Session 2

General Summary

24th Sulmit 967
The party arrives at the Keep and hand the unconscious body of Brenna Cothwaite over to her comrades in arms, a tiefling man called Antonin Rainier, a human woman called Erin Fowler, and a dwarven man called Thur Karstein.
The party interview Antonin first, the acting-captain in Brenna’s absence, learning that the keep comes under nightly attack and that Brenna had tried to sneak out and infiltrate the manor whilst the shadows were busy attacking.
They then met with a number of people in Chifwing; • the local Priest of Anu, Rhodri Astdal, a human man who told them of a store of holy oil underneath the Chapel of the Nine. He also used the Chalice that Helgret had found to bless some holy water for the group to use. The party also show him the hexbox, and he manages to find a small dwarvish symbol carved on the interior of the box’s lid. The symbols are VA. Gnemo asks if he knows of any Vaults whose name begins with ‘A’ but they all draw a blank. • Nora & Balto Anuiring, a dwarven couple who own the tavern Anuirin’s Beard. They seemed more concerned with furthering their business interests and stopping the party from raiding their stock than the current crisis. They made a deal with the party that if they should use their alcohol to destroy the house, they should let the government in Drakestone know that their booze ‘helped save Chifwing’.
The party then headed out to the Chapel to recover the sacramental oil with the aim of hitting up the tavern on the way back for booze to start a fire in the manor. They decided to take the backstreets to avoid having to cross in front of the manor. A combination of attempting to ‘stealth’ through these streets whilst using a burning torch and Xhada walking into a lantern resulted in an ambush from a number of Shades, which burst through the windows and pulled themselves through the cracks under doors of nearby homes. During the fight Helgret notices one of the shades appeared to have the face of a woman back at the keep, Molly-Mae. The party fought off the initial wave, but sensing more on the way, the Gnomes jumped in the wheelbarrow whilst Xhada and Helgret pushed them forwards at top speed. A number of Shades attempted to strike out at the barrow as it passed but failed and the party blew through an attempted shadowy barricade with no issues. The party hurtled down the streets before exiting onto the Ash Road with the Chapel in front of them, Ella used mage hand to take the keys to the Chapel from Gnemo and open the doors before the Wheelbarrow reached the them. They tumbled into the chapel and locked the door behind them. Half the party takes a short rest and the other half search the Chapel to find the oil which they do in short order. Rested up the party head out, the Opal’s send their trusty unseen servant Arthur / Jeeves down the road in the opposite direction with instructions to make as much noise and light as possible, which he does by banging 2 lit candelabras together once the party are safely down the street. Two Greater Shades descend upon him and he is slain.
The party return to the keep with a barrel of sacramental oil in tow. They bring it to Rhodri who begins the ritual to bless it for the party. Helgret meanwhile finds the woman who the shade in the alley resembled and ‘interrogates’ her. The woman is rude and standoffish and eventually Helgret relents and leaves her alone. A young halfling man called Harryn Gillyglade comes up and talks to Gnemo and Emmylou, he explains that he is the local general goods merchant, thanks them for coming to help Chifwing and wants to know if he can help at all. He lets slip that he works for Mika and Gnemo and Emmylou bristle. He seems nice enough so they set him to work making torches for the party and the guards. He later comes and talks to Helgret asking if Molly-Mae seemed okay, as she hadn’t been acting herself lately.
The party are informed that Captain Cothwaite is conscious and they go to talk to her. She first thanks them for saving her and then asks if there’s anything she can do to help. They ask her for information. She relays that during the initial fight with the Shades, she heard a voice whispering about a ‘Black Lotus’ and its connection to the Shades. Helgret points out that the shape in the hexbox looks like it could be the bottom half of a flower or ‘lotus’ and Cothwaite agrees, saying that is why she was taking the box to the manor, to see if she could return whatever was supposed to be in this box to its proper place. Cothwaite relays that when she tried to enter the manor, it was locked up, which it hadn’t been during the initial fight.
The party plan the attack on the manor. A number of suggestions come up including simply burning it down but eventually they settle on exploring room by room during the day, to minimise the shade’s advantages. Helgret asks around to see if anyone has a copy of the key, she eventually finds them in a locked box which Emmylou is able to pick her way into. Now with the keys, the party bed down for the night to be ready for tomorrow’s attack. Just before bed, Xhada prays with Rhodri, the priest of Anu, who blesses her.
25th Sulmit 967
The Party awake refreshed and head down into the manor. They fight their way through a number of shades on the ground floor, following the direction of the banished spirits after they are defeated. They reach the first floor and are attacked again, this time by the remnants of the servants. They find a small number of gold coins which they decide to leave and push on into the corridor where they find a door with light shining under a gap in the door. After failed attempts to first pick the lock by Emmylou, then lift it off its hinges by Helgret and Xhada, Lucius manages to pick his way into the room. The party find a Silvered Greatsword and Silvered Rapier. Xhada takes the greatsword and Lucius takes the rapier. Emmylou finds a small jewellery box and attempts to pick the lock, the box is trapped and she takes a poisoned needle to the hand. She resists the worst effects of the poison but is left with the poisoned condition for 10 minutes. Gnemo finds the source of the bright light is a magic globe resting on a pillow on a pedestal and takes it using mage hand. The rest of the party find a number of jewels, bags of coin, signet rings and important papers in the vault. They choose not to take these and press on. Rounding the corner they start to hear an rhythmic hum. They follow the noise and find the way blocked by a swirling shadowy vortex. Gnemo and Ella channel energy into the globe and augment its magic with their own forcing the globe to overload and destroy the shadowy barrier. The door behind it swings open and a Greater Shade comes out swinging. It attacks Xhada and hurts her severely, it then swings at Lucius but misses him. The party unload into it, whittling it down, lopping off limbs with Ella getting the final blow with a supercharged firebolt to its chest. The party enter the room of Roland Ketfarm and find a small black glass pendant in the shape of a Lotus flower and use mage hand to seal it back in its Hexbox. The darkness lifts from Chifwing and the party watch as the former shades, now free, depart this world for the Black Garden. Amongst them is Molly-Mae. The Party rush back to the keep and intercept ‘Molly-Mae’ attempting to sneak out the side, Ella calls out to her but she takes off running. Emmylou fires off a bolt at the woman’s legs which catches her in the knee. She stumbles but continues running for the palisade hissing something back at the party. She gets another bolt, this time in her arm and begins to grow in size and musculature and shift in proportions, showing her ‘natural’ form – a doppelganger. She makes it up and halfway over the palisade before she is knocked off of it by Ella and electrocuted by a chromatic orb from Gnemo. The doppelganger twitches for a few seconds before laying still, apparently dead.
The Party level up!

Rewards Granted

Level up!

Character(s) interacted with

Captain Brenna Cothwaite - Human Greencloak Guardscaptain
Antonin Rainier - Tiefling Greencloak Guard
Erin Fowler - Human Greencloak Guard
Thur Karstein - Dwarf Greencloak Guard
Rhodri Astdale - Human Priest of Anu at the Chapel of the Nine in Chifwing
Nora Anuring - Dwarven Owner of the Anuirin's Beard Tavern
Balto Anuring - Dwarven Owner of the Anuirin's Beard Tavern
'Molly-Mae Leyland' - Doppelganger impersonating a human stable owner
Harryn Gillyglade - Halfling merchant that owns the Mika's Miscellaneous Sundry shop in Chifwing

Report Date

15 Sep 2019

Primary Location

Chifwing