Session 035

Session Date: 08/22/2025

I missed this session.

Notes frmo Sarras’s player:

Sir Nick, Sir Baggeton Nickelpenny of Nickelpenny Manor

wife Galatia Sweetkin? illegitimate son Cobard, older than Galatia, half-white half-copper dragonborn Witch of Norrinwood, Lady Dogrose (?) Hugh Pinewood is steward, grew up in the area on family farm as a second son, originally studied for priesthood Geor Greystick is half hobgoblin mine foreman, not from parts, knew from “the continent”, Destria Alworth? had robbed under watch, southmost > found what he thought were deer tracks but no deer on the island, could have been goat Alworth and Byhil had issues with noise from the mine, mentioned it to steward Grinman is grumpy get off my lawn dude Stablewoman sneaking into cellar to steal wine Familiar disappeared in smoke, probably from summon spell?

Giacomo stole a bunch of items despite party disapproval Faolan (Faylan) met us on the road back, knight of Arthurian-style prince (well known but what he’s done is debatable) Map is in Sir Nick’s office Witch was previous court mage before previous before Giacomo, supposedly studying dark magics Previous mage was trying to find the king Lir’s sister Unlocked diary, Dogrose became afraid during what was probably last autumn that “They” were returning and would come for her; disjointed narrative and scribbled notes in the margin, diagrams and spell research notes; “paranoid meditation of a very frightened woman seeing portents of something hunting for her” Pre-prepared “scroll” spells on pages, two burned pages that were used up Last entry just over a month ago, around the time that scarecrow thefts started Potions, various prayers and entreaties to fey beings; did not seem to be having much luck get ahold of those beings, which she interpreted as them withdrawing because of Them Giacomo knows great Old One warlock patron Kromkruak has most enmity for the fey; is of the shadow and moves unseen so tends to be scapegoat for most unidentifiable warlocks Speaks of helmeted golem as if it was a person, and only made the one according to her notes, but sounded like she taught it how to make other golems, could very well have bound the familiar to it Call took fabric scraps/clothes to return to farmers Remaining journals eaten by beetles OUT OF SEASON but found some scraps dedicated to prayerful incantations to Mormo, the Wolf-Witch Nick said the witch was very highly thought of and appreciated by the people

ATTACKED by slithering tracker and water elemental while Ships exploring Cobard’s room Tracker killed, elemental is turned but STRANGELY kept running even after turn wore off; not able to determine why Kept watch overnight and moved household to town in the morning, still no sign of Cobard Creatures passed over the unconscious stablehand so had orders to attack the house Should be no casters in the area with the ability to control a water elemental, and slithering tracker shouldn’t be capable of it Ply Nick with wine and he lists all his potential enemies from the continent, but if they were going to attack him wouldn’t they have done it by now? It’s obvious where he lives Nick knew exactly where the witch was but kept it under wraps to get potion kickbacks Elemental could have just chosen to leave because fuck that Cobard and some friends (3 oldest sons of farmers in area) harmed horses which is making the harvest more difficult, also pissed off the nuns At inn bought high quality rounds for everyone, shepherd noted that he say a wave moving against the tide just after dawn the day after attack, near skerry sheptulloch moving AWAY from the island Hugh asked if tracker was water elemental, said he heard that mages and priests can summon them but will only summon elementals when they prefer them; which druids DO Conventuals of St Ninian’s are nemotonian and “a law unto themselves”; the priests of the 8 see to all the variations/needs of the people in the islands, but the druids of Pomforthor very specifically do not consider people to be their concern, solely concerned with the wilds From meeting Valen, a knight whose knighthood descended from Prince Ios (?), know that Ninian was the wizard-druid advisor to Ios; just like knighthood only answers directly to the crown, Ninian ONLY answers to college of cardinals on nemoton, totally outside the purview of anyone else Cobard says he doesn’t know anything about spellcasting but then says that he doesn’t think the nuns could do it; doesn’t seem terribly concerned for himself, dismissive that we might protect the family but does seems concerned for them (or at least perturbed)

Nuns only answer to Archdruids of Nemeton, high authority of all church; nuns are independent and usually very careful about what land they select for tithes but this year picked a whole bunch of seemingly random land that normally isn’t in their purview Technically the Octavia split into 9 groups not 8 because world tree Pomforthor is split into 2, plants vs people Order of St Ninian was grandfathered into the nation of Arimath when their land was annexed which is why nobody deals with them (been like this for centuries); Ninian was bear wizard and Merlin figure Only time Marquis of the Stepstone Isles got anywhere was when she tried to involve the Bishop of Druckerberg; he was able to call attention to it but got slapped down Very rapid escalation of their problem, from 3 per year to 13 (in late March), mine foreman been having the most trouble Abba Ossafraga is an orc and has been in charge for 20-odd years One plot eider duck, the other barnacle goose Proper term of address for them is “cousin” since they’re officially ungendered on duty Traditional offering of fresh berries Druids supposedly moving towards the coast to protect seashore animals from the eldritch beings??? which are offshore Met with cousin Nitidus? first We do not involve ourselves in the lesser matters of the Nemetonian Church in the same event that we wish them to stay out of ours DESECRATION OF A HENGE OF WORSHIP, only other one is Pomovorthan by the Baron Gilbert’s area Priesthood of Rennfrega goddess of light and life is always first among equals Do NOT imply that we’re under siege from eldritch sea monsters to the Baron, by Marquis’ orders Permission to go introduce ourselves and say that we’re to make the acquaintance of important people upon whom the island depends in order to get in his good graces Considers baron an excellent administrator and horseman in time of war

Should be two priests present: Priest of Pomvorthr (aging half-elven) who keeps the henge, and chaplain priest (young human) of Draugala, goddess of war, who keeps the armory Baron is captain in order of the green pennants, elite cavalry widowed with one legitimate and a lot of illegitimate children sword for masc, distaff for fem, tree for neutral, wind/cloud for mindya biz met by elf, Tyrenic is the herald two men resembling the baron, one married, several kids (including teenage tiefling and two human girls) Baron VERY aggressive in and good at chess but Schivabelle gives him a close game Hung out with nerdy tiefling illegitimate kid Iago, Iolande dunked on him Eldenald is a mutterer, could have a speech impediment or just not like people 8 dogs, lots of horses Draugala chapel is still hallowed but like a veneer, Rector Lucius has powerful sense of good, Bodwin & clerks are neutral Henge IMMEDIATELY has sense of wrongness, not strong to the point of fear or nausea but something is definitely off with divine sense is even worse, is ACTIVELY dedicated to something evil, coming up from beneath and all around, could be behind and/or beneath cast protection from good and evil on the rector and he seemed to come to somewhat last thing he remembers is Bodwin giving mass of Draugala, in AUTUMN, it’s now spring Cast Watcher’s Will to give him a boost in throwing off the curse, he’s writing to the bishop, Sarras runs to get Rauhovi courier from lighthouse under excuse of touching base Clerks are Azalais and Bastiana, are shared (technically Lucius’ since he’s senior), Bastiana came on after he started having difficulties Going to hospital of Rennfrega for alms distro, Grimmskoll shelter of orphans drunks etc. (~100), & Yggomi house of sailors and foreigners (~60); stipend of a copper piece a week, a 7th of what next poorest people could expect to get, plus soup and bed plus mostly maintenance job opportunities More at Yggomi are from Midmire, don’t get much convo due to language barrier, few tiefling leave right after Bastiana talks to them; dragonborn overrepresented among the poor bc Arimath had a crusade against dragons only a few decades ago Going to look into distributing alms again, likes learning Caught up with mixed running group, Vicar Bodwin & Schivabelle both there, Aselais dragonborn, 4 guards, unknown figure I’m with Tyrenic Original group confirmed AZALAIS, UNKNOWN person, Bodwin and Schivabelle stay put when Aselais flees (killing a guard in the process) but BODWIN as well Bodwin saying he “cannot” say what he’s been up to Elven female guard Juno is also not within the castle I’M THE ONE QUESTIONING, what’s my level of experience with this? Have done mock trial training but not much experience with actual court

