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Act 2 - The Emerald Tablets

Session 1

570Y 4M KAL

With Ravenhelm securely in the Republic's hands, the party teleports to the Tomb of the Alchemist to being the journey to Terraworth. Progress is slow, as the roads beyond the Serpent's Pass have deteriorated in the centuries since the Sack, and the road is plagued with dangerous creatures.

570Y 4M 6IDE

On the eighth day of the journey, the party detours slightly to Arkala, an abandoned border town, and discovers a pair of Republic soldiers under attack by the undead. After rescuing the soldiers, the pair introduce themselves as Leighya and Arthyr, childhood friends who've decided to take up treasure hunting now that their commissions in the REF are expired. They seem to have better local knowledge, having "borrowed" a manuscript detailing the history of Terraworth from the Blackpoint library archives. The party agrees to escort Leighya and Arthyr in exchange for their help in locating the Golden Vault within the Imperial Archives deep inside the city.

Session 2

570Y 4M 5IDE

The party next investigated the abandoned Lich's tower on the city outskirts. The journey took several days, and the party began to notice some strange sounds emanating from Leighya's bag. On closer inspection, the bag was always kept within arm's reach of either of the two soldiers, and treated very gingerly. When asked about it, the pair simply replied that it held expensive potions in delicate glass jars.

570Y 4M IDE

The party eventually reaches Krutoq's Tower. Although the ruins date from before the Great Sack, the party found evidence of a recent incursion into the tower by a deranged individual seeking to revive "an angel" caged deep within the Terraworth Archives in the form of a lost journal. The journal itself is clearly an item of great material worth, as it is the kind given to prelates of the Primacy of Blackpoint, high ranking clerical officials of the rival kingdom.

A thorough investigation of the tower reveals a sealed underground chamber, filled knee-deep in blood. Despite the age of the ruins, the blood has been preserved through arcane means, and the party deduces that it must have been created before the destruction of the tower, several hundred years before the Great Sack.

While the party investigates the tower, Durgu and Leighya establish a mutual understanding about the latter's suspicious behavior. Although she is reluctant to reveal what secrets the bag holds, Leighya assures Durgu that the contents mean them no harm.

Session 3

570Y 4M 16KAL

The party spends the next few days travelling in the direction of Terraworth proper. The soldiers' bag continues to make strange noises, and the party grows increasingly suspicious of their guides. The party eventually confronts the soldiers, who reveal the bag contains a Flameskull - the re-animated flaming skull of a warrior. They explain that the Flameskull saved their lives long ago, when their unit was deployed to Terraworth, and the pair swore to help the trapped soul escape the madness imposed upon it through undeath. The party agrees to try to help the two soldiers in their quest, but remain wary of the danger presented by the insane skull.

The party consults Azoth, who provides the details of a ritual to break the spell over the Flameskull:

The Flameskull's Ritual

The following components must be placed within the ritual circle, surrounding the Flameskull:

  • The blood sacrifice of a willing creature

  • A blade that has taken a life.

  • The head of the reanimator.

With this information in hand, the party continues onwards to Terraworth.

Session 4

570Y 4M 15KAL

The party explores the ruins of the nearby mining towns, Kirkwall and Cardend. At the entrance to the mines, the party discovers what appears to be an ancient battleground, littered with the bleached corpses of humanoids and beasts alike.

A closer examination of the derelict weapons and armor reveals a mystery: The items' forge marks date the weapons to a whole range of ages, from the pre-Sack forges of Terraworth to a Siddar manufactory opened no more than 10 years prior. Furthermore, all of the skeletal remains show significant blunt force trauma and missing pieces, as if they were the unusable chaff left over.

Session 5

570Y 4M 11KAL

The party arrives on the outskirts of Terraworth proper. Based on Leighya's research, Durgu, Leighya, and Nykolai decide to investigate the Imperial Army Training Grounds for buried treasure. They are ambushed by a group of Shadows and Dread Warriors, the twisted and tortured remains of former inhabitants of the city. While it takes the combined might of the entire party to dispatch the undead warriors, the struggle proves worth it in the end, as the hidden caches unearth a veritable fortune of First Age weapon relics.

Session 6

570Y 4M 10KAL

Xalston attempts to fix the Flameskull's madness by casting Remove Curse upon it, however the spell has the opposite of the intended effect, and seems to harm the creature. Leighya, upset with Xalston, storms off into the night with the Flameskull. Several hours later, she still has not returned, so Arthyr, Durgu, and Tym set off to find her, while Xalston and Nykolai stay behind to rest.

The search party discovers evidence that Leighya was ambushed just outside the walls of Terraworth, and follow the tracks into the Outer Districts of the city to search for her. Inside one of the ruined forges, the searchers discover another kidnapped individual whom they initially mistake for Leighya. After a quick rescue, Nyhlus Verriskrit introduces himself, and tells his rescuers that he was kidnapped by Pleas Morgan, a disgraced former fellow member of the Primacy of Blackpoint. Nyhlus had precided over Pleas' trial for heresy, but the insane cleric had escaped from prison thanks to the flame cult's interference, and sought to exact his revenge on Nyhlus.

Xalston and Nykolai eventually catch up with the rest of the party, and begin tracking the cultists through the wreckage of the Terraworth forges. Making their way through the derelict buildings, the party eventually stumbles into a fire cult ritual being performed inside an adjecent forge. Durgu spots Leighya's body, tied up and suspended from the ceiling scaffolds over a massive bonfire at the center of the ritual. Despite their best efforts at stealth, Durgu is spotted rescuing Leighya, and a fight breaks out.

The cultists are quickly defeated, though the party took massive amounts of damage from an unending barrage of fireballs. With the forge crumbling around them, the party descends into a tunnel dug into the ground of the building, an escape route the cultists had attempted to use.

Session 7

570Y 4M 10KAL

Throughout the earlier fight, Durgu had gotten a feeling of wrong-ness from the rescued Leighya, as though something were wrong or out of place about her. Now that the cultist were defeated and without the threat of being buried by tons of rubble, Durgu questions the soldier to attempt to establish her identity.

When the Leighya lookalike is unable to answer the half-orc's question about the contents of her bag, he quickly knocks the impostor unconscious. With Nyhlus' help, Tym interrogates the captive, who quickly reveals themselves to be a doppelganger, Uþer. Uþer reveals that although they are not Leighya, they did see the missing soldier get abducted, and took her form in an attempt to not be caught by her compatriots. The plan backfired, as Uþer was themselves captured by another group of flame cultists.

Realizing the doppelganger is not truly a threat, the party makes them an offer: help us get to the vaults, and we will help get rid of the cultists. Uþer agrees, and the party takes a small rest within the tunnel to recover from the earlier combat.

Upon exiting the tunnel, the party encounters Tayfe, a tiefling sorcerer from Blackpoint, who is also searching for treasures buried within the valuts of the Imperial Archives. Tayfe joins the party as Nyhlus bids the group farewell, and thanks them for their assistance. Once he is out of range, Tayfe reveals that although the man's garb, speech, and manner match the name, the face does not. It seems Nyhlus, who has disappeared into the ruins of Terraworth, was not who he seemed to be.