In Dreams - Session 14
General Summary
November 12, 1203 AR
In the early morning under a steady rain, the company of adventurers assembles at the gates of Redwall for their departure from the city. Much has changed. Mongo has elected to join the resupply mission to the Ulrich Monastery rather than travel to Kalm in search of the amulet. His place in their number has been taken by a new recruit: Larimar Cartosia, a light-complexioned man of about 35, tall and thin, with a scar down his left cheek. A veteran of the Shadow War, he rose to the rank of lieutenant, until his platoon of 50 soldiers was nearly destroyed at the Battle of Drevin Bridge. Only Larimar and six others survived. Honourably discharged when the war ended, Larimar studied to become a wizard, believing that only powerful magic could prevail against the undead. Having travelled to Redwall from the capital, he encountered his former comrade-at-arms, Bruno, who recruited him to join their expedition.
As they prepare to depart, two cloaked figures ride towards them: Lord Deston Ashwood and the Elvish ambassador, Oshin Kansuke. They dismount to confer with the party.
Lord Ashwood is glad to have caught them before their departure. The ambassador has news: the evening before, he encountered their mutual acquaintance Sir Brayden Penrose speaking to a group of some half a dozen people led by a tall woman with blonde hair. The group marched towards the North Gate and left the city. The only member of the group Kansuke recognized was Professor Thaddius Winthorpe.
Sylman wonders whether the woman could have been Kyra Hawthorne—but no, Kyra was shorter.
"One last thing before you go," Deston says to them. "I managed to secure this for you."
From a small cloth bag, he draws out a small stone, about four inches around and seemingly made of marble, marked with an arcane symbol. "This is a Sending Stone," he tells them, "connected to its counterpart, which I hold. It will allow you to send to me, once per day, a message of no more than 25 words. Keep me informed of your progress and I will support you as best I can."
He hands Eric the stone, who passes it on to Larimar. As he does so, Eric notices someone standing across the street in a hooded fur cloak and carrying a staff or walking stick. The cloaked figure seems to be observing them. The ambassador also spots the figure; as his hand goes to his weapon, the figure speaks. The voice is that of a human woman but the language is an arcane form of Anasazi that, of the four adventurers, only Bruno understands.
"Deston Ashwood! You must abandon your search for Atsah or I will be forced to stop you!"
"It's Kyra!" Bruno calls out. "Or Sinzil! Or both, I guess."
The ambassador steps forward. "This woman has been claimed by a servant of the Devourer. We have no Keeper. It must be driven from her through blood!" He draws his sword.
"Kansuke, stop!" yells Deston. "Let her talk!" Ignoring him, the elf charges forward. He has covered about half the distance when Kyra casts a spell, and the ground around him explodes in a cloud of dirt and paving stones. Kansuke is thrown backwards some fifteen feet.
"I'm disappointed in your decision," Kyra says, in the same archaic Anasazi. The hood of her bearskin cloak has fallen off, revealing her as a woman in her mid-20s with short brown hair. Sinzil's Circlet can be seen on her brow.
The party takes cover behind a nearby low wall. Eric attempts a Sleep spell but without effect. Larimar casts a Chromatic Orb of lightning which does only minor damage, while Sylman's arrow and Bruno's crossbow bolt also strike only glancing blows.
"Sinzil!" Sylman calls out. "We know it's you! Don't you remember us? We're the ones who freed you from the tomb. There's no need for violence! We can talk this out."
The baron makes a similar appeal in Anasazi: "Sinzil, you don't understand! We're not doing what you think we are. Let's talk!"
Feeling that the time for talk has passed, Eric utters Dissonant Whispers, dealing a little more damage to the apparently possessed young woman, while Bruno moves towards her, drawing his warhammer. The ambassador advances to the edge of the exploded pavement, then disappears in a cloud of mist and reappears next to Kyra. She dodges the first blow of his sword but not the second.
Taking stock of the situation, the wizard closes her eyes, then changes her form to that of a hawk and launches herself over the ambassador's head. His last swing misses, and she flies over the roof of the gatehouse. A screech echoes under the leaden skies as she disappears from view.
Sylman slings his bow. "That's an auspicious start to our journey."
Larimar looks at him askance. "Is it always like this?"
Lord Deston hobbles towards the ambassador over the cobblestones, leaning on his cane. "What is wrong with you?" he says angrily. "We should have talked to him. Explain yourself!"
Oshin calmly sheathes his sword. "I do not think my actions require any explanation. That woman was possessed by a servant of my people's sworn enemy. I had no choice but to act."
"What enemy is this?", Eric asks.
"The great Devourer, of course," answers the elf. "The same Devourer who sent the army of the undead to your lands." He turns to the Baron. "He clearly intended harm. Is that not what these adventurers told you not two nights ago?"
Sylman frowns. "I'm still not convinced that Sinzil truly understands what's happening now, or our intentions. I wish we had a chance to talk to him."
Larimar asks if the elves know anything of the Anasazi relic that Sinzil was supposedly protecting, but Oshin shakes his head. "None of our tales mention this 'Frozen Flame'. I have only heard the term in conversation with the Baron and his Animus Project. Whatever the primitive beliefs of the lizardfolk, I doubt any connection with the Devourer.
"As for my actions, I can sense the presence of minions of the Devourer—I have been given that ability. I sensed that presence in her and took action. I don't expect you to understand."
"Tell us your thoughts on this amulet, then," Sylman asks.
The ambassador shrugs. "There is nothing in our teachings about Atsah. I believe our efforts would be better spent elsewhere."
From behind the small crowd of onlookers appear half a dozen troops clad in the livery of the Iron Wolves. "What's going on here?" the leader shouts.
