Azimuth 2 - Session 45 - The North Shore of Red Lake
General Summary
Pillar Mine
Leaving the Mine
After seeing the resiliency of the rock roaches, Romulus suggested the hides could be used to craft decent armor. Romsca investigated the bodies and Ilmendwyth helped to harvest parts not damaged in the combat. Altogether, they gathered enough hides to make four sets of armor, but they didn’t have the immediate means to craft.
Chaka was pulled from the rubble, alive but unconscious. Strangely, his armor and body showed no damage from the rockfall. He seemed to be having another fighting dream. Romulus picked him up and watched over him for a time. As they rested and worked, Chaka woke up. He was disoriented and said he needed to process the dream before talking about it.
Arwin asked if they should look further into the mine for signs of Rudok. Ilmendwyth responded, “I don’t know if it will provide us any answers. I can provide answers of my own, however.”
He told the group that as a Sacred Guardian, his duty was to protect the World Tree. “As you probably know, the health of the World Tree is tied to the health of the world. What I have not told you, which has been kept secret, is that the World Tree has been tainted by some corruption.” For the first time since Esturk’s attack on the tree in the Third Age, the black glass corruption had begun to spread.
Ilmendwyth had been dispatched to find the source and, if possible, cleanse it. The leaders of the Sacred Guardians were concerned knowledge of this would threaten Haradren Gaer Arnad and the tree, so Ilmendwyth’s mission had been kept secret. “The fewer people who know about this, the less likely it is to get out, so I hope you can forgive my keeping that secret.”
Ilmendwyth assumed that whatever corruption was affecting the tree was due to the Prophets of Regression. He hoped that dealing with the Prophets would help stop the spreading glass in the World Tree.
They discussed the ramifications of this spreading corruption and wondered if it was related to Esturk’s Power of Evolution. Demitri asked if the blocking of Chedae’s light was related, and Gertrude said, “Oh this fuckery all smells like it.” Romsca wanted to stay practical, saying they should focus on the Prophets as the immediate threat.
Arwin asked about Rudok and why he was important. Ilmendwyth said he was working with the Birdkeeper, who had close ties to the Rabble, a thieves guild. Through these connections, Ilmendwyth had some interactions earlier with Rudok, but there were now many questions surrounding the half-orc and his ties to the Tarterian Traders. If he was, they wondered what he knew and how he was supplying them with panacea leaves.
Ilmendwyth wanted to reinvestigate Rudok’s trial for further clues since they found no sign of him here. They left the mine, but found nothing else among the tunnels. Arwin and Ilmendwyth looked to the trail outside the entrance again: though the obvious trail left for them led to the mine, there were no tracks that matched leaving it.
Romsca said if Rudok had similar magical boots like Ilmendwyth’s Boots of Elvenkind, he would be hard to track. With the modified markings being days old, he was likely already long gone. They decided to keep an eye out as they continued south. Ilmendwyth said, “In any large gathering of people, there’s usually a thieve guild, and I can see if they’ve had any contact with him or not.”
As they left, Gertrude asked why a Sacred Guardian knew thieves cant. Ilmendwyth said he learned it specifically for this mission. “As you may have noticed, I’m not the best at communicating in a way that is counter to what I believe. Lies are not my strong suit. It is an admirable trait of course, but it makes being an undercover spy difficult.”
Desecrated Hills
On the Orc Highway
They followed the mining road back to the Orc Highway, where Captain Ruslan was waiting. He greeted them and asked how it had gone. The party informed him about the battle, the abandoned thieves hideout, and Rudok’s dead-end trail.
They spent the rest of the day continuing south. The rain fully abated as the reached lower hills closer to Red Lake, but they ran out of daylight before reaching the water. Romsca found a suitable camping site on top of a hill, and Chaka put up his magical tent.
Romsca used divinity to craft armor from some of the rock roach pieces. She gave it to Ruslan as a better set than his Santeem soldier equipment. She said, “You’re going to be travelling with us. It only makes sense for all of us to make each other as good as we can be.”
