"This was supposed to be the easy part of the journey!""You've retreived the Book of Chains, and you've left the howling wastes of NorthEast Ghelspad behind. You just need to travel the 230 miles across Vesh to Lave. The roads are paved, and there's supposed to be a inn every 10 miles. Compared to Mount Cragmore and the Blood Basin, this is a paradise on Scarn."
"What possibly could go wrong? You're in Vesh, for Tanil's Sake!"
"But then there was the incident with the Drunk Halfling Ghost. And today you were taunted by some psychotic killer in black armor who left you a gift of hacked up Veshian militia."
"When did Vesh become so dangerous? And how did your homestretch cakewalk become a deathtrap deathmarch?"
Late afternoon, 2nd Hedraday of Corer, very late autumn - next month is the beginning of winter. It's getting chilly, though it's warmer than it was in the mountains. We finish digging a large grave and burying the pieces of the Veshan militia. Miriel consigns their souls to Madriel. We can't find the guy in black armor. Paks and Chuck look to see if there is any evidence of the black knight, but can't find a trace. Paks takes some of the rope the bodies were bound with.
Miriel says we should get moving. We set out. After two hours, we come upon the small hamlet of Tallow. We're all pleased at the idea of sleeping in an inn tonight. We find the town's only inn, the Wild Boar. Paks pays for our meals and rooms out of the party fund.
As we're eating, we overhear people talking about how some of the local militia have disappeared. Paks asks where they are headquartered, but the town is too small to have a specific building, so she asks for the leader, who is at the next table. Paks goes over to tell them what happened. They identify the killer as "The Huntsman" who has been terrorizing the area for the past 18 months. Stone suggests that they shouldn't take turns being militia anymore. They tell us more stories about how he ambushes militia and vigilants.
Stone and Chuck suggest that we could dress up as militia and wander the woods. The town leader says that the Huntsman usually moves on, not striking in the same area twice.
The next morning we wake up (Stone has been drinking all night) and come downstairs to find Stone eating breakfast, which he cooked. Miriel picks up four loaves of bread from the kitchen. It's a lovely crisp autumn day. Nothing of note happens; the road is well-paved and we pass farms mostly. Stone ranges around, since he can move even faster than the horses. Once he comes back carrying a small piglet. Miriel starts to reprimand him, but he says he bought it. We pass small shrines along the way to Tanil, Enkili, Madriel, and occasionally Denev. Miriel asks to stop briefly at one of the shrines to Madriel. By evening we reach another little hamlet, Willow Creek. We find the inn, the Fox and the Hare. Stone pays them to put the piglet up in the stables, and takes out some stew for him after dinner.
It's very dull in the common room. Stone drinks all night again, and cooks breakfast in the morning. Miriel exchanges the day-old bread for fresh. We head out again. The next evening comes along and we do not find a town as it is getting dark, but we do come across a shrine to Tanil, where it seems that people have been camping. Chuck says that it's been a two or three days since anyone camped here. Chuck checks around the area looking for ambush points. He finds signs of a struggle, maybe a couple of weeks old. There is some dried blood.
We set up camp. Stone offers to keep watch. Miriel casts bread of life on the bread. Goldpetal turns into a panther and goes to sleep in one of the trees. Around midnight, Stone hears a noise. He tells the pig to be quiet and moves towards the sound. Suddenly he is rushed by three people, two guys in armor, plate mail and chain mail, and a woman in studded leather.
He shushes them, then steps up and attacks the guy in chain mail. As he steps up, he finds that they smell awful and their skin is really pale. He hits the guy in chainmail, then swings again twice, but misses. The guy in chainmail swings a longsword at Stone and hits. The guy in platemail swings a bastard sword at Stone, but misses. The woman attacks him with a short sword and misses.
