Session 76: Caves and Cages Report
General Summary
16th of Deismir 1524 continued After a blood burst and a kobold fight, the group starts to search the body of the boss Kobold. Lily finds a key and a large gem on a gold chain around his neck. Afterwards they continue to explore. They unlock a door, but Lily can hear someone on the other side. Lily speaks to them and they request help. As Lily opens the room a chill comes out of the room. The room inside is clearly colder than the hallway. Inside you can see crates, barrels and a butcher table with meat on it. The supplies include a variety of dried and salted meat, grain and vegetables. There are also a few casks of wine and vinegar. At the back of the room are two humans in a locked caged off area. One is trying to peel potatoes by feel and the other is shivering in the corner. The group lights up the room, but the people seem to struggle to see. These people are been here for a long time and they’re not sure exactly how long. They are rather hurt and are slow to walk. It is clear how little they have eaten and how much that has affected their body. Fargrim uses his goblin key to open their cage after Lily fails to pick the lock. Lily gives them some rations to share once they have been taken back to the entrance. Lily summons a crystal dragon to defend and to watch over them. As the group heads back to keep searching Karl and Lily activate their stone skin abilities. They check over a main living space for the kobolds. There are nests of blankets, straw and such around the majority of the room. They both note that this space looks like it holds more Kobolds than they have fought. The right wall is a caged off area with humans in it. They are very still. Many clinging to one another as they seem to wait nervously in the dark. Lily notices some of the blankets are a really fine silk that might be worth something. Lily tries to pick the lock while Karl uses his wand of detect magic. He confirms there is no magic here and uses a chime to open the door. They take these people back to the entrance to join the other two. Afterwards they send Aeryn to scout ahead who sees a secret door near another they haven’t checked yet. When the group goes down to this area, Lily and Karl see the door. Though Lily hears something on the side of the non-secret door. Lily unlocks the non-secret door. Lily slowly opens it to see heaps of cloth and bits of battered furniture in the place. It looks like it is likely the bedroom for the boss Kobold. Looking around, Lily can tell that there are at least three living things hiding among the furniture and heaps of cloth. Also the edges of what seems to be a chest. An old blanket hung on the wall looks oddly weighted in the corners. Lily tries to talk them and one of them tries to stab Lily as she looks into their hiding place. One of the kobolds is quickly killed and the other two are persuaded to surrender by Lily. The kobolds tell the group there are more slaves further into the lair where they serve or be served. They consider the Master to be the land who made their mate strong and powerful. The group tells the two kobolds they will be allowed to leave where they should run and get as far from this place as possible. The group tells the kobolds a little bit about the curse on the land. The group warns the people they saved before allowing the kobolds to walk past them. They decide it is time to send these people to Brechlen as they do not believe any sent on are still alive. Karl casts Private Sanctum to block planar travel in the area they will be teleporting. Fargrim sends a message to the mage guild to get a time to arrive and warn them. Karl will be going with them and taking them to the Temple of the Lady Xeldarix. Meanwhile Lily explains to them what will happen before leading them through some exercises to get their muscles moving a bit more. Ten of the people do the exercises as Lily leads them. Another two try and are clearly having a lot of trouble. The other two look unable to try and will need to be pushed. Lily arranges that and Karl teleports the group away leaving Lily, Fargrim and Xeldarix behind.
At 9:30am Karl runs through into the mage guild where Steve is waiting and helping some of the people. Steve talks with the 14 refugees and Karl, learning they are from a town named Crogwil. Karl remembers about eight months ago the whole town mysteriously disappeared. Kobolds, Rocs and a bull creature had grabbed them in the middle of the night. They have never been to Brechlen before. Karl hires a carriage/cart to take the people to the temple.
With Karl gone, Fargrim and Lily go back over to check the areas they have cleared of monsters. They check over the junk room first a thin silver chain set with 5 small gems. Then moves to the big cage area, checking the bodies as they go. The bodies have a total of 29 gold and 19 silver. They found silk in the common area with the large cage last time and nothing new found now. They checked the room that belonged to the boss where they found a chest and noticed the blanket on the wall seemed to be weighted at the corners. The dead Kobold has 6 gold. Lily goes over to look at the blanket hanging on the wall that has weighted corners. She tears it open to find 50 gold in coins. She looks over the chest and believes the chest has a trick lock, so they don’t open it. Fargrim agrees with this. Then turn Fargrim into a giant eagle and head up to the boat to start flying back.
At 10:30 am Karl arrives with the people at the temple. He heads in to see Selise and he explains the situation to her. He gives her 140 gold to help these people with the idea of giving the money to the people when they are ready. Karl then spends some time talking to the people. At 11am Saryea, Salma and two clerics arrive to help with the refugees. Karl updates his sister on what has happened. Then messages Lily to tell her everyone is safe at the temple and they arrange to pick Karl up in half an hour.
As Karl walks out of the city towards the meeting spot at 11:30am he can see the flying boat descending. Lily takes the boat down to pick Karl up before turning around to head back to the caves. They update one another on what happened. At 1pm the group arrives back at the cave. Once again Fargrim is turned into a giant eagle with a hint of golden tips. They head straight for the secret door. Ahead of the group is a hallway 30 ft long which is decorated with heads and skulls in various stages of decay. These cheerful greetings are placed in niches which checker about 100 square feet of the surface of the wall. Lily and Aeyrn can hear faint movement off to the right of the T intersection up ahead. Only Lily catches one of the heads directly ahead in a niche moving and quickly replaced with a goblin head that is still and unmoving. Lily tries to sense celestials, fiends or undead but there are none. They try to stealth forward. As Lily looks around to the right to four orcs that haven't noticed the group, there are two around the left corner that do see Lily. The orcs really lay into Lily but she marks them as her prey as the group slowly thins out the herd. Fargrim invokes his spirit guardians to discourage many from getting too close and if they do then they will quickly fall. In the end the group kills 20 orcs and their leader. Xeldarix and Karl provide consistent firepower to help with this large force and the occasional fireball. Their leader is magically held in place by Karl and Xeldarix dispatches him. There is a blood burst from the last orc they killed which effects Karl and Lily stabs the boss through the heart to absorb his bloodline. With that resolved the group goes back to searching. Discovering the viewing location Lily had briefly spotted when they entered the area. There is a discussion about bloodlines and feelings as they search. There is 90 gold between the orcs. The leader has 31 gold, he is wearing chain mail and his shield looks especially shiny. He has a ring set with a gem on it on his hand. He also has a key. They collect the gold, ring and key. Karl discovers the shield is enchanted and puts it into his bag. As they move on they discover seven people in a cage. Karl uses the Driftglobe to softly light up the area. They are also from Crogwil. They are very grateful to be realised and move to the beds the orcs had to rest and have some rations while the group continues to search deeper. They find a storage area with four more people in here. They are freed and taken to the main area with the others. Then the group moves to the bedroom of the boss of the orcs in this area. Lily and Karl find two secret areas. One to the West. There are two complete suits of chain mail here (man-sized and dwarfsized), 4 swords, and a locked iron chest. To the South in the corner there is a hidden door with a keyhole. The group leaves the items and continues through the South door after Lily unlocks it. It leads to a 60x20 room with a small table and two chairs in the middle of the room. There is a wooden chest to one side. There are buckets and other odds and ends around the