Session 13: In which Curses are lifted and Dooms foretold

General Summary

The healers wasted no time when they arrived, dismounting quickly and getting straight to work. Ajen (the dwarven cleric) approached Aatavi, inspecting the large bite on his shoulder. Sensing the curse within, she clutched an amulet around her neck, a holy symbol of Ban-Adia, and began to whisper a prayer. The group watched as Aatavi’s skin bulged and rippled under the healer’s touch, hair sprouting forth from under Ajen’s fingertips as if the curse were resisting her touch. With a final utterance, the healer pulled her fingertips away and as she did so a wisp of dark energy dissipated in the air.   After Aatavi was taken care of the knight with the crimson and white cloak offered his assistance. Ajen introduced him as “Kalvinius” but he quickly corrected her to a more informal “Kal.” As he talked with the Serpents Six and checked the perimeter, he seemed to take a special interest in Aatavi.   With the battle over and clean up beginning, Garrig thanked our heroes and bid them return to the manor house. “We have you to thank for our very lives. Please take your rest in the manor house and help yourselves to anything you find. Eat, rest, and recover.”   Making their way into the manor house, our heroes quickly unbuckled and began to rest from the previous night’s trials. As Aaura's unseen servant started a kettle of soup over the fire, Shadow checked on the Blightstone Orb in the cellar. Taking her lantern from atop the box, she cracked it open and peered within. The orb inside rested upon a burlap sack, dark and dormant.   As Shadow replaced the lantern she noticed Thor and Keokan waiting near the entrance to the ruins below the keep. Thor was pawing at the entrance, and whining quietly for Keokan to follow. As the goliath and his guide descended once more into the ruins Shadow followed in kind. Soon they found themselves in the great crystalline under-chamber, its walls shining in pink and purple hues. As Keokan strode past, he sporadically glimpsed the shrouded figure of Dathar-Kane reflected in errant facets of the crystal. Scratching Thor’s ears and rubbing his belly, Keokan was overcome with a sense of peaceful power, a strong sense of medicine. Feeling that divinity had brought him once more to a natural place of power, he made his way back to the surface to report to the healers above.   While the goliath and tabaxi searched below, Kal found Aatavi resting in the common room. The knight approached Aatavi, and begging his pardon, asked the barbarian where he hailed from. When Aatavi identified himself as Mysati, the knight’s face broke into a grin. “I knew it” he said. “When I saw your dress I wondered, but when I heard your accent… I knew!”   Kal explained that he had recently encountered another Mysati traveler, a woman named Haatiri. She had helped Kal and his order with a problem in the town of Pallidhold.   Hearing his friend’s name aloud, Aatavi leapt to his feet and wrapped the knight in a beefy hug. “You have seen Haatiri? How is she? Where is she?!”   Breaking from Aatavi’s embrace the knight explained that Haatiri was well, and had provided some much-needed strength as his order struggled against a foe. As compensation for her bravery, Kal had sought to reward Haatiri, only to find that she had already moved on.   “She was searching for a place where the storms meet the sea… I think the Vendaval Shores to the west or maybe the Thundermere.” Kal broke away and began to dig through his rucksack. “In any event, you’ll probably see her before I will, so please give her this for me.” He produced a flat wooden coin with an intricate feather carved into one side and an oak tree on the other.   “Haatiri told me of the plight of the Mysati: kelp beds drying up, fishing hauls dwindling, trees and plants on the island dying. This coin is magical. I’ve had it for years but never had much reason to use it. It’s said that if you plant it in the ground, a mighty oak will spring up from the earth.” He pressed the coin in Aatavi’s hand. “Please give this to her when you see her. A token of thanks.”   Aatavi hugged the knight once more, promising to do so. As he did, the villagers began to be herded through the common room by the Serpents Six, moving toward the cellar below. The villagers were beaten, scarred, and covered in gore – a product of their ravenous attack on the dairy cows in the shed. Many of them looked shamed and regretful but others regarded the heroes with spite in their eyes; sullen and ill tempered.   Soon after the heroes had all settled into a bowl of soup, one of the villagers burst forth from the cellar below and attempted to escape out the front door. Acting quickly, Aatavi tackled the man, the large innkeeper whom they had met two days before at Luca’s Rest. As the Mysati barbarian pinned him to the floor, Ajen appeared and knelt beside the struggling man. Clutching her amulet once more, she moved her hand over the man’s struggling body. He cursed and spit at her as the divine magic began to remove the curse. The party watched as the man’s face twitched, his jaw distended and front teeth extended. Every fiber of his being seemed to try and reject the magic as the cleric ripped the curse from his body.   With it removed the man shrank into the corner sobbing. “What have you done? You take away our only chance to survive. You didn’t see what Father Decroux and the Melody have shown us. You don’t know what’s coming… dragons on the wing, the dead rising to take back their rightful place, the end time is at hand and you strip away our only chance at survival!”   