Session 37: Out of Sohmweyr, into the ruined trading post

General Summary

Summary: 3 points

Finishing up in Sohmweyr

Visiting the Mud Wall

Maya takes a closer look at the southwest wall of town, where he noted the strange water elemental concentration. He uses Detect Magic and determines there are auras of Abjuration and Conjuration, and with his sense of the natural magic running through the place he's able to determine this isn't a planar keystone. It's an inviting place to water elementals and might explain why the river always seems to come by Sohmweyr even though it moves around in other parts of the river.
Maya takes a few minutes to explain this fact to the Sohmweyr Elders, who were ignorant of the function but feel like it makes sense. The druid suggests dumping some water on the Mud Wall periodically as an offering.
Maya further explains that the blessings are complete and the coming harvest. They express their gratitude and reiterate that the druid is welcome whenever he cares to return. Maya plants the idea of potential future trade with Hearthstone and the elders seem open to the idea.

Visiting the Sohmweyr Graveyard

Goldy comes along for the visit to the grave and seems a little surprised that Leucis has come along. Sunny catches his parents up on his recent life and introduces the cleric as someone who looks after him, which Leucis reads as being largely correct. Sunny draws some comfort from this quiet chat and reflection with his parents despite no apparent physical manifestation of their presence. Leucis notes that this hews closer to prayer than he was expecting.

Ring shopping

Kolvonnin, Saf, and Harb head to the Sohmweyr General Store in search of platinum rings for the Warding Bond spell. Babbling Brook has a pair of sufficient platinum rings that she is willing to part with for a minor discount (as friends of Sunny's). She does, however, have to rummage around a bit, since the small case she keeps them in has been misplaced.
Harb inquires after chocolate covered almonds, but Brook explains that while she has almonds (good travel food as it keeps well) it's usually warm enough that chocolate would melt, and the last ship carrying cold bars was long enough back that they lack good refrigeration.
When Kolvonnin explains that they will take the rings, Brook mistakenly thinks the three matching rings among the three adventurers is intended to convey that there's a wedding in the offing - the paladin explains that it's a bonding of a different sort in a way that isn't as clear as it might be.

OOC: Warding Bond logistics

One player stepped away to deal with a minor emergency. The rest of the group had an out of character discussion about who should wear the platinum rings for the use of the Warding Bond spell. Eventually, later in the session, it's decided that Sunny and Leucis should wear the rings.

Leaving town

The group says their goodbyes to folk and leaves town towards midmorning.

In transit until Starday, 28th of Leafbreak

The group has a couple of days of relatively calm travel. It's roughly 2.5 days from Sohmweyr to the ruin, so they get there towards late afternoon on the third day.

Maya talks to a few companions

Leucis

Maya thinks it's time for a change in Hearthstone, so he approaches Leucis In light of a future need to talk to people back home. Leucis requests a few details, and the druid elaborates the the Elders of Hearthstone are isolationist to the extent that it's dangerous for their people. Since they can't stay hidden forever and being isolated keeps them from either seeing oncoming threats or having allies when they confront those threats, Maya thinks a change of approach is due.
He further thinks the elders may not be on board with this kind of change. Maya lists the fact that the elders knew about Ogremoch, planar keystones and other such important things but didn't share that information.
Leucis ponders whether Maya has the allies needed to make this happen. The druid cites his childhood friend Chai and shares that she's recently come to some understanding with the fae via The Hearth Stone. Given these details, the cleric pledges his willingness to help via casting Sending (using the Gossip's Mirror).

Saf

Maya explains to Saf that he thinks the elders no longer have the best interests of the people at heart based on their witholding of information. He thinks their stubbornness has cost the people dearly between the lycanthrope attack and the Hearthstone Deal With The Fae, and they didn't properly equip him (as their investigator) with the knowledge needed to get the job done. Maya has come to the conclusion that the village can't stay hidden any more and that the current leadership is unlikely to allow that to change.
Saf raises the idea that it may require bloodshed. Maya admits somewhat tentatively that bloodshed to avoid worse bloodshed in the future may be worth the sacrifice, even if he doubts all of them will see it that way. Considering a moment, Saf suggests only advancing this idea with people Maya has a strong trust in, to see where they stand - the folks who would say nothing even if they disagreed.
Maya goes on to say that their may come a time when he needs the full support of the party for this endeavor. Saf agrees that it would likely benefit the whole world for the people of Hearthstone to join the larger community, so she's willing to help. Maya is pleased with this response, "You're such a good friend." Saf puts on a hint of a smile and replies "Why thank you. And so are you," as she brushes the Cloak of Protection around her shoulders (on "extended loan" from Maya).

