The Caravan - Chronological order of Events
The party wakes up more dead than alive amongst the remains of a destroyed caravan with no idea where they are and no memory of what happened the past week or so. Things only get stranger from there.
The protagonists
| Current | Retired | ||||||||
| Boldrek Honorbeard | Filibert Chubb | ||||||||
| Izzy | Lavanith Rhovan | ||||||||
| Kieran Dawncaller | Wyn Dawnwalker | ||||||||
| Zayn Noname | Odrik Hilderfinn |
The Godfall
A rude awakening
A horrible sound, like the shriek of a fiend from the lower planes reverberates through your skull and you wake up slowly, blinking your eyes, feeling worse than you have ever felt in your life. Your entire body aches, your head especially. Your body is burned in many places and caked with blood; you have no idea if it’s your own.
You have almost no energy, your limbs feel heavy but you slowly sit up to take stock of your surroundings. A two-headed goat is nibbling on your footwear and you notice a furrow in the earth coming up to where you are lying, your body must have slid along the ground at some force.
As you get your bearings you see two covered wagons, both overturned, items spilling out, the draft horses dead on the gorse. You see more bodies lying around, condors are picking away at the entrails of some of them and the horses. More of those strange goats are milling about, eating anything laying around.
The characters wake up, more dead than alive, amidst a scene of carnage on the heath, somewhere in the Godfall. No one has any memory of the last seven days or so but of more pressing matter is a huge dust storm, a Felak, coming their way.
They quickly gather their packs, and a few extra, the previous owners are in no state to complain about it. Close by is a small cave entrance that leads to, what they hope, is safety. With the storm hot on their heals they crawl into the Godfall Caverns.
Back to the surface
The portal deposits everyone on a hill in a landscape that looks a lot like the Godfall. A road in the distance and an encounter with Will-o'-Wisps and skeletons eventually leads to a small hamlet called Norak, where they learn they are three days from Banak.
It turns out the village is in some need of a judge so they are quite pleased to see Filibert in his Pholtan tabard. Two days ago a dwarven woman came to town and stabbed the local carpenter, trying to kill him. He defended himself, blinding her in one eye, and now both have been held under lock and key. She claims that the carpenter killed her brother when he was in Banak, less than a week ago. The carpenter denies this though he does concede he was in the same dive bar as the brother, who was found strangled in an alley next to it.
Filibert decides, after a plea from the local sergeant, that due to a complete lack of evidence they will take the sister to Banak and try and find out what really happened before convicting anyone of anything. A halfling Imbar farmer tries to get a case to have his money returned but is found to be clearly lying about events.
Banak
The walls of the city come in to view long before you arrive at the gate. The guards ask for the reason of your visit but other than that you have no trouble entering the city. Once inside you immediately feel warmer as the wind has lessened considerably. You walk down Forgraic Avenue and come to Civic Square, dominated by the facade of the government building, the Palace of the Dukes of Lordraerra.
A market is held here most days and hawkers are yelling at any prospective buyers about the quality of their wares. It is quite busy but most people don’t seem to be in any haste. Dwarves are definitely the most common but you see quite a few humans, a good number of halflings and half-orcs and a few gnomes. There’s a half-elf at one of the stalls (“clean your knife easily with my miracle cloth!”) and you see what must be a tiefling exit from Thovir Auction House.
The party members take rooms at the All Home Inn, where it turns out Filibert left without settling his accounts. Everyone has places to go and things to buy and jobs to look for. It doesn't take long before the following is on their plate:
- The brother murder case.
- The Companions of Elric have asked to discreetly get rid of a bookkeeping teacher, Ingra Skobet, they recently hired at Assuagion Academy.
- An old warehouse owner friend has asked Odrik to look into the wife (Centak Sointu Duldren) of his son Kargrim, he suspects her of abusing him.
- Two engineers have gone missing underground at Water Worx.
- There is also, of course, the matter of the destroyed caravan they woke up amongst.
Wet Work
Two engineers have gone missing at Water Worx and the party is asked to investigate. They find two bodies, one has the other's dagger in the back, and the other seems to have been hit in the head by one of the buckets on the elevator. Our friends decide to investigate and when Izzy gets close to the water basin, a serpentine shape made of nothing but water rises up and drags her into the basin, under the surface.
Destroying the basin seems to be quickest way to uncover the entity that is completely invisible in water. Once all water has flowed out the creature explodes in a spray of liquid, but not after having almost drowned Izzy and Boldrek.
Odrik goes to see Kargrim and eventually manages to get out of him that he has been involved in a fight club with friends from work. He offers him some lessons with an old Bruised colleague which he accepts, as long as his father won't find out about any of this. In the evening Quadok Gunnar Balmung turns up at Odrik's room. He has heard that Odrik has been investigating Kargim's wife and he wants any info he might have on her, he'll even pay for anything Odrik might find in the future.
The fact they are all still missing a week of events from their memory and have no idea what happened to the caravan or even why they were on it, is a good reason to go by the temple of Pholtus and Abjura Dolana. The Pholtans can't shed much light; even a prayer to their god doesn't reveal much beyond a 'keep investigating'.
The abjurers don't quite know, yet, what caused the memory loss but note that there are similarities with Shathûr magic, which makes little sense. However, when the party tells them about their underground adventures the interest level goes through the roof and more senior people are called in, including someone who might be the Magister, though he wasn't carrying a staff.
After hearing the entire story, the Abjura Dolana people make it very clear that the party should not tell anyone about what they found; having this information fall into the hands of Tipatshimun (there are quite a few members at Dubanôn), the Kasarian Embassy, or basically anyone, would be terrible for the world. They even go so far as to hire the party on retainer instead of making them pay for the consult.
Later, Filibert heads up the investigation of the murder of the brother. He speaks with the three friends who were drinking with the victim on the night of the murder. They all have interesting things to say and he learns which of them wore anything brown that particular night, possibly matching the brown bit of wool they found in the alley.
Boldrek finds a man who loiters along the street a lot and pays him to find more evidence or information. Eventually it pays off as the man manages to find a witness who noticed the side door in the alley open and heard a woman's voice and a man's voice speaking as he walked past.
Wyn Dawnwalker decides to go off on his own to find more clues for his mission. He tells the party the following, in strictest confidence, before he goes. He is part of an ancient monastic order called the Final Order, which is very much in decline. He lived at the Abbey of the Aether with five other monks. The abbot, on his deathbed, told him that the order was founded to protect something vital to the world. Contact with the southern Blazen Cloister has been lost and he fears the worst as the last message received told that they were under attack and the relic known as the Niffug Cam had been taken. As Wyn is the only member not of very old age, he is to go south, find out what happened, and recover the artifact; in the hands of the wrong people is could spell the end of the world.
The morning after the night before
Izzy wakes up, naked, in a bed in a ratty inn room next to a, also naked, dwarven woman. At first she doesn't remember much about last night, all the empty khel bottles might have something to do with that. She had gone to a tavern to meet the bookkeeping teacher and see what she could do to remove her from the board as asked but it looks like the tables had turned.
The dwarven woman is none other but the burgomeister; Jessra Throndor, and they are at a room at the Come and Go Inn, the cheapest lodgings in town. Their clothes and other belongings are nowhere to be found and eventually Izzy wraps the thin sheets around herself and goes to her own inn for some clothes and money before going to the burgomeister's home to collect some clothes for her. Jessra makes it home without too many people having seen her at the inn and Izzy eventually finds their clothes in the alley next to the inn. She decides to return the job to the Companions.
Filibert is contacted by the House of Light. Head of the church, Immar Chessar, asks for a favor; to administer last rights to a man called Ressic Kren and bring a small wooden horse toy back from his house. When asked he tells the paladin that the less he knows about the why, the better for everyone involved. The horse is specifically there for him to take, it won't be theft. When Filibert gets to the expensive home he finds priests of at least six other religions there. He delivers the last rights to the dying man and then takes the toy when no one is looking and returns it to Immar.
Odrik is on his way through town when a dwarven woman with green eyes asks him if he is, indeed, Odrik. She says she heard about his tavern stories of underground adventures and wants to know more. They step into the alley and there an 8' tall creature that looks like a hulking orangutan with a gruesome, drooping visage and tusks jutting from its jaw steps from behind a stack of crates when called by the woman.
She casts a spell on Odrik when he wants to run for it and the fighter can't move at all and looks on in fright as the creature grabs his head with its large hand. The woman then uses a spell to probe Odrik's thoughts as she asks questions about the statues they encountered. Our friend has other ideas and manages to throw his hand-axe at the woman and it connects solidly. Then he even manages to wrestle free from the grasp of the fiendish ape and runs as fast as his short legs can carry him. Neither the woman nor the creature pursue.
Afterwards Odrik tries to find out who the woman was and thanks to her green eyes, very uncommon in dwarves, he learns that she is likely Ilma Kratoc, lector of Conjuring at Dubanôn and a Tipatshimun member.
Boldrek is also out and about when he sees a human man in his thirties, wearing stained clothes and a leather apron, running through the intersection ahead of him. There are shouts from at least two voices: “Stop!” “Get him!”,”Don’t let him get away!” The barbarian takes his time to assess the situation and sees that the pursuers are a dwarven man and woman, judging by their dress and weapons, likely mercenaries or something of the kind. Our friend trips the male dwarf and makes him think it was an accident, helping him back up and trying to get some information, but the dwarf whose nose is even more broken now just runs on after he quarry.
Boldrek is in no hurry and leisurely makes his way in the direction of the chase, finding cabbages all over the street and helping the greengrocer get them all back in their crates, even getting a tasty Otteun apple for his assistance. Next he finds two men with a large painting that now has a human shaped hole in the middle of it. Then a tavern where the man apparently ran inside and then jumped through the window on the other side. His stroll ends when he hears sobbing and finds the man in a courtyard, his kneecaps having been well and truly destroyed.
He lifts the man up without any effort and decides to bring him to the nearest temple even though the man, who introduces himself as Milo Shrim, doesn't want to go as he has no money. It turns out that Milo is something of an inventor, or so he claims, and he borrowed money from a loan-shark, Sinikka Dalmor, so he could get a new workshop to work on a new invention that would allow him to easily pay her back. Unfortunately his new invention hasn't quite progressed to a saleable state and now Ms. Dalmor wants 10 gold pieces.
At the temple of Kismet Boldrek pays for the healing, which isn't cheap, 25 gp for a cure wounds spell! When he learns that Milo wasn't able to really sell any of his previous inventions (a bone scraper, a candle snuffer, an automated porridge maker, detachable pockets) he suggests that he should look for a partner who is good at sales. Milo is impressed at this advice and thanks him for everything when they get to his rather cluttered workshop.
There's even more to do today and the party finds out something new about the doomed caravan. At a wheelwright and supply store they find out they haven't been the only ones asking after the caravan; "funny, one of them tieflings was asking the same thing." So it looks like the Kasarian Embassy is looking into this as well... They also learn that, yes, a dwarf did order some things from here for two wagons, including wheels that work well on the heath. The wheelwright doesn't really remember much of significance about the buyer; it's been a while.
Bronzed
The next day the party is out on the street when they hear the unmistakable sounds of battle coming from around the corner. When they make their way there they see a dwarven woman in bronze armor and a little half-elf girl of about six years old being attacked from all sides. The woman wears a full face helmet (grey hair spilling from under it) and splint armor, she wields a war-hammer and shield, all made of bronze. Odrik recognizes her; it's Ghalea Thovir, something of a celebrity around here and he has actually met her before. She started out as an adventurer but quickly shifted to close protection, offering her services to those who need to go to dangerous places and need someone to look out for them.
The attackers are all wearing leather armor and seem to be mostly humans and one or more half-elves. Heavy crossbows keep clacking as the assailants don't let up their assault, aiming for the girl when possible and Ghalea when not. The party rushes in to help and eventually manage to move the girl to an alley. Ghalea then uses an item to create a fog cloud and under its cover they all get away and rush to the Companions of Elric headquarters, as Ghalea has been exhorting them to do.
On arrival there is quite some confusion as no one at the headquarters knows anything about the girl and the goings-on. Eventually Dorna Hukhol, leader of the Companions in Banak shows up and straightens things out, whisking the girl away to safety and sending out security to intercept any attackers. At almost the same time Ghalea succumbed to her wounds and the poison running through her system, having been carried to the HQ by Odrik. She tells him to take her magical shield and use it well, and to let her son know that she died and how proud she is of him and how much she has loved him.
Dorna Hukhol thanks the party for all they have done, especially once she learns they were just happening by as the ambush took place. She promises that the Companions will talk to Ghalea's son when he'll come over once Odrik has informed him, and they will take care of the funeral and anything else he might need. She explains to them that she can't tell the party anything about the girl, not even her name; any information they might have will put them at (more) risk. Ignorance is bliss in this particular case, according to her. She does thank them again and offers them a free meal at the city's finest restaurant.
The restaurant, Banâd-Zirak, is many centuries old and looks the part. The interior is all wood paneling, a large horned skull on wall over a large fireplace. Floating spheres of light are dotted around the dining area. Dinner is great and then Boldrek take a first bite of his honey-glazed ham. Almost immediately he changes into a black bear, to the consternation, or even outright panic of the other guests.
A heavily accented voice starts talking inside his head: "Did you think you could hide from me? You can’t flee anywhere I can’t find you. Do you know those insects that scurry around in shit? You are below those." Boldrek is taken aback and has no idea what's going on. He asks who he is talking to and the voice tells him that he is talking with Maior. The voice also explains that the dwarf stole his honeycomb. "Soon I am going to come and take back what is mine. Maybe not right now, I’m soooo comfortable right now, it’s so nice and warm, but in ten..., twenty..., anyway..., you are mine and don’t you forget it.”
Maior seems to be done talking as it doesn't reply to any further questions Boldrek tries to ask. Unfortunately he is still in bear form and can't talk to his companions, all that comes out is a sort of growl or bark. He tries to communicate in other ways but with hardly any success. The other party members though have become somewhat accustomed to weird things happening and they try to reassure the manager. About ten minutes later the unfortunate dwarf turns back into his normal self; an improvement, some would say.
The next morning a message from the Companions is waiting; Dorna would like to see them again and the party goes. She explains that the unnamed girl isn't safe yet; the opponents, whoever they might be, have plentiful resources and will try anything to capture or kill the girl. Her plan is to send out a number of groups to various other cities to hopefully muddy the waters and make it impossible to tell where the girl really did go. The opponent will be marshaling forces though, so speed is of the essence.
She asks the party if they would be willing to be one of the groups going out. If so, they could even help out with another thing as well; ever so often the Companions go and collect supplies from an ally that lives north of the road to Zâram-Tûm. It's about a five day journey there, so if the party was to go in that direction they could gather the supplies and bring them back. Knowing that it is a lot to ask and there is a risk of them being attacked, she replies to Odrik's question about pay that she'll pay 15 gp per person, well over market rate.
The party agrees and is told by another Companion how they can find the ally. They just need to look for certain way-points and make their way to an escarpment. Once there, they are to make the sound of a whippoorwill three times. Then they should just go to sleep, after waking they will find the wagon full of supplies and ready to return to Banak.
Boldrek decides to go by Abjura Dolana to ask about his new bear troubles. His status as one of the Balturian cavern explorers gets him an immediate consult with Sentinel Idrin the Imbar. The barbarian is vague at first but Idrin has already heard about the scene at the restaurant at night. In the end Boldrek allows the Sentinel to cast some spells on his honeycomb. It doesn't appear to be magical but when Hull casts a dispel magic at it, a wave of force is launched from the honeycomb powerful enough to throw the mage into wall behind him. When he is brought to, he suggests Boldrek take the item and go, though if he learns more about it, please share.
Road Trip
The journey is easier than one might have imagined, no attack comes and other than a drunken caravan driver barging into their room at the first night, no one unfriendly accosts them. After five days they come to the two trees with entwined branches where they are to leave the road.
The escarpment, at least twenty foot high here, comes into view and thanks to the clear directions it isn’t too much trouble to find the right spot; a small barrel has indeed been hidden in an old tree, just as described. The party succeeds at making the sound of a whippoorwill and starts to make camp for the night.
But then there’s a sound and part of the rock façade turns to mud and sloughs away, leaving a tunnel. From it steps a very exotic looking woman, she’s quite attractive, with delicate features, but it’s unclear what exactly she is, she’s neither human nor elf though she is about that height, most remarkable is the color of her skin, which is a pale green hue, her eyes are a soft yellow, and her hair has a golden sheen.
