Session 4: The Road to Grimmsgate

After defeating the hag, the party thoroughly loot her lair. As they gather up the last few gems, they notice that the dead whale the hag had reanimated as her lair was starting to break apart. They pile into the flying rowboat and zoom out, dodging decaying whale chunks (though Alain grabs a tooth just as they are flying out of the mouth.) They reconnect with Skyblossom and head back to Saltmarsh. There is little fanfare to be had there, though they give the Peryton egg to the town ranger. She is surprised as the egg hatches in her arms, but is taken with the cuteness of the young monster and promises the party that she will take good care of it.

The team flies back to Fandrel to meet with the Chancellor. He tells them that the Harvest Ritual was performed by Turpin while they were gone. Turpin has gone back to Rion, and the court is ready to head back to the capital at Marsay. The Primate left a note, however. There is an old, mostly abandoned village in the north part of the country called Grimmsgate. The young priest there thinks that the town's decline is caused by dark magics. Turpin himself had wondered about that, and so asked Chancellor Mazarin if he would send some people to investigate.

The road to Grimmsgate led through Rion, home of the magnificent Crystal Cathedral, and into the forest towards Andorra. As the party takes the side road to Grimmsgate, they are ambushed by a group of three werewolves! Alain is badly hurt in the initial assault, but the party fights back, and between the prowess of Ely'as knowing where to put his blade and Alain with his silver sword, the werewolves are killed, and the party can make their way into the town.

Session, oh, let's call it 3

After giving the egg to the Peryton, Kraggen, the party gathered in the square to decide what to do next. The mayor, quite flustered, gave them some money as a reward, and the group paused to consider the flock of gulls flying off to the southwest. Ola noted that, as a rule, Peryton's cannot control birds. Suspicious, the party decided to follow the birds, but they would need a ship. 

The harbormaster pointed the party to Brynn Seaflower, a middle-aged sailor staying at the inn. She had been sailing in the bay when a flock of birds attacked her and destroyed her sails. Her ship was repaired, though, and she was willing to take the party out to where she was attacked. Meanwhile, Alain visits Wildak, proprietor of the "Relic's Roadshow", to show him his sword. Wildak agrees that it's a very nice sword.

On the trip to the lair, Dyn gives Alain some tips about mapping, showing him using some maps he got from the harbormaster. Meanwhile, Ely'as mans the crows nest, and so is the first to spot the apparently dead while swimming in a large bed of sargasso. Brynn takes the party as close as she can, and the party sneaks into the mouth of the whale. The gullet leads them into the belly of the whale, where the hag is making some ritual preparations above a large open clam. The party attacks!

Ola turns into a giant crab while Dyn is quickly surrounded by the sea hag and her minions. He is doughty, however, and the fight quickly turns against the witch. She jumps into a rowboat which begins to float. But Ele'yas is able to grab the side of the rowboat and the party made quick work of the hag, much to the dismay of Kraggen who cried out "My love!" However, the party swiftly put an end to his grief.

Lyonia: House of the Beast

I must admit, I am unimpressed with Bailiff Oswald. I can see why Sir Thames, in Adreham’s Ledger may he rest, was the more senior of the King’s investigatory retinue. Our small coterie arrived to Leene by dawn’s first light following a rather uneventful journey. We were surprised to note a gaggle of villagers standing round a corpse. I had a mind to have a word with Oswald for his lack of industry in seeing to Sir Thames burial with greater haste considering the man had died a fortnight ago but we were told the body was not that of the knight at all but was instead the blacksmith, George. Concerned that Leene would soon run out of villagers, we inquired just how many such murders had taken place. The bailiff mentioned one other along with a host of farm animals.

From his description of Sir Thames and the condition of the other corpses, it appeared that poor George had died by similar means. Rather than be felled by that sinister apparatus, sharpened meat, it appeared George had succumbed to injuries from a talon or claw. Searching the grounds about the Leene Inn, we found a gory, bloody scene about some deep gouges in the ground, as might have been made by some feral beast.

