RPG

Previously, the heroes spent their time in the laboratory that they got assigned at the Circle of Magi coming up with a ritual that would help them trap and anchor Epidemius to the mortal plane so that they could defeat him once and for all. Headmistress of the Circle of Abjuration, Esmeralda d’Ortega came to help them draw up the ward they would need.

Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

Neamhan was one of the last ones that needed to be added to the ward, and for that the heroes needed to find out what magic she resonated with. She claimed to find it difficult to perform her magic in the depths of a dungeon and needed to be under an open sky. Despite it being past eighth bell, and well past curfew, the heroes decided to head out into the city to find a suitable place for Neamhan to find her resonance.

As the heroes ascended the winding staircase Quentin remained behind a moment, lost in thought, mumbling to himself that he could not believe that “it” had worked, whatever “it” was. Astrid, who had stayed behind, caught his attention and said “If you ever want to discuss this”, indicating to the hand he had cut in the ritual to find his resonance, “I am here for you.” In return, Quentin said “If you ever want to discuss this”, and indicated to his belly, referring to her motherhood, “I am here for you.” Astrid was silent for a moment and said; “A royal bloodline ended with me, but perhaps one might start with you,” and the two went up the stairs together.

Once outside, the heroes found that the storm had died down. It had grown even colder, but the sky was clear and there was a still crispness in the air. Luca suggested that the herb garden in front of the Circle might do, and Quentin suggested the park at Blackheath. In the end, a gently wooded spot along the river, in the shadow of the Bastion of Clarity was chosen, and Esmeralda conjured up a portal that instantly took them there. Neamhan took her time in a clearing and made connections with all manner of nature around her; conjuring a bright light, illuminating the surroundings, allowing plants to grow and flourish, only to summon a storm that brought lightning down on the clearling. When the violence of the storm was over the ground below their feet was scorched by lightning, showing the same symbol that had appeared for Quentin, only upside down; instead of three blades in the shapeof an upright triangle, the triangle was pointing downward. The drum was registering many different symbols, but it appeared that the green lyrium crystal, corresponding with the school of transmutation, was the one that resonated with Neamhans’ magic.

Having drawn the attention of the crownsguard patrolling the ramparts, with shouts coming from atop the Bastion of Clarity, Esmeralda conjured up another portal which took the heroes back to the lobby of the Circle of Magi, and they returned back to the laboratory. Emrys played the lute, Astrid laid down on one of the beds, while Luca and Esmeralda continued to work on the design of the ward. No matter what Luca tried, he was not able to get any of the lyrium crystals they had in their possession to resonate with the magic he cast. For Quentin it was equally difficult to get a crystal to respond to him.

Esmeralda identified which part of the circle represented the subject, which represented the anchor, and which represented the death of the subject. She had identified several other elements which were important to what the heroes wanted to achieve, but she had more work to do. At the mention of death being part of the ward, Neamhan retrieved the piece of inscribed bark she had retrieved from the Newport library and showed it to Esmeralda, thinking it might be important. She had learned that the magic which radiated from the bark had been necromantic, and thus it peaked her interest. Esmeralda decided to identify the nature of the bark and found that it held a the secret of transfering life between the caster and a connected subject. Neamhan would have to spend some time learning how to establish that connection before she could make use of it.

The heroes wondered whether “death” or the “anchor” might be related to the monstrosity they had spotted coming out of Blackheath. Cardinal Roark suggested that the Raven Queen’s bane was an anchoring of sorts, preventing the subject of the bane from moving to its afterlife. Quentin had a feeling this might be the case with the undead monstrosity, and so the heroes suggested to investigate Blackheath.

First, they made a trip to the Careless Wanderer, arriving there after tenth bell, so that they could get a quick bite to eat before heading out. Each excursion after the curfew was enforced was a drain on their resources, but at least they had ways to get around unseen by crownsguard or custodians.

The park at Blackheath was dark and desolate. Tall trees that had stood for generations were a pleasant break from urban life. In the centre of Blackheath the heroes found a cemetary in front of a small place of worship. A mausoleum leading into an underground crypt was also part of the cemetary. Necrophages could be heard skittering and stalking around the headstones in the cemetary, but Quentin was steadfast and strode ahead, unafraid. The necrophages kept at a distance until the undead monstrosity appeared from the mausoleum doorway, shovel in hand and ready to engage.

Previously, the heroes repeatedly fought an undead monstrosity which came to collect bodies, and Chakuq helped Dagran to craft a tuning fork singing the song of his people while fueled by mind-altering mushrooms. The resulting tuning fork resonated with Chakuq’s song, but also with a violet lyrium crystal that Dagran had acquired. Luca was introduced to the laboratory at the Circle of Magi that he was promised, and Emrys managed to convince Lord Andew to send Aubrey to live out the winter at his ancestral home, away from the maliciousness of the Beauclair delegation.

Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

All of the heroes had gathered in the laboratory at what felt like the bottom of the Circle of Magi’s campus. Emrys had forgotten to pick up a drum from the College of Bards, so the heroes were discussing on how to progress their research into the ritual. Luca was convinced it would require a bespoke warding circle, so he started drawing one. Shortly after he started the heroes heard the door at the top of the winding stairs open and saw the silhouette of a figure walking down, passing by the open archways along the interior wall.

Esmeralda d’Ortega, archmage and headmistress of the Circle of Abjuration, had heard about the heroes being assigned the laboratory and wanted to come and see what they were up to. The heroes had met her on their way from Egremont to Blackbridge, and she had replaced Dr. Arkenward at the head of the Circle of Abjuration when he was appointed the Royal Abjurer. Since then she had followed the exploits of the Heroes of the White Eye closely. When Luca explains their intention, she offered her help and expertise. Any good warding circle consisted of source of magic, how magic is drawn into the ward, and the protective elements that the magic fueled. As Luca spoke, she corrected and expanded the circle using charcoal from the furnace. Soon, she had discarded all formalities, and was on her knees, with charcoal-stained hands and streaks of soot on her face, engrossed in the work.

Luca added to the drawing, and Esmeralda asked more and more questions; Who would be involved? What were their strengths? What was the source of their power? This lead Chakuq to share about the resonance of his people’s song, the tuning fork, and the violet lyrium crystal in Dagran’s possession. Information was collected on each of the heroes;

Esmeralda turned to Emrys, and being familiar with him, quickly concluded what his source of power was; his sorcery, the chaotic magic at the heart of it, and his bloodline connection to the Mohiam.

When she asked Chakuq he carefully explained the song of his people was the source of his strength, that was in touch with nature, and that he relished the hunt. He believed that his resonance with the violet crystal was important, and that some answers may be found in the book he retrieved from the Newport library.

Neamhan claimed that her powers did not come from the gods, something Esmeralda accepted without question. Neamhan, too, was in touch with nature, with the skies, and with storms.

Quentin hesitated, and took a moment to answer. He stayed quiet through suggestions that it was his connection to the Raven Queen, and eventually resolutely said that it was his ancestry, his bloodline. When Neamhan asked Esmeralda whether she was familiar with the Blood of Alban, she said she was not, and she was too engrossed in the ward to ask after it.

Luca finally admitted that his power came from his obedience to his patron.

When the question came to Astrid she did not know how to answer. Neamhan angered her by repeatedly suggesting it was her motherhood that gave her power, but she rejected that and said it was vengeance. Exploring that a little, it was concluded that her strength was fury, channeled through her raptor totem.

Each of them got additions to the drawing on the floor, ley lines that channeled magic into the ward.

There was an ongoing conversation about Chakuq’s newfound resonance with the violet crystal, and whether the others might also resonate with a type of lyrium crystal. There were eight crystals, which corresponded with the different schools of magic, and there were two others; radiant and shadow. An attempt was made to discover the resonance of others, using a drum that was supplied by Olafur, some fine, dry sand, and the tuning fork.

The the tuning fork caused the sand to dance around the skin of the drum. Eventually it settled in a particular pattern, rounded on one side with wave-like lines on the other, that Esmeralda seemed to divine some meaning from. This symbol was added to the ward. Luca used one of his spells on the drum, and again the sand jumbled to reveal a symbol, a bifurcated triangle. This too was added to the ward. Emrys did the same to reveal something which looked somewhat like a trident. Astrid let out a deafening screech, like that of an eagle, which echoed through the tower and left a sunburst pattern on the drum. Quentin, unsure of how to evoke the same response from the sand, cut his palm, dropped blood on the sand and touched his other hand to the talisman and raven feather around his neck. The sand formed in the shape of three overlapping, blade-like leaves.

Neamhan would go last, as she needed to leave the tower in order to find her power.

A few notable things were added to the ward; a place to represent the subject, Epidemius, a space to represent shadow, and a space to represent radiance. It was likely that many things would still be added, altered, and removed from the ward before it was fit for purpose.

Previously, the heroes repeatedly fought an undead monstrosity which came to collect dead bodies, and Chakuq went to find someone that could craft a tuning fork for him, while Quentin spoke to cardinal Roark to get advice.

Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

The weather in Kingsport was foul, and the heroes were spread among several of the locations in the city. Quentin and Neamhan had just returned from their conversation with cardinal Roark, and had left the grave tranquility of the House of the Raven Queen only to discover the fight which had taken place on Steward’s Square after they saw the wounded guards of House Lys pass them by. Once on the square, they join Emrys and Luca and spoke briefly with Jan, who still seemed burdened by the wounds of lost arm, and the Epidemius’ curse that lay over the city. Jan rejected Quentin’s offer to help him heal his wounds; receiving such a blessing from the Raven Queen would not go over well in the eyes of the rest of the custodians. He placed his faith in Paladine’s divine light to see him through.

After Emrys spoke to father Devon he informed the rest of the heroes about “the gravekeeper”, the undead abomination that had been defeated three times in a short span of time, only to reemerge shortly after. It had appeared at the clinic attached to the Temple of Light, the house devoted to the worship of Pholtus, several times in order to retrieve one of the bodies of the deceased. It only threatened or attacked those who tried to stand in its way. Father Devon had suggested that the gravekeeper always came from the direction of Blackheath. Quentin said that it was possible that the gravekeeper had received one of the Raven Queen’s banes, something he did not quite understand the intracies of just yet, but something that could prevent one of the dead or defeated to pass on to their afterlife.

When the group at the square decided to all meet up at the Circle of Magi, Neamhan decided she was going to find Chakuq. After having some difficulty communicating that to the rest of the group due to her still being in raven form, it turned out that the faerie dragon that followed Luca around was able to communicate with her, and in turn could translate her intent to Luca and the rest of the group. She flew off to the Southside ward where Eustace the Jeweler had his workshop but unfortunately could not find Chakuq there. After some circling she found him as he observed Dagran and Kargath at work in the smithy. In the meantime, the rest had made their way to the Circle, once there, Emrys split from the group to go and visit Lord Andrew at the college.

Chakuq had explained his wish to Dagran of wanting a tuning fork that could strike the tone of his people’s song. In order for Dagran to know which note the tuning fork needed to strike Chakuq decided to sing the song of his people. He ate a handful of dried mushrooms and took a piece of coal from the forge to draw patterns on his skin as he did so. The three, Dagran, Kargath, and Chakuq all fell into a trance as the former two worked, and the latter sang. Eventually, Kargath, taken by the song, added his own voice to that of Chakuq, instinctively harmonising with him. A fourth, Neamhan, was observing quietly, making sure not to break the spell. Eventually, Dagran was done with the tuning fork, which hummed in perfect resonance to Chakuq and Kargath’s song. Dagran had showed a small, violet lyrium crystal which also seemed to hum, much like the tuning fork. Despite the work done on the tuning fork Dagran decided not to accept payment from Chakuq out of sheer astonishment of what he had laid witness to.

At the Circle of Magi the heroes are welcomed by Olafur while Emrys continues to the College of Bards. They are shown to the lab that was made available to them, but was not quite what Luca had expected; it was a floor in the interior of a windowless tower. A spiral staircase led along the inside of the tower until it terminated on a landing in front of creaky wooden door. The staircase would have continued down had it not collapsed from disrepair. Inside there were two beds, a forge that doubled as a hearth, a workbench containing endless alchemy equipment covered in a thick layer of dust, and an impressive bookcase that had long since been plundered by students and staff of any valuable texts. It was not immediately apparent how the heroes were to find aid in their search for a way to bind Epidemius to the moral plane.

After Quentin created a fire in the furnace, he helped Luca to create some order in the laboratory, and they were joined by Chakuq and Neamhan, who was still in her raven form. Chakuq immediately asked Luca whether he was in the possession of a violet lyrium crystal, which he was. Luca gave him one of the colourful, uncut lyrium crystals, and Chakuq kept it with him, explaining its significance. The heroes tested the tuning fork and confirmed that it resonated with the violet crystal, and did not resonate with the others.

Once he arrived at the College of Bards, Emrys quickly found his way to Lord Andrew’s chambers. There he found that Andrew was still recovering from the previous night, and that Aubrey had taken a place on one of the padde window sills. Aubrey explained to Emrys how foolish and naive she had felt, and how she felt lost. After paying her tuition, she only had a few coins left to her name which were intended to keep her fed while she found ways to earn. She was afraid that the only thing left for her to do was wait or the knives in the dark to find her. Emrys felt for Aubrey and got Andrew to pay attention. A deal was struck that Andrew would get Aubrey to his home in the Riverlands so that she could serve Lady Rowyn, Andrew’s lady-mother, for the remainder of the winter. She could then earn enough coin for her tuition and start again come spring.

