Sessions 04 and 05 - "It's just a Dirty 20."
General Summary
Session 04 - "Ah, the Love Cudgel"
The player-characters began the third session in the palatial castle of Malcador the Brazen Hawk, King of Othune. The younger brother of party member, Rylanor of Okar, Malcador was surprised to inherit the Othunite Throne. Rylanor was a bit of a scoundrel and a rake, so there was much speculation on how things would go when he took the Throne. For whatever reason, Rylanor would have a surprising change of heart that would led to his more-reliable brother to be seated as King of Othune instead. This was several years ago, and Rylanor has since been traveling the lands as a Prince of Othune, taking on mercenary contracts and generally living the life of an adventurer. This largely changed when agents of the Othunite Throne came to discover a dark prophecy that called for the division of Othune on the threat of unleashing the dark powers of the first Worm King, Nymarga the Green. The King at the time was Torgaddon the Second, father of the two brothers; he had decided to heed the prophecy and send agents out to the city of Okar to uncover the Throne of Okar. They discovered that the original throne was missing, and so Torgaddon consulted with his future successor and spent no small amount on the creation of a new Throne for Okar.
It was during discussion in the court of the King that Rylanor's brother unveiled the newly-complete Throne of Okar in black marble with white marble veining and gold insets. This was a mirror to the Throne of Othune which was made of white marble flecked with smoky veins and inset with gold. Since this was the first time in years that the brothers had been together, the King and his Court was in comparatively high spirits despite the attack that had occurred the night prior. They had some discussions regarding that attack, but kept it short on details of what the response may be for reasons of security.
Rylanor and his entourage, the rest of the player-characters plus the Arcanum battlemage, Erinna of Abenton, then met with the King in private with another Arcanum mage, Grand Master Garamon of Farhaven, to discuss business. It becomes evident that one Mage has an extreme dislike for the other. Despite that, the private salon covers three topics of business: (1) the attack on the Sunsworn Abbey, (2) the reasons for Ryanlor's return, and (3) the status of the Arcanum in Othune and Okar.
King Malcador is very concerned with the overnight attack on the Sunsworn Abbey by the Order of the Ebon Hand. He and his Royal Secretary, Garviel of the Rainbow Vale, have been tracking the movements of known members of the Order in the cities of the Kingdom. In response, it seems as though the group has been operating in separate and near-independent cells from one-another. They have also tracked much of their planning activities occur outside the Kingdom in places like Istvan's Reach, the Port of Orliac, and as far away as Holy Icatia and the Republic of Westervale. The Sunsworn Abbey was not just attacked, it's entirety was swallowed in a giant sinkhole that made it accessible by the vast Underdark -- the natural network of caves, underground rivers, extinct lava tubes, and other formations that create an entirely different and oftentimes alien environment beneath the Shield Lands. It seems as though the Order of the Ebon Hand has been using the Underdark as a means of moving and operating, and they used the Underdark as the main means by which they assailed their historic enemy, those who are sworn to Hatha the Veiled Sun, Goddess of Vengeance.
The return of the King's brother was only-partly known to the Throne. They knew that they were accompanied by Balduvian Chosen Warriors loyal to the Baroness of Roanberg Castle in Eos, but they could only speculate as to the reasons. Once informed of the background, Malcador and his Royal Secretary are supportive of the endeavour, though they do ask that the Balduvians sent over swear to obey the laws and strictures of Othune and Okar when it is established. Garviel of Rainbow Vale, the Royal Secretary, is relieved when they hear that the Baroness is not seeking a title or resources from Othune nor Okar, and that they are actually backing the venture with four talents of gold. Surprised at her wealth, the King and his Secretary caution Rylanor to tread carefully -- that the Baroness is willing to spend this considerable sum does not mean that she is foolish.
