Session 72: Long Live the Queen Report
General Summary
10th of Deismir 1524 Karl and Erin wake up early at 6am. Erdad bring them coffee and breakfast as Karl shares his mistake in contact Avani. Erdad invites herself to have breakfast with the pair. Erin sends Lily a message about the stones and when she has to pick them up by if she wants them.
Lily gets up at 6:30am to meditate. She receives a message from Erin about the other stones that can be bought. Lily promises to get them soon. Lily relaxes at the manor while waiting for Fargrim to get up.
Karl and Erin continue to talk about the recent events and the robe Karl wants to buy. Erin gives him the coins he needs to make that purchase. This reminds Erin to send Enna to make another payment on the boat being made while she is getting supplies with Wave this morning. Erin asks Wave to contact the dragons so they know she is coming and is welcome. They have a tender moment as Erin struggles a little with her current mentality. She requires gentle reminders about how much coin she was getting out for Karl. Karl spends an hour scribing and at 8am Wave arrives to take the pair through some morning yoga.
At 8am Fargrim gets up. Lily goes and checks on Caramella. Caramella requests magical wards be added to her door to keep her safe if she can’t get to the safe room again in future. Afterwards Lily goes to see Peter to consult about this. He advises the group to get the Master’s form the guild to look at the doorway that the shadows probably came through. However the Symbol spell would be best for Caramella’s door. Fargrim promises to cast Symbol tomorrow. Afterwards, Lily leaves to go shopping and head for the guild. Fargrim has breakfast first before heading for the boat.
After yoga, Karl goes back to scribing. Though he talks with Enna has she comes in to see Erin. Karl asks her about Kosines Sesteath. Apparently the family is full of royal fanatics. That family has been responsible for many trying to get her to go back. So unless he’s breaking away from the family and supporting her, she doesn’t want to see him.
Lily stops by the Fox’s Oddities and gets the Speaking Stones, as well as some dice and a puzzle box. Afterwards Lily heads for the inn/guild to start setting up for the contests.
At 10am Fargrim arrives at the ship. Fargrim updates Erin and Karl about what happened in the middle of the night as he sets up to cast Legend Lore. They are alarmed to hear about the attack and that no one contacted them. In the end the topic is let go as Legend Lore is cast. Fargrim learns: Created by a fallen angel now turned fiend to Krisha, this collar is the worst of both worlds in regards to heaven and hell. With a flare for contracts, this fiend has ensured anyone who tries to escape will suffer time and time again until they beg for death. Pity their words will never again be heard by anyone. Fargrim is uncomfortable with what he learns and wishes to speak with Karl alone about it, which upsets Erin a lot. In the end Fargrim does speak with Karl and Erin. Karl is now more set on asking the Prince of Water for help in this matter. Afterwards Fargrim leaves and heads for the inn/guild.
At 11:30am Fargrim arrives just as Lily finishes her lunch. While Fargrim eats Lily looks over her purchases. The strange dice have numbers in the “common” language from other planes. Then she spends an hour working on her new puzzle box. Much to Fargrim’s dismay. She opens it easily and pulls out the coin from inside. One side is an elven queen smiling kindly and the other side is the same queen looking ghostly and horrifying. Lily uses detect magic and learns the puzzle box is magical. With this all done the contests begins!
At 1pm Erin and Karl bid one another farewell and she sails off. Karl goes invisible before heading off to buy his new robes. Then heads for the mage guild. He finds a very damaged Peter working with students. He speaks with Steve and arranges to talk with the Master’s before going to wait and attune to his new robes. Peter attunes to the staff of defence. At 3pm the Master’s come to speak with Karl. They discuss Peter’s fate and decide that he should stay at the guild for his own preservation for now. They then head for the manor to look at the issue with the doorway. They discuss issues in the city while they work and Sam promises to keep an eye on Crichton in case the whispers in his ear become a problem. Karl evacuates the house as there is a chance that when they remove this anchor point for the doorway, something bad will happen. Afterwards Karl focuses on learning what he can about the process. At 4:30pm Simone and Elliot are dropped at the carriage, but Karl intercepts them and sends them away to find dinner elsewhere tonight. Karl uses this time to contact Fargrim via sending.