place. Lily opens the chest after unlocking it. It holds a bow, a quiver of 20 arrows, 2 swords, 2 daggers, two shields. Two small pouches with a gem and coins in them. Lily puts them all in a bag of holding. The group continues through the other door and walk down a hallway, checking the door on the right. Lily checks it over and then opens it. She can hear movement inside. Karl uses his blood ability to detect life and learns there are two living, healthy creatures inside. As Lily carefully moves in an orc attacks Lily shouting out a warning of intruders to alert the area to the Forged. Another fight breaks out with 28 orcs and their leader. In the room is just one of the orcs and the leader. The orc distracts the group so the leader could turn into an owl and flee to the rest of his men. The orcs funnel into the hallway with Lily, Xeldarix and Fargrim act as a wall as Karl retreats to throw fire from a distance. The forces outnumber and hit the team hard in an attempt to chip them down, but despite this force the group is able to slowly but surely take them down. Fargrim calls down a flame strike on the group, Lily summons her spirit guardians and Karl continues to try and pick them off one by one, including the owl that had turned back into his humanoid form to fight the group. Once the fight was over, Lily blessed the group in case of a blood burst. Karl asks to finish off the boss and does so, taking all the bloodline. Meanwhile Lily is checking over the others and finds 349 silver, 12 gold and 17 platinum on all the bodies, each orc has a great axe and a set of platemail (28). The leader has a silver belt with a gold buckle, he has another sword that he didn't use which has a gem set into the pummel, a key and a bracelet of ivory. Lily collects the key, coins, and the leader's sword, belt, and bracelet, along with the shiny axe. She also discovers one is still alive. She kills this one but allows the blood to spill so others may have some of the bloodline. Lily, Fargrim and Xeldarix get some. Fargrim feels a great weight lift from his shoulders after this wave. The group takes a moment and are cautious about moving forward knowing another battle like that could end poorly for them. Karl warns the group he has one big spell left and if he uses it everyone needs to run. He can only protect them for a few seconds from it. They start searching the bosses room. Fargrim and Karl find on the left side of the room stacks of barrels and boxes and sacks. (The one notable thing from the supplies is: One small wine barrel, 8 lbs in weight, contains a good quality wine). The rest of the food does not seem to be up to human standard. Lily finds on the right side of the room that the area is well furnished, and a small chest of drawers contains a sack which has a rope tightly sealing it shut no matter how much Lily tries to pull at it. There is also a copper bowl, finely wrought and chased with silver, on a small table near the bed. However, it is filled with garbage and very tarnished. Lily collects the strange sack and tarnished bowl. Fargrim suggests they take the tun of wine for Erin which Karl agrees to. The group doesn’t search the remaining areas when they find a concealed door near where the battle took place. Lily uses one of her many keys to open it. A hallway 30 ft long leads to another door which they carefully open. There are two cages in this room. One has a large human that looks wild. He has mighty muscles, shaggy hair, a beard and wild eyes that look unseeing in the dark at the noise the door made. The other has three hobgoblins in it. There is an iron door to Lily's right. Lily quickly reassures them she is there to help. The hobgoblins are quick to accept the help but the human looks around the room wildly. Lily tries to open the cage with her keys but she doesn’t seem to have the right one and can’t pick the lock. Meanwhile Karl tries talking to the wild man that seems he can still understand what people are saying. He wants to fight but doesn’t clarify who. The hobgoblins do not complain about having to wait while the group goes to but the key but the human starts violently kicking and hitting at the bars as he yells loudly. The group moves to the metal door and learns it is locked. Lily tries to pick it but fails again. Karl pulls a long thin chime out of his robes and points it at the door, ringing out a loud clear note. The door unlocks. Lily and Fargrim hear foot steps approaching. Fargrim hears them say something but does not understand what they said. Fargrim calls for everyone to get back as he takes the lead. Lily allows Fargrim to take the lead, and readies an action to throw a fist of fire at the first hostile-looking creature to appear down the hallway. There is a bit of a waiting game as each group crept up to the corner and held their attacks to wait for the other to appear. Xeldarix tries to heal as much of the group as she can before the action kicks off. Eventually Fargrim moves forwards and the fight kicks off properly. Fargrim relies on his sword, Lily summons some spirit guardians and Karl continues to throw fire and manages to pull the most concentrated magic out of the weave. The boss tries to run but the part runs after him and brings him down before he can escape. As they’re killing the leader by Lily stabbing him in the heart, another bugbear back where the main fight took place has a blood burst which Karl absorbs. Fargrim tries to get between Xeldarix and Lily to ensure she isn’t hit but it was unnecessary. The group searches the bodies. The bugbears have 138 gold on them. The leader has a pouch with a key, 29 platinum pieces and a bag of gems. Lily collects the coins, gems, and key. Afterwards they return and release the hobgoblins. The hobgoblins tell them how to find the minotaur’s area. Lily leads the hobgoblins to the other prisoners and will spend 10 minutes there to give Karl and Fargrim time to talk to the mad man. As Karl and Fargrim try to talk with the mad man. He doesn’t talk much sense and seems to be about fighting. They contemplate using magic to help his mind but delay it in case they need their magic later. In the end Karl and Fargrim wait for Lily so they can release him. They talk with her over what they had discussed. In the end they release him and open the door towards the minotaur and block the way out. The mad man cowers before ignoring the group. Then suddenly running through the door and hits a wall as he runs blindly. After he finds some bodies he picks up their morningstar and starts bashing in the skulls of the dead creatures. Finally the man stops running and attacking bodies as he runs into a door up the slope. Lily unlocks the door and the man attacks her but misses. Inside there are piles of bedding and old garments here and there. There is a fireplace and an urn inside. Karl looks over the urn, which he discovered is covered in soot but beneath the soot is silver. From her spot Lily can see the style looks like something you might expect to find in a noble household. Karl was going to take it but when he saw there was trash inside he decides to leave it behind. The man becomes overcome by emotion and is sad before attacking Fargrim. Fargrim gets rid of his light spell since it is obviously upsetting the man. Meanwhile Lily looks over the room, trying to find the secret door. Which she finds as well as a chest on a high ledge and a rather shiny axe on the wall. The chest and axe are left for the moment as she opens the secret door. They go through and find some hidden runes that glow faintly before fading when Lily trips a trap which effects her. It looks like a confusion spell but... not a confusion spell. It seems to be targeted towards the sense of direction. Meanwhile the mad man has attacks Fargrim which has Karl threaten to kill him. However, Lily just reminds the group the man is not in his right mind. As they enter a cavern space, Karl supposes Aeryn to allow her to scout ahead. This goes well to get an idea of the area around them until some stirges attack Aeryn. She is able to get away and the group is able to take care of them. Xeldarix, Lily, Karl and Fargrim have stirges that start to drain them. One that drinks from Xeldarix starts to swell in size and has a reaction to the blood. However, Xeldarix quickly kills it. With the battle done, Fargrim heals himself as he seems to have taken the most damage as the pests tried to drain him dry. Once again Karl sends Aeyrn off to scout ahead. Meanwhile Lily manhandles the crazy man to keep him was wandering off or attacking anyone. Aeyrn finds a large stone carved door but then Karl looses his connection to her after a bright flash. The group carefully moves towards the door and Lily checks the door for traps. It is not, but it is locked. Karl pulls the chime from inside his cloak, taps it against the wall and points it at the keyhole when Lily can’t pick the lock. Karl leads the group into the new area. The odor in this cavern is awful. Bones and rotting corpses are spread here and there amidst a litter of dead leaves and old branches. A large bear like owl