“Welcome,” she says as she approaches, “oh, you are not exactly who I expected to find.” She looks at each party member in turn. “You were sent by the Companions of Elric, correct?” she states, and once this is confirmed she looks relieved. “I could use some help, if you would please follow me,” she tells them and then turns around and walks back into the tunnel, “you can leave the wagon and the horses here, they will be safe.”
Coming through the other side of the tunnel reveals a hidden paradise of sorts. A hollow in the escarpment of about five hundred yards on each side holds verdant fields not seen anywhere in the Godfall, apart from around the Silvalhuese River. Many different vegetables and grains are growing in small plots, each looking better than the last, and quite a few out of season. There are softly swaying stalks of ripe grains, carrots so orange they almost make your eyes hurt, strawberries looking too succulent to be real, and so many more.
Further to the back grow all kinds of herbs around a rustic cottage that wouldn’t look out of place in a Miforan village. A small brook babbles as it winds its way around the area and then disappears under the rock and in one corner is a small meadow with at its center a large tree brimming with fruit of different colors. It feels nice and warm here, much more so than on the other side of the tunnel.
“Please come inside,” says the mysterious woman and she makes her way to the cottage. “I’m Kore,” she states when they reach the cottage and she ushers them into the large kitchen and has them sit around the table, “would any of you like anything to eat or drink?” After taking care of refreshments and a minimum of small talk she comes to the point.
“As you may know, not too far north of here is the Haklur Desert. It’s a place where not a thing can grow and it has been this way ever since the Collapse. This cannot stand, it is an affront to nature itself, and to me, personally, as well, and so, I have made it my life’s work to reverse it and bring nature back where it belongs,” she explains as she sips her tea, “as you have seen outside, I have been experimenting and I think that once the desert has been returned to nature, the rest of the Godfall will also change for the better, and more can be grown here without the use of magic.”
“Now, to why I could use your help. For my experiments I require things from that blasted place and while I have more of the sand than I’ll ever need, I’ve run out of the liquid that goes for water there, it can’t be stored indefinitely. So, I would like for you to go and collect some for me. I won’t lie, the Haklur Desert is not a place any living creature would want to be, it’s not good for you. But I know where you can find some water there and you should not have to be in the desert for more than two days at the most, and, I will supply you with remedies to counteract the deleterious effects.”
There is some discussion about a payment for this trek into the desert and she explains that she has not inconsiderable powers and resources, she might be able to help them in some way. In the end the party decides they would like some healing items in payment. She spends the rest of the day with Boldrek, discussing his new bear issue and teaches him through meditation exercises how he can, hopefully, return to human form, should it happen again.
The next morning she provides a description of a well-hidden trail to a cave in the desert where water has collected in a pool. She hands over a large glass bottle on a stick and impresses upon them not to touch the water in any way, let any water on the outside of the bottle evaporate before storing the bottle. She produces a tin containing tiny balls of a not very pleasant-smelling substance; “take one every eight hours, suck on it till it dissolves, it will protect you from the worst effects.” And she gives each of them two pomegranate-like fruits; “these will heal your wounds should you get injured.”
Just Desert
Thanks to Kore's directions it is easy to find the destination. The desert turns out to be as terrible as they were told; soon enough they have a metal taste in their dry mouths and blisters start to form on any unprotected skin. They find the hole that leads underground and not twenty paces further on they come across the body of a half-orc. He is still breathing but would not have lasted much longer had they not found him.
Once he is brought back to consciousness the half-orc introduces himself as Zayn Noname. He sort of explains he was sent here to collect a large black sapphire. The party on their part try to explain they are here to collect some water. In the end they decide to join forces for now and the pool of water is soon found, and Kore's bottle filled.
As they make their way further down the cave they run across two emaciated, roughly humanoid creatures (likely once dwarves) with an almost-hairless mottled, decaying hide stretched tight over their bones. They have the sharp teeth of a carnivore and sunken eyes that burn as if they were hot coals. Battle ensues and despite their stench and paralyzing powers the Restless are soon defeated.
A short walk further is another large cave and this one contains a large gem; translucent, lustrous black with glowing highlights. It sits in the middle of a 'web' of dark goo 40 feet across. When coming close to the goo everything starts to feel rather nasty and is the sapphire beating like a heart? Surely that's just a trick of the mind, you can definitely feel a heart beat behind your ears and in your neck, but that's your own, right?
Izzy has spotted something beyond the goo and walks over, finding a strange coin, 5 inches across and about an inch thick. Touching it doesn't feel good; there's some kind of entity in there and it's despair and anguish are palpable. She happens to know certain hags have a power to trap creatures into a coin like this. She returns to the party, telling them that the cave has no other exits.
It soon becomes clear that bringing fire near it makes the goo grow towards it. Pouring some of the foul water on it also makes it grow. Get really close to the goo and it damages you. A mage hand spell isn't strong enough to pull the gem out of the goo but Izzy comes up with a plan to lower a bag with drawstrings over the sapphire. Close it, pull on a rope attached to the bag, and presto; one gem.
The party rests for the night and as they are eating, Zayn tells them something of his history, including that he at one time woke up amongst the wreckage of a caravan. Soon there is no doubt this is the exact same caravan the others found themselves at; Zayn was trapped under two dead horses and therefor not seen or heard at the time. He shows them a letter he found on the man on horseback at the site.
A comprehend languages spell shows that an Aegis might be something like a bulwark and a Zedek might be an undercroft. The half-orc also explains a voice in his head was the one who saved him from the Felak storm at the caravan, and it is this voice that told him to collect the sapphire and bring it to the Temple of Kismet in Banak.
Four strong now, the party returns to Kore and bring her the requested water. She has already loaded up the wagon with the supplies they came her for; crates and sacks of strange fruits and vegetables, some herbs to boot. After spending the night, and a really nice breakfast the party say their goodbyes and begin their trek back to Banak.
Izzy took some time during the night to identify the found coin as a soul coin. It can be used to gain temporary hit points and it can be used to query the soul inside it and get information, but only things the creature knew during its life. She learns that this coin holds the soul of Aatu Kasgret; a servant to magus Pinja Galgruc until he displeased her.
Back in Banak
The Companions are glad to see the party and the supplies. Things have been eventful; a large hole in the wall is being repaired and Dorna Hukhol's left side is covered in bandages. Soon after the party left there was an attack in an attempt to get at the half-elf girl but the assault was defeated at a cost for both parties. The girl is safe now, Dorna tells them.
Visiting Abjura Dolana, brought to a room where Magister Elyth Rheloph, with staff, is waiting for them, and so are two of the three Sentinels and a number of others. They have some more information on things the party encountered in the Godfall Caverns, and also more questions.
Unfortunately they have nothing new on the caravan, just that from what they described they should not have survived that ordeal. The statues they found in the caverns though, they are most likely Zahar-Bunds; guardians created with Shathûr Magic. They are quite surprised as the party’s description doesn’t match what they have from ancient texts and they didn’t think so many would have survived.
The magnetic room is not something they were able to find in any of their records but those are more limited than they would like to admit.
The dwarf/fish people are a total mystery but they feel that it is very important not to breathe a word of their existence to anyone. It would not be received well here in the Godfall, and anyone seeking out an aggressive race (the party might have exaggerated this just a little) with spellcasters is just asking for trouble.
The final building is of great interest to them and they even sent out some wizards who found the location where the party arrived after stepping through the portal. Unfortunately, nothing of interest was found there. The sketches made of the runes on the portal were critical though; it is very likely that the building belonged to a magus by the name of Kalervo Ubran. He was one of the preeminent mages of his time and one of the few detractors of the ritual that caused the Collapse. Abjura Dolana would really like to find this building, and again, caution against telling anyone else.
The party shows them the letter that Zayn found and this causes some consternation. The Tzator mentioned in the letter is likely an attaché at the Kasarian Embassy in town. He hasn't been seen around of late, which would make sense considering where the letter was found. Xezvis is a name they have been hearing of late. They aren't quite sure who he is, though from what they can tell he might even be a member of the Circle. They know for sure that he outranks everyone at the embassy and that he showed up here recently.
We all scream for Ishmêk
The party is approached by the dowager Ilmi Lessdyl, her family owns the Ganâd Salt Mines. She is looking for a team to compete in the CCCCXXVIII Banak Open and the party is willing to take on this well paying job, naming their team Ball Busters. Preparations for the tournament are in full swing and the entertainment headliners have just been announced; the famous bards Norma Ipple and P.O. Stern will enthuse crowds between matches with their musical stylings and rhymings.
The arena is being built up in the Court of the Arts, the large Crocade dispensers already in place for thirsty players and victory celebrations. Sponsorship banners are being hung; there's Netfix, for all your rope repairs, Tohayer-Shrub Outpipe, the Godfall's most popular alcoholic drink, StopMummy, the universal undead repellent, Roundfull, insect snacks that are both filling and appetizing.
The draw has decided that the party's first match will be against Lovers, not Fighters, one the weak teams, according to staunch Ishmêk followers. Before the match the party spends half an hour with their four opponents and they seem nice people, quite outgoing, as can be expected of Kashtin members.
The match is an interesting affair with a tactical early Invisibility spell by Zayn and some good pushing and pulling from the dwarves. Malak Gallum tries to go for an orb thrown in his direction but over extends and injures his back badly enough to be out of the tournament but it's all taken in stride; they are just here to have a good time. In the end the match ends 3-0 for our friends but Lovers, not Fighters are quite gracious in defeat.
The next match is against All Saints and the paladins turn out to be a superior team who win without much trouble at all. With that the party is done in the tournament. Their employer is happy enough with their effort and praises them for winning the first match.
Crabs!
Izzy is out by herself when a good looking, middle-aged woman in a voluminous fur cloak, wearing green gloves, passes by in the street and does a double take and stops. She walks over to Izzy, “the pearl is in the river,” she declares as if she is discussing the weather. The seamstress's answer doesn’t seem to satisfy her and she pointedly looks at the rapier on Izzy’s hip and then at Izzy’s face. “Am I mistaken, aren’t you Simo…” she leaves the rest of the word unspoken.
Izzy realizes what this might be about; she found the rapier in a pack at the destroyed caravan that also contained papers with the name Albertus Simonis on it. And so she finishes the woman's sentence; "Simonis, yes." The woman looks at her, confused; “I don’t understand, why didn’t you… Never mind, we can’t speak here in the middle of the street, come to my inn, Lordraerra House, for breakfast tomorrow, bring the weapon. Did you use it?” She looks at the blade with a critical eye. And with that she’s off.
Izzy returns to her own inn and tells the others about her encounter and how she came to own the rapier. She doesn't want to part with it so it's decided that all four will go to the breakfast meeting and hopefully provide some backup in case things go sideways. Zayn quickly goes out and buys some fine clothes that will suit the location; the town's most expensive inn.
The next morning everyone goes to Lordraerra House individually; Odrik and Boldrek cover the main exits and Zayn takes a table in the dining room. Izzy then arrives and goes to the mystery woman's table, this morning she is dressed in a turquoise and jade outfit with pearly white gloves. “Why did you not come to Midtal as discussed?” she asks once breakfast has been served. Izzy combines truth and lie by telling her that she woke up in a destroyed caravan with no memory at all.
The woman is skeptical and can't believe Izzy doesn't remember anything; "you do know what organization you are working for, don't you?" Izzy plays dumb. The woman eventually continues: “I got tired of waiting and decided to go to Zâram-Tûm to find you. Imagine my surprise when I saw the weapon on your hip, blatantly on display as you sauntered down the street. What were you thinking? I know you Eastern people do things differently compared to us in the West but this is the limit.”
In short; she thinks that they got very lucky, if she hadn't spotted the rapier (and Izzy) then it might have been lost, considering this memory loss. But now that she found Izzy, she will take the rapier and take it to Midtal, Izzy can hopefully recover from the amnesia but the main thing is that the rapier will get to where it needs to go. Izzy pushes back at this suggestion, telling her that she has no way of knowing who this woman really is, cause of the memory loss, how is she to know what her original mission was?
“Do I need to remind you that the Grand Gammarus funded the construction of the weapon and all you were supposed to do is bring it to me in Midtal?” the woman is indignant, “and now that you used it, it might not even work as intended, or we might have to have it reconsecrated, for lack of a better word, at great cost, I might add. I am very close in demanding not just the rapier but payment from you for all this as well.”
Izzy just gets up from the table and exits the inn. The woman is hot on her heels while Zayn decides to enjoy the expensive breakfast. Outside the inn the argument continues with neither side willing to budge. When it becomes clear that Izzy isn't willing to hand over the rapier and is trying to leave, the woman gives a subtle signal and then a tall and strapping woman of Otteun descent, who had not been noticed by any of the party members, steps forward and stops the seamstress in her tracks. Odrik approaches and pretends to be a random passerby trying to stop an argument.
Izzy wants to get out of there and casts Vicious Mockery at the imposing woman, a bodyguard? The spell succeeds and harms her opponent who immediately retaliates and stabs Izzy, doing considerable damage. Zayn continues to enjoy his expensive breakfast inside and Boldrek is making his way around the rather large inn towards the front entrance.
Trying a different tack, Izzy tries a charm person spell on her opponents; targeting the mystery woman first. She very briefly sees a flash coming from the woman's necklace and then has to save against her own spell, which she does. Against the bodyguard, or whatever the tall woman is, the spell is a lot more successful and she now tries to get both parties to just come to terms, instead of stabbing Izzy again.
Izzy now decides to hoof it and runs away, the bodyguard doesn't try to stop her this time. Just after that Zayn comes out of the inn and see the two women standing there. He walks over and asks them where his friend is. After some confusion it becomes clear he's talking about Izzy and the woman then proceeds to get out of him the name of the inn they are staying at.
Before this even happened Izzy already decided to get her stuff from the inn and leave, before getting there she runs into some Ishmêk fans who recognize her. Eventually the entire party gets together and checks out out of the All Home Inn. Odrik knows Banak pretty well and leads them to the Staggering Jester, where they take one four person room. Here they lick their wounds and discuss what to do from here.
The next day everyone goes off to do their own thing. Odrik goes to see some people from his Bruised days to try and learn more about Centak Sointu Duldren, he basically hears the same thing; she's a hard-ass but good at her job. Then he goes to the fight club and fights a little too well. Izzy goes to Abjura Dolana to find out more about who the rapier might belong to. And she is lucky to get to talk to Sentinel Bhaeryta Bersk who happens to be a fan of cults. She explains that this might be the Crustaceans; an old but seemingly not very important cult.
Meanwhile, Zayn goes to the Kasarian Embassy. He hasn't stopped thinking about that letter that he found and hopes that it could help them learn about what happened with the caravan they were all on. After having learned from Abjura Dolana that this Xezvis person might be in town, he is debating on breaking into his place or trying to somehow get information out of them.
Walking into the main building, Zayn finds himself in the reception area and asks the clerk if they are hiring. They aren't at the moment, the clerk tells him but they are always happy to buy any finds. There might be work in a few weeks, so if he wants to leave his contact details then they might send a message in due time.
The half-orc leaves and comes up with a new plan; following the clerk home to use a suggestion spell on him to get him to get information for them. He waits outside for the man to leave, not realizing that the embassy is as big as it is because most, if not all, staff live on site. Around dinner time he finally heads back to their new inn.
As the party heads up to their room, Izzy hears the scuffling of feet. They send Boldrek, the only one likely not seen by the mystery woman and bodyguard, up to investigate. He sees two dwarves, one male, one female, and one human woman, standing in front of the room next to theirs. They all have short hair, wear leather armor, and have a short sword or hand axe on their belt.
One of them makes a 'quiet' motion at Boldrek as another knocks at the door. “Sir, there is a woman here to see you,” she says. A confused reaction follows from the other side of the door and the door opens. The three have the man who opened the door on the floor in no time and bind his hands. The dwarven woman speaks: “Tamm Hildregt, you are charged under article 86 of the Otteun penal code; desertion. You will be transported to Festull Base to face court martial.” They then lift him up and escort him out of the building.
The party immediately sees an opportunity; an empty room, presumably paid up, for them to use should anyone come for the rapier. They search the room and find out the man had very meager belongings. The only thing of any interest is a well worn copy of a book on the nightstand; The Last Spinsters Society.
The next morning, as they are leaving the inn, a voice calls out; "excuse me, Simonis?" Izzy manages to not react at all to the name. A dwarf of indistinct gender catches up to them. They explain that there's no reason to pretend, they know Izzy is the one with the rapier. When asked the dwarf introduces themselves as Dafry Tinval.
