Session 16/17: Letzte Brücke

General Summary

5th of Endhoste 21 2nd Era
The Regulators along with Sebastian Braun rushed out of town only being seen by one guard. Zuko , still poisoned from the door trap, vomited on the guard and the party escaped being mistaken as drunks.
As they tried to put distance between themselves and the town, a wagon wheel broke and they were forced to stop for a repairs. A few hours after taking the first road north, the party stopped for the night. Sebastian examined the symbol on the cultist's armor and confirmed that it matched the description of the one worn by members of the Cult of Mantus; the ones who recruited Emmet out of The Nightshifters. After removing anything of value, they burned the cultists body and set up camp. Alaric chose his own spot far away from the party in case his strange nightmare caused him to lose control of his actions in the night.
After three days of travel they arrived at the gates of Palhas City and were approached by a young vagrant boy. He asked Malcolm if he was the one asking for information on the peg legged Dragonborn. Malcolm confirmed and the boy revealed that he had been in town looking for sell-swords and other adventurers to help him chase down what he described a witch. After Malcolm paid him and Alaric through in some extra coin, the boy added that Tidgrud was back in town, but it looks like most of the people went with him didn't come back.
Sebastian parted ways and announced he would meet them at the Lucky Hawk Inn with their payment. The party located a shop that specialized in repairing and upgrading land vehicles and Alaric arranged payments to have the wagon covered, and padded seating with built in lockable storage added. The rest of the party headed to the inn and found Tidgrud waiting for them there, along with a young human man. Tidgrud looked worse for wear compared to the last time they met him in White Bluff. Tidgrud explained that he had always felt restless since he was forced to retire from the Earrenian Imperial Vanguard due to his age, and when he saw them save White Bluff, he decided to retire from the Cerulean Guard as well, and take on the life of an adventurer himself. Shortly after leaving town, he heard an explosion and a bright light coming from behind him. He returned to find a crater where the town had been, and watched a small shack with giant bird legs crawl out of it. He followed and tracked the shack across Palhas Province till he neared Palhas City where he remembered the Crew of the Vestige was headed. Unable to find them he recruited adventurers and sell-swords to join him in tracking down the witch with the walking shack.
He introduced the young dirty looking man next to him as Gavin Searson, the wizard that saved his life when the encounter with the witch went bad by teleporting them away. Gavin was clearly uncomfortable with social attention and the party had fun lightly antagonizing him with it. Malcolm told Tigrud to stay in town for a while to rest up and paid for a room. The party agreed that when Tidgrud caught up with the witch, they would happily join him as soon as they receive word. Tidgrud thanked them and let them know that Gavin would teleport to retrieve them.
Over the remainder of the month of Endhoste, the party worked odd jobs for Sebastian making a significant profit. During that month they saw postings for an event known as The Gauntlet. The party was in agreement to participate and first convinced Sebastian and a local Cleric of Nallula named Kaylee to join them for the event before signing up.
Malcolm received a letter from Arget Ethyn informing him that she is pregnant with his child. She clarified that she isn't asking for assistance of any kind, but didn't want him to be unaware that he had progeny. Malcolm decided he would send her financial assistance anyway.
During the month, Alaric had repeated nightmares along with a strange infernal looking symbol, as well as visions of a noble Eldan woman that looked vaguely familiar to him.
Malcolm finished plans for Alarics new crossbow using what he learned from the constructs they fought at Lord Ozin Lorimer's tower and constructed it for him. By the end of the month he had also completed the plans for his next pistol design and Zuko completed his studies of the Infernal language.
60th of Endhoste 21 2nd Era
The morning of Letzte Brücke the party decided they needed to try to use the chalice that they had found on Jesper. When informed that the chalice seemed to require blood to work, Alaric searched out a homeless man and offered him a room at the inn. While the homeless man slept, Alaric killed him and filled the Chalice. The party was shocked at the action and Meara immediately distanced herself from them when she saw the body, assuming this was another sign of his descent into corruption. They cleaned up the room and spoke Jesper's infernal name into the blood. His voice responded a few moments later and seemed amused that they would kill an innocent to make contact with him, indicating that this is what the chalice requires.
