Of Men and Machines Session 19
General Summary
Little Girl Lost
Keck had just walked in and wanted to have a second look at the house. The rest of the party clearly didn't have much luck, but the observant half-orc thought he could do a bit better. His first stop was the girl's room. He took a look around, noticing the dolls on the shelf, the hand mirror, and the small chest at the foot of the bed. He gently jostled the chest, but it was locked. Keck reached into his pack and pulled out his trusty lockpicking kit. With a twist and a click, it opened up and yielded its contents. But not before a wave of psychic energy pulsed out and seriously injured Keck. Nevertheless, they found several pieces of silver in the chest - a fortune for a small girl - and a glowing pink crystal shard at the end of a leather necklace. Tim the Not-so-Tiny, for some reason, realized that it was a shard of a M'Kran crystal. Damakos remembered that the M'Kran crystal allowed for transport between the realms. The party observed several yellowed drawings on the child's table. Sifting through them, they appeared to be simple yet happy drawings of children playing. But as they dug through them, they noticed that, increasingly, there was a dark malevolent chaotic figure in the background. As Keck and Malark dug through the pile, they saw drawings of the deaths of the two boys; a girl being thrown in a well; a fire consuming the house. And, perhaps most disturbingly, of the party standing in the house surrounded by darkness. This was enough to send chills down their backs as all of a sudden Tim noticed movement in the shadows. Keck moved his light into the living room but didn't see anything. Not directly anyway. He and Malark also noticed small movements at the very edge of their peripheral vision, but it would disappear whenever they looked directly at it. There was nothing else to be learned in the house, so the group headed outside. At one end of the house sat the barn. At the other end the small family cemetary. A well sat between them. The barn beckoned them and they headed over to it. Malark noticed that the air around the barn was colder than the rest, and the grass all around it was dead. He felt misgivings going in, but they continued anyway. The group stacked up at the door, but it was Tim who shoved it open. A gust of cold, stale air seemingly dropped out of the barn and through the party. They entered the darkness, with Damakos taking point. The group searched the barn and was able to find some old carvings in the wooden wall hidden behind rotting hay. Tim recognized the markings as being similar to the ones from the Cult of Baal found in the Sanguine Abyss. Damakos identified the name Zephros the Unbound, which had been carved into the wood, and which Tim identified as being a devil in service to Baal. He was known for bringing chaos and manipulation into the lives of mortals. Damakos recognized it as being the name that had been chanted by the cultists who took him months ago. At the same moment that they identified the name Zephros, a sudden fit of laughter befell the party. They all dropped to the ground, unable to control themselves. A bright, ice cold light manifested in the corner of the barn. Soon, the spectral image of a young girl in tattered white rags with fury in her eyes appeared at the light. Keck was the first to recover. The girl looked at him with all the fury of a thousand exploding suns and screamed. Keck held up his hands and attempted to calm the raging girl. He insisted that he wanted to help; all she had to do was tell them how. A grizzly but youthful voice called out its demand, but Keck didn't understand. The girl grew more frustrated and uttered her demand once more. Keck could see that she was becoming more agitated, and with him. His mind raced across the various possibilities and he figured it out. He asked for a reprieve and an opportunity to help the child. She agreed... for now."Peace" - Spirit of Cristiana UllamirThe rest of the party recovered within a minute. They realized they had to work fast. Keck brought them up to speed on his plan. But first they needed to get to the well. They looked down into the darkness and noticed that there appeared to be the remains of a burlap sack at the bottom. Unfortunately, the bucket and the mechanism had long since rotted away, but the party - being resourceful adventurers - came prepared with their own rope. Furthermore, they attached some of Keck's caltrops as a hook to the rope. Carefully, they lowered their makeshift fishing hook into the well and were able to catch a hold of the sack. Keck pulled at the sack, but lost a hold of it half way up. Damakos leaped into action and grabbed the rope at the last second. He and Keck hauled up their grotesque cargo onto dry land. It landed with an awful splat. The water logged body of young Cristiana Ullamir, long since deceased, lay before them decayed in a burlap sack like some piece of flotsam. The party headed to the small family plot. Five graves were present. Two of them belonged to the twin boys. The others belonged to grandparents. Tim and Malark got to work digging a grave. They dug for two hours until they were satisfied with their progress. They would pile stones on top of it to complete the burial. They party lowered the body of Cristiana into the fresh grave and covered her. Tim said a small prayer for the child in the hopes that she would find the peace in death that she couldn't find in life. A gentle breeze stirred, filling the party with a sense of tranquility. The dead grass surrounding the barn began to retreat and turn a shade of green similar to the other vegetation on the farm. Cristiana's spirit manifested briefly at her gravesite. Her visage carried a serene expression. She offered a silent, grateful nod to the party, a flicker of recognition in her eyes, before slowly dissipating into the spriritual plane. Once more the party returned to the barn. They investigated the carvings, with Damakos running his fingers across them. He found himself transported to a dark realm, dark energy coursing through his body. Damakos saw himself on the outskirts of a moonlit clearing. Torches flickered in a ritualistic pattern, casting shadows upon hooded figures clad in dark robes. The cultists chanted in an ancient, guttural language, their voices resonating with Zephros's ethereal whispers. In the center of the clearing, a portal of swirling shadows materialized, revealing the spectral form of Zephros. The devil's eyes fixed on Damakos, piercing through the vision with an unsettling gaze. Zephros laughed in concert with the cultists. Damakos saw the whole thing unfold before him. The summoning, the discovery and the manipulation of the child, the murders, and the final resolution by the party. Just like that, Damakos was back in the barn. Their task completed, the party headed back to Castleport.
A Party? For Me??
It was late in the night by the time the party arrived in the city. Already the atmosphere felt more relaxed than the last time they were here. They entered the western gates and headed straight for the Aggressive Goblin Tavern where they had stayed earlier in the week. Fel'Shu, already waiting on the roof of the tavern as usual, noticed his colleagues' arrival. The returning heroes rented their rooms and retired for the night, exhausted. The following morning they decided to head to Hardingham Keep to notify law enforcement of their completion of the quest. They entered the office of Aldar Duskstone with Alyce Dorgonn already present. Aldar looked more sober than they had seen before; the party's actions had given him hope for the first time in a long time. Alyce looked relieved to see the party once more. Trusting that her faith had been well placed, Alyce asked the party if they were successfull. Keck brought the two of them up to speed quickly and insisted that there was far more going on than a simple serial killer. They had uncovered evidence of a vast conspiracy involving Warforged, The Society of the Silk Rose, and even the South Wind Trading Company. The excited half-orc insisted - nay, demanded - that something be done about the South Wind at once, but Aldar insisted that they needed to bring this kind of accusation before Viscount Montgomery Silverbane. Only he could make that kind of impactful decision. Keck and the party grew frustrated at the apparent inability to act upon the intelligence provided, but were hopeful at the prospect of getting face time with the Viscount. Aldar informed them that there would be a feast in their honor the following evening and that they should make their case to Viscount Silverbane there. Being the conquering heroes that they were, afterall, would go a long way towards solidifying their credibility...Rewards Granted
- 200xp each for laying Cristiana Ullamir to rest
- 50xp for Keck for hella awesome gameplay
- 50xp for Tim for great roleplay
- 50xp for Damakos for developing the tie to the Cult of Baal
Report Date
05 Jan 2024
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