Session 26: Local Swindler Ends Civilization

On the road, Joe uses his forgery skills to copy the seal on Ruthsten’s declaration of armistice, for later use. The next day, the group arrives in Xandarbor, which is little more than a large fishing village. They enter a tavern called the Rustic Oak, where Grombrin gives an impromptu guitar performance that earns them some free grog. The group spends the night in the tavern, while Joe uses a carrier pigeon to send a message to his “wife”. In the morning, Grombrin and Vojta go fishing and get a generous catch, which they turn into a stew.

The group then explores the town and finds a disproportionately large church. They enter and find that it has sections for the dwarven, orcish, and lizardfolk pantheons. In talking to the priests, they find out that the Spike is barred from anyone who isn’t a religious associate of some sort. Vojta talks to the lizardmen, who have a shamanistic religion similar to his own, and concludes that he will likely be allowed onto the island due to his druidic status. They figure that Vica definitely won’t be allowed due to her demonic nature, so she decides to wait in Xandarbor. That leaves only Joe without a way in.

Hatching a complicated plan, Joe has Grombrin transmute a bunch of gold coins into a holy symbol of Fafnir, the dwarven god of gold. He uses that to pose as a priest and to access the religious tomes of the church. There he seeks information about Fafnir that he can use to create a more convincing disguise, but there isn’t enough information to be found. He settles instead on Ilyath, dwarven god of freedom, and uses the available information to forge a declaration of priesthood and conjure an illusory robe appropriate for a priest of Ilyath. When he is done, Grombrin asks his golden symbol back. Joe hesitates, figuring that he could sell it for more money than it’s worth, but Grombrin gets impatient and magically heats up the symbol, causing Joe to drop it and the two of them to bicker.

Joe scouts out the harbour to find passage to the Spike. There are a bunch of abandoned boats lying around, but none of the sailors want to go to the island. Grombrin goes to a shady tavern, the Bandit’s Cave, to find some more shady sailors. The barman, Murit, says that no one goes to the Spike because it’s surrounded by navy who throw fireballs at people. He is an old sailor, however, and agrees to navigate them to the island in return for a bunch of gold. They seek out a sizable abandoned boat, and bribe the deckhand to overlook them hijacking it. However, when they step on, a magical alarm goes off and Arran appears threatening them not to steal his boat.

The group has a confused moment where Arran explains that the letter calling him back to Kadoma was a trap by the dragonborn, and that going would have accomplished nothing more than getting him captured. Thus, he travelled to the Spike hoping to reunite there. He claims that he will be qualified to enter the island, so they depart as a group. Along the way, Arran shares his knowledge about some recent events. He relates that the dragonborn completely conquered Kadoma and are now focussing their aggression on the Descotian Desert, though they are also fighting a war against the orcs near the Hollow Mountains. The destruction of Muntgard remains a mystery, having not been claimed by any faction, as does the more recent destruction of Red Canyon. The monastery on Ceneza was burned down, and their group was blamed for it, putting a target on their heads. It was also found to have been an oblex nest, explaining the strange behaviour of the monks. On the plus side, Oda-Iger is thriving, and while Duke Arech has attracted a lot of attention, he has not revealed the group’s identity or location to those who are hunting them.

As they draw closer to the Spike, they are stopped by a barricade of ships. Grombrin identifies himself and his companions, naming Joe as Ilyas the Trickster, and announcing Arran as a worshipper of Etaufrien, elven goddess of rules and logic. The captain examines their papers, accepting Joe’s forged identity, and approving Arran’s affiliation to the archives. Vojta has no papers, but the dwarves carefully examine his druidic sigil and accept that as proof. He gives them badges that they must wear to be allowed on the island. Grombrin has a special badge that allows him to access the inner island, while the others have to remain on the northern coast. The sailor is allowed to navigate them to the island, but can’t step on shore.

The group docks, finding a variety of priests and shamans camping on the northern coast. Several lines of military barricades lie between them and the enormous obsidian spire on the south end of the island. The dwarf Mirkul recognizes Grombrin and discusses the situation with the group. Apparently some time ago a priest went mad and started experimenting on the spire, becoming possessed by something. He is now imprisoned next to the pillar, unable to be communicated with because he mentally assaults anyone who gets close, and many priests have come here hoping to somehow exorcise him. Grombrin builds a little stone house in which the group sleeps for the night, and the next morning they are greeted by an old orcish woman named Shula. She hints that she can offer them a way past the barricades, and Joe bribes her to do so. She then tells them to come back to her at sunset.

In the meanwhile, Grombrin uses his status to explore the rest of the island. He is able to reach the place where Theras is imprisoned, but can’t bring the others inside. The others wait for sunset and meet up with Shula. Shula gives them disguises to seem like high-ranking priests, then guides them through a tunnel system to the far side of the island, before leaving them there. They rendezvous with Grombrin and approach Theras, who is chained within a ring of runed stone pillars, with shards of obsidian jutting out of several parts of his body.

Theras doesn’t respond to being spoken to, so Vojta steps into the circle, where he is assaulted by a powerful psychic presence. One of the sending stones turns red hot and burns out of Vojta’s pack. Vojta collects himself and kicks the stone outside of the circle, where Arran uses it to receive a message from Saleekh, yelling that they almost manifested a demon lord in Glyckheart. Vojta tries to speak to Theras again, but the being that speaks back is a nameless demon lord possessing Theras’ body. It claims that Theras is just a meaningless vessel, and that it is biding its time until it is inevitably released, at which point it will have some fun in the material plane before challenging its brother Ho’od, Lord of Dominion, for the throne of Hell. Arran draws a connection to a being known as Varia, who devastated the continent 400 years ago until it was stopped by the dragonborn, and from whom the Varian Highlands take their name.

Joe steps into the circle as well, and brings up the matter of Cerebarieth. Cerebarieth is more powerful than this demon, but it doesn’t care enough about Cerebarieth’s return to cooperate with them. Joe suggests transferring the demon to another vessel so that Theras can be freed, an idea that the demon entertains. The group discusses some potential vessels and arrives at Ahrm, whose soul is forfeit anyways, and who needs more time and power to complete his plan of killing Thaddeus.

The group agrees that the risk must be taken. Vojta suggests contacting Ahrm, but Joe cryptically says that he has already taken steps to make sure the situation in Glyckheart is right. Grombrin destroys one of the runed pillars so that the demon can be extracted. However, the demon uses this opportunity to break free and unleash an enormous explosion that launches the group away. Only Arran remains conscious thanks to his magic barrier, and he witnesses Theras transform into a huge demonic monster and bound off into the distance to attack the clerics. Unable to do anything about the demon, Arran stabs Joe’s unconscious body out of spite, killing him.

***

Joe snaps to attention after considering the potential consequences of freeing the demon, and suddenly realises how foolish he had been to trust the demon’s apparent willingness to cooperate. The group decides after all that the demon is untrustworthy, and that they have no choice but to leave Theras behind for the time being, in the hope that they might be able to free him down the line with the power of all six blessings. While they head back through the tunnel system, they discuss going to Namos for the next blessing, and seeking out the merchant prince named the Investor nearby, who Joe claims might be an ally against the dragonborn. As they brainstorm for potential allies, Vojta brings up that Elric had a faint blessed aura similar to his own, and Arran mentions that there is a powerful elven weapon on Kadoma, which may be valuable if they can take it from the clutches of the dragonborn. Vojta also updates Saleekh and Lokreth on what happened. They answer that they survived the demonic incursion, and Saleekh cryptically warns Joe: “That better be the only letter you sent”.