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 43 Ead/Cin |
A Question of Ethics part one (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers return to Essen, where they easily convince the locals that the bog-monster was both real and the murderer. Cinder and Taliriana teleport back to Merin to collect Cinder's scrying mirror, so that she can check on her Goblins. However, when they arrive in Cinder's home they are immediately teleported again to a cell. Taliriana immediately feels her feet burning, though Cinder's feet don't feel anything unusual. Both discover that their arcane magics do not work here. Two men and a woman, all dressed in white robes and wearing concealing pointed hoods, question them about their involvement with the "known occultist" Lady Brenna Lucine, the dwarf Ulfgar Helmsbane, and Ulfgar's financial donation to the Steward of Glissom in Dirkholme. Cinder and Taliriana answer their questions with reasonable honesty, telling them about Ulfgar being possessed and that Ulfgar's travelling companions trust him so little that Ulfgar has a holy mark on his head to try and keep him in line. The two of them are left in the cell, Taliriana standing on Cinder's feet to protect her from the burning floor. Cinder tries to escape from the cell using her alchemical supplies, but doesn't have enough acid and can't make a large enough explosion with Taliriana's gunpowder to break down the solid oak door. Meanwhile, at Essen, the Ibis returns with news for Marcus from the Prince of Sparrows about what the birds know of the movements of the Black-Robed Man, who has travelled through the town of Adurath some 200 kilometers to the east to an underground passage that is now guarded by giants. During the explanation, Ulfgar feels himself being watched and hears an unfamiliar man's voice whisper "Justice is coming!" Ulfgar goes into a panic that the Witch-King is coming to kill him for breaking Tholgrim Whitebeard's ring, and the four remaining adventurers get ready for an attack. Back at the cell, Cinder and Taliriana are blindfolded, then taken to another room by four hooded people, three men and one woman. Their captors tell them that their explanation has been convincing and that they can teleport away now. Rather than teleport straightaway, Cinder removes her blindfold and tries to grab hold of one of the four, and is struck blind and battered by a sword for her efforts. She teleports back to Essen with Taliriana, who is very relieved that her feet finally stop burning. Cinder blames Jonyn for being kidnapped by his "friends", zealous followers of the True Faith who imprisoned them on holy ground. Brenna's adventurers attempt twice to teleport back to the room that Cinder saw briefly, but each time they are driven back by a holy barrier that returns them to their starting-place and strikes terror in Taliriana. After more discussion, they all teleport back to Cinder's home, while they find the remnants of a circle of powdered silver on the floor of her room. They send a message to Lady Brenna at Manderley Hall about their predicament. Ganymede arrives an hour later with a response from Lady Brenna for all of them except Ulfgar to come to Manderley Hall. He gives Ulfgar his letter of dismissal, which Lady Brenna had prepared as soon as she learned that Ulfgar had triggered the curse of his circlet twice in short succession. Cinder seems unwilling for Ulfgar to leave, and has him promise to stay at her home until she returns so that she can give him a lift to wherever he wants to go. At Manderley Hall, Lady Brenna tells the five remaining adventurers about the recent news from Dirkholme, where it seems Steward Kilnred was working with a powerful sorcerer known as the Master of Shadows and concealing the fact that King Dirk had been dead for over two years and was actually an animated corpse. Lady Brenna suspects that the group that kidnapped and questioned Cinder and Taliriana may be the "travelling adventurers" who helped uncover Kilnred's scheme. Dirk's grand-niece, Dora, is now queen of Dirkholme. Lady Brenna directs the adventurers to go to Adurath and investigate the activities of the Black-Robed Man while she uses her contacts to learn more about the group of possible kidnapping suspects. Back at Merin, Ulfgar has changed his mind about teleporting with Cinder. He takes all his earnings from his bank, says farewell to the others, listens to Jonyn's warning that he shouldn't turn to evil or Jonyn may have to kill him, and leaves the city travelling north. Winter 1396 AUC |
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Session 44 Ead/Cin |
