Please note that most of these summaries are based on adventures that are available for download on the internet. These summaries may contain spoilers about the content of those adventures.
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Session 59 Ead/Jon |
Sutekh's Daughters part one (modified version of D&D adventure Set's Daughters) |
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Prince Rahgozar leaves Teran in early winter for Opalar, accompanied by all of Brenna's adventurers except Talos, who returns to Vestad for another druidic conclave. Yara also travels with them as Marcus' servant, as he has been teaching her to read Qemor hieroglyphs and she is interested in visiting Opalar again. The Prince's entourage sails north in a small fleet of three Kattar trading ships, The Chaste Youth, The Lion of Scarra, and Parthi's Fist, and arrives at Amsaim, capital of Opalar, after six weeks. Thanks to their good relationship with Captain Jusuf Hafiz, Prince Raghozar easily arranges for Brenna's adventurers to obtain the licence to explore the ancient hill-tomb of Prince Kholan, who died over 1600 years ago. Accompanied by Yara, Brenna's adventurers travel east by camel to the high lands between Opalar and Zhenir, where they meet Rhiopsis, a duly authorised local guide to the tombs. Rhiopsis guides them to Prince Kholan's tomb, which they reach almost a fortnight after leaving Amsaim. Brenna's adventurers leave Yara and Rhiopsis with the camels, remove the stone seal over the entrance to the tomb, and begin to explore. Marcus easily disables the deadfall and bladed roller traps, finds the secret door in the false upper tomb, and jams the hinged floor section so that it doesn't drop away. Reaching the forechamber to the actual tomb, Brenna's adventurers find it guarded by two clay statues. They destroy the statues with difficulty just before six mummified warriors enter from a side-chamber. The fearful aura of the mummified warriors forces Marcus to flee, and Taliriana follows him to try and free him from the unnatural dread. Eadric and Jonyn manage to destroy the last of the warriors, and Jonyn follows Taliriana while Eadric remains behind to collect Marcus' two swords. Eadric is thus by himself when Prince Kholan emerges from the main chamber, fully armed and armoured. Prince Kholan's frightening gaze paralyses Eadric. Fortunately, he is holding Thalion, who speaks the incantation that activates the magic in Eadric's amulet, teleporting them both back to the Yara, Rhiopsis and the camels. Brenna's adventurers regroup outside the tomb, and Jonyn rolls the stone plug back into the entrance to seal it. Taliriana frees Eadric from his paralysis and attempts to heal Jonyn's wounds with little success. Brenna's adventurers prepare to spend the night in a hidden place that Taliriana opens. In the middle of the night, Prince Kholan pushes out the stone plug and walks into their camp, scattering their camels. Although he doesn't find them, he still loudly warns them against entering his tomb again before going back inside, pulling the stone plug back into place. The next day, while Eadric tracks down the scatteredcamels, Taliriana expends all of her magic power to heal some of Jonyn's wounds. She is offended when Marcus suggests they should return to Amsaim and let someone more powerful heal the rest of Jonyn's wounds, and he quickly lets the suggestion drop. Prince Kholan doesn't emerge from his tomb that night. Taliriana finishes healing Jonyn's wounds on the third day, though it exhausts almost all her magic power. Brenna's adventurers wait another night before re-entering the tomb. They confront Prince Kholan and destroy him in a lengthy battle. Before they start to loot his burial chamber, they open the door to the last of the side-chambers. Inside, they see three sarchophagi, two closed and one open. Marcus' alert eye also spots a magical inscription waiting to trap the unwary who enter the chamber. He ruins the inscription, removing its magic power. On doing so, a figure wrapped in chains rises up in the open sarchophagi and attacks the adventurers with the chains around its body. As they fight, the figure tells them its name is Emmereth and warns them against harming the bodies of the two women it is compelled to guard. Unable to defeat Brenna's adventurers, Emmereth uses magic to escape. Inside the two sarchophagi, Brenna's adventurers find the uncorrupted bodies of two women. Early to Mid Winter 1397 AUC |
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Session 60 Ead/Jon |
Sutekh's Daughters part two (modified version of D&D adventure Set's Daughters) |
