Campaign 1: Chapter XV - The Shard and the Coin

A Final Goodbye

Faustas 24th Concord, 30 Fifth Age.

After the play, Visimar Von Tann bade farewell to Pandora and decided to put the mutant crocodile's blood to use. Setting up his alchemical supplies in his room at the Three Badgers, he began the process of brewing a potion of fire resistance before leaving it to brew. While he waited, he went to the library at Turnshale Tower, seeking to scratch an investigative itch. Despite the disapproving air of the surrounding scholars, he gained admission - under the condition not to remove any books from the library - and set about researching the golden serpent he saw in his dreams. When that search brought up nothing, he instead turned his focus to the Sunless Lands, and encountered a comprehensive history of the twelve Houses of the Valsharen - the topmost caste of drow, of which his family was one. Though he was momentarily carried away by his nostalgia, the pointed staring of an elderly scholar prompted him to pack up and head back to the tavern.

At the Three Badgers, Callidus and Kharmir celebrated their slaying of the ghohlbrorn. With Callidus still sore from the battle, they decided to spend the day drinking and carousing at the bar. That they did, with Callidus turning his attention to the female patrons while Kharmir sampled the Three Badgers' finest ales - though he still steered clear of Emerald Brew. As the day progressed, Callidus managed to arouse the ire of a burly man with hammers tattooed across his arms, though Kharmir's swift intervention prevented fisticuffs.

While his friends drank, Visimar made good on his appointment with Archmage Rogeiros. With the gatekeeper's leave, he went through the library to the base of the tower, where the walls were adorned with constellations and images of intertwining root systems, like the roots of a great tree. Visimar stepped into the centre of the floor, and blue runes lit up across the stone, filling hollow grooves like liquid light. The floor then rose, gently spinning, following the curve of the corkscrew tower, until it reached its apex: Rogeiros' grand study. 

The mage was perturbed by the news of Visimar's vision. He suggested that the dream was a sign that the coin was taking root inside his mind, burrowing and urging him to avarice. When Visimar listened, he could hear a faint whispering - unintelligible, faint, but definitely present. When Visimar appeared unruffled, Rogeiros urged him to come to the balcony and; toss the coin away. Visimar stepped out into the cold evening air and tried to throw it, but found the coin would not leave his hand. Rogeiros flicked it away with magical force, but when Visimar checked his pocket, he found the coin still there. The coin was bound to him, somehow, and would not be removed. Unnerved, Visimar asked for Rogeiros' advice. The archmage's first thought was to destroy the coin, but it could not be as simple as that, for infernal iron can only be melted by that which minted it: hellfire. Visimar suggested continuing the experiment together and monitoring the progression of the curse, but Rogeiros refused. He had lived too long to make foolish gambles, and, after all, curiosity was what got him exiled from his enclave. He dug too deep into subjects the preceptors did not approve of, and was punished for his transgression. It would not do for Visimar to make the same mistake. 

Tealeaf's infernal coin

After a moment of reflection, Visimar took out the shard of glass that had once lodged in the chest of Lancion Strong. He explained that it was a keepsake from a dead companion whom he had known only fleetingly, but whose words had had a great effect upon him. Talk of unbridled curiosity and foolish obsession had prompted him to think of the shard again. Visimar wanted it gone. After ensuring this was what Visimar wanted, Rogeiros agreed, and set his staff against the glass. In a flash of blinding light, the shard was reduced to dust. Visimar scattered it over the balustrade, where it drifted away on the wind. Inspired by the memory of Lancion's corruption, Visimar decided to break the curse. The archmage touched his staff to Visimar's shoulders, as if knighting him, and the dhampir felt as if a great weight had been lifted. The whispers had quieted.

Visimar thanked the archmage, and asked him one last thing. For decades he had been plagued by questions about his past, and about what could he do to find more about the red-hooded kidnappers - the Sanguinari - who turned him into a monster. The archmage regretted that his records were incomplete. He had seen and heard and learned many things in his age, but since his expulsion from his enclave he had been denied access to the full extent of the knowledge that was once available to him. If there was one place Visimar's answer resides, it was deep within the archives of Vanga Irina. 

