Splitting Waves on the Firemane

Session 13

Thrunk wanted to cut the heart out of the Nanouik to try to free Kenesh, but Inuksuk suggested that we instead attempt to summon Telchur, noting that The Old North Temple was, for all intents and purposes, Telchur’s temple and that, since the Nanouik is one of “Telchur’s Children” its power to freeze likely derives from that source.   We then searched the Temple and found some old books containing summoning rituals for all of the evil gods of Damarani Pantheon, and for Telchur, who is neutral.   Unfortunately, the rituals were written in Damaran. Wyllow was able to read them and understand them, but as her power renders the words into a language she understands in her mind, she could not read the rituals out loud in their original language.   The only other Party member with the ability to read Damaran was, at that moment, encased in ice.   Just when the Party began to despair of being able to free Kenesh, Hiti rolled her eyes, snatched the journal away from Varis rudely and read the ritual words to the magic circle carved into the dais.   The circle began to glow with an eerie light that, no… that’s not right. It did appear to be glowing, but not with light. It was glowing, somehow, with darkness. A moment later a figure stepped forward into natural space from some other plane or dimension and before us stood Telchur, Damaran god of Winter and Cold.   Telchur noticed immediately why he had been summoned. It appears this was not the first time he has been called to remove someone from an ice encasement caused by the breath of one of his children. He agreed to free Kenesh for the price of a favor, but would not say what favor that would be. He also said that Kenesh would be cursed to feel winter’s bite more keenly (meaning that he is vulnerable to magical cold damage and unable to feel comfortably warm) until that favor is completed.   As we were attempting to negotiate or at least get more information about what was to be promised, Thrunk agreed to the god’s terms and Kenesh was freed. Telchur would not say how long it would be until he decided on a favor to ask, but committed himself to doing so within a few years… a decade at the outside.   When he had gone, we searched the remaining contents of the temple and found some valuable loot, as well as journals from the priests of Vecna who had most recently controlled the place of worship and the surrounding town. Those journals detail the plans of the priests to create a final resting place for… someone. Or something.   The priests’ plan was to build an underground tomb in Eberon and then, using the teleportation circle on the dais of the temple, transport people from the village to the tomb. Some of them, Damarani Vecna worshipers, apparently, went voluntarily, and some, Skeema slaves and captives, were forced, but all were murdered upon arrival and turned into undead, mindless guardian skeletons.   After gathering what was valuable from the temple, the group made to leave. On the way out, Varis chanced to kick with his boot a small circular stone and, bending to examine it, found that it had painted on one side an eye with a red iris. He showed it to us and then put it in his pouch.   When we finally did take our leave, Hiti offered to lead us to Cockscomb for 10 gold Damara and Inuksuk reminded us of our promise to help rid the Temple of its evil taint on the land. Then we set off again.   When we arrived in Cockscomb, we discovered that the cultural center of the city was not in the palace, as seems to be true in the rest of Empyrea, but rather in the Bardic College of Satire in the center of town. There the local Prince and patron of the college, Wyllis Cloudshaker can be found almost as often as he can be in his own audience chambers.   When we found him in a concert hall and tavern called The Flaming Fairy and attempted to speak to him, he made clear that he could not be bothered. But when Erran took the stage and played such a moving rendition of More Than Words that Wyllis was forced to overlook how truly terrible the song’s lyrics are and enjoy the melody, he bade him and the rest of us to join him at his table.   We discussed music, the arts and a little bit of politics, and when we left, Erran had a letter of recommendation to any of the bardic schools he wished to attend, and the Party felt certain we had made an important connection.   From there, we traveled to Falcon's Fist and then across The Canary Sea by ferry into Eagle's Crown, where we could gaze upon the awe-inspiring White Cowl, Brettyl Cloudshaker's sculpture of a palace, cut right into the side of the mountain, a thousand feet above the shores of the Canary. We took The Palisades Way through The Rookery, the slums of Eagle’s Crown, and then out of town and across the last stretch of plains before coming to The Owlswood (Forest).   