Session 6: The Trial of Sunlight
General Summary
Beginning at the dockyards of Breah the group is greeted with the first snows of the season, feeling fear begin to creep in on him Andre insists the party quickly head back to the tavern, saying his goodbyes Tarrius vows that he will find a way to help the group defeat Arundel & Orryn and will contact them again soon. When the friends arrive the usual crowd are there and they all head to bed for a good nights sleep.
After a hearty breakfast they decide to split up with Hanurak taking the Dagger of Draco they found at Colnel Sandmere's Mansion to Krug the to see if he recognises it, as the Half Orc takes hold of the dagger he hears what sound like far off whispers, whimpers and the occasional scream emanate from the weapon.
Andre and Valanthe devise a plan to break Artorias out of prison before his trial by having the elf druid Valenthe turn into a spider. Astraea and Faen decide to subsequently go and see Hallin the librarian about the amulet they stole and pretended to destroy. Over breakfast the group decide to keep this fact from Valanthe.
Across town Artorias wakes to the dark and dank conditions of his cell and the rattling of chains as he sees the guards bringing a badly beaten Ninki back to her cell next to him. After trying to trick the guard so he can snatch the keys to his cell and failing he hears Andre shouting down to him from the cell window.
Andre explains their plan and some of the events that have occurred while he was imprisoned as Valanthe in her transformed state climbs across Andre's outstretched arm and into the cell.
Artorias creates a diversion by pretending to be dying while the spider ambushes the guard from above biting into her neck poisoning her. The guard falls to the floor and Valanthe returns to her normal state releasing both Artorias and Ninki from their cells.
Artorias subsequently proceeds to loot the guard finding nothing but a simple sword, shield and a breastplate of gleaming, the standard issue fare
for protectors of the Church of Sunlight. The group notice that the guard doesn't have any runes on her leading them to believe that some in the church can still be saved.
On a routine patrol one of the guards in the other room enters the cell block, Valanthe attempts to charm the guard but fails so Artorias bluffs the other guards by taking the seemingly dead one as a hostage, pretending that she is simply unconscious. Ninki leads them through the guard room and into a broom closet that houses a secret tunnel she remembered from her younger years in the Church which leads to the governor's garden across the nearby plaza.
While this epic jailbreak is occurring Hanurak arrives at Krug's house and joins him for tea. Krug says that the dagger Hanurak shows him isn't the dagger that killed his wife as that dagger was damaged, chipped near the hilt. After making the required small talk of civilized Orcs Hanurak leaves and heads back to the Pirate and Pipe to meet Astraea and Faen who learned nothing new from Hallin at the library except that the notches in the amulet look like they could be slots for something else.
While at the tavern the three learn from Eamonn that Saresh, fed up of the constant attacks on the Vult, has gone into the catacombs following a lead concerning the Oni.
Hoping he'll have more luck Hanurak passes the dagger to Faen, as he does so doubt and depression begin to consume him until eventually he is able to give the blade to his Elf friend. As Faen inspects it he too can hear the voices from earlier but they aren't clear enough for him to make out what is being said. As Astraea holds the dagger the voices become instantly clear speaking to her in a hybrid of the Draconic and Elf languages as it clears she hears a voice repeating Odolaren odola, mendekua nirea izango da roughly translating into common as "blood of my blood, vengeance will be ours." Then a great pain comes over her and she hears in the same voice "Astraea of the Essalich...join us."
Faen decides to keep the dagger on his person for safekeeping as nobody trusts Astraea and Hanurak to keep it themselves. After this they decide to head to find Andre and Valanthe to see if everything is going as planned.
After nearly half an hour crawling through the cramped conditions of the passage found by Ninki. Valanthe, Artorias and Ninki finally come to a rusty ladder leading to the surface. As the least fatigued of the trio Valanthe agrees to go first, as she reaches the top she encounters a heavy cover that seems to be sealed by decades of rust. With a great burst of agility and strength she breaks through the cover just as Artorias weakens the roof of the tunnel and collapses it behind them. Their friends arrive in the town square just in time to see a small corner of the governors building subside into the ground.
