Oh my…the party has stepped in some deep…snow. Embroiled in a fey invasion and, more to the point, preventing it. How minor and yet how important can a single letter…u vs o…be? In this case, very. Travel through the Feydark, a visit (conjugal for one) to everyone’s favorite Auntie, transported to the far west of the Vale, and then hobgoblins and a fugitive kobold, and finally a kobold clan to save from said hobgoblins and evil “fleshy” (human). There are multiple plot lines going on at this point and I have a sneaking suspicion that another one might be about to hook the party.
Let’s go find out.
The human turns from the bone door to face the party.
- His face is tattooed to look like a skull. He calls for Ironfang and he’s informed the ogre is dead. The man says that he is a servant of the Prince of Death, Orcus, as he grabs a gem hanging from his neck and smashes it to the floor. Smiling, he says the screaming should start soon. It does. Kobolds are screaming back in the main caves. Some of the party dashes back and the ogre has been animated. It is, of course, killing any kobolds in reach.
- As the combat goes on with the ogre, there is a large throne in this particular chamber…way too large for a kobold or even a human. A purple gem set in the back of the throne glows and pulses. When Nalniss tries to smash the gem, it remains undamaged. It does stop glowing once the ogre zombie is defeated. The gem is taken. (At some point, I believe that the kobolds tell the party that the throne and gem were here when they moved in.)
- Back down with skullface, he’s been tied up. Looking at the bone door more closely, it has a series of five glass half-spheres across the center, horizontally, filled with some greenish liquid. Long worms are undulating within. Skullface seems keen on the party smashing the spheres. Using various magics, the party ends up doing that, unintentionally at first. Each sphere releases its worm which flies out at one of the party. The group has no issue breaking each sphere and dispatching the worms. Keyholes are hidden behind where the spheres had been. Clearly, no one has been in the chamber beyond in quite some time.
- Large chamber that had seen better days. Debris from the ceiling and walls is scattered about. The floor is pitted and blackened in various spots…most likely from spells or other magics. A purple glow emanates from a pit in the center of the chamber; slurping type sounds can be heard in the pit. An obviously evil altar is up against the far wall. A large, translucent red crystal (about a foot long) floats a few inches above the altar. Upon a closer look, the crystal is mounted in a frame of putrid steeel (remember that stuff?); a small skull with four horns is embeded in the crystal.
- Some bone creatures slurp their way out of the pit. Slain! The crystal is wrapped in some cloth and Nalniss stashes it in her pack.
- Skullface agrees to pretty much share all the information he has IF the party will drop him in the pit after they kill him. The dude clearly didn’t fear death at all. He provided the following info:
- A man named Cyrak is the leader of the Cult of Orcus in the Nentir Vale. He is currently pretending to be one of the Mages of Saruun (or an apprentice) and resides in the Seven-Pillared Hall. The cult’s goal–surprise, surprise–is to siphon energies of the Shadowfell to the Vale and unleash the undead hordes of Orcus. Blah, blah, blah…death and destruction.
- Cyrak sent Mirtis to this area to expand the reach of the cult. Also, there is a rift to the Shadowfell beneath a nearby keep, aptly named the Keep on the Shadowfell, that Mirtis is to open. It is protected by magics but only a matter of time before those are defeated.
- There’s also a mohrg (and type of undead) buried with something called the Mirror of Shadows, supposedly reflects your Shadowfell self and can absorb souls. A man named Mortu was overseeing the dig site working to unearth the above.
- The Bloodreavers work for the cult and have been useful in “enticing” the kobolds to work at the dig site and in obtaining other prisoners for Mirtis.
- Another important cultist is Bairwin who is the shopkeeper at Winterhaven’s general store. He recuits new converts and helps to funnel sacrifices and slaves to Mirtis.
- The red crystal is the Ruby of the Damned. It allows the holder to bind undead to them. Skullface wanted it so he could unseat Mirtis as the leader of the cult in this area.
- The purple gem is a Vampiric Gem. It allows one to use their own life force to inflict harm upon others. The gem also gives comfort to nearby undead.
- Skullface had no problems providing all of this information to the party. He almost seemed to enjoy it at times.
- He is killed and his body dumped in the pit.
- With the permission of the kobolds, the party uses magic to collapse the chamber…it didn’t take much.
- The kobolds are very pleased, reclaim their own temple, and are happy to the let the party rest and recuperate in their home. The next morning the party strikes out for the dig site. Kin leads them.
- A number of hobgoblins and a single human are guarding and directing kobolds in the excavation. Fiona is able to scout invisibly. It looks like they’ve recently reached some sarcophagus and have just removed the lid (amazing timing, aint it?). It contains a rather tall humanoid wrapped in some sort of linen or other cloth. A tendril or tendrils of some fashion are loosely wrapped around the body.