Baron - my lord duke - your grace counts, marquis - your illustriousness

HIGH TABLE Baron Gilbert Aberly Rector Lucius Mor, half-elven, cleric of Pomvorthr Vicar Bodwin, human, chaplain of Draugala Hugh, the Baron’s oldest natural son, human Schivabelle, a Midmirish noblewoman, Hugh’s wife Raoul, the Baron’s son & Heir, 20ish Iago, tiefling, 16 round, Baron’s natural son Iolande, human, 13, Baron’s natural daughter [EMPTY CHAIR] Marie, human, 6, Baron’s natural daughter Aimes, human, 4, Hugh & Schivabelle’s son LEFT TABLE Tyrenic, elven Herald, tipsy Squire Theobald, human, Butler, head of domestic service Squire Eldenald, red dragonborn, constable, head of the stables RIGHT TABLE Amalric, elven M, steward Agnes, high elf, F, Bailiff Sibylla, half-elven, F, Reeve Philcan, human, M, Houndmaster Regin, Gold dragonborn, jeweler Bastiana, Kornuese tiefling, chaplain’s clerk Azalais, silver dragonborn, rector’s clerk Juno, white dragonborn, armswoman NOT AT TABLES Bloody Bruce, a very large dog, gold, tan, & red Mudbelly, a medium-sized, cirly-haired, seal-brown dog

• zone of truth spell does not compel you to answer at all, it just makes it so you cannot state blatant untruths. You will have to pay attention to the words someone uses when answering because they can still create implications that may not be true. They also can speak mistruth if they genuinely believe it to be true.

• It is 2:15 am 1st day of Warding Moon when we start. - Skerry Yayek was on 10th day of Seeding Moon — 26 days. About 40 days since whatever happened since Skerry Yayek.

• worship service for the so-called Prophet Sochet

• guardswoman Juno, Jenny of the Dredger, a local hunter who’s name I have never learned, Beck the Wilmerchant’s clerk, Clovis the sail-mender, Lodvic the Carter, Marta the Fisherwoman

• Presiding as always: Azalais, the Cloaked Priestess - been Azalais accomplice 5-6 mo now, since hired

• almost certain the priestess is someone in this castle, but who it is I do not know

• Azalais and the priestess had grandiose plans about their power on this island, that I know - some creature - of Sochet. They call it the Dread One

• also a high priest who has never shown himself locally, on Aberly

• Tatiana a graduate of the College of Swords. You did not ask, but I should perhaps say that if you decide not to hang me at the end of this, the college will ransom - assume Azalais is communing with her master to warn of the danger and of the Vicar. I know she makes her communions by or in the water She goes into the swamp south of here. If she goes all the way to the coast? I don’t know. I suspect all the way to the coast

• cult in Ayrevit, Caer Eskwit, and Escastershire

• thunderstep probably priestess, Priestess can cast disguise self

• Priestess is capricious. They take joy in the punishment of small infractions, have a grimoire they can summon and dismiss at will, know prestidigitation and thaumaturgy cantrips. besides her grimoire, has a book bound in scales of some kind from which she reads her liturgies and services, has never summoned or dismissed that book: I think it is a book, so it is probably in the castle right now They are fond of spells that do psychic damage

• suspect they had a scroll or an expendable item that contained that spell that affected the vicar

• stored spells in the Rector’s walking stick (gone now)

• Azalais was pleased by Skerry Yayek, but not the kind of pleasure that comes from one responsible for such a thing. I suspect that either the high priest or the Dread One had a hand in that

• Tatiana not responsible for the protection of anyone but myself, and my College only continues to operate because it swears neutrality in all political endeavors. I am loyal to those who pay me

• Azalais warlock who performs a useful imitation of a priestess. She can see in any dark, she can create water, she can hypnotize others, cause silence, and with a walking stick she can alter memories and lay curses

• spell which binds the Vicar is Gaess, a very powerful kind of curse. It is definitely beyond what the walking stick could do because there are many times where it would have been more useful if she could have commanded the silence of someone rather than simply erasing a few minutes of their memory. She must leave them with suspicion, not evidence

• Whatever was done was done around the Mass of Drugala last Autumn. I say this because it was three weeks after that that the College received a letter seeking the hire of some discreet person. This is 6 months ago

• Juno was useful to them in ways the others were not, Beck, the Clerk, was useful to them

• Bastiana does not take on responsibilities for the actions of others. Beyond that: I have a use for the money, not for the cause

• Almodis: human F, 11yo, Schiabelle & Hugh’s oldest As far as she knows it’s been exactly a month since Almodis was kidnapped and that Clovis and Marlata did not attend the service at the henge that night. She was kidnapped roughly the time that the event on Skerry Yayek happened, give or take 5-10 days. Clovis and Marlata being gone implies that a boat was involved on the kidnapping.

• no proof of life provided. I don’t think that Azalais is personally overseeing the captivity. I haven’t seen Azalais receiving updated news about it

• Lifetree henges: on Aberly there is one with the druids. The chain: one on Duffholm, Grislith, Compass Tor; All of the island chain is under the Marquis’ rule

• carry a letter to the Marquis and back would be 9-10 hours. The note outlines everything going on out here and what we’ve found, as well as possible next steps. Sarras also lets the Marquis know that she’s sent help in the form of the Rohavites. - Beck the wool-merchant’s clerk: 1/2 elf M Clovis the sail-mender: 1/2 elf M Lodvic the Carter: white Dragonborn M Marlata the fisherwoman: green Dragonborn F

• By 8am, we are rousing and the guards have arrested 4 of the cultists: Beck the wool-merchant’s clerk, Clovis the sail- mender, Lodvic the carter, and Marlata the fisherwoman. The dredger, hunter, and Juno are still unaccounted for. There are only three empty cells in the castle jail. Bastianna is in her cell tied up, gagged, ands sleeping, while the other four cultists are much more agitated. Bastianna’s remarkable professional “keeping it cool” ability are not possessed by the others

• carrying: daggers, caged fleas, waterskins, makeup, petrified eye of newt; could cast the cantrips infestation and friends and the first level spells “create/destroy water” and hex

• Lodvic successfully resisted the spell, but the others will not

• Clovis and Marlata are frightened, guilty, and evasive about Almodis

• Where did you last leave Almodis? Marlata asks for Rauhovi clemency, depends on Almodis’ situation, refuses to speak; Beck speaks up and says he had nothing to do with it

• Azalais sent into town for the pair of them 2 days before last new moon and then they weren’t at the service but they were back in town 3-4 days later, and not before. So, I think they did it, but I don’t know

• Clovis says The priestess met us out back of the castle. She didn’t look dirty but Almodis did. Almodis was asleep. She could walk if guided but she wasn’t hurt or anything. The priestess smelled bad, just like Almodis did. We did like she said and we took her out on a boat towards the pasture island, and then we drunged our oars on the bottom of our boat, closed our eyes, and waited. Something holy passed over the boat and then the girl was gone

