Session 13: Pyrrhus, Wearing Melpomene's Face

After defeating Lucan, the party decides that, given the lateness of the hour, they will just hunker down for the evening. They go through looting the house, finding several valuable items, among them an amulet of false life and a flute of the dancing satyr.

As part of his star-pact, Berekhan goes out to study the stars during the course of the evening. When he does, he finds Dayman hiding under the stairs, and brings the coward into the house with them. Berekhan then seeks out an actual bed and settles down for the evening. The rest of the party sleeps in Lucan's living room, keeping a close watch for any threats. Though creaky and drafty, the house remains still throughout the course of the night, and they awake safely in the morning.

The next day, they decide, after some discussion, to return to Urlsav to retrieve Erevan and make their way back to Zaimier to claim their reward, if possible. (Dayman doesn't exactly come willingly, but he is unable to escape.) This requires them to travel back up the river to Cornosis; however, Kriv is able to summon them some phantom steeds and they are able to make better time going overland, and in fact reach Cornosis in only a day and a half.

In Cornosis, they come to the temple of Avandra there once more, and pass through to Urlsav. In Urlsav, they break the unhappy news of Maivera's apparent death to Maxé. Though saddened, he takes comfort that Maivera died serving Bahamut, defending friends. Kriv, though, hangs onto the hope that Maivera might still be alive, and asks Maxé to assist her in doing a Sending ritual. They are unable to contact Maivera, though.

Collecting Erevan, the party makes their way back to the temple of Avandra in Urlsav. The chatty elf priests there strike up another conversation with them, and on their suggestion, they teleport this time to Summercrest, putting them that much closer to Zaimier. However, they still have a two-week journey through largely unsettled forest ahead of them, and it is late in the day. They elect to stay in an inn overnight.

As they are settling in for the evening, a knock is heard at the door. They ask who it is, and Maivera's voice responds! The party fills a thrill of hope and excitement, but they are also immediately suspicious and wary. They do not open the door right away, questioning the voice, trying to determine if it is actually Maivera. The voice asserts her identity numerous times, and finally they open the door. It indeeds looks like Maivera, but the party is not convinced. Rougi is particularly suspicious, fearing there is something duplicitous about her. Kriv ends up casting Discern Lies, and some of Maivera's statements, especially those about her identity, appear to be lies. Yet the person in front of them swears up and down, earnestly, that she is indeed Maivera. She gives evidence that seems sound, and can't be caught in an obvious lie.

After long debate, the party decides to return to Urlsav to get Maxé to test this person's claims (much to Kava's exasperation). 'Maivera' allows herself to be bound and tied to Dayman and Erevan, and marched to the temple of Avandra for the trip. However, as they approach it, Berekhan attempts to intimidate 'Maivera' with talk of Maxé's power and integrity as a cleric, and his long relationship with the real Maivera. Her show of confidence rapidly deteriorates, and then suddenly she disappears! The cord binding her to Dayman is cut, and within moments there is no trace of her.

Disgruntled, the party returns to the inn and sleeps the night, which passes without further incident. The next morning, they go down into the tavern to have some breakfast, prisoners in tow. As they are eating, the bartender attempts to strike up a conversation with them, but the party is in a hurry. As they turn to leave, he throws out after them, "By the way, Cabal has come to respect you as enemies, but would like you to be his allies."

The party's is of course a bit thrown, and immediately on their guard. The man introduces himself as Corrigon and says that Cabal sent him to make an offer - stop seeking to bring him to Vondal, and come and work for him instead. The party is actually somewhat amenable to the offer; they know they will be paid, and can probably convince Vondal to take Erevan and Dayman as enough. They do however want some assurances that Cabal is not going to require them to do things they aren't comfortable with (primarily murder). To this, Corrigon is evasive, and basically says Cabal expects a pledge of loyalty without equivocation. The party asks for some time to consider the offer, but Corrigon says that he has to know right now. After a few frustrating exchanges, Kriv says she would like to cast Hand of Fate to know what course of action to take. Corrigon is agreeable, but says he wants to go with them to wherever she goes to cast the ritual.

The seven of them (Corrigon, the party, and the bound Dayman and Erevan) slip into an alley behind the tavern, where Kriv casts Hand of Fate. It recommends that she return to Vondal, and reject Cabal's offer. The party decides to follow this recommendation, and tell Corrigon as much. To which, he sighs, and declares, "So be it then."

