Session Date: 06/30/2024
The communication earrings have a city range ish. Taraaq can transfer messages for us but it’s a game of telephone and might lose information.
Rohan and Iskra had gone ahead to Cruelwind Prison to scout things out, with Dia and Arythas staying behind to try to gather more information about the General Chase and the rest.
On the way, Iskra asks how old Taraaq is and he says it depends on how you count - there was the before time where he wasn’t a demon, and then when he was a demon, and if you want to combine them both. They chat some more on the way there and eventually they make it with Robin the wolf.
They are headed on their way to Cruelwind Prison. They are off the road, but are keeping near enough to it so they do not lose their way. On their travels there is something that appears to be patrolling - they do not notice Iskra and Rohan as of yet, but it is clearly patrolling. Iskra can tell that it is a ghost of some kind - they can tell that it’s a banshee as they continue to look at it. So far they think this is going to be the only banshee specifically, but there will definitely be more undead.
Dia and Arythas say goodbye to his family and they are given all sorts of goodies with them. His aunt gives him a sweater that can be worn over his armor, even, and they join the caravan. The warden is nowhere to be seen but the Major seems to be leading this caravan. There are a lot of supplies going there as well as another caravan filled with prisoners.
The caravan continues on and the first day is rather uneventful. We all stop for dinner and the prisoners are let out for dinner and to stretch their legs, as the Major seems to be out and sniffing the air. He comes over and starts to go around our cart, as if looking for something. Dia asks if we can help him, and he looks at her quizzically, and then peeks into the cart.
Arythas can see him making a gesture with his right hand, nervous as if he’s touching something. Arythas remembers that he essentially pet him, liking the fluffiness of him. Arythas asks if he’s looking for Iskra for clarification, and the Major nods in confirmation. Dia explains that we had to leave him and Rohan behind in order to collect a few more things for the performance at the circus. He seems to buy this and wanders off, and word spreads through the caravan that this is the state of things.
Rohan and Iskra make it to the fort at the prison and they find an entrance. They run into a gate that is barred but it was barred quite some time ago and never bothered since then - they think perhaps it was once a door to a warehouse or something of that nature.
Iskra wants to burn the door down, but Rohan suggests opening the door the old fashioned way. They can tell that Arythas could probably open the door pretty easily. The two of them work together to force the door open and they see a very dark corridor. It smells very musty, and it’s clear that nobody has been here for quite some time.
The door itself is small, and so Robin doesn’t make it through. Iskra does tell Robin that if anything goes bad then he should run off into the forest and try to find Dia and Arythas. Robin clearly understands.
The passage eventually grows to accommodate medium creatures and they eventually run into another door, this one is closed and locked from the other side. Rohan takes his time and manages to pick the lock, opening the door as rust shakes off the hinges. There is some equipment on the other side of the room. The two of them push it away - which makes noise - but there doesn’t seem to be anyone around.
The room they are in is a warehouse of some sort as far as they can see with the flame sitting in Iskra’s hand. It appears that this room is used to some extent. They move and see that there is a table with several wrought iron spikes. They are very long and sharp.
Iskra picks up a spike and can tell that there is a residue of some sort over the spike. He realizes that what is on the spikes is brain matter. Both ends seem to be melted, while the middle part is still in tact. Iskra can tell that it was not melted with fire, and proposes perhaps it was melted with acid, but isn’t sure.
They move in deeper and the room is cluttered. There are rows and rows of something - when they grow closer it seems that there are barrels, or perhaps caskets is a better word, made out of metal. Rohan wants to see what’s inside and finds a crowbar and very carefully opens one of the caskets to see what’s inside. The liquid is pretty viscous and almost sizzling. Within the casket they can see a humanoid form.
Iskra can tell the liquid is a mild acid. if they take the body out then there is not much they can do, but whoever is encased in here seems to be fine? The acid has not killed them. They are not breathing at the moment. Their face is misshapen in a way that is not a feature of biology - it reminds Iskra of perhaps a troll? There is an iron spike in the forehead. As the body resides outside of the acid, there is a slow breath that is let out of it. In the low light they cannot tell how many caskets are in this space. Rohan finds a flask to put some acid in for Iskra so they can have it looked at later.
The longer that Rohan looks at it, the more he realizes that these things are in a sort of suspended animation while they are in the acid. Since they do look related to trolls, fire would probably be good to destroy them. Not many of the caskets are open so whatever is going on is likely pretty recent, and he recalls the ice troll speaking of missing clan members - though these are not directly those. As he examines the make of the caskets he can tell that they were likely manufactured during the last war. He can also tell from the way the dust has been disturbed that there was likely 1-2 people here prior to them being here. In a nook not too far off, several of the creatures had been dissected and studied, with traces of that. There are no notes left behind.
Rohan quickly replaces the lid on the casket and they decide to keep moving on.
They find another door, and this one seems to be newer and in better overall shape. This door is also closed, and locked. Iskra looks around and gets the impression that this place is rarely visited, and usually only visited by 1-2 people, likely the same couple of people. He doesn’t hear anyone on the other side of the door and this is likely a pretty secluded portion of the prison. As long as he and Rohan move quietly and carefully through this, the fact that they were here will likely go unnoticed for some time.