They make it clear that the woman who wants the rapier has quite some resources and that leaving town is probably their only chance but even that won't be easy. The woman has been quite generous and offered a sum of 50 gp if they hand over the rapier without any more fuss. Dafry suggests they do so. Izzy continues to bluff to have no idea what they are talking about and they walk away. Dafry goes the other direction and Zayn goes up to a mangy street dog, casts speak with animals and bribes the dog to follow the dwarf and report back here in the evening to tell where the dwarf went.
Xezvis
The party makes their way over to the Kasarian embassy to see if they can lure out the clerk. But before getting there a Bigby's Hand suddenly grabs Izzy and squeeze a lot of her life out of her. A middle-aged man who looks mostly human with a ruddy skin and dark hair but who must be a tiefling considering the two small horns peeking through his hair, appears and speaks; "please, come with me to the embassy, we have much to discuss." About six other people also appear, brandishing weapons and spells.
Zayn gambles; "Xezvis?" "That's right, but you pronounce it Xezvis," the man replies. Eventually our friends decide to do as suggested and everyone goes to the embassy. There, they are brought to a large room in a lead lined basement and are relieved of all their gear. Zayn tries to quickly grab Xezvis' letter and eat it before it can be found. He's very successful at bringing it up to his mouth unseen but then unlucky that the Kasarians are very quick to react and cast a hold person on him before he can chew and they take the letter.
They have to take off their footwear and are then put into a cold iron cage in a corner of the room. Everyone but two guards, both tieflings, leaves the room and the guards start to whisper as they keep an eye on their charges, underestimating the hearing of the party.
The male guard: “Did you know they competed in that Ishmêk tournament?” The female guard: “For real? They don’t seem the type, did they just do it on a lark or something?” “No, I think they played for the salt mines or something. All I know is they lost in the second round.” The next sentence no one in the party can make out.
The male guard again: “No kidding, and we are the ones taking it up the ass, every single day, I’d almost rather switch positions with them.” “Come on, at least we’re out here in Banak, could be worse.” “You don’t have a wife and kid back home, easy for you to say. Not to mention that due to that issue of yours you can just live it up here without any consequences. Must be nice being you.” “Yeah, it was real fun being me at age twelve, or now, knowing my family line will stop with me, thanks for reminding me.” She scowls at the man.
“Sorry, that was out of line. But you know how far out of favor we’ve fallen, we are royally fucked.” “Yeah, yeah, listen I am not happy about lizardboy being here either, but I can’t see us all being replaced, the upscaling program isn’t that big.” “I’m sure they said that about us too, back in the day, and here we are.” “Well, it’s a tad more difficult without the backing of a literal god, I’d say.”
There is a sound outside the door and the guards quickly straighten up and stop talking. The two people outside the door are speaking at a normal tone and probably don't realize that they can be heard in the cage by those with good hearing.
A woman speaks; “We found the letter on the half-orc, sir.” Xezvis replies; “Interesting, not who I would have expected.” “Sir, are you sure we need the wand, there’s only six charges remaining and we are not allowed to source any locally.” “When you are special envoy you may decide these things, Uda, we will definitely be using it today, our very existence is at stake, it wouldn’t do for us to fail because we were trying to be economical with our resources.” “Yes, sir.”
They enter the room and Xezvis tells Uda to go fetch 'them'. Then he asks; "so, which of you is Simonis?" None of the party claims to be this person and the tiefling laughs, "I don't know what's up with this rapier but you sure didn't make any friends." Odrik replies back snarkily and Xezvis looks at him, "you must be Odrik, formerly of the Bruised But Not Broken, are you the leader of this merry band?"
Meanwhile the guards have put four chairs in the middle of the room near a drain and they take out the prisoners one by one, strip them naked from the waist down and put them in a chair, spreading their legs and tying them to the legs of the chair. Uda returns with a strange old woman; she is missing half her hair, her lips have been cut off, and one of her eyes has been cut out, leaving a dark, angry hole.
"Ah, there's Baba," says Xezvis and he smile, "I'm told she's a true artist with her blade." The old woman produces a very small and very sharp knife and goes to our four friends, cutting their femoral arteries skillfully. "In case you didn't know, you now only have minutes to live," Xezvis explains, "and the faster your heart beats, the quicker you bleed out. So, Keep Calm and Answer Truthfully. If you do, you have my word I will have you healed."
He produces a wand and casts a Zone of Truth spell, telling them to not resist its effect. Odrik tries to anyway but fails. "Did you sign up with Tzator and his caravan?" is the first question and the answer seems to surprise the tiefling; "we don't know, we can't remember about a week of time before we woke up among the destroyed caravan." "That’s strange, his parlor trick didn’t include any memory wiping, as far as I know," he replies as he ponders this new information.
More questions follow and it becomes apparent that the party doesn't have any real valuable information to offer Xezvis. Zayn knows that the caravan must be somewhere in an area of fifty by fifty kilometers which he can point out on a map, which is the best lead they can give Xezvis. The questions run out before their blood supply does and the tiefling motions to Uda. They bring in a man with a black hood over his head who she leads over to the chairs and he then casts a cure wounds spell on each of them.
Xezvis tells them that it's in their best interest to part ways amicably; he has no reason to kill them or do them any harm, well, further harm. If they learn of anything useful in the future he is even willing to pay them for the information. Zayn tries to get themselves hired by him but he's not willing to go quite that far. He is quite friendly and forthcoming though, even willing to tell Izzy that the lady who is after the rapier is called Cerenna Palantor.
Odrik isn't having any of it and he is looking at everyone in the room, one by one, muttering under his breath anything that can help him remember them by. Their belongings are returned to them and Zayn notices that his backpack is heavier than before but manages to stop himself from looking. That is, until they are right outside of the embassy, the door just closing behind them. As he tries to open the backpack his body is paralyzed and a voice inside his head tells him in no uncertain terms; "not now".
When they are a few streets away he finally opens the backpack and finds a small book; the Tome of Sedar, a magnificent magical book. The party can finally take a breather, having lost a lot of blood has left them more than a little exhausted (4 levels of it), it's time to recuperate but there's still the matter of the rapier.
Rapier, rapdaar, rapeverywhere
Plans are made; urchin's hired to spy on Centak Sointu Duldren to see where she goes and if she does anything shady. They decide to book a room at two different inns to hopefully put Cerenna Palantor and her people on the wrong track. Zayn, who they feel is the easiest to recognize, gets a room at the Barking Lamb, and the others a room at the Leaping Eagle.
In the evening Zayn and Odrik go meet the dog they asked to follow Dafry. The dog is hardly recognizable when it returns; it's no longer mangy but freshly washed and brushed. A quick speak with animals spell and the dog tells Zayn that the dwarf he was following did this, fed him some real nice food too!
Zayn ask if Dafry took him home, the dog replies that he doesn't know if the dwarf sleeps where they went. When asked for where this was he tells them it was above a place where people drink and fight. He leads them to it and they arrive at an inn with a door next to it with a sign 'Tinval Investigations'. They decide they know enough and pay the dog the promised food and go to the Leaping Eagle.
The next morning Odrik goes to see Kargrim and talks about his wife, saying that he heard from some Bruised recruits that she is up to shady stuff. Her husband is indignant; she's critical but she is definitely not doing anything shady! Odrik tries to salvage the situation by telling him that new recruits often say all kinds of ill informed stuff.
As they are planning to skip town, Boldrek goes off to buy supplies and Zayn has things to do as well. This leaves Izzy alone at the inn and there's a knock at the door. When she opens the door she's immediately hit by a suggestion spell from Dafry and she isn't able to resist it. The dwarf explains that, really, the best thing to do would be to return the rapier to the lady at Lordraerra House, get some money for it, and be done with this whole awkward situation.
Izzy can't fault that logic and writes a quick note to the other party members and then grabs the rapier and is off to the expensive inn. Twelve minutes later Zayn returns to the inn and finds the note. He reads it and his reaction is, finally, she's getting to her senses and puts the note back. Boldrek returns a few minutes later and asks where the seamstress is, Zayn shows him the note. The dwarf immediately gets into gear and tells the half-orc to come with him, pinning the note to the door with his dagger, where Odrik finds it four of minutes later and also quickly leaves.
Boldrek and Zayn run into Milo Shrim who is quite ecstatic; he finally sold one of his inventions for no less than a hundred gold pieces! It's a combination of small piece of flint and tinder that works much better, even in damp conditions. He hands the barbarian ten gold pieces as a thank you for all the help. He wants to tell him all about his good fortune but Boldrek is in a hurry so they decide on dinner that night, Milo's treat.
Meanwhile, at Lordraerra House, Izzy is in Cerenna Palantor's room, the Otteun lady is there as well. She hands her the rapier and Cerenna gives her a gem worth a hundred gold pieces, "as promised". At that point Izzy comes to her senses and realizes what she has done. But being still quite weak from the exhaustion there's not really anything she dares to do so she decides to leave. Through the door she can hear the rich lady mutter about being so, so done with this city, she can't wait to leave.
Out on the street Izzy runs into Boldrek and Zayn, and Odrik a minute later. She tells them what happened and in the end they decide to return to the inn to consider any moves. Eventually they decide to stay one more day and then leave town, giving them a chance to tie up any loose ends. Odrik reports to Quadok Gunnar Balmung and tells him that he couldn't find anything on the Centak.
Statuesque
The next morning, they are found by a messenger from Abjura Dolana, asking them to come to the lodge house. They do so and are lead to a chamber where Sentinel Sirane Loriamanthor is waiting for them. She explains that they have become aware of Tipatshimun moving a cart with something large on it, covered by a tarp, into the city. Their intel indicates that this is something important but they don't know where it is or what it is.
This is why she has asked the party, and others, to go check out any possible hiding locations and find out. She gives them two Thûrash warehouse locations, numbers 8 and 26, that are known to be used by the cult. When asked, she explains that for now, she mostly wants information on whatever it is they brought in, but if the party has the opportunity to liberate whatever it is, then do so and hide it somewhere.
The party goes to the first warehouse and Zayn casts an invisibility spell on Izzy. She goes and reconnoiters the warehouse, finding nothing but bales of wool. She's thorough and looks for anything hidden behind the bales or under it but no such luck. She also decides to check the warehouse to the left which turns out to be owned by Abraxis Combine; they are loading padlocked crates onto a cart, apparently they contain something valuable.
With some time left on the invisibility spell they hasten to the second warehouse, it smells of sheep here. The doors to the warehouse are closed and the neighboring warehouses don't show much activity either, it's pretty quiet around here. Two dwarven 'workers' are loitering outside warehouse 26, they don't look the part and are clearly here to guard the entrance.
Izzy walks around the building before the spell runs out and tries the back door but it doesn't open. Meanwhile Zayn uses his speak with animals spell to talk to a number of rats and asks them what's inside the warehouse, 'dead woolly beasts' is the reply. He promises them some food and asks them to go inside and see what's in there right now. Two of the rats scarper off to do so.
Eventually one rat returns and Zayn asks what happened. "They killed Kenny!" the rat squeaks back at the half-orc. It's not easy to exchange information with someone of limited intelligence but eventually Zayn relays to the party that inside are quite a few people, unsure what race, and someone cast a spell that killed the rat.
As they are discussing their next move the unmistakable sounds of combat emanate from the warehouse; spells being cast and the wailing of people dying. The dwarves at the entrance open the door and go inside. The party quickly moves to the closing door and Odrik peeks inside. What he sees there is carnage. The stone building is on fire and dead people are laying everywhere. In the middle of it all is a large statue, very much like the Zahar-Bunds they saw in the Godfall Caverns, just smaller, still 2.5 meters tall though.
Odrik is no expert but the markings on the floor make him think some kind of ritual or something was taking place. The two dwarven guards who had gone in are now running back towards the door. The fighter trips the first one, a woman, as she exits the building, doing quite some damage to her in the process, but she still lives. The man following her almost trips over her but manages to run off.
The statue runs towards the door, jumps, bursts through the door and wall, landing on the woman, turning her into nothing but a smear on the floor. The impact of its landing bowls Odrik, Zayn, and Boldrek over, Izzy was some distance away and is still standing. "Why are you laying there, this is interesting, get up!" Maior speaks inside Boldrek's mind and he finds that he can now get up a lot easier than before.
Odrik engages the statue and tells the barbarian to catch the dwarf that's running away; they want someone to interrogate about all this. Combat ensues and the Zahar-Bund keeps trying to slam the fighter but the dwarf is quite hard to hit. So is the statue though; it takes quite a few hits and spells from Izzy and Zayn before it is brought low.
People have started to panic and this allowed Boldrek to catch up to the fleeing dwarf. Two hits from his axe put the man down and then a quick use of his healer's kit made sure he won't die as he carries him back to the warehouse. There the others are catching their breath from the ordeal. The statue has sort of split open and eventually they notice that inside the torso are very well preserved remains, they look to be dwarf sized. It is decided that Izzy and Zayn will go report to Abjura Dolana and the others will stay here to secure the scene and interrogate their prisoner.
The prisoner claims to be called Brunn and to work at a greengrocer, he sounds pretty believable. Just as they are asking him about what happened in the warehouse there's a new arrival on the scene. A dwarf in an expensive cloak, carrying a staff and lots of magical accoutrements. He introduces himself as Granus Felâg, the rector of Dubanôn. He is quite arrogant and says that he will take care of the scene now, Odrik and Boldrek are no longer needed here.
Quite a discussion starts up with our friends not willing to relinquish the scene to the dwarf. Next to show up is Ilma Kratoc, lector of Conjuring at Dubanôn, she is the woman who fought Odrik in the alley. Fortunately, quite soon after a Bruised But Not Broken company, led by Centak Sointu Duldren shows up as well. She asks what's going on and once she finds out she decides that she is going to stick around, clearly not being a fan of Granus, her soldiers now making him wary.
Somewhat later a four person Citizens Brigade patrol shows up, they actually have jurisdiction here, unlike everyone else present. This is clearly above their pay-grade though and they are unsure how to proceed. Somewhat later Izzy and Zayn return with Sentinel Idrin the Imbar and a few other Abjura Dolana mages. Together they manage to persuade the citizens brigade to take actual charge and let Abjura Dolana help them. Then more senior ranked citizens brigade people show up and they take control.
But not before Ilma casts an invisibility spell on the captured guard but this is spotted by Boldrek. Granus and the lector leave and Idrin pays the party, after Boldrek's many requests. As all this is happening, Odrik and Sointu have a little chat. She knows he was looking into more than just her husband and guesses it was at the behest of Quadok Gunnar Balmung. She explains to the fighter that she just wants to know more about the company she is working for and points out that no one seems to know who the actual owner is; it's not the Miltoks. They aren't in charge of accepting or denying jobs, she can't abide this lack of transparency, nor the fact that the Bruised earn a fortune every year and not even pay taxes.
A brazen search for a Blazen Cloister
Zayn wants to travel further west as he is looking for someone that knows about a sign painted in blood that he found in his destroyed village; so far everyone he spoke to told him to look in the next big town. Odrik wants to try and find the Blazen Cloister that Wyn was trying to find; the Niffug Cam that was taken from there is of interest to him. They decide to go south first and look for the monastery. On the way out of town Odrik spots two tiefling guards from the Kasarian Embassy basement but the others manage to keep the fighter from attacking them.
Once out of town, they travel south and come across a village where they are lucky enough to find a very old man who remembers a traveler who claimed to be from the Blazen Cloister, it should be anywhere between four and twelve days to the south or southeast.
The next night they are attacked in the night by four death dogs. Zayn almost gets killed but climbs one of the rare few trees on the heath to get away from them. Then the next night they see the outline of a huge dog standing on a hillock, the moon right behind it. It's at least half a kilometer away, fortunately.
The next day Zayn recognizes the terrain, he came by here when traveling from the destroyed caravan back to civilization. He's quite sure he can backtrack and find the destroyed caravan now. They decide to check out if anything remains of the caravan first and after managing to avoid a pack of trolls they find what remains of the caravan. The bodies have been mostly eaten but the two wagons still contain some items that are in good order. They take a few of them; a black executioner's hood, a box of spices, 5 ounces of Menga leaves, manacles, a mason jar containing a harmless but agitated, animate ooze.
