Session 08: Take the Long Way Home

Game Date: Saturday, August 16, 2008
In-Game Dates: Lassday, Grimander 13 – Marksday, Noctaver 2nd, midday

The weary adventurers get some well-needed down-time as they recuperate in the guest suites of the Royal Palace. Blood Eagles stand guard at the door, and serfs take care of their needs for food, drinks, even going out into the city and selling their loot, and buying other magical items and adventuring gear. Dalatris sweetens the pot by giving them 12,000 gold as a reward for their continued services for the city and an additional 4,000 from her personal account. She wants to treat them to a dinner, nothing fancy, just a last meal before they leave early the next morning.
After lunch, Kitala comes in carrying Bartelby. The pseudodragon stammers an apology to the group, which is accepted more by some members than others. After an awkward silence, he leaves. Kitala makes some strained conversation as well, but soon has to go. Caspian has had a headache that is getting steadily worse. Finally, just before supper, the others notice that he’s being unusually snippy, and is pale and sweating. Lumi feels his forehead; he’s burning up! She mixes him an herbal remedy to bring his fever down, and he drinks that. He feels some better, but still is strangely weak and clumsy. He goes with everyone to supper, but still doesn't look or feel well at all.
Supper is a simple but excellent affair. Dalatris, DuVrok, and Kitala are there, along with the crown Prince, Anadan. Dalatris tells them that she has never met Kartharine, but has heard of her, and hopes this book will be safe in her hands. She tells the party that they know there are Vaniri agents on the royal city, who will quickly learn that the Jeredrakes have failed them, and most likely come for the book themselves if they want it so badly. They know next to nothing about the secret agents of the Vaniri Empire, only rumors that they use a kind of magic unknown in these lands, or any of the other kingdoms. Whatever their abilities, they are sure to be watching the roads between Fallo and Brindinsford. Dalatris breaks out a map of the kingdom and traces a suggested route that goes west and then north, cutting through the forests and grasslands. It will take longer, perhaps more than a week longer than normal, but their passage should be nearly impossible to track.
Rowan mentions to Dalatris that Caspian is sick, and wonders if she can heal him magically, so they all start out on their trip healthy. Dalatris frowns as she studies him, then casts several spells in succession. The first removed the disease, and the others cured his weakness and slowness. She tells them that he'd contracted Slaad Fever from one of the blue slaads that bit him the day before. Unchecked he would have eventually become a slaad himself. Though Caspian likes the idea of having massive claw attacks, he decides that he enjoys being human a bit more.
They spend a pleasant night in the palace quarters, and the next morning a squad of Blood Eagles accompanies them to the city gates. A few early risers in the city recognize the party and cheer and wave, but for the most part, their exit is unremarkable. The weather has finally changed from an unseasonably warm late fall to chilly and damp. A thin drizzle falls as the party leaves the city, and continues throughout the day. The first night they spend in a roadside inn, realizing that this is the last time they'll have warm beds for quite a while. Rowan is suspicious of everyone in the tavern, but most seem to be local farmers who know each other. There's one solitary half-elf who is dressed like a ranger sitting near the fire, not seeming to pay attention to anyone. Rowan goes over to check her out, but the conversation quickly turns into the other ranger crying over some adventurer who just left her. Rowan retreats as quickly as she can, looking uncomfortable.
By the early afternoon of the next day they have traveled past the outlying farms and ranches surrounding and supporting the capitol city. They reach the road marker that Dalatris pointed out on the map, and cut into the woods. Rowan uses her easy trail spell both to help the party cover ground faster and to help hide their tracks from anyone following them. The forest literally parts for them, and they simply ride along in an ever-moving island of clear space for the first three hours of the day. Rowan can cast the spell twice a day for three hours at a time, so she uses it at the beginning and the end of the day. The rest of the time she forges a trail for the others to follow as best she can, which is pretty well.
The only encounter they have in the first few days is coming across a camp of several bugbear hunters. The party manages to creep around the camp undetected, and continue on their way.
Ten days out of Fallo, they reach a small town nestled in some low rolling downs. The rain breaks and the sun shines for the first time since their leaving the city. The people of the town seem friendly. Very friendly. In fact, everyone they pass greets them with some variant of “Hello stranger! Welcome to Calm!” Lumi and Althea feel strangely at peace as they enter the town, but everyone else is really creeped out. Rowan would have everyone just keep going, but Aiden's horse threw a shoe earlier in the day. The farrier/ blacksmith is just a large, fair-haired woman who is just as congenial as everyone else. As they look around, Rowan notices that everyone, even the mayor, seems fairly young. No one looks older than their mid 30s in the town. Even creepier.
Getting some lunch at the town's tavern, they meet a friendly innkeeper, a beautiful innkeeper's daughter, and a friendly local Priest of Pelor.
Lumi has a chat with the priest, who explains that for whatever reason, this whole area is suffused with positive energy. It keeps people calm and happy, and healthy as well. The town really doesn't have any problems except the occasional magical beastie that wanders out of the forest once every half-dozen years or so. Rowan has asked Althea to do her mind-reading spell to see if these townsfolk are on the level, but as far as Althea can tell, everything is okay. There is something she picks up on, about something that happens to travelers after they've spent the night in town. Everyone keeps alluding to the inn serving a truly wonderful breakfast, but refuses to elaborate more. Rowan explores the inn and the surroundings with her headband of true seeing activated, but everything is as it appears to be.
Finally Rowan is convinced that no one here intends to do them harm, and she gives in to the relaxing feeling of the town. The whole party gets their horses shod with shoes better suited for traveling through the wilderness, and they enjoy a day of relaxation, including a dip in the local bath-house, which pipes water in from a nearby hot spring. Finally they retire for the evening, and all sleep very well. Aiden entertains a few of the town's ladies in his room, and Althea entertains the entire tavern with a few songs. Even for a town where happiness and beauty are an everyday part of life, the patrons and innkeeper find themselves deeply moved by Althea's music.
In the morning, the party gets their breakfast orders, and each breakfast comes with a small crystal glass filled with a few ounces of a clear liquid. After a last bit of trepidation, the party drinks up. They feel the effects immediately... feeling stronger, healthier, quicker. They look up in amazement at the innkeeper's daughter as she explains. There is a spring in a cavern deep beneath the city that slowly fills with this liquid. The spring always produces just enough for every member of the town to have one of these drinks every year. It's also custom for strangers who spend the night to get a glass as well. The reason they must spend the night is because only those with good hearts can stand to be in Calm for any length of time. By staying overnight, the party has proved themselves worthy of their drink of the elixer of youth. It isn't true eternal youth; for people here still die after their allotment of years is up, but they stay strong and healthy until that time.
Feeling great, the party leaves the town and heads back to the trail, feeling refreshed. The cold weather and rain returns as they set out again, but the party doesn't mind too much.
Three days out of the village, they come within sight of the small fort that stands just inside the border of Pythia. Rowan sees evidence of patrols, but they skirt around the fort without encountering anyone.
Another three days pass, and the party comes upon a crossroads. They breathe a sigh of relief... they are exactly where they hoped to be, and a little ahead of schedule! Lumi notes a glint of sunlight on metal in the trees across the road. Rowan peers out, and can just make out a man keeping watch in the tree with some kind of goggles on his head. Everyone takes cover in the trees and brush; it doesn't seem as though the watcher has spotted them.
The party confers. It may very well be a ranger in the employ of Pythia, or it could be an enemy. Or it could be some bandit and have no bearing on them whatsoever. Figuring that it's safer to avoid detection if possible, the party creeps off, parallel to the road for a mile or so before crossing the road and continuing North by Northeast.
Another few days pass. The party comes upon a pair of deer standing stock still on the game trail Rowan is leading them down. The adventurers approach, but the deer don't move. A closer inspection reveals that the deer have been petrified. Further on, they find a few more petrified creatures. The words “basilisk,” “medusa,” and other evils are muttered by the party. Aiden remembers that powerful beholders can petrify as well, but keeps that thought to himself, as everyone seems strung-out as it is.
In the misty grey light of late afternoon, just before Rowan activates her easy trail spell, they hear a crashing of creatures coming through the woods towards them. The party readies weapons and spells, but what comes crashing through the brush are a group of frightened deer, followed by a quickly-moving badger. The party relaxes for a moment after the animals pass, but soon the sound of several more large things crashing through the trees. This time the noise comes from two enormous skeletons of what used to be trolls. Behind them creep two large hounds who seem to blend into inky invisibility when they creep through the shadows of the underbrush. Behind them come two black, thin, humanoid shapes that float a few inches off the ground. Their eyes are the only thing in them that isn't black, and those gleam with a pale malice and a hatred of all things living. They seem to be moving with a purpose through the woods, but when one of the hounds spots the party, the creatures turn towards them.
Rowan fires off an arrow at a shadow, which sails through the incorporeal creature without doing it damage. Caspian casts true strike and readies his weapon for a blow. Aiden sends a fireball powered with positive energy into their midst, bowling the shadow mastiffs off their feet. The humanoid shadows don't seem too affected, but the troll skeletons definitely lose some rib bones and other sections of their animated skeletons.
Lumi steps up, brandishing her new holy symbol, and shouts a word of power. Her holy symbol blazes with a blinding white light. Under it's intense glare, the shadows dissolve into nothingness, and the troll skeletons collapse into inanimate bones, the evil power giving them un-life blasted away.
Althea glows with the brilliance of the noon-day sun as she uses her Aasimar power of daylight. The shadow mastiffs growl as their ability to meld into the shadows is neutralized. The bard begins singing her haunting melody as the mastiffs creep forward, their powerful jaws slavering and their red eyes glowing with rage...

