The Long Shadow Sessions 11 - 20

General Summary

Session 11 Upon gleaning more of the intent behind resurrecting Yolgorah, specifically, "he will return our promised homeland to us," the party had second thoughts about letting an ancient red dragon out of its catatonic state. Some fast talking and concise arguments by Echoless gave the shaman Srisk enough pause to at least hear them out, and Eladan was able to discreetly charm him with suggestion to pause the ritual for the time being. Unfortunately, this angered the other soul bearers, one of whom, the lizardfolk Resk, began a heated exchange with the party, culminating in him threatening Zel with physically forcing him to complete the ritual if necessary. Naturally, this triggered Zel's battle rage.
Meanwhile, Leona and Zandre had a quiet side conversation with Quiet Smoke and Fang about their knowledge of Yolgorah. As it turned out, the former was aware that their "spiritual leader" was some kind of dragon, and while she did not relish the idea of it reaping fiery vengeance on innocent people, she did not feel dissuaded from awakening him. This was, of course, interrupted when blades were drawn. The soul bearers attacked Zel and the party, while Fang moved Smoke to a safe distance. Resk called the kobolds within the temple to arms, who hampered the party from honeycombed tunnels and murder holes while the soul bearers tried to subdue the party, but unfortunately for them, they did not prove to be much of a match. It was clear though that the kobolds, despite their individual feebleness, were going to prove troublesome in large numbers, so instead of dealing with that, Echoless opted instead to conjure an arcane gate in order to get the hell out of there.
Once safe, the party, led by Leona, had a long talk with Quiet Smoke about her intentions and what to do moving forward. After removing herself from the situation, she began to come around to the idea that maybe waking a vengeful being of pure malice would not result in anything great. Back with the rest of the tabaxi on the beach, Mr. Buttons made an impassioned speech about leaving the past behind and joining their siblings in Kittsadora without an evil dragon at the fore. The tabaxi deliberated amongst themselves while the party tended to a few other matters. Chiefly, Zandre checked in with Jack (Tano had just arrived in the city), and Echoless spoke more in depth with Brynn, who earlier informed her that he could not give them a quick exit if things went south because the reflecting pool foci on his island had stopped working as a spell focus (among other things). Furthermore, he stated that foci across the land had all been going haywire and that he had sent people to investigate.
During this time, the party also received a call via their orb of communication, though rather than the expected figure of the king, it was his daughter, Tria. She informed the party that, through scrying, she had learned that the Reckoning was not seeking artifacts beneath the foci, but instead had unearthed a large mithral shard, which they promptly destroyed. She beseeched the party to seek out and find another one of these foci before the Reckoning did, specifically pointing to a lead near Borne. In addition, she requested (or moreso simply informed) that she come along as well, teleporting into their midst when they agreed.
Back with the tabaxi, they decided as a group that they would follow Mr. Buttons suggestion: they would venture to Kittsadora and seek to join the community. However, they would first make contact with the native clan on the island and invite them as well. Mr. Buttons considered joining them, but Fang insisted that he would be of better use out in the world, and that he could handle this for now. Buttons seemed ok with this, and agreed to meet them at some point in the future to show them the way to Kittsadora, leaving a sending stone (from Tria) in their possession. And with that, the party looked to the horizon, uncertain of what to expect in their coming adventures…
XP earned: 2,000 each
Session 12 With a few final goodbyes to the Roaring Peak, the party teleported with Tria to Borne. Or at least that was the intent. Unfortunately, the spell landed them off target, arriving in the wilderness some 60 miles south of their target destination, forcing them to make the rest of the journey on foot. From the air though, they were able to find a road and a town in the distance, and opted to head there. Before they could make too much headway though, they received another call via the orb of communication, this time from Pharon. The ranger simply wished to verify that Tria was with them and reluctantly gave them his blessing to continue, leaving them with the vaguely threatening statement that it would be very unfortunate if he had to tell the King his daughter died, to which Leona responded: "No worries. We can always bring her back."
