(Campaign4) Hunt for the Vetala

General Summary

Forth campaign set in Farrah. Set in 490 AQ and played by The Advengerers (PC Group).
This campaign begins where Nightsun Island ends, with the Advengerers trapped on the island. The group, along with the crew of The Ambassador eking out survival, but things are growing desperate. They remain on the island for over a year, and during that time suffer losses. The first mate, Krawcheck, dies of malnutrition. Many of the crew become withdrawn and angry.
Kastor Nycthemeron (LT) stands atop the lighthouse and seems to meditate constantly. One of the crew, John Havel, becomes angry at the warforged not contributing. He gets drunk and goes to the top of the lighthouse alone. He has an argument with Kastor, accusing him of not helping, stating that he could have saved Krawcheck. It is unknown what occurred exactly, but John Havel fell to his death from the top of the lighthouse. Kastor reported to the Advengerers that the man was simply drunk and angry, tripped on an uneven tile and fell.
After 18 months of tense living on the island, the Advengerers are able to flag down a passing trading ship, Tempest Bow. The captain of that ship sends a long row boat safely over the reef to takes the crew and Advengerers off their island prison. The Tempest Bow sets sail, headed for Vaclav. The ship did not pack enough supplies to feed the entire group and have to ration water very strictly.
After several days of water rationing the crews of Tempest Bow and The Ambassador are both very sick. The lookouts stop a seemingly abandoned ship Albatross adrift in the water. The Advengerers row over and search the ship. They find only a single sailor who has hanged himself, and the rest of the ship is empty. There are signs of a fight, blood and cuts to the ship, but no people. The only supplies found on the ship are two barrels of ale deep at the back of the hold. the Advengerers take the ale back to Tempest Bow.
When the crew drink the ale that night they begin to vomit and collapse. The Advengerers quickly determine that the ale was poisoned. Another ship is spotted following Tempest Bow, flying no flag. This second ship, Serendipity approaches and the crew, pirates, board Tempest Bow expecting little fight. The Advengerers fight off the pirates, taking a prisoner. They find out that the pirates routinely leave poisoned ale on the ships they board in the hopes of capturing a second ship in these circumstances.
The pirate ship flees, and Tempest Bow is left to continue on its path to Vaclav. Many of the crew, including the Captain of Tempest Bow die of the poison.
The Advengerers arrive at Vaclav. Kastor Nycthemeron departs without a goodbye. The Advengerers are approached by Harper agents. They are taken to Vanimo where the leader of the Harpers, Eton Gale, asks for their help. Eton tells the Advengerers that one of his best agents, Amelia Lightspring, has gone missing on a mission in the north west. The Advengerers track Lightspring and find a small group of Gith with two prisoners, Lightspring and Nathuram Godse. The Advengerers attack and some of the Gith, taking one prisoner. The remaining Gith, Oda, requests that his fellow Gith be properly buried. Max's Advengerer agrees to this request and buries them. Oda asks to say a traditional Gith prayer over the bodies, Max's Advengerer respectfully bows his head. Oda casts teleport and vanishes.
The Advengerers return to Vanimo with Lightspring and Godse. In Vanimo the Advengerers meet a gnome who claims to be a Harper, they do not question this throughly and he accompanies them back to the Harper base. Impressed by their conduct, Gale asks them for further help. He tells the Advengerers of the Vetala's plan to bring together the Crystals of Will, Power and Control and restore itself. The power crystal was held by Nathuram, so now it is in the hands of the Harpers. The Will Crystal is in a vault near the city of Kimbal. The Control Crystal is held by The Enlightenment, the wizarding guild in Quisling. The Vetala will be hunting these crystals, so it is important that they be collected. If the Harpers can get all three they believe they can rebind the Vetala in the sword.
The Advengerers leave to collect the Will and Control Crystals. When they leave the Vanimo base the Vetala's shades raid it, killing Eton Gale and taking the Crystal of Power. The Vetala was alerted to the location of the base by the gnome that the Advengerers lead to the secret location. The Advengerers are unaware of this and continue onward.
The Advengerers travel to Kimbal. While journeying, they also find the burial place of Monten and read the eulogy written by Silvos.
When the Advengerers find the tomb in Kimbal they break in. They find it guarded by a djinn called Honorious who delights in torture and traps. They find an old adventurer who has been trapped in the dungeon for years, a playingthing for Honorious. The adventurer, Ceres, joins them. The Advengerers fight through to the centre of the tomb and find Crystal of Will in an upside down glass box suspended in hydrargyrum (mercury). Beth's Advengerer weighs herself down and sinks to the bottom of the hydrargryum, then lets go of the weights and floats up to the Crystal. She takes it and is then pulled back out via a rope around her waist.
The Advengerers try to leave, but are the doors are sealed. Honorious says only the number that entered can leave. The Advengerers leave Klover (LA), a tibbit, behind and take Ceres. Upon leaving the tomb Ceres ages suddenly and dies. The Advengerers take the Crystal of Will and go. As they travel, Beth's Advengerer becomes very sick and is on death's door.
They head to Quisling. On the way they meet a group of Druids who are going to Mt Quarinth. The druids tell the Advengerers that the spirits of the land are angry, animals are turning wild and savage. The druids are going to the spiritual centre of Farrah to attempt a calming ritual. The druids are called Antonio, Dorotea, Sancho and Cecial. Dorotea diagnoses Beth's Advengerer as suffering Hydrargyrum poisoning, a deadly condition without treatment. Dorotea cures her and advises her to get rid of all possessions that touched the Hydrargyrum, as simply touching them would spread the deadly poison. The two groups share a campfire and then part ways.
