Volume 1, Chapter 9 - A Letter from Jed Kingsdown - A Rude Awakening

General Summary

Dear Mother and Father,
Sadly, our sleep for the night did not remain untroubled. It must be admitted, we completely failed to detect the cloaked individuals who entered our room that night. They came at us with scimitars flashing in the dark like lightning in a cloud. Karnak splashed one with her hammer before it even knew she was awake. I heard Gio strumming through the walls and felt the thrum of soporific magic in his notes. All of us woke apart from Rhobur, who rolled out of the way of the mysterious attackers sword. One of them attacked me with dark magic and I heard another spell hissing from the other room. Apollo’s snarls echoed through the inn and I heard a scream; It later turned out that Arpeggio had heated one of the fanatics amulets to incandescence and burnt him alive. The corridor was splattered with blood as Gamble carved her way through another fanatic.
We managed to take the last of the fanatics mostly alive, with the help of a Hony potion. He was most unforthcoming about his masters, though we questioned him most severely. He ‘resisted arrest’ and unfortunately passed away. It appears we have made an enemy of a powerful cult; The Innkeeper was shocked, seeming to have some knowledge of these mysterious foes. He mentioned a name of an expert in the Obliviati, Faulkner Glorybuff, who resides mostly in the Temple. The Innkeeper ushered us quickly into his private room, where he asked our true names; Gamble revealed that her true name was Talia, ‘it’ in Elvish. The Innkeeper recounted a strange tale from his youth, where as a young wealthy dragonborn he’d encountered a Sea Hag, a dark fey of enormous power. She made a pact with that young boy that changed his life, binding him to pursue the Eye of Mercannan. It led him to Ebrion and the Inn of the same name. The Innkeepers search had led him to knowledge of the Obliviati, which is how he came to know Glorybuff. Talia showed the Innkeeper the map she carries that refers to Captain Thorne. The Innkeeper explained the Island of Captain Thorne was ever moving, summoned by a Conch Bugle that was buried on his person. He gave Talia a strange, slightly glowing Mysterious Pearl and they shared a mysterious smile when Talia asked him whether he was related to the Imperial Family of Mitzu.
The Innkeeper asked us to leave and we headed into the town. Arpeggio had found a magical amulet on the fanatic he’d searched which had the name of a shop in the Mysticalia quarter. This indicated the direction we should pursue to investigate the leadership of those who sought our demise. I suggested that we should visit Faulkner Glorybuff at the Temple for more information before we did so. Before that we would pass through the market district, so I resolved to do some shopping.
First was a taxidermist, who was preparing my wyrmling skull for mounting on my armour. Next was a furrier, a half orc called Seybourn Laughing Fang who wanted to make a move on Karnak. I, however, already had plans and headed towards a leather worker. Lavanel wanted more leather armour for Apollo, which fortunately Arpeggio was on hand to negotiate for. I wanted something crafted for the beautiful Karnak; a leather rose. While we waited for the rose to be completed Arpeggio and I wandered the market, visiting Golbak and Sons bowyers. He purchased a longbow, though he seemed somewhat rusty at the range.
Incidentally I’ve bought mother something nice for her birthday and will send it by courier.
We next decided to visit the Cathedral, and seek out this man who might have knowledge of the Obliviati. The Cathedral of Hw. Brunhilde (which despite attempting to be shaped like a scales Lavanel pointed out was somewhat phallic) rose above the grey roofs of the town, with the voices of the choir echoing in the late morning light. Within we were directed to the offices in the roof. The others were very bad and ignored a Rope of Forbidding to go up the spiral staircase. They must have had terrible upbringings. At the top I later learned there was a smell of smoke, which drew Lavanel, Arpeggio and Gamble to the end of the corridor. They found an elderly man in a room which had caught fire.