A Question of Ethics part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers wait a few hours at Cinder's house while she prepares for the journey. Marcus sends a letter to his housekeeper, Yara, and receives in return advice that Lady Mara has returned to Threehills Manor now it has been properly hallowed and that his father has disappeared in the Principalities of the Crusades near Ibrahim, birthplace of the Saviour. Marcus also receives his father's diary, which has been sent south from Crescentium, and includes all his father's research over the past decades into the Saviour's life and the relics associated with him. However, Marcus seems unphased by his father's "most recent" disappearance. Late in the afternoon, the five adventurers teleport to the town Cinder has been to that is closest to Adureth, buy horses, and stay the night. The next day, they ride into the early evening to reach Adureth, where they confirm that the four dwarves returned north carrying a covered casket while the Black-Robed Man continued into the mountains with three human men and one woman. Deducing the Black-Robed Man broke the clay tablet that traps Tasha in her coffin, they quickly confirm that a dessicated corpse was found in an alley a few days ago. Brenna's adventurers hurry on the next day. Late in the day, they meet a short man and a large wolf at the scene of a small battle. Four of the five wolf priests are lying dead in the snow, while one of the Black-Robed Man's soldiers has been turned into a dessicated corpse. They question the man, who explains that a dying wolf priest sought him out in his forest home to the south and gave him the responsibility of finding and destroying an unnatural woman. The man is Talos Greenfield, a druid, and his wolf companion is Adar. United in common cause, Talos and Adar travel on with Brenna's adventurers. The next day, they reach the entrance to the underground passage. Outside it, a group of large giants with pallid grey skin are playing skittles with boulders and stone pins. Marcus goes by himself to talk with them, and convinces the clan's leader, Amar, that he and his friends are peaceful folk who enjoy a game of skittles as much as the next people. Amar explains that his father's death-vision was of a strange bluish-purple stone inside this mountain that they must find and eat, but the passage is too small for his kin to safely explore. Brenna's adventurers go in, finding a tomb to a dwarf sorcerer named Harseth the Neverlost. In the first room they find a large statue, the dessicated corpses of the two remaining male soldiers, plus a vial of blood with an archaic seal that reads, "The Blood Royal". Exploring further, they find Harseth's library of ancient books on magic, his tomb, and a corridor of glowing symbols. Cinder uses the same spell that defeated Bhishana Bhaga to allow all of the group except Eadric and Adar the wolf to pass through the glowing symbols safely. However, each symbol reforms once the group has passed through, and the magic of each symbol becomes active. After the first symbol drains away most of Adar's strength, Eadric and Adar retreat further away from the corridor, where the power of the other symbols can't reach them. At the end of the corridor of symbols is a room with a well-defined circular depression in the floor, a pool of water in one corner, and many patches of the stone the giants are looking for, jutting from the floor and walls almost as if it was growing into the room. Cinder and Talos begin to return through the corridor of symbols to Eadric and Adar, but the first symbol that reactivates turns Taliriana to dust and wounds both Marcus and Jonyn. Cinder and Talos immediately return, and the survivors leave the tomb with Taliriana's dust, her possessions, and a sample of the stone for the giants. Winter 1396 AUC |
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Session 45 Ead/Cin |
The Ghost of Black Water |
| Brenna's adventurers give Amar the sample of the bluish-purple stone they found inside Harseth the Neverlost's tomb. They spend the night camped with the giants, who share the stone among themselves around the campfire and have indistinct visions of what may come to pass. The next day, the adventurers ride hard and reach Adureth after dusk. They stay at Adureth for three days, while Cinder tries with little success to locate Tasha and the dwarves who served the Black-Robed Man. Cinder does successfully contact her Goblin captain, Geirrod, who passes on the news that Lord Anton apparently crossed the battlelines into Dwarf-held Thurander and hasn't returned. On the third day, Cinder manages to locate a dwarf who may have served the Black-Robed Man. The dwarf is drinking and singing with other dwarves in an underground hall. On the fourth day, Cinder again looks unsuccessfully for Tasha. She has more success looking for the dwarf she found the previous day, locating him hard at work in a smithy. Brenna's adventurers discuss the possibility of confronting the dwarf in his smithy, but decide the risks of an uninvited intrusion into Thurander are too great. Instead, they teleport back to the giant's camp outside Harseth's tomb. Amar confirms that nobody has returned to the tomb since they left four days earlier, and talks to the stone floor of the entry passage on their behalf about what happened before the adventurers arrived. The stone floor remembers two men and one woman going in, but only the woman came out. Brenna's adventurers teleport back to Adureth for the night, and return to the giant's camp the next day. Amar crawls down the entry passage to talk with the statue in the first room. The statue tells Amar that four people entered, two men, one woman, and a ghostly Black-Robed Man who glided above the ground as if he was