Session 23: The Tombwood Report

Party spends the night talking. Flynt goes off to meditate, speak to Ácolitus. They spoke about what should be done with Nezhar, whether he ought to be rebound or destroyed. Ácolitus said to Flynt "Why is it that I have called you to do this task?" Flynt came to his own conclusion that it would be impossible for him to maintain the binding indefinitely, for it was impossible to hunt down every cultist. Killing Nezhar, therefore, was the only true method to contend with the beast. Roy and Kronlim followed him, run into him in the bush. Flynt is angry that they followed him, and tell them not to follow him again.

Leowulf speaks to Hadrianus about his time in Worthend and their prospects for victory. The Lord Inquisitor was rather dour on the matter. "Tell me, Vestidian, have you ever seen a living thing over four houses tall? Then, were you expected to fight it?" Their conversation continued on with that tone for some time, and Hadrianus told part of the story of King Cynric and his foray in Worthend. Nezhar had been near that city by his own design, away from the battle that led to Typhon's demise. Why Nezhar was so far from his master was unknown to him, but at that time there seemed to be no better chance to contend with the beast. As the remainder of the Corgastorian and Othosar forces marched eastward, destorying all remnants of Typhon they found, they surrounded the area of Worthend in which Nezhar resided. The soldiers, at vicious loss, pushed the beast further back to the city until he was within the walls. Once there, Hadrianus and Cynric entered on their own, moving toward the center of the city so the Vestidian king may create a seal of the Naarstor, therefore making escape impossible for Nezhar. Should he try, he would be burned like the cultists had in the Forest Grove of the ancestors.

The next day, the party moved through the forest edge of the Tombwood before it transitioned into swamp. As the sun slowly crept into the sky from the east, it became obscured among the thick boughs and thick green miasma that permeated the region.

Party runs into a Voladûr, an ancient pillar from which the Voletal drew forth the power of Vojûn. They gather around it and Hadrianus explains their purpose, at least to his knowledge. The party then sits about it for a time, for it is the only solid land within a large area. Roy steps down among the pale blue rocks, jagged and open to the air, and picks up some of the black stone clusters tucked within. He goes feral and attacks Leowulf, only to be restrained by Flynt and Hadrianus. Kronlim ties him up, and they quickly depart that place back into the swamp.

The party walked for hours in the swamp, miserable as the mud filled their boots and caked their legs. By way of navigation they made an attempt to escape the swamp, moving among the trees to either the east or west. In one direction was Vestidia and in the other was the sea. The travel for the entire night, from dusk until dawn, through the horrid mire. It was perhaps the worst traveling experience of their careers. Eventually, the party came upon the ruins of an old timber village. They fight some cultists of Nezhar there, killing many, suffering wounds, and brutally questioning a caster who seemed to be the camp's de facto leader.

Once the fight was over, Flynt and Hadrianus had a clandestine conversation about what path to follow next. Killing every cultist in Vestidia, then Othos wouldn't be viable. There were too many, those that they did find were few and far between. He hinted that Typhon's soul had more to its story that the artifacts into which it was imbued. A remnant of his soul his still theoretically exist with Ácolitus. That was the part originally dedicated to Vanarion, the sword of Typhon that by now was long destroyed. Perhaps, Hadrianus suggested, Flynt could use his clout with Ácolitus to allow them an audience with that soul. If anyone knew the purpose and power of Nezhar, it was Typhon.