Once on the road, the party got clued into their whereabouts by traveling merchants, revealing that they were about two days from Borne and that the village of Marnmouth farther up the road is evidently dealing with a string of killings. As night fell, the party approached the village, opting to first investigate the tower looking over it from the hill. They found it to be magically sealed, requiring a dispel magic from Leona and Mr. Button's to pick the lock to gain entry to the trap door at the top of the tower. Inside, they found the remnants of a wizard's abode seemingly torn to bits by a rabid animal. Deeper in, they got a better idea of what had transpired here: written within the notes of a grimoire that survived whatever wrecked the place, was the detailing of a wizard called Rasmodeus who came across the book of vile darkness, and began the process of achieving lichdom. This was backed up by the empty phylactery that Echoless found amongst the refuse. The book was stolen before he could complete the ritual, but he carried on regardless, resulting in his transformation into a boneclaw. This was punctuated by the boneclaw leaping on the party from the shadows. With the party's liberal use of light, the creature stood little chance and was ultimately defeated, albeit momentarily. The party finished their sweep of the tower before heading back down to Marnmouth.
They found the village more or less deserted now that night had fallen. At the local inn, they learned that some sort of creature had been attacking at night and had already collected a handful of victims. A healer was in town currently tending to the latest casualty, who narrowly survived her encounter. Seeking him out, the party found Ezra Donneur, who Leona recognized as the man who had saved her life as a child. Ezra had been in Marnmouth for nearly a fortnight now, attempting to find the source of the attacks. With the knowledge gleamed from the party's experience in the tower, Ezra was able to ascertain that the boneclaw was likely tethered to an unwary soul within the village and that they would need to seek them out in order to truly stop the attacks. He suggested that in the morning, the party and he circle back to the older victims to try and find a common thread…
XP earned: 1,600 each
Session 13 The party, along with Ezra (sans Tria and Zandre, the latter of whom needed a day of contemplation and the former of whom wanted to read more into Rasmodeus' notes), opted to split up and search for clues. Eladan, Leona, and Ezra went to visit the most recent victim, while Echoless, Buttons, and Zel went to check on some farmhands who had been said to be the ones who discovered the wizard tower had been abandoned.
Through their investigations, they learned that Rasmodeus had just up and disappeared a little over a month ago, with the killings beginning shortly thereafter. The most recent victim, a courier from Borne had "interacted" only with a little boy whom she literally ran into on the streets before she was attacked. Meanwhile, one of the other victims, a shop keep of the general store, was a bastard of a man who particularly enjoyed taunting the kids that came to buy candy.
These clues eventually led them to a young boy named Brexen Daniels. Echoless was able to track down his home where she met a schoolhouse assistant who was also trying to look after the boy. There she learned that Brexen was a victim of abuse and neglect, something she took a deeply personal offense to. Meanwhile, after bribing the local children with candied nuts, Leona and the rest of the group found Brexen himself in a dark alley where he appeared to be communicating with the boneclaw itself. Upon realizing they were not alone, the boneclaw fled with the boy.
Ultimately, the party found and confronted Brexen back in Rasmodeus' tower, where Echoless was able to calm him and talk him down from using the boneclaw to murder his parents. Sensing that their connection was dissolving, the creature attacked and was promptly killed by the party. For good measure, a dispel evil and greater restorations spell was cast on the boy by Eladan and Leona respectively. In the end, the boy was freed, the creature was destroyed, and Echoless threw the boys parents in jail. The schoolhouse assistant agreed to take Brexen to Borne, where they would seek a new home for him with some funding from the party. Ezra complimented the group on their ability to handle the situation peacefully, and left them with a cryptic thank you to the party; praising them for bringing good into the world before its inevitable and oncoming demise…
XP earned: 1,600 each
Session 14 The party, with the exception of Echoless, who opted to stay behind to escort Brexen and Flora to Borne the next day, set off to make their own way to Borne. On the road, they encountered travelers and learned that the Sacrosanct, Borne's militarized religious arm, has been struggling to contain a rising doomsday cult. Later, they encountered two strange phenomena: a small, targeted storm cloud looming over something in the distance, and a trio of riders on wolfen mounts riding off into the lowlands. A quick aerial investigation showed the riders heading towards some sort of fog cloud. With that location noted, the party opted to check out the storm cloud.
