Session007

Session Seven - 16th June 2023

SHORT VERSION

The exhausted party and rescued prisoners scavenged the cultists' camp and found a goblin book. They continued their journey and encountered a sandstorm caused by the unnatural warmth. Arriving in Tomas's Crossing, they were greeted by the Village Leader Bjalien Viadias, praised for their mission and paid for aiding his re-election campaign. They also received payment from Huberg Greyborn as well. At Bjalien's house, they met Paumine Sandalwood and Kadra Tourmaline, who asked about Fort Frostfell. Kadra gave them a Gem of Brightness, and Paumine offered a reward for a captured zombie rat for her to study. The party got a room at the refugee-friendly Weary Traveller Inn run by Malaga Taerwain, and got free food & drink at Jorney's Tavern, Jouney expressing a desire to run for village council on an anti-immigrant platform.

The next morning they visited Bazil the Bizarre, pissed him off, but bought a cheap scroll of identify which they cast realising more features of Morthos's sword were still hidden. They inquired about other mages, meeting Cormir's friend, the smithy, Orich Stronghammer - who mentioned his missing assistant Kylar Birthwitch (the councillors nephew), visited the Safeharbour refugee camp and met the arrogant Cadicca LeBlorne who also professed a desire to have more of a say in the running of the village affairs and also met Sir Brenarform Steelcrest, who invited them to join the Knights of the Last Bastion and helped them read some of the goblin book - which mentioned the worship of Gartlemak as a way to avoid "the Plague". They met with Kadra again who admitted being a sorcerer and in return for providing a full scroll of identify, asked the PCs to look out for a teenage girl amongst the refugees who she worried was her former teacher, the sorcerer Merriath the Quick, who was mad and wanted to kill and drink the blood of all of her former students to "become a dragon". Finally they visited Isperil Lightwind at the Temple of Long Light who agreed to help them if they needed it.

LONG VERSION

- Link to audio file - 

Day Thirty One - on the way from Fort Frostfell to Tomar’s Crossing

The still exhausted party and some of the rescued prisoners/refugees searched the cultists camp, scavenging it for anything useful as the unconscious dwarf was loaded carefully onto the already overloaded cart. Drex picked up a dog-eared book filled with spidery goblin writing that the cultist leader had propped open next to where they had been when the party arrived and after barely ten minutes, the group continued their journey towards Tomas’s Crossing.

After another hour or so, they spotted a strange looking dust storm in the distance, which one of the refugees indicated was like a sandstorm - something that he had experience only once since the meteor strike - and was probably related to the unnatural warmth that had melted the glacier and still affected the Luna Valley. Luckily the storm didn’t seem to be heading in their direction, but they pressed on regardless, hurrying to get back to Tomas’s Crossing as quickly as possible, just in case.

As they got closer to the village, news of their arrival seemed to spread like wildfire, and as they pulled into the centre of the village, the various refugees broke away, reuniting with family and friends. Bjalien Viadas appeared and loudly congratulated the party on their successful mission to Fort Frostfell, killing goblins, rescuing refugees and bringing back some previously stolen rations, and making it clear to all onlooking that he had personally sponsored the party. Speaking more quietly to the party, he promised to pay them when they visited his house once things had calmed down. When the mutilated head of Dourkeg was pulled from a bloody sack, he grimaced but seemed pleased when Morthos held it up and loudly proclaimed Bjalien’s sponsorship to all who could hear - no doubt helping the village leader’s reelection prospects.

The leader of the refugees from Fort Icewind, Huberg Greyborn was also very pleased to see them and also congratulated them warmly, agreeing to pay them 65gp for the various goblin and hobgoblin ears they had collected.

