Session 3 Report - South of Nosbury Part 2
General Summary
Tanith glanced to the west but there was no sign of Aliurinal. Turning back to the group, she looked at Silas with concern as he continued to cough up flies. He turned an alarming shade of green, coughing up one huge fly, and after a moment of stunned silence he sighed and said, “Wow. I feel better.” Sighing in relief and turning her attention to the mud statue depicting a horned demon, she leaned back against a boulder and contemplated it.
“Hey Roland. Can you knock it down?”
While Roland sized up the statue, Lucian staggered up to it and swung with his staff, missing by a mile, but connecting solidly with his fist. A chunk of the statue broke off and flew through the air. He swung again and knocked the head off. Continuing to punch and kick at it until it was in pieces, the rest of the group looked on, bemused. Roland crossed his arms, a broad grin on his face, watching the monk in action. As Lucian backed away panting, Bear stepped up and used his battle axe to crush the head into unrecognizable pieces.
Tanith looked over Silas’s shoulder as he gazed at the scrap of paper retrieved from one of the demons. “Are those dragons? And are they supposed to be dead?” she asked. Silas shrugged noncommittally. Lucian rolled his eyes and moved up to a nearby hill to keep watch. He could see the river in the distance, surrounded by scrubby vegetation.
Off to the west, Aliurinal searched the ground for tracks. Other than the tracks made by the party and those of native animals, he did not see anything of note. He turned to make his way back to the group, finding them still resting at the site of the battle. The party spread out to search the area while Roland inspected for magical auras. Only the bigger demons appeared to be magical, but there was no sign of any artifacts nearby. Tanith kicked at one of the big demons. “Those little ones are the slaves of the Abyss. The big ones….I guess you could call them like the lieutenants.” Roland nodded in confirmation, and Tanith eyed him curiously.
The party moved off to the west, walking for about an hour until finding a place to camp that was concealed from casual observation. Lucian approached Aliurinal holding a worn piece of leather inscribed with a sigil of a boar with flames for eyes and tusks dripping blood, asking Aliurinal if he had seen that sigil before. Aliurinal shook his head, and Lucian tucked the item back into his bag. Deciding on a double watch, the elves maintained their original watch order – Aliurinal followed by Lucian – while the others took 2-hour shifts in the following order: Roland, Bear, Silas, Tanith. The night passed uneventfully.
The next morning, the party set out to the west with Aliurinal scouting out ahead as usual. After a couple of hours, the party heard one of Aliurinal’s bird calls and moved in that direction. They found him inspecting a scrape mark on a tree that appeared to have been made by something metal, about five feet off the ground. Carefully inspecting the surrounding ground, Aliurinal was able to determine a direction to go, based off indistinct signs of an apparently bipedal creature. He and Silas did a complicated handshake and moved out ahead of the group, Silas sticking bits of foliage into his hair as he went, apparently for concealment.
The day proceeded without event. Silas and Aliurinal found their way back to the new camp, meeting up with Lucian who had gone out to hunt and forage. Dinner was cheerful that evening, and then double watch was set as usual. Once again, the night passed uneventfully.
Setting out the next morning, the group crossed over what remained of the river, barely a foot wide at that point. Silas crossed without mishap. Proceeding westward, once more the scouts ranged out ahead looking for signs of passage. Unfortunately, the group appeared to be losing ground on their quarry. Just after midday, Tanith suddenly could smell something rotten on the wind. She saw Lucian’s head come up and he sniffed the wind as well. Out ahead of the party, Aliurinal followed the odor. Cresting a hill, he looked down upon an ogre encampment, all dead, with a large dead….creature….lying among the ogres. Signaling for the others to stop, he and Silas carefully made their way down the hill to inspect the village. Aliurinal headed to the left and Silas to the right, cautiously circling the village. All that appeared to be moving were scavengers, feasting on the dead.
