Session 57: Robbery Turned Rescue Report
General Summary
6th of Anarire 1524 The 6th of Anarire comes round. Similar to the one before. A few clouds and a pleasant warm day. Fargrim is the first to leave for the day. Lily and Karl leave not long after him. Overall the day is productive for all. Afterwards Fargrim goes component shopping, Karl goes straight to the manor with his sister to copy spells and Lily also returns to the manor with Xeldarix. Lily considers after dinner running drills at the temple while Fargrim wants to try a ceremony on Karl to purge his consciousness of wayward thoughts. Through this discussion it comes up that Fargrim had been thinking of possible future ceremonies that might be needed between Karl and Erin when he remembered that it can also be used for atonement. This whole ceremony thing between Erin and Karl is news to Saryea. Karl deflects questions about it though. The group has dinner and afterwards, they get ready for the Ceremony. Fargrim recommends they adjourn to the library. When there he asks Karl to sit in the centre of the room while he sets up all the various ritualistic components. He asks Saryea and Lily to guard exits. Then he begins the proceedings. "In Haelyn's name we atone for our transgressions against the laws of the heavens and earth. Please help this pilgrim find their way back to their true nature.". Fargrim mixes the oils and the silver dust and marks Karl's forehead and his hands. He makes similar marks on himself.Fargrim starts by reiterating the pantheon of Cerilia, of the gods and their place. Haelyn the Noble protector, Nesirie of the Seas, Erik protector of Nature, Sera trader and merchant, Avani the light of reason and Ruornil master of Magic. After this he lights incense and walks the room spreading the fumes so that the room is fragrant, but not oppressive. He then places a hand on Karl's shoulder, and begins to pray on Karl's behalf. He asks the Gods to give Karl the strength to find his own way, free of evil influences that seek to guide him astray. To finish the ceremony, Fargrim announces himself as the guide for Karl's journey tonight, and announces and names all the observers present who can vouch for Karl's willingness to participate freely. This is all very verbose and at times overly grand as befitting a ceremony. Karl’s response is to ask for Fargrim to try harder as tiny black specks drift across the sclera of his eyes. His voice is dark and unlike it’s usual self. Fargrim grabs Karl by the head, using his thumbs and index fingers to hold Karl's eyes open and he stares into them. He shouts that Karl is a free man to whatever is lurking inside Karl. Karl feels the skin burning where the oil touches his forehead as a strange laughter comes out of his mouth before he starts to seize and his eyes roll into the back of his head. body thrashes around uncontrolled as he collapses to the floor and continues to seize. Fargrim tries to keep him still but it's hard. Saryea runs in to help try and hold her brother still. Lily tries to check Karl over to try and get a sense for what is causing this fit. She concludes nothing external is causing it. It has to be internal. There is concern about brain damage if it goes on for too long. She banishes him to give him a safe black where he can’t hurt himself or someone else while they try and get some things to help him. When Karl reappears, he is still seizing and Fargrim tries to cast Greater Restoration but to no effect. Lily casts Heal and finally it ends. His breathing is shallow and his pulse is faint but frantic. Lily makes a few cold compresses and Caramella makes some tea. Karl awakes but is clearly drained by the whole event. He tells them that it didn’t work. Carefully helps Karl up the stairs and to bed with Lily following. Fargrim leaves to head to the temple. Karl, with Lily’s permission, sends Erin a message before falling asleep. Lily puts the magical restraints on and he’s left to rest as Lily retires to her room to read.
