Sarah missed her third session in a row. And we all remember what happened to the last character that got NPCed three times in a row. The other four players were present, and although Laura again had to leave a bit early, she stayed longer than last time. Hopefully we can eventually get her there for a full game. In any case, we had a fun session which I shall now relate.
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When last we left our noble heroes (and NPCs), they had returned to the town of Duvik’s Pass to answer a call to help. They learned that Blinkin Tinkerwright’s latest golem creation had gone rogue, and that other constructs had both closed the mines and attacked the town. Investigating further, the party discovered an ancient goblin workshop far below the mines which was overrun with still-operational constructs. On the bottom floor of the workshop they found a forge and mine with Blinkin’s golem acting as foreman. They destroyed the golem, which led to a powerful fire elemental being set free from the machinery. The party escaped while the elemental destroyed the remaining constructs, though they did manage to save a clockwork horse for themselves. Later, they saved a sorceress from rampaging goblins riding worg-back, who turned out to be more minions of the mysterious Snive. Back at Eastguard, they learned a little more about this character from a prisoner after an imp was caught trying to steal Lord Sirem’s book once again. That night, the thunderous crash awoke everyone in the keep; they were under attack.
The party, each of them in a private guestroom of Kalus Keep, spent a few minutes quickly suffling into their armour and collecting their weapons. Running down the hallway, they came to the large glass windows overlooking the keep’s indoor garden; they lay in ruin. The glass roof had been smashed apart and the plants and stone decorations below shredded. Several guards and servants were milling about in confusion. Lord Sirem burst from his room in a night gown and demanded to know what was going on. Ilia, also in bed clothes, soon appeared from her own quarters carrying a heavy mace but no armour.
The lot of them quickly made their way downstairs to the garden. They asked a servant, her leg badly injured, what had happened. Apparently some horrific vulture-like monster had burst through the sunroof and attacked the garden apparently at random. From the description, Ilia was able to identify the creature as a demonic vrock. While the party pondered this development, another resounding crash was heard from the north end of the keep; the ballroom.
Farad, Jellybean, and Ilia ran to the library, suspecting that this demon had come for Lord Sirem’s book. The lord of the keep himself remained in the garden for the moment, organizing his guards and servants to defend against the assault. Kuu, Alàssé, and Sorcha went directly to the ballroom to hopefully stop the threat.
Therein, they found the vrock perched upon the shattered ruins of a crystal chandelier, laughing wildly. Alàssé, being specially trained to combat evil outsiders, started to fire arrows at it while moving about the room. Kuu relied primarily on his axe while also sending his familiar to alert the rest of the party, while Sorcha concentrated on protecting herself and her wolf. The vrock nearly killed Alàssé with its flashing claws and almost crushed Kuu by releasing the second chandelier from the ceiling. The party also found that their weapons weren’t hurting the demon as much as they should.
Farad, Jellybean, Ilia, and two guards arrived shortly. The vrock killed both guards with little effort and injured most of the party members by expelling some sort of parasitic spores. Then, for no apparent reason, the demon teleported away. The party regrouped in the library to heal and explain the situation to Lord Sirem, but before long they heard further sounds of distress coming from the courtyard…
Outside, the demon had ransacked the stables and spooked the horses, which were now running about wildly. A few lay slaughtered. The vrock swept down and engaged the party yet again, letting loose a paralyzing shriek. This time the battle went a bit easier, as Ilia enchanted Kuu’s weapon to overcome the demon’s damage reduction. Another fierce melee ensued, with the vrock having an obvious advantage but the party able to slowly weaken it. Again, without warning, it teleported away.
The next few minutes went by in a confusion. The servants that had been asleep or hiding in their quarters suddenly ran crying into the courtyard, but by the time the party reached their rooms the demon had fled again, leaving behind only a few bodies. The next alarm came from the forge; again, they found a corpse but no demon. Cries of “Fire!” soon began to rise from the keep, and the party returned once again to the library.
They found the room in flames. The vrock had apparently taken a lit brand from the forges and had used it to ignite several of the bookshelves. It was happily swinging the weapon at two wounded guards while Lord Sirem stood back, unable to contibute but too worried about his men and his books to leave. The party surrounded the vulture-like demon while Farad enchanted his crossbow in such a way as to prevent further teleporting on the demon’s part. Sorcha conjured water out of thin air to douse most of the fires. Kuu and Jellybean teamed up to flank the demon, which almost set the gnoll aflame with its pilfered torch. Lord Sirem himself grabbed Alàssé’s sword and prepared to join the fray, but a solid hit from Kuu’s magic greataxe ended the threat at last. The demon collapsed, then promply vanished.
