Session 2 - Gathering Your Bearings
General Summary
After helping with some chores around the Inn, the group was asked by Spurius to aid him in recovery of his son, who has gone to fight for the legions despite his father's stern warning that he is nowhere near physically ready to do such a thing. The group promised they would speak to the boy as they made their way to Fort Acrae.
Leaving the inn and arriving shortly thereafter to Nepte, the group discovered a somewhat strange feeling in the air, as a general ill omen overcame the town with the removal of their legionary forces and replacement with forces provided by Governor Petronax himself. These forces are suspected to be ill-trained men who may only be working for gold, instead of for the republic. The group failed to make a meeting with the Centurion who refused to speak to them. Luckily, Tiberius was recognized by a town guard, who alerted the Airenarch to their presence. The Airenarch summoned them to his home, and a meeting occured, filling the group in on some of the local politics and happenings as of late around Nepte.
The Airenarch promised to become a patron of the group if they were unable to recover their belongings at Fort Acrae.
The party then traveled to Crotona, and met Spurius' boy, Daedalus, at the Fisherman's Rest tavern. There, Andas struck fear into the boy, and Izikiel provided reasonings to why he doesn't stand a chance, currently, at making it in the legion. Having his disillusions dispelled, the boy returned home.
The party then finally arrived at Fort Acrae, where through Aulus, the party was able to enter. They re-met with Centurion Gallio Patricius, the same Centurion who fought to allow the party to escape the grasps of the Sermini. Unfortunately, the Centurion informed the players that he had to make a hard and organized retreat from the camp, and thus could not recover any of their equipment.
The Centurion did pull the party aside however to his private tent, informing them of his thoughts. He believes the Governor is on an ambitious task to raise legions and fight the Khurillians to grant gravitas to his title, however he and the party know that the real threat lies East, not West. He wishes to send a full report to the Senate, stamped by his name, and carried by the party. He explained that he would have them deliver it, and not a messenger, as they themselves were eyewitnesses to the attack. He recognized that the report may be little in way of persuading the Senate, and encouraged them to carefully survey the site of the camp, showing them on a map where it was located for additional evidence. The party set out shortly afterwards.
Returning to Nepte, they got some sleep, and prepared to assist the Airenarch with a bandit problem that he had mentioned earlier. The next morning however, new events had occurred, and the bandit task was pushed off. The Airenarch had gotten word of another grave robbery, which had been one of several as of late. His guard was wounded, but not killed, and the legionary who was support to pull guard duty with him never arrived. It was this that re-tasked the party. While Tiberius began to spy on the Centurion, seeking out possible corruption, the rest of the more physically inclined went to engage this likely Necromancer, tracking him from the cemetery to a ruined and burned out villa, surrounded with a few undead. The party easily cut through them, making their way to a basement in which the Necromancer was using as his lair. They entered quickly, cutting through undead in the tight corridors. A voice could be heard from deeper within the celler, begging them not to enter, and to go away. The party continued their bloody path, finally killing all the undead in the lair and finding the necromancer himself.
What they found was a battered and broken man, by the name of Artamo Vespilla. Artamo was ragged, deep and dark bags sat under his eyes. His face was bruised, bloodied, and the overall looked like a shell of a man. He'd immediately begin to beg for the men to hear him out, as he explained what occurred. He explained that his wife had died in an bandit raid on his villa, resulting in the fire and her death. He desperately preserved her body the best he could, and using what little knowledge he had of necromancy, thought he could fully raise his wife from the dead as she once was. He'd been visiting with Dark Elves from Dhorusia, one named Nesena. Likely a scammer of sorts, this Dark Elf had been leading Artamo into the Dhorusian Kingdom for weeks, giving him more and more supplies to enhance his necromancy ability.
Artamo proclaimed that he only used the dead for his experiments, never had killed anyone, and that is the reason for the guard surviving, as he did not wish to hurt others with his goal.
Regardless of this, he was led down a dark and sick path. The party thought of his fate for a short time. There was discussions of killing him or arresting him, but eventually, Andas ordered him to find Pios Castra Capua, the monastery of the Cult of Marenos, where he would live out the rest of his life as a member of the cult, seeking atonement for his sins. Andas renamed Artamo to Lucius, saying that Artamo Vespilla was killed in this raid, and burned with the rest of his estate.
Lucius left for the monastery, swearing to the party that they would never hear of him again outside of the monastery.
The party cleansed the rest of the basement, burning the corpse, his wife's coffin, and the whole of the lair.
Missions/Quests Completed
- Persuaded Spurius' son, Daedalus, to return home and train with his father before attempting to join the Legion.
- Reached Fort Acrae.
- Dealt with Nepte's grave robber problem.
Character(s) interacted with
- Tirus Umbrius Spurius, Inn owner at Spurius' Inn
- Airenarch Kaeso Rex, leader of Nepte
- Daedalus Umbrius Spurius, son of Tiber Spurius
- Centurion Gallio Patricius, Centurion of the 1st Cohort, 11th Legion
- Lucius (Formally Artamo Vespilla)
Notes
- Discussed feedback at the end of session, will start to incorporate more things to add between travel
- Discussed annoyance of not having gear for two sessions
Report Date
06 May 2022
Related Characters
Comments