Their they found four air genasi engaged in some sort of ritual, apparently opening a portal into the plane of air; the source of the localized storm. Upon questioning, it was revealed that they were simply trying to return home after having been shunted onto the material plane nearly a year ago. They also made allusions to having a run in with the Reckoning. Ultimately, the party let them be, but when the portal was fully opened, there were signs that some unseen creature may have accidentally passed through while the genasi took their leave.
After, the party doubled back to investigate the fog cloud, only to find no trace of it. With the sun quickly setting, the party opted to complete their journey to Borne. Once there, and after asking for directions for the "seediest" tavern in town for some reason, they crossed paths with a small demonstration led by some low level Heralds of Aevilok, where they witnessed a trio of Sacrosanct Inquisitors in action, including one Orlando Indagare. They also encountered a hooded man called Ottavio, another Herald, who ended up finding them at a tavern called the Anthill.
Ottavio spoke to them at length about the Heralds' goals: watching for signs of the end times and doing what they can to delay it. He also spoke on their little "war" with the Church of Triumvirism, and how they were complicate in the world's crumbling. Ultimately, he invited them to witness a rally scheduled for the following day outside Quinteci Chapel and to see for themselves what they were about.
In the morning, the party opted to spend some time at the Resti da Pietra, a renowned museum of art and history, to see what their was to see, specifically in regards to the Primordials and ancient civilizations. One of the most intriguing exhibits was one that displayed the "Obsidian Skull," a black facemask resembling the visage of a Beltaine. Upon questioning, Eladan learned that the skull was said to be involved in the Battle of the Fire Plains, but the actual artifact had been stolen sosme time ago.
Finally, the party proceeded to Quinteci Chapel to see what this whole rally thing was about. There, they found a gathering of hundreds of people with the city guard and Sacrosanct poised to disperse. As things became particularly volatile, the crowd was silenced by an explosion. All heads turned to see the great monument of the Triumvirate atop the Chapel crumble and fall to the ground below, with four hooded figures briefly visible atop the roof. After that, all hell broke loose as the Sacrosanct and guard charged the crowd…
XP earned: 800 each
Session 15 The party was (relatively) quick to spring into action with the ensuing chaos. Mr. Buttons and Eladan dashed off to investigate the men on the roof while Leona and Zel did their best to dissuade any further violence. Taking to the sky via hippogriff and using thaumaturgy to cause her voice to boom over the din of the clash, she was at least able to cause a large enough distraction to stop people from fighting each other and allowed the Sacrosanct to make their arrests. On the roof, they found the cloaked men to have vanished, leaving behind only strangely acrid scorch marks and smudged, black footprints leading away towards a trap door. Before they could investigate further, a Sacrosanct unit led by Orlando Indagare appeared on the roof. After a quick back and forth, the party agreed to help him track down the hooded men. They descended into the chapel where they learned that a sprawling Necropolis laid beneath the building, though it has been sealed off for ages.
Suspecting that these men likely had magical means of bypassing the seal, the party opted to investigate the crypts. It appeared that no one had been down there for some time, but they continued to snoop around regardless, figuring that even if they didn't come this way, it was possible that they may make use of the passages elsewhere. Sure enough, they discovered a concealed door that connected to another set of tunnels where they encountered three of the four Heralds fleeing the scene. The men were concealed via invisibility, but Leona was able to spot them with truesight. Not knowing who their pursuers were, the Heralds attempted to attack when it was clear they were found out. They proved troublesome, but ultimately no match for the party, and they were captured and questioned. They were resistant to revealing anything of particular value; only that Ottavio had intended to find them after the demonstration and they did not expect to encounter them down here. With some extra magical coercion, they also revealed that their leader went by the title of Harbinger, and that it was by his specific orders that they carried out today's attack. Believing to have revealed too much, the Heralds activated their "contingency," causing a jolt of magic to arc through the trio, killing them instantly. Zel took two of their heads as trophies. Because of course he did.
