SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: INTERLUDE – 6/20/17
The Heroes:
- · Ecna Lubma: dwarf priest grudgebearer healer
- · Gruntbelly: dwarf magician sorcerer wizard
- · Kane Arroway: human warrior fighter sharpshooter
- · Mathias: jotun jotun juggernaut spirit warrior
Our intrepid heroes spent the session in Crossings, where
things are tense due to the flood of refugees coming in from the southern
settlements along the Shield Mountains, and particularly from the province
capital city of Sixton, where an orc horde has sacked the town in an
ever-encroaching tide of violence spurred on by the rumored orc uprising in the
empire and the new orc king, Drudge. The
militia has been called up, more citizens have been pressed into service, and
the Inquisition (which was wiped out in the Katandramus incident) has been
reinforced by a contingent of inquisitors that escaped (fled) from Sixton. The streets of Crossings is patrolled at all
hours by brown cloaks and inquisitors, martial law has been enacted and a
curfew put into place.
Despite these concerns, the heroes have their own business
to deal with. They continue to search
for the man known as Nareesh, who was responsible for the theft of a jotun
relic called the Fang of Ages, and is the reason for Mathias’ presence in the
Northern Reach. They also seek the
Brotherhood of Shadows and the man they believe is leading them, the noble
Katandramus. In addition, an ancient
vampire called Lucretia is stalking the city for some unknown reason.
The heroes decide to check The Guild headquarters building and
find it strangely quiet and locked up.
The brown cloaks and inquisitor on the nearby street say that the
building has been declared off limits by the town council for suspected illegal
activities. They’ve searched the place
and came up empty, but they suspect that there are secret hiding places within
they haven’t found yet. Taking this information,
the heroes enter and find the place deserted.
They check room by room and find no occupants, but do curiously find
crates and barrels filled with explosives in several rooms. It is only when they reach the final room
that they find an occupant – a lone clockwork man who greets them by shouting, “THE
BROTHERHOOD OF SHADOWS OFFERS YOU TO THE DEMON LORD!!!”, then opens a
chestplate, revealing a ticking clock that suddenly explodes. The heroes, already trying to make their way
out, are caught up in the explosion, but are able to exit the building before all
of the explosives within ignite, bringing the entire Guild building down and
showering the surrounding streets with debris.
The force of the explosion stuns the nearby brown cloaks and
inquisitor. Picking themselves up, the
heroes leave here and go to pay the mayor a visit.
In the Gavel district, where the city hall building is
located, the heroes find the mayor in a town council meeting, so they decide to
go purchase some items and return later.
As they are out, they find some strange writing on some buildings that
the brown cloaks seem to be very busy cleaning up, which is an unusual task for
them. When they ask one what they’re
doing, they are told that they’re not allowed to discuss it. The writing that they read on the wall says, “Bring
me the Eye.” The brown cloaks don’t know
what that means or who put the writing so far up on a nearly inaccessible part
of the building.
When they return to city hall they are greeted by Kane’s
sister, who is apparently the mayor’s secretary. The mayor agrees to see them and proceeds to
ask for their help in dealing with a threat to the city that needs “specialized
skills” to deal with. There is a monster
that is abducting citizens from their homes in the night, tearing them apart,
then using their blood to write a cryptic message on buildings; “Bring me the
Eye.” The mayor says that nobody knows
what this means and they have been unable to discern what this creature is,
where it lairs or if there is any type of pattern to who it takes. Its victims have come from all districts in
Crossings, from peasant to noble, and the creature has had no difficulty getting
to these people despite increased security.
The heroes agreed to look into
it, understanding that payment may be minimal due to the resources being spent
on fortifying Crossings and taking in refugees.
The mayor did agree to see if she could find Nareesh for them, as she
recognized the name when mentioned by Mathias and said that many nobles and
dealers in town buy from the collector, as he seems to be able to acquire some
rare objects.
The heroes decide to split up. The cryptic message has sparked a memory with
Kane that he wanted to check out, so he goes back to the Moore House while the
others go to check on Lara, the crazed mercenary that worked for Nareesh, to
see if she was more lucid than when they dropped her off at Mercy Hill asylum a
couple of weeks back. When they get to
Mercy Hill, they find the grounds filled with refugees. They enter the asylum and are taken to Dr
Feldman’s office where he is speaking with a patient. The patient departs and the heroes note a
strange scar on a shaved part of her head.
The doctor greets them and they ask about Lara’s condition. He says that she goes through periods of
non-responsiveness to manic hysteria, claiming that the Demon Lord is coming to
destroy the world. The doctor has been
unable to get through to her to discern the cause of this nihilistic mania she
suffers, but is going to try a different approach on their next session. The heroes ask to see her and he calls down
an orderly to take them up to her room.
The orderly takes them to a small locked room where Lara
lays crouched in a corner, strapped into a straight jacket, staring blankly at
the wall. The heroes being to question
her about Nareesh and stir memories of the fey tower they found her in. This brings about another hysterical episode
that requires the orderlies to hold her down.
Ecna attempts to cast a spell to help remove her insanity, but in doing
so reveals a presence upon her that may indicate demonic possession. She calms down again and the heroes decide to
leave.
The heroes leave the asylum and meet up with Kane, who tells
them that his demonologist ancestor that owned the Moore House, Ezekiel Moore,
had a journal in which he talks about going after a relic called the Eye of the
Demon Lord, which was in the possession of a vampire lord named Lucretia. Her lair was somewhere deep within the Empire
lands to the south and the details of what happen next are not in the journal,
but the demonologist is clear about his intent to acquire this relic from the
vampire, as it is said to have great power over demons. The heroes deduce that Moore likely stole the
relic and brought it here, keeping it in the vault in the basement, where it
was later stolen by the Brotherhood of Shadows.
The journal even showed a sketch of the object and the heroes suddenly
recall that they spotted that in the hands of Katandramus when they stormed his
house. The noble used magic to leave
before they could get to him, but he was holding a dark orb very similar to the
one depicted in the journal.
Later that night, the group decides to stake out the tallest
building in the city, the Brown Cloak HQ in the center of town, to try and
catch the flying monster in the act. With
Kane and Gruntbelly on the roof and Enca and Mathias on the ground, they wait
until between 1 and 2 in the morning, that’s when Gruntbelly spots a dark shape
darting around the night sky. The shape
flies towards the Purse district and lands on Wizard’s Peak, Caribdus’
tower. It then proceeds to break in,
setting off wards in a shower of sparks and explosions. Mathias and Ecna hear Kane and Gruntbelly’s shouts and start
running towards the tower. A few moments
after enter, however, the creature exits another window, carrying a body, and
takes off into the sky. It proceeds to
tear limbs off of the poor victim and then lands on the side of the Brown Cloak
HQ building, just a couple of stories down from where Kane and Gruntbelly
are. Kane is unable to get a clear shot
at the creature, but Gruntbelly fires off a spell that hits it, driving it off
the wall and flying off into the night.
They watch as it circles around the lake and seems to descend on Mercy
Hill, where it does not leave again.
Ecna and Mathias return and the group start heading towards
Mercy Hill to deal with this creature, which they are sure is the vampire
Lucretia. This is where the session
ends.
posted by DM Nel @ 10:05 AM
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