I kill it and takes its treasure, part 3
Apr. 3rd, 2006 01:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassOkay, today was almost entirely devoted to D&D. A very, VERY long write-up of the session follows (about 4900 words). Despite spending 2 hours writing it, I'm not expecting anyone to read this except the GM and maybe some of the players. Don't consider yourself under any obligation. Of course, if you do read it, comments are appreciated. A warning to GM / players: if anyone mocks me for my spelling of proper names / regions / any other Forgotten Realms specific terms, I will smite them. Next time, you can do a 5000 word writeup.
D&D Campaign, session #3 (April 2, 2006)
When last we left our intrepid heroes, they found themselves on a narrow mountain path behind Brightstone Keep, with 10 of the original 12 prisoners: 2 halflings, 3 elves, 3 half-elves, and 2 humans. Of the other two, one was (thanks to Ideld the Deathless) a pile of ash, the other had run off. These ten were all wary of the party, given their instrumental role in the freeing of the witch-queen.
Aran tries to explain the situation to them, but they seem unresponsive. One elf asks why they should trust the adventurers. A halfling says that the witch-queen had spoken in their minds. A half-elf, apparently the leader, merely glowers. Aran, finally at the end of his patience, firmly tells the ex-prisoners that the group of adventurers is leaving before forces from the keep come investigating the light, and the ten of them can come or not. The freed prisoners, realizing they have little other choice, reluctantly agree to follow the party.
With this decided, Seb goes off to try to find the remaining halfling, who had scrambled up the mountain-face moments before.
Aran, carrying Ivellios, leads the group down the mountain path away from the keep. Halfway down, Ivellios stirs and wakes. When Aran puts him down, Ivellios realizes that the red book he had taken from Curgeon is missing, and assumes Makal took it. While they're walking, Corrigan starts singing softly to the group, relaxing the halflings and elves, though the humans and half-elves merely look confused.
After ten minutes of walking, the group reaches the bottom of the mountain path, which ends in a sharp turn and a fissure through which the group must walk single file. Aran tells Corrigan to take the lead and climbs up to a lookout above the fissure to survey the situation at the keep.
This is what he sees: No one is following the party directly, but the beacon-fires blaze bright on the towers of Brightstone. Drumbeats pound from within the keep walls, and Aran can hear the sound of shouting, barely audible from this distance, chanting the name "Dur'ba'mog." He also hears the sound of screaming voices, the feral scream of people (probably orcs) being burned or eaten alive. The air around the keep is full of heavy smoke, and its stench reaches all the way to the lookout.
The tattered flag which originally hung at the keep is being torn down and replaced with a new one: a blood-red field with a black orc skull and two demonic wings. There are also people coming out of the back of the keep.
Aran quickly moves back to rejoin the party, and everyone feels an ominous sense of being followed.
Seb, meanwhile, has scaled the cliff and sees the same scene as Aran. The halfling he follows is inadvertently running towards the keep at a surprisingly quick pace. After a half-hour, Seb realizes that he has made no headway in his pursuit, and feels himself fading from exhaustion. [out-of-game: actually from the beginning of Ideld's curse, but he doesn't realize that yet.] Thankfully the halfling begins to veer away, and seems to know his way around. Seeing that the halfling is as safe as he can be under the circumstances, Seb turns and starts making his way back to the rest of the group.
Back at the base of the mountain path, Aran and Glothram have planned an ambush. Using the bottleneck of the fissure, they will press in on the incoming orcs from both sides to buy time for the rest of the party to flee to safety. Unfortunately, they do not consult with Corrigan or Ivellios before returning to the fissure, and soon are lost to sight from the rest of the party.
The same mistrusting half-elf, apparently some sort of leader to the rest of the ex-prisoners, stops, and the rest of the group follows suit. Corrigan stops the column to ask the half-elf what he's doing, as he asks her the same thing. Corrigan, thinking fast, casts the spell "message" to speak with Aran who is back on the lookout above the fissure. Aran tells Corrigan about his planned ambush, and also what he has seen from his vantage point.
In the few moments since Aran has descended and re-scaled the wall, six orcs and a troll have exited through the breach in the back wall. Four of the orcs and the troll seem to be building fortifications, while the two remaining orcs, riding wargs, begin down the path towards the party. The move slowly, seemingly involved in unsuccessful tracking.
One of the warg riders turns towards Seb and catches sight of him. As the rider spurs his mount towards him, Seb looses arrows, one after another. By the third arrow, the orc is heavily wounded and tries moving his warg to cover. The warg is intent on its prey. The fourth arrow kills the rider, and it falls limp. The warg tries flinging him off, but the rider is stuck. As the other warg-rider tries to figure out what's happening, Seb runs off, just as the first warg flings its dead rider to the ground.
As all this is happening, Corrigan does some quick thinking [out-of-game: and rolls really well on a bardic knowledge roll] and recognizes the name "Dur'ba'mog." It is a word in the orcish dialect from the North Dark, meaning "cursed eater of orc flesh," or figuratively "outcast." It also, however, refers to a person, Graszh Dur'ba'mog, a huge man from the Dread Fang Clan (led by its chieftain Barza). The story has it that Graszh was already distinguished in battle by the time he reached adulthood, but after that point his clan disappears from history.
Graszh Dur'ba'mog is so evil he is reviled even by other orcs as an apostate of Grunch, the orc-god. Having thrown off his allegiance to Grunch, he now follows Orkis, the demon-prince of vengeance. He is reputedly a thrall of Orkis, a formal supplicant, and the sworn companion and protector of Myskal Gaunt, Necromancer of the North. Though, since Myskal's influence does not extend as far as the Reaching Wood, Graszh's presence here is confusing.
Graszh Dur'ba'mog leads a group, according to the story, called the Blessed Band: 80 orcs and half-orcs hand-chosen by Graszh as elite fighters. The group reportedly practices oricsh cannibalism and ritual tattooing. The standard Aran sees being raised at the keep is that of the Blessed Brigade.
As Corrigan relays this information to Aran, in the full hearing of the rescued prisoners, the group becomes ever more insistent that Corrigan lead them away to safety. Even Aran is shaken at the news, and his body begins to slump with fatigued despite his steely resolve.
