tavern patrons attack Yrsa while others quickly depart the
establishment or curiously just look on. A Mindflayer emerges from one of the backrooms
casts a couple of spells, and Timador ends up chucking a Fireball and shaping it
around Yrsa, Lars, and a few others that he thinks are probably good guys. Also, by
then, Sagan has climbed in through the window and is exchanging blows with the flayer,
knocking him to the floor. The Flayer, nearly beaten to death, manages to raise himself
up enough to Psionic Blast the area, killing Lars and several others.
The fight pretty much ended, one of the bartenders, Geoff, notices that the cook and his
wife are no longer in the kitchen. And the weapons-check lizard woman is also gone,
apparently all of them disappeared down a trapdoor leading into "the celler," a large
cavern within Utsprång rock, once used for smuggling, which has a concealed door
under the bridge opening at the water level of lake. Geoff opens the trapdoor and
calls down for them, but gets no reply. Timador and the rest of The Company, having
discovered that Yrsa's "checked" magical mace is gone, race around outside to the
bridge and check to see if anyone is fleeing the scene before they open the concealed
door and enter the cellar from outside.
A second fight breaks out as they battle giant lizards, a blight, the Lizard Woman, Di Genova
and a female vampire spawn. The two vampires where hiding in a pitfall trap using their
gaseous forms.
During the combat, Viggo comes "this close" to dying and being turned into
a vampire, but the joint attacks from his allies whittle them down and Yrsa's Daylight
spell prevents the vampires from being able to regenerate, while also causes them 20 points
of Radiant damage every round.
The session ended there about 51:00 with The Company discovering some treasure and three
magic items but they are left wondering what the heck was going on and how the Mindflayer
fit into things. They can next Long Rest at 8:00.
Session 50.5
The Company helps the village of Eintracht pick up the pieces. This includes helping to
finance and bring back to life the major and a few others slain in the conflict. An keg
of ale is also wheeled across the bridge to be distributed to the crowd of villages who
had shown up to the participate in the early announced celebration. The party questions
the various bar patrons ascertaining who were most likely being charmed or controlled by
the vampires and the mind flayer.
Returning then to Sumpø Isle, the adventurers find that the vampires appear to have
departed. Exploring the rest of the crypt and caverns reveals that the Vampires have opened
up some passageways in the walls where previously there were only copper piping for their
misty forms to traverse. There is still a decent amount of stuff in the crypts beyond, but
the vampires obviously removed some of the better items and took them with them. They did
not, however, remove a large pipe organ, which Stroop eventually plays. Amongst the other
items left behind are a complete set of smith's tools and some pornographic scrolls, which
likely belonged to some of the vampires who the party destroyed. In the margins of one of
the steamy romance novels, one of these vampires wrote a confession to his master, Velya Straub,
explain that he had known of Di Genova's upcoming betrayal, but, due to a sworn oath that
the two of them had made in life, he could not bring this information to Velya. It is
suggested in the confession that Di Genova was able to break control from the master
vampire with aid from an aberration, likely the mindflayer.
Timador receives a Sending from Mertil that the Company is to return ASAP, as they are
to be reassigned to a new mission. They comply, but first they double check in the buildings
underwater, particularly the Shrine area, to see if the vampires have actually left. They
find the house unoccupied and the shrine "powered down." The Company returns to Eintracht
to relay news of what they found. And, now unable to raise the two monks who had just
recently come to town and died in the tavern fight, the party stashes their bodies in the
Portal Hole, hoping that they find a way to assist them later.
back at the War Mausoleum, Mertil teleports them back to the prison area underneath Kuststad,
which they are met by Commander Holt and Mystic Zak Munten.
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