Session 07: Entrance of the Gladiators

Game Date: Saturday, August 9, 2008
In-Game Dates: Wainsday, Grimander 12, night – Lassday, Grimander 13, morning

The party stared at the note. The thought: Really? Do we have to rescue the girl who insists she can “take care of herself?” flits across everyone’s faces. Well, maybe not Lumi’s. Sighing, everyone agrees to at least play along with the Jeredrakes for the time being. They hang a lamp outside the window as the note instructs, wondering how the hell the author of the note knew they were after the missing pages of the book.
A second note arrives in short order, and this one tells them that at dawn they will receive a third note telling them where to go. They’ll have a half-hour to get to the designated location, which will be possible if they hurry. The second note is signed by someone calling himself “the Emissary.”
Sending Bartleby to fly over to the Royal Temple and see if the place is in an uproar about a missing priestess, everyone decides against alerting the authorities to the letters they’ve received, not sure of who can be trusted. The pseudodragon returns a short while later with the news that Kitala is indeed missing, and the bodies of two priests had been found stuffed in a store-room, stripped of their priestly robes.
The party sleeps uneasily, planning to awake an hour or so before dawn to possibly get the jump on the Jeredrakes, since they now know the location of their base, and they’re pretty sure no one else (other than Brovann) knows.
Lumi dreams a strange dream… She is back in her church in Miel, and goes into the temple to find Father Tilok with his back to her, kneeling before the altar of Pelor in prayer. She approaches him, and he stands and turns to face her. She realizes with a gasp of awe that the man isn’t Father Tilok, as she thought, but Pelor himself! The Sun God’s glowing golden eyes gaze kindly down at Lumi as she bows before him.
“I am pleased with the good works you have done in my name, young Lumienne,” he says. “You have been a faithful servant all your life, and I wish to reward your deeds. I foresee that hard trials will be soon upon you, my young cleric. You will need all your strength to endure, but keep faithful, and you will prevail. But to aid you, I will give you powers I do not normally grant my followers. I will give you a new holy symbol,” and he pulls out a small golden disk with his symbol on it, but stylized in a way Lumi has never seen. “Keep it with you, and it will grant you some power to cast spells in my name. Now awake as a Radiant Servant of Pelor, and go forth to protect the innocent and battle evil in my name.”
Lumi feels herself being pulled towards consciousness, but before she awakes, she hears Pelor’s voice in her head say, “One last thing… if someone asks you for a service, do not be afraid to give your consent!”
Lumi awakes to find the rest of the party stirring as well. She looks down, and hanging from her neck on a thin chain is the holy symbol Pelor gave her in her dream!
Quickly, while everyone is rousing, Lumi prays for her daily spells. Everyone is trying to decide whether to jump the gun and hit the Jeredrakes base before dawn and take them by surprise, or to wait for the note. Lumi casts an augury spell, which seems to favor going to the arranged meeting point rather than going to the Jeredrake’s base. So, deciding to wait for the note, everyone heads downstairs and has breakfast.
As people are finishing up their meal, the innkeeper comes out and hands them the third note. The meeting is to take place in the city’s old arena. Although the note promises a peaceful transaction if the adventurers don’t start trouble, none of them really believe it, and set off towards the old arena geared up and ready to bust some heads.
Riding on horseback, the party arrives well before the half-hour is up, and does some quick reconnoitering. Finding nothing terribly out of the ordinary, they head in the main doors, sending Bartleby up to the roof to be ready to go get help if things turn really ugly.
The arena’s circular tiers of seats are empty. In the arena pit, a tall, lithe, bald man stands alone at the far end, dressed in loose-fitting garments. The party vaults over the railing down onto the sand and crosses the floor of the arena towards him. Rowan, suspecting a trap, activated her headband that gives her true-seeing. The man before them is as he appears to be, and no invisible creatures lie in wait for them that she can see.
When the adventurers are perhaps 40 feet away, he greets them, introducing himself as the Emissary. He produces the priestess Kitala, who is enclosed in an Otiluke’s resilient sphere, unharmed, but trapped. Rowan, her true-seeing still active, sees Kitala as well, but also sees what Kitala truly is. She gasps quietly in shock, but has no time to tell anyone, as the Emissary is speaking once more. The Emissary tells them that he will give the command word to release her when they give him the book. He tells them as well that there is no shame in surrendering the book; that no one wins all the time.
Lumi steps forward, telling the Emissary that they never found those missing pages. He smiles almost sadly at her, and tells her, “Lies do not become a Radiant Servant of Pelor, young one.”
At the same time, Aiden removes his wand and fires off two scorching rays straight at the Emissary.
The man goes from stock still into a whirling dodge almost faster than the eye can follow. Both rays streak past him and burn dark scorch marks into the stone walls of the pit. “You’ll have to do better than that, warmage,” says the monk, assuming a balanced defensive pose. “So be it,” he sighs, clapping his hands loudly twice. Aiden casts haste on the entire party as they draw their weapons.
From a trapdoor opposite the one Kitala’s sphere rose from, four creatures pour out and streak towards the adventurers. Their bodies are hairless and the same general shape of a large dog, but they have no heads. Instead, a long neck grows from the very center of their backs, ending in an oversized mouth full of serrated teeth. The misshapen head has no eyes or ears, but they charge unerringly towards the party. Rowan in turn charges towards the Emissary, her blades whirling. Caspian, dodging the acidic mucus that the twisted dog-creatures spit from their mouths, does fairly well in taking them down. Unfortunately, four Jeredrakes that had laid in hiding peek over the raining and begin firing arrows down into the arena at the party.
Rowan takes a few strong punches from the Emissary, but she presses her attack with a savage desperation. He takes cuts and stabs from Rowan, and another searing ray from Aiden, but his face never shows a hint of pain. He looks Rowan in the eye as they exchange blows. “You are doing very well,” he tells her, flecks of blood at the corners of his mouth, “but you cannot hope to win this fight.”
Rowan, concentrating on avoiding the Emissary’s kicks and punches, does not reply. But at last she sees an opening in the monk’s impressive unarmed defenses, and runs him through with her longsword. As the Emissary slides off her sword to crumple to the ground, he looks almost sadly at her. “Now you’ve done it,” he murmurs, and then he falls to the sand to breathe no more.
The dog-things have all been slain, and both Lumi and Aiden have magical shield spells keeping the arrows off them. Althea unleashes shots from her bow at the snipers, Lumi summons giant bees to sting and hamper them, and Aiden fires off fire spells at them. The Jeredrake rangers appear to have resistance to fire, so he tosses a cold spell at one bowman, killing the Jeredrake instantly. A second bowman falls to arrows and spells as Caspian charges the wall of the arena. He jumps and very nearly clears the ten-foot wall in a single awesome leap. He balances somewhat precariously on the rail and cuts at a startled bowman.
“STOP THE FIGHTING,” intones a voice that fills the air of the stadium. Almost simultaneously they hear Bartleby’s voice in their head say, “Oh, shit.”
From the sky above them descends an awesome creature. Standing some 10 feet in height, the being has the scarlet skin of a demon, but the feathered wings and serene beauty of an angel. From atop his head where hair would normally grow, wisps of grey smoke rise and dissipate into the cold morning air.
Althea recognizes it from an old, old legend, from the age before elves and men, when gods made war against the lords of chaos. The Angel-killers were chief among their agents. Not killers of angels, but angels who killed. They were agents of true neutrality, made to destroy those who would upset and destroy the balance of creation. Now the ones who were left sometimes hired themselves to those who could afford them.
Althea relayed this via a message spell as the creature landed. The adventurers stood still, waiting for the creature to make a move. It turned to the two (barely) surviving Jeredrakes. “LEAVE US.”
Surprisingly, this creature, the master whom the Jeredrakes had so darkly hinted at, shows no signs of being upset at the slaughter of his minions. The Angel-killer tells them that the Jeredrakes had nearly fulfilled his purposes anyway, and he soon would have destroyed them anyway.
“I HAVE NO MORE INTEREST IN THE PRIESTESS, FASCINATING THOUGH SHE MAY BE,” he says. “HOWEVER, I HAVE BOTH A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL INTEREST IN THE BOOK YOU CARRY. THAT BOOK IS OLD, ALMOST AS OLD AS I, AND I AM FROM AN AGE BEFORE THE AGE THAT CAME BEFORE THIS ONE. THE LAST TIME IT WAS USED, THERE WAS VERY NEARLY WAR IN HEAVEN. THERE WILL BE MUCH UPHEAVAL IN THE CELESTIAL REALMS WHEN NEWS OF THE BOOK’S EXISTENCE BECOMES KNOWN. THERE WILL BE UPHEAVALS IN THE ABYSS AS WELL, ALBEIT FOR SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT REASONS.
“MY LATE SERVANT’S OFFER STILL STANDS: THE BOOK, IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR LIVES AND THAT OF THE PRIESTESS.”
Rowan steps forward boldly. “You would have to take that up with the book’s rightful owner.”
The Angel-killer’s mouth twists in what could almost be called a smile, “I AM CURIOUS TO HEAR WHO WOULD CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF THE BOOK, SINCE THE AUTHOR DISAPPEARED IN A STORM OF DIVINE WRATH MILLENNIA AGO.”
“This book is the property of Kartharine of Brindinsford,” states Rowan, not giving an inch.
For the first time a genuine emotion shows on the creature’s face, surprise. “KARTHERINAX THE GREY? SHE STILL LIVES? AMAZING.” He strokes his chin with one hand, staring off into the sky. “YES…” he murmurs. “YES, THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE.”
Looking at the party once again, he cocks his head to one side, “I AM SORELY TEMPTED TO LET YOU KEEP THE BOOK AND DELIVER IT TO ITS OWNER… BUT I HAVE BEEN OFFERED SUBSTANTIAL PAYMENT FOR DELIVERY OF THE BOOK TO AGENTS OF THE BLACK THRONE OF THE VANIRI EMPIRE. WHAT CAN YOU OFFER ME?”
Rowan, thinking hard, remembers that once she overheard her father talking to a cleric friend of his about celestial beings. She remembers that divine beings, having no use for currency, often bartered in services and favors.
“We could owe you a favor,” she offered.
The Angel-killer nodded again, with the small smile. “THE VANIRI OFFERED ME A VERY IMPRESSIVE SUM OF GOLD. HOWEVER, WHAT IS GOLD TO ONE SUCH AS I? YOU SEEM CAPABLE, AS FAR AS MORTALS GO, SO VERY WELL. I HAVE NO NEED AT PRESENT, BUT I WILL BIND YOU ALL TO ME; YOU WILL OWE ME ONE SERVICE. CONSENT TO DO THIS, AND I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH BOTH THE BOOK AND THE PRIESTESS.”
Lumi speaks up, telling the others of her dream, and what Pelor told her about giving consent to someone’s service. Reassured, the party gives their consent to owe the Angel-killer one service. Aiden is extremely hesitant, but finally agrees when Caspian does.
Bartleby flies down from his perch atop the arena and lands on the outstretched arm of the creature. From the look of things, the pseudodragon is speaking telepathically to the Angel-killer. “YES, YOUR SERVICE TO ME IS COMPLETE,” he says. “YOUR MASTER IS BEING HELD FAR TO THE SOUTH, IN THE TOWER OF THE SCARLET CLAW. IT WILL NOT BE EASY, BUT THERE IS STILL TIME TO FREE HIM.”
The sphere holding Kitala fades at last, and the girl falls forward into the sand of the arena floor. The Angel-killer turns to her and says, “AS I SAID, I HAVE NO FURTHER INTEREST IN YOU, YOUNG ONE. TELL YOUR MOTHER THAT MALAKAR SENDS HIS REGARDS, AND THAT HE HAS NOT FORGOTTEN.”
With that, the creature vanishes with a muffled thunderclap.
Shaken, Kitala gets to her feet. She apologizes to Aiden and the party for her behavior at the graveyard yesterday. Apparently DuVrok tore a stripe out of her when he found out what happened. She tells them she just had found out that she was brought to this city to be married to the Grand Duke of Pythia’s oldest son for the sake of political expediency. Needless to say, this has greatly upset her, but it doesn’t excuse her actions.
The party leads her back to the Temple, amassing quite a crowd as word of the priestesses discovery spreads. By the time they reach the temple steps, they have an honor guard of half a dozen watchmen, Brovann included, and a score of Blood Eagles.
DuVrok and Dalatris are waiting at the temple steps, and mother and daughter embrace to the joyful shouts of the assembled citizenry.
Brovann congratulates the adventurers, telling them that he and a bunch of watchmen raided the Jeredrake’s hideout late last night, killing perhaps a dozen and capturing six more. The party tells Brovann a brief summary of the events in the arena, though they omit mentioning Malakar, and tell him the Emissary was the Jeredrake leader, and that he is dead.
Overjoyed to see her daughter alive and unharmed, Dalatris ushers the adventurers in to her office, along with DuVrok and Kitala. Once again the party describes the morning’s events, this time omitting nothing. Dalatris seems somewhat uneasy, but definitely relieved. From her looks, she hasn’t slept at all, but her smile is wide and genuine as she gazes upon those who have now twice saved her daughter.
Rowan, however, shifts uneasily in her seat. The high priestess is still sharp, and notices her discomfort. She asks Rowan what the matter is. Rowan, unsure of how to say what’s on her mind, begins hesitantly, “When we went to save Kitala, I used a spell of true-see-”
“STOP!” shouts Dalatris. She turns to DuVrok. “Will you escort Kitala to her room, and make sure it is completely secure?” Kitala is obviously confused, but does as her mother bids.
Once the door is closed and the footsteps have died away, the high priestess slumps forward slightly, her perfect composure cracking. In a voice barely more than a whisper Dalatris says, “She doesn’t know.”
“What?!” exclaims Rowan. “How-“ The rest of the party looks on, confused as hell.
“I was cursed, and must remain as you see me,” says Dalatris softly. “Apparently the curse was passed on to my daughter, though I hope to someday break its hold on her.”
“Can I… tell my companions?” asks Rowan, sensing the four pairs of wide eyes drilling holes in the back of her head.
Dalatris smiles sadly. “The fewer who know, the happier I will be. If you truly trust your comrades, I will not object. Otherwise I beg you to keep this secret forever.”
Rowan looks torn, but sighs, “Very well, high priestess, I will keep your secret.” Muffled sounds from behind her indicate this is not what the rest of the party wanted to hear. Curious beyond her ability to stand it, Althea casts detect thoughts as subtly as she can on Dalatris. Dalatris notices however, and shouts a warning to Althea, but it is too late.
White fire stabs through Althea’s head like the worst migraine in history. With a small scream she staggers back, clutching her head. Fortunately, the pain soon passes, leaving the bard gasping.
Dalatris smiles, “I can understand your curiosity, and I am sorry for the backlash, but that was ill-mannered of you.” Red-faced, Althea mumbles an apology that sounds embarrassed but sincere.
Dalatris looks at them all. She will reward them with as much money as she can convince her treasurers to part with, and since the party wishes to keep something of a low profile before they leave the city to return to Brindinsford, the high priestess promises them lodging for the day in the royal palace. The party nods wearily, ready for rest despite the fact that the sun has barely risen over the city.