a shadow. Having learned as much as they can about what happened at Harseth's tomb, Brenna's adventurers return to the village of Essen for their horses. They find the villagers and their horses massacred or missing, and the village headman, Dengram Olmaris, cowering in shock and filth, close to death. After Talos heals his mind and his body, Dengram explains that the headless ghost of Krain the Slayer attacked the village, killing some, driving off others. Brenna's adventurers return to Krain's hut in the Marsh of Chelimber and confront his ghost. They destroy Krain's manifested form, burn his body to ashes, and take the ashes with them to scatter at the crossroads near Essen. Dengram leaves for Werden, where he hopes the surviving villagers of Essen have gathered. Brenna's adventurers teleport back to Merin, where Lady Brenna meets Talos and agrees to take him into her service. While discussing previous adventures, Talos learns that the other adventurers were responsible for killing the White Boar of Kilfay, an incarnated nature spirit set the task of destroying an unnatural monster created by an evil sorcerer. Marcus takes Talos to meet Yara, but she doesn't know any of the details of Shivnar's experiments. Cinder studies the vial of "The Blood Royal" and what remains of the sample of the bluish-purple stone. She determines that "The Blood Royal" is human blood, and the stone is a poisonous arcane substance that briefly confers the power to see the present and what may be the future. Winter to Late Winter 1396 AUC | |
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Session 46 Ead/Cin |
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? part one (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers spend several weeks in Merin. Lady Brenna's investigations have established that a group of noble heroes named Althor, Baldon, Verma and Ector revealed the schemes of Steward Kilnred and the Master of Shadows in Dirkholme. Lady Brenna hasn't been able to determine where the four heroes live, and whether or not it is a castle similar to the one where Cinder and Taliriana were imprisoned and questioned. While Cinder analyses the bluish-purple stone, Marcus prepares to return to Lord Karvala's tower and negotiate for Taliriana to be returned to life. Cinder looks without success for Lord Anton and for Tasha the Royal Sacrifice, and keeps in regular contact with the Goblin captain, Geirrod. Cinder also looks for Marcus' father, who she eventually finds, dishevelled and grimy, translating ancient inscriptions in an underground catacomb. Marcus grudgingly agrees to rescue his father before going to Lord Karvala's tower, swayed by the argument that they may spend much longer in Lord Karvala's tower than they realise. Cinder teleports the other four adventurers to the catacombs where she saw Marcus' father. Travelling through the world of ghosts is much more difficult and dangerous than ever before, and they are all burned by ghostly flames before arrving in the catacombs. Marcus' father hears their arrival and comes to see who it is. Father Redgrave is initially pleased to see "Junior", though he disapproves of Marcus' friends, particularly Cinder, and seems dismissive of Marcus' academic accomplishments at Merin. Father Redgrave explains that he was kidnapped at the holy city of Ibrahim by a group of reckless adventurers, and barely had enough time to send his diary to Marcus for safekeeping before they had whisked him away to this ancient pagan underworld in search of a Rod of Power. When they found the Rod, it seemed to take control of whoever held it, causing the adventurers to fight with each other. Father Redgrave escaped during the fight, before the spider-men arrived and killed the only survivor, the Rod-wielding adventurer. Unable to escape the catacombs because of the spider-men, Father Redgrave has filled in the past month translating ancient inscriptions, surviving on food and water provided by the True God in response to his prayers. Brenna's adventurers escort Father Redgrave towards safety, battling enormous zombie spiders, then four sorcery-using spider-men. During the battle, Father Redgrave calls on the power of the True God to strength the adventurers and to strike at the spider-men with a floating magical sword, while Marcus takes advantage of the fracas to sneak off and use some of his scrolls of arcane magic while his father isn't looking. Near the exit to the surface, the group finds the Rod of Power, discarded on the ground by the spider-men. Despite Father Redgrave's warnings of dire consequences, Cinder picks up the Rod. She seems unchanged at first, but then teleports herself away without warning. The remaining four adventurers and Father Redgrave leave the catacombs and travel towards Ibrahim. They stop when they realise the flags flying over hte city aren't the crusader's emblems, but the symbol of the Caliph of Zhenir. With subtle encouragement from Marcus, Father Redgrave obtains a donkey from an outlying village and prepares to ride back to Crescentium to warn them about the fall of Ibrahim. Once his father is gone, Marcus uses the arcane scroll he bought to get to Lord Karvala's tower to take himself and the three others back to his house at Merin. They send an urgent message to Manderley Hall before going to Cinder's home to check if she has returned. When they arrive, they find Migos Fehr waiting outside. Late Winter to Early Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 47 Ead/Cin |
