Session 027

Session Date: 10/04/2024

Travel Party

Composed of: Ships, Sarras, Brother Decimus.

It is a nice clear spring day where they can see far. As they approach Ser Lothar’s it is hard to see as the home is carved into the side of the mountain. The smoke of the kitchen can be seen, but not much else. As they approach, they see archers firing at the birds atop of the stable, hitting pretty frequently.

The group approaches the front door and a terse footman of some sort greets them at the door. He signals for them to wait a moment, and then heads back inside while shouting a few names, yelling Nicodemus the most. The man that greets them is a thin and insubstantial, twitch little man. He offers to take the horses to the stables and is sure to get all of their names as he does. He explains that ser is waiting and if he’s not in the solar, then continue on to the audience room.

Going inward are several sets of double doors and stairs. Everything is clearly carved right out of the hill, except for the doors. Unlike the Baron’s house that was damp and plastered with unnecessary tapestries and dressage, this is rather Spartan in comparison. The doors are clearly imported from another island as no trees on this island are sturdy enough to create such doors.

The first room they arrive at is apparently the solar. Even though the windows are only arrow slits, they are angled in such a way to allow plenty of light to come in and keep the room well-lit. As the party arrives, a man and woman enter the room.

The man is tall and broad-shouldered, with red hair that comes down a little past his shoulders with a beard that is even longer. While he is dressed fairly richly, he is not well-combed or well-kept - the beard has been catching all manner of things for him in time, out of mind.

The woman is definitely elven. They get the sense that she is aging. This is not common of elves, unless they are quite old indeed (over 120-140). You can’t quite put a finger on what it is about her that gives that impression as she has no wrinkles, though her hair is a silvery blonde so perhaps it’s greying? She just has a sense of it.

The two are unstringing longbows as they arrive. The man tips his head in a half respectful, half curious gesture toward the party. He comments that he wasn’t expecting guests, and asks who the party is.

Ships speaks up and introduces everyone, and explains that they are knights of the Marquis. He is candid about our investigation with regards to the missing children, and asks if there are any such reports in his household. Ser Lothar asks the woman, and she explains no, none are missing that she is aware of, though surely the child is probably missing her here soon. Ser Lothar says that mayhap someone hasn’t had much discretion, though they aren’t sure who else would be here for such things.

The woman comes back with a little girl in a blue dress and introduces her as Sora, so it’s clear all children here are accounted for. Ser Lothar asks how it is we don’t know where to look for a missing child, and Sarras explains the child is too young to speak as to who her parents are and we are simply following up on all of the leads we have so that we do not miss anything.

Ser Lothar is a little baffled as he attempts to find the appropriately helpful thing to say, and is coming up with nothing. He does admit (more eloquently) that he is glad that their lead came up with nothing here, as he is rather fond of Sora.

Sarras expresses how glad she is that no misfortune has fallen on Ser Lothar’s family, and she ultimately asks if he’s aware of anything happening 1-2 months ago in these part. He explains that he doesn’t recall anything. Kids can go missing in the quarries sometimes, but if they had over winter, he hadn’t heard of it. He does know that the Baron’s wife - before she was his wife 3-4 years back - lost a child somewhere in that way. Even if they’d somehow been fed by bats in the quarries, he’s sure that word would have come through by now.

She explains that this is a child that has been found and we are trying to locate her family, and she explains the child is being cared for. Ser Lothar apologizes that he isn’t sure how to help find where her family may be, and Sarras reassures that we have it.

Ships attempts to get the opinion of Ser Lothar about the Baron. Ser Lothar speaks well of the Baron’s stables, kennels, and hunting skills - things he holds important himself - but he sort of allows that while it is a small island, the mountain trails make it comfortably larger than it otherwise might be. He’s implying that himself, the Baron, and the other knight enjoy the space between them. Ships does compliment the Baron’s musicians, admitting that the Baron does have a perchance for merriment, which Ships does not dislike. Ser Lothar clearly does not appreciate the mention of the musicians, and something about that is striking a nerve of his.

Decimus asks if Ser Lothar doesn’t care for music, to which the knight turns a little redder under his beard and turns to look away. He grumbles that it’s not that, there’s nothing wrong with music. His wife steps in and says that it’s the why of the music that’s a reminder of the Baron’s peculiar perceptions. She explains that the Baron had musicians play constantly day and night for three years because he says it covers up the other noises. Lothar grumbles into his beard about it being impolite to talk about and his wife nods her head slowly, saying that while that is true, she doesn’t believe they asked after the musicians casually, and they do work for the Marquis, who the Baron owes fealty to. It is of their concern. Lothar grunts and gestures that he’s not bothering with it himself.

His wife continues: the Baron hears digging, he says. Sarras and Ships both get that she’s watching very closely for their reactions as she says that: she wants to see if it’s news to them that the Baron hears digging. They’re also getting a sense of curiosity, and it’s clear that people think the Baron is mad, and she’s curious to see if we also think so. Sarras has a small thoughtful frown, and Ships says “so I heard”.