The rest of us are awakened by the noise. Paks stands up and casts Divine Favor on herself. Stone aims a hammerblow at the guy in chainmail and misses. He swings twice more and misses. He steps back a little to bring them towards us. The guy in chainmail swings at Stone with his longsword again, but misses. The platemail guy swings again and hits. Stone: "Ow. You guys are fun!" Telryn stands up and casts a flaming sphere at the guy in platemail. The woman in leather armor steps up to Stone, drops her sword, and tries to bite and claw him. She bites him and gets him with one claw. Goldpetal jumps from the tree he is in to one closer to the attackers. Chuck stands up, pulls out his bow and shoots at the guy in chainmail. He bumps into a branch as he shoots, misses, and is stunned. Miriel stands up, invokes Madriel, and tries to turn them, but they are unfazed.
Paks mounts her horse. Stone attacks the guy in chainmail and hits once, missing the other two times. He drops his longsword and tries to bite and claw Stone, hitting with one claw. The guy in plate mail swings with his bastard sword and hits. Telryn moves under a tree and casts a lightning bolt at the guy in plate mail and the woman. The guy in plate mail is hit hard, but the woman dodges it. The woman claws and bites at Stone again, but misses. Goldpetal jumps down on the guy in plate mail and tries to grapple him, but the guy throws him off. Miriel casts a Searing Light at the guy in chain mail and hits.
Paks charges the combat on her horse. The horse bites and strikes with its hooves, hitting with one hoof and crushing his head. Stone tumbles back past the other two and gets bitten by both of them as he passes. He attacks the guy in plate mail and hits. The guy staggers as Stone punches him in the head, but is still on his feet. He swings around and swings his bastard sword at Stone, but misses. Telryn moves the flaming sphere at him and hits him with it, killing him. Telryn casts a magic missile at the woman ("Dodge this, bitch!") and hits her. She bolts away. Goldpetal charges after her and slams into her, grabbing her and raking her with his claws. Miriel waits to see if anyone needs help, since the fighters seem to have the situation under control. Chuck moves towards them, then shoots at the woman, grazing her.
Paks charges again, and the horse hits her with hooves. Paks swings and hits her hard, killing her. Stone charges too, but then stops short. Miriel tells him to eat a piece of bread, then checks out the bodies. At first they look like zombies, but then she sees that they are morgaunts. "Uh oh, they're morgaunts! there's a disease common in SW vesh where people get infected by these parasites that make them want to eat people's brains." She checks Stone to make sure he is not infected, but luckily he looks fine. Paks asks if we should be trying to curing them, but Miriel says that after the first 24 hours, nothing can be done (cure disease before that), and that all that can be done is to burn them. We light a fire to burn the bodies. Paks checks her horse out. Stone takes the bastard sword and shoves it through his belt, after cleansing it in the fire, as Paks does with her sword.
We go back to sleep while Stone keeps the fire going. Telryn does a detect magic, but nothing is magic. Paks notes that the longsword is a masterwork sword and she takes it for resale.
We wake up to the smell of smoke; we see a large column of smoke to the southeast. We grab a piece of bread each, mount up immediately, and head towards it. Telryn casts Mage Armor on himself as we go. Five miles down the road we find a town burned to the ground. It is surrounded by soldiers with swords and spears out. They have sun insignia on their armor and are herding the townspeople to one side. There are about thirty of them. Paks says "what goes on here?" "There was a morgaunt infection and we had to burn the town." Paks says "yeah, we ran into some of them." Immediately they point their swords at her and tell her she has to be inspected. "Who are you anyway?" "Order of the morning sky, an order of Madriel." Stone puts the piglet on the ground (on a leash) and moves into the corral, but Paks insists on being inspected right away, and they direct her to a tent to talk to the captain. Dorwin Lightspear. "I'm a Paladin in one of the orders of Madriel" "Which order?" "The Angelic order, minor initiations. I can't catch this disease, and I can help remove it - not a good idea to put me in the corral when you can use me." He gets some healers to check her out and they say she's clear. She asks if she can help cure anyone. She goes with the inspectors to help.
The rest of us arrive. They hail Miriel and she inquires what's up, then tells them that she's checked the party out. They start justifying their attack on the town and argue with her over the best way to deal with morgaunt infections, but at last she says in a conciliatory manner that the important thing is to help the people still alive here, and offers to help. She is more interested in making sure they don't hurt the villagers, as they clearly have enough healers here. Miriel tries to reassure the terrified villagers and promises to look after them; they seem to feel better, but still fear the Morning Sky healer/warriors.