Ruslan asked why it smelled like fire, and Romsca said it could be a side effect of her growing religious connection. She seemed concerned that it was growing so quickly, going from motes of light to walls of fire in so short a time. Gertrude said she told her it’d be coming along.
Demitri made a joke about the power being tied to one’s lifespan, and Gertrude’s came from being alive for so long. Arwin suggested perhaps Gertrude wasn’t pious enough compared to Romsca. The party laughed and joked, taking the time to connect without the threat of urgency and danger on them.
Second Night Watches
Arwin and Demitri
Arwin and Demitri took the first watch. As the moon, Meredi, rose, they could see beyond the tops of the shorter hills ahead of them. The moonlight reflected off the shimming red waters of a massive lake.
Arwin and Demitri how he was doing in Tarteria, calling it his homeland. Demitri said the constant threat of death wasn’t too different from his time in Kasltun. He said, “Life just seems so much easier here. I don’t have to think about everything I’m doing all the time. It’s more instinctual.”
Arwin knew the feeling. He said the “thinking part” was why he was here, and he thought a lot on what could’ve been. Arwin shared he was from the Abbey of the Ruby Rose in western Branca. He described it as a place of spirituality, and his grandfather had been very strict about tenants and beliefs. Arwin didn’t agree with some of the beliefs. He wanted to help people directly, but Arwin felt his grandfather was too passive.
He said he’d never seen eye-to-eye with his grandfather and didn’t leave on good terms. Demitri asked if he even wanted to return. Arwin said maybe someday, if his acts in Tarteria proved direct action could result in positive change.
Demitri astutely wondered about groups making changes in the world for their beliefs and brought up the Prophets of Regression. “Sending people out to do good. Good to who? To the people you’re helping, or to your tenants?”
Arwin said questions like those were why he left the Abbey. He said, “There is distinct evil, and there is distinct good, and I have seen both on both sides of the coin. I’ve done both. Whether it was willingness to do it, or fear of not…” Arwin didn’t feel there could be much gray in the world.
Demitri disagreed. He said, “I have very seldom come across a day where there is an absolute right and an absolute wrong. I think the world really is that gray.”
Demitri also asked about the residuum arrows and Arwin’s feelings about dragonborn. Arwin restated the arrows were from his mother, and were given to him by his father before Arwin left. He didn’t know if he would see his father again.
Demitri wondered as well about his own family. He worried about his elderly mother, Zofi. “I’m afraid whatever time we spend on this is going to be the time she has remaining.” He hoped to return to New Keeleon to make a life for himself there with her, if he could.
Romsca and Ilmendwyth
After Romsca sent a Sending spell to Ambera at the Darksteel Foundry requesting a set of darksteel armor, Romsca talked to Ilmendwyth during the second watch.
She said she appreciated him sharing about his task and purpose in Tarteria. Romsca said she hadn’t wanted to press and figured he would tell them when he was ready, or when it mattered. Ilmendwyth said he’d wanted to for some time. “Holding secrets is never a fun thing to do.” Romsca agreed and said she’d been trying to stay true to Morounin’s tenants. Ilmendwyth called that respectable.
Romsca asked what it was like to live for so long. The lifespan of a gnoll was much shorter than an elf. Ilmendwyth said, “You can learn quite a bit. Forget quite a bit. You have to change your perspectives on many things.” He brought up beastfolk. “I have known for a significant portion of my life that minotaurs were evil and gnolls were evil. That was just a known thing. And it is hard to unlearn what you have learned.” He said over time. beastfolk had changed, and his interactions with Romulus and Romsca had shown him that was true.
Gertrude and Ruslan
After Gertrude and Ruslan were awoken for the last watch, Gertrude set herself to making more dwarvish coffee.
Ruslan saw that Gertrude seemed off and apologized he wasn’t there to help during their fight in the mine. Gertrude said, “The amount of times since I’ve come to this country that I’ve almost been drowned, or swallowed, or drowned and swallowed… Sometimes I believe that I am too old for this shite.” She said she sometimes wondered if she’d found her life’s purpose a hundred years too late. “This, and especially with Chedae’s light dwindling like it is, I sometimes question my capability and capacity to survive this.” She wanted to meet the weight of the task set before her, having waited so long to be called to it.
