Session 01
General Summary
Our heroes found themselves in The King's Road Inn on the very edge of Dun Laren. It was the 1st
of the Cat, 660AR and this summer in Manabas had been a wet one. The gates to the great city
were shut at dusk and the group arrived slightly too late to enter so moved into the inn for the
night. They spent a frustrating evening trying to get the merchants, farmers and adventurers in the
inn to talk but none of them seemed keen to strike up conversation with a band of armed and
dangerous looking mercenaries so they gleaned no information.
The next morning dawned bright and sunny and before the sun was even up the group were
waiting at the city gates to be let in. They joined a long train of merchants and farmers waiting
entry to the city. Yawning guards paid them slightly more attention than the merchants and
farmers, due to their arms and armour, but in this time of peace in the Empire there was little or no
reason to question a group of armed adventurers. The group headed straight to the Trading Post
inn, a place many of them had stayed before on previous visits to the city. Here they made a base
and then decided they would split up.
Dorian and Elijah headed off to the University. Here they were able to discover that Belzur Orloff,
Dorian's old master, had been sacked from his position as head of the School of Conjuration, some
three months previously. No one would give details of his dismissal but the two were pointed to
the Headmaster, Stylus Kant, with a view to getting an interview with him. They tried but were
told by his secretary that it would have to be tomorrow that they saw him. Elijah was able to drop
off his strange stone to be identified. They then headed back to the Trading Post to meet their
friends for lunch.
Meanwhile, Drax and Jaina headed to the barracks. Here they got a quick appointment to see
Bragger Bondhome, captain of the guard. Bragger was old and neat looking with a well trimmed
beard and hair, dressed in studded leather emblazoned with the symbol of Dun Eamon. At his side
was a shortsword. Drax asked about the Green Tree Bandits and was told there was indeed a five
hundred gold imperials reward for the head of Fell Tarmick, their leader. Bragger told him they
had hit 12 merchant caravans over the last six months, each time attacking out of the Penprie
forest and drifting back into again like ghosts. No one knew where they were based, but it was
definiitely somewhere inside the forest. Jaina asked if Bragger knew anything about a church of
Pelor in the city and Bragger said that there was no such thing at present. Drax asked if Bragger
knew of a Bragger Dutenhammer, but the captain of the guard said that he did not. He then asked
if there were other Dutenhammer dwarves in the city and Bragger said he thought there might be
at the Lion Side Inn. Thanking the Dwarf for his time they left and returned to the Trading Post.
After a pleasant lunch Drax and Jaina went back into the city, visiting the Lion Side Inn. There
they found two young dwarves of Drax's clan. They talked to them a bit about the city. The
dwarves were on their way to Dun Eamon in the north running a merchant caravan escort. When
asked about it they said that they had been into the forest and it was mostly quiet and safe - a few
orcs and goblins here and there but nothing to worry about. Drax mentioned the legend of the
ancient dwarven warlord's crypt in the forest and the two young dwarves seemed very taken with
the legend - which they knew of course - but they had seen no sign of it in their time in the forest.
Jaina asked them if they had been to the shrine of Pelor but they said they had not and they didn't
know anything about any church of Pelor in the city either. The two dwarves were bid farewell
and the two returned to base.
The afternoon was then spent wandering the city, doing some shopping for supplies, reading spell
books, sparring and training and generally killing time. The evening was fairly standard one in the
Trading Post inn, including a brawl between drunken merchants which was swiftly broken up by
the city watch. It was clear this was a well run city and that Bragger's guards were doing a good
job.
The next day the groupp went back to the Wizards' Academy to visit Stylus Kant. When they got
there they were invited in for refreshments of sweet meats, summer fruits, wine and ales. They
tucked in and Stylus Kant addressed them. The Headmaster was of young age, tall and dark haired
which he wore back in a pony tail. He wore dark robes edged with silver lightning, and sported a
black goatee. Stylus began by telling them that Belzur Orloff had been sacked from his position as
Head of the School of Conjuration. The reason was that he had begun to smoke more and more
opium. In doing so his teaching ability had slowly deteriorated to the point where his students
were suffering. Then one day he came to Stylus to talk about demonology and summoning
demons, telling the Headmaster that he felt this was god practice and that he would like to teach it
in class. Stylus sacked him on the spot. Angry and upset Belzur left the University and has not
been seen since. That was nearly four months ago now.
Then the Headmaster turned to Elijah. He had the little stone the Halfling had found in the
Westbrook Hills. Stylus explained that this was a Demon Stone and that such items possessed
many strange and varied traits and properties. This one appeared to have one overriding desire: to
return to its maker. All you had to do was hold it and think of Belzur and you felt which direction
you needed to go in to find him. The group had in their possession an easy way to track down the
illusive demonologist.
