Characters
• Groot
• Morfear
• Ari
• Mari
• Adran
• Optimus
• Brandis
• Eran – NPC
Quests In Progress
• Figure out who is stealing from the Sandpoint Merchant League.
• Find evidence of the Sandpoint Devil.
• Find the items needed to remove Groot’s curse.
• Find out what happened to Arvik Zaltos.
• Track down the missing iron from Corlac’s destroyed caravan.
Quests Received
• None
Quests Completed
• None
Experience
Received: 275
Total: 9700
Treasure
None
Timeline of Events
Rova the 25th, 4701AR
• Early Morning
○ As Mari attempts to swim to the surface, Groot throws a rock tied to the rope which falls a little short. He starts to pull the rope back while Mari continues to swim.
○ With a herculean effort, Mari makes headway against the whirlpool and is able to get to the rope and grab on.
○ Groot, Morfear and Optimus all pull on the rope. Morfear slips on the wet shore and falls in the pool as Groot slowly pulls Mari from the whirlpool and on to safety.
○ Ari heads over to the rock with the iron chest and starts looking it over, searching for traps and other possible trouble spots.
○ Ari looks around for a place to attach a rope. Finding none, he pounds a piton in to the stone.
○ Morfear pulls himself from the water.
○ Ari finds the rune on the chest and sees the smudge where Mari tried to scrape it off.
○ Morfear and Groot try to help out Ari by suggesting they tie a rope to Ari and hold it from the shore. (The DM really liked this idea >:))
○ Ari attempts to disable the trap and again triggers it throwing Ari off the stone. In slow motion, Ari watches his piton let go from the stone cube as he continues to fly in a beautiful arc over the water and in to the whirlpool.
○ Ari is able to swim out of the whirlpool zone and back to the stone cube where he climbs back on. He pounds the piton back in and then smudges the rune slowly off. The stone quivers slightly, but does not move.
○ He checks the chest one more time before he tries to open the lid only to find it locked. He picks the lock and hears a click.
○ He slowly opens the lid and looks inside to find an empty chest.
○ Optimus swims out to the stone block and then checks to see if there is any other magic on the chest, but finds none.
○ They look around the room again just to see if anything else changed, and find everything seems to be the same.
○ Giving up on the chest, they head down to where the secret tunnel came out of the cavern. They find a foot bridge over the small stream.
○ There is some discussion about throwing Thord out over to the stone cube which doesn’t go over well with Thord.
○ Noticing a cavern opening above the pool to the south, the group heads over to the cavern and looks inside to find a tunnel leading away from the pool.
○ They follow the tunnel for several hundred feet before reaching a Y-intersection where one of the branches heads down and the other heads up.
○ Taking the right branch, they head down deeper in to the earth. After about thirty minutes of travel, they come upon a cave-in.
○ They look around the cave-in for a bit, before heading back to the Y-intersection.
○ Heading up the left branch, Adran notices some hoof-prints on the ground. After checking them out more carefully, they determine they probably came from the minotaurs.
○ After about an hour of travel, they start to feel a light breeze on their cheeks and the torches flicker ever so slightly.
○ A short time later, they come to a cave opening. Looking out over the dark landscape, they see a forest.
○ A quick discussion was had and the group decided to camp until the morning to see where they actually are.
• Morning
○ Looking out over the forest, they determine they are in the crags on the south side of the road about two miles from the graveyard.
○ They notice an old campsite near the cave entrance as well as some more hoof-prints.
○ Asking Thord and Assaran what they want to do, the two decide it might be safer to be with the adventurers than on the road.
○ Having taken their bearings, they head back down the tunnel to the pool.
• Late Morning
○ Ari leads the party in to the room where Thord was being roasted. The furnace area is still blazing with waves of heat.
○ After checking out the heat again, they head past the broken gorgon statue and reach the hall near the pool room. Optimus kicks a minotaur and removes a horn from the minotaur corpse.
○ The group climbs the stairs and into a wide gallery where two thrones sit in an alcove. On one of the thrones sits a gaunt figure in black funeral wrappings and a golden gown.
○ The eyes of the gaunt figure light up with a red glow and it says, “Ah, more visitors, how lovely. I am Alicia, Alicia Ambergul. Why have you disturbed our eternal rest?”
○ Mari mentions they were looking for friends and a large stone altar and the lich responds with “Oh you were searching for that hideous stone thing my husband found.”