Ruslan asked about other things she’d experienced in the journey of her long life. Gertrude said she did love once, when she was younger. Ruslan was surprised to hear her say Bori and her got into a lot of trouble, and he was sorry to hear that he had died before they were wed. Gertrude said after Bori, no one else could measure up. “Anybody else who tried to court me couldn’t measure up, and that wasn’t fair to them, so I just turned off that part of my life. But I fully believe that I will see Bori again.”
Ruslan said he felt similar comfort, knowing he would someday return to see his sister again. He also said if he hadn’t made waves back home, then he wouldn’t be talking with Gertrude now. Gertrude joked he could do better.
She said, “You’re young enough. Make sure you live life to it’s fullest as long as you can, and tell those who you love that you love them.” They watched the reflecting moonlight change to Parall as the morning came and the party awoke.
Red Lake’s Shore
Watery Reeds
On 23 Adroth 5A 352, they reached the coast of Red Lake. The water was a ruddy red and the flow was high and swift due to the spring floods. The lake was too big to see the far side, but on the horizon the Khushuut Mountains cut into the skyline.
Arwin asked where they should begin their search, but the lake was nearly fifty miles across. Romsca suggested they stop at Aktrout for supplies and information first. Lord Lortuk had mentioned speaking to witnesses, so someone there may have seen someone. Ruslan also mentioned they didn’t have a boat.
Lortuk had also mentioned strange elemental energies. Ilmendwyth suggested those attuned to magic might be able to sense the source of those energies, and they investigated the lake shore to see what they could learn.
They found a number of the reeds and lily pads along the coast were collapsing and dying, despite appearing to be healthy otherwise. Gertrude examined them closely. These plants were deteriorating away somehow from strong elemental energies penetrating them, like radiation. Parts of the plants were dissolving into water as she handled it.
Looking around they found other signs of elemental energies, including dead snails, crabs, and fish. They were streaks of discoloration on the small bodies. As they looked around, there was a noticeable lack of fish, waterfowl, and insect buzzing as they stood on the edge of the water.
After seeing these effects, Demitri questioned how the Prophets of Regression had messed up so badly as to cause this level of damage. He wondered if the Prophets had wrenched open the elemental fount and too much energy was now pouring into the Material Plane, or if that energy had been corrupted and altered somehow.
They questioned how to proceed. Ilmendwyth cautioned that any vessel they used could become unstable, and Ruslan worried it would be even more dangerous beneath the water. They didn’t have answers and couldn’t pursue them here, so they chose to continue on with caution.
Losing the Light
They continued along the road on the northern coast. Gertrude had finally reached Red Lake, the seeming origin point for the blocking of Chedae’s light. Her connection to her light had been growing strained and tenuous during her time in Tarteria, and as they walked, something seemed to snap away and sever within her.
Gertrude lurched and grabbed her chest. She stumbled, her eyes fluttered and dilated, and she collapsed on the road. As she fainted, Gertrude saw only white. That white then faded to gray, then black, with a single, flickering point of light remaining and threatening to extinguish.
Romsca quickly cast healing spells, and Gertrude awoke. She felt distant and alone after losing the connection to Chedae she’d known most of her life. As she recovered, she shakily said, “Chedae’s light has all but gone out. There’s only a tiny flicker left. I feel like I could feel it wrenched out of me. We need to hurry…”
Zandandar Hill
They continued and looked for a safe spot to rest. On the northeastern edge of the lake, they found a large hill. It was taller than the surrounding ridges, and the stones along its sides were slightly darker in color, as if they were once stained. Along the top was a broken circle of old stone, leaving the faintest remnants of a long-gone structure that once crowned the hilltop.
Demitri had heard of this hill from his studies of orcish history. This was Zandandar Hill, and it had once been an outpost on the edges of Warlord Keel’s lands back in the Third Age. It was sacked during the Great War, leaving just an old watchtower and broken walls for the orcs that reclaimed it in the Fourth Age, and it would be fully destroyed and its defenders slain during the Tarterian War.
Ruslan didn’t want to rest near the water, if they could help it, and the party agreed. Ilmendwyth looked around for anything dangerous, but Zandandar was now little more than a ring of broken stone around an elevated campsite along the highway.