Paks talks to Dorwin about the Huntsman; they have encountered traces of him as well, but have no more information about him. We stay around to make sure the villagers are well treated - we do find out that they will be relocated, but it's pretty grisly when someone can't be saved, as they fight and try to attack others and have to be speared and beheaded.
After two more days of travel, it's getting dark, but we're just outside of Lave, so we decide to press on. It's raining pretty hard, with thunder and lightning, which inspires us further. Stone runs ahead and lets his piglet, Thumper, play in mudholes while he waits for us. As we approach the city, we see that the thunderstorm appears to be centered over the city, with bolts of lightning seeming almost aimed at buildings in the city. As we get closer, we see people feeling the city. They tell us the city is under attack by rat men, asaathi, and dragons! Paks says "I don't see any dragons" - just as she says that, we see a huge flying shape appear from behind the city and breathe lightning. We hear stone and wood cracking as it is hit by the blast. Some suggest that we run away, but the rest of us say that we need to deliver the book, so Stone starts to charge into the city.
Goldpetal turns back into an elf and points out that there is a storm hag in the clouds. Paks asks if they are attacking the capital or looking for the book? Telryn points out that they are probably after the amphora, as they have been.
We head into the city. The outskirts are full of people trying to escape the attack. It is fairly easy to pass unnoticed in the chaos. We notice that part of the city is on fire, the area where the hall of command is. We reach the city walls. The gates are forced open and the blackened bodies of the guards lie in front of them. As we go through the gates, it's total chaos, with people trying to bind wounds, extinguish fires, hide, or escape. We see a skirmish of guards and rat men in the courtyard ahead of us. At least 15 rat men, and 11 citizens.
Goldpetal moves his horse around the corner, dismounts, and ties his horse up. The rat men battle with the guards. Paks charges in on her horse - the horse attacks with hooves and bite, but misses. She hits with her sword, killing the rat man, but then falls off her horse. The guards keep fighting the rat men. Telryn moves in and shoots a couple of magic missiles at the rat men. He kills one. Miriel blesses everyone. Chuck shoots three times and hits twice. Stone charges in and hits one of the rat men, killing it.
Goldpetal draws his scimitar and charges one of the rat men, but misses. The rat men try to hit the guards, but miss. One rat man attacks Goldpetal, but misses. One attacks Stone and hits him. Paks and the horse attack - the horse misses, Paks hits with her sword twice, killing the rat man. The guards kill four rat men. Telryn pulls out his crossbow to shoot at the rat men, but can't control his horse and has to stop to grab the reins. Miriel waits to see if anyone is injured. Chuck charges with Hoarfrost (Hoarfrost!) and hits a rat man, killing it. Stone attacks a rat man and pulverizes it, then rushes across the courtyard; a rat man swings at him as he moves, but misses.
Goldpetal swings at the rat man in front of him and grazes one. The two near him attack him and hit, but don't hurt him much. The rat men get one soldier. Paks follows Stone. Telryn watches. Miriel dismounts and tries to lead her horse through the battle, towards the injured guard. Chuck swings at the rat man in front of him with both swords and kills it, then moves toward one of the others. Stone continues to run toward the Hall of Command with the book.
Goldpetal attacks the rat man again, grazing it. Two rat men attack him, one hits. The other two try to bolt, but are cut down. Paks calls to Chuck and Goldpetal to mount and follow, then chases after Stone. The guards charge the rat men and dice them.
Miriel heals the unconscious guard. The two untied horses are gone, and the tied one has been stolen. We all follow after Stone, moving slowly due to the crowds and panic. It's like swimming upstream, and we reconverge soon. Telryn levitates and starts flying over the buildings, but tries to be inconspicuous. Chuck asks a passerby where the Home Commander is, and is told at the Hall of Command.
