Volume 1, Chapter 2 - From a history text - Defying the Darkness
General Summary
Dagsday, 10th Tummony continued…
Having successfully entered the Orc camp and killed its inhabitants and the Orc leader, our heroes paused to catch their breath. In this time, Jed discovered a note in the pouch of the driftglobe looted from the Orc Captain:Garak, You have served me well thus far. This driftglobe should aid your mining effort. I expect success soon. Send word the moment you penetrate the temple. Do not fail me – you know the penalty for failure. Vendari P.S. Destroy this letter after reading.This confirmed that the party’s suspicions of a conspiracy between the orcs and the Reeve were correct. They debated how to proceed and decided to eliminate the orcs before searching for additional proof. First, they pursued the two orcs taking the cart towards the town. After a short, strenuous jog, the group caught up with the two orcs barely in time to see a copper-skinned wood elf launch an ambush from the forest. With their usual tactical acumen the disparate wanderers plunged headlong into combat, Jed yelling ‘mine!’ and Helda with her usual incoherent howl. After rapidly dispatching the two bestial humanoids, the party and the elf introduced themselves. The new elf was called Lavanel Daenorin. She was Cora of the Guard of the Elf settlement of Daenor, located in the Andredsweald. She had been sent by her parents to investigate the dark occurrences they had sensed in the area. The party were equally quick to ally with Lavanel; All are now committed to uncovering the cause of the region’s recent afflictions. The expanded companionship headed back to the Orc camp. Helda, Spray and Lavanel headed into the dark cave beneath the cliff. Rhobur and Jed waited outside, hoping to catch the orcs in a crossfire, but eventually Rhobur charged inside – Jed contributed his driftglobe and the occasional crossbow bolt. With all the orcs dead the travellers decided to head back to Doggett’s farm for a rest, where they were kindly welcomed by Lysse Doggett. While Rhobur and Lavanel rested and Jed bathed, Helda and Spray go for a late night visit to the standing stones. There they discover elven runes that spell the names of the Divine and Infernal Generals whose tryst ended the war of creation: Cherog and Lumina.
Ugsday, 11th Tummony
The visit to the stones and resultant late night resulted in Helda not making it to the dawn service in Ornblake. Rhobur uses his increasing druidic powers to turn into a cat, opting for anonymity after recent disturbances. Deciding to seek out some extra knowledge on what’s occurring around the town, as well as some additional verification of the letter that they found, the party visits Brunda’s Chamber Of Wonderment. The learned Brunda taught them much of the legends around the end of The War of the Energies and the child Ffiona, born of the union of Cherog and Lumina. The meeting was incredibly fruitful; not only did Brunda provide an example of Vendari’s handwriting, but also useful information about the town’s history: Of a cowardly lord who somehow fled a besieged town, a religious purge that forced priests into hiding and the great complexity of the town’s sewers. They also learned of the Temple of Light and Dark, long thought lost, and the monks who once maintained it. After visiting Brunda, Helda, Lavanel and the feline Rhobur visited the Temple of Belnias before joining Spray and Jed at The Giant's Head. Brell mentions the depth of his cellars and the priesthole to Jed. As Helda and Lavanel arrived, the young flamehaired Nieve comes downstairs at her father’s call. Jed finally located the source of the fiendish taint he’d been intermittently sensing in the town. Blood hungry as ever points his crossbow at a ‘justifiable’ kill. He is barely prevented from shooting by Spray leaping in front of the young girl. Helda objected even more firmly, slamming into Jed with her axe. Brell intervened in the internecine conflict, leading them into the cellars and away from prying ears. There he explained Nieve’s strange lineage. Born of the loving marriage between himself and Adrianna, a Tiefling, her perfectly human appearance was a last gift from her dying mother. Nieve cut herself by accident while on a picnic, spilling blood near the standing stones in Ornblake field. Before her horrified husband’s eyes she had been consumed by fire and pain, her last act to force her protective glamour over her daughter. After the painful confession Brell asked the party to leave. Together they marched towards the fort, ready to confront Lord Agamemnon and the traitorous Reeve. As they approached the Fort, they were stopped by two guards who asked their business. The party demanded to see the Lord, announcing they have slain the orcs. Immediately a window slammed shut in the tower above them. Acting on instinct, Jed raced towards the tower stairs, calling Spray after him, Rhobur pursuing, once more as a cat. Lavanel and Helda quickly moved to quiet the concerned guards. Spray and Jed broke into the Reeve’s rooms, Rhobur searching for signs in the corridors below. No trace of the Reeve was found and they discovered that most of his papers are obscured by an illusion spell. Rejoining Helda and Lavanel, they all quickly met with the Lord Agamemnon, explaining what had been occurring in his court. As they did so the Lord’s confusion grew, until he seemed to shake off a malign influence. Lord Agamemnon was shocked and horrified at what he had done at the Reeve’s suggestion, bankrupting the town and even executing those who spoke out. Spray urged him to go and check on his wife and son – they were found unharmed, but had not