The Cast

Group One:

Kaylan Serenor
Prophet of Kalinda

“Enjoy the moment.”

Kaylan is a young, slender woman of both human and elven descent. She stands around five-and-a-half-feet in height with auburn locks cascading down to her shoulders and when warranted left flowing to hide her pointed ears. Eyes the color of emeralds are highlighted against the pallor of her ivory skin. Around her neck, hanging on a slender chain, is a circular pendant with the image of a phoenix emblazoned upon it.

When traveling, Kaylan is seen wearing a cloak of deepest crimson lined in onyx, chain mail shaded carmine and donning a mace. Sanguine shades are her signature color and when not traveling you'll find her wearing gowns or robes of scarlet. Most recently she has also been seen wearing a green pixie outfit and feyleaf sandals.

Radiant hues of red not only define Kaylan's appearance but can also describe her personality and character as well. Kaylan is passionate and a romantic at heart with a fiery disposition when provoked. She is also fiercely protective and loyal to those she is close to. Kaylan often thinks with her emotions and finds it difficult not wearing her feelings openly. When an opportunity presents itself, Kaylan loves to revel in the moment, to enjoy life and good company.

Thamior Serenor, Prince of Vanestar

Tyvis , Archdruid of the Heartland

Gens, Dawnsinger

Narra, Country Psychic

Group 2:

Isabella Il'spana, Slave Princess of Saspien

Diana von Zarovich, Heir of Castle Ravenloft

Renato Ruiz, Scion of House Ruiz

Session 27: Force of Will

Night, Kelehess 27th
(29 days total, 16 days until the New Moon)

The Cellar... of DOOM
Sensing a particularly deadly situation, the girls played it smart, drawing Ispar up and finding the diplomatic option amidst the bloodthirsty blackguards and pan-clattering goblins. The commander of the Provian Hand agreed to spare Jeda and Kaylan if they would just wait out the next twenty-four hours in the cellar. The cleric wasn't very keen on the idea, but the warlord had a feeling there was only one other alternative... an unsurvivable one... and so they went down much to the pleasure of Ispar, who assured them they wouldn't lack for conversation.

Once in the basement and wine cellar, lightless and dry, they heard a scratching noise. Jeda warily asked Kaylan to produce a light, only for a high-pitched voice to offer to do it for them. A red sphere burst into being in the hand of an albino drow with bone-colored robes stained red in the front. With the other hand he incessently clawed the wall with his nails.

It didn't take long to realize this drow was mad, and sour-smelling, as he explained to the girls that he was in charge of cellar entertainment. Kaylan tried to decline, while Jeda put on a strong front, but he was equally unmoved by either. His name was Jhovaire and he didn't want to be friends, simply entertain... The red light faded and the girls were vulnerable. Suddenly Jeda felt a mace crack against her face.

Investigating
Portia leapt up, having drifted for about an hour. She looked around the room with growing concern, finding Kaylan still wasn't back. A drink of water shouldn't have taken her so long and, with the suspicious likes of Dieter about, she woke Thamior from his trance and the pair made to investigate. Quite similarly, Giers startled out of his sleep, having had a premonition of sorts. He woke Hulda (who wasn't really awake so much as sleep walking) and moved into the hall, only to find the others.

The boggart had heard some pan-clattering and what sounded like laughing from downstairs, though it all just suddenly stopped. Giers grimaced, already moving down the hall, muttering when the noise suddenly stops like that its always trouble. Ruing his inability to get a good night's sleep, he descended the stairs into the empty common room. As the others fanned out, the ethrey found himself attracted to a full-body mirror, where he couldn't help but preen himself. It was then he heard low voices behind the glass and smelled... food, pretty good food too. He felt around the frame until a trigger opened a mirror into a hidden kitchen.

And there he saw ten goblin cooks putting the finishing touches on a meal, laughing now and then, cursing, spitting and throwing bits of food at one another. When they saw the intruders they howled and pointed, at which point the ethrey noticed two others in the kitchen... drow women dressed in the scantest of 'armor' guarding a locked cellar door.

Like a Kick to the Groin
As the others entered the kitchen and fanned out, the paladin did surprisingly well in tolerating the dark elves' presence. He demanded to know if they'd seen Kaylan and, when they gave a more teasing answer than he would have liked, moved right into their grills threatening pain and death. The blackguards had been itching for a fight since earlier and, nodding between themselves, landed two quicked kicks to Giers' groin. He toppled and a fight was on.