Session 06: The Missing Pages

Game Date: August 2, 2008
In-Game Date: Wainsday, Grimander 12, mid-morning -- night.

The party is trudging back to the Royal Temple when Rowan gets an idea. “Hey, do you think Brovann would let us cast speak with dead on the noble Colwyn was supposed to have murdered?”
Even though the party knew Colwyn was framed, and now have evidence to prove it, this course of action might provide them with a few more pieces of the puzzle.
The party finds Brovann and informs him that they have proof that Colwyn was framed, and that the Jeredrakes are behind it. Brovann agrees to come with them to the home of the bor-Kennets, and to ask Lady Aseara, Meder’s sister, if they can speak with Meder’s corpse to try and find her brother’s killer.
She gives her consent, and Lumi finds herself casting speak with dead for the second time that morning. She casts it, but demands that she be bought candy later on. The corpse gives some answers, but also raises more questions. They find that the person who murdered him was not Colwyn. On a hunch, they ask the corpse what it knows about Jeredrakes. The corpse replies that the word means Dragonlord in an ancient tongue. The corpse tells them that the argument the servants heard was actually because there was another buyer interested in the book, and Meder was refusing to divulge the buyer’s identity. The corpse, however, has no problem telling the party who the buyer was: an agent of the Vaniri Empire.
Armed with that disturbing piece of information, they drop Kitala, who still seems either angry or depressed or both, off at the temple. Rowan mentions to Brovann that the shady arms dealer in the warehouse district seemed to know something about the Jeredrakes. Brovann tells them he’ll go and drag the shopkeeper in for some questioning. The party offers to help, but Brovann says they’d be interfering in City Watch business. He tells them it would do them no GOOD to be IN THE AREA around 4:00 when he makes the bust. With a smirk, he heads off to attend to filling out reports.
The party, meanwhile, has some time to kill, so they decide to pay a call on the Baroness Tarmikos. They arrive in time for lunch, and the baroness and her consort tell the party that they have found things out about their quarry, Colwyn Daystar, but it’s unfortunately nothing they don’t already know. On the plus side, lunch is very good, and afterwards Rowan asks if the baroness has a way to communicate with Kartharine. The baroness remembers she has an old mirror in her basement that can probably do the trick. She has it brought up, and speaks the incantations necessary to call up Kartharine back in Brindinsford. Kartharine is pleased that they have the book, but is very concerned that the pages may be in the hands of some enemy. She tells the party to keep looking, but if another week goes by with nothing to show, that they should just head back to Brindinsford with what they have. She also says it is imperative that they book be shown to as few people as possible, if it must be shown at all. (Brovann mentioned that city officials may want to see the book as evidence in the now-reopened case of Meder’s murder.)
After departing from House Tarmikos, Althea hears a strange small voice in her head. She turns her head, startled, to find Bartleby staring at her from his perch on her shoulder. It turns out that Bartleby (and all pseudodragons) can communicate telepathically, but Bartleby was playing dumb because he wasn’t sure he could trust them. But now that he saw them talking to Kartharine, he knows they’re on the level. He tells them that he has a few of his master’s effects (and a lot of his master’s money) in a bag that he secreted on a rooftop nearby his master’s apartment. Bartleby is fairly certain that the bag doesn’t contain any missing pages, but can’t be sure.
The party goes to the building in question: a two-story building belonging to the city sanitation. Bartleby flies up to the roof and finds to his dismay that the bag is missing. The party breaks into the building and makes their way up to the roof. Rowan and Aiden spot a few signs that some creatures were up here in the last 24 hours. Rowan casts a tracking spell that allows her to read the nearly non-existent tracks as easily as a blazed trail.
This trail, however, leads down into the city’s sewers. Following the trail through the dank tunnels beneath the city, they come across the partially submerged corpse of a gnoll. Up ahead, a large, low domed chamber opens up. This, apparently, was the living space of a band of gnolls. Until something attacked and slaughtered them, anyway. And very recently, too, from the look of things. Rowan’s trail ends here. The strange thing that she notices is that the campsite is large, probably home to over 50 gnolls, maybe more. But there are scarcely a dozen bodies strewn around the chamber. As she passes by the body of the chief gnoll, his eyes flicker open and he attacks her with a mindless savagery. Rowan, Caspian and Lumi quickly dispatch the already grievously wounded gnoll, but as it dies, it growls something about snakes.
Rowan discovers a hole in the wall near the chief’s body. A blood trail leads down the hole; bodies were definitely dragged though the hole. Since the bag isn’t among the debris of the camp, it seems a third party now has the bag. Lumi can fit down the hole easily enough, but the others have to squeeze though until it opens up some 20 feet beyond. The larger tunnel slants downward at a sharp angle, but at least the trail is easy to follow. The tunnel ends, and before the party is a chasm some 25 feet across. Down, far below the range of their lights, the sound of rushing water can be heard. Across the chasm is a fair-sized ledge, and the entrance to another tunnel. Lying on the ledge is a bridge of sturdy wooden planks that can be laid across the chasm to form a bridge. Caspian volunteers to try and jump the chasm. He shrugs out of his armor, and the party casts what spells they have to increase his speed to give him a better running start.
He takes a run-up and leaps into the air, sailing across the chasm, clearing it by an almost miraculous margin. He actually lands a few feet inside the tunnel beyond the ledge. Moving the bridge into position, the party continues. They reach a large-ish chamber with the bodies of a few gnolls that have been strangely crushed and mangled. One to two dozen weapons lie scattered around the floor of the cave.
As the adventurers make their way across the broken floor of the cave to the tunnel on the other side, many of the weapons lying on the ground fly into the air and attack the party. In the dim light, they can just make out the black tentacles that hold the weapons that come swinging at them. Where the tentacles meet, a black, misshapen head like an octopus’ emerges from its hiding place. Tentacles without weapons bash into the party as well, wrapping around them and trying to crush the life out of them. Althea goes invisible, but the thing is sensitive enough to vibrations that it can still attack her with impunity. The bard goes down after being knocked senseless, still invisible.
Caspian, who’d been seized and squished, teleports a few feet away to get out of the grasp of the tentacle wrapped around him, then charges the thing’s head, dodging and jumping tentacles as he goes. He delivers a massive blow to its head, which along with Aiden’s spells and Rowan’s blades are enough to bring it down.
Gasping, the party heals themselves, and Lumi revives Althea once she becomes visible again. Collecting the weapons the creature held, they find that quite a few of them were faintly magical. One is an extremely valuable short sword. Lumi casts her old shortsword aside and yells “I call it!”
From here the tunnels continue down, but branch off into a maze of twisting and branching routes. Rowan can barely make out the blood trail now, and finally is forced to guess at a fork in the path. Her guess leads them into a large chamber. There is a stretch of rocky ground before them, and beyond this a fast-moving river of black water seething across the chamber. The river stretches a good 70 feet across. There are rope lines anchored into the stones of the floor that stretch across the river at about chest height. On the far bank of the river, pulled partway up out of the water, a raft is tethered to the ropes, enabling people to pull themselves hand-over-hand across the raging waters.
Just as the party considers climbing across the water on the ropes without the raft, Bartleby asks for a line of rope. Taking one end in his mouth, he flies across the river and lands on the raft, anchoring himself to it as best as his small clawed hands will allow. The adventurers pull the raft across the river to their side and then pull themselves back to the opposite shore.
Before them are two doorway, one relatively unmarked and leading down, the other carved into the gaping maw of a snake’s head. Bartleby volunteers to investigate the tunnel going down, and reports back a few minutes later that it’s empty save for a few storerooms with nothing interesting in them, and a closed door. He saw a snake slithering along the ground, but as far as he knows, the snake didn’t spot him.
The party, feelings of foreboding in their hearts, creeps through the carved doorway. Well, considering their light source probably gives them away, and half of them are wearing heavy armor, they can’t creep all that well.
At any rate, creeping as best they can under the circumstances, they find themselves in a large natural cavern. Ahead of them, carved into the solid rock, is an ancient temple. Steps lead up to an entranceway that is also carved in the shape of an open-mouthed snake, only much larger. The party goes cautiously into the temple, their eyes peeled. They pass through a huge hall flanked with spiraling columns (also carved like snakes. There seems to be a snake motif here.), into a circular chamber with a deep, seemingly bottomless round hole in the center of it. On the far side of the chamber, matching curved ramps move up to a platform and altar that overlook the chamber, and the hall beyond. Behind the platform is a huge statue of a snake-man that stretches almost all the way to the 70 foot ceiling. This is a temple to Mershullk, the evil snake-god of the Yuan-ti. As they turn to leave, a dry, raspy voice calls to them and asks them why they have intruded on the domain of the Yuan-ti.