seen Salenis Vendari. Jed mentioned his suspicions of a secret passage, which the Lord shamefully admitted were correct. He told the story of his ancestor, who fled through a passage beneath the town, leading to the deep cellars below the Inn. Jed and Helda immediately raced for the passage, while Lavanel, Rhobur and Spray ran towards the Inn above ground. The dwarf and Human found Brell in his cellar, bleeding and barely conscious, but able to point the way Vendari went. The elffolk and Dragonborn find out from people outside the Inn that the Reeve grabbed Nieve and vanished in a puff of smoke. The party remembered the effect of Nieve’s blood on the standing stones and fear the worst. Helda, Spray and Lavanel ‘procured’ horses, throwing a cursory payment over their shoulders before charging towards the stones. Jed purchases a saddle for the equinically polymorphed Rhobur and rides after them. By the time they arrived at the stones, all the quadrapeds, permanent and temporary, were exhausted. A quick search revealed nothing other than Jed’s fiend sense tingling. Rhobur was tasked with cajoling the horses to carry them to the Orc camp and the temple beneath. Rushing, Rhobur transformed mid gallop when arriving at the cave mouth. The party sneaked inside, finding the back of the cave blasted open with a discarded explosive wand lying to one side. This revealed an entrance to the Temple beneath. They stormed into the first room and spied an open chest. Helda, before making any checks grabbed the ring inside, causing two suits of armour to come to life to defend it. A difficult fight ensued; the animated armour was defeated and the ring was found to give light to those that need it in the dark. Turning back, they continued down the tunnel. As they walked Spray found a nook on the right hand side wall that opened a secret passage. The room ahead was decorated in white and gold, with beautiful carvings all around the walls. As they entered the doors all closed and a timer appeared. Jed cast light onto a caved rainbow and a chest appeared, but the doors remained shut. As the sand continued to fall they spotted an inscription that read:Let your faith in the light guide you
While the mystical timer could be moved, the party agreed to let the run its course. As the last sands fell the door opened. They continued down the next passage to find themselves in a room filled with a poisonous looking mold and two exits. Keeping to the wall, they moved carefully and next entered a room filled with bats. The bats feared the light from Helda’s new ring and they passed again with ease. They next entered a room, similar to the white and gold, but this one made of black stone. With no apparent dangers or tests in this room, a quick search revealed two chests and Spray found an Immovable Rod. Jed tries to take it, but Spray and Lavenel trick him into believing it can only be activated by elf-kin. Moving on, the party found a wide chasm blocking their path. Most jumped across without difficulty – most marvelling at how far the dwarf could jump – and Spray used the newly acquired rod and her rope. Dextrous movement allowed them to make it across a flimsy looking floor into a large chamber. In the centre of the room was a black and white marbled pillar – which they assumed was the lower half of the central spire in the stone circle. As they went to inspect it the trough began to fill with blood. At this moment the Reeve came into view. In an alcove in the pillar they spied Nieve, her blood filling the trough. “It is done!” called the Reeve before vanishing from the chamber. Helda and Spray rushed to Nieve, Helda stabilising her. Before they could provide further healing, a demon of shadow appeared. The entity calls out, identifying itself as the herald of Cherog. It demanded to know who summoned it and Jed, hoping for some kind of reward, tries to argue that it was him. The creature then states that if it is Jed who summoned him, he is then willing to give his life so that Cherog may rise. Jed backed down as the creature attacked. The party survived the battle, largely due to Helda’s light spells and the demon vanished, saying as it died that ’a crack had been opened in the seals of the world, the the balance has been undone and that Cherog shall find a way to rise. While Spray and Helda attended to the wounded Nieve, the others examined the room, finding many precious stones. Helda and Jed both found hidden chests, the former filled with coin and the latter causing a flash that transporting Jed and Rhobur out of the room. Looking around, they found themselves in what appeared to be an ancient bunk room for the temple monks. Jed discovered another chest but this time suggested Rhobur open it, who jovially obliged and received a face full of darts for his trouble. After a brief disagreement on which exit to take (Rhobur suggested that, them being underground, the way out might be a double bluff and therefore they should take the downward leading door) they took the door leading upwards, finding themselves in a huge pillared room. Meanwhile, Spray, Lavanel, Helda and a now conscious Nieve carefully followed their footsteps back. Spray and Nieve almost fell to their doom while swinging back across the chasm. Returning to the room with the slime, they took the exit they had not yet travelled and found themselves in the same chamber as Rhobur and Jed. Two shadows appeared, but were easily defeated by Helda’s divine light. Out of the chamber they found themselves back in the tunnel where they discovered the secret passage and headed out towards the Orc camp…
Report Date
14 Jul 2016
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