Session 90, 91 & 92: "Friends arriving.........." or "We'll prop up the bar......"

 

Dates: 1492 - 23rd to 25th DAY OF FROSTMOOT 

Mission:  Finding the Cults

Campaign: Elemental Cult Campaign

Location(s): South of the Sumber Hills

Present: Aerie, Anor, Aramil, Bandur, Garet, Grog, Karion

Red Larch: Fabien, Fenn, Zindra

23rd day of Frostmoot:

It was early in the morning when Bandur heard a voice in his head. It didn't take him long to realise that Aerie was talking to him, sending him a message. He replied for Aerie and Garet to wait 5 minutes whilst he went to his room. 5 minutes later Aerie and Garet popped into view in Bandur's room.

It was over two weeks since they last saw Garet and Aerie, it was good to have the group together once more. News was passed, the group brought up to date as were Aerie and Garet. It was decided to move on to Riverguard by horse, moving directly across country. However Zindra was in no condition to lead them, she was drunk, as she had been for the past 2 weeks. Fabien said he would look after her and join the group as soon as they could. The group were to take Fabien and Zindra's horses so they could re-join them anywhere.

The Constable joined the group and brought a gift that had been left for Garet by a person called Mavrithan and his friends, with a message:

 (Wrapped in a fur, Garet unwrapped a finely crafted Short Sword.) The message was simple:

'Spent your share of the dragon hoard, Arwynne thought you could do with this, bought from your temple for a hefty price I might add. It's a Ki Sword. Use it well. We're heading north, trouble on the border, sheltering in Silverymoon. Myst says have you found a good woman yet, Horst says f'k you, Tor says next round is on you, Arwynne sends her love. Be safe my friend. Oh and we dealt with the Necromancer too........Myst says you could never finish what you started!'

Food bought, feed for the horse bought, the group left Red Larch in the mid morning. They made good progress that first day making over 9 miles so they reckoned. Grog offered the use of his magical fortress as a secure place to rest. No better place could be found so they spent the night in the  tower. It was a quiet night.

24th day of Frostmoot:

Practically the same as the day before, they made some 7 miles. Grog set up his magical tower and they settled into their routine. It was 2 hours into Garets watch that he noticed 4 indistinct humps in the snow about 40 to 50ft away from the tower. He warned the others. For some 90 minutes they kept watch in case they were attacked. Grog took it upon himself to open the door and investigate, Karion joined him and transformed into a dire wolf.

Garet, Aerie and Aramil kept watch at the top of the tower, Bandur watched the rear from the 2nd floor arrow slit, Anor joined the others and covered Grog and Karions approach from the doorway. Grog scraped away the snow with his war pick. Karion, in dire wolf form, scratched away with his front paws and quickly revealed a hastily buried body. The body was a male, human, dressed in black with strange stone armour.

The 2nd body was exhumed the same way, a male dressed in white with feathers adorning the shoulders.

The 3rd revealed a female warrior dress in the garb of Mirabar, red surcoat with a black axe motif. 

The 4th was a male dwarf, not a fighter, very well dressed, he too was of Mirabar easily recognised by a pin on his left breast in the design of an axe on a red background.

Aramil came down and confirmed the female and dwarf were part of his party, the delegation from Mirabar that had been attacked weeks ago. But they had only been recently buried, within the last 2 days, as the ground was still soft. Aerie, who had joined Aramil, flew up to the battlement of the tower to inform Garet when she spied a tower in the distance to the north, with what looked like birds circling the top.

The group thought it prudent for Grog to reclaim the tower before it could be seen. Grog then cast 2 spells on Aerie, invisibility and aid. Aerie flew off in the direction of the tower. 

As Aerie got closer she could see that the birds were giant vultures, riding the vultures were armed and armoured riders. White armour, white cloaks with feathers on the shoulders. The tower was a spire built on a rocky outcrop, the tallest structure for miles with a commanding view. There was a gatehouse, and structures surrounding the base with carved griffon reliefs. The gatehouse looked to be the only entrance and was reached by a draw bridge.

Aerie flew back and informed the group. She drew a quick map of the area . A plan was discussed. It was a good plan. But Aramil had fallen asleep and was dozing.......

