The Five-Sided Coin

General Summary

In a cave at the top of one of the enormous anvils not far from Kegness, the party considers what to do. Talking to the drow, a rogue by the name of Kored, they debate whether or not to return to Kegness at all, and if so whether to attempt to stop the mayor repeating what he did to them to others. A lengthy conversation ends with a trip down to where the remains of former adventurers were thrown by the wyvern. As Norin attempts to head down, his leg proves to be too much for him to handle, and he falls unconscious. Inspecting the wound, Tarek realizes he needs his alchemical supplies to take care of this as soon as possible, or Norin may lose the leg. The party finds a way down through an illusionary wall, emerging at the base of the anvil, nightfall approaching. They find a pit filled with desecrated body parts, thoroughly looted, with nothing of value except for the money Kored's companion was carrying. They take a quick rest before travelling through the night to get to town as soon as possible, Tarek carrying an unconscious Norin on his back. Kored decides he'd rather brave the wilds himself than go back to Kegness - he heads out, claiming to go find his companions. Just before they get to the town, the party thinks about how to approach the situation, as well as about what to do with Norin, who is still unconscious. After a long discussion due to a lack of decisive leadership, they decide to head to Sulrash at the church of Mahira first, leaving Norin hidden under some bushes against a tree. Stealthily arriving at the church, Sulrash shows his face for a second before slamming the doors in their face. They hurriedly force the doors, which are protected by a weak arcane lock of some kind, scared of being noticed by any of the villagers. Once inside, the thick cloud of herbs and incense clouds their senses and dulls their minds. Sending Coleth down to find where Sulrash went, Craig sees through her eyes as Sulrash fires a bolt of energy that kills her instantly. As quickly as they can, the party follows Sulrash down to the room he disappeared into. Things become tense as Sulrash, apparently finishing some kind of ritual, angrily tells them they killed 'her', that 'she' was a gift, and then charges at them in anger as draconic spirits begin to fill the smoky air around him. The fight seems impossible at first, and Snap tries to run away with Tarek. Arviel also has a moment of doubt as she flees the room, noticing two stealthy assassins making their way through the chamber to help Sulrash. As it becomes clear Tarek and the rest aren't planning to escape, Snap turns around and tries to help her ally as best she can. Even Arviel turns back around to help them, realizing there is a chance of victory if she helps her party out. With Sulrash unconscious, the two assassins stab themselves in the arm with a poisoned needle. The party manages to save one of their lives, but the other dies. Getting information out of Sulrash proves difficult, even with the groups intimidating presence. Finally, Craig feels his hand forced - he kills Sulrash by firing a firebolt straight into the back of his head. The living Tiefling knows little but tells them Sulrash and the mayor are the only ones from the town he ever saw discussing these sinister plans. When the party lets him go, he finds his sister is dead and runs away. Spending a night in the church to Mahira, the party is rudely awoken by a banging on the door. Arviel uses disguise self to look like Sulrash, finding that Glorinduc is knocking on the door, asking why Sulrash didn't complete the rites that morning. Arviel, panicking because she can't remember Sulrash' voice very well, mumbles something and then slams the door in his face. Glorinduc seems to have bought it, although he did seem confused as well. After a few hours more of napping, the group begins to stir. First, there is much confusion about Pimwrick's new head of dark hair, but no one exposes his ruse just yet. They decide to head into town and talk to Glorinduc, claiming to have killed the werewolves. Before they get there, Snap quickly checks on Norin, who seems to be suffering from the cold - she places one of her furs over him and hopes for the best, heading back to the group. In town, things don't go smoothly as Glorinduc sees through their ruse quite easily. He manages to get the party out of town, surrounded by guards, but underestimated their power. The players turn on the guards, taking out a few of them before the rest throw down their weapons. Glorinduc himself turns invisible and runs for his house. Some confusion follows as the guards try to heal their fallen comrades. The players help them and try their best to explain their situation. Eventually, Ana, who seems to have taken control of the situation, tells the party to stay put as she runs towards the mayor's house. After about five minutes of waiting, the party grows impatient and runs after her, finding the mayor gathering his stuff as Anna lies on the ground. As Craig casts a spell to put Glorinduc to sleep, he manages to tell them their 'predecessors' are here - a group of horrifying undead creatures appear behind them. Fortunately, the party is able to defeat them without too much trouble. Ana, who wakes up from a sleep spell cast by Glorinduc, tells them to follow her for a night in jail while they investigate the situation. Pimwrick tells Ana about Norin, and they go out to pick him up as the rest begrudgingly agrees to go to jail for a night. Norin is barely conscious even after Pimwrick does his very best to restore him using his divine powers, and Ana is worried. They take Norin to the jail cell, where the party now talks to the half-orc bartender Trukag, who says he and his wife had been looking into Glorinduc and Sulrash' shady business. He offers them to stay in his inn, the Copper Spoon, until Norin's leg is fixed up. He warns the party that some villagers may have been receiving payment from Glorinduc, so may not have a friendly disposition towards the party now. Glorinduc, in the cell next to the party, fervently claims not to be a necromancer as Tarek expresses to Trukag how bad he wants to see the mayor dead. He says he received the wights from a pair of necromancers from Issenkald who came into town, that they gave him some money and a way to defend himself in exchange for certain bones and body parts that he and Sulrash would send to the city. Trukag says Glorinduc will be tried for his crimes by the town, but that there would be no murder happening by any of their hands for the rest of their stay in Kegness. The party eventually even admits to having murdered Sulrash in self-defence. They go over to the Odds & Ends to buy Snap and Tareks gear back, and after a small casting of an enchantment spell Arviel manages to get a good deal off with her. A small amount of business eventually leads to everyone setting up in Trukag's cellar, where Norin is laid down. For a full night, Tarek and Pimwrick try to heal him, but things don't go well - due to the cold of his 24 hours outside, Norin lost three of the toes on his right leg to frostbite. The party eventually wakes up to an exhausted Tarek and Pimwrick, still attempting to take care of a feverish but awake Norin, and think about what to do for the next week in Kegness.