Seeing the warg riders and the light glinting of Seb's scimitar, an unmistakable pearly white, Aran shines with a holy radiance, trying to draw the warg-rider's attention. (And, of course, becoming a shining target for the orcs at the keep.) As Seb draws his sword, retreating all the while, he feels the essence of a deer overtake him. Moved by some outside will, he moves with an unnatural fleetness, and the next thing he knows, he's standing next to Aran. Aran, meanwhile, sees the emanation of a ghostly deer, which is replaced by Seb and Eemin.
Corrigan realizes Seb has joined the group, and begs him to join her in escaping with the prisoners. Seb, realizing that he is extremely weak [out-of-game: due to Ideld's curse] and of no use to the two fighters, casts barkskin on Glothram. Just before he leaves, he realizes that the outlook upon which he and Aran are standing can be used to trigger an avalanche, like Makal did to distract the orcs. He instructs Aran on what to do, and then leaves to follow Corrigan, Panlos, Ivellios, and the band of ex-prisonners. Panlos' shoulder, where he was wounded by Curgeon's spear, is an ashen grey, with grey tendrils creeping across his flesh. He still seems able to walk, and there's nothing Corrigan can do, so the group flees along the path down the mountain.
Back at the fissure, Aran calls to Glothram and tells him the new plan, of using the avalanche to hinder and preferably block the orcs trying to leave the pass. Together, they trigger the avalanche and the passage is almost completely sealed. Though Aran's ankle is trapped under the rubble and broken, he manages to free it and heal himself of damage, and the two return to the party and act as rearguard.
The party continues the rest of the night until dawn. Just before setting camp, Seb forages and finds a fresh track of orc-prints fleeing the castle. The group decides, however, that there are more important things at stake and leave the tracks uninvestigated.
The group pitches camp as day dawns, and Seb takes the first watch.
Towards the end of his watch, Seb catches sight of something moving in the woods, and hears the sound of hooves on stone. Just for a moment, he sees a large stag, and Seb runs after it in pursuit. Though Seb is usually an expert bowman, his fatigue impedes him, and he must shoot the stag three times before he can catch it and kill it, beheading it with his sword Saksat. [out-of-game: Apologies to Randy if I spelt that wrong.]
As the stag's blood sprays out in a near-perfect circle around the stag, it seems to shimmer in the morning light, and Seb feels Saksat shiver in sympathy for the deer. He sees a spirit rising from the deer, and a similar spirit rising from Saksat, and the two join together in the air. Though Saksat seems duller, it practically hums as Seb touches it to sheathe it, and he feels that it has grown in power. He also feels the unnatural fatigue lift, and is renewed in strength. [out-of-game: Seb gains a new feat from his sword. There's more backstory here I'm unaware of, but Randy can post it in his own journal if it's important.]
Seb carries back the carcass of the deer, dresses it, and leaves it for Aran to cook. Aran's and Glothram's watches pass uneventfully.
Towards evening, Corrigan and Ivellios wake. After memorizing their spells for the day, Corrigan takes the various magic items to Ivellios for him to appraise them, and she herself casts Identify on them. [out-of-game: a bit of time muddling on the chronicler's part. Corrigan in fact casts Identify the following night, but I figured it just makes sense to have it now as part of the story. It's not really important to plot. Information on the magic items will follow at the end, so as not to interrupt the story.]
After this, Corrigan settles the group around her and plays her flute, while Ivellios tries to gain information from the half-elven leader of the band, Kathyn. [out-of-game: apologies for any proper names that are misspelled. The GM may feel free to correct me.] Through their various conversations, Corrigan and Ivellios learn that Ideld had come to many villages in the Trialta Hills, capturing the villagers and forcing them to work in the mines. She killed the children and forced most of the villagers to work to themselves to death, and then raised them up as undead to toil beside their former friends and family. Kathyn speaks forcefully against the witch-queen, saying that if only he had a sword, he would spend the rest of his life focused on killing her.
Furthermore, it seems that whatever treasure Ideld sought, it wasn't diamonds. Indeed, the diamonds the workers collected seemed incidental, even trivial to her. Every day, she had the workers dig in another direction, never following the diamond veins. One of the group, a halfling called Brethan, had escaped his cell one day and saw Ideld drawing maps and diagrams based on knowledge from small chapbooks with golden rings and chains. Using these maps, Curgeon ("the witch's lieutenant," according to Brethan) would direct the workers by night, and Ideld by day. These books, or ones similar to them, written in an infernal tongue, had been used by the Red Wizards of Thay, according to Myrthas the Stern. Iveillios and Corrigan both remember seeing similar books at his tower.
Ideld was a horrid mistress, and the power of her voice could turn rocks into powder or eat away at someone's soul. Curgeon had the same stone-pulverizing power. Ideld could make people worship her, even make them turn on and kill their former friends; and she clearly took the greatest pleasure in this. She also had a glove, made from elven skin which she enchanted to tear muscle, bone, and flesh, from anyone she touched with it. Amongst her retinue she had a shadow-demon, Elisath, who could possess and enslave people. Ideld apparently was constantly threatening it with the use of its true name.
About a month before, Ideld disappeared. Several weeks later, the prisoners began to hear her voice again, but not among them.
While singing an old Elven lulliby about the Vyshan Empire and the ancient Crown Wars, Corrigan and Ivellios realize that there are many necromantic artifacts scattered throughout the Western Heartlands. They had apparently been left behind by the necromancers of Netheryl, and before them the corrupt Elven lands of Maryiatar and Vyshan. Among these relics were the Scepter of Idara, the Queller of Light, and the Bargainer Shroud. Though Corrigan has no specific information on any of these artefacts, all the stories surrounding them are dark ones.
Realizing they have already spent too long talking, they group breaks camp and walks for most of the night. Panlos is now so affected by his wound that he must be carried on a bier by some of the freed prisoners. Glothram meanwhile gives his old sword to Kathyn as a gesture of goodwill, and as a means of having one more armed member of the party.
Towards 4 am, they hear a howling from back towards the keep, which Seb knows does not sound like a normal wolf. The howling is still far off, and nothing can be done, so the group continues walking.
At dawn, the group again pitches camp. Glothram's shift passes uneventfully, but as Aran sits watch he hears the heavy tread of something large breaking a branch. He hears it again, closer, and wakes the party. Everyone girds themselves for battle.
