The Crystal Dominion - Session 11 Summary
The Heroes:
RedEye - A sayune darkwalker with rogue skills and a very specific set of spell abilities.
Eiran - An elven ranger and archer with a gift for communicating with animals.
N'sahd - A human wizard, born without vocal chords, who casts all his spells silently.
Tristan - A knight in shining armor, man of honor and courage, and a skilled swordsman.
Alan - A human arcanologist... a magic tinkerer with a keen ability to "reprogram" spells and magic items.
Rikhaal – A human priest of Barrinor.
NPC Characters:
Koeglur – The ogre cook. A prisoner of House Vorgan, now freed.
Reena – A common slave girl, now freed.
The Story:
After having successfully escaped Boss Vorgan's mansion with their loot (specifically the oil on canvas painting), the party raced back to home base... the Swordtongue Winery. The sky was already getting light out and it was dawn when they got there.
They rested for 8 hours allowing their spell casters a chance to recover their magic. All of them bathed, bandaged up their cuts and bruises and Rikhaal used some of his magic to heal up some of the more grievous injuries.
They had a quick consultation with Moldower, the Captain of the Guards, and informed him that they were going back to the manor. Eiran's wayward torgat was still caged up inside the compound. The group was determined to free the beast. Since they had successful brought back the painting, Moldower agreed.
Reena, the slave girl, thanked the party for freeing her. She assured them that she had friends in Drakkel and she wanted to go to them. The party let her go. The Swordtongue guild sent a guard with her to escort her to her destination (and also to keep an eye on her for a day or two and make sure that she wasn't followed, abducted or turned against the party).
Koeglur, the ogre slave, asked the party if he could join them. Once a gladiator, he yearned for adventure again. The party, having seen that he was a formidable warrior, readily agreed. However, they decided that the fewer people on this small excursion the better. While the party was freeing the torgat, Koeglur would visit the Swordtongue armory and find some appropriate armor and weapons. He would be waiting for them when they got back.
The party waited until nightfall and then once again headed out. Boss Vorgan's estate was only a few miles from the Swordtongue Winery and they were soon hiding in a copse of trees about 150 meters from the estate's main perimeter wall.
Eiran approached stealthily toward the wall while they others watched and waited. Eiran noticed several new guards patrolling around the main wall and walking on top of it. Luckily the perimeter was so large that it took them almost 10 minutes to complete a circuit around the whole wall. These new guards were heavy chest plates over gleaming chainmail and had orange and yellow plumes on their helmets. Each wore a heavy cloak which bore a symbol Eiran did not recognize. '
Eiran quietly retreated back to the treeline where the rest of the party waited. He described the new guards and drew their symbol in the dirt. Tristan, being familiar with most of the guilds and houses in Drakkel, recognized it immediately. It was the Phoenix Guard, one of the smaller mercenary guild houses which specializes in bodyguard protection, custom security, conscripted soldiers and military operations. Clearly, Boss Vorgan had hastily hired an entire security guild to help him guard his mansion and sort out the mess that the players had left behind.
The party advanced slowly and quietly, from the treeline across the grassy field to the wall. As soon as the guards walked by on their patrol and were out of sight, the party quickly closed the last 30 meters to the wall. As soon as they reached the stone blocks, Rikhaal and N'sahd each began casting spells that would let them reshape the rock. Based on what they new of the layout of the estate from their last visit, the torgat's pen was in one corner of the main wall and they were piercing the wall directly into the section that held its pen. The two spellcasters cut through the massive wall with their magic on the sides and underneath a great block. After a few minutes, they had weakened the rock sufficiently that a whole square section of the wall began to tip over and then came crashing down with a dull boom as it hit the soft grassy earth.
A narrow 5 foot gap had been exposed in the wall. As the dust cleared, the great torgat growled and stuck its head through the gap. Eiran leapt up onto the pile of stone blocks and quieted the beast before it could start making any loud roars that would give them away. Without wasting time, he leapt up onto the torgat's back and swiftly rode it back out into the night.
The rest of the group ran behind the torgat, but it was much too quick for them. Eiran and the torgat reached the treeline before the others had crossed even a third of the field. Eiren and his reptilian steed turned and waited and watched the others.
As the others fled across the field, several of the orange plumed guards came running across the compound, squeezed through the gap in the wall and pursued on foot. Shouts and calls for help echoed through the night.
