Campaign Diary 3

• DnDBeyond campaign
• Party inventory

Session 1, Recollections of Sigrid ur Caligo

2023-09-20

Fall Equinox, 1433 AUC

I, Sigrid ur Caligo, attended the performance of The Dread Gift by Tybalt Touchstone and his Troupe after sunset in the glade. I attended under the impression I was here to meet with Sigismund in a vaguely surreptitious manner regarding our previous conversations about the undead, given the occasion and my profession. Yet, I find him trying to wine and dine some minor noble. At the time I thought, ‘Pah, a paladin, maybe a charlatan who learned a little light magic.'

Naturally, the performance was one of those romantic affairs. Hel teaches us that before death, there must be life. Can't say I'm fond of the glorification of vampires even in popular fiction. Personally, I was rooting for the vampire hunters all along.

Suddenly, a real tragedy! The actors, Yorick and Cordelia were attacked. An attack led by a Deathlock! How I missed this foul creature in the crowd I do not know... I may have been lax due to my focus on Victoria. It was not yet the actors' time to meet my Lady. My immediate thought was to rush the stage.

Our records indicate that deathlocks are single minded undead creations who can cast spells and once given a target will hunt them down. Thankfully, unlike their revenant kin, they do not regenerate wounds or inhabit a new body upon death. – Syrena Malloren, Greystone Archive

Defence of the Actors

At the time I was surprised that the noble, who I later learned was Victoria, was deft with weapon and spell and not just another attempted conquest by Sigismund. Speaking of which, even in these early days he was an adept fighter.

During the fight I became acquainted with a psychopathic middin named Lucy who uses powerful psionic magic and an eladrin sorcerer named Gallias who spared the life of Yorick with his healing arts. How they came to know each other still surprises me even after all this time.

The deathlock and one of his followers were spellcasters while the rest of his four companions were mere thugs. The deathlock was slain by Sigismund who then knocked out his spellcasting brethren. The thugs fought on despite their leader being dropped. All were slain in the fight.

We all came out quite scratched and wounded, during this fight I took a cruel blow to the hip as a cultist caught me under my chain mail. Each Equinoxia, I can see the scar.

A victory to the Radiant

Tybalt very conveniently emerged just as the conflict was over and asked us who did this despite mere seconds having passed since our victory. Our investigations of the scene found the following:

On the acolyte, we found 3 potions of healing and an elaborate brass key shaped like a raven wing. We found 75gp too, possibly spilled by the crowd or the cultist thugs.

Further investigation of the deathlock revealed a folded piece of metal with two names, this is a scroll of bane. Cordellia was scratched out while the other name was Alvin Cassaro. He was not known to me until later that evening. Additionally, a letter was found: ‘Deal with the half-elf diva. Make it public. I will handle the wanna-be bard. Meet back at the safehouse afterwards. Burn this after reading. - S'

After waking up the acolyte, Victoria and Sigismund tried to sweet talk the man into speaking who revealed nothing. Seeing this, I intimidated the acolyte into revealing that S stood for Selena by making it very clear who oversaw death. His use was over, his message delivered to Hel's advocate. He asked for a swift death so he may face Hel with a clear conscious. Thus, I performed my rites as the Ferrywoman and sent his soul onwards. I was armed with the knowledge that Selene would be a vampire and never really did die despite the play suggesting she was slain by the hunters. A fact I would be grateful for later that evening.

Further discussion with Tybalt told us a little about the history of the play confirming it was at least based in reality confirming my convictions and gave us two further leads - Alexandra Ashridge, another famous playwright who lives in Covenant. And, thankfully for us, a lead within Greystone - the School of Rhetoric and Oratory. Before leaving for Greystone, I requested that the bodies be prepared for my rites upon our return later that evening.

Lucy asked some stooges at the school about Alexandra, and we were told of the Buckliss Company in the patronage of Countess Catherine of House Beckett. We went to The Boar's Head who told us that Alvin lives in Riverside but was being pursued by another. We left in a hurry to find him. A blessing from Hel to those who had our bottle of wine left behind although I suppose they would have praised Idun.

Victoria took us through a shortcut towards Riverside using her deft acrobatics before I could pick up the trail with my survival skills. This seemed easier than I should have found it, this did not bode well I thought. I shared my feelings with Sigismund who looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Gallias was then told by some locals about a bard nearby.

We found Alvin and his lute before Selena then leaped down from a nearby rooftop. The fangs of her foul nature were as clear as the very stars to me, a vampire. I knew it!

Likely, a Vampire Spawn to be pedantic. Jessica Cooper, our duelling champion, tells me that a true vampire of Azrael would have likely slain Sigrid and her companions with ease at this chronological point in her journals. Unlike as later documented in this journal, it would have also been far more likely for a true vampire to elect to escape a dangerous situation by turning into mist or a swarm of bats rather than slipping into the shadows. – Syrena Malloren, Greystone Archive

Gallias, sensing the danger then fortified Alvin with a Protection from Evil spell before Selena cast a Darkness spell dispelling the magical light provided by his dagger.

Technically, a Protection from Evil and Good spell. The person performing the magic can select protection from one of many different types of creature including Celestials, who in the vast majority are firmly within the Good camp, and the Fey or Elemental who are not always evil. Gallias must have selected Undead rather than one of the other “Evil” options such as aberrations or fiends. Although, I will forgive Sigrid her misunderstanding in the matter considering the circumstances – Syrena Malloren, Greystone Archive

Selena: Underworld

Lucy acted sharply and attacked Selena and knocked out the magical darkness. Selena then vanished into the mundane darkness and bit Alvin despite the protection spell. Victoria shot and missed. I failed in my attempt to shove the foul creature over but thankfully Oskar was mighty enough to drop her to the floor. I finally saw the divinity Sigismund can channel as he smited the foul creature with the power of radiant flames through a mighty blow of his warhammer and then with his newly lit torch licked the beast with fire. Gallias granted us a blessing which also granted me the chance to land a blow with my glaive. I struck, but it was not as effective as I wished.

Lucy put the boot in once again before Selena elected to shadow step out of combat and run into the shadows before then going to lick her wounds clean within her lair. Sigismund attempted to hold her in place with his holy symbol, but alas her resiliency was too strong for his faith and it was clear to us all that Selena's vampiric powers would not enable us to pursue her further that night. It was not the last time we dealt with her.

Alvin gave us 225gp and promised us an ode. Alvin posited that his targeting was that he had apparently upset a Iacaris noble, Aenivar Gallaeth. During a ball, Alvin attempted to seduce Aenivar's wife, a human unlike Aenivar, so Alvin didn't realise she was off limits. It probably wasn't the root cause for him being attacked but something to remember. We returned to the travelling troupe with Alvin for his protection. Before turning in for the night, I performed the funeral rites on the fallen by providing a coin to the mortals, even the damned must have their souls passed on. I burned the undead deathlock and during the night of rest I felt another surge of power from the Lady of Death. Perhaps my deeds were noticed again.

Session 2, Recollections of Sigismund Heldenhammer

2023-09-25

1st of Skullmonth

If I had hoped to have a restful night amongst Tybalt's troupe, some rowdy drunkards put paid to that in the night. Still, sleep came eventually and left us ready to face both a new day and a new year with the turning of the seasons.I awoke well rested, the warm sun cresting the trees and providing an easy welcome to the month of the skull. With the scourge of undead present about greystone, it is a fortuitous time to have Sigrid alongside us and with Hel in ascendance.

As we went about preparing for the day ahead in our own ways and seeing to whatever small business we had in our temporary lodging, we heard the word spreading that all remaining performances had been cancelled for a week. An understandable decision given the action of last night and the questions left unanswered. I'm sure Tybalt's troupe will recover once production resumes - nothing draws a crowd like scandal and drama. Yorick will surely welcome the time to recover.

Cordelia explained to Victoria that the role of Selena had always resonated with her - an odd place to see ones reflection, but it's not my place to pry. She mentioned to us that she had been an adventurer and missed those easier days, but that she wasn't particularly adept at it. I have to wonder how true that is - the dangers of the Estian isles rarely allow the unprepared and unskilled adventurer to retire healthy and safe, and certainly don't present an "easy" life to a novice.

She showed us a ring that she kept on her, found in her adventuring days. Sigrid asked if Cordelia knew why she may have been targeted. She was unsure, citing having many enemies but none she thinks would stretch to these extremes.

As the conversation with Cordelia drew to a close, a boy delivered a stack of newspapers to Tybalt, who shared them around the camp. The presence of undead at Tillertown caught my eye, I'm sure Sigrid took note too. I heard Gallias spending some time talking to Alvin, who planned to travel and stay with Salome Cassaro, his powerful grandmother, in Northcross. The troupes costume seamstress had agreed to lend him a hooded cloak to assist his safe passage.

Alvin assured us we had earned the friendship of house Cassaro. Our small friend but fierce compatriot Lucy attempted to secure some faster transportation to assist whatever came next, but the wagons used by the troupe were unsuitable for expediency.

The Greystone City Watch approached and asked for who was in charge, with the Troupe steering them to Tybalt. Sergeant Milton Westbrine introduced himself, and assured the Troupe the guard were taking what happened very seriously. The guard offered to deputise us to investigate several leads on their behalf. Some were more interesting than others, with rumor of elves sneaking around in the dark in the Shins (perhaps related to last nights disturbance?), and noises from an abandoned house (likely a group of vagabonds seeking refuge from the turning of the seasons). Lucy secured us an additional 150 gold pieces for completing the work - I'm not sure which is sharper, her tongue or her strange "blades".

Before persuing any leads, we visited some stores in the town prompted by a coupon in the paper. Elyana's Eldrich Emporium was a strange but wonderful store, with various items of clear quality rotating on clockwork devices and Artificer Elyana tinkering behind the counter with a length of rope and an arrow, at work delicately creating the next useful tool for sale. Lucy attempted some questionable use of the discount coupons from the paper, and tried to leverage our recent exploits to secure even lower prices. She haggled for so long I thought we had passed into the month of the Hammer by the time they were done, but Elyana eventually relented and offered a token gesture of a discount. Sigrid attempted to have the Artificer set aside a device (which she explained to us was a Wand of Magic Detection), for later purchase when our coinpurses are fuller. The Artificer would not remove it from sale, but offered confidence it would remain available for the near future.

With our time at the Emporium concluded, we headed towards the Shins. The stench hit me first, the unmistakable fragrance of squalor. Lucy had a bizarre interaction with an unkempt looking beggar, which came to an even stranger conclusion when the Hel-cat Oskar licked the pendant and the man left seeming pleased with this result. It was clear most eyes were on us as we moved through the Shins, and we were clearly the focus of attention as we approached a houndmaster for information. To him, it was not unusual to have people scampering about the Shins at all hours - elves or otherwise (for squalor cares not for race). His opinion was that any disturbance in the shins was unlikely to be related to the events at the play. I cast out my Divine Sense to see if the taint of the undead was present, but all I achieved was irritating a nearby tiefling. We viewed his hounds out of curiosity, and were impressed by the blink hound, but (I'm sure to Oskar's relief) left without taking one with us and proceeded towards the empty house.

It seemed unremarkable at first, and Lucy pulled away from the group to investigate more closely. We took up position in the treeline as she approached quickly and stealthily. As she cased around the house (which she seemed unnervingly adept at, this is certainly not the first time she has done this), she communcated what she was seeing back to us using her strange talents to speak directly into our minds. I wonder if she can listen as well as speak? She eventually found a window and slipped in (presumably) unseen. Victoria took a slightly reluctant looking Oskar (who was given the nod by Sigrid) to take up position covering us, but must have been spotted as the alarm inside raised.

Sigrid rapidly closed the distance from our vantage point to the house and threw open the door, giving Victoria a chance to loose an arrow inside through the open doorway.

I crossed the open ground to arrive at the wall of the house (parallel with the door) and burst through the boarded up window in a stunning display of herculean athleticism and gallantry. No sooner had I landed on the ground next to a surpised looking human, a chilling ray of magic from Gallias followed me through the window above my head and into the human. I heard a gutteral and angry tirade from further inside the house, followed by the clashing of weaponry and assumed my companions were at work. I pressed the attack on the human before me and landed a blow with my axe, but my hammer was turned aside. A second blast of chilling magic from Gallias flew in through the window, but fell wide of the foe. Glancing past the shoulder of my target, I spied our small friend lucy emerge from the floor and land an attach with her strange magic on a foe tangling with Oskar, who must have left Victoria to join at Sigrids side in the house.

She then ducked into the room with me and caught a quick blow from the human I was locked in combat with for her trouble. An angry and injured dwarf barged into the room after her, and struck her with another blow. The sound of ongoing combat rang through the house from outside of my sight, but I trusted my companions were gaining the upper hand. Following a quick incantation from deeper in the house, magic siezed my body and held me in place, but it swiftly passed. Using my freshly freed hammer arm, I hammered down the human in front of me in the opening left by his attack at Lucy. Gallias followed me in through the window.

I saw a robed figure further in the house fall, and my companions gathered behind the final remaining dwarf. We quickly dispatched him, and set about investigating the house. I noticed the body of another dwarf my companions had felled previously outside of my sight, and found a defaced painting of Odin. Sigrid noticed something behind the painting, and a hidden cavity was uncovered and unlocked with the key we had found yesterday. Inside were some tubes and a gem (later identified as red amber), carved into an elven women. The woman bore no resemblance to anybody we could recall.

The party then set about investigating a hatch in the ground, in the back room that Lucy had entered via. We found our way into a large and dark hewn tunnel, sending Gallias to scout slightly ahead after he used his sorcery to illuminate Sigrid's glaive to light the way for us. When following, the rest of the party deftly avoided a trap but I wrongfooted and took a blow from a blade from the ceiling for my mistake. The blade then retreated back into the darkness. Soon after we found the source of this trapped blade to be a war pick attached to a contraption. We relieved the contraption of the pick, and I've taken to carrying it.

We followed the tunnel further and found a lit room with a single elf in it, clearly the leader of this group. Oscar surged at the elf and attempted to sink his claws in, while Sigrid approached a strange crystal on a nearby table and made to destroy it. I followed them in and took a moment to patch up my wound from the ceiling blade in readiness for the fight to come. The elf then chanted a quick invocation, and animated several skeletons in the room with us. My mind briefly thought on the undead in Tillertown and wondered if they were related, but it wasn't the time for such distractions. Victoria wasted no time in using her arcane archery to shower a cluster of the skeletons with a barrage of arrow fragments, injruing several of them. Sigrid moved to strike the crystal again, but her blow was thrown wide by a skeleton next to her and the glaive sank into the table. I crumbled one skeleton with my warhammer, but my pick failed to land a blow on another. Lucy angled around looked for an opening but narrowly missed her attack. Gallias sent a ray of icy magic into one of the skeletons Victoria had weekened, returning it once again to the peace of the grave.

The elf channeled his magic into myself and Sigrid, and drained our life to revitalise a nearby skeleton. He then struck me with a blast of dark magic, leaving me with a lingering feeling of cold. Victoria sent an arrow past my shoulder and shattered the orb on the table, which left the elf visibly vulnerable before plunging the room into darkness. Thankfully, Sigrids glaive was still illuminated by Gallius's magic and left me able to see oskar sink his claws into the elf in tandem with Sigrid cleaving into the skeleton next to her with the glowing glaive, sending a strange dance of light and shadow across the room as our light source moved. Engaged by the dark magic, I focused the roth of my oath onto the mage and dealt a vicious smiting blow. Lucy followed up swiftly with her strange but vicious magic and finished off the elf in what looked like an agonizing fashion

We gathered our wits and examined the crystal which Victoria shattered, along with the rest of the room. We found a note, implying the vampire we previously encountered was behind the actions of the group basing themselves at this house. We uncovered more treasures hidden behind artwork, finding an impressive looking ring. A locked book(ably opened by lucy) on restricted magic rounded out the findings, and left further questions for us to persue on how these events (and those behind them) fit together.

Session 3, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2023-10-02

1st of Skullmonth

We made our way back out of the cave, through the house, to the city. With a detour for collecting our reward at the gate, and for Lucy to lose part of it playing Gnome Fold in the Black Stag, we made our way over to the graveyard we saw a notice about in the Estian Bulletin.

The guard underway mentioned we couldn't miss it and he couldn't be more right. Getting closer to the graveyard, the stench got overwhelming. I can't imagine what Sigismund went through! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Slow, shambling, and not the brightest, and the ghouls weren't the smartest either, Lucy and I took some out from far away, clearly the better choice as Sigismund's foe exploded all over him - my god the smell! So bad, we almost missed the one on top of the mausoleum. He did not miss Sigismund though.

Down the stairs and through the crypts, Sigrid took lead over our lightly used paladin. And what a paladin this is, all worried about a bit of damage. Let me tell you, he didn't even have to deal with... whatever that was. Imagine my surprise when in the middle of the fight something starts screaming in my ears and my body just starts moving on its own.

Believe me when I say it's the most unnerving thing I've experienced. Cultists, vampires, plotting elves, nothing comes close to watching your own body move and not being able to do anything to stop it from unleashing a rain of splinters all over your companions, and Oskar! Truly harrowing!

Lucky me we had Sigrid along though. Very lucky, I'm sure Lucy would have tried putting a stake through my brain if she didn't figure out the candles on the brazier were missing. When they finally returned the flames to the crypt, my control returned and we were instead greeted by Archibald of House Underhallow. He led us to his crypt with the Underhallow crest (a silver bear on a black background)

He tell us about the fights he and "Willow" got in (ranger? Willow his companion? Will need to ask Sigrid about this) 20 years ago, Pilir nan Icaris, Zella Starspire (his friends) and Archibald fought elementals in the Stony Moors. He fell in combat, but seeing as his body is in the crypt, they probably came out victorious in the end. Archibald "feels like" his Willow didn't get proper rest, and thinks this is why he did not pass on yet. It's all very strange to me, though the others accept this.

We should probably see what we can find in the Stony Moors. Though it's on the other side of the island, Sigrid is confident the new candles will hold until we sort out this mess.

Session 4, Recollections of Lulu

2023-10-9

7th of Skullmonth: Last night in Greystone

We took some time to rest, focus on ourselves and practice our skills. I want to explore magic and it's amazingness but I fail to understand it all too detailed yet, oh well, one day it will happen. Vivi is searching some magic book we found - baaaah books are hard, she didn't even understood it at first, then how should I!? But she gave it a second look and apparently it's some research project and some secret coding, when in every chapter starting with an illustration and there is a letter for each one! I didn't want to pay more attention in case my brain explodes, thankfully Gali wanted to go to the pub so I followed that route of fun and drinks. Vivi and Cordelia stayed and hang around together to get to know more about each other and their lives.

We sleep long and peacefully before needing to go again tomorrow. Poor Siri, has a fever and we asked Tybalt to give her one of the fanciest of the wagons to sleep until she gets better, we had people keeping an eye on her while we were gone.

The troupe put on a final show at Greystone, this time they figured to not taunt anyone and have a less eerie play which was called "The Shipwright's Daughter". I heard the sheepman's daughter at first so I was wondering what was the ship in the stage about, but shortly I realised the actual title. It was a fun play, and more importantly no one actually got hurt this time!

OH! I finally also got my new pair of goggles! I wear them and I feel great, even in daylight it looks night! How cool is that!

8th of Skullmonth: On our way to Covenant

Time to take off with the caravan! People are getting everything together for the last couple of hours to make sure nothing is left behind.But the feeling of "did I forgot something" will never fade. We leave with 17 wagons maybe? I am not good at counting maybe it's less than that, we are on the move, but you can't exactly call it a move when it takes a hundred eons to get out of Greystone cause of guards still checking. I guess they are doing their job, but I wish it wouldn't need to stall us so much!

The slowness keeps going but we make it at Covenant, is it already four days since we left Greystone! Oh well. We watch around since we always need to be on top of things we notice sooo many people travelling, usually not alone, groups of two or three.

Suddenly just as we turn a corner we meet a huge wagon that goes the opposite way. The first thing I notice is not the wagon itself but a large pile of clay, it might have been 10 feet maybe or so the others said, I thought it was more than 50! Apparently he was pulling the whole wagon. Another stalling, how long can this go on...

10th of Skullmonth: Trouble on our path

Since we were stuck there with noone able to move one way or the other Tybalt intercepts and asks what this creature pulling the wagon is to the guy coming out. He reassures him that it doesn't "bite" and while then they are trying to discuss how to go around each other suddenly that guy addresses us with a comment that we don't look like a threat. "Hmpf you don't even know us, I can be more than a threat" I think to myself! Gali takes initiative and tells him that we keep them safe and it happens to go to the same direction "You give some protection and you get something in return" the guy says, and he states his name which is Tullius Apranius.

