Session #47: The Long-Awaited Victory

The party persisted and brought down the griffon as well. They then continued their journey to Korth.

The next morning, 5 Barrakas, Tselem made another attempt to cast Remove Dragonmark on Caraas d'Deneith, and this time he was successful! Casting the ritual did of course take the entirety of the day.

The next day, 6 Barrakas, the party was able to learn that last night, several high-ranking members of House Deneith left the enclave very secretly. The party remembered that House Deneith had a cabin/hideaway type place in the Karrnwood north of Atur, having once faced Zelian d'Deneith there. Based on the information they had it seemed like the most likely place for Caraas and his lieutenants to have gone, so they decided to head there.

It was evening before they were able to start making their way out of town. At the edge of the city, in the dim light, they rounded the corner of a building to find the same creepy Eladrin they'd fought two days before standing there! He brushed off questions as to how he was now alive, and while he was still an unsettling presence, his manner was more businesslike this time. He gave them a blunt ultimatum: give him the ritual, and he'd let them live.

Naturally, the party refused, at which point several creatures flew down off the roof of the nearby building and began to attack them! The Eladrin himself walked away from the battle. The creatures made powerful use of their aerial attacks, but the party had some tricks up their sleeves as well. At one point, Tselem leapt into the air, and fired a magical blast that soared over the heads of his friends and struck a serious blow to the flying foes! The rest of the party was equally in good form, and the five flying menaces were dispatched.

By the time the battle was ended, the Eladrin creeper was far enough away that they knew they'd never catch up. So they decided to continue making their way towards Atur and the House Deneith hideaway.

Rewards

• 21,000 XP each! Time to level up to 20!!
• In the nearby building, you found a +4 Terror Hammer (see Player's Handbook, p. 236), a Helm of Battle (Player's Handbook, p. 248), and a Ring of True Seeing (p. 252).

Session #46: The Relentlessness of the Obstacles

Maaktol introduced himself to the party, and they invited him to come along with them. Tselem was able to re-cast the portal ritual, and they all transported to Rekkenmark, just east of Korth. Given that it was now afternoon, and casting Remove Dragonmark would take an entire day, Tselem decided that he wanted to wait and start fresh in the morning. So the party secured lodgings and took some time to shop and relax in preparation for what was to come. Azeri busied herself at the local library, and Maaktol purchased some new magical boots, while Tselem took some time to study the magic he had recently acquired.

The next morning, 4 Barrakas, Tselem began the ritual. Azeri and Maaktol were out and about, but Taumir decided to stick around and watch Tselem work. Unfortunately, his arcane knowledge was not quite up to the daunting task of this powerful magic, and he was not able to cast the ritual. After an hour or so of work he was forced to call it quits.

The party regrouped and decided to adjust their plan. They went to a local tavern frequented by House Deneith "middle management" and gathered a little intelligence. From there, they decided to head to Korth, and locate Caraas d'Deneith, the new and current leader of the House. From there they would attempt the ritual again, and set their plans in motion. Tselem knew they were limited in the number of times they could try before they would have to replenish their supply of moon slivers, but felt they had enough to reasonably give it another try.

So by mid-afternoon the party was on the road to Korth, and was passing the fortress of Tanar Roth. Around this time, they saw a figure approaching them further up the road. It became quickly apparent that this figure intended to meet them, and that there was something very unsettling about him. He was an Eladrin male, but his manner was completely unlike the serene and cerebral manner of most Eladrin. He walked with a swagger, and had a darkness to his countenance that made everyone uneasy. He came up to the party, and stopped in front of them. He looked them over one by one, and his gaze fell on Azeri. "Your screams will be very shrill," he said conversationally. And then in a much more insane tone he declared, "I will enjoy it immensely!"

