Mystara 2012 Campaign Journal: Sessions 14-22
The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb: Part Two
Felmont 19-21, AC 1012: The party continues to explore Tzolo’s tomb.
Felmont 22-23: The party escapes the tomb and uses animal messenger to send word to Lucas and to Torenescu about Kelric’s condition and request help. They travel out of the mountains to the village of Hillsend.
Felmont 24-27: The party makes haste toward Threshold. Kelric’s condition worsens and he falls catatonic. Near the village of Verge, the party is met by Yelena Stoneclaw, a powerful druid from the Black Peaks region. She informs them that Lucas asked her to meet them on the trail and provide aid to Kelric. In exchange for Bertrak’s magical horn and wand, Yelena gives them a potion to remove the curse (which she obtained from the Church of Karameikos in Threshold, thanks to a request from Lucas) and then uses her own spells to cure the disease.
Felmont 28: The party reaches Threshold.
Fyrmont 1-7: The party debriefs with Torenescu, informing him of their progress so far. They hand over the jewels that they have recovered so far, and it becomes clear that there is a specific items or items that he was hoping for which is not here. He is not pleased, but is placated with the knowledge that they will return to the tomb, and that they have the pass-stone so it is unlikely the tomb will be disturbed while they are away. The party uses this time to do some training and prepare for the return trip, and Kelric recovers from his near death.
The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb: Part Three
Fyrmont 8-14: The party travels back to the tomb.
Fyrmont 15-17: The party continues to explore the tomb. After nearly getting killed multiple times, the party finally gives up and leaves the tomb without finding Tzolo or figuring out how to get the ship out.
Fyrmont 18-27: The party makes several trips from the tomb to Hillsend and back to transport all of the treasure they can.
Fyrmont 28 - Ambyrmont 8: Travel to Threshold is slow, as the party is pulling a cart loaded with treasure.
Ambyrmont 9: Party debriefs with Torenescu. He is not happy that the party gave up without finding Tzolo and it is clear that whatever he was looking for was not recovered. they party gives him a detailed report of their findings in the tomb, all the jewelry, clues, and keys that they found, and hands over the books they did find to the scholars. This same day, Torenescu packs up and leaves Threshold, taking the two apprentice scholars, Marya and Nikolai; and Emil. They head south. Azrael also leaves Threshold.
Between Adventures
Ambyrmont 10-11: Finn negotiates for and purchases the old mill site on Fogor Island for 2000 gold pieces. They also hire a crew to demolish the ruins and clear the site for construction. They also learn from Pavel that Emil told Torenescu that he knew some other adventurers in Kelvin that could go to Tzolo’s tomb. He assumes that Torenescu has gone to Kelvin to hire them.
Ambyrmont 12-16: The party leaves Threshold and travels south to Mirros. Along the way they learn that while they were busy with Tzolo’s tomb, there have been numerous forest fires in the Dymrak and that the elven village of Callanya was destroyed.
Ambyrmont 17-21: The party spends these days relaxing and shopping in Mirros. Azrael arrives in Mirros on the 21st.
Ambyrmont 22: Azrael spends another day searching for more mithral to buy but finds none.
Ambyrmont 23: Azrael explains to the party that he knows the cause of the fires - hellhounds are running loose in the forest. He has been asked to investigate the cause, which may lie in the hills north of the forest. The party leaves Mirros.
Hellfire Hobgoblins: Part One
Ambyrmont 24-28: The party travels along the Eastron Road and cuts north through the Dymrak forest. Along the way they see obvious signs of damage caused by large fires that burned here recently. They also spot a few groups of elven hunting parties in groups of five or six. The elves do not seem interested in talking to them.
Sviftmont 1: The party reaches the hills on the edge of the forest and are attacked by a band of goblins riding hellhounds. The goblins are surprisingly strong and have unusual abilities. They are covered in strange arcane tattoos. The party defeats them and begins tracking their trail further north.
Later that night the party is ambushed by a group of hobgoblins with the same strange tatoos and powers, including self-healing. After defeating the hobgoblins, the party finds a secluded site to camp for the night.
