Session 73 Report

General Summary

After Kyrie Eleison Thatcher-Stone finished healing Haymin’s Heroes, they approached the caravan. Most of the people were still in hiding, waiting to hear from their guards, but a commotion had erupted towards the wagon in the middle, which was on fire. Haymin’s Heroes rushed in to help deal with the fire. Selia Roselyn Maxwell flew above the wagon and used the Decanter of Endless Water to douse the flames. It tuned out to be Meritas’ wagon. The caravan passengers were worried for his safety, as well as Sistina’s. Titta Morco began explaining to them the truth about Meritas, Sistina, and the devil guards. Her story was met with much skepticism. Only a handful among the caravan seemed to entertain any notion that what she was saying could be true. Those few accompanied the party to the site of the battle where they could see the bodies of the dead devils for themselves. This did not seem to convince everyone, but the caravan agreed to move on towards Rowadin with Haymin’s Heroes guarding them. The Ten Crown Caravan reached Rowadin on February 20, 499 AV. Haymin’s Heroes helped the caravan settle at the city, even prepaying their fees for a week. Haymin’s Heroes then parted with the caravan and returned to Heroes for Hire. It was Astri’s birthday and Mogi Delvin was eager to see her. They spent the rest of the day at the guildhall celebrating Astri’s birthday. Belpher Burrows prepared a nice dinner and baked a cake for their enjoyment. The next day, the party spoke with Amanaxis and reported to him their results with Meritas and the Ten Crown Caravan. He was pleased that the harvester devil had been killed and would no longer be corrupting vulnerable souls. Haymin’s Heroes regretted being unable to stop Sistina from escaping and thought it was likely that they would see her again someday. They would be on their guard. When they asked Amanaxis about their third task, he told them that he did not have it ready. He was gathering some more information before giving it to them. Though he hinted that they would be facing a familiar foe. On the morning of February 24, 499 AV, Arnell Devons came to Heroes for Hire with a request from the Vigil of the Weather Eye. A young courtesan named Weneth was approached by a man one night with a proposition. After she declined his offer, she was grabbed from behind by two men. They covered her mouth and took her to a carriage and attempted to force her inside. She managed to free herself and run away after noticing others, bound and gagged within the carriage. Arnell told them she worked at Madame Prim’s. He did not have much more information about the incident as the Vigil had been given this lead second hand by a contact of theirs in the City Guard. The Vigil feared that there was a slave ring operating within the city and wanted Haymin’s Heroes to infiltrate it and put it to an end. They began by visiting Madame Prim’s and asking for Weneth. Prim Vanboran spoke with them and took the party into her office to meet in private. After she was confident that their intentions were good, she told them to return at 5:00 pm. Weneth would be there and they could speak with her then. In the meantime, the party split up to investigate any rumored disappearances throughout the city. They met back up in the afternoon and compared notes. A few of them heard rumors of people going missing, mostly the kind of people that wouldn’t really be missed. It was enough for the City Guard to give a cursory investigation, but not enough to devote any significant time and effort into tracking down the perpetrators. Some people believed that it might be more vampire activity, after what had been discovered at the home of Lovren Eventide the year before by Haymin’s Heroes. However, there were no significant leads. At 5:00 pm, the party returned to Madame Prim’s and were led into her office once more. There they found Weneth waiting for them. Weneth told them her story. A regular of hers she had not seen in some time, named Lindam, approached her that night, one week ago today. She turned him down, citing Madame Prim’s admonishments about taking on clients outside the safety of the brothel. When she tried to walk away, two men grabbed her from behind and took her to a dark colored wagon. When they tried to place her inside, she saw three other captives, all bound and gagged. There were two men and one woman, but she did not look at them long enough to get much more information. She bit the hand over her mouth and the man let her go. She broke free of the other’s grip and ran away. None of the men bothered to chase after her. She told them that she believed that Lindam was a businessman. He often blurted out about deals, orders, shipments, and things. Haymin’s Heroes then went to the docks to continue their investigation. At the dock master’s office, they asked if there was a local business owner named Lindam. The name sounded familiar to the clerk on duty, and when they mentioned that he may have been away for a while, he recalled the name Lindam Manar of the Manar Trading Company. They got the address to the business and headed that way. When they arrived, workers were finishing up with a recent delivery of goods. Haymin’s Heroes waiting patiently for the workers to finish before approaching. Auren Sylynn went in alone, though connected by Mindlink with Pyzar Zim. While Auren searched the warehouse and business office, the rest of the party waited at the nearby Alehouse. Auren could not find Lindam Manar’s home address, but he did find the bill of sale and deed to a nearby warehouse that was purchased about a month ago. The party then went to this warehouse. It did not appear as if anyone was there. Auren went in by himself again, while the party waited not too far away. Auren tried to sneak in through a side door, but when he opened it, he heard others inside. Footsteps were approaching and a voice said they had an intruder. Auren quickly drank a potion of Invisibility. A pair of armed men approached the door and one looked out saying he did not see anyone. The voice from inside the warehouse said that the intruder was right next to him. Auren ran away immediately, heading for the fence. He tried to scale it but slipped. The armed men stumbled toward him blindly after two other men came out and pointed in Auren’s direction. Then Auren suddenly felt a lashing assault in his mind, targeting his ego, which left him dazed. The two guards reached out to grab him, but could not locate him while he was invisible. Auren turned and ran towards the front gate while the mental attack continued. When he reached the gate, the assault on his psyche was too much and he passed out. After some time passed and the party did not hear from Auren, they went to the warehouse to look for him. Titta approached to investigate while Ladigo Farthon perched nearby as an eagle. The rest of the party waited beyond the gate. Titta looked in through a window and saw Auren tied up in the warehouse with four men around. She rushed back to get the rest of the party. As they entered past the gate, the front door to the warehouse opened up. The guards stood at the front with the two others behind them. Titta and Selia felt mental lashings on their ego. Titta was dazed, but Selia’s mind only took minimal damage. She cast Fireball at these men, killing the two guards instantly. However, the other two did not appear to be affected. Then Ladigo cast Wall of Sand. It filled part of the office and spilled out the front of the building as well. With the two men trapped within, the party made their way to the back of the warehouse towards the side door. The door was locked and Pyzar tried unsuccessfully to break it open. Selia looked in through the window and cast Benign Transposition to have Titta trade places with Auren. Then Titta opened the door from the inside. At about this same time, Mogi managed to kick in a large receiving door on the other side of the warehouse. Pyzar moved inside the building and stopped in dismay when he saw a large brain on four legs at the other side of the room, standing just outside the Wall of Sand. He recognized it as an intellect devourer, a deadly psionic creature he had learned about in his studies in Athayra. Pyzar called out to the others and warned them about the threat. The party attacked but the creature seemed resistant to magic as well as unnaturally resilient. Eventually, Pyzar and Titta’s swords damaged its toughened hide enough to wound and kill it. Then when the Wall of Sand expired, they found another intellect devourer just inside. The two men who were trapped within were now just fallen corpses whose heads had been burst open at the back. The party ganged up on this intellect devourer as well, and it tried to run away when their blows were having an effect. Haymin’s Heroes, however managed to kill it before it left the warehouse grounds. Though none of the party were physically wounded, Titta and Selia were mentally wounded. And Auren was still unconscious.

Campaign

The Heart of Embril

Protagonists