RedEye, in the lead, headed for the treeline without looking back.
N'sahd, being the slowest runner, was furthest behind. He turned, cast a spell and launched a fireball at the pursuing guards. N'sahd's fireball killed most of the guards. The fireball also lit a large swath of the field on fire. Eiran killed another guard with an arrow.
Tristan turned and stood his ground, challenging the soldiers and positioning himself at the front to protect his party members.
A spell was launched from somewhere in the compound and exploded in a bright flare overhead, illuminating the entire field. In the light of the spell and the blazing field, the party could see dozens of archers lining the wall. Dozens of the orange plumed guards, in addition to Vorgan's own soldiers, were pouring out of the gap in the wall and coming around both sides of the perimeter wall.
Heath pulled out the black arrow from his quiver. This was the featureless black arrow he had acquired much earlier in his adventures and carried with him through so many battles. He looked at the crowd of soldiers pouring out of the gap in the wall and decided it was time to use it.
As he drew the string back, a shimmer ran the length of the arrow and a word appeared on the shaft. "Jhelquinn". He spoke the word.
Blazing energy engulfed the arrow and bow and Eiran. He fired and a burning trail of lightning followed the flight of the arrow. About half way to the crowd, there was a flash of light and the one arrow split into twelve arrows, each leaving a trail of lightning behind it. The flight of the twelve arrows began to diverge. One by one each one slammed into the crowd or the wall. Upon impact, each arrow detonated in a tremendous fiery explosion. The crowd disappeared in clouds of orange flame and choking black smoke. When the smoke and dust had cleared, no less than 70 charred bodies litter the field. The rest were retreating.
The party fled with the torgat. They quickly arrived at the Swordtongue Winery.
In order to hide the torgat, the horses were moved out of the barn and the barn served as a temporary holding area. Eiran seemed to be able to calm the beast and even communicate with it.
Once the great torgat was secured, the party worked to erase the tracks so that it couldn't be tracked to the winery.
They managed to eliminate the tracks within a mile of the winery, but then saw a group of the Phoenix Guard following the tracks and they had to break off. Although Vorgan and his minions might have a general direction, they could not follow the torgat tracks to its current location. The party had, at least, bought themselves some time.
The Swordtongue Guild paid the party the funds that had been obtained from fencing the treasures that had been brought back from the last few missions. The party divided up the money.
The guild also informed the party of their discovery regarding the map. The canvas painting, when viewed through the stained glass windows, arranged in a specific way, revealed a group of hidden words within the painting.
It read as follows:
The Crystal Mine of Kalrothis
May Be Found With the Red King's Crown
Plainly Seen, but Deftly Hidden, The Doorway is Veiled in a Dream
To Wake the Dream, Stand Before the Weeping Rock
And Play the Notes of Udelph's Last Rhyme at Sunset
No one knew who the Red King was or the Weeping Rock or Udelph. Clearly, this was going to require some time in the library. After some discussion, it was decided that Eiren would take the torgat back to the wild lands of the northwest himself. He would ride the torgat there (it was a fast runner) and then purchase a fast horse for the return trip. He would be gone about 23 days.
The rest of the party would use that time to rest, recuperate, train and conduct library research. If luck were with them, they would have ascertained the meaning of the riddle before Eiren returned.
All enchanted objects were identified with the exception of the black mace (taken from the priest in Vorgan's employ) which proved resistant to all divination and dangerous for wizards to study as N'sahd and the house wizard found out. After repeated failed attempts to divine its nature, Rikhaal took the mace back to his church where he fasted and prayed over it, burning incense and casting spells. He hoped to break the will of whatever dark force was bound to the mace and sanctify it in the name of Barrinor. After a day of labor, he called upon the power of Barrinor. Holy light flooded the altar, but the dark evil thing resisted. In the struggle of light against darkness, the mace was destroyed.
For the 23 days, N'sahd is planning on conducting spell research, purchasing new spells from the Drakkellian Guild of Sorcery and studying the gem encrusted bones of Mazuris.
Alan is planning on studying the bones and caring for his uncle, who is suffering from arkulyte crystal addiction. Alan hopes that the bones will reveal some clue as to a cure for arkulyte crystal addiction.
RedEye plans on spending his time in the lab brewing poisons and other alchemical products.
The rest of the party would spend their 23 days in training and researching the clues.