Session 9 (July 25, 2020)
12 Tar-Skard
They split up the cash, giving Aleep a share.
They exit the dungeon, using Aleep’s leaping ability and some rope to climb up through the place where the floor collapsed.
Finn proposes going back to Circle Constance where they received the mission to track down the necromancer.
They travel back to the Circle uneventfully. They go to the tower, and they speak to a simple human who is a representative of House Hastur.
They show him the dagger. “That’s probably a ritual knife used for sacrifices. Won’t be used for that here, but it could still be sold for its gold value.”
“Here’s your reward for the necromancer’s death.” Hands them 100 silver in a bag. “There’s a goldsmith in the craft area—offer the knife to him, but hold out for about 20 silver more than he’ll offer at first.”
The goldsmith looks at the knife. “The workmanship isn’t of value to me, but I’d give you the full value of the gold. Say, 35 silver?”
Bartix pushes back, asks for 55 silver (after Finn says that they were warned that they’d be scammed out of 20 silver.) Finally, the goldsmith counts out 55 silver.
Finn also wants to sell the metal spear, but concludes that if he can’t really get new weapons, he should keep it.
They also seek out a mage to have the potions examined. There are a group of magi who help the Hastur defend the line. This is two doses of a potion of invisibility, and this one—very useful—two doses of cure serious wounds.
Runor observes that it seems like whoever made these expected them and one other person to need to go invisible and get hurt. They talk about what that could mean, and Aleep suggests that maybe the cult has a priest, as well.
The group decides to scour the desert for more signs of the remainder of this cult.
They agree to head south along the border, trying to find more signs of the cult.
They travel south, and they come upon the bones of an enormous worm of unbelievable proportions. They are the ribs of a doyle that was killed maybe a thousand years ago; doyles are creatures of negative energy that only the Hastur can face. There are runes carved into the ribs in shadow speech, and they face towards the border. The 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th ribs have the carvings. They are recent—no more than a few months old. The other ribs are untouched.
The rangers notice that although they buried it, somebody had some sort of fire on the top of the ridge of dirt inside the ribs of the creatures. It was clearly there, and is clearly recent.
Runor suggests that they examine the 5th rib. It looks to him as if the sand under the fifth rib has been disturbed. The group starts digging under the rib. They quickly find a double handful of bone disks, each with a rune scribed on it. The runes are also shadow speech. None of them match the same words as on the ribs.
The sun is slowly setting.
Aleep casts detect magic as a ritual. Every disk, and the carvings on the ribs, detect as magic, and they detect as necromancy.
Runor saws one disk in half. By the time he finishes, the sun is down entirely.
As everyone focuses on the disks and the magic auras, an arrow slams into Mreep from the back, scoring a critical hit.
They hear scrambling footsteps and some rapidly approaching figures with swords. Ulgorio stabs one with a rapier. Aleep hits the archer, who is surprisingly squat and may not be human, with one of three scorching rays. Bartix charges and attacks both swords people, hitting both. Runor casts hold person and freezes one of the attackers. Mreep drops the other sword person. Ashaltir hits the held attacker.
The archer fires an arrow that splits into three. All three arrows miss and as they flicker into the sand they have puffs of greenish mist. The heroes then rush him and overwhelm the archer.
They take the last attacker prisoner.
They make a camp, and wait for the prisoner to become unheld. They find a holy symbol of Urlodo on him.
Bartix interrogates the prisoner. “Who sent you?”
“We came here to the tokens under the great lord. We did not expect interlopers, so we struck. We should have waited for more numbers.”
“Who is the great lord?”
“Urlodo. We are a cult, we serve him.”
“We had new tokens. The priest said that when we had tokens we should bring them here and bury them, so that more undead can be brought forth.”
“Where does this great lord live?”
“Urlodo? In the Abyss! But our priest lives here with us.”
“Why did you attack?”
“You were disturbing the sacred tokens?”
“Why do you wish to raise the undead?”
“That the border may move. We serve a mage, and a priest, and together they are raising an army.”
“Is your mage the one in the castle over there?”
“Yes, yes, he is ours. But he, like we, serves the priest. The priest goes back and forth. But you have disturbed the tokens, and delayed us by many weeks.”
“Do you know where the priest lives right now?”
“He is with his tribe in Shadow. But he has a way through—he passes back and forth through the Shadowwall.”
They tie the prisoner up, stripping him of weapons. They give the holy symbol to Runor. Runor defaces the holy symbol of Urlodo.
“Is the priest a human?”
“No, he is a Eum.”