Fargrim mishears Karl and believes the portal is already gone. He tells Lily about this during one of the last contests which conclude at 5pm.
At 6pm Fargrim and Lily return to an empty house. Confused, they start to search. Karl comes up when hears noises and Lily heads for the basement as she hears noises. They tell each other about their days as they start to memories speaking stones sigils. Seeing that Caramella won’t be back til morning, Fargrim looks at making some dinner for everyone, including the mages downstairs. They still have an hour left of work. Lily takes a bath and Karl watches the mages work more. Afterwards Lily heads for the library to read and relax til dinner. Xeldarix sits at the top of the stairs to watch the mages work curiously. At 7pm the portal is removed, however it isn’t done so cleanly. Water slams into Karl and the mages that comes out of the doorway. It surges past them and the water forms eight elements that have parts of the harden into armour and tritons. Seeing this and the danger Steve transforms into an air elemental and flies into the centre of the water soldiers, slamming one of them. However, in moving away from one of them, it skewers him with a trident. Lily hears something and calls out to see if everything is okay as she leaves the library. Fargrim leaves his cooking to investigate the problem. Xeldarix grins at the arrival of the creatures and attacks the creature that appeared behind Karl. She gets frustrated as the water creature deforms around her sword for the first two blows, and finally gets it in the end and calls out to Lily and Fargrim about the problem. Chip bends over to grab his fallen cane and disappears in a spray of water as he casts Misty Step and throws acid on one of the creatures. Sam tries to shock the water but can’t seem to touch it. Burke reaches over and grabs Sam's shoulder, instructing him to be still as he fires a ray with the Disintegrate spell. Sam turns white as he sees it hit the creature behind him. Karl pulls the air apart in front of him as four of the elementals are suddenly sucked down through golden portals that open up beneath them. One elemental attacks Xeldarix and Karl, getting a hit in on both of them as the trident freezes over. Another hits Steve twice with a frozen trident and another gets him another two times. Sam is hit three times, but his magical wards soak up some of the damage as a creature hits him 3 times with their trident. Lily gets behind Xeldarix and can’t really get into the thick of things, so she just casts a blessing. Steve in windform attacks one of the elementals, getting a hit in. Sam reaches out again and lightning dances from his hand and strikes the elemental that attacked him. Fargrim demands someone help him get down to the fight as he casts Crusader’s Mantle. Xeldarix looks at the thing in front of her, then at Fargrim, then at the thing in front of her, then back at Fargrim, and disengages from the elemental, squeezes next to Lily, and tries to pick him up and throw him at the elemental. She hurls him down the stairs and Fargrim catches himself and lands on his feet. Chip fires off a green ray but is disappointed when it misses. "Fiddle sticks!" Burke fires off another disintegrate spell, hitting his target. Karl sculpts a fireball around the group and kills two of the elementals. He shakes the heat from his hands and wipes sweat from his forehead as he overchannels his magic. One of the elementals attack Fargrim and hit, but the trident doesn’t freeze over this time. Another attacks Steve and gets two hits in with a normal trident. Lily reaches down the stairs around the edge of the wall to stab at the nearest water soldier. She hits him twice. Steve continues slamming into the last elemental he can see. Sam carefully reaches through Steve’s air form, complaining about how weird it is as he zaps the elemental inside there. Fargrim swings at the elemental in front of him, filled with confidence and zeal after his death-defying jump. Xeldarix, now that throwing people around is done, slashes into the elemental three times. Chip waits to allow the younger generation to finish the battle. Burke lets lose 3 magical darts but doesn’t quite bring down his target. Karl however sends off his own darts to join Burke’s and finishes the job. The elemental facing Fargrim and Xeldarix has his trident freeze over again as he successfully attacks both of them. Lily uses this opportunity to reach around the corner and finish it off. The elementals disappear, leaving a puddle behind with the armour and tridents remaining. With them gone Xeldarix toys with the idea of hitting Karl until the ones that banished return. While Karl convinces her not to, Chip encourages the group to look through their remains as sometimes they have magical essence remaining and motes. Karl notices some small crystals of ice as Lily finds some sea foam that looks different from the rest of the water that she is currently putting in vials. Burke explains the crystals will not need vials but the foam does. There are 24 little crystals. 