Session Notes for 2004-11-11

We head into the ruins to explore.

At the entrance to the House Cannith building we find three zombies guarding the door. I call the essence of the councilors down upon the foul corruptions of immortality and they flee. One flees down the street while two head inside. We chase down the one on the street first to stop it from warning the camp. We then head in to clear out the remaining abominations. They present a minimal threat, but their fragmented glass shells make them resistant to damage. After several minutes of battle we finish them off without injury to ourselves.

225 3 glass-coated zombies

Looking around, the majority of the building is a single large room. In parts the glass has been cleared out of the way to reveal a red, engraved floor. There are several large red blocks in the corner, long abandoned work. There are three fireplaces, one each in white, red, and black. There are two human-sized statues at each fireplace. The north fireplace has a red dragon to the left and a red lion to the left. To the south is a white fireplace and statue; a wolf left and a falcon right. To the west are black statues, a knight to the right and a griffin to the left. In front of each fireplace is a Cannith house seal in the color of the fireplace.

On the ground is engraved a map of the area. It's old enough to include Cyre. Many towns and notable locations are marked but unlabeled.

One of the blocks has half-carved runes in it. We notice that the statues have writing on their backs.

Red Dragon: Talis, Black Seal, E4 Red Lion: Whitehearth, White Seal, NE9. White Wolf: Cabblen Hall, Red Seal, SW15 White Falcon: Blackhearth, Black Seal, SE12 Black Knight: Kronu Hall, White Seal, N6 Black Griffin, Redhearth, Red Seal, SE7

Searching a side room we find a small forgotten chest. Inside is a vial labeled "Compound 12" and fifty platinum.

It eventually becomes clear that if we stand on a named seal and walk the specified number of paces in the specified direction we always end up standing on a marked location. Eight roughly copies the map and notes the six destinations. Whitehearth is about 30 miles away.

200 Solving puzzle

Lin scouts the temple of Dol Dorrn across the way. The building is mostly collapsed. It's mostly ruined. Stuck with glass to the underside of the altar is a silver chalice. She pulls it out. She conceals it from the party.

I take one of the pickaxes lying around and attack the inscriptions on four of the statues, including the one that leads to Whitehearth. It makes a great deal of noise and we retreat. The rain has lessened to a mist during the night. We head back to camp.

We decide that stealing horses is too dangerous. It's too slow to walk. We hire Failin. Lin negotiates; he'll want 150 gold for each of us. He'll also get a full share of any loot on the trip in, but he gets nothing from our destination.

On the way out we notice the undead looking fellow hanging out at the edge of camp.

March 26th

We arrive on the border some time after midnight. The border is a dark, opaque mist. Failin drives right in. The mist is cloying and oppressive. There is almost no light. About a half hour passes in the mist.

The mist suddenly cuts off. A desolate landscape spreads ahead of us. The land is barren and cracked, only occasional twisted planet survives. The sky is a perpetual twilight.

We pass the remains of a battle. A shattered siege engine is surrounded by the corpses of Brelish soldiers. The corpses and their wounds appear fresh. Failin comes to a stop. He is interested in looting the bodies.

We search the area. As we're exploring, we note a wolf behind the siege engine. As it moves out, it becomes clear that it's skeletal. A human skull is fused to its back; a human arm is fused to its side. Two other skeletal wolves with human bones step out. The wolves move forward to attack, but they collapse as I rebuke their false life.

Looting the scene, we find some gold, silver, platinum, and a high quality light mace.

75 3 skeletal mutant wolves

A third of an hour later we come across a larger battlefield. It stretches a hundred yards across. Brellish infantry and Cyren archer corpses litter the fields. There a couple hundred corpses. As we poke around, Lin notices a third group. It's a small tangled mass of bodies. There are Talenta Plains halflings and Valenar elves.

I approach the bodies to give final words to the elves. As I approach the bodies rise up. An eight legged clawed crustation covered with corpses rises up and attacks us. It's already badly wounded, presumably from the previous battle. We fight back. It's huge claws seriously gouge Red and myself. Red challenges it in melee while Lin and Eight fire bolts at it. After several rounds it dies.

350 corpse crab

We quickly go over the corpses looking for valuables. We find a masterwork Valenar double-scimitar, a wand, a high quality cloak, two potions labeled , with pluses, some silver, gold, and platinum. Among the elves is a letter of credit from the Kundarak banking guild. It is for 400 gold. The cloak is dull red with fiery sigils on the back.

Red finds an halfling officer wearing high quality half-plate. He is holding a banner with an unknown symbol. He is holding a masterwork Talenta tangat. Worked into the pommel is the head of a clawfoot dinosaur.

Eight examines our loot. The cloak, the tangat, the wand, and the potions are magical. The light mace from earlier is as well.

Red examines the tangat as we drive on. She doesn't mention that she hears clawfoot sounds in her head.