Goblins swarmed and surrounded the group, blocking escape. However armed with only pots and pans and experienced more in meals than melee, none could land a blow. Portia took pity on these wayward cousins, having been taken a little off-guard by their presence to begin with. She tried appealing to them to stop this nonsense, but all of it seemed only to turn the goblins on. It is well known (or is now) that boggarts are beautiful to the ugly, hairless green pygmies, especially ones as cute as the rogue. She began knocking them out in turn.

Thamior, on the other hand, could only laugh at the goblins' attempts. Determined to keep the scions safe, he spared nothing and deftly decapitated three cooks. Then he moved toward one of the blackguards, where he helped Hulda nearly take her down.

Truth be told, the half-giant was doing just fine without him, dreaming of games as she knocked both drow women to the ground, and then imagining a fun-filled pie fight as she took one guard's head in her great hand and rammed it into the wall.

Giers was having a little harder luck than the rest, trading stab for blow with the second blackguard, who he quickly learned to despise and who quickly despised him. Back and forth the two went.

Bloodspiller
A battle also took place down in the dark, Kaylan's radiant power lighting the cellar in bursts, revealing a dancing, hopping, mace-swinging lunatic. He was not without fear, though, especially when Jeda and Kaylan began connecting with their more-powerful stuff. Surrender wasn't an option for Jhovaire, only malice to the last drop of his life's flow, and the cleric eradicated him in phoenix fire.

The pair had little time to breathe, hearing sounds of a battle up the stairs. Jeda looted the corpse, taking the mace and a holy symbol neither had seen before, one of a swirling, onyx figure. Chasing up the stairs, Jeda laid a heavy shoulder into the door, splintering it, yet the lock held. Kaylan could do no better and the two of them moved back down the stairs, if just to gather their strength, where the tiefling gave the half-elf some lessons on throwing a punch.

Yet as the sounds of battle continued, the two were inspired back up the stairs where Jeda finally managed to explode through the door and enter the fray in a rain of splinters.

The Stand Off
Just as Jeda and Kaylan came into the kitchen, so too did Ispar and a pair of blackguards from a door across the room. The tiefling cried for both sides to stop the fighting, prompting a slow in the action, enough for her to address her former lover. The two parties had much in common and the same goals in Provia. She implored Ispar to call his forces off so that they might find some accord. Kaylan echoed the sentiment, though was distracted by the injured paladin.

Ispar did not trust the group, explaining the events of the Screaming Caves to Jeda. Kaylan denied responsibility for Lhekrina's death, blaming the treachery of purple dragons, but the drow still held them in contempt for the murder of dark elves, bugbears and hobs on their escape. He also mentioned that the group had abandoned a young elf in the caves to die and, given that, what would prevent them from abandoning Jeda?

Truce
The tiefling did not err, stepping forward and offering the hand of diplomacy and reason, in truth not sure whether she wanted to stab him or mount him. She used Adej a little for effect, conjuring a glimpse of shadow nightmares that woke Hulda in their sudden images. This tension drove every goblin cowering into a corner, rather in shock after seeing three of their friends cut down in one swing of a blade, and sensing things could get uglier still. The blackguards gasped as one when Ispar stepped forward and called off the drow. Protests rose from the women almost reflexively, stoking anger in the young drow commander.

Giers enemy outright refused, kicking with all the force her lithe body could muster in one, final kick to the paladin's nuts. He lifted off the ground a little and fell unconscious. As Thamior backhanded the drow nearest him, a slap for a kick, Ispar had a crueler punishment. In a blur and a leap, he took his mace and pounded the life out of his disobedient servant, blow after blow until her head was nothing but bloody pulp on his weapon.

The cleric flew to Giers' side and Ispar and his girls withdrew. He called for an hour reprieve and then a meeting in the common room. Then he and his receded into an unexplored room.

Preparations
Portia knelt over the unconscious goblin at her feet, spurring Thamior to apologize for killing three earlier. The rogue coldly pointed out that he could have just knocked them out and turned away to tend to the fallen. The feladrin admitted a cruel streak of efficiency in battle and withdrew.

Kaylan revived her lover and the two went off to his room. Hulda got her cup of water and went back to bed, not troubled in the least by her midnight "snack" of bloodshed and battle. Giers had a bath, Kaylan soon joining, and the two had a chance to level with each other after what seemed like a very long time.

Meanwhile, the exhausted Jeda gathered herself and went to her own room to prepare. Thamior followed and the two conversed awhile, one expressing her frustration and the other his tolerance. He offered to help with the strategy of their impending talks, but the tiefling seemed more concerned with getting out of her armor. He respectfully left her and finally found his own room, missing both roommates.