3 of them seem to be more purple then the others. There is enough foam for 3 vials. Fargrim rushes back to the kitchen so his roast doesn’t burn. The vials of foam are given to Sam for June and they all enjoy a roast dinner. At 8pm the mages leave and Sam is given all but two crystals to take back to the guild. Karl contacts Simone to invite her back to the manor and she is coming with cake then goes about identifying the two crystals, trident and armour. Fargrim goes upstairs to remove some curses and Lily works with Xeldarix on some Elvish. The group retires for the night using the dome to stay safe after Simone arrives with cake. Motes of Elemental Water. Appears as a small shard of ice that glows with blue light. If covered in water or dropped in water, casts Create Water, centred on the mote. Can be used as the material component of a Commune spell to contact a deity in the Elemental Plane of Water. Using either of these abilities destroys the mote. Heart of Waves. Appears as a small shard of ice that glows with purple light. If covered in water or dropped in water, casts Create Water, centred on the mote. Can be used as the material component of a Commune spell to contact a deity in the Elemental Plane of Water. Using either of these abilities destroys the mote. In addition to its other properties, it can be mastercrafted (conjuration) by a spellcaster into a portal to the Elemental Plane of Water. The portal is stationary in the location it is crafted. Armour of Myrmidon. Water elementals ritually bound to this armour have no will of their own. They do not remember being free or anything before the armour was bound to them. They exist only to follow the commands of whoever bound them. Trident of Freezing Strikes. (Recharges on a 6) For every attack made in your normal attack action that hits deals an extra 5 (1d10) cold damage. A target that is hit by one or more of these attacks has its speed reduced by 10 feet until the end of your next turn. The tridents and armour are stored in the basement. Before going to bed Karl communicates with Pemri about Erin sailing for his lair and communicates the outcome with Erin. 11th of Deismir 1524 Everyone gets up at 6am to get ready for the day. Many prepare their spells. Fargrim goes to cook breakfast, but finds Caramella is already there and doing so. They tell Caramella they are leaving for a trip and aren’t sure when they will return. The group discusses some plans for the day ahead and Karl gives Lily a magical rapier to give Raiarr to borrow for the adventure. They get Simone to do a reading for them about the witches. What creatures do the witches have defending them? “Trust no one who wander the forests where witches circle, for three fey who sever the Queen of Willow might offer to help but not for the greater good. Instead for their own good to satisfy their own jealousy of the Forgotten Lord’s favoured follower. Beware the were, for many who have gone missing have changed in body mind and soul against their will. Five of the witches have one each as a personal pet. They easily enchant those ruled by the moon. Watch out for true intent as the Queen of Willow will try and appeal to your personal needs to bring you over to her side and when this fails the crystals will aid her.” Simone reveals she has been given Timest’ Road to manage right now due to her position being taken over by another noble after her parents were killed. Her cousin was to take Timest’ Road in her place. The Lord wants to see if she can manage the red light district before allowing her to take such a large district. Lord Conradin manages Stormgate and he is known by the group to be one of the Unchained. Afterwards Karl leaves to see his family before they all leave town. Lily relaxes with Xeldarix doing more Elvish lessons. Fargrim relaxes and prepares for the day as well.
Karl speaks with his father and mother, updating them on key parts of what he’s been up to but leaving out things that would upset them too much. They are now aware of Peter. On the way back to the manor Karl sells some gems.
