The Story Thus Far
Table of Contents

Act 1

A group of seafolk found a sunken elvish ship and brought up a few treasures. Aben, a Basiran scholar, purchased one of the treasures, a magnificent copper and steel chest. Inside the chest, he found an Itotian scroll, a Sclavini doll, and a pendant. On the scroll was a map of what Aben believed to be Shieldmeet, so he headed to Shieldmeet and hired a group of explorers and a translator. Lalinlor took posession of the scroll to translate it, and Kazi held onto the doll and pendant for study.

Along the route they were attacked several times. One attack resulted in the death of Cullen, one of the guards, and another attack nearly killed Maksim, one of the wagoners. The party captured a half-elf by the name of 'Jack', who warned the that they were in danger of unleashing a great evil upon the world. They were then trapped in a Dwarven mining town by severe weather, and helped deal with a problem in the mines. Vin and Paul joined the party, however Vin met up with a contact of his in the dwarven town and he split from the party, finding the scene of a brutal human sacrifice. He and his contact met up with some of the cultists and dispatched them.

Meanwhile the rest of the party continued on, leaving 'Jack' trussed up naked in a sack. They encountered Faelivrin, and took her prisoner after realizing she was with Jack's group. She insulted them repeatedly and warned them about how foolish they were being trying to open up the crypt. The party reached the cliffs and found what they believed to be the entrance. Something guided Kazi to a different location, and Flint used his demolition skills to open that area, allowing the party access to the crypt. The party battled their way to a locked door, which they wisely decided to let Paul open with his trusty lockpicks. Inside that room was a bed containing a corpse holding a tome. Feliks tossed the tome to Slowthinker and was immediately set upon by the risen corpse. The corpse became green light and tried to possess Feliks, but the Sclavini doll exploded into blue light and knocked many of the party unconscious.

They chased the light and found other members of their party knocked unconscious. While some members argued over what happened, Jinan and Feliks went to check on the rest of the group. Everyone up on top of the cliff seemed fine. After regrouping, Kae and Feliks realized that Aben had stopped stuttering, and confronted him. Rayner then revealed he had seen a flash of green light near Dima, who immediately started running. Several members of the party gave chase, but he escaped.

Feodor and Lev immediately went to track him down, and were joined by Feliks and Kae. They separated, with Feliks and Kae taking the shore path Dima had traveled and the others trying to cut Dima off. Dima joined another party, and later Feliks and Kae found Feodor's body. The party regrouped.

Ashling, a druid, had been assigned to locate a missing druid, Tirena. She found a group of cultists that had sacrificed Tirena, and they gave chase. She fled, crossing the path of the party, and short work was made of the cultists. Two prisoners were taken to the druids for questioning, and the party got a name. Zoriada.

Whilst the druids were questioning the prisoners, the group returned to the caves in order to finish their exploration. They battled various undead creatures, and found another locked door which Flint promptly blew to smithereens. Inside the chamber was the body of a woman, and she had scrawled a message on the back of the door that Flint blew up. Fortunately, part of the message was recoverable.

The party decided the force possessing Aben was benevolent, and returned to Shieldmeet to translate the tome found on the corpse. They got four locations that the cult had once occupied, and decided to visit the one in Sclavini. In Shieldmeet, they again encountered Dima, who met with them at a tavern and provided them with additional information regarding an artifact that he wanted destroyed. He also introduced them to Sabine. Dima told the party about the Cult of the Void, undead-worshiping maniacs.

Lalinlor asked for and received the party's aid in an attempt to learn more about a disease affecting the poor, so the group descended into the sewers. They found a mad healer returning zombies to a strange sort of diseased life, and rescued his prisoners. Lalinlor adopted the mad healer's son.

The nearer they came to the location, the more they heard about a brutal Amareth captain called Kendall. Kazi and Feliks got married. The party encountered Jerath defending some Sclavini children from wolves, and aided him, earning his oath of fealty in the process. Kazi introduced the group to her parents, the local nobility, who sent soldiers to help the party take Kendall's fortress, LondDaer. Lalinlor left the party and returned to Shieldmeet.

The group decided to take the second entrance the tome had revealed, aided by the guidance of Jerath. The party re-encountered Vin and his cousin, Llyssa. Paul disarmed the traps, and the party encountered Darus. The encounter did not go so well, with Darus being supremely unimpressed with their behavior and bickering, finally stating he was perfectly happy to just kill them all. Ashling managed to calm him down, and he provided some aid in retaking the fort, disabling all the cannons to allow the soldiers to enter.

Quickblades got captured by Amareth reinforcements, but a peaceful solution was accomplished, leading to a treaty between the Amareth and Kazi's parents. Ashling moved the artifact, aided by Quickblades and Darus, and set Darus to watch over it again for a while. The party fractured a bit, due to a disagreement over the best route to take, and split paths. Both groups ended up in the Elvish lands, where Ashling and Jerath discovered the tomb of Resia. They then made it back to Shieldmeet safely.

The party has found several references to something called the Primal, and to the existence of a related cult. They have also found several sigils.