Oswald implored us to travel to the blacksmith’s home several hours outside town to inform the man’s young daughter. The blacksmith was good and cold by the time we arrived so why Oswald did not move with greater alacrity to make such a notification himself, I know not. As I say, I am not much impressed by the man. Nevertheless, with some minor delays (the orcish cleric seems somewhat lacking in her facility with husbandry), we rode out to the blacksmith’s home and forge. We found the forge itself cold, the fire out completely and utterly. The home, being completely empty with no sign of George’s daughter, was nearly as cold as the forge.

In the kitchen, it appeared the floor boards had been pried up and a small lockbox drawn out. Said lockbox lay on the table unopened, though not from lack of trying. The lockbox was marked with claw-like gouges though the lock still held fast. Formidable against a feral hand, the lockbox could not abide my colleague’s lockpicks, and soon its contents were revealed. Within lay a note from father to daughter. Something about a silvered arrowhead crafted into an amulet. Against what, the note did not elaborate. The arrowhead itself appeared of elvish make and, upon further examination, like was indeed magical and carried enchantments targeting shapeshifters. For it to work, though, it would need to be shafted. How the blacksmith acquired the talisman, or found it bereft of its wooden component, he did not say. In the blacksmith’s study lay commissioned plans for an apparatus of metal bars and clasps, though we were not able to gain insight on who had commissioned the work. We did not find the blacksmith’s daughter but the state of the forge would seem to indicate she had been absent from the cottage several days at least.

Seeing no sign of George’s daughter, we searched the grounds. In the woods nearby, we found a set of tracks, small and booted. Following the tracks, the trail became difficult to follow as the trail gave way to what appeared to be a wolf’s tracks. The boot prints did not persist beyond their intersection with the wolf’s tracks and, as there did not appear to be blood or gore in the vicinity, we surmised that, despite how outlandish it may seem, whoever made them may have in fact become the wolf. Drawing this conclusion, we thought better of leaving the blacksmith’s amulet behind and instead lashed it to a supple tree branch, fashioning a crude arrow.

Returning to Leene, we implored Oswald to provide additional detail on Sir Thames’ murder. The bailiff took us to the knight’s cottage. Apparently, according to his wishes, he was buried in his garden. The townspeople noted that he was apparently killed some creature with large claws. I thought that an odd custom but who am I to question the aristocracy. Looking through the man’s effects, we found a letter detailing parameters for an apparatus similar to that identified among the blacksmith’s papers in his study. It appeared that Sir Thames himself had written a missive atop a stack of parchment. Like any decent cartographer, I was able to make a rubbing of this missive. It seemed to corroborate our concerns of a shapeshifter looming about and made reference to a curse and discussed the movement of a silver longsword to a drop point marked by an oak tree to be left after the full moon, which we calculated to take place in the next few days.

Crucially, whatever foul creature besets the village of Leene, it apparently does not seem to conform to parameters normally confining lycanthropes. It seems as though this evil is able to control its transformations, and may even be able to obscure its condition during a full moon. Oswald has wasted valuable time in his lack of deliberacy. We must redouble our efforts if we seek to prevent further tragedy from befalling the village.

Regional Map

 Below is a rough map of the area around Perrin. There are mountains and the Dwarven city of Agron to the north, and Wemic country across the river to the west. The road past the Inn of Bonne Jouissane leads to Leene, and eventually to Rion.

Meet the Party

Remy Martinix:

Fabala Martinix has worked as a vintner all her life. She was born into a family that has worked for the Assez family since her grandfather was a young man. Working on the largest estate in the area she's had the opportunity to meet all the royalty and traveling adventure's that pass through the area. This was how she came to meet Movan Jon. Movan would pass through town visiting his family that lived locally when his adventures would take him close enough to the area. This meeting would turn into a little boy months later long after Movan was off again on his travels. 

The Assez family was ecstatic when they found out that Fabala was pregnant. Another generation of vintner born on the estate would be a delight for both the family and the region. 

Remi was born and raised by a village as the expression goes. His mother, his fathers family and the Assez family. Movan would return to town once he found out about his son. Though Fabala had more then enough help with Remi, Movan would always take time with his son when he was in town. The Jon family had much to teach their newest family member. Elven culture, history, lore, fighting and magic. Remi would learn all there was to learn about his fathers heritage. The Assez family also took it upon themselves to educate Remi. With teachers hired and a library to rival any other in the area Remi soon found himself focusing on magical studies. 

