Session 1: Challenge Accepted
General Summary
In the central square surrounding the giant dragon-shaped Mausoleum of Vael's Rest, an angry notice could be found. A warning to the thiefs who had swindled the newly arrived Chevalière banneresse Geneviève Frankling of her plate armour. Genevieve, a former golden legionnaire, was a human from a noble family on the island nation of Frankonia. She had come the sanctified town two days prior to the incident, accompanied by her younger brother Le phare doré Pierre-Pascal Frankling. In their mothertongue he was known as the Golden Boy, but in reality he had served as a republican guard and was now a politician in training who left his home to prove himself. The two siblings were currently escorting a representative of the Kang, a land to the far east. They did so on the behest of Geneviève's good friend Jeanne. The representative in question was a noble nephalim of the court of Kang, named Ki'tor. Together they now, two days after the incident, sat in a hall of the Pilgrim's Guild waiting for the Abbot of the Church of the Platinum Flame who had responded to Geneviève's note by offering them a mission.
With the trio sat Jane Mossbrook, a samsaran. Like all of her kin she had lived many lifetimes and remembered parts of almost all them. But her previous lifetime eluded her, and had seemed to dislocate her immensly. She now made a living as an investigator with the goal to unearth exactly what had happened during her previous lifetime. She had travelled to Vael's Rest a mere three days ago, along with her current companion Zalia. A mystical figure with a penchant for murder. She alone had seen the mission posted in the town-centre and chose to hear it out. After Ki'tor had forced the table into a conversation their contractor arrived.
The Abbot, Ruvin Gleamer, was through his office also a member of the governing Triune Council who ruled the town, and they had decided to ask for the newly formed groups aid with dealing with the bandits that had scammed Geneviève. This had apparently been an ongoing problem, but only recently had they discovered that trusted members of the community had been involved. Thus they turned to outsiders for help. Seeing that they were of noble blood, and with Jane's reputation as an investigator perceeding her, the Triune Council felt confident with granting them juristiction in the matter. After agreeing to a reward sum of 75 gold pieces and being given an approximate location of the bandits supposed hideout, the group set off to the home of one of the scammers.
Well there, Geneviève managed to locate a hidden compartment under the floorboards, containing correspondances and a rough plan for the construction of the mountian hideout they had been told about. The letters turned out to be a summon for the scammers to head north to the hideout, for they had come upon something of immense value. Intrigued by thier findings the group began a heated discussion on how they would approach these vagrants once they made it to the hideout. Geneviève and Pierra-Pascal wished to confront them directly in an attempt to trick them into overestimating them, whilst Jane and Ki'tor preferred to infiltrate them silently. In the end they didn't agree upon more than the fact that they would try and sneak up on the caves themselves under the cover of darkness.
They left Vael's Rest later that afternoon heading north up the mountains. As darkness began to fall, they came upon a strange gathering of runic stones that whispered eerily. After some investigating they found that these seemed to contain a presence, vaguely familiar to Jane, and that they were brought there deliberately. Pierre-Pascal, who was thoroughly versed in these particular runes, surmised that the spirit of an ancient pilgrim was bound to these stones and that it wished to be appeased. In this regard, the Golden Boy seemed to have misunderstood the nature of the spirit. He offered a sacrifice in the form of his own blood. This displeased the spirit which in turn made rocks fall on the frankonian. Jane on the other hand, had a keen understanding of Abzu, the spirits deity according to the runes. She offered a knowledge and contemplation. In return the whispering spirit offered a warning about darkness and danger up ahead. With that in mind the group continued.
As midnight approached, so did the group finally encroach upon the hideout of the vagrants who had been swindling pilgrims for far too long. As they silently approached, Ki'tor noticed a severed hand along the path. He could see that it hadn't been there for long. Soon thereafter they found the rest of the body. Geneviève recognised the body as one of the "blacksmiths" that had robbed her of her armour. He had been dead for less than two days according. When they reached the opening to the cave-system that housed the vagrants' hideout, they found yet another body. This one had had its entire throat torn away. On further inspection Jane managed to deduse that it had in fact been chewed away. Eaten even, by a Ghoul no less, based on the patterns of the bite marks. They realised they had to proceed carefully.
