As Season 2 comes to a close, most everyone on Lenore Island is busy harvesting cold weather crops. This includes members of the Red-Gold Party, as Commander Holt has loaned out almost everyone under his command to give assistance to the farmers. In between digging up potatoes and onions, or using Floating Disk spells to help carry crops into storage, or helping to shear sheep, the adventurers also work at training their own class skills; they are so close to achieving 8th level they can taste it. So, they’re study up on new spells and abilities, and work at improving themselves mentally, spiritually, and physically.
Early on during the harvesting, the Party sights a familiar ship sailing into port. Viggo uses his telescope and confirms that it is The Queen Ingagerd’s Revenge. The group heads to the western end of the city to meet with Kingswell, Davey, and crew. Along theway, they also spot their old swash-buckling partner, Wang Hongwen, who also has come out to meet with the pirates. With Wang is the Priestess Marria and Sister Maiken Lind. Greetings all around are shared as well as various gold coins, gems, and IOUs. Kingswell pays back much of what is due on the purchase price of the Queen, while Wang exchanges his share in the Silver Rose Company and makes up the difference to the Party for what is owed on the Queen. Although Wang still has the motor-planning disorder Apraxia that prevents him from doing time-critical rogue activities, he is still quite knowledgeable as a ship’s captain. He and the Priestess are planning a voyage to the Svarta capital to see if a 6th-level Cleric spell there can cure the Swashbuckler of his ills.
After the outstanding finances are cleared up, The Party learns from Holt they will soon be reassigned under the command of Captain Michael Otso. For him, they will travel to Atua Wahrs in Northern Svartaland. There they will undertake a scouting/infiltrationmission to the independent island nation of Norr, a mostly-frozen mountainous island said to be ruled by various “pirate” kings. There haven’t been any real pirate raids from the north for many seasons, though. And, in the past, those who ruled Svarta never believed there was much in Norr of interest—as natural resources were slight and agricultural land was quite limited for settlement. However, recently, a great many ships are known to have been carrying rich cargos to Norr, and those ruling Norr have been spending a considerable amount of Svartriki Golden Eagles to buy this freight. Svarta leaders wish to know why the purchases are being made and where the money is coming from. And, this is just the sort of mission and information gathering that the Red-Gold Company has recently proven to be good at discovering.
Three days later, they gather in Holt’s office and meet with Captain Otso. After receiving some additional information about Norr and given a cover story—if they ever need one beyond being Adventurers Looking for Treasure—the Company is led down secret stairs into the city’s garbage recycling area. They pass a chained-up Otyugh named Toby who is greedily lapping at a pool of pigs’ blood, and are directed into a prison cell. Inside, Holt works a secret mechanism on the legs of the prison bed and pulls it away to reveal a concealed door that opens into a room with a permanent Teleportation Circle (back to Kuststad). In a blank circle to the west, one of the Mystics from the Jon Harkens Tower (Inventor Zak Munten) draws out fresh sigils using expensive chalks and crushed gemstones.
The Company then steps through the Teleportation Circle that Zak created, which takes them to the underground basement of the guard barracks in Atua Wahrs. A couple of the party members get queasy and throw up from the first-time teleportation experience but not Stroop, who would never willingly surrender any of his breakfast. Captain Otso shows them a map depicting what is currently known of Norr. Four stone towerswith stone- and spear-throwing engines protect the harbor area around the capital city of Freeport. Three farming and fishing communities along Greenhook provide the bulk of the food needed for the entire island’s population. Another fishing village, Garl, is secluded in a harbor further to the north where the warm fogs of the Scållande Dimma obscure most outside sea travel. Koss, a mining community provides Freeport with coal. Little is known about the northern city of Preicis, and there is no wide-spread knowledge of how to travel to it past the frozen JoklhopsMountains.
Their cover story is that they are looking for the lost workshop of the witch-priest Colafar, a gnome who, two hundred seasons ago is said to have settle down in Norr to tinker with creating clockwork creatures and to worship The God of Order, whom the Svarta Military believe must be the god Vhereum Steadfast, a popular god among sailors. Most pirates will know of this god so the back story make a good conversation opener that may help lead to further questioning. As Rock Gnomes typically live 2000 or more seasons, it is quite possible that Colafar is still living on Norr somewhere. The Svarta government has no actual interest in locating Colafar, but the informationabout him and his history is genuine and a credible lie The Red-Gold Company can employ.
Captain Otso shows the Company to a room in the barracks, which has been set aside for their use when they are in Atua Wahrs. He also indicates the shipyards (where they will meet up with the ship that will carry them to Norr) and “The Rats’ Market” (where theycan find shops to buy the sort of equipment and tools that adventurers typically want). There, the Monk Sagan purchases a nice +1 Quarter Staff. The following day, the Company boards The Queen, which has spent the last three days sailing up from Kuststad. Wang dropped off the priestess Marria at the Capital City, where she has started searching for the high-level cleric, Brother Thalius on Wang’s behalf. Inthe meantime, Wang and his crew will be traveling every 4th day to Freeport to drop off trade goods (and possibly pick up the adventurers once they have completed their mission).
Once deposited in Freeport, the Company immediately visits the various inns and churches and attempt to root out rumors and information. This leads to Yrsa visiting The Church of The Mortality Cycle, whose main deity is Ooveraree, the Evening Queen of rest and recovery. In the center of the church is their holy font, which slowly trickles out cool water, which clerics enrich by powering the font with their Healing Spells. Once per day, anyone who drinks from the pool can regain one lost hit point. Yrsa uses some of her spell slots to help in this community cause. Later on, Timador also casts a Healing Word there.
In the various inns, Stroop samples the drinks and the food, while his companions seek out what information they can. At the second inn visited, Stroop notices a large banner proclaiming in large letters: “One Night Only: Stroop Berrent.” Everyone else in the party just sees big flowing sheets flapping in the breeze above the door. Stroop asks the bartender about it, and the Bar Keep says, “Oh, you must be a bard.” Turns out that the owner of the inn, Meseekn Ystava, loves bards, and he uses his enchanted banner to detect and entice their egos to come inside to ask questions. One assumes that most of the bards, then, agree to perform in exchange for food and alcoholic drinks. Stroopdoes this and agrees to let them use his name on the banner—for real—for all to see. The owner, Ystava, also has a secondary motive: usually someone in the bard’s company tends to be a fighter of exceptional fighting skill. Ystava then backs this locally unknown fighter to take part in a six-person arena fight. This encounter with Stroop leads to Sagan agreeing to join this arena contest.
Sagan wins this battle—and the prize money—and every member of the Company who bet on him doubled their 50 gp even-money bet. It was a good melee. The main opponent for Sagan ended up being a burly Barbarian, but the monk was aided in winning the fight because it was a free-for-all, and several of the others had decided to specifically target the big brute. After the contest, the warriors who were knocked unconscious arehauled to the church to receive a drink of the healing waters to jump start their natural healing. Timador went along after helping to bind the wounds of one of the finalists. From that fighter, the wizard learned a group of five adventurers traveled north a few days ago to Koss after they learned of an obscure trail there leading through the Joklhopsto Preicis.
In the last of the three inns/taverns in the city, Sagan and Timador play a hand of Poker with some ostensibly high-level adventuring types who have various gear that glows in the presence of a Detect Magic spell. When Timador begins to put questions to these men, the men in turn evolve the card game into an exchange of rumors, where each player needs to ante up a real rumor about Norr to play (along with another 100 gp entrance fee to get their cards). Sagan—having a good night—wins the hand. the Company also learns some additional information about “The Pirate King” who lives in Freeport. Retired now from adventures on the high seas, Jarl Maddocks resides ina well-guarded keep in the city and likes to purchase any sort of magic item (even cursed ones), and he pays a better than expected price for them.
The session ended on the night of Day 73, with the Company assembled in the large room that the owner of Kirkko Miatalo tavern provided to Stroop in exchange for the hobbit performing that evening. Therein the room, the adventurers begin to devise plans about how they might find a way to reach Preicis, what they might try to sell the Pirate King so that they can gain an audience with him, and how they might gain access to the two mines in Freeport, which look like they might contain interesting things the locals don’t wish to be discovered.
Day 73, roughly 35 o’clock, the elves of the Company finish their long rest and set into motion their scouting missions. Only Yrsa stays behind in their room at the Inn as the priestess continues her praying for new spells. Under the dark of first night, Timador and Kime head out of the town to the north where the ranger circles them around to the west and finds a way up into the hills above the northeast cavern of Freeport. There, Timador will fly his (made invisible) owl familiar in the cavern to watch the activities therein by looking and hearing through the owl’s senses. Before this happens, though, Sagan, Viggo, and Stroop travel to the pit arena, where the monk puts on a display of acrobatics and fighting techniques, added by the cantrip magic of the bard and the sorcerer. Most of the city is sleeping, and—being bored—several of the guards neglect their duties to watch the arena performance instead. As such, Timador’s owl slips inside the caverns undetected.
Inside, the wizard discovers three large chambers and also that some people in the city are not actually asleep. As night fell, many of the warehouse workers in Freeport busily started moving freight into the caverns. Also, more than half of the way-too-many guards hanging around Freeport, who were seen earlier in the day also head into these tunnels where they loiter near a shaft heading to the northeast. Wide mining cart rail tracks here also lead out of the left chamber and head to the northwest. Some of those standing around mention the “steam wagon” should be here within the hour. And indeed, several large wagons all linked together rattle and roll themselves along the rails into the chamber. Timador cannot see far enough into the tunnel to see what was pushing them. Out of the wagons, four- or five-dozen rowdy dwarf workers exit the wagons and head into the city. And then freight and most of the guards who were standing around are loaded into the wagons. As soon as those tasks are completed, whatever was pushing thelinked wagons carts into the cavern apparently pulls them out again, and they are soon gone from sight.
Not long after this, Yrsa, back at the inn room on the third floor, hears a soft rapping at the door. She then hears a low voice asking, “Miestro, Miestro, are you awake?” It turns out that the establishment left the “One Night Only Stroop Berrent” banner up, and several of those arriving dwarfs now want to drink and eat and be entertained, and they are demanding to hear this Stroop fellow perform. Yrsa heads out to the arena to informStroop (and to give him the 100 gold salary that was being offered for this job). Stroop agrees and Yrsa carries the halfling on her back so that they can get back to the inn quickly. Sagan and Viggo join them as the need for their distraction is now over. Timador and Kime also return a few minutes later.
An hour or so later, while Stroop is performing, one dwarf who is getting up from the bar accidentally bumps into another, and that dwarf topples into a third dwarf who was seated at a table playing Solitaire, spilling his wine all over his cards. At first, it looked like this dwarf was extremely angry and had spun his head around to complain—but, it was a second, ghostly head inside of him that had spun out of him and groaned horribly. A melee breaks out, which includes Sagon (who was accompanying Stroop on the pan flute) leaping from the second floor bandstand down to the bar ready to swing his magical staff into the ghost if it attacks anyone. It does so, utilizing some type of Hideous Visage attack. Nearly all of the dwarfs in a 60 foot radius and most of the serving girls are magically frightened by the apparition—several of them so scared that they rapidly agedand their hair turns white. Yrsa is also frightened but not enough to age her.
The ghost then begins leaping between host bodies while the Company and several other bar patrons takes whacks at it. Most of the attacks are directed at the ghost, but current and previous hosts are also struck (some with grappling and subduing damage). The ghost was being harmed—more so by magical weapons—but as it grabbed another host body, it would drain the host’s life energy to regenerate its own health. At onepoint, the body containing the ghost was knocked unconscious, which neutralized the unseen ghost within, but this also protected the ghost from a couple of attacks whichotherwise might have scared it off or harmed it if it had been awake. When the unconscious serving girl host is brought back to consciousness by giving her a Good Berry, the ghost reawakens and then is destroyed as Yrsa Channels Divinity and fries it (and a dwarf still under its control) with Radiant Damage.
After the battle, it is discovered that the dwarf who originally had the ghost lurking inside of him had picked up some type of jade reliquary figurine, which may have been a repository of some sort for the ghost. The dwarf had picked the item up as party loot that he and some others (on a side mission for the Foreman of Preicis) had found after killing zombies. When questioned further about this, the dwarf Guzel realizes that he wasn’t supposed to talk about such things, so he clams up about it. More is learned about that situation when Farbor Kirt, a dwarf cleric of Eyeqweetus chums up with Yrsa when he asks her about her Divine Light abilities. He then tells her that, if she is interested in fighting and destroying undead (and possibly earning some rewards and treasure), Kirt will put in a word for her with the foreman of Precicis. But, due to the secretgoings on in Preicis, Kirt says it would take at least seven days minimum before Yrsa would be allowed to ride the Steam Wagon to Preicis.Farbor Kirt then remembers that there once was a path to the north that adventurer types might still be able to utilize, but he also mentions that portions of the path were deliberately destroyed many seasons ago to prevent large military groups from using it. This path seems to correlate with the rumor the Company heard earlier about another adventuring party who had gone looking for a trail four days earlier.
