Shadow Sessions 1-2
General Summary
12th of Early Hollow, 1758
Arrows and musket shots zoom overhead as you run through the forest. One landing by your feet, another just overhead. Those lurking in those dark trees do not easily give up as they fire their shots blindly.
The mists ahead are perfect! It’ll provide more cover! Even your pursuers stay outside it. Just as the arrows and bullets seemed to only hit their mark closer, they miss wildly once you’re in and out of sight.
Once through, a horse gallops behind you as you near a bridge. The only shape you can make out is the horse and raised sword of the rider. Ahead, a cardinal atop a horse with his guards gesture for you to run faster for them. One guard even takes the prisoner by their side and shoves them just as the galloping gets near.
Once you run past the prisoner, you hear a scream of the poor victim as the galloping slows. One quick slash silenced everything. You finally see the rider, a headless man that then rides back into the mist.
The Cardinal glares at you all, “Capitaine Havre, take these strangers to the keep. I want them interrogated.”
The party is brought to Notre Majeste, the cathedral in the town of Divinterre. They are escorted into the dungeons and each are questioned by Captain Havre. Much of it involved making sure each of them are aware of the laws Cardinal Octavian Couteau has crafted. Effectively, he explained that this Valencian town looks down on Venezians for their hedonistic and free-spirit lifestyle. Witchcraft is not taken lightly in the slightest. Should the Cardinal deem them unfit for the town, they will most likely be imprisoned and be sacrificed to the Misty Rider that harasses the town.
Once free to go, they saw three other adventurers locked up: Ranaj the tabaxi, Charlotte the human, and Mockery the tiefling.
To help get a positive view from the Cardinal, Havre advised the party investigate the maze-like catacombs of dead rising up. As they did, they discovered a Venezian man, Salzari Olivero, disguised as an Arkonian was behind it. He used a dark tome and realized he didn’t have control over the undead as he thought. He hoped to use the zombies to grow in numbers and thwart the Cardinal. The party let him go but taking the tome.
The party obtained the tomb and reported back to Havre, tricking him about a runaway necromancer. They then went for the Cidrefils Tavern for the night.
During the night, tossing and turning, you can’t help but drift off. And drift off you certainly have. These woodlands where the sun barely filters through the cracks. The night is far from a safe place to be during that time. What abandoned hovel you could find should suffice.
But that night, oh that dreaded night. Keep the lights off, it attracts what lurks out there after all. And lurking they are. A pair of inhuman steps linger outside, making their way to the front. The knob jiggles a bit before it rattles violently. A heavy thud hits the floor as the door slams open.
You beg and plead for it to go away but the thing lurks just outside the closet door. Go away, you hope. Go away.
Claws then form around the doorframe. As it pulls, the gleam of morning sun hits you. You’re awake. Safe and sound in the old Cidrefils Tavern. Though, you’re still stuck in Divinterre…
13th of Early Hollow, 1758
In the morning, the party found a panicked Valencian telling about his encounter at the haunted Bloodwater Theater. He saw a female ghost in the mirror, struck with pure fear.
Lieutenant Valerian came in, dropping off 100 florens as reward for the catacombs. He questioned the party a bit further about this “necromancer” they mentioned to Captain Havre. The party explained that they saw the necromancer run off at best.
The party split off. Vassaryn and Kasner headed off for the Cathedral to recruit Ranaj, Charlotte, and Mockery “to be used as fodder for the necromancer” as they mentioned to the Cardinal. Carcass and Rahas went off to Baldacci to scout out the Venezian refuge and find Salzari.
As they were regrouping back in the woods, the party finds Valencian guards having caught Salzari. The party managed to convince them that the Cardinal needs them to investigate the necromancer problem. Reluctantly, the guards marched back up north to the town.
Salzari then led the party to where he found the morbid tome across the lake and into the more misty parts of the region. What Carcass discovered is that there was a village further north, particularly devastated…
From there, the party went back to Divinterre, informing the Cardinal of their latest findings, inferring that the “necromancer” could be working with the Misty Rider. Couteau wasn’t entirely convinced but finds it believable a Venezian would stoop so low as to spite him.
From there, the party sought out solving a puzzle Kasner and Vassaryn found earlier in the day within Notre Majeste. Once solved, they wound up in a Stellaic hiding spot that saw a star sign above that represented a current or coming doom. He believes that Cardinal Couteau is to blame and that he has fled for Caldogne to the south to find help.
The party then settled at the Cidrefils for the rest of the day. No doubt heading to the Bloodwater Theater would be their next move.
Rewards Granted
- Reached level 2
- 100 florens from Captain Havre
- 200 florens from salvaging the Stellaic hideout
Missions/Quests Completed
- Resolved the undead in the catacombs
- Saved Salzari from the guards
- Discovered the Stellaic hideout
Character(s) interacted with
- Captain Havre
- Salzari Orsini
- Lieutenant Valerian
- Charlotte
- Mockery
- Ranaj
- Cardinal Couteau