• Nobody paid to watch her or gone to see her since then - Priestess is short, she’s always short and slim. She’s not always the same height. She’s never tall; priestess and Azalais are the first to arrive and last to leave

• Beck: I have a list of safe houses and an account book; describes where they are in the wool-merchant’s in town where he clerks

• Marlata gives an almost theological speech that is very obviously the cult orthodoxy on this that the gods are gods of kingdoms of kings of people who are especially holy and virtuous and that if they really cared for the poor and downtrodden, the world wouldn’t be this way. Sochet, however, doesn’t offer false promises, he will trade power and insight directly for worship to anyone

• So you value power over the lives of children and countrymen? Beck, quietly: The money was real good, Clovis had started to chime in, but the next question hushes him and makes him look ashamed

• Azalais recruited Beck, Clovis & Marlata: No, parents raised these two in these beliefs. They were taught that these teachings are the rightful religion of these islands; Clovis is from Compass Tor, Marlata is from Escastershire for a very long time; Dragonborn families of these islands are almost all either immigrants in the past decade, or date back hundreds of years. Immigration stopped in the interim because of the dragon crusades, which pushed out anyone who didn’t have deep roots, esp white Dragonborn; certain level of implication of white Dragonborn with cult activity

• hunter’s name is Sedgemartin; for other cult members Clovis thinks really hard about it, then says he won’t give the names to anyone on Compass Tor. He understands what we’re doing and he maybe has some regrets about the things he’s done. He wants to make amends, but he won’t send people who were raised in this worship to their deaths

• Is there anyone else you’ve kidnapped or sacrificed to your god? Beck & Clovis look down and look ashamed, Marlata starts laughing commanded to admit she’s been party to around 30 human sacrifices. She doesn’t recall their names, nor does she care. She gives what names she does recall; cult has 3-4 ritual observances a year that, properly done, culminate with a human sacrifice and she’s in her 30s. The cult hasn’t always been in a position to do the sacrificing but she’s taken part every time they have since she’s become an adult; memory of those sacrificed serve Sochet still. There’s power in it, she’s directly gained power from some of these

• it might be worth noting if the sacrifices took place in the same place and if the creature has come up personally for each of them if there is a spot it frequented that we should be aware of. This isn’t worth a spell at this time, but something to note for later

• Marquis: it is very short and it says to wait for the bishop and assure yourselves of the Baron’s loyalty. Once the Bishop has the church in hand, if you think it is useful, you are authorized to take a boat to any of the other islands, just let her know if that is what we choose to do. She doesn’t mention sending any other knights anywhere else to investigate

• Marlata kills other prisoners except Lodvic, herself killed by guard

• account books were missing and the door to the clerk’s office had broken locks: someone beat them there to get them - how the priestess gets in and out of the castle unseen: they use the shoop of the second floor privy. They didn’t go out that way last night, but came in that way last night.

• upstairs baths, where the servants and guards are not generally permitted to use. They bathed down thoroughly and then opened every bottle of perfume or scent in the bath chamber and used some kind of wind magic to circulate those scents to obliterate any trace of their own aroma there. They likely directed the wind in such a way to not get hit by it while also ruining their scent trail. This indicates someone who’s done this before or is very, very quick thinking and is worried about being tracked by scent.

• also traces of this scent (older) all over the areas of the castle we are walking through. This is absolutely someone here every day who is either able to sneak into that upstairs bath or is of appropriate privilege

• Sochet’s cult tried to invade the nation of “Sarcolet”? driven out by the Queen of Crows (actually Raven Queen)

• Raven Queen had sword that could determine guilt if it drank enough blood

• SCHIVABELLE WONDERING WHY BASTIANA LIED FOR HER

• is true that daughter was kidnapped and her & her husband were blackmailed, they approached the cult to see if cult would help them kill the baron

• baron going out with filkin theobald eldenald to hunt for cultists in the town

• Patrolling halls came across “Raoul” in a cloak with two books, dropped the scaled book in Calthel’s room, ducked into another

• Iago opened up immediately, Iolande stalled, saw magic through room and barged in, aura around head of the bed with creepy doll and pillows, picked up doll & it attacked

• Iolande attacked us as well, doll is Ooblex

Midmirish snakes in the mill, Charity from Colhome formerly Duffholm Caught up to Juno, Olivar & Jenny Logbook records goods coming and going from Dunshire Mill, Colhurstshire Manor, Orrinshire Shepherd’s Hut, Caer Eskwit (~8-10), Caer Colbrech (~2-4) > Colhurstshire no longer exists, is now part of Cainshire but still mentioned by name > Manor OF Colhurstshire Sent details to Marquise via Calthel’s familiar Manor and Hut send out items that the other branches need to accomplish things, and receive most of the money, so the Caers the main places the cult is being run FROM; mill used for money laundering Baron did not find Azalais, interrogated Juno upon return, Sarras in attendance Snake handling is holy rite of the cult, don’t currently have a breeder etc since the miller died of illness; often sell the venom, Baron picks up on that Marquise wants Azalais to be the priority since she knows other cult members including ones at manor Nun shows up and says someone in Ostershire stole a fishing boat and set sail on a course towards northern shore of Duffholm; don’t know who or what race Few boats have arrived from far enough away that they had to land because it wasn’t safe to make them wait, they are complaining that they can’t leave At least one boat not attempting approach to port but is displaying dancing lights to indicate that it has news Grammary of Divination has written back to Calthel, two other copies of book of Sigrdrifa that are closer than the Grammary: One is only partial copy (don’t know what parts) in library of Abbot of St Epifain (private collection), second is with Baron of Calsedon (island about 60 miles due south); two days closer than the Grammary but still min 6 day round trip Still no way to lift Vicar’s geas but he can still do non-cult-directed spellcasting, Rector marvelled with Sarras at incident of Rauhovi acting through her Kerran had enough diamonds (with Rowan’s help to increase value) for Rector to cast restoration and remove Vicar’s geas: He got suspicious of Azalais and Bastiana and got caught snooping and then geased, started bringing him to meetings as way to demonstrate their power, declares that butler Theobald knew what was going on and didn’t do anything, also reveals Schivabelle’s plot to kill the baron with the cult’s help Went up to Orrinshire hut, nearby fjord showed signs of extensive scavenging (no driftwood etc), horse that Azalais stole is tied next to hut, hut apparently empty except for belongings including crossbow from armory Kerran speaks with horse, says Azalais is only one visiting the hut, leaves at dawn and returns at dark smelling of salt, bird shit, and “crazy”, seems more deranged every night; can create water but it “doesn’t taste very good” Raven familiar spots dead fish that it’s very put off by, both fresh and old Sea chest of Bishop in the hut Equidistant between knights quarters for Orrinshire and Dextershire, also a Rauhovite lighthouse within half hour ride

Dame Norene Dunair is the knight at Orrinshire Dread one prob couldn’t get up stream/river without being painfully obvious Half-elf Sir Octavius and his daughter Prima (has VERY intimidating horse with vampire bit)