Concerns about Tarek and Bursk

When the story of Tarek Simmot's loss of memory comes up, Saf expresses some concern that his lost memories might include bandits (specifically Bursk). If the owlin remembers Bursk as a bandit, he may end up executed while the party is gone. Deciding that it's out of their control, for the moment at least, the group soldiers on towards their destination.

Arriving at the ruin - about 4 pm, Starday, 28th of Leafbreak

Coming in from the northish direction the group arrives at the ruins.

As you look out over the ruins, you can tell this place has not had residents for some time. Scrubby grass and weeds grow between the cobblestones on the path. The rocks littering the landscape seem to be of the same kind as what little remains standing of the building walls.

Highlights of exploring the ruin

GM aside: details about this ruined trading post are in its article with a summary of events in this session report.

1. Sunny recalls that the ruined sign was towards the far end of town.
2. The group investigates the large building to the northeast, noting the large metal bell and identifying a Teleportation Circle (DnD Beyond) inscribed but covered in rubble.
3. Detect Magic sees the bell as having a strong aura that has Conjuration and Evocation mixed.
4. The blue glow Detect Magic reads as a strong Conjuration.
5. Leucis, Kolvonnin and Harb work on removing some of the rubble from the blue glow.
6. When the rubble is cleared away from the blue glow, it reveals some strange lines and symbols:
   
   
7. Leucis attempts to determine what these lines and symbols represent, and feels pretty confident that it's a Teleportation Circle (DnD Beyond).
8. Maya gets a better look at the bell under the grime, but can't read the writing. Saf can read the Dwarvish writing, but because of the bell's position it's hard to make sense of it:

   ..rke..
   ..mpede the flo...
   ...arth, the glory of the ...

9. The group discusses the possibility of trying to set the bell upright and/or ring it. There's some concern about potentially ringing it by accident trying to set it up.
10. While Sunny warms up the Identify spell, the group clears some rubble and sets up to set the bell slightly off the ground once they know what the bell is likely to do.
11. Sunny Identifies the bell as containing elements of the Find Steed and Thunderclap spells, but there are some other elements that can't be placed in this custom work. The sense of the contained magic that the bard gets is that these spells have been heavily modified and may be more powerful than their standard versions - the Thunderclap seems to have a lot more power than expected, and the Find Steed is similarly more powerful.
12. Sunny Identifies the circle as a Teleportation Circle, but gets the sensation of pressure or that there's something waiting - the spell's in an unusual state. The general consensus is that there's likely to be something arriving or leaving once the circle clears.
13. They elect to investigate the other ruins before uncovering more of the circle or attempt to right or ring the bell.
14. In the investigation of the other buildings, generally proceeding counterclockwise. A few notable points:
    • Some large bipedal creature has shoved its way through the ruins in a few spots.
    • Some sizable areas of dried blood are located, wherefrom something seems to have been dragged toward the southeast. The blood is splattered around in such a way that a messy killing seems likely, but there's no evidence of the victim. The druid considers shapeshifting and tracking the scent of the blood, but the overall decision is to put that aside for later.
    • There's a built but not used campfire huddled among the rubble and hard to spot at a distance. The party figures someone found a concealed place to light a fire and camp, but was scared off or otherwise left before using it.
    • One building seems to have housed draft animals and carts or wagons, but there's no evidence of food or water troughs for the livestock. There's some disagreement about the meaning of this - a few theorize that they might have rotted away, but others think they may not have been there in the first place.
    • There were no other signs of magic detected by the party (Detect Magic was swung around the hearth, the campfire, and a few other places, but there were no auras in evidence).
    • The road continues to the southwest but there's no other visible buildings.