And then two fire creatures, two ice creatures, and a griffon burst onto the road and attacked the party! Everyone lept into the fray, and the Eladrin made for Azeri. The party quickly brought their strongest blows to bear on him. At first he continued throwing out creepy, insane threats, but his haughty amusement quickly gave way to annoyance, and then to desperation. The party's blows felled him, Taumir's arrows splitting him in half.

The other creatures proved much more problematic. It was very hard to hit them - Taumir's bombs and Tselem's spells often failed to land, and Azeri's healing powers to the party seemed muted. However, when their leader was killed, the fire & image creatures abandoned the fight and returned to the planes from whence they came. The griffon, however, was not ready to quit...

Rewards
Nothing yet, the encounter is still on-going...

Session #45: The Shifting Alliances

The morning after the counter-ritual was created (3 Barrakas), the party was gearing up for their next move. As they did, the surly half-orc who'd brought them to Arashuul the previous week stomped into the room and announced that some bounty hunters were here to arrest Edge. Naturally, the party was a bit thrown by this development, and they watched in surprise as three Goliaths entered the room. Apparently the price on Edge's head had not gone down in the months since he escaped apprehension in Varna.

The rest of the party readied themselves to resist, but Edge said no. He said he was tired of avoiding this, and that he was going to go with them. So he bid them a terse farewell and the group of four taciturn warriors left the enclave, Edge whistling somewhat sardonically.

The party was a bit nonplussed by this turn of events. Their disaffection was quickly compounded by the House Tharashk leadership kicking them out, saying they didn't want to be associated with such criminals. The clerics of the Order of the Lantern let it be known to the party as they were leaving that they didn't care about such things (and made sure the party had their copy of the counter-ritual) but for political reasons had to side with the House.

The party decided to leave the enclave without a fuss, and indeed the whole city of Arashuul, where they were feeling very unwelcome now. Before their departure, they had decided to head for Korth, in Karrnath, to try and ply their newfound power against House Deneith. They trekked about an hour into the swamps in order for Tselem to cast the portal ritual.

As he was casting it however, they were attacked by three rot harbringers: ugly, undead creatures reeking of death. As the party moved to defend themselves, a Tiefling male emerged from a clump of reeds and joined in fighting the creatures. Killing off the foul things took a good bit longer than they thought it would, but everyone escaped unscathed.

Naturally, the party was grateful, though a bit wary, of this newcomer, whomever he was. He said his name was Maaktol, and he was just resting from his own journey when he heard the party's battle beginning. He didn't feel right about leaving them to die in the swamp, so he stepped in. The party thanked him for his help, and was there any way they could be of help to him?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Rewards

• 8,400 XP each (this should put Maaktol up to 127,400).
• 35,000 GP total

UPDATE 11/17/2016: Some errors in the sequence of events were corrected.

Session #44: The Unrelaxing Break

Five days later, the party was still hanging around the House Tharashk enclave while the Order of the Lantern did their work. Tselem had been trying to learn as much as he could about what they were doing, and the Order had grudgingly agreed to let him watch for the most part. The rest of the party was mostly just relaxing, and trying to stay out of the muggy heat of the swamp.

Late that afternoon, the Order was in the basement of the enclave, doing some more work on the counter-ritual. Edge, Taumir, and Azeri were relaxing in the afternoon sun outside on the lawns & porches of the enclave (such as they were). As they did however, they saw some creatures emerge from the nearby Blackwater River and come swarming toward the buildings! The creatures looked like overgrown tadpoles, but unlike their somewhat tepid appearance, they packed quite a punch, and there were nearly two dozen of them or more! Fortunately, the party was able to defeat the individual monsters fairly easily. Destroying the humanoid wizard that appeared to be controlling them was a little trickier, but he too succumbed. The party then went back inside, tiredly leaving the monsters' corpses on the lawn.

Not long after the battle concluded, the Order of the Lantern emerged from the chambers below to announce that they had finally accomplished their goal, and the counter-ritual had at long last been made!

Rewards

• 9,000 XP each
• 10,000 GP total