Have captured Azalais + tiny horrifying fishbaby Were pursued by aberrations from the fjord Azalais had been in, set up ambush and split party so half can continue to Baron’s (with fishbaby), Dame Prima with us Rector put fishbaby in magic circle to contain it Fishbaby knows witchbolt, is babbling rapid-fire analysis of what it’s seeing around it, including educated observations of castle’s architecture, moisture levels, who is a caster and what type, holy symbols and magical focuses, etc., speculating on its odds of escape; despite all this has toddler’s vocab Ships used Comprehend Languages to tell what it was saying “This one is not unobserved, and this one is not unprotected. You shall be fed to large gibbering things.” Said it was alone because it had a mission to accomplish Has been here since it was hatched, had to count time since then but determined it hatched 178 days ago; its current wants are to follow the designs of the largest; if it was the largest it would “accept tribute from the lesser creatures” such as ourselves Disdainful of second largest as “half breed”, born of “lewd and profligate beings native to this plane”, aka dragons Says would accept “failures”, flesh of the our dead, wood & stone ornaments, statues as tribute, would need one every dark moon when full grown Cultists were sacrificing every three months or so which implies not fully grown Vomited back up the fish it ate to try new meats (hadn’t tried cattle etc. before so didn’t know if it wanted) Sochet prefers to drive people mad before killing them, don’t know of any sacrificial tradition related to that so not sure if it’s a dietary need and that’s WHY Sochet drives people mad or if that’s just how Sochet do “That one tells tales of the failures that feed this one and our siblings while we eat them. It is gratifying. We do not know if it is nutritious, but it is educational.” “to be the largest would be good, but that one is much larger and is capable of providing for this one and its siblings. to dispose of that one so early would be unwise, we would be weakened” believes second largest has poison affinity, describes a color but it’s a color outside of anything we’re capable of experiencing Rector says there’s a place for the creatures to exist but only in a place of balance and equilibrium Level 13 paladin and level 7 cleric can do banishment but only works on extrapalanar creatures, not aberrations born on the current plane (would need portal for those) Rector says it’s possible that on Compass Tor there’s the most skilled wizard in the Stepstone Isles; isn’t strong enough to cast a spell like that herself, but might have a scroll etc. Said largest and second largest rarely near one another, are “of the same generation”, one that “came before” the largest was definitely not from this plane, unsure if largest is from this plane, second largest is definitely from this plane; second largest shares designs with the largest, they merely have different tasks/domains Cannot refuse commands from the largest but can refuse requests from the second and third largest Told it to pass along to smaller ones that if they refuse requests from second and third they may be rewarded with “hard shells and new meats”, said it would if “permitted” No scrolls recovered from Azalais but got to keep magical walking stick, can only be attuned by warlock, give it to Calthel After returning fourth largest to the water, messenger arrived at castle with message delivered by familiar from boat outside of blockade: https://discord.com/channels/1002248573758492753/1043386321537871962/1205720429348782130 Heliodor is tiefling cleric who is Abbot’s clerk; Rauhovite Cardinal is highest ranking Rauhovite in ALL OF ARIMATH The placard writ means Sarras has authorithy to arrest, put to trial, execute, seize and search ANY person who doesn’t rank at least a knight (secular) or bishop (religious); infanghex & outfanghex is magical jurisdiction, have these powers as long as within the entire Duchy; errandum abore is those wandering the tree, those native to other planes wandering this plane (unlikely to listen unless they’re celestials, but theoretically granted jurisdiction over them as far as locals are concerned) The bit about praying for Rauhovi’s light each dawn, basically they’re praying for Rauhovi to intervene directly, almost definitely how Sarras was able to raise Charity Took a long rest, cult’s logbook was located, indicates location in vicinity of the Colhurstshire manor, which currently has a light shining (unsure whether it’s always been there); still don’t know who at the Marquis’ castle is with the cult Still haven’t investigated someone stealing fishing boat and sailing to Duffholm Are a few planes that eldritch beings tend to hang out in; Dismader is best known as a place of imprisonment for them; Thousand Hells of Zazel where infernals tend to come from Rector can cast Legend Lore on bottle o’ goop from portal with supplies from Bishop’s chest (which Sarras can now appropriate due to writ authority): “Sochet’s eggs birth ideas, more terrible children than any in his Mire, in the depths of Dismader they are laid, and sent forth to those he inspires.” Since Rector has been doing us so many favours, sent Ships to find out from the staff what his favourite food/hobby/whatever is so can arrange for a small gift 166 gp for everyone in the party! Ships and Serras went shopping. Sarras got greater healing potion > gave to Calthel for now (but if someone else needs it more should be shuffled) Townspeople starting to get agitated about not being able to go out on the water and conduct their business; blockade has been up for 7 days Quick spot-and-rescue port protocols usually managed by Rauhovi lighthouse keepers, only have one right now because other one on sunken ship Duchess’ fleet due to arrive within next week, time of year for big ocean traffic Port is between 3-4k population, biggest settlement in Stepstone Isles Asked for Baron’s opinion on partially reopening the port, he expects Duchess to be on time next week whatever the local condition; she will be bringing fleet with finest war wizards in the kingdom, but he’s also sure they won’t be “dawdling about the port”, they’ll land, load the troops for the campaign season, and be gone (including the Baron and Sir Octavius, who’s going to war with them) In 3-4 days fishermen are going to start going out no matter what because they need food Baron considering bringing Iolande with him under guard; worried about executing all cultists because sets precedent for Iolande’s fate, selective pardons or clemency would be preferable; human sacrifice would indicate at least years of convict labour, but fed and housed, paid a wage, allowed to keep property and choose whether to spend wage on paying off debt Marquis has been sending unusually high number of convicts abroad Sarras states that she thinks Azalais’ fate should ultimately be up to the Baron given her transgressions against his family, rest of cultists dealt on case by case basis having Iolande sent to a nunnery or other organization to reclass from warlock wouldn’t be out of the question Sarras open to rest of group handling Azalais’ interrogation while she goes off and does lighthouse training 150 EXP points for all

sent Bastiana off to hard labour, wrote letter informing college of swords but bombed the intimidation roll; seized her funds from the cult and redistributed to halfway house Azalais and the others with no clemency all beheaded Iolande sent to convent to reclass at Abbey of St. Ninian Made FULL report to the Duchess, did not leave out any significant details The Duchess is our skip boss, sent us to work under the Marquis which she might be suspicious of Duchess insists that Vicar Bodwin is going to go with her to the continent Cult unaccounted for: Whoever was in the manor, whoever sailed towards Duffholm, whoever caused disappearance on Skerry Yayek (could all be same person) Duchess legitimized Iago and let him go to the school of Compass Tor, approved rest of fam to stay with Marquis Baron names Raoul to be in charge of Barony while he’s away It’s a bit presumptious to request a specific skill set, but doesn’t chastise Sarras for requesting someone with Banish; doesn’t have any but refers us Useful Sim (Sir Servus Numidius Onesimus), but he’s 1) not allowed to get himself killed, 2) he is to to arrive at their camp for the year before she does (but he can teleport); is at least LEVEL 11, has teleportation AND chain lightning Sarras might give money towards making shore protection/rescue activities more effective

• Calthel’s Hunger of Hadar finished off the Dread One, rest of the team defeated the Chuul

• Had Best Largest sniff out the nearest aberration in an attempt to find Fourth Largest

• Were brought to cavern 9 that appeared to be Dread One’s lair where we found Almodis (the Baron’s missing granddaughter) and what appears to be a 1 year old, being kept alive by a quartz(?) ioun stone, trapped behind some kind of shield

• shield is a low-level spell, Sim dispels it; Calthel and Kerran take the kids back to dry land, exploring the cave shows drag marks leading to another cave (10), Sim only has 5 slots left and dispel takes 1 slot each

• cave 10 filled with arm-length crystals and etchings we can’t read through the shield, cave 11 has clams, cave 12 has satchel with skull on it??? way bigger on the inside than the outside, possible something is inside that we can’t reach

• Sarras tries to break the shield to 11 with Shatterspike, shield doesn’t break but all the sand and mud around billows out and the shield comes loose so we can push it aside; Sim thinks it’s just a variation on an arcane lock spell

