Chimera
First Post
Start Session 7]
Leaving the family behind, the party moves north with the Burberry tribe until they reach Trade Meet, approximately 8 miles to the north. There they find a small wooden building, garden and pasture at the intersection of two trails. In the pasture is a mangy old draft horse and a couple of mules. They meet up with the owner, Samuel Beerman, who operates the small trading post.
The building has two rooms. While the back room is Samuel’s personal quarters, the front room is divided in half. One side has a couple of rough benches and barrels to serve as tables, the other side has a small collection of tools and trade goods for barter to the local tribes.
Samuel has heard of Kobolds and other problems to the south, but insists that it’s very quiet up here.
“Except for the Dragon to the north“
Which immediately raises the eyebrows of the party. Samuel quickly backtracks by explaining that he hasn’t personally seen it, and that other than some wild tales, he doesn’t know if it’s killed anyone “for real”. He then explains that he’s heard from some of the tribes to the north that they’ve occasionally seen a small dragon flying high, generally east to west, over the last three months. He doesn’t know more than that.
Samuel asks when the Falconeers are going to be coming through, to which the party responds that they have come in the place of the Falconeers, as the Falconeers are busy with the Kobold problems to the south. This greatly concerns Samuel, who muses on the alleged claim that Freetown has on this region.
Samuel also knows one or two Gyretown Rangers, saying that they come through about once every six months or so. This brings an extended side conversation with Kethra over a few beers, as she knows those Rangers.
Samuel also explains the local trails, where they go and who lives along them.
On the morning of the 19th, the Burberry tribe heads east from Trade Meet, thanking the party profusely for their help and the rescue of their kin. The party, in turn, heads up the trail to the north, toward the Bordermark river.
After a few miles, the party encounters the Buttercup tribe, at which point they wonder openly about “who names these tribes?”. The Buttercups are a peaceful tribe who live a semi-nomadic existence over the local hills and valleys. They say that they have seen a small, gold colored dragon flying high overhead several times over the last three months, believing that it lives to the north or west of them. They are quite fearful that the dragon is scouting out the local tribes in anticipation of another war, this time planning to attack the tribes in this region, who have never been attacked in any previous war.
(GM Note: The Humans call them “wars”. The Calaseans call them “stompings”. Every 15 to 25 years for the past several hundred years, before the treaty at least, the Calaseans invaded the Wild Lands with the intent to ‘stomp down’ the local Human population in order to protect their slave plantations from incursions. Sometimes these were very quick affairs in which only the immediate border areas were cleansed of human tribes. Sometimes, such as the beginnings of the last war, they were lengthy affairs in which the Calaseans penetrated as far as present-day Gyretown.)
Another half a day later and the party comes into a small valley through which flows a fair sized creek. Unlike most other tribes, the Barleycorn tribe has built what amounts to a permanent settlement or hamlet, with a grain mill, a small barn, and a few ramshackle houses. Most of the valley is covered with Barley fields and the smell of beer permeates the air.
Stopping for a beer and a few words, the party finds that the Barleycorn tribe, numbering perhaps 60 individuals, had decided that the safety of this region allowed them to construct their own town, to settle down and stop worrying about things. However, the recent Dragon sightings have them worried for the same reason as the Buttercup tribe, only more so, as some members of the tribe openly express the idea that they have made a mistake by building permanent structures.
From here the trail heads north east or north west. The Barleycorns tell the party that the trail to the north east heads up to the Mulebreed tribe, so named because they are the local breeders of horses and mules. The north west trail heads up to the Bordermark river and a small tribe named The Breakers.
At the end of the day, the party at last reaches the Bordermark river, a swift white water river full of rocks and short falls. As they camp, they are approached by members of the Breaker’s tribe, a small group that lives by fishing and gathering from the surrounding hills. They too express their fear of the Dragon, though again, no one has ever seen it land or been attacked by it. In contrast to the tribes further to the south, the Breakers insist that the Dragon must live south or west of their position.
Debating over their morning breakfast of fresh fish, the party decides that, rather than heading over the rough trail along the river toward the Amazons, they will turn back to the south to further investigate the Kobolds and to put a stop to whatever evil Artemis Mourn is engaged in. By the end of the day, they are once again camped at Trade Meet.
On the 21st, the party travels south past the river family, who still report no sign of Kobolds or other nasties. They reach the old camp of the Burberry and spend the night.
