Session 47: Man down Report

General Summary

Session 47 – Wednesday August 9, 2023 – The resurrection and Ogian Lore Dump

  4 Hour Role Play session 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 6

It is the 6th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early December.)

• Abrash – Wood (Desert) Elf, L8 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf, L8 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin, L8 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Thomas – Human, L8 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome, L8 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Juan Peyote – Gnome L8 Paladin – Will Johnson

Raise the Thomas

Gazlowe popped into the material plane wondering what the heck is going on. Everyone was moving quickly to Thomas, who seemed to lay on the ground dead. As Ajani removed Abrash’s green growth that had slowed the others, Abrash had turned into a dragon fly and flew to Thomas. Sadly, wild magic in the area caused Abrash to suddenly become poisoned just as he began to cast Revivify. Nonetheless, Abrash labored on. He pulled the diamonds out of sack, put them to Thomas head, and quickly cast the spell. Abrash could sense Thomas’ spirit was close, but his poisoned condition stunted his ability to return Thomas’ spirit. The area’s wild magic turned Abrash’s skin a vivid blue. Abrash broke down in sadness and guilt. Tears streamed down his face, but he took hope that they could find a cleric at the Stronghold of the Nine that could help.

Gazlowe and Isabella couldn’t believe he was really dead, even with their medicine checks. Juan offered to tie Thomas to his Bird as final procession of honor, but the others refused. Isabella picked up Thomas’ body to carry him. The party readied its funeral march toward the Stronghold, except for Juan, who whistled a happy tune, and Gazlowe, who took a moment to collect some spores for research. Inspired by the research, Juan took a bite of the fungus and collapsed. Unfazed, Isabella gently put Thomas down and tied Juan onto his bird’s back.

Missing Weavite

The party collected Thomas and started to head out to the south. Gazlowe however went a bit further north to where they had previously heard the Orcs. There, he found a large pit about 20’ in diameter. Clearly a tree was missing but the pit was about 5’ deep. He saw pickaxe marks, shovel marks and plenty of footprints. He saw broken stones and assumed they had mined weavite.

Examining the entire area, Gazlowe noticed footprints all lead to a bit of residue from a magic circle. He sketched what little he could make out of the sigils in the circle in hope that someone would be able to see where they went. Intrigued by the footprints, he gazed more intently and believed that some of them looked like hooves of a demon. Thinking quickly, he mashed some rabbit glue and paper to create a cast of one of the footprints.

Mourning Thomas

The party walked quietly toward the stronghold for several minutes. Abrash, realizing it was too quiet, immediately worried about Gazlowe. He retook the dragonfly form and flew back to Gazlowe, only to see Gazlowe walking quickly to catch up. The two eventually joined with the others and fell again into the mood of mourning the loss of their friend. They all began sharing their thoughts.

• Gazlowe reminisced about when he first met Thomas, he thought he was dead. What can be learned from a dead man, am I right?! Eventually he realized through Thomas that traveling with people who fill in the fields where you lack is important.
• Abrash reflected on Thomas’ daughter, how he lost her and how important family is. He admired his devotion to family.
• Juan started giving a short speech on the nature of death and how it’s not just for dead people, “Even a potato can die.”
• Ajani interrupted and agreed with his brother on how Thomas bore the weight of his dead daughter and how he admired that. Ajani said, “He had style!”
• Juan then continued, “The word funeral has ‘fun’ in it doesn’t it? Mr. Grim reaper is an ugly customer, but Mr. Mope is worse.”
• Isabella broke out in tears and began speaking. Eventually Abrash cast comprehend languages just to understand what she was saying. They comforted her.
• Juan said, “Maybe death is nature’s way of saying, “Try again.”

Darnath Stoneheart.

The party eventually made their way back to the Stronghold of the 9. The guards greeted them and allowed them entrance. Gazlowe scolded them immediately, that they did not even validate who they were. The guards were taken back and Abrash interrupted Gazlowe’s scolding by asking for the Cleric Darnath Stoneheart. The guards pointed them to her location. The party descended upon her location and barged into her room. Before anyone could speak, Abrash shouted, “He’s dead! It’s my fault! How much will it cost to bring him back?”

The Cleric stated her fee as 1,000 gold piece for the materials, which was discounted from her full price. While others protested the exacerbate rate, Abrash paid it quickly.  Darnath pulled out a 1,000gp diamond and began an hour-long ritual. She invited the party to aid the process by doing whatever they can to convince his spirit to return.

• Ajani knelt on his prayer mat and began reviewing all the good things Thomas had done in this life and his commitment to returning his daughter.
• Abrash pulled out herbs and items that could possibly heal and help with his body.
• Isabella, now bored with weeping, progressed to the next stage of grief: anger. She yelled at Thomas to intimidate his spirit to come back.
• Gazlowe left the room for privacy sake. He got out of his armor, and in a rare moment of humility, prayed to Illmater to help bring back Thomas.
• Juan stood in the corner doing sick dance moves.