Meanwhile Fargrim heads towards the docks and it’s rather busy. He hears snippets from people about an explosion and smoke from the temple. The paladins are trying to disperse the crowds. Fargrim flags one down and is invited into the temple to talk privately. High Paladin Salma has been badly hurt. At this stage they don’t have a lot of information to go on about what exactly happened. He wishes to speak with Salma and is allowed to. The burns are very visible on her and her eyes are completely covered. Another woman is still cleaning and dressing the wounds. They discuss the attack and Fargrim learns many items were taken. Salma asks after Karl and Fargrim tells her about the ceremony. Fargrim leaves her to get some rest and checks in with Simon the paladin to ask about the investigation into this manor. The items taken were a rod, a circlet, braces and a trident. The last one wasn't the high paladin's personal weapon, but a ceremonial one. There are some books missing but it's hard to tell what is missing or destroyed at this stage. When Fargrim returns the house is quiet. He talks with Caramella and check on Karl before going to see Lily. He fills Lily in on the situation. Lily does some scrying on Wellmore but isn’t successful. They update Steve via sending on what happened. The pair then head to their own beds for some rest. 7th of Anarire 1524 On the seventh of Anarire. It's a clear and warm day. Karl sleeps on with his bangles still on as Lily wakes up for her day. She soon wakes him up after speaking with Saryea who rushes off to the temple. While having some time alone with Karl, Lily suggests that they try a ritual to see if Karl could go on a quest for atonement. Xeldarix would help since her new following focuses on second chances. Karl agrees. Lily sets up her incense and offering of chocolate as they start the ritual. She asks "How can Karl prove his commitment to turning away from the darkness inside him?" A small whimper comes out of her as her eyes go full gold without pupils. A crown of white, star shaped flowers materialises around her head. When she speaks, there is another voice under hers. Saying the same things. It is deeper and distinctly male. "Orange not only colour. Many colours. All important." Xeldarix's eyes go back to normal and she blinks before she starts to eat the chocolate with a smile. Lily and Karl theorise over the meaning of something so simple but abstract. Lily recognises the flowers as the Star of Brechtur. She explains they stand for forgiveness and repentance. Once Xeldarix has finished all the chocolate Fargrim wakes up and comments on the crown, asking after Lyra. At breakfast Karl and Lily explain where the crown came from to the best of their abilities. Fargrim believes the flower crown to be too showy and Xeldarix shouldn’t be wearing it. She sulks under the table during breakfast. As soon as Fargrim leaves to go to his training for the day Karl reassures Xeldarix it would probably be okay if she wears her crown. Lily consults Xeldarix and the decide to go to the temple today. During the conversation it becomes clear Xeldarix has been avoiding sleep due to nightmares and this brings up what Karl had done to make them disappear when Phobe visited the house. Lily is quiet while she processes this and Karl explains his actions to Xeldarix as she asks him about some of the words he is using. Xeldarix also learns that the group gets upset when she is hurt because she will not be able to be brought back if she dies. Saryea then returns and takes Karl to the forge while Lily and Xeldarix head to the temple. Karl's mother is very impressed by his work that day and allows him to pick his project. With the ritual from the morning in mind he helps his sister make a shield. Fargrim also has a good day learning to stuff animals. Meanwhile Xeldarix and Lily continue to help around the temple.
After their hard days at work and training, Karl and Lily are the first to arrive back at the manor. The pair speak with Saryea and Saryea explains in more detail to the pair about High Paladin Salma’s injuries from the attack. She was unaware Karl hadn’t been told and had blabbed earlier in the day. They discuss how to possibly find who did it or options for who they think might have done it.
