Lost Lore 7: You Gotta Keep the Devil Way Down In - The Hole Game
"Segravia must have protected you! Her blessing must have been worth it."
"I have nothing but appreciation for Segravia's assistance in our survival."
"I have nothing but appreciation for Segravia's assistance in our survival."
General Summary
After leaving the Kreastos and our unsavory meeting with Shepherd, we saw the elven peasant's caravan wagons adjacent to an Inn on the way into town, The Big Lord Pub. He was anxiously awaiting our arrival and was relieved to see us still alive and, as usual at this point, very impressed by what we went through at the Grace of Sandor. We headed to the library and knocked on the door for around 10 minutes before the nighttime sages opened the door to hear us out and I explained that we needed to do research to avert a coming war with a Giant that was encamped on Lake Bask, which wasn't a lie, but even better was Ospher's connections from his studies in the Ghal Peloran libraries. We got them briefed on the time period we were looking for and set to work rapidly.
Between Ospher's directions and the sage's skill, we rapidly discovered the limits of the Frial library for our inquiry. Our results were essentially as follows: ██████████████████████████████████████████████████ and he attempted to intimidate us with hints of that knowledge which I then shouted him back down into regular discussion He explained that Roche is the one that took his spot in The Circle, and is another vampire who is masquerading as a well known bard in Frial, but wouldn't elaborate further since he didn't want to be left in the custody of the Embracers.
We unceremoniously hacked off his limbs and knocked him back unconscious and let Addison and Crisnos push the cart and came up with a plan to leave dynamite within Laurant with the wick intertwined with his clothing to be lit from a distance. Turhvoz and his followers were very excited to see the results and he fed Laurant with one of his follower's blood bringing him back for us to tell him goodbye and Ospher lit the clothing/wick on fire and I handed Addison the orb and started hurrying everyone away from the Embracers when the dynamite exploded, like a wet disgusting pop.
The relics, when joined, orbited one another and started to produce more snow within them. We exited the quarry and planned to have a nice long rest once we got back to Frial. We sent Bohannan and Addison off ahead a little bit and played the greeting song to meet up with Tarre and her siblings and the Pixie siblings to get information on Granny Illsemine. Tarre was reticent to have anything to do with Granny, but Polly said that she is not to be trusted and knows a great deal of magic and will give in to her impulses and urges rapidly. We offered to bring them along to help us and if we beat her, they can take over her house and her stuff. Polly, Tick and Kay were very on board, and Tarre said she would be happy to come along later to hide out there as it would be much safer than the Rylan Woods or Frial's surrounding plains.
We plan on inviting Charity, Nicholas and Ser Brightshine before we left Frial. We may need more help against the hag.
Crisnos will become a Champion of Corellon. This pleases Nisaba and I, perhaps his farmland people will be happy to see a legitimate presence of their god.
Laurant got what was coming to him, especially █████████████████████████. I have let down my guard too much among these people. His comments about The Circle all but confirm it. If we survive our encounter with Illsemine, we will have much to do when not in the Abbey. Maybe Digby's paranoia is for legitimate reason.
The Ghelfs are mostly of Frostmere, in the far north, a clan of tyrants, well known for conquering human lands and displacing creatures and animals afterwards. Equally well known for their regal stature and imperious nature, rather than being barbarians. Their holdings were near where Frostmere is, their influence doesn't extend to Balmoralan plains, and no known holdings in the area. During the fall of their people, there was a vault that was locked away, and the location and key were not explicitly mentioned, as the Frostmerites recorded these legends as reason for a lot of the Ghelf tools having gone missing.
In reflection with this information, we extrapolated that we shouldn't have explicitly taken the word of Addison (even though she is the chamberlain) as complete fact for our plans, so we'll need a relic of some kind or another that Granny Illsemine/The Autumn King will accept. So we decided that we would seek out Bohannan's help to find and rob Klaygett of the magical items he has stolen from travelers on the road. He told us that he was staying at The Righteous Lobster on the edge of Bellhaven district in the south when we parted ways in the swamp the other day so we headed over there. Given how late in the night / early in the morning, we made our way over and were pleasantly surprised to find the barkeep still serving food to a sparse crowd, though the front door was barely a door. The special was "Lobster Soup" which Crisnos and I really enjoyed and Ospher suffered through, he was convinced we were eating spider meat and spoiled cream (not to be confused with sour cream), which isn't the worst thing I've ever eaten, and resolved to come back to meet the chef/owner, Pete, who does all the cooking at home and brings it in to be sold. Merde.