Aran catches sight of something large with grey fur, long and low, in the forest beyond the camp. He and Seb follow it. Aran sees a huge grey form leap at him without any time to move out of the way, and is bowled to the ground with its teeth in his shoulder and its tusks against his chest. Seb sees it, a huge wolf with red eyes and a steel-grey pelt, but somehow grafted with a fiendish mouth and tusks, and bone-plates over its fur. It looks 11 feet long, 600 pounds, and completely nasty. Aran kips up and lands a stunning fist on the wolf, as Seb charges in and hits it from behind. The wolf again digs its fangs into Aran's shoulder, and Aran strikes it with a flurry of blows.
Back at the camp, five large wolves surround the clearing. They, too, seem to have been grafted with fiendish tusks and bone plates. Glothram casts Bless and Corrigan casts Shield as they prepare to face them. Ivellios casts a Lightening Bolt and immediately two of them combust into ash heaps. The remaining three wolves swarm around Ivellios and flank him, and Ivellios can barely fend them off. Glothram charges the flanking wolf and kills it in a single blow, then proceeds to chop the leg off the second. The third wolf, cowed, turns and runs back into the forest.
Back with the giant wolf, Seb casts Summon Lightening and strikes it with the power of nature herself. The wolf, rethinking the situation, turns and flees, knocking Aran over in his retreat. Though Aran tries pursuing it, it is simply too fast and eventually he gives up and returns to camp.
It is now about 3 pm, and the group decides to pack camp and leave without waiting for nightfall. Seb heals Ivellios' wounds, but Panlos is still unconscious and must be carried for the second night in a row.
The march is long and hard, through the rest of the day and most of the night. Towards midnight, a man in a green cloak steps out from the forest and identifies himself as Korrak, the ranger from Hill's Edge. He leads the group through quick footpaths to hasten their journey to the city. As he leads them, he tells them what he has discovered.
He has been investigating Brightstone Keep, and had been tracking "The Brimstone Witch, Ideld the Deathless" for some time. She had apparently passed through HIll's Edge two weeks before, looking weary and wounded. At the time, Korrak told Reginar Tyrran, captain of the guard, not to detain her lest her wrath descent upon the city. While she was in the city, Korrak had seen her in the company of a lean dwarf in a grey robe (Makal) and two bird-like people.
Korrak had also witnessed her ambush on the back path towards the keep, and had seen two trolls and a large orc (who, by description, could only be Curgeon) attack her. One leapt at her, knocking aside her rod, and the two trolls beat her mercilessly. Eventually, Curgeon ordered her to be bound and taken to the keep. He also ordered that the troll not touch Ideld's rod.
Korrak had apparently barely missed the party's arrival at Brightstone because he had been tracking a group of orcs on the way to the keep. Comparing facts with Corrigan, this was obviously the Blessed Band.
He also found that many towns in the Trialta Hills, who normally send representatives to Hill's Edge, had been deserted or destroyed, and seems grim when Kathyn tells him what happened.
Eventually the group reaches Hill's Edge, and the gates are opened for them by the city guard. However, they can progress no further, as the guards form a line before the party. One approaches Glothram, bows, and informs him that Reginar Tyrran wishes to speak with him. Glothram ensures they help Panlos, and then allows himself to be led away.
Meanwhile, another guard invites the rest of the group to the gatehouse, since Reginar Tyrran had given orders that each of them was to be questioned individually. The ex-prisoners are led away to the barracks to rest, while the adventurers enter the gatehouse. There is food laid out for the party, and they eat hungrily. They are informed that Colan Marr will come speak to them shortly, and the group makes themselves comfortable, eating and listening to Corrigan play her new horn. In mid-riff, a heavy sleep comes over her and she falls into slumber, along with Aran and Ivellios. Outside the gates, Eemin whines softly.
Glothram, meanwhile, is led into Tyrran's apartments. Tyrran informs him that it is considered impolite to enter armed into this section of the building, and Glothram obliges him by removing his sword and armor. Tyrran smiles and tells him there is someone he wants Glothram to meet. He pulls aside a curtain and Ideld steps forward.
Glothram draws his dagger and steps forward to charge, but can make it no farther as Ideld fixes him with her ice-blue stare. Glothram is frozen in place. Ideld speaks a word in her terrible language and Glothram's dagger explodes in a firework of blue sparks.
Ideld calmly gestures to a chair, "Please, Glothram, sit." Against his will, Glothram finds himself complying. Ideld holds his gaze but frees his tongue. The first words on Glothrams lips are a vow that, could he move, he would kill her where she stood. Conversationally, she says, "You've provided me an entertaining diversion, Paladin. I do so love it when they struggle."
Glothram starts to scream, but Ideld forces his teeth to bite down on his own tongue. She smiles. "Stay where you are. Reginald will tell you when you can move again. Meanwhile, I'm going to have some fun." With that, she steps out of the room, leaving Glothram to fume in his impotent anger.
Meanwhile, Seb goes to the door and finds a heavy guard at every entrance to the gatehouse. He tells the guard he wants to tend to his animal, but the guard seems reluctant to let him out. He summons over another, and whispers something. He tells Seb he is asking his supervisor, Colan Marr, about Seb's request. Moments later, three guards come back and ask Seb to accompany them. Seb tries waking his companions, but they do not wake. The guards grab Seb's arms and he only barely manages to break free and sprint down the hallway.
The guards follow him and catch him at a dead-end, cornered by a locked door. Seb, defeated, throws down his weapons and is taken in irons to a jail cell. His three sleeping companions are brought soon afterwards and placed in neighbouring cells. Later, Glothram is also brought in wrist and ankle irons, and finally Eemin, in a sack, is tossed into Seb's cell.
Ivellios, Corrigan, and Aran sleep for four days, and are disoriented for another two. On the seventh day, Colan Marr arrives and tells the group they are detained on the orders of Reginald Tyrran on the charge of conspiring with the enemies of Hill's Edge. Corrigan laughts that he has no idea what's going on, but Ivellios tries to reason with him. Neither have any noticeable effect. With a firm, "I have my orders," Marr leaves the jail.
The same day, a man in a guard's uniform brings a plate of food before Seb's cell. As he straightens, Seb recognizes the face of Korrak, the ranger. In his food, Seb finds a note saying the Tyrran has been charmed by Ideld, but that the group may have an ally in Colan Marr. He also says not to resist or attack the guards, or give any grounds to the charges against the group.