As the crowd of people finally drifted away, the party headed over to Bjalien’s house, where he was joined by two other council members, Paumine Sandalwood (a middle aged, somewhat brusque druid) and Kadra Tourmaline (a younger, attractive woman who seemed to be responsible for the village’s food reserves). As Bjalien sorted out their payments and reiterated his request that the PCs continue to keep an eye out for his niece Allie Thernius, Kadra and Paumine asked the party questions about what went on at Fort Frostfell - in particular why on earth an undead wight would be controlling goblins. The party professed ignorance, and kept quiet about Harlyot Crushade, Horlen Barrypot, the necromancer Relakai Gravemore and anything about a possible Demonplague.

As the discussion wound down and the party prepared to leave, Kadra pressed a Gem of Brightness into Cormir's hands, as thanks for the food that the party had retrieved, whispering that it was all she had that she felt they might find useful - a Gem of Brightness. Outside Bjalien’s house, Paumine Sandlewood caught up with the party and asked if they had seen any zombie rats - and offered to pay them should they manage to capture one for her to study.

Returning to the town square, with daylight almost entirely gone, Morthos stuck Dourkeg’s head onto a stake, and put up a sign again thanking Bjalien for his sponsorship of the mission to free Fort Frostfell from the goblin menace. Paumine Sandlewood, passing the PCs, noticed their undead horse and was fascinated by it.

With daylight fast fading, the group started to think about where they are going to spend the night. Cormir’s friend Orich Stronghammer happened along and was embarrassed to say that his wife had insisted that despite the group’s obvious heroic activities, for the sake of his marriage, he couldn’t really allow them to stay at his place again. He had however already had a discussion with Malaga Taerwain, the innkeeper at The Weary Traveller Inn. Apparently Malaga was allowing refugees to sleep for free on the floor of the main common room of the Inn if they were destitute, but she did have some paying rooms available as well and would be welcome for the business.

Heading to the Inn, the group met with Malagar who was happy to rent them a room they could share for 3 nights - 5sp each night. Parking the undead horse and cart in the stable courtyard was also OK. Having booked their room, they spent a short while waiting for Drex to cast his Detect Magic ritual when he found out that the book had mild Abjuration magic on it, and that Morthos's sword had Conjuration, Necromantic and Transmutation auras on it. The Gem of Brightness given to Cormir had an appropriate aura of Evocation magic.

Malaga was really busy as she had so many (non-paying) guests that she was unable to provide food, and so the group headed to Jorney’s Tavern, where Jorney gave them free drinks and food as his way of saying thanks for their efforts to help the village. It also became clear that Jorney was angry about the village food supplies being given away to refugees - when it should have been kept for the use of the original residents instead - and he was going to run for the Village Council to try to make things change.

Once somewhat refreshed, the group returned to the inn, where they rested for the night, waking up somewhat refreshed. (Drex 2 levels exhaustion left, Morthos 1 level exhaustion left).'

Day Thirty Two - Busy around Tomar's Crossing.

(Drex used 3 hit dice to regenerate some of his HP, ending at 4 under max, Cormir used only 1 to get back up to full, Morthos didn’t use any, staying at 2 under max.)

The group looked for Bjalien, spotting him exiting the windmill, and approached him. He was pleased with their sign / hobgoblin head on a stake, and lead them back to his house, where he fetched their final payment and again exhorted them to continue to promote his re-election campaign. The PCs asked him if there was a wizard in town, and Bjalien pointed them in the direction of Bazil the Bizarre - the resident potion seller and purveyor of magical things.

When they visit the round thatched hut they discover Bazil is a very strange fellow, who only communicates through ventriloquism and the fox head on his stole.

The following items were for sale:

Potions:

• 5 Potions of Climbing,
• 5 Potions of healing (2d4+2hp - 50gp each),

Spell Scrolls:

• 0th - Acid Splash, Light, Prestidigitation, Shocking Grasp
• 1st - Burning Hands, Grease, Identify, Mage Armour, Magic Misfile, Witch Bolt
• 2nd - Blur, Misty Step, Scorching Ray, Spider Climb, Web
• 3rd - Dispel Magic, Fireball, Haste

They also noticed a signet ring with some sort of crest on it, a shark tooth necklace, plus a ring made from tiny gold dolphins - which Bazil brusquely said were not for sale.

