July 27, Saturday (cont.) - As the party walked down a back hallway in the Linden Inn, returning from Raglin's quick tour of the basements, including the sealed doorway to an unknown place, a door to a back room opened and the characters heard a familiar voice say "well that's the plan then". Looking past a serving girl and into the room, they saw the cleric Fulcher of Alaron and local noble Cyric Graymantle smiling and shaking hands. The remains of a large meal was on the table near them. They startled on seeing the characters, looked at each other, and invited the group in for a chat.
Inside the private room, they sat down for drinks and an explanation. They then noticed another person in the room; a rugged looking middle aged halfling leaning against the wall in the corner. The halfling was introduced as Arlis Maplethorp, though the more perceptive members of the group got the feeling this was a name made up spontaneously after a slight pause.
"The Plan" referenced by Cyric in the comment overheard by the characters was explained as the moderate-term plan to unite the Shearingvale as a political entity based around the town of Linden. As Cyric explained, both Wegley to the east and Turil to the west were acting expansionistic, and the fiercely independent people of the increasingly prosperous Vale would be hard pressed to defend against falling under the sway of either of those larger towns if they remained fragmented.
Cyric's plan, with the assistance of his childhood friend Fulcher, was to fund enough civic improvements to show the Vale villages the value of governmental influence. The threat of Fulcher's castle building on the borders of the Vale was hoped (by Cyric) to be an additional factor in uniting the Vale, for the short term goal of resisting a takeover by Fulcher. Fulcher again professed no interest in forming the "kingdom of Fulcher", but was willing to play the foil to Cyric's unification drive.
Civic improvements in the works, or planned in the near future, include: expansion of the city walls, expansion of the Outriders (guards patrolling the Vale), construction of a temple to Alaron (complete with full clerical staff), bringing in a sage to establish a library, and various other possible business ventures. Cyric was already responsible for bringing in a high quality armorer and weapon smith.
The characters were asked to keep this information to themselves while the situation developed.
After the long meeting, the halfling, who had said very little, pulled Duncan the wizard aside. He introduced himself as Zamra Quickfire. Duncan recognized the name as an evocation Archmage, a halfling known to be very powerful but somewhat reclusive. Zamra said that he had heard good things about Duncan's talents from Alissara, the elven mage of Fulcher's Band. He asked if Duncan would like to study with him. Duncan agreed (of course).
July 28 (Sunday) through August 9 (Friday) - Over the next couple of weeks, the characters rest, recover and train. Duncan advances to level 6 under the tutelage of Zamra.
During this period, Malachy and Melior visit Martine the hedge witch, a potion-maker who lives a few miles north of Linden. She has the knowledge to produce some basic potions, and they buy a few healing potions. After a lengthy discussion, they agree to pay 200 GP to fund Martine's travel to the nearby city of Turil and allow her to buy additional texts on potion making. If all goes well, Martine's abilities will increase.
Zamra's Favor - As their training comes to a close, Zamra tells Duncan the legend of the Seven Sigils of Onoria - seven caches of hidden and lost magic, preserved for future generations by the elder mages of Onoria, before the final collapse of the Elder realms. Many mages over the centuries have searched for these caches, but none are known to have succeeded in finding and unlocking them. Each is said to be able to be found only by following a number of clues, collecting pieces of keys from various locations, and figuring out the final location of the cache (and then figuring out how to open it).
Zamra told Duncan that he believed he had found the location of the first key piece for the Evocation Sigil; he thought that it was hidden in a place called the Tower of Rethorcar in the ruined Onorian town of Zinasa, roughly a week northeast of Linden. The Tower was said to be the only completely intact structure in a town that had been destroyed 350 years ago. The legends say that the reason for its survival was that it is protected by the lost 10th level spell Invulnerable Mageward. It is beyond the power of any known magic in the world today to bypass the protections of an Invulnerable Mageward, unless the passphrase is known. Zamra gave Duncan what he believed to be the passphrase, and asked that he and his friends find and retrieve the key piece. He said he would do it himself, but he just found this passphrase, and he needed to travel to the far South (to Immilkan in the Dragon Coast lands), and could not do it himself. The need for speed was urgent, as he had reason to believe that knowledge of the passphrase could be found by others following the same recently exposed clues that he did. Duncan, with his character's thirst for magical knowledge, couldn't say no. The rest of the group was agreeable...