• Clams in cave 11 all start screaming; Charity stuffs one in a bag, Ships grabs the black pearls in any of them, Sarras backs the fuck out because noise

• 12 caves total, only 3 not locked; one where the Chuul apparently had its lair (other spot that Best Largest was sniffing), one very clean and empty, one where Calthel’s familiar found the glow orb

• glow orb cave (3) has 7 potions and drift globe

• 8 has 8 little statuettes of morkoths (same beings as Dread One); all coated in nacre

• 6 has gold

• 5 has two well-preserved dead bodies wearing clothes

• bag eats hammer and bites rope; it’s a Bag of Devouring, basically cursed version of bag of holding

• bag of devouring is technically an aberration, Sarras is not duty-bound to destroy it on sight but is bound to ensure it isn’t sold or given away; it can be destroyed by turning it inside out but Sarras does NOT tell group that, only tells them what the bag is and that it’s dangerous; tells Charity that she’s entrusting her with the bag for now but that it is within her duty to ensure that it doesn’t cause harm (within reason)

• Charity decides to give it up after finding out it can only hold about a cubic foot of inanimate objects once a day, gives it to Sarras

• Well-dressed bodies are human skeletons that have been covered in clay and sculpted back into human shape, being used as mannequins to hold clothing of exceptionally fine quality, seated in chairs and molded into place; one has breast plate, other has studded leather, necklaces, rings, fancy hats, fancy cloaks; Sarras and Ships not convinced they’re not cursed so roll them up in Sarras’ blanket and bedroll for transportation

• Brought Dread One and Chuul corpses up on land, left with Best Largest to guard

• Couldn’t figure out what the statuettes are about, all about bowling ball size and look like Fourth Largest; Sarras suggests taking at least one for investigation, unsure whether they might be tied to their ability to manifest on this plane; Ships able to determine they have different weight and size, starting with Third Largest and working down; take Third and Fourth Largest’s statues

• in cave 10, the etchings on the wall on the left are a spellbook, the wall on the right is a narrative that is a “monument of narcissism”, like a cross between If I Did It and The Art Of The Deal in eldritch, starting with an account of how the Dread One cannibalized all of its siblings and then its parents //tangent about redditors and marketing//

• 10 bars of quartz crystal, 9 around the same size and 10th bigger (closer to size of a leg), 8 are bright and refracting light, one small one (closest to the door) is dim, largest 10th is dim (8th from door); Sarras uses Shatterspike to break off the crystal to the left of the largest one

• as it breaks off, light leaks out and cracks run up it, Sarras takes 4 points of psychic damage; crystal is no longer as bright but also not as dim as the dark crystal

• Sarras does NOT want to do that again but it indicates that the crystals are important, she goes to get Calthel to take a look at the spellbook before they have Sim seal up the cave with Glyphs of Warding on top of the existing shields; Sim gives all of us the password to the glyphs which is “That’s useful”

• Gold room was actually platinum, 120 platinum pieces for everyone (Sarras only took 25, ~handful’s worth); everyone gets 1584 XP

• Baron and Almodis’ parents have already sailed off to war for the season

• Still haven’t investigated person who went off in the DIRECTION of Duffholm but could have gone anywhere

• Bring Rector in to help with Almodis, trying to analyze the ioun stones: ioun stones of sustenance and adaptaption

• Almodis says the dread one GAVE the stones to them, smaller child was already there when she arrived; dread one would speak in their heads and spent a lot of time distracted, looking at the statues of the dread one’s children; dread one tried to teach them magic, didn’t seem to realize that smaller child was too young for that kind of thing

• Vicar and Rector check the census and if the child is from the Stepstone isles and from the gentry or nobility, there are only 3 girl children of that age on the isles right now; child also appears to be half-elven; two potentials on Grislith and two on Compass Torr

• Sounds as if the dread one was using the statues as a spell focus, which would make sense especially for scrying (likeness of the subject)

• Sarras goes into town to sort out port reopening with Rauhovites and organizers; agree to a system where boats remain within certain fair-weather sailing distance when further out

• Almodis comfortable staying at the castle, all cultists thoroughly rooted out, but could be an issue if she’s left alone for weeks

• Decide to send Almodis and smallest child to Navigators School, Gwen goes as part of escort and to try to suss out parents

• [ships takes 2] 6 potions of healing, [KERRAN] 1 potion of longevity

• [CHARITY] Cap of water breathing, [SHIPS] cloak of the manta ray, [CHARITY] mariner’s armor (studded leather), [SARRAS] mariner’s armor (breastplate), [CALTHEL] ring of swimming, [KERRAN] water elemental gem, [CALTHEL] periapt of wound closure, [SARRAS] necklace of adaptation, 1000 gp ruby, [CHARITY] devil talismans (2 imps, 1 merregon, 1 spined devil), [CHARITY] demonic truenames (1 vrock, 1 barlgura, 1 shadow demon, 1 babau, 1 dybbuk, 2 quasits, 1 maurezhi, 2 dretches), pickled tentacle, eyeball in platinum-inlaid vial, 100gp black pearl, [SARRAS] aberration obsessions (for conjure aberration)(1 Wit Raider thought chain, 1 red slaad control gem, 1 blue slaad control gem, 1 spectator eye, 1 gauth eye)

• 8 faintly humming crystals still remaining

• Sarras gives mariner’s breastplate and green dragon breastplate to smith to make fullplate with combined protections

• Ships looking around for daggers, encounters Cursinth ship (Fever Dream) looking for spell components (namely guano), points them to Skerry Yayek and gets Mother’s Claws for 400g

• Goes into Brass Band to ostensibly buy barrels, meets tiefling Uncle Reputation and half-elf Martin

• Sarras rides to the Abbey to make an in-person report; Dread One is at least the largest morkoth they’ve heard of in a long while and have never heard of a nest of them that was scattered, also very concerned by a half-dragon morkoth (second largest); theological caution about having conversation with aberrations like fourth largest; Abbey decides to send cleric to Compass Torr with scrolls and texts to check things out (it’s Decimus)

• Prioress follows up on discomfort during report, must not promise on pain of oaths: Must not swear that you will never or even nebulously never slay such a creature, and must also not promise not to drive them away; recommends some biographies on those who had past dealings as both lessons and cautionary tales; Volusa catches Sarras up on her non-incriminitory exploits

• Quick stop back at the baron’s town for Sarras to pick up her armor

• Malevolent storm rolls in with two air elementals but Sarras turns them with Abjure the Extraplanar, continue on to Isle of Grislith; Charity comments that the place hasn’t changed at all even after over a century

• Shown to the sailors’ shelter by Roemid, enlist him as a guide for the morning; can tell from the map that there’s no road between the estate and the castle for some reason, need to go all the way around the mountain (and the island) to get to it from the other side

• Looking for Lothar the Red who holds the estate Crib Coron; estate of Crau Wag (“the cavities”) is by the quarries; Uskllyfant appears on map but not in notes about the island

• Caer Llwyd castle is more like large embattled estate house than a keep (2-3 stories) and built much closer to the Greyburn river than you would expect; has REALLY good music going on

• Baron is suspicious about why we’ve suddenly showed up but when Calthel assures him that we’re just following up on a lead he chuckles in relief just a liiiittle too notably

• Asks a woman (Chatelain) how many kids are on the island and she gives him a rude gesture before estimating about 100-150 “depending on whether we agree with the elves on when their kids are grown”

• Best Largest is outside overnight with the other mounts but doesn’t need to sleep even though it needs to rest, Sarras orders her to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity

• Ships and Decimus woken up by Calthel having a nightmare floating him above his bed; Decimus dispels with Protections from Good & Evil, Cal wakes up from dream of falling into a pit that’s opened up where Grislith used to be, sees a mountain with green fire possibly in the direction of Duffholm, Skerry Wesswyck, or Skerry Auchterbann

• lantern in the hallway (that Ships blew out) moves itself into the dining hall via some invisible force leaving damp track

• cloud creature escapes between the bricks and can’t be sensed by Sarras using Detect Magic on the other side; after brief minor chaos with household staff Best Largest is brought in and can smell cloud creature having come from the nobles’ quarters, gone up to Kerran’s room (where snake smell entered Kerran’s room and disappeared next to the bed), gone back into the hallway, did NOT go into Calthel’s room and proceeded back to the dining hall where the fight happened

• snake smells like milk and is distinct from cloud person smell; Kerran changes into dog and is able to determine it’s specifically warmed milk with cream

• Ships talks to scullery staff, 4 of the kids in the castle (oldest 4 yrs) have milk + cream nightly, also put out for cats (though cats have been kept inside more recently because something is killing them), and adults request some occasionally since it’s usually already made

• Ships gives some quality sausage and cheese to the baron to make nice

• Decimus exchanging barbs with household chaplain Cleric Rennia

• Charity, Kerran, Calthel, and Best Largest staying behind; Ships, Sarras, and Decimus going to Lothar’s

• Rennia reveals that Baron AND THE REST OF THE HOUSEHOLD sometimes has “delusions” that the island is above a giant sinkhole filled with creatures, thinks the Watchers are being paranoid

• nice weather to get to knightly estate, both easy and hard to see from a distance because built entirely into Crib Coron ridge atop the island (w/exception of the stable)

• call out greetings at gate, folks inside yelling for Nicodemus who looks like “he doesn’t eat enough soup”, Ships tips him

• entire building is carved out of the cliff except for the doors (clearly imported because not stout enough trees on the island), very spartan

• Lothar the Red tall and broad shouldered with long red hair, not well combed or well kempt; Badhvisse (Bathvissa) is elven woman, get the sense that she’s aging (unusual unless they’re REALLY old) but can’t put finger on why

• Lothar seems confused about the idea of missing children, woman comes back with young girl Sora; after explanation says children go missing in the Kerries sometimes but hasn’t heard of any disappearing within the past few months, said Baron’s wife (before she was his wife, 3-4 years back) lost a child in that way

• Ships tries to get Lothar’s opinion on the Baron, Lothar lauds his hunting skills and kind of implies that they like having distance between each other; looks very awkward when Ships brings up the Baron’s musicians, Decimus pounces on that and the wife says the why of it is a reminder of the Baron’s “peculiar perceptions”, he had musicians play constantly by watches day and night for 3 years because he says it “covers up the other noises” and that he “hears digging”

• Ships and Sarras both confirm that that sort of thing has been implied at the Baron’s place, Lothar and wife offer their assistance as skilled hunters in the event that they are needed

• chaplain breaks curse on Kerran’s staff of the adder, do some searching for snakes on the premises; find cave of some sort in the cliff leading down to the river, seems big enough to fit a person

• source of illusion magic at the bottom of the pondlake, about 30-40 ft down, in the headwaters of the Greyburn river, but disappears after 1 minute without any additional sources of magic being detected; Sarras picks up faint fiend traces with divine sense (either small fiend or past traces of large one) and pursues, as distance closes gets better sense that it’s a small fiend

• while pursuing see poorly maintained switchback on the opposite side of the river, possibly for fishing, plus 4 spots where terrain has slid and crumpled a bit to provide easier footing; group slides down from two points to corner and wrestle snake, which points back towards the cave like a compass; Decimus casts protection from evil which returns it back to acting like a snake for the duration of the spell

• Sarras, Ships, and Cal swim across river with snake and let it loose again to follow it in the caves, “to my friends in the dark: you are seen, you are known, they are coming, they will come” via animal messenger, then evil disappears from snake; body is “somewhat disarranged” orcish skeleton in ruptured chainmail and muddied surcoat in clergy of Rauhovi with electrum holy symbol of Rauhovi and Sannoska around his neck; not the symbol of St Epifain’s current time, but was used at the time the abbey tiled its floors

• what killed you? the creatures i spoke of in the letter. what is your name? Rider Kalyptos > Sarras recognizes as paladin who went missing ~150 years ago, was held up to Sarras as possible role model as an orcish Paladin. can you describe the creatures you spoke of in your 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.”

• creatures created by crossing a drake with a burrowing insect from the hells of zazel, disoriented by light and sound

HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

• woke up in a lantern on a table among a half-circle of other lanterns, unable to move or feel body; approached by large woman in translucent dress: “New faces. That’s not what I meant to do. Now, I am Elder Sister, and I have brought you here because one of my sisters has — let’s be generous — misplaced my staff. I need to know who it is, and I have enough to do with containing them so they don’t make more trouble, that I thought I’d call in some help to find it. You will search my house and find my staff, then I’ll give you… hm, well, something worth having.” — turns table to show shelves of artifacts for everyone to choose from, if none suit us will “work something else out”

• Crocus, Orianna, Angeyja, and Sarras dropped in dark room full of wine casks; Crocus determines that we’re probably in the fey realm or on the moon and that Elder Sister might be a hag — Sarras remembers that hags are powerful spellcasters that get more powerful when they gather in covens of 3, Elder probably not biologically related to her sisters; if she’s missing her staff she’s probably Buer/Byor (?) hag, who have magic relating to ice and winter and can use a staff as a spellcasting focus and to fly upon; they’re more alien than malicious, dreamlike and nonsensical; on the material plane WOULD be expected to fight them, not so much on their own plane; most known for kidnapping people

• Ships arrives on his own in a room full of spiky things that might be fey or aberrations

• Fighty fights, Ships gets paralyzed then shadow-teleported away to something that immediately kills him

• fey and giants only races to have colonized multiple planes

• staff is probably between 8-10 feet long, twisted length of gray wood with some sort of ornamentation, BUT most hags have some kind of low level illusion magic so could be any kind of slender object between 6-15 feet in length

• grabbed a spade, spindle, candle doubter (?), broom from one of the labs, and a long-handled pruning bill from the greenhouse, but none ping as any kind of magic

• Searching Middle Sister’s room, Sarras & bard being distracting with music and being intimidating while Ships & the others try to surreptitiously search the room; ??? sends shadow down into loose floorboards but finds severed snake head and 8 gold pieces

• Sarras tries asking middle sister how she gets on with her siblings, younger sister is “frippery-obssessed clod” and elder sister is a “tyrant” always finding fault, always “wrapping us up in her mad schemes”; has to stay with them because magic only works in covens of three, so would miss out on her own ambitions unless she could find another coven; our people “cluster around the stem of the fruit” while they are farther away, making it hard to move out

• Sarras offers to put in a word for her with elder, middle thinks we wouldn’t have much sway: “You may tell her that I am innocent of this offense.”; Rose picks up that she seems unsure of that, seems her “mind is not always reliable” when the moon is full and they’re on the moon, not the case for the elder sister while younger is NEVER in right mind

• baron just completely blows his top at the news of the attack, staff are nervous but not shocked or disoriented, get the sense of “unfortunate routine”

  • regarding the creatures staff don’t entirely believe our group

• creatures are kruthiks(?)