The heroes were now thoroughly exhausted. They helped put out the last of the fires, but they decided to leave the cleanup to the guards and return to their rooms. On the way, however, they found two dead guards in the hallway outside the solitary cells where the imp was being held. A quick inspection confirmed their fears; the tiny fiend had been liberated.
Some quick CSI work revealed that the guards had been killed discreetly rather than torn apart, and the cell unlocked rather then forced open. This likely wasn’t the work of the vrock, but of some other assailant. The vrock was perhaps only a diversion. They reported the bodies and asked Ilia to prepare some speak with dead spells the next day, then retired for some well-earned sleep.
The next morning they wasted no time communing with the spirits of the dead guards. Only being allowed a few questions, they were very careful with what they asked. They learned that both guards had been eviscerated from behind without having seen their attacker. The only people they had seen pass by had been the PCs, Ilia, Lord Sirem, and a few other guards, some of which had checked on the prisoner. Shortly after they had both died. They could provide no other useful information.
Conferring amongst themselves, the party decided that their next move should be to find Snive and see just what he has to do with all these attacks and thefts. Some inquiries in Eastguard revealed no definite location for this goblin mercenary’s base of operations, except that it was somewhere outside of Northway. Since they had made plans to visit that city, they checked again with Lord Sirem. Sirem told them that despite what would probably be the most responsible thing, he would indeed be going ahead with his plan to visit the northern city. His trip was not only to compete in a martial tournement, but also a diplomatic visit to House Quent, the lords of Northway. He assured the party that Ilia was more than competent enough to look after the city for a few weeks without him.
Leaving local affairs in capable hands, Lord Sirem, Xemina the sorceress, and the party (minus Laura, who left at some point around here) set off to the northwest. They travelled along a well-kept road and made good time. After about a week of riding, however, they ran into a problem. As the day drew on, they noticed a black speck on the horizon that appeared to be following them. This wasn’t too worrying until it started to get bigger. When the shape finally drew close enough, they identified it as an ogre riding on the back of an enormous wolf spider… this could not possibly be a good thing.
The ogre blocked the road and demanded that they hand over the sorceress. Xemina ducked behind the party’s wagon and shook her head emphatically. While Farad and Kuu stealthily prepared some destructive magic, Jellybean tried a more diplomatic approach. And by diplomatic I mean mind-affecting spells. She cast a suggestion; “This is not the sorceress you’re looking for. You don’t need to see her identification.” The ogre looked confused for a minute, but seemed to accept the explanation and allowed the party to continue on. The giant peered suspiciously after them, but couldn’t seem to see through the deception.
The rest of the journey was uneventful. As both time and distance passed, it rapidly grew colder. Soon the horses (one of which was mechanical) were trudging through snow. Winter was setting in to stay. After a total of three weeks, Northway finally came into sight in the distance. Unlike with Eastguard, the city’s walls only protected the inner city. Most residents lived outside the walls. They passed another elven tent city, this one located well away from the human dwellings, also unlike Eastguard. Lord Sirem wanred the party ahead of time that Northway was not like his home town; indeed, there were many things about it he agree with. He left them to discover what those things were on their own.
The city was in an obvious state of festivities. Many banners were flapping in the wind and the streets were bustling with farmers enjoying a rare break from their labours. Kuu and Alàssé, being a gnoll and a demon-blood respectively, were both given a bit of a hard time when they tried to enter the inner city. Lord Sirem vouched for both of them, though, and they got through. The party was given official passes which identified them as Lord Sirem’s “bodyguards”, which ensured that such hassles would be kept to a minimum in the future.
Once inside the city walls, Lord Sirem thanked the party for their company and told them that he would be staying in a guest palace near Northway’s keep. He would be heading for said keep presently, and while the party were welcome to join him, he doubted that they would be allowed to do anything more exciting than guard a door or wait in lobby. Xemina also thanked them for the escort and for protecting her from the ogre. She left to find her husband and children. This left the party with nothing better to do than enjoy the winter festival.
Kuu had already heard about the prestigious melee tournament and was eagre to sign up. Farad also considered it, but wanted to know the rules first. They found the registration tables and got the run-down for the games. All contestants would be given a +1 merciful weapon (also their prize if they should win) to fight with and leather armour for protection. No other gear or magic was allowed. They would fight a designated opponent in a direct elimination format, but all rounds would be held at once in what would no doubt look like a confusion of melee. Attacking other competitors would get you disqualified; if you got caught, that is.