At the end of the first week, two guards carry Panlos into Corrigan's cell. His shoulder is healed, but his face is pale and his breathing shallow. To Corrigan, it appears he is under some kind of spell, though she doesn't know what.
At the end of the next week, Colan Marr appears again. He says that the witch has taken control of Reginald's mind, but that he has a plan. If the group does not hear from him in three days, they're on their own.
The first day passes without any sign of Marr, so does the second.
On the third day, Tyrran himself comes down, accompanied by Marr and carrying the group's equipment. He unlocks Glothram's cell and prostrates himself on the floor, begging forgiveness for his actions while enchanted by the witch. Glothram graciously grants it, explaining that he, too, had been placed under the charms of Ideld.
Tyrran explains that nearly three weeks before, Ideld had come to Hill's Edge, and seemed intent on finding a certain red stone clasp, then spent another week healing and meditating. For the next three days, she rallied the town guard and then took all of them to Brightstone keep. Only after she left was Tyrran freed from her enchantment. Tyrran is now distraught and without a guard.
He also tells Glothram that on the fifth day after their arrival, Panlos died. But Ideld came to him and kissed him, and since then he has been in the state we now see him. He hastily gives orders for the rest of the group to be freed and their equipment returned. Upon taking back their belongings, the group realizes that Ideld took the three remaining books, but left the rest of their magical equipment.
[out-of-game: I thought it would be really great at this point if, when the guards came to unlock Corrigan's cell, they found her already standing outside it, as a gesture that she could have escaped at any time in the last three weeks but chose not to. The GM, unfortunately, vetoed that idea, but I still think it would have been fun.]
As part of his penance for freeing Ideld, Glothram begins to help restore the town guard. The group ascertains that the ex-prisoners from the Keep are all still safe, and then proceed to take care of business. Corrigan appraises the magical items and the rest of the group to similarly down-time things.
Corrigan also, by questioning every bard she can find, finally remembers the entire Lay of Ideld. Once she hears the whole thing, she thinks there is a connection between Graszh Dur'ba'mog and Ideld. Myskal Gaunt, the Necromancer of the North and Graszh's master, was in love with a woman named Ideld when he was mortal. When Ideld was hunting down the Company of the Red Standard to avenge the death of her father, Myskal was at her side.
In their journey, Myskal and Ideld travelled north to the Spine of the World Mountains in Icewind Dale, when Myskal and Graszh met. At that point, Ideld was known as "the Corrupter," for it was rumored she served not only Orkis, demon-prince of Vengeance, but also Grazzt, demon-prince of seduction, lies, and domination, and eternal enemy of Orkis. Ideld dominated Graszh and forced him to kill and cannibalize his entire kin-clan, whence he received the name "Dur'ba'mog."
Graszh is reputed to be a mystical warrior, with a familiar in the form of a giant fiendish warg with tusks and bone plating. It is also rumored that Myskal modifies wolves with fiendish enhancements.
And so we leave Our Intrepid Heroes in Hill's Edge, in autumn, with the knowledge that Ideld is rapidly regaining her power and Bad Things (tm) are doubtless yet to come.
*****
And now, a more complete treasure list, based on Corrigan's Identify and Ivellios' appraise. Still awaiting specific numbers from the GM, but the rest of the information is accurate.
1. Curgeon's cloak: masterwork but damaged. Cloak of resistance +2, and +1 deflection to AC. It would be valuable if mended (would require 12 mending spells.) (worth = ?)
2. Curgeon's bastard sword = Exordius: +2 adamantine, with a jewel in the pommel which seems particularly necromantic. (worth = ?)
There are faded letters on the blade in an infernal dialect, describing the story of the Lych-king Ramos, who made this sword for Darnag to be a shadow on the heart of light. However, over these runes are dwarven ones carved in the celestial language.
Corrigan recognizes the story of this sword, which runs as follows: Darnag was vanquished by Aria, a human paladin of Tyr who was renowned for her piety and courage. Though the sword stole Aria's soul, it was unable to destroy it and instead the soul infused the weapon and destroyed Darnag by its purity. Aria's companion, a dwarven warrior and weapon-smith, transformed it and added the new carvings.
The sword has appeared several times in history, each time borne by a mighty hero (usually a paladin of Tyr). There is a long catalogue of powers in the stories which are not shown by Corrigan's identify. However, the stories say that a paladin who wishes to wield it fully must perform a ritual of purification on an evil holy item worth at least 1500 gp.
3. Waterskin #1: one potion of cure serious wounds (worth = ?)
4. Waterskin #2: one potion of haste (worth = ?)
5. Elven glaur (horn): gives +5 insight bonus on perform checks. Once per week, can sound horn and one designated person will hear it (if they are within 10 miles), know the bearer is in trouble, and know the fastest way to reach them. Three times per day, it can act as a knock spell if a specific trill is played. (worth = at least 940 gp)
6. Silver dagger, +2. Set with a (somewhat disquieting) aquamarine gem in the hilt. Half of the damage it deals is vile damage which can only be healed in a hallowed shrine. It also gives a +4 profane bonus to living sacrifices to demons. (worth = ?)
7. Black sapphire: contains a single limited wish, but has an (unknown) cost if invoked. (worth = at least 900 gp)
8. The books (now missing): might be from Nybor, the Thayan Zulkir of Enchantment, whose spell books are much sought after because they contain knowledge of where to find necromantic artefacts. The silver dagger (see #6) resembles an intelligent, evil weapon that contained all of Nybor's knowledge and much of her malice. However, there is nothing in Corrigan's or Ivellios' spellcasting that substantiates this suspicion. On the other hand, if it is held, it tends to point towards the black book. (worth = ?)
9. 35 gold pieces: 200-year-old coins from Halruaa (worth = 12.5 gp each, 437.5 gp total)
10. 120 platinum pieces (worth = 1200 gp)
11. a pouch with 3 diamonds (worth = 800 gp each to a gemcutter, 2400 gp total)
12. a pouch with diamond dust (worth at least 1400 gp to a spellcaster)
13. a pouch with rough-cut diamonds (worth 1600 gp to a gemcutter)
Now, I'm dead tired because it's 1 am by the clock and 2 pm by my body's natural rhythms. Somehow I need to wake up in order to start doing work at 9 am tomorrow. Sigh.