Sviftmont 2: The party tracks the hobgoblins north to an old, crumbling castle at the foot of the mountains on a cliffside. They find a safe place to camp and plan their assault on the castle for the next morning.
Sviftmont 3: The party sneak into the keep invisible and silenced, but soon find themselves fighting hobgoblins on top of the walls.
The PC’s quickly gain the upper hand and kill most of the hobgoblins and a few more hellhounds, when they hear an unholy shriek from the sky. In a burst of black smoke and orange flame there appears a fiendish woman with great red wings who threatens them in some infernal language and draws her longbow.
The battle quickly goes badly for the PC’s as she resists Azrael’s spells and rains flaming arrows down upon them from high above, teleporting from place to place and using a magical rope to try to entangle them one at a time. Kelric is killed, and Marten falls unconscious and nearly dies as well. The fiendish woman then stop Azrael from escaping, and calls him by name. She claims that his mother is waiting to see him.
Azrael and Finn surrender and are taken into a secret chamber beneath the castle, guarded by devilish beings. An obsidian archway stands upon a platform between two obsidian statues of naked fiendish women. At the foot of each statue is bound an elf. the elves have been tortured and eviscerated. Azrael’s mother is there, accompanied by a tiefling man. She sends the fiendish woman (whom she calls Maelvula) to “the bridge to check on Creeg,” and she makes an offer to Azrael to join them. Azrael agrees on the condition that they will let Finn live. His mother accepts the condition but warns him that Maelvula will return to “deal with him” soon.
The tiefling man says a word and the obsidian archway becomes a gateway to a room identical to this one. Azrael goes through the portal along with his mother and the tiefling. Finn runs from the room up the stairs, recovers Marten’s unconscious body, and flees into the hillside.
Sviftmont 4: Finn and Marten return invisible and silenced to the keep and recover Kelric’s body. they then return to their campsite and try to use a raise dead scroll to save him, but it fails. They decide to head to Rugalov to recuperate and to seek information and try to decide on their next move.
Meanwhile, Azrael is kept locked up in his mother’s bedchamber in some secret lair, wherein dwell a fiendish hill giant named Creeg and many more of the hobgoblins, goblins, and hellhounds.
Hellfire Hobgoblins: Part Two
Sviftmont 5: Azrael manages to escape through the obsidian gate back to the keep in the hills and flees into the forest. Finn and Marten continue on the way to Rugalov.
Sviftmont 6: Azrael meets up with an elf patrol and is taken to the nearby village of Silverspear. Finn and Marten reach Rugalov.
Sviftmont 7: In Rugalov, Finn and Marten meet Frederick of Vorloi, an adventuring cleric of the Church of Karameikos. He claims he was sent to find Finn and to help deal with the evils that currently threaten the Dymrak. He becomes a member of the party. In his investigations, Finn learns that there is an elf village just up the river, that Azrael has been seen in the past in the general area, and they decide to go there to seek more information.
Sviftmont 8: The party reaches the elf village of Silverspear and question the elves there about the recent attacks, and they soon learn that Azrael is there as well. The party, reunited, makes plans to go back to the keep to destroy the obsidian gate. They convince the elves to send four warriors along with them.
Sviftmont 9: The party reaches the keep and attack. They manage to kill several hobgoblins and hellhounds again when Maelvula reappears. She manages to kill all four of the elf warriors, and for a while it looks like the party may be defeated again. But they soon recover and gain the upper hand, magically enhancing Marten’s size, strength, and speed and giving him the power to fly. Marten manages to engage Maelvula in aerial combat and almost kills her before she teleports away.
The party quickly descends into the underground chamber and does battle with the fiendish guardians there. The creatures seem to gain strength from each other, taking inhuman amounts of damage, until suddenly they all die at once. The party, now badly wounded and out of spells, destroys the gate and then flees the area.
Sviftmont 10: The party returns to Silverspear and inform the elves that the gate was destroyed and the fiends driven off. They offer to help hunt down any remaining hellhounds to ensure that the forest is safe again.
Sviftmont 11-23: The party assists in hunting down hellhounds in the Dymrak forest. During this time they manage to kill several small groups and one larger pack. Eventually they stop finding hellhounds and they are recalled to the village.