They now go east, trying to find the Blazen Cloister. After a few days they are walking across the gorse, pretty close to the borderlands and suddenly a blue ‘eye’ appears in the air. In the middle of it is an alabaster white female head with piercing blue eyes, she doesn't look human nor like any other know species, nor does she seem to be alive, as such. "Please stop moving or I will be forced to eliminate you. Which would be a shame as I saved you earlier," she says, and the party stop in their tracks.
They ask her who she is and she replies that she is the 'A No Graver Emergency Lorekeeper'. It turns out that she is the one who took their seven days of memories and saved their lives at the destroyed caravan. More questions lead to some answers; she knew the Niffug Cam was looted but did not know it was then stolen from a Bruised But Not Broken transport when Odrik tells her about this. She also explains that she is unhappy they returned as she doesn't want anyone to know her location or that of the caravan, as that could lead to her.
She does offer to restore their memories but realizes that they will need healing since the restoration is quite painful. That could be done somewhere far from here, she knows of a place, thus solving two problems at once. The party agrees and as she returns their memories they all fall to the ground, a quite horrible pain shooting through their head.
With their memories restored, they learn that during that week, they, and others, have all individually been charmed and then dominated by Tzator, using his own blood to enhance these spells, he was adding more people to his retinue as he needed bodies to search the heath. The memories end with the wagons and all the people and animals being plucked from the ground and then thrown against it with great force as if by some invisible hand.
The party lays there, to weak to move, trying to make sense of what they just learned. The face in the eye looks at them; "May you see many more dawns," she tells them, "Ma Xipahtinemi".
Sanatorium AlRe Transplanae
And with that she teleports them away, to what they will learn is the Sanatorium AlRe Transplanae.
Otteun
Midtal
Kris' portal links to a portal that is part of the wall of the western end of a small rotunda with a corridor bisecting it. As they stand there, getting their bearings, the walls are thick and the dwarves figure they are underground, they hear the sounds of boots coming down stairs. The only place to hide in time is the room across the way with a sign "White Autumn" on the door. They quickly get inside before whoever it is reaches them.
Inside this room they find a very large table in the middle of it with on it an incredibly detailed map of the Godfall with small notes with abbreviation and numbers on them placed next to the larger cities. A big table to the side holds super detailed maps of the larger cities in the Godfall. Filing cabinets line the walls with who knows what inside them.
The footsteps come closer and voices can be heard; “we’ve never gone out at the first round of a tournament before, I’m telling you we shouldn’t have allowed dwarves on the team.” “What are you talking about? Our top scorer is a dwarf, he’s miles ahead of anyone else.” “And yet we are out, we’ve had plenty of human scorers in the past and we always won or at least made it to the finals. It’s the dwarves, I’m telling you.” They left the door open a crack and see two humans in uniform pass by, Odrik recognizes them as Ott soldiers.
They look at the maps in the room and wonder about their use and if they should take one or do something with them. But then there is the noise of many booted feet coming down the stairs at haste. Zayn comes up with a smart plan to hide themselves behind an illusory wall but the soldiers coming into the room are being instructed to move their weapons around all over the room to find invisible people. The party decides that surrender is the best option and does so.
They are quickly taken prisoner and marched to a room, going down the corridor, passing a door with a sign saying "Yellow Autumn". They are stripped to their small clothes and then interrogated by the lieutenant in charge, who can't believe the, true, story they are telling him. Then the door opens and two men in long, leather raincoats, one black, one grey, try to enter at once. "Agent Dimmer, O.I.B," says one, "Agent Henry, F.S.S," says the other.
They immediately berate the lieutenant for not questioning the prisoners separately and start firing questions willy-nilly, not waiting for anyone to finish speaking. To the lieutenant's infinite relief, a major shows up who puts the two agents in their place, telling them that as long as the prisoners are inside Arks Ximmer, for that's where it turns out they are, he is in charge and they are to stand back and not interfere. Not much later another lieutenant shows up; this one casts a Zone of Truth spell on the party and they get to tell their story once again.
No one can quite believe their account but eventually they decide to transfer our friends to Bearstett Prison. Here they are interrogated again but without any new results. So it is decided to just charge them with espionage and let the courts deal with them. The party is allowed to hire a lawyer and it's one who seems quite proficient at her job; Sandra Diest. She tells them that they lucked out; getting the one good judge in the city. But other than that, things aren't great; espionage carries quite the penalty. She will also contact Odrik's cousin who is a ductak (major) with the Bruised But Not Broken and stationed in Midtal, maybe she can help a little.
Court starts with the Otteun salute; a soldier holds his right hand over his heart and raises his left as he exclaims: "Glory to Otteun! Glory to the Ott!" Their lawyer was right; the judge, major Nefruck, an older dwarf lady is quite critical of the case. “How long till they were caught?” “Within a few minutes, your honor.” “So they didn’t uncover much.” “Maybe the Alarm spell didn’t trigger immediately, your honor.” “That’s not how that spell works, Captain.” “What could they have realistically have seen in that time?” “I can’t divulge that here, your honor, those are state secrets.” “You mean anything that any sensible intelligence service would assume we have.”
The fact remains that they broke into one of the most secure places in the country, if they wanted to or not, so in the end they are sentenced to only one year in a class M penal camp; not the many years that they would have gotten from any other judge. The legal system here allows for half the sentence to be paid as a fine instead; at a rate of 10 gp per month. Izzy pays up the 240 gp needed for all four of them and thus they are to serve six months now.
Peca M3
Two days later they are loaded into a wagon to be brought to their new home. They are not the only prisoners to be transferred. There is also a tall, blond, very young man, Kyrton, who does nothing but cry and shiver, and two half-orcs, who couldn't be more different.
During their travel they learn that Neske Horthor, originally from Dogbourne, got two years for incitement but she is quite combative and already talking about how she can inspire the inmates at the camp to standing up to the atrocious system they live under. The other, Harl Zorgar, a wheelwright who was falsely accused of vandalism, is very concerned about his wife and children and his shop; his partner is not a good businessman. Kyrton hardly talks but they learn he got ten years. Zayn tries to cheer him up but Odrik tells him not to coddle him.
After a journey of two days they arrive at Penal Camp Mid-Level Security 3.
Weirder Stuff
Six months later our friends are being released from the penal camp and they conclude that things were not so bad at all; the camp was a lot nicer than they initially feared. Other inmates did say that this camp was definitely much better than any other they had been in. All their belongings are returned to them and as they stand in the entrance hall of the main building, finally dressed in their own clothes again they can't help but notice some amazing food smells coming from the nearby receiving room where their intake was done half a year ago.
Major Fries then comes over to them and tells them that he had a look at their files back when they arrived and noticed they are not typical inmates and were given something they might consider a raw deal. He then continues and says that he hopes he won't have to welcome them here again and that they are free to go. However... a friend of his needs help and he would appreciate it if they were to listen to what he has to say. He explains that his friend even brought a chef to prepare a nice meal, so if they go into the room they can eat and listen at the same time.
After making sure they will be allowed to leave, whether they decide to help or not, they go into to room and enjoy a more than lovely meal. The man there is clearly anxious but he waits till they have finished their food before launching into his story. He introduces himself as Heiner Garsunkel, a merchant from Rasstul and explains that his son, Rudi, has gone missing and he wants them to find him.
When asked for more details he tells them that his son went to the abandoned village of Adleren in the Nellu Valley. The valley is considered to be haunted by the locals and no one has lived there for centuries. But there was an earthquake recently that also included the valley. His son is interested in all kinds of 'weird magic' as his father tells it, and has gone there in the hopes of finding some.
It's been nearly a week now and he should have returned days ago. Heiner went to see a priest and their divination showed that Rudi was in peril and only has days to live, at most. It's more than a day to get to the valley from here. The party, particularly Zayn, agree to go find him and the merchant will pay them a hundred gold pieces each, plus expenses (Boldrek insists), when they bring his son back. Heiner tells them he will be waiting at the Udell inn in Midtal. He has four horses ready for them and soon they are off to Nellu Valley.
Midtal, for real this time
The party returns to the capital as free men and make their first stop the Pride of Labor, the temple to Ulaa. Their they find a priest that can take a look at Rudi and see if there's anything dangerous there. The priest comments it's probably wise they came here and didn't go to the temple of Pholtus. She can't find anything nefarious or evil but does comment that the boy must have gone through something quite traumatic, the party has decided not to share any information on their adventure as the Ott might be very unhappy with that.
When they go to the Udell inn, Heiner Garsunkel is in tears to see his boy again, hugging him for a long time and thanking the party profusely. Eventually he remembers to pay our friends. The party tells him about the thing that happened after the rescue and their visit to the priest. The father is concerned but Rudi does look ok, so for now he is just happy, but he'll heed their warning.
With all that done the party looks for a reasonable inn to stay at and are directed to the Pilgrim’s Hall in the Warei Ziek. The next day they can relax a little and do some shopping, they come across Top Shelf - Books & Brandy, a really nice bookstore and tavern. They also hear some of the latest news in town. Apparently an Ott Military Police investigator has gone missing, this is of course not confirmed by the Ott. And a House Ditta caravan had some kind of trouble entering the town at the Elf Gate; they are quite mad though no one seems to know exactly what transpired.
Over the next days Izzy has her own adventures; working for Abreo Couture, and eventually ending up with a Sewing Bird of Sowing.
The Exorcist
There is no Adventurers’ Society or anything like that in town, the Ott isn't big on people hiring adventurers. But asking around in taverns and the like is often enough to find some work. In the evening there is a note at the inn, asking to come to a tavern at ten the next morning for a job that will take under an hour and will pay 25 gp per person.
The note said to meet at the Bloody Thorn tavern on Pit Close in Pottpic Ziek. The street outside is busy with workers going to and fro, magpies have gathered on the roof of a nearby warehouse, their chattering is so loud that foremen have to shout at the top of their lungs to make their orders known to the workers.
The tavern is mostly empty, this time of day doesn’t see many patrons except for the few regulars who are as much part of the decor as anything. A man in a hooded cloak sits alone at a table and motions the party over when he sees them enter. “You are the adventurers?” he asks in a gravelly voice as they sit down and he gestures to the barkeep to bring drinks.
He takes his hood down, you see a man in his fifties with short, white hair around a bald spot and a short, well-kept beard, equally white. “I am Tymos Moltar, I hope I can count on your discretion,” he says as his gaze sweeps across our friends.
“I am a cleric of Pholtus, yes, you can keep your comments for now,” he starts, “the thing is, I don’t agree with most of my colleagues on certain things, especially when it comes to the innocent. Protecting them should be just as important as destroying evil. Alas, I find myself severely outnumbered in this regard, my confreres would destroy anyone possessed as that guarantees the evil is removed from this world.”
“And now I find myself doing things away from the watchful eye of the church, if this is how things have to be, so be it,” he explains. “Now, for your job. There are ways to exorcise demons from those they possess, these ways are not easy but they can be successful, thus far I have been able to rescue four people. The danger lies in the demon, or others of its kind manifesting, this is where you come in.”
“I have worked with other adventurers in the past but they are out of town on business and right now I have a possessed woman who is in great need, I would go there right now, if you are willing.”
The party joins him for short walk deeper into the ziek and come to a narrow street full of three-story residential buildings. They follow Tymos into one of the buildings where he knocks on the door of apartment 46. A haggard looking man of middle age opens the door and lets everyone inside.
“This is Koger, it is his wife, Bhula, who has been possessed,” the priest says, “We will free her of this fiendish influence, you have my word,” he says and puts his hand on the man’s arm. He then brings our friends to the bedroom. The place isn’t very large and with everyone there, the bedroom is just about filled to capacity.
On the bed lays a woman wearing a simple nightshift, many ropes keep her tied to the bed. “Are you here to see me kill this pitiful morsel, priest?” she spits at Tymos in a voice much deeper and raspier than should come from a human woman. He doesn’t reply and takes off his cloak, revealing that he is wearing his full priestly regalia beneath it, including a large holy symbol of Pholtus around his neck.
“You are all going to die, I am going to tear you limb from limb,” the woman screams as she looks around the room, her neck moving rather more than could be good for her. “Get ready to take down any fiends,” the cleric tells you as he takes out a vial of water, the holy kind, you assume.
“Lightbringer, bless this water and infuse it with your radiant power,” he intones as he holds the vial up to the ceiling. He then sprinkles some of the liquid on the woman, wisps of steam rise from her body and she grins, her mouth a very disturbing and unnatural grimace.
“We have all the time in the world,” she sings in a grating voice as she looks at the cleric defiantly, “Just for slaughter. Nothing more. Every step of the way. Will find us. With the ruins of your world far behind us.”
Tymos takes a deep breath. “Great Pholtus, bring your Light to bear upon this creature, purify them, drive out the darkness till none remains,” he recites. The body on the bed arches their back and the ropes snap like they are strings, the body now rising up in the air, floating there. “My wife!” her husband croaks out as he sinks to his knees.
The woman laughs and grins disturbingly again before singing; “I've had the time of my life. And I owe it all to you.”
“Lightbringer, remove this spawn of the pits, eject this demon into the world for all to see,” the priest continues. All of a sudden there is the smell of rotten eggs in the air and four hunched and misshapen figures appear in the room. Their features are asymmetrical and deformed, and their mottled green and violet skin is hairless except for one or two uncomfortable looking patches of wiry bristles. They have elongated heads with tiny red eyes that swell with hate.
Combat breaks out in the room that is almost not big enough to hold everyone in it. The battle is not going the party's way but a charge from the strange tendril wand helps sway the odds and our friends manage to vanquish the creatures.
All through the combat Tymos keeps his position next to the bed, intoning; “Pholtus banish you,” as the woman writhes in the air. The moment the last of the demons dies there is a flash of blinding light and the cleric stumbles, going down to one knee as the body of the woman sinks down to the bed and she looks around confused.
“You are safe now,” the priest tells the bewildered woman as he gets back up and looks around. “The demon got away but his luck won’t hold, one of these days he will be mine, I promise you this,” he says as he gathers his belongings. The husband hurries over to his wife and holds her as he cries.
“Let’s give them some privacy,” he tells our friends and he puts his cloak back on as they exit the apartment. He takes out his money pouch and pays everyone the agreed upon amount. “Thank you, you did good in there,” he tells them, “Should I need your help again I won’t hesitate to call on you. But now I must see to them and then return to the cathedral, mass will be starting soon.”
Tavern Arson
It's a few days later and our friends have just had dinner, they are walking down Huck Street, passing Foch’s Fireworks, when they hear an explosion and then a dull roar, flames and smoke coming from the street up ahead. Turning the corner they see people standing around, coughing and retching, someone on fire coming out of a building, falling to the cobbles. There is someone running into a street further on, but most pressing is the sound people screaming inside the building.
As they run over they see that it's a tavern that's on fire; the Dreavy Hinker. The front door is open and inside there is a lot of fire. The walls are stone and the floor is flagstone but the ceiling has caught fire and some kind of substance is burning on many parts of the floor, trapping people behind the fire.
Our friends go inside to try and get people out. Odrik throws a table over a ring of fire, creating an opening, though it's not easy to get the drunken man who was trapped into a fireman's hold. Izzy manages to convince a waitress to run for it and then notices a number of people at the back of the place, trying desperately to open the backdoor. Meanwhile Zayn uses a spider climb spell to rescue the trapped bartender, casting it on the man after climbing his way there, also spotting a trapdoor in the floor.
Numerous thunderwave spells from Izzy eventually explodes out the back door, revealing that someone has used two heavy chains to block the exit. Meanwhile Zayn and Odrik use more tables to create openings for the people hiding in the root cellar to make their way out. It's a small miracle but our friends manage to rescue everyone, though it's quite a close call when a part of the ceiling collapses almost right on top of Odrik and a few patrons.
When they see a bucket brigade is being started the party decides to rest in the street to recover from their lungs full of smoke. When an Ott military police patrol shows up Odrik can't resist placing a disparaging remark, fortunately they are too busy to make something of it. Professional fire fighters eventually also show up and the fire is contained, though the tavern is well and truly destroyed.
Zayn has a talk with the barkeep and learns that someone firebombed the place, this was no accident. Then the owner shows up, Mirko Dannark. He comes across as a shady character but tells them that he owns a number of properties in town and that they drink for free at any of them. Then he looks at Boldrek and Odrik, and decides that five free drinks, per night, is probably best. He's not that surprised when told someone blocked the backdoor, it's quite clear this was an attack, and he might have an idea who's behind it. Zayn offers their services, for a price of course, and he tells them he might take them up on it.