• doors “more opened than intended” seems to speak of some contemporary information that Calyptos had that hasn’t survived the last several hundred years; could be difference in understanding of the event OR that Calyptos found something that nobody else did

• Several potential routes to a boat, bit of a toss up whether we could convince Lothar to side with us since the Baron’s sister now in charge and he’s subordinate to them, fastest routes involve tough marshland and crossing a river in the dark

• trial involving a noble and the death sentence would require the duchess, not-capital trial involving a noble requires marquis’s authority, everything less Sarras & Decimus

• Sarras argues to go for Lothar’s and try to convince him to provide martial support while we initiate a proper investigation & trial; Kerran supports as right thing but not necessarily smartest plan, Decimus supports as well, Ships goes along

• Sarras rides double with Decimus on horse while Best Largest tries to free/frighten as many remaining stable horses as possible, & others cast long stride on our mounts, Kerran leads with highest survival

• Ships places 24h tower spell for choke point to force them to have to go around treacherous area, but between horses and good rolls they start to catch up quickly; Ships & Charity put down ball bearings, caltrops & oil; Sarras breaks glass bottles on the path, but still winds up in standoff at the top of the switchback

• Decimus’ spell gives Sarras +1 AC & saving, resistance to all damage

• Hrista casts eldritch blast at us and is carrying a very young child in a sling (other sister is Hjaria)

• Group tries to hold ground as non-lethally as possible at top of switchback while hoping Lothar will provide backup; prepared to retreat if necessary

• Manage to bully the Baron’s people into retreating with Best Largest the only casualty on our side, retreat to Lothar’s where we persuade him to shelter us while we prepare for trial; he’s willing to pretend to threaten but will not actually take arms up against the Baron’s household

• Don’t hear any word while we rest, which is weird; plant to stage trial as neutrally and fairly as possible but the decision of location is tough; Lothar thinks public is better, so decide to hold it in the village and issue a summons to the sisters

• Also post a general warning to the populace to avoid the river and caves at its bank

• On returning to the Baron’s, no exposed bodies back along the path but more importantly CAN’T SEE CASTLE; at closer investigation from Ships’ familiar Condor it looks like the whole thing slid into the river after collapsing from tunnels below

  • can’t see bodies but it’s very likely they’re all below the water or in tunnels, there’s the smell of blood and horse meat

• area shows signs of acid damage, which could be from magic

• 25 humanoid bodies, most or all of horses and dogs; 15 people, 5 dogs, 6 horses unaccounted for; also find body of 5th or 6th Largest; bodies of musicians indicate they were playing when the collapse happened

• don’t find either sister, the baby, or the mage, cook, maids, stablemaster, houndsmaster, OR the corpses of the baron and his wife; do find the priest and almost all the armsmen, most of the servants

• Ships uses knuckle dice to speak with dead on 5-6th Largest and interpret answers

• Sarras has heard of the kruthik; they’re obscure and it’s been more than 400 years since there’s been an emergence of them (near Arimath at least); they were initially created by tieflings who used infernal magic to breed a type of drake with locusts and praying mantises; they eat CONSTANTLY, adults breed very quickly but unincubated eggs remain unviable but unhatched for a long long time

  • Island near Arimath called Biscione (analogous to Orkneys and Shetlands) where a lot of tieflings have settled; hundreds of years ago before Arimath was sovereign, the tieflings declared war on the gods and bred monstrosities and levied curses and summoned demons to form an army that they intended to search out and take on the gods with

• Bones say that Lady Hrista slit the throats of the Baron and his wife in the night

• What is everything you know about the grandfather? He is a rival of the Prophet’s (Sochet the Crocodile Prophet) children of old. He slept a long sleep. He chews his cud north of the Greyburn (river). He is bigger than Second Largest, but smaller than the Dread One. He took a horse with him as a snack.

  • The six known Sleeping Elders DO NOT work together or get along
  • Dagon, Lord of the Deeps has things to do with both deep ocean and subterranean creatures that could very well rival him

• Kerran searches riverbanks below and finds multiple cave entrances:

  1. there is one open tunnel on this side of the bank that goes under the river
  2. a lot of kruthiks used it, & dragged many bodies with them
  3. there’s a collapsed tunnel under the north end of the wreckage (elsewhere around the castle) that was forced open by a giant snake
  4. Kerran has found tracks of two humans, one big dog, and five horses escaping the sinkhole (no two went the same direction except for horses)
  • tracks from someone lightfooted and running like hell, and one from someone doing weird crawl on their side (almost certainly the mage, because tail marks)

• Ships and Calthel send familiars out to get assistance from Lothar and to find survivors, while Sarras sets about collecting bodies and laying them out at a safe distance

• Diligent the mage found less than 200 feet from sinkhole by Cal’s familiar, Sarras goes to get him with Best Largest; Ships’ familiar finds a large dog wandering about half a mile out

• Brought mage and maid back as survivors, due to sus behaviour steal mage’s spellbooks and BOY SURE IS A CULTIST OF SOCHET, has been on the island for about a year and a half and graduated from Navigators School about 10 years ago and Grammary of Necromancy two years ago

• Maid said since baby got colicky last fall nobody but Hrista could handle it

  • nobody joined the castle last fall but there were visitors, magic users that Hrista seemed very taken with: a white dragonborn woman from a local clan (local to the archipelago), plus human man who she can’t describe properly (only detail that she’s confident of is that he had small teeth)
  • stayed about two weeks, were on foot and had pack mule with saddlebags and a small locked chest that ostensibly had their “implements of jestering and tomfoolery”
  • dragonborn woman must have headed out before dawn because nobody in the castle saw her go

• Could ostensibly blow out tunnels without risking any domiciles other than maybe debris down the river to Uskyllyfant

• Mage gets patted down in the morning but nothing indicating who he was sending reports to; DOES have a poisoner’s kit, which is illegal, and a kruthik’s claw; Sarras confiscates all of that + his orb focus

• Sarras suspects that the dragonborn woman took the place of someone in the castle

• Can use command spell “Confess” to try and get a confession > Intimidated + spelled mage into answering “Who is the white dragonborn”

  • Doesn’t know her name, she isn’t a dragonborn, she just chooses to look that way
  • “Did she take the place of someone in the castle, and if so, who?” > He didn’t know at first, but Tacker left and took Kera (daughter of Baron and his second wife)
  • So either Kera is the infant we found OR there’s ANOTHER baby

• Ships picks up that Lamia Matriarch is one of only creatures that can change form while ignoring the laws of mass - INCLUDING into small mammals/humanoids, so baby is likely Lamia

• Sarras goes to ask Lothar if he knows of any pockets of dangerous gas on the island

• FOR FUTURE SESSION? use researcher to try and find out more about the tieflings’ war against the gods

• Very few people mining at this time of year, and most of island population in marshy coastal villages that are likely not at nearly as much threat as the rocky area

• Sarras uses confess Command on cultist to check for any other collaborators; there aren’t any that he’s aware of, but he’s low enough in rank that he can’t say for sure that there isn’t a more hidden member, but this island is least pleasant and least important so unlikely

• Mage Hand can only carry 10 lbs, Invisible Servant up to 10-30, Floating Disc up to 500 lbs; barrels can be rolled but tunnel floors are not even

• Cult wizard friend Diligent can successfully and quickly navigate cave system; knows where lair is and rough size of it, has not explored the lair itself; outer chamber has further galleries based off of echoes, but is probably dish shaped

• WE WON AND NOBODY DIED!!!! Accounted for remains of all missing Baron’s people, except the infant; if it WAS Kera there would likely be remains, so almost definitely Lamia