Once Ospher finished up his meal, I confirmed with some pleasantries with the barkeep that Bohannan was in, and she said that there was a woman who had been with him there a few days on and off as well. Ospher snuck upstairs to check and see if he was up and observed a candle lit in their room. The two adjacent rooms to his were empty as well, but he couldn't really perceive what he and Addison were up to, besides putting on leather armor and getting ready to go out somewhere. We decided based on that to just go up and talk with them, since we didn't realize she hadn't gone back to their Lake Bask encampment prior to speaking with the barkeep. We headed up the creaky staircase and knocked on the dilapidated door.
Bohannan answered the door, very annoyed with us and what time it is, and demanded to know what we needed. We explained Crisnos' situation regarding the hag Illsemine, and as Bohannan was about to slam the door, Addison was very happy to see us and invited us in. We caught up on our activities from the last day and Addison was glad that we were safe and mentioned they were going to head out to look for one of her goddesses' missing items nearby, in a place called The Quarry. She was familiar with Granny Illsemine as well, clarifying that she was affected by the Konning Castle Anomaly. She offered to front the costs for Bohannan to kill Illsemine after their trip to the Quarry, and when we explained that we did have some time to work on getting a relic for the hag, she hoped that maybe Illsemine would come to terms with the troubles she's caused and would convert to Segravia.
At my request, Bohannan explained that The Quarry is a granite quarry outside of town to the northwest that was used to build structures in Frial itself abandoned a century ago, that dozens and dozens of zombies fell into and are now stuck within. Addison showed us that she had another relic of Segravia's that was very cold, and apricot sized that seemed to pull towards where the other half of the relic is located. We asked if she had any leads on anything we could use to bargain with the hag, Addison didn't but Bohannan was receptive to us asking if we could have them accompany us to give one of Segravia's relics to her in order to spare Nirue's life and if necessary kill Illsemine afterwards. Addison didn't want us to deceive or renege on the agreement, but she also didn't think Segravia would want someone to die over one of her relics. She put herself in the mindset of Segravia and decided that we would plan to hand over a relic as long as the agreement has been met by Illsemine, and we would go with them to help secure the other half in the Quarry.
Bohannan sent Addison to get a jug of Lobster Soup for the trip and leveled with us that he didn't think Addison returning to Segravia missing an artifact would be very safe for her. We agree that however it goes with Illsemine, we shouldn't let this go poorly for Addison. I took Crisnos aside after this discussion and gave him the elvish version of The Promise of Dawn and bade him to begin studying it. We clearly already knew that Corellon favored him and that he should put that favor to good practice for saving his sister soon, because otherwise we may need greater help.
The quarry is about 4 hours away, and the trees get sparser and sparser as we approach until we are at our destination, The Hole. A large stepped quarry with discrete levels and tunnels going off into the deep. From the top, we saw some ragged corpses, but no zombies shambling about. Rigging up our dungeoneering kit while Crisnos dressed himself in my old scale mail armor, we descended awkwardly and Addison's relic directed us into the caves then. We lined up due to the tight nature of the tunnels with me in front and Bohannan bringing up the rear and eventually come upon a large antechamber with nearly two dozen of them bumbling about. We attempted to sneak across without attracting attention, but between the size of the group and the discarded mining implements, it was unsuccessful.
We backed up to take cover at some mining carts while doing as much damage to the horde as we could, and after seeing some dynamite, we opted to make some noise to take out a lot of them at once, rather than continue to suffer the death of a thousand paper cuts. A few more cantrips after detonating the stick of dynamite finished the job here, but Addison noticed that the relic half was on the move now. We raced on to prevent escape and came upon yet another antechamber before long, though we heard something more like conversation instead of moaning before reaching the room.