Aerie: "Ok then, I drop Aramil from 250 feet, or there abouts. He fireballs the tower I land with the central pendent, Aramil hits his pendent and before he goes splat......."

Aramil: "Arghhhhhh I'm falling, holy cra.........."

Everyone was laughing so loud Aramil woke up.

Aramil: "Very funny.........ha!...ha!....ha!"

Garet: "Glad you could join us, now go have a tiddle, rub your face with some snow and we'll fill you in on Aeries plan".

It was simple: Aerie would take the central pendent. Grog would turn Aerie invisible again. She would fly to the top of the spire. Call lightning on the flying creatures, that would be the signal for the others to pendent in to the spire, clear the spire from top downwards. Simple.

Aramil: "you do know no plan survives first contact with the enemy"

All: "Stop giving us them negative ways........."

At first light Aerie would depart. Grog activated his fortress. It would give them a peaceful night and a safe haven for the horses whilst they were gone.

25th day of Frostmoot:

Grog turned Aerie invisible. As she departed he uttered some words to gain some of his magical abilities back.

Aerie noted how the surrounding hills were covered in an icy mist.

As she flew into the valley it was thicker. All the way to the spire, which was about half covered.

Damn, she thought to herself, no clouds......means no source of lightning!  Think, think, think.

Aerie could see the top of the spire, it was flat with 4 curved walls with gaps between. They separated the outer platform with the inner, where the stairs were. Atop the spire were two giant vultures. Their riders standing next to them.

She landed still invisible. Crept to the stairs and hoping she was out of earshot sent a message to Garet. "Here, 4 enemy, come when ready."

The sentries and vultures were caught off guard, even by the popping sound as each member of the group arrived on top of the spire. Luckily Aerie had moved away from the edge..........! 

Bandur charged round the curved wall partition and into the sentry on the left. Aramil let fly a spell and magic missiles thudded into the Giant Vulture on the right. Aerie loosed 2 arrows at the sentry on the right only to see both bounce off his heavy armour and fly over the edge of the spire. Grog moved past Karion to assist Bandur as Karion brought forth a fiery blade in the palm of his hand to attack the Vulture on the left.

Aramil was bitten on the shoulder by the Giant Vulture as more magic missiles thudded into the creature. Garet shadow stepped behind the right sentry and struck him 2 mighty blows from behind. Anor stepped in and finished him off. KaArion again struck the Vulture and it went falling over the edge, in flames, to the ground far below.

KArion, Bandur and Grog finished off the sentry on the left as Aerie and Aramil killed the last Vulture, it flopped down dead, neck hanging over the edge of the spire.

Silence.

Nothing could be heard from below.

The group crept down a level stealthily. Bandur led the way, followed by Anor, Garet, Aerie, Karion, Aramil and Grog. Bandur searched a room helped by Aramil (S9), Anor watched the stairs down, Grog back the way they came. Aerie and Karion searched a room each (S9), leaving the last room for Garet (S10). In the room he found a bed, closet, chest and a writing desk.

In the basic rooms, bed, closet, chest (S9), some 300gp were found and 3 white, feathered cloaks. Garet found a small bag of coins, 2 scrolls, a potion and a letter in a leather cylindrical tube. It read:

Merosska,

                    We are pleased to hear about the outcome of your altercation with the Black Earth Cult, and we praise you for the capture of one of their prisoners. It is a shame we missed the noblewoman from Waterdeep, but she is a prisoner of Ghar Shatterkeel, she has an interesting tale to tell and I look forward to speaking with her soon. Keep a close watch on the Sacred Stone Monastery. I want to know what our enemy is planning next.

                           Your beloved Queen,

                            Aerisi Kalinoth

They settled into a room (S9) to rest awhile and Grog cast ALARM on the stairs.

Garet moved stealthily to the top of the stairs. Karion took hawk form and flew out of the window downwards to the lower level(s).

Karion flew downwards and circled the next level.  He saw windows around the tower. Through one he could see a large open area, sat at a table were 6 humans. One is pointing at another, the conversation seems to be animated and you can hear raised voices. Karion continued downwards he was now around 60ft below the open window he had flown out of. The next level had 7 evenly spaced windows. 3 or 4 sharing the same large room as the one above. It was empty. The other windows he could just make out were part of individual rooms. As he circled to the west side ha saw the draw bridge entry to the tower through 2 large double doors. Karion had been gone some 30 minutes so he returned to the group, returned to human form and informed the group of what he saw.