Finding their way back onto the streets of Borne, the party happened across an elderly proprietor of an apothecary being grilled by a Sacrosanct Inquisitor, who claimed he had multiple testimonies of illegal magic production. However, they were unable to find hard evidence during their search. The party checked in with her and learned that she did, in fact, sell magically imbued potions, of which she happily sold to them via her secret portal to a chamber in the Feywild (though the party did not inherently realize this was the case). They purchased from her 4 potions of invigoration and placed an order for 4 potions of growth and a potion of etherealness that she would craft from the ectoplasm Zel retrieved from the ghost pirates they encountered on the Sea of Embers.
After their shopping spree with Agatha, the party checked back in with the Sacrosanct at Quinteci Chapel, informing them that they found "nothing of interest" in the tunnels and then proceeded to meet up with Zandre and Tria at the Anthill, where they found Echoless had caught up with them. As it turned out, she had only come to say goodbye again, having given a great deal of thought to what all was at play. She believed that in order to get ahead of the Reckoning and whomever else was at play in destabilizing the region, that it would be best if they split up. She would return to Brynn's island and coordinate with him to see what else they could learn while the party pursued their lead in Borne. The group bid her farewell and Leona requested that Echoless see if Shepherd knew anything more about the Tome of Vile Darkness that they found mentioned in Marnmouth.
As Echoless left, Ottavio appeared, revealing his face to be that of a surprisingly young man (unbeknownst to them, this was a product of disguise self). Ottavio was taken aback about the party's encounter with the rest of his men and remarked that this could "muddy" their relationship. Despite this, he told the party that if they were truly interested in joining the Heralds in achieving their goals of preventing Aevilok, then there were trials they would have to complete to prove their loyalty and commitment. Sensing their hesitation, Ottavio gave them three days to think it over. With that, he left the tavern, leaving the party to ponder what their next move should be…
XP earned: 1,300 each
Session 16 With three days to kick around, the party opted to check up on the mysterious fog cloud outside of the city. Picking up from where they last saw it, they found a few signs of some sort of encampment left behind in the mud and dirt. Splitting up to search the area, Tria and Leona were able to spot the cloud from the skies, while Mr Buttons and Zel picked up the trail of a group of worg-riders, and Eladan questioned merchants on the road. Leona left Tria to watch the cloud while she retrieved the others, but unfortunately, she broke invisibility in order to cast arcane eye to get a closer look. The worg-riders spotted her on the hill and sent two to investigate. A fight broke out with the party returning just in time.
The riders were dispatched, but the sound alerted those within the cloud, and two frost giants came to investigate. They proved no match for the party on their own (despite tossing Zel across the field at one point), and moved to retreat. Leona was able to dispel a portion of the fog cloud to reveal a large scouting force of the Reckoning as well as a cloud giant evidently leading them. When the bulk of the Reckoning's forces charged, Tria opted to teleport everyone back to Borne, but not before a few well placed arrows were able to topple the giants.
Back in safety, Tria revealed that she had gotten at least a decent look at the encampment, revealing that the cloud giant was wearing a pair of sending stones as rings and that cloaked men who stood out from the rest of the more "war-like" soldiers in attendance. The party then checked in with the king regarding this new information, where they also learned via his arcane advisor that there were three potential foci locations near Borne, with the most-likely one being somewhere within the city itself.
The party took that information to their inquisitor contact, Orlando, to see what he knew. Unfortunately, he didn't have much information, pointing out that something so potent would certainly be known by the Sacrosanct. However, he did admit that it was possible the information could be intentionally hidden, as he has reason to believe important members of his organization are also part of the Heralds. Alternatively, he suggested the foci could be in an unmapped section of the Necropolis or could even potentially be Hengellen's Oracle: an area said only to be accessible to the Church's Orator.
Deciding to see if they couldn't drum up some hidden information, the party agreed to check on Orlando's commanding officer who frequents the bathhouse, Euphema's Spring and then return to Orlando after his watch shift ends so he can get them into parts of the library closed off to the public. Learning that Euphema's Spring was a high-end, invitation only establishment, the party first opted to acquire some fancy new digs…
XP earned: 2,250 each
Session 17 With fancy getups donned, the party attempted to schmooze their way into the bathhouse while Zandre simply waltzed in via etherealness. With a simple flash of a ludicrous amount of coin, the doormen agreed to fetch the proprietor of the establishment, a woman named Adriana Malatessa. Adriana was quite enthralled with the party's exploits and believed they would be an exceptional addition to her network, and while the party wined and dined with her, Zandre phased into her office and stole a private journal and a decorative dagger. After formally receiving invitations, the party partook in the services of the bathhouse. Zel in particular made quite a scene wading into the main pool.