Drex tries to persuade Bazil to let him copy Identify from his spell book, and when that fails, tries to intimidate him instead. When that fails, Morthos steps in quickly and offers to buy a minor identify spell scroll for 50gp before Bazil gets too irate. Drex is banned from the shop.

Leaving Bazil, they returned to their room at the inn where they eagerly cast the Identify scroll - only realise that the reason it was so cheap was because it was a cheap version and only partially identified Morthos’s sword as a +1 sword, leaving the impression that there more features yet to be uncovered.

Disgruntled from the inferior Identify spell, the group headed off to ask around to see if there might be any more mages in town. Orich grumbled about being especially busy because his assistant has gone missing - Kylar Birthwitch (the councillors nephew). The only mage he knew in the village was Bazil the Bizarre, though he knew Paumine Sandlewood was a druid and that there was a priestess (Isperil Lightwind) in the local chapel that could both cast spells but that might not be the type of magic they were looking for. He suggested that there might be a magic user amongst the refugees and the Heroes of Fort Frostfell headed to the Safeharbour refugee camp.

Passing through the squalid refugee camp, the group reached the more refined tents representing the nobles part of the camp, where they met Cadica LeBlorne - an arrogant snobbish fellow. Cadica indicates that they don’t have a mage in their retinue, but that there was a priest from Safeharbour in the refugee camp who could cast spells. He also indicates that they were trying to figure out how to improve their standing, since as refugees, they don’t have voting rights in the village - and really they ought to have more say about how the village is run.

The party visited Sir Brenarform Steelcrest in the Knights of the Last Bastion compound, who indicated that he didn’t have any spell casters amongst his knights. He expressed his hatred of the “green skins”, and suggested that maybe the three of them might be interested in joining the order of the Knights of the Last Bastion. The benefits would include board and lodging, horses and a free rein to follow their own missions to help cleanse the valley.

The PCs wanted to delay their decision, and were about to leave, when on a whim, Drex asked Sir Brenarform if he knew anyone who might understand goblin as they had a book from the cultists. Sir Brenarform indicated he had heard about the cultists - the dwarf they had rescued (Dorn Stoneshield) had told Sir Brenarform that there were cultists who had planned to sacrifice him to some power called Gartlemak. Sir Brenarform reads the book, and determines that the book had been written by goblins and seemed to go on about ways in which to worship a power called Gartlemak to hep ward off the effects of some sort of plague. Sir Branarform seemed puzzled by the reference to the plague and certainly was unaware of any “gods” named Gartlemak.

The party return to the centre of the village and spotted Kadra Tormaline who stopped to speak with them. When they mentioned they have been looking for a mage, she looked a little guilty, like she had a secret relating to magic using. Inviting the group to her home, she spoke more privately to them, acknowledging to them that she had a secret, admitting that she was able to cast spells as she was a secret sorcerer - her ancestors having been from Al’Shekeim and having “dragon blood” in them.

She had come to Tomar’s Crossing a number of years ago and changed her appearance because her former sorcerer teacher - Merriath the Quick - had gone mad following seeing an actual dragon, and had this mistaken belief that if she killed and drank the blood of all of her sorcerer students, she would actually become a dragon herself… She was now worried that Merriath may have come to Tomar’s Crossing with the other refugees from Safeharbour, and have disguised herself. In particular she had seen a young girl refugee hanging around following her, and was worried that this girl might be Merriath in disguise. She gives an actual scroll of Identify - the full ritual - in return for keeping an eye out for this teenager and protecting Kadra from her.

The group then visited the Temple of Long Light, and met with the priestess Isperil Lightwind, a priestess of Gaeda Earthmother. The temple had shrines to Veritas Truthseeker, Asimar the Wise, Volstar the merchant God, Gaeda Earthmother, and Mater the Injured God. In thanks for the party’s efforts to rescue people and bring food back to the village, Isperil said she would aid them in any way she can whenever they visit - mainly in the form of cure wounds and lesser restoration

On to Session 008

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