Kuu went ahead and paid the steep sign-up fee (500 gp), but the others declined. They did notice some other games being held that they might qualify for, however; archery, long jump, and pie-eating, each of which offered a magic item as grand prize. Alàssé signed up for archery, and Kuu for long jump. The entire party joined in on the pie-eating contest, at last pitting their respective powers against one another in a knock-down drag-out battle of wits and endurance.
The first contest to be held was archery. Alàssé found herself in some surprisingly fierce competition. A fellow adventurer managed to play against her shot for shot, until it came down to their final arrows each. Alàssé won by a hair’s breadth, and the lesser bracers of archery were hers. The long jump proved to be a favourite competition for peasants, and a simple farmer’s son showed Kuu that mere strength is no match for training. For his efforts, the farm boy took home some boots of striding and springing.
Which led to the fabled pie-eating contest of Northway.
The party surveyed the competition; most were just in it for the pie, obviously. Yet one obese man looked intent on taking home the champion’s title. It would be a close match indeed. All sat at a long table, and pies were served, devoured, and enjoyed. Jellybean, Sorcha, and Alàssé all retired after just a single portion. More pies were served. Farad’s tiny gnome stomach performaed admirably, but apparently size did indeed matter, and he was forced to decline another serving. It was now narrowed down to a slavering gnoll and a grotesquely fat human. Though the people of Northway were clearly not racially tolerant, even they were forced to admit that gnolls are, indeed, the best eaters; Kuu won both a ring of sustenance and a stomach ache.
With these entertainments finished, the people congregated around Northway’s arena for the martial tournament. Kuu and Lord Sirem were both led to the rooms below while the rest of the party headed for the balconies above. Before the actual tournament, several preliminary rounds were held to single out the best combatants, and both Kuu and Sirem passed with ease. Once preparations were complete, all sixteen of the qualified warriors were led into the massive arena and ordered to stand in a large ring, each facing their opponent at the far end. The magical equivilent of a jumbotron displayed each contestant’s name, image, and opponents. After a short prayer to the gods, the warning bell sounded and the battle was joined.
Kuu seized the initiative and made sure to put some other competitors between himself and his opponent (an ogre; several savage humanoids were competing with noble houses as sponsors). The lumbering giant managed to give Kuu a single powerful swat with his greataxe, which was fortunately undersized. The gnoll was quicker, however, and two strokes from his greatsword sent the ogre to the ground.
The other small fights also ended rather quickly, with the exception of one; Lord Sirem, looking very smart with his leather tunic and rapier, was locked in melee with a dark-haired shifter wielding a mere dagger. Both of them were clearly relying on speed rather than strength, and both hits and misses were exchanged almost faster than the eye could see. After a few tense minutes, youth prevailed over experience and Sirem collapsed.
With the round over, the unconscious (this is all non-lethal damage, remember) competitors were carried off by clerics to be revived and those still standing were given a few minutes to catch their breath and have a few mouthfuls of water. They were once again organized into a ring, each facing their opponent, and again they met in battle at the sounding of the bell.
Kuu’s opponent this time was a dwarven monk who had opted against using the leather armour. The dwarf was much faster than the ogre had been, and quickly closed to melee with a flying kick. Kuu found himself taking more hits than before both from fist and kama, but he kept his head and countered with his greatsword, again dropping his opponent in just two solid hits.
The shifter had dispatched his own opponent long before.
After another short rest, the semi-final round began. The shifter was pitted against a wily minitaur while Kuu found himself up against a mean-looking bugbear. Of course, he was well used to such things by now. Each was wielding a greatsword and each was nearing exhaustion from their previous bouts, so the entire match came down to a single clash of steel. Kuu’s luck had run out, and he was eliminated from the games.
To nobody’s surprise but everyone’s approval, the bugbear was subsequently defeated by the shifter, who took home the title of champion and the prize of a magical dagger.
Kuu and Sirem both awoke at roughly the same time in the chambers below the arena. They retrieved their gear and Kuu received his runner-up prize of a +1 greatsword. He was happy with the tournament, even if he didn’t come in first. Upon rejoining with this friends, plans were made to find and loot the shifter’s inn room.