While enjoying a bit of relaxation, the party located Orlando's commanding officer, who they attempted to casually approach. Leona attempted to "trip" in front of him to get his attention, Buttons attempted to seduce him with the elven form he had donned via his hat of disguise (it didn't work) and Eladan tried is luck in seeing if the man knew of any "magical anomalies" within the city. Unfortunately, in a bid to gain the man's trust, he dropped Orlando's name, which the man seemed quite intrigued to hear about. Without giving any particularly helpful information, the man left the bathhouse. Zandre followed him and observed his return to the Casteventus, despite the late hour.
Rendezvousing with Orlando outside Quinteci Chapel, the party shared what they had learned as well as the fact that Orlando may need to lay low. He took the news surprisingly well. They specifically learned from Adriana's journal that in the previous year she had come into contact with a secretive "group" that had introduced her to a whole host of new contacts, including Orlando's SO. Intrigued, Orlando requested to take the journal for now while he figured out what to do next. Feeling guilty, Leona gave him gold to aid in his efforts to hide. Having had a particularly busy day, the party opted to retire and planned to visit the Oracle in the morning. However, Eladan decided he wished to locate a mistress for the evening and was surprised to find a particularly stunning lady who claimed to work for an establishment called Borne Again. Intrigued, he agreed to visit the place with her and brought along Zel.
It turned out to be a succubus nest. The pair were able to fight their way out, fortunately, and burned the place down for their troubles. In the morning, the group reunited to find them mildly put off by the night's experience. Making their way to the Oracle, the party encountered a game show of sorts being set up in the early morning hours; a "contest" where the crowd selected from a group of contestants who they thought could be the missing Orator. Finding the idea silly, the party simply made their way up the hill and to the Basilica. Their, the guardians on standby told them of the door's enchantment and how there had been no Orator for 35 years. Just for fun, each of the party members gave the door a try. It budged for none of them, until Zandre gave it a go. He decided to give etherealness a go, and was surprised to find that he passed through. On the other side, he found a cave identical to one he had been seeing in his dreams at night. Upon touching the central pillar, he was greeted by eclectic visions of chaos and monsters, and punctuating those were 9 points of light which disappeared one by one, before seeing an indescribably huge monster bellowing from the deep.
On his exit, the door opened easily at his touch. The guard was dumbstruck, proclaiming Zandre was the Orator and he needed to go speak with the Orioles of the Church at once. During Zandre's experience, the ground had shook and the door rebuked any attempts to bypass it. Eladan was eager to see what laid beyond for himself, but Zandre firmly stopped him. To prevent the guard from causing too much of a scene, Eladan suggested that he chill out, which bought them some time.
Still trying to wrap their heads around what exactly happened, the party took a trip back to the Casteventus to see if they couldn't get themselves into the closed-off sections of the library now that their Sacrosanct contact was AWOL. During their transit, they became aware they were being watched. Hanging back, Mr. Buttons discovered a woman following them. He then followed her, again disguising himself as a sexy elf. When she saw the party enter the Casteventus, she broke off and seemingly reported to some other random man. Buttons attempted to speak with him, but he brushed him off. Curiously though, he had a very similar voice to that of their Herald contact Ottavio.
