Session 14

Location: Foghelm

Travel Details

Location Details

Basic details of the area

• Farmsteads
• People seem unwilling to talk to us
  • Aura of distinterest/wariness
• Wooden palisade around the main town
  • Doors are closed
• Population 300-400
• Inn
• Blacksmith
  • Closed

Ruins

Tasks/Goals/Mission

• Trying to solve the “curse of Foghelm”

Loot

• Orc coin
  • Made of the same material as their armo

Encounter Details

Meeting with the innkeeper

• Thrainly takes the lead on talking with the person behind the gate
• Gate opens
• Mayor John Pickerson
  • Also the inkeeper
• Thrainly invites us to the Inn and gets us free drinks
• Some people drinking
• Tells us about Gabriela Foghelm
  • Leader of the town guard
    • 40s
    • Dark grey hair
  • Been trying to figure out what it is and how to kill it
  • People are dying at night in their beds or where they are standing
• Alcazari is convinced that it is a banshee
  • Agrees to spend time building a salt circle around the town
• Two hypotheses
  • Related to the ruins
    • Kosimo and Lorian go to track this down
  • Related to the death of the first person to die (Clarice)
    • Manchineel, Thrainly, and Merkin (and Fleshy)

Investigating the Ruins

• Kosimo and Lorian
• Exploring a trap door found in the inn
  • They aren’t finding much via their investigation
• Chatting with Maurice in his room
  • Maurice of Foghelm
    • There’s a body snatcher
    • Killing the guards first
    • Conspiracy about the deaths
• Outside the ruins
  • Lorian determines
    • Ruins are about 700 years old
    • Wreckage is old
    • Militaristic
    • Built quickly
    • Nothing unusual

Investigating Taran and Clarice

• Taran is skeptical about letting us in
  • Boarded up in his house
• Questioning Taran
  • What happened at the Harvest Festival?
  • Taran’s suspicions about the curse
    • There’s a kid that cursed them
    • The mayor’s kid: Arty of Foghelm
      • Known trouble maker
      • Been dabbling with black magic
      • He’s mad at the guard

Investigating the Mayor’s Son

• Talking to the mayor about his son
  • He says his son is just a typical 14 year old
  • Likes to draw pentagrams on things
    • Pretends to be Onyx Crimson Bloodrain
  • Seems to be telling the truth
  • Warns us to be nice to him
• Talking with Arty
  • Very emo looking teen
  • Demands that we leave and wants his privacy
  • Trying to contact ancient powers
    • Drew pentagrams on stuff
    • Killed a chicken
  • During harvest festival
    • Hanging out with Eliza
      • His crush
        • Raven Darkford
        • Also wants to be a wizard
  • Thrainly reveals they are a dhampir and the kid thinks it is so cool and starts revealing things
    • Kid pulls out a leatherbound journal
    • Forber investigates
      • It is nonsense
• Talking with Eliza Raven Darkfoot
  • Has died her hair black
  • Also has a spellbook
    • Also seems to be nonsense
• We send the kids to bother Alcazari

Investigating Clarice’s Farm

• Place is decorated with mourning materials
• Discussion with Jackson (her husband)
  • Seems very tired and very sad
  • We start asking about harvest fest and Clarice
  • What happened at the harvest festival
    • Gather around
    • Feast
    • joy
    • laughter
• We discover nothing

Evening in Town

• Walking back to the town
• Lorian and Thrainly notice a large orc dressed in dark armor
  • Another figure appears dressed the same
    • Then they blink out of existence
• Kosimo detects magic
  • Senses illusion magic
    • Strong illusion magic where the orcs were
• Guards have gathered at the inn in the town hall area
  • They are very nervous
• Alcazari is there and pissed at us
  • Kosimo is going to try to diffuse the situation and sends them to talk to Thrainly
    • He’s going to talk to Alcazari about helping with the orcs
• Alcazari casts a spell around each of the guards

