Session 32: Battle's Aftermath Report

General Summary

The Battle Concludes

As the battle concluded, and the party finished off their remaining foes, taking stock they found that very few casualties had been taken on the allied side.   As the remainder of the Carderby troops retreated, the Soturen went to pursue, but were stopped by the Loyalists who refused to watch their friends and former allies be ripped apart. They were grateful but fled towards their remaining allies as they retreated.   The bodies on the field were looted and piled up ready for burning as an old, elegant mule mounted by a halfling made its way across the battlefield. This halfling was Blaize Morrighan, the gunslinger.   The Busty Goblin chief seemed to know him, apparently in a very intimate way, but was done with him, having moved on to a very buff goblin following her.   As the day drew to a close the party helped with burning the bodies and found out that the burning had recently become increasingly urgent as those that did not would frequently disappear during the night, leaving behind a hit of a tarry residue.   Hallaster, in the spirit of experimentation, decided to take one body, that of a female Inquisitor, and assiduously not burn it, instead setting an alarm around it and having Fidget watch it during the night.   The alarm was not raised and when they awoke the next day the body was gone.

Further Research

The party decided that the best person to ask about this was Father Belderone in town.   The wise old priest took them into his private sanctum and discussed forthrightly with them what was going on, saying that he had not seen anything like it before, but had been trying to research in various heavy duty tomes on the subject, largely around the history of the Lady.   He had found references to the Ebonshade, and had a picture distinctly resembling Vasool, with his split trunk. He was not able to shed much light on the body disappearances in themselves but did allow Gortan and Hal to spend time reading through the books.   In addition to discussion of the Ebonshade, there was also discussion of the history of the local area, and, in particular Castle Sunder. As the two scholars researched, they found increasing links between the castle and the Champions of the Varldsvurm, and were able to conclude that one such night may even be buried in the tomb there.   Further research would be needed back at the castle.

The Poker Tournament

While the bookworms were busy, Blaize set out to find some fun in Hogsfeet, finding a gambling table in the Reluctant Pig and, after losing a hard fought game of poker to Keith Acehands, was invited to a high stakes poker game that evening, while the market was in town.   He agreed to go and Hal agreed to use Detect Thoughts to read what the other players were thinking.   The contest was tight between the 12 participants, with the Dealer's father, Acehands, Blaize, a Prissy merchant and Randy Johnny being the last 5 remaining in.   Randy Johnny went out first, and, to console himself, went to fornicate in a bush near where Hallaster was hiding.   The Merchant went out next, after having cleared out much of the rest of the opposition, was unable to finish on top and, in his frustration had to be escorted from the premesis.   The last 3 were very evenly matched, but, after several more hands, Acehands finally went out to a cunning play from the Father.   The final 2 players, Blaize and the father, it was close fought, however, the Father seemed just genuinely happy to be there, going all in on a hand he wasn't sure about for the sake of the drama.   As a result, Blaize came out the eventual winner of the 1,200 gold prize pot.   He gave 200 of that gold to the dealer, for which she was extremely shocked and grateful, saying it would give her the opportunity to go to Godrun to train properly, as was her dream.   Hal and Blaize then made their way back up to the castle to get some well-deserved sleep after a night well spent.