At this, Dayman's and Erevan's bonds fall away, and they attack!

A chaotic battle erupts in the confines of the alley. Corrigon actually falls early on, sliced to pieces by the fury of Kava's greataxe. The party is puzzled by Erevan's escape and Dayman's sudden boldness, but are not reluctant to lay into them. Very quickly though, two townspeople that were just wandering the street also whip out weapons and rush into the fray. In the heat of the battle, one of them, as well as Erevan, disappear. Rougi tries to slip through the fight to track down his prisoner, and finds some of his footprints leading off, but can find no other trace. However, before the battle ends, two more 'townspeople' come to replace them.

Kriv pushes her way out of the alley, and lets loose a blast of lightning breath, scorching one of their enemies badly. However, behind him was standing another townsperson. She had figured this was one of their enemies in disguise, and had not been careful to avoid him. When the smoke cleared though, she saw this townsperson on the ground, unarmed, innocent, and dead. A dark pall settled on her heart, and though she fought on bravely, she was horrified by what she had done.

In between fierce blows, the party demanded from Dayman why he was doing this. He claimed he was being controlled, that this wasn't his idea, but he did not stop attacking. Even after he was K.O.-ed, and then healed, he only began to attack once more. Finally, they were forced to cut him down for good.

It was a wearing and confusing battle, and the party was spent by its end. Berekhan's spells had all but expended themselves, and Kava was beginning to weaken under the enemy's blows. But in the end, Corrigon, Dayman, and three 'townspeople' lay defeated at their feet. And then the most extraordinary thing happened - their appearances all changed, and they came to look like gray-skinned humanoids that resembled in no way the people they had been just seconds ago. Dayman was not Dayman at all, he had been an imposter! Kava realized their enemies were all dopplegangers.

The party wanted answers. They stuffed Corrigon's corpse into Jaden's leftover bag of holding, and made their way back to Urlsav through Avandra's teleportation circle. Once there, they compelled Maxé and Kriv to cast Speak With Dead. All in all they got three questions, and learned that Cabal was currently in Zaimier, and that Dayman and Erevan are dead, and their corpses lie in their beds at the inn in Summercrest. The party returns to the inn to find that Corrigon had not been able to deceive them in death. Dayman and Erevan's remains had already been discovered. It looked like the doppelgangers had gotten to their prisoners at some point, killed them, and taken their places in order to strike at the critical moment.

Somewhere between dejected and furious, the party realized that after all this effort, they had only corpses to bring back to Vondal. They decided they were going to return to Zaimier though, if only to find Cabal.

Rewards

XP: 450 each

Money: 600 gp (150 each)

Treasure:

• Amulet of False Life +2 (Player's Handbook p. 249)
• Flute of the Dancing Satyr (Player's Handbook 2 p. 210)
  Carved from wood and inscribed with arcane glyphs, this flute can play a tune of speed and elegance.
  Level 6 Wondrous Item, worth 1,800 gp
  Power (Encounter): Move Action. You shift 2 squares, and each ally within 5 squares of your destination space can shift 1 square as a free action.

Interlude: Level Up!

All right, with the XP gain from last session, you are now all at Level 6!

• Since you're moving up into an even-numbered level, your level modifier will now go up by 1 (to +3). This means your skills, your attack modifiers, and your defenses should all go up.
• Increase your hit points, bloodied point, and surge value. These numbers come from your class description.
  
• At this level you gain 1 feat, and 1 utility power. Look at your class description for these.
  
• Check all your feats, particularly your class and racial ones, to see if they improve any by gaining this level.

If anyone wants to do any retraining (i.e., change one feat, power, or skill), this would be the time to do it.

Session 12: Death of a Hubris

The party runs out of the cavern where their encounter with Cabal took place, passing back through the egg cavern to the tunnel fork that led them this way from the start. They take the right fork this time, leading them down into another cavern. However, there doesn't appear to be any exits from this cavern besides the one they just came in through, and there's nothing in here but some discarded gems and jewels. Frustrated with their inability to do anything to help Maivera or give any hurt back to their enemies, they make the long journey back out into the daylight.

When they emerge back out into the forest, dusk is falling. Kriv leaves behind her holy symbol, as a sign to Maivera, if she survived, that the party made it, and that they can find her again. They put some distance between themselves and the cave, and then camp for the night. No Troglodytes are spotted during the night, so the party is able to rest and recover from their ordeal.