At 9am Fargrim communicates with High Paladin Salma about getting some Paladins and was able to get four who will meet them at the manor.
At 10am Karl returns to the manor when the paladins arrive. After a brief exchange Saryea heads out to see the family before heading to the adventurer’s guild. The group discusses resources needed for going into the wilderness and magical components that might be needed like diamonds. Karl is given money to go and buy two 300 gold diamonds. Karl returns to find Lily, Xeldarix and Fargrim taunting one another in Elvish and Dwarven. Karl defuses the situation and the group leaves. They get lunch on the way to the adventurer’s guild.
The group arrives at 11:30am. Molly and the recruits are waiting downstairs. Flux has a report for Lily that he offers straight off the bat, his eyes looking over the group. Flux has a request that Karl take a Gnoll with him that is from Poden and would like to return to their tribe. When Saryea arrives they head upstairs to have a mission briefing. This includes the groupings and their goals in each group. There is a brief question period for the people joining them but they are all determined to help. The current teams are: Witch Assault Team
- Karl
- Lily
- Fargrim
- Bailey
- Godwyn
- Marabel
- Raiarr
- Khee
- Emilia
- Lancion
- Xeldarix
- Hoelat
- Corey Tradd
- Rasziver “Sandy” Albe
- Rocky Ryser
- Celaser
- Inden
- Saryea Moller
At 12:30pm the main group teleport to Poden. Karl leads them all downstairs and the Gnoll leaves the group. They go down to briefly see Miss Berry and learn where to find Inden. Apparently they are found in the large park near a fountain. They leave to go find this location. After arriving at the park they find Inden as a male Spring presenting Eladren sitting among the bushes talking to some squirrels. They catch Inden up with what is happening and check if they still want to come help. Confirming that they do, the group considers how to get there. Inden suggests boat since it will be slightly faster. They head to the port and Inden is able to find them a boat that will indeed take them to the east point of the lake where an obelisk is that Karl and Fargrim have visited before. Their boat leaves at 1:30pm. Karl contacts Lily to let her know where to meet them.
After hearing from Karl, Lily changes her path slightly to head for the new meeting point. She arrives at 4:15pm. Xeldarix is really impatient with the wait so they go to briefly find where the tree is and return to wait in a hidden location.
At 7:30pm the boat arrives at the East and the group wades through the water to the bank and towards the obelisk. Lily meets them there. Karl sets up the mansion before they talk in great detail about what Lily saw when she did some scouting with Xeldarix. In the mansion there’s a large feast hall with tables and chairs, and along the back wall are rooms with nameplates on them. Everyone has their own room. Lily starts to set up for her hero's feast spell. While Lily does this, the group considers where the backup group should be. The obelisk is decided to be too far away. They will instead travel with the main group and be about 10 minutes away from the witch camp. Raiarr is given a Dragon Wrath Rapier from Karl. Lily has Bailey, Godwyn, Marabel, Raiarr, Khee, Karl, Fargrim, Emilia, Lancion, Xeldarix, and Hoelat join her for her magic feast, and again apologises to the others that she can only serve the special meal to 12 people. Lily’s feast has a large roast, mashed potatoes, fresh fruits, and chocolates, served with each person’s choice of wine or hot chocolate. Not wanting to be outdone, Karl gestures to the servants. The spectral figures direct the remainder of the force to the tables where they set menus and pencils in front of them for the guests to mark their orders. At 9pm the group finishes eating. Xeldarix takes Fargrim’s Speaking Stone so she can keep in contact with the group tomorrow. Afterwards everyone heads to bed early to be ready for an early day tomorrow. 12th of Deismir 1524 At 4:30am Karl, Lily and Fargrim get up to get ready for the day. At 5am the group gets everyone else up. After some breakfast and a clarification of what they are doing the group sets off at 6am.