There are definitely more caskets opened than there are spikes on the table, but these have been opened very slowly. Rohan suggests that they leave and come back on the morrow. He takes one of the metal spikes as he starts to get an inkling of what might be going on, and it might be useful later.
They make it look like they weren’t there and withdraw, leaving the way they came. They go into the forest with Robin to make camp.
Nobody is bothering Dia and Arythas. The Major was looking for Iskra but knows to wait, and one of the prisoners is yelling that his friends are going to come and break him out, but nobody comes.
The guards have a generally sour mood as they live at the prison and they hardly want to go back.
Dia checks the long range reach of the communication jewelry to see if they are close enough for a signal, and they are not.
The next night Arythas and Dia both hear steps on the snow coming to our cart. It doesn’t sound like the Major. Arythas gets his hammer ready and is ready to launch an attack. A man appears at the cart and is not dressed for the outside weather at all, and Arythas quickly realizes they’re not breathing - there’s no steam out of his mouth. The coat it’s wearing is old and doesn’t seem connected to the guards here. We can only see the lower part of his face, with several stitches there - he’s been stitched together with a heavy thread.
The undead smiles at us as he notices that we are not sleeping. He says hello, and Dia admits that we were startled. He says that we’ve met his - friend is a bad word for it - his associate. He wanted to apologize for his behavior, and Dia apologizes saying she doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
The undead takes the hood off and we can see his face is a mishmash of several creatures: his eyes are not aligned, different colors, patches of varying colors of flesh. His hands are the same patchwork, so it is clear that he is fully stitched together. He says that we know, and Dia asks what he wants. The man says he is here to ask him to stop meddling in their business, and Dia says she just wants her brother and then we’ll be gone. He says that is perfect, then asks and confirms that we will stop bothering and mucking about in their plans. He verifies that Arythas will also stop - Arythas gives no answer other than to stay poised for attack - and the man says that he would prefer that this is the last conversation that we have, and Dia agrees, saying she doesn’t want it any other way. He warns that if we do not cease and desist, then he will come for us, and he will go for Arythas’ family.
He explains that we have rather messed up some of their plans and set things back - they will have to do a whole new thing in Oceanscar because of us. They have other machinations going on and he ultimately says that he better not have to come talk to us again. Dia says yes, of course.
Arythas gets his armor on and his weapon and he slips out of the cart, doing a once around the cart and looking to see if he can tell where the undead went (he can’t).
Dia, meanwhile, tries to call Rohan and Taraaq, to no avail. She calls upon Demna, then, and makes sure that Demna had heard the entire conversation that was going on. She says that it’s pretty fucked up Dia is calling her for comfort, and Dia explains she doesn’t want comfort: she wants a message relayed, or for Demna to get Taraaq for her. Demna says that she can normally sense vibes that are around us, and this guy had nothing at all: no emotions, no wants, no needs, just dead.
Demna says that she wants to get out of this, to be better, and Dia gives her some shit about how Demna tried to get her soul. Demna says that habits die hard, and she has a performance review coming up so she needs another soul (though this is her joking, trying to lift the mood). Arythas comes back in at this point.
Arythas and Dia discuss what just happened and Dia suggests that perhaps we should have Arythas’ family move. Arythas admits that he doesn’t disagree, but he feels that this force seems to know quite a bit about them and they likely would know if his family was to be moved. We also wouldn’t know where to move them to: The Bloodsoaked Banner are a lot of strangers and we hardly wish to impose on Soldos, and we don’t wish to drag Kestrel St. Clair into danger because of his daughter. Arythas points out that with the way that this cult seems to know so much about them, they likely already know about Kestrel and his daughter Robin as it is.
Arythas then suggests we should likely make aware the powerful people that we know such as Soldos, the leader of the Crimson Legion that we know (Centurion Valtar), Rafferty, Kalvag, and the princess friend of DIa’s.
Taraaq then gives the incredibly tl;dr of what happened to Rohan and Iskra, not really giving a ton of detail. Rohan asks if we’re allowed to save her brother, and Taraaq says we’re allowed to save Bertram, but we shouldn’t be investigating the undead issue. Taraaq gets the vibe that we are not going to stop investigating this issue.
The two of them agree to take watch, with Rohan going first, and Iskra going second.
Later, they return to the door they hit and got stuck at. They examine the door to try to figure out the best way to go about getting access. They manage to get past the door and find a library within. Plenty of tomes are kept within and there are a lot of illegal tomes: treaties from centuries old magicks such as combining species, creating life, etc.
Rohan steals an ancient journal that’s in a special place in the room. On the very first page is a very neat handwriting that says: Property of Cressida Omen (the mad mage). This is the mad mage that the General Chase has so much pride in supposedly killing. Iskra snatches the journal and leaves the room and tries to see if there’s a note to bring them back in their own journal, but he can’t glean that so quickly. He can see magic formulae inside and he knows that he wants Inky to examine it, but that’s a problem for later.
The two of them manage to escape and make their exit look relatively undisturbed. Rohan wanted to look over the book and he can definitely do that once they get to safety. Iskra conceals the book as Dia calls over the earpiece saying that we are pulling up to the gate. She explains that they should come up from the back as we said that we left them behind to get more items for the performance.