Session 21, The Nightwalker and the Simulacrum

The path goes on for miles. OK, it is less of a path and more of a trail of decay and terror. Whatever did this was an absolute horror. At first, we thought it might just be an area of dragon’s breath that burned a hole through the forest. But upon closer inspection, it isn’t burned… it is decayed. For miles and miles.
 
Will, Eowyn and I all decided to scout the trail for a few days before returning to Etonia. Julia had business in Etonia, mainly assisting in the interrogation of Audwyn (her nemesis, if you recall, although not a very good nemesis; see Session 20, You Need a Better Nemesis). Audwyn was captured when we gloriously defeated the invasion of Etonia from the sinister forces of Coral Gate. Along with Julia, Vardai also stayed in Etonia.
 
On our second day of scouting, we discover zombies. Whatever produced this trail of decay not only destroys everything living in a trail 60-feet wide, but it leaves undead creatures in its wake. We are able to dispose of the zombies without too many issues. From studying the pattern of the trail, we discover the Horror travels close to the ground for 40 feet, and then goes a little higher up for about 40 feet, and then comes down and repeats the pattern. It is either leaping or jumping, or flying for short spurts. And it is actively seeking out life. The trails deviates in direction towards pastures to slaughter entire herds of cattle.
 
On our third day, I conclude the horror has two legs, so it must be walking with a tall bound in its stride. We finally encounter a witness, who describes the creature as rather large, with two legs and two arms and horns on its head. Everything in close proximity to it immediately starts to decay. Necromancy! Uck. Occasionally it spawns zombies… target practice for now.
 
We make it back to Etonia and catch up with Julia and Vardai. In the library, we also meet Fassad. If you recall, Fassad is a wizard of renown in these parts for whom we delivered rubies to Montsilt (previously discussed in many various sessions… try to keep up). Although we did deliver the rubies, this is the first we’ve actually met him in person.
 
Fassad is wearing robes and carrying many papers. His head is starting to bald. He looks like he hasn’t been sleeping well. He walks unnaturally.
 
Immediately, Eowyn’s posture towards him turns to distrust. She begins questioning him as if he is hiding something. He acts defensively as if he is innocent. I’m not really following why Eowyn suddenly has taken a hostile attitude against Fassad.
 
Avast comes in and steers the conversation back to the current threat. We are comparing notes on what we found out about the necromantic horror. Avast says it is a Nightwalker. It comes from a plane of death… most likely, it was summoned here. It is immune to all non-magical weapons. Apparently Fassad and his party had defeated one. I wonder if the Nightwalker can catch on fire.
 
“That brings me to what I have discovered,” Fassad says in a haughty voice. “The Nightwalker doesn’t hold up to attacks on its mental faculties.”
 
Julia brightens up at that comment. Fassad continues, “The spell, Fassad’s Psychic Lance, of which I have given you two scrolls, will be particularly effective. Only someone skilled in the arts of Arcana can successfully cast it.” He hands the scrolls to Eowyn. Wow! Fassad named a spell after himself.
 
We ask him how they defeated the Nightwalker. He goes to great lengths to exaggerate the story and include as little detail as possible. Something about dropping a cat (a wildshaped druid maybe) from above the creature, and then casting a spell. The whole thing sounds very dramatic and makes absolutely no sense. Fassad is clearly overplaying his party’s heroics.
 
Fassad then suggests that we use cattle to lure the Nightwalker in, and then fly above the Nightwalker, jump on top of it, and cast the spell. Will, Julia, and I immediately dismiss the idea on sacrificing cattle. “We will find another way,” I interject.
 
As we have a chance to catch up with Julia before entering the teleportation circle, Julia says she had a few “discussions” with Audwyn. He confirmed Bartholomew (see various sessions, as I said, try to keep up) is the new leader of Coral Gate. He replaced, and maybe helped remove, Zenovia. Bartholomew also installed a new High Enchantress named Theia Bhedia.
 
High Enchantress is such a haughty title. Does that mean she’s a wizard who specializes in the Enchantment School of Magic? Or does it mean she’s a harlot whose job is to tempt important people? I suspect the former is more likely… although she could be both. Or is she a wizard or sorcerer who doesn’t necessarily study any particular school of magic, but uses the phrase “Enchantress” because it sounds impressive? Probably the latter (although harlot and impressive sounding title can both be true).
 
