Orasi In Darkness

Orasi

Current Campaign: The Knights of Eaton

Episode 2: "Orasi in Darkness"

Year: 1753 Summer

Location: Talonshire, Greymour, Karad, Orasi

PCs: Borric Simonson Drake Margaret Kelleck Simon Aylay Windsor Tasselhof Kelleck

NPCs: Alva Cromwell Astor Bloodfiend Corwin Grespin Kelleck Jacob of Loth Malindril the Grey O'Brien Oronius Velwyn il-Gathyr

Previous Episode: "The Blood of Kings"

Next Episode: "The Siege of Kandorr"

Previous Campaign: The Thuzuulan Heresy

The party rests in Talonshire briefly before embarking to Larkos and then to Orasi beyond. They skirmish against highwaymen until they reach Morengiliath, where they again confront sinister adversaries deep in the bowels of the cursed city. They successfully collect an heirloom and after they are threatened by a creature of great power they return to Kandorr, who receives them with much fanfare.

Story

Act One: Reprieve in Talonshire

The party had withdrawn to the Lonely Shepherd in Talonshire to recover from the emotional and physical turmoil inflicted on them at the Kel Hamin Gap. Jacob, meanwhile, bought passage for the group upon the Forceful Response, the flagship of a merchant fleet captained by his old friend Alva Cromwell. The group boarded the vessel a day later and, after a rambling drunken prayer by the ship's mage O'Brien, the fleet set sail for Greymour. The fleet stopped in Greymour to exchange goods and next sailed south to Brundhai. While enjoying shore leave at the wharf pubs, the crew heeded the tale of a sailor, recently debarked from Larkos, who claimed there was great wealth to be had in the ruins of Orasi. They confirmed the report through merchants and traders in the area and Borric decided the group should investigate the rumors. By Cromwell's introduction, the group gained a private audience with Oronius, a young prince of Bonebreak Tor, who provided them with an elite vessel and sent along four of his knights to accompany them to the Kerrdos mountains. Act Two: In the Gloom of Morengiliath

After a stop-over in Larkos and a sporadic series of fights against highway brigands, the company arrived at the gates of Morengiliath after four weeks of travel on Orasi Road. Using powerstones loaned from Cromwell, their mages disabled the magical spells upon the door. Corwin teleported himself and another person inside and, after a lengthy search, they disabled the locking mechanisms on the massive steel doors. The doors creaked open and blasted them with dust and stale, rank air. As they unpacked their torches and exploring kits, Borric ordered Tasselhoff to guard the entryway and gave him command of the Torrian knights. As Tasselhoff's unit arranged a defensive position, the others lit their torches and began their trek into the heavy gloom of the vast entrance hall.

For hours Borric's team explored empty shrines, libraries, pantries, kitchens, and living quarters but found little of value and no signs of life other than great threads of cobweb from bone spiders. They returned to the entryway and regrouped with Tasselhof's unit, and Borric made plans to venture deeper into the mountain realm after a night of sleep. The next morning they reassembled and Grespin replaced Tasselhof, who joined Borric's team. Hours spent roaming the deeper halls of the city yielded only more rotted furniture and lichen, but Margaret noticed recent signs of crag troll activity. Simon was the first to notice a perpetual humming noise that caused faint vibrations among the shallow pools of water collected in some rooms. The presence of these pools indicated a hidden water source somewhere, and the group surmised there were aqueducts or springs they had yet to find.

As the party moved further into the deep, Margaret realized they were being tracked by things in the darkness; she cautioned the team to ready their weapons and they formed a defensive posture as they proceeded towards the route that led to the central atrium linking Morengiliath with Orasi. Within minutes, they were assaulted with a hail of stones, spears, and arrows; the crag trolls had cornered them and were pressing them into a narrow corridor. The group counter-attacked with spells and arrows, and a brief chase ended at the moss-coated door of the great hall. Borric ordered his axe-wielders to hew down the door to make an escape route—they struck at the door repeatedly. In the melee, Simon took a moment to observe the situation and noticed massive cracks in the flooring and ceiling of the hall; he saw droplets of moisture beaded along these cracks. He had time enough to shout, "No!" before a final axe swipe split the moist wooden door and a massive wall of water came falling from the other side. The entire party was scattered and swept away in a sudden flood that carried them further into the mountain.