like creature attacks Karl and it has a friend. They are quickly killed and the group continues to explore. This portion of the cavern is very wet, and all of the walls and the floor have a sheen from the dampness. There is a large pool of shallow water. Karl casts Mage Hand and directs the hand to dip into the water and fish around for anything down there. As Karl does this, the water moves and raises up with fish in it, but then the fish flow down into the water but some of the water is moving and becoming more obviously a somewhat solid thing. It moves towards Karl and a fight breaks out. The group withdraws when the water attacks and they are not sure how much damage they are doing and water seems to be acidic. The mad man’s morningstar breaks and he is sad. He continues to try and attack the water but Xeldarix grabs him and drags him away. Karl summons the void to consume the water after they shut the door. The group is weary of continuing or moving forward with how spent they are. Xeldarix hears Aeyrn though and leads the group towards her. Aeyrn is is visible in the centre of a large area, letting out soft cries. Karl can tell she saw a bull and a bright flash. She’s now scared. Lily tries to get to Aeyrn so they can get out of here. The area seems to be effect Xeldarix, Uqaviel and Aeyrn. The minotaur appears and taunts the group, getting into a fight with the group. The minotaur targets Xeldarix and Karl tries to cage the beast with a Forcecage. However, the beast teleports out and appears next to Karl. Xeldarix is sent to a maze mid fight, however the bull is soon killed after that. Uqaviel loses his cool with his ward going missing which causes part of the cave to collapse onto the party. Karl, believing the bull to be blooded, steps up to plunge the dagger into the heart of the bull. However, the demonic nature of the bull causes it to explode in a spray of poison which hits Karl. As the poison coats Karl there's a sharp cracking noise as a spell triggers and covers his body with a faint shield that slowly fades from view due to his contingency spells. The group starts to head out. Lily peaks behind the boulder to the area the minotaur came out of. The boulder has almost slid back to fully cover the gap, but there is enough room for Lily to wiggle through. There are two chests and a coffer in here. The room looks like a trophy room. Amongst the various skulls (some still have spinal cords attached) is a spear, a staff and full set of plate mail with elven detailing. Using the wand to detect magic, Lily sees the spear, staff and plate mail is magical. Lily takes the spear and staff but leaves everything else. She also finds a key. Karl puts the removable rod in place to stop the boulder from moving back. As they start walking back to the bugbear area they talk about their plans. However the man starts to attack the group again which means they restrain him and look at trying Greater Restoration. Xeldarix revealed there are still scared thoughts in this area too and there are also some in the orcs area. Fargrim prays and restores the man’s sanity. He’s a little confused about what he witnessed before. The group allow him to think Uqaviel was a figment of his imagination but the bull was real. The man’s name is Gregory. He’s also from Crogwil. The group then wants to leave but Xeldarix refuses to leave. She says there are still people here and wants to check areas they skipped past. However it becomes obvious through the discussion Lily is having a hard time keep track of where they are and where they have been. As they back track they find a storage room in the bugbear area. Looks like a storage room. There is a metal shield that seems to be used to dry some strange dried herbs. There are also various boxes, barrels, tun, kegs and crates. Lily tries to see if there is a secret exit in the room but is pretty sure there isn’t one. The shield looks to be of good quality. In the crates there are high quality dried or salted foodstuffs. A bunch of good quality leather ready to work. 3 barrels of ale, a tun of wine, and a small keg of oil (20 flask capacity). They leave everything but grab one box of food from the room for the temple. Another room in the bugbear area is unlocked to reveal piles of straw and at the back is a cage. In the cage there are 3 kobolds, 1 goblin, 2 humans, 1 dwarf and 2 elves. The humans, elves and dwarf are an adventuring group while the kobolds and goblin tried to rebel against the use of slaves in the caves here and became slaves themselves. They warn about a cleric here that invoked the Cold Rider name. In the adventuring group, named the Winter Light Guard, there was:
- A Brecht man in his mid 30s named Breolli Keseau. Their hunter and scout.
- One of the elves is a drow, but they look a little different to any drow the group has seen before. They look about the same age as Erin... you think. Their name is Tarielye Solkir and is their researcher.
- The other elf is a true drow. She looks to be a little younger then the other elf. Ellalan of House Bura is a cleric of Neira.
- The Dwarf looks to be a mountain Dwarf. His name is Olotg Larthath. Their arms specialist and leader.
Fargrim magically heals Lily to remove the magic messing with her sense of direction. They test this by allowing Lily to navigate back to the storage room with the good food and take it to the entrance. Xeldarix seems happy to leave as she cannot feel anymore distressed thoughts in the areas they pass through. They also grab the things from the minotaur area. At 5:15pm they leave for Brechlen and Lily sends Karl the message to give him an ETA.
When Karl steps out of the portal into the library, he is pale, dirty and probably still has some green goop in his hair from the explosion. Those who can walk give piggy backs to those who can’t. When he arrives at the temple and receives the message from Lily.He gives 30 platinum to Selise so each person will get 10 gold each when she deems it the right time to give them the funds. Karl takes the time to contact Erin, update her on his day. Erin admits she is struggling, even more so since her new moral officer pointed out how low her own was. Karl gives her a cheerleader moment which seems to help a little. Erin seems to have a plan to try and help herself but doesn’t go into detail. She’ll be doing that in the lead up to Simone’s party. Karl takes a moment to talk to the Winter Light Guard. They’ll be around for a few days while they try and do a few jobs and will plan as they go. Karl mentions the guild Lily runs to them. It seems at some point in their adventures they had discovered some strange silver stakes in the ground that appeared one day. They have fey markings. Karl promises to talk to the mage guild for the group to see if they can get access. Karl spares Gregory a moment before leaving to head for the meet up site and gets a rentable cart on the way for Lily to use. There he identifies the staff as a Staff of healing before starting a short rest.
At 6:45pm the boat descends to meet Karl 20 minutes into his short rest. Xeldarix and Lily load up the cart and head for the temple while Fargrim and Karl stay with the boat. While Lily is gone, Fargrim and Karl discuss what to do with the place of power. Lily grabs some street food snacks on the way back for the group.
At 8:30pm Lily and Xeldarix return. They start to fly back to the place of power. Karl identifies some things along the way.
- Ivory bracelet isn’t magical.
- Rope of climbing
- +1 spear
- +1 axe
- +1 Shield
At 10pm the group arrives back at the caves. They leave the boat up high. The group goes to the room where they had found the smaller kobolds and it seemed to be a bedroom. There they close the door, Karl’s sets up tiny hut. They take watches overnight. 17th of Deismir 1524 Lily and Karl get up at 6:30am. Karl learns Aeryn can see again this morning. Lily makes some tea for the group and at 7am Fargrim wakes up. Fargrim wakes up to a smoky room that has a faint cough tickling the back of his throat. The group takes time to talk over tea and plan. Fargrim will work on breakfast while Lily and Karl want to recheck some areas and grab stuff they missed. As the pair search the second area, Lily hears something moving but when she trips into the hallway the sound stops. The pair quickly try to leave when they hear singing as the creatures try to entice them to stay. Karl naturally resorts to fire and Lily uses her magic to hone in on targets. With a casting of slow, the nearly overwhelming hazard of harpies that attack and take a liking to him. This angers them and they tear into him, hurting him badly before disintegrating the last one. They search the bodies. Lily finds 2 pp, 38 gp, 5 sp and 5 gems amongst the harpies. She is also thinks their vocal cords could be of use. Maybe even their eggs if they were ovulating. Lily collects the coins and gems.
Meanwhile back at the front of the cave where Fargrim cooks and attempts to involve Xeldarix, they talk. A bit of a heart to heart. He has the audacity to tell her that he existed before Karl and Lily, and so did she.