○ Asked if they found it, they mention they didn’t find it, but they meant the item inside and she meant the altar. After quickly correcting here, they explain there was something inside it and it was already taken.
○ Mari asks the lich about a possible curse and she calls them grave robbers.
○ Mari asks if they give the items back will the curse be lifted and the lich answers in the affirmative.
○ Ari then asked if the curse was the lich’s and she says it was not hers, but something laid down by her husband oh so long ago.
○ Asked about her husband, she mentions they have probably already met him, especially if they have made it this far.
○ Ari asks the lich how they could lift the curse. She mentions she might have something which can remove the affliction.
○ Asked what she would like in trade, she points at the dwarf and says she wants the iron amulet in his possession.
○ Mari asks why the lich wants the amulet and only gets, “give me the amulet and I will remove the curse which afflicts you” in response.
○ Morfear passes the amulet to the lich and Groot and Adran see a slight nimbus flash behind him.
○ The lich mutters some arcane words and a burst of power passes through them all.
○ Morfear then asks about what is in the urns and she responds “my friends”
○ Ari mentions she has a wonderful home and she says her husband used to rob graves and built this to house his plunder.
○ Morfear asks about the cat and she offers it as a gift. Ari tells them to refuse it.
○ Ari then asks the lich about whether or not she has heard of Arvik. She mentions the name doesn’t mean anything to her, but that the previous one who came through, friend to Thord and Assaran, was working for him, but nothing other than that.
○ Ari mentions they were trying to collect some items while Mari asks where the lich’s husband got the altar from.
○ Ari asks about the verse they got from the monolith and the lich has never heard of it.
○ Morfear asks about the minotaurs and she says she didn’t know about the entrance they found.
○ Mari asks about the demon summoning circle and she mentions it was something her husband found and collected.
○ Morfear asks the lich how they can get out and she mentions there is a door behind her and sends them through.
○ They follow the corridor for about five minutes and they come out the secret door in the crypt. The one Mari wanted to go through at the beginning.
○ They head out the crypt and past the block where they had pounded pitons in. One of the pitons has been removed and the other is currently being pulled out by a flesh golem. They can also hear the ogre statue on the other side trying to push on the block.
○ Getting out of the crypt in to the graveyard, they head back to Sandpoint.
○ As they are heading back, Ari tells the group to not mention letting Darwa go to anyone.
• Mid-Day
○ The group strides in to town and Assaran takes his leave to go find his fiancé. Thord asks about when they will be taking him to Ironhold and they mention they need to get some provisions and do a few errands before they head out.
○ The group head to the Black Stag to drop off things. Ari decides to stay at the Inn and catch up on some sleep.
○ The resti head over to Brodert’s place and knock on the door. There is no answer. Trying the door, they find it locked.
○ They head over to the Old Light and call out for him for a bit before giving up and head to find the herbalist.
○ They arrive at Hannah’s herbs to find a woman exit the door, lock it, and start heading down the road catching up to the woman they find she is Hannah Verelin.
○ She asks what she may do for them. Morfear mentions Groot has a curse and mentions the items they need for its removal.
○ Hannah brow furrows deeper and deeper as she listens to the list and mentions those items are very rare and they are usually used by people who are up to no good.
○ They spend a few moments convincing her their needs are honorable before she relents and lets them know the midnight moss could be found at the bottom of Wisher’s Well.
○ She tells them they could find the well south of the Pit near the track that heads in to the farmlands.
○ Mari asks if she knows of anyone else who might know where the items might be and Hannah mentions Darwa, but that she hasn’t seen her for a while.
○ Hannah mentions she is needed at a farmhouse to deliver a child. The group tells Hannah to tell the girl they said hi and Hannah looks puzzled, but nods and heads off.
○ The group heads back to inn and take some time to rest.
• Mid-Evening
○ As they descend the stairs, the innkeeper mentions the mayor was looking for the group.
○ They ask where they might find her and the innkeeper suggests her home. Asked if it seemed urgent, the innkeeper mentioned something about wanting an update.
○ They decide to wait until morning before going to see her.
○ As they eat, they talk about looking for the Sandpoint Devil, looking in to the smugglers and heading to Ironhold with Thord.
○ Suddenly, the door to the inn flies open and a wide eyed Brodert stands in the doorway, looks around and seeing the adventurers hurries over to their table where he drops in to a chair and says, “you guys don’t know what kind of trouble you are in to.”
