Author Archives: Dennis

A Friend’s True Name

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Previously, the heroes returned to the Newport Vault for the first time since the defeat of Xarrombus. For some it was an eerie return, for others a sad and emotional one. And for Neamhan and Chakuq it was their first time inside. They found Brandomiir and Garvan excavating the vault, and Falka researching the library, and turned to the library to find the Liber Bubonicus, the Book of Woe.

Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

The presence of Xarrombus lay over the vault like a cloud. This was most evident by the enormous, calcified tentacles which lay wrapped around the underground structure, and sometimes punched through a ceilings, floors, and walls to make it clear just how large Xarrombus was.

The heroes headed towards the reliquary. Garvan and Brandomiir were hard at work at destroying the tentacles that held the vault in its grip. They used blasting powder and thunder sticks, which were a speciality of Brando, and then large blocks of masonry and mortar to secure the holes left in the walls.

Neamhan asked about Xarrombus; neither her, nor Chakuq, had been present during the defeat of the aberration, yet both their lives had been unpleasantly impacted by it. Luca tapped into his obedience to Aurion and conjured up an image of Xarrombus during the fight with the heroes, complete with floating eyes in its orbit, and giant tentacles tipped with a maw of razor sharp teeth. Luca recounted how Astrid had been swallowed by one of the giant tentacles only to carve her way out of its stomach and burst out through its side.

Falka mentioned that Xarrombus also had agents called the aberrant lords who were tentacle-faced humanoids with terrifying power. Chakuq asked whether these agents were still around, but Luca thought it impossible. Emrys claimed that as Xarrombus was defeated, all of its agents and people under its influence died.

Though he tried to hide it, this topic caused Luca anguish. When Neamhan tried to offer some support, in the form of words, and a conjured black lily, he turned away and went back to the library, claiming he was fine. Neamhan, confused, turned to Emrys and asked him why Luca was lying to her. Emrys explained that the death of Hamish caused him a lot of pain.

Luca and Falk went back to the library to continue their research. Luca was eager to identify the magical nature of the books they had found, and Falka went to assist. It would mean performing a ritual and making a careful selection of the available books to perform it on. Luca’s obedience to Aurion meant he would have to triage which books to inspect. He decided on the bookwheel, the wand retrieved from Sadwick, and two books, which would be the extent.

Before starting, Luca convinced Falka to write down her real name in his grimoire, which she does, so that he may help revive her if anything were to happen to her. It was clear that the warlock was determined not lose another friend again.

In the reliquary, Chakuq managed to convince Garvan and Brando to take a break so that the heroes could climb through one of the holes in the wall left by the tentacles and explore the spaces behind it. There was a foul smell emanating from one of them that lead Chakuq to wonder whether they could be coming from the Book of Woe.

The space behind the wall seemed to serve a ventilation purpose, and went straight down. Chakuq climbed down careful, and Neamhan followed. Unfortunately, she was not as careful, slipped and almost plummeted to her death but managed to transfigure into a fly at the last second. Chakuq, having missed her transfiguration, thought that Neamhan displayed a spectacular feat of acrobatics. Emrys, ever the gentleman, decided to use Toruviel to slowly descend down the shaft.

Once the three of them started to explore the corridors at the bottom of the shaft, they recognised that they appeared to be private quarters that were part of a dormitory of sorts. Emrys recognised that these were likely the Halls of the Senhadrim, the living quarters that seemed to always accompany a vault. The foul smell seemed to come from stale air and rotting matter of old roots and other natural decay. They decided not to proceed much further and return back to the vault’s reliquary.

In his ritual, Luca identified that the bookwheel was enchanted to magically aid any research done at it. Sadwick’s wand was a broken Wondrous Wand which could produce a multitude of different effects when used. The two books he had picked out were Archeros’ Manuscripts, a book which provided the ability to learn certain martial polearm techniques at an accelerated rate, and the Demonic Articles of Golnaz, which caused all nearby magical items to cease functioning when opened.