Gali without knowing what doom this will cause, introduces us all to him. "Did you say your name was Ashworth?" he turned to Vivi with a voice that you could say something was going terribly wrong. The tone changes and he continues while going into an aggressive stance and says "Someone would pay for your skin!" We are surprised by this turn of events but quickly realise it's time for battle. I think to myself, wow, someone would pay for Vivi's skin? If only she wasn't my friend already, or a decent person I suppose I could have made some good money! Now all I will do is make funny comments to poke her about it, and she always gets baited, which makes it so much fun!

We see 3 thugs pulling up from beneath the tarps of the wagon wielding some short sticks of wood and metal, what kind of weapons are those I wonder, will be nice to get my hands on them after we destroy them I am thinking to myself.

We start destroying Tullius but Vivi screams she wants him alive, I mean, I can't promise anything but I will try I guess so most of us turn to the golem which has stopped to pulling the wagon and went into combat too very unpleasant from the situation (if it had feelings) Gali annihilates whatever comes in his way, which is both the Tullius and his Golem, wow, such power! When Tullius is badly hurt I had to turn to the golem and I noticed my blades don't even scratch this pile of clay. The Golem seems to be very fixated on Ziggy, I can't see a reason why, but poor Ziggy is getting some massive hits from this big boy. Since I saw my magic blades didn't do anything to the Golem, I thought to myself to imitate that Tullius guy since he commands it. Of course prior to this I looked to his pockets for anything I could find that might remotely control it but no luck. My imitation was so good and told it to attack the thugs. The big clay boy really took this into heart and immediately rushed to smash them! After all of us kept doing this, with some failed voices, we do it again, and tell it to run into the forest. Poor clay boy runs north who knows how many trees we are responsible for getting destroyed today. But I am sure there are a lot of trees to go around, there is no way the environment will ever go endangered.

After all the commotion, Vivi turns to Tullius and angrily asks him why is Ashworth name on the wanted charts. Tullius begging for his life now - not so tough anymore without the sack of clay huh! - tells him that he is working for the FTC. Apparently those are the mainland trade organization and they are ruthless traders that would do shady things for money. Vivi finds that there is a contract for her name for some months now. I am of course interested in the amount of bounty, it is out of curiosity, wouldn't anyone want to know the price on their head? But Vivi gets all serious about it! Those nobles can not take a joke!

Ziggy asks Tullius if anyone is paid yet for that contract so we understand if any of the family members were gone already, but the other 5 members being noble, noone would be stupid enough to just go and get them killed without a big plan. Vivi wants to warn them anyway, and sends them a letter, which will arrive probably just a bit before we do to Covenant, but time is money.

We steal what Tullius and his company had in their possession. It's not stealing if they attacked you first! Gali got excited right away with the thug weapons, which apparently are called muskets! He started aiming at trees, but oh boy this is going bad, at least he didn't hit any of us. We all play with the muskets like it's some children's toys, and have some fun. Maybe if we had some training, or skill they would be more useful!

Spending the night at Jotunnadal

We enter Jotunnadal just a tiny bit after sunset. Oh boy, this was a long day and it is not even finished yet. We see a massive house as we cross the bridge over the Trollstream. We get in the middle of the city, where there is a runestone with a small poem on it. Apparently the villagers are proud of it, because this runestone is the halfway point between Greystone and Covenant.

Vivi, probably because she is noble - who knows - goes to take a spongebath, she gets all her skin ripped apart but now she is clean. I am thinking, I would rather be filthy than go through this torture. Then she finds herself wanting to play some dragonchess at the bar. She literally finds the most silent guy - some dwarf with a long white beard. Poor Vivi, he annihilates her for 3 turns straight, you can catch a small smile - more like a smirk- just as she gets outplayed.

While we drink some dwarven fire water, and rest a bit from this long ride we can hear people talking in the bar for the elf attack. City guards avoided one more of those attacks in Myrknes with noone dying. We overhear that Estian guards are on call in the big cities until further notice, but we already knew that! A lot of opinions are thrown in the bar, mostly civilized as much as it can be when you combine booze crime and politics.

We go back to the caravan, Tullius will find his way to justice as we delivered him to the guards. I think it was the right choice to not kill him, he is just a pawn after all. When we reach the caravan, Cordelia gets relieved seeing Vivi alive, they went through some bonding these days after all! They get together and share their common trauma bond of being wanted and ending up laughing a bit through the situation.

12th of Skullmonth: Arrival at Covenant

We sleep, not for long but enough to get some strength before daytime when the caravan sets off again for the road. Siri's fever was getting better, hopefully fully recovered until we reach Covenant, but for now rest is her only option. Vivi doesn't forget to send the message to her family since it's all she can think about right now. We take off, again like a dejavu with many people on the road!

Ziggy is in one of the last wagons and suddenly something sneaks up on him and then disappears! Then he hears a big cry from his mother. Was that a bearcub? No it can't be, it had feathers! Ziggy asks me to sneak up to see if this is something dangerous we need to investigate, so I follow where he saw it going, and there I see some sweet scenery of a mother owlbear with her little cub eating berries. I tell them through my telepathy, and since I am clueless about these animals, they tell me it is ok to leave them alone, owlbears do not really attack unprovoked.

Finally, we reach Covenant and we see the beautiful city in front of us.

Session 5, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2023-10-16

12th of Skullmonth

Entering Covenant through Peacegate went about as well as we could expect. The guards showed unease at the sight of an elf, but they did let us through without too much trouble. However the group behind us had several elves, and the classic argument ensued. We were almost out of earshot at that point, but we heard claims of racism and retorts of the guards saying they were just acting on orders. I suppose I might have to learn to disguise myself through magic or other means at this rate.

Interestingly, we did notice a Purple Legion presence backing the guards up. This whole ordeal is getting a bit out of hand.

After a short discussion we decided our first order of business should be to head to the Estian Exchequer. Along the way I did notice the Temple of Heimdall. If I get some time on my own I would like to pay a visit. After another stop at Councilgate we arrived at the Exchequer. Beneath the building was a massive banking room. My companions marvelled at a large granite sarcophagus, apparently it was enchanted to be some sort of personal storage vault. Despite what the bankers claim, we did figure out that although difficult, it would be possible to deceive the enchantment with a well executed ruse (disguise or vial of blood). Thankfully most my companions do not seem to be interested in thieving unless it's for the right reason. We exchanged our bearer bond for our gold and went on our way.

Our next stop was at the Ashworth house. A servant let us in following a few brief words with Victoria. The servant led us to their lounge where Victoria's father Richard greeted us. After hugging his daughter and exchanging pleasantries with the rest of us, we had a rather long conversation. The first subject was the letters of warning sent by Victoria, about our scuffle with Tullius and the FTC. Lord Richard would like us to find more substantial proof about the whole ordeal. Apparently a man from Whitport named Jonathan Prince holds the old Ashworth seat, which he supposedly obtained through shady means. Lord Richard assumes that if we can secure a FTC ledger, we'll find proof of Prince being involved in the contract Basan Varanius issued on the Ashworths. Lord Richard still has friends in Whitport, and he will also do some inquiries.

Richard mentions that he remembers a guard named Heldenhammer from his time in Whitport. Sigismund told us that Prince framed his father for murder, and had him executed.

Victoria asked her father about Wilrick Whitegaze, the name she read in "Ye Olde Restrickted Magicks". He believes that we are most likely looking for an old gnomish magic user, and he suggests that we visit the Scriptorium. Richard says that gaining admission might be difficult.

Alternatively we could visit Shimmerbrooke, as it is mostly a gnomish settlement. Shimmerbrooke has a lot of tarns (lakes) near it, which was also mentioned in the book. Sigismund recognised the name of the town, and he mentions that there is a shrine of Sif. He tells us that there's a small lake outside the town, rumored to be inhabitated by a large monster.

We finished our business at the Ashworth house, and were promised guest rooms by Lord Richard (Oskar gets to stay in the garden).

An auction for the possessions of Matthew Crowbane piqued our interest after we read about it in the newspaper earlier. It was being held near Peacegate shortly after our visit at the Ashworth house, so we rushed over. Matthew was an eccentric old wizard and I was most curious whether we could find something useful. We ended up buying an old iron chest, half a kitchen and some crates. I think we ended up getting our moneys worth in the end. The most interesting thing we found was a couple of spell scrolls.

When we were done at the auction we followed a wizard who had also been there. He had purchased half a library worth of tomes and a scrollcase. Lucy stole one of the books from him while Victoria was distracting with questions about Wilrick. The tome was just a tragic fable. Victoria returned it to the man, claiming she found it down the road towards the auction. Understandably he was quite suspicious at this point. The whole thing was quite embarrasing.

Suddenly we realised we were standing in Unity Square, right outside the Buckliss Theater. "The Lady of Cheese" was tonights play. Tybalt had mentioned that Alexandra Ashridge runs the place, and that she would know more than him about historical events. We entered the theater and asked Alexandra about Selena from "The Dread Gift".

She tells us that previously they've had a trial run for their new play "The Decline And Fall Of The Teccan Empire". The trial did not go well, and a reporter from the Estian Bulletin named Jameson Rook had been there for the preview. We agreed to try to convince him to not give them a bad review, in exchange for whatever information Alexandra had on Selena.

Alexandra wanted us to leave her name out of it, and was adamant about us not threatening or causing Jameson any harm. She also said that Countess Catherine of House Beckett was the main patron for her theater, and that the newspaper was loyal to House Tuveren (a rival house, who holds the current speaker position on the Estian council).

Due to this we would have to approach Jameson with some subtlety. We decided to ask Cordelia if she would aid us by giving him an interview about the night the traveling troupe got attacked. Cordelia agreed to do the interview and Tybalt had no objections.

We walked over to the Estian Bulletin, then with some assistance from one of Jamesons co-workers we found his office. We told him that we could get him an exclusive interview with Cordelia. in exchange he would have to not print, or simply delay what he had written about the preview of the play. We told Jameson that we were doing this for an actor friend, and that it would be devastating to her fresh career. I'm not sure he actually believed that, but the interview must have been a tempting offer, because he decided to burn his notes about the preview.

Jameson realised we were the ones who fended off the attack on the Tybalt's troupe. He probably figured he was dealing with a resourceful group, as he then asked for our aid with another matter. He told us he had a lead on on some suspicious bandit activity in the sewers, but didn't dare do go down there on his own. He wanted our protection while he investigated. He couldn't pay us, but if we found anything useful it was ours to keep. The group agreed to this, and proceeded to head down there right away.

After a short while we got attacked by a giant albino crocodile that almost ate Lucy in a single bite. We took some heavy hits but in the end it was slain, and Jameson seemed very impressed.

Session 6, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2023-10-23

12th of Skullmonth

Continuing past the statues, the air gets more bearable and the wear cleans up somewhat. With some luck we also kept company of less animals which grow in the dirty water. A passage left, and a door right, Lucy pries open the door and we make our way past the rubble. Inside we see old sewer machinery with three levers, three icons, one pulled.

The lever obviously pulled has an icon we've seen just recently above one of the sewage ways. A bit further up I hear voices coming, and though I stumble over some rubble as I get closer, we do see there's more cultists in the room up ahead, joined by a sort of flaming skull. They're placing barrels and bags of boomdust near the pillars. Jameson reckons we're under the temple of Heimdall. Unsure of the course of action, time takes a decision for us as their leader mentions they're almost done.

I told Jameson to pull another lever, hoping it'll give us enough distraction to get in and make quick work of them. Well, it half worked... they were definitely distracted, but quick work it was not. Even worse, the Flameskull ignited some bags and barrels, almost blowing up the whole thing! Lucky for us, even the Thugs saw their good sense and threw the lit bags into the water. I dare not think how many would've died if they didn't.

We do end up taking them down, as well as the skull, but their leader starts running, revealing his true allegiance wearing the Purple Legion colors. With reach like this, there's no saying how many are part of this ploy. We split up and take him down. He has a familiar note in his pockets:

"Take the boomdust below the vaults of the Temple of Heimdall and set the skull to watch. Tomorrow night, we will be the tip of our mistress' flaming sword. Together, we will purge the heretics that oppose us, and in doing so gain a powerful pawn. S"

He claims Azrael's Flaming Sword will cleave the world in twain. I don't know this Azrael, but my companions and I will stand against them every step of the way. A cultist, three thugs, and a Flameskull walk into the sewer, but nothing comes out. They drag us into this, they'll have trouble on their hands!

Well, we're worse for wear, it's a damned good thing we didn't find any more huge lizards or anything on our way back. Finally back into the open air, we make a quick stop at the temple. Apparently this skull we killed wasn't really dead untill we cleansed it with holy water, which the temple has in abundance. Now it's just some fire essence. It's time for bed, this has been a long day.

13th of Skullmonth

In the morning, Father mentioned Boomdust is only (publically) made in Lilyharbor, in Cottenhorn. Of course this factory is owned and controlled by the FTC. How much more proof do we really need. Sadly proof is what we need and time is running out. Tensions are rising; even a conference between Iacaris and Estian Council can't avoid.

Jameson shares with us how to get a hold of his contact who told him to check out the sewers. (How would he think Jameson would get out of this alive?!) In the Dryads' Rest, usually after dark, we simply have to tell the bartender “The fire laurel is in bloom.” We promised Jameson to handle this delicately. I'm sure he understands this means we also keep Lucy from having any bright ideas how to handle this. He furthermore agrees to make a new version of his review of the play.

Alexandra is delighted with this news, and has already compiled a set of notes about the Dread Gift. Selena was, is, apparently a noblewoman from Estia, and though we're not sure which, the story elements hint toward a southern city. The story also takes place in Covenant, not Greystone, and the vampire hunter was called Rowan Hillsong, who is supposed to be buried under Heimdalls' temple in town. Could he have been the powerful pawn the note spoke off? Alexandra believes if we can find the original book, we might learn more.

Regardless, we should check the vaults of the temple tonight, see if we can see who shows up.

Session 7, Recollections by Lucy Phere

2023-10-30

13th of Skullmonth

Shopping at the Covenant's market

The day is young in Covenant with a clear but windy atmosphere. We left the theater with a few hours ahead of us to spare and we decide our next stop to be a good marketplace, maybe to buy some healing potions or even check out something fancy to buy.

We head to Unity Square where we only find spellmaking potions but only a single healing potion, but the alchemist informs us that we could find more at the Stonemarket.

Restless, we arrive at the Stonemarket. Now that is a marketplace! Such a large building, no walls around everything open air and you can see all the shops at your feet! That's truly how I like my shopping experience to be! Easily we spot the alchemist where we buy every healing potion he has, since we want to be ready for the battles we will soon face. Better alive than fancy looking, right?

Despite being content with shopping, we want to look around, but a delightful smell shows the way, like moths to the flame we follow the aroma and end up at the bakery. There we buy some delicious cupcakes with laceberries which we eat at the spot because we can't resist. I have never tried laceberries before, truly yummy. The baker quickly spots Gali since she is an Eladrin too, and they talk for a while, about the Crescent Moon Baths, where she goes for relaxation and how much of a fan she is of Estian cooking. She also tells us the nice sights in the Covenant! If only we spent more time here for relaxation I would visit all of those!

We also pass by the jeweler who has a nice Moodband. I think to myself that this would have been perfect for Vivi! We make a small stop at the blacksmith too where he has some nice trident and a longsword in her forge. Sigi likes them, but believes it is not worth the money for the time being. Lastly, we see a young runecarver gnome carving runes onto leather, I try to sneak to see what kind of runes, but I don't really want to disturb the little one, or be disrespectful as much as curiosity kills me!

Small stop at the Temple of Heimdall

After the refreshing walk at the shop we decide to stop by the Temple of Heimdall. As long as Gali is with us, it's not suspicious at all to go there, he is after all carrying the symbol of Heimdall in his shield, and wants to pay his respect there.

We arrive there and see a very tall building made of bricks. The big oak doors are open, and they seem to be always open to people, it's a temple after all! There are people walking around inside and out, clerics and acolytes mostly, and there is some sort of market, mostly for food, outside the temple. Inside there is a large undying flame burning which feels cozy and welcoming to everyone. Gali feels the peace and goes to the flame to pay his respects. He is feeling invigorated and the warmth surrounds him. Suddenly he feels healthier than before from the prayer. It seems sometimes prayers can be heard!

We look around and Gali investigates the main temple with the respect he has for it, since he knows the reason we are here is more than prayers. In a sideroom we find a bunch of stairs going down, the gate unlocked. He casts light on his shield since it's pitch dark down there. The entrance into the vault goes past two angel statues on each side of an archway. We follow the stairs, every step we make echoes with the creeks, we feel the spookiness around. Finally we find a large stone door, but is locked.

We go up the stairs to find someone to ask if we can get permission to go through this door, maybe if we are lucky enough we run into Archbishop Grumbel Stonechisel who member of the Council, high up in the ranks, who Vivi knows - oh it's nice to have connections! We meet a young elven woman, who couldn't be more than 70 years old, wearing a simple red robe. I push Vivi to talk to her, she has a way with girls after all! She informs us that the Archbishop doesn't take personal visits. Gallias asks if there is a way to visit the crypt, but she needs a reason. He explains that we are looking into the background of Rowan Hillsong, the vampire hunter that is not buried in the deep vaults, a very solid excuse that is also the truth, even if only half of it, but the reason is noble. She tells us to follow her and guides us to one of the siderooms into an office where a human female - quite high ranking in the church by the looks of it - sits behind a desk. She explains our request to her.

We step in and Gali introduces himself adding more context to our request about looking into the tomb and how we ran into a vampire recently who is related to Rowan's background,that Cordelia was also attacked by the same vampire, so we believe she is very very old. She is aware that Rowan only slew the male vampire and she is interested to know how we plan to defeat, she assumes we have holy water, stake and source of sunlight. We really didn't have any of these things and begged our way for holy water but we ended up buying it, sadly!

She gives us the key and we go down to the stone doors. Inside a single shaft of light illuminates the dusty tomb from the ceiling. There are six coffins around and another one at the center at the end of the room, belonging to Rowan. On each coffin stands a vase holding a single rose, withered now. We read the coffin names, any clue can help at this point: Geoffrey Goldplum, Cecilia Moonrider, Haranna nan Iacaris, Ragnhild Winteraxe, Faith Spellmantle, Theo Breckenridge... Nothing rings a bell to any of us, but it is clearly not a family grave. These people died sometime after the fall of the Empire, but surely for a long time.

At this point we focus more on Rowan's coffin. It feels like it once was very well decorated. Coins, grave gifts, mundane jewellery and we can barely detect a slight tingle of magic from it. It is clear that this place was once hallowed. That spell is not in effect right now, not sure why.

As I touched the tomb I felt something, something psychic reacts with it. I want to open it to find out what is causing this, but my party feels this is not the right thing to do, and could be considered blasphemy when we don't have permission, so I gave up on that idea.

We head back up to the Mother to tell the news. We inform her of our findings of someone unhallowing the tomb. She was there during the Equinox recently but doesn't remember if anything was wrong. The hallowed ritual will take several days to happen. Vivi asks if she knows who has been down there recently but as far as she knows no one has been for the last four months. After this news she will arrange with the city guards to spare one patrol for a day.

The evening has come and it's time for a sewer visit. Fire! Fire! Fire!

Arg, it's one hour before getting dark, this means it's time to go to the sewers. My spirit is not ready for another crocodile out of nowhere, but I grit my teeth and get ready. We figured to go early in case we caught someone off guard, but little we knew. Right after we close the hatch, bells start ringing above us, people are shouting fire with a panicked voice. This is not a good sign. We decide to split and me and Vivi to go to check since we are faster. We arrive finding one of the houses by the Temple of Heimdall on fire. The Mother and the acolytes are helping with the fire, leaving the temple open and empty. We think "Quite the distraction"! I psionically talk with the others to come, and Vivi tells Mother about our concern, but she doesn't give us the key, she is very busy with the fire and really doesn't want another fuss in her head right now.

Back where we came from

We gathered our party and went in sneakily without an issue, or well almost, some clanks were absorbed by the walls, we see Selena there on top of Rowan's tomb speaking a chant. Are we late? I shoot without hesitation but she finishes the chant right away! Oh no, what now!