I don’t mean to insult her if she is indeed a harlot. After all, some people would say that I was a harlot. As a former Courtier, some of the job skills clearly overlapped with the job skills of a harlot. Of course, I did not relish that part of the Courtier job, nor would I expect her to. I had to do what was expected of me (see Session 1, Cross Quarter Day in Treir).
 
Finally, following an hour of intense discussion, we step into the teleportation circle, bound for the Acathan Kingdom. We step out on a road just as two horses pulling a cart are about to crash into us. Eowyn, Will and Fassad jump clear, but Julia and I are too slow. Vardai braces herself and stops the horses cold in their tracks. It is an impressive feat. It is one thing to push horses that are not moving, but these horses probably weigh in at least 1000 pounds each and are trotting around 10 miles per hour (Author’s note: Stopping 2000 pounds at 10 miles per hour (14.7 feet per second) using Newton’s second law simplified to F=ma is F = (2000 lb-mass)/(32.174ft/s2 * (14.7 ft/sec) / (0.5 seconds to stop the horse) ignoring the weight of the cart and assuming any additional force generated by the horses is offset by drag… F=1,828 pounds of force… for comparison, the world record squat, a lift which arguably demonstrates that maximum force a human can produce (wraps, no suit), are April Mathis (705.5 pounds) and Dan Bell (1,113.3 pounds) (source https://barbend.com/heaviest-back-squats/) … so Vardai exerted force 1.6 times greater than the world record holder). Vardai saved us! Miraculously, no one is hurt.
 
Oblivious to the near-death situation that just occurred, and oblivious to the need to change the destination of the teleportation circle so as to not teleport people into the middle of a road, Fassad starts talking to an older lady on the side of the road. She looks familiar. After a minute, I recognize her as Grandma Willow from the herbs store in Etonia (see Session 11, Feldspar and Centipedes). Apparently, she knows Fassad also. Grandma Willow invites us into her cottage for tea. On the way in, she mentions that she is making salves, and knowing that I have some minor herbalism skills, asks me to look at her salves.
 
We walk in. Will immediately loosens up and Eowyn tenses up. Will recognizes Andaya and Lupa (whom I have not met) and warmly greets them. Eowyn begins acting even more suspicious. I quickly learn that Lupa is Fassad’s wife, and Andaya is their adopted daughter. Lupa then sees Fassad, and she looks at him awkwardly. Apparently she didn’t know that Fassad was coming here.
 
Eowyn finally says it, “How do we know this is the real Fassad?” After not understanding Eowyn’s distrust since we met Fassad and hour or so earlier, I finally understand. Rubies… spell components… Simulacrum … ahh… Fassad might not be the real Fassad. He might be Fassad’s Simulacrum. In fact, I think Eowyn is sure this is a Simulacrum. What’s worse, this Simulacrum is passing himself off as the real Fassad to Lupa, Fassad’s wife. This might be a short marriage. As I have said many times… Eowyn is very smart. She figured this out from the very beginning.
 
Clearly not wanting to get involved in the awkwardness, Grandma Willow asks me to help her with the tea. Eowyn says she understands that an intellectual (implying Fassad) doesn’t want skin in the game (meaning that sent his “expendable” Simulacrum rather than himself).
 
Hearing Eowyn’s implication, Lupa starts to catch on. She asks Fassad, “What did she mean by skin in the game?”
 
The Simulacrum formerly referred to as Fassad looks at her and spews out some disorganized words to the effect of, “I’m only trying to protect you.”
 
Lupa then starts of tirade of curse words and pushes the Simacrulum outside for further words. We hear continued shouting as Grandma Willow draws me across the room.
 
“I heard you know a lot about navigating courts and difficult relationships,” she begins. She hands me a pearl as she continues. “Queens are hard. Some Queens cause trouble every so often. Sometimes we need to administer or force a deal…”
 
The Simulacrum comes back in and interrupts. He apologizes, looks at Will, and tells Will that he [Will] has an excellent group of friends. I hope that includes me!
 
Grandma Willow passes out the tea and drinks to everyone’s health. Then Grandma Willow reveals that she made a mistake. She put trust into a person named Menk. As you know, Menk is the suspect vile and evil Necromancer who has been causing trouble lately. Grandma Willow says Menk tricked her, resulting in the Nightwalkers destroying everything.
 
Everyone is shocked as the Simulacrum slams his fist on the table in disgust. It is hard to not think of the Simulacrum as Fassad, since the Simulacrum shares Fassad’s personality and memories, at least at the time the spell was cast to create the simulacrum. Of course, the simulacrum is made of rubies and snow, but the appearance is very convincing. So are the mannerisms. If not for the fact that the Simulacrum knows it is not real, it probably would believe it is the real Fassad. It says, “Menk has been dispatched. He turned himself into a dragon, and we destroyed him with a special arrow.”
 