Somewhat disappointed that he did not find the Book of Woe, Luca turned to the book of spells he had found, which contained several spells of the dark school of Necromancy. Luca tried and failed to convince Blackstar to help him understand the spells within but despite the staff’s reluctance, it was clear that it was interested in the book. Blackstar claimed that it would brim him closer to him, but it was unclear who he was. It was clear that there was something here that required further investigation.

Investigating the Newport Library

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Previously, the heroes visited the Baths of Sedna on their way back from the wine shop, where they took Muirgheal into custody, making good on their promise to Emma. They decided to go and find their way back to the Newport Vault in the afternoon and found that Falka was using an entrance to the ancient waterways at the Silver Cross, a house of pleasure in the Lace. From there, they gained access to the waterways and followed Falka’s until they reached a landing at the dead end of a canal.

Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

Just after fourth bell, the heroes found a small rowboat moored at the landing at the top of the canal which belonged to the Silver Cross. Falka had used it to keep her feet dry, and her boots clean. The landing ended at a large, bricked-up archway. Some of the veteran members of the Heroes of the White Eye were convinced that this archway could be turned into a portal if they could only find the keyhole. Finding miniscule lyrian crystals all over the wall strengthened their conviction and it did not take long before a subtle keyhole could be found which accepted one of the crystals that Luca had brought with him for just that occasion.

While the other sought for a sign of a keyhole, Neamhan reverted back to her trueshape and asked how thick the walls would be. When nobody could give her a satisfying answer, she attempted a connection to the wall in order to open it up so she could pass through. To her surprise the connection was rather rudely rejected, as if the wall itself was an unwilling partner.

The number of the original one hundred lyrium crystals the heroes had found in the Senhadrim halls underneath Lynnecombe were dwindling; through loss, trade, or by using the magic stored inside of them to power spells… or to open the gates to the Senhadrim vaults. This lead Luca to speculate and consider whether there was a way to recharge the crystals. He stored that idea away for later consideration.

Once inserted, the lyrium crystal was drained of its magic and turned dull. At the same time a dark gate opened in the archway; a perfect, black void whose pull was so irresistible that air audibly rushed in, and even light was sucked in around the edges, causing a fiery corona. Knowing that Emrys would collapse the gate behind him, it was decided he would go through last.

Before stepping through, Chakuq made sure that this void portal would not take him directly to hell. He had seen into that desolate wasteland and the very thought of it filled him with despair. Quentin took comfort in the people he had surrounded himself with and stepped through while joking to Chakuq that if it did take him to hell, he could always sacrifice Luca to generate the power to get back. Following Chakuq, Neamhan stepped into the portal while every instinct told her not to. Luca went next, and as agreed, Emrys went last, predictably closing the portal behind him.

In a blink, the heroes woke up at the entrance to the vault; a large circular room with a dome so high they could barely make it out in the gloom. The only light came from a handful of small lanterns, as well as from three crystals atop pillars set in alcoves. There were five other crystal-topped pillars, each in an alcove of their own, which seemed to be dormant. Quentin, Emrys, and Luca recognised this to be the entrance to Xarrombus’ hideout, and also remembered that the three pillars that were lit were by their doing.

Both Neamhan and Chakuq instinctively ducked their heads as they came to terms with being deep underground. Neamhan’s instinct told her that there were tons of rocks and earth above her head, only kept from crushing her by the virtue of the vaulted dome. That thought unnerved her, and she wondered how the dwarves of Ard Thoradun could live inside their mountain kingdom.

In the centre of the room was a circular shaft leading down. Chakuq took a look and found that there were ropes leading down to a landing far below. From that landing other ropes lead to an even deeper landing, and so forth. Emrys offered to provide flight to everyone through his magic, but Chakuq decided to climb down instead. As he did so, he found that the landings were the tops of large, stone faces set into the wall of the shaft. As Emrys descended and past the faces he was reminded of Jan the Custodian reciting the names of the faces;

“Raphael; Elohim.
Michael; Malakim.
Uriel; Seraphim.
Gabriel; Cherubim.”
– Jan

Neamhan took to the magical flight very naturally, and as she descended deeper the pressure on her ears increased and she was reminded of the first time she shaped into a bird and got overconfident and flew too high, too fast, and almost lost consciousness due to a lack of oxygen. For Chakuq, the memory was of a treeless, rocky landscape, sitting around a campfire with other boys. An old man came up and barked a command, and the boys began to run up the slope, racing to the top. The higher the boys climbed, the thinner the air, and the test was to see at what point he would pass out. The others shared in their memories, the same way that Chakuq and Neamhan shared in theirs.