Before the party sets off to search for this path the next morning, Timador and his owl check out the northwestern mine. It appears to have once been a coal mine but the tunnels have been widened now and converted over to growing mushrooms. Sagon also meets with the Pirate King, Jarl Maddocks, intending to sell him the magic sword Wang’s Bane, but the monk instead ends up selling his Rope of Mending, not feeling that the 20% extra being offered for the sword was enough to make selling it worthwhile.
They then travel to the coal mining village of Koss, speak with the donkey salesman there about the previous adventurers and other information, and then Kime locates the old trail. On it, she leads the Company to where the mountain path had been broken away by a rockslide. Not deterred by this, they make the difficult climb up and around this probably man-made chasm. Kime finds faint footprint evidence of several humanoids, who look like they made a similar venture over the chasm. The prints were most obvious at one gathering spot, but evidence of further tracks beyond are few and far between. Kime eventually finds where a human-sized body looks like it had been dragged into a large hole.
The party’s movement through this part of the old trail alerts two young Remorhaz polar wurms. The icy worm-like centipede creatures overheat their spiny bodies and come steaming out of the frozen ground to attack. Although quite young, the two wurms are powerful and have a dirty-big bite. Worse, they generated a heat so hot that a person standing within five feet of them is close enough to receive massive amounts of fire damage. The party soon learns that ranged weapons and spells are their best option. As the fight gets underway, a monstrous sized “Mother” Remorhaz also shows up. It is a difficult battle, but, luckily, the smaller wurms were mostly dispatched already and then the large wurm is bested by twinned Disease spells, Lightning Bolts, Guiding Bolts, Spiritual Weapon, psychic damage, arrows, and a well-placed Witch Bolt.
Crawling down then and exploring into tight wurm tunnels, the party discovered the charred remnants of animal bones, slag metal, and several magic items that managed to hold up against the raging fires of the Remorhaz, who must have dragged down victims into their lair to consume. Timador Identifies the items and the party decides who will carry which items for now. Each of the them also advanced to 8th level.
The next session will begin on or about the morning of Day 75 and they continue their trek to Preicis.
The new magic items are auctioned off among the group members. Then, after a long rest, the Company continues on west along the remnants of the icy, snow over-blown mountain trail in the Northern Joklhops mountains. They find another portion of the trail has been deliberately destroyed by a rockslide. This time, Kime determines the best way across is to climb down, across, and back up. They travel for about five hours before it gets too dark to continue. Timador casts a Tiny Hut so that the party can rest inside it safely and wait out Ferstmurk. At the end of the first night period, Timador and his owl hear some sort of conflict involving wolves about a mile away. Looking throwing his familiar’s senses, Timador sees that a pack of giant white wolves are battling with even larger pale-blue toads. As the gas giant Eyeqweetus is beginning to illuminate TheWorld again enough for safe travel, the adventurers decide to head down towards the conflict using their quickest means possible. Even so, they arrive too late to stop or take part in the melee.
Most of the wolves were slain, swallowed, or dragged off into a nearby frozen lake. Timador noted that one lone wolf had managed to crawl himself away from the conflict to escape. Kime is able to track down his trail and finds him, torn and bloodied, hiding beneath the snowy branches of an evergreen. They are surprised when the injured white wolf speaks using the Common tongue. They befriend him by feeding him some Good Berries and eventually heal him near to his maximum.
The wolf’s tale is that he is called AraAru. He speaks of his former pack, his lady RrrFafir, his leader GrrrOwloo, and others, all lost now. He is the last of the Winter Wolf pack. They were displaced from their den by a knot of Ice Toads, who had moved into the area along with a larger humanoid and some six-legged reptiles allies. Once displaced, what remained of the wolf pack migrated south three miles, where they were making due... until some more ice toads just now managed to track them and all but finish them off. The Party is interested in helping AraAru getting revenge, especially after learning that the humanoid was carrying some metal necklaces and jewelry. AraAru agrees to lead them. He makes a useful guide. The region is hilly, swampy, frequently snow-covered, and spooky and foggy, due to the heat inversion above the swampy snow-melt runoff areas.
The Red-Gold Party needs to cross a frozen lake to reach the den, and, as they likely will be visible to Ice Toads standing guard along the more obviously-used trails, they use their magic to help whiten their dull gray spider silk tents, and use this additional camouflage covering in conjunction with Kime’s Pass Without a Trace spell to stealth their way across the snow piled and blown lake surface. They then get the drop on two Ice Toad sentries. But, while dispatching them with some fire and lighting attacks, they alert three other toads who were hunkered down nearby the cave entrance beneath frosty pine tress/ One of the toads dashes and hops away towards the cave den opening in the hillside. Soon, larger warrior Ice Toads—from a pond near the entrance—also join the conflict. It is a long drawn out war as these Ice Toads are essentially “big ugly bags of hit points,” and can absorb a lot of punishment. They also have a freezing bite attack that, once it hits, allows the giant toads to grapple and restrain their victim. This can easily lead to their victim being swallowed on the next round into their acidy stomachs. Stroop manages to escape such a bite with his newly-learned Dimension Door spell. Meanwhile, Sagon’s companions managed to beat down the toad that was about to slurp him down.
As the battle raged on, additional toad and basilisk-like reinforcements arrived from deeper within the cave. The six-legged reptiles did not have a more typical petrifying gaze attack, but they did have petrifying bite, which could incapacitate their victims, eventually turning such prey to stone if they remained petrified for too long. This ends up happening to AraAru while he was valiantly battling with some purple-stone speckled undead version of his former pack leader, GrrrOwloo. A large, bloated Cone of Frost spitting Toad also joined the conflict and was making life difficult for Viggo, Kime, and Vogelfest.
The leader of the Ice Toads, some sort of combination of Medusa and Beholder arrived and shot a few arrows from her longbow before closing rank to use her tentacles and eyestalks to shoot paralyzing, poison, and necrotic Enervate streams and beams at her enemies. At one point battling on the front lines, the monk dropped unconscious and would have been eaten by the reptiles, but Viggo arrived to force feed him an healing potion. Still, the huge number of enemies pitted against them were slowly taking their toll as the Red-Gold Party was taking damage and was running out of offensive magic. A well-placed Flaming Sphere spell cast by Yrsa helped to clog up the cave entrance, preventing three basilisks from joining the fray. When the Medusa’s body was slain, her head detached, hovered in the air, and continued fighting until the monk’s flurry of attacks against it and Yrsa’s Channel Divinity spiritually fried what remained of the monster threat.
The battle apparently ended, some of the party stepped through a necrotic field positioned in the cave entrance. Deeper inside, they discover a golden chalice suspended below a slow dripping ceiling. The cup is held in place by dark webs embedded with faintly glowing flakes of purple crystals. A small pool of water has formed on the ground underneath where the liquid has overflowed.
The session ended there about 45 o’clock.
After the combat (since they are already inside the cavern beyond the necrotic-damage dealing field that stretches across the entrance) the monk and the Earth Elemental and Timador’s owl familiar (summoned inside the cavern) examine the cave system. They find a stone alter that contains metal vivisection/torture tools, braziers, charcoal, wood-resin incense, a pouch of crushed ruby dust, and shards of purple Faerz’ress crystals. The crystals are placed into a light-proof bag once it is discovered (outside) that similar crystal shards embedded in the undead winter wolf have already lost their glow.
A little more time is spent examining the golden chalice. It is suspended above a small pool of brown water, tied up with some type of necrotic-empowered magic. The cup is also wrapped tightly with purple cord embedded with flakes of Faerz’ress. The purple cord clings so tightly to the gold cup that it merges with metal. That cup surface area is stained (or had been altered to) brown. The cup is suspended in such a way that it catches the slow dripping water of the cave ceiling; once caught, it apparently converts the water to a brown liquid. This has been slowly overflowing from the cup, oozing down and discoloring the pool of water in the cave floor.
Since the elemental took damage when trying to handle the cup, the monk cuts the black web threads while the elemental dumps the cup’s contents into a separate jar. It then quickly brings jar and chalice out of the cave, taking damage the whole time.
Timador was unable to cast Divination spells near the chalice and the Faerz’ress crystals, but his Detect Magic spells work when he casts them beforehand from 30 feet away before approaching these items. Various magics: Faerzr’ess, Necrotic, Transmutation, and likely a Curse are entwined together in and around the chalice making it difficult to Detect and impossible to Identify without handling it directly. Chalice and Faerz’ress crystals were then foil wrapped and inserted into the Company’s Portal Hole.
Yrsa and Kime discovered that inside the Medusa-like creature’s quiver, her arrows were pooled and slathered in poison. Yrsa used her skills to salvage two vials of poison from the head, a head that, upon closer examination, appeared to have been a separate creature that had been grafted onto the snake-woman’s body. That body also was wearing rings, bracelets, a necklace, and had gem-stone piercings, so those were also collected to be later divided among the party. Before resting, Timador, Kime, and Vogelfest practice with a Polymorph spell so that if the Wizard ever chooses to turn the cat into a giant ape during combat, Vogelfest will have had some experience in what it will be like.
Before long resting, the Company takes time to rearrange the contents of their Portal Hole in order to make room for the Earth Elemental to lower the statue of the petrified winter wolf inside. Yrsa’s Restoration spells are not quite powerful enough to revise him. Then, after resting, the Company decides to travel straight west from the wolf caverns instead of circling back to the more southern trail they had been on before encountering AraAru. On this trek, they discover the body of a frozen dwarf north of a 60-foot tower situated along the northern shores of a small lake. The dwarf is not dressed for winter travel and no tracks lead to where he is found, although, there’s some evidence that he may have been thrown there.
Suspecting that the hairy creature they spotted in the tower may have something like a trebuchet, and being at least a little interested in the note found in a book carried by the dwarf, the adventurers decide to head to the tower.
Using the owl familiar and Viggo’s telescopes, the adventurers are able to spot a large creature in the tower. It also appears to see them and ducks down where it can no longer be seen. Likewise, a few hairy white-ape like creatures are seen partially hidden in the snow. They appear to be lying in wait, ready to ambush anyone who approaches too close to the tower. Additional creatures, powerful ice trolls, are not detected as they are better camouflage beneath deep snow and the frozen sheet ice of nearby ponds.
Thus ambushed and taken by surprise—facing very powerful creatures—many in the Company consider immediate retreat. But they manage to hold their ground for the first few rounds—using fire-based magic.
Viggo’s Minute Meteors, Yrsa’s Wall of Fire, and Timador turning Vogelfest into a giant ape help turn the tide of battle. Fire damage is found to stop the ice trolls from regenerating their wounds. And the adventurers dispatch their enemies after a terrific battle. They then make their way toward the tower to see what answers and/or treasures may lay within.
Yrsa collects some Ice Troll blood using Kime’s storage containers. The others retrieve bone, claw, and tooth-ornamental necklaces from the bodies, which might have value in the right markets. After a short rest, the Company begins to explore the tower, with the owl familiar flying through the lower levels and the monk climbing through a second story window. A pair of hairy ape-like creatures who were hiding inside attack them, but the beasts are quickly dispatched by the monk and the rest of the party. Apart from mounted ballistae and spear ammo, all that is found inside the tower is torn dwarf-crafted armor and weapons. Timador casts Detect Magic and discovers that much of the disgusting contents of the latrine pit on the ground level is a Major Illusion cast to help hide that the pit is secretly the access to a lower cavern full of food and water supplies.
Behind a further concealed doorway, Sagon finds additional storage, water barrels and ale vats (with false bottoms, which hold some minor dwarf treasures). Leading west away from the storage cavern is a mile of low-ceiling tunnel. Often running parallel with this low tunnel are several chambers and shorter-length passageways designed to give a crew of hearty dwarfs many opportunities and advantages over any larger creatures fool enough to attack them in these confined spaces. There are also many minor trip hazards, murder holes, rock falls, and pockets of supplies and minor treasures stashed along the way.
What the well-designed tunnel was only lacking was... dwarfs. None were to be found. Left all on their own and with no opposing force to face them, the Company had little difficulties in navigating through it and across the traps. Eventually, they came outside again through a mountain doorway secreted behind bushes and a small pond of run-off snowmelt. Beyond this pond, paths led north and south, and also west to a stone bridge arched across a small, mostly frozen river.