The Arcanum has long been seen as a third party in the economic struggle between the Grand Arsenal of Othune and the Church of the Divine King in the Shield Lands and/or Free Realms. The Arcanum is still top purveyor of magical goods, weapons and armour, especially potions and scrolls; but the Church and the Arsenal have been vying with one-another for dominance in the non-Arcanum spaces. This has led to trade wars between Othune and Holy Icatia which have dragged in the other Free Realms. The Arcanum has been a victim of the protectionism of both the Kingdom of Othune and Holy Icatia, though they have not been banned in their entirety in Icatia as they have been in Othune. As a result, one of the Grand Masters of the Arcanum's governing group has visited the King and his Court to negotiate for an amenable solution.
Garamon of Farhaven is the leader of a faction within the Wizards' Guild known to advocate for direct intervention in the governance and political affairs of what they call "client states." These interventionists are a minority, but they recruit the highest number of newly-minted junior Arcanum Mages and have done so for the past twenty years. They are countered by the Guilders, which hold to the original founding purpose of the Arcanum to turn away from the Age of Blood and Fire, when it was the sorcerers, wizards and other magicians who ruled. While they do not recruit nearly as many junior members, the Guilders hold the majority of leadership positions in the Towers and regional offices throughout the world. On the ruling council of Nine Grand Masters, the guilders control four seats, while the interventionists hold two, the remaining three seats are controlled by the Moderate faction, which tend to vote on a topic-by-topic basis. As the most prominent leader of the Interventionists, Garamon is a polarizing figure -- you either love the man, or you dislike him greatly. He is charming, vibrant, perceptive and strategic, but he rarely seems authentic or entirely transparent in his dealings.
The player-characters take their impression from Erinna of Abenton, the battlemage appointed by the Baroness to accompany them, who greatly dislikes the man and everything about his demeanor and methods. An avowed Moderate, Erinna does see the need for the Arcanum to take a more active stance in the political affairs of their clients, but she does not believe in the means and methods that people like Garamon employs in the acquisition and use of that power. She advises that Rylanor and the party keep that man at arms-length, if not farther away from their aims. She does think that the Arcanum could bring value to the Kingdoms of Othune and Okar, but that they need to have last word on who gets appointed to head up the Towers that get built. Erinna leaves in a huff, trying not to react too negatively to the presence of the man.
Rylanor and "his" entourage has been well-noted by everyone on the approach to Ellarüne Lyria, the capital city and second city to bear the name. He was met at the gates by a senior sergeant of the Guard, and word spread that the man who refused the Throne had returned home. As a result of this, especially after Rylanor and the party immediately descended into the sinkhole to investigate and respond accordingly, the city is vigilant and shaken, but not riven by terror and fear of future attacks. As a result, it is believed that the player-characters will be welcome to stay as long as they wish to investigate the attack and its origin. The King and his Court have made the Hunting Lodge available for them to use as a base of operations. The lodge isn't far away, in fact, it is situated within the new walls of the city in the middle of a small lake and connected by bridge. Less a lodge, more of a fortified manor house, the Lodge is traditionally the home of the King's Father after planned abdication and transfer of power. Due to the attacks, however, Malcador had his father and his family sent away to various separate and secret locations with heavy guard.
The party then retires to the Lodge, where they are able to rest and strategize with one-another. Various players interact with each other meaningfully for the first time, and then various players decide to hit the city to keep things interesting.
Eodin of Westervale decided to go out and make some social connections. He met a pair of dwarven merchants from the lands of the Delve-Kings, the Cold Iron Brothers, Uzas and Makronas. They drink together and agree to meet up later at the Trading Dome, wishing to offer advice and help to Eodin as they plan to descend into the depths of the Underdark. For both of the Cold Iron Brothers, the existence and unexplored nature of the Shield Lands' Underdark is fascinating. For these mountain dwarves, the lack of exploration and lack of conquest by the hill dwarves' Emperor is one of the Empire's greatest lost opportunities. Uzas let it known that he's an experienced delver and dungeoneer, and his younger brother "Mak" is an alchemist. They offer to go with Eodin after meeting up at the Dome later.