Night time

• We stay up at night ready to protect the guards
• It’s around 1am
• Suddenly a dark figure appears
  • Armor of this figure seems to absorb the light
  • Massive orc rams their hand into Taran’s chest
    • Whispers something to Taran
    • Orc says something else and then pulls the heart out
      • Thrainly and Merkin hear the second thing said
        • “you failed the test”
      • Lorian hears a bit of the first bit
        • something something revenge something something courage
• Merkin tries to heal Taran and causes his heart to regrow with a heal
  • Orc is furious
• Me and Lorian both hit the orc
  • Causes them to bleed
  • Dark viscous orc blood
• Kosimo detects what’s on his mind
  • Surface level thought of “vengeance for the innocent”
• The orc goes invisible and seems to run
  • I swing but hit nothing
• Kosimo is going to interrogate Taran about the thoughts of the Orc
  • Kosimo asks about the test
• Kosimo goes to talk to Gabriela
  • Who did you kill?
    • 6 months ago killed some orcs
    • Marauding party
      • Kidnapped a kid
    • Details
      • Got word that a local band of orcs were marauding
      • War party
      • Stealing shit and killing people
      • Half day travel outside the town
        • Pulls up a local map
        • About an hour and half outside town
• After the fight we yell at Alcazari about the failure of her spell
  • She casts a spell on Merkin
    • Sends him to a plane of fire
    • He comes back singing
  • Alcazari educated guesses
    • She’s asking questions
      • Trying to narrow in on what it might be
      • Probably popping in and out of ethereal plane
        • Might be using a rune in armor
        • Pretty sophisticated control
  • During the night we see a darkened orc figure appears in the room
    • It sees Kosimo and Lorian
    • It looks annoyed and then disappears again
• We tell Taran they can become a cleric and join our guild moving to Ingraham

Morning after

Orc Massacre Location

• Find the location where the fight took place
• Kosimo finds the remains of a fire
  • From there we spread out discover a camp
  • Covered with grass
  • Start finding bodies and skeletons
    • 6 or 7 bodies
      • Find some evidence
        • Some bodies are quite small
        • Two or three are much smaller
        • Also find an old cart
          • Rotting supplies
            • Knives
            • Bowls
            • Cutlery
            • Toy top
  • Together we piece together what Orcan burial rights look like
    • And, we honor the dead
      • Feels good to have honored the dead
  • We catch someone from the shadows watching us
    • Kosimo tries to talk to them and they disappear

Back in Town

• Interrogating: mayor, maurice, taran, gabriella
  • Lorian: Gabriella
    • Asks what happened with the orcs
    • Gabriella says they were a threat and so they killed them
    • Asks about whether there were orc children
      • Gabriella says she has no idea if there were kids in the heart of battle
      • Says there are no good orcs
    • Lorian can’t detect if they are lying
  • Thrainly: Mayor
    • Nothing from the mayor
    • They seem not to know anything
  • Kosimo: Maurice
    • Convinces Maurice to a spy in our guild
  • Merkin: Taran
    • Merkin ties up Taran
    • Asks about the orc caravan
      • Killed a bunch of people “probably”
    • Asks if the orcs attacked first
      • Taran breaks down sobbing
      • Babbles out that they didn’t seem scary and it was kids but Gabriella made them do it
• Reconvene
  • Talk to the mayor and try to convince him to bring in external judge/jury to adjudicate the matter
    • Kosimo lays it out
      • Evidence of burial
      • Confession from Taran
    • Mayor wants to talk to Taran
      • Taran confesses to the mayor
    • Community court

Trial of Gabriella

• Gabriella makes some impassioned pleas
• Taran gives an account
• Kosimo
  • Relays what he learned about the orc village
  • and what he knows about the orcs taking revenge
• The Town sentences her to be shipped off the magistrate for punishment
  • Debate about what to do with Taran
    • Sent along with her.
• We agree to accompany them
• On the way out Alcazari says something nice to the kids

Travel to the Magistrate

• At night at camp
  • Lorian sees three figures pop into exist on the edge of camp
    • All in light absorbing armor
  • One inclines their head and then they disappear
• Wake up and the prisoners are alive
• On top of the fire is a black disk
  • Made of a non-reflective medal
  • Has a symbol/rune on it
  • Looks like what the orcs were wearing
  • Ask Alcazari what it is
    • She holds it out and says its a coin
• Leave the prisoners over the magistrate