Deciding to see if they could triangulate his position - if he were nearby - the group headed out
into the city. Soon they were able to see that he was indeed in the city - somewhere in a residential
area of the south end. As they honed in on his position it was clear that actually the renegade
summoner was underground. Probably about 50' underground the Halfling guessed. This lead them
to believe he must be in the sewers. Finding a nearby sewer grate the party ignored the shocked
looks of passersby and dropped into the sludge below. Dorian made the huge axe Drax was
wielding glow with a bright light, like a torch and the party trudged through the sludge following
directions given by Elijah.
They soon came to a big pile of rubbish thrown into the channel. Here they also noticed that a
large amount of dirt and rubble had been thrown into the channel here - like someone was
disposing of tunnelling excess. At this location Jaina felt a draft coming from the sewer wall.
Looking carefully she spotted a slim crack in the wall. Casting his expert eye over it Elijah was
able to determine this was indeed a secret door and it had a locking mechanism. Fortunately for
our heroes, Elijah had seen this type before and within seconds they heard a satisfying click as he
unlocked the door. Drax moved to the front, hefted his axe and opened the door.
Beyond was a smoking den. Pillows and cushions lay strewn about. A hookah sat on one table and
a burning incense stick on another. It showed signs of recent use. Currently it was empty however
but a tunnel lead out from this room deeper into the complex. Following this along it came to a
dead end which the group struggled to understand until Dorian's familiar, Sabertooth, started
scratching at a wall. Looking closer they realised the cat had found another secret door! This one
was not locked and Drax pushed it open to reveal a small chamber with two evil looking hounds in
it. These hounds had red glowing eyes and there was something distinctly demonic about them.
Elijah wasted no time, tumbling into the room and stabbing one in the eye. It died with out a
sound. Drax rushed in behind the Halfling and with one sweep of his great axe, decapitated the
demonic hound. Two dead guard demons and no alert had been sounded. So far, so good.
They opened the next door and Elijah moved on to investigate. He found a large room to the left
with four dozing demonic hounds in it and a huge circular room to the north in which two robed
figures stood in a mystic circle. They were chanting some sort of spell. Dorian was using his
mystic sight to look through the eyes of his familiar and quickly realised that the two were
involved in a summoning ritual and that it was nearly complete. He also recognised the second of
the two wizards as his old master, Belzur. Deciding there was no time to lose Elijah crept into the
room and hid amongst the book shelves within striking distance of the first conjurer. The others
took up position by the door. Drax kicked it open and all hell broke loose.
Elijah sprang forward and stabbed the first wizard in the back. Howling in pain he collapsed to his
knees. Drax charged in, straight into the thick of things, and struck the apprentice demonologist
down with his axe. One down, one to go. Jaina moved into the room and blasted the Belzur with a
lance of radiant holy power. Then Dorian entered and unleashed his most powerful spell at his
former master. A bolt of cracking blue-white lightning arced across the room and struck the
demonologist full in the chest, sending him crashing backwards. Yet somehow he still lived.
His eyes opened as he recognised Dorian. He asked him what he was doing disturbing his finest
conjuration yet, saying he was in the process of summmoning Larin Karr - a name which meant
nothing to the adventurers - yet. Struggling to his feet he called out for help from his minions and
the group heard the dogs to the south waking. Presently the room was flooded with demonic
hounds as the krenshar's came bounding in. Then from a previously unnotived side tunnel in came
two further demons. These two, dretches by name, were lowly humanoid shaped demons, known
as the lowest of the low. They had spades in hands and when they saw the combat ahead, they
dropped them and ran into melee.
At this stage Belzur Orloff unleashed his most powerful spell. A small red pea fired from his
fingertip and raced to the middle of the room where it blossomed into a huge ball of fire! The
adventurers were wreathed in flames. Some, like Elijah, had quick reactions. Others, like Dorian
recognised the spell and knew what was coming. They were able to take evasive action and were
mostly unharmed. Others, like Jaina, took the full brunt of the blast. The demons seemed
completely unfazed by the flames. Picking themselves up off the floor the party decided to
concentrate on the demonologist.
Drax charged back at the mage, striking him a mighty blow with his axe. He dropped to his knees
but was still trying to cast a spell. Then Dorian stepped up and with a mystic word fired bolts of
pure energy into the kneeling mage. He crumpled to the floor and collapsed. As he did, he said,
"Dorian, you were always my best student". The two dretches and four krenshars were a small
concern to the powerful adventurers with the demise of their master and it took the group just a
few moments more to defeat them all, especially with the power of Jaina's holy light which
seemed to be extremely effective against them.
The fight was over. Checking the bodies, only one demonologist was alive - that was Belzur. It
looked like his fireball had burnt his apprentice to death. There was a room full of books - which
seemed to have avoided the worst of the fireball; there was a prisoner to question; and there was a
tunnel to explore. It had been an interesting visit to the city of Dun Eamon so far...
Report Date
10 Apr 2024
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