The wife comments that she wondered if they had been talking about that, and she mentions that they don’t visit often. Ships comments that it is not spoken often, but there were some folks eager to speak of it. Sarras speaks up and explains that it is certainly our privilege and duty to investigate what is amiss on the island, if anything. The wife comments that if we find anything, they are avid hunters and would be most pleased to assist us and the Baron should the need arise.

It is around this time that Nicodemus stumbles in through the door with three wineskins and three rather large turkey legs or something along those lines.

Lothar’s Wife → Badvisse (pronounced Bathvissa)

(about 3 hours)

The Baron’s Home

Copied (2 hours):

• Floating Disk
• Unseen Servant

Kerran comes back an hour after and lets Calthel know that the curse is broken on the snake staff. He wishes to look around the castle grounds for more snake activity, especially since small animals are disappearing. Calthel agrees to join him and as they are going around, Kerran does eventually glance over the cliff going down to the river and doesn’t see any snake burrows, but a cave entrance of some sort in the thick clay soil. From about 40’ up looks like it would be big enough to fit a person. It’s an arched shape that is a pretty perfect arch, so it’s hard to tell if it’s erosion or man-made.

Calthel sends his familiar down to investigate and looks through its eyes. What he sees is a tunnel about five feet wide, that goes from the brownish river clay into what might be greyer clay or might be stone in a curving downward angled tunnel that would go in a direction to go under the castle. Calthel sends the light orb down with the raven and the raven pushes it down the way. There is suddenly a flash of red and the connection to the familiar is cut.

The tunnels are something like this:

As far as Kerran and Calthel can tell, there aren’t any surface exits of any sort on the grounds, but there are a number of places where there are ripples in the turf as though something tilled the soil. They aren’t things I would have noticed if I hadn’t have seen the ripples in the clay and stone. They are long marks, and there are many of them on the land.

This lines up with the sleeping god Krom the Dark Serpent, and then there’s Sochet the crocodile prophet.

Ships, Sarras, & Decimus

Before they head out, Sarras asks Ser Lothar if there are any requests or concerns that we should pass on to the Marquis at some point. For both Lothar and Badvissa, the idea of addressing the Marquis has never crossed their mind. They say that things are fine - and it’s not really that that things are fine, but the idea never crossed their mind, so they had never considered it. It caught them off guard. Sarras advises that if things do go down, a large mastiff that is psychic named Best Largest may arrive to convey any issues, and Badvissa is curious about what kind of mastiff, and whatnot.

As they head back, they see something moving to their west. It is far enough away they do not get a good look at it, but there is enough distance that they know that the thing must have been large. Decimus did not see it. Sarras reaches out to Best Largest with her telepathic link and asks Best Largest to let Calthel know they’re going to the pond. Best Largest also gives an update about Calthel’s raven being dispersed, and the light orb being gone.

Calthel

As Kerran and Calthel are finishing the circuit looking around the grounds, and Best Largest communicates that Sarras, Ships, and Decimus are going to the pond. Calthel thanks her for the update and lets Best Largest know that he will let them go there, and to let him know if anything goes amiss so that he can grab a horse and head out that way if needed.

Some strange dreams have been a common complaint in the castle since she was first stationed as chaplain 13-14 years ago, when the Baron’s father was still Baron here. The Baron reported they got worse around 6 years ago around when his father died. About 4 years ago when his first wife died, they got worse again. She explains that others in the castle have also reported the dreams, but they never reported the dreams getting worse until after Baron Halfcor made a public fuss about his own getting worse - it is her opinion that the servants in the castle take their cues from the lord of the manor, and naturally when disturbing ideas come into his head and he makes dire predictions around them then the servants begin to worry about the same things.

In the beginning the dreams were just the castle itself collapsing, and then it was the castle and the canyon, and eventually it became the whole island.

Calthel asks the Chaplin if she feels that the Baron is mad, and she comments that the Baron and his family has always had nervous dispositions. From the reports of his sisters, the Baron’s got worse after the first time he went to war. That is a known risk that befalls some warriors. He’d always acquitted himself well in the field and he accomplishes his duties and if the burdens of state weigh heavy upon him, that does not make him unworthy of office. She admits that there has been a higher turnover in the staff over the past 3-4 years as his temperament has been less contained, but she doesn’t think being hard to work for is a sign of him being unfit for office, and she hasn’t heard departing servants otherwise.

Calthel asks about the tilled soil around the grounds, and the Chaplin thinks about it. She’s fairly certain that it’s just the water - the soil is thin and muddy and doesn’t take well to growing things. The soil just ripples without any grass to hold it down. She is confident in this.

He thanks her for her time and leaves her be.

Sarras, Ships, and Decimus

Sarras casts detect magic in the pond and finds a source of illusion magic at the bottom of the pond/lake.

The lake is 30-40’ wide, and 30-40’ deep. They can tell that this is the head waters of the Greyburn river. It’s quite bubbly.

Ships and Sarras decide to set up camp while they wait for Calthel to show up. As they are setting up camp the illusion magic falls and as Ships is trying to iterate through possible reasons as to why it’s gone, Sarras recalls that 1 minute is a common concentration length and it’s possible whatever was holding it ran out of time.