A figure, colored to perfectly blend in with the marbled patterns of the walls, glides forward and rests his clawed hands on the altar above them. The party honestly responds that they just want the bag the gnolls stole, and that’s all. Although they can’t see any other creatures in the chamber, the flesh on everyone’s neck seems to be trying to crawl around to the other side of their bodies. No one doubts that they’re being watched by multiple malevolent eyes.
Suddenly Althea takes out her lute and begins strumming a strange but low, hypnotic tune. It seems to fascinate the creature above them. In a lilted voice that blends with her music, Althea tells the creature that it would be best if the noble and powerful Yuan-ti gave them the bag so it’s contents would trouble them no more, and then she and her friends could return to the surface, and it would work out well for everyone.
Amazingly, the creature agrees, and hisses some words that no one in the party understands. Moments later, two creatures with the bodies of men but the heads of snakes bring two nearly identical bags. Bartleby nudges Althea, and the party takes the bag that Bartleby identified. They slowly and carefully back away, bowing low to the creature behind the altar, who still is swaying his head in time to Althea’s hypnotic tune.
One they are out of earshot, they realize they have about a minute before the effects of Althea’s music wear off and all hell breaks loose. They bolt back through the cavern and haul ass across the river on the raft, slicing the guiding ropes when they reach the other side. Freed from it’s anchoring ropes, the raft quickly disappears into the darkness down the underground river. Then the party runs on. Fortunately Rowan’s Ranger senses are working overtime, and they navigate back through the labyrinthine tunnels quickly, only getting turned around once. Even so, they can head sounds of pursuit as they reach the chasm. Racing across, they pause long enough to heave the bridge into the chasm, and dash back up into the sewers.
They have just enough time to make it to the warehouse district before 4:00, so the party moves through the city at a jog, their odor helping to clear a path for them in places. They arrive at the shop before Brovann, and stall for time by pestering Grulluth, the tiefling who runs it. Finally Brovann appears, ducking his massive head under the doorframe, and the party heads out of the shop. Caspian turns invisible and tries to sneak back in, but something in the doorway negates his invisibility, and he sheepishly heads back outside. Outside the shop, the party makes some small talk with the five guards that accompanied Brovann. Inside, the conversation grows a bit louder in volume, making it easier on the party to eavesdrop.
Grulluth makes a few barbed comments about Brovann’s past, and Brovann tells him that he can do things here, or down at the station. The tiefling sighs heavily, then says, “All right, you win. Let me just close up here and I’ll come with you.”
Althea, curious, casts detect thoughts on Grulluth as Brovann turns to leave with a grunt. Althea gasps at the thoughts flitting across the surface of the tiefling’s mind. She shouts a warning to Brovann, but she’s a second too late, and Brovann is a second too slow at figuring out where the danger is coming from.
Grulluth’s spell hits Brovann square in the face, and the Minotaur doubles over, braying in agony as his flesh erupts in blisters and boils, and his eyes go red and begin to drip blood. He lays in the doorway, partially blocking it, spasming uncontrollably with pain.
Aiden shoots an acid arrow into Grulluth, who howls in pain himself. Pulling a scroll out of his cloak, he reads a spell that seems to fill the air with power. There is a muffled bang, and three towering creatures appear in the alley outside the store. They have faces like toads, but stand erect on two legs, and are over ten feet tall. Their arms are massive and hang almost to the creatures’ knees. At the end of each forearm, two massive bone claws stick out from their arms. Instead of attacking at first, they surprise the adventurers by casting spells! One of them tries to freeze Caspian, but he shrugs off the spell’s effect. Rowan is not so lucky, and is held helpless in place. The third slams his hand onto the ground, and a wave of chaotic energy surges out from him. Three of the guards are knocked off their feet and very nearly killed outright, and several of the party take damage as well. Rowan shakes off the effect of the paralysis and heads into the shop to aid Aiden in restraining the tiefling, who is trying to escape. Lumi casts hold person on Grullth, freezing him in place before he can flee. Aiden, not knowing how long Grulluth can be held, calls for back-up, trying to knock the tiefling out without killing him. Rowan comes to his aid; she slaps Grulluth across the temple with the flat of her longsword, knocking him unconscious. Nialia has backed into the shop and is singing her haunting melody, which throws off the hulking brutes by enough of a margin that Caspian, Lumi and Rowan (who ran back outside after dealing with the tiefling) can evade many of the blows that would otherwise have really, really hurt. The two guards who survived the creatures’ initial attack are not so lucky. Claws rip apart one guard, then cuts another one nearly in half. It takes a while, but finally the party manages to bring down first one, then another, and finally the last one succumbs to it’s multiple wounds and pops back out of existence.
They help Brovann to his feet while Lumi franticly stabilizes the three guards who hadn’t been ripped open. She manages to save them, much to the appreciation of a badly shaken Brovann. Unfortunately, even though they paralyzed Grulluth without killing him, there was still an acid arrow in his side, dissolving his insides. He is quite dead when they finally try to bring him around.
For any other group, this would be a serious impediment to the interrogation process, but not to Lumienne “The Corpse Whisperer” Tilok! The gnome cleric sighs as she casts speak with dead for the third time in a day. While the corpse of Grulluth doesn’t know where Colwyn Daystar is, or who the leader of the Jeredrakes is, or if they work for the Vaniri (the corpse answers that they work for whoever pays them), they do learn that the Jeredrakes can be found in the brown house by the centaur fountain in the old town area.
The party notifies the nearest watch house to send aid to Brovann, who remains behind at Grulluth’s store. Then they report to the office of the High Sherrif of Fallo as Brovann asked them to. The High Sheriff is a kind but stern man, as focused as he is charismatic. He has the party dictate their findings under the city to several clerks.
Finally, as the sun sets, the weary party heads to their hotel and eats a hearty dinner. Going up to Rowan’s room, they finally have a chance to pull out Colwyn’s bag they got from the Yuan-ti! In it is a large sum of money and jewels, and a ring of sustenance. However, there is a second ring that Bartleby squeaks in delight to see.
It turns out the ring is actually a ring gate. When the command word is spoken, the ring enlarges to a diameter of about 18 inches. The other ring is set in a storeroom of Colwyn’s which he magically hid somewhere. With baited breath the party sends Bartelby through to see what’s in the storeroom. He tosses out some clothes, a few trinkets, but that’s it. He pokes his head back through the hole and speaks to everyone.
“Sorry, guys, but there’s nothing else in there.”
Everyone’s face falls. Back to square one…
“Except these torn pages!” yells the Pseudodragon’s voice in their heads. He pops all the way out of the ring gate, holding the missing pages in his claws and grinning like only a dragon can. The pages are all there. Finally, their job is done!
There’s a knock at the door. The party has a message that was delivered to them. Curious and wary, Rowan opens the note and reads it. The note says that the author of the note has a certain priestess in his possession, and wishes to make an exchange: the book for the priestess. If the party agrees, they are to hang a lantern outside the window of any one of their rooms, and more instructions will follow.
The note is simply signed “J”, and underneath is the all-too familiar seal of the Jeredrakes…

Session 05: Familiar Frustrations

Game Date: July 19, 2008
In-Game Date: Mansday, Grimander 10 – Wainsday, Grimander 12, mid-morning.

Following the impromptu interrogation, the party sends a nearby street urchin to fetch the watch. Meanwhile, Aiden opens the bag of holding and tries to stuff the painting inside. As he brings the painting close to the opening of the bag, the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he feels a sense of eldritch unease come over him. Suddenly the strings of Althea's lute sing out of their own accord. Althea gasps in shock and horror: when a bard's instrument plays of its own accord it is always a portent of the most dire proportions.

Aiden freezes, and takes the painting away from the bag. The sense of unease fades. Althea's lute remains silent now. Unsure of what is going on, the party decides not to put the painting in the bag. Aiden almost remembers something about things that really shouldn’t be put into a bag of holding, but can’t quite place the memory, as he thinks he might have slept through that lecture.

The Watch arrives, and they escort the party, along with the surviving Jeredrake, to the nearest watch house. Brovann meets them there, and tells them that he’ll let them know if he learns anything fro interrogating the subject.