In the morning, they make the rest of the journey back to Prosepilis, where they do some shopping, beefing up their armories and unloading some of the treasure they found down in the cavern. From there, though, they are not exactly sure what to do next. Dayman is not very helpful either; in fact he says that he is done hanging with the party, that he's going to go his own way. The party pounces on him before he can get far though, and decide they will take him to Maxé too, to ask him to keep Dayman a prisioner too (and to let him know about Maivera).

Dayman, in what is obviously a last-ditch attempt, suggests that they go see Lucan. He's a hermit that lives off in the swamp; it was from some of his people that Dayman first found out about the cave and was able to buy the inscription for the lock. Lucan, Dayman says, is the guy you go to if you need information. The party is a little skeptical, but doesn't really have any other options. When pressed, Dayman admits that he's never actually met Lucan, that he discourages visitors, and is generally thought to be kind of dangerous.

It only takes a few hours to get to Lucan's home, which is set back in the swamp. When they arrive, they find an old, traditional-looking manor home, set on a large open lot ringed about by huge swamp cedars. The party is wary, and they decide to leave Rougi in the trees while they approach the house, so as to have some backup. However, they have only gone a couple of yards past the treeline when savage-looking creatures begin to claw their way up through the soil and start attacking them.
These sharp-fanged monstrosities don't prove much of a threat, though, and the party makes short work of several. However, more keep popping up as they strike them down. But the battle has not gone on long before a commanding voice calls across the lawn. A man clad in dark red robes is standing on the veranda of the manor house. He beckons the party closer, calling off the attackers, and identifying himself as Lucan. He welcomes them to his home and apologizes for the attack; he says those creatures are meant to keep out thieves, but he doesn't feel the party has come to rob him.

The party warily approaches him, and he invites them in. A beautiful woman is waiting inside; Lucan asks the party if they want anything to eat or drink, and this woman, whom he calls Zalasta, goes off to get it. Lucan then invites them into the drawing room, and they sit down to talk. The party says they want information; Lucan says he is happy to give information, that is what he does, but it comes at a price. He also says that he does not give out information about himself, and repeatedly deflects such questions. The party says they have questions about Cabal; Lucan names a price, and the party (but mostly Kriv) forks over the money.

Lucan settles back in his chair, and asks them how much they know about the dragon Tubaloth. The party remembers that the kobolds in the Forest of Tryn worshipped Tubaloth, but really don't know much else. Lucan says that, according to legend, centuries ago, a great dragon named Tubaloth lived in the Mountains of Tryn. Like most dragons, Tubaloth had acquired great wealth, and hoarded it jealously. Somewhat unlike other dragons, he regarded the very mountains themselves as part of his treasure trove, knowing them to be rich in minerals. He regarded any attempts to mine, however small, to be theft, and would brutally punish any offenders. However, over seven hundred years ago, Tubaloth disappeared from this world, and now no one is even sure if he ever actually existed.

Lucan says Cabal, at least, belives himself to be in the employ of Tuabloth. Cabal is scouring the world’s records and markets, following some strange path through the economic records of the last seven centuries]. It is an exhausting task, but he has an endless supply of platinum and valuable items at his disposal somehow. Perhaps the most puzzling aspects is that when Cabal comes to the end of certain line of money, he hires a group of thieves to steal it, giving them all they could possibly need to do the job. Lucan seems to approve of Cabal's ruthless and bizarre nature. The party asks where they can find Cabal now, and Lucan says that he has a base somewhere in Mt. Thrain, which is the mountain on which Zaimier, the dwarf city their adventure started from, has been built.

Throughout this little interchange, some of the party notices that Lucan seems to be almost transfixed with the Eladrins, particularly with Rougi. He barely looks at the other party members, and when he speaks he seems to only address Rougi.

When the party has decided they've gotten enough information for the prices Lucan wants, they thank him and prepare to leave. Lucan then stands and declares that the party is free to leave - except Rougi. He has decided that Rougi must stay. They demand to know why, and at this Lucan smiles, baring his teeth, including his two sharp, pointed fangs. "To join me," the vampire lord says with an evil smile. "To join me in subjugating the world."