She spawns Hellsong from the coffin, poor Rowan. I hope his soul will never know what his body is serving now - if this is his body. Gali pushes Sigi and lets me get an attack, she is hurt, but not nearly enough. Vivi makes her glow all red with the Faerie Fire, that's some glowie vampire look right there. Sigi goes up and destroys her, but next thing we know she turns into mist, a red glowing mist now. Defeated but not gone Selena-mist goes through the ceiling fleeting the fight since she knew this wouldn't end well for her but also yells she got what she came for.

We are left to fight poor Hellsong whose spell doesn't break but cries to us "Forgive me what I am doing I cannot control it". Eventually we kill him. This evening turned out to be a bit different than we expected.

After all is said and done, Jameson finds us and wants to know all about tonight's events.

Session 8, recollections of Gallias Runodel

2023-11-06

14th of Skullmonth

We took a minute to catch our breath after our fight with Selena and Hellsong. In hindsight we should have realised that she was going to enter the crypt through that gap in the roof. Vampires can after all turn into bats! I suppose there's not much to gain by dwelling upon past mistakes, next time we won't miss something so obvious. The desecration of the crypt does worry me though, I thought vampires had to be invited to gain entry. It might just be folklore, or perhaps it only counts if it's someones homestead.

After exiting the temple we met Ashley Dawnspirit, the Mother Superior, again. She and her acolytes were tending to some of the wounded from the fire. After only a brief chat about the recent events, she said we should have this talk with the archbishop himself. While we were waiting for her to set that up, we met Jameson. He still wanted us to allow him to use our full names in a story with all the glorious details about all our trials and tribulations. We talked him out of it, again, for now. I suppose eventually we'll have to give in. He seems to value our connection enough to have some patience at the very least. After I inquired, Jameson said we should still check in with his contact.

Ashley brought us to the ever-burning flame inside the temple, where Archbishop Grumbel Stonechisel was waiting. He thanked us profusely for our aid in defending the temple, and even rewarded us! He gave us a spell scroll to use against the vampire, and he gave me an amazing looking bead necklace similar to what I saw a few of the priests had around their necks. Grumbel told us that Rowan was rumored to channel his unique abilities through a source of some sort. I assume that would be the glowing ring Selena stole from his tomb. He also confirmed that Rowan was the leader of the Order of the Glowcorn, a sworn brotherhood of vampire hunters. As we suspected, buried in the other tombs in the crypt, were his followers. Apparently they slew many vampires in Estia and beyond. He warned us that the vampire would most likely plot our demise in some shape or form. From now on we'll have to be watching our backs closely.

Heeding Jamesons advice, we went to the Dryad's Rest. Only a moment after opening the door we walked straight into a brawl! Sadly the barkeep shut it down, menacingly aiming his crossbow at the two fighters. Having our surprise entertainment taken away as soon as we got it, I decided to go for some gambling with Lucy. We joined the table playing some sort of dice game, this did not go well at all for me at first. However no one won the pot as all the first games ended in a draw, meaning the pot was now a lot larger and I was stil allowed to play for it all. I got really lucky in the end and got the perfect rolls! 180 gold in one pot - I've never had this much gold.

After some gambling and ale we realised we had been slightly distracted from our original business. Victoria told the barkeep the password we received from Jameson ("the fire laurel is in bloom"). The goblin pulled a lever and a somewhat decently hidden staircase behind the bar was revealed. Determined, Victoria walked up and the rest of us followed. Up there we found a rooftop garden hidden by some sort of illusion magic. Who would have thought a shithole like that bar would have such a beautiful place hidden above it!

It was fairly obvious that we had walked into a hidden high-end establishment. As we walked in two large tiefling guards glared at us, one blue-skinned and one red-skinned. Beyond them we saw a bar with some proper refreshments, unlike the trash we were served below. A man who was clearly the leader of this gang was sitting in a lounge chair, surrounded by an elven lady, a halfling and a gnome. He called out to the guards that he'd been expecting us. We got drinks and Victoria talked to him, he said he knows who we are and wants us to call him Enigma, which is certainly not his real name. We realized that this must be Jamesons contact. Enigma said he knew of the boomdust shipment, but claims that if he knew of the plan for it, he would've prevented it from getting inside the city walls. After some back and forth between him and Victoria, Enigma made sure we knew he was involved in a lot of illicit business, without him really admitting to anything. He also expects a favour in return for his help, which seemed to put Victoria on edge, not really wanting to agree to a deal where she is most likely expected to take part in something illigal.

Enigma said he wants to restore the status quo, business isn't going well in Whitport - there's too much FTC presence there. The boomdust most likely comes from Lilyharbor, where the Boomdust Company resides. It is there most of it, if not all of it is produced. The company is owned by the FTC. Enigma told us that the goods were consigned to him by a contact he had in Westford, and taken by ship to covenant. Apparently this happened 3 weeks prior to our conversation with him, but he claims he doesn't know how it actually got to westford. It seems to be his business to grant passage to illicit goods, and conceal them from the guards. He said they were persuaded by a healthy chunk of gold to just leave the wares on the dock. Seemingly, this is not an unncommon arrangement. Enigma said he does not know who received the shipment, but he called his gnomish underling over to us, who brought a ledger. He looked through it, and told us that Elias Galesquall was the sender of the shipment. Before being called over Lucy noticed that the gnome was working on copying a deed or a contract.

15th to 21st of Skullmonth

The following week we each took some time for ourselves to do different things. I helped the clerics of Heimdall rehallow the crypt beneath the temple, Sigismund said he mostly trained and Sigrid had been gone for a few days. Lucy went snooping around looking for whatever information or rumors she could find. Apparently vampires sometimes organize into clans, and most of them work with the one who infected them. They also keep ledgers about infections, like a family tree in a way. Lucy heard that people emigrating from Whitport have been attacked by bandits in the woods.

Victoria had been granted access to the Scriptorium, so she went there to look for clues about Wilrick Whitegaze. She found a tome called "Directory of Famous Magicians of Estia, Volume Five." Browsing through it she had some of our suspicions about Wilrick confirmed, though she also found some new information. He was indeed a gnome from Shimmerbrooke, who studied in Greystone under another wizard. Born blind; he got by with his other senses and functions, which were enhanced over time (presumably also through magic, blindsight?) Wilrick was a part of a group of wizards, whose purpose isn't known. He died at the young age of 101.

We went to the Shrine of Idun with Lucy as she had heard rumors about a fellow follower of Idun coming in from Whitport. He was a cleric who had attended the shrine there, but he fled when it burned down. He came to covenant seeking sanctuary and understandably he seemed quite sad. He tells her that the guards in Whitport use some strange weapons, long rods that make a loud booming sound, not unlike the ones the group we fought on the road had.

Following our trip to the shrine we attended the opening night of "The Fall of the Teccan Empire" at the Buckliss Theater. We didn't get the best seats but they were fine. Before the play started the arrival of some nobles was announced, including countess Katherine Beckett. The play is a tragedy, telling the story of the two main characters Aemica, a wizard, and Forentor, a paladin. They are both loyal to the emperor and try to prevent the fall. Through a combination of bad luck and unexpected events they inadvertently expedite the fall. There's a lot of bloodshed and eventually the protagonists die at the steps of the palace, murdered by an angry mob. The story is clearly a fictionalized retelling, however the performance was good. We met the Touchstone Troupe after the play, and they seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

21st of Skullmonth

I believe we'll be hitting the road again soon, our next plan seems to be to follow the clues leading us to Westford. Hopefully we can get a hold of Sigrid before we leave Covenant, I'm sure the group would appreciate her and Oscar's company during our travels and investigations, I know I would.

Session 9, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2023-11-13

21st of Skullmonth

After leaving the theatre we slept another night in Covenant. We needed a horse and a cart for our journey to Westford. Tybalt's troupe were heading to Arastfjord for the winter so we agreed to a loan, and found a stables just north of Owl Rock where they could collect as they passed by.

As we followed the road forking westwards we passed Owl Rock, a settlement on a horse-shoe shaped cliff, with dozens of terraces connected by elevators. I can't recall who, but someone mentioned tunnels under Owl Rock called The Barrows. Apparently they connect the terraces, and can be a shortcut as long as you don't stray from the connecting paths. Several people go missing yearly, and there's rumors of monsters in the deep paths.

From the crossroads it took us slightly over half an hour to walk to Westford, just as the sun was going down. It's a small village with a huge harbor for it's size, and even this late there was activity at the harbor. We decided to quickly go by the harbormasters office before getting a room at the inn. On our way we walked through a buzzing market called the Harbormarket. We didn't stop at any of the stands, although I did see there were vendors selling large quantities of wheat, some other food items and potions.

Inside the harbormasters office we found a middle aged woman arguing with some sailors, and in the corner sat a Tabaxi with deep copper fur and a large bushy red tail. The fox colored Tabaxi seemed to be enjoying the spectacle, and Victoria led us over to talk with her. We realised this was most likely Enigma's contact, Redtail, but we approached the topic rather clumsily. Like him she seemed to navigate a conversation regarding subjects best not spoken openly about with ease. We handed her the sealed letter, and its contents seemed to make Redtail know she could be straight with us. She told us that Elias was the owner of "The Brass Tankard", the local inn. Redtail said he would at times close the inn for most people, and hold secret meetings.

The Brass Tankard had seen better days, several roofplates had blown off and it had a general shabby look to it. Nevertheless, we thought we would need room and board for at least a day, not knowing what we had walked into. At first everything seemed fine, well, except for the awful beer. In the tap room we saw two grumpy looking dwarves minding their own business, and we met the barkeep Sarah, who had an unusually low-cut dress for someone in her line of work. We paid for one night with drinks inclusive and were led upstairs to a tiny room with two bunk beds. Hidden in the room we found a hood that was white and black, split down the middle, white on the left side and black on the right.

On our way down back to the tap room we noticed a strange door with no keyhole, just a knocker. Not wanting to draw any suspicion, Lucy was the only one remaining upstairs to investigate. After she decided to knock, the knocker turned into a looking hole, and she saw a pair of strange eyes. The voice demanded she answer three riddles. She connected us with that strange telepathy ability, and with some aid all three riddles got an acceptable answer. The door opened and inside she met an imp named Gobbuk, who let her roam the room freely, and she could even look through his master's storage chest unopposed. While looking around they talked, Gobbuk told her that his master sometimes conducts ceremonies below, but he was in Greystone looking for "the traitor." He also mentioned that they and Selena are in the same organization, but they don't like her.

In the tap room we get our awful beer and Lucy eventually joins us. We notice some writing hidden behind a curtain, but there's a dog in front of it who gets easily agitated by our attempts to approach. We try distracting it magically to no avail, and eventually decide to try to get a peak at the writing by having me walk up to the dog to distract it. The barkeep tells us to stop pestering the dog, but we notice something strange, the dog is emitting warmth. We also spot the last line of the writing: "bringer of the worlds demise".

This is when things really started heating up, Lucy told Sarah what she noticed about the dog. The barkeep puts some sort of spell on her, without us noticing. In our ensuing conversation at our table I ask Lucy about the room upstairs, and all hell breaks loose. Sarah enterred a side room and I suddenly heard her yelling in infernal. A moment later she walked out as a succubus, and whatever illusion magic was altering the appearance of the others also faded. The dog was now a hell hound, and the dwarves turned out to be some strange glaive holding devils with spiked beards that could attack!

Eventually we won the fight, though it was a close one for sure. The succubus seemed to be able to turn us against eachother, but Victoria quickly felled one of the lesser fiends, it seems like she's more comfortable with her new bow. Sigismund then focused on the real threat, the succubus, followed up by Lucy. I managed to teleport the hell hound out of the house, and Lucy struck down the alluring creature, avoiding some curse in the process. The succubus had some magical fire shield that knocked Lucy out. Luckily we managed to get her back on her feet and dispose the last fiend and the hound, at least for now. Fiends can only truly be killed in Helheim

After our fight we combed through the inn looking for information. We found some research notes mentioning the traitor "Xarmon Blackrod" and his priceless artifact. The notes say he must be punished for his insolence, and "the Anchor of Hadar" recovered. They are signed Elias Darkshard.

It appears that Hadar is a planet that at times is visible in the sky, it's important in some branches of astrology, and has connotations with evil. I think that deathlock that attacked Yorrick and Cordelia used a spell related to Hadar, and it certainly felt evil. We also found a nice pair of boots that Sigismund took, and more clothes that matched the hood we found earlier, with the same colors split down the middle.

Moving the curtain we finally saw the full text:

At the hour of the fifth rise
Shall come from above and below
The one of flame and shadow
Bringer of the world's demise

In some of the notes we read through we saw that this cult or whatever it is, called themselves "The Harbingers." The name Azrael suddenly comes to mind.

Session 10, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2023-11-20

21st of Skullmonth

As we gathered ourselves to leave, Gobbuk came down the stairs. I'd completely forgotten about him (but not the drinks he guarded). He has a decent rapport with Lucy - quite obviously the chaos inside both of them - who persuades him to aid us: he tells us Xarmon is “blue”, as in skin color. This might just be the tiefling who was at Enigma's side, though his name is Red, his skin is blue. Or it could be his sidekick, named Blue, but with red skin. This is all very confusing but we'll likely find both of them at Enigma anyway. Lucy started getting some ideas about freeing Gobbuk from his pact, so it was decidedly time to get going.

After a quick sleep in Owl Rock (there's only one inn in Westford and for some reason there's no one there to see us anymore. Quite rude, honestly) start our journey to Shimmerbrooke. The journey was uneventful and on time. Nothing to say about this at all. Any suggestions from the others upon this matter is to be dismissed! Also, time skipped forward two days. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Stop asking me!

24th of Skullmonth

Happy and content with a swift journey we arrive in Shimmerbrooke. As we pass by the Shrine of Sif, Lucy feels compelled to head inside and talk to the keeper, Traxus. Apparently Sigismund has been here when he was younger, and Traxus even still remembers him. That is an amazing memory to remember the name of one youngling who passed through years ago. After exchanging some pleasantries, I asked him about the lake and possible contents therewithin, after the clues in the book hint toward eyes in the bottom of a shimmering tarn (a shimmering lake? Coincidence? I, for one, think not!). Mikkin Whitelock, a local gemcutter, has found the latest of Toothy's teeth, which periodically wash up ashore, though Traxus doesn't know of anyone who has actually seen Toothy.

Mikkin has set a beautiful emerald in the tooth, claiming it will even render the wearer immune to poison conditions and damage to the body! A ludicrous claim, how would a tooth and a gem ward poison, an astute reader would think, nevertheless, magic is nothing if not magic, and this tooth wards against poisons. I wonder if one (not me) could wear it and eat something poisonous. Note to self, make someone else do it.

While we can't quite place the creature that would produce such a tooth, it is quite large, though, so will likely pose a meaningful challenge. Despite this, we head over to the lake. A nearby vessel carries most of us over the water. Lucy had to swim. Why? I don't know. “Stealth”, she says, but how is splashing in the water next to a rowboat any stealthier than just being in the rowboat? I don't understand! Don't ask yourself these questions, Victoria, they make no sense, and you have to ask Lucy for things that make no sense, apparently.

While above the water, we can see the water shimmer near equally all across, while Lucy, still in the water, says the light comes from one point in the distance. As we get closer it seems it's a giant pearl in the middle of the lake. Sadly, as with all our ‘adventures', it's not as easy as just finding the pearl, something has to find us too. In this case, something is a hydra, because of course it is. The universe is testing me!

Taking the first blow on the hydra, I quickly sever one of its heads, only for it to grow two more in its place. Luckily, we quickly remembered the stories about hydras: fire will stop the growth of more heads. Armed with knowledge, the hydra headed toward us, and all its heads (five, for those keeping count) chomp down. As too many of those were aimed in my direction, and I definitely didn't want a repeat of this, I channeled all my magic into fire spells, and together we made quick work of the hydra, even stopping it before it can flee.

The Clocktower

After a quick resurface to catch my breath I swam down to the pearl. Getting closer it seems like there's something inside. As I touch the pearl I get sucked into it, as the water disappears around me, I find myself inside a tower, all dry. Well, the tower is dry. I am not.

After a little while Gallias and Sigismund show up, and even later Lucy. Inside, a projection of Wilrick (he introduced himself as such) talks to us about his clockwork tower. Inside we'll find puzzles, to prove ourselves worthy to be on his path.

A big center piece has his face four times in different expressions, while upstairs there's a big mechanism with a lever. In each cardinal direction there is a clockface. After a quick inspection we find nothing else to do but to pull the lever.

The machinery starts spinning and the clockfaces hum to life. As we approach the north clock face, Wilrick's illusion appears and introduces a dragonchess puzzle: “A worthy mind is able to think several steps ahead. Decide carefully your next moves.” After struggling through the first, we find our stride and quickly solve a second, and third puzzle. It took us a few minutes but we got through unscathed, and unzapped.

In the east a set of runes appear where the numbers should be, and we are greeted by 7 hands with icons on them: a bow and arrow, a hammer, scales, a lyre, an apple, a black bird, and a wolf. Wilrick reappears: “A worthy mind is aware of the powers that surround them, and able to identify the forces at play in the world.” Sigismund takes the lead in this and figures out that the runes match gods, and we need to match the icons with their respective gods. Being his patron god, he matches the scales with Sif, and the hand locks in. After that, and despite one tiny zap to Sigismund, we match the lyre with Balder, the bow and arrow with Uller, the apple with Idun, the raven (black bird) with Odin, and the wolf with Tyr. As all the hands lock in, Sigismund remarks these are the Aesir.

On the southern clockface, a crystal sits in the middle and splits up a circle in 8 pieces. Wilrick greets us and explains: “A worthy mind is receptive to all magic. Show you are a multifaceted mage.”. I sent a ray of frost to the center and the gem and one part lights up; though as a mind sliver then hits, the gem fades and both pieces fade away. After that, we send each school of magic, alternating between a cantrip and a spell to keep the gem from fading. Sadly for Sigismund, casting a conjuration spell meant we were now greeted by a glowing warhorse. Luckily for us, this meant all the requirements were met, the circle was glowing and this puzzle was also completed.

The last puzzle, “A worthy mind can reason in a logical way about complex problems.“ in the west, shows us various gems around the clockface. As well as the yellow gem being locked into position aiming at 5, we can see the following equalities:

Yellow times green equals purple and red twice, red and green equals purple, red times green equals yellow and purple, green squared equals red and yellow

I quickly figure out if yellow is five, it means red has to be 4 or 11 to match square green, which makes green either 3 or 4. Then red can not be 11, as red plus green has to equal yellow plus purple, so red is 4, which makes green 3. This quickly gives purple 7.

As the last puzzle is solved, we hear grinding from downstairs. One of the faces swung open, revealing Wilrick's Pointed Hat with its tassel, given to Gallias, a set of illusory dragonchess pieces (which I took for myself), a book, on first glance containing musings of Wilrick, a spell scroll of Scrying, and a scroll containing the following text:

Having completed the trial of Wilrick the Blind You have proven yourself worthy of mind Yet much remains before your final apex Many perils the Synod faced in their treks Bartholomew Silverthorn defeated them all You must prove worthy to wear his shawl Next, the Trial of Might is called for Seek below his lonely tower in Aphenor

Aphenor was the old city before Covenant, so that is the next place we'll have to look. We make our way out of the pearl, including Sigismund's new horse. As previously arranged, we traded some of Toothy's teeth for the bejeweled tooth necklace.

Session 11 - Recollections of Lulu

2023-11-27

24th of Skullmonth

Return to Shimmerbrooke land

After being all wet and tired we return to the dry land of Shimmerbrooke so we can decide where to go next. Toothy and the pearl has exhausted us and we need a moment to catch our breath. Vivi suggests going to the Covenant where we can check both the Tower in Aphenor for the Trial of Might and find Enigma's friend, Xarmon the blue tiefling. The brainstorming is unleashed where we debate if maybe instead we should use the scroll of Scrying to look where Selena is, a scary but appealing thought. Another good thought is scrying to find Elias Darkshard who is hunting Xarmon. We haven't met Elias, so that is a long shot.

In the process of decision making we make our way to Traxus, while it's still light outside, though a bit late in the afternoon. Traxus is still tending his shrine and as we walk there we see him with a pair of gnomes, giving them religious services as well. Just as he sees us in this state he salutes us saying "The heroes have returned but wetter and colder. Sounds like you found something the village has not found before". Sigi tells him our latest wet adventure and he is truly surprised and impressed. He wasn't aware of the hydra, but knowing it now it truly makes sense, not believing how he never thought of it before. We do skip the puzzle solving part, maybe it's for the best.

