Editing Session025 (section)

===Session Twenty Five - 6th September 2024===

The group set off on their journey back to Tomar's Crossing.  Just after fording a river with their fruit laden wagon, the group passed a set of recent tracks from a group of between 10 and 20 people heading from East to West.  A short while later, Mogadon spotted a metal sheet sticking out of the mud.  This turned out to be some sort of religious writings, some in common, some in goblin - this time engraved on a metal sheet in fine neat writing - proclaiming about how the only way to survive this end-of-days is to worship Gar'tal'Mak and sacrifice non-believers to him.   More of the religious clap-trap that the group had uncovered a week or so earlier when they stumbled across cultist and found a goblin book on a similar vein.   The sheet also had a castable spell engraved into it - ''Blight''.

The following night, having passed by Gardong Marhold and got half-way to Fort Frostfell, Morthos noted some smoke on the horizon, highlighted against the rising moon.   As dawn broke, Drex decided to burn a fly spell and go check it out, flying roughly a mile before Spank spotted a camp.  A barely smouldering camp fire, three tents sized for between 4 and 8 people, and three people sat around outside.  As Drex turned back towards the party's camp, one of them seemed to notice, but Drex flew off quickly before he had a chance to see how they responded to his aerial presence.

Arriving back at their own camp, the Heroes of Fort Frostfell finished breaking camp and set off on their journey, passing Fort Frostfell mid morning and journeying till nightfall, the temperature rising as a mini-heatwave similar to that of an Al'Shekeim desert made the journey uncomfortable.   Luckily, the air-conditioned dome that Mogadon had managed to figure out the ritual for gave them a comfortable night's sleep - till it expired just before dawn and the group realised that they had better move on quickly to Tomar's Crossing before the fruit and veg on their cart spoiled.

By late morning, the group had arrived back at Tomar's Crossing, where it transpired several things had changed in their absense.   They discovered that Kadra Tourmaline had been killed and had her blood drained by Meriath the Quick - despite the town having posted guards and tried to keep Kadra safe.  This had prompted the council elections to be brought forward, and the village was in a state of fevered campaigning by the various candidates hoping to get on and lead the council.  The opinions of the "Heroes of Fort Frostfell" seemed to carry some weight, and the group were pestered time and time again about their opinions on the various candidates.   

=====List of Candidates for reference:=====
* ‘’’Bjalien Viadas’’’ - current council leader and all-round slimy politician - seems interested in expanding the village with building more places for people to live.
* Colinus Birthwitch - current council member and somewhat surley hunter/village butcher - interested in prioritising law inforcement, worried about keeping the peace with the added stresses that the influx of refugees has caused.
* ‘’’Paumine Sandlewood’’’ - current council member and village druid - mainly interested in how the village can increase food production and will push for more farming efforts on the land now exposed by the melted glacier.
* ‘’’Malaga Taerwain’’’ - Innkeeper at the Inn of the Weary Traveller - has the same goal as Bjalien - creating new housing - especially given the drastic increase in village population.
* Jorney Yovurn - the owner of Jorney's Tavern - is promoting defense of the village as the highest priority, and has been talking about building a stockade wall around the village to protect it against  encroaching dangers - such as beasts displaced by the changed landscape.
* Someth Skullcleaver - the half-orc village carpenter - who, similar to Colinus Birthwitch stands for making the village stronger and more secure - by hunting down criminals, bandits and any who might threaten the village.
* Nibhin Blondbeard - the dwarven leader of the refugees from Hemlet, his priority is the same ad Bjalien and Malaga, building more homes for the refugees who had lost everything.
* Jeanas Clocker - the leader of the Sweetwater refugees, seems to be standing on a platform of peace and reconciliation - wanting to make sure that all parties - all the differet refugees and original residents are represented and allowed to have a say.
* Huberg Greyborn - leader from Fort Icewind.   Similar to Someth Skullcleaver - his election manifesto seems to be all about going out into the Luna Valley and killing all deadly monsters or murderous humanoids (eg bandits or cultists).
* Cadicca Le'Blorne - the self appointed leader of the refugees (the nobels at least) from Safeharbour, he wants to re-establish the correct heirarchy within the village, and is convinced money can solve anything.
* Sir Brenaform Steelcrest - the mean spirited and imperious leader of the Order of the Last Bastion Knights.  He does not appear to be standing for election per say, but is keeping a close eye on the election to make sure that it is fair, and that whoever is elected does a good job.

The party however were more focused on what had happened to Kadra, and leaving the village druid Paumine Sandalwood to organise the food distribuition from their cart, the group headed to the chapel to meet with Isperil Lightwind, the village cleric.   Kadra's body was laid out in a side room to the chapel and after consulting with Isperil, Mogadon took an hour to pray to his God to allow him to swap one of his spells for ''Speak with Dead'', whereupon they asked Kadra five questions, confirming that Meriath the Quick had killed her and taken her cloak.  Using the spell ''Locate Object'', they managed to discover that Meriath the Quick was in fact still close to the village, and they hurried out of the church, making a b-line for her location.  Flying slightly ahead, Drex spots her camp in the woods close to the edge of the village, and fires a fireball down on her.  Surprised by this sudden attack, Meriath fires one back, only to get hit by a crossbow bolt, then a ''Guiding Bolt'' and then barely manages to avoid what would have been a lethal attack by Morthos by casting a ''Shield'' spell.  Meriath goes invisible, then casts a ''Wall of Flame'' between her and Morthos, but lets it fall due to not being able to maintain concentration on it.  As she turns and runs, Drex casts ''Dispel Magic'' on her ''Greater Invisibility'', and she is suddenly visible again.   Taking careful aim, Cormir lets fly with a crossbow bolt, which smacks into the back of her head, ending her life.

The group hurry over to her body, detecting several magic items on her which they remove before carrying her body back to the village chapel, much to the appreciation of the villagers - especially Bjalien, who takes some of the reflected glory for their efforts as he tries to bolster his position in the voting.

The group leave the body at the chapel, Drex tipping out about twenty gold pieces from Meriath's money pouch for the crowd, before realising that the pouch was obviously enchanted in some way - as it seemed to still contain more.

Heading to the Inn of the Weary Traveller, the group took the last remaining room and hurried to cast identify on the various items they had found:

=====Items found on Meriath:=====
* <u>[[Dagger of Venom]]</u> - taken by Drex
* <u>[[Ring of Alter Self]]</u> - taken by Morthos
* <u>[[Cloak of Mists]]</u> - taken by Morthos
* <u>[[Money Pouch of Holding]]</u> - taken by Mogadon to keep "party funds" in.
* <u>[[Gloves of Mage Hand Mastery]]</u> - taken by Cormir.

=====The ring the group had taken from the pool in Il'Shara's Retreat was also identified.=====
* <u>[[Ring of Water Walking]]</u> - taken by Cormir.
 
On to <u>[[Session026|Session 026]]</u>

Back to <u>[[Session024|Session 0024]]</u> 

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