Session 42: Seeking the Hardened White Stuff Report

General Summary

Willhelm & Grimmaz wake up in their respective beds in the morning feeling the worse for wear. Willhelm from being whipped senseless by Krampus, and Grimmaz from the drink. Both leave and head to the village hall. There they meet the strange dark figure from the previous night.
Grimmaz at this point sends for the Council of 3 to help with local matters involving trade with the Valley of the Black Ones. The individual is only named after his rank, at least here, and known as the Messenger. He explains (and when the council arrives) that he is a Black Elf, and that his people live an intensely private life in the valley that has been there since the last Ice Age. They are individuals & families that live at the edge of Black Elf society and have merchant houses at the end of the valley that they use to trade with outsiders, who are barred from entering, at least nominally, the valley unless absolutely necessary. They look for as many different types of goods from surface dwellers especially a wide range of foodstuffs & animals. They can supply many goods from the Underdark, including metals, gems, large spiders, spider venom & spider silk. Though they can & do take slaves, they generally only take them under certain circumstances, and from known sources. They will happily act as mercenaries as well if conditions are met, such as pay, who they are called to fight against, and as long as they don't get pulled into long term conflicts that would affect their own community directly.
Willhelm asked the Messenger if he could hire mercenaries and it is to be considered now. The council are left to ponder the details of any trade, and is left to sort out Willhelm's housing permit where he can build a property.
Grimmaz is left info too about a cult that may have information to the north east that has sprung up a while ago. The cult there is an anathema to the Elvish people and a quick talk to Tossil doesn't really throw up much more about them. A team is assembled to go and sort this out before the newly crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne passes through Eschbach. Kulug, Alfre, and 10 Burgeaters start the trek to the cult temple. They're stopped by a monk who informs them that there is a story told by a Norse traveller that told of a Wood Elf that had accompanied him at one stage. The Wood Elf had been on a boat that had sailed to Baltia and had wrote it in a ledger as well as the process of getting there. The Wood Elf vanished in the region of the temple and it's thought that the ledger is still there.
They travelled on and eventually encountered the temple. Willhelm scouted forward and seen encountered slight pinkish / purplish mist in the area that gave him what appeared strange sensations and the feeling of a genetic memory buried deep in his species' ancestry. He seen two squads of 10 cultists on the other side of the temple and they formulated a plan to injure one squad and take on the second. They done this with Willhelm injuring some of one group, while the Burgeaters, Kulug and Grimmaz severely depleted the other. The latter broke and ran, allowing the heroes to bunch up, scare off the rest while capturing one.
From there they get an idea of what the layout is like inside the temple. They entered through the doors and came across a spiral staircase and made their way down. At the bottom they saw a doorlike structure and just behind a pillar to their right a sword in a picture frame hanging up. Below it is a chest that likely contains the ledger.
Standing before them and in front of doorlike structure is there heavily armoured individuals in twisted armour. All three are happy to see them knowing that an Elf is a prized sacrifice to their deity, She Who Thirsts, of which Willhelm catches a glimpse of a taloned finger running down his nose and a crab like claw tip running up his spine. There it ended for now standing in the heavily scented purplish mist.

Rewards Granted

5700 XP

Campaign

9th Century Earth Dungeons & Dragons 5e Campaign

Protagonists

Grimmaz Fyrwin

Neutral Human ()
Fighter 14

144 / 144 HP

STR
18

DEX
18

CON
18

INT
14

WIS
14

CHA
14

Report Date

14 Jan 2023