Near the bridge, a Company of ten dwarfs is seen camping near a couple of derelict buildings. the Company successfully moved stealthily from the hidden tunnel around the pond—making sure that the Dwarfs could not be certain of which direction they came. When the dwarfs finally spotted this company of mostly elves, they hailed them, surprised to see anyone in the area they didn’t recognize. Tentative information was exchanged, including news that the Dwarf Tower had been overrun by Ice Trolls (which the Company explained they had dispatched).
The dwarfs here at Vendla’s Bridge mention they also just battled an Ice Troll, one that the locals had spotted coming down the Trumble River from the northern Ice Lake. The Troll, they explain, was studded with shards of glowing purple crystals, and, as the likely Faerz’ress infested crystals were still glowing, the hill dwarfs were planning on dragging the corpse back to one of their home villages in Dwarfland. They believe someone they know there—Lamador—apparently a male hag—would want to examine it. Feeling well at ease with elves, the dwarfs share addition map information of the region, especially details about their neighbor’s lands on the other side of the bridge, a land that they call “West Trumble.” It’s home to gnomes and mountain dwarfs.
The Company reveals the journal book they found on the dead dwarf to the leader of this dwarf company. As Laqr begins to scan the pages, he seems noticeably dizzy. About that same time, a purple ghostly image steps out of the slain ice troll. Lagr and the other dwarfs go glassy eyed and stand rigid. Party members race forward to engage the ghost in combat. As they do so, passing the seemingly motionless dwarfs, a couple of the dwarfs take attacks of opportunity on them, using their axes to hack at the adventurers.
It requires silver or magic weapons to hit the ghost, who is not attacking itself, but it appears to have complete control over the dwarfs, who employ their axes and crossbows to attack for it. During the battle, as the ghost began to take a great deal of damage, it drained the lifeforce of various dwarfs under its control to regenerate itself. But, eventually, the ghost troll is dispatched. The dwarfs, then freed from itself control, are embarrassed and apologetic to the adventurers. They offer to help heal them and provide them with a place to rest (a concealed basement in one of the half-burned buildings). Within, the dwarfs provide a hot meal, whiskey, tobacco, and additional details about the area and what they know about Colafar the Witch Priest and the undergoings going on at Preicis—which appears to revolve around some heavy industry having been implemented.
At least five dozen seasons earlier, the hill dwarfs relate, Colafar discovered a land above “The Top of the World,” a realm north of the Norr Mountains, which the Witch Priest called “Meida.” (The citizens of Meida had called their lands “Homeland.”) Colafar found the inhabitants to be quite peaceful and not at all caught up with the conquest and domination fever that was common amoung the three nation states to the south. Colafar attributed this to the isolated people of Meida as not having any neighbors. And “a lack of neighbors,” Colafar believed, “were the best kind of neighbors.”
But, while Colafar was living among them and learning their ways, something extraplanar/extraworldly occurred, as if their nation was swallowed up and/or overlain with another realm, a land gloomy and necrotic. The Witch Priest claimed he was barely able to escape from there back to Norr. Then, finding evidence the contagion that took Meida was creeping slowly to the south, the Witch Priest made haste to informed the leaders of the Svartriki, Ökenveldt, and Vidar peoples—hoping to rally the three city-states to join their forces against this threat to all of TheWorld.
Colafar was denied any help. Apparently, Colafar then decided to go it alone, dedicating the rest of his life to assembling forces and supplies and developing technologies that would help him to move large amounts of troops and supplies passed the barren Norr mountains into the consumed Meida areas, which the gnome had renamed again as “The Overdark.” As he found that the Norr Mountains and once-peaceful Meida realm were now thick in Faerz’ress magic, Teleportation spells could not be employed for this undertaking. To bypass this magical barrier, Colafar hired mountain dwarfs and rock gnomes to precision engineer clockwork steam wagons and a (mostly-underground) rail system through the Norr mountains.
This venture, he secretly funded by somehow mass producing artificial diamonds, which he then distributed discretely and widely among the major governments of TheWorld in exchange for gold coins.
After this information—and more details of the western land—are revealed to the Company, their dwarf hosts give them a utility wagon they can use to help pose as fur traders. They are also told the best ways to avoid the West Trumble guards and where they can buy furs from trappers for trade goods and what prices they can be expected to pay.
The Party does this, and soon finds themselves at the southeastern entrance to Preicis—which turns out to be a totally unremarkable village. They exchange words with a lone, ill-equipped guard, who directs them to Miss Polly’s Inn. Polly stables their “weird” horses and arranges to have a couple of rooms made ready for their use. In the meantime, the guard goes to fetch the Mayoress of the village, who subsequently meets with the adventurers; she has little of interest to relate to them. As the Mayoress is called away, Viggo notices a tell-tale rogue employing the universal Thieves’ Cant message of “I have information for sale for gold.”
The rogue, Ranni Kolla, answers The Party’s questions and agrees to lead them on a long, roundabout path to the hidden Preicis Industrial Area. This secret way avoids all of the guards, who would make a more direct trip there problematic for the Company. Ranni does as promised and leaves them when they can see the outskirts of an industrial complex. The Session ended there on Day 77, approximately 14 o’clock, with the daily eclipse about to start.
The rogue Ranni Kolla has led the Company within two miles of the Preicis Industry area. The adventurers climb down the 60-foot cliff and work their way from the east across mucky ground and approach the community of factories. Deciding to hoist a “found” ladder or two and just walk up as if they owned the place, the party is intercepted near the gate-less stone walls of the city by Dug Sojne, a city guard wearing Undead-detecting goggles. Guards like Dug are paid to keep an eye out for anything strange. And a human, halfling, and four elves, who have weird animals with them qualifies. After the party mentions two names that Dug recognizes: Farbor Kirt and Foreman Barin Dorf Trender, Dug whistles for his son to go contact the Foreman to see if he has any interest in meeting with these “travelers.”
An audience is granted and Trender reveals he is the grandson of Colafar the Clockmaker. The Foreman also reveals he has inherited Colafar’s mission to provide a means to easily transport troops and supplies under and through the Norr Mountains to the lands of Meida—where necrotic powers have taken root and begun spreading undead contagions. Trender has recently completed 75 miles of Steam Wagon tunnels and tracks, having at last reached the southern edge of what he believes to be Meida.
Preicis’ Industrial complex and Colafar’s funding had made all of this possible. Three Steam Wagon stations have been established north of Preicis: Benton Lake, Trunds Station, and the new Fort Framlin. At the initial founding of these stations—each constructed in locations where the mostly level tracks have risen above ground—work crews and guards have had to battle undead creatures before a permanent foothold could be gained. Now, however, the first two stations are well established, and are mostly self-sustained by nearby new farms.
Trender reveals that there is a great need for troops and adventurers to help establish Fort Framlin and to push exploration further. The Foreman attempts to recruit the Company to help him in this regard. What is sorely needed is for scouts to seek out the necrotic epicenters, find the sources of localized contagion (typically some magic item that has been deliberately cursed or corrupted and allowed to fester malignancy. Each item appears to increase in power and influence the longer it remains in one location). the Company discusses then shows him the corrupted Golden Chalice they found in the Winter Wolf den. A local cleric, Farbor Falgore, is brought in to examine it. He is able to successfully cast Remove Curse on it at a high-enough spell level.
Similar treasures might be won and returned to working order if the party joins up with Trender. the Company agrees to travel by Steam Wagon to Fort Framlin. Trender further sweetens the deal by arranging for a few members in the Company a chance at upgrading their existing magic items (along with additional gold) for items that might be more powerful or more class-specific and useful for them.
When the Steam Wagon returns from Free Port, Stroop is recognized by one of the passengers, Utetro the Towncrier from Kuststad. Utetro assumes that Stroop, like himself, has completed his military duty. The halfling does the best kind of lying and just doesn’t deny it. Utetro has recently signed on as Bard and Chronicler for the dwarf paladin, Makgram Grimhide, who has agreed to come out of retirement to assume command of the newly established Fort Framlin. Along with Makgram is a gnome necromancer from Frittlandr, who is introduced as Professor Luga. Flanking Luga are six skeleton warriors he maintains as his bodyguard. Their arrival causes a stir, as several of the guards are equipped with Undead-detecting goggles, the “loud ones” with built-in, automatic warning siren functionality.
Makgram charismatically calms the scene and vouches for the undead. He concludes by informing the workers he is now the new Commander of Framlin. “As my foes are undead, I have a need of a necromancer to help better understand and battle necromancy. The Professor is a good man.”
The Company then rides on the Steam Wagon system, which travels primarily at night because the driver employs some type of Abyssal-realm creature with 150-feet Witchvision as his familiar and “eyes.” This creature helps ensure safe navigation of the Wagon in the deep, narrow, yet well-ventilated tunnel system. However slight, there is always some chance something may have gotten into the wagon tunnels or sabotaged the tracks. The wagon typically operates at a speed of 4 mph, so it will take 15 - 16 hours to cover the distance to the border of the Overdark.
The journey is dark and uneventful, and most passengers spend the time sleeping. Upon arriving, five different adventuring groups disembark from the passenger wagons. They are all designated specific locations to explore and are dispatched. The Red-Gold Company is requested to head east then north, which they do. Timador employs his owl to help search for any signs of animal life. The contagion sites discovered so far have centered upon locations where small groups of humanoids live and work, as well as places where groups of animals gather, such as wolf and bear dens. The owl notices some animals in a wooded area, and Kime, once she reaches those locations, identifies moose tracks and later some caribou and lynx. Nothing appears unusual or out of the ordinary with them.
A range of small mountains and cliff faces blocks further passage to the north, so the adventurers continue exploring easterly. The harsh terrain of frozen scrubland gives way to the beginnings of rough trail. A wagon with two human riders is spotted heading from the east toward them. This is about the same time that a marked sign along the trail indicates: “Lamordia: → 2 Miles.” The wagon riders are Madge Hogan and Turnip, who say they are carting a load of hay and willow bark another 12 miles west to Ingostadt. The two women ask about road conditions up ahead and are puzzled to hear that there is no road and there is no city in that direction. Madge disagrees as she can clearly see a pathway ahead. The Party backtracks and follows the wagon as it continues, noting that the wheels of their wagon seem to be rolling much smoother that the landscape would indicate they should.
Sagon, wearing a pair of Undead Googles did not notice any necromancy about the two wagon riders or their mounts. Some in the Company try to “disbelieve” or “wake up” from the dream they must be experiencing. But everything seems to be as they see it… until the wagon with Madge and Turnip just fade aways.
The adventures continue on to Lamordia and find it to be pretty much as and where Madge and Turnip said it would be: a gloomy, overcast village with only a few prominent buildings. The most impressive is the cliff-side keep of Baron Vashon Mordencain. But, as it is still night and a time for civilized folk to be sleeping, the only building in the village that has oil lamps burning is The Stagger Inn, so the party staggers in. Inside the rustic tavern, the barkeep is asleep, but the serving maid brings them all some ale. She then takes food orders. The only two other patrons in the place are Dr. Henry Clerval and Dolaris Fenn. Sir Henry mistakes Stroop for a young boy and tosses him a coin to play on his instrument. Totally nonplussed about it, Stroop retrieves the coin from the floor and performs a lovely little diddy on his Crwth Harp.
Henry is delighted and hires the lad on the spot to come to his manor to perform at (and partake of) a breakfast fest that Henry is giving for a few of his friends, including Baron Vashon Mordencain. Henry also mentions that he is a retired Alienist, and gives a decorated business card to Stroop. “An ‘alienist,’” Henry explains to their puzzled faces, “is a doctor who helps to treat patients who feel alienated from society and even from themselves.”
When Henry and Dolaris depart, the barkeep finally “wakes” up and comes over to the party’s table. “Did you notice anything unusual about Sir Henry?” he asks. And, “not really,” they admit—apart from his having invited Stroop to come sauna with him within a minute of having met him. The barkeep then relates that Sir Henry has been “a little off lately,” and believes him to have had a falling out with Baron Vashon. This occurred about the same time that Vashon announced his engagement to Elizabeth Lavenza, who, up to then, had been Vashon’s ward. The rumor is that Henry apparently also desired Liz for a wife. Complicating this triangle, the party learns several members of Elizabeth Lavenza’s family had died tragically in a house fire. Liz’s parents were killed, and her brother Adam was burned so badly that he lost most of his limbs. Years after that, after returning from Ingolstadt, where both Henry and Vashon had studied to become doctors, Vashon is said to have worked with questionable surgical techniques to restore Adam.
