Session 354 - Dark Ritual
General Summary
The Story So Far
The King is dead. Long live the King.
King Minigath Elendsa, who had ruled the Kingdom of Kaldor well for thirty-three years, has been assassinated. His nephew, Sir Conwan Elendsa, has been crowned King, but the former King's bastard son, Sir Maldan Harabor, has contested this and made his own claim.
While the kingdom is embroiled in a civil war, the mysterious Esoterical Order of Lothrim has struck, and armies of orcs, many thousands strong, have invaded the fractured realm.
Meanwhile, the heroes have arrived on Glenoth island, in the Kingdom of Melderyn on the trail of the elf-killing murderer, the necromancer Incabulos.
Dryueh’s contacts in the Elven Kingdom have asked him to investigate a series of disappearances of their kin. The evil wizard has performed a vile ritual, creating magical potions that have made him younger; however, he has other plans to maintain his existence.
This is the continuation of Session 352 - Underwater Gateway.
Location - Glenoth Keep in the Kingdom of Melderyn.
10th Azura (Autumn) 727TR
Part 1 – On the Path of a Murderer
The party explores likely locations that the necromancer Incabulos has visited.
At the nearby Nilam Abbey, a Save K'norian monastery, they learn that a mysterious stranger, matching Incabulos's description, visited a week ago and purchased high-quality paper.
At Glenoth Village, the heroes learn that the stranger brought high-quality ink from the master mapmaker and spent some time at the Glenoth Chantry, the renowned Guild of Arcane Lore, specializing in the magic of metal, gems, and forging. At the Chantry, some discreet inquiries reveal that the stranger purchased some ruby dust and commissioned an elaborate metal scroll cylinder with a complex locking mechanism. This was picked up several days ago.
Part 2 – Meeting with the Baron
The highly intelligent Baron Halwyn is not amused nor fooled by the party’s evasive answers to simple questions. They attempt to convince him that they visited the island by boat, but he is well aware that they arrived by magical means. The meeting becomes more tense, and as the baron considers detaining them, the heroes wisely decide to stop playing around and reveal everything they know about the reason for their visit and the wizard Incabulos.
The Baron reveals that a local herbalist has recently been murdered, probably by the stranger, and his daughter is missing. As the party arrived after the murders, they were not suspects. The heroes volunteer to investigate the murder scene.
After examining the herbalist's corpse held in the town's church of Peoni, the Baron’s men escort the party to a small shack not far from a small inland village. The herbalist died from what looks like a rotting injury to the neck, probably the result of necromantic magic.
The herbalist hut is well-ordered, and the party can determine that every highly toxic and poisonous ingredient is missing from its shelves. Incabulos is making a deadly poison!
Part 3 – Putting the Clues Together
The party reviews the clues. The evil wizard has been seeking the following materials.
- A high-quality scroll, ink, and a scroll case.
- Expensive esoteric materials such as ruby dust.
- A deadly poison.
- A living human captive.
Valeria thinks she has the answer. Incabulos is planning to become a Lich! He needs to bind his soul into a phylactery, an evil document written in ink mixed with his own blood. During the ritual, the wizard must drink poison, thus killing himself. As he dies, he makes a human sacrifice to seal the pact with the dark powers. He will then become an undead horror.
Valeria uses divination to locate the herbalist's daughters from hair strands on her hairbrush. She is about 5 miles away on the unoccupied northern side of Glenoth Island.
Part 4 – The Burial Mound
The party immediately follows Valeria’s divinations and arrives at a series of small hills with a newly opened burial mound near a stone circle. The weather abruptly changes; winds are building, and clouds darken.
As they approach, the heroes feel the earth shake, and guardians the evil wizard summoned emerge to prevent interference in his foul ceremony. Two huge earth elements covered in sharp rocky crystals shoot blasts of razor-sharp shards, and two air elementals hurl rocky debris and lightning bolts at the characters. These prove worthy foes and push the party to their limits before they are destroyed.
Part 5 – A Lich is Created
Dryueh sneaks into the burial mound ahead of the rest of the party. He sees a chamber with a stone table and a young woman tied to it. Nearby is a glass of a deadly poison and the scroll marked with the evil pact. On either side of the sacrificial table, braziers burn, providing light that reveals four skeletal guards standing alert.
The wizard senses the rest of the party entering the barrow and hastily attempts to complete his evil ritual. Dryueh uses this distraction to grab the scroll on the table; fortunately, the necromancer does not notice. Incabolus quickly drinks the poison, and before the party can respond and his body dies, he stabs his dagger into the heart of the poor girl. She is slain. The dark powers are generous; against the odds, the rushed ritual is successful (DM's note: With the hurried ceremony, the necromancer needed to roll a 17 on his Arcana check; he rolled a 20). The poor victim's body shrivels, and her life force is drained. Even Dryueh's superb medical skills cannot save her.
At the same time, Dryueh observes that the blue ink in the scroll he holds in his hand changes color in a fiery burst, turning blood red. "I need some light to read this scroll,” he comments, sneaking up to the burning brazier and putting it into the flame. Incablous screams in pain, and his flesh begins to burn with the document. Pathetically, he hastily attempts to cast a spell, but the recently arrived Rycon drives his sword into his gut as his body is consumed by flames with his phylactery. The Necromancer Incabulos has been forever destroyed, and his skeleton guards are soon dispatched.
To be continued.NPC Interactions
Baron Soren Halwyn.
Player Characters
Valeria - Human - L16 Shadow Sorcerer
Background - Magical Experiment.
Archetype - Beastmaster.
Rycon - Human - L16 Fighter
Background - Rebel Knight.
Archetypes - Liberator Champion/Dual Weapon Warrior/Swashbuckler.
Dryueh - 1/2 Elf - L16 Thief Rogue
Background - Scout.
Archetypes - Vigilante/Medic/Shadowdancer/Wizard.
Next Session
Rycon
Dryueh
Valeria
Nilam Abbey
A Save K'norian Abbey located near the mysterious Rekene Maze on Glenoth Island.
It is famous for producing beautifully illuminated holy books and scrolls. It is also an expert in creating codes and ciphers and a training center for the psionically gifted.
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