After rescuing Faulkner and his tortoise, he explained that he’d been attacked by the Obliviati. They were searching for the location of the elemental temples. Faulkner explained the nature of the Obliviati, their plans and objectives. There was little he could add regarding the location of the Temples, or direct knowledge of the Obliviati in the town. However, the box of papers that he’d received from Kelador was missing, presumably taken. Once our group has a target, we have seldom managed to miss it. We strolled into the strange and wonderful Mysticalia, a magic quarter that holds true to it’s name. The streets were filled with strange auras, the smells of spices and strange ingredients, inhabitants that bore the mark of enchantment. The volatility spilled onto the street, where two eldritch beasts escaped amidst a crowd of innocents. The creatures were Spectators, malicious cyclopean orbs that spat beams of fell sorcery at the people around.
Talia charged in, slashing at the evasive beasts. Arpeggio sung a rousing tune that truly spoke to my bloodhunter spirit. His bow was loosed a little before my bolt, both finding purchase. Apollo clawed at the creatures and Karnak charged. One of the spectators shot at me and Gio. Gio shrugged off the fear ray, but the terrible blight left me staggering. Despite this, the spectators were doomed; The beautiful Karnak slammed the last into the ground multiple times before jumping onto it – I was moved to present her with the leather rose, a token of my affection.
Suddenly we were enormously honoured by the meeting of the High Magus, Elorin Felter! Alongside a ruddy faced dwarf called Sundro Khem and a purple demonborn, Danzel. The group demanded an explanation for the conflict, as the policing of magical violence is the responsibility. However, we were clear on how we’d seen the defence of the populace as our civic duty. Magus Felter was impressed, but when we mentioned the Obliviati he immediately invited us to the tower. We explained the unusual sequence of events that had led to us to become companions and earn the enmity of the Oblivati. High Magus Felter’s companion, Danzel, the female demonborn, was distrustful of our story, but the Arch Mage and Sundro seemed supportive, indeed offering a great deal of assistance and support. We were suspicious, however. Elorin knew of a shop that called itself a magical emporium, run by a relative of Hony from Kelador. Pilbim Hony remembered the two men who had bought the fanatics medallions. She directed us towards Treps Road.
We visited a potioner first of all and acquired some additional healing potions, then resolved to complete some final tasks before retiring for the day. Arpeggio, Talia and Lavanel visited a scroll writer, while I took Karnak and retrieved the wyrmling skull. We then headed to the One Legged Man tavern, where we caroused for the early part of night. Arpeggio refused to clean me, so when everyone else went to sleep I slumped muttering in the corner.
We set out the next day to Treps Road. It was a rundown road with a few houses and a boarded up Tavern, The Toad in the Hole. However, the dwarven translation underneath marked it as the Frog of the Void, a name that clearly indicated a link to the Obliviati. After failing to pick the lock, we burst into the bar to be confronted by a terrifying apparition. It took control of Karnak and we had to desperately protect ourselves as our beloved companion lashed out. With the assistance of one of my spells Karnak cast out the foul spirit which we promptly put to rest. Shortly after Arpeggio found a way to a series of extraordinary catacombs. We leaped over a pit of mud, then through a room where each step was named after ancient gods, taxing our minds to find the path which took us across the names of chaotic deities. There we found the dwarf, Sundro, in a temple of the Obliviati.
As we entered the temple, Sundro let out a barage of attacks. One of his spells took down Apollo so the party set to attack. After a courageous effort by the team, it took Karnak only one hit with her mighty hammer to squash the dwarf out of this realm. Which is shame really, as we probably could have made him talk. Oh well. We did sweep the room and find a clue to further our quest, it was a scrap of paper that read:
‘The heart of the storm lies beyond the something something Ice something snowless peak’
We decided it wouldnt be the best idea to leave through the town with a dead dwarf in tow, so thinking quickly, Karnak shoved him in an unoccupied barrel and we headed to speak to Elorin Felter about the Obliviati connections. After dropping the dwarf remains with him we decided it would be the best course of action to head to the docks to continue our adventure north. Rhobur was actually still asleep at this point, so we shoved him into the now vacant barrel and went to board a ship…

Report Date

07 Mar 2017