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy? part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers talk with Migos, who is calling on Cinder while visiting Merin. He is concerned that Cinder is probably being controlled by a Rod of Power, but has no way of contacting his brother Vigor or his half-sister Lara for their help. Migos goes with Brenna's adventurers to Manderley Hall, where Lady Brenna contacts Andolyn Mohan for her assistance in rescuing Cinder. The adventurers decide to use the ground-up bluish-purple stone of visions to try and locate Cinder without alerting her that she's being spied on using magic. Talos is badly poisoned, and almost dies before he is treated by Andolyn, who shares her blood with him to cure the poison. Marcus and Jonyn's visions about Cinder give the adventurers enough information to know that Cinder is currently in the buried city of Chalidexor in Hudristania, better known in modern times as the Tombs of Kala. Instead of looking for Cinder, Eadric tries to learn more about Lord Anton's objectives. Eadric's vision tells him that Lord Anton's goals are power, blood, immortality and youth, and gives him the couplet, "He looks for a place to hide from ancient evil beneath the earth. Beholden to the immortal for ephemeral power." The Tombs of Kala are a well-known site for adventuring, and Andolyn has been to the Tombs almost ten years ago. Andolyn teleports herself and Brenna's adventurers to the Tombs, where they quickly find Cinder's trail. They come upon Cinder looting a sarcophagus for a magic glove, having just killed the bull-headed guardians of this part of the Tombs. Cinder is much more powerful than before, but Jonyn cuts the Rod in two before she can overcome Talos' protective wards against fire and kill them all. Breaking the Rod causes a burst of concussive force that shreds the magic glove Cinder had just donned. Afterwards, Cinder is remorseful and once again in control of her actions. Andolyn and Brenna's adventurers prepare to leave quickly, hastening to avoid an approaching warband marching in time to drums and cymbals. Marcus has Jonyn sever the other gloved hand on the mummified corpse in the sarcophagus in case that glove is also dangerous, and Marcus takes the gloved and now-moving right hand back to Manderley Hall with them when they teleport away. Again, Cinder has some difficulty teleporting safely through the underworld. At Manderley Hall, they determine that the second glove is entirely mundane. However, Jonyn is stunned by the arcane power of the severed hand, the like of which he has never sensed before. They imprison the hand in a glass box, which Jonyn stands guard over all night. In the morning, Andolyn transports the hand to the active volcano she and Lady Brenna have been using to dispose of dangerous objects for the past decade. At the same time, Cinder visits Migos at the noble's house where he is staying in Merin as a guest. Migos tells her that the alignment of the stars that will allow them to fulfil the prophecy of the Presage of Forms will occur in five days, and that he thinks they've finally found the sixth person they need to meet the conditions of the prophecy. Cinder is hesitant about committing herself to this venture, and Migos asks her to think carefully but quickly, as he isn't confident he could find another descendant of Charad in the little time remaining. Later that day, after Brenna's adventurers discuss their options, Cinder teleports the group to outside the remains of the main gate of Karvala's ruined citadel. Cinder and Talos wait outside the citadel, while Eadric and Jonyn escort Marcus into the citadel. They intend to escort Marcus into the temple and all the way to the foot of the spiral staircase that leads up to Lord Karvala's chamber. However, when they open the doors to the Temple of the Moon, they are confronted by a group of six scaled brutes, each armed with a glaive. Early Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 48 Ead/Cin |
The Temple of the Moon part one |
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Eadric and Jonyn battle the six creatures while Marcus calls for help. One of the six disappears, returning with three larger creatures, each with their skin stretched tightly across their bones and a jaw of sharp teeth. Hearing Marcus' cries, Cinder teleports to the temple with Talos. Jonyn finishes killing the six guards, while Eadric is trapped between two sheets of ice created by the larger creatures until Jonyn frees him. One of the larger creatures disappears while the other two battle the adventurers. The adventures kill one and seriously wound the other before the third returns with an even larger creature, similar in appearance to the group of three but also having a bony tail with a wicked spike. Unlike the other three, this one is armed with a longspear. Cinder suppresses all the magic around her and