As the three leave the tunnel entrance Ninki and Valanthe manage to hide in some bushes but as Artorias is running he trips in his weakened state alerting the 2 guards nearby who give chase. Valanthe dazzles the one guard briefly with a shaft of moonlight and Faen seeing a magical light from across the courtyard sends his bat familiar to help, distracting the guard and giving Astraea the time she needs to run and help Valanthe get Ninky to the safety of the tavern.
Hanurak sees Artorias running past with the guard chasing so he goes after them attempting to tackle the guard into a nearby cabbage cart but misses his mark and plants face first into the cabbages much to the dismay of the carts owner. Artorias hides in a nearby alley and as the guard approaches punches him hard in the face. This prompts a fight between them with Artorias getting stabbed twice by the agile guard, Hanurak seeing the crowd gathering heads that way and throws a cabbage at the guard but misses and hits a large burly bystander after this blunder he opts to throw one of his javelins which hits its mark allowing Artorias to finish the guard with a knockout blow. They both escape to the tavern before anymore guards arrive.
Back at the tavern Artorias heals Ninky and Faen asks her to look at the dagger which greatly angers her shocking the group she warns him to destroy it immediately. She tells him that the order of Draco uses these daggers to keep track of their assassins and if they have a dagger then the order knows where they are. She goes on to say that all she knows is that the Order were dragon born who began as defenders of their kind but went too far and were banished for their extreme and cruel methods. (God can explain better [I can but only if you answer my questions three - God]). She also looks at the amulet and instructs them to go to the The Sanctuary of Rempeche.. near the city of Springfair to learn more. While the group do that she will contact her allies and begin to form a counter attack to take down the Runemen.
It is decided to let Ninky rest and head to the catacombs to find Saresh. They find an entrance in the Mage district where they discover a group of people living under the city the leader of which introduces himself as Grenn along with Faetus, Sheleen and their families. They share food and drinks with the party advising them that the Oni has been hunting the people of the Catacombs for years but has recently been heading to the surface. Astraea tells them they will do their best to help rid them of the scourge. As a thank you and a parting gift the small band give our adventurers some dried jerky, bacon, bread and a small healing potion. As the adventurers delve deeper into the tunnels they find Saresh Foun fighting 3 ghouls and a giant spider.
After a well fought battle Hanurak strikes the killing blow on the Spider which in its death throes drags Saresh down a steep 1000ft tunnel. In a fit of brave stupidity Hanurak quickly grabs Artorias' shield and leaps down the hole and in a tale worthy of an epic, three week long ballad makes it to the bottom virtually unscathed. The others having a more common sense approach decide to find another way down. Using the Staff of the Mimic Astraea copies Faen's Find Familiar spell and along with Faen and Valanthe the spellcasters send their three owl familiars into three separate tunnels. Following the owls they eventually come to a circular room with the symbol of the The Church of Sunlight on the ceiling and the relief of an epic battle around the walls. At its centre stands a pedestal with a segment of an orb floating above it encased in a forcefield very similar to the one that protected Jorah Rogan shop the Elder Scroll, at the base of the pedestal reads the words Give it and You Shall Have It. And on the wall opposite was emblazoned The Oath of Paladins of the Church of Sunlight.
Both Faen and Astraea sense a strong magical presence and after some brute force attacks Astraea suggests Artorias repeat the oath which they discover lowers the barrier.
Noticing that the segment matches the notches Hallin pointed out on the Amulet Astraea and Faen use their respective mage hand spells to join the segment and amulet together causing a shockwave knocking them both back on to the floor. Suddenly the group is attacked by an unseen enemy while Artorias and Andre manage a few minor lucky hits Faen fills the room with fog making the creature temporarily visible which Astraea capitalises on to hit the creature several times with magic missile. The creature is finally defeated but during the battle Faen is mortally wounded luckily both Valanthe and Artorias are able to bring him back from the brink of death and heal him a little. With this the group decides to rest for awhile and explain their deception to Valanthe before continuing their search for Hanurak again.
Character(s) interacted with
Ninki Laresh
Saresh Foun
hallin
krug
Jorah Rogan
Report Date
09 Jun 2018
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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