Session 22 – Interlude: Cultist Aftermath
Campaign II, session 22. Previous: Session 21. Next: Session 23.
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Three weeks of downtime in Vedycaer, played as three separate interludes.
ToK Crew
Week 1
Plan
You bring the black plate armor and black steel shield to the Tower of Knowledge. Your request for identification is met by a middle-aged scholar named Merovan. He’s happy to collect the fee to purchase the components needed for identification as well as his time in performing the necessary tests. He directs Tessine and Vierath to the historical wing of the library before showing Edwither to the research area.
Encounter
On the second day, on your way to the Tower of Knowledge to continue your research, you’re passing through the Old District. You hear a street bard singing about an adventuring group called “The Imperial Vanguard” to six listening residents. The Vanguard recently slew a chimera near the town of Brom and collected a large cache of dragonshards.
Recap
Tess and Vierath: After a week of sifting through old scrolls and books, you start piecing together a bit of the city’s history. You can date the initial excavation and construction of the sewers back several hundred years, to the most recent Sairan conquest of Vedycaer. You’re able to conclude that they’re most extensive beneath the Old District, and quite sparse in the Festival and Plaza districts.
Mireya: In your studies of history, you learn of an ancient elemental cult that once ruled over the lands near Vom and the Icetop Mountains. Over a century ago, Sairan crusaders drove them back and liberated the people there. The Sairan forces were later withdrawn for an ongoing war against Valeria.
Edwither: Your magic research is coming along nicely
Week 2
Encounter
day 2: on your return trip from the ToK, in the Old District. You spot a famous local bard (Rorik Thane) and his manager passing on the street. They are on their way to the Mink for a performance.
Recap
Merovan reports that he was only able to achieve a partial identification on the shield: A shield of the dragonslayer. It has a +1 bonus, and has one remaining charge of immunity to any breath weapon (will trigger automatically for the wielder). Sadly, he cannot be certain that he has found all of the properties, nor can he rule out the possibility of any curses or drawbacks, so he cannot attest to the item’s true value.
Vierath and Tessine: Your further research is stymied somewhat – it seems like maps of the sewer network, blueprints, etc have been systematically purged, redacted, or removed from the library.
Mireya: One thing that stands out this week – there’s an ancient ruin called “Loom Keep.” It was said to have been built by minotaurs, and held knowledge of manifest zones and other places of power.
Ed: Still working on the research.
Week 3
Encounter
day 6. As you are leaving from the Imperial Charter Inn, while you’re still in the Lake District. 2 bards (the Nightingales) and their manager. They are on their way to the Emporium for a performance.
Recap
Edwither has successfully identified a plate armor +1 with a base price of 5,000gp.
Mireya: In your third week of study, something that sticks out to you is the tales of so-called “halflings” that once roamed the Talenta plains. They tamed and rode enormous reptiles, and were said to have spawned two Dragon Houses. The most recent confirmed sighting of such persons was more than two hundred years ago.
Vierath and Tessine: Your researches have caught the attention of the Regent of the Tower of Knowledge, one Oureous Ambador. He is curious as to your interest in the undercity sewers…
Fenmyra
Week 1
Plan
Matriarch Aundine of the Hospital of the Binding Flame agrees to help continue your training with her sisters.
Encounter
On the second day of training, on your way through the Temple District to help at the hospitals, you hear a town crier calling out about the upcoming autumn festivals, and how Maxwell Silvermane is planning to pit an ogre against any gladiator brave enough to face it in single combat.
Recap
By the end of the week, you’ve been consistently surprised at how frequently the poor and beggars at the hospital want to avoid you and become rowdy and irritable when you approach. You aren’t sure if that’s better or worse than the patricians and wealthy who instead seem to simply look down on you. The matriarch seems to appreciate your help, regardless.
Week 2
Encounter
In the second week, day 4: on your way back to the Imperial Charter Inn, in the Lake District. The Ambador family (one of the local noble houses) is walking by, talking amongst themselves in hushed tones.
Recap
The Matriarch continues to warm to you. She confides that one of her acolytes, a young woman named Riara, went missing some time ago. She isn’t the only young clergywoman to go missing. Aundine suspects she caught the eye of a young gentleman and was too timid to ask Aundine to be released from her vow of chastity…
Week 3
Encounter
day 1. In the Lake District, on your way to the Hospital to help out. 4 proselytizers spreading the word of Talavosh, the Immaculate Hierarchy, the only begotten son of Numilvara, whose strength preserves all of Sair and whose iron law sets us free.
Recap
As your training continues, you get to know the Matriarch even better. You learn about some of the internal political struggles of the city – the Prefect is unwell, and his wife has been attempting to hold court in his place. The other councilors are divided about how to proceed. She has heard of a shrine in the Shadowmount Forest that has the potential to cure him, but does not know its location.
Zydell
Week 1
Plan
Practicing Disguise and looking for Lhazaarans?
Encounter
A wild-eyed vagrant approaches, ranting about how a death cult is murdering his friends. Eventually you manage to escape his ravings, with a slightly guilty conscience. You’re confident he didn’t see through your disguise, but something still haunts you about the encounter…
Recap
You’ve heard no word of any Lhazaaran activity this far south. However, you do hear word that Imperial forces have mustered at Gatherhold and points further south. Another Sairan invasion of Valeria is very likely to begin soon.
[This has been a relatively common occurrence over the past several centuries – you are confident that the Valerians will, as usual, disappear into the dunes and cause havoc on the invading forces, as they have done many times in the past; in the process they will bring honor to their ancestors.]
Week 2
Encounter
A traveler stops you and asks if you are a member of “that famous adventuring party, the Imperial Vanguard.” It seems like he wants an autograph…
Recap
In your wanderings and listening, you’ve heard that there are some vagrants out looking for Edrin Corvane. Nobody seems to have much information on him; he disappeared some time back.
Week 3
Encounter
A pair of mules is running rampant in the streets, braying, kicking, and biting passersby… Do you want to intervene, or get out of the way?
Recap
In addition to Edrin Corvane, someone now seems to be asking the vagrants to collect information about a pair of drow, a Throdenite, a gnome, a mage, and “some dude with a sword and a big hammer.”