As Quentin descended he was surprised to find that he recognised the style of armour that one of the stone celestials was wearing, as it matched some of the magical pieces of armour the heroes had recovered and he had in his possession. He concluded that there are different types of celestials, each with their own distinct styles.

At the bottom of the shaft the heroes found themselves on a crossroads with a corridor leading to each of the cardinal directions. With the exception of Chakuq and Neamhan, the heroes knew that the corridors lead to the armoury, the reliquary, the gallery, and the library. The heroes headed to the library where they found Falka standing at a book wheel doing research. It took her a moment to realise the heroes had come in because she had stuffed her ears with wax. It was to keep the noise of the excavation out; Garvan, one of the Steady Hand, and Brandomiir, an acquaintance of the heroes, were in another room performing work.

Falka explained that her research had not made a lot of progress due to a confusing filing system. She felt as if the library had been maintained by different librarians over the centuries, and that each had insisted on changing the filing system without ever being able to finish the task, leaving the library in disarray and unnecessarily complex to navigate.

The goal was to find the Liber Bubonicus, and so Chakuq and Neamhan started sifting through the rows and rows of books, hoping to find it. In the meantime, Luca drew a magic circle which would help him perform a ritual that would allow him to sense the presence of magic. Neamhan looked for anything that was written in Sylvan, or druidic. While Chakuq looked for leatherbound books.

Much to Neamhan’s surprise, she found a piece of old bark which was inscribed with burnt symbols that was an even more archaic version of druidic. It was not immediately clear to hear what it said, but she sensed that the text held within it a connection, but one that she had not yet established.

Chakuq’s attention was caught by a book of white leather which he reckoned was fashioned from horse hide. The pages were of a thin velum whose edges were painted in gold. Even though Chakuq could not read the text, there was something about the book which told him that it was important to his people, despite his people favouring the oral tradition over writing. When Chakuq asked Emrys if he recognised the language, the sorcerer could tell him that it was similar to Primordial, but that he did not immediately recognise it.

In the meantime, Quentin went to the armoury in order to store Muirgheal only to find it completely empty.

When Luca finalised his ritual he could see the weave of magic all around him, and he quickly identified twelve books that were magical in nature. He also recognised that the book wheel that Falka was using was imbued with divination magic, that the piece of bark which Neamhan had retrieved held necromantic magic, and that the white, leather book that Chakuq had found was mundane.

One of the magical books, the heroes reckoned, must be the Liber Bubonicus.

Eagerness Turned to Resolve

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Previously, the heroes decided to help Céleste deal with an intruder into her shops wine cellar, only to discover that Sadwick, Atilesceon’s former familiar, had been left behind by Daerlan saboteurs. Luca tricked Sadwick in sharing a lot of information about the perpetrators and rewarding him by with a banishment back to the Nine Hells.

Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

After departing the wine cellars underneath Céleste’s shop the heroes decided that it was time to visit the Newport Vault and that it would be an excellent place to store Muirgheal. And so, before heading to the Careless Wanderer to prepare for a trip to the vault, the heroes headed towards the river to visit the Baths of Sedna, the place of worship lead by Emma.

After being welcomed by Dagmær, the heroes were brought to Emma’s private chambers inside the bath halls. Emma warned Quentin, who was taking the lead in the conversation, that she was in harmony with the bitterness of Winter, and that the troubled dreams induced by Muirgheal were weighing her down. A visible weight fell off Emma’s shoulders when Quentin explained that the heroes had come to take custody of the trident.

The conversation turned more pleasant once Emma had parted with the weapon. She explained that she was determined to stand in opposition of Epidemius, which was wryly accepted by Quentin.