Realising that more things might have snuck in while they slept, Lily and Karl head back to Fargrim and arrive at 7:30am. Xeldarix gets annoyed when she finds out the pair had been attacked, Fargrim knew and didn’t tell her. However, this fades as Fargrim’s hair and beard turn green, Karl’s turn blue and Lily’s hair purple. Xeldarix is blamed and she doesn’t dispute it. They discuss Simone’s party and inviting Erin since she’s been having a hard time being blind. At 8:15 breakfast is ready. Uqaviel is even given a plate where he and Fargrim have an awkward exchange. The group decides to try and find an end to the caves before doing a proper search through the caves. At 9:15 the group starts to sneak through the caves with Lily casting Pass Without Trace. In the bugbear area, Lily hears movement in the area where the good food was stored. Xeldarix indicates there are 4 people in the room. They knock and speak with someone who is very defensive. The harpies chased them in here. The Forged suggests they leave but hears nothing and the group moves on. Eventually make their way back to the stone door that led to the grey water that attacked them. Inside the ground is strangely sticky but doesn't seem much different from how they left it. Karl casts detect magic to look around the area. Near where they disturbed the water, they find a tube made of bone and . The group continues to explore. To the South there is a small crevice that is single file that twists and turns out of vision. Fargrim goes ahead to take a look. Eventually everyone follows him but stays a little bit back. After a while he can see an opening ahead and he steps out into a room with five hobgoblins in what looks to be a storage room who all turn to look at Fargrim. Fargrim tries to scare them but they all attack while one runs from the room. Fargrim does his best to hold his own against the hobgoblins. Thankfully they have a hard time hitting them. Meanwhile in the crevice, Xeldarix, Karl and Lily are all slowly making their way through. This frustrates Xeldarix and she always moves with Karl since she is always stuck waiting for him to move. Another 4 hobgoblins join the fight in the room. When everyone makes it into the room, the crew is able to start thinning out the group with a swiping of swords and a well placed fireball. As some fall, more run in, including one with war paint on his face and chest. However another fireball has them turning tail and running. The group gives chase as Karl yells after them that he has questions. Through the chase the boss is brought down, however other hobgoblins rush to attack the group while one tries to get away with the unconscious boss. Lily calls upon her otherworldly connection with Xeldarix as she sprouts dark spectral wings, and flies faster down the passage. Her eyes glowing red as she stares down the enemies. In the end the boss is taken to a room in a large area that looks to have many tables and chairs. Like a mess hall. They are all set up for a meal but with no food currently in here on the plates. There is a cage with many humans in it. This is the area when they are able to defeat all the hobgoblins that have come out of the woodwork during the chase. Lily stabs the leader through the heart and takes in their bloodline. Karl lights up the area with the driftglobe and the group goes about freeing the slaves. The slaves suggest there is a secret exit in the area since they hear stone shifting against stone, but is dark so they never get to see it. Lily finds the key one of the hobgoblins was holding but was knocked around in the fight. These people are also from Crogwil. Fargrim is able to find the hidden door and a keyhole. It seems some people were recently taken from this area according to the slaves and Xeldarix says she did feel distressed thoughts before but they are out of range now. The group goes exploring for the distressed people. As they get closer the group can hear screaming and muffled screaming coming from the southern direction. When the group rounds the corner they can start to see faint light from a fire under a cooking pot. Two larger hobgoblins turn to look at the group as they run in. One is tending to the fire under the large pot. The other is cleaning some of the knives on a table. Karl tries to convince them to give while a woman from the cage pleads with the group that her husband is in the cooking pot. The group fights the hobgoblins. Xeldarix races to the pot to get it off the fire with Lily’s help while Karl and Fargrim engage the hobgoblins. This doesn’t have to go on for long as Karl closes his hands and golden bands wrap around the hobgoblins before fading. They are held in place by the spell. Inside the pot a large gentleman bound with a large beetroot in his mouth, tied in place. He is covered in small cuts that seem to have a large lump near them. Lily cuts him free and heals him. There is a disagreement in the group over if they’ll allow the Hobgoblins to run away from the fight. One hobgoblin resists Karl’s spell and attacks Xeldarix. Karl just disintegrates him. Eventually Karl drops the spell an the Hobgoblin choses to give up. In the cages there is a gnoll in one, and in the other 3 humans. One is the wife to the man in the pot and the other two seem to be part of their group. The hobgoblin is put in the cage the humans come out of. He is searched and Xeldarix finds his purse (1 platinum, 1 gold, 2 silver and 6 copper), an amulet and a spiky whip. However, the whip is attached to the hobgoblin and cannot be removed. Xeldarix says the gnoll’s thoughts are messy like Gregory’s was. The rope of climbing is used to tie up the hobgoblin. The married couple are nobles from Holr. They were attacked on the road. They offer to reward the group handsomely if they can be escorted back to Holr. His name is Markus Critchton and his wife Emmaline Critchton. Markus’ cousin’s are Jaer (Major of Holr) and Yan (Lord and Mayor of Brechlen). They were heading to Brechlen to sort out issues with a shipment and were captured on the way. The two surviving guards are Kurt and Phillip. Saldy eight other had died. Fargrim heals the gnoll. His name is Uzz and he was captured. At this point Lily and Xeldarix will be left to deal with the gnoll and hobgoblin while Fargrim and Karl takes the people from Holr to the freed slaves area.
Fargrim and Karl make small talk with Markus and Emmaline, going over their experiences that led to one of them being in a cooking pot. They speak of a wonderful feast that the nobles will hold for the Forged upon their return to Holr. Markus is a little concerned over some painful lumps he has but doesn’t believe he needs more healing. Karl uses his magic to help everyone clean up.
Lily talks with the gnoll and decides to set them free and escort them out of the area. She messages Karl and then heads out. By the time Lily returns, the hobgoblin is still there. However, when she talks to him she does not see him as being so promising. Believing he will turn on them at the first chance, she and Xeldarix dispatch him. However, this sets off a memory for Xeldarix which causes her pain from a time when she and Karl killed someone in a similar cage-like situation. This causes Xeldarix to worry she made other people do bad things in her past life. Lily reassures her their relationship was never that.
After what feels like far too long, Lily and Xeldarix approach holding hands. Xeldarix is clearly distracted. Now they are all back together they discuss a plan. They will spend a little more time searching before leaving for the day. Fargrim really wants to go to the minotaur area and cleanse it. Kurt and Phillip area armed to protect the group while the Forged are gone. The group goes back to some of the doors near where they first came across the first hobgoblins to look through the doors. There is a very small room with a stool inside and a door on the other wall that leads to the chieftain’s room. The chieftain’s room is crowded with furniture and junk. There is a bed, fireplace, tables and chest of draws. Lily believes all of the furniture is of no real worth but does find a wand amidst a heap of kindling wood near the fireplace. Karl would agree except he found a false bottom in a huge iron box. In the iron box there under some mangy furs there are coins (25 platinum, 315 gold, and 400 silver pieces), a gem, and a vial. Then they go back to check some of the bodies from near the crevice. Lily finds a total of 4 gold and 13 silver from the first group. In the larger group of 15 bodies in the storage room Lily finds 32 gold, 36 silver, 32 copper. Afterwards the group heads back and past the kitchen/torture room to see what is down there. They eventually come to a door. Inside this new room there are five new Hobgoblins. Karl kills and injures them with fire, Fargrim gets them with sacred fire, and Xeldarix and Lily stabs them. It doesn’t take long to drop them all. The room seems to be a common room. There are heaps of cloth and skins for beds, some odds and ends of furniture, and a small barrel of beer, buckets, etc. They search the bodies. Lily and Karl find 27 silver. They look through the next door and see it heads downstairs. The group turns back and doesn’t wish to continue. Instead they go back to the minotaur lair to cleanse it. On the way they discuss how they have two separate groups with two separate destinations. They decide to send their adventuring guild here to finish the job so they can move on. Lily will take the nobles home on the boat and meet the group in Poden with Karl teleporting Fargrim and everyone around. When they arrive at the minotaur area Fargrim casts a spell and can detect the desecration. It covers a very large area. With Haelyn’s help, Fargrim cleanses the area. Though Karl assists him with the wand of Enhance Ability and Lily offers Xeldarix’s Guidance as the demon’s hold on the area is strong. It takes three castings but in the end the area is cleansed. The group clarifies their plans. Karl and Fargrim agree to wait in the cave with the slaves until they have heard from Lily that they are safely at the boat and leaving. They quickly exchange some of the loot so some can be passed to the guild and others can be sold. They find out from the slaves that they are not sure on their numbers when they were taken. They’re normally about 400 strong in Crogwil but can be as high as 800 since some of the work is seasonal and people will travel from town to town for work. Eleswis would know for sure. She kept good watch over it all with the help of her husband Thelmo. Lily takes the nobles and exits at 10:30am. In the meantime Fargrim contacts Steve to arrange for the circle to be clear. Fargrim wants to bake Steve some cookies as a bit of a thanks to him. Though the Lord of the Tower will get oatmeal raisin cookies while everyone else will get chocolate chips. Karl hears from Lily they are safely on their way.