In Shieldmeet, they learned that many murders had been occurring, and the entire city was on edge. The party rescued Rayner's sister, Aletha, an oracle imprisoned in an asylum. She is quite mad. Some folks came looking for Quickblades, one of them stabbing Flint but then holding his blade to await the orders of the Shogun. They also learn that Lalinlor has become a council lord and moved into one of the council houses along with his adopted son.

Kae reported there had been another murder, and the party went to investigate. They encountered a member of the city guard, a dwarf called Vhid. With Vhid, they tracked a blood trail and found the cultists going after Bin. Rescuing Bin came at a high price, as Zoriada killed Kae as the 'price of interference', then managed to escape.

Vhid was initially reluctant to share information, until Flint suggested the party become an official guild. Aben agreed to that idea. Bin mentioned he was performing at the house of a council lord, and the party went there to talk to the lord. Lord Bartel, having lost two he cared about to the cult, agreed to sponsor the party in their investigations. He also charged them with the task of keeping an eye on a halfling woman called Mar'Solla, who is familiar with the cult. Once back at Aben's place, the party began going over the information they had, looking for clues.

They decided, after a night's sleep, to head down into the sewers to find the base Mar'Solla knew. They quickly ran into trouble when Rayner was dropped by arrows from a sniper. The situation rapidly got worse when the yells of the sentry alerted Zoriada. Two fireballs from her dealt serious damage, dropping Abbi, Jaka, and Byrun and injuring several others.

Mar'solla managed to heal Byrun, and Rayner got back to his feet. The party dealt some damage to Zoriada, who fled, as well as fatal damage to a couple cultists. Inside the cult's showroom, the party found a portal that revealed a scribe. While Ashling and Rayner hung back, the rest of the party went through the portal. Rayner and Ashling joined them when Zoriada showed back up in the cult room. The bodies of Abbi and Jaka were left behind. Flint quickly intimidated the scribe, and Sorina entered the room. She was cordial and helpful to the party, providing them with a scroll of sending to warn Aben, as well as a good meal and horses to enable them to get to where they could return to Shieldmeet. An associate of Sorina, Manauia, healed the party members that requested healing. When they had a chance to talk privately, Ashling revealed Sorina was Kazi's cousin, and an assassin. Aben sent a return message stating that they had been attacked, but not by Zoriada, and he would send to get them if they could get themselves to a safe location for a couple hours.

Cross started heading towards his wife's house, and discovered it was on fire. His wife was missing, but a fireproof box with his name on it was left behind. It contained a note from Zoriada and Amanya's severed finger. Hikmat, a friend of Aben's, collected the party and returned them to Shieldmeet. They regrouped, and came to the conclusion there must be a spy in their midst. But who? The party split up to regroup with old friends and report in, and Dima contacted Ashling and Cross.

The party realized they needed information, as well as new guards. An attempt was made to raise Kae, which failed. Three new guards were hired, and a prisoner was captured and questioned. He revealed Zoriada's alternate identity, a lover of Lord Adamo. His attempt to poison himself (and Flint) failed.

The party called Dima in, and shared information. Dima let them now Zoriada was in Tatsuo, and gave Cross a letter revealing Cross's wife was alive and relatively safe. The party decided to enjoy the solstice and the gnome festival. Then, for the space of about a minute, every animal in Shieldmeet seemed to go mad……

End Act 1.

Act 2

When the animals went mad, Ashling attacked Rayner, but recovered her senses. She went to report to Aben and found Aben interviewing Ariadne about hiring her students as guards. Ashling started to make her report, but they were interrupted by Narayan saying there were guards at the gates. Rayner reported Jerath and Aletha missing and went to look for them. Jerath's father, Captain Hiram Aceline, was at the gate demanding Jerath and Aletha. One guard threatened to arrest Flint. Ariadne and a merchant, Muken, helped settle hostilities. Just when Flint was about to be arrested, someone shot the guard arresting him and the guards dispersed to find the assailant. In the house, things were starting to settled down when Narayan again brought news of guests. This time, it was Lev and a badly wounded Dima. Lev said Sabine had revealed herself to be Zahirah, and Dima had nearly sacrificed himself to give the others time to flee. Lev brought papers that were turned over to Aben, and Ashling busied herself tending to Dima.

The party went to speak with Lalinlor, and learned his ward, Tomas, the boy they'd rescued from the sewers was missing. They also spoke with Sir Leandros of the Dragon Knights. Upon returning to the house, it was realized that Dima was healing, but Evaric was apparently gone. Dima still seems to have retained a portion of Evaric's power. It was decided they would go to Basira, leaving Ariadne behind to guard the house. Aben would be going to Basira for reasons of his own, and Rayner would go north due to a letter from Aletha. Before they left, they received a visit from the former Archbishop Virgil and his companion, Eari. Eari revealed she was the guardian of the Scrolls of Nysa, and could guide the party on its quest. Virgil provided several items and some information to aid.

The Dragon Knights aided in procuring a ship, and set off for Vasant. Pirates attempted to waylay them, but after a minor skirmish, the pirates decided to surrender and become the crew under Captain Flint, renaming the ship from the Night's Trident to the Devil's Tail. They reached Vasant without further incident.

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