The worst part is, I'm doing more D&D tomorrow night. Can you say, "sucker for punishment"? G'night all.
D&D Campaign, session #3 (April 2, 2006)
When last we left our intrepid heroes, they found themselves on a narrow mountain path behind Brightstone Keep, with 10 of the original 12 prisoners: 2 halflings, 3 elves, 3 half-elves, and 2 humans. Of the other two, one was (thanks to Ideld the Deathless) a pile of ash, the other had run off. These ten were all wary of the party, given their instrumental role in the freeing of the witch-queen.
Aran tries to explain the situation to them, but they seem unresponsive. One elf asks why they should trust the adventurers. A halfling says that the witch-queen had spoken in their minds. A half-elf, apparently the leader, merely glowers. Aran, finally at the end of his patience, firmly tells the ex-prisoners that the group of adventurers is leaving before forces from the keep come investigating the light, and the ten of them can come or not. The freed prisoners, realizing they have little other choice, reluctantly agree to follow the party.
With this decided, Seb goes off to try to find the remaining halfling, who had scrambled up the mountain-face moments before.
Aran, carrying Ivellios, leads the group down the mountain path away from the keep. Halfway down, Ivellios stirs and wakes. When Aran puts him down, Ivellios realizes that the red book he had taken from Curgeon is missing, and assumes Makal took it. While they're walking, Corrigan starts singing softly to the group, relaxing the halflings and elves, though the humans and half-elves merely look confused.
After ten minutes of walking, the group reaches the bottom of the mountain path, which ends in a sharp turn and a fissure through which the group must walk single file. Aran tells Corrigan to take the lead and climbs up to a lookout above the fissure to survey the situation at the keep.
This is what he sees: No one is following the party directly, but the beacon-fires blaze bright on the towers of Brightstone. Drumbeats pound from within the keep walls, and Aran can hear the sound of shouting, barely audible from this distance, chanting the name "Dur'ba'mog." He also hears the sound of screaming voices, the feral scream of people (probably orcs) being burned or eaten alive. The air around the keep is full of heavy smoke, and its stench reaches all the way to the lookout.
The tattered flag which originally hung at the keep is being torn down and replaced with a new one: a blood-red field with a black orc skull and two demonic wings. There are also people coming out of the back of the keep.
Aran quickly moves back to rejoin the party, and everyone feels an ominous sense of being followed.
Seb, meanwhile, has scaled the cliff and sees the same scene as Aran. The halfling he follows is inadvertently running towards the keep at a surprisingly quick pace. After a half-hour, Seb realizes that he has made no headway in his pursuit, and feels himself fading from exhaustion. [out-of-game: actually from the beginning of Ideld's curse, but he doesn't realize that yet.] Thankfully the halfling begins to veer away, and seems to know his way around. Seeing that the halfling is as safe as he can be under the circumstances, Seb turns and starts making his way back to the rest of the group.
Back at the base of the mountain path, Aran and Glothram have planned an ambush. Using the bottleneck of the fissure, they will press in on the incoming orcs from both sides to buy time for the rest of the party to flee to safety. Unfortunately, they do not consult with Corrigan or Ivellios before returning to the fissure, and soon are lost to sight from the rest of the party.
The same mistrusting half-elf, apparently some sort of leader to the rest of the ex-prisoners, stops, and the rest of the group follows suit. Corrigan stops the column to ask the half-elf what he's doing, as he asks her the same thing. Corrigan, thinking fast, casts the spell "message" to speak with Aran who is back on the lookout above the fissure. Aran tells Corrigan about his planned ambush, and also what he has seen from his vantage point.
In the few moments since Aran has descended and re-scaled the wall, six orcs and a troll have exited through the breach in the back wall. Four of the orcs and the troll seem to be building fortifications, while the two remaining orcs, riding wargs, begin down the path towards the party. The move slowly, seemingly involved in unsuccessful tracking.
One of the warg riders turns towards Seb and catches sight of him. As the rider spurs his mount towards him, Seb looses arrows, one after another. By the third arrow, the orc is heavily wounded and tries moving his warg to cover. The warg is intent on its prey. The fourth arrow kills the rider, and it falls limp. The warg tries flinging him off, but the rider is stuck. As the other warg-rider tries to figure out what's happening, Seb runs off, just as the first warg flings its dead rider to the ground.
As all this is happening, Corrigan does some quick thinking [out-of-game: and rolls really well on a bardic knowledge roll] and recognizes the name "Dur'ba'mog." It is a word in the orcish dialect from the North Dark, meaning "cursed eater of orc flesh," or figuratively "outcast." It also, however, refers to a person, Graszh Dur'ba'mog, a huge man from the Dread Fang Clan (led by its chieftain Barza). The story has it that Graszh was already distinguished in battle by the time he reached adulthood, but after that point his clan disappears from history.
Graszh Dur'ba'mog is so evil he is reviled even by other orcs as an apostate of Grunch, the orc-god. Having thrown off his allegiance to Grunch, he now follows Orkis, the demon-prince of vengeance. He is reputedly a thrall of Orkis, a formal supplicant, and the sworn companion and protector of Myskal Gaunt, Necromancer of the North. Though, since Myskal's influence does not extend as far as the Reaching Wood, Graszh's presence here is confusing.
Graszh Dur'ba'mog leads a group, according to the story, called the Blessed Band: 80 orcs and half-orcs hand-chosen by Graszh as elite fighters. The group reportedly practices oricsh cannibalism and ritual tattooing. The standard Aran sees being raised at the keep is that of the Blessed Brigade.
As Corrigan relays this information to Aran, in the full hearing of the rescued prisoners, the group becomes ever more insistent that Corrigan lead them away to safety. Even Aran is shaken at the news, and his body begins to slump with fatigued despite his steely resolve.
Seeing the warg riders and the light glinting of Seb's scimitar, an unmistakable pearly white, Aran shines with a holy radiance, trying to draw the warg-rider's attention. (And, of course, becoming a shining target for the orcs at the keep.) As Seb draws his sword, retreating all the while, he feels the essence of a deer overtake him. Moved by some outside will, he moves with an unnatural fleetness, and the next thing he knows, he's standing next to Aran. Aran, meanwhile, sees the emanation of a ghostly deer, which is replaced by Seb and Eemin.