Brawl in the Badgers

Back at the bar, Kharmir and Callidus were well into their cups. Kharmir was trying to make conversation, but Callidus was distracted. He had his eyes on a pale-haired woman who looked oddly like Arania of the Deep. When he drunkenly leaned over to smooth-talk her, his haphazard effort earned him a drink to the face. A familiar man with hammer tattoos came up to the bar, and Callidus realised that he was the lover of the woman he had just propositioned. The tattooed man accused Callidus of lechery. Despite Kharmir's protests, Callidus spat in the man's face, and a stunned silence settled over the bar. Then the tattooed man punched Callidus off his stool. Before he could rise, Kharmir had retaliated with a strike to the face, knocking the man down in one blow. Grimley lunged across the bar to separate the brawlers, but the tattooed man was unconscious, so he merely reprimanded the Reforged and told them not to bludgeon paying customers.

Thrilled by their brush with combat, the two men continued their merriment, and ended up sat at Grimley's table up on the mezzanine, along with an entourage of middle-aged women. Callidus tried his hand again with the most buxom of their number, but the woman in question seemed far more interested in Kharmir, given his unique stature and triumph in the (albeit brief) brawl. Kharmir graciously refused her advances, but assured her that his human companion was a far more willing lover. To Callidus' surprise, the woman agreed, and took him to bed for a lively night indeed.

Saturnas 25th Concord, 30 Fifth Age

The following morning, over breakfast, Kharmir tried to crack Callidus' stoic exterior. Though Kharmir pointed out that the other members of the Reforged had exposed painful truths, the rogue had rejected all efforts to pry into his personal affairs. However, it was to no avail. Frustrated, Kharmir went back to his meal, though he did not know that Callidus was privately touched by the dwarf's stalwart show of friendship the previous night. 

On his way downstairs, Visimar checked at the bar to see if Pandora had stopped by, but Grimley had never heard of her. Somewhat disappointed, Visimar joined his companions at their table and filled them in on what happened at Turnshale Tower. The relieved party then discussed their next moves. Given that Vanga Irina lay in the North Raumridings near Sturmenfell, Visimar wanted to head along the Mountain Road to the capital, to which the others agreed. However, they wanted to acquire a little more gold before they set out on such a long journey. Recalling the rumours he had heard in the tavern, Kharmir remembered a notice on the board in Dunstan's Square, promising a reward for mercenaries who could tackle a group of bandits on behalf of Lord Stylflint. The party agreed to head to the House of Talus on the King's Cairn and investigate.

The House of Talus

Surrounding the city's main street, which ran from the Old Gate to the top of King's Cairn, the Stonestairs district was home to the most affluent residents of the city. The upper reaches were steep, wooded and winding, threaded by a steep flight of uneven stone steps, worn down by centuries of footfall. The crag itself was ringed by no less than three crenelated battlements flying the four-arch banner of House Stylflint. Each wall bore a heavy portcullis, each carved with the bearded stone faces of long-dead kings. Within the castle complex, behind the first of the Cairn's defensive gates, lay a grand courthouse surmounted on all corners by four-armed gargoyle statues. The Stone Drum castle loomed above in vertical tiers of grey stone, casting the courtyard in pervasive shadow. 

Inside the House of Talus was magnificent stone chamber with a row of arches running down the centre. Beyond the arches lay the courtroom itself, with rows of benches surrounding a high pulpit. Attendants in smart woolen tunics, dyed dark blue and pinned with amber brooches, scribbled at scrolls on their desks. The room was busy; an overhead buttress had fallen in the storm and crushed furniture beneath, and the Stonemasons' Guild was operating pulleys to remove the damaged architecture and ferry lumps of newer stone up into the rafters. A human male in his late sixties, bald with a well-trimmed beard, with hard features that were a mix between brutish and regal, was overseeing the repair. Callidus identified him as Odda the Elder, Lord Constable of Stonecross (ergo the de facto master of laws) as well as former regent of the city.

The Reforged introduced themselves, and Lord Odda recognised them from the Pit of Proving. He  praised their performance, and asked if they were experienced in mercenary work. However, he was quickly interrupted by a young man with prominent ears, who addressed him as father and spoke of urgent news. The Elder angrily dismissed Odda the Younger, who eyed the party with suspicion while his father spoke. The Elder apologised, and explained that the brigands did not appear to be the usual kind of petty roadside criminal. The lone survivor of their latest attack claimed that the men managed to easily kill or abduct the other members of their caravan, despite the fact that they were entirely blind. Odda believed the bandits were holed up inside Fort Siward, a ruined Ceonred-era stronghold at the mountain's edge, roughly a five-day ride away. The party agreed, and - after initially considering buying horses for themselves - decided to hire a cart to take them out of town, to avoid the costs of saddling, stabling and the like until their trip to Sturmenfell. They hired from a shaded paddock in the Stonestairs, and the stern stablemaster sent his teenage son, Alric, as the Reforged's driver. Not wishing to waste any time, the party set off with haste, with Alric at the reins. 