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| The Road to Zinasa |
August 10, Saturday - The group travels from Linden to Fulcher's Hold, spending the night in the main keep of the rapidly progressing castle.
August 11, Sunday - The group sets out to the northeast, planning to skirt the northern edge of the Shadowveil Forest, across the plains south of the hills of the Shadow Wall. The day ends with the party camped well to the east of the hills holding Castle Langborne.
August 12, Monday - A second day's uneventful travel has the party camping in the open ground between the hills of the Red Barrows and the forest to the southeast.
August 13, Tuesday - On the third day, with the hills of the Shadow Wall looming in the distant northwest, the party sees smoke ahead. Approaching carefully, they come upon the scene of a recent fight, with many dead orcs and hobgoblins piled in a heap. The smoke comes from a still-smoldering funeral pyre. Arian, the Valwyn (high) elf, investigates, and draws on his knowledge of elven customs of the north, realizing that this is the funeral pyre of a Farendil (wood) elf warrior. It is the custom of the wood elves of the region to burn a warrior killed in battle at the site of his death. They advance a little further and camp for the night.
August 14, Wednesday - Proceeding northeast, and keeping the edge of the Shadoweil Forest near to their right, they make good time. Late in the day, as they are passing a small woodlot, they realize that they are being watched by a small group of elves mounted on horses. The party approaches cautiously making signs of peace and friendship, and after a cautious beginning, the party camps for the evening with the elves. They are wood elves from the Shadowveil, and several are wounded. It was one of their number who was killed fighting the orcs. Badric the dwarven cleric heals the wounded, and wins the respect of the elves.
Sindral, the elven patrol leader, pledges his friendship to the group, and says he will tell the tale of their encounter (and the aid provided) to his people.
August 15, Thursday - The Monument of Irineth.
Breaking camp, the elves head off to the southeast while the party heads northeast.
For part of the later afternoon, the party is passing a large marshy area on their right. At one point, Niam the rogue notices a deteriorating old earthen causeway extending out to a small island in the swamp. There are three carved stone obelisks, one on the island and two in the swamps flanking it. There is a second small island beyond the first. Growing around the obelisk on the island appears to be a large cluster of star lilies, a rare flower that is a component of powerful healing potions.
The party decides to investigate the obelisk, and harvest the flowers. As they near the island, the elves in the party (Melior and Niam) hear the faint voices of elves singing a mournful song. Then monsters of various decaying shapes and sizes begin lurching up out of the marsh and advancing on the party.
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| The Monument of Irineth |
Desperate combat ensues, during which the party notices that a metal torch in a bracket on the obelisk/monument has begun to glow with a dull white light. There is a second empty bracket. Realizing that there seem to be an endless number of creatures, and that the monsters replenish their numbers as soon as the characters kill them, the characters begin to look around for a solution to their problem.
Niam notices another glow of light in the reeds along the near edge of the other small island. Darting past the intervening monsters, he finds another dimly glowing metal torch lying in the underbrush. He brings the torch back to the monument, and while Thalmyr holds the nearby monsters at bay, climbs the monument and slips the torch into the second bracket.
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| Battle at the Monument of Irineth |
As soon as the second torch is back in place, both burst into bright radiant white light, driving the creatures back into the marsh. While nursing their wounds, the party harvests the star lilies, and Melior is able to read the elven runes on the monument, which say "May Irineth always be a beacon of light in the darkness". Who or what Irineth is they have no idea...
Following the battle, the party continues a few miles north and camps a reasonable distance away from the marshes. They should reach Zinasa tomorrow.
GM Commentary - I enjoyed this session very much. After two sessions that were very heavy in combat (the two parts of the final Underdark fight), it was very refreshing to be (A) above ground, and (B) doing something that was setting up a completely new story arc. Good stuff. It was also a nice mix of lots of roleplaying and one big combat encounter. XP for the session was ~700 per character (which is very light at 6th level - the gap from 6 to 7 is 14,000-23,000 XP...).
Interacting with the World (what the characters learned...or were reminded of) - The party learned specifics of the political plans of Cyric and Fulcher. Duncan met and was befriended by a powerful wizard (more powerful than Alissara). The characters traveled new ground, heading further northeast than they had been before. They met elves of the Shadowveil Forest, and now know there are such things. They were reminded that there are orcs and hobgoblins prowling the lands around the Shadow Wall. They learned there are at least a few ancient elven ruins in the area. I like these things, as I hope that it helps create a sense of depth to the world, and thus to the campaign.