Corrigan realizes Seb has joined the group, and begs him to join her in escaping with the prisoners. Seb, realizing that he is extremely weak [out-of-game: due to Ideld's curse] and of no use to the two fighters, casts barkskin on Glothram. Just before he leaves, he realizes that the outlook upon which he and Aran are standing can be used to trigger an avalanche, like Makal did to distract the orcs. He instructs Aran on what to do, and then leaves to follow Corrigan, Panlos, Ivellios, and the band of ex-prisonners. Panlos' shoulder, where he was wounded by Curgeon's spear, is an ashen grey, with grey tendrils creeping across his flesh. He still seems able to walk, and there's nothing Corrigan can do, so the group flees along the path down the mountain.
Back at the fissure, Aran calls to Glothram and tells him the new plan, of using the avalanche to hinder and preferably block the orcs trying to leave the pass. Together, they trigger the avalanche and the passage is almost completely sealed. Though Aran's ankle is trapped under the rubble and broken, he manages to free it and heal himself of damage, and the two return to the party and act as rearguard.
The party continues the rest of the night until dawn. Just before setting camp, Seb forages and finds a fresh track of orc-prints fleeing the castle. The group decides, however, that there are more important things at stake and leave the tracks uninvestigated.
The group pitches camp as day dawns, and Seb takes the first watch.
Towards the end of his watch, Seb catches sight of something moving in the woods, and hears the sound of hooves on stone. Just for a moment, he sees a large stag, and Seb runs after it in pursuit. Though Seb is usually an expert bowman, his fatigue impedes him, and he must shoot the stag three times before he can catch it and kill it, beheading it with his sword Saksat. [out-of-game: Apologies to Randy if I spelt that wrong.]
As the stag's blood sprays out in a near-perfect circle around the stag, it seems to shimmer in the morning light, and Seb feels Saksat shiver in sympathy for the deer. He sees a spirit rising from the deer, and a similar spirit rising from Saksat, and the two join together in the air. Though Saksat seems duller, it practically hums as Seb touches it to sheathe it, and he feels that it has grown in power. He also feels the unnatural fatigue lift, and is renewed in strength. [out-of-game: Seb gains a new feat from his sword. There's more backstory here I'm unaware of, but Randy can post it in his own journal if it's important.]
Seb carries back the carcass of the deer, dresses it, and leaves it for Aran to cook. Aran's and Glothram's watches pass uneventfully.
Towards evening, Corrigan and Ivellios wake. After memorizing their spells for the day, Corrigan takes the various magic items to Ivellios for him to appraise them, and she herself casts Identify on them. [out-of-game: a bit of time muddling on the chronicler's part. Corrigan in fact casts Identify the following night, but I figured it just makes sense to have it now as part of the story. It's not really important to plot. Information on the magic items will follow at the end, so as not to interrupt the story.]
After this, Corrigan settles the group around her and plays her flute, while Ivellios tries to gain information from the half-elven leader of the band, Kathyn. [out-of-game: apologies for any proper names that are misspelled. The GM may feel free to correct me.] Through their various conversations, Corrigan and Ivellios learn that Ideld had come to many villages in the Trialta Hills, capturing the villagers and forcing them to work in the mines. She killed the children and forced most of the villagers to work to themselves to death, and then raised them up as undead to toil beside their former friends and family. Kathyn speaks forcefully against the witch-queen, saying that if only he had a sword, he would spend the rest of his life focused on killing her.
Furthermore, it seems that whatever treasure Ideld sought, it wasn't diamonds. Indeed, the diamonds the workers collected seemed incidental, even trivial to her. Every day, she had the workers dig in another direction, never following the diamond veins. One of the group, a halfling called Brethan, had escaped his cell one day and saw Ideld drawing maps and diagrams based on knowledge from small chapbooks with golden rings and chains. Using these maps, Curgeon ("the witch's lieutenant," according to Brethan) would direct the workers by night, and Ideld by day. These books, or ones similar to them, written in an infernal tongue, had been used by the Red Wizards of Thay, according to Myrthas the Stern. Iveillios and Corrigan both remember seeing similar books at his tower.
Ideld was a horrid mistress, and the power of her voice could turn rocks into powder or eat away at someone's soul. Curgeon had the same stone-pulverizing power. Ideld could make people worship her, even make them turn on and kill their former friends; and she clearly took the greatest pleasure in this. She also had a glove, made from elven skin which she enchanted to tear muscle, bone, and flesh, from anyone she touched with it. Amongst her retinue she had a shadow-demon, Elisath, who could possess and enslave people. Ideld apparently was constantly threatening it with the use of its true name.
About a month before, Ideld disappeared. Several weeks later, the prisoners began to hear her voice again, but not among them.
While singing an old Elven lulliby about the Vyshan Empire and the ancient Crown Wars, Corrigan and Ivellios realize that there are many necromantic artifacts scattered throughout the Western Heartlands. They had apparently been left behind by the necromancers of Netheryl, and before them the corrupt Elven lands of Maryiatar and Vyshan. Among these relics were the Scepter of Idara, the Queller of Light, and the Bargainer Shroud. Though Corrigan has no specific information on any of these artefacts, all the stories surrounding them are dark ones.
Realizing they have already spent too long talking, they group breaks camp and walks for most of the night. Panlos is now so affected by his wound that he must be carried on a bier by some of the freed prisoners. Glothram meanwhile gives his old sword to Kathyn as a gesture of goodwill, and as a means of having one more armed member of the party.
Towards 4 am, they hear a howling from back towards the keep, which Seb knows does not sound like a normal wolf. The howling is still far off, and nothing can be done, so the group continues walking.
At dawn, the group again pitches camp. Glothram's shift passes uneventfully, but as Aran sits watch he hears the heavy tread of something large breaking a branch. He hears it again, closer, and wakes the party. Everyone girds themselves for battle.