Talking to Sigi he considers us truly champions and tells us the story of Sir Benjamin Lionhall. Vivi and Sigi know most of it, but I am bored to death while hearing it, action is what I want, history and books are for the magical boys and girls in my party. But I do listen, trying to pay attention in case something of importance for our quest comes up.

All I got from this story was that Sir Benji was Champion of Whitport, head sheriff under Vivi's grandfather. In the Estian League there is some group of paladins, who only Vivi would know what they are called, don't ask me! So Sir Benji boy died in truly shady circumstances trying to protect those when he stayed behind for that. Word was that he was poisoned. Sir Benji boy had a hammer which was his symbol of Office. It was a large golden Hammer with blue gemstones. When he died it was lost and the squire was accused of stealing it. Sophia Prince was appointed to the Seat, but without the hammer she was not very powerful. Plus she was definitely not a good person.

When Sir Benji went sick Harold escaped Whitport with the hammer, destroyed it and hid the parts in different places. He told very few people their location. One of them was Traxus. Sophia, the meany girl doesn't have the handle, nor the head. Harold truly outsmarted her, since the handle is still in Whitport, and the head is in Mossmaw Pass, a sacred place called the Shrine of Humility that is not visited by a lot since it's a place of meditation.

Traxus believes truly fate that we are here and we are meant to find this hammer so we can give the power back to the people of Whitport. It feels like the hammer wants to be found for this purpose and be reassembled to restore proper governance in Whitport. If they had already found it the world would know so we hope we can do this first and lay low about it until then - I know I can, but I am not so sure of my clanky friends. We should keep in our heads that Prince has informants everywhere and is still searching for this, especially in those places.

Traxus gives a huge blessing to Sigi which heals him. Truly spectacular sight to see. Sigi thanks him but he returns the thanks saying that we have rekindled the hope of an old gnome.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

After all the story time it's the hard choice of what to do next, where to go next, so many choices, so many places, I get tired even thinking about all this, let alone doing them. Let's go to Greystone with the Riverboat where Elias is. Hmm, no maybe we should head to the Covenant where Selena might be, but is she there? We know we have a scroll of Dawn and holy water to maybe fight Selena. Vivi and Gali think we should go to Covenant now.

We go south and with my navigation we luckily do not make circles around for days. We are already tired and it's dark on the road so we look forward to arriving so we can take a small rest. It's getting cold these days, those clothes won't be enough soon, thankfully it is not too bad yet. The only thing we encounter in the road is some Where we encountered the patrol of legionnaires we see some orange clad - in autumn leaves - woman, Imofina, who was lost. Had an accident with a spell of teleport getting a bit too far and wants to get back at the feywild, Gali points her to the one at the north of Cottonhorn and flies away! She could definitely take care of herself as when I was worried about it, she turned into a rather cute but scary bear!

Looking through the witch's eyes.

We get to the Covenant with not many incidents, right when it's the darkest outside and it's starting to get really cold. Yey! Vivi's father's Lord Richard's apartment is so cozy, I just love it! He greets us warmly when we arrive, he offers us some nice rum and we sit by the fire and give him a rundown of what we were up to from the last time we saw him. He didn't have a lot of information for us sadly, but he did give us a lot of insight about Sir Benji and the hammer. He was sure it was a crime and feels that whoever did it the time to be punished is coming close. But advises us to not be over eager and be prepared.

We make a bit fun of Vivi's sense of direction when he says we can get a map from the cartographer down the harbor, and the night progresses smoothly. Finally before bed we make a decision to scry at Selena through the scroll after midnight. Gali knows that the scrying sensor cannot be detected without magic. We have some of Selena's writings and we met her, so it is very likely we will get some good information with it.

Gali reads the scroll as he finishes the incantation, his sight flies out the window and starts to circle around the Covenant for a bit, and zooms down into a weird mix of third and first person view. This is Selena, we know her, dark hair, white skin, red eyes, leather clothes, there is no doubt. The first person view is a pale white hand placed on a plate chest that opens where we see inside a bunch of treasures and a ring. No one is around, suddenly the vision is airborne but slower this time. We know this place, we have been there before - she is visiting her Enigmatic Vault!

After the scry is over, we are satisfied with what we found. We make thoughts in the middle of the night, like that we know it's possible to trick the vault, but we don't know how it opens, we assume she doesn't sneak in but she does it legitimately. We try to think if we can open our own account, but we do need 1000 gold to do it, we don't have that kind of money. Vivi's dad gives us his lights again as to how it works even if he doesn't have an account there. Apparently if someone dies and has imprinted a person, this person becomes the primary heir. And the vault opens if you put your hand on the plate and speak your true name. But what is Selena's last name?! We know her first name and that she was from a noble family in Estia. Alexandra said if we have an original version of the play we might find Selena's name. We thought of some places to get the book, maybe the Grand Library in Greystone, since we already used our recommendation to the Scriptorium in the Covenant we can't go there.

Finally, we sleep and the night progresses without further interruptions.

25th of Skullmonth

Cleaning the poop in our path to Jotunnadal

We wake up later than usual but still early, I want more sleeeep! Our plan is to head to Greystone and we buy enough horses to carry us all. I wanted a seahorse pet but alas, maybe next time, my friends don't understand the huge power of the sea!

Sigi navigates us to the road to Greystone, we don't see many travelers in our path, this time of year it's normal. Quickly we notice a whiff of something foul in the air, ew that smells so bad, and we don't even understand what it is! The trees in the area as we travel seem to have died. Suddenly as we walk we see a pack of seven scrawks in the horizon. Ew that smell, I think I don't need hits from those, I can just die from this! We know this kind, those are elementals not beasts, rock ones, who's droppings are highly acidic, time to fight them! Victoria leads the fight, and the scrawk turns to her and gives her a good guano splat, poor Vivi. Sigi, Gali and me join the fight too, Gali with a spectacular fireball annihilates the poor smelly pack. Without much issue we wipe them all out with me finishing the last one in a splash of acid, I will really need a good shower after this, I never felt happier that my lovely blades don't need me to get closeby to my enemies. At least the vegetation around will be greater than before, that disgusting acid guano is a good fertilizer. We got two uncommon earth essences from them. Did we really just gather the poop of our foes?

We arrive at Jotunnadal village and Victoria finds the master dragon chess player to take her blood back. He sets out his set of solid silver dragons, Vivi takes out her new pretty dragon chess pieces with the proudest face and he does get surprised and seems to like them. They play silently, where Vivi loses in the opening, which follows with a tie. But then Vivi gets all her confidence and her three next moves come naturally like a pro where inevitably she wins the game. Vivi wins 20gold and the guy - who doesn't speak - just says good game, takes his pieces in defeat and walks out.

We have a good night's rest, tomorrow we will arrive at Greystone, that's with a lot of hope, since Vivi will lead the way. We better not get lost in another plane.

27th of Skullmonth

Sorry, our day is booked!

We wake up on the first freezing day and we see all the trees are covered in ice crystals. It's so pretty but we will need winter gear soon. Vivi leads the way to Greystone, no surprises, which is the actual surprise.We arrive at the gate in the afternoon. We have a debate of which library to choose and we end up with going to the Greystone Archive. We enter the Archive grounds through the iron gate, there are students running around from class to class, we pass the green houses with ingredients and enter the main building. This library is open to everyone but we have to search for ourselves. We need to stick to what we are looking for, it's the first edition book.

Vivi, at the very bottom of theater related books stack, she finds battered and beaten still legible, copy of the Dark Gift, we spent 1-2 hours to read through it and find out that this is a different play than what we saw, we discover that Selena is from Arastfjord but it doesn't say the noble house she is. In this version of the play she and Lucas not only did they declare feelings but she was also pregnant when vampire hunters attacked, she survived but the baby and Lucas didn't. There is also a step by step instruction of how to turn someone into a vampire. Wow, I didn't know you can just find things like that in books. We are sure Tybalt or Alexandra can tell us more with this information. What we know is that the ruling house of Arastfjord is House Keswick, ruled by Miranda Keswick and their sigil is a flying falcon holding a ribbon with some kind of motto, I really don't like reading! Why am I in a library! Gali is looking for scrolls not caring much of information rather than for practical finds, he of course finds a scroll of comprehend languages! Amazingly useful, sometimes I don't even understand the languages I speak!

Sigi is trying to find info on lucas but ends up reading a tome in the history of trade, very interesting but nothing useful for what we are looking for. That library trip was very educational for our searches, maybe books aren't too bad after all.

Library by day, strip club by night

We need to find Elias. That's like a needle in the hay but we will take our chances if we go to the right places. We end up going to the Temptation Tavern, oh wow, that's a strip club, people there are gambling, looking at the dancers like the on stage half elf woman with brown hair, very attractive, not completely naked weirdly.

Behind the counter, there are bartenders and a red tiefling who looks to be running the place. It kinda looks like a succubus, if she is one she is not disguised. A blue person, water genasi, is guarded by 2 burly dudes.

We get some liquor, not as good as Lord Richard's of course, but better than bad. After a while in the switch of dancers a human male comes on stage, half dancer half comedian, half naked, everything is half, I am surprised he is not a half elf too. Gali goes out for a second to do his detect magic and comes back in. He sees some minor abjuration like necklaces or rings that several of the patrons here have nothing strongly though, no disguises, only some minor evocation enchantments.

Sigi uses his divine sense, close his eyes, clears his mind, looks out and there are a couple of tieflings here that give you a minor ping of a tiefling but you don't expect them to transform into a succubi, and he also feels my hint of demonic energy - pfft! I am not a demon!

I stealth upstairs and have a look around, some of the doors are locked,some rooms are empty, I see a small hole in the wall and look through it and there is a naked person on the other side who is shortly joined by the elf that was dancing, ok, it's time to go downstairs I have seen enough, I am not interested in these kind of kinks!

I ask the tiefling bartender if it's her place and she says she runs it but doesn't own it, she likes her business. I start asking questions for the water genasi, and she tells me that he is Dominic the blue, leader of a local organisation for those who need protection from the city guard. I note that we might consider it to get to him if we actually need his services and give her a gold as a tip, I know when I am grateful for good information. I get back to my friends, and we try to decide if we should talk to the water genasi and how this can benefit us!

Session 12, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2023-12-04

27th of Skullmonth

We decide to not talk to Dominic, we'll look for clues elsewhere, so we leave the temptation tavern and head towards the Jolly fowl in the shins. It's an outdoor bar, basicly a back alley converted into a drinking establishment.

In the middle of the inn a large tree provides protection from the elements. A human and a dwarf behind the counter worked at a frantic pace trying to take orders, we each grabbed an ale of rather poor quality and glanced at the other customers, looking for some dwarves. I saw a group of them, and tried to eavesdrop to find some information. They worked at the docks and I didn't learn anything important, they mostly complained and had the usual chats one's prone to have with colleagues after a long days labor.

After finishing our beers we continue our sudden pub crawl. As we were circling the towns watering holes our closest destination was The Black Stag. At this point at least I was starting to get slightly inebriated so I decided to refrain from talking too much. My companions talked to the proprietor, a woman who says she used to be an adventurer like us, but then she took an arrow to the knee. Naturally she spent all her hopefully deserved adventuring riches to buy the inn, which she and her husband runs together. Their main focus seems to be renting out rooms, not entertaining drunkards.

Grabbing another cold one is par for the course tonight, so that's what we do! This one is thankfully better than the last, and at this point Lucy says she'd prefer to sort room and board. After we sort our rooms Lucy listens in on the proprietor talking to her husband, and she hears them talking about an awful smell coming from the room "all those loud dwarves" were renting. I use my new hat to see if I can sense anything magical around us, and get a small feeling from below, and one from above. Knowing that their room was above, we decide to head there and check it out. Lucy masterfully picks the lock and almost trips on the corpse of a dwarf lying on the ground. There's an acrid smell, and the dwarf has large wounds that look like line shaped burns along his arms and body. I detect necromantic magic from his wounds, and some abjuration beneath him. We flip him over and find a broken emblem of the Archivists under him. It's a small glass emblem with four interlocking circles, and the left half seems to be missing. On the back there's an inscription, or well, a partial one:

"..mon ..eave"

As the room was close enough to our room for us to hear any activity, we decide to have one person be awake and listening. During my shift I hear several heavy footfalls on the stairs on their way down, apparently I missed them arriving! I wake everyone up and we hurry after them. We had to chase them across a few blocks, and thanks to Victoria and Lucy we both caught up and we weren't noticed by them. We followed them to a greenhouse at the Greystone Archive, and see four dwarves and a human. The man says "he didn't show, I knew he was a coward, we'll get him for killing Ragnar later." Apparently this was Elias, talking about Xarmon and the dead dwarf we found in the room.

I split one of the spells I recently learned on Lucy and Sigismund, a haste spell, which made them extremely quick. Thankfully we surprised Elias and his group of ne'er-do-wells. We were already a bit beaten, bruised and low on magic before this. It was a difficult battle, and the combination of us surprising them, and a black-hooded blue tiefling wielding a two foot black rod, randomly coming down from the rafters to aid us proved to be enough for us to prevail.

After the fight we had a long conversation with the tiefling, which unsurprisingly was Xarmon. He tells us that he left the cult about 25 years ago with the Anchor of Hadar, and that he's had many close calls being tracked and chased by the cult. Xarmon tells us that the cult thinks they need the Anchor of Hadar to summon Azrael to the material plane. The reason that they're so desperate to retrieve the anchor is that there's a prophecy: Azrael is the first harbinger of the end of the gods. He also tells us that the leader of the harbingers is Silas Darkshard, father of Elias. Around 40 years ago he and Selena created the Harbingers. He did it for power, she did it for revenge. He mentions that she only calls herself Blackmoon, but does not know her true name.

Xarmon says he was recruited for his knowledge of certain celestial phenomenon. He believed in their cause for a while, but when he realised the full scope of their plans he stole the Anchor and left. He escaped a whole squad of deathlocks to do so and has been hiding around Estia for over 20 years. After telling us this he casts a spell and diguises himself as a human, and tells us that "Simon Starweave" is what he goes by in Greystone. I only noticed his emblem after he disguised himself, so I held up the the other half to show him, and the partial inscription now made sense.

When Lucy mentions a certain village suddenly Xarmon's eyes become as big as saucers. They talk about her mother and Lucy finally realizes that this blue man is the one she has been looking for her entire life. Her dad! Xarmon joins us as we walk back to The Black Stag, and they finally reconnect, talking about many things, and eventually he gives her a sending stone, connected to his other half, so they can keep in touch.

3rd of Hammermonth

Finally we got some well deserved rest and shuteye. Tomorrow we'll travel to Mossmaw pass and see if there's any truth to the rumors about the weapon Sigismund seeks!

Session 13, Recollections of Lucy Phere

2023-12-11

3rd of Hammermonth

Shopping for winter

It's Hammermonth! Thor enjoyers, rejoice. After all these high pressure days it's time to rest a bit for a while, I spent some time with dad, full of emotions, and leaving behind all the mixed feelings for a new start. But I am an adventurer at heart, I will meet him again one day, he gave me a way to do it after all.

During our week-long rest we notice how cold it is, I am sure this is below freezing at nights. We realise we need more winter clothes, so we go buy those at the market, 150 gold, not bad, they are sooo comfy! But what about sleep while we are away, we are not safe in normal tents? We decided to get a scroll of Tiny Hut and give away another scroll we had - between you and me, I hardly understand context in my own language, it's not like it would help me fight better! We were thinking of getting some healing potions but those are double priced from last time - are we to blame for this madness? Vivi wants some goggles (I bet not as good looking as mine), Eyes of the Owlbear, that apparently need some pristine owlbear feathers to make, oh no, owlbears in our path are forever unsafe now! I am dazzled by a Cloak of Elvenkind, though it needs some weeks to be made and some of our precious essences (though I wouldn't call earth essence precious coming from poop, but we can just skip this information to the seller)

The last day of rest has come and we all fall asleep like bricks because big days are coming.

4th of Hammermonth

Passing Mossmaw pass

We wake up and leave Greystone very early. Heading north we make a stop at Northcross and leave our horses. Sigi decides he doesn't want to leave his steed behind. Not to foresee anything, but this decision makes me feel uneasy. We keep going north and without much issue we arrive in a good afternoon time to Mossmaw. It's probably only a few hours after noon still, light is still plenty for us. Mossmaw Pass is a very narrow stone road passing through a little bridge. As we reach the peak of the road the pass is divided in two. To the north is the big road with a "Myrkynes" sign and to the west a narrow passage, no sign that heads past among the mountains. We trek along this path, surely 20 minutes have passed, we carefully and slowly climb up the mountain, there are stairlike climbing ways, but also smooth gravel ones. We reach a runestone in our path. It reads

"Retribution to the wicked, Devotion to the earnest."

After seeing this runestone, there are no pathways, just climbing the mountain. Gali is guiding us, as he notices that we should probably take the lower road or else we will end up in an ice field. We keep walking and we notice a second runestone in our way. It reads:

"Penance begets absolution, Truth begets allegiance."

Very attractive eel

That runestone is not random, we know this path is the correct one! Vivi has some ideas to guide us through this mountain, sadly for one more time we trust her to lead us in a small stream in one of the mountain paths. Vivi looks around, notices a pair of eyes into a muddy long figure. Oh no, it's rolling into the water, looks very much alive and big, but what is it! Vivi looks more carefully and recognises this is a magnetic eel! This 10 feet long creature is slowly streaming down the mudd. We decide, we might as well not resist the fight, it's our fate with Vivi having the guiding hand.

Sigi tries to hit the eel but poor Sigi, all this metal on him and the weapon is not easy against this magnetic creature. Eel attacks us with its attracting pulse for all our metal gear! I am happy our bags are a bit behind, I don't want to lose my spoon and forks, how am I supposed to eat my dinner after that! Gali blesses us - Thor bless this man!

The eel is slowly losing hope of its victory, it's very wounded to fight anymore and tries to make a run for it. We are not vicious people, but it would have died anyway from all these wounds, the correct thing is to put it out of its misery. Sigi and Gali with the power of teamwork end its life and we see its body drifting in the stream. Vivi goes and grabs it, she knows how to treat freezing water. She slices down the body, which gives us a nice rare magnetic eel core!

Continuing our climbing we find a third runestone. It reads:

"Humility in our victories, Candor in our failures."

Sigi knows, these all are teachings of Sif, Goddess of Justice. I decide to take the guide to my hands and almost take all of us down to a ravine field of black mold, but I have second thoughts at the last minute and decide the high route is better. Phew, I think we dodged a dangerous bullet there.

Almost there, almost air

The apex is within sight, we are so close! Sigi guides us and we keep walking upwards, thinking we found the apex, but that's not the case, this isn't the highest peak! As we approach the wind gets more and more intense. This is not real wind, this feels different. Sigi looks in front of him, and two whirly air elementals are ahead. We need to go through them to reach our destination. To our left, it's a scary long mountain edge. Fighting wind on the edge of a mountain is more than a scary thought, we better protect ourselves from that, I am thinking I need to find a spot where I might be safe. But... It's fight time! Gali blesses us all (I feel more religious than ever!) and we start fighting these mean wind boys.

They both try to get on top of us, now this is very awkward, get to your own personal space you big windy mass! We hit them with our best shots, but one of the elementals while whirlwinding throws Sigi's horse off the cliff, making it a mass of goo. At least Sigi was stable in his feet and didn't follow the poor horse's fate. In our quest to avenge the horse, we give our best shots though. Vivi kills the last elemental that makes the funny noise of a balloon that you failed to tie up, and it stops with a small "pop" and we see a small rock fall from the sky. It's apparently an air elemental core. Not so bad.

We saw the (last) sign

Finally as we look ahead we see the Shrine. The setting sun is shining in this mountain top shrine. Gali guides us to it and we arrive at the Shrine of Humility in one piece as the sun is setting. There, right before the temple we see the fourth and I assume final runestone. It reads:

Equality before the Lawbringer, Fairness before the Oathkeeper."

