SOTDL CAMPAIGN DIARY: SESSION 5 – THE CITY OF GOLD, L3, 05/14/19

The Cast:

• Brother Aron: Human priest of the New God/crusader
• Calista: Ferren rogue/thief
• Perry Flaxseed: Halfing hunter/fighter
• Nikolai Petrechko: Human veteran/fighter

After leaving the troubled town of Nor Egerts, the heroes convince the sullen Unit One to take them to Kem, the Golden City and that they will accompany him to Lij after they have dropped off Lord Kornwall, and explain why the clockwork was unable to sell the farm machine. 

When the group arrive in Kem, the town is undergoing a holiday celebration for the annual Spring Planting (an Old Faith custom) and the more recent Ascension (a New God holiday celebrating the murder and subsequent ascension of Astrid the Prophet), so the city is abuzz with activity.  Calista can barely keep her hands to herself with all of the people walking openly with purses waiting to be taken.  But the large number of law enforcement officers, called “Coins” in this city, are all over the place, so she tempers her impulses.  The group head towards the Seaside ward and to Lord Kornwall’s family manor where his aunt and uncle reside, but when they knock on the door, a servant answers and states that the manor belongs to another noble family, as the plaque beside the door states.  Lord Kornwall is outraged and confused, but unable to voice it due to his wounds.  The group go to the manor next door and learn from the servant that answers the door that the Kornwall family fell upon hard times when the combination of the orc uprising caused a drastic drop in market prices forcing the Vault to call in many outstanding debts and Lord Kornwall’s own money management problems and bad investments resulted in the family going bankrupt and the Vault foreclosing on their assets.  The servant was unsure of where the Lord and Lady were now.

The heroes decide to go to the Temple Ward so that Brother Aron can check in with the local clergy and they find that the church is engaged in raising funds and culling volunteers to join the Kingdom of God against the orcs of Caecras, who have been amassing at their borders for months and prepare for war. 

The heroes ask around for news about the Kornwall family and find one who says that a year or so ago the family lost everything and had to move to the West Ward, which is the most poverty-stricken part of Kem.  An address is given and the group head down to that area and find the brownstone that the Kornwalls moved to.  Lady Kornwall answers, looking disheveled but still bears a posture of nobility.  She embraces her nephew and invites them into her small apartment.  She explains what happened and how her husband, Lord Edmund Kornwall killed himself after the Vault seized their assets, forcing her to move to this place with little but the clothes on her back.  Kornwall writes a note that he promised a reward to the heroes for saving him from Caecras and the Lady said she would honor that.  She goes and retrieves a scroll and hands it to them stating that it was the only family asset that the Vault did not seize; the deed to a seaside property several hundred miles to the south that has been in the family for a long time.  She gives the deed over to them and the group accepts it gratefully.  They leave the Kornwalls and go find an inn in which to stay the night in town.

That night, as the celebrations around town continue, Calista decides to head over to the Trade Ward to explore and she finds a gambling hall that looks familiar, having remembered her mentor, Shalljo, spending time there when he brought her to Kem many years ago.  She was not allowed to enter then, being so young, but she entered now and searched the hall filled with rich business men and women throwing their money away on the various games of chance, but did not see anyone she recognized. Then she spots a well-dressed man on a balcony overseeing the hall and decides to go talk to him.  She is stopped by a bouncer, but the balcony man lets her up and soon she is engaged in conversation with the proprietor of the establishment, Blaine.  The two engage in small talk and Calista gets around asking about Shalljo.  Blaine says he remembers the man, but has not seen him in quite a while.  Calista also mentions the “Gray Man” and Blaine tells her that the Gray Man is an assassin that works for the Black Hand; the preeminent assassin’s guild in Rul, and probably the world. He says the guild is based out of Pruul, also known as the City of Death, and advises her to stay away from the Gray Man.  Some more small talk and flirting, but Blaine seems distracted as he keeps checking his pocket watch, and excuses himself.  Callista leaves the gambling hall.

Nikolai spends the evening walking through the Temple Ward, watching the various festivities, having left Brother Aron, Perry, Gordy and Weezer back at the inn.  As the evening’s fireworks celebration reaches its peak, a series of massive explosions throughout the Trade Ward rocks the city, announcing the arrival of the infamous Anarchist; a terrorist the group had been hearing about since they arrived, who has plagued the city for months, claiming to be a champion of the people and urging them to rise up against their oppressors.  But his actions are more in line with a terrorist, which is what the local authorities have been calling him.

On the rooftop of the Temple of the Seer, the form of the Anarchist is illuminated and his voice somehow amplified, which booms across the city, once again citing the evils of the Vault and the government, denouncing the new Orc Emperor and claiming that a Reckoning is coming. Then, as quickly as he appeared, he vanishes.  The Coins pour in from all parts of the ward to the temple and search it for the Anarchist, taking many priests in for questioning. 

Nikolai makes his way through the panicking crowds back to the inn.

Callista, having made her way back to the Temple Ward, heard the Anarchist and noticed a similarity to Blaine’s voice.  She, too, returns to the inn.  The group reunites and after things calm down, decide to rest for the night.

The following day, during the breaking of their nightly fast, the group feel a familiar tremor, which soon grows into a violent quake, shaking the building around them.  A deafening roar erupts from the Seer’s Park and the entire city witnesses an enormous, 100 ft tall monster emerge from a newly formed sinkhole that almost entirely engulfs the park.  The horrid, tentacle monster makes its way across the city, destroying buildings and crushing dozens of hapless citizens before finally entering the bay and disappearing into the sea.  However, swarms of smaller monsters erupt from the sinkhole and attack everything in sight.  The heroes gear up and go into the streets to fight the monsters.  They manage to kill several when the Coins arrive and help wipe out the rest from the area before moving on to the next ward.  The day is spent cleansing the town of monsters and securing the sinkhole.  The Autarch announces a expedition into the sinkhole to stop whatever is producing the monsters and close up the hole, and seeks Monster Hunters to join the expedition.  The heroes consider this offer.

End of session.