Fargrim stops in to see High Paladin Salma on the way home from work. She looks to be doing better but is still very clearly blind. She tells him their best suspect at the moment is one of the thieves guilds. When she brings up visiting Fulda in jail, Fargrim tells her there is more going on there that meets the eye. After their conversation Fargrim heads to the manor. Once he arrives dinner is served and discussions are had over dinner. They continue to debate who might have stolen the book and which of the thieves guild would be most likely. They also discuss if another Ceremony should be attempted for Karl, but it is put off so Karl may attempt to follow Xeldarix’s strange guidance. After dinner Lily heads to the temple, Fargrim goes to the mage guild and Karl continues to copy spells. When Lily returns she tries to scry on Wellmore. She looks like she is in a lab of sorts. Before her is a beautiful cloak. She's working on the cloak. Dipping her fingers in red liquid, speaking draconic and tracing runes. They flair to life before fading into the cloak unseen. Lily watches for the full 10 minutes but Wellmore is focused on this the whole time. The room around Wellmore is too blurry to allow Lily a good look around. Lily scrys again but this time on Lorenah. She's in a room at a desk.Lily can hear the sounds of water faintly nearby. Like the sea. She's fiddling with a net of sorts. She has a book nearby she sometimes writes in. Lily can see some runes on it. Looks like she's modifying it in some way. After a while Lily pulls the spell away. Fargrim gets in late before everyone is safely in bed, Karl with his bangle on. 8th of Anarire 1524 It's the 8th of Anirire. Another clear and warm day. Lily is the first up. She wakes Karl up and tells him the results of her scrying on Lorenah and Wellmore. They discuss a little what this could mean before getting ready for their day. Fargrim wakes up after Lily and Karl have left to start their day. He quickly leaves for his shift. Fargrim has another great day in the kitchen while Karl continues to impress his mother. Lily and Xeldarix continue their work with Sunnis. At the end of the day Lily and Karl are the first back to the manor. They talk a little about the work Sunnis is doing with Xeldarix, about Nura and about Xeldarix’s temple. Afterwards Karl goes to work in the library until dinner. After dinner Lily leaves to inquire about the missing items from the temple of Niera. She returns a few hours later without having had much luck.
After spending the day in another kitchen Fargrim goes to see High Paladin Salma again. She's looking better than yesterday but her eyes are still foggy in colour. The scarring from the burns is high but she's currently practising using a cane with the help of one of the clerics. Fargrim is concerned that Salma’s eyes aren’t healing. He looks her over and she seems fine. But as he looks over her eyes he notices that her eyes are not actually foggy. They're covered in spiderwebs. They're all through her eyes, blocking her ability to see. This provokes a reaction from Fargrim that has Salma reminding him of his language. He casts Remove Curse on her and feels some resistance but his faith in Haelyn pushes through it. Salma’s eyes clear up and she can see. Fargrim comes to the conclusion that it was either the thieves guild loyal to Cassandra or the Drow who attacked the temple. Salma is quick to remind Fargrim that Drow should not be painted with a wide brush, especially when Cassandra wasn’t from this plane. Afterwards Fargrim goes back to the manor and speaks with Caramella to find she has kept some food in the warmer for him. Lily had tucked Karl into bed before going down to talk to Fargrim. After that they both head to bed. 9th of Anarire 1524 Another clear day and warm day. Lily is up with Fargrim first. Lily meditates a little on her spells first before waking Karl while Fargrim goes downstairs to help with breakfast. At breakfast Karl, who is the last to hear, is told about Salma’s eyes and the likelihood of it being connected to Lolth. Everyone heads off to start their days. Karl does well at the forge, but not as well as he had been doing. Lily takes Xeldarix to see Sunnis and Fargrim continues to train in the kitchen.
Karl gets back to the manor first while Lily picks up some of her order from the blacksmith. When she gets to the manor Karl is ready to start the search by turning into a Giant Eagle. Xeldarix is very upset to find out she has to stay at the manor while Lily and Karl go out flying. Lily casts locate object and goes out flying with Karl to try to find the book.
Lily and Xeldarix arrive at the building. It’s a brick-built blacksmith. It's a two storey building with an enclosed courtyard. The door to the courtyard is currently shut. The brick fence is only as high as one storey though. Lily asks Xeldarix to fly her over the wall, which she does. However, as soon as she crosses the boundary Xeldarix disappears with a teleportation ‘pop’ and Lily drops down into the courtyard. Unfortunately, this caused several branch-like humanoids to come through as well. Lily immediately turns into imp and runs as soon as she’s able to roll to her feet. The creatures get a few hits on her but are trapped in the courtyard as she flies away. Lily quickly meets up with Uqaviel who had been following them, as he always does invisibly, to ask if he saw what happened. Uqaviel explains that the area is hallowed. Wards flared to life as Xeldarix entered the area. He doesn’t believe she went willingly. Lily tries to pray to Xeldarix but doesn’t get a response. She cannot sense where Xeldarix is. Uqaviel suggests they get the others and Lily agrees. She suggests Uqaviel go since he is faster then her. Lily stays to keep an eye on the building.
