Game Notes: Session 4

Regarding occurences between Session III & Session IV

Between the two sessions, approximately two years have passed. Each character was given individual backstory and accomplishment sessions with the DM.

A New PC joins the Party:

Hirsute: Human Monk.

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Gameplay began at The Warrior’s Rest, two years after the end of Session III. During the characters’ off time, they trained with their various mentors and learned things about the world independently of each other. Occasionally, individual characters get together when they are in close proximity of each other, and the party also keeps track of one another via the telepathic link set up by Teris’ death ritual.

The party is called back together by Eric, who reports that he has located Zarin. When the party arrives at the Warrior’s Rest, they are surprised to discover that Eric has suffered some serious injuries, which he explains are the result of an exploding tower that killed his mentor, a mage. Eric and his mentor had been conducting research into the nature of the party’s peculiar age grouping when the explosion occurred. Eric reports that Zarin is currently in the Twilight Lands, in a town called Drea. Eric’s desire is to send the party off to Drea while he continues his research, but concern over his well being leads the boys to insist that he upgrade his bodyguard over his current companion – a monk who has accompianed him by the name of Hirsute. Learning from Floyd that Brother Art has been imprisoned, and the new Cardinal has put a figurehead at the Morningstar Abbey, the boys return to the Abbey at nightfall to retrieve Brother Samarind, held captive there and drugged due to the brothers’ inability to control him (without his choker). Guy & Virgil break Samarind out of his holding cell, and return him to the group, but Guy is stopped by one of the brothers (Jarrod) who tells Guy that he is in charge of an organization that keeps close tabs on the party and all who are like them (i.e., 18 years old).

Outside the monastary, Guy returns Samarind’s choker, which restores his powers of reason. They convince Samarind to become Eric’s gaurdian, while the rest of the group goes off to Drea. Hirsute, desiring an experience of life outside of his order, joins the party.

The party begins the journey to Drea. That evening, they encounter trouble in the form of a wolf pack and its leader, a Barghest. After unsuccesfully attempting to engage them in combat, the boys are forced to flee, and manage to set off magical runes on a bridge which allow them to escape. Shortly thereafter, they meet an old man with a cart, who tells them to stay away from the old mill. Naturally, the party decides to investigate the old mill.

The party arrives at the old mill shortly before sunset, and they find, as you might guesss, an old, abandoned mill, with a figure hanging from one of the blades. Hirsute, Virgil, Floyd, and finally, Brix find themselves unable to approach the mill after a certain point, but Guy manages to get closer than others, and is subsequently treated to a private horror show that promises to haunt his dreams.

The group continues on to Drea, where they arrive at the town’s inn, and Floyd convinces the innkeeper to allow him to perform that night in exchange for room & board. Floyd’s show is a hit, and he becomes one of the more popular figures in town. Meanwhile, Brix makes the aquaintance of Friar Sal, a cleric of the local church, Virgil meets Havarn, a weaponsmith whom he had heard legends of, and Hirsute becomes sick and misses out on the subsequent adventuring (what remains).

The boys encounter Zarin at the inn the night that Floyd performs. They have a long conversation with him, and appear to set things straight between them. The party tells Zarin of his “special” status as one of the few 18 year olds out there (earlier, Eric had divulged that there had been a total of 10 children born that year, 2 of whom are deceased). Furthermore, they learn from Zarin that he has had conversations with Eric, though this contradicts a claim Eric had made earlier (he portends to know of Zarin’s location, but says he has never seen him in these two years). The group also learns of a tower outside of town called The Tower of the Broken Moon.It becomes clear that cleaning out the tower is something the boys are here to do, as the town is small and doesn’t get a lot of adventuring parties. The decision is made to rest up and heal for a week before they head for the tower.

End of Session III

Experience: The party gains 110 XP for the session.




Flavor Text (written by DM):

The legend of Rogave:
Rogave the Mad was a warrior of unsurpassed skill. A slender man, he had the grace of a cat and the speed of a snake. He came out of the west on a ship with no sails, pulled from below by some nameless horror. None knew his land of origin, but he spoke our tongue and his coins were gold, if unfamiliar. He could be found wherever there was battle, a laughing spinning whirlwind of death. With Malerith, his swordstaff, he could strike you before your blade was bared, and kill your friends before you hit the ground. No one could stand against him until Hemis. With sword and shield Hemis descended from his mountain dwelling and met Rogave on the field of battle. Malerith moved like lightning, but Hemis’s shield let nothing pass. Finally in frustration Rograve drove Malerith into Hemis’s shield. Hemis responded by striking not at Rogave, but at his weapon. The ensuing explosion knocked both heroes to the ground and leveled the armies. Hemis returned to the mountains, Malerith’s blade a trophy for his mead hall.

So it was that Rogave was dicing with a man named Jith. As the night wore on the luck of Rogave drew admiration from Jith, so that Jith demanded a contest. Each would name a feat of daring for the other. If Rogave won he would have Jith’s daughter to do with as he pleased, a beauty by all accounts, and if Jith won he would have Rogave’s magical staff. For his task Rogave demanded that Jith bring him the crown of Vitckik the Mer-Queen. In return Jith demanded that Rogave bring him the eye of Thoth from the Tower of the Broken Moon. Rogave went in to the tower, and that is the end of his story. What happened within none know. Rogave never returned. As for Jith, his body washed ashore some weeks later. Drowned.

The Tower of the Broken Moon:

Originally built to honor a long forgotten moon god, it at some point became the home of Alkawa the Archlich. Alkawa came from the south, fleeing whatever power had unseated him, and claimed the Tower of the Broken Moon for his own. There he worked his dark magics and bred things, creating unholy life. So it was until the paladin Krule entered the tower and destroyed Alkawa utterly. Krule shut the tower behind him and warned that Alkawa’s evil hand not died with him. Since then the tower lies abandoned and accused. A tomb for fools.