--ACT THREE--
-The party were
congratulated and rewarded by Tiadora on behalf of Thorn for bringing
about Balentyne's destruction and making a crack in the wall between the
civilised south of Talingarde and the savage north. Their next mission
was even more ambitious. They had to travel east to the port town of
Farholde and from there venture south into the Caer Bryr, the last great
wilderness in Talingarde. In there they had to find a giant spire
called the Horn of Abaddon.
-The Horn of Abaddon was
the hidden lair for a cult known as the Sons of the Pale Horseman. They
were a particularly evil cult that worshiped Vetra Kali, a daemon prince
of pestilence and sought to inflict his disease and poison on the
world. This cult dwelt in secrecy for centuries plotting against
Talingarde and the world which culminated in the daemon's 'gift', the
most potent disease the world had ever seen called the Tears of Achlys.
However just before they could unleash it, the greatest paladin of the
age, King Markadian the Victorious led a small personal guard in a
secret attack against the horn. Complacent in their secrecy the cult had
little defence against such an attack and the King slaughtered every
single cultist and their daemon companions. Then he entered the throne
room he slew Vetra Kali's mortal form himself and banished him back to
the daemonic realms.
-This was not enough for the King
and he prayed over a great silver seal for seven days in the sanctum,
praying to Mitra that his victory would not be undone and that Vetra
Kali could never return. Mitra answered his prayers and for the next two
hundred years the seal remained, making it almost impossible to call
forth darkness from the Horn of Abaddon. Almost. This was the parties
greatest challenge yet, to break the seal and retrieve the Tears of
Achlys for Thorn's own plans.
-So the party sailed
west with Tiadora and were observant enough to spot her night time
exploits. In which she would disguise herself as a Mitran paladin (which
are called the Knights of Alerion) and wreak havoc on nearby
settlements under the guise of a purge of Asmodeans. The party astutely
figured that this was to cause malcontent from the general population
and start causing them to question whether their treatment of Asmodeus
was as honorable as they thought.
-After 12 days the
party arrived at the town of Farholde to find it much less grand and
well-guarded than Balentyne. Tiadora informed the party that they were
not the first Thorn had sent on this mission, he'd sent the fourth knot,
led by a ranger named Aiden Kael but never heard back from them.
Tiadora also set up an introduction between them and Baron Vandermir who
was Thorn's contact in the city and sympathetic towards their plight.
The party met with the Baron and impressed him greatly in no small part
due to their previous achievements. They found out that the Baron was of
House Barca which is the house that was deposed by the currently ruling
House of Darius so he had no love for the current Mitran regime. This
resulted in him offering any help they needed and he became a trusted
ally and advisor.
-The party also discovered they were
not alone on this mission, Thorn had also sent the seventh knot to
assist them by keeping adventurers away from the horn whilst they were
investigating. The seventh knot, in particular Elise, were not at all
happy with being assistants in the mission and this was not helped by a
few barbed comments from the party. Nalethar did her best to patch up
relations but the only one really willing to listen to her was Trik.
-The
party cleverly found the inn that Aiden Kael had been staying at and
talked their way into seeing his room. In it they found a bunch of books
and maps strewn throughout the room. Viktor used his knowledge of
geography and survival skills to decipher that Aiden had found the way
to the horn and pieced together a map for the party to use. They
followed the map and arrived at the horn to find it was guarded by a
treant named Jurak the Eldest. Whilst he was an incredibly brave and
strong fighter, he was also not particularly good at recognising evil
and some quick thinking and clever bluffs from Dave convinced him to
guard the horn for them and not against them.
-As the party set off into the sodden caverns below the horn they found a tribe of boggards that had taken up residence. Most notably was an insane oracle of the tribe called Zikomo who proclaimed the party the chosen ones for the tribe to follow and condemned the previous chieftain to the void. Between telling anyone who would listen what the voices in his head were saying and showing them his creepy altar to Dagon the party decided to bring him along in the hope that his prophecies may turn out to be useful. They also used their new found power to utilise the boggards as a group of minions that they could send off to capture peasants for sacrifices and other menial tasks.
-In the caverns they made another unlikely ally in Xerakik, an earth pixie that didn't like Viktor because he shouted at her but felt safe in Dave's hair after him and Nalethar used their mastery of the elemental languages to talk her into joining them. Xerakik proved invaluable very soon after when Dave sent her through a crack in the wall and she found a cultist's skeleton clutching a crucial tome. This tome contained the history of the Sons of the Pale Horseman and among the insane scribbles at the end of the book was the ritual to break the seal and bring back Vetra Kali along with one of his three eyes, a priceless emerald.
-The party explored the entire horn, finding room after room filled with destruction from the King's raid. Notable encounters include two oozes that destroyed a lot of the parties equipment and almost engulfed the party before Nalethar's well placed fireballs and Dave accidentally turning himself into magma managed to destroy the oozes. There was also the remnants of an alchemical golem which they would later repair and use as a fairly murderous guard. The party also found the statue of a cultist who had been turned to stone. A rousing performance of 'I'll make a man out of you' and a natural 20 later and Dave had managed to turn him back and rescued him. They quickly made use of him by taking the second of the eyes of Vetra Kali and using him as the first sacrifice of the ritual.
-However this sacrifice wasn't as smooth as it could have been with Viktor getting sucker punched by the captive who then nimbly avoided all capture attempts as he made it to the sanctum. He leapt out of the sanctum with a ring of feather falling as a grand escape plan, although Midas made sure one of his legs stayed behind. Luckily Nalethar could fly alongside him and finally managed to subdue him with spells.
-The main threat in the horn was a wraith known as Ezra Thrice-Damned who was accompanied by the wraith spawn he had created from the Fourth Knot. It was a very close fight with Nalethar in particular almost having her life drained away but in the end Viktor's greataxe and Midas' nodachi brought it down. This resulted in them being able to raid the treasure room which alone made the trip worthwhile.
-They also made two unlikely allies in two guardian daemons of the horn that had reformed after they were slain in the King's raid. These allies were Hexor and Vexor, the most polite and well-read ceustodaemons you could ever hope to meet. Just before they attacked Nalethar convinced them of the parties good intentions and so they became very useful allies for the party.
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