Lily and her group make it out of the caves without issue. Xeldarix flies Lily up, which the nobles did not expect. They become very curious about Xeldarix and are delighted by the boat. They follow the skyriver SSW, but will leave it to continue South when it does not. Xeldarix reminds Lily to message Fargrim and Karl.
While waiting to hear back from Steve, Karl and Aeryn search for the bodies in the room. Karl finds a coin purse (5p and 31g), a gem and silver studded belt on the boss. The only body has 3 gold on it. Finally, as Karl draws most of the circle to get ready, Fargrim hears from Steve. They have a tight window as they’re expecting a delivery. Karl quickly teleports them there to get in before the hour long lock out period. Karl speaks with Steve once everyone is through about how large the save system is and the delivery that is actually heading for the mountain. Karl then hurries off to get a wagon. Fargrim talks to Steve about borrowing the kitchen downstairs to make cookies. Steve offers to listen and support Fargrim when he is done here if Fargrim needs it. He is grateful for the kindness and consideration Fargrim has to think of him and his family for cookies.
Karl gets a wagon for 5 gold and returns to find Fargrim gone. Karl quickly talks with Steve and learns he’s baking downstairs so he takes everyone to the temple. At 11:30 am they arrive at the temple. He then offers to roll up his sleeves and help with serving soup in the lunch line for the people of the temple. At noon, the lunch line is finished and Selise is free to talk.
Fargrim spends time developing a new special recipe for cookies. Cookies: 1 egg, 1 flour, 1 fats, 1 sweetener (1 fruits for the oatmeal raisin) Cooking DC 10 - ??? Delicious DC 15 - On your next save add a +1 bonus Extra Delicious DC 20 - ??? Fargrim finishes cooking at noon.
Phillip tries to direct Lily the best he can, but is not used to seeing the land from the air. He is helpful and they get to Holr by Noon. They land in the yard of the noble’s estate. Emmaline is enquiring about Xeldarix’s rates and is interested in hiring her, but Xeldarix declines and stays very close to Lily.
Karl talks with Selise and learns that none of the rescued slaves are named Eleswis or Thelmo. The watch has been by the temple to talk to the refugees and Lord Galloway will be looking to make their case to the Lord of Brechlen for relief to help these people resettle and recover. Karl then leaves and returns the cart on the way to the mage guild.
Fargrim wraps up the cookies. At first he tries Steve’s office, but the door is locked. He contacts Steve via the ring and he promises to be downstairs shortly to thank Fargrim for his kindness as he finishes up the delivery. When Steve does come downstairs, they have a heart to heart as Fargrim feels a little overwhelmed by everything at the moment. Afterwards he heads to the manor where Caramella lets him in. He has a talk with her and checks in to make sure everything is okay before going out back to see Alfonso while Caramella makes lunch. Outside he finds Alfonso in the yard passing McGregor tools as he gardens. Fargrim learns McGregor and Alfonso have a strange relationship. At 1pm his sandwich is ready. While eating, he messages Karl.
Aemilya May at the May Fit greets and welcomes them, guiding them around the shop to find something that suits their interests. Lily wants something that matches her current estetic and please the nobles, but is also practical. Xeldarix wants a dress but pants and finds something suitable. Aemilya takes their measurements and will have them ready in a few hours.
At 1pm Karl returns to the mage guild and goes downstairs to check in with Steve and find Fargrim. However, he learns that Fargrim had left when he was done baking. It seems Reed is very upset about being left out when it comes to the chocolate chip cookie gifts. Karl also learns June is in Poden and Sam is moping in his office. As a result Karl heads upstairs to check on Sam with a few chocolate chip cookies which just enrages the teenager more. As Karl heads for Sam's office at 1:15pm. He gets a message from fargrim. Fargrim will spend time praying, but otherwise is ready to head to Poden. Karl has a few more things to do, as well as go to the adventurer’s guild to organise a team to go to the caves. Fargrim says he’ll head to the mage guild soon. Karl continues upstairs to Sam’s office. When Karl arrives at Sam’s office he finds the door is open. Sam is half leaning, half laying on the desk looking like he would rather be doing anything else than paperwork. Karl does his best to console Sam with a cookie and find out about the event that cased June to be sent away to Poden. Karl gently prods at Sam since he has noticed that Sam doesn’t react well when he is in the middle of the action. However, Sam deflects and Karl goes off to see Trinity. Karl catches Trinity while she is knitting and they discuss the recent adventures and hand in a report. What Karl did not include in the report with Xeldarix and Gargauth, they spoke about in person for the Witch Grove Report. Trinity encourages Karl to have a plan if Uqaviel decides to get violent without restraint again, especially against Karl or Xeldarix. The discussion moves to the Caves and Trinity warns him about casually talking about places of power. Trinity advises Karl about how to frame things when there is a chance of others hearing about things like this. It’s dangerous. Apparently someone at the guild has been hurt due to this before. They discuss Sam briefly and the incident with June. Trinity and Burke had seen the creature whichw as a demon. Afterwards, Karl leaves to go shopping for spell components.
After finishing lunch and talking to Karl, Fargrim heads up to his room to pray for Erin. However, he suddenly remembers he commissioned an altar and rushes to the temple of Xeldarix to check it out.
At 2pm Lily leaves the tailor and explores oddity stores around town. The first shop is a single storey building of stone walls, with several leaded glass windows. The surrounding yard is filled with scorch marks and craters. The name is called "Fire Enthusiast". The other halfling has followed them to this store Lily notices as they go in. Inside is a messy shop that has more scorch marks around a few stacks on fire. An older female tiefling is at the desk carefully pouring some grey powder. Lily speaks with them and gets an idea of what they have on offer, but Lily just buys a whistle made from gold-coloured wood as a trinket before leaving and having Stannor lead her to the next shop.
At 2pm Fargrim arrives at the temple and sees his altar is there. Fully made. He has a small prayer moment there before heading for the mage guild.
The new shop is a two-storey tower of conjured iron, with several leaded glass windows. A collection of adventurer's maps hangs from the walls. A sign says it's called Samay's Emporiam. Inside the place is more organised then the last. There are glass cases on one side with scrolls. Shelves of oddities in the middle and a wall of armour and weapons off to the other side. A tall female halfling looks to be reading something at the front desk. Lily checks out the scroll cases first which also has some other magical items with it too. She boys some special glue and enquires about some interesting trinkets. The box of odd beads that bear no resemblance to eyes interests her and she buys them. At this point Lily has lost track of her stalker.
At 2:15 pm Karl sends a message to Fargrim to notify him that he is in the library when Fargrim is ready, and Fargrim admits he got distracted and is on the way. Karl then starts to identify items in a back room.
- The bone cylinder is a scroll tube which has Protection from undead scroll.
- Wand of Paralysis
- Potion not magical
The group arrives at the next shop at 2:45 pm. The shop is a single storey timber and brick building, with several leaded glass windows. The walls are engraved with runes of power and sorcery. Called Amebal's Magical Vault. Inside there is a sign "All elves need to ring the elf bell at the front. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you do not use the bell you are not being ignored on purpose." Standard shelving inside. An old dragonborn is reading a book up the front. Lily tests this and the dragonborn doesn’t seem to react to her at all. She looks around and finds a few items she wants and something that might interest Fargrim. At 3pm she messages Fargrim about some Dwarven armour. Which Fargrim is interested in but can’t afford. Afterwards Lily goes up and rings the bell and speaks with a snake that crawls out of the dragonborn’s robes. It talks with Lily and negotiates a deal where Lily exchanges the new whip and armour from the cave she has for gold and 2 items. They paid Lily out in gems for the armour and exchanged the whip for some new boots, armour and necklace. Then Lily leaves and asks Stannor to take her to a garden area when she realises they are being followed again.
