Cathrine's Findings Two-Shot Report 1

General Summary

Cathrine De Clair Antebellius who had split from the rest of her friends, trying to reach Velámón and finding her parents after hearing of the city's attack. After about a week of travel, Cathrine reached the capital, now largely devastated, though the walls surrounding the inner district remained mostly standing. As she had heard that the city had been taken over by Union of Love cultists and an army of duergar known as the Sunless Horde, she rounded the city to reach the Bruxaria Woods, which could take her to the very edge of the city, whereas approaching from another direction would mean traversing open plains and farmlands.
Passing through the woods, in the middle of the night, Cathrine spotted two cultists searching the woods, and as she was preparing her firearms and trying to keep them down and out of sight, the cultists were ambushed by a strange, almost bestial figure. While Cathrine was still keeping low, the figure seemed to run after another person that was trying to stay hidden from the cultists, who upon being ran towards, cast a spell and jumped up into a tree branch above. As the two started talking, Cathrine was introduced to two others who were attempting to get into the city, Osvald and Ash, who were both looking for the same person, Ash's father Ander Wright, who Osvald had been on an adventure with many years ago.
Together, they snuck through the north side of the city, to the stone walls to the inner district, noticing a broken section of the wall to the northeast. Going first, Osvald scaled the walls by using his claws to climb the surface while Ash shaped the stone to make alcoves where she could stand. The two then dropped a rope down, so that Catherine could climb up after shrinking down her steel defender, Copernicus using the Enlarge/Reduce spell. To get down, Osvald and Ash jumped as Ash cast a Feather Fall spell to halt their descent. Afraid of the height, Cathrine then used a grappling hook and some pitons to slowly lower herself and Copernicus down.
Now inside the inner district, Dimeo, they noticed that many buildings all around the city had been destroyed, most notably almost all the temples and shrines around the city had been reduced to naught but rubble. Not having a clear goal or place of operations, the three began to try to make their way towards the southern part of the district, where Cathrine's parents had their homestead. On the way, they ran into a patrol and as they ducked into an alleyway to avoid the patrol, they noticed another group of gnolls that were entering the alleyway. Stuck in this pincer, a shady human dropped from above the buildings, telling the party to follow him, and with few other choices, they did. The human brought them to an ally of theirs who had aRope Trick prepared, a spell that creates an invisible extradimensional space, allowing them to hide as the pack of gnolls passed them by.
Here, the three of them met the other two player characters, Kajafas, and Elvis who had been helping the resistance force in the city to gather information and help people escape the city. The two of them asked why the other three had come to the city and warned them that they should leave before anything bad happens and informed them that some magic was able to control the Corelus Legion, the guard force of the city. But, as they currently had no other place to go, the five of them left to the Opulent Palace, what was once a fancy hotel in the city that was now used as sleeping quarters for those in need. Kajafas and Elvis then went to report their findings and ask if their "leader", Kagiyama Aoi had any information about the people that Ash, Cathrine, or Osvald were looking for. They learned that Ash's mother, Wictricia , had managed to leave the city, but found nothing else about Ander or Cathrine's family, except for Aoi recognizing the Antebellius name and noting she might've seen it on a list of employees in the Velta Mines to the north of the city, which Cathrine guessed was her sister Josephine who she had contacted earlier. The five of them then talked amongst themselves about their possible objectives, being the Wright family villa, the homestead of Cathrine's family, a barracks where the Corelus Legion guards, had been acting strangely, even before the takeover, and finally investigating one of the three towers that the cult had built around the city, containing a large, black magical orb. After discussing their options and priorities, they took a rest for the night.
The following day (16th of Firn 139 ED), the five of them, Ash, Cathrine De Clair Antebellius, Elvis, Kajafas, and Osvald headed first towards the home of the Ander and Wictricia Wright, only to find it guarded by a group of cultists. Kajafas climb onto the building and ambushed the cultist keeping watch outside and battle ensued as they fought their way into the building, only a single cultist managing to get away via teleportation. As the party then searched through the house, they found a trail of blood, leading to the study, that had been blockaded from the outside. Moving inside, they found the trail led to a hidden hatch, which they opened via magic. Under the hatch, they found a rough, stone chamber, the floor covered in blood, body parts, and intestines, a single altar with a book laid upon it on the far side of the chamber. Ash, Evlis, Kajafas, and Osvald ventured into the chamber while Cathrine remained at the top of the ladder.
As they did, Ash was attacked from behind by a once-humanoid figure, now with long tattered hair, gaunt features, and three horns growing from their head. Their arms and limbs showed signs of almost being eaten, or gnawed upon, the flesh and sinew beneath the skin, exposed to the elements. The party fought a difficult battle against this creature, many of them being knocked out once or multiple times, everyone except Osvald being badly damaged, all exhausted, and Elvis and Cathrine having attracted some sort of cannibalistic disease, causing the food they ate to taste horribly, making them feel even worse than before. As the creature was killed, it's final words yelled out to "burn it", and the party gathered it meant the book upon the altar, that upon examination had a white-leather cover with an open eye on the front. With a Wall of Fire, Ash lit the book and part of the room ablaze, as a fox made from fire appeared from a necklace she was once given by her father. The rest let Ash stand there in silent contemplation before moving on and ending the session.

Notes

The creature that attacked them in the "basement" of the villa was a Windwalker Wendigo.

Report Date

17 Jun 2023

Related Characters

• Cathrine De Clair Antebellius