No Monkey Business
The next one or two days go by without much happening though there is of course more local news. There was some kind of accident at Otteun Academy of Engineering & Technology (OAET) but any reports of deaths is pure nonsense and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Then another note arrives at the inn, this one with beautiful penmanship, asking our friends to come to an address in the Udell Ziek. They do so and come to a large townhouse. A butler suit, with no one seemingly inside it, opens the door and escorts them to the garret. The inside of the building is quite tasteful and probably expensive, doors with wood carvings, thick carpet on the floor and stairs.
The garret has a low ceiling, small windows and is quite cramped with books being stacked everywhere. There are a few desks and lots of interesting items can be found all over, including book repair supplies on one of the desks. Then from around a the corner of stacks of books steps a chimpanzee. It wears a three piece suit and has a monocle in one eye. “What, have you never seen a primate before?” it says in an Ogren accent when our friends stare.
He introduces himself as Maurice and tells them that he would like for them to 'recover' a book. He goes on to explain that he found out recently that it was written by Johan Bergut and is likely to be found in the family crypt at the Gartill cemetery. The title of the book is True Tales of Talmid, a roman à clef, written under a pseudonym about a century ago. The Bergut family had a decline of fortune and is no longer around so Maurice doesn't think the crypt has seen any attention recently.
Our friends take the job and while the others go shopping, Izzy goes to the cemetery and finds the crypt. It's not seen any upkeep for a while but the door is locked. She reports back and the next dawn they go out to the cemetery and use their newly purchased crowbars to easily open the door. The front room of the crypt is dusty and filled with spiderwebs, but other than that in good shape. The back room, however, is a different story; a sinkhole has opened up in the floor and most of the room's content has fallen to the cavern below, at least sixty feet down.
They lower Izzy down by rope and then Zayn tries to climb down the rope, only to immediately slip and fall all the way down, hurting himself severely when he lands on the pile of debris at the bottom. The dwarves fortunately descend without further problems. They take a short rest so the warlock can recover from his injuries and then search through the debris. They don't find the book but do find some jewelry that used to be on the Bergut corpses, which they pocket.
The cavern extends in one direction so they search further on and Zayn goes over to a kobold corpse to investigate it. At that moment four tendrils shoot from the single stalagmite in the room, which turns out to be no rock column but a creature; a roper! The fight is on and it's a tricky one, it keeps hitting with at least a few tendrils and pulling our friends near to then bite them hard. Add to that two small creatures falling from the ceiling, hitting our friends. But those creatures then can't do anything once on the floor but try and escape at a snail's pace.
Our friends are sturdy enough to weather the attacks and eventually kill their opponents. And now that they moved further into the cave they even spot a damaged book on the floor. It's the novel they were looking for and Zayn uses a mending cantrip to put it back together. They go back up the rope, Boldrek dirties himself (even more) and goes outside pretending to be an undead creature, scaring a caretaker who is hoeing weeds.
They return to the city and deliver the book to Maurice who pays them 40 gp per person, which includes a danger fee they negotiated. The jewelry they recovered is worth around two hundred gp.
Bagpipes of Stamina
The rest of the week is rather quiet, the only real news seems to be about this boy, Jan Lath, who is building a huge fish corral in the Tal river. It’ll never work, is the popular opinion. The next few days are rather busy and Izzy and Zayn go out shopping. The half-orc thinks he sees his mother in the street and when he catches up with her it turns out to be his aunt who is flabbergasted to see a nephew she never knew about. They go and get something to drink to get better acquainted.
Boldrek is out to find someone who can shed some light on the trinket he carries. When suddenly he is approached by someone wearing rather outlandish clothes, but not to his eyes as they are from the same country. She is clean shaven but has a magnifique mustache. “Kia Ora, cuz, didn’t think to find someone from back home here in the wop wops. Haven’t see another Wik in yonks, not since my mate carked it. You look skux, eh. Got any scroggin on ya? Been gagging for some,” she says as she looks him up and down.
She introduces herself as Nalini, and they decide to have some drinks and trade some stories from back home. “Let’s go in there and get our booze on,” she says on passing the first tavern. After a number of drinks she suddenly changes the subject. “So, you want to bring your little coozer out to play? I could go for a good shag. Or is it tied to some gal? Don’t want to get between anything, just looking for a little, well, heaps, of horizontal action. Or tied to a guy, of course, no judgement. I can do a pretty good guy, if you’re into that.” In a deep voice she goes: “eh, cuz,” then belches. They go back to Boldrek's inn as it's nearer and have some fun. Afterwards she tells him she'll look him up again, and leaves. “Haere Ra.”
Boldrek now has time to find a sage who, after being paid 10 gp and a day of study comes up with quite a different result than he heard before. According to them, the rune was used by a civilization from before the Collapse, not much is known about them unfortunately, the rune itself might mean ‘shelter’ or ‘opening’, those are the sage’s best guesses. The trinket itself is much newer though, not even fifty years old.
Odrik is walking down one of the busiest streets when he suddenly sees something that just has to be Gladys, the crook of that one pipe is unmistakable. He barges through the crowd immediately, catching up with the person carrying her. This turns out to be a bard on his way to a gig at the Boar's Cider-house. Odrik offers to buy the bagpipes but the man doesn't want to part with it, ever since coming into possession of it his luck has turned and he's been doing well.
As the bard moves off to his destination Odrik notices someone else from the corner of his eye. Crossing the intersection is Xezvis! The fighter decides to leave Gladys for later and follows the tiefling. On the way he finds an urchin and pays the child to empty his wine-skin all over the tiefling with the idea to make him easier to track down. Our friends manages to follow him to Quody & Rizoll - Spells and Schooling where the Kasarian goes inside. Odrik then quickly returns to the inn.
Izzy continues her shopping in the Old Town Ziek and when she turns into a street from where the Cathedral of the Radiant Sun is visible a voice suddenly starts talking in her pocket. “Calling yourself the center of the universe, talk about a big head. Maybe you should look for a better hint near a more ancient god instead.” She quickly checks her belongings and it turns out a magic mouth has appeared on the Glass of Sellv'vi, speaking these words.
She asks around about older gods and is directed to the Exchange of Gods. Once that building comes into view, the mouth appears again: “Getting warmer, but you want hot. To the place with the most beautiful flowers, you will trot.” She needs to ask around again and it takes a little more effort but eventually she figures out that this clue might lead to Resa’s Rest Rose Garden. And indeed, the mouth speaks when that building comes into view: “This is where secrets keep, you will need to get in deep. Hidden right between its siblings, fortunately the ’78 no one drinks.”
Her first inkling is that the clue might hint at the inner garden of the building. Unsure if visitors are allowed there she casts invisibility and sneaks inside. As she is getting her bearings an attractive girl appears next to her and speaks sotto voce; "can I help you find what you are looking for? I'm afraid we don't allow these kinds of spells on the premises." Izzy then drops the spell and is lead to the garden. She looks for clues but eventually decides to return to the inn.
Stories are exchanged when they all meet up and they decide to go to the Boar's Cider-house that evening to get Gladys back. The bard is already on stage and everyone looks for ways to help return the instrument to its original owner, each in their own special way. Odrik has a talk with the bard after his first set and learns he's called Fyodor Wanner. He seems nice enough and spent a number of years in Stjordvik, something they bond over.
Odrik offers even more money but the bard likes the bagpipes quite a lot. However, a hundred gold pieces is a lot of money. In the end they decide on a 'Battle of the Bagpipes'; whoever the crowd likes best will get Gladys and Fyodor will get the money either way. Our friends all try and help make Odrik's performance the best it can be and it turns out he hasn't forgotten how to play, doing just a little better than the bard, who is no slouch! In the end the public is very clear in their choice; Odrik wins and he and Gladys are reunited.
The next day the party decides to look into the riddle and go back to the Rose Garden. The brothel is busy at all hours of the day but after listening to the riddle again they think they might need to look in the wine cellar. They find diagonal cellar doors outside the building, closed with a padlock. Izzy has been carrying around a ring of keys for a long time and decides to try them. The very first one opens the padlock!
They go inside and look around, eventually coming across a locked door. They first look further but after running into someone who is likely a high ranking Ott officer and his bag man they return to the locked door. Zayn uses his gaseous form spell and goes through the keyhole. He finds stairs further down and beyond a wine cellar. The dwarves open the door with their crowbars and then they all go down the stairs.
The cellar is very large and parts of it are covered in a thick layer of dust. It is here that Izzy finds a bottle of '78 vintage; something small and likely made of metal seems to be inside the bottle. She pockets it and the party goes back up, planning to return the way they came. An employee that runs into them is quickly taken care of by a suggestion spell from the half-orc. There's two more people further on and Izzy's charm person spell only works on of of them. But then Odrik manages to dig the name of one of the Ott generals from his memory and tells the two kitchen staff that they are here on his behalf, slipping them some money too.
With that dealt with, they are outside again. After returning to the inn they carefully decant the wine into six glasses, some of them fearing it might be poisoned. It is now clear a metal ring is inside the bottle, it doesn't fit through the opening. Izzy just smashes the bottle and recovers the ring. Soon enough she manages to identify it as a Ring of Stamina.
A few days later they are approached at the inn by a half-elven girl who introduces herself as Marila Eryendor. She is looking for investors as she wants to run a small caravan to Maern Feanorin and back, since the elves are relatively close by right now and she knows exactly where. She wants to buy a few wagon loads of ivory scrimshaw, woodcraft products, leather products, and an alcoholic beverage; Ithoar Luic. Selling those things in Midtal should deliver a very nice profit.
She tells them she needs a hundred gold pieces to run one wagon, and fifty more for each next one, with three as a maximum as she estimates that's about the amount of goods the elves have to sell. She suggests a 60/40 split but the party makes a counter offer; they will join her and that will even save money on caravan guards, all this for a 50/50 split. She agrees.
Marila quickly arranges for wagons and people to drive them and the next day they leave town. The journey is fortunately uneventful and after a day at the Maern Feanorin where they load up on three hundred gp of goods, they return to town without any problems. At the gate things are more difficult. They were harassed when leaving but returning with all this stuff will definitely make things more fraught. Fortunately a twenty gold piece bribe smooths most things over and after an hour they are back inside the city. Marila manages to sell everything at quite a nice markup and their venture makes quite a nice profit; 175 gp.
Reverie’s Chalice
Back in town they hear the latest news; grave robbers have been active at Gartill cemetery, what is the world coming to? Do people have no respect anymore? The party spends the next days enjoying their profits when eventually a note is delivered to them at the tavern. It's an invitation by His Exalted, Elgur Boarsund, head priest of Ancev to have dinner at ElaBOARate More tonight to discuss a job he might have for them.
A free dinner is something the party won't turn down, let alone in one of the best eateries in town. They arrive at the place at the same time he does, as he walks up, dressed in a comfortable dark grey suit with orange trim, people come up to him and want to shake his hands. He's quite popular; it turns out he was a successful musician before turning to religion.
Over dinner he feels out the party, trying to get to know them a little better. He doesn't want to give to many details about the job yet, just that he wants them to recover an ancient object from somewhere long abandoned. He'll pay 50 gp per person and any other loot they find is theirs, as long as he can buy anything they recover at market rate, should there be anything interesting. At the end of the dinner he mentions one more thing; while the job is perfectly legal, none of what they see or do should be mentioned to the Ott, that would only complicate things. The party accepts the job and he gives them an address to meet at in the morning.
The next morning they go to Botunn Street which lays off Huss Way in the Old Town Ziek. The street is all mansions and when they get to the right one, Elgur is there and opens the door to let them inside. From outside the building looked quite normal but it turns out that the back part of the mansion is one huge hole in the earth.
Waiting there is a gnome woman of indeterminable age. She is missing both her legs but is sitting on top of a four legged construction of wood and metal that she can move around in. The priest introduces her as Wydda Eskwin and explains that she is responsible for the digging and all that comes with it. It turns out they have been excavating deep under the city, it's been here so long that there are plenty of very interesting sites to be found.
Right now they are looking for a relic called Reverie’s Chalice. It’s supposedly a simple pewter chalice of about a hand high with a single circle engraved into it. They don’t much more about it but Ancev wants it recovered, and that's enough. They have recently dug into a place called the Halls of Herrn where the item should be located; the place is many centuries old and they haven’t been able to find much useful information except for a passphrase: “Tomorrow Will Be Kinder”.
Wydda leads them to a huge, six-legged golem waiting just down the hole. Once they are all inside the construct, she brings them all the way down to their destination, a journey of over an hour. Here she will wait for them to ferry them back up to the surface once they have recovered the item. The party exits their conveyance and come to the Halls of Herrn.
The Bear Necessities
Once back above ground they go to the Chapel of Conviction to find Elgur Boarsund. They warn him of the chalice's powers before handing it over and he seems quite surprised and apologizes for putting them at this risk. They are paid for their work and the priest gives each of them a potion of healing to make up a little for their harrowing experience.
The party takes some well deserved days off and enjoys all the town has to offer. They hear the latest news going about; a new song titled Six Axle has become real popular and people keep singing or humming it. Then one day they are taking a stroll through Zent Gardens in the Park ziek and they see something rather strange. A dwarf in a Companions of Elric outfit is walking there with a large brown bear at his side. It seems people here are used to it, no one is screaming or running away.
The moment they see the bear, a voice sounds in Boldrek's head; "whoa, look at that medveditsa, what a honey! Hubba hubba!" The barbarian can't do anything as his body changes into a bear and he is just a helpless passenger as his new form runs over to the other bear and immediately mounts her from behind.
An incensed dwarf comes up to the rest of the party and exclaims; "what the fuck?" "Fuck is right," is all Odrik can reply as he looks at the scene in front of him. "What the hell is your druid thinking, you can't do this, this is not normal behavior," the Companions dwarf tells them, they can now see he is wearing purple, so he must be the leader of the local branch. Odrik tries to explain that Boldrek isn't a druid and doesn't have any control over this.
The dwarf has a better look at the fighter and sees the telltale signs. "Bruised?" he asks, "current or former?" "Retired, Quintak Odrik Hilderfinn," is what our friend replies. The other dwarf continues: "Hmm, retired here as well, Quadok Kanuf Huldek, I now run the Companions here. I want you to know that whatever is happening right now, is not on, poor Ayen didn't ask for this. I want to see your friend, or maybe all of you at the headquarters in the next few days for a formal apology, are we understood?"
It takes quite a while for Maior to sow his wild oats but eventually he is done and clambers off the female bear, who seemed just fine with all of this, transforming poor Boldrek back to his original dwarf form. Kanuf goes to check on his pet and Zayn exclaims; "my poor eyes, I want to wash them out with soap!" "Take Soap's, he never uses his," Odrik immediately responds, pointing at the still shell shocked barbarian.
The Horand Heist
More days of rest are definitely needed after all the bear on bear action and our friends do more shopping and sight seeing. It's quite late when the party finally has time for dinner, fortunately that means that there’s a table free at one of the upscale inns in town; the Tonn, the food here comes highly recommended. Our friends take a table in the back next to the hearth, the fire still just about smoldering.
The main course choices are pork tenderloin with a mushroom and pepper sauce, or breaded lemony perch with onions, chives, and parsley. Both are served with pan roasted potatoes and boiled vegetables; carrots, cauliflower, and peas. Desert is potato dumplings with a sugared plum inside.
The service is quick and friendly, it doesn’t take long before their sumptuous meal is on the table. The food is served on delicate Fir Lanearian porcelain plates and the drinks are served in even more delicate crystal glasses. It is indeed the gastronomic experience that was promised and our friends are soon polishing off the last of the desert.
Some people are making their way to the stairs and their conversation can be overheard, a dwarven woman tells the two human men in her company; “there is no need to worry, I am close to putting everything into action, I just need a little more time and then once my crew gets here, everything will go without a hitch.”
Odrik immediately recognizes the voice; it’s his aunt, Irja. She is his father’s youngest sister, only a little older than him, and the black sheep of the family. When she comes closer to the stairs, she sees Odrik sitting there and without missing a beat, she continues, “as a matter of fact it seems my crew has arrived ahead of schedule,” and makes her way over to the table, moving her eyes left and right almost imperceptibly as she looks at her nephew, signaling him to keep silent.
“Let me introduce you,” she tells her two companions as she walks over to Zayn who is sitting next to the hearth. “Embers here is who you want when you need to get inside anything. Don’t be fooled by the rather coarse package, this is an artiste,” she lifts up Zayn’s hand, “these fingers are capable of more delicate work than any surgeon. No lock can match Ember’s skills, and if mundane solutions won’t suffice, he has quite the magical prowess as well.”