Before such a questionable plan could come to fruition, however, the very same shifter approached them with arms open in friendship. He introduced himself as Lewis Welter, head of security for House Quent and husband to Xemina. He congratulated both Kuu and Sirem on a battle well fought. He’d already heard about the party’s generosity towards his wife, and so he offered them the dagger he’d just won as a reward; he already had one from last year (which Lord Sirem had missed), and better weapons besides. Intentions to rob the man were set aside for the moment.
While they had the advantage, the party decided to question Lewis about Snive. The lithe warrior admitted that although he was familiar with the name, he didn’t know anything of the goblin’s whereabouts. House Quent’s security force was dedicated to protecting the castle and the nobility of the House, not the people of Northway. In fact, he explained, Eastguard was unique for having a privately funded police force so dedicated to the citizenry. If the party wanted information on any criminal activity, it would have to come from the militia. Both Lewis and Lord Sirem seemed dubious about the success of that endeavour. Nevertheless, the heroes decided to try. They set out for the militia office while Lewis and Sirem returned to the castle.
They found a long line at the office, but Jellybean used her bardly charisma to get to the front. Kuu and Alàssé, however, were strongly advised to wait outside by armoured men with pointy sticks. Kuu argued briefly that he used to be human, but let it go. Jellybean seemed somewhat frustrated, however, but she decided to just finish their business and then leave.
The person in charge was Colonel Beth Lenfel. She seemed to be very busy with paperwork and only half-listening as the PCs asked their questions. The colonel wearily replied that yes, the milita was aware of Snive, no, they haven’t captured him yet, yes, they intend to, and no, they are not offering a bounty to vigilante groups at this time. “The militia will take care of it, citizen; that’s why we’re here.” The party snappily replied that they are travelers, not citizens. This raised the colonel’s eyebrows. She began to ask them some questions of their own. Where did the come from? When did they arrive? Why were they carrying so many weapons? Long story short, Jellybean, Farad, and Sorcha found themselves politely escorted into a jail cell and asked to remain there for a little while. Jellybean laughed that their comrades would be able to help them out, but once the militia learned that they had comrades, Kuu and Alàssé were thrown in the cell with them.
Minutes turned into hours, which turned into an overnight stay. The next morning, an apologetic Lord Sirem arrived and had the militia release the party. It was explained that an unsolved series of murders had apparently ended several weeks back, then mysteriously begun again the previous day. The arrival of an adventuring party on the same day had naturally raised suspicion, but their alibi was airtight and they were no longer considered suspects.
The party at first decided to just let it go. They spent the day trying to entertain themselves in the city. Jellybean went from tavern to tavern singing and Farad crafted a hat of disguise to help relieve any unnecessary suspicions that might fall upon Kuu for being a gnoll; he could now appear as a very tall human instead. Unfortunately, boredom set in quickly (especially since Jellybean only made one slim silver piece) and they decided to investigate the murders for the hell of it. How ordinary people manage to pass the time they’ll never know.
A few rounds about town pulled up a couple of interesting rumours regarding the murders. There seemed to be two camps of speculators; one group believed that the local Reanimist’s guild was killing people and harvesting bodies, but they’d just slipped up and left a few behind, while another group claimed that the local church of St. Cuthbert was harbouring a winged monster which they periodically released upon the town in order to make it seem like their justice was always needed.
Not even knowing what the Reanimist’s guild was, the party decided to investigate there first. They found the guild hall to be not only openly advertised, but also open to the public. The Reanimists, they learned, were a sect of wizards, sorcerers, and even a few clerics who believed that once the soul had fled the body in death, the corpse left behind should be put to good use as any other valuable material. People who had agreed to be donors would have their bodies reanimated after their death, usually as skeletons (because zombies smell), to act at servants and labourers. The Reanimists could even link the undead to a specific ring and sell it; the wearer of the ring would be able to command the undead as if they had created them. The guild was completely legal within Northway, and they apparently had a champter in the capitol, Fortuga, as well. Their practices were illegal in most other cities, but they were constantly lobbying to change that.
The party was welcomed inside the guild hall and greeted by a pleasant secretary. They asked to speak with the guild leader, and since he wasn’t busy, they soon got their wish. Reanimist Meron Shik turned out to be rather ordinary looking for a necromancer; a bit pale as a side effect of working with so much negative energy, but by no means the fiendish drooling graverobber stereotype. If anything he had more of the politician about him. He very politely answered the party’s questions about the guild, but when they mentioned the murders he turned defensive. He seemed genuinely offended by their seeming accusations, and assured them that all of the bodies they use for experiments are legally donated, and that even if they had accidentally created some horrible monster, it never would have escaped into the streets. Their quick tour earlier made them inclined to believe this as well.