- The party positions themselves strategically and attack. It is a pretty brief fight before all of the hobgoblins and the cultist are slain. And that, of course, is when the body in the sarcophagus begins to stir.
- Ripping from from skin and cloth, the creature is some 12-feet tall and its tendril lashes out. It proved to not be nearly as dangerous as it looked and the party took it out fairly quickly.
- A velvet bag with a dark metal mirror is found in the casket, presumably the Mirror of Shadows.
- Kin then leads the party to the nearby hobgoblin camp. The party defeats the various hobgoblins and other defenders to free the kobolds held here. The kobolds are sure that there is another hobgoblin camp somewhere, but they do not know its location. With that, the party and the kobolds say farewell and head their own ways.
- Continuing on towards Winterhaven, a bit before dark, the party spots a farm. The sheep are still out in the field, unattended. A man in the doorway of the farmhouse, dressed in leather armor with a sword in hand, is spotted by the party. He quickly closes the door.
- Fiona scouts invisibly, peering into a window. There are a man and a woman tied up, sitting on beds. Two other men, equipped like the prior chap, are guarding these apparent prisoners.
- The sheep are consulted (magically of course) but little is learned despite it being odd to not be in the barn yet.
- The party breaks through the front door of the farmhouse. Some bandits are within, one holding a sword to the throat of a young girl. Other party members pass through the bedroom window to deal with the other two bandits.
- After saving the day, the party is able to talk with the farmers (Ainsley, Alban, and daughter Alena) as well as interrogate the bandits. The leader is named Abner (it was an A day for names) and he immediately tries to throw the other bandits under the bus. This leads to all of the bandits freely talking.
- They work for Bairwin, the storekeeper in Winterhaven, and capture people that they give to him. They don’t really know what Bairwin does with the captives. They just deliver them wherever Bairwin tells them to take them and hand them over, often to hobgoblins.
- Next morning, Nalniss uses her Artisan’s Blessing to make a new door for the farmers. The party then heads on with the bandit prisoners in tow.
- Passing a number of additional farms and getting various interesting looks, the party eventually arrives at Winterhaven. They quickly get an audience with Lord Padraig, sharing the information that the bandits had provided.
- When they get around to asking about recoving Son’s Sliver from the Padraig family crypt, the lord gets a hard look on his face. After sharing information about their various exploits to date in the Vale, Padraig acknowledges that they are not doing this for their own gain and agrees that they can get the spear.
- First, however, Bairwin needs to be dealt with. Lord Padraig insists that additional evidence must be acquired as he cannot condemn a pillar of the community just on the word of a bandit.
- The party comes up with a plan of having Fiona act as a cultist and deliver the Mirror of Shadows to Bairwin and get him to confess. An invisible Padraig will enter with Fiona to hear what Bairwin says. Things don’t quite go as planned.
- Bairwin insists that Fiona accompany him and leads her through a trapdoor and down to an evil shrine beneath his shop. A few cultists as well as several zombies and animated skeletons are within. A dark altar has a dead child upon it. Bairwin welcomes Fiona as a fellow cultist of Orcus and asks her to lead them all in prayer. Fiona stalls long enough for the rest of the party to find her and the shrine.
- Bairwin is captured. One cultist tried to escape through a secret door, inadvertantly showing its location to the party. It leads to a small room with some shelves and a roughly dug tunnel leading away. Some additional information is discovered about the cult in the form of missives from someone named Mirtis, apparently delivered on various past dates.
- The cult is looking to open a rift to the Shadowfell that likes beneath “the keep.”
- Someone named Cyrak seems to be in charge of the cult and is sending additional forces.
- The Bloodreavers are active in the area and helping to collect the humans for sacrifices for the “23 enigma.”
- Kobolds have been enslaved by the Bloodreavers. Their lair was above the Shrine of Pati and are being used for excavating the Mirror of Shadows.
- Other cultists are operating in the area. Some have been tunneling to the Padraig crypt and will then connect Bairwin’s shrine.
- Another scout, who is not one of the faithful, is also working for Mirtis in the area.
- Bairwin has been providing supplies and well as captives to Mirtis. Mirtis is about halfway complete with his ritual and will let Bairwin know when he’ll recover child sacrifices.
- Lastly, Bairwin was instructed to kill Tod (apparently the name of Skullface from the Bone Door at the kobolds. He has become too ambitious for Mirtis.
- Padraig executes Bairwin and asks the party to explore where the tunnel leads. They agree. It leads to the Padraig crypt and the party encounters more cultists and zombies, defeating all.
- Reporting back to Padraig, he accompanies the party into the crypt and opens one sarcophagus, removing a slender spear and hands it to the party.
That’s a good spot to stop with this recap. The party has the item that they hope will meet their bargain with Talavi (and screw her over in the process). As I suspected, we now have a whole new set of plot threads and more of the current threats in the Nentir Vale have been introduced to the heroes of the Vale.
