Session 97 - Facing uncomfortable truths

General Summary

In today's economy a blue dragon for 12,900 GP is a bargain

Jumping of the bridge, oh well, this bridges' toll troll is actually a tree

The haunt that was the young elves we saw, and had started to train earlier didn't fade, so we tried persuading them to have some fun before they lose the rest of their short-some time, they declined so we left them be.
We asked our companions where can we rest after the long day full of fights we have went through, "Follow me" said Sylvanis, the Paladin of She'eros, walking through a tree mid path.

"Answer the tree riddles, it will then let you pass through", and so we did one by one with much help from Avaras , when the tree voice asked us in Sylvan and Sel Quesir, after each right answer, a path to cross, after each wrong answer, leaves cutting deep and hurting.

What do you mean when you say Superior Basilisk?

After passing the tree, we entered another canopy where we sensed another haunt, it seemed like some sort of bazaar selling exotic stuff, and then we saw it, a great cage, about 14ft wide and 14ft long, 16 ft high, and a group of four merchants trying to sell it for 15k GP while poking the thing inside the cage when it spoke, after some banter and near unsheathing of weapons, they agreed we check the "product" and talk with it in Draconic, they said it was a Basilisk, we looked inside tiny vents into the huge crate, and saw a reptile like creature with its head and legs shackled and a cowl to block its eyes and mouth, the creature said he was a superior Basilisk, he was somewhat rude, but what can you expect from a tormented caged Basilisk.

While we conversed with the Basilisk that demanded we free him, Avaras saw something between the branches above, Half Elf with blue Dragon wings, that stealthily levitated Avaras to him, they deliberated hastily and struck a deal, that we would buy the basilisk for the Half Elf and set him free outside town with him, and in return he will give us the location of an unguarded dragons horde in the south of Octoland, he then gave Avaras a pouch holding 15,000 GP worth of gems for us to purchase with, which then levitated down and told us what was needed for us to do, without much thought, we agreed.

We hustled and bargained, and with chutzpah we lowered the price to 12,900 GP after they poked the product and harmed its value. Well, trying to pickup a Basilisk is no easy task, so we contracted some wheels for the crate, and still, it was inhumane task to move such weights, lucky enough, Max Atlas was very capable of pushing the hefty crate.

With the crate on wheels we went to the nearest gate, on the way to the gate the Basilisk told us his name is Gel and that he asks us to free him as soon as possible, we got to the southern gate of town, and soldiers were banning us from leaving with the Basilisk in the crate, Remus has other thoughts, he intimidated them so they will let us through, intimidated they were, terrified to their cores, they let us through.

As we exited the town we couldn't reach far as some force was barring us from leaving the haunted town before we finish its ultimate challenge, but we kept to our promise and gave the Half Elf the key to the crate, he turned into an half true dragon with blue scales, and started releasing the basilisk from the cage, inside the cage we see a creature of huge size that loosely looks like a Basilisk, but is chained and restrained heavily, the half dragon picked up an halberd and cut down the chains in some quick moves, and the creature from within went out of the cage and started changing it shape till it became a great blue dragon, he told us his name is Gelbazan and he said he will help us fighting the Kadian Invasion of Rakion, and that he will send his spawn to let the The Kariondorian Vigil know we are alive and well.

Mercy, Tears, Shelves

We went back into town, solved a few minor haunts, and went to sleep at the structure Sylvanis told us about.

We woke up and decided to head to the temples, on our way we sensed a haunt in what seemed to be a shop of sorts, we allowed the Invaders to burn down the shop, it was filled with magical devices made by the Dorili elves.

An archon appeared, dropped a flask in front of us and disappeared, we identified the flask as a daily rechargeable potion, left side for restoration, right side for healing.

we then approached the tree where the temples are and on the ground floor we saw soldiers attacking a young elven girl, we rapidly involved beating the Kadian soldiers, and rescued the elven maiden, that in a flash of blue smoke turned into an elven celestial.

We asked the celestial to heal our wounds, and to help our friend we rescued from the tavern to get to after life, she agreed and left off with him.
We arrived at the upper branches where the temples were, there were twenty some people trying to enter the temples. Elven soldiers were barring the entrance to the temple, so we religiously persuaded them to let some in, they agreed and said that only a dozen may enter as there is no space within the temples to help more, we decided to build shelves and in a hurry were able to help all those wanting to get in the temple in, and with the shelves there was space for all.

Avaras prayed for their and our success and magical sunglasses appeared on the altar he prayed on.
On our way out we saw that the Symbols on the temple were broken and asked Sylvanis to fix them and cleanse the temples and she agreed.

Garrison Roulette

Prise de fer

After learning the night before at the tavern that there are some impostors were able to join the ranks of the city guard and wreck it from the inside we entered the garrison, there we met the quartermaster Alabiran who was a sellsword from the river company joining the town ranks not so many years ago.

