Session #3 Recap: A Summons
The characters have appeared outside the farm of the family
Juliet had befriended from building the festival bonfire. Also, this is the farm where the remaining
orphans were sent by the party. The farm
is under attack by Cacodaemons, small flying heads of teeth. Farm assistants and the three orphans are
scattered around the farm, one by the water well, two in the doorway of the
farmstead, one coming back from the fields, and two in the barn. The party moves in and begins to fend off the
monsters, realizing quickly that these daemons are immune or resistant to many
things, including fire, cold, acid, poison, electricity, and weapons which are
not silver or infused with the power of good.
After great struggle, they destroy 4 of the 6 cacodaemons, but two get
away and two of the farmhands are killed.
The orphans are rightfully traumatized, as they have been attacked in
their former home in the church, seen the priest and one of their own killed,
and now been attacked on the farm.
While the party calms the children down, Juliet suddenly
realizes that Mell is not with them. She
did not end up being transported with the rest of the party to the farm. The party is concerned, as Mell also has the
evil side, Poshmora, who is allied with Syren and Krune, seemingly, and her
missing presence could be detrimental to the party if and when they find her
again, especially if Poshmora has become ascendant and works against the party.
The party also is concerned that the orphans might be
attracting the monsters as the attack on the village and on the farm have the
orphans’ proximity in common. But the
party also realizes that the monsters could be attracted to the party itself,
although the attack on the farm took place before their arrival. They talk with the farmers, who have gathered
from the fields, and it is decided, for stability, to keep the orphans with the
farmers for the time being instead of yet another move of location. The party then heads for Clearwater’s Gate,
an hour to the west.
They arrive at the village in the late morning, having been
only a few hours absent since going into the cistern, and they head straight
for the Inn. Cenn is there with his
wife, and he is very concerned that Gerrett, the tanner, still has not returned
from his trip to investigate the ruins on the lake and to see if there have
been attacks on other outlying farms. Cenn
does confirm that Delix has taken charge of the investigation, and is with his
guards at the remains of the church.
Morgrym leaves to go to the lake to see if he can find
Gerrett while the rest of the party stays at the Inn to eat. A little while after Morgrym leaves, though,
Delix comes into the Inn and tells Cenn to send the party up to his room for a
discussion. He then walks up the stairs. Cenn follows with the rest of the party, and
leaves them standing before Delix, who is sitting at a desk. He definitely acts as if in charge, and also
begins to question the party in a none-too-friendly manner. Did the party bring these creatures, whether
on purpose or because they were being followed?
Where are they from? What did they
discover in the cistern? What was
said? By whom? What other information? He has absolutely no fear of the party or of
ramifications if he angers the party. He
knows, as does the rest of the village, that if anything happens to him,
Korvosa will send investigators to the village, which will not be good for the
village. At best, they will likely lose
several of the stronger farmers and villagers to conscription in the military
forces. Such is the price of services
from the city.
The party is at first recalcitrant with Delix, and Aean
tries to only give part of the information of what happened in the
cistern. Delix is not buying the story,
and demands the rest of the story. He is
the lawful representative, and he needs all of the information to make certain
things are taken care of properly with the best benefit for the village. The party reluctantly tells the whole story,
and Delix arrogantly thanks them.
Delix does state that he will return to Korvosa directly
with the information, as he is the authority figure, knows who to talk with,
and will be listened to seriously.
Anyone else will likely be ignored as liars or dismissed out of
hand. For the city watch to take this
situation seriously, Delix needs to be present.
As arrogant and pig-headed as Delix is, he has genuine concern and
interest in the villages under his charge, and the villages know this.
As someone will need to tell the next villages on his route
of his unexpected delay and detour, Delix charges the party with this effort,
if nothing else to prove themselves as wanting the best for the village and the
regions surrounding. The party asks for
compensation, and he says he will give them each 100gp in the morning before he
leaves as compensation. Delix then dismisses
the party until the next morning, and asks Cenn to stay for further discussions
and wrap up items.
The party goes back down into the common room and eat, on
the dime of Delix. Cenn descends after a
little while, and says he will draw up a map of the villages which are next on
Delix’ itinerary, and what should be said to them. He thanks the party for helping the village
in this way as well as for what they’ve done up to this point. He also says that though Delix can be
difficult, he really does have the villages’ best interests in hand. The party discusses if they could possibly
swing by the lake and investigate on their way to the villages tomorrow, but it
is off on a different direction that would delay them by at least a day.