From there, the party heads down the trail to the east toward Artemis’ house. All the while, Nieri firmly insists that they have enough evidence to warrant attacking Artemis directly, although when pressed, he cannot site much of consequence. It seems like maybe he is jumping to conclusions.
Stopping a half mile or so before the valley in which Artemis lives, the party stops to rest while Nieri continues ahead. As he sneaks down the valley toward the house, the palisade gate opens and Muuk comes out to check on the horses. At one point, Muuk appears startled, and looks around bewildered. Nieri freezes in place, then decides to cast his Invisibility spell. Shortly thereafter, Muuk returns to the palisade and two men come out. As Nieri sneaks around to where the palisade meets the hillside, he overhears one of them telling the other that he swears that he had seen someone across the valley a few minutes earlier. The two men continue to circle about outside the palisade as Nieri climbs up the hillside and onto the roof of the house.
Drawing his sickle, Nieri decides to cut a hole in the thatched roof of the house. However, as soon as he has pulled away the thatching, he sees a thirty-ish woman standing below, looking up in confusion. She quickly turns and hussles down the stairs, looking slightly alarmed. Nieri decides that, since he is still invisible, he will move over and climb in the front window, which is the only window into the room.
Once in the room, Nieri finds that it is the bed chambers of the woman that he had seen within. There is little of merit within the room itself, just a bed, dresser and some clothing and minor effects. Looking down the stairs, Nieri sees that there is an opening into the hillside within. This explains why the house is so small, as the majority of the living space must be dug into the hillside.
As Nieri climbs back out the window, he hears a loud creak coming from the stairs. Looking back, he doesn’t see anyone. But even as he is invisible, he knows that Artemis too is a Wizard. He quickly climbs up onto the roof and makes his escape. Circumventing the two men who are still wandering about, Nieri barely makes it to cover before his Invisibility expires. He hussles back to the party’s camp.
After some discussion, the party decides to take up a position high on the ridge-line overlooking the place where the two trails meet. The party will establish it’s camp on the back side of the ridge, well out of sight, while an observation blind is built on the facing side, to overlook both trails. In this way, they can see who comes and goes down the trails and if anyone heads to or from Artemis’ place.
On the 24th, the only traffic on the trail is Old George, who is heading north. However, in the middle of that night, Kethra dimly makes out a lone figure skulking down the trail from Artemis’ place. She rushes back to the camp and wakes the rest of the party, who decide to move overland to the next bend to the north, where they can ambush the individual.
Several hours later, the party comes down the hillside just in front of the lone traveler, who turns out to be the lanky man who had greeted them at Artemis’ place the first time they had visited (and who was the one who claimed to have seen someone when Nieri scouted the place). His name is Rod, and he is clearly unhappy to have been apprehended by the party. He tries to walk away, but the party prevents his departure.
He claims to be scouting out the trail to see if it is safe, but the party isn’t buying it. Why is this lone man out in the middle of the night? Doesn’t he know that dangerous things move about in the dark? Rod scoffs at such things, claiming them to be nothing more than superstition. He again tries to leave, but without directly saying it, the party makes it known that he’s not free to just walk away.
At this point, Rod tries to talk his way out of things, claiming that Artemis will be unhappy that they’ve bothered him and that Artemis will know where he is. The party tries to make it seem like they’ve just decided to ‘help’ Rod scout the trail and that they’re just going to walk with him, but Rod doesn’t buy that for a second. He clearly knows that he’s their prisoner and he’s not very happy about it. He constantly looks over his shoulders and appears to be contemplating making a break for it, but the party knows this and isn’t about to let him run for it.
Resting for a few hours before making a show of walking down the trail for a while with Rod, the party decides to question Rod through the use of a number of spells. Healer John casts two Zone of Truth spells in succession while Nieri casts a Detect Thoughts spell. Rod is greatly alarmed, but with Kethra and Lawrence at either arm, he has no options. He resorts to sarcasm and bitter jokes about them ‘casting spells at me’.
Under intense questioning, it becomes apparent to Nieri that the Zone of Truth spells have not worked on Rod, though his own spell is functioning properly (GM note: Thems the breaks of Save rolls, folks). Rod lies like a rug, insisting that he doesn’t know anything. This proves to be mostly true, as the party finds that Rod was chosen to scout specifically BECAUSE he doesn’t actually know anything. They do find, however, that the woman that Nieri had seen was a Wizard, and that there is another woman, a Cleric of Landru, at the place. The last bit is discovered only through Nieri’s spell, as Rod refuses to name which deity she worships.