They took some time to scour the public library first for information on Orators, Foci, the Harbinger of the Heralds, etc. When it came time to break into the restricted section, Eladan opted to "wish" for dominate person, which he twinned to target both guardians. They bowed to his will, much to the chagrin of Tria, who still holds a grudge about that particular spell. Within, they found more tomes and scrolls to sift through as well as vault doors requiring rune keys. However, Tria and Leona were able to bypass this via dimension door, and most cleverly, Leona disabled the sentinel golem within the vault with an antimagic field, which also disabled the vault locks. With those open, the party began going through the vaults to see if their was anything worth taking or information to be gleaned…
XP earned: 1,250 each
Session 18 Within the library's restricted repository, the party found a wealth of original documents, some dating back nearly a millennium. Ultimately, they left with a rubbing of an ancient stone tablet written in a primordial cypher and a talisman of pure good. With those in hand, they made their way across town to catch the "Who Wants to be an Orator" gameshow that Zandre decided to participate in. There, the party enjoyed an amusing spectacle of an eclectic group vying for the crowds affection. This was interrupted by Ottavio, who required the party's answer as to whether or not they wished to pursue membership with the Heralds. They proved hesitant as to the whole "kill yourself if you spill information" thing, but Ottavio assured them that if they didn't wish that fate, they simply wouldn't be given information worth being killed over.
Ultimately, Ottavio simply gave them their first task: break up the event. One way or another, he would have his answer. As it turned out, Zel decided to break it up by using his draconic harness to breath fire; though his motivation was more so because he was bored. He ended up being arrested, and while the crowd was gone, the contest went on at the behest of the contestants (specifically the bombastic bard), and thanks to Mr. Buttons slyly dropping a gold piece in Zandre's jar, Zandre was selected to try the door. When he inevitably opened the Oracle's door once again, the awestruck crowd around him insisted he must go to the Casteventus immediately to meet with the Orioles. Zandre decided to take the long way there.
The party stopped back at Anthill for "celebratory" drinks (with the fussy, holy entourage electing to wait outside) and informed King Aurum about their revelations and arranged to have the tablet writing translated and decrypted.. Meanwhile, Leona also used legend lore to discern more about this mysterious Harbinger, who she learned was indeed a "harbinger" of Cataclysm. She also learned the current one's name: Corynth Hlaeghymn. Later, Ottavio approached them once more and offered his congratulations for a job well done. He then offered the second task: retrieve a stone tablet from the library repository. The party kept it vague about whether or not they already had the writing from this tablet, with Buttons being the most vocal about his distrust of the Heralds and fear that they could do some serious damage with it. Ottavio left them with a "I'll find you if you do it." This time though, Buttons opted to follow him, and realized he had been magically disguising himself. He followed him to his home and discovered a dead drop in a hollowed out brick by the door.
Meanwhile, Zel made friends with some random street-level Heralds who taught him how to play cards. When he got board, he busted himself out and the guard agreed to let him go for a hefty bribe. Finally, the party made their way to the Casteventus, much to the relief of the entourage (who had elected to take shifts to watch the tavern). They escorted them there and set them up in a lavish guest suite to await a meeting with the Orioles in the morning…
XP earned: 1,800 each
Session 19 After a morning of milking the Casteventus staff for fresh fruits and cheeses, the Orioles quickly ascertain that Zandre does, in fact, bear the mark of the Trinity, but something else is there; something dark. The Orioles state that the best course of action would be to travel once again to the Oracle and attempt to commune with the spirits that reside there. On the transit back to the temple, the party reunites with a very hungover Zel, as well as discover that wanted posters bearing Eladan's image had been put up across the city. In response to this, Buttons offered Eladan his hat of disguise.
Once within the Oracle, the priests began their ritual, but Leona happened to notice that one of the Orioles had weaved in some "extra" spellcasting. The party opted to interrupt the ritual to find out why, and through some intense interrogation utilizing both zone of truth and suggestion, they learned he had sent a message to Priscilla. Sure enough, using true seeing, Leona spotted the hag lurking in the back of the cave. Zandre utilized etherealness in order to speak with her. She was insufferably cryptic and vague, but did at least make it seem like she had no intentions of interrupting the ritual and was merely here to watch. She also alluded to her and Zandre sharing a common patron and that connection was likely why he had gone unnoticed for so long by the Orioles.
Concerned with her presence but with no other course of action apparent, the party allowed the ritual to conclude, the result of which was that there was indeed some ancient, dark power connected to Zandre as well. They informed the group that before Zandre could enter his role as Orator, he would need to expunge that darkness from himself. To that end, they would offer any and all assistance the Church could offer and they were welcome to stay in the Casteventus guest suite for as long they were in the city.