The party needs little encouragement. Their weapons flash, and they attack Lucan. He is not easily damaged, and seems almost indifferent to their attacks at first. He comes at Rougi, intent with drinking his blood, and very nearly succeeds. To make matters worse, Zalasta returns, and seeing these people attacking her master, joins the fight. Kriv and Kava order the pseudodragons into action, and they pin her down while Rougi feebly attempts to fend of Lucan. Berekhan and Kava bring their full powers to bear, though, and after a few substantial hits, Lucan no longer seems amused. Zalasta cannot reach him, and before long he is looking worried and then panicked as they pummel him. Zalasta finally breaks free of the pseudodragons, but it is too late; the party cuts her down. With her last breath, she whispers "Lucan", like a lover's whisper, and then she is gone. As her body sucumbs to death, an illusion falls away from her, and they see her corpse with leathery wings and a pointed tail.

Lucan, staggering and bloodied under the force of the party's attack, watches Zalasta's death in horror. In this state, he is unable to sense how weary the party themselves is becoming, and decides to flee. He dissolves before their eyes, transforming into mist and then he is gone. The party spits insults after him, feeling themselves cheated and robbed.

Rewards

XP: 500
Money: 3,300 gp
Treasure: None

DM's NOTE: I'm very sorry this took so long to get out!

Session 11: Anima Sola

After recovering from the battle with the Sahuagin, the party makes their way up to the cavern. The journey takes pretty much all day, and dusk is falling when they arrive. En route, they ask Dayman what exactly they should expect. He says that he's not sure; he knows that magical thieves, like the kind that Cabal has been hiring, have used this cave as a lair. He says he's hoping to find some clues as to who Cabal is and what he is trying to do.

Upon arriving, after a little discussion, they decide to encamp for the night to give the magic users (Maivera, Kriv, and Berekhan) time to study and prepare some rituals. The night passes; Maivera spends most of her time in prayer to Bahamut, while Kriv studies some rituals. The next morning, Kriv brews some healing potions and gives them to Maivera and Berekhan. Then, armed and ready, the party has Dayman make the incantation that opens the cave doors, and head in.

The cave is actually more a tunnel, leading down and down into the side of the mountain. For two hours the party marches forward. They find discarded treasure and such, and pocketed some valuable items, but by and large do not see anything worth noting.

After two hours, the party finally comes to a fork. They decide to go left. Almost immediately they are 'attacked' by a ghostly figure. However, it passes through them, and they realize it is just an apparition. Kriv, however, as the creature passes through her, hears a voice in her head say "Remember." She thinks back to the time when she encountered a Deathlock Wright in the caverns near her home, and how after defeating that enemy, she and Kava decided to go adventuring (which of course is what led them to meet up with Rougi and Jaden in that tavern in Zaimier).

It is an odd encounter, but nothing else seems to happen, and no other creatures or enemies present themselves, so the party keeps going down the tunnel. After about another fifty feet or so, Kava, who is in the front of the group, sees a light in front of her. They reach an opening, and Kava steps into a large cavern. It is about 50 feet wide and 100 feet to the back, and has a roughly oval shape. The room is actually mostly a pit, set about 10 feet down from where Kava currently stands. A shelf about ten feet wide rings the room.

The party all files in and they look down into the pit. It is filled with eggs, hundreds of eggs, and not small ones either; each individual egg is about the size of a human head. The room is bathed with an unearthly glow, and looking closely, they realize that sometimes the eggs move, twicthing ever so slightly.

Suddenly, a shout is heard from across the cavern, and from around the 'walkway' comes running four large bluish-green lizards wielding spears and looking as if they're out for blood. They charge towards the party, shouting curses in Draconic. The thought passes through Kriv's head that these are Troglodytes, cursed minions of the Underdark, but there is no time to ruminate on this.

A savage battle follows. This time Dayman does not run, and even manages to score some good shots with his crossbow. Maivera, conversely, seems a tad intimidated, and does not manage to connect with even one attack. The rest of the party, though, wails on these attackers: Berekhan unleashes some fearsome spells, while Kava spins through the horde, her greataxe whirling with death. The battle is hardly one-sided; Troglodytes stink to high heaven, and the smell distracts them to the point that their attacks are less effective. Still, it is not long before all four Troglodytes lie dead at their feet.

They take a short rest at this point. They are not sure if the the Troglodytes were guarding the eggs, or if the eggs were just incidental. Kriv shoots one of the eggs with her crossbow, but nothing happens, besides some yolk leaking out. Rougi decides to climb down and pick some up; he loads them into the Bag of Holding he took from Jaden, then smashes a couple. When still nothing happens, the party decides to move on.