Jeda proceeded to satisfy her sexual needs, daring use the strange holy symbol she'd found on Jhovaire. It felt incredible until climax, when suddenly a pain like lightning wracked her innards and The Dark One himself appeared over her bed, claws grasping for her naked body. She leapt up to scream, but the entity was gone, just a figment... she hoped...

A Boggart's First Date
Portia finally managed to wake the goblin, perhaps her first mistake of the night. He proved an incouragable creature enchanted by Portia's beauty and spunkyness. While his brothers receded to their holes in the wall, he worked all the tricks he could to impress the rogue. He joked, he bragged, he pinched and groped. He even revealed his name, Klepper, hoping to recieve the name of the lime angel before him in turn. But Portia was suddenly feeling playful and told him he had to earn it. Well, leave it to a goblin cook, he offered her a meal.

She accepted, watching the master work with pan, vegetables and pig cubes. Though he bumbled more than a few times, he managed to at least express some sort of crude cunning. He even managed a decent meal. Though Portia was really just being polite through most of this, Klepper was convinced Portia was now his woman. He asked if she wanted dessert and the unwitting girl agreed.

Klepper leapt behind some cabinets, piquing Portia's interest enough to peek. She saw the goblin getting naked, which made her blanche and then giggle a little as he proceded to lather himself up in butter. No peeking, he reminded, just before leaping out. He slipped and skidded right into Portia's arms. He was excited. She flabberghasted. He demanded a kiss. She pushed him off of her, and said she would if he'd only put his pants back on. He wasn't very well-hung, but damned persistent, and with a half hour's more debate put his pants back on. Portia leaned in, but just before Klepper met her lips, he dove into her tiny cleavage and blew.

Triumphant, Klepper went to tell the boys he had a woman, leaving Portia standing in the kitchen shaking her head a little... but also smiling.

Experience: 408 (8,736 total)
Magic: None
Money: None
Loot: mace (Jeda), strange onyx holy symbol (black, swirling figure; Jeda)

NPCs:
Drow Blackguard, female monks and Ispar's bodyguards
Goblin C0oks, dark green goblins living in the walls of The Mummy's Hand; surprisingly competent cooks
Jhovaire Bloodspiller, albino drow and smelly psychopath; had a strange holy symbol (dead)
Klepper, bravest of the goblin cooks and Portia's would-be suitor; clumsy but not without cunning


A Drow Deal
Ispar awaits...

• Jeda forged a truce between the dark elves and the group, for now, built on the idea both parties have mutual interests
• A meeting has been called in the common room to discuss if that is true and if there could be a partnering

The Coming Dawn
Tar'iq Readies the Fire...

• There are precious few hours left until dawn, when Tar'iq will set fire to the farmer's market and create the distraction needed to enter the Church of Nor
• Ispar has expressly forbidden the group from leaving to go to the church (unaware there is a fire to be set as a distraction across town), so as not to jeopardize The Hand of Doom's impending attack that night

Attack of the Hand
The Fall of the House of Bertrum Foretold!

• Ispar divulged to Jeda that The Hand of Doom has gathered all nearby cells for a joint attack to topple the Provian government
• It commences at nightfall while the majority of the Provian Inquisition is away investigating the ruins of The Weeping Stone Inn, where vast amounts of magic have been unleashed (which you know is due to the Ezariel/Dark One fight)
• Once Crowperch Estates is taken and all leaders slain, drow under illusion spells will replace them
• The Hand will then assassinate the unsuspecting Inquisitors on their return to the city
  
• The Hand's main objective is to secure a legitimate surface foothold in the empire from which they might sabotage trade, communication and travel, as well as launch more elaborate attacks
• At the very least, The Hand will cripple the forest city and deprive the Kingdom its resources, likely through whatever means necessary
  

Cruel Ultimatum
Sixteen Days and Counting...

• Reedthagn's will must still be done and Ghisidhran's tongue placed before him in the Tesseract, lest Blight be dropped on someone's home
  
• The group must pass under Blackdelve, enter the resting place of Dazeen the Uniter, slay Ghisidhran and then manage a way back to the Wild and to the ancient green's cube within a cube within a cube
  

Session 26: Echoes of Past Lives

Night, Kelehess 27th
(29 days total, 16 days until the New Moon)

For a Kiss
Giers, Hulda, Portia and Kaylan fled the flooded dungeon beneath Blackdelve. It was night when they surfaced, with only the distant lanterns of the watchmen roaming a darkened city. Taking to the shadowy streets, they made for the camp, but along the way Giers and Kaylan drew the attention of a wandering drunk. He stumbled out of an alley, even as the rest of the group held their breaths in anticipation of what might come of all this.