The first few hours of the journey went smoothly, but as they passed through a wooded area, Visimar began to hear heavy footfalls coming from the trees. He squinted, and at first thought - judging from the creature's size - that it was a bear, but as it thundered closer, he noticed that the bristly fur on its thickset body was mixed with feathers. The creature's avian head, complete with limpid pupils and a hooked beak, was owl-like, and its terrible screech recalled a bird of prey in the height of frenzy. Visimar shouted a warning and the panicked Alric lashed the reins, spurring the horses onward. Kharmir told the boy to ride ahead and wait in a safe place, before jumping off to engage the beast. Callidus was next out of the cart, then Visimar - however, as Visimar landed, the cart shot out of sight and revealed a second owlbear approaching from the other side of the road, and this one had a pair of wings furled over its back. The Reforged did battle - while Kharmir and Callidus engaged the first, the winged owlbear chased Visimar to the top of a withered tree, its talons leaving strips in the bark. Visimar lunged down at the winged beast and drove his bloodflame blade into its face, killing it. Meanwhile, Kharmir tried to soothe the other bear, but Callidus' projectiles enraged it and it charged. Though it clawed at Kharmir's armour and found purchase, a few strikes from Kharmir's greatsword caused the owlbear to turn tail. Willing to let the creature go, Kharmir was horrified when Callidus shot the fleeing beast with his crossbow, remembering his murder of Unlaf at the Brewery.

And so it is written.

Campaign One: Chapter XIV - Hunting the Ghohlbrorn

Blood, Eyes and Hands

Lunas 22nd Concord, 30 Fifth Age

Upon their return to the city, the party found that a huge section of the Old Road had been torn up as something massive passed below. Grimley apologised for the mess inside the Three Badgers - as the creature went by, it left tremors in its wake that caused damage to the interior of the inn. The party went upstairs to rest after their dangerous encounter with the beetles. As they slept, Visimar was struck by visions - flashes of gold, accompanied by unintelligible whispers, though acquiring any definition was impossible.

Tondras 23rd Concord, 30 Fifth Age

The next morning, the Reforged found the Ranger of Roamere at the bar. He called himself Cadman, though he is known in town merely as Yellowcloak. Cadman asked if they were warriors, having been hired by a man named Gilderbone for a task too difficult for himself to complete alone. Though the party were preoccupied with tracking the ghohlbrorn, they offered to meet with Cadman and Gilderbone once the creature was dead. The group then split - Kharmir headed to Cliffhollow Garrison, Visimar to the forge, and Callidus remained at the bar to drink - agreeing to meet at the inn in half an hour.

Black clouds massed on the horizon. As Kharmir walked through the Old Town toward Petra's Cairn, he saw locals putting bags of sand outside their homes, in case of flooding. At the Garrison, he met with Varick in his offices. Varick said that he thought the party were dead when they never returned to the Marsh Town. He revealed that the ghohlbrorn had made its first incursion within the city walls, causing a breach in a side street in the Old Town. The whole shopfront fell into the crater, and blood at the scene implied that another victim had been snatched. 

Meanwhile, Visimar went to Hewan's forge to ask about the silver crown and if he could buy it back, but he found that Hewan had already melted it down into silver. Disgruntled, Visimar went off in search of something to replace his ruined eye. Following Hewan's vague directions, Visimar came across a dingy-looking shop with a bejewelled skull in the window, run by a hunched white dragonborn. After a brief browse, Visimar chose a chunk of bloodstone - dark grey with red flecks - which the shopkeeper polished down into a smooth sphere. He also found his eye caught by a withered black hand, and was told by the shopkeeper that he had bought it from an antiques collector. The hand once belonged to a mummified wizard, and was a rare piece used in the days of the dwarven undercities to find veins of precious minerals. However, its magical nature could also make it aggressive, and the shopkeeper advised Visimar to keep it in a locked box. Visimar bought the hand, and returned to the Three Badgers twenty-five minutes late, to Kharmir's displease. Callidus was already drunk, and fell off his chair at the sight of Visimar's new eye.