At 8am the group is attacked by a group of large wolves with a clear pack leader. The group defends themselves well but it becomes clear very quickly this pack leader was after the most blooded individual in the group, Lily. Lily stabs it through the heart, fearing it might have Azari’s taint. It does and believes that if it had infected more people that it would have ended their mission early to take on the witches today if someone became ill as a result. The group continues to make their way to the witches.
The next two hours are uneventful. However in the last four the area has a heavy fog. Raiarr's sense of direction and lily's memory of the location combat this well. He is able to find a good place to leave xeldarix's team before heading for the tree itself. The group arrives there at 10am. As the separate group approaches the large tree they can see a young lady walking around the bogs with a bear giggling at the statues, sometimes pausing to cast a spell which makes the petrified person move into a different position to look more like an artful statue. Before heading in, Lily ritually casts walk on water, Karl ritually cast telepathic bond and Fargrim makes a motivational speech. The group moves as a bundle together as Karl uses some powder to make them all invisible. The group approaches from the south of the bog and works their way around the back of the tree where Karl makes a new door with Passwall. Everyone is able to push through the wards and not be drawn into the bog. The wall opens up to a lady eating at a table with a bear by her side. She frowns at the opening in the side of the tree. The door to the south is closed. The lady questions Karl but the group jumps to attack before too much happens. The lady seemed to expect this and reacted in kind. Most of the party waits for the more aggressive members to attack. This alerts the other witches to a problem. Over the course of the fight, 4 bears are knocked out and one is dispelled. An unconscious one is also dispelled. However, the bear that was dispelled seems to struggle with the situation. However, before this is achieved Khee is bitten by one of the bears and cursed. Two of the witches are dominated by bailey and are questioned before they are killed. Two others are killed in combat. One was knocked down, but snuck off after recovering. However was petrified in the bog. The bewitched witches tell Bailey:
- What is happening to the werebears? The witches aren’t sure. They speculate that this is because they aren’t often allowed to be human anymore. One thinks he might be remembering the things they made him do.
- What secret rooms and entrances are there? None. Just stairs going down to the queen.
- What is protecting the queen? The queen has many crystals protecting her. Sometimes the crystals become golems. She is a powerful spellcaster.
- Are the witches protected from the bogs? Yes. There were plans for the forged to be sent places as ornaments if the witches had captured them.
- How do you get people out of the crystals? The queen and the man courting her do a ritual to turn them into crystals. Not sure how to turn them back. Maybe similar ritual? Witches are unsure. They don’t know for sure.
- Who is courting the queen? Morningsteel is courting the queen, but he is also courting Lady Justina of Paschat (the Banshegh). This is part of a plot to give the Banshegh a larger reign and have less of the Lady Justina around. However the queen is also dating someone from the feywild.
- What is the Queen’s name and what else do you know about her as a person? Iris Talbot. She was a Brecht woman who became a fey after her bloodline started to change her. Ruthless. She’s rather old. She servers her patron.
- Did Karl just kill the person inside the crystal by removing it from the wall? Those gems don’t have people in them.
- What do you know about your queen’s patron? He’s a fiend. They don’t know much about him. They do his bidding and they get power. His main interactions are with the queen. He has many disguises. He lets down his disguises once in the tree. He mainly looks like a tiefling.
- Close your eyes and picture his true form. A tiefling. Bigger and bulker. Big horns. Has a cloak, red skin, pure eye eyes. There is a burn mark on his forehead of an eye with a slash through it. Claws like nails.
- A strange crooked wand made of rosewood with a strange white hair trapped in the centre of it.
- A necklace with a cat on it. The necklace comes to life to defend the witch but Karl removes it with a spell. Sometimes they will imbue items with the souls to make magical objects.
Notes
| Name | XP | Running Total | Level at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 10,166 | 172,956 | 15 |
| Karl | 10,166 | 172,956 | 15 |
| Lily | 10,166 | 172,956 | 15 |
