Session 37, Danger in the Mists
Paldegora
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Session 37 – 2024-03-09
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Summary
Detail
The party had set up a watch and were resting in the ruins after finding another band of the Sahn fanatics and dealing with them. It was decided that the boy would be referred to, from now on, as Boy George! They rested and healed. Cal took the first watch and walked the perimeter. It was a very creepy place but there was no real indication as to who built it or it's original purpose. The fog and mist deepened. With that, Cal really relied more on his hearing. He didn't see anything. When his time was up, he woke Xor who took over the watch. He walked around the perimeter, watching and listening for anything. It was a very creepy place and he didn't like it. His watch passed without event and Eryn took over. She checked the horses and they seemed to be fine, then she patrolled the perimeter, carefully listening for anything, She thought she heard creatures from within the bog but nothing of any concern. The rest of the watch passed without event and the light came up and the fog lessened. They ate and prepared to leave, collecting a horse for Loraine from among the fanatics horses. They also outfitted George and the boy with a horse. They stripped the rest of they slapped the rest of their horses on their rear's sending the homeward. They began moving along the path, heading north toward the downed airship.
About half way through the day, the fog lessened and some light shown through. They took a break. Symon started growing the journal by talking again. He quizzed Loraine some more. He described the vision that he had seen within the crystal ball device in Nordain Hold. He'd seen caves, terraces, and the different colors of caves and he showed her the description of the vision he'd written in his journal. He asked if that scenery matched up to anything that she knew of. She said it described Dragon Vale. She said, that's it. Then he told her how a dragon came into view in his vision, just at the end of his vision. Symon then exposed part of the Palantir as he was still carrying it. She told him all she really knew about them was that you never know who is in the other end of it. She said the whole valley of the vale is lush and green but each of the caves has it's own eco system. She said the eco system of each was tied to the dragon. She said there are no dragons living in them today. In the past, they went all through the caves and there was nothing in them. They were massive caves. She said that there hasn't been a dragon in the vale since King Lundor defeated them and drove them all out. Symon wondered if the girl near the end of his vision was Loraine but she didn't look like her. He guessed Loraine was in her mid twenties.
Symon asked if she knew where Grizzolo came from. She told him that what she knew was that Grizzolo was a young dragon and Lundor used him to find the Vale. Then he was banished from the Vale, not put to the sword, with the understanding that he should never enter the Vale again. He was given the territory of the mountains to the north. He asked if the Vale was in a different plane. She told him, “No, it's here and very real. Grizzolo agreed to leave the Vale and never return. He appeared again and started flying around the outskirts of the vale. Then one day, he flew in, attacked the castle, basically destroying one part of the wall on it and kidnapped King Lundor's daughter. After that is when he got more aggressive. He harassed them and harassed the airships and stuff.”.
Cal worked on his whistling. After lunch, they saddled up and continued on. It started getting dark again and they looked for a place to camp. The mist had come back in thicker than it was before. They found a dryer spot and set up a camp. Cal looked for tracks but didn't find any. They made a low-light, low-smoke, fire. The boy was enjoying Persephone. Angelique did some more healing before they rested. She made a vegetable stew while Eryn and Cassandra took the boy and checked on the horses, brushing them and feeding them. While they were eating, George saw the mist form into a sort of ball and then dissipate. Cal went over to where he'd seen it and listened. About that time, it formed into a creature with many little creatures popping up around them. Angelique got hit by one of these Mistlings.
The boy curled up into a ball. Symon color sprayed a couple of them and they dissipated. They defeated them pretty quickly. They set up camp and turned in. Cal took the first watch, nothing happened, Nothing happened on Xor's watch either. Eryn woke and checked the horses. About half way through the watch, she thought she saw a ball forming but wasn't sure. She moved to where it was but found nothing. The rest of the night passed uneventfully. They woke, did some healing, and headed out. Loraine thought that they'd reach the crash sight around noon. They travelled for half a day and Loraine told them that they were there as she stopped them. Cal caught the horrible stench of death. Loraine pointed it out as well. Cal put his hand on her shoulder and tried to indicate that she should probably wait here. She agreed to do that. Cal and Xor moved forward. As they moved forward, they came to the scene of a wrecked airship. There was nothing moving. As Cal looked around, he spotted a leg hanging up in a tree nearby. Looking ahead, he saw a reddish color but couldn't make it out just yet. They tried to determine if the leg got there as a result of the crash but couldn't tell for sure.