At 3pm, just after Lily’s message, Fargrim arrives at the mage guild to find Karl in the back room. There he arrives and makes small talk with Karl as he rests. Fargrim briefly leaves to pray before returning.
When Lily, Stannor and Xeldarix arrive at the garden, she convinces her tail to approach. He says his name is Norlan. He feigns being out for a stroll and finding Xeldarix and Lily attractive. He didn’t mean to be creep, he had just been unconsciously drawn to them. He asks them out to a drink but Stannor puts his foot down and shoos him away, apologising for not realising they had a pest following them. When Norlan leaves Stannor confirms that the stalker was a part of the shifty sort around town. The group enjoys the park for a bit before leaving at 3:30pm to get their new clothes. When they arrive at the estate they get changed into their new clothes.
At 3:45pm the short rest ends. Karl and Fargrim leave for the adventurer’s guild. They arrive at 4:10pm and speak to Molly to receive the latest report. They head upstairs to talk privately to Molly to discuss the mission to the cave. There the area is explained, what they have found so far and they put together a team. Karl and Fargrim map out what they can remember to the cave. Ideally Karl wants Molly and the team to find any other prisoners and get them out, map out the caves and secure the entrance so nothing else can get in. Karl gives Molly a few items to help with the mission:
- Axe +1
- Spear +1
- Angelic Longsword
- Angelic longbow
- Shield +1
- Wand of Paralyze
- Staff of healing
- Diamonds x2 (300g each) (emergency)
- Messenger Ring (For Molly to keep in contact with Fargrim)
- Molly to lead and coordinate
- Bailey for magical support and transport
- Khee to support Bailey
- Raiarr to keep the brothers together
- Godwyn as a round house.
- Emilia for tracking
- Lulamin for healing
- Laura as a good supportive fighter
- Gummy to be a front line fighter
- They decide that for payment it will come from whatever is found in the cave with ⅓ going to the guild and the 2/3s to be slight between the people going. Karl will look into getting Bailey access to the teleportation circle with only the tuning forks that would need to be considered. They will buy enough supplies to last a week in case restocking is difficult. Lulamin will feed the group magically if needed.
At 5pm Lily and Xeldarix are ready for dinner just as Karl contacts Lily with the stone. He updates her on what they have just sorted out with the guild. Lily explains she is just about to sit down for dinner and will meet them in Poden when she is done. They confirm that they do want to start their day in Poden. At the dinner Lily enjoys some sweet wine as the guests enter. Markus and Emmaline are naturely already there but a Brecht couple arrive with a female Yuan ti. Jaer Crichton, the lord and mayor of Holr and his wife Leonie. The Yuan ti is the local high mage Quispe Brelloy who often consults around town when magical issues arise. Jaer is naturally very happy his cousin is home safely. Lily explains what happened. It turns out Quispe was sent to investigate Crogwil. There were minor signs of a fight but for the most part the town looked abandoned overnight. Many of the animals had either gotten loose, been eaten or starved to death. Quispe and her scouts were unable to find a trail. As Markus dramatically retells his rescue, Lily realises something and tells Markus she needs to speak with him after dinner. As they continue talking Lily learns that Quispe was an apprentice to Master Shyr and is interested in helping as she didn’t realise he was missing. Lily and her friends are invited to stop by her tower next time they are in town. There is a shop nearby where they should go to contact her instead of going straight to the tower. Quispe has two apprentices.
Karl and Fargrim bid farwell to Molly and head for the mage guild. Karl and Fargrim hit the shops on the way there to get things appraised and sell an item or two as well.
- Crystal Necklace - a large gem on a great golden chain about his neck (value 1,200 gold pieces)
- Necklace with 5 gems - a thin silver chain set with 5 small gems (jewelry value 400 gold pieces, chain value 50 gold pieces, each gem worth 50 gold pieces)
- Ring with gem - a ring set with a gem (total value 700 g.p.)
- Two small pouches with gems and coins in them (not counted) - two small pouches, each holding 1 gem of 50 gold piece value, 10 gold pieces, and 20 silver pieces.
- Pouch of gems (not counted) - Where from?
- 5 gems from harpies - worth 10 gold each
- Gem, wand, and vial from kitchen -Gem worth 100 g
- Bone scroll tube
- Bracelet - a bracelet of ivory which is worth 100 gold pieces.
- Copper Bowl - 50 gold
- Nice belt - His belt is made of silver, with a gold buckle (total value 160 gold pieces)
- A gem and silver studded belt on the Hobgoblin. - a silver and gem studded belt (value 600 gold pieces)
At 6pm Lily finishes dinner and speaks privately with Emmaline and Markus. She tells the pair it is likely that garlic is still inside the wounds and the local temple of Sera will need to remove them so Markus does not get sick. Emmaline brings Lily’s to possible business deals and offers to make it possible if Lily wanted to have a branch of her business in town or a secondary base for her guild for when the members travel so far. She wants to hire Lily or Lily’s guild to escort them to Brechlen in a few weeks when they have mentally recovered from the trauma of this trip. Emmaline also present Lily with a chest and a dagger. This delicately curved dagger is ornamented with several crescent moon designs. Emmaline says that it has been in her family for generations, but they have had very little use for it. She believes it was given to her family when they did something with a Drow family. The chest is from her husband’s guild. Inside the chest is coins, gems, a small bag, a potion, a fine handcross bow with bolts and some wine bottles. Emmaline arranges for servants to take the chest to the boat while they bid farewell to Lily and Xeldarix. Lily invites Emmaline to have Quispe contact Lily if something comes up and they need help. At 6:30pm Lily and Xeldarix leave Holr in the boat and fly SSE.
At 6:30pm Karl and Fargrim finally arrive at the mage guild. Karl arranges for Bailey to get access to the teleportation circle. This would make the mage guild and the adventurer’s guild business partners. Discounts for both parties and an understanding that they should be hiring the other business where possible to include them in commission wealth from the public. Karl pays 300 gp for Bailey to access the circle at the business rate. Then he contacts Alynn Smeltbrow to schedule their arrival in Poden. There is an opening in 40 minutes. At 7:10pm the pair teleport to Poden. They head downstairs to talk to Miss Berry about how June is doing here. It seems Miss Berry has had to be a firm hand to ensure June doesn’t overwork herself during her stay here since she wants to work on the research and continue the enchanting orders. June is slow with progress due to being scared to accidentally damage the crystal and kill the person inside. Karl will come back in the morning to check on her in person. For now Karl and Fargrim donate gold to use the library. At 7:15 Karl messages Lily to update her that they are in Poden and they’ll be doing a bit of research while waiting for her to arrive.
At 7:30pm Lily almost gets a little lost but gets back on track and flies towards Poden to arrive at 8pm. She docks at the skydock above the city and contacts Karl to tell him that they are here. Target arrange a meet up once Lily spends some time trying to look into what’s in the chests up in the boat. Lily starts with counting the money in the chest and sees there is dust in the little bag. 900 cp, 6000 sp, 2300 gp, 60 pp, and 11 gems in total. Lily tries to opens the chests and coffer from the minotaur area but can’t seem to open them. However, she does open the one from the Kobold area. 203 copper, 61 silver, and 22 gold. Lily gives the new dagger to Xeldarix.