There we found the forest city of Eostrix and it’s wooden palace, where, just as we arrived, a crowd was forming to hear an address from the princess of the wood. As we watched her appear, we were shocked to see that Princess Nym Cloudshaker was none other than Mishara, the Cleric of Istus who had set us on our current task.   Nym gave us her gratitude again and answered a few questions before the conversation turned topic to the similarities between The Winged Helm and a new figure we had begun to hear rumor of, The Horned Mask. By the end of the conversation a theory began to emerge that the two are one and the same person, who moves back and forth from the east side of Empyrea to the west by way of teleportation circles. Nym promised to investigate the theory.   Afterward, we left the palace and Eostrix and followed the Palisades Way out of the Owlswood and around the horn of The Palisades and into Eberon, where the road continued, but under a different name, now known as the Old Empyrea Road.   After a few more days’ travel, we came to Dragon’s Tooth, the largest city in Eberon and probably the largest anywhere in the North. It is the hub through which all trade with the North must flow, as it stands at the nexus of The Merxes and Tiphretis rivers, the main thoroughfares of trade through Eberon, and just south of the port at Crestbreaker Sound, where the Merxes flows into The North Sea.   In Dragon’s Tooth, Erran proclaimed that, again, he was acquainted with a local girl, this time a red-haired young beauty, named Corvette Wavesplitter, who lived nearby. Corvette is the daughter of Galligan Wavesplitter, a wealthy shipping magnate who owns several trade ships that run up and down the Merxes and Tiphretis to Kingsloch and back. We went to seek her at her manse on the fashionable shores of the Tiphretis and found her more than happy to see Erran again.   He played her a song he had written for her, Little Red Corvette, and she actually did a little swoon. Then she sent for her father, or yelled for him, anyway, and he came down to meet us. Erran explained that we were there on a mission from Nym Cloudshaker to find an object in a valley in southern Eberon just off the shores of the Merxes.   Galligan seemed a little disdainful of Princess Nym, but not willing to discount the errand, whatever his personal feelings might be. He offered to ferry us to the place we noted on the map, free of charge, the next morning, and we agreed.   We spent six days on the water and the journey was perhaps the most relaxing part of our travels so far, as we were housed in small but nice rooms aboard Galligan’s ship, Firemane, and treated to three meals a day to boot. We spent most of our time fishing and preserving our catch and adding to our stores of rations.   When we arrived at the stream and valley we had marked on our map, we were put off the ship and wished good journey by the captain and crew before the Firemane sailed out of sight. Then we made our way up stream by the nameless tributary until we came to the place we saw in our vision.   More cautious this time, we sent Thrunk out to peer from the shadows to see if any mounts were present outside the entrance to the goblin cave, but none were. Then we made our way around the two hills, widdershins, to stay out of sight of that entrance and to find the source of the stream that flowed through that valley.   On our way round, we discovered the stone door entrance to the temple and noted that, carved from the stone, was a protruding left hand with a small circular recess in the palm that looked just the right size to fit the stone Varis found in the Old North Temple. Rather than attempt to insert it, yet, we continued around the hills to the southern entrance of the valley, and found that the stream did indeed originate from the Merxes on the other side.   There we found what appeared to be a small, safe place to leave the horses, where they would have water to drink and grass to graze, and we left Thrunk to watch them before returning to the hill at the place where the stream disappeared under the rocky surface.   There Kenesh and Carric donned the two Rings of Geshtai and swam under the rocks to see if, as we expected, the underground stream would lead to the entrance to the goblin cave that we had approached from the other side.   They came, instead, unexpectedly, to a vertical opening in the rock above, that led to stonework further up and a sewer grate at the apex. Both climbed up and through the grate into a humanoid-made structure that resembles the tomb we saw in our vision. A small alcove, square, about ten feet on a side, with a sturdy wooden door.   Just as they came out of the hole, a curious growl was heard from the cavern below, and they looked down to where they’d come from to see a ghoul crawling out of narrow, unnoticed crack in the rock and looking back up at them.