Session 27

LONG-DELAYED RETURN

12-13 Sunstrong, 4433
6 subjective days passed in the room wilds

Characters:

Gorr, ranger 5
Daqqa-Jin, barbarian 3
Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Eric Withakay, cleric 5
Young Joe Spruce, druid 2
Lauriel, paladin 2 (NPC)

Old Friends

Eric Withakay had recovered from his brush with death. With a few days of casting spells he was able to cure Robert the Swift's (multiple) curses and heal the group's injuries, bringing the team back up to full strength!

The group proceeded into Room I - The Forest of Dreams, intending to track down the bandit group that might lead them to Reymund the Pale [Session 6 downtime]. They proceeded to the Forgotten Village where Eric was able to make his tithes to Solaris, burning a few bricks of incense and the three candles looted from a flying demon on the Sacred Mountain [Session 17]. As the candles burned down, bright greenish gems were revealed inside before being consumed in a holy light.

Eric felt as if the celestial displeasure he'd been feeling for a while was greatly reduced, although not eliminated. Perhaps Istus the Colorless was still bent out of shape at the cleric's defection to another religion? 

John: "Oh yeah, you just go out for 'a few adventures with the boys' and then what happens?"

As a reward for his devotion, Eric was granted some one-use spells and a vision of two ruined shrines that Solaris wished restored: one in Eralion's keep, now cleared of monsters; the other further away in the ruins of another town. In addition, Shandril's young protegé Lauriel was now a crusading warrior and insisted on accompanying the group on their quest.

The party ventured towards into new territory in search of the bandits. Following a trail of golden bell flowers, they came to the shore of a vast grey lake of fog.

The Witch

They found a group of shades lairing in the ruins of a fishing village with a crooked stone dock. These were the "bandits" they'd heard so much about, who turned out to be rebels against King Wakelinus. Their leader Rauffe became quite friendly once he heard Gorr speak a curse on all kings, reasoning that none of the Mad King's servants would do that.

They spoke on many topics with Rauffe and learned that he couldn't take his boat out on the lake anymore due to the depredations of a "witch" - the party agreed to try and defeat her.

Searching for this witch took a few hours of walking along the shoreline. The party spotted a golden light dancing & bobbing in the "water" - calling out revealed it to be a maiden wearing a shimmering white robe, with sparkling golden hair. A strange oddity.

She introduced herself as Damascena and all the adventurers who looked upon her were enraptured by her beauty. Only Lauriel was immune, and disgusted by the situation to boot!

Damascena seemed to take a liking to Eric right away. When she learned the group had defeated two of the land's shadow demons [Session 12 and 14], she gave them a magical sword called Dawn Bearer as a reward! They enjoined her to leave Rauffe and his men alone, and she agreed to do so in exchange for Eric promising to visit her again.

On the way back to Rauffe the party spotted a group of eight noble-looking beasts - unicorns! It is known that they are wild creatures of the Moon and will only suffer the touch of the virtuous. At Gorr's suggestion, Lauriel approached and the paladin was accepted near them without complaint. After a few peaceful moments, they heard a distant sound and ran off.

[Lauriel has gained +1 morale for this experience - good thinking!]

Rauffe was pleased to hear that the threat of the "witch" was gone. He explained much about the legendary Moonlit Zones where he thought his men (including Reymund) were imprisoned, and their terrible guardians.

He and his men planned to row out onto the lake to Tannoch Rest-of-Kings, an island of tombs tended by an order of nuns since the days of the Old Kingdom. They hadn't been heard from since the great calamity befell the land and anything could have happened in that time!

The Island

The small rock jutting out from the fog was surmounted by a crumbling, ruined tower. An ancient oak tree with yellow leaves (exceptional here in this drab land) was the only other landmark.

After calling out and almost being hit by a projectile from an unknown assailant, the group decided on a stealthy approach, circling around the other side of the island. Gorr threw up a rope and the group ascended, checking out the tree and tower. Both Gorr and Joe got strange impressions from the tree - as if it were not evil, but surrounded by it, bent under its weight.

Daqqa-Jin climbed up the tower with a rope in his hand for his friends, and got into a fight at the top. A 9' tall, bloated, corpulent humanoid shade, its only weapons were iron nails in its fingers! A good shot from Robert and the barbarian's own axe sorted it out. The group spotted another of the beasts attempting to flee inside the tower but Robert and Gorr brought it down in a hail of missiles.

Three small birds alighted on the tower when the fighting was done, and spoke to the group. They knew much of the history of the place, but were easily frightened by any action.

Progressing down inside the tower, most of it was ruined. The group found the corpses of the poor nuns and recovered some silver treasure [helpfully detected by Dawn Bearer].

Progressing downwards into the catacombs beneath the tower, the party entered a room lined with burial niches where broken pottery crunched underfoot. They were ambushed by four more of the ogrish shades right at the entrance, and the battle got intense. Daqqa-Jin pulled out his Horn of Blasting to dispatch the creatures, but with great collateral damage. The entire back wall of the mausoleum was smashed, showering shards of pottery, grave goods and the ashes of the dead around the room - and releasing the spirits of the dead within, who emerged with a sepulchral howling!

Monsters Defeated:

6 shadowy ogres (312 xp)

Treasure Obtained:

silver plate set [3 items]
Dawn Bearer

Treasure Cashed In:

3 greenish candles from the Sacred Mountain
[These were just monster trophies of an unknown value when they were tithed by Eric. Since the gems inside were discovered in the process, it's only fair that everyone gets a share of treasure XP for them.]