Session Log: Spectres and Swamps

General Summary

19th Day of the Month of Winds

  Face to face with an acid drenched spectre, Peter braces himself for the worst as it begins to take the first deliberate steps in his direction. A sudden series of lights flashed past his shoulder as his companions come to the rescue and assault the monster, although Frejas attacks seemed to barely do any harm. Relentless, the Revenant of Fairtongue surged forwards, shoving Heathcliff aside and ignoring anyone who did not seem to interfere with its mission. Closer and closer it came, until it finally closed the distance and began its onslaught of terror. Freja was struck down almost immediately, and Galen teetered on the edge of retreat. Panicked, Galen and Peter each beseeched the assistance of Heimlich and Heathcliff, although their tactics differed. Peter tried to appeal to their sense of common decency and compassion for their fellow man.   Galen used mind control magic.   As a result of the duos attempts, Heathcliff surged into action to save the downed Freja, even going as far as attempting a power slide. Failing this, the form of Heathcliff evaporated and reappeared atop Freja, shielding her from further blows. Time bought, Galen decides to start dragging the fallen cleric to safety, while Heathcliff and Heimlich team up to delay the Revenant with a combination of duplicate magic and crossbow bolts. The five of them then made a hasty retreat, covered by a trio of mirror images.   Heathcliff and Heimlich led the group to a warehouse deep in Riverside, nestled amongst the rows of residential homes. Here, the duo revealed themselves as the Changelings that the part apprehended at the Cathedral several weeks ago. The leader, Taq, revealed that they simply had a request to make. All they desired was a favour, a simple act of leaving a window unlocked in Steelspines tower at the Shadow Slayers Guild. Shocked to be getting away so easily, Peter and Galen both agreed. The Changelings then promptly left, their job done.   Rather than also leaving, Peter and Galen decided to snoop around the warehouse. The pair discovered a cache of weapons, bearing a motley assortment of crafters marks. While pondering this, they heard a loud crash as the side door was opened. Acting quickly, they retrieved Freja and headed for the rear of the warehouse and the back door.   Unfortunately, it was locked.   A degree of panic began to set in as they snuck around the warehouse, trying to outmanoeuvre whoever had found them, but they eventually realised the rafters of the warehouse had several crates hoisted via ropes. Following the ropes led to a small platform that could control their position, and a new exit strategy was formed. Racing for the controls, the team finally realise that it is none other than the Revenant that has tracked them down. The steady panic they had been previously feeling began to reach new heights as the dangling crates were manipulated into a pathway to freedom. Around this time, Galen decided to set the warehouse on fire to cover their exit and prevent the Revenant from following them. This plan worked a little too well however, as the wooden warehouse was especially flammable after the prolonged winter dry season.   A few close calls followed, Galen slipped off the crate walkway and Freja was actually frozen with fear at one point, but the trio manage to escape the rapidly burning warehouse and slipped into the gathering crowds. They made a few basic attempts to put out the flames with the other citizens, but eventually retired to spend the night at Galens grandparents hovel.  

20th Day of the Month of Winds

  Late the next morning, the trio are awakened by a knocking at the door. Galen, suspicious of the knocking, is surprised to see Hatise on the other side. An exchange of barbs follows, with Hatise rightfully upset that the trio tracked down their family, and Galen rightfully upset that Hatise left the group to play the role of hero. Eventually however, the team remembers that Ulysses has requested to see them that morning.   Cue the gang attempting to negotiate passage across the bridge, but this time a pair of Hammers are having none of it. They make a point of stating that the increased security is due to a direct order from Alaric Ordesza, Galens father. Unsure of how to proceed, Galen eventually grabs some money from Peter and hires a nearby urchin child to act as a messenger. Time passes as the party loiter around Heironymous Square, a gathering place for many of the communities of Bingtown, with a statue of Heironymous Bing himself looking down lovingly at the crowds. Peter puts on a quick show, then Ulysses strides across the bridge with an expression of irritation.   He gathers the party and informs them that amongst the relics in the crates they retrieved previously, he has unearthed an ancient map of the area. The most exciting thing about this map is that it seems to indicate the presence of a second settlement located south west of the ancient city of Frengra. The parties task would be to head out of the city and attempt to find evidence of this settlement. A short and mostly unsuccessful negotiation for more pay then took place, with the final agreement coming to 20 gold now and an additional 80 on completion, with the opportunity to sell any valuables found at the site.   And so begins a series of shopping adventures as the party decide what they need for a journey that could last a full tenday. "Luckily" for the party, the Weeping was due to begin in two days, which would hopefully cut down on the amount of clean water they would have to transport. Although it did mean any hope of this being a comfortable journey were laid low. But hey, at least it let them leave the city while the arson investigations were ongoing.  

Journey into the Jungle Swamp

  The next four days were spent navigating the jungle, plunging deeper and deeper into its swampy embrace. Eventually however, a small clearing comes into view and the opportunity for a rest is seized. Hatise scampers up a tree to get a clearer idea of their location, while the others give the clearing a scout. This results in Galen tripping over a submerged ruin and twisting his ankle. The group spend the rest of the day excavating and exploring a small flooded chamber, recovering some ancient honey and a broken collection of pottery.   While camping, the pottery is repaired through magical means and revealed to be an ancient cipher disk, possibly capable of translating the ancient coded language used to guard the riches of this land. Buoyed by this find, the party spent the entire next day giving the submerged ruins a thorough search. Nothing further is found however, so the group are content to leave the following morning.   The party leave with the dawn and begin making their way home, but either they took a wrong turn on the way to the ruins or a wrong turn back, but they soon end up looking upon a Sunken Tower in the middle of a clearing in the swamp. Embolded by their previous find, the four of them clamber up the tower and drop down inside, fighting off some gray oozes at the bottom. They then used their new cipher disk to decode an ancient message, and prepared to enter...

Rewards Granted

A Cipher Disk looted from the Submerged Ruins

Missions/Quests Completed

Quest Completed: Kill Fairtongue, Again
Quest Completed: Locate the Submerged Ruins

Character(s) interacted with

NPC's met:
  Taq - The Changeling that adopted Heathcliffs persona