Session 29: Departure

General Summary

Quest	fin	What's up with that?	fin
Kill Incandus Carthelian		Pathfinders' Legacy
Chart the Stars		Planeswalkers' Folly
Find the Morningstar (again)		Chess Pieces
Find your friends (again)		The Sheriff disappeared
Escape Night Springs

Recap

Winter's Third Turning, Fifth Moon, 1511

There are 84 hours left until the Turning Gala. The Omens traveled the lands of the Winter Feywild in search of Khorvis. The first night, on Ilya's watch, a young frost salamander coiled itself around the flames of the bonfire, and plunged his sword into the fire to keep it lit all night, to the great enjoyment of the salamander, Ilya's new best friend. Amara had a more sinister encounter on her watch, finding something watching the group from afar; though too far away to worry about now, the glint of eyes or a spyglass followed close behind. On the second day, the group found the crash site of the northwest fallen comet. Though they struggled to find the trail initially, with Andy picked up a trail of breadcrumbs left by Khorvis; the three-star symbol of the Pathfinders. In the air, Lorelai spotted a large form moving towards them; she and Dorian couldn't discern many features through the foliage, which we discovered were at least 40-100 feet tall, but between the size, the encounter from the night before, and the Omens' history with frost giants, Amara was able to determine it was a frost giant everlasting one. An everlasting one is a creature of vengeance, created through a ritual of survival by the strongest, that is sent after the enemies of the frost giants, and this one appears to have set their sights on the Omens. Pressing on so the relentless hunter wouldn't catch up to them, the Omens found themselves at Khorvis' last marker, placed on a sign that simply read...

Welcome to Night Springs

Night Springs is supposed to be a fairytale, even in the Feywild. Amara's nurse used to say to her growing up, "Don't wander the roads for too long, little Amara, you might find yourself in Night Springs." The other noble children used to play the Left/Right Game, trying to find Night Springs, until one of them actually went missing; then the game seemed to lose its appeal. But the town is normal on paper. It has a tavern, a blacksmith, a townhall, a marketsquare, a haunted well, a university, a library, a record shop, a ~~gas station~~ general store, a record shop, a ski chateau complete with a lift, and a sheriff's office. Everything a normal town would need. Except it's never normal. It is tied to no Court, has no fixed position on any plane, and no apparent rhyme or reason for its appearance. You don't go to Night Springs, you end up in Night Springs. And there is always something strange happening. Interplanar incursions. Body-snatching doppelgangers. Zombie uprising. Time loop. Aliens. The town seems cursed. So, when the Omens find themselves on its doorstep, it seems they must face fiction made reality. Entering Night Springs is a departure from the Feywild; the town is a picturesque skiing village. The Omens stopped at the General Store on the way in, spoke with Jack (yes, that Jack) who had seen Khorvis go out back, but didn't see what he did back there. Investigating, the crew found a unmentioned shack had bars installed on the window within the last two weeks, and several locks on the front door, emblazoned with the Pathfinders symbol, complete with a secret basement. In the basement, conspiracy boards covered with maps line the walls. There are points around town circled, then crossed out, the circled again with fresh ink. The Well in the center of town is circled emphatically with arrows pointing to it. More disturbingly, there is a drawing of a face staring in through the window. A long, gaunt face, with empty eye sockets and too-wide smile, lacking eyelids or any hair to speak of, just barely visible to the viewers vantagepoint. Most of the notes surrounding the maps and images are written in precise, orderly, cyphered script. But one, in frantic, hurried scrawl beneath the image of the face in the window, reads, "Why are they always so familiar?" There was also a crystal with a silence spell attached to it, but Andy dismantled it, noting the cott in the corner as well. But moving past the shack, taking a brief stint at the tavern, the Drunken Dragon, the group spoke with Rose, the bartender, Alan the Bard, Deputy Durland, and Mayor Isak Heartstone. The entire tavern is very concerned with the setting sun, and seems prepared to leave as a group. While Augustana and Amara got more info out of the Mayor on where Khorvis went; he and the Sheriff went up to the Chateau to chase off some bandits. A sailor type looking old man offered some exposition as well; there is another part of the cult based out of the sewers. The Mayor offered the Omens the same deal he did Khorvis, for each hand of a bandit, he'd give them 250gp. In the night, the Omens followed Khorvis six miles up the mountain to the Chateau. The gang cleaned up the bandits, a cult of the Rider, and found Khorvis tied up in the basement. He told them he and the Sheriff came up the lift, but the Sheriff disappeared and the bandits riddled Khorvis with arrows. They came back, saw some more cultists in creepy masks, and in the morning spoke to Rose to try to catch up to the Mayor. But Rose said the town doesn't have a Mayor. Never has.