Sviftmont 24: The elves are confident that the remaining hellhounds have been eradicated. A celebration is held. Azrael, Marten, Finn and Frederick are all rewarded with special gifts from the elves and will be welcomed in elf lands from now on.
Meanwhile, Sir Breferick arrives with a contingent of men from Mirros with orders to secure the keep - which was once called Brightstone Keep - and restore it. He will become the Lord of the keep and is charged with protecting the area from any further attacks. He has negotiated an agreement with the elves wherein they will also provide ten archers and a commander to join Sir Brefrick at the keep.
Between Adventures
Sviftmont 25-27: The party travels back to Mirros.
Sviftmont 28: Today is a dual holiday - it is both the King’s Birthday and Queen’s Day, a celebration of Queen Petra. While in Mirros the PC’s find that the Cult of Halav has taken these holidays as a sign of the truth of their belief that Stefan is Halav reborn, and they are out in force today making speeches to spread their beliefs. They also declare on this day that not only is Stefan the reincarnation of Halav, but Queen Olivia is also the reborn Queen Petra.
There is some obvious friction between the cultists and the rest of the population, and the PC’s witness an incident in which a pair of Griffon Knights come close to drawing steel upon a group of cultists. Fortunately there is no violence, and other than the unusually high amount of public activity from the cult, the holiday celebrations are quite enjoyable.
Eirmont 1-3: The PC’s spend a few days shopping in Mirros. During their time in Mirros, the party also learns that Alexsander Torenescu was recently granted the hereditary title of Baron, and given lordship over the Barony of Halag, including all its lands and incomes. He and all his household left Mirros only the day before the party arrived, bound for Fort Doom. Only Alexsander’s old uncle Boris was left behind in Mirros to maintain the Torenescu interests in the capitol.
Eirmont 4-6: The PC’s travel to Kelvin. In Kelvin they learn that there were similar Cult of Halav demonstrations here on the King’s Birthday. Unlike the incidents in Mirros, here there were some arrests of cultists. The charge, as far as the party is able to learn, was simply “fomenting unrest.”
Eirmont 7-8: The party continues on and reaches Threshold.
Eirmont 8-17: Training and crafting in Threshold.
The Words of Creation: Prologue
Eirmont 18: Frederick is approached by a woman named Solinari - she wears elaborate armor and seems to glow with a divine radiance. She explains that she has been looking for him, and that he must introduce her to Finnegan Avett. Frederick asks her to meet him and Finn at the Juggling Ogre in an hour.
One hour later, Solinari meets Frederick, Finn, and Azrael at the Juggling Ogre. She claims that she is the daughter of Finn’s great-great grandmother, who was a member of the Order of the Sublime Chord. Solinari’s father was an eladrin - an angel of the celestial plane of Arborea. She has come with a quest which only Finn can undertake.
The Order of the Sublime Chord is an ancient order of Alphatian scholars and bards dedicated to the preservation of forgotten lore. Their numbers have always been small, but since the destruction of the main island of Alphatia they have become almost extinct. To make matters worse, they have been driven to hiding because of an evil creature hunting them down, one by one. Only one may yet live, and she is lost.
The greatest secret that is passed down in the Order - the one for which their order was created and for which they primarily exist - is to remember the Words of Creation. The Words are a handful of words of the language in which the multiverse was spoken into existence at the dawn of time. They are words of life (sometimes the bards refer to their use as the Song of Life) and hope and light. But in all things there is balance, and thus there are also words of death, darkness, and despair. This is the Dark Speech - the language of Entropy and the end of all things, of fear and pain and death. And there is one who sings this song of woe and walks the mortal realm, silencing the Sublime Chords so that none may oppose him and his infernal gods. He is known as Xerdon the Dread.
Few mortals possess the ability to learn the Words of Creation, and they cannot be written, so they can only be passed down from one very exceptional person to another. Solinari believes that Finn has the ability to learn the Words and carry on that tradition. She asks him to help her find the last Sublime Chord and free her from whatever holds her; and to learn the Words and take his place among the Order, as he was always meant to do.
The party agrees to help and begins making plans.
Eirmont 19-25: The party completes training and crafting, and preparing for their trip.
Eirmont 26: The party leaves Threshold...