The hull of the ship was much like that of a sailing ship but the design was not like anything that would work in the sea. It had riggings and such that were all broken and torn up. As they got closer, they saw that the red was concentrated to one side. The could make out bodies but they were wearing the uniforms of the soldiers of the temple. They were all laying about and around an oval shaped object. Cal suggested that Xor get the others. Xor returned and broke the news to Loraine that it was not a pretty sight with all of the bodies. Loraine stopped him and told him that she'd buried everyone and if there were bodies, they were not from her crew. They moved forward and started looking at the scene. Xor told Cal that Loraine had buried everyone so these were not her crew. As Loraine rode up she called out to everyone to stop. She leaned over her saddle, sizing up the situation and then yelled, “Swords!”. Everyone pulled out there swords. There was a whirring sound that built to a roar. Springing up from the oval shaped object was an air elemental. It moved like a flash toward the party.
Symon started off by throwing magic missiles at the elemental. George took the boy behind a tree to protect him. Cal made a solid swing at the elemental but though it should have hit him, it didn't. After the battle, the determined that his weapons weren't magical enough to hit this creature. The air elemental moved between Loraine and Cal, grew to about 10 feet across engulfing the two of them inside it's girth. It then turned into a small tornado, picking up particles of rocks and sticks and other debris, slinging it into them. Loraine took the brunt of it. Xor tried to hit it and missed. Angelique moved around behind it and really smacked it. Eryn moved around behind it but missed. Cassandra moved in to attacked but also missed. The elemental reduced in size to it's normal shape and attacked Angelique, hitting her. Eryn hit it this time. Symon hit it with another magic missile. Cal, backed away and checked out the pod it came from. It was big enough that three men could fit in it length wise. It was a metal case, reinforced with metal ribbing. He could see where it was forced off the ship. Angelique hit it again. Cassandra hit it and dispersed it. The air elemental was obviously the propulsion system for the ship held in the pod that the fanatics had opened. Loraine called them fools for opening a pod. She welcomed everyone to the RDVS Dragonfly. It was once the pride of the fleet. Cal admired the ship but had to affirm that they would not be able to repair the ship and get it flying again.
Symon asked Loraine if there was anything on the ship that would be helpful to recover. She said, “Yes, possibly. Come with me!”. They entered the ship and moved down into the hold and pulled out a box with some potions of healing in if for just-in-case. There were 4 potions of extra healing and a scroll of remove curse. There was also a little bag of gems with two rubies, two sapphires and two pearls. There was another bag with 100 gold 50 silver pieces, and 25 copper. Eryn wondered aloud if there was a way to use the two remaining pods to create a smaller vessel to fly to the Vale. She didn't know how to work the ship, and showed her a little metal ball that the pilot used to fly the ship. Symon wondered if the pilots were mages but Loraine told him no. But they did have rings they wore. Eryn asked where the rings were now. Loraine told her that she'd buried them with the crew. Symon speculated that the rings were possibly rings of elemental control. This was a company sized group of fanatics. They were probably trying to get into the pod and either accidentally or deliberately opened it. That cost them their lives. Loraine said she couldn't condone disturbing the crew after they'd been laid to rest. They died honorably in defense of the Vale and they deserve to be at peace. It was agreed and they stay here this evening.
They moved into the cabins and set up beds and bunks and made a place to rest. Cal took the first watch again. Symon asked how long Loraine had been in the Wolves of the North, military. She told him since she was 11 years old. He asked how her parents felt about that. She told them that she didn't have any parents that she knew of. Her sister joined it at one time and she naturally joined it as well. They discussed her discipline and strength. She explained how the Wolves of the North were trained from an early age and taught to hold in any feelings of fear or doubt and use that to their advantage. She told them though that their numbers were dwindling. There had not been a need for them for quite a while. They discussed the daughters kidnapping. She told him it happened about a year ago. She had never met the daughter but had heard she was very strange. Symon led her back to the topic of her parents and found that her mother had died when she was 11. She didn't know anything about her father. He told her a little about his background. She seemed genuinely fascinated by it. She only knew one culture and enjoyed hearing about his. In talking about how he got here, as he told the story about Frosthaven, he left out Sir Charles last name. She didn't react to the name Sir Charles. She seemed surprised at prisons. They'd never had to imprison anyone in the Vale. There was no real want there. No way for anyone to profit on someone's misery there. She told him that everyone was so thankful to the king for bringing them through the wars and getting them to the Vale that when he commanded that they don't go anywhere near the way out, nobody had a problem with it. Why would anyone want to go back to that suffering.
