Session 5: Dawn in the forest

Andrios, 10th of Anagrypnion

General Summary

On his way to the House of Healing, Kaliaros felt that his movement was a bit more sluggish than expected. He checked his legs and noticed the same discoloration he found on the mysterious woman and on Kadmos. After arriving at the House of Healing, Ponteus and Kaliaros moved the mysterious woman from the general area to one of the guest rooms in the residence area. Fennan and Nir made their way to the Hall of Education. They found Aretha and Admentos having lunch. Aretha didn't have anything new to add regarding the script on the mask, only reinforcing that all references that that type of script have only been found in the underworld. Nir requested help from the researchers at the Hall of Education with some projects she had in mind: adding the location of whoever blows the Horn of Silence; automated lights along the trade route between Andrios and Thestia; placement of some improved Horns of Silence along the road towards Thestia. There was a lengthy debate between Nir and Admentos regarding the ethics of some of these "improvements" but ultimately it was up to the council. Aretha mentioned she'd bring these up with Ekris once she returned. Before leaving the Hall of the Council, Nir stopped at Zinon's office where she commissioned the construction of a trade port to promote trade with Akros. Zinon has some concerns regarding who would pay for this and Nir told him to put it on the Stravos family tab. Fennan and Nir decided to make their way to the House of Healing. Kadmos made his way to the Warden's Den. There he found all the wardens either chatting or training. He questioned Landron about his tardiness and after some failed deception, learned that Landron was exploring some ruins out of the normal patrol path and Drarra Wildpride helped him out while Krinos kept guard. After gathering everyone, Kadmos warned all present about the discoloration on his legs and alerted that it may be related to the area where he found the mysterious woman. If anyone started showing the same symptoms, he requested that they warn him as soon as possible. Kadmos and Krinos made their way to the House of Healing. On his way out of the council hall, Fyx was approached by Dykrin who wasn't too happy that Fyx wasn't helping with the preparation for The Theophiliam Mysteries. Seems Aspacia was also unhappy due to the lack of supplies for the festival. Fyx agrees to help and before leaving Dykrin gives Fyx a letter that arrived a couple of days ago. Fyx makes his way to The Huntress where he's greeted by an upset Aspacia. After a small back and forth and, with the help of Makar, Fyx manages to calm Aspacia down and convince her that the council had everything under control. Fyx then makes his way to the House of Healing. Nir and Fennan arrive at the House of Healing just as Kaliaros finishes moving the mysterious woman. He requests that Nir, Fennan and Keanon head outside and performs a small 50ft race. With this and some medical examination, he concludes that Nir and Fennan are also afflicted by the discoloration but Keanon isn't. Shortly after, Fyx arrives, Kaliaros performs the same test and medical examination and concludes that Fyx isn't afflicted by the discoloration. Once Kadmos and Krinos arrive, the group heads into the forest. After about 2 hours of hiking through the forest, Kadmos successfully leads the party to where he found the mysterious woman. This is just past the edge of the normal patrol route for the Wardens. After some investigation, Kadmos finds some tracks that lead over the river, everyone jumps to the other side without issue and the party continues to follow the tracks. The tracks then lead to a clearing filled with large rocks. Here the party finds a corpse of a human man. Nir loots the corpse and finds 20 silver and a fragment of a clay funerary mask. Kaliaros does a medical examination and concludes that the corpse has been here for at least a couple of days and that he suffered from multiple slashing wounds to the chest but they weren't lethal. Also, there was less blood than would be expected around the corpse. Meanwhile, Kadmos was searching the area and found signs of a fight about 150ft from where the corpse was. Kadmos also found tracks leading to the river which the party decides to follow.

Following the tracks, the party finds themselves on the south side of the river. Across the river is a masked man examining a ruined tower with a statue in it. Outside the tower are 3 robed men. After noticing their presence, the masked man introduces himself as Dawn and asked where is the group from and why are they in the forest. Nir told him her name and Kadmos tells Dawn they're from Andrios and are patrolling. Kadmos asked Dawn the same question and Dawn tells them he's a member of a group of people who are interested in revealing to the world true history. Specifically, he was here to find his friend Vargas who was wearing a golden mask and was investigating the tower. The party tells Dawn about the corpse they found and Fyx uses Disguise Self to take the shape of the man wearing the golden mask the mysterious woman was carrying. Dawn was visibly sad and asked that the party give him the mask. The party tried to convince Dawn that they hadn't seen any mask but Dawn remained unconvinced. Mentioning that perhaps he should visit Andrios himself to try to find it. Meanwhile, Nir notices that the 3 robed figures are illusions and fires an Eldritch Blast at Dawn .

Report Date

29 Jan 2022

Reputation with the gods