Thomas?

Darnath finished the ritual. “Thomas?” the party asked in unison. Thomas’ eyes opened and his body rose up slowly. Looking at the party of bewildered mourners, he said, “Who are you?”  

Abrash immediately noticed that both of his eyes were green.  Thomas said, “Why are you calling me my father’s name?”  Ajani asked, “Who are you” and the reply was, “Cassidy.”  Abrash held his hands to his head and said, “I’ve done something horribly wrong! Again!” Abrash curled up in the corner and rocked back and forth to calm himself.  Cassidy, quickly gaining understanding, explained her memories of death and her confusion and then hearing her father’s voice say “I want to fix it.”

Darnath explained she’s heard of this before but had never seen it. “Apparently, Thomas wanted to sacrifice his soul for her life.” Cassidy explained that his soul and her body were in the hells, and somehow she ended up here. The party eventually began to understand. Briefly, they contemplated killing Cassidy to bring back Thomas. Cassidy said that the Stone Bearers had finished Thomas’ plan by bringing her back.

Cassidy explained that she still has Thomas’s memories and recalls bits and pieces. She agreed with Gazlowe’s straight forward approach to adventuring and Abrash looked shocked. Cassidy said she would like to visit her mom but the others warned her that her mom doesn’t look like herself anymore.  Isabella interrupted Cassidy by saying she’s hungry, so the party went to get some food with their new companion.

Your guards suck!

Before they left for dinner, Gazlowe suggested they investigate Warfus. Darnath looked confused. She told them that they sent him away just 2 days ago.  Gazlowe became so angry his armor was red. He screamed out, “Your guards suck!” He explained to Darnath that the party that had come before wasn’t them. Darnath advided that they should visit Gimram Stonehammer who was next in line of command at the Stronghold and to avoid Warfus’s wife Bonni.

Continuing to rant to Darnath, Gazlowe demanded that the guards be trained to expect a password or that a wizard be with them to detect disguises or lies. Darnath listened politely, but as they asked more questions about Warfus, she suggested they talk to others. The party found the dining hall, got some food, and found Gimram. Gimram was sitting at a table in the dining hall. He willingly stopped eating to listen to the Gazlowe’s questions.

Gazlowe asked him about Warfus and told him that the other “Stone Bearers” were imposters. Gazlowe demanded that the guards be replaced. The party shared what they knew and Gimram listened but didn’t know too much. Together, they surmised that The Beautiful must have hired Robini to kill Warfus. Gimram asked if they found Warfus’ ring. The party did not. Isabella asked, “How do we know Warfus is dead?” Gazlowe held up the wanted poster with the line drawn through his name. The party then questioned if he’s really dead.

With Gimram, they all discussed a system to validate people getting into the Keep. Gazlowe suggested a password. Ajani pointed out the passwords should contain numbers and letters. Gimram suggested 0gian for today. Tomorrow it would be 1gian. He suggested they go talk to Bonni to learn more of Warfus. The party said, “maybe later” and finished their dinner.

Earning their next level

The party found their rooms and then searched the Keep to hone their skills and discuss their situation. Gazlowe asked if Cassidy recognized the footprint that he made a cast of. Cassidy said it looked like a Tanarukk, an offspring of a demon who bread with an Orc. Ajani examined the Sigils that Gazlowe had jotted down from the teleportation circle. Ajani recognized one of them as representing the forest but had no more details. Abrash speculated that Niptu is using Orcs and demons to gather weavite to create a doomsday device.

Ajani went to the library and did some research on Tanarukks and learned its resistances. He pulled out his spellbook/prayer mat and began meditating. He learned Scrying and Contact other planes and Dimension door.  Juan spent his time staring into a mirror and learned how to instill more fear. Isabella exercised all night with a Half-Orc personal trainer Draxell and learned how to deal more damage on critical hits. She also began a diet of just protein.

Gazlowe went crazy running around the stronghold looking for ways to improve his armor. He found many ideas and spent most of the night tweaking his armor with enhancements.  Cassidy, unable to sleep, wandered and found herself in the cellar. She was able to visualize what had happened in the location.

Abrash met with Cassidy and cast detect thoughts searching for Thomas. He found glimpses within Cassidy. Abrash left, very angry and guilt ridden. He screamed and discovered the power of “Wrath of Nature”. The scream awakened Ajani, who found Abrash and comforted him.

The Return of Ogian

In the morning, the party was awakened by raps on their doors by a guard saying “Ogian is Back!” The party quickly gathered themselves, grabbed some muffins and coffee (so much for Isabella’s diet) and found Ogian in the “Planning room” with Bonni. Ogian was deep in concentration of some sort of spell. He opened his eyes and pat Bonni on her head and told her that he will have it taken care of. Bonni glared harshly at the party and even stronger at Abrash, then she got up and left the room through the back door.

