Coia: 03 - When Your Plans go up in Flames
General Summary
Still winded from our journey into the Shadowfell, we consider our options as a pair of goblins emerges from the portal. We kill them and continue to discuss our options. Another 2 more waves of goblins come through and after we take care of them, we decide that maybe we should do something about this portal. Emis hits it a few times and is in favor of destroying it. The rest of the group is hesitant, but seeing no alternative, begin to smash the portal. After enough damage, the portal cracks and they see the center film go clear, indicating that it's no longer an active threat.
It's a days journey back to Altherstab where we head to check on the town and collect our reward for rescuing them. On the way, Nicodemus mentions that he's looking for a book that he thinks is in Beresko. He offers to give up his share of any payments or loot we find if we help him find the book. He's vary cagey with his information and most of the group don't trust him. While some of the party do have other agendas, heading to Beresko isn't out of their way and they warily agree to help Nicodemus.
After collecting their payment, they travel south to Beresko, reaching Somania by the end of the first day. Stopping in at the Two Drunk Goats Inn which was recommended by Paki, they have some dinner and get to know each other a little better. Also in the bar is a solitary man sitting in the corner wearing a red cloak. They think he seems suspicious, but leave him alone for now and retire to bed. Moose has a nightmare of their journey the next day being interrupted by a clawed hand and encompassing darkness. He sees the head of a beast rise up and hears a voice like the one they heard in Shadowfell say "I will possess you too." He bolts up in a cold sweat.
The following morning, the group head out to Beresko and notice that the red-cloaked man is also journeying that way. After some attempts at small talk fail, they pass him but remain wary. Later in the day we come upon Beresko.
The first part of the town proper we see is the long, continuous stonewall encircling most of the buildings. Deep inside the northeast part of the town you can see a small castle spire peeking just above the walls. Likely where the ruling nobles reside. As we get closer, we see a massive wooden & stone gate that guards the only entrance and also begin to notice the condition of the walls & gate. While impressive from a distance, upon closer inspection it appears that this is either an old fortification that hasn’t been kept up, or it was more recently built in haste with little attention to detail.
“State your name and purpose before entering Berkeso.” The guard, Mephis Funsani, bellows as he appears from inside the gate house. “Are you here to collect the bounty? My lord keeps pestering me about it”. After asking more about the bounty, the guard informs us that something has been pestering the town lately. He tells us that if we're interested to stop by the castle in the morning and request an ausidence with Lord Arris & Lady Nulura Adeben. Nicodemus inquires about any other strange visitors and the guard notes that a pair of travelers came in very early this morning, before sunrise, asking about water travel. He sent them down to the Great Docks, there’s a vessel leaving for Aymock at first light tomorrow.
Heading over the bridge from East Town to the Dairyborough, this looks like the stereotypical ‘wrong side of the tracks’ part of Berkeso. Following our noses to the fish smells, we enter the Great Docks area after sunset. Moored to the main gangway is a stout 2-masted ship with the faded name Horizon Reacher painted across the stern. We meet Captain Rondak Svatomir and First Mate Kanighar Rostik. They tell us that Horizon Reacher sails a route from Berkeso to Aymock on Kilkburgh Lake, out through the river to the ocean and on to Calimport, Tetbury, Bamney, ending at Aveton. It's a two-month round trip. Cargo is loading now and passengers load before sunrise tomorrow morning. Most waiting to embark usually stay at the only dockside lodging, “The Green Crab Tavern”
We head to the Green Crab and chat with the barmaid Azmira. She's lodged a few groups waiting to board the Reacher tomorrow, but a shifty pair of dark cloaked men rubbed her the wrong way and she told them there’s no more available bunks. She pointed them to a warm alley next to the warehouse. We've been sweet-talking her so she says she actually does have only a couple rooms for the night so we'll have to share.
After dinner, we're curious about the shifty men and head around the corner to the alley. The passage is blocked by some wooden crates which we move but they release a booby trap of poison. Venturing past them we come across 2 cloaked humanoids. The shorter creature quietly jibbers in foreign language that sounds like fey or sylvan language “I think we should leave.” The taller one tries to excuse themselves out of the alley, glowing tattoos peaking out from his cloak sleeves. As they try to shove past us, a fight ensues and as the taller one pulls a dagger on us, we kill them both.
Examining the bodies, Moose finds some Boots of Elvinkind. He opens the taller one's coat to find 2 books, a saucy little adventure tale titled "Adwynne and the Styr" and a larger book titled "M's Book of Knowing". Before Nicodemus has a chance to notice, Moose opens it up to look through it for information. As soon as Moose begins to read from the book, Nicodemus bursts into flames. Taken by surprise, the group watches in horror as his body quickly incinerates leaving nothing but ashes on the ground where he once stood.
Shaken by this, the group quietly heads back to their rooms for a restless night of sleep. Moose reads a bit more of his book to discover that it's a book of knowledge that whoever reads from it is bound to it. Once a new person reads from it, it severs ties with the previous person and kills them. Moose realizes he's now in the same predicament the Nicodemus was, and decides to carefully guard the book with his life.
Sszardan T'Sarran
Nicodemus
Emis Faralei
Nym Lenore
Moose Knuckle
Report Date
05 Jul 2022