(GM Note: Landru is the God of the Dead. His worship used to be a common funerary sect among the eastern tribes, but in the last war it was virtually destroyed and what remains is an evil death-worshiping sect.)
Nieri also discovers that Rod is sweating heavily at the thought that the party will find out that Artemis has a number of Orcs in his service.
As the spells come to an end, the party continues to question Rod, who grows more irritated and sarcastic, even as he knows that he can’t do anything to prevent it. Finding that they can learn nothing more, Jack and Lawrence then turn to attempting to convince Rod not to return to Artemis, which meets with little success. They appeal to his goodness, they appeal to his sense of self-preservation. They tell him that they know that Artemis is up to no good and that he won’t want to be there when Artemis comes to a bad end. At first, this all seems to fall on the sneering Rod’s deaf ears, but eventually he makes a show of “coming around” and agreeing with the party.
When they release him, Rod hustles down the trail to the north, constantly looking over his shoulder. When he gets about 60 yards from the party, he breaks into a dead run.
Just after Rod gets out of sight, Nieri tells the rest of the party that he’s going to check on Rod. He casts Expeditious Retreat on himself and sets off at a good run. Minutes later, he overtakes Rod, who stops and looks warily at Nieri.
“Are you going to cast another spell on me?” he sneers.
“Just one more” responds Nieri.
A word and a gesture later and Rod’s screams echo across the valley.
Nieri checks the scorched body and finds that Rod is still clinging to life. He pulls out his sickle and cuts the dying man’s throat. He then checks Rod’s corpse for anything of note or value. Finding nothing, be spends quite a while (Halfling vs. Human Corpse) dragging Rod’s body off the trail and covering it with dirt and brush. Then he turns and heads back to rejoin the party.
When he returns to the party some time later, Nieri finds Jack and Lawrence looking at him with some apprehension. Nieri blows them off with the explanation, “I made sure that he won’t go back to Artemis”. Lawrence and Jack look at Nieri, then at each other. Nothing else is said, but it is clear what is thought.
The party then returns to the camp on the ridge to retrieve the possessions that they had left their in their pursuit of Rod. From there they decide to head down to the hill upon which they had seen the ritual bonfires, so as to get there well in advance of the full moon and prevent any further Human sacrifices.
Stopping at the lake, the party attempts to draw out whatever creature may be within the lake with a simple ambush. While Samsel wanders around looking alone and relatively helpless, the rest of the party waits nearby. However, after a couple of hours, the party gives up on this and continues on their way south.
Mid-afternoon on the 28th, the party arrives at the Hill. Strangely, they saw no sign of the Rockscribe tribe along the way.
Investigating the small forest of dead pines along the base of the hill, Kethra determines that they did not die from natural causes. She speculates that they might have been deliberately poisoned. Checking further, the party finds that fewer than half of the original pine woods remain, the rest having been cut.
Hiking up to the large, flat crown of the hill, the party finds a large pile of brush in the center, surrounded by three large (10’ diameter) pits filled almost to the top with split pine. A trail of reddish stain leads from the center pile to each of the outer pits. Examination shows the stains to be blood.
After a lot of consideration and discussion about hauling water from the nearest pond (nearly ½ mile away) to fill the pits or at least dampen the wood, the party finally decides to clear away the central brush pile to see what lies beneath.
In the center is another pit, of a sort. Three large flat stones stand on the edge of it, each aligned with one of the outer pits and heavily stained with blood. Two blood-stained troughs lead from each stone to a deeper portion of the central pit, in which lies a large black stone. The stone is approximately 5’ long, 2’ wide and about 1’ thick, covered with arcane and astrological symbols. It has a slight reddish cast to it, looking partly like black Basalt and some kind of black Sandstone.
Both Jack and Nieri then cast Detect Magic on the area. Jack checks the outer pits first, finding a very faint Transmutation magic lingering on them. The central area bears a strong Conjuration and Transmutation aura, while the stone itself bears a very strong Conjuration aura. Nieri speculates that the stone is part of something larger, meant to summon something.
It seems obvious. This is the Ritual Forge spoke of by Marek, and the stone within is a part of “The Wheel”. What its greater purpose is remains unclear.
The party then spends it’s time trying to figure out how best to ambush any approaching party or force, so as to prevent the monthly Human sacrifice from occurring.