The party has little time to solve the mystery presented by the painting, as they have a dinner with the Baroness Tarmikos and her consort to attend. However, when they arrive they are informed that the Baroness has been regrettably called away, and will be unable to dine together. The butler does not ( or cannot) say where the Baroness has gone. Puzzled and slightly suspicious, the party heads back to the Silverthorne Inn and eats a dinner of much more meager fare than they were expecting.

Gathering in Rowan’s room, they attempt to unravel the mystery of the painting. Lumi says something that causes Aiden to remember the factoid he was trying to come up with earlier. Portable holes can’t be placed within bags of holding, or vice versa, or else one gets rips in the fabric of space that tend to severely inconvenience anyone who happens to be nearby, usually by pulling their bodies through a hole the size of a grapefruit.

A closer examination of the painting reveals that the fabric on the back side of the painting is of a different material than the canvas on which the portrait is painted. Aiden breaks the painting apart, revealing a folded square of a heavy material. Everyone gathers around as Aiden unfolds it, revealing a strange glyph that has been inscribed on the fabric. With the suddenness of thought, there is a white flash. Rowan sees stars for a few seconds, and when they clear, her companions are all lying flat on the floor, having fallen where they stood when the flash went off.

A quick and panicked check reveals that they are all breathing, but try as she might, she can't rouse them. The glyph is still glowing slightly. Rowan grabs the cloth and begins to unfold it. A wind begins to blow around the room, blowing out two candles and causing the lamps to flicker. The wind continues to increase in strength, so Rowan closes the fabric up once more, and the wind dies off. Confused, she takes the fabric, leaves the inn and heads for the Royal Church at a dead run. There she requests an audience with the High Priestess. Daratris greets Rowan warmly, but with concern in her expression. Rowan, trying to make herself and her companions not seem like complete idiots, explains the situation. Daratris tells Rowan that the effect was most likely that of a symbol of sleep, and the effects normally wear off in a matter of minutes, half an hour at most. Rowan, realizing her friends have probably awoken by now and are freaking out because she has vanished along with the portable hole, heads back to the inn as quickly as she can.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party has awoken and is freaking out because Rowan has vanished along with the portable hole. After a minute the party realizes what probably happened, and so they settle down to wait until Rowan shows back up a few minutes later.

Seeing that no lasting ill effects have been suffered (aside from Lumi being wet from when Rowan threw water on her to wake her up), they try reopening the portable hole again. The glyph, its power now gone, has crumbled into powder that is easily dusted off the fabric. As they open up the hole and lay it flat on the floor of Rowan's room, the wind picks uponce more, whipping around their clothes and hair. Aiden reaches into the hole, and feels something try to grab at him! He stumbles back with a cry. Nothing can be seen, the hole remains a circle of inky blackness. Caspian tries reaching in, and is grabbed, but he pulls free. Curious and determined, he tries again, but this time Rowan, Lumi and Aiden hold onto him. Caspian grabs the thing in the hole and they pull upwards.

Out of the hole shoots a humanoid figure. Except for a pair of glowing pale eyes, the thing is translucent, seemingly composed of rushing winds. It looks at them without making a sound for a moment. But when Caspian draws his sword the thing attacks. As soon as the party engages the creature, a second one pops out of the hole and joins its companion in the fray.

The creatures may look made of air, but the blows from their fists land like sledgehammers. Althea gets cornered by one of them and takes a double-fisted blow that snaps ribs and punctures a lung. She activates her invisibility cape and tumbles to the side out of harm's way. The creatures are tall but wickedly fast, dodging both spells and blows with equal ease. Rowan and Caspian quickly find that even their best blows seem to do little damage. But the creatures are not invulnerable. Althea recovers enough to begin singing her haunting melody. The elementals are indeed affected by her song, and the air elementals begin to miss with their oversized fists more often. Lumi, having healed Rowan from some hard blows, turns and attacks as well. Eventually, Rowan’s frost blade, Caspian’s sword-delivered spells and Aiden’s fire magic take their toll, and the creatures dissipate back into the air from which they were summoned.

Panting and bruised, the party once more investigates the portable hole. Poking their heads in side and casting a few light spells, they see a bare hole, perhaps ten feet deep and some six feet in diameter. At the bottom of the hole is a book, and nothing else.

Retrieving the book, they find it in good shape. Bound in leather and metal and perhaps 200 pages thick, it appears written in a language that none of them can read. The handwriting is so precise and regular, had the printing press existed, they would have sworn it was typeset, not written by hand. The book is not magical, as Caspian discovers with a spell. Lumi casts comprehend languages to let them understand the writing; she finds that the cover of the book reads simply, “The Book of the Artificer”

Although the spell allows them to understand the language the book is written in, gibberish is still gibberish. Not exactly gibberish, but the words are highly technical, and make little to no sense to the reader. There are also many complicated and heavily labeled diagrams interspersed throughout the book. They seem to depict the construction of armor, but the level of intricacy rivals, if not exceeds, what the best gnomish engineers can perform. In the middle of the book, where the diagrams are heaviest, some 30 pages have been torn from the book. There’s no way to tell if the pages were missing before Colwyn found it, or afterwards. It’s possible even that the Jeredrakes have the missing pages, and they had come back for the book once they learned where it was.

Lastly, there is a paragraph at the end of the book that is written in plain language. It translates as: “This is the complete knowledge of the Artificer. Use the knowledge herein wisely, and with all due reverence for the forces with which you work. Once more we have taken fire from the gods and used it to warm ourselves. Be careful the fire does not burn out of control. I implore the reader one last time to be judicious in taking the gift that should be the gods’ alone.

“Signed; Caduceus, the last Artificer.”

Confused and disheartened, the party heads to bed.

In the morning the party sells some of the loot they’ve accrued, and buys some needed adventuring gear with the proceeds. They run into trouble when they try to sell Lanarg’s magic breastplate when the shopkeeper, having used a wand of analyze dweomer, realizes that the item is evil, and will curse any good person that attempts to wear it. The shopkeeper tells them that the sale or purchase of magical items of an evil nature is strictly forbidden and the punishments are severe.

The proprietor’s only reluctant suggestion is that the thieves guild might be interested in buying it. Rowan, Lumi and Althea take the breastplate in hopes of selling it to some thieves with less scruples about evil items. Caspian and Aiden continue shopping alone. Caspian has some specific things on his list that prove difficult to come by. The two eventually wind up in a strange cluttered shop run by a small, exceedingly strange hooded old woman who calls herself Tenoctris. She is able to find the boots that Caspian wanted, though she doesn’t have the energy crystal he was seeking. Tenoctris suggests that they try finding the black market. The guys there can usually obtain hard-to-find items, for a fee. It also, she says, might take some time.

Meanwhile, Rowan, Lumi and Althea head back to the tavern that Colwyn’s elf-ladyfriend worked at. They ask as politely and subtly as possible if Colwyn ever gave her pages from the book. She relies with a confused negative. Scratch that possibility.

At the thieves guild, the three ladies make a spectacularly mediocre impression with the guards at the door. Finally in exasperation, the door guard gives them directions to a out-of-the way arms dealer in the warehouse district by the docks, and gives the a passphrase to use so he knows they’ve been sent by the guild.

The girls make their way into the seedier part of the city, eventually finding a small shop nestled into the back of a warehouse. The owner of the shop is gruff and hostile, even after the correct pass-phrase has been given. He offers Rowan a ridiculously low price for the item, trying to convince her that no one else will buy it, so she can either sell it for less than she hoped, or not sell it at all. Underneath all his bluster and rudeness, he seems afraid of both the Jeredrakes and the city watch. After some haggling, Rowan and the other two leave. They’ve only gone a short way when they are accosted by two cloaked figures, a human female and male halfling, by their look. These two direct the ladies to a stairwell leading down to a dingy basement door. Not without some trepidation, the three descend and pass through the door. They enter a mostly bare room, with a desk with a lamp on it providing the room’s only illumination. The only other exit from the room is a door opposite the one they entered. It opens, and a massive figure comes out, ducking to get under the doorframe. He introduces himself as Otter. By all appearances, he’s a bugbear. Rowan surreptitiously activates her headband’s true seeing ability. Otter is exactly what he appears to be, but in Rowan’s eyes, the walls disappear, and instead she sees shelves and shelves of random items of all kinds (think Wall-E’s collection). The shelves stretch off into the gloom beyond the range of her vision. Rowan realizes that they have probably found the black market in Fallo. Otter is a friendly sort, and deals honestly with them, and is the first person to give them a remotely fair deal on the breastplate. He also gives them a deal on a new and slightly better bag of holding.

On the way back from the black market, the hairs on the back of Rowan’s head prick up. She gets a strange but undeniable feeling: someone is watching her. She turns, but sees no one unusual. The feeling persists most of the way back to the inn. She tells the others about it, but none of them can spot anything out of the ordinary.

Everyone gathers back at the inn, and in a few hours it’s time for the banquet in their honor. A carriage delivers them to the palace, and they are shown through lavishly appointed halls into the banquet hall. A courtier announces each of them in turn, with their full names and titles. Only Rowan gets a reaction from those assembled when the announcer calls out “Rowan Liadon, daughter of Laren Liadon!” The Blood Eagles nearest the door clash their hobnailed boots together as they snap to attention and salute her as she passes by.

They are seated just below the royal family and the High Priestess and her daughter. After a few moments, everyone rises for the royal family. The king, as expected, is incredibly charismatic, and is far more handsome than his portraits around the city indicate. The dinner goes smoothly, King Lucan asks the party of their adventures. He knows Aiden’s father from long ago, and also surprises Lumi by knowing Father Tilok! He tells Rowan that her father was in the city briefly less than a week ago, but couldn’t stay long. For a brief moment the King’s smile falters, as if remembering something unpleasant. But the look is gone as quickly as it came, and the king moves smoothly on to another topic.

Before the meal is served, the High Priestess stands, and with a nod from the King, presents each of the party with a silver medallion, The Silver Star of Fall. The palm-sized medal is in the shape of a seven-pointed star, one side for each of the grand dukes. In the center of the star is a stylized eagle in front of crown. She pins the medal upon the breast of each adventurer and kisses them on both cheeks. When she finishes, the king stands and applauds them, and the rest of those assembled quickly jump to their feet and follow their king’s lead. Sitting back down, the king calls for the feast to begin.

