Fiends, Friends, and Endings
General Summary
The Morning
Carta
Carta awoke first, and went to the dining room. The young woman baker who had already been in the kitchen for hours was leaving, and Carta volunteered to escort her home and relieve her load. He didn't quite realize just how much she was carting with her, but a pretty smile blinded him to everything else going on and he followed her out. She offered him breakfast, but he demurred, and said he felt he was needed at the local orphanage. When he was unloading all of her gear, he noticed a book, although the significance of it was not clear until much later.
He spent the rest of the morning helping around the place, cooking and feeding the kids, then entertaining them with stories of his adventures and other tall tales. The kids wanted to go to the carnival, but he decided that he had best rejoin his companions, and headed back to the inn for lunch.
Malcer
On the island, Malcer woke up early to check on his traps. He found another badger, and skinned it and salted the meat. He then went back to the the cave where he had seen the bear, and the trap was not sprung. Looking in the cave, it looked like the bear had survived the night, and was there with three cubs. He silently backed away, and returned to the dock.
He rowed his newly purchased boat back to the city, and scratched his name into the wood in the hopes it would deter any would be thieves. He made it back to the inn, where he saw Gylas Erer at a table, with a ridiculous amount of food. He joined the man, who offered to share his bounty, and the two discussed inconsequential things while sizing each other up. Eventually, the others would join them, and Mal would leave to sell his pelts.
He found a fair deal for his pelts, and then saw that he was near the forge. He found a nearby shady spot, and watched the smith at work. The rhythmic pounding of the hammer was soothing, and the process itself had long fascinated him. He watched, and made a note of how the smith prepared the metal, and wondered if he would ever be able to take up such a trade again.
Durdeg
Durdeg was the next to awake, and after his morning routine, he went to the dining room as well. Malcer was still at the table with Gylas, although they had ceased talking and had were eying each other over the still considerable spread of food. Durdeg joined them, and found the former prisoner to be surprisingly talkative.
They discussed how each of them came to be where they were - Gylas sharing a story about the book and how he crossed paths with the group initially, and Durdeg telling him where he initially came from, across the ocean. This was news to Gylas, and led to a series of revelations on Durdeg's unique status here.
Durdeg had grown up always knowing that his home of Valbarra was only a part of a larger world - he knew the names of the continents of Helion, Hellonde, and Imland, although not really any more than that. He had learned some specifics about Carnwold before leaving with the merchant ship that brought him here, and he knew there was more information available about this continent. He was shocked to discover that reverse was not true.
He realized that no one he had met had truly known there was another continent - as far as the people on this side of the world were concerned, the Endless Ocean was empty beyond their shores. It had not come up much - he was the only hobgoblin that anyone here had seen, and the focus when he met knew people was that, rather than the specifics of the location. Gylas made this clear to him, as he told Durdeg that the knowledge of Valbarra was valuable in and of itself, and that he knew of a man who would likely pay well for it. He urged Durdeg to look up Hondo Ohnaka before telling anyone else of the specifics of world geopgraphy.
As the conversation turned more specifically to the notebook from the dungeon and Sharlot, she finally awoke and came out to see them at the table. Bad blood quickly showed, and the breakfast table broke up. Durdeg went shopping, first with Sharlot to a bookstore that turned out to be drawings for children, and finally to a bookseller with a more varied collection. He spoke with the bookseller, and arranged for pickup of Riffolk Silvan's guide to Kingdom of Corellum. Following that, he headed back to the inn, and catching the tail end of Sharlot's street performance.
Sharlot
Waking up to find two of her companions sharing a breakfast with the thief that had brought such strife to the group shook Sharlot. She could not remain in the inn with that man, so she immediately set out to the city. She initially decided to try and find a different bookseller, and had Durdeg come along with her. The bookstore she found was for children, mostly simple primers on basic topics. She searched, not really knowing what she was looking for, and too distracted to truly care.
Eventually she gave up, and decided to try to play her newly won lute for any passersby. Leaving Durdeg, she made her way to the crossroads by the inn, and began to play. Her hands were shaking still, and even with the fine craftsmanship, she struck far too many discordant notes to entertain. A single copper was all she got in return for her time, and as she gave up, she saw Durdeg approaching. She pulled him aside, and they waited together for Mal and Carta to arrive, when they went into the inn together for lunch.
Sif
Sif had received guidance in the night, and knew what she must do. She set her familiar to watch for the return of the mysterious woman, and studied her spells to prepare to expose her if she was found. He then tried to work out a meeting for the party, the dean, and the judge, hopefully to tease out whatever connection, if any, they all have to each other and the book. If he could somehow get Gylas involved as well, it would be icing on the cake. When she was finally ready, she made her way to the inn, although too late to catch any of the party.
She did, however, catch Gylas, still finishing his breakfast. The two sat down to talk, and in the end, Gylas agreed to a meeting with Sif and the rest that afternoon - in fact, he seemed to look forward to it. Gylas left, and Sif spent the remainder of the morning planning how he would handle the meeting, until the other four arrived in a group at lunchtime.
Afternoon
The Knights Celestial
The group sat down to lunch, and the conversations started to lead to dark territory. Before it could go far, the party heard an eagle crying from outside. Carta dropped his lunch, and went outside. When he saw the eagle take off and fly towards the southeast, he told the rest he had to go, and throwing his equipment over his shoulder, he set off. Mal followed immediately in his wake, and the rest were not far behind.
The eagle led them to the tournament grounds, where Mal made some wagers on the last of the jousting. As that ended, an old acquaintance of Carta's, Anders Nielas, came riding up. The man was a member of the Knights Celestial, one of the orders that often inducts Paladins of Adalci. He had had a vision from the God, that Carta had been instrumental in fighting off an undead attack, and had been gifted with a shield of Uborum from a long retired Knight. Carta was to be inducted into the order that day, and a trio of retainers had been brought to enter his service.