[End Session 7]
Leaving the family behind, the party moves north with the Burberry tribe until they reach Trade Meet, approximately 8 miles to the north. There they find a small wooden building, garden and pasture at the intersection of two trails. In the pasture is a mangy old draft horse and a couple of mules. They meet up with the owner, Samuel Beerman, who operates the small trading post.
The building has two rooms. While the back room is Samuel’s personal quarters, the front room is divided in half. One side has a couple of rough benches and barrels to serve as tables, the other side has a small collection of tools and trade goods for barter to the local tribes.
Samuel has heard of Kobolds and other problems to the south, but insists that it’s very quiet up here.
“Except for the Dragon to the north“
Which immediately raises the eyebrows of the party. Samuel quickly backtracks by explaining that he hasn’t personally seen it, and that other than some wild tales, he doesn’t know if it’s killed anyone “for real”. He then explains that he’s heard from some of the tribes to the north that they’ve occasionally seen a small dragon flying high, generally east to west, over the last three months. He doesn’t know more than that.
Samuel asks when the Falconeers are going to be coming through, to which the party responds that they have come in the place of the Falconeers, as the Falconeers are busy with the Kobold problems to the south. This greatly concerns Samuel, who muses on the alleged claim that Freetown has on this region.
Samuel also knows one or two Gyretown Rangers, saying that they come through about once every six months or so. This brings an extended side conversation with Kethra over a few beers, as she knows those Rangers.
Samuel also explains the local trails, where they go and who lives along them.
On the morning of the 19th, the Burberry tribe heads east from Trade Meet, thanking the party profusely for their help and the rescue of their kin. The party, in turn, heads up the trail to the north, toward the Bordermark river.
After a few miles, the party encounters the Buttercup tribe, at which point they wonder openly about “who names these tribes?”. The Buttercups are a peaceful tribe who live a semi-nomadic existence over the local hills and valleys. They say that they have seen a small, gold colored dragon flying high overhead several times over the last three months, believing that it lives to the north or west of them. They are quite fearful that the dragon is scouting out the local tribes in anticipation of another war, this time planning to attack the tribes in this region, who have never been attacked in any previous war.
(GM Note: The Humans call them “wars”. The Calaseans call them “stompings”. Every 15 to 25 years for the past several hundred years, before the treaty at least, the Calaseans invaded the Wild Lands with the intent to ‘stomp down’ the local Human population in order to protect their slave plantations from incursions. Sometimes these were very quick affairs in which only the immediate border areas were cleansed of human tribes. Sometimes, such as the beginnings of the last war, they were lengthy affairs in which the Calaseans penetrated as far as present-day Gyretown.)
Another half a day later and the party comes into a small valley through which flows a fair sized creek. Unlike most other tribes, the Barleycorn tribe has built what amounts to a permanent settlement or hamlet, with a grain mill, a small barn, and a few ramshackle houses. Most of the valley is covered with Barley fields and the smell of beer permeates the air.
Stopping for a beer and a few words, the party finds that the Barleycorn tribe, numbering perhaps 60 individuals, had decided that the safety of this region allowed them to construct their own town, to settle down and stop worrying about things. However, the recent Dragon sightings have them worried for the same reason as the Buttercup tribe, only more so, as some members of the tribe openly express the idea that they have made a mistake by building permanent structures.
From here the trail heads north east or north west. The Barleycorns tell the party that the trail to the north east heads up to the Mulebreed tribe, so named because they are the local breeders of horses and mules. The north west trail heads up to the Bordermark river and a small tribe named The Breakers.
At the end of the day, the party at last reaches the Bordermark river, a swift white water river full of rocks and short falls. As they camp, they are approached by members of the Breaker’s tribe, a small group that lives by fishing and gathering from the surrounding hills. They too express their fear of the Dragon, though again, no one has ever seen it land or been attacked by it. In contrast to the tribes further to the south, the Breakers insist that the Dragon must live south or west of their position.
Debating over their morning breakfast of fresh fish, the party decides that, rather than heading over the rough trail along the river toward the Amazons, they will turn back to the south to further investigate the Kobolds and to put a stop to whatever evil Artemis Mourn is engaged in. By the end of the day, they are once again camped at Trade Meet.
On the 21st, the party travels south past the river family, who still report no sign of Kobolds or other nasties. They reach the old camp of the Burberry and spend the night.