Fargrim and Karl look into the History and geography of Trestahlen which is the area the caves are in. They find:
The mountains of Archestuel were once held the 'unstoppable' orogs but now lies empty - though Müdenite folklore still tells of Archestüel orogs stealing away the struggling bodies of ill-behaved children. In the last 40 years temples have not been prominent in the area. It is the main route between Brechlen and Holr. As a result the Brecht Seelundkaufen mercht guild has a base in each village along the way. The law and patrols of the area revolve around the needs of the guild rather then that of the people. However it is mostly farm land with shepherds that move around the area for grazing purposes. No sources of power have been discovered but mages suspect there are probably about 3 in the area.Near the end of their research they hear from Lily and arrange to meet up at the Attractive Carrot. Before leaving Karl manages to get the speaking stone sigil from Alynn Smeltbrow so they can communicate better for the circles without expending magic.
At 8:30pm Lily has finished with the chests. Xeldarix flies Lily down to the forest outside of town and they approach the city by foot. They play twenty questions with the guard before being allowed entry to the city.
At 9pm both groups meet up at the attractive carrot. There they find a table and get some dinner. They update the other on what happened since they separated earlier that day. Lily gifts Karl with a necklace of fireballs with 8 beads and Fargrim with some Dwarven Armour. Xeldarix shows off the dagger Lily gave her. Karl gives Lily 600 gp worth of diamonds and the report from the guild. As Mary serves them dinner she reveals there was a very sizable fire on the other side of the lake which concerned the town. The group immediately understands she’s talking about the grove. The group decides tomorrow they’ll fly over to check and keep going if it looks bad. The group pays for a room and heads upstairs. Karl ritually identifies some of the new items.
- Dusk Dagger
- The whistle Lily bought is just a whistle
- Dust of Dryness
- And a really nice and expensive crossbow.
- The Unchained are not very active.
- They want things that they can’t have.
- There are four members left in total.
- Xeldarix would be the best bait for them.
At 7:45am Karl arrives at the school and speaks with Miss Berry. He arranges to see June in Miss Berry’s office. Karl also gets another Scroll of Find Greater Steed for Lily. June is disgruntled by Miss Berry’s overbearing nature but overall okay. Lily’s belt and potions will be ready about the 25th for a discount purchase. June doesn’t feel she needs help with the staff. She is just used to getting her way and working until she drops. She will be trying a few soft experiments to try and reverse the crystal process that will have the lower risk of repercussions. She’ll contact Karl if she makes progress. June just asks that Karl check in on Sam from time to time to make sure he isn’t being a nuisance. Karl then leaves but gets the gems appraised that Lily got the previous day from the Critchtons before heading out of town.
- black onyx (150 gp)
- 2 x diamond (100 gp)
- amber (100 gp)
- amethyst (100 gp)
- 3 x garnet (100 gp)
- jet (100 gp)
- 2 x pearl (100 gp)
At 7:50am Fargrim arrives at the temple and requests that High Priestess Rosa see him if she has time. Rosa is very unhappy and makes her complaints known to Fargrim. She lets out her frustration on how they requested help in banishing an evil when suddenly he leaves her a flowery letter without any real answers and they are left on edge waiting for the killings in town to continue. The only thing that soothes her is the fact the “devil is no more”. Fargrim stays for the sermon as she starts it. At 8:30 he gets a message from Lily and leaves the church.
By 8:20am Lily and Xeldarix have left town and fetched the boat down to the forest. While waiting, she tries to open the chests and coffer again. This time she opens one of the chests with lots of coins in it. She quickly counts it up. 930 gold and 310 platinum. At 8:30am Lily message Karl and Fargrim to let them know where she is and how to find her. Lily then uses two chimes to open the last two storage containers. The remaining chest opens and has special holders for 3 pieces of jewellery. The coffer has three potions and Lily believes one of them to be healing. While waiting for the boys Xeldarix and Lily practise their archery.
At 8:50am Fargrim and Karl arrive where Lily and Xeldarix are practising archery. Karl uses his detect magic want to look over the new items Lily uncovered. The jewellery is not magical. They update each other on their mornings. Karl identifies one potion while Lily and Xeldarix wrap up practice. It’s a growth potion. At 9am the group boards the boat and fly towards the grove. As they get close everyone see the still glowing tree with red cracks through it to show the embers within. The tree still stands, but none of the statues do. They are rubble in the bog. The ground is turned and ruined. It is like a scar in the area. Xeldarix says the area smells bad and the group decides it is better to move on. They go North until they find a skyriver and then follow that North-ish while trying to get closer to Brechlen but still map out more of the rivers. By 1:45pm the group is back at Brechlen and the boat is landed back at the manor. McGregor and Alfonso are in the backyard working on the garden together. The group heads into to start separating coins and gems for the group.
- Fargrim: 2268 gp, 2 sp, 5 cp, 5 x 50 gp gems, 5 x 10 gp gems, 3 x 100 gp Garnets, 2 x 100 gp diamonds, 1 x 100 gp Amber, 1 x 100 gp Jet, 1 x 100 gp Amethyst, 1 x 100 gp gem
- Karl: 226 pp, 8 gp, 2 sp, 5 cp, 1 x 150 gp Black Onyx, 2 x 100 gp Pearls, 100gp ivory bracelet, 50 gp copper bowl, 160gp silver belt
- Lily: 217 pp, 98 gp, 2 sp, 5 cp, 400 gp (necklace with 5 gems), 700 gp (ring with gem), 100 gp gem
- Xeldarix: 1577 gp, 6830 sp, 75 cp, 1200 gp crystal necklace
At 3pm the group arrives at a bathhouse. Karl, Lily and Xeldarix get the full treatment but Fargrim just has a bath and is the first to finish. He leaves a message for Karl and heads for the manor. There he prays and waits for the others. At 4pm Karl and Lily finish up to head back. They arrive at the manor at the same time as Simone. It doesn't take long as Simone bursts out of the carriage to give Lily a hug. She's wearing fine noble clothes and her hair is up in decorative plaits. Abigail steps out of the carriage and closes the door more gently and calmly. She stays back to allow Simone to have a moment with her friends. Afterwards when Simone moves to hug Karl, Simone has a minor fit and a vision. Karl quickly carries her inside to a couch. Apparently Simone has been having them once a day or every other day. They’ve been working on finding triggers. New people and contact are the greatest chances for triggers. Lily hears what Simone is mumbling. “Gold. Orb. Eyes. Swords. Bad. Hurts. Whirling. Stern Master. Mad. Karl. Karl target.” They decide to try and scribe on Wellmore but Lily isn’t successful. Karl and Abigail get Simone up and getting her to take in her hot chocolate for a bit of warmth and sugar. Karl contacts Ten via the stone to pass a message about the vision onto Erin who is currently working on a project with Ten away from the ship. Fargrim comes down and contacts Steve with the ring. He fills him in and Steve asks what sort of support the group is looking for. They request just Steve and the handcuffs that have been used to subdue Erin in the past. Steve agrees and promises to be over in a few hours. The group agrees to have dinner and leave town after that to try and draw the fight away from the possibility of collateral damage in the city. The group talks with Simone and checks on her. Karl is worried someone might be giving her a hard time and Simone confesses some people have been. She’s having a hard time telling their behaviour apart from bullying and being stern. Many people are sent from Lord Crichton’s office to check on her. Simone sometimes feels visions coming on and stopping them forces her to hurt herself. Karl wants to see if Markus can help the group with his cousin’s opinion of the group and Simone. Simone likes this idea. Lord Galloway is busy with his latest sting operation. Karl has an idea for trying to trick Wellmore with making everyone Karl! Expect Karl and Simone. They would be invisible. However, for the moment they rest. Fargrim takes Simone to the sunroom to look her over. She is exhausted and drained from realm magic. A Greater Restoration Spell fixes it for the moment. Simone tries to explain the sensation of visions to Fargrim but things get a little confusing. Karl gets a frantic message from Erin and he does his best to calm her and explain. She will run by a temple and be over soon with Ten. Karl explains what