As we get near the hall, a woman with a baby in her arms bolts towards us, seeming to almost leap over us. Behind her is a big snake, about 30 feet long, with blades coming out of its head.
The bladehood leaps forward and bites Stone, then grapples him. Thumper is killed by a blade. Stone punches at it, hitting twice. Telryn flies in and casts a lightning bolt at the two Asaathi and the serpent. The Asaathi are cooked. The serpent has a weird hex symbol on it which glows and absorbs the lightning bolt. Goldpetal moves forward and attacks the bladehood with his scimitar, and hits. Paks and her horse attack the bladehood. The horse hits with both hooves. Paks hits twice with her sword. As she's attacking, she looks into the snake's eyes, but manages to break free. The Asaathi race towards Paks and Goldpetal. Goldpetal is hit, but Paks is missed. Chuck moves up and tries to attack the bladehood, but it transfixes him with its eyes, and he feels his blood slow down as it looks at him. Stone "Shoot the creature!" Chuck shoots twice and hits once, luckily hitting the monster and not Stone. It keels over. Miriel moves up and casts a searing light at one of the Asaathi, hitting it. Stone punches it, finishing it off.
Goldpetal moves around and attacks the remaning one, but misses. Paks and the horse attack; the horse stumbles, but she manages to stay on, but misses hitting it. The Asaathi attacks Goldpetal, but misses. Chuck calls to Stone to ask if we should subdue it and question it. Stone says sure, but then Chuck stabs at it, but misses. Miriel waits until someone needs healing. Stone moves behind it and punches, trying to stun it, but misses. Telryn checks to make sure no one is coming.
Goldpetal swings and hits. Paks and the horse attack; the horse hits with a hoof, but Paks misses. The Asaathi swings its scimitar at Chuck, but misses. It curses Mormo. Chuck swings with Hoarfrost (Hoarfrost!) and hits hard, killing it beyond all hope of healing. Paks cleans her sword. Miriel casts a Lesser Restoration to cure Chuck's dexterity loss.
Just beyond where we fought are the walls of the Hall of Command. The gates are open and it appears undefended. The door of the villa are closed, almost ominously so. Stone scrambles up to the top of the wall and looks over, but he doesn't see anything. The entry is a stair leading up to the closed double doors. Chuck moves up the stairs. He sees fresh blood beside one of the doors. It's still very quiet. Telryn flies over the building to see what's up. Paks rides her horse up the stairs. Telryn sees four turrets with archers, so he hails them and starts to descend. They ask who he is.
The doors are wooden and open inward. Stone kicks at them, smashing them open. "Heroes home!" We see a trail of blood across the green rug leading to a door - it looks like a body was dragged that way. Chuck opens the door and finds a water closet with the bodies of three dead guards, who were probably the door guards. He looks to see where the tracks of whatever dragged them lead and finds them. We head off after them.
We find a lump covered by a blanket. Stone pulls off the blanket, and we see a burn victim. He's wearing a light robe. Chuck looks for ornaments, and notices that his throat has been slit. Chuck searches for tracks again, and follows them to another door, which he opens. He sees the body of a young woman in the vestements of Tanil, lying on the floor. We look at her closely and find she is dead, but the blood pooling under her is still running, so she was probably killed very recently. This is a storage room, with bandages and other implements of healers. There is a locked hardwood cabinet on the wall which Stone tries to open, but fails. Chuck tries to pick the lock and fails.
It's still very quiet, but every once in a while we hear a big thunderclap. Stone tries to open the cabinet again and pulls it off the wall. It's full of potions and a wand. Miriel looks at the potions; they are marked with the symbol of Tanil. Stone sweeps them into his bag of holding.
We start up the stairs. It goes up to a landing, with two doors, one on either side. We go through one door; there are lots of beds and tables, clearly an infirmary. Along the north wall is a full herbalist table. Miriel refills her healing kit, just in case. We open one of the doors and are hit with a blast of rain. It's a balcony. We move back into the room and shut the door. We head up the stairs again.
Chuck finds two more bleeding bodies. Miriel looks at them, but they are beyond healing, though they were killed recently. The were stabbed very precisely in vital areas. Chuck follows the bloody tracks down the hall and waves to Telryn to follow him, bringing the rest of us. As Chuck climbs the stairs, he hears the sounds of battle, so he readies his bow. As he reaches the top of the landing, he sees what seems to be a attic, full of old furniture covered in canvas. He hears the sound of combat coming from the next room, accessed through a heavy steel door which is currently open. He sees Amra Verith, Kelemis Dern's secretary, cut down a rat man - "And stay down!." Against the walls of the room are glass and wood cases with artifacts in them.
Paks casts Divine Favor on herself as she climbs the stairs. Chuck sees that Amrath is surrounded by the bodies of five rat men, and the body of Kelemis Dern. As she sees Miriel she says "thank Tanil, a healer! Kelemis Dern has been gravely wounded! Help me!" Miriel rushes over, Stone right behind her. Goldpetal searches the room for hidden doors.
"Hey, you're those adventures that Kelemis sent out to research the amphora? Quick, get the amphora - she points at one of the cases." Stone opens the case and grabs the amphora, opens the bag, and puts it in.
Miriel examines Kelemis Dern. His blood is fresh, but his limbs are rigid and hyper-tense; it looks like someone used a paralytic poison to render him helpless before killing him. Amra puts an arm around Miriel, as if to comfort her, but tries to scratch her with her nails. She scratches Miriel, who feels clumsier - "Ow!" Chuck sees Miriel grab her shoulder and Amrath tries to grab his, but she fumbles slightly and is off-balance.
Chuck tries to sneak attack her with Hoarfrost, but she dodges. "What are you trying to hit me for?" He swings with Hoarfrost again, but misses. "What are you doing? Cut that out!" Telyrn hastes himself. Paks steps in and swings at Amrath, hitting her. Miriel casts Hold Person on Amra, but it fails. Stone tries to punch her and subdue her, he hits, but she is still awake. Goldpetal draws his scimitar and attacks her, but misses. She tumbles behind Telryn, right by the window and tries to stab Telyrn with one of two swords that she draws. She hits him. Miriel is paralyzed.
Chuck tries to hit her with Hoarfrost, but misses. Telryn moves past her; she attacks him and hits him. He shoots two magic missiles at her. Paks steps up to her, and she takes an attack of opportunity on Paks, but misses. Paks swings at her, but misses. She swings again and makes a double critical hit. Stone steps over and punches her repeatedly, hitting twice. Goldpetal moves over and attacks her. She hits him as he comes by. He hits her with his scimitar. She tumbles through the window.
We hear her shout "help, I'm being attacked!" to the guards. Chuck tumbles out the window and tries to shoot her, but misses. She calls "they're trying to steal the amphora!" Telryn flies out the window and shoots two magic missiles at her. She falls over and slides off the roof. Telryn shouts out "She's a traitor!" Chuck shouts "She killed Kelemis!" The horse runs around to Amra at a command from Paks and tramples her. Paks moves back into the other room and checks on Miriel. Two archers shoot at Chuck; one hits. Two shoot at Telryn and miss. Stone leaps to the ground and sees that Amra is dead, so he rifles the body. Goldpetal tries to tumble out the window, but fails. He falls on Chuck, but that helps to steady him and he doesn't fall further.
Chuck pushes Goldpetal back and tries to climb back up. Telyrn activates his ring of cover, shouts "Kelemis is down" and flies back in the window. Paks gives Miriel a potion of Nullify Poison, and she feels much better, but is still paralyzed. Two archers shoot at Goldpetal, one hits and he is unconscious. He slides a bit, but catches on a shingle before falling off the roof.
Chuck climbs back out and gives Goldpetal a potion of healing. Telryn goes to watch the entry. Paks checks on Miriel and Kelemis. Two archers shoot at Chuck; one hits. Goldpetal tries to see what happened to Amrath, but can't see her.
Chuck climbs back in again. He tells Goldpetal that Amra is dead. He reaches out to Goldpetal to help him climb in. Telryn waits for the authorities to arrive and arrest us, but is distracted by the artifacts. Paks picks up Miriel and starts to carry her out, slowly. Two archers shoot at Goldpetal, but miss. Goldpetal climbs back in, with Chuck's help.
