July 13th, 2013

Prelude to Kingmaker

DM: Mike

Cast:

Krysalis, human sorceress - Sally

Makani Evergale, human druid - Melissa

Sol'kesh, human inquisitor - Arren

Hargus, human cleric - Kevin

We began this session by introducing Sol'kesh, brother of (and replacement for) Val'kesh, and by recapping what we knew or guessed about the story so far. We believed that Aladrin had come into the possession of an important House Cannith text after the death of her mother, which she then took to her uncle, the professor at Wynarn University. A warforged agent of the Lord of Blades then killed her uncle (and may have been responsible for her mother’s death as well), but could not obtain the tome because of our interference. The Lord of Blades (or his servants) then sent another warforged assassin after us, and located us using a Cannith artifact that points the direction to the book. Meanwhile, House Cannith has employed us to recover the book, the ring, and to locate Aladrin, but we still do not trust their intentions so we have not yet revealed that we have recovered the book already.

Our investigation had only one lead: Aladrin’s interest in a nearby ancient Cannith cache, located in a forgotten temple to Onatar, which a trio of bandits had discovered and made into their hideout. The town guard had captured one of the bandits earlier, but they could not force a confession from him, so we still did not know the location of the cache. We discussed plans to use the captured bandit to unwittingly lead us to the hideout, but after lengthy discussion we decided instead to research the known locations of old temples to Onatar.

Securing mounts from House Cannith, we trekked to the only location we uncovered in our research, about a day’s ride from Fairhaven. We found the entrance to a small cavern off the main road, and figured that was our destination. Krysalis cast light and we entered into a small chamber which lead to three possible routes. Taking the path to the right, we came a dead end, and before we could turn back, the walls of the cave came alive with thousands of scurrying beetles! Quickly we backed away after our druid realized that conventional weapons could not harm the swarm, and we had no torches, alchemist fire, or fire spells. We retreated outside the cave and discussed our options when the clang of armor clad feet interrupted our discussion. Two brigands strode forth from the cave, brandishing swords, murder in their eyes. We reacted quickly, raising our defenses and casting our spells, but the pair swiftly flanked Hargus, and in a flash he lay on the ground, bleeding. Sol’kesh stepped up to face them, aided by the druid. Togther they whittled at one of the seasoned warriors, while Krysalis put the other in a deep sleep. Once the fighting stopped, Sol’kesh healed Hargus, and we planned our next step.

We discussed various options for disposing of the brigands, but in the end opted to turn them over to the authorities in Fairhaven. Before we gave him up, one of them revealed that the Cannith portion of the Onatar shrine was warded by a symbol of pain. We stocked up on torches and alchemist’s fire and delved back into the ancient shrine. Our first mission was to torch the beetle swarm, and the fire proved effective in burning them. The commotion drew the attention of a small colony of rats, which immediately charged us. Sol’kesh and Hargus held the rats at bay, while the druid summoned a dog to help, and Krysalis put most of them to sleep. We then planned to venture further into the cave...


Next week, the Myers return to gaming, so we will resume our Rise of the Runelords campaign!