Ajen returned the broken man back to the cellar as the words hung in the air. Finally, a voice broke the silence. “He’s not wrong.”   Kal stepped forward. “I certainly can’t agree with the methods of this Father Decroux, but I can confirm one thing, he’s not necessarily wrong. Dragons HAVE been seen on the wing again. In both the Three Kingdoms to the north and in the Steppes, monsters are proliferating like never before. The dead are indeed rising, at least near Ymmari ruins. Draconic influence and violence are on the rise. My order encountered this not too long ago in Pallidhold.”   Having heard it referenced many times before, Shadow piped up “Who is your order?”   “Apologies. I should have identified myself earlier. I am a member of the Jasper Covenant.”   Aaura and Faelyn exchanged looks. Both knew the complicated history of the Covenant. The group was formed just before the fall of the Ymmari Empire and was instrumental not only in fomenting rebellion  but in eliminating further threats  from the dragonborn. Although the Ymmari had been oppressive tyrants, some modern sages looked at the Covenant’s methods as extreme.   Kal went on to explain that his order has heard reports of Ymmari ruins across the land becoming beset with undead. When he met Eeline and heard that the keep had been built on Ymmari ruins he was sent to investigate and help as needed.   The conversation soon bent towards the Blightstone Orbs that the heroes had discovered in the Blushing Hills and under Barter's Edge Kal confirmed that his order had discovered one as well, deactivating it with radiant magic, just as Shadow and Aaura had done.   Soon the entire group was back in the ruins, showing Kal where they had battled the undead and discovered the orb. While they moved about the under chamber, Aaura used magic to subtly peek into his thoughts. She sensed the knight’s anxiety about being in the ruins, and an extreme distaste for Ymmari art and architecture.   While below, Kal confirmed many things. He explained that Ymmari ruins were scattered across the continent; old fortresses, watchtowers, and arcane experiment halls. They stood in one such hall now, with rooms dedicated to the various schools of magic. Kal admitted that although he was unpracticed in the arcane arts he had learned much through his Order. According to their research, the chambers with blue orbs fastened to the ceiling were dedicated to Conjuration magic and often used to teleport between one locale and another. The theory was that the circles carved into the floor acted as unique coordinates and could be utilized by those powerful enough to activate the orb above.   Kal also mused about the Divination Hall, where the great mirror hung on the wall. He professed again to talking of things which he had no facility for but if someone were proficient with Divination magic, they could (in theory) use these mirrors to communicate with other experiment halls, even scry upon distant locales.   The purple crystalline hall was an Evocation Chamber and attuned to not only devastating arcane magic but also healing energies. Keokan nodded silently, having sensed this already and told the healers above.   When they entered the chamber where they had fought off the mummified Ymmari, Kal sifted through its desiccated wrappings and ashes. He explained that his Order had discovered similar monsters when the orb in Pallidhold had become active. The Jasperites still held onto that orb, seeking for a way to destroy it but so far being unsuccessful.   Once back topside, Kal praised the heroes for vanquishing the undead and quieting the orb. He explained that their experiences encountering two of these orbs might provide valuable insight as his order attempted to discover the coming threat. He asked them to journey back to Pallidhold with him to speak directly with the Jasper Covenant.   When the party politely refused, relating that they had business of their own in the west, Kal offered to take the orb from them, so that his order could continue to study ways to destroy it. Again the party refused, feeling that the orb was safer in their own hands than in those of this seemingly well-meaning Jasperite. In a final plea Kal warned them that the radiant magic didn’t seem to deactivate the orb completely, and that it may become active again if not watched closely. Bringing out a dusty tome she had acquired in Lasthome, Aaura confirmed this.   The next morning the party gathered for one more farewell. They bid adieu to Garrig and The Serpents Six, who once again thanked them and offered the manor house if they should ever find their way back to Barter’s Edge. As they said their final goodbyes, Kal asked them their name, so he could report back to his order their heroic exploits.   With a nod towards Shadow, Keokan replied.   “We are The Shore’s Light.”   The next days proved restful as the heroes left Barter’s Edge behind. The ground had dried from the previous storms and the terrain began to rise and fall in gentle hills. The autumn nights were cooling now, which made their campfire all the more comfortable.   Days into their journey Keokan spied scavenger birds circling high overhead. Thor was sent to investigate, with Flit high on the wing for an overhead view. Not far off, just behind a hill and out of sight the owl spied two large winged reptiles feasting on the torn corpses of gnolls. The wyverns had a lean and hungry look as they tore the bodies apart, cracking bone with their powerful jaws, and croaking out warning to any who would interrupt their feast.