We (except Miriel) discuss what to do - Stone suggests opening the book and trying to figure out how to destroy the amphora. Paks thinks we should take the book and amphora and flee the city. Stone digs out the amphora and shows it to Telryn. Goldpetal has a ring of Titan detection, and it's going crazy. Paks sees that it's really evil, Telryn sees that it's really magic. Chuck thinks we should destroy it right away. Paks thinks we should leave. Chuck agrees, finally. Stone tosses Miriel's pack in his bag of holding, picks Miriel up, and we start down the stairs. As we start down, we see the stairs packed with Veshan militia. Stone pulls out his sword, covertly winks at the group and says "I lay my sword before you. This evil was not our doing. I am an exemplar of Hedrada." They say "That remains to be seen; you're staying right here until Tropheon arrives." Stone sets Miriel down. Goldpetal asks how long it will take Tropheon to get here - five minutes, he's just across the compound. The guards send three to check on Kelemis. Paks tries her diplomacy on the guards.
The guards come back and say "Kelemis is dead and the amphora's gone! Where is the amphora?" Stone says "Maybe it's on her, we came and found her with the body." Telryn slaps Stone on the back of the head and says "We have the amphora for safekeeping." Tropheon comes back with the priestess of Tanil. He recognizes us; Telryn starts to tell our story but he cuts him off and leads us down to a nice apartment, which is nonetheless obviously a prison. He tells us we have to stay here until the battle is sorted out. Stone asks "Aren't you going to destroy the amphora?" He says we'll get to that later. They try to take the book and the amphora, but Stone shoves them back in the bag. They double the guard and leave us.
Goldpetal learns lesser restoration and casts two on Miriel. She then casts two more on herself and is back up to full dexterity. She also heals herself. The night passes, dawn comes, and they bring us food, but no one else comes. They bring food again, and we ask how goes the war, they say they're just cleaning up, the fires are out. After a late meal, a bunch of dignitaries finally show up. Thorn, head of the Hornswyth Vigil, Tropheon, and the high priest of Tanil, Erem, all appear.
Paks starts to talk, but Miriel stops her and says to let them start. They ask for our story. Paks asks for a priest of Hedrada to verify the truth of our story and a priestess of Madriel. Thorn says that Grilliam and Fox are on their way, but the priestess of Madriel is tending to the wounded. Paks tells the whole story.
Thorn asks for the book and the amphora. Stone sighs and pulls them out. He then pulls out some cheese and starts to nibble on it. Erem casts detect magic on them and confirms that they are the real items. Thorn says that our story agrees with what they know already - they tried to resurrect Kelemis Dern but his spirit refused the call. Erem conjectures that it's possible the Dern is heartbroken over the betrayal of his most trusted lieutenant. They questioned the corpse of Amra as well. Paks says we took the amphora to keep it safe, they say she got us to do it because the case had protection from evil on it. They also appreciate that we didn't steal anything else. Stone pulls out the potions and wand from the apothecary room. The priest says we can keep the potions (of cure light wounds - 1d8), but takes the wand back.
Paks asks about the service for Kelemis Dern. Telryn asks who is taking his place; Thorn says he has assumed the role of provisional Home Commander until they can hold a special election. Stone asks to be present for the destruction of the amphora. They say sure, but the book is in Infernal, and it will take a long time to translate. Thorn says tomorrow after things are more settled, come see him at Vigilant headquarters to talk about rewards. Telryn asks if we can stay here for the night. Paks offers to help around the city, which is enthusiastically accepted. Miriel heals Telryn, then heads off to the hospice of Madriel to help with the wounded. Paks puts herself at Thorn's disposal. Stone spends the night in the kitchen making Thumper into sausage.
The next morning, we are given choices of enchanted swords or armor from the armor. +1 items. Or, training in exotic weapons, if it is something they know how to use, or 8 skill points in something the Vigilants know how to teach.