Sigi knows that Lawbringer and Oathkeeper are names for Sif. A woman in a simple white robe, middle aged with platinum hair not even hinged by the cold and the rain, stands there in front of us. She greets us as we reach the foot of the stairs. Her name is Arginosa and she wants to know our purpose here. Sigi takes the lead and tells her about the head of the hammer and that our intention is to bring justice back to Whitport after listening to the story by the person who sends us. She assumed it was young herald and asked if we met him. Sigi knows he has seen him while he was a teenager keeping order in Whitport, but never knew him well. We inform her that he is dead now, and add everything we know from Traxus, including that he sent us. Her looks turn sad but notes how he prays for his soul and to find peace. Then she invites us all to the shrine, asking Sigi to come first. There she notes us to do our preparations since this ritual will test us. Gali uses his necklace and gives us a bit of a short rest to catch our breaths.

Proving our worth with words

Arginosa takes place behind the altar and then says "Stand before the altar of Humility, I will present you with situations for you to adjudicate and depending on your answers I will judge if you are worthy." Man, I am glad Sigi is in front cause I was hardly listening to all these book people. We came to save, why do we need to prove things? Sometimes I don't understand all these people!! I am trying to hide my yawn and listen to the girl and what she has to say.

Arginosa waves her hand and two metallic-looking illusions of men arguing appear to the north of us. One of them insults the other and the other hits him. Who is to blame, the instigator or the one who threw the punch first? she asks. Sigi is leaning to the one who threw the punch but doesn't give full right to the person with the insulting words, so both have something to answer to. She says that those words are wise.

Then, she waves her arms again and we are presented with another illusion behind us, this time a mother that leaves her baby in an orphanage. Arginosa asks if the mother should be punished for forsaking her duty. Sigi thinks it's better to waste energy to help her to take care of the child than punish her.

Arginosa looks pleased and she waves her hands for a last time, and we see another illusion, this time of a 10 year old girl in shabby clothes grabbing a loaf of bread and running off. Is this a crime, stealing for hunger, she says. Sigi believes that it is not right breaking through the established law, the baker has a life too, better punishment would be making the hungry girl earn the food by assisting there.

Proving our worth with action

We see all the illusions slowly turning against us. Uh uh, this is not good, but then again that's more fun, I almost fell asleep through all this talking. The four radiant guardians start circling us with their featureless faces. Vivi starts off with some hits we are not used to from her, she really is getting the hang of hitting stuff lately, maybe it's the dragonchess that inspired her and her luck changed! Luck is after all the most important factor. The guardians come closer and they seem to only hit us from closeby, that is so good to know. This is turning into a fun fight, but damn them stunning us from time to time is so annoying, I can't do anything! We do finish 2 of them eventually, it's the two men that were fighting, now they are back into their original position kneeling to us.

But this is not over, we are already hurt and the rest are powerful. Gali gets a great idea of dispeling one as he sees they are beings of pure magic, for massive damage (our intelligence suddenly feels way higher than it is!). Vivi "kills" the 3rd Guardian that follows the example of the previous ones, and goes into its place kneeling to us. One more left!

I am stunned and exhausted almost through the rest of the fight, barely surviving, and in my confusing mind thinking of death, I chugged a healing potion, but when I snap out of it, I realise I wasn't moted anymore and knowing that it's almost over and I am safer than I thought I spit it back into it's flask, and made sure to show everyone (now that's how you call dibs!). With this said, I finish the last one, and we have all the guardians back where they started kneeling to us, knowing that it's over!

Worth Proven

Arginosa looks at us and says "You have proven to judge and be judged". While she says that, a massive flash of light blinds us, and she transforms into a huge silver dragon unleashing her weapon on the altar with sounds of chimes that can be heard in the whole shrine. She turns to Sigi: "Claim your prize, Sigismund Heldenhammer". Sigi feels the religion and Sif through him, he suddenly felt his worth being accepted by him and gave him more strength in his prayers.

She asks if we want to spend the night there at the shrine. Warm and cozy feels great after all the frost we have been through. We acquired the first piece of the hammer, The head of Judgment. It's a pretty nice piece, it looks like it was holding gems in it a long time ago, some round ones and some striped. Now on to our adventure for the other piece we are missing, the handle, or what we like to call it, the Shaft of Judgment. We take the small shelter rest we are given and we plan tomorrow to trek down the mountain and head maybe to Greystone for some more resting time, or right away to the Covenant and the tower for the other part!

Session 14, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2023-12-18

5th of Hammermonth

We wake up in a nice and comfortable temple, which makes it all the more jarring as Arginosa bids us goodbye and we step outside. It's a cold day, and with the wind blowing in our face our visibility isn't great. This, and only this, is the primary reason that we walk into a wall of smells. A big hairy creature down in the ravine below us being the one who supplied it, our companions and I agree that it'll probably be for the best to avoid his attention. Oh boy was I right, and do I hate foreshadowing.

A guttural roar echoing against the walls means he must have heard our clanks, or their echoes, and spotted us walking above us. With no more hiding, it's time for fighting. A salvo of attacks delivered swiftly unto him pisses him off more than anticipated. Before I can jump out of the way, he replies with a giant boulder launched squarely at yours truly. This might have been the worst of it if I hadn't been standing close to the ledge for better aim. Falling down the ravine almost took more than the breath out of me, and now I'm in even more trouble, as our newest troll friend looks like he likes running more than he likes climbing. Attack after attack I only barely manage to keep out of his range while we whittle him down. Before he does finally go down, he manages another boulder at Lucy, catching her straight on.

As we go further down the mountain the Gods have no more surprises in store for us and we manage in one piece. We go on to Greystone and sleep off the troubles of the day.

6th of Hammermonth

The next day we find ourselves at the docks and look for passage to Arastfjord. We quickly find ourselves aboard the Merry Manatee, sailed by Max Kingfisher. With Ol' Tubbs (the bard), Kelly Driftwood (weaponsmith, and his girlfriend?), Manila (a jeweler halfling, seemingly also middin), and Sean Lacewing (a lot lot of tattoos!), we are welcomed aboard, and set sail in no time.

As a fellow Middin, Lucy is immediately drawn to Nanila, who shows her her wares. A pendant made of silver wire, in the form of an anchor. She then goes to the side of the ship, hangs it overboard and says “Dropping Anchor!”. Immediately the pendant grows and grows, becoming and actual anchor! Moments later she says “Anchors aweigh” and it shrinks back down to the pendant it was before.

I want to have this, though sadly it's a bit expensive. We don't currently have 1200 gold anymore. But I ask Nanila, and she does let me try it out. At the edge of the ship I say “Drop Anchors!” and the anchor grows… and grows… and grows… and before I can grab on to it tightly, the rope snatches out of my hands, into the water. Nanila is not happy about her pendant being in the ocean.

We persuade Max to turn around and Lucy and I dive in the water. Luckily for our finances, we do manage to find the pendant and get back on board. Nanila is relieved she's got her pendant back, but still seems reasonably angry with me. Hopefully some time will cool her off. In the mean time I'm going hiding below deck. People tend to be less upset when they don't keep being reminded about it.

There I find Kelly, tinkering on some gun. Turns out she's a gunsmith, and makes all kinds of modifications. She shows off her latest work, a crank-powered gun, which shoots a bunch of missiles while she's turning the handle. At the end of it she seems more surprised it worked rather than exploding in our face! And then Nanila is upset with me...

Finally we arrive in Arastfjord. Knowing Selena was a noble, house Keswick must have records of someone by that name some 200 years ago. We set off to the manor and try to get inside.

It takes some persuading, as the majordomo doesn't seem inclined to let me us in on my name alone, ("not a noble" ?!) but we get in in the end. In the library there's an absolutely enormous tapestry with the entire Keswick family line. It takes some searching but Gallias eventually finds the one entry that seems to fit: Selena Keswick, born 1229, died 1248. We are then swiftly escorted from Manor Keswick.

As we get outside we run into Tybalt. His Troupe has finished their season and in the aftermath of the interview Cordelia had with Jameson they've been gaining a lot of bookings for the next season already. He invites us to the feast to mark the end in the White Cliff Tavern this evening. As the ship is only leaving again tomorrow, we have plenty time to attend, and do so gladly.

In the evening we find ourselves at the head of the table, with Tybalt and Cordelia, very much enjoying the food, drinks, and company. I regale Cordelia with stories of our adventures (of which we've had many since she last saw us) and she provides us with a bottle of the finest mead. She says she was looking for a bottle of her grandfathers' brew, but alas they didn't have any of them. At my request she will keep one aside if she does find any more, though. I can't wait to taste it! Gallias recognises there to be Rawsley in the inn's signature drink. A magical plant, adding a welcome tingle to the drink. As the bottle drains, the atmosphere brightens even more; and with it, some details of the stories might be slightly embellished, or even mistaken, but Cordelia hangs on to every word. She mentions she's going to be sitting for a painting soon, (I hope to replace the one hanging in the main room but I doubt we'd be so lucky), and is looking for suggestions for costumes. She seems to like my idea of dressing as Licinia, a priestess of Sacella the blessed.

By the late hour that desserts have been finished (with laceberry jam!), everyone is quite boisterous, and some even have already left for their beds. Tales are now bordering on the preposterous, and amongst the stories we ask Cordelia if she'd like to come with us to break open Selena's vault. Whether it be the drink or the heist, Cordelia is very enthusiastic, and readily agrees. By the end of the night, she sneaks with us back on the boat (and no one heard? A wonder!). There's no accommodations she'd be use to, and we're even a bed short, but she's happy enough to sleep in mine with me.

In the morning (or is it midday already?) Captain Max seems very surprised there's a stowaway on board, though considering her fame, he's not one to make a big fuss. An autograph here and some talk there, Cordelia smoothes over all wrinkles there might have been, and with that we're on our way to Covenant.

Maybe we should've told Tybalt...

Session 15, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2024-01-02

6th of Hammermonth

As we approach Covenant we pass by Palecliff Isle. The village on the island lies near the coast, on the path to a dense forest, but the most interesting thing is the keep! It seems be around 150 feet high, sitting on 3 pillars of stone, which are all connected by rope bridges. I'd like to have a closer look some day.

7th-12th of Hammermonth

The next week is spent planning our heist and collecting things to make proper disguises. We buy a scroll to disguise me as a human, and one to improve Cordelia's ability to impersonate Selena. She has no issue making a suitable disguise to trick common folk, but we learned a while back that the vault's magic needs everything we can throw at it to be fooled.

13th of Hammermonth

After a weeks worth of rest and preparation we finally decide to attempt our heist at nightfall. We don our disguises and head over to the Estian Exchequer. Naturally Cordelia had to take charge, as we were merely her entourage. She assumed her best better than thou aura and approached one of the cashiers, telling him to let her access her vault undisturbed. I'm fairly confident she could have fooled anyone, he let us through without a hint of suspicion. After he was out of earshot we use our magic on Cordelia as we had planned. I give her a guidance spell, Victoria uses the scroll of enhance ability and Lucy does some weird psionic thing that I don't really understand.

Cordelia gives us a slightly nervous look, places her hand on the lid and with a mix of excitement and feigned confidence speaks "Selena Keswick." It's hard to say if it was our combined effort or just Cordelias talent, but she impersonated Selena well enough to fool the magical vault.

We were granted access, and unsurprisingly saw the same blue light emanating from the inside, that we had seen from the ring Selena took from Rowan Hillsongs tomb. Along with the ring we found a lot of other things Selena had stashed here. She had several vials of blood, presumably used as healing potions, a tiara, an oil painting and a violet potion that makes you invulnerable for a short period. Victoria also snatched an arrow with some transparent gem in place of the head. We all filled our pockets with whatever gold we found, and left the Estian Exchequer without anyone realising what we had done. I am pleasantly surprised by how smoothly this went, and what an exhilarating experience it was to be a part of performing this ruse. Ordinarily I'd be against deceiving those poor cashiers, but if this isn't an acceptable exception I'm not sure what would be.

Following our successful heist Cordelia is really excited, and says we should go to the Platinum Peacock to celebrate with some drinks. With no one objecting, we hurry over and enter a crowded inn, with a half elf troubadour entertaining. Thirsty and tired, we spend a while drinking and blowing off some steam. After a while Lucy and I notice Victoria being completely oblivious to Cordelia making advances on her. Hilarious as it might be to watch her not picking up the signs, I decide to tell her the next time Cordelia goes for drinks, that a certain someone has the hots for her. Victoria gets very flustered, but it's no secret that she's an admirer of Cordelia, so clearly this is good news! After a while we head over to the Dryad's Rest. While the lovebirds dance, Enigma comes to us and asks what brings us to Covenant, I just tell him it's a practical place to be between jobs or while looking something up. He says to come to him if we ever need his help with something.

While we've been busy with other business, Lord Richard has been looking into the tome. Wilrick was indeed a part of the Obsidian Synod. They were four wizards who banded together to protect their research into cosmic space and time. The leader was Cressida Silverthorn, the First Chronurgist. She married her first apprentice, Bartholomew (presumably Bartholomew Silverthorn, the name we read in the scroll.) The third was Wilrick Whitegaze, and the fourth was Caelestra Runodel.

The Synod realised that these new discoveries were very powerful and dangerous, too dangerous to release upon the world. Scholars as they were, completely removing the magic and leaving it forgotten again was against their wizardly ideals. Anyone worthy should be allowed to walk the path of the synod and rediscover their findings. Spread throughout this book (parts of it is written in an old gnomish verse) the number seven keeps coming up, and seems to be important.

Finally Richard mentions an offhand reference to Bartholomews tower being on the tallest hill in Aphenor, which we know was renamed to Covenant. Council Hall has the largest tower, and also the the deepest cellars.

Next, the Trial of Might is called for Seek below his lonely tower in Aphenor

We know that the sewer system can access a lot of places if navigated properly. We start searching at the entrance we know, near the Bulletin. We use my Orb of Direction to keep track of where north is, and we sketch a map of the tunnel system as we go, to make back tracking easier. It takes us several hours, and eventually we are attacked by a horde of zombies and ghasts. After ending their miserable existence we find an inconspicuous iron door. It's locked and has the sigil of the Council on it. The sigil also says to keep out, there's a large padlock which Lucy effortlessly picks.

We enter through the door and find an old storage room for the Council, and a path that splits into 3. On a wall we see a large drawing of Odin. On some shelves we find some gaudy costume jewelry, and Victoria finds a potion in an old dusty wine rack. Lucy heads down one of the paths and walks into another room, and spots a small plaque, which confirms that this is the place we're looking for. The plaque is made of dark metal, giving of a purple sheen when light hits it.

The Synod's secrets hide within, A dark star to open the path, The symbol of the Chosen Few, The blood of the earth below, Will reveal the magic above.

Below the plaque is a half sphere receptacle that would seems to fit in a round object that would be about two inches across.

Session 16, Recollections of Lucy Phere

2024-01-09

13th of Hammermonth

Looking at a plaque

It feels like many days have passed since we started staring at that plaque and its "key" we need to open it. But to my surprise it was only 2 minutes. We all walk back and forth trying to figure what can fit in this start, meddling and searching all the garbage for any clue, anything, whatever may help us. Gali and Vivi investigate the rear rooms; all they find is a case of ale and some cabbage, not bad, but it is definitely not a star-shaped object. Sigi is lost in his thoughts. All the rooms here are so heavy in magic there must be something. Vivi decides to pull down a tarp in the middle of the room and finds a ballista? I thought we were in the sewers under the earth, not in a tower high above.

The ballista points at Vivi, Vivi looks back at it knowing what is coming and we get ready to turn it to scrap. After a not too long fight in which we didn't let this metal weapon that doesn't belong there act at all, it lowers completely its front aiming cannon and it's no longer a threat.

Vivi goes close to investigate it and it seems that if this thing actually fired it would not end well for us since it would have made a big explosion. Gali has an epiphany somehow in the middle of our ballista talk and we figure we need obsidian to open the door. Also we had a lot of great ideas about what to do with the single arrow that the ballista had, Vivi says to fire it to the door, I say to fire it to the ground in search for obsidian, or even mix and match the letters of the plaque that are actually made from obsidian to make a key. We also figure to take the arrow with us, which Sigi-boring doesn't think is a good idea. I on the contrary think that all were great ideas but we decided to go the boring way.

So we finally wanna go up to the real world, somehow find the key and come back. Vivi decides to lead us for our way out, a g a i n - I am not sure why this keeps happening when we get lost every time. We even have a map but noooo. Suddenly she hears a sound and it appears to be coming from a room closeby, she peaks from the corner of the door and 2 eyes are looking at her. There is something inside the trash, and it appears to be a nothic. Even when Vivi waves it just thinks it's very well hidden. Only when I go stealthy close I hear its voice yelling "Go! Unless you have food!". Me and Gali decide to do the good deed of the day and search for something good for it to it, not long after we find a rat, alive, but it didn't knew it's fate today, kill it and bring to our new to be friend, but what we get is only a yell of "Delicious! Now leave" while munching its delicacy with mouthfull.

Out in the fresh air. Smelly people shopping

Finally above ground, this smell will take days to go away, but we might go back down before this happens.

The smart people from the group are thinking where to look for obsidian. Me and Gali think it's time for a new heist! What a great idea, sad that Vivi and Sigi want to "buy" it from somewhere. We go to an alchemist shop to the Unity square and luckily it has some, but we end up finding someone at the stone market as well to make it the shape we want, but it's going to be ready tomorrow in 24 hours. That's a great delay, I needed some rest before going back to the sewers. Vivi can't stop talking to us all these days about how she wants us to get a present for Cordelia to thank her for helping us. The truth is I only go along cause she might eventually stop bugging us with that! So she gets a silver necklace and an ale from laceberry that she likes and delivers it with a courier with a thank you note.

14th of Hammermonth

Back to the lair of crocodiles

A day has passed and after our small rest we receive the obsidian star, not in perfect shape but it might do the job and go down again to the sewers. Vivi leading us once more, to everyone's surprise not very successful AGAIN. As she walks she notices just before stepping in to them two big masses of jelly. Apparently there are two gelatinous cubes on our way, some oozy and very slow creatures. Since they are in our way it is time to fight. The fight goes smoothly with the creatures not able to make many moves to our positions since Gali makes them take a century to walk. After we also go from where the nothic was, nowhere to be found, with only rat remains from its meals. A shame. Back at square one, where the plaque is. Gali tries to slot it in, it seems there is some connection and there is a gong sound coming from it. The wall rearranges itself forming a doorway. At the center there is an ornate chest. Probably traps everywhere, Gali can feel the magic, abjuration from the chest and abjuration from the pearl. Two statues in the room are made of stone, one empty suit of armor yet feels protective. The inside of the room, it's much warmer than the outside one we came from, that's weird. There is a fine layer of sand like we are at the beach. Gali makes his mage hand touch the orb and the hand dissapears. Me and Vivi, quite surprised, do the same, and we disappear too! Then the rest follow, there is not much to do behind.

The mighty trial, the trial of might

It's like the scenery changes completely and suddenly we are in the middle of a large amphitheater! This is an arena, not a good sign. We see a shimmering force field in front of a gate, probably the way out of here. Behind us an illusion of a human male in robes. He yells: "New challengers! Welcome to the colosseum of sand! I am Bartholomew, make what preparation you deem necessary and step into the arena. Leaving the arena is not advised."

We don't know what we will deal with but we do know it's time to fight. Gali aids us, I stealth (though not much point where everyone sees right through me). I take one step into the Circle of Challengers. A whole illusory crowd appears just as it is about to begin. Bartolomew talks again "Let's see how you do against the Sand of the Desert!" From the sand sixteen humanoid shaped sand pieces of armor emerge all around us from every corner (if you can call anything corner in a round arena).

Fight starts, we shortly see how hitting each two times knocks off the sand armors to the ground! We take them out one by one, Gali maybe way more than one at a time, so we are in a good place. As we are deep into the fight having killed more than ten, all the armor of the sands coalesces to a sand golem figure with 4 sandy legs which calls out to "Exterminate!". We turn to the Golem too, but quickly poor Sigi finds out not in the best way how it's not great to be close to it, when the golem blasts him! But of course later he takes his blood back demolishing him and we look at it with our mouths open from awe. Even the Golem turned to him to say "You just did not do that". Not long after, with the Golems weak spot exposed Vivi finishes it off and the crowd cheers applause.

Bartholomew says "Most amusing sight to behold, your might has been proven worthy. Claim the treasures in my vault with my blessing" and fades away, just like the forcefield does one second later.

The mighty vault

My favorite moment, opening our gifts handed to us. The full set of armor we saw earlier was actually metal plate armor, with swirling patterns, sea shells and motifs of moving air. A nice 500gp diamond. Vivi finds one statue is Six-foot marble statue of a dead dragon worth 750gp but I find a much smaller statue, a six-inch granite statuette of a dancing eladrin worth 60gp which has two swords held up by magnets. Big money of 1404gp.