advances on the creature, but its strength and speed are not caused by magic spells and it fells her with its spear. Talos is spitted on its spear while defending Cinder's unconscious body, and dies. Undone by the newest arrival's aura of fear, Marcus flees the Temple, but not before drawing his holy sword, which glows with power. The largest creature backs away from Eadric and Jonyn, then disappears along with its two wounded allies. Marcus returns when the fear leaves him, and Jonyn rouses Cinder back to consciousness before he returns. The largest creature strikes at them from outside the temple with a storm if hail of sleet, and they close the doors to the temple so that it can't see them. Strapping Talos' body inside his cloak, they go down into the temple's basement. Most of the corridors have been blocked up with ice, and the one that leads to the rising spiral staircase is also guarded by the animated corpse of the snake-handed woman. The adventurers easily destroy the zombie, and Jonyn begins to carve through the ice with his adamintine axe. The largest of the guardians returns along an unblocked corridor to battle them, and again Marcus is unable to resist his dread aura. Cinder teleports behind the creature and again suppresses all magic around her. This time, the creature kills her as it retreats, unwilling to stay and risk fighting Jonyn and Eadric when it cannot disappear if the fight goes badly. Again, Marcus returns when the fear leaves him. The three surviving adventurers strap Cinder's body within her cloak, break through the ice blocking the passage, and hasten up the spiral staircase to the home of Lord Karvala. Lord Karvala is pleased to see them, as he has more questions to ask about the True Faith. When asked, Lord Karvala restores all those present who are dead to life, whole and hearty. Early Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 49 Ead/Cin |
The Temple of the Moon part two |
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Taliriana, Talos, Cinder, Tasha (from the blood in the flask labelled "The Blood Royal"), a rabbit and two mice (all from Marcus' magical backpack) are restored to life by Lord Karvala's magic. Tasha does not recognise any of Brenna's adventurers. Lord Karvala understands her words without assistance, but she has to use magic of her own to speak with the others. Jonyn offers her a blanket to cover herself, which Lord Karvala turns into a dress fit for a princess at her request. When questioned, she doesn't remember being turned into the Royal Sacrifice. Taliriana is pleased to be restored to life, and is even happier when she learns that Marcus has brought her guns and other equipment with him. Lord Karvala identifies the largest creature as Golgon, another servant of the Great Gods. He presumes Golgon's presence relates in some way to the passage of the Eternal Night, as the gibbous moon has moved in the night sky above his chamber. Taliriana tests the windows of Lord Karvala's rooms with her adamintine cannonball, but only makes a slight crack in the glass. Talos and Tasha have to tell Lord Karvala something new, and he gives them both a silver torc. Eadric, Jonyn, Marcus and Taliriana have to tell Lord Karvala something new and personal, and he gives them each a gold torc. Cinder, who already had a gold torc, must remain and play The Game of Karvala, a complex game whose board resembles the kingdoms of Selentia. She farewells the other adventurers, and gives Marcus a note for Migos Fehr explaining that she's trapped in Lord Karvala's tower and cannot attend the Presage of Forms. The other adventurers promise to try and find a way to rescue Cinder before Lord Karvala returns them to the central plaza outside the Temple of the Moon. The group begins the trek back along the street to the eastern gate, but before they leave the ruined city Golgon flies down to battle them. Before he attacks, Golgon tells them that he has failed in his duty as warden, and that the only way to redeem his honour is to kill them all. Marcus is again stricken with fear, and flees back towards the central plaza. Talos removes Golgon's magical defences after Jonyn has engaged him in battle. Taliriana follows after Marcus, using her magic to break the hold Golgon's aura of fear has over him. She teleports the two of them back to the battle, arriving behind Golgon, and Marcus strikes Golgon down with two deadly blows from his holy shortsword. After the victory, the adventurers and Tasha return to Marcus' home in Merin using the magic scroll he keeps "in case of emergencies". They go to Manderley Hall and pass news of their adventure to Lady Brenna and to Migos Fehr, who hurries away after reading Cinder's note and questioning the adventurers about Lord Karvala's tower, the Temple of the Moon, and the abandoned city. Early Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 50 Ead/Jon |