Learning all they could at the Inn, the Company arrives at Sir Henry’s manor at the schedule event time (Day 78, approximately 1 o’clock). The butler shows them into a lounge where they meet with Sir Henry, Thomas and Dolaris Fenn, Elizabeth Lavenza, and Roam, a gentleman with a heavily scarred face. After introductions are exchanged, Sir Henry announces that Baron Vashon regretfully won’t be attending breakfast as expected. The houseguests then reassemble in the dance room, where Stroop excels playing a popular song on the host’s grand piano, even though the other guests have never heard it before. Likewise, Stroop doesn’t know any of the songs that they then suggest he play next.
Soon thereafter, a loud knocking on the front door is heard, and Sir Henry moves to answer it. Sagon follows. A tall, disfigured man says something to Henry and pushes his way passed him. As the disfigured man, Adam Lavenza, passes the monk, Sagon’s googles register that at least parts of the man (right arm, right foot, and left leg) reek of undeath and necromancy. Immediately wishing to do something about this, Sagon’s hand (and flailing feet) are stayed by Henry who says, “let him through to do what he needs.”
The would-be breakfast matinée begins to unravel then as various members of The Red-Gold Company “wander” about the mansion. As they do so, they begin to encounter other people in the house, people who are a bit eccentric, vacant, or erratic. Oh, and the cook who is frying the bacon registers as Undead. Sagon does not attack immediately but he begins informing the others. About then, a fire breaks out in the spacious kitchen. As everyone does what they can to extinguish the flames, a hag-like creature appears from out of the hearth and immediately rips the cook in half. Melee breaks out, during which the butler is attacked and screams, “They’re out!” as several “asylum patients” come upstairs form the basement. A few of these become violent.
Adam Lavenza also appears, but he seems intent on making a bee-line for the front door. After the hag is neutralized (and the most violent basement dwellers are subdued), the main focus of the conflict shifts to where Adam grabbed his sister and tries to drag her out of the house. Henry and others (Kime, Timador) move to stop this, and Adam then releases some type of lightning canine creature from out of his body. Adam is a worthy opponent on his own but his dog, “Sparky,” begins releasing powerful Chain Lightning attacks, which manage to knock Henry and Vogelfest unconscious and near death.
But Adam falls in combat and his lightning dog fizzles out a round or two later. The Party begins inquiring WTF is going on. Liz doesn’t know but is relieved to learn that her brother at least isn’t dead. But, Adam’s prostectic left arm dropped off (later this registers as magic but not undead). His mechanical right arm is still attached and not magical (but Sagon thought it had registered as Undead earlier). Adam’s right foot was also destroyed when Yrsa tried Turning Undead on Adam. Yrsa also heals up Sir Henry, who seems momentarily confused and overwrought when questioned. He gets up, enters a closet, and emerges with a crossbow proclaiming, “Vaschon Mordancain is responsible for this! He sent this monster [Adam] to plaque us while he himself avoided coming to breakfast.”
The session ended there on Day 78, approximately 2:00.
While Timador and Yrsa are examining the artificial limb that fell off of Adam Lavenza as he was knocked unconscious, Kime heals Vogelfest, and Viggo and Stroop attempt to persuade Sir Henry Clerval to calm down. The rest of the manor guests there—who had come for breakfast (destroyed in the kitchen fire)—settle down at the dinning room table for a liquid breakfast consisting mostly of Sir Henry’s ale. The scarred gentleman, Roam, scrounges up some bread and cheeses from the pantries and brings them to the table to share with the others. The maid and butler meanwhile succeed in gathering up the wandering mental patients and direct them back down into the basement facilities when Dr. Sunn (Sir Henry’s junior partner) is to take charge of them.
At Elizabeth’s request, Kime and Yrsa carry Adam’s body into the spare bedroom. Although Adam is still unconscious, Liz agrees to allow him to be tied up until he hopefully recovers. The Company, still seeking what answers they can, asks questions while also eating (and Stroop is drinking) what little breakfast can be had. Good Berries are shared and everyone does their best to relax and take a short rest to heal. Timador performs a test to see if his owl, Cornihó, is able to carry a live field mouse in flight for 30 minutes to the east. The wizard is attempting to see if the mouse, like the two women met driving the wagon earlier would also disappear.
Before the owl returns with the mouse, Sir Henry leads many of the the Company into the basement for a tour of his hospital. The “first-rate” facilities Henry is describing, however, do not match with the horrible conditions the Company experiences for themselves. When asked about a staircase that leads into a deeper basement, Henry announces that they are mistaken, “It’s just an empty closet area.” Henry says this as he continues walking past and then immediately discovers the murdered body of Dr. Sunn. Most of the adventures quickly advance to examine the crime scene. The monk Sagon, however, decides instead to venture into the closet and down the dark stairs for a quick look of his own. Sagon finds himself immediately in a new location, one of bright blue stonework and bluish mists. As he turns back, he also discovers the stairs behind no longer lead anywhere but to a dead end.
Sir Henry is distraught to see Dr. Sunn’s corpse. Both Henry and Yrsa determine the cause to be blunt tramma to the small doctor’s head. Also on the floor is a type of female mechanical construct (but just from the waist up). If the construct ever had a left arm, it has been taken from her. There is some belief that Adam was involved in this. Further north, Henry also finds the corpse of the hag on “her bed,” which is situated in the furnace room (containing a fire pit that connects to the hearth in the kitchen on the floor above). It looks as if the hag had been shackled to the bed, with chains long enough so she could feed coal into the furnace. Sir Henry makes no mention of the broken chains, mentioning instead that Brenda preferred living close to the fire.
Back in the previous room, Viggo notes the precision tools and writing pens on Doctor Sunn’s work bench. And, as the good doctor will have no further need of them, Viggo discreetly slides many of them into his open belt pouch.
Without Dr. Sunn available to perform the day-to-day duties of the medical facility, Sir Henry says he must take his leave of the party so that he can attend the neglected patients. About this same time, Timador arrives and inquires about the monk. This leads to many tests being performed on the stair entrance in the dark “closet.” Sending Cornihó down to investigate resulted in the owl ending up in some pocket realm. In this same realm, Sagon has had encounters with a couple of clockwork creatures, a small winged orbed and a more sturdy humanoid who greeks the monk and suggests he race up the side stairs through the portals before the Modrons become aware of him.
“There may still be time, yet, to liberate the Wall of Faith from the NFluors and free my people.” While saying this, this metal humanoid, named Bionon, also shows signs of battling against some great headache or migraine. He locks and freezes up when Sagan tries to question him further. Then, from eight alcoves in the round room between the two sets of spiral staircases, eight mechanical creatures armed with spinning razor shields and arm spikes, awaken and start rolling out from the dark recesses below the stairs. They have a large roller ball instead of legs, so they have can only slowly ascend the stairs that the monk runs up. While Sagon prepares to battle them with his staff, he receives a Sending from Timador, and the monk needs to immediately come up with 25 word reply to explain his situation.
Melee begins. Soon the entire party passes into the pocket realm to join the monk (they will all have to worry about how and if they can get back later). The Company also encounter Bionon, who continues to struggle with migraines that incapacitate him—making further communication impossible. The other clockwork men, however, racing toward them with hydraulic spikes and whirling buzz saws have no difficulties communicating their purpose. They attack everything made of flesh. A terrific battle takes place, as Heal Metal, Fireball, Polymorph, and Lightning Bolt spells are directed against the mechanical horde. Yrsa channels off a couple of Radiance of the Dawn attacks. Some of the adventurers fall unconscious to wound, but healing spells and potions restore them enough so that they can rejoin the fight. There is also some hesitation as to whether or not to attack Bionon, because amid his mental struggles the clockwork man dealt powerful damage to Yrsa.
Eventually though, the clockwork creatures are destroyed, and Bionon recovers enough to repeat his message there may still be time to stop the platinum-wired NFluors, liberate the Shield of Faith, and free Bionon’s people.
Venturing through the blue portals at the top of the spiral stairs leads the adventures to what appears to be a giant heap of gears metal scrap. Some more, spider-like Modrons are found scavenging and salvaging parts there. They mostly ignore the newcomers. That is, until a silvery-white looking humanoid appears, creates electrical arcs to take control of them, and turns them against the party. This silvery mechanoid also pulls out a wand that fires six psychic-damage missiles into the monk. The party concentrates their efforts at taking the silvery-white threat down, this includes some serious damaged caused by Vogelfest, who has been Polymorped into a giant ape. Vogel-Ape pulls heavy cogs out of the scrap heap and chucks them crashing into his foes.
Once the final silvery-humanoid is destroyed, the clockwork realm starts to shake and begins to rip apart at the seams. The Company drag the bodies of the defeated NFluors (including a smaller one that they found attached to a large shield) into the original chamber where they encountered Bionon. Bionon points back up the stairs, indicating the path back to their world has been restored, and he thanks them. Once the Party returns to the manor basement, however, they find now that the medical facility looks more like what Sir Henry was describing to them earlier. It’s definitely changed—or at least their perception of it has. It’s something to consider after they rest and treat their wounds. They take 30 minutes to cast Identify on The Wall of Faith Shield and the missile wand. They also salvage about 25 pounds of platinum from the deactivated NFluor bodies.
The Session ended then, Day 78, approximately 5:00.
The Company divide up what they discovered for treasure. Yrsa sells her +1 Shield to Kime so the Cleric then can afford to purchase The Shield of Faith, which she can use to better protect a person standing next to her. Timador scrapes together enough wealth to purchase the Namor Candle, a Magic-Missile-type wand able to cast various types of damage, including a necrotic healing. During these internal group transactions, some members of The Company decide that Dr. Sunn might be the Wizard-Priest gnome that they are looking for (since in life the doctor demonstrated a great interest in clockwork mechanism, specifically prosthetic limbs). So, just in case, they sneak his corpse into the Portable Hole for later examination. They also realize that Betta, the clockwork woman that Dr. Sunn was working upon before his death includes internal platinum components, so they strip these for their monetary value.
When Sir Henry questions what happened to the body of his former colleague, it is suggested he must have fallen into one of those pocket dimensions that appear common to the manor's basement location. Later on, when The Company decide that Dr. Sunn is probably far too young to be the Witch-Priest Colafar, they tell Sir Henry they freed the doctor’s corpse from a pocket dimension when they searched some more.
Henry invites the adventurers to rest in his manor home above while he tends to his patients. The Company does so; they also accept 25 GP from Liz Lavenza, who asks them to travel quickly to Ingostadt and get word to Vashon Mordancain about the medical condition of Adam Lavenza. Adam’s body seems to be functioning now after rest and healing, but there appears to be no regular brain activity.
While the party is resting, there is also some testing made using the monk, a Phantom Steed, a mouse, and Timado’s familiar to see if it’s actually possible for the group to travel to Ingolstadt—since there was no such city there to the west when they traveled that way from Fort Framlin. Based on these tests, they determine they likely can reach it. Also, the long stretch of Norr Mountains that they expected to be in the south are not there; instead, Sagon discovers running six miles to the south had led him to the shores of a great expanse of water.
Still wanting more evidence, the party heads to the Baron’s castle looking for a map of the region. The Baron’s castle serves primarily as barracks and headquarters for the military police of Wissenschaft county. After paying a small bribe, Viggo is able to get into the office of the Commander in Chief. There, he is able to study a high quality map of DunKlerberReich.
The Company then heads south along the road to Ingostadt, eventually turning a bit southwest as they enter the city. For this journey, they hired an old man and his young nephew as “guides”/guinea pigs. (There was still concern that the party or these locals might disappear/dimension shift at some point on the journey. Once past the farm and livestock areas of the surrounding villages, they work their way across dirt paths and cobblestone streets, inquiring in the city if anyone has seen Baron Vashon. The citizens of Ingolstadt are engrossed in celebration: they have recently completed the first seasonal harvest of the cool season and just completed plowing the land and reseeding for summer crops. Eventually it is learned that that Baron sought a meeting with Provost Waring at the local college.
Climbing a spiraling arched stone stairway to the campus area, they found another celebration was occurring on campus—attended by the students, most of the college faculty, and many large crows and grackles, who seemed intent on absconding away with the corn decorations. The festivities included four of the strongest students carrying around a young women dressed in a white dress and adorned with rings of colorful flowers. This woman (elevated in a throne-like chair by the students who held it aloft upon two strong horizontal poles) noted the arrival of “elves” and took exception to them. She was heard to utter, “Ah, elves... you possess an unwavering focus. ONLY personal endeavors—however fleeting—impress you." She then began casting a spell.