There are two exits at the back of the cavern; the party makes their way back and chooses the left again. They go another thirty or so feet through the tunnel and find themselves in an even larger cavern. There are two openings at the sides of the room, and it is once again towards the left-most one that they make their way. However, they have made it only a few feet when, from out of the rock floor, over a dozen Troglodyte warriors burst out, and attack. Strangely, they do not use their weapons, but rather grapple each one of them, shouting at them to "give up!" and "hold still!".

The party resists at first, and take out several of their enemies, but are puzzled by their actions. They rarely strike with their clubs, and usually only if provoked first. They seem more interested in tackling them and keeping them restrained. Plus, a figure at the back of the room occassionally call out at them to not resist. So after a few rounds they decide to just wait and see what their enemies have in mind.

From the back of the cavern, the figure walks towards them. Stepping into the light, he confirms their suspicions; he is in fact Cabal. He says that he needs to know who they are, where they came from, who hired them, and what they know about him - he says their quest has wasted far too much of his master's time already. The party tries to ask him questions; he dismisses their queries shortly, demanding they answer his. Berekhan is the first to volunteer information, telling Cabal that he is not really part of their quest, but explains it to him anyway. Cabal repeats his inquries, and the rest of the party answers with what they know of him. (Berekhan manages to teleport close enough to attack Cabal, but it fails, and he is quickly restrained again.)

Cabal seems not terribly satisfied with the answers the party gives: he keeps repeating his questions, and makes it known that he intends to let the Troglodytes torture them in their evil religious rites. The party eventually becomes tired of his questions, but he continually refuses to answer theirs. They do touch an nerve, though, when they accuse him of being a thief - he snaps that he is not a thief, but rather a punisher of thieves. They are able to probe a little further and find out that he isn't really concerned with general thievery, just thievery from his master. But beyond this he is very closed, roughly deflecting their questions.

The party says they have nothing more to tell him. He declares that he thinks they're probably telling him the truth, but he figures he may as well torture some of them to be sure. "Start with the half-wit and the half-breed" he instructs the Troglodytes: they start pulling Maivera and Dayman away. Maivera lets herself be pulled a short distance away from the rest of them, then turns back and says to Kriv, "Remember, Bahamut has great things in store for you!"

Then she turns and spits hard into her captors face. To everyone's surprise, a rock flies out of her mouth, hits the lizard-man in the nose, and rolls onto the floor. Another Troglodyte picks it up. Cabal shouts, "Wait, don't-!" but not before the Troglodyte says, "It says, 'Boom'".

An explosion rips through the cavern. The Troglodytes restraining the party are knocked back, releasing them, while the ceiling caves in around them. For a second everything disappears in a haze of collapsing rock and swirling dust; when it clears, a thick wall of boulders has been formed, cutting the cavern in half. Dayman, Rougi, Kriv, Kava, and Berekhan (as well as six Troglodytes) are on one side, while Cabal, Maivera, and the rest of their enemies are on the other.

The party quickly eliminates the rest of the Troglodytes. They then try to listen across the wall to see if they can hear what is going on. There is a lot of shouting, and the phrase "Go around!" is heard. The party decides there is nothing they can do for Maivera at the moment, and turn to flee the cavern. Kriv is striken with grief at leaving Maivera behind, but she follows.

Rewards

XP: 750

Money: 500 gp

Treasure:
You found several pieces of valuable loot in the cavern:
- Razor Armor +2 (Lvl 7) [p. 231 Player's Handbook]
- Safewing Amulet +2 (Lvl 8) [p. 251 Player's Handbook]
- Dynamic Belt +2 (Lvl 9) [p. 253 Player's Handbook]

Interlude: Level Up!

With the XP gained from last session, everyone will now be moving up to level 5. Brad, since pretty much everyone else is at 6,400 XP now let's just say that's where you're at too.

With level 5, you gain one additional daily power. See your class description to pick the one you want. As always, be sure to pay attention to the prerequisites. While you're looking at your class description, be sure to check and see if any of your class features or other powers increase at level 5, as some do. Finally, be sure to increase your hit points (which will increase your bloodied and surge value) by the amount your class description specifies.

Don't forget, this week we're playing on Friday night. See you at our place at 6:30!