In the center there is am ornate stone metal lockbox worth 400gp, eight inches on each side, an ideal material for one of Gallias' spells - what a coincidence! I lockpick it, without checking for traps (but there aren't any! Luck is my god after all). On top there is a scroll of very fine parchment which we open but it's all gibberish. It reads:

mpcl vyiz thyr aol svjhapvu pu llypl mvylza vm dpsk thnpj aol khbnoaly vm aol jvztvz jhlslzayh dpss johsslunl fvb buivbuk if aptl huk nyhcpaf

Under the scroll there are some robes, Bartholomew's Scapular. Vivi takes the scroll and gets lost in her thoughts for a while. Then she comes back with the happiest face saying that she thinks she solved it. Apparently it says:

Five orbs mark the location, in eerie forest of wild magic. The daughter of the Cosmos, Caelestra will challenge you, unbound by time and gravity.

I will be honest, this is just as gibberish as the first read to me. Before walking out of the sewers me and Gali took the ballista arrow inside the vault - it will be safe there! Then after feeling good and more experienced after this hard fight, we walk out of this filthy place without any issue or obstacle.

Session 17, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2024-03-04

14th of Hammermonth

We make our way back out of the basements and the sewers without incidents. With everyone feeling a bit spent after the arena; Father's invitation for dinner is a welcome one. Though while tasty, it seems something is troubling him. Distant and absentminded throughout it all. Afterwards I take him aside. Though it takes some pushing he starts telling me something wasn't as he told me about my mother. But before he can say more, a loud scream draws our attention, and before I know it we're under attack by a skeletal ogre and zombies!

As Father is rushing to grab his greatsword, I jump through the window and start laying into the zombie. Soon, we're all into the thick of it and I see Sigismund swing his pick out the window at a climbing zombie.

As I had hoped, the ogre skeleton fixes his gaze on me instead of the house. On the bright side, this saves the house. On the down side, there is now an ogre skeleton very rapidly approaching on me, and it takes a very quick Shield spell to save my hide.

While I'm running back from the ogre and slinging arrows, Gallias is going around slinging Sigismund, though I can't quite see where too, it looks to me like he overshot and Sigismund landed in the fountain past the ogre, though afterwards I saw dead necromancers and vampire spawn scattered around the fountain, as well as what looks like one drowned in it. Meanwhile, as Father told it, Lucy, Gallias, and Father are taking on some zombies inside.

As the ogre falls I spot movement on the neighbours' house, and see a figure skulking around. A quick salvo of arrows misses him but does manage to take his attention. Again... Double sided sword as now the assassin jumps down straight at me with daggers drawn, another quick Shield just barely draws saves me from what looked a very painful end.

Seconds later Father comes jumping through the window, sword raised and aimed straight at the assassin, as I get tossed away to another roof. With me out of his range, the assassin turns his attention to Father...

Arrow after arrow pierces him, and before he can get to him, the assassin drops down, as the elven face disappears before our face, and once again looks like a human.

And just like that, all the assailants are downed, and calm returns. Moments later the guard comes running up, though Father's explanation and status manages to smooth over their disposition.

Session 18, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2024-03-11

14th of Hammermonth

The guards run up to us, demanding explanations as to why there are numerous corpses littering the street and fountains. After a quick overview of the situation they go off to get their Captain. We quickly clear up the situation with the Captain, as the guards corroborate our story with neighbours down the streets. With a little push they even believe it's not an elf attack. At our request, they keep one of the deceased aside so we can get a Speak with Dead cast, to get more information on the reason of the attack. Though we don't know anyone who can cast it, so we make our way over with haste to the Temple of Heimdall.

At the temple, a local acolyte is all too happy to wake Mother Superior at our request. She is not happy being woken for this, but does agree to come by in the morning (it looks like we didn't need to hurry quite as much...).

We head back inside where we find our butler, Alfred Eastling, has taken the leg of a table and took it upon himself to stake the remaining Vampire Spawn. Father and I both agree, such an act clearly deserves a fine bottle of wine.

Everyone settles down, and after people start heading to bed, I bring up the topic of my mother again. A bit reluctant, he shares the real story of how he met my mother. 26 years ago, as he was traveling between Whitport and Wolfcrag to inspect some of grandfathers' holdings, he was ambushed and taken captive by the Redscarve bandits. He was placed in custody of their second in command, Robyn. Throughout several weeks, she interrogated him, and in doing so, they grew closer over time. One fateful night, during a celebratory feast, Robyn slipped him a dagger as she went to join the party. Father escaped the tent, and after killing a single sentry, found a horse she had left him to ride back home. Months later, I was found on his doorstep. As to not give away the real identity of my mother, he made up a story about meeting someone in a bar.

I'm going to have to go find her, though I'll take a few days to collect my thoughts first. Father suggested we can find the Redscarves and see if we can team up against Prince. There's no love lost between the Redscarves and Prince, but allying ourselves with a bandit group might not go over well with the people, not to mention the aftermath of such a cooperation. Alternatively we can eliminate the threat, after I get my mother out. This might bring us back into favor of the people.

15th of Hammermonth

In the morning, the Mother Superior arrives and casts the spell for us.

• Are you working for Selena?
  • "I work for Blackley"
• Where is Blackley?
  • "Palecliff Island"
• Where is Selena?
  • "The Dark Lady rules the Ravenroost (the keep on Palecliff Isle)
• How do we get into the Ravenroost unnoticed
  • "The boathouse is lightly guarded"
• Who was your target?
  • "You all were"

At the very least the last one is good news, as father will be safe, and at last we have a destination where we can find Selena. Father mentions as a young boy he's heard of a bay under a cairn which smugglers used to use. From his knowledge, and asking around in town, we piece together a map.

We take a few days to collect ourselves and prepare ourselves to get onto the island without alarming everyone there. Sigismund practices with heavy armor, Lucy is attempting to cast warlock magic (there's no way this'll go wrong, right?), Gallias tries to improve his spellcasting so he can keep his focus better, and I attempt to imbue spells into my arrows, with mixed results. A lot more practice is needed.

One of the mornings the newspaper arrives and something immediately draws Lucy's attention: It's gambling. Of course it's gambling.

Initially I wasn't going to go, but our financial prospects took the upper hand and I went along to keep her spending in check. In the end we have a decent day. I bet 10 gold on Stormfoot, a fine gelding, named a ‘champion'? Lucy puts 200 gold pieces on Rosie, a contender, and Sigismund puts another 10 gold on Dolphin. A horse named Dolphin. Apparently all his competitors in the previous race fell ill, and he won by default. Maybe I should have put more money on Dolphin if they're going to pull that trick again!

I was right though, in the end. Stormfoot won by a mile, it wasn't even close. To say Lucy was frustrated is an understatement. I didn't hear to end of it, as if it was my fault?! I won us money! 20 gold pieces!

Later we go off to see Enigma. If there's anyone who can get us unto the island unseen, it'll be him. Though at 800 gold pieces, it isn't cheap, though he mentions if we find a Bleakmire orchid, he'll return us the money. A Bleakmire orchid, in his hands, will undoubtedly be used for some kind of poison. I fear my relationship with Enigma can come back to haunt me. Though between this deal, our previous deal, or whatever we end up with the Redscarves... getting our seat on the Council back will only be the start for our House.

He's being a bit mysterious about its current location, speaking about an owner who's unlikely to want to part with it. This'll be fun, won't it? We make the deal and he'll get us onto a boat a few days in.

A rolled up letter arrives the next day, tucked inside a ring, smelling of lavender. The news about the attack reached Arastfjord; and Cordelia's ears. Thoughtful as ever, she sent me her own Lunarite ring to keep me safe.

I'm happy to hear her portrait is done. An invitation to come see it and share the bottle of laceberry mead is more than welcome, and the thought of seeing her again had me walking on clouds all day. Maybe she can join us again. For something safe. Though first Selena will have to go, so she will be safe.

22nd of Hammermonth

Enigma's captain takes us on board the early hours of the morning, and we're off. Soon we hit the mists of Palecliff, and quickly we're obscured from view. He tells us the mists have been up for decades now, and people going missing in the village. A little while later he drops us off at the entrance to the cave.

We walk up through, as Lucy motions us to stop. She spotted a merrow up ahead, though as she sneaks closer it appears to be a statue. A very lifelike statue. Maybe petrified. Our suspicions are confirmed as Lucy sneaks through finding more statues and a Medusa. No better plan, she talks to her. Luckily she has enough hatred towards the merrow who keep trying to destroy her garden, so she lets us pass with the promise to take out the leader of the merrows. Which is a black dragon named Tofanis the Corrosive. Oh, and to top it all off, the Medusa, Petra, also wants us to bring back Tofanis' Bleakmire orchid. Just our luck. I should have gone to Cordelia.

Session 19, Recollections of Sigismund Heldenhammer

2024-03-18

22nd of Hammermonth

We emerged from the cave housing our medusan (potential) ally and emerge into forest - heavy with mist and with limited visibility. I expect this to be the case across the Isle.

We encountered some trees adorned with feathers and antlers, along with some peculiar plants. Gallias helped to Identify them as fey in nature, and we connected them to Peryton Peak. We also found a potion wrapped in a twilight maple leaf, which was inscribed with druidic writing.

After sneaking past some misty creatures, we found more trees with fey-like adornments (and realized we were being watched from the wilds by some vine creatures). We successfully interacted with two of the latest adorned trees, but Victoria tampered with the third and the vine creatures set upon us. They were dispatched, largely by Victoria and some flaming arrows, but not before sowing some confusion.

We continued to the peak and came across a nest of peryton, with a briar beast as their alpha. We cleared them out, and were greeted by a hag.

Unfortunately, peace was never an option (Victoria), and so we also had to burn a witch. We rejected her entreaty to allow her to live in exchange for a wand, and finally put her down along with the last of the peryton.

We are left with a choice of what to do with the briar heart of the peryton alpha, and a decision on where to proceed to next on the isle.

Session 20, Recollections of Lucy Phere

2024-03-25

22nd of Hammermonth

At the top of the wo.. peak

We are at the top of Peryton Peak, still at this island in trouble, trying to decide our next move after our only lead being a leaf with a note written on it. Better than nothing. We figure the best option is to find the grove first, so the cairn to the south seems like a nobrainer. Despite that, the decision took longer than expected for us since we were exhausted from all the hag fighting.

Vivi was the only one without scratches, so Gali helped me and Sigi and we took a short nap, because we don't know what might await us in this strange land. We woke up with some weird face markings. Vivi whistling peacefully had no idea when or how this happened. Talk about a lookout!

So, with many question marks above our heads at this weird ten-minute incident, we start walking towards the cairn.

One with the nature, and it's friends

The walk is not a long one, but we had to take some longer routes to avoid getting scratches all over us or having to needlessly cut all these thorns to get by. Suddenly, we approach a stone structure, an imposing sight in front of us. We go closer but the mist is so dense in this island, no sign of life at first glance. Rain started too and the ground got all soggy, that's just great for our luck, pff! I try to look around, all I find is stack of small coins and offerings, a lot of them, but not treasure worthy. Besides, I might like money, but I consider stealing from offerings a sign of bad luck and karma.

A stormy voice saying suddenly disturbs my thoughts saying "Leave at once!". Gali spots a black and white tiger with glowing orange eyes behind some bushes! I decide to talk to this tiger, who seemed like a large strong kitty - how mean can a kitty be - and tell him that we are here to actually help the island cause we know that something is wrong. I convinced him, with little white lies, to go out of his hiding place and talk to us about it.

He explains to us about how people are desecrating nature and they need to pay for this pillaging, how the operation is close to where we came from and he has send one of his allies there, Lily Thornroot, to investigate. He also promised us to give us a free pass to the island if we disrupt the operations. Gali steps in right away and tells him about the leaf we found that had Lily's name on it and we found it in a bloody bag where we came from but no sign of her or her remains. Serath, which is his name that we should had asked earlier, says he wrote this letter and we need to keep an eye for Lily too when we go for the pillagers, he described her as a human a bit younger than Vivi, but we will possibly see her in the form of black panther. If we use Serath's name we will probably not get clawed right away when we meet her.

Before we go Serath's nail lights up scratches the word Cairngrove off the leaf. Then he says "Huntress preserve you", steps back and disappears behind the tree. All of this interaction was confusing to me and shortly I forgot all about it, and it seems none of the others recognised this deity either.

The Claaaw

We start searching for panther and the logging camp towards where we came from again. We again pass Petra's home cave, where the wicker plant with the antlers and feathers is now just a plain wicker plant. After an hour of walking without finding anything, the mist finally clears a bit up ahead and we notice several cut trees and stacked lumber. Bingo! Logging camp ahead! There are several people also, they look to be working on something, two of the lumberjacks seem to work on a twelve-foot tall steel construct, there is also one sawblade, and an access hatch we noticed but it's not possible to tell what's in there. At the center of the camp, a well dressed dwarf with a well waxed mustache with a musket in his hand and an axe on his back, yelling orders. That must be the chief of the operation! Vivi spots an FTC logo on a shredder armor plate.

I activate my psionic powers, they will for sure come in handy. We make a great plan, to tell them that Tullius from Greystone send us here to inspect with Gali disguised as inspector Gregorius, me as the trusted associate Karen and our guards, Vivi (Right) and Sigi (Left). This plan is brilliant!

We emerge from the woods and the Foreman with a surprised look on his face asks us to identify ourselves. Gali who now has the form of a forty-something human from the FTC jumps in and says that we are here to inspect the operation, and asks about the quality of the shredders which the Foreman couldn't be more eager to show us with pride! He mentions Alderman Blackly who is in Palecliff village, but we clear out we come from Greystone directly. I then ask about the commotion we were informed that happened, but he assured us that this is dealt with. They caught someone lurking and apparently it was Lily who is alive but maybe not for long since they send her to Blackley, something which he assured us with a scroll note from him. With Gali asking how big the operation is we find out that there is another party with a shredder which is mobile and could be anywhere around here. Foreman Broadtrunk seems to be a very eager to show off his creations man, so we hardly had to convince him to tell us anything. He even went on with advice for us to invest and get some good cut too.

While we "inspect" I look around bored, but Gali and Vivi got into much thinking about these shredders, looking at the hatch and their face darknessed when they felt that this looked to be a Golem power source and very dangerous to anyone, but right now to us and the island.

Going a bit away from the camp we talk in peace about a new plan to destroy or disable them. We didn't find the other loggers yet, so Vivi suggests that she can totally disable the shredders by herself. We end up waiting for dusk and having her invisibly sneak up to the closest one, and me to the further one stealthing with her instructions since all I see is blue and red wires and pipes. I am sure I did everything she told me and it worked! I feel like a true engineer now, that's so easy!

Don't be mean, keep it green.

After this great success, the next obvious step is to try and find the last shredder with the mobile party, we walk northwest for ten minutes and the mist doesn't help, still being pretty dense. I try to sneak out in various places, Gali tries to hear any shredder - there are not the quietest machineries - Vivi tries to guess where the better trees might be. Sigi tries to make Vivi jump on to a tree to see better, I really have no idea what these 2 are thinking, but this didn't end well with Vivi hardly getting to the top and almost sticking her head into a beehive. That's when Gali tries to use his compass and just before ending his sentence of being disappointed we didn't find anything, he turns around and a lumberjack appears in front of his face with the shredder in the back.

Time to draw our swords, this is what we were looking for. There are three lumberjacks and a shredder just like Broadtrunk promised. This fight went to a scary place when one of them got into the shredder. We realised this might cause an issue, or some bad injuries. Luckily, even when we killed the shredder, we didn't get caught in the explosion. I can't say the same for one of them that I forced into not moving out. After the shredder's big explosion, fires were about to hit the forest. We ended the remaining enemies - I know they are not evil but we can't afford leaving them alive was my short thought, and then extinguished the rest of the fires that were spreading. Vivi named us "The Firefighters" after this - very creative.

Save the nature, so it will save you back.

Just a minute after the explosion, not at all unexpected we hear another explosion, but just one. I turn to Vivi and console her since she probably messed up the disabling of the shredder. We have to go to the camp to see what actually happened.

When we arrive, some are badly injured and Broadtrunk with two others are on top of the shredder and we quickly figure that this isn't gonna be fixed any time soon, cause I actually did a good job disabling it... almost. Broadtrunk thinks the dragon didn't keep his truce, and we suggested we take him out of there with our guards.

Left alone in the camp, we disable the shredder entirely and this will cause us no issues anymore, we also got a rare essence out of it! We loot some alcohol we found in the camp - it might as well be used! - and we are ready to go back to Sereth to give him the good news, and get ready for our next stop, probably saving Lily, but you never know what we will wake up to!

Session 21, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2024-04-01

22nd of Hammermonth

Dusk is closing in on us as Sigismund and I arrive back at the logging camp. There's not a lot of time left in the day so we set off to the cairn. Lucky for us, we don't run into anything untoward as we make our way over to Serath. He's unhappy about Lily's current predicament, though understands we can't just walk into a vampire's lair. Preparations have to be made. For now, though, night has fallen, and Serath invites us into the grove for a hot meal and welcome rest.

Inside we are greeted by Marigold, a gnome, cooking a hearty soup, Minfina, a half-elf with a giant toad (bigger than Lucy!), and Misseis, a centaur-like creature, half deer and half elf.

Marigold hands us some soup and a bottle of twilight maple syrup. Apparently it'll help us sleep. After dinner we check in with Serath who informs us the grove is now indeed safe from the lodgers. Furthermore he tells us about Petra, who has been on the island as a medusa for at least a decade, which is when he got here, about that alderman Blackley has been living an unnaturally long life, about the cleric of Hel, Ariadne Shadowzeal, in the village and about a hag on Peryton Peak. His relief of hearing of her demise turns quickly upon seeing the Peryton heart. A powerful curse rests on the heart. This might just be the source of the medusa curse.

23rd of Hammermonth

Before we leave in the morning, Minfina shares that she has seen a tusked creature with copper fur in the reeking cave. A catoblepas by the sound of it. Not the fastest creature but their death ray is not something to be trifled with. We leave the cairn and set off towards Palecliff.

We arrive in town to see wanted posters for Gregorious and Karen. Lucy quickly pulls up her cloak before we walk in; it doesn't look like anyone spotted her. Further in, Foreman Broadtrunk is hanging from a noose. It looks like they're not too keen on failure on the island. As we approach the shrine, a few nearby villagers are discussing the cleric missing. The third to go missing in recent weeks, after Alyssa Shortrun, a logger whom Broadtrunk spoke of, and Samual Holdfast, a local fisherman, whose wife is frantically trying to fill orders as she has to fill his shoes.

Inside the shrine a gigantic wicker statue of an angel towers over us. Approaching the statue a light blue illusion flickers to life as Ariadne's likeness speaks:

The omens are clear. The endtimes are coming. Icy winter will precede the fiery one, whose blade will reap the world. Gods will walk on Midgard again, doing battle among mortals. Those who are too weak to fight back are already lost. Servants of other gods all lie, and have not seen the truth as I have. They are blinded by greed and gluttony. It is time to rise up and cast off the heavy yoke put upon you by those who preach in order to subjugate the populace in false beliefs. Prayer is of no use any longer! Do not accept your fate, repent your sins, and put your affairs in order. Only by arming yourself can we stay in control of our fate. Even now, stinking fiends walk this very island, not far away from here. The Ravenroost is always accepting those who wish to take up arms in service of Midgard. Do not throw away your lives, stand and fight for your island!

I don't like how much I'm hearing about the fiery one with a blade to reap the world. This seems very much in line with the poem and the Harbingers. I'm not looking forward to what we'll meet in the Ravenroost.

Closer to the statue now I spot a side door with a light blue light. Inside the sideroom we find a smaller shrine and a bottle of noxious poison. Gallias tells us this is a Ghost Lantern, though without a soul inside it? Moving the lantern, or even turning it, doesn't change where the light is pointed towards, so we take it with us, and try following the lantern outside. Soon though, it becomes clear it points outside the village, so we head to Samuel Holdfasts' wife first.

Madison Holdfast is trying desperately to catch enough fish to fill the orders for the Ravenroost. In return for some information, we offer her help with fishing and delivery (this is of course also in our favour, but she doesn't know this!). We quickly set sail in the rough seas. A squall hits the vessel and fills her with water. Sigismund jumps to action and throws bucket after bucket of water overboard, as I climb the rigging and take in the sail. Gallias' keen eye steers us toward calmer water and soon we begin fishing.