From the edge of the chamber, we observed that it appeared to have been converted into a sort of chapel? There were a dozen people in there, all in grey shrouds, reading from books, and lining the walls are chained zombies that have had their jaws removed and they've had symbols carved into their foreheads. A few people carried zombie heads that were still in a state of animation and they were saying something in a language I understand about the "metamorphosis/sacred change" while moving to purposefully bite someone. I bid Bohannan to destroy those zombie heads before they could complete their crazed ritual, which he did efficiently, and the reaction we got was really not what I was expecting.
The main figure demanded to know what business we had here and called the destruction of the zombie head a waste. He gestured to the dead head and said we killed Earl. All of the peoples present had the same symbol carved into their foreheads as well and stated that we had denied them their eternity and prevented them from taking their embrace. This triggered some recognition in Bohannan as he explained that these people were likely part of The Cult of the Embracers that worshiped the undead and considered the curse of undeath as a blessing of eternity. After I shouted down their leader, he explained that the relic half was being used by them to freeze bodies until they could be "gifted" with unlife and they called it the crypt gem, a shooting star that came into their possession after leading them from Frial around the same time that everyone else associated to Castle Konning first came to our time.
Ospher attempted to bargain with them, briefly considering recruiting Charity to guide them in necromancy, but ultimately they wouldn't agree to give it up for anything less than us agreeing to secure a special type of "older and stranger" undead creature they knew to be down a series of tunnels that went deeper into the earth. They said they had tried to catch it many times and failed, and since the "blessing" needed to be intact inside it, we needed to not kill it. He described it as like a wild animal, with none of the calm of the grave, humanoid shape, withered skin, long claws, pointed fangs. We came up with a plan to use some mayonnaise, caltrops, heavy fishing net and manacles and set off.
We got to an area where we found a fairly fresh corpse that had been dismembered and was in a gray robe so we knew we were likely in the right place. I heard a sort of slurping noise ahead, so we attempted to deploy our trap without success. The creature moved incredibly quickly, covered in tattered rags, and was able to manuever behind us, slice open Crisnos' neck and retreat into the darkness. Bohannan jumped to at this point, looking to impress Addison and ran off into the darkness. He shouted briefly and fired off his crossbow and then went silent. I ran over to go try and save him and the creature that we hunted was drinking blood from Bohannan's neck while he was limp.
It was terrified of my sacred flame and retreated and I lost sight of it while going through Bohannan's pockets for his healing implements. It asked "who dares come here" and was surprised to see someone who could channel the power of gods. It struck me from behind, and it's incisors slid out to try and feed from me. It saw through my bluff, though my spell was enough to line the creature with magical light, and struck me down. Ospher said he and Crisnos then approached to barter with the creature for my and Bohannan's lives. As it drank from me, it's skin regrew further and further, and was shrugged off Crisnos throwing his sickle into the undead's chest. Ospher realized then that this was likely a weakened vampire and hit it with a magic missile. It recognized the standoff and started questioning Ospher's intent, thinking we had be sent by his former rivals, Claude, Roche, The Circle, but Ospher was able to deceive it into thinking we are just explorers.
Crisnos said if Ospher could provide a distraction he would see what he could channel from Corellon and the vampire, recognizing them making plans, ran straight for Ospher. He scared him with the smell of garlic via use of Prestidigitation, and his Shield spell saved him from being rent by the claws. Corellon granted the power of Daylight through his holy symbol, driving back the vampire into a corner as it took incredible damage from the sunlight. Ospher then used the healing potion I fished out on me and after I came to, I healed Bohannan who went to go assist Addison.
We then used Crisnos' gods power to corner the vampire and after he tried to bargain with us he revealed information that in Frial, the magicians that attempt to outdo one another at night, some of them are vampires that are part of The Circle. He claimed to be their former leader, Laurant, and said they're very knowledgeable of the comings and goings of wizards in town. He decided to racially slur Ospher at this point so we knocked him out and briefly discussed what we were going to do next. Character(s) interacted with
Crisnos - Has discovered an unrequited love of spider meat and heavy cream. He also has served as a conduit to his lord god and will walk the path of the Paladin. May his light prove contagious.
