Session006
Exhausted from their battle, the heroes paid the wyvern Chillwyrm his gem and collected 7 pairs of goblin ears before returning to the prisoners. From the supply hoard in the bottom of the Tower, they salvaged food and medical supplies before barricading themselves into the same room where the ex-prisoners had been chained up, and rested up for the night.
LEVELLED UP TO LEVEL 3
Day Thirty - Departing Fort Frostfell. In the morning, each of the three had their own revelation in some way (aka went up a level).
- For Cormir, it was reaching a breakthrough in his personal interest in Giant runes. Something suddenly clicked, and he realized he understood Giantish better - and how to invoke the magic within some runes (Rune Knight).
- For Morthos, his own interest in magic finally fell into place, and the few magical tricks someone had previously shown him suddenly made sense (Arcane Trickster).
- For Drex, his demonic master pushed new knowledge into his brain - additional magical spells, along with a new magical book containing some ritual magic (Pact of the Tome). One of the rituals was the ability to summon a familiar - and as the refugees made preparations for leaving, Drex summoned a familiar. What turned up was a Seraph - a small, humanoid figure with luminous, opalescent skin and radiant, feathered wings. Its eyes glowed with a soft celestial light, and a faint halo encircled its head. The seraph's wings shimmered and flickered with starlight, creating an otherworldly, ethereal aura. Its name was Starborn - but Drex, of course, called it Barbie.
Despite having another dream about the old lady trapped in the basement, the still exhausted heroes decided that they would rather return to Tomar’s Crossing - which is where the 8 surviving ex-prisoners wanted to go. Borden mentioned that when he and the other refugees left Sweetwater, a village only a few hours from Fort Frostfell, there was a priestess Phalin and her acolyte daughter Callie who had remained behind. Apparently, many years ago in the village, a miner (Branock Finthar) had fallen in love with a nymph named Galell, but his brother Allan, in a jealous rage, had murdered both of them. The nymph returned as an undead horror - a merath - after murdering Allan, and terrorised the village until the priests of the village intervened. Unable to vanquish the merath, they bound it with special wards in their catacombs beneath the village church. The merath had been stuck there for several generations now - with the priests renewing the wards every day to ensure she remains bound. The few times they failed, she escaped and killed someone, so Phalin and Callie remained behind when the comet struck and the villagers fled - to continue to set the wards every day. (Not that the PCs were interested in this bit of backstory - they were just interested in finding a priest to get rid of their exhaustion with a greater restoration spell!)
Exploring a few other rooms in the keep, the party found a map showing a place marked Gardong Marhold. This is where Harlyot Crushade had mentioned that the other prisoners had been taken to - and presumably where the necromancer Ralekai Gravemore who was “working on a cure to the Demon Plague” was located.
The ex-prisoners worried about the wyvern which was still flapping around outside (and eating dead goblins), and the party decided that they would bargain with it more. Asking if any of the refugees had any gems, one of the ex-prisoners mentioned that she had some, but they were taken off her when they were captured. Morthos searched the Hobgoblin’s quarters and found the pouch. It contained a pearl and an agate gemstone, which they decided to use to bribe the wyvern as the ex-prisoners made their escape (with all the supplies they found) on a cart pulled by an (undead) horse.
Initially, the PCs wanted to go to Sweetwater to find the priestess there - but as the various ex-prisoners were more interested in going directly to Tomar’s Crossing, that is where they headed. On the route, they encountered a group of cultists worshipping someone/something called "Gar’tulmak" camped around the other side of a rocky outcrop. Morthos sneaked up, but still exhausted from his near-death experience the day before, one of the cultists heard her and tried to capture him. As the cultists chased him back towards the cart and the refugees, a wider battle ensued and many cultists died, including their leader (based on her hat), who tried to use a dwarf as a hostage, but Morthos called her bluff and she slit the dwarf’s throat. The cult leader was taken down immediately, and Drex’s familiar zipped forward and managed to save the dwarf’s life before he bled out. Two of the cultists fled on foot, running into the ruined landscape and out of sight.
On to Session 007
Back to Session 005
- Back to Session Summary