Act Three: Malindril

The group was quickly separated as they clutched desperately for purchase against the forceful waters that swept them through flooded corridors; some were stunned after being violently battered along the stone walls and pillars, and two knights were helplessly thrown into the chasm of the central atrium, where they plummeted to their deaths. Borric and Simon clutched the lip of a stone doorway before the water could carry them into the chasm and they climbed to the open floor one level above them; Borric quickly unleashed his rope and they looped it around a pillar to catch the knights who passed in the stream below them. After several minutes they managed to save the others, but they realized Margaret was among the missing.

Margaret had plunged over the chasm but was quick and agile enough to grab the ledge of a bridge spanning the center of the atrium. She clung to it and pulled herself up against the force of the water and managed to crawl to safety on the other side of the chasm, three levels below the rest of the party. Stunned and injured, she staggered deeper into the halls of Orasi and lay down to rest. When she came to, she was being tended to by an Ashakre cleric who introduced himself as Astor Bloodfiend. He healed her wounds and informed her that Osari was being repopulated but that most citizens still avoided the deeper regions of the city, and that no one had dared venture into the throne room where Thuzuul met his demise. He indicated the ornately carved stone platforms dotting the levels and informed her that these were used as teleportation beacons by their magi and together they teleported to find the main group.

They teleported as high as the platforms would take them and climbed the great spiral staircase to the ruins of the throne room high above the empty city. In the fire-scarred antechamber, they found the remains of Elthwain and dozens of Ashakre warriors and Thuzuulan acolytes. Within the throne room, they found the remains of Captain Velwyn, the celebrated Dragon Lord of Keldoras, and a dozen other bodies. Bloodfiend arranged the bodies in repose and performed a small ceremony for the dead. Simon walked to a heat-scorched crater near the center of the throne room and discovered a fist-sized amber powerstone lying at its center. He brushed the dust from it and presented it to Margaret. Borric found an claymore embedded in one of the stone pillars and dislodged it—it briefly glowed a dim blue and was coated with a rime of frost. Borric packed it away and hitched it to his kit.

The room was rocked by a blast of icy wind and a hail of rocks and glass as a squat black mass thumped onto the throne room floor. It shook sheets of snow from its sable wings and reared its thick head at the knights of Eaton, who were scrambling to their feet. A deep, viscous voice boomed out beneath the stars:

"Intruders. Your racket stirs me. You agitate the trolls and spiders above me. You pour water down upon me. I have eaten the flesh of your companions and for that small gift I am obliged to reciprocate with a warning: leave this place immediately."

Mustering all his training in diplomacy and etiquette, Simon apologized for the group, and they backed out of the throne room without drawing weapons. When they were back at the teleportation beacons, Bloodfiend identified the creature as Malindril, a young carrion dragon who made her home in Morengiliath. The group trekked back through the city and returned to the entrance where they met up with Grespin and the Torrians, who were surrounded by fresh dead. Grespin reported their position was assaulted by the highway brigands from days ago and that they had killed the lot of them.

Bloodfiend traveled with the group as far as Larkos. After they made the weeks-long trek to that port city, he gave Margaret a gift bracelet, showing her how to use it to call to him whenever she was in great need of an ally. From Larkos, the Torrians returned to the Tor, and the group journeyed back to Eaton. Upon their return, they were welcomed back into Kandorr with fanfare and a week of festivities. King Croyd received the amber jewel and placed it in his trophy room. In the ceremonies that followed, Simon was squired to Margaret, Tas was initiated into the Rangers of Eatonshire, and Drake was awarded a small parcel of land and a title in Greendale.

Meta

Game notes

• played Fall semester, 1991

Plot Points

• In Act Three the group finds the remains of the dead from the adventure Thuzuul at Orasi.
• Bloodfiend's calling as a priest of Moloth compelled him to travel to Osari, where he believes he was meant to find Margaret. This is due to a CRIT 18 on the Reaction Roll table upon meeting her.
• Bloodfiend gave Margaret a bracelet Enchanted with Trace, Beacon and a Scrying spell.

Points Awarded

• 6 point for all

Season Pool

• 10 points

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