Session 8 - Gulthrian Gambit

General Summary

On the way to The Hollow Knox had a note slipped into his pocket that had the symbol of The Broken Trust on it along with the message "A wise man knows when to ask a message, a wiser man knows when to stop asking". The party were unable to find who delivered the message thanks to the busy city streets. The party decided to continue on to The Hollow. There they discovered the entrance had been covered up by a new layer of concrete that was only a couple of months or so old. With the use of some spells the party managed to get beyond the wall and gain access to The Hollow.

The Hollow appeared to be abandoned on first sight though with the use of the Lantern of Revealing it was discovered that five rifts existed throughout it.

These rifts turned out to be Fel Rifts which are invisible rifts left behind by magics that mess with the flow of time. The party were able to enter these rifts to gain some insight on past events.

Through these windows into time they discovered that The Broken Trust made some sort of agreement with an unknown powerful being. As their payment in this deal they were to be transported five years forward in time. Their leader, a dragonborn called Himar was also told to research the Gulthrian Gambit. The mage responsible for sending them forward in time, a seemingly human man called Erastus. He began to speak to the party in one of the Fel Rifts but revealed that he was actually unable to see or hear them and was only aware of what they said because his Master had informed them on what would be asked.

The party spent some time trying to see if they could find any other merchants besides Micnar who may have had dealings with The Broken Trust. They went to both Mekno and Valeria and visited some of the merchants who worked under Valeria but found no signs of The Broken Trust.

The party next decided to head to the Tismar District and the Church of the Lost Writer located there. While there Knox began to look into the Gulthrian Gambit while Ekta looked into Fel Rifts.

Ekta got to search the Writer's Works, the endless library that is part of The Lost Writer's domain. Here she learned that two types of Fel Rifts were theorised to exist. The first were accidental Fel Rifts that were the usual result of time manipulation these trapped the caster in a loop they could never escape from. The second were purposeful rifts, which the caster place by will to offset the power of time manipulation, requiring one rift per each year skipped. After leaving the Writer's Work Ekta maintained the ability to read at a basic level.

Meanwhile Knox read through books and discovered that the Gulthrian Gambit was actually an attack on Akram by a group known as the Gulthrian's. This attack was actually put into motion before the city rose into the sky. The Gulthrians took over some farmland and blighted the land and planted an army of blightspawn. With the use of weeping lock mixed into the soil the growing period was delayed. Shortly after the city took into the sky the blightspawn burst forth from the ground and attacked the city. Akram eventually came to win the fight after a hard struggle. Further study revealed that Farmer Holmes' fields were located where the originally blightspawn where planted.

With this information at hand Knox worked out that the Turnip Heist was actually a second attempt at growing blightspawn and confirmed this by digging up the fields where the blights were planted. Erastus appeared and attempt to use his time magic to save some of the blights but was unable to instead suffering pain. A voice then rang out claiming the party were under observation and being tested.

Holmes paid the party 2000 gold for the services in the form of two trade bars each worth 1000 gold.

On the way back to the city the party found Himar waiting for them at the gate. He told them that his master would offering them great rewards but they must turn him down before collapsing dead to the ground. On inspection he had gashes on his face that came from the inside out.

As the party went to bed for the night a featureless figured was waiting for Knox in his room and claimed it could deal with his drow problem in return for service.

Rewards Granted

2 x 1000 GP Trade Bars

Missions/Quests Completed

The Terrible Tale of Tainted Turnips

Character(s) interacted with

• Erastus - A seemingly human male.
• Himar - A dragonborn mage, leader of The Broken Trust. Deceased.
• Johnathon
• Farmer Holmes
• Trisbane
• Arving Mekno
• Valeria Zonara

Report Date

13 Sep 2019

Primary Location

Akram (city)