Hasken's Manor part one (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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Lady Brenna tells her adventurers that she wants them to locate the ancient golden breastplate of Madros, High King of the Madhir, who once ruled in western Birland. Jonyn is pleased, because he wished to visit his family, who live in that region. Marcus sends a letter to the University of Cantorbridge forewarning that he wishes to visit, present a public lecture, and use their library. After spending a month at Merin, Brenna's adventurers go to Doringen and take a ship to Breylak. Arriving after a three-week voyage, they spend a fortnight crossing the hills of southern Birland, arriving at Cantorbridge in the last week of spring. Marcus gives his lecture, which is well received, and spends two days plundering the University Library for information on the Madhir, particularly the barrow-mounds of their high kings. Jonyn meets Rosk, a childhood friend, in the Cantorbridge market. During their reunion at the Keys of the Court, a student tavern, Jonyn learns that has mother has remarried and his sister has married, and that both still live at the family farm. Rosk asks Jonyn when he intends to take a squire, a suggestion Jonyn finds thought-provoking, though nothing more comes of it immediately. Brenna's adventurers leave Cantorbridge and start travelling north towards Netherford, detouring from the road to investigate likely barrows where High King Madros may be buried. One barrow is near the village of Hasken, on the sea coast a short distance from the abandoned manor house of Sir Reynard. Sir Reynard died a little under ten years ago, and the villagers warn the adventurers that his manor house is now occupied by fearsome monsters from the barrow. When Brenna's adventurers go to the manor house, they discover three giants cooking the skinned and dressed body of a man over the fire. In the ensuing battle, the two male giants are killed, Jonyn unintentionally drives Taliriana away with the power of his faith in the True God, and the female giant, a gruesome hag named Genna, uses her magic powers to transform into a crow and escape. Early Spring to Late Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 51 Ead/Jon |
Hasken's Manor part two (modified version of D&D adventure) |
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In the basements under the manor, Brenna's adventurers find a damp cave containing an archaic iron statue covered with rust. When they come too close, the status animates, shaking off its coat of rust, and attacks them mindlessly until it is destroyed. The statue was guarding a pre-Selentine suit of armour, partially trapped beneath the rocky outcrops formed by the damp wall. When freed of the rock, the suit of armour stands up and raises its arms, which end in gauntlets with built-in rapier blades. Jonyn destroys the animated suit with three axe blows before anyone else can act, then regrets his haste because "it may have been friendly". Further searching reveals a cave tunnel that goes beneath the tide level. Warded with magic spells that let them breathe and fly underwater, Jonyn and Marcus explore the winding tunnel, which leads several hundred feet underground and ends in a chamber illuminated by an unknown source that contains a sleeping white-bearded robed man, surrounding by an incomplete circle of greatswords balancing on their tips. They go back and return with Talos, transformed into a long-necked snapping turtle for the underwater journey, and explore the chamber. Two of the twelve greatswords are missing, and a black shadow rests outside the circle of swords where each would have stood. Shouts don't wake the sleeping man, and Jonyn can't sense any arcane magic in the room. Marcus translates an ancient inscription carved into the rock, which names the sleeping man as Vallandar, "who once was and will again be king". While inspecting some ancient standards of a green dragon on a black background and a red dragon on a white background, Marcus touches the cloth of the red and white standard, which makes the heraldic dragon start to move. At the same time, the earth shakes and roars. All three flee back along the tunnel, escaping shortly before the tunnel collapses and brings the manor house down along with it. The five adventurers investigate the barrow, finding one earth-filled entrance on the eastern side. When they make a circuit around the barrow, they notice a glamour on the southern side that conceals a group of stones that resemble human bodies fleeing and cowering by making them appear to be nothing more than trees. The adventurers spend several hours digging into the entrance tunnel, but have not made it through before it begins to grow dark. They return to Hasken, where they warn the villagers that they only killed two of the three giants and that the giants were eating travellers. That night, Marcus is visited in his dreams by the hag, who warns him that the barrow is hers and that she will kill him if they return. Late Spring 1396 AUC |
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Session 52 Ead/Jon |
The King Under the Barrow (modified version of Dragon Warriors adventure) |