We make quick work of it. Lucy splashing in the water, driving the fish together, as I mark the fish I direct Sigismund where to throws the nets, and in no time heaves an overfull net back on board, aided by Gallias with his magics. We make steady progress as Lucy notices a gigantic shark closing in. The shark, initially happy to just eat the fish quickly gathers that he's losing them to us and slams his tail into the boat. A barrel is about to fly off as I can just grab it and pull it back into our direction. Madison yells out to ignore the shark and keep fishing, so we carry on and are almost done, as the shark comes around again, just barely missing Lucy With one last net we fill all the barrels. “Leave the rest to the shark”, Madison yells, so we pull Lucy on board and sail back. Luckily, the shark leaves us alone, gorging on the fish.

Madison is clearly overjoyed; this wouldn't have been safe with her children. As a thank you she gifts each of us a fishing pole.

Session 22, Recollections of Sigismund Heldenhammer

2024-04-08

23rd of Hammermonth

Following our work to assist the fisherman's wife in fulfilling her catch, we agreed our plans to have her smuggle us into the Roost proper to confront Selena and then departed to make good use of the remaining time.

In our travels about the isle, we ran into Alderman Blackley and our deception at the logging camp to assist the druids caught up with us and our ruse finally failed. Blackley summoned skeletal minions to supplement his vile vampire spawn lackeys, but all were dispatched alongside Blackley himself after we narrowly foiled his ritual attempts to preserve himself and unleash greater magic upon us.

We returned to Petra, the Medusa who had allowed us passage through her reeking cave, who turned out to be the wayward and in-obedient apprentice the hag had spoken of. After she explained her tale, and that the reason for her curse was refusing to assist in poisoning the water supply of Covenant, We agreed to turn the briar heart (which she coveted greatly) over to her in exchange for assistance with our business on the isle, which she granted.

After exerting ourselves to the limit of our endurance and resources, we have finally decided to take some time to rest properly for the first time since arriving at Palecliff isle and gather our strength for the remaining tasks before us.

Session 23, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2024-04-15

23rd of Hammermonth

Arriving at the grove we were greeted by Serath and the rest. During the following days the weather was awful, but warm meals and the hospitality of our new friends made our stay very pleasant. We spent our days doing some light activity and preparation for the coming showdown at Ravenroost Keep. After about a week we had recovered from the exertion, I felt more in tune with my magic, Sigismund looked even stronger, and the girls seemed sharper than ever.

1st of Ravenmonth

We left the grove and traversed the forest towards Petra's cave with ease, curious to see the result of her ritual. When we got to her lair we were greeted by woman looking to be in her mid thirties, green eyes and brown hair without trace of snake! Petra seemed glad to be herself again, and with glee she didn't hesitate to show us that her old powers still remained, despite her former master's demise.

Before heading to Palecliff Village we wanted to figure out what Ragatha was hiding in the cave. Sigismund asked Petra if Stinky the Catoblepas would respond more favourably to her as she was the hags former apprentice. Petra was unsure, as she didn't know the beast, but agreed to attempt it as she had similar powers. Stinky was still grazing outside the cave, and looked agitated when approached, but maybe through luck more than anything, Petra managed to get us by unharmed.

Lights?

Inside the cave, Victoria and Lucy snuck up and looked at the wicker poles. Victoria glanced through the blue one at the blue flowers and could see the shape of some weird plant creature that seemed vaguely humanoid. Her sneaking back and forth between us and the pole eventually got the attention of the concealed creatures. It yelled out: "Brothers, intruders!" and attacked us. The creatures were very sturdy compared to what their size and nature would suggest, and we couldn't seem to find a proper way to hurt them. I managed to remove the protective magic from the green one, and after a while Victoria figured out that we needed a constant light source to properly reveal them. She grabbed the lantern and planted it on the ground, so that the light would pass through the plate that hung from the wicker-frame. Bathed in the matching light, the odd things were now vulnerable and we quickly disposed of them.

Overcaffeinated Midget

After the fight we gathered up the poles and brought them to the altar. When the lanterns light passed through them, white light came out, and revealed the hags wicker hut at the far wall. Inside the first thing we noticed was a tiny fey creature, held in a grown cage. His name was Jimmy, a quickling captured by Ragatha. He was trembling with excitement at the thought of running free again. I gave him some nuts from my rations, and he told us that Ragatha talks in her sleep, and that she's been talking about some ritual she was assisting the vampire with. Jimmy agreed to distract Stinky so we could safely exit the cave, but he had to wait for us to look through her hut. We found some haphazard notes we didn't fully understand about the ritual, maybe interrupting it at the right time could cause it to backfire, rather than simply fail? Jimmy could barely wait any longer, he was tripping and kept asking us if we could go. We also found some potions and an old heavy statue of Hel, that we left near the cave entrance. Jimmy agreed to deliver a letter for Victoria, and sped off to distract Stinky, as we left the hut we just set on fire.

Spying & Mad Plans

Our next stop was Palecliff Village. We were debating if we should find someone who could fully understand the ritual notes, when a figure in the black and white harbinger robes exited the Shrine of Hel. Lucy followed him for a bit, eventually he met up with another one. She eavesdropped and found out that they've been ordered by Selena to look for Blackley and Shadowzeal. The only place they haven't looked is the Aviary, as the gargoyles don't recognise friend from foe. Finally we put two and two together, the tattered robes, Ragatha was Shadowzeal!

At this point a very stupid idea pops into my head, what if we use Stinky as a distraction? I think I can manage to turn him into a frog. Then we could bring him to the keep. I present the idea as a joke, but the gang seems to like crazy ideas. Victoria suggests a rat, as they're common in keeps. She and Sigismund even came up with ideas to make sure the spell took hold. We're all going to die.

Session 24, Recollections of Lulu Phere

2024-04-22

2nd of Ravenmonth

Bullseye!

We are in Palecliff village after resting for the night at the inn, and plotting our great plan to catapult a Catoblepas as a tiny rat at the Ravenroost. Nothing can go wrong with this plan, right?

Before going to the Reeking Cave we investigate a bit what defenses the Ravenroost has, thinking where to throw our big monster to cause the most amount of damage. Vivi does her magic and she finds a better spot for the Wormhole Arrow so it can actually be fired to the right place.

After all is set, we go to the Reeking Cave to try our luck. Vivi, Gali and Sigi do their things while me and Petra are sitting behind a rock minding our own business, even having a nice call with my dad in the meantime. So after a really close call of us failing we got a tiny lil Catoblepas rat - I want to believe the goddess of luck gave us her help!

I am holding him in my hand, this is a very angry rat but so cute and tiny looking at me with it's tiny glowy red eyes and I put it in a bag, which I have to accept I will never use again since it already reeks like death. I activate my psychic powers and we are getting ready to start this mission we were expecting for so long.

We find Madison and get on the boat with the barrels. The smell of Catoblepas, fish and sea makes you want to destroy your sense of smell. This is not the greatest time we had, even if I love the sea and everything about it. As we approach and the boat goes closer Vivi - which thankfully is not noticed by the guards - goes as far as she can and shoots the arrow with effortless grace exactly through the slits of portcullis. Immediately after, she Misty Steps back to the boat. Step one complete!

We are in!

The boat reaches the dock. We leave the barrels wherever and the Harbinger Myrmidon, annoyed at that, points us out to follow him with the barrels and orders us to leave them upstairs to the other floor. A Harbinger Zealot comes into the room looks at us closely and points out that we look like the people that Blackley was searching for. We tried to get out, but he was not convinced. I guess it's time to kick some ass. This fight leaves us almost unscratched and them too dead.

It looks like we are high into this tower. Vivi finds some small marble aasimar statue, not very expensive by the looks of it. Gali feels something in the air and pushes me through a half closed door. Good think I was stealthed already, this is a huge place with several nests, gargoyles, zombies, and bat droppings to the floor.

We decide to not take this way but focus on the other side for now where the Catoblepas has hopefully made a big commotion and upset them. We disguise ourselves and we go over the bridge. We end up in the library, where we find a lot of things. Gali finds a Master's Treatise, we also find a tome containing a mystery novel and scroll of navigation and a libram.

In the library, there are four pictures on the walls, each a portrait of humans with dark bushy hair. Their plaques read:

• Baron Stephen Stormwood (1267-1339 AUC)
• Baroness Elizabeth Stormwood (1305-1374 AUC)
• Baron Barnabus Stormwood (1331-1390 AUC)
• Baron Lothar Stormwood (1374-1410 AUC)

The current year is 1433 but no portrait for that, probably cause there is no death timestamp for it yet - which might be soon! We follow a winding staircase that goes up to the balcony. Looks like a great view if it wasn't raining. Vivi finds a half smoked cigar. Walk into a door and I find the armory, which has so many weapons and armor enough for a small army, but no magical gear anywhere. Vivi spots a seal of two crossed hammers with a crown on top. She knows this is the coat of arms of Kundamar, but with the crown on this Kingdom has been no more for over 150 years now. These weapons that carry it though are new, so she is weirded out by it.

RIP Catoblepas, he was a good boy. Time for food

As Vivi opens the door a familiar stink hits us straight to our nostrils, right away closes it again in case it disappears, then opens it again, realising we can't avoid this. We see a dead Catoblepas and six Harbinger corpses close to him. Sigi has a good idea to take the harbinger gear so we can walk around (the first idea is to wait to ambush but we thought it might not go great). Vivi looted 150 gold from corpses - I sure taught her well!

Vivi opens a door. To our surprise there are people here! She immediately is greeted by the staff there that is not dressed in harbinger gear. The head chef is a large stout man. The kitchen is very warm, racks of pots and pans are hanging on the wall. Vivi asks what they are still doing here, and if they didn't even hear the commotion outside. The head chef with a strong accent tells her that they have been asked to make special food for the event. We convince them to leave, and the last servant walks out talking to himself "Ghosts in the cellar, and now this!".

We decide to go downstairs to the kitchen, to see what this ghost story is about. There is a lot of food in here, cabbages, barrels of fish, everything! We find the cheese room, the freezer and Gali opens a door with four sconces in it, where one is sideways and there is a number reading 2730. Vivi tries 1433 and then 1374 and voila, it opens and we hears a whispering voice saying "muuurder". Vivi emerges into a tall room, which looks like a vault for the valuables. She is not alone, a long forgotten skeletal corpse is there with a sacrificial blade through his chest. Gali says "oh it's Lothar" and just as he says it, a ghost goes through the floor and calls out with a hollowing voice how his family was murdered and this used to be his ancestral hooome.

Baron Lothar says he trusted Blackley which proved to be his downfall, Sigi told him we dispatched him and as he believes him he started cackling loudly amused from the information.

Baron Lothar decided to help us as much as he can when we told him we want to end Selena. He described to us the general layout of the castle drawing it to the wall. I ask him why he is still here and if he actually wants to be a ghost like that or wants to rest in peace. He informs us he would like for us to find his corpse and give it a fine funeral at the sea and wants peace.

We also ask him about Lily but all he knows is overhearing some people talking about it a few weeks ago, and she is probably in the Dungeon through the aviary on top. We realise this is where the nests and gargoyles were. Then he fades into the wall saying "I look forward to eternal rest".

Before going out we decided to eat some icecream we found in the freezer. While at it we notice a drunk man sitting on a barrel. As soon as he sees we spotted him he shows his fists and asks us to go away. We realise this is a drunk Clurichaun, a leprechaun that sneaks into the cellars and drinks all the wine, and if he actually drinks it all he turns into a alcoholemental. Thankfully, it is not at this stage yet. We decide to leave him alone, he can have his time.

We go back to the middle floor, cross the bridge where the courtyard is. We hear people fighting upstairs in the rain. I stealth there to figure out what is going on and there are a total of 6 people standing there sparing, 5 harbingers and an officer who is a dwarf with a massive maul on his back wearing plate armor. To the left there is a green house overgrown by wicker plants. This is like a small city block. I go down and tell my friends and we also see another staircase heading up there.

Are we going to fight them upstairs or head another way to Selena?

Session 25, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2nd of Ravenmonth

After a few back and forths ('Captain, come quick!', no no, 'Come quick, Captain!'), I run up and yell for him. Without any time for a response I’m going down and I can hear him coming down the stairs behind me. As he stands infront of the Deadoblepas, a barrage of attacks comes flying his way. We paralyze and bring him down, though not before he can call reinforcements. Sigismund holds them up at the top of the stairs, and we take them down one by one (and by bomb).

The last Doomsayer surrenders (though not after laying a good curse on Lucy), and Gallias goes exploring the greenhouse. The door is closed, and not budging as we're throwing our bodies against it, so instead Gallias throws himself through the window... which immediately leads to roots growing all around us, though it proves not very threatening. (It’s a plant after all, what it’s going to do, leave us?)

We make our way into the Banquet Hall, and are confronted with Modion, Junicia, and a couple of harbingers; A quick cast from Gallias slows them all, though not before Junicia gets in some excellent slices - sadly, on me. Sigismund takes no questions and smites them down in no time.

All around the room around the windows, including one of a red celestial body rising over a calm ocean, another verse of the poem is listed:

At the hour of the fifth rise Shall come from above and below The one of flame and shadow Bringer of the world's demise

Where she walks in torn cloth Brother will fight brother While famine takes another Bringer of the war of wroth

The fifth rise could be the rise of Hadar. But no time to think about this. Now we need to face Selena. It’s time to put her into her grave permanently.

Session 26, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

2024-05-08

2nd of Ravenmonth

Final preparations

After studying the stained glass windows and a quick pick-me-up for those of us who required it, we exited the banquet hall and enterred a room which had two sets of stairs, one going down, most likely to the prison, and the other one going further up the keep. We rushed up the latter and found ourselves in a sitting room which had doors leading south, north and a double door leading east. Trying to eavesdrop at the double doors I heard a male voice speaking mostly unintelligible words, except the word: "Blackley".

Thinking we were about to have the final fight at the Ravenroost, we prepared in whatever way we could. Sigismund drank the elixir we aquired from Selena's vault in the heist at the Estian Exchequer. I made sure I had at hand the spellscroll Archbishop Stonechisel gave us after Selena's desecration of the crypt.

Showdown at the Ravenroost

Entering the double doors we came into an old throne room filled with various furniture. Immediately noticable at its northern side, was a large dais, holding a massive sarcophagus flanked by velvet curtains. In front of us as we enterred stood Selena, clothed in dark red leathers. Hovering above the room was a flameskull, muttering about Blackley and his betrayals. Upon seeing us Selena angrily hissed at us for attacking her holy grounds. Sigismund ran in to face Selena and they traded some blows. I used the scroll and the light of dawn shone down illuminating her in bright sunlight which burned Selena. Victoria used used a spell which made the flameskull a hovering target dummy. The girls quickly finished it off, but not before it blasted us with fire.

Outnumbered five to one, Selena realised this wasn't going well. She ran to the middle of the room and yelled out "Azrael, I need your aid! I commend my spirit to you!" She was now standing on a ritual circle, quickly being granted some new extraordinary powers. I tried to knock her out of it but failed, the others managed to break the circle at the intersecting lines and distract her at the right time, interrupting the ritual. The failing ritual unleashed a lot of trapped energy which stunned Selena for a few seconds and caused heavy damange to the roof. We heard Gargoyles screeching from above, quickly descending on us through the cracks. As a couple of them landed and started wailing on us, the girls and Sigismund tore through Selena and she was finally vanquished. The sunlight was slowly turning her to ash and she let out a final whisper: "Lucas..."

Spoils and letters

After the battle we searched the old throne room. Naturally, Lucy and I just had to open the sarcophagus out of curiosity. The lid looked heavy but it was well balanced, so even Lucy managed to handle it. The inside was filled with silk cushions and looked surprisingly comfortable. Maybe we should make a miniature replica for Lucy. Victoria shook the ashes off Selenas crimson garb and grabbed it.

We also found a letter signed by Blackley:

You asked me to look into the halfling's ring that you recently recovered, and I believe my research has turned up something useful. I believe it is a powerful artifact, weakened by disuse. To be expected, as it was made for mere mortals, for whom the passage of time is the ultimate bane.

If the ring was exposed it to a powerful psionic essence, that might reawaken its original potency. While the location of such an essence eludes me, I will keep researching this subject for you.

Yours, Rufus Blackley

Afterwards we checked out the other two rooms on the same floor. In the northern one we found a bedroom which hadn't seen use in a long while. Inside a jewelry box we found a nice platinum amulet. The southern room was a war room, with maps that had certain locations encircled, places that we've heard of recent attacks through newspapers and word of mouth. There were several notes, possible suggestions of attacks to come on people or places:

• Silvar Halasir
• Blow up the Anvilspan
• School of Rhetoric and Oratory? Bards would help spread the fear

We also found another letter to Selena:

Lady Selena, Our enemies' are trembling after the first wave of attacks. We must renew our efforts and strike again before they turn back to complacency. If we can turn them against each other, our man on the Council will do the rest. I leave it in your capable hands to select a suitable target and strike at a time of your choosing.

Remember, the Whispered One counts on you to sew chaos and discord, which will set events in motion for our ultimate plan. My son reported that he is close to finding the Anchor, and with it we should be able to unleash Her upon this world.

In Her Name, Silas Darkshard

Well, well, well - Traps

We still had to find out whether or not Lily Thornroot was alive. We walked downstairs and found the spiral stairs leading further down the keep. Being too hasty we didn't notice a trip wire, and suddenly grease poured out onto the steps and Victoria smashed headfirst down to the floor below! The rest of us managed to carefully get down and helped her back on her feet, she was barely conscious. This room was some sort of antechamber with low vaulted ceilings dripping with moisture. There were two doors, from the eastern door we heard a whirring sound. Along the walls were workshop benches and a small forge, with quite a lot of raw materials spread around the room. In the middle of the room was a circular well going down into the ocean. Lucy found merrow footprints around it, and a rope leading down.

We checked out the southern door first, Lucy picked the lock and found an old dusty tome, where the last note is dated 1410 AUC:

"Baron Lothar to go hunting tomorrow, requests his best hounds be brought to the drawbridge at first light. Majordomo Blackley will also go."

Suspicious about the eastern door, I used my mage hand to open it and flames rushed out towards us. Inside we saw a scary looking newer model of the machines we disabled in the woods, with its flamethrower pointed right at us. We heard a male voice yell "Is that you Blackley?" I impersonated Blackley and said it was. The voice told us to grab his mallet behind the machine and use it against it. Seconds after I fell on my ass as the giant thing came crashing through the wall charging right at us. The voice yelled out again "You're not Blackley, help me out of here." It didn't take us too long to destroy the machine. As our final blows struck, it blew up right next to Petra; I think some of her magic saved her.

Inside the room behind the eastern door we found the source of the voice, a man named Gaius Victes. He looked to be around 40, his clothes were full of grease stains, and had an FTC emblem. He begged us to release him, but we had to question him first. He told us he worked for the FTC, under Master Mechanist Diana Parsion. He enjoyed working there as they paid well. He tells us Blackley tricked him to come here and make these machines, by offering him an unreasonable amount of gold. He says he should've known the offer was too good to be true. The machine that just attacked us was indeed a new model, but he lost control of it while trying to improve it. We asked him about Lily, and he says she was dragged off by some merrows a while back. We agreed to release him, but told him he owes us a fine craft of some sort! He agreed to that, and before leaving said we could find him in Greystone.

Session 27, Recollections of Sigismund Heldenhammer

2024-05-13

2nd of Ravenmonth

We started off by taking a moment to ruminate on the wider situtaion, now that selena lay dead at our feet. We talked of the fate of the castle and its potential future use/inheritence. Our discussion was cut short by the realization that Merrows were observing us, and would likely be reporting back to Tofanis based on what we know of their relationship from Petra.

Lucy followed them into the icy water and let us know via her psychic skills. Based on the intelligence from Lucy, we followed her into the water and up into a cavern. We followed the cave system that eventually lead us to a large cavern full of captive humans, overseen by Merrow. We took them by suprise in an effort to free as many slaves as we could, but the merrow regrettably killed several before they were cut down. We picked through the wild overgrowth conjured by Petra and continued onward through the north side of the cave.

We eventually exited to find a clearing where we discovered Lily, bound atop a very interesting rock resembling a skill, alongside the dragon Tofanis. We attempted to rescue Lily while the dragon slept, and managed to get her out and into the cave quickly. Tofanis and his Merrow followed on our heels, but we narrowly managed to stay ahead of them and keep the survivors with us thanks to Gallias summoning a construct to buy us enough time for the final push.