After the night out with his new dwarven friends, Eodin and Kelvaren venture into a drinking establishment after seeing several well-to-do individuals enter while wearing a a black glove on their left hand and a brown glove, or no glove, on the other. Knowing this to be a sign of the Order of the Ebon Hand from his homelands, both Eodin and Kelvaren formulate a plan to get into the backrooms of this establishment. They bump into Ina Brighthelm, who had been absent from much of the "unimportant" conversation, just finishing up a tavern brawl on the main drag from the gates to the Trading Dome. Incorporated into the plan, Ina is brought to the establishment as a prospective "service girl" for the Ebon Hand, and they are introduced to an operation that the Ebon Hand uses to recruit both upper class and lower class members into their cult. With the successful infiltration, Ina is initiated into the Ebon Hand, and she receives a magical tattoo that is able to "hold" a magical spell either to be used later -(like lightning grasp) or to be maintained without active concentration (like shield of faith) or is generally used on the self only (like shield). As an initiate, Ina is the recipient of a first level tattoo which acts like a magical item without a location slot, which gives off abjuration vibes, and does not require attunement. The group then sends in Rylanor of Okar to act as the drunken reveler he once was... They successfully convince the Ebon Hand agents there that the Throne is well aware of this location and that it will be raided tomorrow. As a result of the tipoff, the player-characers watch as the Ebon Hand agents pack up and abandon the grotto and go off in two directions.
One such group packs up some items, leaves the location, and moves into a fortified town house owned by a minor noble from outside the city. The second group includes the woman who was in charge of the operation and the tattoo artist, both leave the city and head to a hidden cave acting as an entrance to the Underdark located near the abandoned city of Ellarüne Duré. The party-members take note of the location, and report it to the Guard. They seek to coordinate a triple pincer-type attack on the Ebon Hand -- one way through the Abbey sinkhole, one through the townhouse, and the last through this cavern entrance. The hope is to deal the Ebon Hand a serious blow all in the space of one day.
Session 05 - "No, not a Crit, it's just a Dirty 20..."
They are met at dawn the next morning by the remaining Abbess and seven surviving Silent Sisters plus the Cold Iron Brothers. Together, they descend once more into the Sunken Abbey and travel through into the cavernous and natural sections of the Underdark. After some movement through sections of active and purposeful tunneling, they come into a vast cavern that collects surface water slowly and sends it down a stream and into a larger underground river. The cavern is very large, over fifty yards on either bank of the stream and another twelve to twenty yards to the cavern ceiling almost as if it was a purposeful vault. The stream gently inclines north, away from the city in the opposite direction that surface water flows. The floor of the cavern is covered in a biomass film that thickens further down the incline into a bed of fungal soil that oozes when pressed. The large party comes across a bit of a ridge that increases the incline enough that the water collects into a small pool and the small waterfall can be heard echoing on the other side.
This is when forward scouts see it. A lone half-elven man standing, hunched over, in the pool before the waterfall facing away from the group. There is a small creature attached to his upper back using tiny legs with clawed feet digging into the shoulder blades. Its two small but powerful arms clutching either side of the man's head, and a third arm and hand extending out from behind the creatures twisted humanoid head like a scorpion's tail. This twisted arm and hand reach out over the top of the creature and the man's head to clutch at and massage the half-elven man's forehead. With mottled grey skin, it gently whispers into the man's ear, who still hunches over with his hands on his knees and can be heard singing an elven lullaby as if to counter the coarse whispers. Disgusted and stricken, Rylanor and Kelvaren position themselves to take care of the problem. Kelvaren lines up a skilled bow shot, and with one arrow, kills the creature outright. It falls off the man with a solid thud into the shallow banks of the pool. The man falls to his knees confused, and after looking around in a stupor, immediately vomits and falls to his side into a fetal position, quietly crying.