We talked to him in private in his chamber, explaining about some of the capabilities of the Kadians and asked of him to arrange us a meeting with the garrison master, he agreed and went to ask garrison master to come and meet us, meanwhile, our roguelike duo decided to trespass and open his locked drawers, that triggered an alarm and most of the garrison guards came running to the quartermasters chamber, he also came back with the garrison master.

Henry asked to explain what just happened in private, and the Garrison master agreed, only if he comes alone unarmed, Henry accepted and when he entered the garrison master room he saw inside that he was surrounded by half a dozen warriors and the garrison master that seemed like a very capable caster.

Serpentine missfortune

After Henry told the garrison master that he is a haunt and the impostors were able to best them, everything started to shake as all the garrison personnel turned from humanoids into creature of chaos originating from Limbo, we decided to parley with the chaos creatures and they agreed not to attack if we will help spread chaos, we agreed and decided to let chaos flow through us and change some of our essence, it did.

Three Naiads, Two Tattoos, One Avatar of Death

Across from the temple we encountered the vaults, and chained to it magically, three naiads that asked for our help, saying they were cursed chained there and the keys to open their locks and set them free are at the lord's house, we promised to help them and set forward.
We decided to go back to where we met Sylvanis as we didn't explore that area much, so we went and found a bustling city center with many stands, while exploring the stands the prices were absurdly high for whares, so Max and Friedrich tried asking to buy a service, we got to a tattoo parlor and decided to tattoo on each of us two waves to resembles the bond created as the Tidebreakers.
Then we tried to play music and snoop around gathering information, shortly after some city guards came and asked us for our papers as a band, and while trying to bluff our why out saying we are a roaming band originating from Hirch Thani with official papers, then the viceroy of Arasil came to be Infront of us and was very rude to us, we understood the place logic is reversed, so we decide to humiliate ourselves by doing unreasonable stuff, such as trying to swim on land and hitting ourselves, and it worked, the bustling city square turned quite as only one figure remained from the crowd, an hooded figure asking us to come with it, as it created a door out of nothing and asked us to join it inside.

As we entered the door we saw thousands of spirits being picked one by one by some type of thing and letting them go forward, we understood that these are the souls of the Orthali elves that where locked inside the haunts we solved, and that we are in a demiplane that acts as a gate for the fallen to cross to afterlife.
The hooded figure had brought us to an elf wearing wizard robes, he asked for our help delivering his familiar and magic book to his son, Goren, in Amon-Thal, we asked for his name, he told us his name is Alinnar Falli, and that he had kept his book and familiar at gave them to his friend for safekeeping, almost forgetting what friend, we helped him recalling that information and he said that the friend is the lord himself, we agreed to deliver the familiar and spellbook, as we expect to get something from Goren in return for such delivery, as we left the demiplane back to the haunted grounds that are Orthali, the hooded figure showed himself for just a mere second, and we understood that it was an avatar of Vandi - So if an avatar help some wizard, that wizard must be really strong or something.

This is elven gosepl for the dhampir ones

We decided to head back to the fields we sensed a haunt from, and saw many scattered bodies, some without bones, some dry of blood, some both, we buried them all, and started looking for the thing that caused the bodies to be dry of blood and stripped of bones, and were able to track the footprints of ankhegs, we followed the footprints and saw a cave entrance, while entering a voice in Necril called Remus to come forward and join him for a talk, while Friedrich threatened loudly that he will kill the thing that desecrated the bodies of the humans, elves, orcs, dog, and farm animals that were found in the fields.
Remus entered alone and rode an Ankheg into the ground, after a few seconds on the other side of the burrow, Remus had met Levon the vampire, that said that he was stuck underground as above surface come night there is a dracolich terrorizing the area, and the only times he was able to escape for a few seconds and come back to the cave was to nurture himself from the animals.
Levon also said that he is an artificer that specializes in golem making, then uncovering golems made of blood and bones to Remus, saying they helped him to gather the food in day time.

Remus was able to persuade Friedrich not to kill Levon, and in favor asked him why is he there and where is he from, Levon said he came to try and help his family living in Orthali, and that he didn't find all of them, and those he found didn't want to leave, he also added that he was from the north, from Nickos and that he wanted to be once back in the church of Corellon Larethien, yet that wasn't possible since he was turned into a vampire by a vampire named Skabineyen.

So, Avaras had started recalling gospel of Corellon Larethien, and the others started to sing and play with him, making the cavern of the vampire surrounded by golems made of bones and blood, an haven for the elven believers, only for one afternoon.

Campaign

The Six Barons and Stars

Protagonists

Remus

Max Atlas

Avaras

Friedrich

Report Date

19 Apr 2025