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Marcus spends two days transcribing and translating the inscriptions throughout Prince Kholan's tomb, helped by Yara. During this time, Taliriana uses magic to find Talos, go to him, and bring him and Adar back to Kholan's tomb. Brenna's adventurers decide to follow up and investigate this temple. Marcus establishes that: Prince Kholan was a follower of a pagan god named Sutekh, the Destroyer; Sutekh had a temple nearby, only three day's travel from Kholan's tomb; the walls in the chamber with the three sarchophagi contain instructions to return to the nearby temple and "prepare for the Master's ascension". Marcus and Taliriana teleport back to Amsaim and obtain a licence to explore the temple, then teleport back and rejoin the others. Brenna's adventurers leave the two women's bodies in their sarchophagi, and follow Rhiopsis to the temple. When they arrive at the half-buried temple three days later, they again leave Yara and Rhiopsis with the camels. Inside the temple, they confront and destroy a huge iron statue, over twenty feet tall. Marcus finds a hidden doorway that leads down a flight of stairs to a partially flooded chamber with a bridge across to a pair of ornate doors on the far side and skylights letting in beams of sunlight. Eadric spots Emmereth waiting in ambush in the arch across the roof, and Brenna's adventurers attack. While they fight Emmereth, they are confronted by a whirlwind that transforms into a big man dressed in the black robes of the desert tribes. Calling himself Ardeth Beh, the Desert Lord, the big man tells Brenna's adventurers to leave his home. When Emmereth calls on Ardeth Beh to protect his guest against the intruders, Ardeth transforms back into a whirlwind, and Talos sends Adar to attack him. Brenna's adventurers kill Emmereth, and then kill Ardeth when he refuses to surrender and continues to call them intruders and robbers. Behind the ornate doors they find another partially-flooded room with skylights and a raised dias on the far side, partially curtained off and decorated with cushions and wooden chests, where Ardeth Beh appears to have lived. Early to Mid Winter 1397 AUC |
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Session 61 Ead/Jon |
Matters of Vengeance part one (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers wait a day while Marcus transcribes and translates the much smaller number of inscriptions on the walls of the temple. While Marcus works, the others bury Emmereth and Ardeth Beh in the desert sands after trying without success to cremate their bodies. Brenna's adventurers leave with Ardeth's valuables and return to Prince Kholan's tomb, where they gather Kholan's valuables before teleporting back to Amsaim with the two uncorrupted bodies, leaving the camels with Rhiopsis as a reward for his good service. As required by law, they hand over the treasures they have found for assessment and valuation. Taliriana sets out to learn more about the two women using magic. With the help of Yara's contacts among the former Sultan's harem, Taliriana is introduced to a genie who teaches her how to use incense to obtain visions and prophecies. Carefully following the genie's instructions, Taliriana learns that "the sisters Shefa and Babat were priests of high standing in the forbidden cult of the pagan god Sutekh, the Destroyer, and sought to free Sutekh from confinement in his great statue by performing the Sacred Ritual. Before they could do so, they were captured, sentenced to death by Judge Ketah Mehran, died, and were buried. Their followers stole their bodies and spirited them away to the tomb of Prince Kholan, who worshipped Sutekh and had lived long before, in the time before Duryadhi the Revealer taught of the True Faith. There, Shefa and Babat were laid to rest, their bodies rendered incorruptible and their spirits bound within the unblemished flesh. Emmereth, a spirit wrapped in chains and compelled to serve them, was set at their feet to guard them until they had risen again in the flesh." Marcus checks the official records and establishes that Judge Ketah Mehran lived in the 11th century AUC and sentenced the two women to death by suffocation in 1158 AUC for conducting pagan rituals. Brenna's adventurers discuss whether to cremate their bodies, but Taliriana seems very upset that the others "always" want to burn the bodies. In the end, Talos removes the magic keeping the bodies uncorrupted and the souls bound, returning Shefa and Babat to the Cycle of Arda, and their bodies are properly buried. Captain Jusuf Hafiz asks Prince Rahgozar and Brenna's adventurers if they would help a cousin of a friend, Faruq Jarita, who left Amsaim with a small company of soldiers to reclaim his ancestral manor house near the village of Ombrol from an undying warrior named Sohrab Wazir. Faruq has not sent word for several days, and Jusuf's friend is worried for his safety. Brenna's adventurers agree to help, and leave for Ombrol the next day accompanied by Yara. Before they depart, Marcus and Yara do some investigating, and establish that: Sohrab Wazir was a soldier in Faruq's great-uncle's service; Faruq's great-uncle married Sohrab's