As Fargrim returns, Uqaviel also arrives. He tells everyone to ready up. When questioned he explains in very little detail about how Xeldarix is missing. Fargrim gets his armour on with Karl’s help and sends Xeldarix a message. Xeldarix’s reply tells Fargrim that she’s in trouble but can’t do anything about it. She doesn’t seem to understand the word count so the end seems a bit cut off. As the group leaves, Steve arrives and joins them. On the way things are explained to him. When they arrive Lily tells them that she hasn’t seen any sign of movement from the area. Karl looks around using the Star of Mo-Pelar. Karl can see some hidden wards with the star. He reveals to the group that it has wards against celestials, teleportation runes and ways to hide these from Celestials and their true sight. Karl tries twice to dispel the teleportation runes, but is unsuccessful. Lily however, by using guidance on herself, is able to dispel it. Uqaviel ferries everyone over the fence since the door to the courtyard is alarmed. Uqaviel is affected by the wards. His mind grows cloudy and hard to focus. The group convinces him to stay behind and wait for them. He does so, but in his own brooding way. The group decides to try and be quiet while investigating. There is a double door to the North in the courtyard and a door to the East. The East door looks like the main shop. Lily tries to open to the double doors, but has no luck. However, Lily is able to open the door to the shop. Inside there are some weapons and armour on display. Two armour dummies as well. There is a door to the left behind the shop desk. Lily doesn’t find any traps in the area but does notice some broken string from the door. A way to see if anyone had broken in. Sadly Karl did not prepared Mending today to fix it. At the door behind the shop counter Lily has some trouble opening the lock. She gets Fargrim to use his Goblin key. Inside they see this is a forge. The equipment dominates the right side of the room. The left side has stairs going up to the second floor. This room also contains a well. There is a metal grate over the well with a lock on it. Looking around Karl can see the forge has had some use but the items here are as shoddy as he expected given the rumours. Lily looks over the well, but it seems to be an ordinary well. The group heads upstairs. Fargrim casts True Sight on himself. As they head upstairs Lily finds a wire going across the stairs and carefully directs people to step over as she tries to unlock the door. It takes Lily a few goes to disable a trap on the door before unlocking it. Once the door is open and the group enters the room they can see this room is a living space. Cooking, dining and such. There is a door facing the space above that you couldn't get into. It's where the stairs below would have started. There is another door on the wall over the shop. Fargrim checks over to see the room and kitchen area have seen some use. Meanwhile, Lily heads for the door that goes to the room above the one they couldn’t get into. Lily finds that the door isn’t locked and takes a look inside. This looks like a meeting room. There is a big long table with 8 chairs. Lily then checks the door to the room that would be above the shop. It’s locked but she doesn’t see any traps. As such unlocks it, she sets off the trap but the needle thankfully hits her armour. Lily then opens the doors. She sees this is a bedroom. No one is currently in it. There is a double window that would look down into the courtyard. To the left of the door you came through in the corner of the room is a cupboard/wardrobe against the wall. On the wall opposite Lily there is a double bed. The room is very minimalist. Lily goes straight into looking through the wardrobe but only has a bad fashion sense. The group looks around the room but doesn’t find much. Lily goes back to the last room and uses a pit from her jacket of useful things to look through the floor to see the stables below. Meanwhile, Fargrim tries to move the wardrobe away from the wall but it doesn’t seem to budge. He investigates the wardrobe and notices the legs can’t be moved even if it’s not obviously bolted down. Aeryn gets stuck under there and Karl has to send her away and summon her back to free her. Karl contemplates fire as a solution. Fargrim, with Saryea’s help, tries to move the wardrobe along the wall. With a push it jumps up slightly and it's like it's on rails. It reveals a door behind it. Lily looks for traps and finds it is indeed trapped. She is able to disable it. Afterwards, she unlocks the door as well to reveal