Aran catches sight of something large with grey fur, long and low, in the forest beyond the camp. He and Seb follow it. Aran sees a huge grey form leap at him without any time to move out of the way, and is bowled to the ground with its teeth in his shoulder and its tusks against his chest. Seb sees it, a huge wolf with red eyes and a steel-grey pelt, but somehow grafted with a fiendish mouth and tusks, and bone-plates over its fur. It looks 11 feet long, 600 pounds, and completely nasty. Aran kips up and lands a stunning fist on the wolf, as Seb charges in and hits it from behind. The wolf again digs its fangs into Aran's shoulder, and Aran strikes it with a flurry of blows.
Back at the camp, five large wolves surround the clearing. They, too, seem to have been grafted with fiendish tusks and bone plates. Glothram casts Bless and Corrigan casts Shield as they prepare to face them. Ivellios casts a Lightening Bolt and immediately two of them combust into ash heaps. The remaining three wolves swarm around Ivellios and flank him, and Ivellios can barely fend them off. Glothram charges the flanking wolf and kills it in a single blow, then proceeds to chop the leg off the second. The third wolf, cowed, turns and runs back into the forest.
Back with the giant wolf, Seb casts Summon Lightening and strikes it with the power of nature herself. The wolf, rethinking the situation, turns and flees, knocking Aran over in his retreat. Though Aran tries pursuing it, it is simply too fast and eventually he gives up and returns to camp.
It is now about 3 pm, and the group decides to pack camp and leave without waiting for nightfall. Seb heals Ivellios' wounds, but Panlos is still unconscious and must be carried for the second night in a row.
The march is long and hard, through the rest of the day and most of the night. Towards midnight, a man in a green cloak steps out from the forest and identifies himself as Korrak, the ranger from Hill's Edge. He leads the group through quick footpaths to hasten their journey to the city. As he leads them, he tells them what he has discovered.
He has been investigating Brightstone Keep, and had been tracking "The Brimstone Witch, Ideld the Deathless" for some time. She had apparently passed through HIll's Edge two weeks before, looking weary and wounded. At the time, Korrak told Reginar Tyrran, captain of the guard, not to detain her lest her wrath descent upon the city. While she was in the city, Korrak had seen her in the company of a lean dwarf in a grey robe (Makal) and two bird-like people.
Korrak had also witnessed her ambush on the back path towards the keep, and had seen two trolls and a large orc (who, by description, could only be Curgeon) attack her. One leapt at her, knocking aside her rod, and the two trolls beat her mercilessly. Eventually, Curgeon ordered her to be bound and taken to the keep. He also ordered that the troll not touch Ideld's rod.
Korrak had apparently barely missed the party's arrival at Brightstone because he had been tracking a group of orcs on the way to the keep. Comparing facts with Corrigan, this was obviously the Blessed Band.
He also found that many towns in the Trialta Hills, who normally send representatives to Hill's Edge, had been deserted or destroyed, and seems grim when Kathyn tells him what happened.
Eventually the group reaches Hill's Edge, and the gates are opened for them by the city guard. However, they can progress no further, as the guards form a line before the party. One approaches Glothram, bows, and informs him that Reginar Tyrran wishes to speak with him. Glothram ensures they help Panlos, and then allows himself to be led away.
Meanwhile, another guard invites the rest of the group to the gatehouse, since Reginar Tyrran had given orders that each of them was to be questioned individually. The ex-prisoners are led away to the barracks to rest, while the adventurers enter the gatehouse. There is food laid out for the party, and they eat hungrily. They are informed that Colan Marr will come speak to them shortly, and the group makes themselves comfortable, eating and listening to Corrigan play her new horn. In mid-riff, a heavy sleep comes over her and she falls into slumber, along with Aran and Ivellios. Outside the gates, Eemin whines softly.
Glothram, meanwhile, is led into Tyrran's apartments. Tyrran informs him that it is considered impolite to enter armed into this section of the building, and Glothram obliges him by removing his sword and armor. Tyrran smiles and tells him there is someone he wants Glothram to meet. He pulls aside a curtain and Ideld steps forward.
Glothram draws his dagger and steps forward to charge, but can make it no farther as Ideld fixes him with her ice-blue stare. Glothram is frozen in place. Ideld speaks a word in her terrible language and Glothram's dagger explodes in a firework of blue sparks.
Ideld calmly gestures to a chair, "Please, Glothram, sit." Against his will, Glothram finds himself complying. Ideld holds his gaze but frees his tongue. The first words on Glothrams lips are a vow that, could he move, he would kill her where she stood. Conversationally, she says, "You've provided me an entertaining diversion, Paladin. I do so love it when they struggle."
Glothram starts to scream, but Ideld forces his teeth to bite down on his own tongue. She smiles. "Stay where you are. Reginald will tell you when you can move again. Meanwhile, I'm going to have some fun." With that, she steps out of the room, leaving Glothram to fume in his impotent anger.
Meanwhile, Seb goes to the door and finds a heavy guard at every entrance to the gatehouse. He tells the guard he wants to tend to his animal, but the guard seems reluctant to let him out. He summons over another, and whispers something. He tells Seb he is asking his supervisor, Colan Marr, about Seb's request. Moments later, three guards come back and ask Seb to accompany them. Seb tries waking his companions, but they do not wake. The guards grab Seb's arms and he only barely manages to break free and sprint down the hallway.
The guards follow him and catch him at a dead-end, cornered by a locked door. Seb, defeated, throws down his weapons and is taken in irons to a jail cell. His three sleeping companions are brought soon afterwards and placed in neighbouring cells. Later, Glothram is also brought in wrist and ankle irons, and finally Eemin, in a sack, is tossed into Seb's cell.
Ivellios, Corrigan, and Aran sleep for four days, and are disoriented for another two. On the seventh day, Colan Marr arrives and tells the group they are detained on the orders of Reginald Tyrran on the charge of conspiring with the enemies of Hill's Edge. Corrigan laughts that he has no idea what's going on, but Ivellios tries to reason with him. Neither have any noticeable effect. With a firm, "I have my orders," Marr leaves the jail.
The same day, a man in a guard's uniform brings a plate of food before Seb's cell. As he straightens, Seb recognizes the face of Korrak, the ranger. In his food, Seb finds a note saying the Tyrran has been charmed by Ideld, but that the group may have an ally in Colan Marr. He also says not to resist or attack the guards, or give any grounds to the charges against the group.
At the end of the first week, two guards carry Panlos into Corrigan's cell. His shoulder is healed, but his face is pale and his breathing shallow. To Corrigan, it appears he is under some kind of spell, though she doesn't know what.