The rest of the group fans out to check for more of these similar threats. One is discovered just over the ridge in a larger accumulation of fungal creep on the cavern floor. Another half-elf, this time a female acolyte of the Abbey lies in a fetal position with a similar creature attached to her head. It whispers to her, but in a different way. The grotesque pair is discovered by Erinna of Abenton, who is clearly panicked by the discovery, she threatens to cleanse with fire, but Rylanor is in a good place to deal with the new discovery. Rylanor deals with the second creature ably, but the woman does not wake up. The group rouses the man, who is quite confused at first, but lets on that he was taken by the Ebon Hand. The hostages number in the dozens, and he and his lover were made an example and left behind as victims of these 'mindstab thrulls.' After discussion, it is revealed that the younger of the Cold Iron Brothers has seen enough, specifically Makronas the Alchemist, and wishes to return back to the surface. Alongside the other half-elven man, it is agreed that Mak will bring the unconscious woman back to the surface.
The group then clears the rest of the great fungal cavern and come to another opening into a fast-moving underground river. The group has a decision to make as there is are two paths following the flow of the river: the near-side, or to ford the river and follow the far-side. After some near-failed athletics and acrobatics checks, the party fords the river and follow the far-side pathway. That pathway descends and slowly moves under the river and into another very, very large cavern. The party discerns that they are likely between six hundred and nine hundred feet underground and more than a mile and a half away from the Abbey sinkhole entrance by this point.
The cavern they enter into is immense. The pathway stops at what amounts to a raised mezzanine that overlooks an even larger cavern that bears no light sources. The platform descends thirty feet or so, a sheer and carved surface that bears images that have been chiseled into the rockface. The symbol carved into the rockface is an upside-down and rudimentary face, but the "lines" of that face appear to be chiseled with very, very old tooling possibly of bronze. The mouth, eyes and circle of the face appears to be etched with an ancient form of high elven musical notation. It is discovered that these notes are an early form of scroll scribing of magical spells. In this case, detect magic and light for the eyes, shatter for the mouth, and something unknown for the circle of the face. There is no apparent reason for the etchings apparent until light sources reveal a series of enormous stone carvings shaped like scallop shells. There are thirty seven of them, all wedged into the earth upside down and chained to the floor with one inch thick, cold-iron chains. Each of the stone carvings have depictions of people, or people-like creatures; and each of them are unique.
True to their status as a party of player-character, Ina Brighthelm takes some acid from the alchemical supplies left behind by the cowardly(?) Cold Iron Brother, Mak, and uses it on one of the chains. The chain is nearly eaten away by the potent acid, and the application of brute force from Ina's shillelegh does enough to snap it. The chains snap violently, nearly cracking into one of the Silent Sisters. And the status shifts and cracks open along the seam.
A flash of green light, and a terrible screech echos through the cavern. Several of the group are stunned by the screech as a fluidic humanoid like thing emerges through the crack and forms into an androgynous being cloaked in a gossamer like sheer fabric that shimmers with its own light. Declaring the thing an abomination of vile gods, the Silent Sisters ready for battle. The Godthing, as they call it, grows two pairs of claws and launches itself from the edge of the statue and immediately tears the Abbess of the Silent Sisters apart. The group discovers that it is immune to non-magical damage sources, and as the Godthing kills another of the Sunsworn Sisters, the party begins to use their abilities to finally destroy it. When destroyed, the only thing it leaves behind are shards of the gossamer that enveloped its everchanging form.
Exhausted and shaken, the folks take shelter in a not so tiny tiny hut created by Erinna, the battlemage. The NPCs are silent and solemn, the only commentary offered by Errina being the understatement characteristic of the hill dwarves, "That was bad." After settling in for the night, she and the remaining dwarves break out their booze and share it with those who have a stomach for it.
Report Date
26 Nov 2021
Primary Location
Related Characters
Comments