stairs that go down the side of the living space and forge. Lily casts Pass Without Trace on the group. At the bottom of the stairs, they switch back and forth so the group feels like they are still below the blacksmith, where there is a door. Lily finds the door is trapped but is unable to disarm it. Fargrim casts light on his shield to try and help but sadly no luck. Gesturing for the group to back up a bit, she purposefully discharges the track while off to the side. No one is hit by the trap. Lily then spends time trying to open the door but no luck, even when the light spell is used to try and make things easier. Lily uses a window patch and places it on the door. Lily carefully breaks the window and climbs through into a 20x20ft room with large metal doors ahead. Lily and Fargrim cut themselves a little climbing through. Karl does Detect Life once through and peaks under the gap of the doors to sense there are two guards out there. The group charges through the doors after quickly confirming with one another what the goal was here. It seems the guards were waiting for them and the group is told to surrender. Lily ignores this and demands to know where Xeldarix is. The orders from the guards are repeated while Lily is ignored. Karl tries to talk and delay things, but it doesn’t seem to achieve much. Lily darts forward into the room and the guards fire at her. Another individual runs round the corner as the fight breaks out, their weapons ready. Karl fires off a bolt of magical fire before backing up the way they came. Lily takes a breath, allowing her magic to briefly bolster her before taking two strikes at the man in front of her with her sword, which is a bit longer than normal, and is no longer the deep obsidian colour that it has been recently. She gets in two good slashes. Fargrim runs up to attack the other guard, using his divine connection to Haelyn to bolster his attack. He tries for a second swing but doesn’t connect. One of the guards attacks back, getting a hit on Fargrim. Saryea runs in to assist Lily, hitting the guard twice where her first hit is empowered by Neira, causing the guard to be knocked unconscious. Another member of the guild runs around the corder and attacks Lily to try and fend off the attackers from his friend. However, he can’t seem to hit Lily. Steve heals Lily a little before trying out his new staff on the guard Fargrim is attacking. Salma joins the group at the stairs, and calls Neira’s blessings onto most of the group. One of the guards that ran around the corner hits Salma, but she maintains her focus on the blessing. Karl tries to plead with the guild, warning them of a great wrath that will come for them if Xeldarix isn’t released. However, his spell misses as he attacks. Lily continues to attack, slicing twice at the man near her before healing herself a little. The Master of the build walks round the corner with Xeldarix a step behind. A Brecht woman who seems very sure of herself as she forbids Xeldarix from communicating with her friends, which causes Xeldarix to cry a little. She doesn’t speak with them in any way. The woman fires her crossbow at Saryea, who is suddenly paralysed as a strong poison flows through her. Some of the group notice the rings Xeldairx and The Master are wearing would indicate that Warding Bond is in affect. Fargrim holds off attacking but does prepare to attack if he is hit. One of the guards slice into Steve twice and another slices into Lily once which she uses Hellish Rebuke on. One member of the guild drags the unconscious member away, which Salma tries to attack but misses. Steve heals himself a little. Salma continues to attack one of the men attacking her, but misses. The man attacks her in return but also misses. Karl casts Mass Suggestion and the Master of the Guild fails. Karl tells them to “Return things from temples, return Xeldarix and leave Brechlen.” The Master of the Guild enacts these wishes, knowing the items were too hot to sell and Xeldarix would draw too much attention to them. To enact Lolth’s wishes they need to not bring suspicion on themselves. The items are returned and Lily dispels the magic holding Xeldarix in service to the other woman. Xeldarix is clearly still under the effect of something much like Uqaviel was, but Lily is there to look after her. Once they have everything they leave quickly, Karl casting Knock on the front gates that were never opened. Once Xeldarix is away from the building she recovers a little more. However, it is at this point it becomes obvious all Xeldarix has is her sword and a new dress. Her backpack is