There is a small murmur of surprise from the table as Althea stands up a while later and takes her place on the small stage for the performers. Adjusting a tuning peg (all musicians everywhere are required by the laws of the universe to do this), she sits on an intricately carved stool and begins to play. She sings an older but still well-known ballad. She plays the first verse and chorus as an instrumental, then begins to hum along with the second verse. By the third, she sings the notes wordlessly, and on the fourth verse, she begins to sing the words. By this point her fingers are dancing across the strings, pulling a complicated but achingly beautiful harmony to her singing. Althea lets each note she sings hover in the air without any embellishments, using simplicity to enhance the natural beauty of her voice. One by one, the conversations about the table die off as they are drawn in by her singing.

When at last she finishes, she simply stands and bows to her stunned audience, then returns to her seat. The queen smiles, complimenting her on her performance, then asks without preamble if it was her mother or her grandmother who had the celestial blood. Althea smiles and replies that it was indeed her grandmother who was a celestial. Since the beginning of Althea’s song, Anadan, the crown prince, has been unable to take his eyes from Althea. Those with an eye to see also notice that Kitala has eyes for Aiden, though she quickly looks away when he glances towards her, and only stares at her plate when he talks to her. The younger of the two princes, Aellan has noticed this, and looks at Aiden with a cold jealousy.

After a while the king and queen stand and excuse themselves. By custom, the meal is over when the king leaves, but by unofficial custom, there is usually a much less formal gathering with food and drink in a nearby hall where courtiers can continue eating and drinking. Tonight is no exception, and the party heads into a smaller but still richly appointed chamber. A buffet of food is spread against one wall and servants bustle about fetching drinks. Aiden strolls up to Kitala, who is listening to Prince Aellan. Aellan turns and while paying polite homage to one of the honored guests of the hour, he makes his disdain clear. The two young men trade thinly veiled barbs at each other until Kitala, looking like a mouse trapped by a snake, bolts across the room to the relative safety of her mother’s side.

Aellan looks at Aiden angrily for a moment, then sighs heavily. “You know she’s betrothed, right?” he asks, then walks away without waiting for a response. Prince Anadan, meanwhile, is talking to Althea about the possibility of seeing her again before she leaves the city, perhaps for a noonday meal. Althea replies that she’d be honored. Rowan is introduced to Lord Attaper, the commander of the Blood Eagles, and the king’s principal bodyguard. He tells Rowan that he is honored to meet the daughter of Laren Liadon, and if there is ever anything she needs, she has only to ask the Blood Eagles, and they will do it if it lies within their power to do. And the Blood Eagles are fairly powerful.

A little before midnight, the adventurers leave the palace grounds, on foot this time. They head back to the inn and change clothes, then head for the graveyard to discover if the corpse of Colwyn Daystar actually resides there. The graveyard lies outside the city walls, but only a quarter-mile away. A single small cottage stands against the outer fence around the graveyard. A light from within the house leads the party to believe that there is still someone awake within. While Aiden and Caspian stand guard, Rowan, Lumi and Althea sneak in, split up, and begin searching the cemetery. They find a large plot of ground towards the north end of the graveyard where rows of unmarked graves have been made. Seeing as how it’s likely that this is where executed criminals are buried, they realize they have precious little chance of finding Daystar’s body without assistance from the grave-keeper. Then they discover that the graveyard, while not guarded by killer statues at night, is guarded by large, mean-looking dogs. Growling the dogs advance towards the three women. Rowan steps forward and calms the animals with the ease of a professional animal handler. The dogs take to the half-elf even more when she tosses them some jerky from her pack.

Unfortunately the dogs take to her a little too much, and when she goes to leave, they bark at her in disappointment. This draws some shouting from the cottage, and the girls bolt back over the cemetery gate and into the safety of the shadows. The party decides to try and obtain some manner of warrant from the city watch to search the graveyard in the morning.

Again discouraged, the party trudges back to the inn. Once more Rowan gets the sensation that she’s being watched. Even with the rest of the party helping her look around the well-lit streets, they can see no one around. After a few more blocks Rowan sees a furtive figure behind them slip into a dark alley. She follows and corners the figure, only to find it’s a poor beggar man who just happened to be skulking in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sighing, Rowan and the others head back to the inn. The word “Jeredrakes” is on everyone’s mind, though no one says anything until they reach the inn. Once there, they all gather in Rowan’s large suite. Aiden magically booby-traps the door and windows against intrusion; anyone trying to surprise them in the night will get a fiery surprise of their own. Even though they’re all on edge now, the adventurers drop off to sleep one by one.

Althea dreams of a cat she had when she was young. It always curled up on her chest when she would lay down, and nuzzle her head against Althea’s chin. Althea awakes with the first light of dawn to find something actually is sitting on her chest! Though it is cat-sized, the thing is no cat. It looks for all the world like a miniature red dragon with an impressive stinger on the end of it’s scaly tail. It’s eyes are closed as it rubs against Althea’s chin, and it rumbles softly to itself as if purring.

Althea wakes Caspian next to her with a quiet but frantic whisper. Caspian wakes Aiden up, who blearily looks at Althea, mutters, “Oh, for gods sake, it’s just a pesudodragon. Go back to sleep.” Then Aiden rolls over and begins snoring.

In short order everyone is woken up. Althea slowly sits up, and the pseudodragon, with a look of disdain on its face, clambers off her and sits on the bed, staring at them. Aiden, finally awake, asks it a question in draconic, which the creature seems not to understand. Rowan finally casts speak with animals and has a brief but enlightening conversation with the thing. Firstly, this creature is called Bartleby, and is the magical familiar of Colwyn Daystar. This confirms that Colwyn is alive, since a familiar whose wizard dies returns to the wild. They learn that it has been following them ever since they took the portable hole in the painting the day before yesterday. While Bartleby doesn’t know where the missing pages are, he does know that his master ripped them out to begin with. The pseudodragon also doesn’t know where Colwyn is now. But the pseudodragon agrees to remain with the party for the time being; he seems to have taken quite a liking to Althea.

Even though they have proof that Colwyn is alive, the party believes there may be useful information to be had from questioning the corpse that was buried in the belief that it was Colwyn. They head to the central watchhouse of the city and find Brovann. They explain some of the situation to him. Brovann smacks one huge sinewy fist into a palm in grim pleasure. He tells them that the whole situation had never sat well with him, that his instincts told him that there was wrong. He happily gives them written permission to have the corpse exhumed and to perform whatever magics they saw fit to question it. The party wonders if perhaps a local witness would be a good thing to have along, such as a few guards, to verify their findings. Brovann thinks for a moment, then advises them to get a priest instead. Someone trustworthy, but who wouldn’t be as freaked out about speaking to a corpse.

So the group heads to the Royal Temple once more and takes Kitala along. She spies the pseudodragon nestled in Altheas hair and squeaks at it. Bartleby squeaks back animatedly.

“You can speak its language?” a surprised Rowan asks the priestess.

“Well, it’s not really a language, more of a pidgin form of draconic, but yes, I can talk to him.”

Pleased, the party carries on to the graveyard. The gravekeeper, a hunched older man named Earnst, quickly locates the corpse they want.

They unravel some of the wrappings on the corpse’s shroud to find several things. First, the hair on the corpse has been dyed, probably less than a day before his death, to be the same color as Colwyns. It looks like the skin was rubbed with pigment to darken it as well. Lastly, the corpses arm bears a tattoo of a serpent devouring itself, the mark of the Mages of the White Hand. Colwyn had such a tattoo, Bartleby tells them.

They question the corpse. It doesn’t know much, but it tells of being kidnapped, drugged, and disguised to look like Colwyn by men matching the description of the Jeredrakes’ uniform. They were the ones who gave him the tattoo, then used magic to heal the skin around it. He was taken by men who wore the uniform of prison guards into a prison, where they left him in a cell and took a man who looked like him away. Then someone forced his jaws shut while someone else held out his tongue. After a few attempts, the corpse says, his tongue was bitten through, and the last thing it remembers is blood pouring all down his chest.

The corpse lapses back into stillness. The gravekeeper wants to bury the elf’s body, but Kitala steps in. Looking and sounding every inch a noble, she orders the grave-keeper to go fetch pallbearers and a coffin to place this man’s remains in, and have them taken to the royal temple, where they will be interred with dignity and ceremony, so perhaps the poor victim’s spirit may have some peace. As Earnst shuffles off to do her bidding, she blushes and looks down at the ground, mumbling to the adventurers that it just didn’t seem right for an innocent man to have to lie for eternity in a criminal’s grave.

The group makes to leave the cemetery. Aiden remarks that they’ll escort Kitala back to the protection of the temple and then decide what to do next. At this, Kitala’s eyes narrow into gold-flecked slits. She steps towards Aiden and with a speed impressive even to a group of veteran adventurers, pulls Aiden’s sword from its sheath and brings the point within an inch of his eye. Everyone freezes, not knowing quite what the hell just happened. Kitala hands the sword back to Aiden, and with tears forming at the corners of her eyes, she says “I’m not fragile, you know. I am capable of taking care of myself.”

Aiden replies that in light of the attacks by the Jeredrakes, he doubts the truth of her statement.

She angrily replies that she’s not saying that she can take on an evil group of assassins or whatever by herself, she just doesn’t want Aiden to treat her like some fragile hothouse flower of some noble house.

With that she turns and heads towards the cemetery gates, her head bowed and her arms folded tightly across her chest.

Session 4: Gather Information

Game Date: Jun 14, 2008
In-Game Date: Mansday, Grimander 10

After breakfast the next morning, the party heads into the center of the city to the Royal Temple for their reward from DuVrok. A priest shows them to the chambers of the high priestess, the Marchioness Dalatris Silvenrede. With her is DuVrok, who presents them with a tidy sum of gold. Dalatris kisses them all, telling them that they have her undying gratitude for saving her daughter. Furthermore, the royal family itself wishes to thank the adventurers as well, and a banquet is being given in their honor tomorrow night.

DuVrok and Kitala show the party around the temple, explaining that the Royal Church was created as a religious institution that favored no one deity over another, but merely venerated good in and of itself. Outwardly this was done to eliminate religious tension within the kingdom, but also served to weaken the royal power base, as the King would no longer have any paladins or other holy warriors to command.

After the tour, the party heads to the nearest station of the City Watch on the advice of DuVrok. The desk sergeant there doesn’t know Colwyn Daystar by name, but it does sound familiar to him. He tells the party that he will look through the missing persons lists from a month and a half ago and let the party know if they find anything.