Ships and Sarras know they cannot rule out that whatever it was went down river, though it’s impossible to really know for sure. The group discusses more and Ships proposes it’s some sort of alligator like creature, or the like, and Calthel mentions perhaps it’s one of the Largest siblings.

Sarras uses divine sense and she gets a very faint fiendish aura from down river. It’s faint enough that it’s either a very small fiend, or it’s the lingering aura indicating the recent presence of a much more powerful fiend. Sarras relays this to everyone and then mounts her horse and starts off after the energy signature.

We opt to go up along the river so that we end up at the top of the cliff rather than down near the river. As we continue along, Sarras gets the feeling that this is a small fiendish creature rather than something large and powerful. Ships and Calthel don’t see anything, really, but Sarras and Decimus notices a few things:

• A switch back path that is not very well maintained, but present - likely for people who fish that needed a way back up
• Four spots where the terrain has slid a little bit, and crumpled, causing it to be easier footing - we might even be able to carefully make our way down
• There is an arc-shaped cave opening that is about person-sized

Sarras throws some meat down to the bank of the river below, and a moment later we see a green-brown snake-like sinewy creature that is very snake-like. It is about person long and it would be incredibly impressive if it was what carved out the tunnels in the island. Ships and Decimus point out that if we wanted, a few of us could go to one of the further south easier climb places and head down to the bank to intercept the snake while the others come from the north.

We get set up and Ships rushes the snake and grabs it. It’s wriggling something fierce but we definitely have it caught. Ships notice the snake is trying to get away from him in only one (1) direction, which is weird. It is trying to get back on one course in the river, toward the cave that is about person sized. The snake is also not attempting to bite Ships at all. Decimus uses protection from evil on the snake at Ships’ suggestion, and the snake begins to start acting like a snake. The snake still pings as a fiend, and Sarras realizes that protection from evil suppresses effects, but does not remove them. The snake is still tainted.

We start to discuss how to best follow the snake should we let it go, and we opt not to use faerie fire as it would be rather obvious. We hesitate at the idea of hunter’s mark to avoid using a spell slot. Sarras has some fishing line and after we get across the river, we attach the line and use that to follow the snake to where it’s going.

We leave Decimus and Best Largest back with the horses to watch them.

The snake takes a left at the fork and continues on, and then it takes a moment to realize that the snake has made it to its destination. It takes another moment to realize it’s a dead body, or facsimile there of. It then speaks out in a smooth high soprano voice: “to my friends in the dark: you have been seen, you are known, they are coming, they will come, they come”. The snake stops talking and the evil fades.

Sarras realizes that the spell is animal messenger, which gives the messenger a set location or person they’re familiar with. It goes there and then speaks 25 words in the caster’s voice.

Calthel casts dancing lights to see what is going on and the person in front of us is a somewhat disarranged orcish skeleton. It’s in ruptured chainmail and in the yellow surcoat in the clergy of Rahovi. He has an electrum holy symbol that has the holy symbols of Rahovi and Senoska around his neck. Sarras recognizes that style immediately: it’s the style that was used at the time that the Abbey tiled its chapel floors, and it’s inlaid in the tiles there.

Ships asks his questions:

1. What killed you?
   • The creatures I spoke of in the letter.
2. What is your name?
   • I am Rider Calyptos
     • Sarras knows they were a paladin who went missing 150 years ago. They were someone who was held up to Sarras as a possible role model as they were specifically an orcish paladin.
     • Sarras has polished their name on the shrine of missing paladins many times when she had a disciplinary infraction that gave her cleaning duty.

We take a moment to confer about what to ask and Calthel recommends that we ask for a description of the creatures rather than who the letter was to. Because it’s so dated it may not be relevant to ask who it was to. Sarras agrees, and recommends that we try to get as detailed of a description as we can. During this, Ships hears a rippling noise somewhere in the tunnels and he’s aware that it could be quite far away, or something quiet and closer.

Combat begins.

3. How would you describe, in detail, the creatures you spoke of in the letter?
   • I have never seen its like. There is something Of the dragon about it and something of the beetle, ant, or wasp. Its claws are fierce. The elders spit acid. They are swift and industrious, and treat soil and even stone as water.
4. Do you know any effective ways to fight these creatures?
   • There is something in the heights they fear.
     • Ships thinks they fear music.
5. Who & where was your letter’s destination?
   • The bottle in my left boot.

Cruthix - the result of crossbreeding a drake with a burrowing insect from the hells of zazel. Ships knows they rely more on scent and hearing for their senses, so loud noises and strong smells can confuse them. They burrow through stone and are much more dangerous in a group than on their own. They don’t have any strong weaknesses, but scattering them, overwhelming them, confusing them - all useful ways of dealing with them. They can tunnel through stone faster than we’d like.

Ships starts to sing and Calthel loudly rings a bell to make noise. Between the noise and some clever moonbeam placement, we manage to escape the tunnels.