“Sometimes violence is the answer,” she says as she puts her hands on Bodrek’s shoulders and looks at his nearly empty plate on the table, “when you have a door that can’t be opened any other way, or need to keep a door shut when guards are arriving, or when a fight is inevitable. He’s your man in those circumstances. He is called Plums, the name refers to his, ah, glockenspiel. He’s adamant that it’s not due to a Miforan disease but that all men are like that where he is from, best not to belabor the point.”
She walks over to Izzy next and looks around the table. “This is our Face, the enigma; Crystal. A shell that can be filled with anything you need. Crystal doesn’t play a role, Crystal becomes a person and then lives that life, there’s no breaking character. And the range; you want an incredibly charming, garrulous elf who can talk anyone into doing anything, easy. A shy human wallflower who doesn’t make as much as eye contact, you got it.”
She finally ends up next to Odrik. “And here we have the Wunderkind himself,” she proclaims, “not only does he have a head for numbers better than the meanest merchant, he is a miracle at procuring anything one could possibly need. If the plan suddenly calls for a riverboat or six trained dogs, he’ll have it for you within the hour. His talent truly is amazing.” She looks at Odrik as he starts to open his mouth, “unfortunately, the Wunderkind’s a mute,” and grab his chin, squishing it and then tapping his cheek.
"You better make sure you get it all done," one of the two men tells her. "Don't forget, we know how to find you," adds the other. They leave and Irja turns to her nephew. "It's so good to see you Odrik, I need your help, I'm really in it now." She explains that she got tangled up with Rhes Haghed and now has to do a job for them; the Horand Heist.
A Soldier's Life
The morning after the heist there's an enthusiastic knocking at the door. Standing there is Egan, a half-elf who is one of the first recruits Odrik ever trained at the Bruised But Not Broken. “I did it, Odrik, I found the damn thing, that Niffug Cam, stole it right from under their noses. I gave it to Oban before he went training with the new recruits in the Dunkel Warrens. I couldn’t believe my luck when he said you were here in town!” he rattles excitedly.
“Urgh!” a massive sword suddenly bursts through the half-elf’s chest and all the color drains from his face as his eyes look down at the sight in disbelieve. “What’s going…” are his final words as the sword is pulled back and Egan collapses to the floor.
A massive figure, over 2 meters tall, has become visible. They are wearing a large cloak that hides their face and most of their body but Odrik notices pale white scaly hands holding the sword, an albino lizardfolk giant? “Thus end the careers of most thieves,” the cloaked figure says in gravelly voice, “those warrens can’t be far from here.”
Our friends are quick to react but not quite quick enough; the assailant uses some kind of magic to trans-locate. Odrik immediately checks on Egan but it's too late for the half-elf, his life has come to a rather abrupt end. Parsing all that happened leaves the fighter with only one conclusion; the need to get to the Dunkel Warrens. As they are leaving town Izzy happens to see a familiar face; Ingra Skobet, the teacher from Banak, but now is not the time.
Otteun
Midtal, again
The party returns from the Warrens, regrettably without Odrik but with a bunch of Bruised, in both senses of the word, recruits. Later they will all get together for a Death Drink for the fallen warrior. At the Elf Gate they are stopped for a short while and Izzy notices two guards talking and looking in their direction. They are asked some basic questions before being allowed back into the city. They also heard the latest news during their wait; a Thûrash caravan was attacked, no one was left alive.
They return to the inn they have been staying at, the Pilgrim’s Hall. Not even two hours later there is a knock at the door and our friends see Scurti, Pal, and a number of goons standing there. Scurti tells them to take their stuff, they are checking out, he is going to save them a bunch of money. The party decides not to argue and follow the Rhes Haghed members.
They soon reach their destination; a house on Rosen street, still in the Warei ziek. How would they like to be homeowners, Scurti asks them. Someone in the party can buy this, very nice, house and he'll even take care of the money. They'll be live here for free, they get the whole ground floor, a kitchen and three rooms, the second floor and the attic are for his people to do whatever they need to do, the party doesn't need to worry about that.
He soon produces a contract that states the name of the seller, A. Strohmann, and the amount. After a little back and forth Boldrek signs the document and they are now the proud owners of a premium piece of property in one of the nicer neighborhoods of the city. They have a look around and a number of the Rhes Hagheds go up the stairs to do whatever they do there.
In the evening, when our friends think everyone has left, they decide to go check things out upstairs, they were never expressly told not to go up there. They find that most of the rooms have been converted into something akin to offices, though there is also a sort of common room and improvised kitchenette. The attic is filled with furniture, some covered with sheets, all of it just placed haphazardly.
They find nothing but empty sheets of paper and writing implements, also a small lock-box with what sounds like some coins inside. Our friends think there must be more and start searching for hidden rooms or compartments but don't find any. Then Zayn goes through every room with a detect magic spell. In the attic he detects something fallen between the couch cushions.
Being extremely cautious, Izzy uses a mage hand spell and a rather sooty hand carefully lifts the cushions away. Laying there is an amulet of sorts. The party isn't sure if this is a trap or test, or maybe just a forgotten or lost item, opinions are divided. In the end Boldrek just grabs it and takes it downstairs where he spends the next hour identifying the item and learns it's an Aegis of Recovery. He decides to keep it, but not wear it, for now.
When our friends go out to do some shopping they come across a familiar face; it's Kieran Dawncaller, who they met in Peca M3. He's standing on street corner, playing his lute. They get to talking and invite him to a tavern where they spend all evening catching up and regaling him with stories of their latest adventures. They also see a rather strange looking person sitting a few booths over.
The Exorcist II
As it happens, Kieran has a room at the Pilgrim's Hall and when an urchin shows up with a note for the party he volunteers to take it to them. He reads the note first and then finds the party at their house on Rosen street. The note is from Tymos Moltar, asking for their assistance, it's the same thing as before, and he'll pay them the same amount.
The missive mentions an address in the Pekkun Ziek. As they go there, they happen to pass by Zorgar & Gurun Wheelwrights, the place doesn't look great, and they wonder how Harl Zorgar is doing these days. When they arrive a woman is waiting for them, and opens the door of the warehouse. Inside it’s mostly empty but Tymos is waiting next to an improvised bed with a young boy tied to it.
“Thank you, Kerinn, please go wait outside, no parent should have to witness this,” he tells the woman. “No, stay and watch me murder everyone using the puny body of your weak little child,” the boy on the bed snarls in a voice much deeper than could possibly come from it. The mother looks terrified and quickly moves to the door. Tymos looks at our friends and gets introduced to Kieran. “You know what to expect now, I suggest you prepare yourselves,” he tells them.
“I came real close to killing you last time,” the unnerving voice comes from the bed, “I know what you can do now, this time your deaths are guaranteed! You though, you are new, and a paladin, no less. How delicious.” The cleric ignores it and takes out a vial of water again. “Lightbringer, bless this water and infuse it with your radiant power,” he recites as he holds the vial up to the ceiling before sprinkling some on the boy, puffs of steam rising from where the water lands.
The child wriggles in its bindings and smirks as he looks at the priest. “One more time. We're gonna palpitate. Oh yeah, all right. Don't stop the flensing,” he sings with a voice that reverberates very unnaturally.
Tymos spreads out his arms. “Great Pholtus, bring your Light to bear upon this creature, purify them, drive out the darkness till none remains,” he intones. The boy arches his back and red light shines through his skin as the bindings come apart, the body floating up into the air until it is a meter off the ground.
The child’s neck rotates fully with a sickening snapping sound as he looks around and then starts to sing again: “Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day. Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time.”
“Lightbringer, remove this spawn of the pits, eject this demon into the world for all to see,” Tymos continues. The words have only just left his mouth or there is the sound of a loud crack and suddenly three creatures appear on the warehouse floor.
The first one’s flesh festers with open sores. Its tall, gaunt frame is festooned with patches of short bristles. It has the head of a large, sickly ram with massive curved horns, rheumy eyes, and froth-caked lips stretched over thin, needle-like fangs. Its snakelike tail writhes, the tip a twisted tangle of metallic spines. Reeking of decay, the second creature is covered in black, leathery skin. A large curved horn rises out of the back of its skull. A mouth of jagged teeth takes up half of the foul creature’s head. The third is the same kind of hunched and misshapen figure they fought last time.
The party proves to be very resistant to just about everything the fiends throw at them and the battle is not even close to as difficult as the demon promised. The moment the last of the fiends perishes, there is a flash of blinding light and the cleric staggers as the body of the boy flows down to the bed. Tymos quickly casts a healing spell and the boy opens his eyes.
The priest thanks our friends for their assistance and pays them, he also tells them that the demon is still not defeated so he might have more need of their services in the future. The mother gets reunited with her child and the party goes to find a tavern for lunch and more talks with Kieran, seeing if he might be interested in joining them permanently and coming to live at their new house;. the paladin accepts.
Delivery Driver
As the party leaves the tavern they soon see a prisoner transport wagon in the street, there are no Ott in view, though from the sounds coming from a nearby building, they are likely in there. Inside the vehicle is a man, pressed up against the small, barred window, calling out. “Someone, help me!” he cries, “please, you have to help me or my family will die!”
Our friends go over and see what he is on about. Eventually they learn that he is supposed to deliver a bag to Tonwa Pottery in the Riverfront Ziek. If he doesn't deliver it before midnight his wife and daughter might be killed. The bag is in an alley in the Darkvall Ziek, hidden under a barrel. When asked he tells them that the bag contains sooth-salts, something Izzy vaguely recognizes as some kind of substance used by mages somewhere.
The man is just the guy who smuggles the stuff into the city, he doesn't know anything about what happens with it further, so he claims and he seems to be telling the truth. The Ott MP come out of the house with a struggling prisoner and so the party has to get away from the wagon but Zayn uses his telepathic ability to get him to nod at one last question. Though not everyone in the party is convinced they should help the man they do eventually decide to go check out the alley.
Once there they spot the barrel and discuss their method of approach. In the end, Izzy casts an invisibility spell and they walk all the way to the pottery with an invisible bard in between the other three of them. When they are near they go into an alley and have a look at the contents of the bag, it's some kind of crystalline substance, it could well be sooth-salts, as the man claimed.
Izzy then uses her hat of disguise to change into the visage of the man in the prison transport and walks into the pottery. A woman comes up to the bard and grabs the back from her hands. "Why didn't you use the back entrance?" she hisses. Izzy knows that her voice hasn't changed to match the man's so she mostly just coughs and acts apologetic. With other people around the woman apparently doesn't want to go into a discussion and just goes somewhere into the shop with the bag, leaving Izzy free to return to the others.
Bad Chemistry
It's been about a week and the latest news in town is that a huge stone fell from the sky and crashed somewhere in the Lenns Stonelands. The party is getting used to living in their new house with its daily guests. They decide to see if any messages have arrived for them at the inn, and one has. It reads: “Friends, I have some work that I think might suit you well, please come see me as soon as possible. Mirko Dannark.”
They go to the tavern baron and happen to see the same rather strange looking person they saw just a week ago, leaving his place. Once they get to speak with Mirko they learn that they arrived too late; he sent the message three days ago and he has just given the job to someone else. He explains that three days is an eternity in his kind of work. But he has lots of things cooking; he might have other work for them soon.
A day later the party is walking down the street when someone approaches them. It's an older gentleman with white hair, a curly mustache, and a monocle. He is dressed in a dark blue suit of classical design with a ruffled, turquoise handkerchief in the breast pocket. He wears a bowler hat and turquoise gloves. He carries a walking cane with copper ball top and copper ferrule. He squints and talks with careful diction.
He asks the party if they happen to be adventurers and when this is confirmed he introduces himself as Darius Nathos, the party then give their names. He explains that he has a need of some adventurers. He doesn't have time to explain more right now but if they can come to his place of business tomorrow afternoon, he will explain all. It's Nathos Alchemy Arsenal, just ask for the proprietor.
With that he takes his leave and our friends go find a tavern. Izzy would like to know a little more about this business and asks the tavern-keeper if he knows of the place. As it happens, someone overhears this and it turns out that this person, Orben Greeth, is a big fan of the place and can tell them quite a lot.
It is the largest alchemy supplier in Midtal and has been a staple for over a century, selling both ingredients and equipment. They are housed in three, large, connected buildings on the border of the Riverfront, Pekkun, and Udell Zieks. The man tells them he goes there every week, even if just to browse. And the smells in there; it's something else. Our friends go home but Kieran swings by their old in and makes sure any new messages get sent on to their new address.
The next day the party goes to Nathos Alchemy Arsenal and once in Darius explains to them that some kind of creature has been infiltrating the workshop at night and making a mess there. He wants this stopped and he'll leave it to the party how they go about this. No one really saw the creature, except on person who so it from the corner of their eye for a second; it was about the size of a dog. Nathos suggests the party return around 22:00 when everyone has gone home and they can then spend the night.
Our friends go buy caltrops and other supplies and return at the appointed time. Darius opens the door for them and brings them to the workshop and storage area, giving them a quick tour, it's clear he has given this tour before. “I’ve dismissed the night watchmen for this evening so you won’t have to worry about them. The kettles are on a low simmer, they will be fine till the morning shift shows up. Do please check the steeper every hour or so. Should there be large bubbles on the surface, pull the cord and they should disappear shortly. This is the address of an employee who lives nearby, if anything unforeseen happens and you need assistance, please go fetch him immediately.”
The workshop and storage is made of stone throughout. Large bays hold all kinds of ingredients; salt, powdered iron, crushed leaves, etc. A metal gantry on the ceiling holds a block and tackle to move heavy things around. A rickety looking walkway is attached high up to the wall along three sides of the wall. On one side of the room stand brewery size copper kettles, retorts, and all kinds of equipment. Next to the kettles there are two stone silos with a small window in them and an antechamber in front of each, these are called a steeper. One corner of the place is taken up with stacks of empty vials, beakers, jars and other receptacles.
Our friends scope the place and set up some early warning buckets and put caltrops on the ladders to the walkway. They then decide to split into two watches. Boldrek and Izzy take first watch and of the two, the bard will start with a patrol. When she goes and looks through the window of the second steeper she is hit by a crossbow bolt in her back. The surprise attack hits like a ton of bricks but Izzy is very lucky that she manages to resist the poison the bolt is coated with. Directly after her being hit, the heavy metal door closes and a frightening amount alchemist's fire fills the antechamber.
Boldrek reacts but the assailant is faster and manages to get off another bolt, hitting the now re-christened Boltrek for the same amount of damage as the bard, fortunately the dwarf also manages to withstand the poison. Boldrek then shouts to wake up the others and tries to open the metal door with his ax; he fails. Izzy goes through a lot of Healing Word spells; a spell she only recently added to her repertoire. And she manages to climb out of the antechamber; it doesn't have a roof.
The assailant must be on the walkway and Boldrek climbs up a ladder, putting his hands right into more of the paralytic poison. Being a dwarf he has little problem dealing with it though. The assassin flees through a grate to the shop part of the building and makes for the exit with our friends all giving chase. They can now see their opponent is a tall and thin man. Just as the would-be assassin jumps through a window Zayn manages to cast Hunger of Hadar right outside the window. A Command spell from Kieran gives them just enough time to catch up and grab the man as he stumbles out of the sphere of blackness and bitter cold.
Boldrek hits the man with his axe and does a lot of damage, the assailant cries surrender but the barbarian hits him again, putting him down. Kieran then uses Lay on Hands to bring the assailant back from the brink of death and they carry him back to workshop to interrogate him. Izzy is incensed and a Vicious Mockery from her could have put the man down again. It turns out he doesn't have much loyalty to his employer as he immediately spills the beans.
He was hired by Darius Nathos to kill Izzy and shout "Cerenna Palantor sends her regards!" He did not do so as that would have given away his position. Izzy recognizes the name immediately; it's the woman she lost her rapier to, back in Banak. She now also remembers what she learned about the Crustaceans; the way Darius was dressed, it is likely he is a member.
Our friends start to discuss what to do next and the assailant immediately offers to help them, he can get them inside Nathos' house, whatever they want, as long as they let him go afterwards. Many plans are considered; pretending Izzy died, and maybe the assailant as well. Eventually they settle on taking the man back to their house and keeping him tied up and gagged as Kieran gets his sleep so he'll be able to cast a Zone of Truth spell. The others will wait for Darius to return in the morning and grab him then.
