Azimuth 2 - Session 20 - Drawn to Fire
General Summary
Northern Orcish Plains
Shapes in the Grass
In the night of 7 Adroth, Demitri and Chaka took watch while Romulus continued his ritual and Ilmendwyth watched over him. Demitri was lost in the many thoughts on his mind. While caught in these thoughts, he saw shapes in the grasses. Demitri alerted Ilmendwyth and both watched as a young, unkempt half-orc snuck to the edge of the tall grass and looked over the caravan. At the sight of him, Ilmendwyth loudly whistled. Everyone asleep started, and the shapes in the grass took off running. Arwin drew his bow and fired, hitting the closest figure who let out a yelp of pain. A voice called out, saying, “They got the runt! Leave him, he’s useless!” Romsca and Arwin rushed into the grasses after them. They found Drok, a young half-orc, with Arwin’s arrow through his thigh. He blanched at Romsca and tried to flee, but she quickly subdued him and carried him back to the others. Romsca dropped the half-orc and held him in place with a foot to his chest. Arwin broke the arrow and removed it from Drok’s leg. Gertrude asked if Romsca would be healing him, and she replied yes, but as a reward for answering the group’s questions. Drok fumbled and looked around frantically. He saw, and seemingly recognized, Mortimr and became immediately fearful, pleading, “Please, I’m sorry, just don’t shoot the pink lightning at me!” Romsca healed him and Arwin asked about the other bandits he was with. There were a small number of them off the roadway, and they had picked up Drok on the road. He’d been told they were just hunting, but Drok had suspected there was more to it than that after he saw the smoke from the large campfire. Mortimr explained he and Chaka had encountered Drok before. During their journey north, they were accosted by bandits in Axe-Breaker Thicket. There was one bandit who survived by running away. At the time, Chaka and Mortimr had warned him away from returning to a life of crime. Demitri placed his rapier next to Drok’s face, alight with magic, and asked, “Where did they go, and are they coming back?” Drok said no; he hadn’t been with them more than a few days and they’d just left him behind. The group discussed what to do with Drok. Arwin thought to turn him in when they arrived at New Keeleon. Gertrude suggested he work to earn his keep and make amends. Demitri was hesitant, as Drok already tried to rob them once. Romsca suggested he be brought north to work at the Darksteel Foundry. Drok said he couldn’t go back to New Keeleon. He was a deserter who fled after receiving a conscription notice for the Keel’s Band. He’d heard rumors of war with rebels and hobgoblins, and he wanted no part of it. They learned from another caravan guard, and orc named Dhug, that the penalty for desertion was death. They woke Captain Ruslan and Gertrude informed him of what happened. The group then voted on Drok’s fate, deciding to bring him with for the time being. Arwin took Drok’s sword and they began to discuss what to do next. Romsca was uncomfortable turning Drok in if it meant his death, but Demitri cautioned the trouble the Darksteel Foundry could get into if Drok was found working there later on.Restless Ghosts
Once Ilmendwyth saw the rest of the group had things under control, he turned his attention back to Romulus’s fire and the old battlefield. In the field he saw transparent, ghastly shapes of long dead orc soldiers, ghostly pale in the rain. They lurched and rushed towards the fires and the caravan. He quickly whistled an alert and fired his bow, but the arrow flew through the specter. He stayed near Romulus, who could not stop his dancing, as the rest of the group reacted to Ilmendwyth’s alert. Ruslan called out to Romsca, saying, “You take this half, yes? We need to get to the other side.” Ruslan grabbed Chaka and Mortimr and they rushed towards the far side of the caravan. The party rushed forward and attacked the ghosts. Romsca’s fire spell set one on fire, but her flames, Demitri’s lightning spell, and Gertrude’s fire magic didn’t hit the ghosts to full effect. The ghost's horrifying visages washed over the group. Many were shaken with fear, and some were so shocked, they unnaturally paled and aged. Ilmendwyth aged imperceptibly, and Demitri and Arwin aged considerably in a moment. Arwin shakily shot arrows and retreated behind nearby haybales. He regained his composure and saw Drok, who had stood and grabbed his weapon again. Drok seemed to be weighing his options. Arwin said to him, “You would have to get more than three hundred yards away from me to run.” Drok then quickly ducked behind the haybales, too, covering his head in fear. Romsca grasped the medallion of Morounin around her neck and channeled divine power through it. A sound like a forge hammer on an anvil resonated across the battle. Three of the ghosts reeled from the energy and fled, rushing away from Romsca towards the fields. The alighted ghost remained and advanced towards Gertrude and the guards. The orc, Dhug, attacked ineffectually as the spirit washed through him towards Gertrude. She held a prepared spell, but with the risk of hitting Dhug, she threw the magic wide. The ghost rushed into Gertrude, burning her as it passed through. She felt herself being shunted aside from her body, but the light from her fired spell seemed to burst and illuminate, and she held firm. Arwin shot the ghost near Gertrude, scattering it to the winds. Romsca scattered one of the fleeing ghosts while holding the silver medallion. The tenor of the anvil ringing continued, and they group stayed at the ready as spirits fled.Completed Rituals
In the wake of the combat, Gertrude felt the blocking of Chedae’s light, or the light and dark of Azimuth being out of balance, was to blame for the spirits’ restlessness. They had been victims of Esturk and with the fading light, darkness seemed to be growing to affect the world. They noted the tumbled state of the nearby cairn to Nerull. They sought a way to repair it, hoping it may help the spirits to rest. Romsca began a Ceremony of repair on the fallen stones of the cairn. Meanwhile, Arwin recited the Repose Coda, a prayer to Nerull that he knew. Though Demitri was not familiar with it, he repeated the prayer in draconic.“Nerull, lo do I call to thee,At the culmination of the prayer, Demitri offered his Stone of Good Luck to aid Romsca’s spellcasting. The stone was taken into the shifting rocks and disappeared. Though still weathered, the cairn was restored to a standing pillar. In the morning of 8 Adroth, Romulus’s ritual was completed with a burst of flame from a scattering of acorns and ash. Fiery shapes of woodland animals spread across the stunted grasses, and new growth began in the growing morning ambiance. At the last, Romulus took small beetles from his pack and set them free into the dirt, where they skittered towards a circle of new night tulip flowers that had grown around the cairn.
Guide the souls of these who have left this mortal world
To the shores of the blessed realms where their spirits shall be free. Forget them not, oh Nerull, as you ferry them to your shores,
They have left their mark on this world,
And their memories shall live on forevermore. May their spirits find solace in the embrace of the divine,
And the whispers of the infinite.
May I one day join them in death’s winding twine,
And may we find comfort in the eternal beauty of the beyond. Forget them not, oh Nerull, for this is not the end,
These shadows are but a small and passing thing.
There is light and high beauty at your shores where us you wend,
Let us find the light, hiding us from the shadow from beneath your wing.”
Report Date
06 Dec 2023
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
7 Adroth 5A 352 to 8 Adroth 5A 352