Disgruntled, the party visits the Adventuring Guild next, where they hope to find a possible lead on Colwyn Daystar. Aiden and Caspian are interested in joining after hearing the pitch given by one of the Guild overseers, a one-handed half-orc bard named Karak (mostly due to the discounts at certain establishments that sell magical arms and armor). Karak asks the two to return later in the day for some evaluation exercises. Unfortunately, Karak has neither heard of Colwyn Daystar, nor does the guild have anyone by that name on their rolls.

Their next stop is the Sleeping Dragon Arms and Armor, a locally famous seller and trader of magical items. Rowan bristles at the store’s policy that no items with offensive capabilities are allowed in the store itself, and remains in the anteroom with Althea and the party’s gear while Caspian, Aiden and Lumi head inside.

After selling their spoils for a tidy sum of gold, the party takes a working lunch in the Elven quarter of the city. After getting their food, Rowan approaches the bartender and asks about Colwyn Daystar.

“Sure I’ve heard of him,” says the bartender. “Anytime an elf is arrested for a capital crime, it’s bad news for all of us with Elven blood in the city.”

Rowan asks for further details. The bartender tells her that an elf male named Colwyn Daystar was arrested for the murder of a minor nobleman. If convicted, he would be executed, but the bartender hasn't heard much of anything since.

Rowan returns to the table and informs the rest of the group what she's just learned. The group decides to split up and dig for more information. Althea heads to the Performer's Guild, Caspian and Aiden want to return to the Adventurer's Guild, leaving Rowan and Lumi to explore on their own.

Aiden and Caspian are walking past a tavern when they hear a scream and a crash. A man tumbles out of the doorway, blood streaming from his shattered nose. He crashes into Aiden and grabs hold of him. Looking at the two, he pulls out a sizeable money purse and tells then that it's theirs if they protect him.

When Aiden and Caspian ask who he needs protecting from, a low, rumbling voice comes from the dark awning of the tavern. “From me.”

Out steps a minotaur clad in chain mail. He demands the two soldiers step back from the bleeding man. Things get tense for a moment, but Caspian and Aiden are told that the minotaur is actually the Captain of the City watch, and the bleeding man is wanted for murdering children. Aiden keeps the man from escaping as he tries to shove past the warlock, and the minotaur “subdues” his quarry by slamming the man into the tavern wall with one hand. Aiden asks the minotaur, Brovann, about Colwyn Daystar. Brovann remembers the arrest, there was no direct evidence linking Colwyn to the crime, but there was a significant amount of circumstantial evidence. The butler of the nobleman heard Colwyn and the noble arguing bitterly and loudly. Colwyn left in a rage, and then the butler found his master dead, having been stabbed in the chest an hour later. A tip from an unnamed citizen led the watch to Colwyn's apartment, where they found him packing as if to leave. They found a knife that matched up with the wounds from the noble's body in his apartment, and arrested him. Three days later, the jail wardens came to Colwyn's cell to find him dead, having bitten through his tongue and bled to death. It was assumed that committing suicide was an admission of guilt, albeit of an extreme sort. Brovann is very helpful, even giving the two the address of the apartment Colwyn was living in when he was arrested.

Disheartened, Aiden and Caspian continue to the Adventurer's Guild. Karak puts the two through a battery of tests and challenges, assessing their power levels and abilities. He seems fairly impressed by their prowess. After paying the entry fee, the two are indicted into the guild.

Althea arrives at the performer's guild, where they have not heard of Colwn Daystar either. Althea presents her letter of recommendation from Bruge, and it granted honerary guild member status for a period of one month, or for the duration of her stay in the city, whichever is shorter. She attends a master class, and signs up to be part of the entertainment at the banquet being held by the High Priestess.

Rowan and Lumi meander through the city. They visit another elven establishment, and find a woman who claims she was romantically involved with Colwyn. She was crushed to find of his arrest, and insists that Colwyn couldn't have murdered anyone. He was seeking to purchase a rare book from the private collection of the nobleman he was accused of murdering. They are accosted by a fortune teller, an older human gypsy. She and her clan were driven out of the Vaniri Empire and have made their home here. She reads the two women's palms, and gives frighteningly accurate readings of their pasts. For their futures, she reads a deck of intricate cards. She tells them that the man they seek is to the South. She also tells them that their employer is more than she appears to be. Lastly, she says the cards tell her that their actions and this mission may plunge the nations into war.

The party regroups at the inn and shares what they've learned. They decide to check out the apartment before it gets any later in the day, figuring they have time to give the place a quick once over before heading to the dinner at The Baroness Tarmikos' manor.

At the apartments, they gain access to the apartment from the landlord by claiming to be interested in the property. Rowan uses her magic goggles to try and detect any hidden doors, while Lumi and Althea try and detect magic.

On the top floor, where the master bedroom is, they find a faint magical aura coming from a plain old painting of the King. They ask the confused landlord if they can buy the painting from him. (Confusing since almost every dwelling in the city has a cheap painting or woodcut like this one in the bedroom. It used to be a law to have one, but now it's just a tradition.)

The landlord goes downstairs as the party “talks about the property among themselves” (I.e., tries to figure out what the hell is up with the painting).

There is a yell from downstairs. Rushing to the stairwell, the party meets Lanarg and several more of his evil rangers. Lanarg seems desperate to get the painting, and charges recklessly up the stairs at the party. He deals a few solid blows, mostly to Caspian, but Caspian finally stabs Lanarg through the heart. The other two rangers are taken alive, but unconscious.

The party interrogates first one ranger, then the other. They finally cast zone of truth on the ranger, and trick him into revealing at least the name of his society: the Jeredrakes. He hints about a powerful “Master” that will kill him for his failure, but will kill the party for their interference. He also lets slip that the Jeredrakes were the ones who framed Colwyn for the murder of the noble. Finally, the ranger refuses to say anything more, and Aiden knocks him senseless again.

Now at least the party can put a name to their foes, but the mystery of the painting and why the Jeredrakes want it so badly remains...

Session Three: "The Roadblock"

Game Date: May 31, 2008
In-Game Dates: Mansday, Grimander 3rd - Sunday, Grimander 9th, night