When they asked him if he had any suspicions of his own, he told them what they had already heard; that the Cuthbertites were harbouring a monster of some kind. While he had no proof, he said that the irony would be too perfect to surprise him. The church had always opposed the Reanimists’ activies, even going so far as to “accidentally” turn the undead they sold. Shik admitted that, yes, creating undead brought more negative energy into the world which gave the forces of evil more sway, but since so many adventurers and nobles were extending their lifespans with positive-energy-based healing potions, it balanced out easily. Besides, their undead were never used for evil purposes and they kept perfect and public records of all their activities.
Satisfied with Shik’s innocence, the party instead asked about any other wizards in town who might have set loose a monster. Specifically, they were looking for summoners who might have conjured demons. The attacks of the imp and vrock were still fresh on their minds. The necromancer thought about it for a moment, but could only produce two names, neither of which he had any real suspicions about. Zann Sharnay, head arcanist to House Quent, was certainly the most powerful wizard around. On the other hand, there was a historian who specialized in interplanar dealings; Something Gray, famous author, or some such. Shik confessed that reading for pleasure was not among his favourite pastimes. This reminded the party of the book which had so often been stolen or coveted, and they decided to ask Lord Sirem about it. They bid Shik farewell and headed out to do so.
Sirem was not currently at his guest palace, but apparently still visiting at the castle. The party recalled that they would not easily be getting in themselves, so they resolved to check out the church for now, but to remember to ask Lord Sirem about this Gray character later. They quickly made their way to the church of St. Cuthbert.
The cathedral was not what the party had expected. Rather than a grand testament to power of St. Cuthbert, it looked like nothing more than a large rectangle of granite with few windows and no adornments. The inside wasn’t much better. It seemed a purely functional building, devoid of embellishment. For a god devoted to justice, perhaps decoration just wasn’t a very high priority.
The head of the church, when he was found, turned out to be a peke; a small, canine humanoid with a thick coat of hair distantly related to celestials. The tiny cleric welcomed the party to the temple (though he made his distrust of Kuu plain) and asked their business. At their request, he suspiciously agreed to hold their discussion in a private room.
The priest, who introduced himself as the Honourable Shining Cho of the Cudgel, answered the party’s general questions about the church succinctly, but he soon suggested that they get to whatever it was they wanted to ask that required privacy. As soon as the party mentioned the murders, Cho aggressively denied that he, his church, or any of his followers would commit such a crime. He then adamantly denied that the church was harbouring a “monster”, but that such things were commonly found among the Reanimists. He made it plain that he held little trust for the party, particularly since they had brought a gnoll before him. Most pekes have a hatred of gnolls, as they believe them to be their opposites and nemeses.
Jellybean was all but overwhelmed by all the hostility and racism they’d found in Northway, but she still managed to calm the cleric down with some careful mediation. Apologies were exchanged, but Cho could offer no other advice on the murders. However, he did seem to be acting somewhat suspiciously. Eventually he paused and asked the party just who they were. They produced their passes, tying them to Lord Sirem, and Cho seemed to come to a decision. He led them down a back staircase and down several hundred feet below the temple. As he went he pointed out the discolouration in the stone that marked the level of the streets, then the sewers, then then solid rock. They eventually came to a massive tomb.
This chamber was several dozen times as large as the temple above, with the ceiling rising some thirty feet above into darkness. Unlike the temple, it was also thoroughly decorated. Carvings adorned the massive pillars and sculptures of guardian beasts watched over the dead. Niches with coffins were stacked three high along the walls. The place had an air of solitude and rest.
Cho led the party far down the line, past the coffins and into a section of empty niches awaiting hosts. He pointed out where he himself would one day lie, St. Cuthbert willing. They eventually reached the far end of the chamber, where it was evident that few visited. Strangely, he waved his hand in the air, as if beckoning someone. Stranger still was that one of the sculptures high above began to move. The figure spread its wings and glided down to land several feet away. It was a gargoyle.
Shining Cho explained that the gargoyle, Watcher, was the so-called monster that the local populace was so worried about. No, he was not the murderer, but he had been spotted enough times to raise suspicion. Watcher had apparently been a guardian of the temple for many generations, since before Cho’s grandfather had been anointed. For his part, Watcher seemed shy and reclusive rather than murderous.