[End Session 9]
12 Tar-Skard
They split up the cash, giving Aleep a share.
They exit the dungeon, using Aleep’s leaping ability and some rope to climb up through the place where the floor collapsed.
Finn proposes going back to Circle Constance where they received the mission to track down the necromancer.
They travel back to the Circle uneventfully. They go to the tower, and they speak to a simple human who is a representative of House Hastur.
They show him the dagger. “That’s probably a ritual knife used for sacrifices. Won’t be used for that here, but it could still be sold for its gold value.”
“Here’s your reward for the necromancer’s death.” Hands them 100 silver in a bag. “There’s a goldsmith in the craft area—offer the knife to him, but hold out for about 20 silver more than he’ll offer at first.”
The goldsmith looks at the knife. “The workmanship isn’t of value to me, but I’d give you the full value of the gold. Say, 35 silver?”
Bartix pushes back, asks for 55 silver (after Finn says that they were warned that they’d be scammed out of 20 silver.) Finally, the goldsmith counts out 55 silver.
Finn also wants to sell the metal spear, but concludes that if he can’t really get new weapons, he should keep it.
They also seek out a mage to have the potions examined. There are a group of magi who help the Hastur defend the line. This is two doses of a potion of invisibility, and this one—very useful—two doses of cure serious wounds.
Runor observes that it seems like whoever made these expected them and one other person to need to go invisible and get hurt. They talk about what that could mean, and Aleep suggests that maybe the cult has a priest, as well.
The group decides to scour the desert for more signs of the remainder of this cult.
They agree to head south along the border, trying to find more signs of the cult.
They travel south, and they come upon the bones of an enormous worm of unbelievable proportions. They are the ribs of a doyle that was killed maybe a thousand years ago; doyles are creatures of negative energy that only the Hastur can face. There are runes carved into the ribs in shadow speech, and they face towards the border. The 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th ribs have the carvings. They are recent—no more than a few months old. The other ribs are untouched.
The rangers notice that although they buried it, somebody had some sort of fire on the top of the ridge of dirt inside the ribs of the creatures. It was clearly there, and is clearly recent.
Runor suggests that they examine the 5th rib. It looks to him as if the sand under the fifth rib has been disturbed. The group starts digging under the rib. They quickly find a double handful of bone disks, each with a rune scribed on it. The runes are also shadow speech. None of them match the same words as on the ribs.
The sun is slowly setting.
Aleep casts detect magic as a ritual. Every disk, and the carvings on the ribs, detect as magic, and they detect as necromancy.
Runor saws one disk in half. By the time he finishes, the sun is down entirely.
As everyone focuses on the disks and the magic auras, an arrow slams into Mreep from the back, scoring a critical hit.
They hear scrambling footsteps and some rapidly approaching figures with swords. Ulgorio stabs one with a rapier. Aleep hits the archer, who is surprisingly squat and may not be human, with one of three scorching rays. Bartix charges and attacks both swords people, hitting both. Runor casts hold person and freezes one of the attackers. Mreep drops the other sword person. Ashaltir hits the held attacker.
The archer fires an arrow that splits into three. All three arrows miss and as they flicker into the sand they have puffs of greenish mist. The heroes then rush him and overwhelm the archer.
They take the last attacker prisoner.
They make a camp, and wait for the prisoner to become unheld. They find a holy symbol of Urlodo on him.
Bartix interrogates the prisoner. “Who sent you?”
“We came here to the tokens under the great lord. We did not expect interlopers, so we struck. We should have waited for more numbers.”
“Who is the great lord?”
“Urlodo. We are a cult, we serve him.”
“We had new tokens. The priest said that when we had tokens we should bring them here and bury them, so that more undead can be brought forth.”
“Where does this great lord live?”
“Urlodo? In the Abyss! But our priest lives here with us.”
“Why did you attack?”
“You were disturbing the sacred tokens?”
“Why do you wish to raise the undead?”
“That the border may move. We serve a mage, and a priest, and together they are raising an army.”
“Is your mage the one in the castle over there?”
“Yes, yes, he is ours. But he, like we, serves the priest. The priest goes back and forth. But you have disturbed the tokens, and delayed us by many weeks.”
“Do you know where the priest lives right now?”
“He is with his tribe in Shadow. But he has a way through—he passes back and forth through the Shadowwall.”
They tie the prisoner up, stripping him of weapons. They give the holy symbol to Runor. Runor defaces the holy symbol of Urlodo.
“Is the priest a human?”
“No, he is a Eum.”
[End Session 9]