gone. The loss of Friend upsets her, but she seems too tired to get truly upset about it. When they get back to the manor Karl casts alarm on many points of the manor and Lily tries to scry on certain members of the guild they just fought against but doesn’t have much luck. Fargrim sends two messages to Fulda, but she seems to be more interested in being coy and baiting Fargrim instead of actually respecting the information. Lily takes the book out to Uqaviel and asks him to try and destroy it. Uqaviel prays to Haelyn for the strength to destroy this book and is successful. Karl’s vision grows black and he briefly sees a flash of the strange mind palace he had seen after the Ceremony days ago. The darkness whispers to Karl “I will be back” before it disappears and for the first time since he found the book he feels like his old self again. Everyone settles down for sleep for the night. 10th of Anarire 1524 The day is a cooler summer’s day, with a light breeze and clear. The group has a late big breakfast. They discuss actions for the day. Karl wants to use one of his bloodline abilities to check on the guild but the house is slightly out of range of the blacksmith. They agree that since the cart from Karl’s family shop needs to go back and Xeldarix is still tired, that they take that so she may ride in it while they travel. Fargrim focuses on baking cake while Lily, Karl and Saryea do that. Once in range, Karl sends his bloodline sensor out to look around. He sees the area has been packed up but also heavily graffitied with “Death to Xeldarix” “Burn the Temple of Xeldarix” “Death to the allies of Xeldarix and her temple”. There are also pictures of the group painted on the wall, including Steve, Saryea and Salma being hung with a crucified Xeldarix above them and a red line over her neck. Karl and Lily continue to the forge, stopping by on the way for Xeldarix to be dragged into a bit of clothes shopping so she has something better than a spider web dress. After that Xeldarix and Lily head for the temple while Karl and Saryea are reprimanded by their mother for being late.
Back at the manor Fargrim carefully bakes a cake for June, with a few tips from Caramella, and he gets a little carried away with some of the details. He feels like it would be okay. He makes his way to the mage guild and speaks with June. He apologises and she does as well in her own way. It turns out Karl’s goggles are done and she was already started work on Fargrim’s Non-Elven sneaky boots. They share some cake. Afterwards Fargrim heads downstairs to the library.
Lily arrives at the temple to train some of the members and speak with Selise about the possible problem with the Lolth thieves guild fraction. Selise tells Lily about a priestess from Avani also causing some problems here, but is sure they have time given how far away her back up would be. Afterwards Lily heads to the mage guild to read while Xeldarix naps under the table. A small time later Fargrim joins them. Lily leaves about 5 while Fargrim stays for another hour.
When Lily arrives at the manor, she finds Erin there asking Caramella about Karl. The poor halfling doesn’t the answers the Captain seeks, but when Lily arrives things calm down and Erin is sent practically skipping to the blacksmith to go find Karl. Lily and Xeldarix nap while they wait for dinner.
Fargrim arrives home to help Caramella with dinner.
Erin arrives at the blacksmith and is introduced to Karl’s mother. Things are a little tense but in the end Erin is invited for dinner tomorrow night. Erin offers to walk Karl home after his day in the forge. Dinner and the walk are accepted by various parties. Karl and Saryea are sent back to work while Erin goes shopping in the short time work is happening for the rest of the day. Afterwards she walks Karl home and fills him in on her trip. The storms, the wreckages, getting a meeting with Viona’s second in charge, getting the letter, being attacked on the way back by people sent by Lorenah. Karl tells her in turn about some of the things that happened to him while she was gone. When they return Dinner is served and the group chats. Erin is filled in what happened with a book and a curse. They discuss what they want to do over the course of the week. Karl will continue working at the forge to finish his training, Lily and Fargrim will do their own research and Erin might offer support with the Lolth guild.
Notes
| Name | XP | Total XP | Level at end of Session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 1,200 | 106,135 | 12 |
| Karl | 1,200 | 106,135 | 12 |
| Lily | 1,200 | 106,135 | 12 |