Lupa adds that Bartholomew is Menk’s twin.
 
Grandma Willow adds, “You don’t make a Nighwalker without a sacrifice. Someone was sent to a negative plane, and the only way to return that sacrificed person from the negative plane is to convince the Nightwalker to return. Of course, that person on the negative plane is almost certainly dead, as someone cannot survive that much necromantic energy for long. The Nightwalker can be convinced to return with the sacrifice of enough lifeforce. The town to the South of here might entrap enough people to sacrifice their life force to serve as the sacrifice to convince the Nightwalker to return.”
 
I interrupt, “We are not going to do that!”
 
Will agrees, “We will find another way.”
 
The Simulacrum states that there’s this belt device that can be attached to the Nightwalker, and if hit with radiant energy, can stop the Nightwalker. “Assuming you can get close enough with dying from its necromancy aura.” OK, we can do definitely get close without dying… I hope.
 
Grandma Willow adds that this whole thing is a scheme from Coral Gate to destroy the Kingdom of Acathan. “There are two potential allies in all of this. A Captain in the Acathan military who is currently imprisoned in Migwick Fort. He commands a group of rangers. I have ravens that I am getting my intelligence from.”
 
“But,” she continues, “the second ally is potentially more interesting. The prison (not the same prison just discussed) that Fangclaw was released from…” Eowyn immediately goes stiff at the mention of Fangclaw. I know you remember who Fangclaw is, as many sessions revolved around Fangclaw’s possession of Eowyn. “The people before Temujin,” Grandma Willow continues over Eowyn’s pale reaction, “had used that same prison as a prison for the second potential ally… a Firebird.”
 
Eowyn says that she [Eowyn] might be able to translate her Lullaby. I assume Eowyn is referring to the script emblazoned upon her tail. Eowyn’s tail is her remnant from the Fangclaw possession. Of course, Lupa tells Eowyn that Lupa might be able to help her translate that. Lupa tries a Comprehend Language spell to translate that Lullaby. The words are obscured by a black flame, of a fiendish origin; Lupa cannot translate.
 
“I suggest you gather your allies and quickly. Two days at most,” Grandma Willow instructs. She opens a hatch—a magical portal—which we climb up to a campsite. Wait! What about the “Queen”? What about the salves? I feel like I haven’t been able to answer any of Grandma Willow’s questions. Is Grandma Willow in league with Menk and Bartholomew? Or was she, and now she’s trying to make up for it? How does she conveniently have a hatch to a campsite two hours away from the ruins we need to go to? So many questions! Regardless, I now have a nice Pearl. It is a Pearl of Power, a magic item that allows me to recover spent spells. Cool!
 
We decide to go to the ruins first. Again, the same ruins where Eowyn became possessed by Fangclaw. It’s a 2-hour walk. As we approach the ruins, Eowyn starts reading some of the writings, and Lupa ritually casts Comprehend Languages. We come across some sort of a puzzle, which Julia solves before I can even really look at it.
 
We come into the next room. It is a dial puzzle. The Simulacrum solves the first of three dials. I am able to solve the second and the third dials. It is a time puzzle, where we have to determine minutes, hours, and days. That allows a door to open, which reveals shadows… which attack!
 
The Simulacrum casts Haste, a neat spell which puts Vardai into fast motion. She attacks twice with her Javelin of Lightning, decimating two shadows. She follows up with her hammer. I cast Scorching Ray to injure some shadows. The tide is quickly turning in our favor. Julia throws some Psychic Blades, and Eowyn banishes one. Quickly, the fight is over, and we turn our attention back to the puzzles and traps.
 
We start to enter the next hallway. Julia figures the entire floor is a magical trap. She uses her Moontouched Sword to find a lighted path through the maze, but I defeat the trap with a casting of Dispel Magic.
 
While we are doing this, Eowyn comments on her spellcasting. She mentions that most of the spells she has cast today weren’t used for their intended purposes. Will comments on that, “People invent new spells by coming up with new ways to cast older spells.”
 
Eowyn turns to the Simulacrum, “Do you think I’m a good spellcaster now?”
 
The Simulacrum replies, “Yes.”
 
 
• Thank you to George Sanders, his Anhult Campaign, and World Anvil. Thank you to Lassastrix for proofing.