In his defense, the gargoyle merely rasped “Didn’t do it”.
The party called a huddle and discussed what they’d learned so far. Jellybean said that she didn’t think anybody they had met so far was the culprit, and Farad and Kuu agreed. They speculated that both the Reanimists and the Cuthbertites were just so opposed to each other that they were pinning blame without checking facts. They decided they should try looking at the problem from a different angle; maybe it was Snive behind the murders? They’d ask around with the savage humanoids in Northway and see what they could find.
They begged leave of Cho and Watcher, but the priest said he had one more thing he wished to show them. He led them back one of the sarcophagi and picked up a dusty book from in front of it. He flipped through a few pages and quoted several tales of the paladin who was buried there. The noble knight had gone far out of his way to rid the streets of criminals, and more than once he had strode into a dark alley that he should not, by all rights, have strode back out of. The people had come to believe that St. Cuthbert himself was watching over the paladin, having sent a guardian angel to protect him in his direst battles. Cho then showed them the carvings on the side of the sarcophagus. There was the knight, brought to one knee yet unyielding, with the forces of darkness gathered around him. And above him, hidden among other designs, was the form of his guardian angel; Watcher.
The party soberly returned to Sirem’s guest palace, and this time they found the lord at home. They mentioned the name “Gray” to him and asked about the book. Now more than ever they believed that the answers to their troubles were in its pages. Lord Sirem slapped himself in the forehead. “The book!” he cried. “I had it in my room after the imp almost got it, but with the vrock attack… I don’t know if it’s still there!”
Aaaaaand cue groans from the party.
They asked what the book was actually about, and Lord Sirem told them. “You see, since the demonic invasion, much knowledge has been lost about the time before; we no longer even know the numbers of the years before the Demon. The thing is, there are creatures that lived during that time still living to this day; the illmerrini and other fey-folk. Of course, since they seceded into their own plane, they have had no real contact with us.
“And yet there is one man, Turlim Gray, who has dedicated his life to studying and befriending the fey. Through this relationship, he was able to write a history book from first-hand accounts that spans centuries; millenia, even! His book, the same which I ordered, is perhaps the most accurate history book ever written.
“I’ve only just begun to look at it myself, but there are so many secrets within those pages! Orcs and elves were allies before the Demon, and a goblinoid empire once spanned from the Peninsuul Valley to what is now the Dry Waste! I can only imagine that something in that book contradicts our current knowledge in some way that somebody finds unacceptable. Somebody wants to keep a secret, and I doubt it can be anything good…”
They party was abuzz with more questions. They couldn’t seek out Turlim Gray himself, at least not immediately, for he was currently staying at his vacation home in Woodedge, near the forests of the fey. It would be at least a week’s travel to get there, and Lord Sirem couldn’t possibly stay away from his duties for so long. It looked like he would soon be parting ways with the PCs. In the meantime, Farad suggested that they seek out the publisher. Sirem agreed and they set out, though it was by now getting dark.
After some walking they came upon the publisher’s office; going out of business (more groans). But, fortunately, not closed yet. A few glum souls were still lurking about. They tracked down the man in charge and asked what was going on. He told them that the company had lost a lot of money on what should have been a sure deal; Gray’s history book. Apparently, almost every single copy had turned up missing or ruined, and with all the refunds they’d had to give out, they couldn’t afford to run their operation any more. If any copies were still out there, the man didn’t know where they’d be, but he was pretty sure that Gray himself still had the original.
It was now quite dark, being a moonless night, and the party decided to pack it in for now. And so Lord Sirem, Kuu, Jellybean, Farad, and Sorcha all retreated to…
Wait, aren’t they missing someone?
When was the last time anyone saw or heard from Alàssé? Seriously, scroll back up the page there.
Jellybean, Sorcha, and Lord Sirem went back to the guest palace to see if she was there, but Farad and Kuu, both having darkvision, decided to retrace their steps and see what they could find. After a half hour of fruitless searching, they were about ready to give up when suddenly a horrific smell assaulted them. They followed it into an alley, and found Alàssé’s mutilated corpse, missing its head, with Watcher perched on a nearby trashcan looking curiously at the remains.
Cliffhangers are good.
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In the next session, the party will have alot on their plate. Snive. Watcher. Fey. Murders. Secrets from ancient times. Mysterious wizards. Necromancers. Paladins. A dead comrade. How do all the pieces fit together? Who is the murderer? Hopefully the party will find out in Session 9.