Session012

Session Twelve - 29th September 2023

SHORT VERSION

Exploring - finding the ghost of the Knight and Priest, dialogue, setting free the ghosts. Finding the remains of Peitr. Finding the statues - getting the Guardian's Shield of Retribution, talking to Faerai the Wise, Spank stealing gems from Chillwyrm's lair, performing an identify spell on Shield and ?, travelling towards Gardong Marhold... sleeping the night (and levelling up).

LONG VERSION

- Link to audio file - 

After the battle with the three zombies, the group returned to the room with the large table and fountain in the corner and cautiously opened the door to the next room, where they discovered a "throne room" of sorts, where they encountered two ghosts. A knightly figure and a clerical figure - the later showing an archaic holy symbol of Mater - the god of the poor, downtrodden and sick. It becomes, clear that the ghosts are from the original (founding?) members of the Order of the Last Bastion - which originally built Fort Frostfell a hundred years earlier - before the order relocated to larger premises in Safeharbour some twenty years ago.

It transpired that the ghosts had been summoned from their rest by the necromancer Ralekai Gravemore, but had not been dismissed, and asked the party to "put them out of their misery and allow them to return to their afterlife." After a brief dialogue, during which they mentioned, by way of reward, an enchanted shield that could be found disguised as stone on a statue elsewhere in the complex.

After a brief prayer by Mogadon to get the departed spirits, the group searched the room, discovering a hidden compartment in the back of the throne-like seat in the room. Drex used his Mage Hand to gingerly pull out a decrepit bag from inside. Several of the 100 gold coins that the bag contained fell from a split in the bag, but rolled towards Drex before Morthos could grab them. Also inside the bag was a tarnished copper sceptre, showing the same ancient Mater holy symbol, as well as a very old Dwarvish drinking tankard with a map on the side of it.

Returning to the corridors, the group pressed on, exploring the old cellars further. The next door they opened revealed a room with two tables. The first had a large glass cloche trapping a zombie rat on it, with several heavy books sat on top of it holding it down.

Beyond, at the far side of the room there was another table and chair. This one was littered with papers and decrepit books, but what drew their eyes first was an old man, chained up next to it, sprawled half on and half off the chair. A nearby bed, within the range of the chain, and a latrine bucket showed that this man had been held captive here for a while, Unfortunately, it appeared that he had died of dehydration or lack of food - and probably only recently.

Based on the papers on the table, it appears the man had been summarising the books - mostly from what looked like history texts. A scrawled note in considerably worse handwriting, stated that his name was Piotr Scragmore, formally the official historian and scribe from Safeharbour and that his captor was an undead, and he was very worried since he hadn't come to feed him for nearly three days..

Realising that, had they explored further when they were here before, they might have saved his life, the three who had been there before looked guilty for a second, then shrugged and moved on, with barely a second thought. Oblivious to the other's missed opportunity to save a life, Mogadon followed alomg as the party searched the corridors further.

Passing through the broken down iron gate where the zombies had come free, they found three statues, one of which held a stone shield that turned out to be detachable - the one the ghost knight had spoken about. The shield was lighter than it looked, and clearly magical, as leather straps formed on the back where there had been none. Realising it would be better than the one Cormir had, the group agreed that their trained fighter should use it. Despite that, the group decided to wait for just over ten minutes for Drex to perform a ritual to detect magic - confirming the shield was definitely magical, and that Mogadon's ancient dwarven drinking tankard also had a faint magical aura that looked protective in nature - probably the reason it was still in good nick. It also revealed a magical aura coming through the door from the next room.

Cautiously opening the door, the group felt the temperature drop, and another ghost appeared, this one that three of the party recognised from their unconscious dreams the last time they were in the fort - the kindly faced middle aged woman with twigs in her hair. She appeared to be trapped in some sort of arcane circle, and after briefly assessing the motives of the party, the ghost revealed she was Feriae The Wise, a thousand year dead druid. She had been trapped in this basement by Ralekai Gravemore, and knew a lot about the demonplague, and the demon behind it - Xancrown! (follow the link for the details)

Upon her request, Morthos broke the symbols on the floor, freeing the ghost from Ralekai's imprisonment, and she indicated that she was going to search the valley for some of her fellow druid ghosts - and asked for the party to help her by finding and dealing with Ralekai, as although he claimed to be searching for a cure for the demonplague, she was concerned that he was actually going to exacerbate the situation instead. Feriae said that she knew Ralekai was searching for the Storm Elf Barrows - where the ancient elven kings were buried - as he believed that would help him with his research. Feriae didn't know where the barrows were, but the group recalled having heard Harlyot Crushade talk about Ralekai being based at Gordong Marhold - an ancient dwarven ziggurat that had been exposed by the retreating ice. Morhos also recalled seeing a map sketched on the wall in one of the rooms above, that indicated Gardong Marhold was about a day's journey away.

Day Thirty-Five - Arriving at Fort Frostfell.

On to Session 013

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