He congratulated Malcolm on his forthcoming fatherhood, which immediately set Malcolm on edge. He also thanked Malcolm for killing him as it allowed him to move up in rank within the cult. when the conversation ceased to be entertaining to him he violently closed the connection causing the blood to explode out of the chalice. The party left the inn just in time to see the parade that kicks off the festival. Jarl Rupert Wasser as well as the fictional holiday folk character The Lantern Lighter were part of the parade.
The party participated in various games while Alaric slipped away. He murdered another random citizen and shortly afterwards collapsed in an alley. He saw visions of the Eldan woman again, saw her walk through her castle home and into her bed chamber. He saw the lights being put out throughout the castle and his attention was drawn to each shadow. The demonic voice returned saying "Kill...and you will have the power for your revenge." He regained consciousness and noticed that nearby shadows seemed more corporeal than usual. Stepping into a shadow he felt cold and weightless. After a brief experimentation he thought of one of the shadows in the bedchamber, and suddenly appeared there. He threw open the curtains on her bed and a struggle ensued. She escaped his grasp and ran for the hallway where she discovered her guards were already dead. She took one of their weapons and fought back before fleeing down the hall. Alaric shot her int he back, and as she was dying demanded to now who she was. She told him she was his empress and spat blood in his face before she passed away. Alaric realied he had assassinated the new Empress of Earrenian Empire Alexandra Nordheim. Wandering through the palace he discovered that someone had been assisting his assassination by killing everyone else there. He felt a searing pain and say the symbol from his nightmares being branded in his chest, before he used another shadow to return to Palhas.
Sebastian found the rest of the party at the festival and asked for help with a small errand. HE took them to his small hovel and had them help him with a large chest and few large sacks, then lead them to the Frostbrewer Ophanage. He kocked on the door and was assaulted by and exceptionally old dwarf that was clearly almost blind, complaining about carolers. Sebastien dropped his accent and told the dwarf that he was "Marcus." This seemed to clear up the misunderstanding and they were all invited in by Lusin Frostbrewer . Sebastian had them deposit the sacks and the chest on the table where he revealed the chest was filled with silver and the sacks were full of toys for the children at the orphanage.
Lusin remarked that "Marcus" reminded him a lot of a boy that used to live there. Sebastian reminded him that he brings it up every year. Lusin then went on to explain to the others that that Sebastian had a lot of potential but was led astray by a trouble maker named Miles. The party immediately realized that he was referring to Miles Gray. Malcolm, Zuko and Meara donated some of their own coin to the donation before leaving.
After they left, Malcolm offered for Sebastian join them for food and games, but Sebastian admitted he doesn't care for the holiday and would rather turn in for the night. When asked why he disliked the holiday, Sebastian decided that they had enough to put most of his story together and decided to explain the rest. Sebastian's parents were both Barons, and were very generous with their extended non-noble family. During this holiday and others they would often come to his estate to play and celebrate. When his parents died, the other local nobles talked the Lord Mayor at the time into confiscating and redistributing his parents' wealth and interests. Those extended family members refused to return any hospitality now that he was a penniless orphan, which made him even more bitter. He went to live at the Frostbrewer orphanage, and and Lusin always tried to convince him that he was intelligent enough to work his way back to his previous status with hard work, but Mile's convinced him to instead get revenge on the Noble families that cheated him out of his inheritance by stealing form them and their businesses. He eventually stopped returning to the orphanage and helped Miles establish The Nightshifters. He has since felt guilty about abandoning Lusin when all he ever did was try to help, and so he donates the majority of what he makes every year to the orphanage.
Malcolm understood his reasoning and insisted he at least stay at the inn with them since he would be fighting in the Gauntlet with them the next day anyway. He agreed and returned to the Lucky Hawk while the rest of them returned to the festival. They contacted Alaric via the Earring of Whisper and met up to get drinks and count in the new year. Alaric said he had something to discuss with them when they returned to the inn.
1st of Wintercrest 22 2nd Era
The party returned to the Lucky Hawk shorty after midnight and gathered in one of their rooms. All of them were curious were Alaric had been all night. He unstrapped his armor and exposed the mark on his chest as he said, "I made a mistake."
To be continued... Session 18: The Gauntlet 

Report Date

16 Jan 2020