At the end of the next week, Colan Marr appears again. He says that the witch has taken control of Reginald's mind, but that he has a plan. If the group does not hear from him in three days, they're on their own.
The first day passes without any sign of Marr, so does the second.
On the third day, Tyrran himself comes down, accompanied by Marr and carrying the group's equipment. He unlocks Glothram's cell and prostrates himself on the floor, begging forgiveness for his actions while enchanted by the witch. Glothram graciously grants it, explaining that he, too, had been placed under the charms of Ideld.
Tyrran explains that nearly three weeks before, Ideld had come to Hill's Edge, and seemed intent on finding a certain red stone clasp, then spent another week healing and meditating. For the next three days, she rallied the town guard and then took all of them to Brightstone keep. Only after she left was Tyrran freed from her enchantment. Tyrran is now distraught and without a guard.
He also tells Glothram that on the fifth day after their arrival, Panlos died. But Ideld came to him and kissed him, and since then he has been in the state we now see him. He hastily gives orders for the rest of the group to be freed and their equipment returned. Upon taking back their belongings, the group realizes that Ideld took the three remaining books, but left the rest of their magical equipment.
[out-of-game: I thought it would be really great at this point if, when the guards came to unlock Corrigan's cell, they found her already standing outside it, as a gesture that she could have escaped at any time in the last three weeks but chose not to. The GM, unfortunately, vetoed that idea, but I still think it would have been fun.]
As part of his penance for freeing Ideld, Glothram begins to help restore the town guard. The group ascertains that the ex-prisoners from the Keep are all still safe, and then proceed to take care of business. Corrigan appraises the magical items and the rest of the group to similarly down-time things.
Corrigan also, by questioning every bard she can find, finally remembers the entire Lay of Ideld. Once she hears the whole thing, she thinks there is a connection between Graszh Dur'ba'mog and Ideld. Myskal Gaunt, the Necromancer of the North and Graszh's master, was in love with a woman named Ideld when he was mortal. When Ideld was hunting down the Company of the Red Standard to avenge the death of her father, Myskal was at her side.
In their journey, Myskal and Ideld travelled north to the Spine of the World Mountains in Icewind Dale, when Myskal and Graszh met. At that point, Ideld was known as "the Corrupter," for it was rumored she served not only Orkis, demon-prince of Vengeance, but also Grazzt, demon-prince of seduction, lies, and domination, and eternal enemy of Orkis. Ideld dominated Graszh and forced him to kill and cannibalize his entire kin-clan, whence he received the name "Dur'ba'mog."
Graszh is reputed to be a mystical warrior, with a familiar in the form of a giant fiendish warg with tusks and bone plating. It is also rumored that Myskal modifies wolves with fiendish enhancements.
And so we leave Our Intrepid Heroes in Hill's Edge, in autumn, with the knowledge that Ideld is rapidly regaining her power and Bad Things (tm) are doubtless yet to come.
*****
And now, a more complete treasure list, based on Corrigan's Identify and Ivellios' appraise. Still awaiting specific numbers from the GM, but the rest of the information is accurate.
1. Curgeon's cloak: masterwork but damaged. Cloak of resistance +2, and +1 deflection to AC. It would be valuable if mended (would require 12 mending spells.) (worth = ?)
2. Curgeon's bastard sword = Exordius: +2 adamantine, with a jewel in the pommel which seems particularly necromantic. (worth = ?)
There are faded letters on the blade in an infernal dialect, describing the story of the Lych-king Ramos, who made this sword for Darnag to be a shadow on the heart of light. However, over these runes are dwarven ones carved in the celestial language.
Corrigan recognizes the story of this sword, which runs as follows: Darnag was vanquished by Aria, a human paladin of Tyr who was renowned for her piety and courage. Though the sword stole Aria's soul, it was unable to destroy it and instead the soul infused the weapon and destroyed Darnag by its purity. Aria's companion, a dwarven warrior and weapon-smith, transformed it and added the new carvings.
The sword has appeared several times in history, each time borne by a mighty hero (usually a paladin of Tyr). There is a long catalogue of powers in the stories which are not shown by Corrigan's identify. However, the stories say that a paladin who wishes to wield it fully must perform a ritual of purification on an evil holy item worth at least 1500 gp.
3. Waterskin #1: one potion of cure serious wounds (worth = ?)
4. Waterskin #2: one potion of haste (worth = ?)
5. Elven glaur (horn): gives +5 insight bonus on perform checks. Once per week, can sound horn and one designated person will hear it (if they are within 10 miles), know the bearer is in trouble, and know the fastest way to reach them. Three times per day, it can act as a knock spell if a specific trill is played. (worth = at least 940 gp)
6. Silver dagger, +2. Set with a (somewhat disquieting) aquamarine gem in the hilt. Half of the damage it deals is vile damage which can only be healed in a hallowed shrine. It also gives a +4 profane bonus to living sacrifices to demons. (worth = ?)
7. Black sapphire: contains a single limited wish, but has an (unknown) cost if invoked. (worth = at least 900 gp)
8. The books (now missing): might be from Nybor, the Thayan Zulkir of Enchantment, whose spell books are much sought after because they contain knowledge of where to find necromantic artefacts. The silver dagger (see #6) resembles an intelligent, evil weapon that contained all of Nybor's knowledge and much of her malice. However, there is nothing in Corrigan's or Ivellios' spellcasting that substantiates this suspicion. On the other hand, if it is held, it tends to point towards the black book. (worth = ?)
9. 35 gold pieces: 200-year-old coins from Halruaa (worth = 12.5 gp each, 437.5 gp total)
10. 120 platinum pieces (worth = 1200 gp)
11. a pouch with 3 diamonds (worth = 800 gp each to a gemcutter, 2400 gp total)
12. a pouch with diamond dust (worth at least 1400 gp to a spellcaster)
13. a pouch with rough-cut diamonds (worth 1600 gp to a gemcutter)
Now, I'm dead tired because it's 1 am by the clock and 2 pm by my body's natural rhythms. Somehow I need to wake up in order to start doing work at 9 am tomorrow. Sigh.
The worst part is, I'm doing more D&D tomorrow night. Can you say, "sucker for punishment"? G'night all.
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