○ Ari asks if he wants a drink and Brodert immediately says, “take this thing back, I don’t want it,” while offering the amulet they gave him.
○ Ari takes it from him and gets him a drink and says, start from the beginning.
○ He says, “I did a little bit of digging and some scrying on it and found out it was a set of objects that can only be used for a nefarious purpose.”
○ Morfear pulls out the gargoyle amulet and asks if it might be part of the set of objects. Brodert looks at it briefly and nods in the negative.
○ Brodert points at the ancient amulet and says, “that it called the Amulet of Life and it is used in rituals to bestow life upon the dead.”
○ Brodert takes a drink and continues, “there are more of these things. I was reading a book about an item called the Ember Filigree or something like that which can be used in conjunction with the amulet to breach worlds.”
○ Mari asks for a complete list of the items. Brodert says no he doesn’t have a full list.
○ Ari asks about the Shard of Strength, and Brodert doesn’t recognize the name. However, he says, “if it is one of these types of objects and someone got ahold of this, then they could cause major havoc in the world.”
○ Mari says they are trying to stop Arviik and Darwa from obtaining them and Brodert asks about it. They mention they had already obtained one from the crypts.
○ About that time, Ari noticed Thord trying to be as unobtrusive as possible.
○ Ari asks Thord if he can add anything to this conversation and he says nope, don’t know anything about this stuff. Prompted about Darwa he feigns to know nothing about the objects she is looking for.
○ Mari prompts him about the shard and he claims he doesn’t know, but he guesses it could be.
○ Ari asks if Thord helped find any other items and he says no, just this one and then they were supposed to go back to Ironhold and deliver it. Deliver it with the rest of the items.
○ Asked about the other ones, he claims to not know where they got them and mentions a lantern that never goes out. Also, the shard and then some item they are looking for in the hold.
○ Thord quickly glances at the amulet on the table before mentioning one more item they had gotten before he heard about the items. Asked what it was he claims he doesn’t know what it was.
○ Mari clarifies about the number they wanted and Thord comes up with five items that he knows about.
○ Thord professes not to know what is going on just that the necromancers are keeping the hold from falling apart and as long as they keep doing that then he doesn’t care.
○ Asked about holding up the walls, he mentions they are making these magical circles.
○ Ari tries to reason with Thord’s conscience and it really doesn’t sway him.
○ Thord throws Mamma Booga in Ari’s face.
○ Morfear asks Brodert what to do with the item and he suggests they destroy it or lose it somewhere where no one can find it.
○ Mari asks if he could research how to destroy the item and Brodert says he is not researching these things anymore.
○ Ari asks how it deals with the old script. Brodert just says they are both Thassilonian and that’s it, but he speculates that if they are items of Thassilonian power, then they could be strong enough to do almost anything as myths of Thassilonian magic abound of its strength.
○ Brodert mentions maybe the prophecy is about the Whispering Tyrant and maybe the items could be used to free him.
○ Ari asks about where the prison is and Brodert says it is in Gallowspire. Brodert has no idea where they might perform this ritual.
○ Ari asks if there are any legends about how they might stop this.
○ Brodert mentions we are in the age of broken omens which means that prophecies may or may not happen ever since the god of Cheliax was killed.
○ Morfear takes the amulet and puts it in to his pouch.
○ Morfear mentions they were looking for Brodert earlier and he says he was speaking with Ilsoari about the amulet.
○ Ari shows Brodert the crystal rod and he’s not sure what they are.
○ Brodert drinks several more drinks and totters off out the inn.
○ Ari mentions to Thord they could leave tomorrow and Thord is ecstatic.
○ Asked how long it would take to get there he mentions five days by horse.
○ This leads to a discussion about how to get horses and about what to do next again.
○ Morfear seems very concerned about Groot and wants to take a detour to find some of the items he needs.
○ They also try to decide what to do with the amulet and come to the conclusion to have Morfear hold on to it.
○ Ari suggests just not getting any of Groot’s stuff and hurrying to Ironhold and finally brings everyone around.
○ Mari suggests traveling at night and Morfear suggest leaving at that moment.
○ Morfear asks about horse stables of the inn keeper and he mentions The Way North. Asked where the Way North is he points to the building next door.
○ Ari writes a note for the mayor giving an update on the search for Darwa.
○ The group heads over to the The Way North to buy horses. As they approach, the see it is dark inside…