We travelled back to the Ravenroost to hold up, but as we were resting up we saw merrow scaling the castle. As we prepared outselves, we heard Tofanis circling above and bellowing his murderous intent.

Session 28, Recollections of Lucy Phere

2024-05-20

3rd of Ravenmonth

Waking up with a dragon up our butts!

Just as we are resting after all the unending battles we have been through, we wake up and Tofanis, this big dragon that we thought we had escaped, is swooping down where we are.

We get ready just as we hear him flying while we were almost in deep sleep and Sigi chugs a potion quickly since he is at the edge of death. I activate my psionic powers and we stand ready for a fight!

The doomsayer prisoner prompts Vivi to unleash him and he can help us against the dragon. Vivi feels he is sincere but she can't tell for sure. She unbinds him anyway, we are too vulnerable and any help now is appreciated.

Tofanis voice roars from above. "Impressive you killed a vampire but this is my island! Submit to my rules!" As he says that I ask him what these rules are but Tofanis seems more angry by my question and prepares to attack.

Holding his breath until death

The fight starts and I manage to land a hit, but in return he breathes on me flying over the courtyard. We are all at the edge, Tofanis is backed up by his merrow who are in their way, the Doomsayer tries his best to make the dragon take more damage from us, he points at him with his magic trying to drain his strength - whatever that is. Lily and Petra are focused on earthbinding him. Gali is having his fun with throwing the merrow off the edge. Sigi is trying to survive but still throws javelins at Tofanis! Most of us get feared and we eventually lose the doomsayer, which does make me a bit sad since he helped us right at the end, but I know this doesn't change his evil nature.

Tofanis lands after getting the killing blow on the doomsayer, but not for long. After feeling very hurt with little chances to survive he flies away. We counted on Vivi with her enormous range who did not fail us, she killed the big dragon who made a huge impressive splash falling head first into the cold water.

The Aftermath

Madison comes out and asks if anyone is dead, we inform her about the doombringer she notes that this is probably not the worst loss and now the dragon is dead we have done this island a great service. Lily says "I saw at the center of the swamp the mists will fade without the dragon, Palecliff will be a better place to live without the mists. He was an impressive creature but I am glad I didn't become his meal, and thank you for rescuing me." She then proceeded to ask how did we even find her and Vivi said we scouted the logging camp and since we had business there we came and saved her. She replied saying our altruism is quite something. Lily's plans is to rest here for a bit and then go back to Serath and the others and tell them what happened here. Petra says that Lily was talking about the grove, she might go there and rest up for a while but if we ever need her assistance you know where to find her. She mentioned that this island has become her home and with all her tormentors on the island dead she can find peace here.

Everyone could use a rest, this was a hard fight, but Lily rushed us to go back as soon as we can tomorrow after some minor rest to claim what is in his lair before the wilderness claims it back. Me and Lily, who can take the form of a dolphin, will get into the cold waters and the rest will go to the lair. Madison asks us what we intend to do with the castle and what will happen to the Ravenroost now. We think to probably research the library below and Madison says to take what we need from the vampires - they won't be using it anymore. And our intention is to do Lothar's funeral during our longer rest.

The next day goes as planned, me and Lily go swimming in the cold waters to retrieve whatever we can from the body. After some pulling and nudging we get a black dragon fang which is apparently a very rare earth essence. As we exit the water to the boathouse it's nice to be out of this cold water, it's a good feeling to be dry!

Our friends are on their way to Tofanis's lair to loot whatever they can find there and we are quick to join them too. In the lair things are less misty, they scale the skull and Sigi notices a glinting behind the rock. There are a lot of things hidden but the whole place seems to be dissolving so we are lucky to come early. Sigi and I search and find some gem pieces. I pull an amethyst but Sigi pulls a nice sapphire, very expensive. Vivi finds some small amber and Gali finds a not so valuable rose quartz. However there is also jewellery that has been taken here by Tofanis. Sigi and Gali find a nice silver necklace and a mithril medallion. I also found a Ring of Aquatic Adaptation.

The tree of (not so much) life

Vivi heads to the south; she sees a large tree so she goes closer and investigates it. As she approaches she realises it's no ordinary tree. She tries to shake its branches and everything stops. She can see a small cave at the bottom of the tree with some black flowers growing in there. She goes closer slowly. Vivi recognises the tree is probably acidic in some way, and remembers that there is something called a dragonleaf tree but she doesn't know how to deal with it.

While she is deep in her thoughts she hardly realises the tree gets angry and tries to attack us. We quickly go to help her. Gali eats a berry and takes the appearance of a small dragon tree.

I spot a beautiful matte black orchid growing below the tree and I pick it up, it's a Bleakmire Orchid! I also eat a berry, and I feel weird, like I have bubbles in my mouth and I can't talk, something my friends will not immediately spot, but it's not a big issue, I feel fine otherwise.

Sigi takes out the tree for a bit, its branches went limb. There is no better time than this to get out of here, we do collect the bleakmire orchid which is very nice. We meet Petra and Lily just as we arrive back at the castle, Petra thanks us for her and the island! Vivi says we have a certain affinity with it it seems, but Petra says she doesn't want to come and save us like we did for her. Gali mentioned we are just gonna bury a ghost, nothing bad can happen. Lily says she will tell Serath what we did and if we ever need support the grove is behind us. And with that they walk into the lessening fog and the snow keeps falling at the Ravenroost.

We decided to take a long rest at the Ravenroost. This was long needed.

4th-10th of Ravenmonth

Rest for the good - and dead

Finally we can rest for a long time and we decide to do the burial at the boathouse and extract the corpse, he deserves it after all this time as a ghost. Gali shouts Lothars name since he told us he will appear as soon as we do that, as skeleton lies of the boat ready to be ignited the ghost of lothar flies of the roof and with pleasure he says: "It looks like the vampires got what they deserved, I will go to the long rest now and to my fathers in Valhalla. I waited 20 years for this, thank you. Take what you want from the castle." "Do you have any relatives", Gali asks. "My aunt married one of the noble families. The memory is fading, I feel the call of the void now... Light the flame..."

With that the spirit finds rest, a true warrior's burial! During the week that we stay in the keep we go to the last two rooms we hadn't been to, one is Blackley's apartment quarters which had no bed, but an empty sarcophagus leaning up against the wall. On his desk we find a stack of notes, he talks about essences and how to manipulate them and how they work. Vivi tries to understand what is written here, she finds that the notes bear the sigil of the archivists, and she deciphers them.

Vivi among the notes finds two scrolls of Soul Trap, weird cause normally you can't get essences from humans but you can with this spell, though it's evil magic. She also finds an amethyst gem with a rare lawful essence.

Next, we searched the northern room. The room is completely dark, with no windows. A large altar has been erected on the eastern wall. Sigi brings light and it's more clear now In the middle hangs an oil painting of a young family, a dark-haired man and woman. The woman is holding a toddler. Beneath, on a small plate, lies a baby's rattle, a dagger, and a torn and bloody shirt. The altar also incorporates five large glass mirrors, each with a swirling image inside. Each mirror sits behind a stubby candle, all unlit at the moment. A single floor pillow in front of the altar bears witness to someone having spent many hours here.

• First, Selena wakes up bleeding on the floor
• Second, Selena and Lucas kiss
• Third, Lucas shows up bleeding at Selena's door
• Fourth, Selena meets a bald wizard in Harbinger robes
• Fifth, Selena undergoes the Blood Rites
• Sixth, Selena walks through the doors of a large stone building

I ask my dad who is the bald wizard that looks like Elias. He says this is Silas Darkshard, Elias's father. He is very dangerous. Do not go at him without preparation. Sigi also realises that the large stone building looks a lot like the school of Oratory in Greystone. Selena met Lucas at the school of Oratory. We must see what we will do with these candles and mirrors. Vivi falls into deep thinking about it, so do the rest of us.

Session 29, Recollections of Victoria Ashworth

2024-05-27

4th-10th of Ravenmonth

We light the candles in order: Selena walks through the doors of a large stone building. Selena and Lucas kiss Selena undergoes the Blood Rites. Lucas shows up bleeding at Selena’s door.Selena wakes up bleeding on the floor. Selena meets a bald wizard in Harbinger robes. The last candle lit, the mirror swings open and reveals a ladder going down. Downstairs, a treasure vault is revealed.

11th of Ravenmonth

Our work on Palecliff done, we head back to Covenant to recoup. We take the week off, do some shopping and discuss our next move. It’s decided we finally go back to Whitport, and I can go find my mother. A cart is hired and we’re on our way. It’s an eerie feeling, arriving back in town. No time to think about it though, as just outside town a mob is surrounding guards. As we get closer, Lady Sophia, Prince’s Champion, is on the verge of executing a peasant, allegedly for treason. The mob is shouting for them to back off. Sophia slams her weapon in the ground, a shockwave stuns the crowd and the execution is carried out.

The crowd disperses, leaving a man to reach out for the executed. His wife bidding him to leave him, for fear of retaliation. We offer to help him to bury the body, and carry it in our wagon to the nearby shrine. Along the way the man tells us about the prisoner, Frederick, and the goings-on of the town. Sophia and her guards, under orders of Prince, are laying into the people.

The shrine is burned down, which he believes was done by guards. He tells us if we’re in trouble we can hide at the Shrine of Freya, with Tucker Ironbands. As we’re digging the grave, Sigismund spots a mausoleum, with actual scales of Sif on it.

Here Resteth Evermore, Champions of Whitport, Their Deeds Glorious.

The scales seem to need a specific amount of water in them, and using nearby jugs, Sigismund quickly fills them, and the mausoleum opens, revealing a dark cavern. We make our way down, and quickly are blocked by a guardian of faith, whom doesn’t seem inclined to let us pass. Sigismund proclaims himself a paladin of Sif, and defender of Whitport, and is allowed to pass. On the other side he finds a crystal, removing it allows the rest of us to pass.

Finally we end up in the last room. 4 plagues surround us, with clearly missing words:

Through _, absolution is given to the devoted. With _ for our shortcomings, they can be overcome. _ for the wicked, mercy for the defated. The Goddess is heard in those who speak with _.

Between the four of us, we remember the tenets of Sif, and speak: Penance, Humility, Vengeance, and Honesty.

The spirit Harold, the squire of the Ashworth's last Champion appears (he took the Hammer, all those years ago!), and asks Sigismund if he’s worthy. Eager to prove himself, we start the trial, and waves upon waves of skeletons appear out of the walls. Though a tough fight, with some well-placed fire from Gallias, we persevere. Sigismund is rewarded with the shaft of his hammer, the head of which we found months ago! He can now finally reforge it.

Session 30, Recollections of Gallias Runodel

11th of Ravenmonth

After Harold's trial in the Tomb of Champions, Sigismund assembles Judgment, a golden warhammer that will be crucial in his quest to set things right in Whitport. With a weapon of such local historical significance, that symbolizes his right to dispense justice, we might be able to rally the people and hold Prince accountable for all his wrongdoings.

On our way out of the mausoleum we find a shrine behind the eastern door in the octagonal room. There are many offerings beneath a large statue of Sif, including an impressive diamond. Sigismund leaves an offering of his own, but leaves the diamond despite its magical value.

On our way to the Drunken Unicorn we avoid a warband heading up to the Shrine of Idun. The proprietor of the inn is a halfling man named Sean Hearthmint, a warm fellow who brings us snacks and refreshments after we took up his offer for a much needed bath. Apparently hot water is easy to come by here. After getting rid of the grime, Victoria gets busy trying to pay for our stay by challenging Sean to some dragonchess. During this I'm listening to to some of the hushed voices, hearing some of the same rumours we've heard before: "Go to tucker Ironbands, he will hide you." "Maybe the Redscarves will do something. No they can't, you know they executed Frederic when he spoke up."

A little later Sean has some sort of disagreement with a hooded figure at the bar, we hear him saying: "Please don't, there will be so much trouble." The figure drops a heavy coin purse on the counter and removes her concealment. We see the halfling girl Alannah from the wanted posters, her bright red scarf sticks out like a sore thumb. At the sight of her some of the guests begin to cheer, others grab their coats and hurry out. Alannah grabs her lute and starts singing:

Oh come, sing an ode with me, To the generous Mayor of Whitport! When the people asks for food, He gives them what they need, Bread and water for a whole year, That's what is served in his jail. Here's to the rotten Mayor of Whitport!

Oh come, sing an ode with me, To the brave Mayor of Whitport! When the FTC ships came a-knockin, He invited them to plunder and steal, As long as he got his fair share, He does not care what the people feel Here's to the craven Mayor of Whitport!

Oh come, sing an ode with me, To the righteous Mayor of Whitport! When the merchant's votes were cast, The Mayor won by eleven to none, But please explain how that can be, When there are only nine of them? Here's to the phony Mayor of Whitport!

When her performance ends several guards enter to arrest her. She attempts to turn invisible, but the guards were prepared. Apparently she's done this before. The guards bring out a scroll to counter her spell, but Victoria knows the same trick and decides to side with Alannah. We quickly give the guards a proper beating, then flee out the back following Alannah.

She tells us that she used to stay at Frederic's place sometimes. The sheriff must've spotted her, she says he'll be avenged. After escaping the town and running for a while we find ourselves at a small creek, where we meet a frost giant with a wolf companion. His name is Vili the Hunter, and he wants mammoth meat very badly. We say we'll try to find some, and he hands us a massive trap of some sorts. Looks like a big bear trap, it'll stop a mammoth dead in its tracks he says. Alannah points out that their hunters have gone towards Wolfcrag, but she's not sure if they've found mammoths.

Eventually we're led to a small farm where we can rest for the night. She says Rhys and Poppy woolridge live here and can be trusted. They ask if she's bringing us to Big John. She answers she's not supposed to bring people to their headquarters, but she's sure Big John would want to meet "that one" and points towards Victoria.

12th of Ravenmonth

The following day we head towards the Whitehills, Alannah is adamant about Prince not finding our tracks. We walk around a quarry, and see an old watchtower in the distance, red flags flying - not very subtle. Apparently everyone thinks the surrounding lake is poisoned, so no one comes here. We walk over the bridge and enter the keep. There's several people training and a lot of archers guarding the place. We meet an absolutely massive man, clearly big John. He tells us that Victorias mother has been gone for three years now. She's been gone before but never this long. On some previous trip she found a book and obsessed over it all winter. Victoria asks if she can read it, and shows him her Ashworth signet ring. He says no, trust must be earned.

Big John looks over to one of the archers and says: "Sally, tell them what you told me before." She tells us that she was over in Wolfcrag yesterday and they just had the tax collector come knocking. The cart looked like it was filled with peoples valuables. The tax collector should be returning along the road tomorrow, and we're tasked with stealing from him, but asked to spare his life, though his guards are fair game. Big John gives us each a red hood and says Prince will blame it on them regardless. The wagon is basicly a safe on wheels, makes a lot of noise and we mustn't be tricked by it being seemily slow. He suggests taking out the wheels.

Session 31, Recollections of Alannah Dale

2024-06-10

13th of Ravenmonth

Thankfully Big John didn't react to badly to me taking strangers to headquarters. I knew he would want to see the one who looks just like Robin! I feel far safer travelling the wilderness with these four. They have shown themselves to be strong in combat, and I believe we are better off with them on our side.

Before we left headquarters, my little brother found us and again asked to go with us. If he had known what we were getting ourselves into, he wouldn't be so eager. Can't he see I am doing this to protect him? Regardless, I am sure he is telling everyone stories about the Champions of Whitport. Hey, there's an idea for a song!

Anyway, we set off south to arrive at the ambush point well before our quarry. The trek was uneventful, almost eerily calm and quiet. We found the spot Oona had told us about, a sharp bend in the road where it goes up a small hill. Perfect place to lie in wait. Sigismund chopped down a tree to block their path, and we spread out in the snowy underbrush.

I knew the Collector's wagon by rumor, but I hadn't actually laid eyes on it before. It is a roaring beast of metal and wood, powered by invisible horses and armed with cannons. The Collector himself was driving, a gnome whom I gather used to be a lawyer, but now he is working to deprive people of their legal rights instead. I'm sure Prince pays him a fat share of what he collects.

When they approached the ambush, they almost crashed into the fallen tree, but quickly stopped and the Collector's goons jumped out to clear the road. I wondered what the others were waiting for until I spotted Lucy teleport behind the cart. They were attempting to steal the gold right under their noses! A most daring plan, which almost could have worked, but something triggered a trap - probably designed for occasions such as these - and poor Victoria began to turn to stone. She is sneakier than she looks, I didn't even see her go back there.

I had no idea how to help her, so I did my best to distract the Collector and his henchmen in the ensuing chaos. Sigismund bravely charged at them when he realized his friends were in danger, and Gallias was able to reverse whatever was ailing Victoria. I must remember to ask him if he can show me that spell!

With the initial setbacks overcome, the tide of battle quickly turned in our favor, and it wasn't long before the Collector was knocked out and his henchmen dead or surrendered. We let them flee to Covenant, except for the Collector, who was bound and left by the side of the road. He will go back to Prince and tell him what we did - if he dares!

We hid the cart in the brush after deciphering its controls and removing the tax money, and made our way to Rhys and Poppy's farm for some needed rest. I am almost entirely spent, but I promised Big John I would keep an eye on them. Tomorrow, we are heading for Whitport to return the gold to its rightful owners.

Session 32, Recollections of Lucy Phere

2024-06-17

14th of Ravenmonth

Giving back belongings

There is a rumor of a god in the Mistdew Glen, near Wolfcrag. After we take a small rest we leave the farm and head there. We pass a statue of a large arrowhead, it must be 30-40ft tall. Legends say the Arrowstone is fired by Uller himself, god of the hunt. It went through the heart of a giant before landing here. Ullers worshippers are well known to be good archers.

We go to the Moose and Boar inn, so many dwarves here and the environment is too gloomy and not the friendliest. We find the innkeeper, Ragnhild, Oona's sister and we hand back the locket along with the gold. The atmosphere in the inn changes all of a sudden. They give us the good wine and we are treated like kings and queens.

Alderman Freida Wolfheart asks us to rescue their food storages. Apparently they were storing food in a cave (eww!) but now they can't go there to recover it and they want us to help with that. Before we leave, Frieda and Vivi have a small talk about their families and princes - some boring chit-chat between nobles. Gali asks if anyone can help us to find this cave and she proposes us to find Albin Swiftshot, a handsome hunter.

Sineater? More like Screameater!

Screameater? I barely talked to her!

We go back to the Arrowstone to find him and yep there he was! Vivi and Albin talk a bit when Vivi sees his arrow skills she realises that he has the same arrow powers. Albin tells to Vivi that her mother was researching a story about another person who had the same powers as her. An elf, but doesn’t know the name, who made a bow infused with all the elements. She thought it was somewhere around Whitport. He told us about the Bullywugs who for weeks now they are heard screaming from the glen, apparently they were looking to be worshiping "Sineater". Albin joins us and we are walking up to the camp to find them.

Not far from the cave we meet some at the bridge, they don't notice us, but we sure do, there must be a lot of them. They are white frog people with blue dots and some handmade weapons and spears. Without issue we kill the group by the bridge and as we hear the name of their god we realise the worship is for “Screameater”, not "Sineater" as we first heard.

Outside the glen there are more. Just as we fight them a big Froghemoth, a massive blue and white frog with tentacles coming from it. Through its screaming I picked up the words ‘Paleweaver, Desecrated, Barrow, Ritual’ which were in the common language. Trying to come up with a plan I just screamed the same back at him. He didn't like me, since he ate me, the stomach was dark and gloomy and full of disgusting smells. Even if I did come out alive, that is what my nightmares will be made of.

My friends help me to kill the massive tentacle frog and I get ejected but oh no, a Banshee gets ejected too, that's what was screaming all along! Since me and that Banshee shared the same nightmare I told her that we want to help her. She is my friend now. The banshee moves far from us to the other frogs and screams a bunch of them to death. Then, she approaches us. She needs our help The barrow for the ritual. The words she was screaming, she was betrayed. She tells us that she won't rest until her body is moved from the barrow. The paleweaver binds the corpses. We decided to help my new bestie, she deserves the rest.

Albin says a dwarf in Wolfcrag is called Paleweaver, who helped hide the food. He does not remember the name. As we get to the supplies they don’t seem to be there. As we sat to the empty cave I realised that the fumes and the ejection of that disgusting tentacle monster made me forget the whole day, but thankfully Victoria was there to remind me what happen during that!