The Return: Session #13

General Summary

The heroes continued their exploration of the Helm's Sawmill. After killing the cultists in the basement, they made their way up the building. On the second floor, they found another group of cultists working. Attempting another ambush, the rooms loud noise and ropes hanging everywhere made the initial battle complicated. It gave time for one of the cultists to ring an alarm.
Tiny Tymm quickly lit a fire through an opening in the ceiling to slow down reinforcements, but other cultists began to down the stairs and through other openings. As the heroes dealt with the growing horde, an elf in expensive robes joined the battle. He cast multiple spells and had the ability to create illusionary duplicates of himself to muddle the battlefield.
It was a close battle, but the heroes were able to barely overcome the cultist threat.
In the elf's office upstairs, they found a small aviary of messenger owls and they discovered the elf was Justice Ironbriar--- a government official that had been investigating the cults murders. They also learned that he was a member of the Brotherhood of the Helm, a high society social club for rich people into sailing, but was secretly the Skinsaw Men--- a cult dedicated to the Ocean. They also learned that Ironbriar and the cult were subverted when they came into contact with Xanesha-- who taunt them the Shung rituals while promising them it would serve their purpose of worshipping the Ocean.
They took what treasure they could find and Ironbriar's head, and they fled the scene before the night ended.
While they recuperated and gathered new supplies, they began to investigate how they might track down Xanesha. They decided to ask around town for anyone that might recognize the name. When at the temple of the New Divinity, they encountered a scruffy man that claimed to be a cleric of Bwimb III. Part of his holy duties is being responsible for the souls of the deceased passing to their final resting place, and he had heard whispers from the dead of the name Xanesha.
He had been working with an urban druid, Danalise, and was willing to pass along the heroes' names to her.
That evening, Danalise met the heroes at The Third Ostrich. She had been investigating the murders happening all around Harcourt, and had recently discovered the Helm's Sawmill on her own. She had been watching the cult and trying to figure out what to do about it, as she is not well regarded in the city, when she watched the heroes destroy the cult.
While watching the cult, she had watched the messenger owls in action. They had only been going to and from the Shadow Clock--- a broken down clock in the poorest section of Old Harcourt. Talking with the owls had uncovered the name Xanesha, but she had been unable to investigate the clock as some evil presence was startling almost all life around the clock.
The heroes decided to investigate the clock themselves, and Danalise led the way. The ever-present rain made the poor area of Old Harcourt even more depressing. The streets were little more than thick mud and flowing streams of refuse.
They reached the clock in an area known as The Shingles. The poorest area of the city where people lived on shacks on top of shacks. But they found it wasn't just animals not wanting to be near the crumbling broken clock tower, no people were living near it either.

Rewards Granted

300 gp

Three potions of barkskin


Glass decanter (worth 300 gp)


Three poorly cut emeralds (200 gp each)


10 pearls (100 gp each)


The Helm Spellbook

Character(s) interacted with

Danalise

Report Date

09 Mar 2021

Primary Location

Harcourt