Basements and Braunsteins

Session 104: The Illhiedrin Book II

This session was played on 10/12/24 lasted until 11/1/24.

Roster

Session Report

Napoleon, Ike, and Jovius Join the Quest

Napoleon meets with Ike and Jovius in Chestertonshire and invites them to adventure with him. He tells them the story of his last adventure. They prepare for an adventure. Ike is notably a pigeon racer and needs a horse, wagon, and a large tent for his pigeons to stay in—and of course someone to feed them.

Arrival in Tassin’s Wood

On Oct. 14th they reach Tassin’s Wood and settle in. Napoleon seeks out a local augur to get a fortune on whether working with Alcastra is worthwhile. He is satisfied and decides to go meet her.

The party heads towards the tower but is intercepted by Alcastra’s people (patrols). Like I said last session, she has some patrols working in the area, but up until now the party has avoided their attention. Alcastra’s servant walks the party to the entrance of the tower while one of her griffin squads watches from the sky.

The party agrees to work for Alcastra and recover Charlesfane’s missing magic books. Alcastra gives the party some items to assist them in their quest, and when the party tries to negotiate for more they fail. She forces them to accept a geas and they are off to work.

Journey to Charlesfane’s Tomb

Again, it takes a few days to reach Charlesfane’s tomb from Tassin’s Wood, and the party arrives without incident, partly because the griffin patrol is following them. The party returns to the sarcophagus room they found last delve into the tomb. After a search they learn that it is the burial site of Charlesfane’s bodyguard and long-time friend.

A few rooms deeper into the tomb, they find some more orcs. It looks like the party lied last session to the cleric, Lassering, about clearing the entire tomb. Anyway, the party makes quick work of these orcs—leaving the last one alive and unconscious. They don’t really have any questions to ask him, and none of them can speak Orcish, so they just execute the orc on the spot.

One of the items given to the party by Alcastra was a magic wand to detect traps, and they find one on a chest. They leave the chest and loot everything else—two silvered swords and some pocket change.

After venturing a little more and failing to find anything, they come back to the trapped chest and hack it open. They carry the still-trapped chest out of the dungeon and load it onto their cart. Back in the dungeon they use their magic wand to see if they can find any secret doors. Eventually, they do.

A small passage inside of a closet. Ike goes in first to scout ahead. He returns and tells the party he thinks there is an underground cockfighting ring—he knows his birds.

Obviously that seems rather ridiculous, and the party goes in to investigate. The party determines this is the tomb of Charlesfane. However, before opening his tomb Napoleon wants to return a few rooms past and open some of those tombs. A grave mistake.

The Death of Napoleon

These tombs were poison-trapped, and Napoleon ends up dying. His body is dragged into the secret passage where his things are rummaged through. The party takes his scroll of Speak With Dead and goes to speak with Charlesfane.

Charlesfane is very agreeable with the party and tells them everything he knows about what he is asked. He was forced to flee his tower after a mysterious creature came and drove him out. Despite all of his magical powers, none of them seemed to cause any damage to this creature. If anything, it only made him angrier and stronger.

Charlesfane says the book was last in the tower and to check there. He is unsure if the creature is still there. He also tells the party the tower can only be found under a new moon, or something like that—I can’t remember.

With this information, and Napoleon’s corpse, the party leaves the tomb and returns to Tassin’s Wood. Luckily, the clerics there are able to resurrect him. They tell Alcastra the news and that they need more time. They wait for a bit in the town to recover and then head for the tower at the new moon.

The Invisible Tower

They reach the invisible tower a few days early and camp outside until the new moon.

Inside the tower the party begins searching for the book. They find some alchemical notes, but no spellbook. On one of the upper floors of the tower they encounter the “creature.” He says he doesn’t know where the spellbook is either, but he can smell it and it is driving him crazy. The party doesn’t trust him and begins attacking.

They kill the creature and gut him, hoping that he ate the spellbook. They are unable to find it. They spend a few more hours ransacking the tower, still unable to find the book. They don’t want to make this all for naught and load up everything they can onto their cart and horse. That is, the wizard desk, fancy robes, jewelry, gems, and some notes in a strange language.

They bring the notes to Alcastra and sell the rest in town.

Aftermath

Slain

Spoils

Score

#1e #alcastra #brosr #krozpont #session report