Session 2: A Sight to Behold
General Summary
Picking up where we left off, our four heroes have just been teleported to the relative safety of the town square of Aranum after witnessing three terrifying figures nonchalantly execute Noke and Leiro. Sensing the incoming presence of these three mysterious creatures, the party immediately rushes to get back on the road to travel back to Thauna, where Leiro told them they should speak with "the wizard".
After traveling through the night, and through the following day, Trixie, Stefan, Ellen, and Jherzes finally arrive in Thauna, the bustling capital of Nokexa. As the largest city in the region, Thauna is large and has considerably more wealth than Aranum and other towns, but is by no means a "rich" city. Sure, there are district of nobles, but Thauna is mainly a city of trade and industry, where most people are just trying to get by.
As the adventurers make their way through the Eastern entrance to the city towards the town square, they pass through one of the city's biggest shopping street in the city, and stop to window-shop. Suddenly, among the crowd of shoppers, pedestrians, and merchants, a man carrying a small crate seems to trip and fall, dropping the crate and spilling its deadly "contents" in the process. From this create appeared a Spectator: a vile and evil creature resembling a floating sphere with a single large eye and gaping mouth, with four tentacle-like appendages each ending in another unsettling snake eye. Immediately, the Spectator fires a beam of energy from one of its eyes, striking the messenger that dropped its crate, killing him instantly.
As the Spectator begun to indiscriminately attack pedestrians, the party immediately leaps into action; this is what they became adventurers for! In the midst of battle, they are joined in their fight against the Spectator by a fifth fighter: a huge goliath bearing a mighty sword. Despite a moment of doubt, when, struck by a Confusion Ray, Stefan punched their new ally, the team was able to defeat the Spectator. Trixie nimbly climbed atop the shop buildings and deftly fired two deadly arrows into the Spectator, killing it for good and saving the day.
After searching through the the crate that spawned the Spectator and the dead messenger's body for... investigation purposes... the adventurers found a few interesting tidbits. Most notably, engraved on the inside of the lid to this crate was a symbol of a skull with a ring of drops of blood surrounding it; the goliath fighter, who we now know as Vaeren, recognizes the symbol immediately as that of Bhaal, the god of violence and murder. On the dead messenger's corpse they also find a delivery note: somebody had hired this messenger to deliver the deadly package to one Venali Qinna.
The five adventurers decide to go to a nearby inn to discuss what happened and plan their next move. While at The Lantern Inn, Vaeren explains that she is a paladin now sworn to a single oath: to kill the inherently evil followers of Bhaal. Therefore, she is interesting in investigating this attempted murder of whoever Venali Qinna is, as this might lead her to whomever orchestrated the hit bearing the symbol of Bhaal. Meanwhile, the party of four must not lose sight of why they are here: they must find "the wizard" and find out what the hell happened in Aranum, and how can they prevent their fate from matching that of Leiro and Noke.
As the evening goes on with the five heroes, conversing over dinner, Jherzes fills the room with music, providing the party's first respite in days. Entranced by this music - or rather, by the inn patrons spending money to continue enjoying the music - Helewys the innkeeper makes conversation with Jherzes and the rest of the party: by sheer luck, Venali Qinna is the top wizard of Thauna. Also of note, Jherzes receives an offer of exchange of services: play for a few hours each night, and earn free room and board for himself and his friends at The Lantern Inn.
The party, for now expanded to five adventurers, goes to pay Venali a visit and hopefully get some answers once and for all. Venali explains that's long been friends with Leiro, with whom she has collaborated for many years. She panics when the adventurers explain what happened to Leiro and Ellen produces the compass. Venali goes on to explain what she knows...
The three creatures who executed Noke and Leiro are The Nelde, the mythical beings from many tales. In the War fo Naemh, over a thousand years ago, the kingdom's and empires of the continent fought against evil forces - some say The Nelde were the leaders, some that the armies themselves were known as The Nelde. True information about what really happened during this war and how it ended is hard to come by. It has mostly been diluted throughout generations, as it was exaggerated by bards for their songs, and exaggerated in each region to fit each kingdom's desired narrative.
In his research, however, Leiro discovered one thing to be certain: somehow, when The Nelde were defeated, they were cursed: their power reduced to a tiny fraction of their potential as punishment for the evil they wrought upon Naemh, unable to get this power back for as long as people knew who they were and what they did. The memory of them is, itself, the power that renders them powerless. As a result of this, The Nelde have spent a thousand years walking the world destroying any books or paintings that tell their true story, and killing anybody who knows that story. By destroying this information, their memory has gradually evolved into a series of legends far removed from the truth of what happens. Once all true information is destroyed, their power will be restored, and they can finish what they started.
Venali continued: the adventurers are some of the few people in a thousand years to see The Nelde and live to tell the tale. Not only that, they carry with them a mysterious compass that appears to be of great interest to The Nelde. For both of these reasons, they have their days numbered: The Nelde will not stop until they are dead. However, Venali explained, if the party has any chance of surviving, they must find out the truth about The Nelde and, more importantly, how to defeat them.
Leiro, explains the elf wizard, told Venali in their last conversation a few years ago that she had discovered the location of an important ancient site that could contain the truth of how The Nelde were defeated a thousand years ago. Leiro discovered this information while doing research at the Danai Library, a historical bastion of knowledge known across Naemh. The Danai Library, however, has a very particular cost of entry for anyone wishing to benefit from the knowledge within: one may only enter if they donate a valuable book not already in their collection.
Venali does have some tomes that could likely be acceptance to gain admittance into the Library, and she's willing to give it to the party if they can "take care" of whomever tried to assassinate her.