From there, the party heads down the trail to the east toward Artemis’ house. All the while, Nieri firmly insists that they have enough evidence to warrant attacking Artemis directly, although when pressed, he cannot site much of consequence. It seems like maybe he is jumping to conclusions.
Stopping a half mile or so before the valley in which Artemis lives, the party stops to rest while Nieri continues ahead. As he sneaks down the valley toward the house, the palisade gate opens and Muuk comes out to check on the horses. At one point, Muuk appears startled, and looks around bewildered. Nieri freezes in place, then decides to cast his Invisibility spell. Shortly thereafter, Muuk returns to the palisade and two men come out. As Nieri sneaks around to where the palisade meets the hillside, he overhears one of them telling the other that he swears that he had seen someone across the valley a few minutes earlier. The two men continue to circle about outside the palisade as Nieri climbs up the hillside and onto the roof of the house.
Drawing his sickle, Nieri decides to cut a hole in the thatched roof of the house. However, as soon as he has pulled away the thatching, he sees a thirty-ish woman standing below, looking up in confusion. She quickly turns and hussles down the stairs, looking slightly alarmed. Nieri decides that, since he is still invisible, he will move over and climb in the front window, which is the only window into the room.
Once in the room, Nieri finds that it is the bed chambers of the woman that he had seen within. There is little of merit within the room itself, just a bed, dresser and some clothing and minor effects. Looking down the stairs, Nieri sees that there is an opening into the hillside within. This explains why the house is so small, as the majority of the living space must be dug into the hillside.
As Nieri climbs back out the window, he hears a loud creak coming from the stairs. Looking back, he doesn’t see anyone. But even as he is invisible, he knows that Artemis too is a Wizard. He quickly climbs up onto the roof and makes his escape. Circumventing the two men who are still wandering about, Nieri barely makes it to cover before his Invisibility expires. He hussles back to the party’s camp.
After some discussion, the party decides to take up a position high on the ridge-line overlooking the place where the two trails meet. The party will establish it’s camp on the back side of the ridge, well out of sight, while an observation blind is built on the facing side, to overlook both trails. In this way, they can see who comes and goes down the trails and if anyone heads to or from Artemis’ place.
On the 24th, the only traffic on the trail is Old George, who is heading north. However, in the middle of that night, Kethra dimly makes out a lone figure skulking down the trail from Artemis’ place. She rushes back to the camp and wakes the rest of the party, who decide to move overland to the next bend to the north, where they can ambush the individual.
Several hours later, the party comes down the hillside just in front of the lone traveler, who turns out to be the lanky man who had greeted them at Artemis’ place the first time they had visited (and who was the one who claimed to have seen someone when Nieri scouted the place). His name is Rod, and he is clearly unhappy to have been apprehended by the party. He tries to walk away, but the party prevents his departure.
He claims to be scouting out the trail to see if it is safe, but the party isn’t buying it. Why is this lone man out in the middle of the night? Doesn’t he know that dangerous things move about in the dark? Rod scoffs at such things, claiming them to be nothing more than superstition. He again tries to leave, but without directly saying it, the party makes it known that he’s not free to just walk away.
At this point, Rod tries to talk his way out of things, claiming that Artemis will be unhappy that they’ve bothered him and that Artemis will know where he is. The party tries to make it seem like they’ve just decided to ‘help’ Rod scout the trail and that they’re just going to walk with him, but Rod doesn’t buy that for a second. He clearly knows that he’s their prisoner and he’s not very happy about it. He constantly looks over his shoulders and appears to be contemplating making a break for it, but the party knows this and isn’t about to let him run for it.
Resting for a few hours before making a show of walking down the trail for a while with Rod, the party decides to question Rod through the use of a number of spells. Healer John casts two Zone of Truth spells in succession while Nieri casts a Detect Thoughts spell. Rod is greatly alarmed, but with Kethra and Lawrence at either arm, he has no options. He resorts to sarcasm and bitter jokes about them ‘casting spells at me’.
Under intense questioning, it becomes apparent to Nieri that the Zone of Truth spells have not worked on Rod, though his own spell is functioning properly (GM note: Thems the breaks of Save rolls, folks). Rod lies like a rug, insisting that he doesn’t know anything. This proves to be mostly true, as the party finds that Rod was chosen to scout specifically BECAUSE he doesn’t actually know anything. They do find, however, that the woman that Nieri had seen was a Wizard, and that there is another woman, a Cleric of Landru, at the place. The last bit is discovered only through Nieri’s spell, as Rod refuses to name which deity she worships.