"I'll handle this," Deston tells the adventurers. He goes to speak to the squad, then—after a short but heated conversation—returns. "I've told them I'll take responsibility for this. I'll have to go with them directly to the Duke to explain. Thankfully, I've convinced them you should be free to go—but you will probably face some questions when you return. I suggest you leave as quickly as possible."
Hastily taking their leave, the party mounts up and departs through the gate. Following his custom, Eric pipes them out of town.
They encounter few other travellers as they ride past the farms surrounding the city of Redwall. A light drizzle falls the whole day. Sylman and Eric both feel the absence of their erstwhile companion, Mongo. "I miss the big dumb galoot," Sylman remarks ruefully.
At dusk they turn off the King's Road, looking for shelter in the small town of Carver's Gulch, located in a ravine nestled into the mountainside. This is an old town, Sylman knows, the site of one of the quarries for the stone that built Redwall. The only inn is named The Shaking Giant, a two-story wooden structure. The innkeeper, a smiling, stout woman with her hair in a bun, welcomes their business, but when they declare they are travelling to Kalm, she expresses skepticism that the plague is really over. How could a disease that sickened so many be dealt with so quickly?
After taking rooms and stabling their horses, the party traverses the boardwalk over the muddy streets to Jorel's Eatery. Five other diners are present, perhaps miners or prospectors. They dine on beef and potato stew, but their server too is nonplussed that their destination is the plague-ridden city of Kalm. "At least there's a cure now," Sylman says confidently. "Or so they say," the young woman replies archly.
November 13, 1203 AR
The next day brings steady rain. Departing Carver's Gulch, they ride the two mile distance back to the King's Road and head north. Around midday, at a point where the road passes between two hills and starts to angle westwards, they see a group of travellers ahead.
There are nine of them. Larimar immediately recognizes that the three in the lead wear the grey robes of the Tandun: from their vestments, a priest and two acolytes. The priest is a woman, but not blonde. The other six have the look of men-at-arms.
The party rides past, with Eric and Sylman concealing themselves under hoods, while Larimar exchanges a few words with the travellers. They commiserate about the poor weather, and the priest says that they are travelling to Kalm to tend to the sick. Larimar bids them farewell and the adventurers ride on.
They spend the night under a lean-to they construct in a copse of pine trees, as usual spelling each other off to keep watch during the night. The steady rain continues throughout.
November 14, 1203 AR
When the dim morning comes, they mount up again and continue their journey over increasingly muddy roads. After a few hours, they see something unusual a few hundred feet off the side of the road: seven bodies hanging from a lone, burnt tree. "Now what?" Sylman asks.
They ride to investigate. The bodies are dwarves, hanging from the tree by their ankles. The tree trunk is blackened with fire, all its leaves burnt off. About 50 yards behind the tree are the remains of a wagon, burnt and smashed. "Looks like the Spiritbinders may have been here," Sylman remarks.
Each of the bodies has broken arrows sticking out of it and a dagger buried in its chest, as well as other odd wounds, as if bludgeoned with a spiked weapon. The arrow heads are metal, though crudely forged, while the daggers are also metallic and engraved with a glyph on the blade that glows faintly red. Casting a spell to identify it, Larimar learns that the glyph is magical: Bestow Curse, used to inflict extra necrotic damage. From his knowledge of Odakota religious practices, the knives suggest that the dwarves were used in a ritual of sacrifice. He takes one of the daggers, while Sylman takes two.
The dwarves each wear a ring with a symbol Eric recognizes—the mark of the Greysmere Covenant, a mining company—but carry no other identifying marks or papers. Sylman finds part of a black-fletched arrow in the wagon wreckage. The only other oddity is in the large wolf prints that Bruno picks out from the other tracks in the area, which show an unnatural pattern of movement for wolves. They cut down the bodies and leave them under the tree, in a patch of unburnt grass, before riding on.
The road turns more to the north as they travel. That night they find a rocky overhang to shelter under, providing them good cover from the rain. After utilizing the Sending Stone to send a message to Lord Deston ("found seven dead Greysmere Covenant dwarves by side of road; believe Spiritbinder orc tribe responsible; possibly ritual sacrifice; continuing to Kalm"), they pass a restful night warm and dry.
November 15, 1203 AR
The next day, they ride back into the rain and resume their journey. Around mid-afternoon, as they follow the road around a hill, Eric notices something unusual among a nearby group of boulders: four humanoid bodies sprawled around or on top of a larger dark mass. He alerts the others and they cautiously investigate, bows at the ready.
The humanoids are orcs. One is still in a saddle atop a large wolf-like creature, with short blue-black fur, six legs, and—protruding from its shoulders—two large tentacles which end with spiky paddle-shapes. The orc atop it has a painted skull on his face, like other Spiritbinders they've seen. Red-fletched arrows protrude from the Spiritbinder and the creature. Of the other orcs, two have no markings, while the third bears a streak of paint covering one eye: the mark of the Dead Eye tribe. An arrow with black fletching sticks out of this orc, while the other two show the same kinds of odd wounds they saw on the dead dwarves—doubtless left by the wolf-thing's tentacles.
Eric notes that there are more tracks in the area than would have been left by this group alone. They find at least one set of humanoid footprints leading northwards, but soon lose the trail in the grasses. Sylman rides to the hilltop to take a look around. Looking back up the road, he spots two mounted figures in the high grass, only a few hundred feet away, watching them. Turning his horse, he gallops back towards the others, calling "we've got company! There's more of them!" They all mount up and ride hard up the road for an hour before slowing. They see no sign of pursuit.
As night falls, they find shelter in a spot at least partially concealed from the road, and send another message to Lord Deston ("found four dead orcs by side of road, and an unnatural wolflike creature; suspect conflict between Spiritbinders and Dead Eye tribe; continuing to Kalm"). Given their mysterious observers, they resolve to keep a particularly vigilant watch.