Ogian asked about what had happened while he was away and Gazlowe filled him in on the past few days of events. Ogian asked a few questions about the details. He approved of the dealings with the hag and the Beautiful and approved of them giving most of the treasure back to the Stone tribe. He was most interested in the stories of the Orcs and the digging.

Ogian Lore Dump

Looking at Abrash’s map, Ogian filled in some details and identified where they were at present. He explained that the pit that Gazlowe found was in the ancient city of Morynarth. Morynarth was a sizeable city of the Aryvandaar Elves. Abandoned after the Crown wars, it was left relatively intact (about 10,550 years ago in -9,000 DR.) The Elven smiths of Morynarth were widely known for their ability to create powerful magical items. He also explained that where there are very large concentrations of Weavite, Elves and Dwarves can make powerful magical items more easily. He then explained that Warfus had an item to locate large deposits of weavite called a Warmstone. There are only 4 remaining Warmstones that are known. The process to create them was lost long ago.

Ajani showed Ogian the brick that they had found on Robins Body. Abrash asked, “What would happen if you ate it.” Ogian told him that there are legends of Niptu converting Warmstones into pills that greatly amplified magic, but it was dangerous.

Ogian explained that he didn’t really know anything that weavite could be used for specifically, but if it were removed from an area the magic becomes unstable or dead. The party explained what they experienced. Ogian contemplated the ability to take weavite and move it to another area where a dead magic zone exists, but it was purely theoretical.

Where Warfus went

Ogian explained that those who impersonated the Stone Bearers had somehow convinced Warfus that his mother’s ancestors were seen alive, and he was so convinced that he ran off to the Endless Caverns. Ogian explained that long ago these caverns were a major city of the Riftdelve Deep Dwarf clan. This underground city was sealed by the Sun Elves of the Siluvanede Empire trapping 9000 dwarves within it. The dwarves were cursed to an undead state and continue suffering in their city. The Green Dragon Grimnosh lairs near the entrance to the Endless Caverns. He will ambush anyone attempting to exit the caverns.

Ogian explained that he had Scryed and Warfus is very close to the entrance. Ogian could Transport them via Plants to a tree he knows near the Endless Caverns. Ajani mentioned that he could Scry too and asked for something to help with the Scry. Ogian told him to seek out Bonni to obtain something more personal, and then meet him outside in two hours near a giant Elm named Josephat. Ogian warned the Stone Bearers that the Orcs of the north are migrating south through the wood this time of year and to be on the lookout.

What is a Tanarukk?

Gazlowe asked about the significance of a Tanarukk. Ogian explained that Tanarukks are the offspring of an Orc and Demon crossbreed, much like the Fey’ri are the offspring of an Elf and Demon. They are very powerful and are not known to be in that section of the forest. Long ago the decision of the Siluvanede Elves to breed with Demons to make them more powerful is what lead to the Crown Wars and ultimately the fall of the Elven empires. Ogian explained that the main family of Fey’ri were captured and imprisoned thousands of years ago. The party asked about the relationship between Niptu and the Tanarukk or the Fey’ri. Ogian said that it wouldn’t surprise him if Niptu had an alliance but he’s not aware of one historically. Although the source of Niptu’s magical discoveries was never discovered.

Red or White?

Ogian had told the party that his meeting with the Red Lady was political and tiresome. He told the party that he has a meeting with the White Lady soon and asked the party to accompany him. Gazlowe explained that they believed the White Lady was in league with the Sword of Niptu and may have been involved with bringing him back. And more to the point, they were expelled from the forest by the White lady. Ogian had to ponder that information and excused himself to go consult with the trees.

Bonni the Bereaved

Ajani suggested they go find Bonni to get something so they can Scry on him easier. Cassidy mentioned that she has a vial of blood of Niptu and perhaps it would be possible to Scry on him. The party contemplated that as they went to find Bonni.

When they arrived at Bonni’s door, Ajani, having the belt of Dwarven kind, led the conversation. Bonni glared at Abrash but let them in. Bonni scolded Ajani for, “playing that lute and convincing Warfus to go to that horrible place.” Abrash noticed he did have that loot (taken from Robin). He tried to say it wasn’t him. He got the lute from the dead body of the person who was impersonating him. Ajani interrupted and explained that they want to make it right and go after Warfus. However, Ajani kept mispronouncing Warfus’ name and that irritated Bonni. Isabella started weeping and expressing deep compassion but that failed to persuade Bonni.

Gazlowe explained that the whole new password system is in place because they were impersonated. He showed Bonni the “Wanted” poster they found. Cassidy explained that they wouldn’t be going through all of this if they were lying. Juan sealed the deal by simply and directly stating: “Ma’am, we just trying to get your husband back.” She trusted the Gnome Paladin and pulled a lock of hair from Warfus’s beard brush.

Cassidy stopped by the armory and swapped out a few of her weapons. With the lock of hair, they found Ogian outside who was ready to cast “Travel though plants.”