Helm's Walk begins/Thariel Talwyn's abandoned shack

Expedition

The CR5 embark on Helm's walk, encounter the undead corpses of Eri's former party, and the mysterious remains of a long dead elven scholar.

Session 17: Helm’s Walk We awake at the Crackrack, some of us hungover. Gunkshed informs us that he can no longer keep our dragon cold and we need to buy a Bag of Colding off of him for 200g. We don't have the money, but want the dragon super bad so we promise to pay him back once we get back from the pilgrimage.   We head south and Eri sends a letter to her parents through a mailman on the way. We reach the city's south wall and walk through the gate. We follow a path south and along a cliffside where Eri was first ambushed, there is a strange boulder with a skull carved on it and the words "Life is Eternal" written in draconic. Eri says she senses the area has been desecrated and we continue on with a uneasy feeling. We eventually come up on an ascending path leading up a cliff, overlooking a rocky cove with strange striated rocks. Eri enters the cove to investigate while Tem and I discuss possibly turning this location into a sick swimup bar, sort of tiki vibes and maybe a dj stand on top of the cliff, playing music to people in the tide pools below. Eri finds a pool inside the cove with floating things in the water. We catch up to her and the floating things turn out to be reanimated corpses of her dead friends. We could also build a pier so that wealthier patrons could just bring their boat right up be served without having to leave their boats. We fight the undead Kalgrim and Nadine, defeating them. After going through their corpses Eri takes their focuses and sends their bodies off to sea. Bung Bung kept Nadine’s eye. Tem found a nice pink conch shell, and Eri held onto Nadine’s locket and Khagrim’s pocketwatch.   We could use the bar as a front for a potential smuggling operation, using passing boats or pirates. We learn from Eri that Belwick told her that he took care of the bodies of her companions, sending them off to the city they came from. That brings into question whether or not Belwick told the truth, and his motives. We discuss with Eri what comes next and she decides she wants to push forward with her pilgrimage. We continue south until we find an old mossy abandoned cottage.   Session 18: Abandoned cottage/Menegegus We decide to enter the cottage to investigate and find research notes containing details about the fauna and flora of southern Nescius, the notes are over a hundred years old. He eventually speaks of unspeakable horror and despair, something about "Again a bottomless fear from which I cannot recover, again the macabre chariot, He is eternal, for He lives inside my mind". The chariot is reminiscent of the chariot we have seen in the dream realm. Vel realizes the author is Thariel Talwyn, a philosopher. Thariel was known to study prehistory and posited that the Gods possessed their children (us) and instilled in us divine knowledge in a collective consciousness, of which no one individual could understand, but through all human consciousness becomes apparent. Brogg investigates the scribblings above the trap door, where various faces are carved into the wall. We open the trap door and find nothing but solid dirt. We start to dig through the dirt and find a ladder, while this is happening Tem identifies the Goggles of Night for me. Eventually Vel breaks through a chamber where we a skeleton half submerged in fungus and slime, this slime covers all the walls. The skeleton is wearing a pink and powder blue glove, which I give to Tem. Vel reads more of Thariel's journal where he finds out that Thariel once studied at the Arceuus Academy in Behemith, but left on bad terms. We agree to go to the Citadel with this information, and eventually back to the Arceus Academy. We continue on our journey. Tem and I notice movement in a bush, and I circle around stealthily to better investigate. While the others are arguing, I get closer and see a catlike creature with antlers, holding a shiny object. I chase the animal down deep into the jungle, eventually killing it. E-4 instinctually target locked onto the creature, and hunted the feystag. It dropped a greenish-silver amulet with the symbol of Sylvanus/Mapelus on it. I eventually make it back to the others after some time. After feeling regret for killing the creature, we agree to bury it, but keep the amulet lol. Tem identifies it as an Amulet of Protection against Detection. I decide to wear it as repentance for killing the creature.