Previously, Chakuq gifted the heroes with talismans carved from the tooth of Epidemius’ mount, the heroes discussed the value of lyrium crystals, and Emrys and Chakuq confronted the same undead monstrosity that the heroes had confronted at the College of Bards. After they defeated the monstrosity it returned, this time to be confronted by Luca and Emrys.

Eighth Day, Second Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262

Chakuq found his way to Dagran Forgewright’s smithy after having spoken to Eustace about getting a silver tuning fork made. The open face of the smithy was completely clear of snow due to the heat that the forge produced. Dagran was there, bare-chested except for a leather apron that he was wearing. Kargath stood in the back, diligently working at the anvil, his ragged shirt soaked through with sweat.

This was not the first time Chakuq had come to the smithy to have something silver made, and Dagran had noticed. When Chakuq explained that silvered weapons helped against supernatural creatures that the heroes often faced lately, the gruff dwarf proposed that he could start perfecting incorporating silver into the design of weapons provided Chakuq bring him the silver. It would allow him to improve his craft, and it would keep Chakuq armed against the threats he faced.

Dagran said that he could make a silver tuning fork if required, but that it would take a few days and it might require more silver as he worked through the intricacies of striking the right tone. He confessed that it would be much easier to make a fork that could strike a pure tone if twas made of steel. Chakuq agreed and suggested he stay to observe Dagran craft the fork together with “his son”, meaning Kargath. Dagran was struck by mixed emotions, but allowed Chakuq to stay.

Luca and Emrys were at Steward’s Square and had just seen the undead monstrosity enter the square again and head towards the Temple of Light. Only a short while ago Chakuq and Emrys had defeated that very same monstrosity, at the very same place. Emrys noted that this was the very same monstrosity due to the damage he had left behind on the creature’s clothing by disloging and hurling icicles from the side of the building.

A group of crownsguard and custodians, lead by Jan, the one-armed custodian, entered the square while Luca and Emrys engaged the monstrosity with the help of the Lys guards, who had been inside the Temple of Light. The fight took a lot of effort, but ultimately lead to the defeat and whithering of the undead monstrosity.

After the fight, Emrys and Luca spoke to Jan, who had, reluctantly been thrust in a position of leadership of the custodians while still suffering the effects of losing his arm, which was disintegrated in the fight against Xarrombus. He claimed he was suffering the ill effects of the curse that Epidemius had blanketed the city with. Luca reassured him that the heroes would be there for him should he ever have a need of them.

Quentin took some time to make use of the Gauntlets of the Malakim, a set of beautifully decorated gauntlets the heroes found in the hoard of Kalauranthalasis, which was like a part of a bigger set, together with the Armour of the Malakim, which the heroes had also discovered in that same treasure hoard. He found that the gauntlets fit him perfectly, and that after a period of careful reflection, they granted Quentin extraordinary strength, like the relics of old.

When he came back downstairs to the tavern room of the Careless Wanderer he explained to Falka and Neamhan that he had the intention of visiting the House of the Raven Queen. Falka thought it was a good idea to get spiritual guidance on the undead monstrosity, as well as on Rigoletta, who seemed to have an unnatural control over the dead. Quentin asked if Neamhan could come along, and she agreed on the condition that she could join as a raven. Once she transfigured, they headed out into the cold together.

The House of the Raven Queen was solemn, somber, and empty apart from the silent sisters that tended to the grand interior. When Quentin finally found the cardinal, they decided to sit together and talk in one of the pews. Neamhan’s presence in the guise of the raven did not seem to bother cardinal Roark.

Quentin asked the cardinal to give him guidance on the the opposition the heroes had faced over the past day. This proved to be more difficult than Quentin had hoped, finding the cardinal’s words elusive and forcing him to realise that there was much of the Raven Queen’s scripture and teachings that he had not contemplated and fully understood.

As near as Quentin could tell the cardinal tried to explain to him that the Raven Queen judges the recently deceased, and adjudicates where they will spend eternity, and that this is the biggest boon the goddess bestows; passage to a deserved afterlife. On the turnside of that medallion, the Raven Queen sometimes decides to deny that boon, and grant a bane; denying one passage to a deserved afterlife. From that perspective, the Raven Queen’s does not look unfavourably on all undead creatures, though it is rare that it happens with her consent.

In light of this, the cardinal suggested that if the heroes were looking for a way to keep Epidemius from being reconstituted on the plane of the Nine Hells, that perhaps searching out the Raven Queen’s bane might help; to prevent him from moving on to a deserved afterlife upon defeat.

“Judge fairly those I send to thee.”
– Liturgy of the Grave Knight

The cardinal granted Quentin’s request of holy water, and Quentin observed the ritual in order to make it himself in the future. And both Quentin and Neamhan received the Raven Queen’s blessing before departure.