Only Viggo had time to respond to this, but he held back shooting his arrow, waiting for a more evidence of a definitive attack being made against them. The woman finished speaking, “If you can’t charm an elf—make them CHARMING!” The nature of her magical attack then washed over everyone. Some were able to shake it off, and those who could not where left wondering what exactly happened. What happened is that Stroop, Vogelfest, and several nearby students all felt compelled to lovingly embrace and rub up against those they beheld. This led to awkward grapples, lost actions, having to fight with students who were elf-enthralled and enchanted.
All physical and magical attacks directed at the woman in the white dress either appeared to do her no damage or passed harmlessly through her. The same woman, meanwhile, was able to cast a Sphere of Darkness covering some of the Company. Into the darkness, several crows swooped in and tried to swipe the monk’s circlet of blasting and the ranger’s magic arrows. They were only partially successful, and, when emerging from the darkness, they were now wearing the form of bat-winged imp humanoids. The imps were resistant or immune to fire damage, but only a small amount of piercing and radiant damage were required to “pop” ’em. Meanwhile, in the darkness, Kime fought off a student who had grappled her. An unseen person then grabbed and kissed the ranger, draining a significant amount of hit points though the kiss.
Yrsa’s Daylight spell negated the Sphere of Darkness and revealed Kime’s attacker to be some type of horned humanoid, possibly a Succubus. This woman’s cover blown and her advantage neutralized, she disengaged and immediately fled. As she did so, it was observed that the woman in the white dress moved along in-step with the horned woman, matching her moments exactly, but not her appearance. Both women seem to fade away then as they ran—not appearing to have become invisible but shifting out of normal existence. Several of the imps also fled and could be seen shape changing into crows and grackles as they moved off. Most of these were killed and the magic items they had grabbed were recovered.
Questioning the faculty and students afterwards, it was they had found this woman in a local tavern; she was all too happy to go with them to take part in their Queen of the Harvest parade. She had agreed to attend their end-of-the-school-year party afterward.
With nothing useful learned on that front, the Company spoke with Baron Vashon and/or took a tour of the college. In the library, while flipping through some old tombs, Timador discovered a magical scroll, which he pointed out to Viggo (who managed to have it squirreled away inside his clothing when he departed). They also discovered another map of the area, which showed the same features and locations as the one examined in Lamordia.
When the events of what had happened to Adam Lavenza were discussed with the Baron, Vashon Mordancain explained that, due to some actions taken by a hag and a local witch woman in the forests near Lamordia, Adam had become a host for some type of lightning elemental. Vashon then blamed further tinkering on Adam by Dr. Sunn and the inclusion of clockwork components as likely being responsible for whatever Adam had done.
Once payment from the family and enough diamonds are located, Yrsa casts Revivify on the one student who had been killed in the conflict. The Baron reveals that some type of magical shock therapy might likewise be able to bring Adam back to the world of the living. They ride back to Lamordia, physically heal Adam’s body, and then Viggo energizes Adam with a Witch-Bolt spell. And, though the lightning damage was burning Adam’s flesh, Yrsa was closely examining Adam for signs of movement (eyes flickering, etc.). After four rounds of lightning, Adam’s eyes flickered open. The spell was dropped and Adam became aware. However, he had lost his short-term memory. He had no recollection of what had recently happened.
As a reward for bringing back his soon-to-be brother-in-law, Vashon awarded each member of the party 300 gold pieces worth of diamonds—as he had seen firsthand how valuable such gifts might be to them. Not knowing exactly where to go next since they seem trapped in a dimension not their own, the Company decides to head 20 miles east into Glauben, where members of Elena’s Holy Order at Faith-Hold were rumored to be seeking for some lost magical item.
The session ended there on Day 78, approximately 41:00 o’clock, with nine hours remaining of Bright Night.
Based on maps of the region and a quick analysis of the terrain, Kim estimates that it will take the party about seven hours to reach the outskirts of Faith-Hold. They head out, with the Monk and Cleric walking; Kime and Viggo sharing a ride on Timmehäst, the clockwork horse; and Timador and Stroop sharing the back of a Phantom Steed, although—after what happened last session—the Wizard makes the Bard promise first not to be all “handsy.”
After traveling a few miles, the Company notes the seemingly perpetual overcast skies of Lamordia have thinned out into a rather clear night sky. The scrub brush plains likewise begin to give way to softer grasslands. But, something is amiss! The rocks begin to shake and the flatlands begin to tremble then sink away. Emerging from underground, a squat, armored, roughly 7' by 10' Bulette burrows up, apparently ravenous and intent upon swallowing Stroop. The tasty halfling, however, survives the clamping bite of the beast and wiggles out of its maul and off the horse. Not content with just a couple of feet of separation, Stroop casts Dimension Door to scoot away to safety. Then the Company train their attacks on the creature, who, despite its thick armoring and sturdy Constitution, dies before it can do any more serious damage.
Afterwards, Yrsa thumbs through Grenhay Sumpers’ Guide of Best Creature Bits, locates a drawing of something close to it referred to as a “land shark.” She finds directions on how to best remove its back armor plates—a biological bone-metal useful for enchanting into sturdy shields. Yrsa removes two plates, potentially valued at 500 GP apiece and loads them into the Portal Hole.
Beyond the outer farming area, while passing over a small bridge into Faith-Hold, the adventurers see a few remnants from a Cold Spring Harvest festival. These include decorative cloth flags and—as Yrsa notes—a banner strung between two trees. The banner bears a round, aqua-colored wave symbol, the exact same symbol painted on the clerics recently-acquired Wall of Faith magical shield. Hesitant that this shield might be the magic item the town has recently lost, Yrsa uses a cold-weather leather wrapping from her previous shield to cover up the emblem.
As Bright Night is nearly over, most of the townsfolk are tying up their fishing boats or already home ready for sleep. A few hearth fires can be seen in the houses, smoke in their chimneys, but the brightest lights in Faith-Hold are shining on the northern half of the city. These lights illuminate The High-Rock area with the Temple of Nässe and a large Inn surrounded by many market stalls and tents. Stroop encourages his companions to the market square, where they hire lodging at the Gentle Rossi Inn. Sagon calls over a couple of local militia men—who visually made their presence and occupation known to the new arrivals upon arrival. Questioning the guardsmen, the Company learns of a town curfew (between 50-60 o’clock) and of potential work that might be available—hiring out to the local clerics in helping them recover their lost relic.
After some quick drinks and food, the party heads to the temple before the local curfew begins. There, they meet with some of the clerics in different parts of the compound. Each of the areas visited have at least a couple of well-armored knights or clerics on guard. Viggo and Sagon are led through a door and meet with Sister Carmella, second in charge. They discuss the missing relic—something called the Geomancer's Pickhammer—a magic weapon that’s also a fine mining and crafting tool. The reward for its safe return is 6000 GP. The head of their holy order, Mother Elena, has already set off questing north for the item. Other members of the congregation and adventuring types have been “deputized into service” and sent out in other directions.
While this is being discussed, Kime, Vogelfest, and Stroop visit the dining facility and meet with someone known only as “Chef.” The food here is good, but mainly oatmeal, vegetable soup, and a fish stew. Chef gives some raw fish to Vogelfest.
Timador visits the library, but—finding the books there to be mostly of a religious nature—the Wizard becomes more interested in finding a discreet location to cast Detect Magic so that he can study instead what the locals are carrying. Finding out the bathroom in this place is actually just a long outdoor balcony over-hanging a spot on the High Rock, Timador makes do and manages 11 minutes of peace to cast his ritual. With the spell, he discovers a few items of note, mostly potions carried by the clerics. One of the clerics, though, was carrying a magical staff, which gave a sense of being able to drain liquids from unbelievers—or something like that.
Yrsa spends her time at the temple in the rock grotto and sculpture garden; there she contemplates the relationship, if any, between Freehet and Nässe. Yrsa racks her brain and tries reaching out beyond herself, and finally recalls (or is nudged into believing) that Nässe is some type of elemental demi-goddess. As such, she’s at least likely to have some relationship to Freehet, Nodebra, and Shuekra. In the grotto, Yrsa also meets with two armored guards who have been stationed near a platform that overlooks the lake below. Yrsa asked about why the grotto requires two guards and learns that a murder took place there just recently. One of their Brothers who was using the relic hammer to carve a new statue was killed—and the relic stolen. The thief then escaped 35 feet straight down the shear cliff below the overlook platform.
Undertaking the quest, the Company head north along the eastern shores of the Klar Bergseen lakes and streams. Kime identifies two sets of tracks, 1) six heavily booted military types, and 2) a fainter set of earlier prints of someone wearing normal shoes. The faint tracks have been mostly destroyed by those who followed afterward, but, Kime occasionally can make out the original prints. At the second lake in the chain of three, the Ranger notes six other faint prints. There’s indication they entered the water here. The heavier tracks split at this point, widening out further north and east. Possibly the thief entered a boat here or went underwater. Sagon dives into the lake carrying a Continual Flame torch and begins searching. The mountain stream-fed lake is cool and clear, but only 40 or 45 feet at its deepest. In an underwater cave entrance, the monk spots a humanoid creature that has eight octopus-like lower legs.
After telling of his discovery, the monk is joined in the lake by the others, who, with the aid of a WaterBreathing ritual, are able to reach the submerged caverns. There, they battle with a Giant Snail Slug, many octopi, and several Cecaelia humanoids, some of who were employing magic spells and monk-like abilities during the melee. Defeating them, the party presses deeper into the caverns and discovers two identical octopus women, one (holding some stone tablets) who immediately surrenders, and the other (tied with rope), who looks at the other and says, “Kill Her!” As Viggo approaches the second to untie her, he notices she is not actually tied, just holding the rope with some of her tentacles to appear she is bound. Her ruse easily discovered and her “twin” still very much alive, the one pretending to be tied up also raises her limbs to surrender, leaving just one tentacle free in order to use it to hand over a small ornate pick hammer to Viggo.
The Session ended at that point, on Day 78, at approximately 52 o’clock. And each of The Red-Gold company has gained enough experience to go up a level, but they will need training to gain all of their 9th-level class abilities.
While Timador goes to the surface to ritually cast Detect Magic and Identify on the items acquired from the Cecaelia, the party question the two captives (Siliea and Astuon) separately. Both give similar stories explaining of how they were cast out from their “family” (the ruling class “Oikogenei”" of Malikkio, an undersea kingdom to the south in the AvaNorr sea). Seeking to regain their position by gaining a magical enchantment a legend of theirs describes (in the Tablets of Thrylos), a band of the octopus creatures ventured north through the water system of the Klar Bergseen. Part of the ritual required them to precisely shape a rare crystal to be used at the mountain shrine of the goddess Nässe. To help them in this task, they sought to steal the Geomancer's Pick hammer from the clerics of Faith-Hold. Siliea obtained the instrument but ended up killing one of the clerics in the act.
Bargaining for their lives, the two remaining Cecaelia seek to partner with The Red-Gold Company to reach the mountain shrine location and enact the ritual, which Astuon says a dozen people can partake in, a ritual that is said to enhance whatever is “the best of you.” As the Cecaelias know the ritual words and have an idea of where to find the shrine, the party agrees to undertake this venture with them. They travel secretly another three miles underwater through the lakes and streams before climbing the rugged hills above. Using his owl familiar and a rough map of the area, Timador is able to get a good view of the shrine’s location. As six monks dressed in magenta robes are seen meditating, the party climbs and circles around to where they have spotted a nearby statue shrine. After climbing down to it, Astuon discovers it is not the shrine she seeks.
After exploring the nearby western streams and waterfalls for another shrine to the water goddess without success, the adventurers travel east to a tunnel with a warm stream and steam vents. Inside the steamy caverns, they locate a stone temple and battle with a robed figure, who appears after he summons a Steam Paraelemental. During the battle, the elemental explodes in a boiling blast, and the robed figure summons a second. Before he can summon a third, several of the party members change tactics and focus their attacks instead of the robed figure with the staff. They defeat him and his second elemental.
Inside the temple, they find the statue that Astuon is seeking. Behind it, a grated vent to the west pours out a geyser of steam and water, most of which flows east through some type of magical gate (similar to the one encountered beneath the Ziggurat). Some of the runoff water, though, has settled around the statue of the goddess, and the water there is cool to the touch. Astuon enters the pool and opens a secret compartment in the base of the statue. Inside, two crystal rods (similar in shape and size to the one she’s carved) are seen fused together and to the statue. Astuon adds the third and speaks the enchantment. Immediately, and much to her surprised, the area around the statue begans to cool quickly. The air crisps, hoarfrost crackles over the surface of the statue and water. The pool slushes and freezes. Sagon breaks the surface of the ice with his staff, and everyone present quickly drinks from the pool as the legend indicated. None feel any effects other than having had an ice-cold, refreshing drink.