betrothed, but didn't have any children; Sohrab died shortly after the great-uncle, but rose from the grave and took control of the family manor house; Faruq obtained a legal ruling against Sohrab (in his absence) that he was the rightful owner of the house, but wasn't able to enforce the ruling under the previous Sultan; Faruq assembed a company of a dozen soldiers and several occultists, led by a Batubatani mecenary named Akaron the Swiftblade. When they reach the village of Ombrol after six days of travel, Brenna's adventurers learn that Faruq's soldiers have apparently moved into the manor house, and trade with black marketeers in the village for food. The black marketeers confirm this, and claim the soldiers seem "odd" and "not themselves". Taliriana looks for Sohrab Wazir using her magic mirror, and finds him: what she sees confirms that Faruq is still alive, as Sohrab intends to sacrifice him the following night, and that Sohrab is served by a ghost named Cemal, by Akaron, and by Faruq's soldiers. Eadric goes up to the house that night, but it is surrounded by ghostly figures. Brenna's adventurers leave Yara at the village with the horses and go to the house during the middle of the next day, when there are no ghosts about. They overpower a group of soldiers outside the main doors and free them from Sohrab's control. The soldiers describe the layout of the manor house to them before they are sent back to the village. Mid Winter 1397 AUC |
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Session 62 Ead/Jon |
Matters of Vengeance part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers break into the manor house through a boarded-up window to the library. Jonyn easily destroys a skeleton that enters the library with a duster. The adventurers quickly make their way to the room where Faruq is being kept prisoner, and are confronted by two soldiers. One of the soldiers breaks free of Sohrab's control when he sees Faruq endangered, but the other doesn't. Brenna's adventurers free Faruq and quickly send him and the soldier back to the village, before they are attacked by waves of ghosts and soldiers. After a protracted struggle, they subdue several of the soldiers, destroy the ghosts, and drive back the other soldiers. Brenna's adventurers lock the subdued soldiers in the library before making their way further into the manor house. While making their way through the rooms that Faruq's soldiers were using as barracks, they are attacked by Cemal, who uses magic songs to compel Taliriana and Eadric to attack and almost kill Adar before Jonyn destroys Cemal with one mighty blow. Sohrab Wazir confronts Brenna's adventurers while Akaron leads the last of the soldiers to attack them from behind, but Talos frees Akaron and most of the soldiers from Sohrab's control, and Akaron turns against Sohrab. Sohrab falls back, using his skeleton housekeepers to slow their advance, but Brenna's adventurers press on and Sohrab is ultimately destroyed by Marcus and his holy sword. On his death, the last of the soldiers are freed from Sohrab's control. Brenna's adventurers quickly destroy the remaining skeletons and Sohrab's jet-black horse, which has eaten all of the soldier's horses. The adventurers, Akaron, and the soldiers return to Ombrol with Sohrab's body. Faruq is pleased that Sohrab has been destroyed, publicly humiliating and mutilating the corpse for several hours, then having it burned on a pyre before sunset. Brenna's adventurers stay at Ombrol for several days, but neither Sohrab nor Cemal reappear. They return to Amsaim with Akaron. Mid Winter 1397 AUC |
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Session 63 Akaron |
A Frigid Demise part one (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers introduce Akaron to Prince Rahgozar, who considers taking Akaron into his service. Marcus continues to research the cult of Sutekh, the Destroyer. He finds a previously-explored temple in the desert west of Amsaim for which the official record contains no reference to finding a secret passageway down to the underground temple complex. Excited by the possibility of exploring an undisturbed subterranean temple, Marcus persuades Prince Raghozar to arrange for Brenna's adventurers to obtain the licence to explore that temple a second time. In return, Prince Rahgozar requires that Brenna's adventurers take Akaron with them so that they can assess his skill and reliability before the Prince takes Akaron into his service. In due course, Brenna's adventurers leave for the temple with Yara and Akaron. Apart from an attack by two enormous scorpions that kills Eadric's camel, their two-week journey into the desert is uneventful. When they arrive at the temple, Brenna's adventurers quickly explore the previously-looted upper temple, which conforms in design to the temple near Prince Kholan's tomb. Marcus has no difficulty locating the hidden passage down