After introducing Boha Deko, Bolda Longbeard, and Lews Harpott to their new employer, Anders presented Carta to the nobles and dubbed him Sir Carta, Knight Celestial. The two Knights then decided it was time to celebrate, and they made their way to the Beer Tent. While the rest of the party cheered on their companion, they stayed for the magic show.
Illusions
The format of the show was unexpected to the party, having never before seen one. The contest was more one of performance than raw skill, although that played a part. Sif took the stage, and while her technical skill wowed the crowd, the judges were not as impressed by the performance aspects. But her goal of showing off as a Follower of Kolero in advance of the college recruiting drive to happen the next day, she succeeded quite well.
Fizban the Magnificent renewed his contract with Durdeg, bringing him in as a big part of the show. And a show it was, with Durdeg being summoned from a mysterious, far off land. Fizban had very minor magical abilities, but could wow the crowd with sleight of hand and misdirection. Between his skills, and Durdeg's strangeness and willingness to detach his arm for a good show, Fizban won the contest.
As the contest was winding up, Sharlot found Carta, quite drunk and with a number of orphans in tow. They had seen the menagerie, and the kids were all talking about the tentacles beast that was trying to break out. Seeing that even the young page had been involved in the celebration, she took it on herself to return the orphans to the home, and Carta went to sleep it off. Durdeg and Mal spotted a goblin that was taking a particular interest in the group. With no attempt at subtlety, they pointed to the goblin, alerting the rest of the group and letting the creature know it had been spotted. The goblin fled, pushing through the crowd out of the tournament grounds. It's small size let it build up a lead as it fled. Mal, Sif, and Durdeg gave chase.
The three saw the goblin pass a bouncer and go into a tavern outside the city walls. They suspected a trap, which seemed more likely when they arrived and the bouncer told them it was women only. But they were confident in their abilities, and decided to spring the trap. Sif went in alone, although prepared with a message spell to alert the others if needed. Sif sent a message confirming it was a setup, although they just wanted to talk. A few minutes later, Sif sent another urgent message that everything had gone bad, and the others pushed the bouncer aside and came in.
The first thing they saw was an imp flying behind Sif, it's stinger having just plunged into her back. The goblin stood from the table and transformed into a large, four legged beast. It was heavily muscled, and the claws and teeth looked deadly. The three threw themselves into battle with the creature they later identified as a barghest. Something about the battle caused Carta to feel needed, and he shook off his drunkeness and left to look for his friends.
They made short work of the imp, with Mal knocking it down and then running it through. The barghest was tougher - many of the things they initially threw at it, it shook off. The most effective was V4, Durdeg's creation, as the force damage appeared to penetrate the most. When they started to damage the fiend, it responded by pulling a cord, causing a shelf to fall. Bottles of oil crashed to the ground in front of the entrance, and a lantern ignited it. Sharlot had returned from taking the orphans home, and saw the smoke. She guessed that this might be her companions, in trouble again.
As the combatants continued to fight and the flames continued to grow, Sharlot braved the fire to help. Together, they looked like they had the fiend on the ropes, when it laughed and cast a spell. It quickly disappeared, and they were left alone in a burning building. The barghest's true trap almost caught them, but through teamwork they were able to find a window and escape the smoke and flames.
Thinking quickly, the group alerted the nearby guard and started a bucket chain to help put out the fire. Carta arrived in time to help, and between them and the citizens of the town, they kept the conflagration from spreading. They paused to catch they breath, and Sif realized that through all of the excitement, they ended up late for the meeting he had arranged. She asked the group to follow her, and not ask questions until they arrived, and they obliged her.
The Meeting
The party arrived at the offices of Judge Wynne, to find Gylas and the judge waiting within. The judge looked at them with annoyance, and let them know the dean had left a while ago. He curtly asked Sif to get to the point. Sharlot was already on edge from seeing the thief again, and the room filled with tension. Accusations were made, from members of the party and from Gylas, and Judge Wynne tried to make sense of it.
For better or worse, Carta finally remembered the book in his bag, and the significance of it. When he pulled it from the bag, everyone began to talk over each other. Sharlot asked for the book back, and whether unable to hear, unwilling to comply, or still tipsy enough to not quickly understand, her hesitated. Combined with everything else, Sharlot decided this was one insult too far, and left. She returned to the inn, packed her belongings, and headed out the southern exit from the city gates. She was too angry and hurt to continue on with the others right then.
When the others calmed down, Judge Wynne had a hold of the book. Gylas professed to neither want or need the book any longer, and intimated that he had planted the book on Carta for his own amusement. He then reminded Durdeg of their discussion, and went on his way. Judge Wynne extracted a promise to investigate the book and deal with the threat, then return by the next summer solstice to report his findings. With that, he threw them out of the office.
Sif convinced the others of the urgency of the situation at the college, though not without resistance. Durdeg and the others felt they should chase after Sharlot, but they finally decided that sending V4 with a message, while remaining to deal with the threat in town was for the best. They went to the college, and Sif explained the problems, and they laid in wait. The woman eventually returned, and her evil was made clear. When she realized she had been figured out, she kissed the dean, then disappeared into thin air. The dean collapsed, life drained from him.
With the threat gone, they just had to pick up the pieces. The college had a recruiting drive the next day, and no dean to run it. An unusual confluence of evil had been seen around the group recently, with the attacks from the undead and now beings created by the Devils crossing into the Terrene. And one of their own was driven off, and is now alone on the road. The events of the last few days have changed our heroes - they have learned things about their companions, themselves, and the world around them. Now they must decide on what they will do with that knowledge.
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