The Hammer Song Report

General Summary

The party accompanied the prisoners they rescued in the previous session back to their village of Northfield. After resting and replenishing their supplies, Hannibal, Royce, and Benn decide to return to Fisher Castle to report back to Lady Iria. Akin decides to remain in Northfield for a few days to help the village rebuild and tend to the wounded.    While on the road back Giantshead Bay, the party discovered an extremely large Dragon's Tooth: a purplish crystal that emits a dull purple light that is much prized by wizards. Since a Dragon's Tooth of that size would be worth up to 5000 gold pieces to the right buyer, the party excavated the object with plans to carry it back to Giantshead Bay.    Due to the size of the crystal, the party decided to return to Northfield and ask for a mule to help transport the object. On their way back, however, they discover a warhorse from Karis that seemed to have lost its rider. Hannibal forms an almost immediate bond with the animal, and the party quickly realizes that the horse belongs to the cavalry unit commanded by Marcos Amory, Royce's older brother.    The three went in search of the unit, only to find that it had been attacked while at camp, and apparently annihilated to the last man. The bodies showed signs of a fight, including wounds from slashing weapons and strangulation. Each body also had its chest cavity caved in. One soldier was found with a necklace in his clenched first, which bore the symbol of the Crimson King.    Tragically, Royce also finds the body of his brother. The group gives the bodies a decent burial and burns the evidence of their incursion into Giantshead territory.    Upon returning to Fisher Castle, the party discovers that Predent Gal is with Iria. The two have become allies as both are troubled that their two cities seem to be edging close to the brink of an unnecessary war, while greater threats loom over the entire Tranquil Coast. A meeting of the League of Brennan is about to be held in Giantshead Bay, and Gal and Iria have decided to push the League to take these threats more seriously.    Royce informs the party that, following the death of his older brother, he is now heir to the Amory household, and has decided to return to Karis to assume his duties there.    The group also meets two new characters: Silas, a traveling minstrel searching for the secret meaning he is convinced hiding behind the songs he has been performing his entire life, and Gigli, a goblin jester serving House Hengehold.

Rewards Granted

Iria pays the party 1000 gold as a reward for dealing with the necromancer Macton, and has agreed to act as a bank for the party, while also offering to find a buyer for the Dragon's Tooth they brought back.

Missions/Quests Completed

Iria's quest to defeat Macton has been completed.

Character(s) interacted with

While under magical interrogation by Benn, Silas told him the following story regarding his current motives:   As I said, we were playing all the standards around the taverns of Xandagon. That was when I met Lin. She’d been working as a tavern girl at the Golden Bough where we were staying.   I took her for an elf the first time I saw her. I’m still not entirely convinced she wasn’t.   Lin ended up warming my bed most nights, and I stuck around the city long enough for her to learn something about what I did. Not the music part. The other part   She had her own contacts in our seedy little world, which is why I wasn’t terribly surprised when she tipped me off about a potential score with a huge payoff.   There was a certain mirror owned by some nobleman who had an estate outside of the city. As far as Lin knew, it was considered a masterpiece: no intrinsic value, but worth a fortune to the right buyer. And she knew the right buyer. There were supposed to other valuables in the noble’s collection besides, which she said I could keep myself. She just wanted half the value of the mirror for herself, which would be more than enough for her to escape waiting tables for the rest of her life.   It was easy enough to arrange an invite to perform in the palace where the mirror was held. I found the mirror hanging on the wall just as Lin had said it would be. Taller than a man and twice as wide. I have to admit, it didn’t look like it was worth a fortune. It wasn’t gilded, there were no jewels embedded in the frame. The metalwork was impressive, admittedly. I’m not sure I’d ever seen such fine work before, least of all for the frame of a mirror. And it was more than just wrought iron. I couldn’t tell you what kind of metal it was made from, but it looked polished and sturdy, whatever it was.   I asked Lin what she planned to do when it was all over. She just smiled at me a bit sadly and said “return to the paradise beneath the summer moon, and see the elders of the gentle race.” It was a strange turn of phrase. I thought she was talking about the elves, but there was something about the words that struck a familiar chord. I was about to ask he what she meant by that, but then she kissed me, and I quickly forgot all my questions.   The job itself was simple enough. Despite its size, the mirror was surprisingly light.   I took the mirror to a warehouse and waited for Lin.   We made it back to our warehouse.   As I waited, I felt something was amiss. Something coming from the mirror. I removed its covering. Instead of a reflection, I saw… something else.   It seemed to be a procession of some sort. As if the mirror had become a sort of window into another world. I saw robed figures gliding down a marble hall. Two of them carried an enormous dish between them toward a figure seated on a throne on a raised dais. The figure stared back at them with sightless eyes that looked like pools of an unending darkness, and an impassive expression that might as well have been a carnival mask for all the emotion in betrayed. The two robed figures were followed by a second pair, who held aloft a jousting lance before them. And as they passed close to the vantage point of the mirror, it seemed as though the tip of the lance had been dipped in blood, which dripped on the stones of the floor beneath as if the lance itself were bleeding.   The robed figures split off in opposite directions as they approached the dais, with the two carrying the dish turning left and those with the lance turning right. Then both pairs turned to face each other from either end of the hall, and raised the objects they carried as if in silent salute to each other.   Then the figure seated on the throne rose to his feet, supported by a staff carved from a wizened tree branch, on which he seemed to lean his entire weight. The crimson hem of his robes fell to the floor as he rose, and seemed to slowly expand outward, like pool of blood.   He looked for a moment as if he were about to say something, when he paused. He turned his head, and those sightless eyes seemed to stare though the mirror, as if he were seeking out my own. For a moment I thought he could see me through the mirror, the black holes that were his eyes locked with mine.   I don’t know what possessed me to approach the mirror. Maybe I was trying to follow her. Maybe I just wanted answers. But as I reached out to touch its surface, the glass shattered into a thousand shards.   I realized later that what I saw behind the mirror seemed to resemble what I'd heard in old songs. It made me realize there is a connection that I don't yet understand, and I am on a mission to find out what it is.