Back at the bell

The group returns to the first structure and makes ready to stand the bell up. They clear some space for the bell to sit and set up some blocks for it to set on. Using Saf's Immovable Rod, some crowbars, Maya's Relic Sloth form, and a fair amount of elbow grease on a rope to stand the bell up. It's not easy but they manage it, and interestingly the bell does not sound due to the movement.
The bell now stands a few inches off the ground (though the blocks holding it up buckle somewhat under its mass) and the previously obscured sides are now visible. Where it sat on the ground, there's a significant imprint of where it landed.
Now able to see the full inscription, Saf reads it out:

Folks collect their accoutrements used to raise the bell, and Maya stays in the Relic Sloth form. We end the session here, poised to do something with this mysterious bell.

Next steps:

1. Continue exploring the ruined trading post
   • Ring the giant bell? Determine how (using a javelin to poke the clapper, using a spell or a hammer or the Orb of Gonging (DnD Beyond)...)
   • Look more into the Teleportation Circle (DnD Beyond) under the rubble; potentially record the sigils for later use.
   • Investigate the blood stains further - track the scent of blood where it goes.
2. Between session tasks:
   • Players: Discuss methods for the bell task above, since there's ample time to brainstorm.
   • DM and interested players: Rule clarifications (Stealth/surprise, Twilight Sanctuary, distance measurement, Warding Bond damage transfer by type)
   • DM: update the map (cleared rubble, standing bell, exposed circle, etc.)
3. Out of Character tasks:
   • Consider adjusting campaign flavor (more to come on this point)

Session Feedback

Eddy: I really liked the dicking around and picking stuff up. Investigation was fun even though I failed at it. Maya fomenting discord is really interesting and looking forward to seeing it develop. I can't wait to ring the bell!
Heather: It was nice to finish up with Sohmweyr, the grave visit and stuff. Interested to see what happens when we ring the bell.
James: I was hoping for a bit more action this go round, but I'm down for exploration. It wasn't horrible, just not entirely what I expected. Only other thing is the backstory development coming up. I wouldn't have engaged DL until an encounter started, just in the interest of simplicity during exploration. I might have characterized the Brook interaction as being more of a struggle.
Jeremy: It was good to get out of town. Investigative stuff, glad we searched before messing with the bell. James was slaying the investigation rolls and my character is half an idiot, so I didn't have as much to contribute. I'm glad we searched the whole area before we messed with other things - if we found these bloody areas where things were smashed or ripped apart with no evidence after we'd been doing something else for a few hours, I'd feel kind of bad about that. The ideas for moving the bell really came together so that was cool.
Matt: Saf is definitely in on the regime change, and I'm super interested in how that plays out. The misunderstaning about the negotiation with Brook was a bit sticky, so we could have made that a little clearer. Inefficiency in the investigation ("the Scooby-Doo thing") was a little irksome, but that's not always a thing that folks want to spend a ton of time talking about. I thought it was interesting that the first two things we spotted were effectively two loaded guns - most notable thing on the map, first thing we interact with, and it's very obviously a trigger of some kind. Finding out that this isn't actually Estimarth but has a teleport to it is interesting, and finding out that teleportation circles are a thing is also interesting. The local giant running through stomping other things could be fun once we know more about it.
Meg: I like doing the investigations and the mystery is fun, even when I'm bad at it. Another session with folks ducking out, which is unfortunate.
John: Fair enough on hoping for more action. I wasn't sure what to expect, and folks being cautious wasn't off the board but wasn't how I figured it would go down. Folks having to duck out due to emergencies sucks, but as a group we're pretty good at avoiding the worst of that, and there's no avoiding it. DC on the bell was set quite high, but I was confident the party would make it easier somehow and they totally did. I take full responsibility for the failure to communicate clearly about the Brook negotiation. I fully intended that the bell was a notable object and likely to draw attention, but the bell itself being the first place the group went wasn't as intended.

Rewards Granted

Two platinum rings (valued at 50 gp each) for the Warding Bond spell. Acquired for 45 gp each.