Aliurinal whistled for the group to approach. When they arrived, they moved closer into the village. The smell increased almost beyond bearing. The ogres appeared to be warriors, cut down in battle, while the larger shape appeared to be some sort of lizard demon with wings. Lying next to the demon was a giant burlap sack, big enough to conceal a human. Roland began his ritual to detect magic, while Aliurinal moved off to a nearby rise in the ground to keep watch. While scanning the surroundings, he noted a cave entrance and indicated to the others to alert them. Bear moved off to guard the cave opening. Lucian made a circuit around the village, scanning for signs of movement. Silas noted that the ogres appeared to have been killed by claws and fire.
Concluding his ritual, Roland detected a vague sense of magic emanating from the bag. He was unable to determine the school of magic, which he found perplexing until he recalled that it was likely arising from a magical creature rather than an object. The contents of the bag had a vaguely rounded shape. Observing this, Tanith asked him, “Do you want me to poke it?” Roland scoffed and reminded her he could use his mage hand. Motioning for Tanith to stand back, he opened the bag. Inside was an object, somewhat egg-shaped, golden with a vaguely metallic sheen. Eyes wide, Tanith breathed, “Is it a dragon egg??” Silas muttered, “Maybe it’s a demon egg.”
Motioning Bear over from the cave mouth, where he had been joined by Lucian, Roland asked him to lift the egg to determine its weight. Shrugging, Bear stated the egg weighs an appropriate amount for its size. Not knowing what else to do, the party moved off to the cave. Lucian was peering into the cave and reported that it appeared to extend back about 30 feet before turning. It showed signs of being well used. Unlit torches were jammed into rocks around the cavern. Aliurinal jogged up and joined the group. He and Silas moved into the cave in the lead, the others not far behind. Tanith grabbed one of the torches and followed.
The passage curved around to the right, sloping down to a crossroads. Water could be heard down one of the branches and the party set off that way. The path appeared to be well-trodden, leading to an underground river that emerged from the rocks and then flowed back underground. Next to the stream was an ogre-sized bucket and a ladle. Using the ladle, Silas quenched his thirst from the stream.
Moving back to the crossroads, they followed the other path. It was less travelled and ended in a dead end, where an arch was carved into the wall. In front of the arch, ogre idols were scattered about. The objects appeared to be made up of bones, feathers, and other such natural items. Roland narrowed his eyes, squinting at the objects in front of the alcove, which he said emitted a magical aura of abjuration, commonly used for spells of protection. The arch itself emitted an aura of conjuration from runes embedded within. Tanith moved closer and held the torch to the runes, which she recognized as Abyssal writing: “For the walking between worlds.” Looking around, some of the idols appeared to have been knocked over, and a crack was running through the archway. Silas noticed the stone was charred around the edges of the crack. Lucian hypothesized that the demon had tried to bring the egg through the portal, but it was rejected. Roland noted that the crack appeared to be the result of great heat. Suddenly, Aliurinal trotted into the room carrying the egg. He set it in front of the arch. “Shall I push it through?” asked Aliurinal. Roland took a giant step backward and his armor cascaded over his body. “Now let’s not be hasty.”
Aliurinal trotted out of the cave and back to the egg. He tried to lift it, but it would not budge. Glancing around, he shrugged and left to scout more to the west. The rest of the party emerged from the cave and split up to search the village. Moving in and out of the buildings, they started to piece together what may have happened. Objects appeared to have been packed in a hurry, but at least there had been time for packing. Roland was able to determine that the ogres had the capacity to make armor, although none of the dead ogres were wearing any. Lucian hypothesized that the ogres had possessed the dragon egg, then a demon came through the portal and tried to steal the egg. The surviving ogres then packed up and left, leaving the egg as it may have been considered taboo by that point.
After more discussion, the group decided to take the egg back to Nosbury and report on their findings. Roland managed to cobble together a crude hand cart and Bear loaded the egg into it, with Tanith’s help. Tanith moved to go collect the magical idols, but Roland placed a hand on her shoulder. “They may be all that is keeping demons from coming through.” Reluctantly, she agreed and left them alone.