Forming a line, with the Franklings in front, they entered the hideout. As they reached the first, central hall they found it brightly lit by a large pyre, as well as several lanterns. They also found it overrun by undead skeletons, who were currently trying to entered the barred up larder. Not wasting any time they formed a line, and fired magical arrows and crossbow bolts at the fiends. Although not very effective against the undead, they still managed fell one of them. The rest went to attack. Pierre-Pascal threw a bottle of alchohol into the pyre, but miscalculated the flammabilty of the liquid, which didn't spread outside the fireplace. Jane was given Geneviève's crossbow and with impecible aim and careful calculations she managed to sever the neck of a skeleton with her shots. As Geneviève prepared to hold the line, her brother instead opted for offence, magically infusing his weapon with divine energy. This proved rather effective, as it carved through the skeletons and turned them into ash.
As the ghoul emerged from the sleeping halls, the skeletons fell back to form a defensive line of their own, although now only two of them remained. The ghoul desperately tried to negotiate, threatening with vengance from his master Moorbrand, should they slay him. The party disregarded this obviously desperate tactic, and as Ki'tor unleashed a wave of divine energy, which healed Pierre-Pascal's head injury from the fallen rocks, and disintergrated the skeletons, the Franklings charged. Geneviève forced the ghoul on the defensive, as Pierre-Pascal severed the tendons in his knees. Then, with a well calculated bolt to the throat, the ghoul was killed.
When they had secured the area, the group began to dismember the bodies of all the dead bandits, to prevent them from turning undead. They then turned to the larder. It was barricaded with chests, barrels and wagons. As they discussed how to proceed, a voice was heard from inside. A voice that Geneviève recognised as the other person who had swindled her of her armour. The voice seemed relieved to hear the living again, and together they cleared the way into the larder. When they were finished the voice, who was in fact just a mere boy from Vael's Rest dressed as a blacksmith , realised his folly when he saw an angry Geneviève staring back at him.
The frankonian started the interrogation with a clarification that she had no intentions of killing the boy, as long as he gave up the stolen goods. The boy agreed in a heartbeat, happy to still be alive. Although he was still clutching an intricate lockbox. This peaked the intrest of Jane, as Geneviève and Pierre-Pascal went to inspect the larder. She began to question the boy who became more and more flustered as they brought up the box, until he accidently revealed that it contained a stone and that he had swallowed the key. Jane also noticed blood on the box and the boy, that could only have gotten there if he had used the box as a weapon. And since skeletons don't bleed, her suspicions grew.
In the end the boy seemed to break and tried to run away. Ki'tor tried to magically muddle the boy's mind, but this seemed to backfire as the boy began to dance into a strike. Pierre-Pascal and Geneviève pounced on him and grabbed his arms. At the same time Jane managed to pry the box from his hands, but as soon as it left his fingers his form began to shift. Slowly the boy melted away into black mud, as his screams faded away. In the puddle that was left, they found the key to the box. Whatever this stone was, it was too dangerous to investigate on their own. The group grabbed as much of the stolen goods as they could carry and began to trek their way through the dark, back down to Vael's Rest.
Rewards Granted
- 75 Gold
- Full Plate Armour
- Magical Lockbox
Missions/Quests Completed
- Stopped the Bandits that have been robbing and swindling pilgrims in Vael's Rest.
- Appeased the spirit of Abzu's Pilgrim.
- Slayed the Ghoul, Servant of Moorbrand.
- Optained a box containing a mystical Stone.
Geneviève Frankling
Ki'tor
Pierre-Pascal Frankling
Jane Mossbrook
OR DANS LA BRUME! by Pierre-Pascal Frankling
OUI!!! by Pierre-Pascal Frankling
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