Session 44 Report

General Summary

The next morning, July 29, 498 AV, after three castings of Remove Curse, Pyzar Zim was still not cured of lycanthropy. The parties began their trek back to Rowadin, planning for the eventuality they must face at nightfall. At the end of the day, they made camp and Auren Sylynn and Pyzar were chained and shackled to trees before the full moon rose. When Luna was in the sky, they both began their transformations. Auren’s body morphed into that of a brown bear, while Pyzar changed into a wolf. Both animals behaved with a feral rage as they lashed out at their chains, pulling at them and gnawing upon them. The next morning, they reverted to their human forms, bleeding wounds on their wrists, ankles, and in their mouths. The parties continued the journeys, escorting the rescued Prey to safety. Additional Remove Curse spells were attempted, but their lycanthropic curses resisted the magic each time. Another uncomfortable night followed. Only after this one, Pyzar vaguely remembered his ordeal, though through an animalistic viewpoint he found difficult to explain. It was July 31, 498 AV when they returned to Rowadin. Many of the Prey thanked the adventurers and hurried to their homes and loved ones. A few remained with the adventurers as they were from outlying villages or towns. Mintar and company volunteered to take them each home after Auren and Pyzar’s lycanthropy was taken care of. They proceeded to the Gardens of Life, the temple of Vita, Goddess of Life, where Olina was able to acquire them healing at half price as had been promised. The clerics at the temple were ready with healing magic, expecting the need to cure lycanthropy so close to the full moon. With two Remove Disease spells from an experienced cleric, Auren and Pyzar were cured. On the evening of August 2, 498 AV, Jenivar Albyn came to Heroes for Hire with a bottle of liquor. It was Haymin Stone’s birthday. She spent the evening with the party toasting to his memory and sharing fond memories. The party did their best to keep her spirits up, though occasionally, a few tears had to be wiped away. For the next week, Haymin’s Heroes focused on training new skills or learning new spells, while keeping an ear out for any potential job opportunities. Mogi Delvin spent time with Astri. Titta Morco and Pyzar sparred and practiced fighting blindfolded. Ladigo Farthon trained with Pennig. Auren trained his rogue skills at the Black Glove Society’s secret hideout. Selia Roselyn Maxwell studied spells at the Guild of Mystic Arts. On August 7, 498 AV, Arnell Devons came to visit the party at Heroes for Hire. He had heard about their performance versus the Hollow Moon Pack, revealing that Mintar and the others were members of the Vigil of the Weather Eye. Arnell now came offering Haymin’s Heroes membership in the organization, and Weather Eye Brooches. All but Mogi accepted. He said he did not feel worthy enough for the responsibility as of yet, but would like more time before he could commit to their cause. Arnell thanked him for his honesty and they left it at that. Haymin’s Heroes should continue to do what they have been doing and combatting evil wherever it might arise in the world. When the Vigil needed them for something specific, they would be contacted. Two days later, while Selia was passing by Dyora Albyn’s office at the Guild of Mystic Arts, she could not help but overhear a conversation between Dyora and Amanaxis. Dyora confronted him about someone who had come to speak to him, but Amanaxis refused to give her any information about this private conversation. Amanaxis told Dyora that Selia was at the door and he opened it. He bade the ladies good day and walked on. Dyora briefly spoke with Selia, asking her how much she had heard. On August 15, 498 AV, Astri returned from shopping at the market with Patch and informed Mogi that she saw Inness, the gypsy fortune teller from Karavale. She currently operated in the market here in Rowadin. Inness had read Astri’s fortune for free, giving her pleasant news that her baby would be born healthy. She, however, did not disclose if it would be a boy or a girl. Astri urged Mogi to go and see her and have his fortune read as well. So he gathered the party and they went and saw Inness together. The found her in the market, a small stand set up charging a noble for a fortune reading. She offered to read Mogi’s fortune for half price. He paid and she sat him down at her table, before her crystal ball. Then she grabbed his hands. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she spoke: Blood on your hands…blood from your hands…a ritual performed…a price paid…the circle complete…a man with no soul…embrace your destiny…your fate…feed the beast…under a moon wreathed in fire… Afterwards, her eyes went back to normal and she sat there pausing for a moment, a bit disoriented. She appeared to have no memory of what she had just said to Mogi. Then she began to close up shop, apologizing and claiming she did not feel well. Selia and Titta gave Inness some coins for her trouble and the party began discussing the cryptic words she had uttered. Multiple theories were brought forth, but ultimately, no answers. From there they went to the Courier’s Guild where Mogi paid to have a letter sent to Oathswan, the small town he was from just outside of Prend, Oathendale. The letter was to Anakis, the druid who had raised him. Mogi had not spoken to Anakis since the day he was kidnapped in Tall Rock, and despite the strange vision of him he had had a couple years ago, he wanted to try to reestablish a connection and perhaps learn something about the druid’s actual fate. On August 21, 498 AV, Auren suddenly became sick at lunch. He slid off his chair to the floor and vomited up a black substance and bile. He became instantly feverish and in general discomfort. Many of his symptoms were consistent with influenza, but the severity and sudden onset were obviously different, as was the black vomit. He was taken to bed and looked after. Healing magic was attempted. Amanaxis was brought in to treat him as well, and even a Heal spell did not help him. It only made Auren feel better for the briefest of moments before feeling a sharp pain wrack him from the inside. That night, Auren dreamed of a tree covered in ice. The ice melted and dripped black. Then the tree cracked. He heard a heartbeat in the background and saw blackened images and smoke all around him. The dream reminded him of an incident in his past where he saw a frozen tree and heard the words, “You have been chosen.” Over the next two days, Auren was looked over with several detection spells which came up revealing nothing. Lady Dyora became involved as well. She conferred with Amanaxis, but were unable to come up with anything. This was something neither of the spellcasters had ever encountered. At some point, Titta used her new Weather Eye Brooch to Detect Evil. That revealed an evil aura within Auren. Then she attempted to cast Protection from Evil using the brooch. That spell failed to take hold on Auren, as if something within him fought it off. Auren passed out and Ladigo attempted a cure spell with his Healer’s Amulet. Auren began bleeding from the nose. The rest of the party used their brooches simultaneously to cast Protection from Evil on Auren, hoping a concerted effort would work. For five or six minutes Auren looked at peace. His breathing was steady. They woke him and he said he felt well. Then suddenly the blackened image of a tree scrawled itself across his chest and he screamed out in pain, passing out again. Dyora and Amanaxis decided this required more research and left to begin their work, promising to let Haymin’s Heroes know if they learned anything. The party continued to look after Auren. On the second night, he had a similar dream to the first. Then in the afternoon of August 23, 498 AV, Auren suddenly began coughing, spouting out black smoke that coalesced into an amorphous blob above him. The smoke then took a humanoid shape until the smoke dissipated, leaving a skeletal woman with dry, withered skin stretched in patches over her bones. She was dressed in black robes with the white image of a tree across her chest. She reached down and caressed Auren’s face saying, “Dear child, you are the last…And they will come for you…You must stay alive.” This being then cast a spell and teleported away. In a short while, Auren felt better, fine in fact, though considerably hungry. Dyora and Amanaxis were called in. They examined him. There were no traces of magic lingering, though Titta had sensed a lingering evil with her brooch after the woman disappeared. Dyora and Amanaxis said that from what the party described, this woman seemed to be a lich, a powerful undead spellcaster who would have given up her mortal life in a dark ritual to gain immortality through undeath. Whenever a lich is destroyed, it reforms near its phylactery, a magical vessel or container that holds the creature’s life essence. What this meant for Auren was understatedly unnerving. The theory that Auren might somehow be the phylactery was discussed, but Dyora and Amanaxis did not know enough to confirm this, or that it was even possible. Then Titta speculated that perhaps the phylactery was linked to his bloodline, an equally disturbing thought.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists