Esterson Session 18
General Summary
I am afraid to inform that Sir Johan Fogwood has gone absent. I last saw him take the request to resolve the matter with Kramer Settendorf in the City of Anvarnem.
As the Hall as a whole discussed matters involving Vicarion, his underlings, and Dulnmor, Festus stepped in to inform them of peculiar matters. Johan had gone alone to handle the request where a servant had sent out a letter about how the former Kalgarn magistrate, Kramer Settendorf, had been going mad with paranoia. The party followed behind.
Journey to Find Johan
Border Town of Obridan
Johan walks into town of Obridan as the Algid months begin.
The leaves have finally fallen and the wind has brushed them aside. What descends from above now are flakes of snow from the heavens during your journey to the City of Anvarnem. The northern border town of Obridan comes first where rooftops are dusted with white from the season.
In the street, a cael ties the shoes of a dwarven boy while his brother stood by his side. With a finishing tug, the work is done. The cael stands up and ushers them aside, “Please, return to the chapel. I will meet you two there shortly.”
The two of them are quick to hug the cael. The both of them say, “Thank you, Rezzim,” before running off.
The cael turns to you, “Do you require assistance?”
Johan simply dismissed the cael and headed on to find a place to stay. Coordinating with a general store merchant, the shop owner let him stay in the nearby alley for the night as Johan finalized his new equipment.
Once dusk came, a reaper appeared before him, mentioning that the two of them had interest in taking down Kramer Settendorf. For Johan it was revenge. For this reaper, it was to bring this dying halfling to the afterlife. They both agreed to coordinate.
Setesk’s Mockery
Along the journey to Obridan, the other Dumb Luck members stumbled across Setesk.
Amidst the snowfall, it becomes a little harder to see as a fog builds up. On a small hill, a silhouette with long horns and a deer skull beckons outward with its hand, “Where has the little one gone to, I wonder? He has gone on his own because he never needed you. He never wanted you from the start, he only joined your guild to lie low, he was forced to by the nobility, and look who he had wound up with: The very thing that disgusts him. Is it any wonder why he left?”
“I advise you turn back and head where you are needed most. Do not waste your efforts on this mortal. Because like all selfish beings, once he has what he wants, he no longer has use for you.”
The party dismissed this vician. Darwin attempted a sacred flame only for the vician to quickly turn away to have a shadow take the hit instead.
On their arrival to the town, Darwin was adamant to warn the local chapel about the presence of a nearby vician. The cael, Rezzim, directed the party to the general store where he saw this odd stout head to. Investigating the general store, the owner explained to the party as much as he could about what Johan had requested.
Because of the Algid months being here, the party bought coats for the occasion.
City of Anvarnem
Johan’s Infiltration
Before heading toward the manor, Johan checked on Anvarnem’s prisoner registrar to see if his mother could have possibly been in the system. At most, all that was found were two unfamiliar Fogwoods who must have shared his surname.
Outside Settendorf estate, a cael stands outside the front pleading to the guards, “I must get in! There is something very wrong here!”
“Master Settendorf’s orders are that neither mortal nor divine get through! Just head back to the cathedral chapel.”
The cael shakes its head, “I at least keep my conscious clear knowing I tried to warn you all…” it then hovers away from the entrance.
Johan went to the Settendorf estate and confronted the two guards at the entrance. He casted Fog Cloud and stormed into the manor. He then heard an odd, eerie whisper, “He is here…” after a quick smashing of a window in the back of the house, he then heard someone scream, “Werner! No!” Johan was quick to pursue, seeing Kramer run off into the nearby woodlands of the city. As he left, he then heard roden scream “Go! Now! Now!”
Party in the City
Once the party headed into the city the first thing they found was a sulking cael sitting on a bench. It explained that it had detected a rather dark thing near the Settendorf estate. Caels didn’t notice the haunting in that house because it was a clever shade that new to hide at their presence. Only by it slipping up did this sulking cael notice. It knows of these hauntings after being in Dulnmoor which finally explained a lot. The cael also tried working with Kramer but the paranoid noble wouldn’t even let her in.
The party headed toward the manor, which they quickly saw a fog cloud at the front door, a window smash by the back of it, and two people running off into the woodlands. As the guards were about to pursue, roden from an alleyway sprung up and pounced at the guards.
Darwin simply ran off, heading toward the forest.
Maedhros and Altor investigated the roden, finding out that they were hired by some figure to attack the guards when they heard a cue.
Confronting Settendorf
A pursuit into the far off woodlands occur as dusk begins to fall. Puffs of white breath fade off to the side. Soon, you both wind up in a forest clearing. Panting, falls over onto the snowy ground. In a desperate attempt, he pulls out a pistol only for that to miss wildly. His eyes widen with fear.
The reaper steps forward, still close by the trees, “Now… Do what must be done. He has ruined your life and those like it! The honor is yours.”
From behind, you hear a commotion from behind you. The familiar face of Darwin is in sight from afar. The cloaked figure holding a scythe then takes a hand and conjures spectral and skeletal hands to appear in a line. It then looks up to him, “This does not concern you! What are you waiting for, Johan? Strike him down!”
Darwin, using his gem of seeing, discerned that the reaper was actually Vicarion and to the side in the forest line was his shadow, restraining a boy. Both Darwin and Altor tried vigorously to stop Johan but the rapier plunged into the noble in the end…
Light drains from the disgraced noble’s eyes. Another no shrieks out. To the side, a fiendish shadow with the form of a vician is revealed as its holding a crying young stout boy. Where one would expect blood, instead it becomes soil. The reaper then steps forward, reaching into his chest then raising a wooden, rotten heart.
The form of that hooded figure drops, revealing grayed fiendish traits of a vician, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, all because in caels we trust. But you never did trust caels. You never did stand up for something. So here you are, falling for anything. My my..."
Johan then headed off into the woodlands after using another fog cloud.
Vicarion rose into the sky, doing the generous thing of closure by explaining how it all happened:
There was no servant! There was no Gurda Ironarc. I sent the letter. I knew Johan couldn’t resist the temptation to all this. I sent a shade to haunt that noble. I whispered to him of a killer coming for him, driving him mad with paranoia.
The vician soon flew off for Dulnmoor.
Altor tried to Johan to return and make amends but, to no avail, Johan left.
Darwin called on nearby caels to investigate the forests and they arrived with a handful to witness the horror of the scene. They assured that they would clean this up and stay watchful of further Maledian trickery.
The party then headed for Dulnmoor to prepare for what schemes the vician could have in store.
Character(s) interacted with
- Setesk
- Kramer Settendorf
- Werner Settendorf
- Vicarion