Following the tracks back along the broad road to the town of Night Falls, no one in the party is really all that surprised when the tracks lead to a shed behind the mansion of the Funerary Guild. A peek into the shed reveals nothing out of the ordinary, just gardening supplies and a floor full of footprints that match those of the recently un-functioning flesh golem.
The group proceeds around to the front of the mansion and knocks on the door. A manservant answers and ushers them in while he fetches Elder Harken. Harken betrays no surprise at seeing the adventurers, and doesn't even bat an eye when Aiden makes the offhand comment: "Yeah, two of us almost died in that battle with the wraith." Althea, as subtly as possible, casts detect thoughts on Harken while she's relating the details of their discoveries of someone's involvement in attempting to set the wraith free. She gets the mental image of Harken painstakingly breaking up the stones on the floor under the whispered bidding of Arathex's wraith. She makes a magical whisper to the rest of the party informing them of Harken's culpability.
After their tale is done, Harken bids them get some rest at their inn; he offers to carry the good news of their victory to the waiting council members. The suspicious party declines, graciously offering to deliver the good news themselves. Harken is stuck. Daring not to protest too strongly, he leads them from the funerary mansion down the streets to the town hall.
A crowd of citizens has gathered around the council hall. While not quite an angry mob, it's obvious from the noise that emotions are tense as dawn approaches in the East. As the crowd spots the adventurers with Elder Harken, a hush falls over them. Althea and Rowan smile and wave at the crowd, giving them the thumbs-up. A cheer goes up as Harken leads them inside.
The seven other council elders of Night Falls sit around a long wooden table. Chief Elder Genning smiles as the adventurers as they enter. "I take it from the noise outside that you were successful?"
The party assures them that the wraith will not trouble anyone ever again. They tell their story to the council, but this time they mention the note they found, and make their suspicions plain (though Althea does not tell the council of the thoughts she saw in Harken's mind. She hands the scrap of parchment to Genning, who reads it and passes it down the table to each of the elders in turn.
Turning his eyes upon a trembling Harken, Genning asks, "What have you to say for yourself, Elder Harkin?"
Harkin breaks down sobbing, telling them that the wraith forced him to help free the angry spirit by afflicting his daughter with a mysterious illness and threatening to kill his entire family if Harken did not cooperate. Several of the council elders seem swayed by the tearful apology and story, but the party and Genning seem largely unmoved.
"Do you know," speaks Genning after Harken lapses into silence, "what the crowd outside would do to you if they were told you hade placed all their families in such dire peril?" Harken goes pale. "However," continues Genning, "I can also vividly imagine what would happen to the economy of this town if the head of the Funerary Guild was outed as the basest of villains. A decline in the funeral trade could ruin us. Justice will be done, and you, Elder Harken, will pay for your crimes. But in this case, justice must be tempered with prudence."
Genning turns to the party with a grave look on his face. "You have performed far above our hopes and expectations. Yet one more thing will I now ask of you all: will you swear not to tell others of the involvement of Elder Harken in this... madness without the approval of the town council?"
The party agrees, aided in part by the promise of double the original payment for the task. Everyone wearily trudges back to the inn, except for Lumi. Elder Olaf rises from his chair; he is the head of the temple of Pelor in the town. He takes the gnome to the temple, where he casts restoration on her from a scroll. Her complexion returns to normal, and she feels strength flow back into her bones and muscles. She breathes a deep sigh of relief, then staggers as she realizes how tired she really is. Olaf helps her back to the inn, and the party falls in to a deep, restful slumber.
Rising around noon, the party heads downstairs and is greeted with a victory feast. Genning approaches them with their payment and the thanks of the town. When the party asks about the "resolution" of things, Genning, with a glance at all the celebrating citizens around him, merely states that there will be a permanent restructuring in the leadership of the funerary guild. "We obviously need someone better suited to the task of maintaining the graveyard," he says, "someone who will not fail in the execution of his duties."
More loudly he states that this ordeal has taken a great toll on the mind of poor Elder Harken, and the man has suffered a collapse. He is being tended to, but unfortunately, Elder Olaf says that Harken may not be long for this world. Truly, this casts a dark shadow over what should be a great day for the town. And with that, he leaves the party to their feasting.
The party makes it out of town in the early afternoon and heads south, following the well-maintained road towards the royal city of Fallo.
The next day on the road, the skies turn leaden and a thin, cold rain begins to fall. As the day goes on, the wind picks up along with the rain, driving cold water straight into the faces of the party and their mounts. Everyone is cold and miserable. They pass several caravans and a column of soldiers marching eastward, but with the rain and wind, no one does more than glance at the others in passing. The day after that follows much like the same, as do the next three days beyond that. The party is not making any kind of good time along the road with the bitter wind from the South. Lumi makes frequent checks on the party and their mounts, keeping everyone healthy. At least with Aiden's skill with fire magic, the party never has trouble making a fire when they finally set up camp for the night. Still, everything gets wet and soggy, and the road turns from mud to soup under the hooves of their mounts, sucking at their feet with every step. Olly's underside is completely caked with mud. Lumi cleans him up as best she can in the evenings, and curls up next to him at night for warmth.
The next day, Sunday, dawns with the same gray skies, but no rain. The party finds themselves on the outskirts of Fallo, passing farm after farm along the road. Around mid-day the road re-enters a wood that stretches for some miles. Around a sharp bend in the road, the party finds the road blocked by the trunk of a large fallen tree. The party has passed innumerable branches of varying sizes along the road, blown down by the high winds of the past few days, so the tree is greeted by no more than a few groans of irritation.
Rowan, however, notices after a closer look that the tree hasn't been blown down; someone or several someones dropped it across the road purposefully. She alerts her comrades and scans the forest around her, alert for bandits. She thinks she sees something on one side of the road off in the trees, but isn't sure. Peering into the brush on the other side, she sees the figure of a man. He is difficult to spot at first, but it isn't as though he was actively hiding. However, once he sees Rowan spot him, he steps forward from the forest and to the side of the road.
He is human, tall and lean, with stern features and black hair. A longsword and a shortsword hang at his waist, and his hands hover near their hilts, but aren't actually touching them. He demands the party identify themselves, telling them that he is Lanarg, head of the Rangers that guard the wilderness around the royal city. It becomes quickly clear that he suspects them of downing the tree. He tells them his rangers have been scouring the nearby woods in search of bandits. The party convinces Lanarg that they are innocent travelers, and they're just trying to get to Fallo. The sound of a distant carriage approaching reaches their ears, and Lanarg heaves a sigh. He helps the party get their mounts over the fallen trunk and on their way, muttering about not knowing how he's going to get a carriage through this mess. The party re-mounts their steeds and continues down the road, quickly rounding a second bend and are out of sight of the fallen log and the surly Ranger.
Perhaps a minute goes by when they hear a shout behind them. Althea's ears pick up a few of the words, something about protecting a lady, but can't catch the name. She relays what she hears to the party. Someone suggests that there could be a little bit of money involved in aiding some noble in reaching the city safely, and the party turns around and heads back up the way they came.
Before they've gone ten yards the horrible sound of horses screaming in pain tears through the air. Alarmed, everyone spurs their mounts forward at top speed, galloping back towards the fallen tree. Over the sound of pounding hooves, they can hear another scream, this time from a human throat. The sound of metal clashing on metal reaches their ears as well as they round the bend in the road.
Just past the log, a decent sized carriage stands in the middle of the road. The driver, armed and armored, is slumped over in his seat, several feathered shafts sticking out of him. The horses drawing the carriage have collapsed to the ground and lie still. Four men in bright steel armor, some on horseback, some on foot, are fighting several rangers wielding long and short swords. As the party nears the roadblock, arrows sail out from the treeline and take down one of the armored men. Another volley kills the horse under a rider, who falls heavily to the ground. He struggles to regain his feet as more arrows fall around him.
Rowan, her eyes narrowing, casts a spell designed for passing easily through heavily forested areas. As she advances, the treeline magically moves back away from her, eventually exposing the archers who had been hiding in the trees as well as another man clad in the same garb as the rangers, but bearing no weapons. He fires of a spell that strikes the leader of the men defending the carriage. The party notices that the arrows striking the defenders begin to smoke nastily when they strike their targets. Grimly, the party scrambles over the log to the aid of the men and the carriage. Aiden fires off a few searing rays that all but incinerate the enemy mage. From within the treeline bellows the voice of Lanarg, "Kill that magic user!"
The next volley of arrows comes sailing in Aiden's direction, but the warmage activates a magical force shield that deflects almost all the projectiles coming his way. Still, one arrow gets through, penetrating his armor. Aiden gasps in pain as acid begins to dissolve both flesh and armor around the wound.
Althea goes invisible and begins singing a haunting melody, that, while chilling the flesh of her allies, completely un-nerves several of the rangers near her. They fight much less effectively while the eerie music lasts. Lumi enlarges herself to a towering six and a half feet in height, her oversized mace growing in size with her. She takes on the closest Ranger to her, absorbing quite a few blows before finally cracking the skull of her opponent. Rowan concentrates on keeping the archers exposed with the use of her spell. As Caspian rounds the trunk of the tree to take on the nearest foe, Lanarg suddenly emerges from the treeline. He fires his longbow one last time and then draws his own two weapons, a shortsword and a longsword. Caspian charges in and the two of them begin trading blows. Aiden tries to aid Caspian, firing off spell after spell at Lanarg. Lanarg proves a capable warrior, absorbing punishment that would have dropped most fighters and continues to attack Caspian savagely, his two blades hissing as they spew acid into the wounds they create. Caspian, bleeding and smoking from his wounds, activates the magic of his buckler which unleashes a storm of electricity into Lanarg. Caspian then becomes invisible, but before he can press his advantage, Lanarg goes invisible as well. Caspian yells to his allies as he sees branches in the treeline bend and snap as Lanarg's invisible form crashes through them. Rowan, seeing this, uses her headband that let's her see invisible creatures and heads in the direction Lanarg took.
Althea, in the meantime, comes to the aid of the leader of the men protecting the carriage. The hardy warrior has taken multiple arrow hits to his body and limbs, but continues to attack his assailants. Yet as Althea nears him, a black-feathered shaft finds the knight's heart, and he finally succumbs to his wounds in mid-charge. Althea, invisible herself, slices the archer across the back, becoming visible as she does so. As the ranger turns to deal with this new threat, Caspian runs the man through with his sword. Aiden spurs his mount forward after Rowan, and Rowan, still magically pushing back the forest foliage around her, swings gracefully and easily up behind the warmage.
Lumi, Caspian and Althea survey the wreckage and carnage around them. Lumi realizes that the lead knight still has the slightest bit of life in him, and bends over him, healing magic coursing through her hands into the kinght's broken body.
Caspian calls to the occupants of the carriage, telling them that everything is all right. A young woman's voice asks fearfully but authoritatively for someone named DuVroc. The knight Lumi has just healed struggles to his feet, affirming that danger seems to have passed for the moment. A second later, the carriage door opens and a girl of perhaps nineteen summers steps out, surveying the scene with wide eyes. She is honey-haired and beautiful, moving with a self-possessed grace as she steps down. Her gold-flecked eyes shine with unshed tears as she looks at the bodies of her slain protectors. Blinking hard, she introduces herself as the Marchioness Kitala Silvenrede, and her bodyguard is Sir Jallon DuVroc.
Duvroc asks the party to escort them both to the royal city, offering payment for such services. The irony that this is just what they had turned around to do before the attack is not lost on the three of them. Aiden and Rowan return having failed to find Lanarg. Rowan can track Lanarg's footsteps, but hearing that the group wants to escort DuVroc and Kitala to Fallo, she reluctantly abandons the idea of tracking the evil ranger, knowing that there's precious little chance of her taking him on alone.
DuVroc removes a curious signet ring from one of the fallen rangers. The swords of the fallen rangers all have the same emblem as well: A dragon, wings unfurled and mouth open in a roar, curled around a vertical spear. Althea wracks her brain for any tale she might have heard of such a device, but can't think of anything. All of the weapons the rangers used have the same magical property of dealing acid damage. Collecting their armor and weapons as both evidence and spoil, the party moves on with the two newcomers (as well as Kitala's lady-in-waiting, Sara). They reach Fallo without further incident. Aiden is obviously smitten by Kitala, and the young beauty casts a few hesitant but genuine smiles at him. The party learns Kitala is headed to Fallo to see her mother, Daratris Silvenrede. Althea has heard the name before but can't place it. Kitala hasn't seen her mother since she was a very little girl, and was nervous enough about coming here from her previous home in the Elven lands of the Silverleaf Foresthome. The attack has not helped calm her nerves.
At the gates of the city, DuVroc, Kitala and Sara part ways with the adventurers. DuVroc tells them to come to the great temple tomorrow and ask for him, and he will pay them, as promised. With that (and one last glance from Kitala at Aiden), the trio head off into the city. Tired and sore, the party finds a decent inn with luxurious suites to stay in. They wolf down some food while Althea plies her trade as a bard, giving a performance that would be fit for a royal hall. Everything from drinks to employment to marriage is offered the dark-haired beauty between songs. Rowan and Lumi sit and talk, listening to Althea sing while Aiden and Caspian decide to take in the sights of the city.
The two of them end up in walking through a posh neighborhood and recognize one of the names engraved above a stone archway. Kartharine had told the party before they left Brindinsford that should they need assistance, help could be found in the house of Baroness Brelowe Tarmikos. The two soldiers introduce themselves to the baroness and her consort, Sir Ian Shortcloak. The four of them have a pleasant introductory conversation over some brandy, and the two Cardinian soldiers learn several things worth filing away for future reference. One is that Sir Ian seems to know the name of the elf they seek, but can't think of why he knows it. Apparently the surname "Daystar" is extremely common among elves. Another thing is that apparantly Kartherine has something of a reputation for sending adventurers on extremely perilous tasks. Granted, peril is stock in trade of the adventurer's lifestyle, but Ian says that this Daystar fellow won't have been the first person to just disappear while trying to recover things for Kartharine. Or the fifth. Or the tenth.
The baroness agrees to help the party as much as she can, and invites them and the rest of the party to a dinner the following evening.
Heading back to their inn, the Silverthorn, Caspian and Aiden notice that while there are a fair number of guards on patrol around the city, they don't seem to be bothered by heavily armed and heavily armored types. By the time they return to the inn, Rowan is very drunk. Lumi has made some innocent comments about Miel, and Rowan finally bursts into tears. Lumi takes the half-elf upstairs and the two of them have a long talk, mostly about Potter Holm.
One by one, the adventurers drift off to sleep in their separate rooms, each wondering what the following day will bring...