The plan was made, Garet would sneak ahead of Aerie, with Aramil and Anor following with a white cloak draped over their shoulders, Bandur followed by Karion with Grog bringing up the rear. Grog cast silence to mask their descent.

The stairs circled downward, like those above. They were 5ft wide. GAret went ahead and came to a landing in a small area with double doors, the stairs continued downward. He listened at the door.

He heard talking, sometimes the voices were raised on the other side of the doors.

Garet moved silently to the side of the doors (right side)…. listening at the door to try to discern from the conversation, how many people there were.

Voice 1: "Ok, then S  A  V  R  A, where do you think Thrul is....gone of to chat with 'HER' again or perhaps an audience with the great Yan C Bin?"

Garet kept listening... trying to determine where in the room the voices were coming from.

Voice 2: "You prick, great evil lurks amongst these hills, deprived cultists, led by who knows what. But let us not speak of such matters until our leader gets back!"

Voice 3:" When we came here from Waterdeep, we had a noble cause, we defended the area, we did good. Now we fight those damn Manticores and other flying things....when do we get to doing what we do best....did best?"

Voice 2: "Lets wait until Thurl returns, she will tell us whats happening. We don't want to be ambushed by those flying monsters and the smaller creepy ones that keep ambushing us. We've lost 2 in the last week!"

Silence. Garet burst into the room, he surprised those inside he yelled a challenge but he didn't hear it. Aerie creeping downward saw the doors burst open and Garets charge. She didn't hear anything, then remembered Grogs silence spell! She too followed Garet into the room, followed by Anor and Aramil. The fight continued in silence, it was frenzied, close quarter fighting. Bandur charged into the room and that evened up the fight as an enemy lay on the floor, not moving. Aramil was hit hard, so to Garet and Aerie before the fight began to swing in favour of the group. Aerie stood over a prone enemy figure and lunged her sword into its body. 

Karion and Grog watched the stairs. Karion short bow in hand saw the black robed cultist before he saw Karion. There was no sound as the arrow flew from the bow, imbedding itself into the right eye socket of the cultist. He was dead before he hit the floor. There was no sound of fighting from the room behind but Grog could see the last of the enemy lying dead on the floor. Six enemy lay dead on the floor.

Grogs alarm from above sounded in his head. He pointed upwards, Anor got his meaning and headed back onto the landing. He saw an avian creature heading down the stairs in a menacing fashion. He took a defensive stance as the javelin held by the winged creature bounced off his shield. The creature retreated up the stairs. Anor for some reason went down wards. Aerie just saw the disappearing figure and followed. Grog realised there were still no sounds so He cancelled his concentration on his silence spell. 

The group could now hear clicks, chirps and birdlike noises coming from above. Aerie came downstairs and told them to lower their weapons. She introduced the group to 4 Avian creatures. These are Aarakocra, allies of the Avariel and followers of Aerdrie Faenya.

To the group it seemed the Aarakocra treated Aerie with great deference and respect, whilst they still looked at the group with some suspicion. Aerie translated that they were allied to her sister until she was captured and tortured by the one that now wears her face and wings. They are 12 in number. 8 more Aarakocra are at their camp in the valley. These 4 had witnessed the slaying of the guards and their mounts on the roof and were intrigued as they had not seen the groups arrival. They also tell they have seen sacrifices thrown off the top of the spire for the blood hawks and vultures to feed upon. There is a Manticore lair near the mouth of the valley. They will also inform you that earlier they had seen 3 of the knights enter a gully shaped like a knife in the north east section of the valley. A fast flowing river leads the way to it. 

Whilst Aerie talked the others began taking healing potions and conducted whatever healing rituals they required. They rested for some 2 hours. A sort rest indeed.

The Aarakocra took a few of the group to the roof and pointed out an apparatus they were unsure of. A long tube stood on a tripod. By looking through the narrow end you could observe details far away. Aramil took a peak and saw off to the north east of the tower a knife like gully, a river ran through the gully. The Aarakocra were pointing and Aerie confirmed that where the river disappeared into the hillside, this too was where the Air Cult disappeared into at times.