Session 9 - Sandpoint
General Summary
After slipping into the woods, Ghostclaw tracked the Band of the Broken Staff men back to their camp. As he finished his recon, he noticed another elf watching the band. The elf introduced himself as Radolf and asked Ghostclaw to become a tracker in his army.
"No," the ranger says, "my work to save the Mistvale is too important."
Leaving the forge, the heavily burdened group heads south, straight to House Castillo lands. The melting snow creates muddy tracks of land, and the three horses move slowly, burdened with the weapons from the forge. Eight people, impressed by Skara's stories, have left with them and have taken to calling themselves the Servants of the Shepard. The glyph from "The Uprising" disappears.
After four days they come to the town of Whiteridge. A small remote mountain town, the hardy people who live there are mostly coal miners. It is also home to a small merchants guildhouse, a place of great interest to Wilvert.
The recent political strife has caused economic struggle, and an incensed Fenrir gives a rallying speech that causes 25 of the out of work miners to throw down their pickaxes and follow him.
As they explore the town, they run into a familiar face, Zubarin. He seems very excited to see the group and tells them that he has found the place where the escaped wizards hide. He implores them to go hundreds of miles south and meet with the mages. Arimanthos wants to take the weapons back to Queen Rose in Ebenring, but Giancarlo advises him otherwise.
"The army is for the Phoenix, not the Stokers. You give the royalty an inch, and even with good intentions, they will end up using your army to bully the other houses and kingdoms without even realizing it. Quarter your men in your own fortress, and you will be in control of your own fate."
The group agrees to meet the wizards, and Zubarin opens a portal that takes them far to the south in House Croft lands. Zubarin tells Wilvert he will come back in two days to pick him up.
Upon exiting the portal, they find themselves near the shore of the ocean in the ruins of an ancient town. A new inn has been built among the rubble, and three paladins seem to be adding finishing touches. Arimanthos recognizes them as Myles, Rollin, and Warner. Four wizards exit the inn and introduce themselves as Omarim, Anaxis, Trixon, and Sluk. Finally an orcish man sits in the shade polishing an ornate dagger, Drag.
Skara sticks out his hand to shake Sluk's hand, and the feral goblin wizard bites him. Omarim inspects both Skara and Amon. After a minute, he declares that he doubts either of them are the Phoenix. The wizards quickly begin to argue. Trixon and Anaxis believe Zubarin when he says one of these men are the Phoenix; while Omarim says that cannot be true and Sluk agrees. Zubarin truly believes what he says, but is hesitant to go against one of the elders of the tower, Omarim. They finally agree to do a ceremony that night at midnight that will determine if either of these men is truly the chosen one.
The paladins ask Arimanthos what he thinks they should build next. He tells them that being so close to the ocean, they would be foolish not to make docks for sea traders.
Fenrir quickly sends the 25 men he recruited at Whiteridge to work. The three best hunters are sent out to track deer. Five are told to practice their combat skills. Ten are told to help the paladins build the docks. The final seven are set to patrol.
Absentmindedly, Nath talks to his Staff of Pythons, and it answers him. The gylph from "The Courtesan" disappears.
One of the paladins tells Amon that their food stores in The Old Light seem to have been nibbled on by something. The group know that feeding this many people will be a struggle without having to worry about pests, so they offer to investigate. Hearing them talk about The Old Light, Drag jumps up and offers to help the group, claiming he is bored. Arimanthos is suspicious of the orc, and agrees so he can keep an eye on him. What the group doesn't know, is that Drag is a treasure hunter, he has spent his entire life searching for the legendary treasure hordes of "Ser Kai," the richest man to ever walk Austera. He has already found the man's dagger and believes The Old Light houses one of his many caches of gold.
Upon entering The Old Light, they see it is mostly empty beside stone shelves carved into the walls. In the center of the room there is a staircase leading down into complete darkness. The second floor down lays the food storage. It is much cooler than the floor above, and helps to keep the food fresh. Baskets of vegetables lay stacked neatly in one corner of the room. A few deer are hung from the ceiling, draining blood. The bottom of the deer, seemed to be gnawed on, and small bloody footprints lead to a small staircase down, partially obscured by crumbling rocks.
Arimanthos and Fenrir work together to move the rubble, but the paladin loses his footing and tumbles down the stairs. He jumps up, unharmed, but finds himself surrounded by Ratfolk. Drawing their weapons, they begin to attack Arimanthos.
"How dare you enter the hidey hole of the Great Lord Shinyfinder," the biggest rat yells.
Charging into the room, Fenrir cuts one down with his sword. Drag follows closely behind and takes the biggest rat down to his knees with a kick, while stabbing him in the back of the head. Seeing their friends fall so quickly, the other Ratfolk attempt to flee.
"Not today," yells Fenrir as he cuts one of the fleeing vermin down.
Skara begins pursuit and follows the creatures farther into the complex. When he reaches the end of the tunnel, he finds a large city and dozens of rats watching him.
"No more pointies, no more stabies. Wea stand in the presence of da greata Shinyfinder!" as the leader finishes his statement, the crowd of rats part, and they beckon the group to continue into the final room.
As they enter, they see two long tables, probably once used in a beerhall. Skeletal men sit up and down the benches in various states of decay. Weapons left at the head of the table, some are completely rusted, some look new. At the far end of the room they see a high back chair, ornate in it's decorations. In the chair sits a body, unmoving, around the chair are dozens of chests. As they approach the center of the room, they hear a creepy laugh.
"Sit and drink. Join this hall of heroes," the Avatar of Greed cackles. He lifts his hands and the corpses at the tables rise up and become Zombies.
Drag thrusts his dagger into the eye of a Zombie, while Fenrir cuts the head off another. Arimanthos lifts his magical gauntlet and protects Drag from a Zombie attack. Skara throws a fireball and one of the undead disintegrates. Fighting back to back, Drag drives his knives into a Zombie's neck, while Arimanthos cleaves through another two. Skara kills another, and Amon fells another with an arrow. Finally, Dram charges the Avatar of Greed, grabbing one of the fiend's coin purses, he hits him, and stabs him through the eye.
Fenrir goes to inspect the throne. He finds an old tavern sign behind it naming it "The Lucky Coin." Amon and Arimanthos search the Avatar of Greed and find a bell and a Plague Ring. Nath starts to count the coins in the chests, and determines there must be over 20,000 gold pieces.
Arimanthos knows that building and keeping an army will be expensive, so he give 1000 pieces to each member and saves the rest for the town. Nath, being a pious man, gives his share back to the group; Drag, however, refuses to leave until he is given an extra 500 gold. He did find this place first, after all. Amon, wanting to leave, caves and gives it to him. Drag knows a group of suckers when he sees one, and decides that sticking around with these people will be very profitable.
Arimanthos finds out that the Plague Ring makes him the new leader of the rats, and that they are excellent scouts for an army.
As they leave The Old Light, it approaches midnight. Telling Zubarin about Ser Kai's treasure horde, the wizard looks confused.
"That is an incorrect translation," the old man says, shaking his head. "It is 'Kaiser' in the old tongue, not 'Ser Kai.'"
The wizards have prepared something outside the inn. They stand in a line before Skara and Amon, small fires appear before each of them. Slowly the fires harmonize and drift toward Skara. Suddenly the fires jerk away from him, and settle directly in between him and a group of three who approach the inn. They introduce themselves as Ebony Croft, Terry Silentall, and Radolf Starsinger.
The group is left utterly confused. How can two people be the chosen one? Think of how confused they would be if they knew Radolf traveled over a hundred miles in under four days.
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