“If your eagerness has turned to resolve, then you should make good use of it.”
– Quentin Morvrayne to Emma Desmarais

The heroes discussed Epidemius’ influence on the city, the resurgence of the plague maidens, and the burden on the sick and the wounded. Emma’s devotion to the Lady of Lakes would be very invaluable in opposition of the Lord of Decay.

The conversation turned to Queen Isabella, and what was happening inside the palace, and Emma suggested that Bláthnaid, the spring which had its origins deep within Garamond Hill upon which the palace stood, and which was responsible for feeding the water gardens, might be a good source of information. She insisted that Bláthnaid had an awareness of much of what went on within the palace walls.

The heroes departed the bath house, taking Muirgheal with them, and returned to the Careless Wanderer where they enjoyed the warmth of the hearth and a modest meal. Quentin spoke with Céleste, who was still drowning herself in wine, and explained that the heroes had taken care of the problem in her cellars. Showing the her some tough love, Quentin convinced her to rebuild her business and prepare for Pip’s recovery from her injuries. Céleste seemed to take this to heart and went to freshen up before leaving the warm embrace of the Careless Wanderer’s warm hearth and bad wine.

Quentin shared his suspicion of Monsieur Beauregard’s complicity in the attack on Céleste and Pip’s wine shop, as well as the sabotaging of the royal wine cellars. He even suspected him of orchestrating the bandit raids on the overland deliveries, as well as the pirate attacks on the overseas shipments. The vandalism had left only Beauclair wines spared, and some of their bottles had gone missing. While he did not have any proof, Quentin knew enough of how the spymasters of the noble houses of Beauclair operated to recognise their signature.

Chakuq shared that he picked up a slender rod which had been discarded by Sadwick during the short fight in the cellar, and Luca added it to the ever-growing list of curious items which needed to be investigated. He then convinced everyone that it was time for them to head down to the vault underneath Kingsport. Falka was nowhere to be found, so the heroes figured they would need to find James in order to get inside. They packed up what they felt they needed and headed out to find Goodman just off Steward’s Square. If anyone could get in contact with James, the heroes reasoned it was him. It turned out to be less complicated than that, as Goodman referred them to the Silver Cross, a brothel in a part of Northside referred to as The Lace.

They were admitted entrance by a Carcerian named Samuel, who knew James well and was convinced by Luca that they were close friends with James. Inside there were people of leisure talking and flirting with potential customers. After being granted passage by the mistress of the Silver Cross, Samuel lead the heroes down to the basement where there was an entrance to what the Carcerian referred to as the “underthing”, which was a shaft leading into the waterways.

The heroes learned that Falka used this entrance to the waterways to get to the vault, and had taken a boat that usually was moored at the bottom of the shaft. Having to do a lot of walking through the muck, Chakuq scavenged a pair of old boots from the basement so that he could keep his own boots clean. After a receiving some directions, the heroes headed down.

Neamhan, unwilling to get herself dirty by wading through sewage, transfigured into a raven and perched on Quentin’s shoulder. Luca used Blackstar to illuminate the passages they travelled through, but instead of it emitting light, it absorbed the darkness. It did not take long before the heroes arrived at a landing in front of a walled archway. A small boat was moored on the landing. Unfortunately, it was not immediately apparent how to get beyond the archway.

A Deal With a Devil

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Previously, the heroes decided to press Céleste for more information on the attack on her shop. She revealed that a demonic creature had been left behind by the intruders, which had taken up residency among the destroyed stock of the wine cellar. The heroes decided to investigate.

Sixth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

(Silvermoon is waning, Bloodmoon is in low sanction, Darkmoon is waxing)

Céleste’s wine cellar was a heavy, vaulted basement with a mezzanine that ran all the way around it. It was old; clearly once part of the ancient waterways and built with the same materials and in the same style. The shaft of the ox-driven dumbwaiter that lowered the heroes from the surface to the cellar was etched with faded runes, which Emrys and Luca recognised as wards of abjuration, once used to secure the waterways against incursions. Faded and eroded statues of winged warriors stood in archways along the mezzanine, further proof of the cellar’s age.