• If next step is investigating the Navigators School, so don’t want to give them any heads up on progress

• Kerran, Charity, Decimus, and Diligent all head out to make reports and deal with Diligent’s sentence; everyone has a long rest and does a sweep for Lamia and remaining kruthiks, but no sign of either

• Evening of the 34th day of Warding Moon, Ravyn has been on Compass Tor for about 24 hours and hasn’t been able to complete any of the tasks they were trying for, sneaks past the baron’s guards stationed around the Noduliande forest; trees are unusually healthy and thick-grown in a way that says dryads, but can’t see any, and can’t get their attention

• Plays pan pipes to try and indicate that they’re friendly, but despite playing very well, don’t get the expected response and there’s less birdsong and animals than there should be

• Investigation shows that someone who almost definitely is not a fey is living in the area, markings indicate either a druid or ranger trying to obfuscate, or someone who doesn’t have training

• Finds circle of dead or dying trees, with a lightning-blasted stump in the middle that has had the branches cut away and the top smoothed; surrounded by footprints of more than one person (humanoid, nice boots), and ravens in the wood are now watching and following

• Dead trees were killed by someone cutting and salting the roots, which would be extremely unpleasant for a dryad and would keep them out once the tree was dead; Ravyn spends several hours trying to rinse and flush and restore the trees as much as possible, more ravens come to watch but don’t otherwise do anything as Ravyn leaves

• Meanwhile Eleri has been at the port trying to find leads; Cousin Emija (?) says to hang around the temple for a few hours while they ask some questions, gets back to report that “those people” are not here at this time, but they met someone who was here — Iago! Eleri hasn’t been able to get inside the school, but tomorrow all the students will be at the Henge of Grimmskoll (?) for the mass; “inquisitor” isn’t there yet either

• After striking out at the docks tries to chat up the guards around the forest, no luck but they seem to be guarding the road up to the school rather than to the town

• Next morning at the dock, the two of them meet up meet up:

  • Ravyn is an adult wood elf with dark hair, “funky lookin’ eyes”, leather armor, cloth jacket with iridescent wings embroidered on it, couple of bows and arrows
  • Eleri is a solid half wood-elf, about 5’5”/6” but it looks difficult to knock them over, has rolling gait of a sailor and suntanned skin, tattoos, has ? around neck that marks them as cleric of Yggomi; nonspecific gender, masculine clothing

• Ravyn hired by Alistair (?) Piper by letter to investigate forest, Eleri looking for him since he went missing (though officially looking for something that killed the bishop)

• School having some weird issues with the new headmistress who’s only been there about a year, doesn’t explain why the whole place is locked down

• For other half of group, heat wave strikes while sailing which slows the journey and Calthel gets heatsick; as the island approaches can see large bell-shaped hill and the school quite easily

• Ships and Sarras help Cal off the ship and find a discreet midrange inn for lodgings and to let Cal rest while they head up to the school, 1G per room per night for individual rooms, laundry service, and three meals a day + small beer in any quantity; pay 20G up front since unsure how long we’re saying

• As the one familiar with Compass Tor, Cal says everyone will be up at the cathedral (it’s not actually a cathedral but everyone calls it that), it’s huge so don’t get lost; give his and Kerran’s regards to Headmistress Valdinac if we see her, she’s extremely helpful and knows everything worth knowing (doesn’t know she’s been replaced); if we run into the Oestin family (shepherdess Isolde’s family), they’re rich for shepherds and they are EVERYWHERE, will probably recognize them by resemblance to Isolde, will go a long way with them just by letting them know she’s doing well (except possibly her great grandfather, who is “hard to manage”)

• Cal starts to mention his family, then waves a hand “you won’t get that far today, it’s fine”

• Sarras sets up audible Alarm on Cal’s room and leaves her backpack there with him, Sarras and Ships grab a meal and listen for relevant chatter

  • Hear that Baroness has posted guards on the forest and nobody has any idea why; there are a bunch of sailors exchanging fish stories, specifically sea monsters they’ve encountered; hear about priest of Yggomi in the area with some sailors wanting to get blessings; a ship that has a private commission from the Duchess (Foal of Morvarch) that doesn’t want to talk about it too much, but they saw some weird fish people in the waters they were in - sounds like an aberration but too humanoid to be any of the Largest

• Sarras and Ships head to the mass; about 300 people in attendance, cathedral is relatively flat star-shaped building with 8 towers around the perimeter, but most people currently clustered around henge of Grimmskoll; basically a charity auction where knights and lords of the island are competing to be the most conspicuously generous

  • Big collaborative groups get together bids to encourage the nobles and validate the specific services that are being suggested, so could go in with a group and just add to the basket

• Greet priests of Yggomi with reference to the east wind (east wind blow you forward, etc.)

• Some white-haired women in monastic clothes, one being supported by some younger acolytes as she goes, the other is about same size and shape as Ships and has uncanny tendency to be the only person standing in a 15 foot radius wherever she goes; also see Iago, the priest giving the sermon is unmistakably a member of Calthel’s family, and about half a dozen members of Isolde’s family in the yard; among the students are a pair of young teenage orcs who are head and shoulders above the rest of the students; also a literally golden-haired individual with very dark brown skin, and the four ladies who are the wizards/primary teachers of the school who are watching the student groups who are putting together bids

• Eleri approaches Sarras and Ships and makes introductions, asking about the killing of the Dread One (specifically uses that name); Sarras and Ships promise to exchange information but want to check in with Iago and the white-haired women first

• Ships approaches the women with Eleri in tow, tries to shoo away the attendants but are taken away one at a time and told (respectfully!) that the lady is presently muddled in her wits and to be cautious around her, because she does not know where she is; has a wizard’s staff that she’s using as a walking stick, the attendants are clearly acolytes from the same temple as the woman

• Ships asks about which project they’re backing, the attendants say their bid would be for the local Priest of Sannoska, Parson Cystenin (Custennin); Eleri insights that they deeply want to see him humbled

• Feeble woman is Lady Valdinac

• Sarras talks to Iago, who’s clearly happy to see her; asks for a good time to come back with Calthel to say, says students have only a half day tomorrow after 9 of the clock and before 3

• Learning cantrips under Lady Glanis (? Glamys?), nods at youngest and conventionally prettiest of the teachers (human), who has about half a dozen students around her (two other teachers have 12, last one has only 3)

• Ships and Sarras dump a bunch of coin in Iago’s basket (30 silver, 5 gold, 1 platinum), another student of Glamys steals a handful of Iago’s coin but Iago lets them since they miss the platinum that Sarras hid at the bottom of the coin pile lol

• Crowd is mostly human and half-elves, but a few drow and half-orcs, dragonborn, at least one tiefling around each teacher

• Ships silently messages the kid who took Iago’s coin with “Grimmskoll sees all you do in secret” and kid gives back enough coin to imply that they’ve done that to Iago several times this afternoon already

• Group retreats into the cathedral and Ships explains what’s up with Valdinac, Sarras concurs that if this is what happened with the Rector then she needs a chance to be alone with Valdinac, and there are probably plenty of cult members in the area; might be able to try the excuse of lay on hands but doesn’t know if that has been tried yet, thinks it would be best to have Calthel ask around since he would have the most reason to be concerned about her

• One attendant was elven, one was half-elven

• Eleri was sent by church authority to investigate the Dread One because of the death of the Bishop, has heard that there might be offspring, has a warrant to investigate from the Vicar; goes to bring Ravyn in for the explanation

• Alaister Piper was one of the tax investigators of Skerry Yayek who disappeared during the event