They set up Chaka’s magic tent and prepared for rest. Romsca cast Fabricate, using the rest of the rock roach pieces to craft three more full sets of rock roach hide armor. Romulus and Chaka each took a set, and Romsca held onto the last spare.
Third Night Watches
Ruslan and Ilmendwyth
Ruslan and Ilmendwyth stayed awake for the first watch. The hill gave good sightlines, and to the south, Ilmendwyth could see a small forest of red trees. As night came, he saw the thin trail of campfire smoke rising from the far side of the trees.
Ruslan said Tarteria was very different than his home, but it was likely closer to Santeem than to Soretta. Ilmendwyth agreed, saying it was a culture shock. Ilmendwyth was looking forward to seeing the small forest to the south more closely.
They talked briefly about the World Tree, and Ruslan said it must be very important t o have sent Ilmendwyth all the way to Tarteria.
Speaking of feeling homesick, Ruslan said he had his spear as a reminder of his home. It had been given to him by his sister, Zvezda. He asked if Ilmendwyth had similar trinkets. He replied he felt Chaka’s in-progress painting of the World Tree would fill that purpose, once it was finished.
Arwin and Demitri
During Arwin and Demitri’s second watch, Arwin asked, “So are we just uh… going to leave out that little bit of a… that little scar you have?”
Demitri said it was due to Adamski Sokolov. He explained Demitri had been intended as a stopgap measure after Sokolov’s son became estranged and left. Castration was a means to prevent Demitri from usurping Sokolov’s line with his own, essentially curtailing Demitri from stepping beyond a stewardship of Sokolov’s estate. He said, “There is nothing out of reach for Adamski Sokolov, no dream too small, no measure of control too miniscule and plotted. Bit of a complex, really.” Sokolov had the wealth and power to enact his will however he saw fit.
Arwin said with actions like that, it was hard to feel there was much gray area in the world. Demitri explained gray came in many shades, and rarely there was absolute right and absolute wrong. Sometimes there was, though, but he said those days usually were ones with body counts.
Arwin said he saw the point Demitri was trying to make, as his grandfather had spoken of similar issues. “You cannot solve all the world’s problems with a bow and arrow.” Arwin changed his tone, “But most you can. Violence is very key to making decisions.” Demitri jokingly agreed.
Gertrude and Romsca
Gertrude had a fitful rest and was slow to wake. Romsca offered to take over the early morning tasks, which Gertrude thanked her for.
Gertrude stepped away from the camp alone. She sent a Sending spell to her friend, Bishop Rannyl Grimsunder. Though her magic was weak, the spell went through. She said, “Old friend, Chedae’s light is almost extinguished. I’m weighed down with despair. My life’s endeavor can’t be in vain. I can’t be too late. Help.”
She received a reply from Rannyl in a slow and somber voice, “I wish I could be there… I know Bori wishes the same. Even if Chedae’s light is out of reach, it is still there, like a distant star…” At the mention of stars, Gertrude wept and looked to the sky where she saw a vast constellation of the southern skies of Azimuth: a grand, sacred boar. As she watched, the first rays of the coming of Parall, the sun, the stars faded in the growing sunlight.
Gertrude returned to the camp. Romsca asked if things were alright, and Gertrude replied, more determined, “No, no it is not, but I’m going to damn well make it okay.” Romsca asked if there was anything she could do. Gertrude said, “We just need to get this done and fix whatever these fucks bungled.”
Romsca wanted to try something to maybe help Gertrude’s fading light, if Morounin would allow it. With a spell, Romsca sapped her own lifeforce and funneled it into Gertrude. Despite the effort though, Gertrude did not feel her connection to Chedae strengthen.
Romsca said, “The hobgoblin we met said we were connected some way. I thought maybe that would be enough.” Romsca said it had still been worth the try to help a member of her pack.
As the last light of the southern stars faded in the rising sun, the rest of the party began to awaken.
Report Date
09 Apr 2025
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Secondary Location
Related Characters
22 Adroth 5A 352 to 23 Adroth 5A 352