Ezekial finds a stack of letters addressed to Maestro Ervil Pendrod. The parchment papers contain charcoal sketches of a heavy jade bracelet
bearing peculiar markings.
The spriggan snarls at Seres and attempts to lunge at him.
The fey then shrinks down to dimunitive size and slips its bonds.
"Take it prisoner, for Frak's sake," Seres shouts.
Seres steps back and casts an enchantment on the spriggan. "Check it, sprog."
"Difficult given their resilience," says Veronica. She pauses briefly to see if Seres' spell takes hold.
"It's almost dead, folks. Dont overkill."
Connor moves in for the grapple ... leaving his weapons sheathed!
Ezekial's kukri slices through the spriggan's neck and drops it to the ground bleeding and unconscious.
Seres sighs, then glances to Veronica. "Well, should we rescue it or not bother?"
"Do we have any reliable way to restrain it?" says Veronica as she moves in to stabilize the spriggan.
"Should be easier now that he's small. Let's find some damned chains. Something he won't burst by getting larger. Maybe with some really mean spikes on them ..." Connor expresses his irritation as he moves out to find something that meets his requirements.
"We need to try and interrogate him."
Veronica's touch stops the spriggan from bleeding out.
Connor is able to search the inn's storeroom and find chains to serve as make shift shackles. He tightly binds the fey.
"Ready to wake him up?"
In time the spriggan regains consciousness. It looks around in confusion until it sees Seres. It then furrows its brow and growls.
"What's he going on about?" Connor looks to Seren.
Seres shrugs, "I don't speak Sprig. Anyone know what its saying?"
"So now what? We haven't actually gone down the well and explored how it connects to that passage below. I can't think of anything else," says Veronica.
"These letters were to this Evil Penrod guy and fell out of the Rashalka Mound book with pictures of a jade bracelet. Maybe that's a clue to what initiated this disappearance. Let's investigate both those mounds, whatever they are and see if we can find Penrod"
Seres sighs and shrugs, "I guess its the only thing we have to go on. Shall we take our 'friend' here and these papers back to town? Maybe we can learn more about Pendrod or whatever the Rashalka Mound is."
Larisa begins opening up the letters and reading them. "Here's a letter sent from Maeger Varn to Maestro Penrod - about two months ago. The letter describes discovery by one of Varn's lieutenants of a jade “bracelet” on the banks of a “river of local provenance” and requests Pendrod’s presence for further study of the artifact."
She then opens up the book that the spriggan was holding. After scanning the pages for a couple of minutes, she points to a passage of underlined text and begins to read out loud. "And so it was, high upon the Torres and well above the Vale’s Stairs, where rises from the high water a stony isle of dire report. Known as Vordakai’s Island to those that do live thereabout, some legend of its name doth come down through the locals. For they speak of a guardian that doth destroy all who would set foot upon its accursed shores. They did name no fewer than a twelve count of their hero-knights who had left their bones upon its rocky shores over the years after having tested their mettle against its dread warden, ’til none would any longer go there for fear of its hidden terrors. And the name of this terror was given unto this Island."
She then begins reading through the books scattered on the floor. "This one is a a centuries-old geography book created by one Carmyn e’Brothasa, a chronicler of Taldor’s Third Army of Exploration into the north. One passage is marked by Maestro Pendrod and is reproduced nearby in his notes. It looks like Pendrod’s own handwriting in the margin of the text. He leaves a strange note: 'Vordakai—perhaps a Nomen centaur god?'"
Larisa continues her research and begins to assemble the clues. "The book says that the Nomen are a local centaur tribe. The word 'Nomen' was scratched on the door! Maestro Penrod left us a warning before he was taken! The centaurs must have been involved with whatever happened to the village!"
She then turns to the group. "We must find the Nomen tribe if we are to save the villagers! The book says that the tribe is nomadic, but tends to hunt on the Dunsward Plains, which are east of here."
Before leaving the deserted town of Varnhold, Larisa leads you back to the stockade. "We never searched the fallen spriggan leader!"
After detecting magic and identifying the spriggan's gear, you find that the fey lord's rune covered satchel is a bag of holding and his crossbow is a +1 Seeking Heavy Crossbow.
6,000 gp in assorted coins and jewelry, a small payroll coffer holding 500 gp, an assortment of gems* worth 3,500gp, a +2 defending longsword with the crest of House Varn on its pommel guard, a wand of spectral hand (17 charges), a ring of friend shield and an exquisite darkwood and ivory +2 thundering composite longbow (+4 Str) named Skybolt.
"Seems like our best lead yet, then," says Veronica.
|
I think so. Ezekial responds. I know we checked that inn. Hey, the fey leader here seems to have some gear of interest. Zeke notes as he rolls the dead enemy over and begins to carefully search him.
[dice=Perception]1d20+19
Looking over the loot Ezekial notes Good haul. No daggers though. I'd carry that crossbow if no one else needs it. Other than thrown daggers I do not really have a range weapon and am a pretty good shot. Say, this bow is nice work. I wonder who made it? Too big for me by half.He tries to pull it and with a grunt he adds And the draw weight is too strong by double or more.
Seres eyes Skybolt with unrestrained enthusiasm. He tries the pull a few times and, failing, sighs. "I will need a constant source of bull's strength to properly wield it."
"It is a truly impressive weapon, though far beyond my ability as well," says Veronica. "Still, by the grace of Erastil, a magnificent piece."
Larisa eyes Skybolt enviously, watching as Seres tests the draw. "Then it is also beyond me." She says, clearly disappointed. "Perhaps we can find a way around it in the future, for now maybe Connor should keep it on him."
"It's time for us to continue our exploration and investigation. Shall we carry on?"
