Session 47

General Summary

The date is Thursday, 14th September

The time is 11:00 AM We were welcomed into the town as Heroes. Beers were poured for all. And there was much rejoicing. It was decided to question our captive, Gutrip, before the townsfolk killed him. He wasn't hugely informative. Fez was the overall king of the orcs and goblins, but another would soon rise to take his place. He knew of frost giants - the orcs trade with them - but didn't seem to indicate that they were "in charge" in any way. Gutrip is tied up to a tree and slowly tortured to death by the folk of the town, throwing axes at him. It takes a long time for him to die, but he does so bravely. Sellis goes to visit her friends in and around the town, as this is her home. She makes sure as many as possible are safe and well. As she does she bumps into a fellow druid, Odlief. Odleif tells Sellis that the druids of the circle have noticed something afoot with the frost giants. They are ranging far and wide in small groups and it seems that they are searching for something, but it is not clear what. The giants do not usually venture so far south before the snow falls. Selis should keep watch and pass on any news. Katla Stormson came to see us with some evil news.

Well met friends. It’s good to see you. We safely delivered your supplies to Skol as agreed, but the journey proved to be perilous. We lost a couple of guards, they were gruesomely killed at night, their bodies were found nearby the camp in the morning, their heads were opened and their brains removed. We tried to track the predator, but both times all traces mysteriously vanished after only a short distance. It was a relief to finally reach town.

We feared Sazayaza might be responsible. The time is 12:00 PM At noon, Idris went to the stone circle and asked for guidance and insight into the recent events from The Gods of Midgard. It was a powerful ritual and the gods were bound to answer him. He asked:

Were the frost giants behind this goblin attack? Yes.
Has the goblin threat now dissipated for this year? Yes.
Is Sazayaza in the vicinity of Javik and Skol? Yes.

We went to see Althaea at the town hall because we wanted to speak to her about many things. Idris explained the news from Javik and our suspicions about Sazayaza. He asked her if she had any scrying devices which we could borrow to divine some information about the mind flayer. Unfortunately, she did not possess such a thing, but Gunteric the blacksmith might be able to make us a mirror. She was not interested in Sazayaza's spellbook, in case it led the mind flayer to her. We spoke to trading items with her - the loot we had recovered from the orc leaders. Varis offered a shield in exchange for some of the items - but we agreed we needed to know more about the items first. Chi asked Althaea and Tordek many questions for his gazetteer.

Tordek asks if you would be willing to go to the shrine of Skadi near Balinburg and place there an offering that he has been carving. It is an ivory horn carved with scenes of the mountains. It has been inlaid with semi-precious stones and is actually an impressive piece of art. Tordek tells you that while he honours all the gods, Skadi is the goddess of the mountains and holds a special place in his heart and those of all dwarves.

That night we stayed in the inn. Johan and Freda, the innkeepers, spoke to us about their daughter.

Hearing that you are heading north, the innkeeper Johan and his wife Freda ask if you are intending to visit Balinburg? They have a daughter, Hannah, who six years ago, after listening to Tordek's tales, went looking for the dwarf city in the Glacier Mountains. They haven't heard from her since, which is sad but you can't keep your children tied to your apron strings. With Althaea's help, Freda has made a pair of reindeer skin boots for Hannah which she never got to give her. She asks if you could seek for Hannah in Balinburg and give her the boots, they will remind her of home.

A figure enters the inn, the innkeeper’s dog growls at the newcomer, but the innkeeper tells the dog to be quiet and laughingly apologises to the man, “don’t worry, his bark is worse than his bite”. The man approaches, his eyes cannot be seen beneath his deep hood but the many tendrils of his braided grey beard show that he is not young. His hands, mostly concealed by the sleeves of his long robe, have long slim fingers. He carries no obvious weapons. “Let me introduce myself he says”, his accent unlike any you have heard before, “I am Jaonos Valkrana, a sage from the distant forest lands to the south”.

He tells us he is in the northlands and is studying our folklore and has heard of us. He asks if we can speak with him in private about a serious matter.

Jaonos chats amicably as he leads you through the cold, night time streets of Skol, the river mists have risen up and give the night air a damp chill. Occasionally the crescent moon peeps out from behind the clouds and makes navigating the narrow, rubbish strewn streets a little easier. Reaching a small square, Jaonos stops and turns to face you. “Now, to business” he says. "I believe that you have something that belongs to me, a spell book. Return it now and I may let you live." Jaonos holds his hands out wide and gestures that you should look around you. Several figures move out of the shadows of connecting alleyways, they appear a grim and desperate bunch.

A fireball exploded killing one cultist and another was dropped by a blast of cold air. Fyren wrapped Janonos in a grasping hand of force and started to squeeze him. Then the sage dropped his disguise and showed himself to be none other than Sazayaza the Mind Flayer sorcerer. He blasted a large group of us with psychic damage which stunned Chi and Fyren. Idris threw out another fireball, and one of the mind flayer's minions ran for it. Tinnan went ballistic and rushed in to take on Sazayaza, axe-flaying, murder in his eyes. Sellis cast a time-slow spell on the bad guys and the illithid was notably affected. But it did reach for Tinnan and try and stuff its tentacles up his nose. About this time Chi snapped out of his stupor. The mind flayer was on his last legs anyway and was rapidly taken down with Idris' spell fire and then Tinnan decided to take out the last minion in his rage. Finally Sellis seemed to grow venomous fangs and rushed in and bit the final minion's head off! We removed Sazayaza's head from his shoulders and presented it to the rulers of the town, to put their fears to rest. Sellis tracked Sazayaza back to the hovel he had been using but there was nothing of interest to be found there. So we returned to the inn and crashed out, ready to head out the next day.