As dusk was rapidly approaching, the group set out to get some distance away before making camp. With the encumbrance of the wagon, the party did not make it out of the foothills. Wearily, they set up camp and set a double watch. The night passed uneventfully.
The next day, the group continued to move north down the river. Bear and Tanith managed to safely get the egg across to the east side of the river, Silas following without incident. The next few days passed in much the same way, hauling the egg down the river, with Silas and Aliurinal scouting out in front and occasionally bringing back game, as did Lucian. Late in the afternoon on the fourth day out, they arrived back in Nosbury, weary and sore from travel.
Silas reported in with Captain Hal at the barracks, showing him the two ogre ears and the bone idol that was found in the first days out of town. He described the battle with the demons and the destroyed ogre village, as well as the refugee camp. He described the dragon egg and asked for guidance. He showed Captain Hal the crude drawing that one of the demons had been carrying. Hal thanked him for taking care of a couple ogres and investigating the magic situation, handing him a sealed receipt for the ogre ears. As he started to leave, Silas turned back. “Oh yeah. There was a demon portal in the ogre village.” After a beat of silence, Captain Hal questioned him further. Silas told him how Tanith was able to read the Abyssal runes. Captain Hal appeared stunned. “Exius. You must go report this to Exius.”
While Silas gave his report, the other companions continued on to visit Exius. Trudging up the path to his house, they arrived and knocked on the door. They were greeted by a well-groomed servant who hesitantly invited the party inside. Aliurinal and Bear indicated they would wait outside with the egg. As the butler went upstairs to inform Exius, the remaining party members stood awkwardly in the sitting room, until Exius made his way down the stairs to greet them. Tanith told him the whole story while Exius listened, somewhat stunned. She showed him Silas’s drawing of the portal and the runes. “Can I look at this….egg?”
“Oh sure,” Tanith replied. “It’s in your front yard.”
Exius accompanied them to the yard and confirmed that it was indeed a dragon egg. He seemed stunned and not sure how to proceed. Tanith asked if there was any way to tell if the egg was ready to hatch, but Exius was unsure. He retrieved a large tome from his library and paged through to a drawing that resembled the portal from the ogre village. He stated it was a type of “minor portal,” not common by any means. “It connects to the demon plane and then back out to the surface,” he said. “They are not reliable and cannot be used by powerful demons. If one tried to come through, it could have caused that crack in the portal.” Tanith hypothesized that a greater demon had tried to come through the portal and failed, and that’s why the other demons were trying to summon it instead. “One moment,” said Exius. He left and came back with a slightly less old-looking book. He paged through to a drawing of a two-horned demon with wings. “Did it look like this?” The companions exchanged glances and shrugged. “It could be,” Tanith mumbled.
Exius mused, “We could be dealing with Argrith. He is one of the minor demon lords, known for raising enslaved dragons to work for him.” Inspecting the demon drawing, suddenly it became apparent that the big horned demon was holding dragon eggs after having killed the dragon parents. Tanith blinked, alarmed at the implication of the apparent size of this “minor” demon lord, as compared to the eggs it was holding.
Exius believed that the demons were trying to open a portal for Argrith, and the dragon egg was to be part of the ritual. The only place he could think of that the egg could have come from was a dragon nesting ground under Lake Newleigh, a journey of several weeks on foot to the north.
Lucian proposed two options. “First, we could take the egg far away, abandon it, and hope for the best. Or second, we could put it somewhere defensible and use it as bait.” He suggested that the egg could attract these demons to its location, which was another point to consider. Trying to return the egg to its parents was raised as another option, but the problem of finding the parents (and remaining alive in the process) seemed insurmountable.
The group decided to adjourn for the evening. Exius granted permission to stay in his barn with the egg, to avoid bringing it though town. The party thanked him, and they settled in for the night. No one noticed when Silas slipped in to join them, in the dark of the night.