An Ott patrol shows up and decides that the premises of an important tax-payer can't be left unprotected; the broken windows make looting much too easy. They stay out there till the personnel show up at six. Even though he promised, Nathos does not show up, and at nine he still hasn't shown his face. Izzy makes use of the time by trying her ring of keys on Darius' office door and would you believe it; one opens the lock. A search of the office finds nothing but what one would expect to find in an office; there is nothing that even hints of the Crustaceans.
Our friends decide to leave a note that they will be back tonight and then go back home. As they go through the front door, Scurti appears at the top of the stairs and pulls their prisoner into view. “I’m guessing this one’s yours and you had no plans to let him go?” he tells them.
“I was just walking home from my, ah, lady friend, when I saw this one sneaking out, covered in blood, so I took him back in, I was about to go find you.” The party explains that, yes, he is indeed their prisoner and they take him back from the Rhes Haghed mobster. Who tells them: “Tying Up 101; never leave them unobserved, they will always, and I mean, always, escape.”
Back in their rooms Boldrek stays with the prisoner till Kieran wakes. The paladin now has access to a Zone of Truth spell but he starts to just have a talk with the man and it turns out Kieran can be incredibly persuasive. The man, they never asked his name till now, Alrik Lenter, proves to have quite a lot to tell.
When asked why he does the things he does, he recounts quite the history. He used to be part of the cult of Zargos in town. They were run by the Kasarian Embassy and never really found out what their true purpose was, they were never activated to do anything. But they were paid well and supplied with a magic item or scroll once in a while. He doesn’t know any of the other cultists, they never met so they couldn’t give up anyone if caught.
Then one day, less than two years ago, Zargos no longer gave Alrik the few spells he used to be able to cast. Not long after he had his last meeting with his handler, Imiar Kyrtur. She told him that the Kasarians were done with the cult and they wouldn’t be meeting again. When he pressed her for details, she let slip that they decided to focus their attention elsewhere; the creation of Firstblooded through something called the Upscaling Program.
Ever since, the would-be assassin has been shopping his skills around town and has been doing all kinds of shady things to make ends meet. And with middling success, it can be said. This last job sure didn’t work out but Darius offered a lot of money; 50 gold pieces, half up front. When Kieran asks him where the money is, the man admits that he has a concealed pouch on him with 40 gp. The paladin asks for the 25-gp blood money and takes it.
Kieran then asks him if he hasn’t reconsidered his life choices by now and Alrik admits that ever since his capture he has been having second thoughts. If he were to be released, what would he do, asks the paladin. And the answer is that he plans to go to Rasstul where his sister runs a cooper business, maybe she could help him get an honest job. Kieran makes him swear that he will do so and then leads him to the door and releases the man. He does instruct his mastiff to escort Alrik for a while.
When the rest of the party wakes, they are quite surprised to hear that Kieran let their prisoner go, though he does tell them everything Alrik spilled to him, and gives all three five gold pieces from the money he took from the man. This does not do much for their mood but there’s no sense in crying over spilled milk. They decide not to go see Darius today but take it easy and go see him next morning when their sleep schedule is a bit better.
Everything looks fine at Nathos Alchemy Arsenal when they arrive, the windows have been repaired. They are told the proprietor is in his office and when they knock on the door it is opened by a dwarven woman, a Bruised But Not Broken dectol (sergeant). When lead inside there’s a second dectol, a human man, and Darius is sitting behind his large, oak desk.
Soon after starting their conversation Kieran tells Darius that he is going to cast a Zone of Truth spell. Izzy goes back into the shop before the paladin casts the spell and goes shopping, leaving the others to discuss matters further. Nathos and one of the bruised were not able to resist the spell so they can’t speak a deliberate lie. Boldrek and Zayn decided to voluntarily yield to the spell.
Darius tells them, that yes, he hired Alrik to kill Izzy and exclaims he should never have listened to that damn woman. The woman in question; Cerenna Palantor. He tells them that Cerenna told him all about her troubles with Izzy in Banak and asked him to have Izzy killed should she ever show up here in Midtal. When asked he then explains that both he and her are part of the same organization and that’s why he did as she asked, without being paid for it, though he sure regrets it now.
He won’t go into details about the organization, though he does tell them only a few other members live in town and no one but him knows about Izzy or Cerenna’s request. He also won’t tell them where the woman lives, it’s not here in town. He suggests the party drop the matter and he’ll pay them double of what he offered, which was 25 gp.
Kieran is not happy at all and asks the Bruised bodyguards what they think about being employed by a man like this. They basically shrug, saying that they are just doing their job and their work involves working for a quite a few shady characters, particularly in this country. Boldrek and Zayn impress upon the paladin that this is the best they are going to get. In the end Kieran manages to up the money to 55 gp per person and Darius swears, still under the Zone of Truth, that he won’t ever go after them again.
The party returns home and spend a few days not doing much of anything. They learn the latest news; there was a murder at the Warei Song Hall, in the middle of a performance and the murderer escaped! After some days a note is delivered to the house. It has a red, wax seal and the penmanship is outstanding. It's a missive from Maurice, Zayn's prime mate, asking to come see him at their earliest convenience.
Dear Diary
Our friends go to the chimpanzee's townhouse where the door is opened by the butler suit with no one inside it. And just like last time it escorts them up to the garret where Maurice is waiting for them. He greats them and is introduced to Kieran. With that all out of the way he tells them that he has another job for them, this one quite a bit more dangerous than the last. It was actually the book they recovered for him before that lead to this.
He wants them to recover the diary of former Ott General Otto Brunns. About a century and a half ago, the Ott found a very powerful artifact, the Fang of Kezef. The general, an accomplished mage, was in charge of finding a way to weaponize the artifact on a grand scale. But they underestimated the power of the Fang; anyone exposed to it for a time eventually became corrupted and came under the sway of it.
The Ott High Command decided to cut their losses and remove this dangerous influence wholesale. It cost them quite a lot, but they managed to teleport Castle Schafenholz, where the research was taking place, and all its inhabitants, to a demiplane where no one could get at it. The Ott then claimed an earthquake swallowed the building. He doesn't explain how, but Maurice was able to find the demiplane and can bring them there and back again; he wants them to go, grab the diary and return. He strongly suggests not to get anywhere near either the artifact or the general.
His cash flow is low at the moment but he tells the party that he can pay them with a magic item if there is anything they are interested in. When the party mentions a bag of holding he tells them that he actually owns something that will work for them; a Tea Cosy of Holding. He will even include the Emperor Caeus Teapot as he can't bear to see them apart.
Our friends agree to take the job and will return the next day so they can gather any supplies they might need. The next morning Maurice leads them to the basement which is also full of crates and many wonderful items, including a whole stack of full plate armors in one corner. A large, mystical circle is inlaid into the floor with some kind of precious metal.
The chimpanzee hands Zayn a scroll of Plane Shift; their means of returning. He makes some alterations to it though; Zayn is now the only person who can use the scroll and for him it will be easier to use than this spell normally would be. To improve the warlock's chances further, Maurice takes out a stylus and taps the half-orc on both shoulders with it. Zayn's Charisma has increased by two points, but this won't last long, Maurice warns. The party gathers on the circle and are plane shifted right into Castle Schafenholz.
When they return the butler suit is waiting for them. It tugs on a bell pull and Maurice appears not much later. Seeing how wounded all of them are, he quickly sends a runner to a cleric of Ulaa who then comes by to mend most of their injuries. Meanwhile the party tells Maurice about their adventures and how they had to return before finding the diary.
This is disappointing, of course, but Maurice tells them they did the right thing, them dying for the book is not what he wants. When they suggest returning for it later, he tells them that's not wise, now that the general is aware that people are able to enter the castle he will take his measures and the chances of him and the Fang escaping are not worth it. It's unfortunate, but the diary will have to remain where it is for now. He tells the party that he's sure they tried their utmost and the promised payment is theirs. He has the butler suit bring the tea cosy and pot.
Resident Ormit
The party takes the next few days to recover from their adventure and learns about the latest news in town; the yearly Glassblowers Guild festival will be held soon, this year it is titled Glass to Mouth. Then on a Tuesday morning as are walking down the street they come across a familiar face; Sandra Diest. She is the lawyer who managed to get them a low sentence for their 'espionage' case. She needs help desperately and this is how the players become involved in The State vs Nora Sommer.
The Exorcist III
Our friends have a few days of rest and do some shopping and catch up on the news; there was a theft at an Abraxis Combine warehouse. There's a knock at the door and standing there are Bhula and Kerinn, the former being the woman who was possessed and the latter the mother of little boy who was possessed. They have grave news; it is now Tymos himself who has been possessed.
The women offer to bring the party to Tymos' house in the Pottpic Ziek but our friends decide to take some preparations first; they buy a vial of holy water and everyone except Zayn buys a silvered weapon. Only then do they make their way towards the priest's home. En route they have to cross a busy marketplace and spot Tymos walking there.
The exorcist looks the worse for wear; dark bags under his eyes, his lips blistered, fallen cheeks. When he sees the party, he speaks: “Oh look who showed up just in time, some more people I have unfinished business with, this is going to be fun. Please, give me all you got, let old Tymos here suffer like he should.” Our friends don't attack but do move towards him.
“Time is on my side,” Tymos sings and then touches a woman carrying a shopping basket, “yes it is,” she continues the song as Tymos slumps to the cobbles. The woman bumps into a small boy, “time is on my side,” the child sings and crawls under a stall, touching the cheese seller behind it, “yes it is,” the man continues in a baritone.
“Now you always say that you wanna be free,” the man croons and then strokes the textile merchant at the stall behind his, “but really, you all belong to me,” the woman sings. “Just like you know you should, baby,” she continues and then touches a woman carrying a baby. “Uh-huh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” she intones as she rocks her baby.
The woman with the baby bumps into a pregnant woman and she starts to sing: “time is on my side, yes it is. Time is on my side, yes it is.” The pregnant lady touches an urchin and the little girl warbles: “I’m searching for good times. But just wait and see,” she crawls under a stall and pokes the fishmonger who then continues, “one of these days, baby. Oh, and it won't be long.” The man touches a customer, a very old man who then sings, “oh, all your worries will be over. 'Cause you’ll all be gone.”
The man bumps into a woman holding twins, a boy and a girl. “Go right ahead, baby. Go ahead and light up these people,” she sings and then her son continues, “and baby, do everything your heart desires,” her daughter runs to Tymos and touches him, “just remember, I'll still be around,” he sings as he gets up from the ground.
Meanwhile Bhula and Kerinn reminded the party that Tymos carries a knotted rope that when put around a possessed person will make it impossible for the possessor to leave the body. Kieran manages to get the rope around the priest just as Tymos is getting up. From there it's not too difficult to put manacles on him and carry him off.
They go to the warehouse where Kerinn's child was exorcised and put Tymos on the bed before getting ready to begin an exorcism of their own. Their memory of the first two times isn't perfect but fortunately Kieran's paladin powers compensate at least a little for that. The Font of Holukein develops a new power, Benediction, but Kieran decides not to use it this time.
Tymos wakes. “Oh, isn’t this precious, you tied me down, do you really think you people can get me out of this body? This is going to be fun, watching you bungle the exorcism and killing your friend in the process, go right ahead. And once you’re done, I’ll kill you all, taking my merry time,” the fiend speaks through the cleric. “Time. Time here, all but means nothing,” Tymos sings and looks at the party with a rictus grin.
"Lightbringer, consecrate this water and instill it with your brilliant power," the paladin intones and sprinkles the priest with holy water which boils away in wisps where it hits the body. The phrase wasn't fully accurate and Kieran climbs on top of the bed, redoubling his efforts. “Just shadows that move across the wall. And I need just a little more time,” the old cleric croons as his head rotates with a sound that makes everyone's skin crawl.
"Great Pholtus, bring your Light to bear upon this creature, purify them, drive out the darkness till none remains," Kieran is spot on this time. “Courage sapped away, there will be hell to pay,” the fiend finishes his song.
"Lightbringer, remove this abomination of the abyss, eject this fiend into the world for all to see," the paladin intones the final sentence, unfortunately the words are not correct this time. But the most important goal is reached; Tymos' body goes limp and falls back to the bed, a sound like the crack of lightning, the smell of sulfur and a fiend appears right next to Izzy.
It is taller than a human with a red-orange skin, two slender horns, a few strands of hair on its head and an evil gleam in its burning red eyes. It holds a wicked looking saber in each of it's very long arms. "I am going to enjoy cutting you all limb from limb, it snarls." At about the same time a familiar voice, Maior, sounds in Boldrek's head, "finally a real fight, this is going to be fun!" The barbarian turns into a brown bear and snarls louder than the fiend. His Soty also gains a new ability; Ukusi Menya.
The fight is tough, the fiend is particularly tough to hit for the paladin and it has an ability that lets him magically travel a short amount while leaving behind a powerful thunderous boom that hurts all those that were surrounding them. Izzy is brought to the brink of death, Zayn nearly the same but by repeatedly flanking the fiend and some heavy hitting divine smites the fiend's faith is sealed. It goes down with a horrifying scream and is returned to whence it came.
It takes a minute for Tymos to recover but once he has, he thanks the party for all they did for him, telling them they saved numerous lives; the fiend had some grand plans which have now been foiled. He helps out healing the wounded party members and promises to stop by soon with more proper thanks. Then he is off to give Bhula and Kerinn the good news.
Tavern Crawl
The next day a message arrives; Mirko Dannark has another job for the party. This time our friends react timely and go visit him at one of his taverns. He sits in the back at a booth, he's unmistakable with his broken nose and crooked mouth. His dark hair slicked back, four gold rings on his right hand, his purple shirt open not quite to the navel, chest hair protruding, a large gold chain, and a glistening medallion completes the look.
“I found a great way to get new people through the door; I booked Cobblar Languid, she will be playing at five of my taverns tonight. I don’t know anything about music but apparently she is more popular than pulled pork. She cost me an arm and a leg, and that’s not even including the hefty bribe to stay open till two in the morning, but the taverns should be overflowing with people tonight, many of whom will be returning customers soon. We’re on a tight schedule so make sure everything runs smoothly; keep fans away, that kind of thing, just make sure she is well looked after. Dress classy!”
He also tells our friends that he put her up at the Mifora Way; one of the most expensive inns in town. Mirko tells them how late to get there and to talk to Cobblar's manager, Vic Danny, he will give them further instructions. The afternoon Boldrek goes and buys some new clothes and a bottle of perfume. And with that they are ready for Cobblar Languid on Tour.
After a successful tour, it is now nearly tree in the morning, most of our friends want to go home and sleep. However, considering all that just happened to him, Zayn wants to go to the Pride of Labor, the temple of Ulaa where they took Rudi after their adventures in the Inside Out. Kieran goes with him and gives him a good talking to on the way.
Once at the temple he finds a priest and asks for a room to meditate in, just like he did (or did he?) after his encounter with the Reverie’s Chalice in the Halls of Herrn. As he meditates there he unlocks another spell; Sending. Real answers aren't forthcoming but he now has a possible way to contact his missing mother. He casts the spell and sends a carefully worded twenty-five word message to her.
There is a reply! She's alive! Unfortunately the reply makes little sense, it seems his mother thinks he is right there, wherever there might be, next to her and she asks for some water. She seems quite out of it and is not making a lot of sense. She's in the dark on a cot, that's about as much as the half-orc learns. Exhausted, he remains in the room and cries for hours.
Tavern Arson II
The next days suddenly get very busy as many people come by the house. First there's Kerinn, who brings a casserole as a thank you for all that our friends did for Tymos. Next there's Bhula, she also brought a casserole. And then people the party doesn't even know come by with gifts as well; mostly casseroles. It seems the priest is quite well loved in the Pottpic Ziek.
Over the next day our friends are also gifted a wheel of cheese and other things, they share some of the casseroles with the people upstairs. A little urchin boy comes by asking for help finding his dog. A woman comes asking for help with her abusive husband. It's getting so busy that Scurti and Pal come by, impressing upon the party that they are not very happy with all of these callers. Our friends are also not necessarily too happy and they eventually manage to stem the tide.
Sandra Diest and Nora Sommer come by to finally take our friends out to dinner and to the Wunnoper Auditorium; the play's opening was postponed twice. The restaurant serves a quite tasty meal to the table. A mix of sliced potatoes, sliced onions, cubed mutton, beef, and pork which have been marinated overnight in cider and juniper berries and slow-cooked in a bread-dough sealed ceramic casserole dish. Leeks, thyme, parsley, garlic, carrots and marjoram have been added ingredients for flavor and color.
