Session 25 - The Attempted Flight

General Summary

At the castle, Edmon and Manfred prepared the horses. Winifred received the other three companions, along with Austri and Heinrich and his two comrades from the Knights of the Tomb, all of whom had returned from Willmar. Winifred explained to the dwarf and the Knights the current political situation and the circumstances of Sigisar's and Narcissa's demise. In response, Austri began to leave, as those were the two key people he was sent to contact. But Wigand suggested Winifred should get some money from the dwarfs. The Knights of the Tomb then met with Winifred and asked to see Edmon and were directed to the stables. Rodrick then talked to Winifred and asked for Narcissa’s book. Winifred said she didn’t have it. Rodrick then left to find Uisce and a shovel. Kaleb, for his part, tried to stealthily follow Rodrick's owl. Finally, Wigand talked to Uisce about dwarfs and leprechauns and pots of gold. He offered her gold for “entertainment”. Uisce tried to steal gold from his hand, but failed.
The Knights approached Edmon at the stables. Edmon told the Knights where they were leaving with Winifred, much to Manfred’s chagrin. But he was asked to leave by the Knights, and obliged. The Knights offered Edmon to follow close behind, and gave their names: Heinrich, Johann, and Leopold. Manfred and Edmon had a talk about enforcing secrecy.
Rodrick looked for a shovel, and yelled very loudly about it in the courtyard. An invisible Winifred and Manfred coaxed Kaleb with promises of learning spells in the forest to come with them. Uisce talked with the departing Austri about dwarfs with pots of gold, unfortunate events around Sigisar and Narcissa, and Narcissa’s grave. Everyone in the group then left the castle, ostensibly for a hunt (Winifred left invisibly).
On the road at last, Rodrick got vague directions to Narcissa’s body from Edmon. Rodrick said he would exhume her body, and talked about possibilities of use of the hearts of the two corpses. Rodrick and Uisce left the group with Austri, but not before learning that Winifred and the rest were traveling south toward Darbenheim.
Winifred's group headed south toward Spad - Manfred’s old university town, as he promised dubious possible economic connections there. Rodrick, Uisce and Austri tried to find Narcissa’s body on their own and failed, so they turned to Reinhard at the Red Fox Tavern for help. Rodrick traded information on Winifred’s plans for the hearts and the location of Narcissa’s body. They went to the location, where Rodrick told Austri to dig. Once the body had been exhumed, he pulled it apart with magic. He did not find the book, however. Rodrick then traded access to the book in return for delivering a message to Winifred: “Every day you are gone, someone in the castle will die”. Rodrick then got Narcissa’s heart and gave it to Austri (to deliver to his master Prince Laurin). The dwarf then said they should travel together since they were going in the same direction for the time being.
As they traveled, the group following Winifred saw marks on the trees designating Ingo the Pious' territory. The group elected to stay in that territory rather than go to more questionable territory where the undead were known to roam. Rodrick and company caught up with the other group, and Rodrick delivered Reinhard’s message. Manfred told Winifred to stay the course. Edmon said they should go back and kill Reinahrd. Winifred became flustered, and went back to being a fox.
The traveling party set up camp for the night. Edmon, Kaleb and Manfred were each given a watch. Edmon was a dutiful watchman. Kaleb looked for bugs. Manfred was confronted by a representative of Ingo the Pious on horseback, who fined him and asked many questions. Manfred tried to silence him with magical thunder, but failed, causing the man to escape. The group was awoken by this, and fled Ingo’s territory in the night. They crossed over to the borderlands where Winifred had earlier encountered the Totentanz.
After settling down again, the group heard peasants singing. They talked to the peasants, but did not want to go to Ingo's castle with them after all that had happened. Manfred and Winifred had a private conversation in which Winifred said she needed to go back to the castle. The group elected to turn back.

Report Date

28 Dec 2023