to the subterranean temple, as it is in exactly the same place as the doorway in the other temple. Leaving Yara behind to guard the camels, Brenna's adventurers begin to explore the subterranean temple, which is also similar in layout to the previous temple. However, this temple has a golden statue of Sutekh, one of the walls to the main chamber has collapsed to reveal a natural cave, and the water is surprisingly cool. Marcus begins a careful search of the statue, during which Talos uses magic to give himself the power to see that the statue is just an illusion. Before Marcus finishes his search, however, Brenna's adventurers are confronted by a wyrm that comes out of the natural cave and wyrm speaks to them in several languages of the far south. The wyrm seems pleasantly surprised when Marcus responds to a question in Raukil, but attacks once Jonyn responds to a question in Nikkar. The wyrm uses ice magic against Brenna's adventurers, and kills Adar before Taliriana removes its protective spells and it flees back into the cave and underwater. Brenna's adventurers immediately leave the subterranean temple carrying Adar's body, and return to the upper temple where Yara is waiting. Mid to Late Winter 1397 AUC |
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Session 64 Akaron |
A Frigid Demise part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers decide to return immediately to Amsaim using magic, so that they can prepare for a second confrontation with the wyrm. While preparing to leave, Talos comments that he can see through Yara's transformation and now knows her original appearance. Marcus is interested, and persuades Talos to use magic so that he can also see Yara's original appearance. Talos does so, and Yara tries unsuccessfully to hide from Marcus behind her camel. Once Marcus' curiosity is sated, Taliriana takes Brenna's adventurers back to Amsaim. They leave their camels behind, and Marcus puts a note on his camel that reads in Raukil, "Please do not eat my camel." In Amsaim, Talos makes arrangements to obtain powerful magic that will restore Adar to life, while Marcus goes to the public archives to look for clues about the wyrm from the far south. While he can't find any records, Marcus does notice that someone is watching him from a great distance. Brenna's adventurers discuss their situation, and decide to return to the temple the next day so that Marcus can negotiate with the dragon. In the morning, Taliriana takes Brenna's adventurers back to the upper temple. All of the camels have been eaten expect for the one with Marcus' note, which is scared but still alive. A response has been written on the note in Raukil that reads, "I did not eat your camel." Brenna's adventurers take this as a good sign for the planned negotiation between Marcus and the wyrm. Leaving Yara behind with the surviving camel, the adventurers return to the subterranean temple. Marcus leads the way, and is cut off from the others by a sheet of ice that magically appears behind him. The others begin to break through the ice sheet, but in the end there is no need, as Marcus persuades the wyrm that there's no need to fight. It turns out the wyrm, whose name is Charasta, attacked them because of a misunderstanding. Charasta is an exile from Mercania, driven away by Kirik, Queen of the Ice Dragons, and her son Darling, better known to the adventurers as Gungir's son, the Nameless Thing. Expecting an eventual attack by Mercanian or part-Mercanian agents of Kirik and Darling, Charasta assumed that anyone who could speak Nikkar would have been sent by her enemies. Marcus bargains with Charasta for the opportunity to explore the subterranean temple. When Charasta mentions that there are old inscriptions on some of the walls in her submerged lair, Marcus also bargains to see those walls and make inscriptions, and agrees that Charasta can make him wear a blindfold while travelling into her lair. With matters resolved amicably, Brenna's adventurers use magic to return to Amsaim with the surviving camel. Talos obtains the necessary magic to raise Adar from the dead, while Yara and Taliriana help Marcus find a magic spell that will create a bubble of force around him, so that he can make sketches of the inscriptions in Charasta's lair. Over the next week, Taliriana takes Marcus to the temple every day so that he can go into Charasta's lair and sketch the ancient Qemor hieroglyphs. On the basis of the adventurers' report about Akaron's performance, Prince Rahgozar takes Akaron into his service for the journey north to Mien. Prince Rahgozar also releases Brenna's adventurers from his service, and gives them farewell gifts. When Marcus has finished sketching the inscriptions in Charasta's lair, Brenna's adventurers leave Opalar. Eadric and Jonyn take passage on a Kattar sailing ship, while Taliriana returns the others directly to Merin using her magic. Late Winter 1397 AUC |