Symon told her that from their viewpoint, dragons were a myth, creatures of lore. They'd even question whether dragons exists. She understood that. She'd never seen a dragon herself until recently. But she knew they existed because if you look at those caves, how could you not know they exist. They are quite amazing. The older people also tell the story of how it was before. Symon packed and lit a pipe while they were talking. Eryn asked if Loraine knew exactly how they got into the Vale, did they walk across the whole area like they were doing and walk to the Vale or were they flown in or maybe accessed a portal to get in there. She wasn't born till they got there but she knows that there is a path to it. Once there, their people stayed there. They must have gone on foot because there was a lot of people that went. It was always told that it was a treacherous journey. She just assumed that they walked there. Eryn then asked if there were other races there besides human? Loraine said, no, just us. Eryn asked if she'd ever met an Elf or Dwarf before now. She said the older people had but she had never met one. She said that there are some half-elves there but no dwarves. Eryn told her that she was an Elf so now she had finally met one. Loraine said, “Well met, I have never met a full blooded Elf before.”.
She was fascinated by the stories of the southern regions. Stonebridge with it being a town where troubled people hide out and it being dilapidated. They don't have that here. Symon told her that they felt like they were always just one step ahead of chaos as they passed through those towns. The leadership was overthrown by rogues and thugs. She agreed, there is a lot of evil afoot. They rested, planning to get to the river the next day. They ran their typical watch pattern. Cal went up on deck and heard creatures scurrying about but he didn't see anything. He woke Xor who went up to sit the next watch. Nothing happened on his watch either. Eryn took the third watch, also uneventful. They ate and set out for the days travel. As they headed into the north, it seemed to get even more creepier. The fog got much thicker and colder. After a couple of hours, they decided to take a break. Angelique got a feeling that wherever they were in the valley now, things were not right. If there is evil here, it's starting to become palpable to her. She mentioned it to everyone. That this was a feeling that she didn't like. Symon suggested that it might just be gas. They continued on for the rest of the day. Everyone got a sense of the same bad feelings. Night began to fall again. Still no sight of the river. The path was getting a little more defined though so they were probably getting close to it.
They found a good spot to camp and settled in for the night. There still wasn't much sign of a lot of travel through here. They set up another smokeless, low-light fire. The valley was rising and the temperature was slowly dropping more as they'd moved along. The fog started making those shapes again, little balls of fog that ungulate and then dissipate. They became very alert and prepared and then suddenly they coalesced into these little creatures and attacked. Xor got hit. The boy became a target and got hit. George took on the one on the boy but missed. Loraine took on the one on the boy and got it's attention after hitting it pretty hard. Symon fired off three magic missiles targeting three different mistlings. Cal moved to make sure the boy was protected and dissipating that Mistling. Angelique moved to one and hit it. Eryn hit one with her dagger. Xor moved up to hit one and killed it. Just as it dissipated, the mist swirled and thickened and another form came out of it. It was a Mist Wraith. Symon and Cassandra were both paralyzed. Frozen in fear. Angelique recognized the evil as possibly an undead.
Cassandra was hit. George took up a position between the boy and the action. The Mist Wraith attacked Xor hitting him with both claws doing quite a bit of damage but worse yet, weakening him in a way that he couldn't determine. He's not sure in what way, only that he was less than he was before the hit. Cal destroyed the one on Cassandra. Loraine rushed into the Mist Wraith, knocking Symon out of the way. She missed her attack though. Angelique missed her attack as well. Eryn broke away from her Mistling to engage with the Mist Wraith, recognizing that this appeared to be a much greater threat. She was hit by the Mistling but did manage to hit the Mist Wraith. Xor hit it as well. A Mistling moved to attack Cassandra and hit her. Symon sent three missiles into the Mist Wraith. The Wraith attacked Xor again hitting with one claw. This attack didn't weakened him like the last attack. Angelique hit it and dissipated it. Loraine dissipated the last Mistling. As the Wraith died, there was a palpable relaxation of the evil sensation. That dread feeling was gone now. They checked on the boy but he was fine.
They gathered around the fire again and settled in. Angelique had a scroll of Restoration and used it on Xor.
The session stopped there.
Xps = 1125 + 113 = 1238
Everyone received 17 gold, 8 silver, and 4 copper.
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