The cooling of the temple continues, though, and the scalding blast of west-east flowing steam also seems to cool, such that the steam filled portal to the east has lessoned. The party is able to see an area beyond that appears to be high stonework overlooking a wide expanse of sky and clouds. Although the path through the portal seems safe to attempt, the party seems no real benefit in them making the venture, especially after Timador’s owl familiar passes through and is dispatched by a giant eagle.
Still, not satisfied the ritual didn’t work as intended (and seeing no other future for herself), Astuon tells the party she will pass through and continue on. She does, and is also able to return unharmed. She explains there is some type of tall stone tower beyond, resting on a cloud and suspended in the sky. She then immediately goes through the portal again. The others decide to follow. Soon afterwards, Astuon is squashed and impaled by a massive trap protecting the gated entrance to the tower’s courtyard. The others climb over the wall instead and are attacked by a pair of giant eagles, who have a nest nearby containing one large egg. The giant eagles are quickly slain, and then the tower is explored. This involves a lot of climbing of the spiral stairs. Each level, though, seems populated only by a few crates, barrels, mundane items, and no guards, until a buzzsaw wielding clockwork man attacks the monk through a locked grating.
Three other clockwork men are encountered on the upper levels, and the party stumbles upon a sizable pile of precious metal coins, cups, and platters heaped on the floor of the fifth level. In a vaulted wooden loft above, a long, wingless dragon slithered down to protect its hoard. Not a traditional white dragon, the creature’s tail and biting attacks included cold and electrical damage; plus, it had a fearsome aspect, which it could direct against its foes.
Viggo and Siliea were awash with horror, but did what they could to destroy the creature. As always on the front line, Sagon delivered a flurry of blows but this time was knocked unconscious by the dragon's fearsome tail spikes. Kime hit it with arrows while Vogelfest (in the form of a giant ape) tore at the lizard with savage fury. Timador, Stroop, and Yrsa cast Fireball, Dissonant Whispers, and channeled a Radiance of the Dawn to good effect. But it was tiny Stroop, who fell the misty dragon with a well-placed crossbow bolt released from his crwth harp.
With little time to celebrate the victory or gather any treasure, it became apparent to the party the cloud tower was falling. They could see they were about two miles up and falling towards the village of Faith-Hold. Seeing little they could do, they grabbed what they could and raced down the spiral stairs. They made their way back through the portal. As they fled, the tower jerked a few times as if trying to right itself and stop its descent. Back in the temple within the steam caverns, the party finds themselves faced to face with the six magenta-clad shrine monks.
The session ended there on Day 79, approximately 15:00.
The Company and Siliea pass through the mystic gate back into the temple within the steam caverns, now grown icy. The magenta-clad monks assembled within the chamber glare at them, and five approach—ready for combat. One remained seated at the base of the statue of the elemental goddess; he had the secret compartment at the base of the statue open. Within the compartment, one of the three crystal rods (the one that Astuon had inserted) began to glow and vibrate free of the other two. It then shattered, much to the apparent surprise of the monk seated before it. The other monks also wore bewildered expressions on their faces. Their faces—and their whole bodies—at least from the party’s perspective, then became phantomy and transparent. Soon the monks had faded completely, but not before one of them had seized hold of Siliea, who had also become transparent. The temple likewise faded away, and the party was left alone in a cave with very little evidence except their experience to suggest this location was anything other than just some stream in a hydrothermic cavern.
After a quick glance outside, they determined they were “back on their world,” and that they would wait out the Eclipse here and take a short rest. Timador ritually cast a Tiny Hut to protective them while the party examined recent acquisitions. These included 8,850 GP worth of dragon treasure, some loose pages of erotic fiction involving a gnome and a Night Walker, a staff of Elemental Enrichment, and a tome that contained emergency instructions and diagrams of how to use the Armillary Sphere in the cloud tower to maintain “lyftamotorer” and “fuktspridare”— lifting engines and moisture spreaders.
Finally venturing outside, the Company explored the Feustakuss Mountains’ valley. In this reality, they do not see monks nor buildings around the stone circle shrine, but the stone circle appeared the same. And the streams are more like creeks here; the northwestern waterfalls are smaller and much closer to the stone circle. While examining the falls, searching for a statue of Nässe or a concealed cave behind them, Sagon spots what appears to be a hand thrust from the waters. This hand flashed a circled gesture of thumb and forefinger before it promptly disappeared. Searching that location, no hand nor creature can be found, and the water there is found to be only an inch deep.
As Timador has resummoned his owl familiar, the wizard sends Cornihó up to scan the area, and two wolves—one large buffalo wolf and one with large sabre-teeth—are discovered south of the stone circle. With the wolves is a young woman who is camping (and vacationing) at the location. She is Drueda Tränken, and, Kime supposes—since a 60-foot diameter low-hanging storm cloud appeared above the party at roughly the same time Tränken was encountered—the woman is likely a powerful druid. The woman was hestitant to meet face-to-face with the party, and communicated by speaking through the Sabre-tooth wolf.
Tränken revealed she’s from a small thorp southeast of Lamordia. She indicates there is no village called Faith-Hold south of this mountain shrine; the lands below aren’t sutible, she says, of supporting much life. However, she knew of a larger city to the northwest, Avon Leigh. The eastern lands she has been exploring here with her wolf companions are mostly unsettled wilderness. Of Lamordia, she said she knew many of the names the party shared with her but not Sir Henry Clerval. Plus, the Baron there was named Victor Mordancain; his son was Vashon.
The Company brought the petrified Winter Wolf out of the portal hole to see if Tränken could do anything for him. She says she could, just not at the moment. And, as restoring him would require expending her highest-level spell, she was hesitant to do so among a large group of adventurers she barely knew. Likewise, some of the party members didn’t wish to abandon their friend to be restored by a person that he did not know. So, AraAru was placed again into the hole, and the party traveled south to see if the three lakes and Faith-Hold could be located. They found a small system of streams and creeks and dry land.
They then traveled westerly and decided to camp and long rest in the forests near Lamordia where Kime discovered caribou tracks. The party continued their level training there before entering Lamordia one hour into Bright Night. The village appeared much as they thought it might, the major difference being there was no stately manor house there belonging to Sir Henry. The Stagger Inn was there, and most of the adventurers went in to drink ale, enjoy pork stew, and hear local news. Meanwhile, Sagon explored a busy market area and ventured into the church where the clergyman was giving a lecture on raising wheat. Kime had started follow behind Sagon, while she also directed Vogelfest to keep out of sight lest the large wild cat frighten any villagers. Vogelfest—and then Kime—hear a cry near a small pond to the west. A boy fishing there caught sight of a gilled humanoid monster swimming towards him.
This monster abducted the child, but Kime got him to drop the boy by shooting the creature with arrows. The ranger sent her cat to get the rest of the group. Vogel Kitty soon ran into Viggo with Stroop, who had left the tavern to see about a hag who had been captured and nailed to a post near the Baron’s Road. They follow the cat to where Kime was now battling a Ghoul, whom the locals could not see as being anything other their good neighbor, Daisy. This wounded Daisy ran towards her friends shouting “murder!” The gilled creature also made a return appearance as it dashed away from the small pond into the southern part of the village. Well... this all ended with two monsters killed and stuffed into the portal hole. Stroop cast a Sleep spell on a small neighborhood, and Viggo knocked one of the home owners unconscious.
Sagan, likewise, kept busy tangling with a city crossbow man as the monk tried to discreetly question the nailed up (but living) hag while also feeding her Good Berries. When informed by the guard to get away from her, Sagan learned she was condemned by the Baron. So the monk raced away up to castle to see about that. He ran by the castle guards and Adam Lavenza, and stormed into a tower laboratory, where Vashon Mordancain and Dr. Sunn were busy with a chemical experiment.At the interruption, Dr. Sunn made ready to throw beakers of chemicals at the monk while a butler, who was also present, attempted to lead the monk outside. Vashon rushed away calling for guards and his father.
Sagan heads back to the middle of town and the rest of the Company reassembles. Traveling back up the switchback road to the castle, they encounter a force of armored guards led by Baron Victor Mordancain and Adam Lavenza. The Baron objects to his home being barged into and demands the party leaves and also threatens especially to punish the monk. Sagon notes with his goggles that the Baron registers as undead (as do Adam’s limbs). A melee ensues, during which Victor transforms into a swirling dust-like creature wearing a cloak of human skin.
The Baron attacks by projecting a wide jet of dust causing dehydration damage to the monk, Kime, Vogelfest (fighting in the Polymorphed form of “Grape Ape”), Yrsa, and one of his own guards. Viggo casts a Burning Hands spell, which is well positioned and proves especially effective against Adam. Stroop Dissonant Whispers against Victor, who doesn’t flee since the monk took away the Baron’s Reaction this turn. Yrsa then channels Radiance of the Dawn. Disliking that, Adam releases a Chain Lightning elemental burst first targeting the cleric. Fried and smoldering, Yrsa drops to the road and three additional bolts of lightning arc from her body to strike Kime, Timador, and Stroop.
The battle rages on. Kime heals herself. The Baron’s guards fall, but Victor and Adam each have a considerable reserve of hit points. But even they have a limit and cannot stand up long against flailing monk fists and superior numbers. The Baron manages to get off a second dehydration blast but Adam is unable to recharge his devastating elemental attack in time. Yrsa comes close to death, but the Company wins the conflict. They grab who and what they can and shove it all into a very stuffed portable hole. They also drag a couple of the other bodies and stash them under a tree near the castle steps. As other guards and residents of the tower begin to emerge, the party decides to retreat from the village back to the forest where they had camped earlier.
The Session ended on Day 79, approximately 43 o’clock. Next Long Rest is available at 51:00.
The adventurers avoid detection in the forest, where they evaluate treasure, dump bodies, and plot how to proceed. They consider returning early to search the Baron’s keep for cursed items. They ponder how best to approach, either from the south on the main roads, through the forest and down a 45 foot cliff, or underwater from the northern lake. They decide to wait long enough so they can Long Rest first, and they get in some additional level training. Eventually, they approach from the cliff forest.
Using Timador’s owl familiar and Viggo’s telescope, they evaluate the situation. Some citizens of Lamordia are up and working in the northern section of the city near the lake. Guards are stationed on the road leading to the keep and around the towers. The party’s plan of climbing the eastern slope to the keep is scuttled when Viggo spots a very large ship sailing in on the lake. He estimates it will be about a half hour before it arrives and will be able to tender smaller ships ashore. Worse, Viggo spies a skeletal creature climbing up from below its deck. They have heard the Lamordia locals in two different realities speak of a Lich King who "unlives" north of Lamordia in the nearby city of Avon Leigh.
A more direct plan is called for, and Sagan and Viggo approach the crossbow man who is standing guard of the hag (who is still alive and still nailed to the wooden post in the village square). Sagan stuns the guard and Viggo renders him unconscious. The others quickly catch up and iron and silver metal spikes are pulled out of the hag’s arms and legs, freeing her. They ask questions of her, but for an answer she asks if a ship has been seen approaching. When confirmed, she speaks of the Lich King Azlin Rex come to get her, says to hightail it out of there, and she vanishes in a puff of smoke… only to appear 60 feet further to the North, where she calls back a “Thanks!” She is later spotted further north diving into the lake, which strikes the party odd as the Lich is approaching that same location. They have no time to watch her, though, as they make their way up the Baron’s road as quickly as they can without countering the stealth benefits of Kime’s Pass Without a Trace spell.
The Red-Gold Company have little difficulties dispatching the crossbow men protecting the keep. Timador also takes out a Grackle, who has been sitting in a nearby tree in the same spot for half a day. When his arrow strikes the bird, it puffs out of existence as if it were conjured or someone’s familiar. Timador’s owl flies to that spot and discovers an orb-like object that looks to have been attached to the black bird by a ribbon collar. (Later that orb proves to be some type of a eye and ear device, likely the craft of some hag or another).
Many of the townsfolk are found to have gathered in the keep’s tower, and Vashon, Liz, Dr. Sunn, and others quickly surrender, suggesting that the party take whatever treasure there is if they spare the villagers. The party does—even helping those that they had previously dispatched. Then, taking the treasure and three horses from the stable, the adventurers head southeast (they “let leak” that they will join the army that’s coming from there to battle with the Lich King). But, after only a couple of miles, they turn west and head back towards Fort Framlin, after deliberately leaving false tracks.