The cellars themselves were chaos; shelves pushed over, bottles broken, and barrels smashed. There was a sour stench in the air, coming from burgundy puddles of stale wine on stained stones where it had not been washed down the drains which connected the cellar to the waterways.

The enormous shadow of a horned creature with leathery wings was project against one of the walls, originating from behind one of the wine racks, and a booming voice demanded the heroes identify themselves. Most of the heroes were curious rather than intimidated. They had faced adversaries from the outer planes before and felt all the more confident for it. Chakuq melt away into the shadows and started to circle around to the other side of the wine rack, while Quentin called for the creature to show themselves. This was met with threats.

“I will slit you open and splash around inside you like a child playing in a muddy puddle. I’ll string a fiddle with your guts and make you play it while I dance.”

Luca engaged the creature in its native tongue and quickly managed to identify it as Sadwick, the once familiar to Atilesceon the Artificer, whom the heroes defeated in the realm of Old Llygad. It form was small and slender, with leathery wings and a vicious looking stinger as a tail, and certainly not nearly as intimidating as the big shadow that it cast suggested.

Before its identity was established, Sadwick engaged in a battle of insults with Neamhan, properly rubbing her the wrong way. And while it was being approached by Quentin from one side, and Chakuq from the other, it used a slender rod made of engraved silver to summon a large beast of burden, must like the one that Epidemius rode on steward’s square. Quentin quickly engaged the beast, together with some of the other heroes, and found that the beast’s rider, a woman dressed in shepherd’s clothes and wooden shoes, had also materialised with the beast. She was quickly cut down by Quentin, which revealed her to have radiant, pupilless eyes; something which troubled the young knight.

With a combined effort, spearheaded by Neamhan and her connections to wind and air, the beast was quickly put down. Luca dealt the killing blow, using Blackstar as a conduit for his magic, and predictably a jolt of excruciating pain ran through his body as he absorbed some of the creature’s vital energy, reinvigorating himself through clenched teeth. Neamhan disapproves of what Luca has done, and tells him that “it is better to fade with the leaves, than to steal the root’s breath.”

Chakuq, Luca, and Neamhan worked together to capture Sadwick, who turns out to be a foul-mouthed, cantankerous little prick who constantly belittles Quentin and takes the piss out of Neamhan. In return for a promise to let him leave the cellar unharmed, Sadwick explains that he was brought to the cellar a group of Daerlanian infiltrators. They had been smuggled from the Fields of Strife, through Northshire, and into Kingsport by the Procyon, a group of elven outlaws under the leadership of Cendelius, a notorious bandit that some of the heroes had come in conflict with in Allenham, on their way to Pinefall.

Jeroen, a familiar Kingsport ruffian was among the Daerlanians, as was a Lyrian warlock by the name of Tiberius. It was that warlock who had summoned and bound Sadwick, and it was his intention to leave the imp behind to make it seem as if the perpetrators of the vandalism were devil worshippers, possibly the Cult of the Dark Queen. Tiberius was described as a balding man with a neatly trimmed  white beard and icy blue eyes.

After smashing up the wine shop and its cellar, they intended to infiltrate the royal palace. The heroes had already learned that the royal cellars were infested with wood worm, which had laid waste to the royal wine stores.

After some investigation it was clear that not all the wines had been destroyed, but certainly most of it. The wines that survived all happened to be Beauclairois, but since that was the most popular source of high quality, well-regarded wine, that could be a coincidence. Sadwick also shared that the Daerlanians took one bottle from each surviving vintage.

This, coupled with the Sadwick’s claim that while travelling to Kingsport, the Daerlanians were in frequent contact with an employer, told Quentin that Monsieur Beauregard was behind it all. He just could not understand how or why he had set all of that in motion.

Luca, true to his word, repaid Sadwick by letting him leave the cellar unharmed… but not quite in the way that Sadwick had intended to leave. The young warlock had created a powerful arcane circle around Sadwick and banished the imp back to the Nine Hells.

With their work at the wine shop done, the heroes departed for the Careless Wanderer, keen to inform Céleste that they had taken care of the problem.