The Ghohlbrorn

The party followed the tear in the road to a cramped street near the foot of Petra's Cairn, where the ghohlbrorn's latest attack had caused a shop to collapse. The city watchmen guarding the site tried to prevent their approach, but Visimar explained that they were mercenaries working for Captain Varick. The party delved into the crater, to the shock of the nearby civilians, and followed the tunnel east, where it inevitably emerged at the circle of bones. Inside the central hollow lay a freshly-digested halfling, still covered in the creature's acidic, yellowish bile. Kharmir tried to identify tracks, but the place was riddled with them, so many that it was impossible to find which way the creature had went. After investigating the blocked tunnels that pitted the surrounding landscape, Visimar took out the mummified hand in the hopes it would seek out what he desired. The hand merely waggled, limp. 

Kharmir suggested setting a trap, and - with the others' help - took the halfling's rapidly-decomposing body into the extant tunnel and pinned it to the ceiling. He clanged his armour, and even cut his palm in the hope that the blood might attract the creature, but to no avail. When Visimar tried to suck from Kharmir's wound, he decided to take a different tack. The party climbed up into the trees at the edge of the Fenmarrow Forest and watched the circle of bones as the storm broke overhead.

The ghohlbrorn (a.k.a. a bulette)

A few hours later, Kharmir spotted something through the driving rain: a dark shape moving across the ground, like a shark's fin through water. The creature broke through the dirt and revealed itself: a massive bulk on four thickset legs, nine feet tall from foot to shoulder, silhouetted in the stormy evening night. Yellow eyes burned in its pointed head, and blueish plates of stony armour descended down its body in sheets. The ghohlbrorn walked to the edge of the pit and vomited a fresh hail of bones into the crater before crushing them into powder with its flat claws. Kharmir fired an arrow at the opposite edge of the pit, catching the creature's attention, and while its back was turned Kharmir and Visimar slipped out of the trees and crept up to the edge of the pit, the rain muffling their approach. However, Callidus - still drunk - slipped and tumbled down the slope.

Before anyone could react, the hulking beast turned and, with extraordinary agility, leapt an extraordinary height into the air, landing heavily on top of Callidus, almost crushing him to death. Kharmir drove his glaive into the weak point below the ghohlbrorn's 'fin,' distracting it enough for Callidus to roll out from beneath it and flee. Visimar and Kharmir battled the creature in close-range, but as Kharmir tried to back away, it clenched him in its jaws, its thick teeth penetrating his armour. Callidus staggered around the edge of the pit to avoid the beast while the others fought, until finally the ghohlbrorn leapt over Kharmir, allowing him to slice its underbelly with his greatsword. It landed, and died swiftly from its injuries. 

Dreams of Gold

Battered but victorious, the Reforged dragged the ghohlbrorn's corpse back to Cliffhollow Garrison, dumping it in the rain-soaked courtyard. Captain Varick thanked them for their service and sent them off with a hundred gold pieces each, as well as first pickings from the ghohlbrorn's corpse. They decided to peel off its chitinous plating and take it to Hewan to fashion into armour. Callidus, injured and intoxicated, led the way on the walk back to the Three Badgers, which was crowded with people seeking shelter from the storm. Kharmir, seized by an idea, decided to write an advertisement for local dwarves, or any folks who were interested in the repopulation of an ancient city, and posted it on the noticeboard in Dunstan's Square. He then lingered in the bar for a while, listening for rumours, and overhead a conversation between two merchants. They spoke of bandits on the Old Road between here and Blackmont - rumour had it that the bandits had no eyes.

Meanwhile, Visimar and Callidus retired to their rooms. Visimar took out the black iron coin and the mummified hand, lay them on the floor, and began to meditate. He found himself dreaming of a palace of gold: a hall hundreds of feet tall, with gilded columns that gleamed in the sharp yellow sun. Gemstones littered the floor - diamonds, rubies, sapphires - like spilled caltrops. All around him, objects of obscene wealth shone on plinths: urns, gold-framed paintings, crowns, brooches, brocade gowns, tapestries inlaid with precious thread. Something moved at the end of the hall: a great, thick serpent scaled in golden metal plates. It shimmered and shuddered, raising a humanlike head to look at Visimar, before whispering: 'All of this… can be yours…' Visimar asked how, and the serpent responded: 'Follow the voices, and they will lead you to prosperity.' Visimar tried to reply, but the room began to melt, drowning him in gold. As it splattered down from the ceiling, running down the columns, the air shimmered with the heat. 

