Tales of the Demon Lord 2: Level 0, Session 2

 Upon returning to the village, the Victims found the villagers mutated by the voidstone, wandering in a state of shock/confusion.  The worst affected appeared to be Guntar the Jotun, who was also hideously mutated and rampaging through the square.  Upon seeing the Victims, he charged at them in a crazed rage.  Einar found his boss, Aris the Smith, and talked him out of his confused state and Aris went through the square to do the same for the others affected by the Voidstone.  Chikatinga tried to talk the jotun down, but Guntar was too enraged.  Tordar and Einar then attempted to trip up the jotun with a length of rope, but were not strong enough to take him down before the jotun cut a villager in half with his battleaxe.  When aided by Ripples and Chikatinga, they managed to knock the joten prone and reason with him, which calmed is manic rage.

 

Meanwhile, Me7a and Glinda went to Elder Kemp's home and found his servant crying over his dead body.  Glinda asked if he still had the "token" and the servant said that Advisor Wollerdek took it earlier.  Me7a left Glinda there to see if she could do anything for Kemp and rejoined his companions in the village square.  They gathered the survivors and told them to get the other survivors not affected by the stone out of the village.  Helga led them away and told the Victims that she would take them to the Starstone, a landmark on the outskirts.

 

The group searched Wollerdek's house and found a chest full of coins and a drawer full of letters from the University of Occult Philosophy in Lij, the City of Wonders.  It seems that the advisor had initiated the correspondence and gained the interest of Dr Vordair to come to Starfall to study the ancient ruins surrounding town.  Vordair indicated that he needed a tome that was vital to his work and was rumored to be hidden within a ruined mage tower near Starfall, which Wollerdek agreed to get for him.  Me7a told the group about the token that Glinda asked about and that Wollerdek had taken it earlier.  The group regathered at Kemp's house and Glinda told them that the token was needed to acquire a vile tome that was kept within this ruined mage tower.  She used to have the token but gave it to Kemp when she tired of the responsibility.

 

Assuming the tome is the same that Dr Voidair claimed to need for his work, the group took Glinda back to her house and started heading to the mage tower. 

 

Then something strange occurred. 

 

Despite it being mid-afternoon, the sky began to darken and night time came several hours early.  Then the group witnessed a beam of light fire up from Observatory Hill, where Dr Vordair and his entourage were camped to study the ruins.  This beam rose into the heavens and a blazing star that was not there a moment earlier came into being in the dark patch of night sky.  The beam seemed to touch this new star, almost beckoning it. 

 

Fearing these events were connected to this vile tome that Wollerdek and Vordair were after, the group continued on to the mage tower.  Once there they found some kind of magic active within, as rings of power circulated through the interior. They also discovered that the spirit of the tower's original inhabitant still lingered and was trying to drive them away.  Chikatinga braved the rings in the tower and made it to the center where he found an invisible chest had been placed and lay open.  The spirit of the mage appeared to Chikatinga and frightened him out of the box and caused him to get shocked by the protective rings of magic circulating along the floor.  However, he realized that he had inadvertently grabbed an enchanted hat out of the invisible box.

 

Tordek then braved the room as his companions tossed him into the center where the invisible chest was.  He landed in the box and was also approached by the spirit who accused them of robbing him just as the man did earlier when he took his book.  Realizing that Wollerdek had already come here and claimed the vile tome, the group asked the spirit where the man had gone and the spirit pointed to Observatory Hill.  The group asked if they could borrow the hat and the flying rug they found in the chest and the spirit wanted them to give their word that they'd return them.  Giving that, they used the rug to fly a short distance towards the hill, then walked the rest of the way.

 

Upon reaching Observatory Hill, they found two metal orreries apparently powered by Voidstones operating in the camp and several of Vordair's staff dead or mutated.  The group stopped the operation of both orreries which apparently stopped the beam of light that was emanating from the observatory.  They then ascended to the top of the hill and entered the observatory, finding Dr Vordair, Wollerdek and a mutant, who tried to stop the Victims from interfering, and failed. 

 

Whatever Dr Vordair, Wollerdek and the rest were attempting to do here was a mystery that would hopefully be revealed as the group search the observatory.

 

·         End of Session

·         End of Adventure - LEVEL UP AND DETERMINE NOVICE PATH

 

AFTERMATH:

 

The Victims spend the rest of the night and several days following looking through the vast amount of information left by the scientists from Lij.  Various documents reveal that they were part of a secret society known as the Seekers of the Wandering Star, who were awaiting the return of a celestial object that appears once every 88 years.  Apparently, ancient astronomers used Observatory Hill to witness the return of this "star" and built these ruins to facilitate this observation and to honor the being they believed the star represented.  Dr Vordair believed these ruins were the key to making contact with this celestial being that they called "Atropus," but needed a book he called the Manuscript of the Black Sun to do so.  This is apparently the tome that Wollerdek provided from the mage tower.  But Vordair's notes indicate the tome is a copy and not the original, and as such the rituals he sought were incomplete.  Despite that, he proceeded with his experiment to contact this Wandering Star named Atropus, however whether he succeeded or not remains to be seen, as the Victims shut down his experiment.

 

The Victims and the villagers of Starfall are now homeless, as the village is now too dangerous to live in due to the Voidstones that litter the area.  The villagers that were not affected by the stones decide to find another home and leave Starfall for good.  Those who were mutated believe that civilization will reject them due to their mutations, so they decide to move to a place rumored to take in outcasts, a place near the Desolation called Pariah.  Over the next few months, the Victims help the villagers gather their belongings and see them on their way.  Helga, Aris, Guntar and the others bid their farewells to the Victims, thanking them for their aid and begin their long journey north, first to West Hold, then on to Pariah.

 

As for the Victims, well, they have discovered that there is a wide world beyond Starfall, filled with wonders and dangers and those who would use both with diabolical intent.  What should they do next? What do they do with this copy of the Manuscript of the Black Sun? What if this Atropus had been contacted, what does that mean?  Many questions, few answers here, but perhaps those answers could be found somewhere out there…