Bohannan - Briefly offered to teach us a dungeoneering class. I guess we'll see how quickly we can sour this relationship if Addison is harmed or killed by the hag or we fail to recover Segravia's relic in trade. He and I are of a mind when it comes to pragmatic decisions; we share soft spots for people and watch these things explode in our faces at times.
Addison - Our prior encounter was brief and laden with horror's of the ghost ship. Ospher nagged me with regrets about the relic last time, but perhaps it will do Addison good to see Tairos for what it is and use this perspective positively on The North Wind herself.
Turhvoz - Leader of the Cult of the Embracers, at least this cell of them. Did he die in the explosion? Do I care? Whichever the answer, it applies to both questions.
Tarre, Rex, Dorath - Still safe in the woods, 48 hours later. Glad to know they didn't take another job from Klay, at least that they've mentioned.
Polly, Tick, Kay - Our saviors?! They'll be able to provide us with a lot of reconnaissance on Granny before we get back to there. I wonder if their magics will be able to sustain the warping around the hanging tree if the tree survives.
Bohannan - Briefly offered to teach us a dungeoneering class. I guess we'll see how quickly we can sour this relationship if Addison is harmed or killed by the hag or we fail to recover Segravia's relic in trade. He and I are of a mind when it comes to pragmatic decisions; we share soft spots for people and watch these things explode in our faces at times.
Addison - Our prior encounter was brief and laden with horror's of the ghost ship. Ospher nagged me with regrets about the relic last time, but perhaps it will do Addison good to see Tairos for what it is and use this perspective positively on The North Wind herself.
Turhvoz - Leader of the Cult of the Embracers, at least this cell of them. Did he die in the explosion? Do I care? Whichever the answer, it applies to both questions.
Tarre, Rex, Dorath - Still safe in the woods, 48 hours later. Glad to know they didn't take another job from Klay, at least that they've mentioned.
Polly, Tick, Kay - Our saviors?! They'll be able to provide us with a lot of reconnaissance on Granny before we get back to there. I wonder if their magics will be able to sustain the warping around the hanging tree if the tree survives.
"Lobster. It comes in every week."
"We know it's not lobster. But I'm willing to pay for the raw ingredients, so what do you say?"
"No, it comes in by crate and the owner, he makes the soup and brings it in. We don't have a kitchen here, there's no room."
"You're sure you don't keep any of the ingredients here?"
"He makes it one cauldron at a time."
She gestures over at the wrecked fireplace, where the cauldron is suspended over a dozen candles that are struggling to keep the soup warm.
"Barth is right, it's too far to go and the boxes are too heavy! And it's late."
"How big is this undead creature?"
"It's like a person. Like I. Not quite like you."
"Ospher here is a renowned scholar from Ghal Pelor."
"Yes, I am totally from that city."
"This is very good soup."
"I completely concur, my friend."
exasperated groan "Oh my god."
"I think my family and sister would like it."
"You've been shut away for far too long."
"It's not everybody. I've asked quite a few people, the bartender and the staff, none of them have been thrown through time."
"What a relief, right?!"
"She's asking everybody about it; she's going to get herself killed or thrown in an asylum."
"Can I leave the mayo circle?"
"I even offered to parley with your hobbit!"
"Adieu!"
"I had an idea, you two can hear me out and let me know if you agree with it or not."
"If we don't, can we throw you out?"
"Yeah, definitely."
"Maybe we might find something else suitable along the way."
"Exactly! I will hope and Segravia will bless us."
"I don't know much about you two, but the thing I know with certainty is that you struggle with knots."
"Are you ok with that plan?"
"Hopefully it doesn't involve tying a knot."
"You're not gonna let that go, are you?"
"Bohannan, shoot that man before he gets bitten, they're talking about some sacred change."
"Wait a second, let's see where this is going."
"I am the Prophet and I have seen the way. My name is Turhvoz and I will lead them to the future. And you come here and you're ruining it all!"
"You have our crypt gem, it is ours."
"The crypt gem fell from the sky, it was a beacon and it led us here! We lived in the hovels of Frial until we saw it in the sky and it led us all the way here. It chose us!"
"Wait. How long ago?"
