Session 7: Arrival in Lionsmane Report

General Summary

The heroes dusted themselves off after a sleepless night near the old farmers' crossroads. The interrogation of the Scale Warden had pushed their bonds of camaraderie and nearly broken Glim Beren. The gnome seemed shattered beyond his typically fractured self. Luckily enough, as Twitch (the dwarven wizardess whom the party saved from the Scale Wardens) took her leave and invited the party to meet her in the Othershome District, Krindle came wandering back into the camp. He offered no real explanation for where he had been, but he seemed especially dirty and hungry. Over an otherwise cheerless breakfast, Kindle inadvertently lightened the mood by getting his gyroscope caught in his beard. Unable to subdue its magicked nature, it continued to wind further and further into his hair until it was hopeless embedded. As his gnomish finger sprouted flames and he began to cast his flamebolt on himself, Glim and Rupert sprung up from their seats, dropping their plates of rashers and beans. The big man grabbed the gnome by the wrists and held him fast, while Glim used his knowledge of the mechano-arcane world and reversed the toy's spin, freeing it from the matted facial hair with little effort. "You can have this back after I make a small adjustment, " the artificer said with a smile. The gyroscope didn't need any adjustments. After only a couple of miles, Lionsmane loomed large before the party, and the massive crater, caused by the Crepitus Magnum stretched between them and the curtain walls of the capital. As they approached the edge of the giant hole, a man and his three companions came running towards them. He had his cloak pulled tightly and his hood was covering his face. A pair of shortswords hung at his hips. "Follow me, friends! Into the crater!" he yelled as he approached. "You do not want to meet what is coming behind us." The party could see at least a dozen dark shapes running toward them. There was no time to discuss. The party looked at each other for direction. "The Investigators will not look on you kindly if you engage them in discussion, I fear," added the man as he slowed for just a moment. "Trust me. Into the pit." Something clicked in Glim's memory. The Investigators... what was it about them? "Well, friends," offered Father Brennan, "Let's not dawdle." The de facto leader, and face of the party, took a few hurried steps over the rock-exposed edge of the crater, leaning heavily on his staff for balance. Soon the rest of the part followed suit. "Why are we blindly following this guy down here?" asked Ashton. Despite his occasional brashness, the paladin still represented the conscience of the party in most endeavors. "Let it go, Master Righteous," commented Harrigan. "We've a better chance where they can't see us." The nimble rogue hopped and jumped down a few stones and was soon below the strange upper limit of the fog cloud. The air was thick and filled with an arcane residue that hung in the space resplendent with all manner of magical auras. Aerendel muttered a quick word of magic detection and was momentarily struck blind from the overwhelming magical feedback. The fog seemed unending and ushered forth from multiple directions. In hurried words, and only partial glances the party become quickly acquainted with the man on the run. He introduced himself as Brandyll Witherdown. Somethign about him was familiar to both Harrigan and Father Brennan, but neither could immediately place from where they knew the man. He purported to be the leader of the Underwall Tinkers, a group that helped refugees from the war and those oppreseed by the Nobli Deum. "We have to make our ways back to our hideout before Calamore and Bulldog catch up with us, but look for me in the westerlies if you are looking for an opportunity to assist those really harmed by this war, and the Crepitus that ended it. This hole is just the beginning of the damage done to the people of this land." In a sudden whoosh of multicolored fog, Brandyll was gone as soon as he appeared. Through the dense haze, the party discerns boots on stones, torches, and the raspy yelling voice of who they assumed was Calamore, "Thrpread out and find out friend, Mithter Witherdown. He ith wanted for quethtioning." The party, not wanting to make an enemy before even getting inside the walls of the city, pressed deeper into the crater. Before long, through even the powerful aroma of the excessive magical excess, the smell of death came upon their senses. Ashton welcomed the arrival of the ghouls and the powerful ghasts. Despite the smell, the paladin tapped into the power of Remantil, and an odd simultaneous mix of the god's holiest power and most vengeful wrath welled up inside him. Harrigan tumbled to the right as the slobbering, clawed monsters rushed forward. Earendel pulled her blade and took a few steps to the left. Glim and Krindle began casting. Landrey and Rupert formed the front of the scrum, and, initialy, the companions thought that the conflict would be over quickly, especially with Ashton radiating divine energy and nearly incinerating any of the undead creatures unlucky enough to come into contact with his halberd. But, soon, a second wave joined the fight, and Harrigan was momentarily surrounded. In the end, following a blast from Glim's cannon, and a pair of healing spells from Father Brennan, the party moved on deeper into the crater, and away from the searching Investigators. The party reached, what appeared to be the center of the arcane-touched expanse, at which many dead soldiers' bodies are fused to each other, to rocks, and to weapons. As the group explored the macabre scene, however a pair of amorphous monsters, Otyughs, sprang forth from piles of bodies and began grabbing and biting the party members. Unlike the previous combat, the group was neither well-prepared, nor dominant in the fight with the tentacled horrors. Twice, the monsters appeared as if they would eat one of them, but the party snatched victory from the yellow fangs of defeat. For some minutes, they laid on the earthen floor, exhausted and panting. No one spoke for some minutes until Krindle popped up suddenly, and not waiting for any of his companions began walking, quite quickly. to the east. "I don't like it in here. I'm leaving." Landrey and Earendel exchanged annoyed glances, but no one could argue with his logic. As the group emerged on the far side, they were almost able to touch the outer curtain wall of Lionsmane. A short stroll along the perimeter, and the party was sauntering into Lionsmane past a pair of stationary, but unobtrusive Gold Lions. The Investigators were nowhere to be seen. Father Brennan asked a passerby for a comfortable inn and was directed to the city-centre, and an establishment called the Honeyed Lute. Several of the members knew of the establishment, and Glim had even stayed there before. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the inn, and it was not busy, but also not empty when they entered. A group of four takers say and joked in the corner about something. No one seemed upset at their presence. The innkeeper was friendly and identified a pair of rooms in the guest house behind the tavern building. The party took a early afternoon respite and healed their wounds before coming down into the tavern for an evening of mild frivolity. The Honeyed Lute was bustling when the party entered the back door. A wide-smiled bard danced and recited and sang from the bar, mixing in mild cantrips and barman's tricks to engage and impress the scores of guests. The party identified a number of interesting figures with whom they struck up conversations over the course of the evening: Finidair Mythweave of the Honeyed Lute Inn (and the Bloodsong Company)- the fun-loving bard, barman, and self-described owner of the Honeyed Lute.

Balfour Heavybrow of the Order of Shattered Bones- He offered opportunities to seek out the struggle against the power of Kazgaroth across Shadowspeak.

Bordan Cillius of the Rhungeist Kreiger was thrilled to see Ashton again, as he remembered him from years ago in Riverside. He claimed the town was in need of assistance against a powerful dark force assailing the town.

Talavert Malcurrent of the Pirates of the Setting Sun became instantly enthralled with Earendel, and invited her to join him in his "state room" aboard his ship in Talus.

The next morning, the party delivered the goods from Kerrick Silvermind to Ivan Jannis at the Great Library of Lionsmane, which was a short walk across the main town square. The party made their introduction at a small service window to an arcane researcher, and soon they were invited into a drawing room where Ivan Jannis met them and received the goods. The meeting was brief, but included another pass at Earendel from the eccentric wizard. No additional rewards were given, but the relationship between the party and the Keepers of Secrets was coalescing.