Dalnor/Campaign1/session-6
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Live and Let Die
Session Date: November 14, 2008
What is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony. -- Zora Neale Hurston
Harvest 6, 53
The party watches the mortician as he becomes like water and flows into the river and beyond their grasp. Muttering and cursing, the party takes stock of the aftermath, what has been lost and what has been found again: Ruben's
daughter. They look back upon the manor, where noxious fumes and smoke suggest an imminent destructive event that no-one wants to be closer to witness. Finally, they look at the body of the undead that attacked Alex and thwarted his attempt to restrain the mortician: the corpse of the merchant that was being "prepared" for burial the day they were hired!
With their new nemesis at large, their patron's daughter in some sort of unliving limbo, and many wounds to show for their efforts, the party crosses the bridge back into town, leaving behind whatever remaining abominations the mortician has left for someone else to deal with. The party starts to collect themselves and decide what to do next.
The party gathers Ruben, who immediately takes charge and directs the group to the temple, where several clerics, and some guards and rangers are summoned. The clerics examine the girl briefly, then they are all led into an examination room. The chief cleric examines the girl, then pulls out a small chest and removes some stones, approaching Safiria with them with the intent of pressing them onto her forehead. Safiria balks and demands to know what the cleric is doing first, and after a brief explanation that seems to satisfy her, the chief cleric presses one of the stones to Safiria's forehead and another to her chest, and measures her life force as a baseline. The same is done for the girl and the cleric nods sagely at the results.
The clerics take the silver chain that sustains the girl's life from Safiria's hand and the girl is put in the care of the resident clerics.
The surgeon and chief cleric take it all they have learned under advisement and tell everyone that they will work on a solution. Varien has some serious reservations about the quality of life the child would have. At the end of the discussion the party mentions that this all took place in the morticians's house and describes how the girl was traced there, and how the altercation with the mortician unfolded.
When Ruben hears that the mortician was behind these troubles, he states that since the clerics seem to have things in hand, he will be dealing with Sir Baylon. (Sir Baylon had hired the mortician.) Ruben encourages the party to volunteer to help him track down Baylon. The party gets the hint and volunteers to help track down Baylon.
Led by Ruben, the party heads down to Sir Baylon's house. The pary knocks/lets themselves in, much to the dismay of a newly hired servant. While rousting him, Varien notices that Thorin has apparently moved out. Once the party finds Baylon, they quickly mandhandle him out of the house to face Ruben.
Baylon proves to not only have a bad sense of judgement but also a bad judge of character. The party attempts to interview him to gain any further information about the mortician and it turns out that Baylon knows almost nothing about the mortician. Baylon is tarred, feathered and run out of town.
Dale Cooper makes noises about handling the problem himself. As a reward Ruben tasks Dale with cleaning up the cemetery.
Party takes over Baylon's house. The party moves in and starts cleaning up. Upon inspection, it appears that Baylon had lost all of his regular help over the last couple of days.
Harvest 7, 53
The following morning, back at the temple the party meets with Kredick, Gath, Ruben and his Wife. The wife is distraught but under control (and possibly 'medicated'). Ruben's daughter is not there. The chief cleric and surgeon report that she can be saved but will take some rare ingredients.
The chief cleric leads the briefing on materials needed save girl. The party decides to skip the reasons why the materials are needed and get right to the list of items: a Smokestone, Fox Fire, and a Green Dragon Scale. The Eladrin contingent appear surprised at the request for Smokestone, since it is obtained in the Feywild, and is very rare. Indeed, the Castle of Smoke and Moon (the closest gate into the Fey lands) is built out of the stuff, but has taken many hundreds of years of careful and deliberate collection to build the impressive complex. In short: its hard to get!
The other components required are also discussed:
- Smokestones are obtained in the Feywild. The Castle of Smoke and Moon is the closest Eladrin access point to the Feywild and is a known source of Smokestone.
Foxfire is a fungal bloom that glows in the dark. The strain needed glows with a pure white light instead of the traditional green color.
It was thought that the best place to start looking for dragon scales would be the old dragon hold fast in the division mountains.
After the meeting some of the party stops off to talk to the dwarves. The dwarves give some additional detail on the fox fire and dragon scales, and confirm the impression that the party has the right impression as to where to find those items. After much consideration, the party decides to pursue the smokestone first, and packs their few belongings on horses provided by Rubin. As the party prepares to leave, Ruben produces a marker that had been given to them by an Eladrin lord. Ruben says that it should help in the acquiring of the smokestone.
Leaving the gates of the city far behind, the party travels into the wilds on the way to the gate leading to the Castle of Smoke and Moon. During the trip the party detects several figures shadowing the party. The party attempts to ambush the figures shadowing them, but a misguided attempt to lure the pursuers out in the open using Safiria as bait backfires as six ghouls quickly emerge and beset her and her horse on all sides. It is only thanks to their preference for horse flesh that Safira manages to escape as the rest of the party joins the fray. The fight is very brutal. Upon searching the dead ghouls, the party discovers that each ghoul had a name tag hung around its neck. Each name tag had one of the party member's name's on it. In place of a name tag, Crash had a metal plate. The party surmises that the mortician had left them a parting gift as he left town.
The party continues to the ranger station and is invited to share the shelter for the night. The evening passes without further altercation.
Harvest 8, 53
Party rides to the town. When they get to the inn, there are several people having a meal and a fire in the fireplace. The party rents several rooms and stays the night.
Harvest 9, 53
The following morning, the party leaves the main road and follows an ever-narrowing track to the vicinity to Eladrin gate. According to local tradition, the gate moves from place, and the party spends several hours searching for the gate before finally locating it. Safiria activates the portal, and a waft of smoke passes through. No one can quite identify the wood being burned. As the smoke in the gate clears, the party sees a stairwell leading up into the Feywild. Safiria and the other Eladrin lead the party up to the castle. The land of the Fey appears to be similiar, yet different from the reality they are used to. There are plants that appear to be of similar ilks, the landscape is similar to the human realms but with subtle and strange differences.
The guard is dubious of the party, and after much explaining from Safiria and Elrohir, and a flash of the Eladrin marker provided by Rubin, the guards admit them into the Castle of Smoke and Moon. The party is led to an antechamber green room suite. After waiting an hour, the party is led to an audience chamber, where an Eladrin Lord sits in council. He listens patiently as Safiria and Elrohir, with interjections from the rest of the party, explains the mission to bring back smokestone to save Rubin's daughter.
Lord Maedros explains that the Smokestone is hard to come by, and must be obtained on the Path of the Rising Moon. It is part of the right of ascension for nobility to bond themselves to the Castle of Smoke and Moon, and all the stone that is currently here was obtained in this fashion. This revalation to the rest of the party shows just how long the dynasties of the Eladrin have been here in the Feywild, and how many countless generations of Eladrin nobility have lived to provide the stone to make the Castle. Lord Maedros makes a comment about Elrohir not having performed this ritual himself, a curiousity that is lost in the moment when the he indicates he will put the party on the Path of the Rising Moon, and they may attempt to gather the smokestone themselves.
Couple of side conferences. Elrohir is led away by a page and returns roughly half an hour later, deep in thought.
Party retires for the evening.
Previously: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Continued in: Trailer Markers
Campaign 1 Index