The Pennant of Red and Gold

Faustas 24th Concord, 30 Fifth Age

The next morning, the party reflected that it had been a whole week since they slew the monster in the Hellmire. To celebrate, they decided to stop by the Rockery to watch a performance before they spoke to Rogeiros again. Before they went, Visimar went back to the trinket shop to ask the shopkeeper about the inert hand. The dragonborn explained that it had been sold to him by an elderly gnome. Recognising Victor's description, Visimar realised that he had been duped. Disgruntled, he rejoined the Reforged at the Rockery.

The Rockery

According to the poster, the Pennant of Red and Gold was a tale of two queens, of murder and vengeance, of great battles on land and sea, of slain dragons and eaten hearts, of blood, love, fire  and steel. The venue itself was a longhall with stained-glass lanterns hanging outside, casting myriad prismatic colours across the cobbled street. The interior had a cozy, mead-hall feel to it. Huge standing stones lay around the edge of the room like a broken henge: each at least seven feet tall, carved with faces of different expressions, grins, scowls, weeping, cheering. Benches and stools were arranged in an oval around a central stage, which itself was hidden from view by a ring of crimson velvet curtain. Kharmir went to buy drinks at the bar, electing to avoid Emerald Brew in favour of a golden mead, while Visimar bought five mutton pasties. They took their seats, with Visimar seating himself next to a human woman in her mid-thirties, with blonde hair tied back with a bejewelled dragon-shaped hairpin. Visimar attempted to be charming, but the woman seemed wary.

The lights went down, and the troupe's leader - a spindly half-elf - emerged from the curtain, sporting a painted face and a jacket glittering with red stones. He introduced himself as Lord Cobble Robin, Mummer King of Stonecross, to rapturous applause. The curtain rose, disappearing into gold confetti, revealing a fat knight in rusty armour (painted gold), sword aloft.  A halfling in a belled hat stepped out and narrated over a musician playing an ocarina.

"Sons of Haelion, children of the sun!

A hundred bloody battles won -

Watch as these warriors of divine fame

Stand fast before the fright of flame!"

A cloth dragon, long, serpentine, blasted fire into the air. Visimar looked closer, and saw through the dragon's maw that it was puppeteered by a gang of four gnomes. The fat knight duelled the dragon to 'oos' and 'aahs' from the audience. His sword cut through the cloth, revealing the four gnome performers within, who spilled out and mimed dying in an extremely exaggerated fashion, to the audience's delight. The knight removed his helm and armour, taking the mantle of God-Emperor Hazeran, and lay down on the floor as chorus members throw a blanket over him. The halfling returned: 

"Behold, the sleeping emperor lies,

Not a fear behind those dormant eyes,

Hazeran's lands, won of war,

Sleep in peace forevermore

But what is that our good king saw?

A spectral knocking at the door --?"

Hazeran woke, and communed with the veiled ghost of his dead first wife Elmariya. She warned of danger ahead: the fall of a great dynasty. Hazeran comically dismissed the claims by grabbing his crotch. Elmariya vanishes, and he returned to his slumber. As he slept, Lord Cobble Robin snuck onto the stage in a flamboyant, bloodstained Quisline costume, drawing a long knife. Visimar wolf-whistled.

"Second married, second loved

A dagger held in fingers gloved

And after did this ghost depart -

The Mad Queen cut and ate his heart!"

Quisline drove the blade into Hazeran's chest, inciting a long and messy death scene, before yanking a pig's heart from Hazeran's chest and miming eating it. Someone in the audience fainted. The play went on in a similar vein, mixing comedy with shocking violence in a parade of tonal whiplash - the lands fell to the Mad Queen's power, with her two blood-children at her side: the halfling bounded around like a savage dog in the role of Othmut, to laughs and revulsion from the audience. Two dragons fought, Aion ventured into the mountains before falling into a volcano, Cathmaris seals herself away in the Blighted Lands, and Anaxandros kills the Mad Queen, emerging the lone hero of the story. After bows and tumultuous applause, the audience were freed for revelry. Lord Cobble Robin and his troupe stayed to mix with the patrons. Kharmir complimented the mummers for their show, and Cobble Robin explained that they were a touring troupe, but began here in Stonecross. 

Meanwhile, the woman beside Visimar asked if he was from the Sunless Lands. She had recognised the touch of the angels - the iscafaene - and told him she had a great reverence for that part of the world. She introduced herself as Pandora, a local financier whose loans funded Lord Cobble Robin's troupe. The pair exchanged stories, and Visimar mentioned the legend of the Olath: the source of drow long life, a great fallen star that only the most powerful matriarchs have seen. Intrigued, Visimar divulged the location of his lodgings, if Pandora ever wanted to talk more.

And so it is written.