Session 343 - The Icewind Reavers
General Summary
20th of Saraju (Spring) 727TR
The Story So Far
Cassius, the rugged bounty hunter, Salvador, a wandering priest of Ilvir, and Kara, a half-snow-elf magus, and Princess Berda of the dwarven Kingdom of Azadmere, are journeying to the City of Jarehm, the Kingdom of Jarenmark.
They hope to get the demonic evil exorcised from Berda’s Orb of Midgaard. The princess believes the Orb can be used to communicate with her distant homeland.
This is the continuation of Session 341 - The Assassin and the Lizard Man.
Location - The City of Jarehm in the Kingdom of Jarenmark.
Part 1 – Evil at the Marketplace
The heroes have arrived in the bustling Port City of Jarehm, the largest settlement in the Kingdom of Jarenmark. Jarehm is one of the most liberal of the Ivinian cities, allowing residents and visitors to trade and worship as they please.
While looking for accommodation and the local church of Peoni, whose clerics are experts in exorcism, they pass through the busy marketplace. Kara’s keen eyes spot several men wearing wolf-head pendants, and their faces are painted white. These are members of the infamous Icewind Reavers, a vile organization of parasites, raiders, and slavers who held her captive for many years.
Moving closer to the men, she casually overhears their conversation with a merchant. The trader acts as an agent representing the nearby Church of Morgath (the evil god of chaos and death), and the reavers want to sell slaves. The slaves will likely suffer a grim fate at the butcher knives of the Morgathians. The reavers want to deal directly with a Priest of Morgath, not a middleman, so a meeting is arranged tonight on the docks. Glancing towards the docks, Kara sees a chilling and familiar sight, a longship with a wolf head figurehead on the prow, crewed by men and women splattered in white body paint. This is definitely one of the Icewind Reaver's raiding ships.
Part 2 – At the Temple of Larani
What to do? The party decides that they need to gather more information and spot a temple dedicated to the goddess Larani. Sadly, the good and noble priests at the temple cannot provide much help, as by law, they cannot war or interfere with the practices of other religions. However, they can offer information.
They tell the heroes that the Church of Morgath is a hotbed of deceit and bloody intrigues. Many of its temple priests would be happy to dispose of another higher-ranking priest or rival to gain a promotion or advantage. The priest in charge of acquiring human sacrifices is not well-liked, and his peers would like to see him undermined, dead, or, best case, gone. With this information, the party plans a surprise for the priest when he meets with the Icewind Reavers tonight.
Part 3 – Evil Masks in the Night
That night, the party disguises themselves as morgathic priests, wearing dirty brown robes and hasty manufacture crude monster masks. They hide in the shadows not far from the docks. About midnight a morgathic priest, wearing a mask shaped like a grinning demon, calmly walks to the dock, flank by two tall, somewhat slow-moving bodyguards. Any locals still on the streets that late make themselves scarce. Salvador is convinced that the guards are Gulmorvin or the undead.
At the docks, four Icewind Reavers stand impatiently waiting. As their leader begins negotiating over price, Cassius, still disguised as a morgathic cleric, separates from the party and moves into a side alleyway, then purposely knocks something over, creating a noise. The paranoid reaver's attention is drawn to Cassius, and all they see is a morgathic priest trying to hide in the shadows with a bow. They are fooled, suspecting foul play. While the real morgathic priest professes his innocence, one of the reavers investigates, only to receive an arrow in his chest from Cassius. The remaining reavers go berserk, attacking the priest and his guards, and both sides try their best to destroy each other.
The evil cleric and his undead quickly kill the reavers; however, reinforcement arrive, four more warriors jump from the longship and cut the priest down, losing two of thier numbers in the effort. The priest's undead bodyguards turn to dust. Kara and Cassius, still disguised as priests, intervene and kill the remaining reinforcements. The longship rouses, and a dozen reavers leap onto the docks, ready to deal with what appears to be a Morgathic betrayal. However, the heroes escape into the shadows and destroy their disguises.
The Icewind Reavers have made powerful enemies in the Morgathic Church and lost eight clansmen, so their longship slips out of port at dawn, never to return to this city.
Part 4 - Exorcism on the Orb of Midgard
Now that the Icewind Reavers have been driven out of the city, Berda and friends visit the Church of Peoni. The good priestess is happy to help exorcise the evil from Berda's Orb of Midgard, even before they are told they will receive a large donation. A few days later, at midday on sanctified ground, the temple priestesses assemble, say prayers to the goddess of the harvest and life, form a circle, create a protective barrier around the relic, and begin the purification rituals. "The corruption is strong," one of the high priestesses exclaims.
Soon, a familiar sickening black mist bleeds out of the Orb, and when it touches the protective barrier, the evil hisses and evaporates. The mist congeals and starts to take a humanoid shape, appearing as the vile necromancer Stiggar Gilsen, the so-called Dark Heart. The heroes thought they had destroyed him months ago (refer to Session 328 - The Curse of Darkheart). The phantom of the Darkheart glares at the heroes with hate and malice, “Break the circle, let me free,” he screams at Kara and Cassius. Both feel a chill, and their minds begin to cloud, but through strength of will, they resist the Domination. The phantom has no power over them.
As the ritual continues, the Dark Heart diminishes and weakens, eventually pathetically begging to be released. Finally, he and any evil remaining in the Orb of Midgard are purged. Berda tentatively touches the Orb and tries communicating with the Orb she saw back home in the Kingdom of Azadmere. Disappointingly, she has no response but verifies that the evil is gone.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
Various Priests and Priestesses of the goddesses Larani and Peoni.
Created Content
Related Reports
Player Characters
Cassius - Human - Level 10 Ranger - Background Bounty Hunter - Archetypes Fighter/Beastmaster.
Kara - Half-snow elf - Level 10 Magus - Background Prisoner - Archetype Fighter.
Salvador - Human - Level 10 Cloistered Cleric of Ilvir (Change) - Background Artist - Archetypes Eldritch Researcher/Druid/Bard.
NPC Character Status
Berda - Dwarf - Level 10 Fighter - Background Noble - Archetype Sentinel.
Next Session
Kara
Cassius
Salvador
Icewind Reavers
Berda
The runaway princess and daughter of the King of Azadmere.
Berda is an inquisitive and idealistic young woman skilled with the waraxe.
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