While returning, they encounter Trandel the Cleric, Bat Bork, Zortan the Mighty, and Derek the Dashing, the party of lower level adventurers they met previously near the Svarta capital (where the Red-Gold Company fought Kobolds and Black Dragon wyrmlings). After that meeting, the four of them made their way further north, where they were recruited by Colafar’s forces. Information is exchanged, including maps and warnings about the Lich, and those four continue their scouting mission to explore the most northern points of the Norr Mountains.
Back safely at Fort Framlin, the Red-Gold Company is requested to help guard the fort as many of the normal guards are busy in the west fighting a low-powered but large zombie hoard. The party does so as it will also give them adequate time to finish their level training. They also meet with Priestess Deevar Lightkeeper (serving Vhereum Steadfast), who is able to ascertain that two of the magical items they’ve brought back are cursed: the skin-covered cloak and the onyx dog with a jeweled collar. The priestess neutralizes these curses, and the items become treasure picks for the Company to be divided with the rest of the gathered loot.
Yrsa, now 9th level (with a 5th-level spell slot) is able to restore AraAru. The Winter Wolf thanks the party for avenging his clan and curing him from petrification. Having no home to return to now and intrigued by the wintery lands of Astrogaard—as depicted on the Company’s maps—AraAru decides he will try to seek out a new home there. He says he will also try to meet with the wolf Druid who was vacationing near the Mountain Shrine.The next session will begin on the morning of Day 83 with the party heading back to Free Port by steam wagon. Timador contacted Captain Michael Otso with a Sending spell, and Otso requested them to return to Freeport in a way that would leave open the possibility of them returning through those same logistical channels if Otso deems it necessary.
Day 83 opens with the adventurers ready to head back to Svartaland. They are just waiting for the steam wagon to arrive and for Commander Macgram Grimhide and his troops to return from a mission in the northwest. While they wait, the Red-Gold Company bolster the skeleton crew guarding Fort Framlin (still under construction). The four “old school” adventurers, Bork, Trandel, Zortan, and Derek man the southwestern walls and towers while a couple of crossbow men keep an eye on the northwest. The Red-Gold Company position along the stretch of the eastern walls where a road enters the keep. This section is particularly vulnerable yet as the pathway remains exposed (pending the arrival and installation of metal grating to form portcullis gates). Luckily, the last few days have been uneventful while the party has trained up to 9th level.
This all changes when Viggo spies a large bird or dragon-like shape flapping its way ever closer from the east. Using his telescope, the sun alf is able to determine the shape is some type of flying boat (smaller than the party’s ocean-going knarr, the Silver Rose).
Once the vessel gets within 500 feet, five wyverns detach from it with wraith riders. The wyvern carry some type of firebomb barrels. Using their longbows, Kime and Sagon get off some arrows at long range as the wyvern and their dark riders race and dive in closer. Observing they are under missile attack, the wyvern spread out, some veering off and seeking ground cover behind nearby cliff and rock formations. Instead of continuing to press closer, though, several of the wraiths leap from their saddles while their mounts take again to the air expecting to deliver their fire bombs.
Also, once grounded on the road or in the nearby clover fields, the wraiths deploy their swords, making some type of wide cutting action in the air and opening some type of mystic gate. Ghouls and Ghasts step through and began racing as fast as they could towards the road opening into the keep. The Company concentrates first upon taking out the approaching wyvern, managing to kill one and causing the bomb of another to explode prematurely. Meanwhile, one of the wraiths, who swooped his mount out of sight to the southeast somehow managed to show up again over 300 feet to the west on the southern most tower of the fort. There, he withdrew his flaming sword, summoned a complement of ghouls and ghasts, and set fire to the fort’s depot warehouse. With the help of a fireball from Timador, the old school adventurers manage to dispatch the wraith, his troops, and put out the flames.
Back along the eastern walls, the Company finish off the last of the wyvern, but not before Sagon and Viggo are hit with poisoned tail barbs. Once Kime and “Grape Ape” Vogelfest fell a wyvern, they battle against another wraith who has risen up to the top of their fort tower riding up a bolt of lightning. A well-placed Wall of Fire from Yrsa helps to seal the exposed fort entrance while also burning many of the undead. Their wraith commander enlarges some of the cliff shrubbery and rides its brances up to the top of the tower where Stroop’s Bardic abilities and Yrsa’s improved flare make it more difficult for the Wraith to hit Stroop with an acid sword.
Some unexpected help— hiding in the vegetation of the clover fields—revealed itself at that moment. Two giant lizards and a trio of hags (Brenda Hyrr, Sahgae Behd, and Alice d’Goon) battled the Dust Wraith and its undead force. Brenda and her crew had stealthed their way in close earlier and had been trying to contact the monk Sagan telepathically, hoping to enter the fort under friendly terms. Sagan’s ring, however shielded his mind from such communication. So they were waiting an opportunity to try something else. Also, from within the Fort’s Command Center, the venerable Priestess Devaar then emerged and she used a overslotted Fireball spell and then her Channel Divinity to Destroy the last of the Undead.
After the fighting concluded, the sky ship was well out of range and heading north where it could not be easily followed. There was little to be learned from the attackers as they carried nothing of interest or value except for five powerful magic swords, one which had been claimed by the old schoolers, three by the Red-Gold Company, and one by the hags. The hags, however, gave the sword to the Company in exchange for them giving aid and shelter to the hags, who wish to travel south hoping to recruit other hags to form what they called a “Ninefold of Grandmothers.” They felt that powerful grouping would give them the powers needed to track down the Lich King Azalin Rex’s phylactery and destroy him forever—or at least stop his slow southward contagion.
The Steam Wagon then arrives with some new recruits, and Commander Macgram also returns. He understands that standing up to a Lich is dangerous and he understand the adventurers would be wanting to head south again. The dwarf also mentioned that a Lich would not be in any great hurry to attack directly. Azalin would likely prefer that they bring the fight to him, where he would have all of the advantage. Then, after they agree to deliver it, Macgram gives the party a letter to “some of the military people they know in Svarta.” Macgram hopes he can convince the Queen to send some champions to help in the fight. Grimhide also mentioned he would be trying to contact “some of the heavy-weights”: the names he rattled off were Colafar (if he were still alive), the wizards Serchka, Vrasper, Avsvarya, and the Dragon Adelgnistai brons.
The Company then traveled via steam wagon back to Freeport, where, after contacting Captain Michael Otso about their hag companions, got approval for Timador to use the target Teleportion Circle in Atua Wahrs. Once there, they detailed the results of their latest mission, then were assigned to Long Rest and make ready to be immediately deployed again, this time to southwest Svarta where some type of “sea monster” has been causing damage to the villages along the shores of Lake Kupfersee near Neidriga Verter. The Company also took the opportunity to visit the Rat’s Market to sell off their bulky treasures and make new purchases.
Next Session will begin first thing on Day 84.
The Red-Gold Company assembles before Captain Michael Otso, who gives them more details regarding their mission to the Great Lake Kupfersee. Otso informs them that the region is sparsely populated (due to less than ideal living conditions around the lake); still, he doubts that some great sea serpent has made it that far inland. Likely, he thinks, an aquatic species, such as the Sahuagin, have snuck in and are thinking they can take over the area. “No, they can not,” the Captain makes it clear.
Timador meets with the high elf wizard, Maurice Pabanise to discuss constructing a magic item. Maurice is there to cast the Teleportation Circle that will take the party to the Bergschatz War Mausoleum. Maurice shows Timador the sigil sequence required to get there, but he also warns that he must “message” Mertil (“The Root Hermit”) in advance if he ever plans to use it. Maurice also gives Timador a rune-carved wooden cane to deliver for him to Mertile. Apparently this is some item that she is “Supposed to hide.”
The adventurers teleport into a 12-foot deep lightless pit into two feet of water. A redheaded female halfling leans her head in to examine them before throwing down a rope ladder. She (Mertil) tells them a bit about herself, her dog Whiskey, and the War Mausoleum, which is mostly a cover story to explain why various military types seem to show up in this remote mountain cave shrine location. Apart from relaying messages and handling teleportion duties (and warding) for the military, Mertil spend much of her time here crafting permanent illusions, mainly ways of hiding magic items from Detect Magic spells. She also serves as tour guide of the facilities whenever actual visitors show up.
Mertil shares her map of the region with Viggo, who hurriedly makes a copy of it as she explains local areas of interest, particularly around the county of Eintracht. The mayor of that area, Lars De Jong, asked her to call in the military to explore a murder and other unusual happenings. Mertil loans the party her trekeping, a six-oar, 32 foot long sailing ship, which she keeps camouflaged about a mile away near the shore of the great lake. They sail it to the main village of Eintracht, whose local children and fishermen cheer and greet them.
Mayor Lars then appears and leads them to a public house, where he has various citizen witnesses ready to relate their stories. Anika De Vries from Slange discovered a pale body that was torn and lashed and mostly bloodless. The mayor added that they think the dead man was Kerstan Van Dyne, a well known local criminal (“so it might be just a deal gone bad or something”). Henrick Van Den Berg from Eintracht then related how his sturdy chicken coop was torn down and his chickens killed or stolen. The odd thing is that a piece of a rope that was apparently used to tear down the coop was more vine like than rope and was just coiled around one of the framing poles, not tied at all. Then, apparently it broke off when it was used to pull down that section. Famke Visser, a local deaf and dumb fisherwoman, then described what she saw (using facial expressions and hand gestures). The mayor translated for her (and Viggo noted that the conversation taking place via sign-language was quite similar to Hwelm/“Thieves Cant”), enough for him to understand. Famke describe a lake serpent type of monster who had two glowing eyes “bright as coal oil lanterns” and also, as it moved, fog seemed to peel off of it. Nearby along the shoreline, thorny vines bushes were trampled and blood was discovered. A merchant guard was sent to investigate the scene and he went missing.
Two local pig farmers, the Slattengren Brothers, burst in then claiming that they’ve captured a thorn plant creature in a net and had tied it up. The party and one of the brothers (able to borrow a fresh horse) then head back north to their pig farm. When they arrive, they find that a second monster has freed the first and killed a third Slattengren brother, who was left behind to guard the creature. While the party battles the vine and bark creatures (one attacks with blood-sucking thorny vines while the other is a more sturdy, woody monster), the monk Sagan detects the creatures releasing a pollen when they are destroyed. This pollen either alerts or creates newer plant creatures nearby, for two others appear and join in the fight. No more appear after the newcomers are destroyed. Even the two that did weren’t shrubs/trees that were earlier on the farm property, so the pollen appears to be some type of warning system.
Kime, Vogelfest, and Sagan follow the creature’s tracks into the southeastern part of the Slangmyr. Once in the swamp, the ranger leads them to a spot near the shoreline of the great lake where the four creatures apparently uprooted themselves. Nearby, they also find evidence that a ship was hauled ashore, and discover one humanoid bare foot print. Someone had taken pains to remove some other footprints that look to have moved inland to where the creatures had uprooted.
Returning back to Eintracht, they report to Mayor Lars. Lars then introduces them to a trade merchant, Etu Brutay, who makes dairy product runs between Eintracht and the northern village of Felson. Etu tells of strange lights he saw on or about the central lake island of Sumpø. The party decides to take Mertil’s ship on a three-hour tour around the island, which is a thin, three-mile long outcropping of stone, covered with loose rocks, mud, tangled roots, shrubs, and hedges. They row and sail around Sumpø while Timador views the island from above using the senses of his owl familiar. He spies a stone ruin. Before going ashore to investigate it, they continue a full trip around the island looking for other areas of interest. The waters in the central part of the lake are100 feet or more deep, but the monk Sagan spots a submerged/sunk boat about 20 feet down on a rocky ledge along the northern part of Sumpø. He swims down, finds it weighted with stones. He also finds a chest. The party bring the ship up and the chest is examined: it contains a couple jars of fish oil, glass and metal lanterns, and metal hoops, which prove to be ways to hang the lanterns on the front of the ship.
Heading ashore and inland then, the Company explores the ruins. There they see a skeleton lying in a stone casket, an ash tree has grown straight through its ribcage and upwards. Once they are positioned for possible melee, Timador Firebolts the tree, burning many of its wet leaves and seed keys. The fire blast disturbs some giant-ass spiders and more plant creatures, a larger variety that combines the bark toughness and thorny tendrils of the ones previously encountered. After a short battle, the party thoroughly examines the area, finding no apparent secret doors or entrances. Yrsa does discover however that the skeleton is made of stone, not bone. And, in a small roofed building, the rest of the party find a stretch of one-inch diameter copper piping. The end of it is about two feet off the ground, its opening covered with a mesh of wire. The pipe bends early and heads straight down into the ground through solid stone.