Erin has been up to. Erin has been training at a fighting ring in the city. Karl had no idea there was such a thing here. Ten had been responding most of the time when Erin is busy. He gave Karl a morale survey. Karl takes time to scribe in the library, Lily takes a nap and Fargrim helps with dinner. At 6pm dinner is ready and there is a very firm knock and frequent knock at the door. Karl answers Erin practically falls into his arms. She is out of breath and just hugs him. She explains how she can now feel him. Ten adds unwanted and unhelpful commentary. Erin has been trying to learn to feel Ki around her. Today she has started to be able to feel it, but can’t focus on it. She just knows it’s within 10 ft of her. Erin waits in the backyard while the group enjoys a roast dinner. As Ten and Erin re-enter, the group tries to help Ten be more helpful with his role as a moral officer. Apparently Erin is the highest reason for low morale on this ship at the moment. They put off taking a morale survey themselves. Lily gives Xeldarix a vial with instructions to use it on Wellmore if she is there after she deafens herself. They continue a brief discussion of plans to contact Steve, however there is no reply from Steve. Karl uses a sending spell and also gets no response. Lily suggests they contact Reed, Steve’s son since they last knew him to be them last. Lily sends a message to the Lord of the Tower. Steve had left twenty minutes before this and had complaints about bad cookies. They contemplate trying to track Steve but in the end decide to go through with the plan in the hopes that Wellmore has Steve. They decide to not turn anyone into Karl and to only have Simone invisible. They walk as a group together and head for the carnival grounds. Lily builds a small campfire for the group. At 7:30pm, Karl messages Trinity to tell her about what has happened. She is on the way to support them. Meanwhile Fargrim, Aeryn and Lily see a small gold ball that is 3ft in diameter roll down the road and then slowly turns towards them. Fargrim moves to walk over to it. It bees and woops at him. Jokes are made but then the ball suddenly becomes rather large and one of the golden panels opens to reveal a large eye that looks right at Fargrim. Eight swords come out of the orb so it is standing on four of them and the other four are aimed at Fargrim. Erin moves in front of Karl instinctively and defensively. Lily runs towards the creature and tries to cast a spell to summon an emerald dragon. She feels the magic be expended but no dragon appears. She updates the others. Fargrim also tries to use magic against it, but no attack happens. The golden ball moves up to Fargrim and Lily. One of the plates shift and a smaller eye looks at Lily but with no effect while it tries and fails to hit Fargrim. Xeldarix moves around and gets on another side of the creature to attack it, getting in two hits. She tries out her new dagger, but it is not dark enough for the dagger to work. Abigail puts on her glasses and tries to summon her axe but fails. With Simone’s cloak not working, she will escort Simone away from this creature. Simone runs until the cloak works and she vanishes from view. Karl is confused by what is happening as his familiar disappears. He runs after Simone and tries to fire off a spell but to no effect. Ten flicks out his axe and runs over to the golden ball. Erin runs after Karl the best she can with Kai giving her instructions. Lily slashes at the creature, but doesn’t make the impact she thought she might. Fargrim tries to strike it twice but only gets one hit in. One of the eyes from the golden ball looks at Lily to no effect as it moves around and repositions itself. Simone becomes visible again as it attacks lily and gets one hit in. Xeldaarix flies around to flank the creature and attack it. Abigail tries to find the edge of the cone while Simone runs forward and disappears again before throwing a Chill Touch at the creature but to no effect. Karl tries to find the edge of the cone as he tries another spell but to no luck. Ten attacks the golden orb and gets in a hit. Erin runs after Karl. Lily repositions herself to attack the creature. She gets one hit in before casting a spell and marking it. Fargrim swings wide once before digging his blade into one of the crevices of the ball between plates. A panel opens and a new eye looks at Karl. A ray comes out and Fargrim tries to tell Karl to move, but it hits him anyway. Necrotic energy drains away part of Karl’s lifeforce. It then repositions itself again to look directly at Fargrim and attack him with a critical hit. Fargrim expects to be guided by the sword to react, and is caught off guard as the sword seems almost lifeless in his hands. Xeldarix moves around to the back again, getting three good hits in. Abigail keeps moving and finally manages to summon her axe. Simone keeps running. Karl order Erin to go after the orb before he runs a different direction so he is alone and tries to cast a fire bolt at the golden ball but nothing happens again. Ten attacks the golden ball but misses. Erin reluctantly does run towards the ball with her spear. Lily gets one hit in and encourages Karl to be bait. Fargrim moves around and attacks with one good hit in. The gold ball sees an opening after trying a ray on Erin to no effect as it runs over to Karl and attacks him. Xeldarix flies after the ball and attacks it, getting two hits in. Abigail marks the construct as her target and runs to catch up with it. Simone throws more ice at the creature but hits this time. Karl moves around the creature to get to Xeldarix and casts Psychic Lance it up, incapacitating the ball. After this point everyone is able to pile on and attack the creature. Erin stuns it to keep it from attacking and eventually they bring it down. Karl drinks a potion of greater healing. Once it is down, a very faint beeping and booping can be heard from within the construction and it is slowly speeding up and getting louder. Simone reveals that the construction ate Steve and the group might need to stay goodbye to him. Most of the group scatters. Lily tries to dispel whatever magic is there but can’t. Fargrim however is able to do so and the beep and booping stops. After a moment of trying to pry it open, they decide they need to get tools and experts to get it open. Karl turns into a giant ape to work with Fargrim to drag it towards town while Lily flies ahead to go to the forge as a celestial imp/dove.
Lily sees Trinity leaving town as she arrives back at town. She tries to be subtle but Trinity believes Lily to be a threat and attacks Lily until is herself again. Lily explains what happened and the two go their separate ways. Lily continues to the forge and speaks with Clara. After an exchange Clara takes Lily to the forge, loads her up and they head out to go see the problem with her portable forge kits. She advises Peter not to wait up for her.
Back with the construct being dragged back into town, Trinity runs into the group. Fargrim sasses her and she reminds him of why he should respect his elders. She summons a floating disk to slide under the construct to take some of the weight.
As both parties reach the gate, Great Ape Karl gives Clara a hug. Pleasantries are exchanged before Clara gets to work in helping free Steve. After a bit of time and experimentation, Clara cracks it open at 8pm. There are three layers to the creature. Outside, beholder layer and inside layer. The inside layer always seem to be upright, regardless of the orientation of the construction. Karl, with a little bit prompting from Trinity, is able to identify the beholder layer. There is a metal brain on the inside with 20 little bird cages in there. Each cage has a subject code. Eventually they find Steve. Lily carefully pokes her pinky into the cage to heal Steve enough to bring him round. They find Steve’s equipment, as in the cage he is naked and there is something on his back that is too tiny to see through the cage at this moment. The other cages look like they are designated for specific people, like their group. Karl gets a sending spell from Wellmore. “Continued defiance will end poorly. This will cost you. Better off surrendering now. Know about your girl and little seer. Get my little bird back.” Karl replies with a taunt “Ask your patron what happened to Iris.” Karl tells the group about the message. Xeldarix looks around and sees there is a scrying sensor around Steve’s cage. Karl uses his amulet to destroy the scrying sensor. The group decides to split up. Lily and Karl will take Steve back with Trinity, Erin and Ten while Fargrim works with Clara to get this metal back to the forge. Abigail takes Simone back to the manor.
Notes
| Name | XP | Running Total | Level at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 6,900 | 193,586 | 15 |
| Karl | 6,900 | 193,586 | 15 |
| Lily | 6,900 | 193,586 | 15 |
| Simone | 2,700 | 81,711 | 10 |