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Brenna's adventurers return to the barrow the next morning. Jonyn and Talos (in the form of a dire badger) finish digging out the entry tunnel by midday. At the end of the hall, they find a chamber decorated with a faded tapestry depicting a battle between warriors in archaic armour, some wounded, some unwounded. When Marcus touches the tapestry, five of the unwounded warriors disappear from the tapestry and appear in the chamber. The adventurers battle all five, and Talos transforms into a bear. As each of the warriors die, they disappear and reappear on the tapestry, now wounded. They carefully take down the tapestry, which covers double doors of black wood bound with verdigris-stained copper. Behind the double doors is a circular chamber with a narrow staircase leading down around the outer wall. Brenna's adventurers descend, and find another set of double doors three circuits down that open into another hall. Partway along the hall Marcus spots a magical trap in the floor. When he tries to break the pattern, the trap activates: a fierce bear appears, attacking the adventurers until it is killed and disappears. Further along, Marcus finds a second magical trap, which he successfully disrupts. At the end of the hall is a single black door, which leads into a chapel to the True Faith. The other exit from the chapel leads to a smaller chamber filled with skeletal warriors under the command of Genna the Hag, who is wearing a metal mask ringed with moving metal snakes. Jonyn drives back some of the skeletons by calling on the power of the True God, and Brenna's adventurers quickly destroy the remaining skeletons and kill Genna. The final chamber is much larger, and contains the same sleeping white-bearded man, this time sitting on a sleeping horse and wearing archaic ring mail but still surrounded by the incomplete circle of greatswords balancing on their tips. The adventurers leave the chamber, and return to the staircase, which they continue to descend. A further three circuits down they reach the bottom, where they follow a natural tunnel to a sheer rise, which they climb. At the top of the rise is a huge cavern, full of stalactites and stalagmites. Brenna's adventurers skirt around the left wall of the cavern, stopping when they find a mound of treasure. Marcus immediately predicts that it's a dragon's horde, and a deep voice starts laughing off in the darkness. An immense reddish-brown dragon emerges from the shadows, introducing itself as Fengel, companion and guardian of Mathor the Druid, who has been sleeping with his king for the past 700 years. The dragon takes a malicious delight in the adventurers' anxiety, but is content to talk with them, as he was recently awoken when someone disturbed the banners in Vallandar's tomb. Fengel leads them across the cavern towards the exit, past a huge oak tree surrounded by a glowing magic circle that Fengel identifies as Mathor, advisor to Vallandar, who once was and will again be king. When asked why Vallandar is in two different rooms, Fengel replies that Vallandar sleeps in a cave, on his horse, and in a ship, but doesn't explain how this is possible. At the exit to the cavern, Fengel asks Brenna's adventurers to make him a gift of their most valued possession. Jonyn gives up his axe, Eadric his bow, and Taliriana her rifle. Marcus offers to give up his holy sword, but Fengel is uncomfortable looking at it and accepts a magic ring instead. Talos, who is still wearing the form of a bear, resists the beguiling power of Fengel's words. Marcus then offers Fengel the metal mask he took from Genna's corpse in exchange for an hour's conversation about what the Island of Elles was like 700 years ago, including an explanation of how the True Faith reached the court of King Vallandar within 70 years of the Saviour's death, a bargain which Fengel readily accepts. Once the hour has passed, Marcus rejoins the others, and Brenna's adventurers leave the barrow for the village of Hasken. They tell the villagers they have killed Genna the Hag, but say nothing about Vallandar, Mathor or Fengel. That night at dinner, everyone except Talos realise what Talos already knows, that Fengel beguiled them with his voice. Brenna's adventurers decide that it is too dangerous to leave the barrow mound open for anyone to enter, so they return the next day and fill in the entry tunnel. The adventurers leave Hasken and continue travelling north towards Netherford, detouring to investigate likely barrows where High King Madros may be buried. At the village near the second-last barrow on their list, they learn that another group of adventurers recently excavated "their" barrow and travelled south with a golden breastplate they had found. Brenna's adventurers aren't surprised to learn that the other adventurers were led by Lady Anna Colombari and Sturt Tarrin, but are surprised to learn that Marcus' rival from the University of Merin, Professor Mendy Bader, was with them. Beaten to their goal by their rivals, Brenna's adventurers wait in Netherford while Jonyn continues on to the family farm alone, at his request. Jonyn returns over a week later, having seen his mother and his sister for the first time in over ten years. Brenna's adventurers then return across Birland and the Glaive to Teran and Manderley Hall. Marcus immediately starts writing up his most recent papers, before Mendy returns and claims credit for "his" discoveries. Late Spring to Early Summer 1396 AUC |