In the coming weeks you explore the Nomen Heights wilderness surrounding the forsaken city of Varnhold. Your exploration takes you to the northern spur of the mountains known as the Tors of Levenies and then into the plains of the Dunsward. After weeks of harrowing encounters in the wilderness you eventually encounter the Nomen centaur tribe on the rolling grasslands east of Varnhold.
After a tense encounter with a Nomen war party, you are able to diffuse the situation when the centaurs spy that you carry Skybolt, an ancient Nomen relic stolen by the spriggans. You are then taken to the Nomen camp where you meet the centaur priestess whom leads the Nomen - Mother Moon. After Larisa explains what she learned from Maestro Penrod's notes, Monther Moon is able to tell you that the charcoal drawings of the ornate jade bracelet depict a piece of ancient centaur jewelry. She believes that the jewelry must have been taken from the ancestral burial grounds of the Rashalka centaurs - the Iobarrian precursors of the Nomen tribe. The Rashalka buried their dead in Olah-Kakanket - the Valley of the Dead.
Mother Moon tells you that she recognizes the name Vordakai as the legendary necromancer tyrant of the ancient cyclops empire of Casmaron. The Casmaron cyclops worshipped the unseelie fey lords of the First World. Mother Moon tells you that Vordakai was responsible for the genocide of the Rashalka centaurs, but she is uncertain how the long dead cyclops emperor is related to the Varnhold vanishing. But Mother Moon does tell you that her warriors have encountered increasing numbers of undead and evil fey in the southern Tors of Levenies - the homeland of the Rashalka and the location of Olah-Kakanket. If the Varnhold settlers somehow possessed the jade bracelet depicted in Penrod's notes, they may have inadvertently awoken a power of great evil. If true, the forces that destroyed the kingdom of Varhnold may also threaten both the Nomen centaur tribes and your own kingdom of New Hope. Mother Moon urges you to travel to Olah-Kakanket at once to discover the nature of this threat. She suggests that if the threat can be negated, and an eventual alliance between New Hope and Nomen can be negotiated, she may be willing to lend Skybolt to you as a token of friendship.
After making your preparations, you travel to the mountain valley of Olah-Kakanket within the southern Tors of Levenies. The mouth of the forest valley is guarded by a crumbling cyclopean tower that watches over the approaches to Olah-Kakanket. The ruined, circular keep looms out of the forest, surrounded by towering, ancient trees draped with hanging moss. Four circular towers sprout from the cracked walls like the trunks of great trees, at least one crumbled into rubble. Twisting vines and thick moss cover the walls in a coat of verdant green, blending the ruins almost seamlessly into the surrounding woods. The overgrown remains of a path lead to an open, arched gateway gaping in the keep’s eastern wall, its doors long since rotted away.
"Necromancer-tyrants," mutters Veronica as the group scrambles over the tree roots and rocks that block the way to the keep. "They have an unfortunate tendency to keep coming back."
Seres nods, thinking of the tattoos on his arms. "Shall we scout the lands surrounding first? Maybe we find a less-obvious entrance."
Larissa follows close behind Veronica, shooting a glance at Seres. "Can't hurt, lumbering into an old abandoned keep just seems like the perfect way to get ambushed to me."
Connor sighs, "I get it ... no more knocking on the door to parlay. Scouting it is. Zeke, you're up."
Seres casts an array of spells, rapidly changing his physical form. A few moments later, he flaps tattered wings and takes to the sky in the form of an androgynous harpy. He then casts another spell, turning invisible. "I'll be right back," he calls down in a warbling sing-song voice.
"Huh, Zeke ... your voice sounds different," Connor states sarcastically.
Ezekial circles the weathered keep and scouts the surrounding area. He finds the keep’s exterior walls and those of the flanking towers are built of 5-foot-thick stone and are 20 feet high. Ezekial notes that the keep’s southern wall has been breached, creating a rubble-choked opening leading inside.
Seres transforms into a harpy and flaps above the keeps walls. Within he sees a courtyard and a large central tower. The tower has two entrances where ruined doors have collapsed. Within the darkness of the tower the light of torches can be seen bobbing within. Seres sees that mud flats surround the courtyard around the breached southern wall. In the north courtyard, Seres sees the massive bones of what appear to be a long-dead crag linnorm of incredible size; the bleached white ribs protrude up into the air like strange trees. Dozens of shrikes begin to rise from the moss-draped skull as Seres's harpy wings flap the air.
The ground below you suddenly begins to shake and heave. A monstrous creature erupts from the earth in the midst of your group. The armor-plated creature's toothy maw gapes wide as a fin-like dorsal plate rises between it's shoulders.
Far above you, from the top of the central tower, a giant bird rises into the air. This immense raptor unleashes a shrill cry as it bares its talons, each large enough to carry off a horse.
The bulette lunges at Veronica's dire wolf Freki and crushes the unfortunate beast in its massive jaws .
The roc descends down and begins circling above you.
; 1=E, 2=V, 3=L, 4=C, 5=MD, 6=F,7=G, 8=WT
N/A
Larisa steps to the side to open up a lane for Connor, focusing on the Bulette before firing a single arrow with deadly precision.
3
Ice Spears
Rime Winter Grasp
2
Rime Snowball
Ironskin
Cure Moderate Wounds
1
Mage Armor*
Snowball
Snowball
Snowball
Cure Light Wounds
0
Ray of Frost
Light
Mending
Detect Magic
Kess darts back against the stone in shock as the bulette savages poor Freki. Seeing the shadow of the rock above she hastily wraps herself in shimmering bands of force.
Connor spurs Whitetalon, whipping out his lance on the way, charging the armored beast as he bellows a challenge. The two if them crash into the creature and Whitetalon's bite opens up a second stab for Connor, but he can't bring the lance around.