At Quisling, Beth's Advengerer deposits her hydrargyrum tainted gold in Wells Fargo (causing the Merchant's Plague) and destroys the rest of her possessions. They group have been outed as Harper agents so need to keep a low profile. The Advengerers find a hotel to plan their attack. They decide to leave Dreagan and Richard's PC back at the hotel. The rest of the Advengerers sneak into the tower of Ecthelion, the headquarters of the Enlightenment. The Advengerers begin to fight their way up the tower to the Crystal of Control. As they do this Kastor Nycthemeron, now serving the Vetala, lands on the roof of the tower with a squad of shade and begins fight his way down. The two meet in the middle, both storming the room where the Enlightenment are doing unknown experiments of the Crystal of Control. The three groups fight and Kastor escapes with the Crystal. Seeing the battle, the guards in Quisling, loyal to the Crown and not the Enlightenment, assault the island as well. The crown had given them orders to look for any excuse to attack and take the Crystal of Control from the powerful but untrustworthy Enlightenment.
The Advengerers manage to slip away in the confusion as soldiers, wizards and shades all battle on Alamaren Island.
While the battle at the tower was occuring the two Advengerers, Richard's Advengerer and Dreagan, in the hotel receive a knock on the door. They open it to find a unit of guards sent to arrest the Harper agents. They surrender and are taken to holding cells. Once at the holding cells Richard's Advengerer bribes two of the guards to let them go free. The pair doctor the records for their arrest and note their guard's names and addresses. They determine that the guards should not profit for corruption, and that they will go to their house and rob the bribe gold back. Once the two reach the outside of the house Dreagan remind's Richard's Advengerer that they should be strictly non-lethal. They burst into the house and Dreagan immediately beheads one of the two guards, cleaving with his axe and killing the second all in one stroke. They take the gold back and write a warning on the wall in the blood of the fallen guards. They flee into the night.
The two groups of Advengerers reunite and each is enthusiastic to leave the city as soon as possible. They are approached by Nathuram, who tells them what happened at the Harper base in Vanimo. Nathuram also tells them that the Vetala is taking mercenaries to Chixculub Island in the west to restore itself. With the Control Crystal the Advengerers could travel there and try to disrupt the ritual.
The Advengerers rush to Vaclav. On the way they have dreams of the druids at Mt Quarinth. They see a vision of the druids attempting to bind the evil spirit causing the animals such anger. The druid's spell fails and the spirit attacks them.
The Advengerers reach Vaclav and search for a ship to take them to Chixculub. They are informed that a number of Wells Fargo mercenaries have already left for the island and so most of the boats are unavailable. Kastor Nycthemeron and a regiment of shades approaches the Advengerers when they are on the edge of the town. Kastor tells them if they surrender the Crystal of Will to him he will allow them to live, only because of their shared history on Nightsun Island. Kastor would also be willing to trade his hostages, Amelia Lightspring and Christine Hellstrom (daughter of Samudai Hellstrom). If they refuse he will unleash the zombie plague. The Advengerers reluctantly hand over the Crystal of Will, Kastor flies away with it.
The Advengerers hire an airship, The Akron, captained by Abraham Woodhull. They take Christine Hellstrom with them, but Amelia Lightspring is injured and does not join the group. Onboard The Akron they fly to Chixculub. Once over the island they see a battle taking place. A Gith fleet is storming the island, which is fortified by shades and human mercenaries. The Gith are assaulting one of three crystal locations, pulling most of the Vetala's defence to that location.
The Akron is attacked by shades and shot down by Kastor Nycthemeron. As it crashes most of the Advengerers are able to float to safety, but Beth's Advengerer is killed in the crash. The Advengerers pull the ballista off The Akron and attach it to Dreagan's horse, Ironhoof. Some of the Advengerers, seeing this attack as folly, lose faith and flee. The remaining two, Dreagan and Hrothgar (JH) rush toward the centre of the island hoping to destroy the body the Vetala is in and prevent its power being restored.
The Advengerers reach the top of the crater in the centre of the island. They set up the ballista. They see the druid, Dorotea, standing in the middle of the crater, the Vetala has taken over her body. They fire the ballista, with a perfect shot striking Dorotea. They then charge The Advengerers engage the wounded druid. A vicious fight ensues, leaving the two Advengerers bleeding to death and Dorotea barley standing, still impaled by the ballista bolt. Ironhoof, Dreagan's horse manages to kick Dorotea and deal the final blow.
The Advengerers who refused to fight at the centre of the island steal a boat from the human mercenaries and flee. They take with them Christine Hellstrom. The two who fought the Vetala are rescued by the Gith. They, and Ironhoof, are taken back to Farrah as thanks for their aid in this dark hour.
The Advengerers never reformed. Max's Advengerer took Beth's Advengerer's clay dragon and moved to a life of seclusion in the Fimble Mountains. Dreagan ordered himself frozen in amber until such time as the world needed him and Ironhoof again.
In the end the Advengerers were deeply flawed, but still heroes of their time. They gave their lives to fighting evil and suffered through great hardship. They deserve their place among the pantheon of heroes of Farrah.
PC group in Campaign:

• The Advengerers

Report Date

19 Dec 2019