Much is attempted then, including digging, a Stone Shape spell, and dropping sling bullets inside the pipe on strings and without string. Frustrated, the party determine the pipe goes down about 60 feet before the pipe bends again, which was discovered by dropping a bullet with a Light spell cast upon it. Assuming an underground lair must be down there, Stroop risks taking damage by using his Dimension Door spell to port down, which works, but he is immediately attacked by blue-skinned humanoids. Stroop also notes some coffins down there on raised platforms in a dark 10 feet wide by 12 feet high by 30 feet long passageway. Stroop uses his first opportunity to Dimension Door back to the surface.
The Session ended then about 10:00 on Day 84. The party can long rest again come 12:00.
The Company decides to further search the area near where they discovered the sunken ship; this includes searching on the island nearby, but they find nothing above water of interest. The monk Sagan dives back to the island cliff area 20 feet below the water’s surface. Dinding nothing new, he heads further down into the murkiness but keeps near the cliff-like edges of the island. At 60 feet down, there is no more light to support any lake plant growth. But, once deep into the dark, Sagan spots a glow further down and about 150 feet to the west. As he gets closer, he discovers a shimmering pool beneath a stone shrine and a settlement of ruined stone houses; one of the buildings, built against/into the base of the cliff is still intact.
Relaying this information to his companions above, the monk and the rest of the Company decide to rest for 8 hours within a Tiny Hut. Afterward, they all swim down to examine the ruins. Within the intact home, they find three bluish-skin humanoids (apparently Water Genasi), who are drugged or charmed, and residing aimlessly inside, just going through the motions of eating clams, gazing at stuff that isn’t apparent, or caring for aquatic mushrooms that grow upon bones and wet, decaying compost
It isn’t until the party goes into the basement that they encounter opposition: two blue-green skin lesser vampires, who attacked immediately.
In the room they were occupying, Yrse recognizes a stone statue depiction of the goddess Freehet. Around the base of her statue, small piles of clear and light colored quartz crystals were placed as offerings, four of which had Continual Flame cast upon them to illuminate the room.
The fight going against them, one of the vampires manages to escape to the next room, where it swims through a full length mirror attached to one of the walls in a sunken portion of the floor. Viggo and Sagan attempt to follow, but instead of passing through the mirror, they encounter equal and opposite reflections of their rapier blades and palms and fingers that push back at them and prevent passage.
The other vampire, once defeated, dissipated into a gas and/or watery form, which, despite the vampire being unconscious or dead, began traveling the same direction as the other vampire had fled. Physical attacks and magic had no affect upon the creature while it was in this form. But, as it needed to be able to flow to continue its escape, Timador commanded the water elemental he had summoned to envelope the creature within its own body. Having success with that, Timador then unbolted all four of the full length mirrors in the room, tied them together in pairs facing each other. The party returned to the surface after seeing no other way to proceed.
Back at the island ruins, Yrsa and Timador then use a combination of stone manipulation spells near the 60-foot long copper piping to remove stone and to turn the rest of it into a mud so that it slid down at an angle into the area where Stroop previously gained access by casting Dimension Door. In this way, they are able to create an unexpected new entrance to the underground lair and surprise three additional vampires. After opening a 3 x 3 shaft, Yrsa and Timador also toss down Daylight and Fireball spells. Sagan, Kime, and Viggo quickly slide down the shaft and engage the creatures in melee. Two are destroyed and turn to gas and seep into their coffins, which are also in the cramped 10 x 30 x 15 passage. The third turns to mist before it is destroyed and flows through another pipe that runs horizontally to the north (to another chamber?). Having none of that,Y rsa rattles off a couple more stone-magic spells to open a passage through along the pipe.
After destroying the third vampire, a fourth one, one very fishy-looking creature, appears at the north end of the room through another pipe and into a space protected behind a metal grating. He announces himself as “Velya Straub,” once the high cleric of The Cozener (Freehet), and now the Lordof Kupfern—apparently the settlement beneath Lake Kupfersee. The aquatic vampire seeks some resolution to the conflict and parlays with the Company. The conflict quiets as both sides then discuss the situation.
Velya reveals that he (and his children) have not made any of the attacks against the surface dwellers. In fact, he states he has a treaty with three gods (Freehet, Shruekra, and Kree Hweef) not to. In exchange, Shruekra, supplies a limited number of Water Genasi to him to use as food. The attacks, Velya surmises, were carried out by a former underling of his, Di Genova, who recently disappeared and left the underground lair. Di Genova apparently employed Blights (The vine creatures that grow upon Gulthias Tree seedlings) to carry out his bidding and stir up the villagers. The “lake monster” ship was likely designed to attract the army or adventurers to Sumpø island, where Di Genova hoped that they would destroy his former master.
Velya agrees to pay weregild (300 gold pieces) for each human slain, and he also informs the party he and his children will be moving on to a new location in a few days. They may have first pick out of anything they leave behind. He also gives them 5,000 gold if they will track and hunt down Di Genova for him (Velya shows them a painting of the rogue vampire). (If Stroop thought he recognized the man, he kept mum about it.) When the Company suggests they would try to lure DiGenova back to the crypt area by announcing that they had killed Velya, the vampire lord removes the magical vest that was protecting him against Yrsa’s Daylight spell. He suggests they “brandish this openly as evidence.” The magical vest absorbs 8 points of Radiant Damage each round and allows a vampire to continue to regenerate even if they take radiant damage. “Such a prize would no doubt tempt Di Genova into action to acquire it.”
The session ended there, Day 84 at approximately 23:00. They party is able to Long Rest again at 40:00.
After returning to the surface of Sumpø, Yrsa and Stroop rest to recover from exhaustion while the rest of adventurers relay Sending messages and prepare a potential barrel trap and Alarmsystem in case the rogue vampire returns to the island and attempts to access the crypts below via the copper piping. Timador also Skywrites a message about they’re battling Vampires to alert the villagers in Eintracht, while also trying to convince Di Genova it would be pointless for him to kill more innocents hoping the murders would lead back to Velya.
Also while encamped long enough to require Tiny Hut to be cast twice, the Company examines and divides treasure. They hold a bidding auction on the much coveted Ring of Protection +1,which eventually is sold to Sagon for 10,000 GP. Also, during the rest periods, both Viggo and Kime occasionally step out of the hut to check on things. They both confirm each other’s observations and suspicions that the Gulthias Tree (magically burnt by Timador) is showing signs of regenerating now that night has once again shrouded the island. Noting how slowly the tree is recovering, they don’t suspect it will be an issue.
Once the group has recovered their spells, there is just enough Bright Night left for them to sail back to Eintracht before Second Night. They are interested in reaching the village before people go to sleep so that they can parade around a bit, showing that Sagon is wearing Velya’s Umbra Vest, hoping that it will entice Di Genova to make an immediate attack.
Arriving at the thorp, they discover the low land quay dock area near the major’s house has given way, and the Reeve’s Tax office (where they met previously with Mayor Lars de Jong and witnesses) and a nearby farm yard are flooded. Inquiring at the nearby fish market, they learn that the Mayor has set up temporary shop at the Krog Tavern across the bridge to the south to Utsprång rock. As they make there way there to speak with Lars, they also announce to passersby that they willbe holding a victory celebration and that there will be free drinks to be had.
Upon trying to enter the tavern, two guards (one of who they recognize as having been in town when they met before with the mayor) directs them to a Lizard Woman behind a counter. “Please check your weapons before entering the inn. Sorry, it’s local policy to help curtail barroom fights.” Yrsa checks her mace and Timador surrenders his shortbow before entering, but the others in the group decide to hold onto their gear and instead sit at an out-door picnic table next to two other men in armor, who look to have made the same choice. Drinks and food can still be served to them via nearby window that open into the tavern.
Inside the tavern, Yrsa makes her way towards the stage, on which a quartet of musicians are performing. Mayor Lars, the deaf fisherwoman, and a gnome are seated below drinking. Timador, meanwhile, makes his way up to the second level, where a burly barbarian wearing bearskins is drinking alone. They exchange cigarettes and cigars and the wizard offers to buy him a drink. It is about then that Yrsa reaches the Mayor, and she (medically well-versed in spotting drunkenness) determines Lars is not drunk but is instead showing signs of being mesmerized. The hobbit lute player takes this same moment to come down from the stage and makes crude gyrations and showy codpiece thrusts at Yrsa. Ignoring him for the moment, the cleric casts an up-slotted Restoration. Lars recovers with a start, twists and points behind him, shouting “They’re back there!”
Melee ensues in the tavern while outside, Viggo spots one of the men at the other table pulling a dagger in responses to his seeing Stroop climbing up to and leaning in the window calling inside for a drink. Melee ensues outside as well, which includes the dagger-wielding man’s friend trying to shove Kime off Utsprång rock into the lake below. Many of the tavern patrons attack Yrsa while others quickly depart the establishment or curiously just look on. A Mindflayer emerges from one of the backrooms and casts a couple of spells, and Timador ends up chucking a Fireball and shaping it around Yrsa, Lars, and a few others that he thinks are probably good guys. Also, by then, Sagan has climbed in through the window and is exchanging blows with the flayer, knocking him to the floor. The Flayer, nearly beaten to death, manages to raise himself up enough to Psionic Blast the area, killing Lars and several others.
The fight pretty much ended, one of the bartenders, Geoff, notices the cook and his wife are no longer in the kitchen. And the weapons-check lizard woman is also gone, apparently all of them disappeared down a trapdoor leading into “the celler,” a large cavern within Utsprång rock, once used for smuggling. The celler has a concealed door under the bridge that opens at the water level of lake. Geoff opens the trapdoor and calls down for them, but gets no reply. Timador and the rest of the Company, having discovered that Yrsa’s “checked” magical mace is gone, race around outside to the bridge and check to see if anyone is fleeing the scene before they open the concealed door to enter the cellar from outside.
A second fight breaks out as they battle giant lizards, a blight, the Lizard Woman, Di Genova, and a female vampire spawn. The two vampires where hiding in a pitfall trap in their gaseous forms.
During the combat with them, Viggo comes “this close” to dying and being turned into a vampire, but joint attacks from his allies whittle the blood-suckers down and Yrsa’s Daylight spell prevents them from being able to regenerate. It also causes them 20 points of Radiant damage every six seconds.
The session ended there about 51:00 with the Company discovering some treasure and three magic items. But they are left wondering what the heck was going on and how the Mind Flayer fit into things. They can next Long Rest at 8:00.
The Company helps the village of Eintracht pick up the pieces. This includes helping to finance and bring back to life the major and a few others slain in the conflict. A keg of ale is also wheeled across the bridge to be distributed to the crowd of villages who had shown up to the participate in the early announced celebration. The party questions the various bar patrons ascertaining who were most likely being charmed or controlled by the vampires and the mind flayer.
Returning then to Sumpø Isle, the adventurers find that the vampires appear to have departed. Exploring the rest of the crypt and caverns reveals the Vampires opened up some passageways in the walls where previously there were only copper piping for their misty forms to traverse. There is still a decent amount of stuff in the crypts beyond, but the vampires obviously removed some of the better items and took them with them. They did not, however, remove a large pipe organ, which Stroop eventually plays. Amongst the other items left behind are a complete set of smith’s tools and some pornographic scrolls, which likely belonged to some of the vampires who the party destroyed.
In the margins of one of the steamy romance novels, one of these vampires wrote a confession to his master, Velya Straub, explaining he had known of Di Genova’s upcoming betrayal, but, due to a sworn oath that the two of them had made in life, he could not bring this information to Velya. It is suggested in the confession that Di Genova was able to break control from the master vampire with aid from an aberration—likely the mind flayer.
Timador receives a Sending from Mertil that the Company is to return ASAP, as they are to be reassigned to a new mission. They comply, but first they double check in the buildings underwater, particularly the Shrine area, to see if the vampires have actually left. They find the house unoccupied and the shrine “powered down.” the Company returns to Eintracht to relay news of what they found. And, unable to raise the two monks who had just recently come to town and died in the tavern fight, the party stashes their bodies in the Portal Hole, hoping that they find a way to assist them later.
After returning to the War Mausoleum, Mertil teleports them back to the prison area underneath Kuststad, where they are met by Commander Holt and Mystic Zak Munten.