Session 10: Old, New, Borrowed, Brute

Rougi, Kava, Kriv, Maivera, and Jaden make preparations to leave Urlsav for Prosepilis. Maivera suggests they leave Erevan in the Maxé’s custody, so as to not have to drag him all over the place. The party agrees, Maxé accepts, and they head for the temple of Avandra.

The elf cleric that assists them at the temple is chatty, and asks where they are going. They tell him that their eventual destination is the city of Prosepilis, but that they're going to Summercrest for now in order to make their way downriver to their final destination. The cleric says that, if they would like, he can send them to Cornosis, a city that is a little better than halfway between the two cities. The party agrees, hoping to shave some time off their trip.

They arrive at the temple of Avandra in Cornosis, and waste no time making arrangements for their trip downriver. As they are heading for the docks, they pass a cloaked human. Suddenly, Jaden stops, does a double-take, and exclaims, "Berekhan!" It is an old friend of hers, another star-pact warlock. He doesn't quite recognize her at first, but then it comes back to him. They catch up for a second, and Berekhan says that he is kind of drifting at the moment, looking for work. Jaden asks if he'd like to join them; their little quest keeps snowballing, and some extra hands would be good. He accepts, and heads down to the docks with them.

Cornosis is a port town - you can't spit without hitting a riverboat captain, and so securing decent passage takes almost no time at all. The two day trip downriver to Prosepilis is uneventful. Upon arriving at their destination, the party wastes no time tracking down Dayman. The word on the street is that he frequents the Dragonbeard Inn, so it is there that the party heads. The innkeeper tells them that he is not there at the moment, that he kind of comes and goes, sometimes he'll just disappear for days at a time. The party decides to get rooms of their own, and wait it out.

In the meantime, though, they sneak up to Dayman's room, and easily break in. Rummaging around, they find a lot of maps and books, and one map in particular catches their eyes - it is a map of Prosepilis and the surrounding region, with an area to the northwest of the city circled in a dark red. They figure it's as good a lead as any, and that they'll head that way. However, since it's already dark, and it's probably a couple of miles away, they settle in for the night. Rougi decides to spend his trance hiding underneath Dayman's bed so he can't come and go during the night and escape their notice.

The night passes uneventfully as well, though, so the next morning the party gathers to head out. They all show up but Jaden, and after an uncomfortable amount of waiting, they go up to her room to see what's going on. She's not there, but all her stuff is. Going back downstairs, they ask the innkeeper if he's seen her; he says, yeah, she headed out last night. They figure that there's no point in looking or waiting for her, that she must have had something she needed to do, so they leave a message with the innkeeper and head out.

The area around Prosepilis is hilly and thickly forested, so by midday they are only about halfway to the location on the map. As they break for lunch, they hear someone approaching, someone not making any effort to be stealthy. Before long, a figure comes into view from around the trees, a skinny Eladrin male. At the sight of him, Maivera leaps to her feet and cries out, "Dayman!"

Dayman takes one look at the group before him and bolts. Kava is too quick for him though, and pounces, grappling him and holding him in place. He thrashes and shouts things like "why did he send you?!" and "he's not what you think!" It takes a while for Maivera to calm him down and ask him what he's talking about. He had thought 'Vizen' had sent them, and when he realizes that the party is also looking for Cabal, he calms down considerably. He still seems very jumpy and not quite all there, but he makes no other move to escape.

After a little more talking, they all figure out that the place on the map that they were heading to was a series of caves rumored to be a stronghold for 'magical thieves', as Dayman puts it. He said that you need a certain incantation to get through the cave gates, and he has it, but it is written down on a piece of paper back in his room. He is unwilling to let one of the party go back for it without him, and they are not willing to let him out of their sight. So they all head back into town.

Dayman talks non-stop on their trek back. Apparently he has been on the trail of Cabal for many years, and has become more than a little obsessed and paranoid. He does offer one useful piece of information though - the prophet to the Kobolds that the party learned about during the battle of Joff was in fact Cabal! Dayman is relieved that the party has encountered them, for some reason.

Arriving back at the Dragonbeard, the innkeeper says that there was a bit of a commotion earlier; apparently a dead Tiefling female was found at the waterfront today. Kava, Maivera, and Kriv head down to the beach, while Berekhan, Rougi, and Dayman head up to his room to retrieve the paper he needs. The girls arrive at a grassy knoll that slopes down into the harbor, and see it littered with the corpses of several sea-creature looking humanoids. A tree stands in the middle of the knoll, and slumped against it is Jaden. Some unknown cleric is crouched over her, and her friends realize with a start that she is still alive! They rush over to her, pushing the other cleric out of the way (he didn't know what he was doing anyway). Kriv calls Jaden's name, and she looks up at them blearily, uncomprehendingly. Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she appears to summon the last of her strength to grab Kriv's arm. "You're next," she croaks. She coughs a mouthful of blood, and then collapses. Kriv tries to cast a healing spell, but it is too late - she is already dead. Her last words expended the last shreds of life she had left in her.