(GM Note: Landru is the God of the Dead. His worship used to be a common funerary sect among the eastern tribes, but in the last war it was virtually destroyed and what remains is an evil death-worshiping sect.)
Nieri also discovers that Rod is sweating heavily at the thought that the party will find out that Artemis has a number of Orcs in his service.
As the spells come to an end, the party continues to question Rod, who grows more irritated and sarcastic, even as he knows that he can’t do anything to prevent it. Finding that they can learn nothing more, Jack and Lawrence then turn to attempting to convince Rod not to return to Artemis, which meets with little success. They appeal to his goodness, they appeal to his sense of self-preservation. They tell him that they know that Artemis is up to no good and that he won’t want to be there when Artemis comes to a bad end. At first, this all seems to fall on the sneering Rod’s deaf ears, but eventually he makes a show of “coming around” and agreeing with the party.
When they release him, Rod hustles down the trail to the north, constantly looking over his shoulder. When he gets about 60 yards from the party, he breaks into a dead run.
Just after Rod gets out of sight, Nieri tells the rest of the party that he’s going to check on Rod. He casts Expeditious Retreat on himself and sets off at a good run. Minutes later, he overtakes Rod, who stops and looks warily at Nieri.
“Are you going to cast another spell on me?” he sneers.
“Just one more” responds Nieri.
A word and a gesture later and Rod’s screams echo across the valley.
Nieri checks the scorched body and finds that Rod is still clinging to life. He pulls out his sickle and cuts the dying man’s throat. He then checks Rod’s corpse for anything of note or value. Finding nothing, be spends quite a while (Halfling vs. Human Corpse) dragging Rod’s body off the trail and covering it with dirt and brush. Then he turns and heads back to rejoin the party.
When he returns to the party some time later, Nieri finds Jack and Lawrence looking at him with some apprehension. Nieri blows them off with the explanation, “I made sure that he won’t go back to Artemis”. Lawrence and Jack look at Nieri, then at each other. Nothing else is said, but it is clear what is thought.
The party then returns to the camp on the ridge to retrieve the possessions that they had left their in their pursuit of Rod. From there they decide to head down to the hill upon which they had seen the ritual bonfires, so as to get there well in advance of the full moon and prevent any further Human sacrifices.
Stopping at the lake, the party attempts to draw out whatever creature may be within the lake with a simple ambush. While Samsel wanders around looking alone and relatively helpless, the rest of the party waits nearby. However, after a couple of hours, the party gives up on this and continues on their way south.
Mid-afternoon on the 28th, the party arrives at the Hill. Strangely, they saw no sign of the Rockscribe tribe along the way.
Investigating the small forest of dead pines along the base of the hill, Kethra determines that they did not die from natural causes. She speculates that they might have been deliberately poisoned. Checking further, the party finds that fewer than half of the original pine woods remain, the rest having been cut.
Hiking up to the large, flat crown of the hill, the party finds a large pile of brush in the center, surrounded by three large (10’ diameter) pits filled almost to the top with split pine. A trail of reddish stain leads from the center pile to each of the outer pits. Examination shows the stains to be blood.
After a lot of consideration and discussion about hauling water from the nearest pond (nearly ½ mile away) to fill the pits or at least dampen the wood, the party finally decides to clear away the central brush pile to see what lies beneath.
In the center is another pit, of a sort. Three large flat stones stand on the edge of it, each aligned with one of the outer pits and heavily stained with blood. Two blood-stained troughs lead from each stone to a deeper portion of the central pit, in which lies a large black stone. The stone is approximately 5’ long, 2’ wide and about 1’ thick, covered with arcane and astrological symbols. It has a slight reddish cast to it, looking partly like black Basalt and some kind of black Sandstone.
Both Jack and Nieri then cast Detect Magic on the area. Jack checks the outer pits first, finding a very faint Transmutation magic lingering on them. The central area bears a strong Conjuration and Transmutation aura, while the stone itself bears a very strong Conjuration aura. Nieri speculates that the stone is part of something larger, meant to summon something.
It seems obvious. This is the Ritual Forge spoke of by Marek, and the stone within is a part of “The Wheel”. What its greater purpose is remains unclear.
The party then spends it’s time trying to figure out how best to ambush any approaching party or force, so as to prevent the monthly Human sacrifice from occurring.
[End Session 7]