Suddenly, Gerrett bursts into the Inn with Morgrym. Morgrym found the beat-up Gerrett about an
hour or so out of town along the road to the lake. The surrounding farms are under attack by
foul monsters which someone is summoning, using the ruins by the lake. Gerrett is not acquainted with arcane magic
enough to understand the how and what of the summoning area, and he has no idea
who is doing the summoning or why. He
was able to see creatures come out of the ruins, though, and move off into the
surrounding forests and regions.
Gerrett is pretty beat up, but he insists that he is going
to continue to run to the surrounding farmsteads and assist in protection, as
he is able. Gerrett begs the party to
set out straight away for the lake and ruins to see if they can discover who is
summoning the creatures and also to find a way to stop any more creatures from
coming through the portal. He then runs
off to go bring in folks from surrounding farms back into the village for
better safety.
The party takes off for the lake. Some notice that the forest life is deathly
quiet on their way, as if the creatures of the forest are holding their breaths
in fear. Occasional screams of some foul
creature(s) can be heard at times in the distance on their way to the lake.
At the lake, they travel around to the ruins, basically 3
large worked stones toppled over. Before
the final approach, Io sees what look to be dire rats lurking around the beach area
in front of the ruins, weaving around the beach, but he can’t get a good number
of how many due to vapor rising out of the lake water from the chilly air. The party begins an attack, and soon are
attacked in return, not only by the rats, but also by two swarms of
scarlet-colored spiders with painful bites.
The kill the creatures, but Aean and Juliet both feel sick from bites
from the creatures.
Aean checks out the ruins and finds a rune inscribed in the
rock: an eye with 5 branches coming off
of it. He also finds a cubby hole with a
bag holding 4 rubies, likely material components for summoning creatures. Io comes over and realizes the rune is what
is directing the summoning, and after taking an etching of the rune, he chisels
it out of the stone face.
Juliet is standing next to Robinn when a wind starts
whipping around them and kicks up dirt and debris. Robinn’s eyes have rolled back in his head,
and he starts to speak. “It wants to
continue what it started. A thousand
pillars. It will be free. Must change one, kill one, to help loosen the
bonds that bind. A thousand
pillars. Preparations were made eons
ago. Time to harvest. The time is ripe to reap the harvest and let
loose the flood. A thousand pillars, and
death will fall upon the world.”
Robinn then wakes and sits on the ground hard, but is okay
and conscious, just shaken. He has no
idea what just happened, but assumes it comes from his abilities of being an
oracle and is a connection to future things.
The party gathers together, and set off back for the village.
On the way back, while crossing a small stream via a wooden
bridge, they begin to hear the sounds of children crying all around them. They have a sense of confusion enter their
minds, and they are suddenly unsure of the path. Are they supposed to travel the road to the
village, or cut through the forest? And
which direction? It is unnerving to them
to be suddenly lost on a path they have taken before.
Then creatures, ghastly white things crying tears and with
sharp claws and teeth, come at them, 3 creatures from 3 different angles. The creatures use magic to try to hold some
of the party members in place and unable to move, but those affected soon break
free. Io realizes that these are
Lacridaemons, and he relays to the party some of the creatures’ abilities. The party fights back, and resist the poison
of these foul monsters, but one gets away.
Now there are 3 monsters the party know are on the loose still: 2 cacodaemons and one lacridaemon. They arrive back at the village, very worn
out and drained, with Aean greatly affected by poisoning and disease from the
various creatures they have encountered.
They rest overnight and are up to meet with Delix first thing in the
morning.
Gerrett is not back yet, but Delix is in front of the Inn
with Cenn, getting ready to depart. The
horses are being saddled and Gerrett is having a final discussion with
Cenn. The party explains the
circumstances at the lake, and Delix, although still brusque, thanks the party
for its assistance with the village and seems genuinely appreciative, if still
arrogant. He says he realizes he comes
across harshly, but he has a job which he takes seriously, and they were
unknown agents just as bad things began to happen. He could take no chances on the safety of
those in his charge. He does his best by
the villages, even as he hopes to move on to work which is more meaningful and
of greater responsibility.
Gerrett suddenly breaks out from the trees on the other side
of the Village Green, yelling and waving his arms as he full out runs towards
the group at the Inn. He is running
alongside a dusky-skinned female with yellow eyes, who is also trying to get
the attention of the folks at the Inn. Delix
suddenly stumbles into Juliet, and has a puzzled look on his face. Black tracings run up from his neck into his
face and eyes, and he collapses dead in Juliet’s arms, a huge arrow jutting out
from his back and his face melting from poison.
Gerrett is pointing past the group into the trees behind them, and when
the turn, they see a Leukodaemon with a bow in hand as it steps back into the
forest and disappears.
End of Session
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