Mournfully, Kriv casts Gentle Repose on Jaden's remains, and they take her body away.

Back at the inn, Dayman easily locates the paper he needs, which Berekhan promptly takes. Dayman is angry, but Berekhan points out that there is less risk this way; if Dayman is somehow killed, the knowledge of how to get into the caves will not be lost with him. They also inform Dayman that he won't be sleeping in his own bed tonight; a decoy of pillows will, while Rougi trances underneath it again. Dayman is livid at these interferences, but he cannot do anything; even though he's furious, he's afraid they're right.

When the girls return with Jaden's body, Berekhan tells them that a warlock would want to be cremated, and they give her a final send-off. With this somber mood, they turn in for the night.

The next morning Rougi, Kava, Kriv, Berekhan, Dayman, and Maivera gather to head back to the caves. Dayman suggests a slightly quicker route to the caves that goes through the marsh at the edge of town. The party sees no reason not to, so they follow him.

As they are passing through the marsh, they hear something moving in the water, and then a sea creature like the ones Jaden killed steps out of the water onto the road in front of them. He snarles at them in Abysmal and then attacks Kava with his trident. At this, four more like him swarm onto the road behind the party. Dayman, seeing this threat, turns and runs for his life.

A fierce battle ensues, the party and these creatures slashing and shouting at each other in a chaotic interchange on the soggy road. Maivera and Kava both take beatings, but Kriv's healings keep them on their feet, while Berekhan blasts them with deadly accurate spells. Rougi and the pseudodragons methodically picked off the four in the back while Kava pounded away on the one in front. Kava's opponent was quickly disarmed and fighting for his life. He began to plead with her in Common, but she did not stop till he was K.O.ed. A few short rounds later, the other four enemies lay mouldering in the marsh.

The party bound up and then resuscitated the leader to question him. He was guarded and unfriendly, but Berekhan threatened to melt his skull, and that got him talking. It came as little surprise to the party that Cabal had hired them, a deal they accepted because he promised them power over the people of Prosepilis. After questioning him, they make him promise to leave them be, and then release him. He makes as if to walk off, but as soon as he reaches his dropped trident, he picks it up and hurls it at Kava. He misses badly, but is left with no time to mourn his inaccuracy; Rougi's blades and Kava's greataxe pierce him, and he crumbles for the last time.


As the party loots the bodies and recovers from the fight, Dayman wanders back to them, sheepishly applauding their good work.

XP: 1350
Money: None
Treasure: Kelp Robe (magic cloth armor) (Lvl 8, Armor Bonus +2, Market Price 3,400 gp)

Session 9: Hunters

As the party prepares to leave Erevan's house, they hear a large creature making its way up the cliff behind them. A huge shape flies through the air, and then a dracolich crashes down in the front of them! An intense battle follows - the party pulls as one and even though this monstrosity pounds on them, they pound right back, and defeat it soundly, phylactery and all.


The party returns to Summercrest and retries for the evening. The next morning, they avail themselves of the clerics at the temple of Avandra to transport them to the city of Urlsav. Maivera has told them that her mentor, the cleric Maxé (pronounced MAH zay), can help them located Dayman, so they head to the temple of Bahamut in Urlsav.

Arriving in Urlsav, they go to the temple, and tell Maxé some of their story, and after a little convincing, he agrees to help them. Together with Maivera and Kriv, he withdraws into prayer and meditation, consulting with the spirits of the sages, saints and deified heroes of Bahamut. Twice they do this. They are able to determine that Dayman is currently in Prosepilis, a port city on the ocean that divides the continent where Summercrest and the region of Tryn is and the continent where Urlsav is. (It is a month’s journey across the ocean from Urlsav, but only a week’s downriver from Summercrest.) They are not able to locate Vizen, but are able to determine that Vizen is actually a pseudonym, and that his real name is Cabal.

Rewards

XP: 700
Money: 1,720 gp (430 gp per player)
Treasure: None