The play they go to see is named Three Silver Pieces. It is the story of an army veteran who falls in love with a girl. Her father is a banker who opposes the match and he tries to have the man arrested and sentenced to hang. The man escapes the gallows when the daughter reveals her father has been bribing the police. It's a well written and well acted piece but the Ott shut it down within a week.
Tymos stops by eventually, he's had some issues at the temple, but brings our friends some gifts for all they have done for him. He has a number of healing potions and also managed to snag a few cyphers from the church's stores, but better keep silent on that!
As the days go by, there is more news; there are rumors of a bumper cherry harvest. Then Scurti comes to find Zayn; does he still want Guck Molden's service record? The warlock confirms this is so and Scurti takes the half-orc to a nearby park. Sitting on a bench is a familiar face; Markos Tellmacher who was a fellow prisoner at Peca M3.
The man seems to still carry a grudge against the party but he has a job that needs doing and he will pay Zayn with the service record, if he wants it. "I understand you've been to Ales Well That Ends Well recently?" he inquires and when the half-orc confirms this; "good, I want it destroyed." It's a stone building and he doesn't necessarily wants it leveled but the interior should be completely gone at the least.
Zayn isn't too happy with this particular job but he does want that service record and no one needs to die; he can destroy the tavern when it's empty. So he accepts and then goes to find Izzy, thinking it might be better not to involve Boldrek or Kieran in this particular enterprise. Fortunately the bard is more than happy to help and together they scope out the place.
They come up with a plan to replace a barrel of cider with a barrel of oil as deliveries are made. Then once the place is empty they Dimension Door inside, while Izzy keeps both of them invisible. Then they get the barrel up from the cellar and coat the place with the oil. They light a fire and then Dimension Door away, still completely unseen.
Everything works out as planned and the interior of the place gets completely destroyed without the warlock and bard ever being seen by anyone. There is definitely some collateral damage to the neighboring businesses but they never go back to check or even try to find out. A few days later Scurti stops by with the promised service record. Zayn carefully copies it word for word and then burns the original; better safe than sorry.
Golems in the deep
The next two weeks or so go by pretty quietly, the flood of well-wishers and those looking for aid have been redirected mostly. Scurti and Pal stop by and are in a good mood, shooting the breeze with out friends. They all have their own things going as well. Boldrek meditates to try and contact Maior but unfortunately without success. Izzy has more questions for the soul coin still in her possession. Kieran performs at various places around the city and does rather well, making some fans and earning some money. Zayn has a lot to meditate on and ponder.
One evening, on the way to a restaurant, the party spots Xezvis crossing the intersection ahead. He notices the party as well and holds a step, Izzy squints and waves, and he walks on. Our friends decide to just go to the restaurant. A few days later Scurti stops by and asks for Zayn to come along. The warlock goes with him but first uses his Awakened Mind ability to ask Izzy to follow along in disguise.
The Rhes Haghed brings him to another park than last time, but again Markos Tellmacher is sitting on a bench, waiting for them. The half-orc had told them he was interested in getting his hands on the file for Operation Enduring Crown. Markos now tells him this might be possible but it will require quite a bit of work from him and the rest of the party, is he still interested?
Zayn says he is and Markos tells him that the first part is easy; he is to go to meet someone at The Hunter and the Cask tavern an hour from now. This person will give the warlock something which he is to bring back to Markos. The half-orc agrees and leaves for the tavern, arriving about 45 minutes early. He goes inside, it's not too busy this time in the afternoon, however, about a third of the people inside look to be off-duty Ott soldiers. Zayn takes a seat in an out of the way position and orders a drink.
Meanwhile, Izzy is waiting outside. After about twenty minutes she decides to go have a look inside and changes her disguise to that of the half-orc server she used during the Horand Heist party. She passes by Zayn and gets informed that all is well, returning to the street.
Around the appointed hour a woman in her forties enters the tavern and looks around furtively. When she spots Zayn she comes over and sits down. "Are you the person I have to give the stuff to?" the warlock confirms it is indeed him. "We're supposed to have a drink first, right?" the woman almost stumbles over her words, she's very nervous. The warlock goes along with it and signals for a waitress. The woman orders a cider and the half-orc quips that he hasn't decidered yet.
The woman finishes her drink in no time and is about to take an envelop from her jacket to give to Zayn but the warlock stops her from doing so. He explains what he is about to do and then casts a Dimension Door spell, transporting both of them to a nearby alley. Here he takes the envelope from her. "I can go now, right?" she asks, and immediately leaves when the half-orc confirms this.
The warlock then takes some time to carefully look at what he has just been handed but he doesn't find anything dangerous or suspicious. Just to be sure he ritual casts a Detect Magic, to find nothing magic there. He peeks inside and sees three pieces of paper. He wants to read them but his desire for the operations file is stronger, so he decides against doing anything that might screw things up with Rhes Haghed.
When he returns to the park, Markos is waiting right at the entrance and takes the envelope. After checking if there was any trouble, the man tells Zayn that he and his friends should be home tomorrow at four, he'll come by to give them details of the job they will need to do. And so starts When the SAINTs come marching out.
After their adventures underground our friends arrive at the top of the ramp, the statue covering it now at a ninety degree angle. The square is completely deserted which is very strange. But in the distance there is sounds of combat; spells going off, fire and smoke at multiple places in the city, a siren going off intermittently.
Our friends try to get home as quickly as possible without being seen. All the streets are empty but there are plenty of people watching from their windows. At some point they almost run into an Ott patrol but the sergeant gives them just a look and then decides he has more important things to do. Without further incidents they make it home where it is very quite indeed; there is no one upstairs and everything that was there has been moved out.
Our friends have nothing to do but wait, though it dawns on them more and more just what kind of chaos they have created and they decide to grab all their belongings. They discuss the possibility of betraying Rhes Haghed and going to the Ott to tell them what they know, hoping to get out of it that way. But Izzy is quite certain that should they walk into Arks Ximmer, they will never leave, look at what happened last time.
Then there's a knock at the door. It's Scurti, he's bleeding heavily from a head wound but more striking is the fact the entire right side of his body has been paralyzed, he's dragging himself along. He's clutching a multicolored bead bracelet in his left hand, it's the one Pal always wore. "Said it was his good luck charm," the man coughs, blood running from his mouth, "well, the goombah's luck has run out, hasn't it?" he sobs.
Kieran tries to heal Scurti as best he can as the Rhes Haghed pulls out a file and pushes it into Zayn's hands. It's the Operations File - Enduring Crown. "Tellmacher wasn't going to get this for you, but a man's a man, a word's a word," Scurti tells them in a coughing fit. "You need to get the fuck out of here, out of the country, as far away as possible, right now," he tells them, it is clear to all of them the Ott isn't going to let what just happened stand.
Scurti makes his goodbyes and leaves, telling them he has things to do, holding up Pal's bracelet. Our friends start talking about ways to leave, Boldrek even asking if any of them can cast some kind a plane shifting spell. Wherever they go, Kieran wants to torch the house, to destroy any evidence they might leave behind.
They haven't decided on anything yet but Boldrek, who has taken the Tea Cosy of Holding back from Zayn feels it getting really warm. This can't be good and he takes a risk and pulls the faceted stone from it. When he does so, all the sigils on it light up until there's nothing but a blinding light. Suddenly all four of our friends find themselves in a new location.
Cigoler
Desert
The first thing our friends notice is a sweltering heat, it feels three times as hot as the Midtal they just left. And what they see is sand, sand everywhere, large hills of them for as far as the eye can see. The air in the distance seems to shimmer. Fortunately, the exact spot they end up at is at the edge of a small pool of water, about 20 meters across, surrounded by a ring of shrubs and palm trees.
The party isn't sure what just happened but they must have been transported somehow, the strange stone is no longer in Boldrek's hand. The heat is oppressive though the vegetation shelters them from the worst. They have a look at the pool; the water level seems low and the water looks rather dirty. A part of a large, dead creature can be seen above the surface.
Laying not too far away is the desiccated body of an unfortunate soul dressed in dark clothes that once must have been wrapped tight around his body, a backpack lays next to the corpse, the contents scattered around it. Sadly not much of use can be found among the belongings; no food or water, which is something our friends start to realize, might become an issue now. They do find a spellbook and when Zayn uses Detect Magic later on, a Stoner cypher sown into the clothes.
Spellbook contents
- Alarm (rit.), Charm Person, Detect Magic (rit.)*, Disguise Self, Feather Fall, Identify (rit.), Mage Armor, Magic Missile.
- Cloud of Daggers*, Darkvision, Detect Thoughts*, Scorching Ray.
- Clairvoyance*, Fireball.
The water doesn't look potable and Boldrek uses a rope and grappling hook to pull the animal carcass to shore, it seems to be stuck at first but then comes free. The creature looks a little like a horse but it is a little higher up on its legs and has a sort of bump on its back. The plan was to use its skin to create some shelter but the state it is in, not much is usable.
Zayn uses a Sending spell to contact Maurice, hoping he might know where the party ended up, but alas, the description given doesn't ring any bells. Then the half-orc climbs into the tallest of the few palm trees around but sees nothing but sand. He then uses a Gaseous Form spell and once he has risen quite high he spots a triangular structure at the horizon, very far away, and other than that, nothing but sand. The warlock tries to remember the direction as best he can and then floats back down.
Kieran has cut down two trees and is chopping them up into firewood, putting it all in the Tea Cosy of Holding. Fortunately they also have the Emperor Caeus Teapot, which should just about be able to deliver them enough liquid they will need in the boiling desert. Our friends have some skills and some tools to create a kind of portable shelter from the palm leaves.
Due to their Survival skills they know that traveling at the hottest few hours of the day is not a good idea, nor during the coldest hours of the night. So they plan to stay here for now and hope that the stars at night might give them an idea of where they are and they'll then start their travels to the structure once the coldest hours have passed.
With hours left to spare, Zayn uses a Detect Magic and walks around the pool to see if there's anything of interest. He doesn't find anything but the party does notice the water level might have risen just a little, and the water looks a little better as well. The warlock wades into the pond, it turns out it's not all that deep and then feels around and eventually finds a source of water bubbling up between the stones at the bottom.
When night falls the clear, starry sky looks familiar but something is off. Zayn is the one who realizes that it looks like the sky at night during spring, but it was autumn in Midtal, it's very strange. Once the coldest hours have passed, our friends set out on their long journey towards the only sign of civilization in many, many miles.
Sand Trek
The first day of travel goes without too many problems, the party learns how slow trudging through sand is. The next day a sandstorm quickly approaches but our friends noticed it in time. They dig into the sand and try to create the best shelter they can with the means at their disposal. Kieran uses his Cacher cypher to get the party a two person tent which they can use as a wind break. The storm lasts four hours and afterwards the terrain has changed quite a bit though it didn't leave much sand behind.
The next few days are uneventful with the exception of a mirage but all of our friends realize that the oasis they see in the distance isn't real. Then during a night when Zayn is on guard, the earth tremors just a bit. And then a huge worm jumps up out of the sand and slams into the surprised warlock. The creature is a mottled brown and consists of a large number of segments, in total it might be over thirty feet long and it's maybe eight feet in diameter.
It's first attack does quite a bit of damage and more looks to be coming so the half-orc decides to react quickly and use his Whacker cypher to get out of dodge. The creature then finishes it's jump and disappears under the sand again. The rest of our friends wake up and Zayn yells to them about a huge worm attack.
A rather tricky combat develops with the worm only appearing every other round and disappearing immediately after an attack, leaving our friends no choice but to ready actions for its arrival. Boldrek keeps stamping hard on the sand, trying, and succeeding, at making him the target of the creature. They do some damage to it but it is quite tanky and the party can't always use their best abilities.
But then a Moonbeam spell from Kieran and a Fireball from Izzy start to turn the tide. When Zayn uses his Wand of Long Tengels, 'donating' some more hit points to it, and manages to restrain it, he gives everyone the opportunity to really whale on their foe. This allows the party to kill it before it can flee. They are quite surprised at their success against this very tricky opponent.
The creature should help with their food issue, as they only had ten rations each at the start of their journey, how it will taste is another matter. Though as Boldrek starts to butcher the creature, Kieran remembers that his Font of Holukein allows him to cast the Goodberry spell and aren't those quite filling? Zayn thinks their might be interesting items inside the creature's stomach from anyone it has eaten before. They carefully open the worm up and manage not to be flooded with its stomach acid. And yes, they do find something; a Snake Charmer's Flute.
The next day our friends are lucky Boldrek spots a flaying wind only a minute before hits. There's no real time to dig themselves in so they get into the their sleeping bags and set up the tent as a windbreak. The storm's grit particles shred everything exposed and do quite some damage to the party but they are covered with sand before taking lethal damage. Now they run the risk of suffocation and spend the next twenty hours trying to dig up enough to be able to breathe.
When the tempest is over, about nineteen feet of new sand has been deposited, totally changing the landscape. Our friends try and recover what they can of their belongings and Zayn goes up into the sky again to find the structure they have been traveling towards. He can now see that the terrain changes a little as they get nearer; the dunes aren't as high and there might be vegetation or something, it's too small to identify at this distance.
A few days of travel and the dunes do get lower and our friends come across a few strange, prickly plants that seem to grow here. The inside of them contains some liquid, it's certainly different from what they have been getting from their teapot. There are also the occasional balls of weeds that are blown about by the wind.
As our friends are walking they suddenly get attacked. Shooting balls of sand at them from over a hundred feet away are weird creatures with mandibles over a meter long, they are mostly dug into the bottom of a dune, with just their heads protruding. It seems they are only just about inside the range of their enemies; most attacks miss.
The party decides to engage their new foes; some of our friends have spells with enough range to return the favor, including a fireball from Izzy. With some effort the creatures are brought low and the party comes over to investigate them. They seem to be huge insects of some sort and the party decides to try and pull one from the dune, both to get a better look and maybe use their shells to create a shield, armor, or sled to carry their belongings.
It's not an easy job and forty minutes into the work, more of those creatures come across the top of the dune and charge at our friends, goring them severely on a hit. It's another tough combat with more fireball spells and the spending of quite a few divine smites. Some of our friends also take quite a bit of damage but the fight is won. And now they no longer need to dig out a creature, plenty are laying just there. Unfortunately the critters have overlapping shells none larger than maybe 60 by 80 cm, they take one or two anyway. And Boldrek takes a mandible, cause why not?
After a much needed short rest the party continues their trek. Within an hour more enemies approach, this time flying across a dune and attacking the party as they buzz past. These creatures look quite a bit like the last enemies they fought, but with a thinner body and four, thin wings. It's a frustrating fight; the party has used almost all their spells already and the creatures fly in, attack, and fly away, never remaining nearby enough to be attacked in melee. But with some tactical positioning and readied attacks the foes are eventually brought low. They seem to have no more than insect intelligence, they keep attacking, maybe desperate for food in an unforgiving desert?
More travel and then our friends come to an enormous canyon of sandstone, with many twisty paths between the rocks. Going around it looks to be slower, they can now just about see the triangular structure that is their destination. And so our friends go into the somewhat maze-like gulch where it turns out the temperature is just as bad as in the desert proper.
After a day and a half our friends stumble upon a strange sight; laying on the ground is man, all tied up. He has very dark skin, wears black trousers, a white and black checkered shirt, and a white cap. Next to him lays a leather bag, it's sort of like a cylinder with one open end, from which large metal implements with a weird ends to them protrude.
The party is wary but untie him and the man tells them how happy he is to see them. He introduces himself as Arnie Palmfrond. When asked he explains he has no idea how he got where he is, last he remember is going to sleep. The party has many more questions, of course. He tells them that he lives at the caravanserai next to the pyramid; their destination, it's probably a day or so away.
When asked wear they are, he answers "the Desert". That's not helping much, what country is this in? They don't really do countries, is what they learn. Ok, then what world is this? "Cigoler," he tells them. At least that is somewhat useful, even though no one recognizes the name. And what does Arnie do all day at the pyramid? He plays golf, the man says and he shows them the implements from his bag. "An early bird catches the worm, but an early hole catches the birdie," he tells them sagely.
Playing his game on sand isn't great, he admits but he's not from here, so where is he from? "The Forest," is the answer. When pressed further he explains there are nice meadows where he can really go all out, it's great. Then how did he end up at the pyramid? He traveled there and got stuck. It's all very strange and our friends don't know what to make of it. But together they continue on and eventually reach their goal.