With that, the party left to pursue their lead on Coryn Hlaeghymn: aka the Harbinger. Though first, they took a quick sidebar to meet with a Sigil Crown Mage to hand off the cyphered primordial rubbing they took from the Library Repository. According to administrative records, Coryn was the proprietor of a meadery called Dor'Gliss. Investigating the markedly elven brewhouse revealed that Coryn was a very hands-off owner who was rarely seen, but evidently had a dwelling in the upper floors. The party "stealthily" investigated (Zel couldn't pass up making some dramatic entrances) and found a tidy but disused apartment that appeared as though it hadn't been occupied for weeks. They did, however, discover a secret passage that led to the alley below.
Following the alley to its natural conclusion, they found an abandoned homestead whos cellar opened into the catacombs beneath the city. Within the crypts, they found subtle indications of passage, and followed that trail for some time, eventually spilling out into the false sarcophagus of a mausoleum and then back onto a city street. However, far from the trail running cold, Zandre recognized the vista from a vision he received months ago from the ensared soul of the tempest cleric that summoned the sky serpent above Eodur. With that recollection, the party entered the front business for the Heralds, a small, run-down jewelry shop. With some tactical application of detect thoughts, they were able to confirm the Heralds had a base here and were able to glean the pass phrase from the woman working the desk. Upon realizing magic had been worked on her though, she ran to get help from nearby Sacrosanct Guardians. In that brief window of time however, the party was able to discover a sealed and warded door, which they bypassed with a couple of well-placed dispel magics. With mere seconds to spare, the party closed the door behind them and turned to face the Herald's Sanctuary…
XP earned: 2,100 each
Session 20 The party made their way into the sanctuary, sealing the door behind them. Zel strode boldly down the dark stairs and was almost immediately turned back by a magical compulsion, tucking both Buttons and Eladan under his arms. Tria and Leona were able to dispel both effects, and they were able to begin properly exploring the crypts below. Immediately, they were attacked by a guardian wraith. The battle alerted nearby cultists who engaged with the party. They proved to be no match, but one was able to escape and sound the alarm. With the element of surprise gone, the party began fighting their way through the base, encountering more cultists, wraiths, and elementals.
After the firs major slog, the party was able to regroup and search the immediate area. Zel located a few kegs of a strange, granular powder, which the party quickly realized was highly flammable and explosive (though not before Zel tasted it). They were also able to find a few personal effects of the cultists, like inscribed robes and journals. Another room held promising evidence as well, but when Mr. Buttons picked on of the books off the table it rest on, a magical ward triggered a detonation of nearby powder kegs, turning everything within the room to ash.
Further in, they encountered another wave of cultists who had readied defenses. They attempted to lure them in deeper to the chamber where they pummeled them with elementals and magical attacks. There they also encountered the Herald of Talam, an earth-based cleric with an enchanted maul, which he used to conjure stone walls to waylay the party's advance. Ultimately, they proved to be too much, and the surviving cultists retreated further into the crypts to ready more defenders or prepare means of escape.
With another lull in the battle, the party again regrouped. Leona made sure to heal Zel, who had taken quite a beating during the skirmish. Meanwhile, the party investigated the room, finding the remnants of an enchanting table and books on the nature of the Elemental Planes, though it appeared the more important items had been taken with the retreating defenders. Eladan was able to locate a concealed doorway that led farther in, discovering a supply room stocked full of exploding powder and manned by a solitary attendant. Before the latter could trigger the explosives, Eladan and Buttons were able to subdue him and bring him back for questioning. Meanwhile, Zandre scouted ahead invisibly and located the Herald of Talam waiting, seemingly alone, at the other end of a long corridor. It took some convincing to make Zel wait before charging off again into battle.
The party attempted to interrogate their hostage, but he unfortunately was able to trigger his self-destruct mechanism before the party could thwart him, and he perished. Zandre was able to trap his soul with his soul cage ability, however, so some information may yet be gleamed from the cultist…
XP earned: to be calculated at the end of the dungeon.

Report Date

13 Dec 2022