Reading any book or treatise on the arcane and occult only helped to increase his thirst for knowledge. This thirst has proven to be expensive and not willing to stay and work on the estate Remi finds he must enter the adventuring world to seek knowledge and funds to further his studies.

Bart Stoneriver:

Bart is a young dwarf who has been working as a miner since he was knee-
high to a gnome. Always been fascinated by the legendary arms and armor his people crafted and their famous warriors, he set himself on a path to exceed the exemplars in both craft and deed. From fighting underground horrors who would raid the ancestral mines of his clan to apprenticing in the arts needed to craft the tools of war he put himself in a position to travel the lands and temper himself into a dwarf worthy of recording in the book of deeds.

He is in the region prospecting having heard rumors of mines containing rare ores and tombs from which he might access runes to further enhance his work. He is awkward around non dwarves and would generally find himself much more comfortable trading blows than retorts and prefers crafting to chatting. 

Gnormal Gnickelhammar

Gnormal is a Sensate gnome of the Animal order. He was hired by a wild animal show that did a few shows outside of Perrin to track down some creatures that escaped, and he's down to the final pair of animals. Gnormal has always had a way with animals.

Rashid Cindercone

Ash is a dark-skinned man, actually with some Ifrit blood, though he keeps this close to his chest. He was born far to the east, but his parents came to Nisay when he was younger, and he's led a nomadic existence since then, working as
a traveling faith healer and fortune teller who makes most of his money giving seances to grieving widows, taking their money and giving them some comfort in return. He keeps secret his faith in the Old Gods, for which he has been cursed by the Valharim.

Perrin

 

Perrin is a small Lyonian town of about 150 families located on the Paix river. There is a relatively even mix of Dwarves and Humans in the town, with a relatively low population of elves and few other ancestries. The town is relatively isolated from the rest of Lyonia. There is no road to the south due to the harshness of the terrain between Perrin and Vauban. To the north, Agron road leads past fens to Castle Amber, and then into the mountains where the eponymous town lies. To the east, the Old Rion Road leads through the Dwimmer Hills to Leene, eventually ending at Lake Leriel before the Crystal City. To the west are the lands of the Wemic tribes, though there is no known place to cross the Paix this side of the Bowl of Gentry.

The chief industry of the region is wine making. Most families have at least a small plot they take care of, and the vines of the noble Assez family, residents of the Chateau de Ville, are especially prized. Barrel-making is also a significant industry. In the Dwimmer Hills are several large copses, and in addition to being used for wine, many of the barrels are shipped north for the Dwarves to use to make Dwarven Ale and brandy (sometimes called Agronac). 

Lyonia

Map courtesy of Inkarnate

Lyonia is the most populous and richest of the young kingdoms, known across the world for the quality of its wines. It was founded shortly before the Second Demon War by the adventurer known by Charles the Mane. He made common cause with the wemics, who had suffered at the hands of the independent baronies to their east. To the north is the Senj, a harsh and barren land nominally claimed by Lyonia, but largely lawless and infested with pirates and bandits. To the south is the Gwynn, hill country inhabited by a proudly independent people.

The capital of Lyonia is Marsay, located at the joining of the Peregrine and Kell rivers. Rion is in many ways the spiritual capital of the country, known for its cathedral and beautiful stained glass. Lyonia is one of few countries in this age prosperous enough to have a small standing army, and the pride of the army is the Order of the Chalice, dedicated to questing and the knightly arts. Despite the excellence of their military, the two times Lyonia has tried to invade Fogelon have resulted in draws. Many of the nobility are members of the Order of the Golden Pheasant.

Lyonia is ruled by King Louis Phillippe, a weak king of dull mind. He is a good man, but usually lacks the strength of character to go against his advisors. His main advisors are his chancellor and his vizier. The level of taxes is set based on the old charter given Charles the Mane by the Solarian Empire, and if the King wishes to raise more money, he needs to go to the General Estates, composed of the major nobility. The General Estates are administered by the council of Special Masters, who meet often outside of the auspices of the General Estates to consider concerted action for the good of the realm.