Kaylan greeted the man who, after giving her a good look, demanded a kiss. She resigned herself to giving him one after several overbearing comments, but never got the chance. Giers, who read the Norsman's body language more than understood the spoken language, leaned in and gave the man a peck on the lips. He fell to his ass, dumbfounded, as the pair fled giggling into the night. Angry and insecure, the drunk cried out for the guard, claiming he'd been attacked. As Hulda emerged from a tall hedge, she bonked him on the head and sent him into dreamland, even as the glow of guard lanterns swiftly approached.

Thamior
The group reunited with their wayward companion Jeda, passed out face-first in the smoldering campfire after what looked like a very long day for her. Kaylan tried to rouse her with some amount of trouble.

Everyone was hardly settled before a disembodied voice asked if they were the missing children of Atha. Giers demanded this voice show himself. A feladrin slowly stepped out of the shadows of the woods with expert stealth, a surprising sight so far south, much less in the Kingdom. The elf insisted they give him their names, half-knowing already that they were the missing sons and daughters of Atha. And so they were, confirmed by Giers' offer of his title, though Portia despised being called a child and Kaylan didn't look too fond of the label, either. Jeda couldn't help poking a little fun at the newcomer (once she was up), remarking how she thought ice elves melted this far south. The elf, whose name was Thamior, hardly seemed perturbed. In fact he was very formal, even calling the girls "Lady" this and "Lady" that.

Thamior explained no one in the north had the slightest idea what had happened to the group. He had been sent south for any signs. Though relieved to find so many of the group, his main quarry was Takeshi, son of his organization's Shoto. Giers grimly informed him the elf had fallen.

The meet and greet was cut short then, as the drunk had apparently been roused and explained a giant had clocked him after a bird boy pecked him. Lanterns approached, along with barking dogs, and it was only a matter of time until the scent was picked up. Portia slipped off with sausages from the Screaming Caves storeroom.

The Hounds
She met the hounds and ten guards near the vacant farmer's market, using links to throw off their trail. It worked for the moment, though before Portia had a chance to lead them any further away from the camp, Kaylan, and then Jeda, decided to take care of things themselves. The loud tiefling issued a challenge from the roadside, one which drew the ire of all search party.

The boggart made a rash decision and revealed herself, attracting the four bloodhounds and their handlers. The lot of them flew off into the woods, followed by a concerned Kaylan who was then followed by a concerned Giers, who was then followed by a fleeing Jeda. Kaylan successfully distracted Portia's chasers, who wheeled back around for her, even as Jeda kited a stream of guards from her end. The cleric, warlord and paladin were sandwiched in the woods.

But not all of Jeda's pursuers made it through. Four were suddenly ambushed by Thamior and Hulda, both of whom had taken cover to launch an ambush.

Provian Guard
The watchmen were in fact House Guard loyal to Bertrum, as told by their crow standard tunics. They wielded halberds that doubled as lantern staves. And with alarming skill. During the initial battles both in the woods and on the road, the guard proved themselves a very real threat. Kaylan attempted to reason with them, even warning of the dangers of drow and dragon, but all of it fell on deaf ears. The Norsmen had found monsters and there was little that would sway them now, especially when these monsters were fighting back.

Fury of the North
Thamior and Hulda, having no stomach for mercy, fought back to back against the Kingdomites with growing ferocity. The ice elf with his arcane-licked sword and powers of teleportation moved his enemies like game pieces and overwhelmed them with carefully focused power. Hulda, on the other hand, released all focus and let the storm of her jotun heritage take hold. Together they destroyed the opposition, the last guard so terribly it sent his head flying off and all the way into the battle in the woods.

Scare tactics aside, the guards were already close to breaking, as Portia had swooped down from the trees with the last links of sausage and stuffed them in a guard's pants. The dogs went mad over it, leaping and tearing into their former master, eating him alive. Jeda pounced on one man and tore his throat out with her bare teeth. Giers killed another and reduced a sole surrenderer to tears, only to kick and beat him as the man curled into a ball. Even Kaylan, in her divine fury, burned men alive and sent them screaming like living bonfires into the dark of the wood.

The Horror
In a moment of grizzly realization, the cleric shouted for everyone to stop. In the name of Kalinda they were acting the part of monsters, the fearful creatures the Nors were so certain non-humans were. She stumbled back, even as Jeda continues to gnaw on the pouring jugular of her guard, even as the paladin gave another kick to the man's face for good measure, even as Hulda hugged her gore-soaked maul and Portia watched the dogs rip the last of the guard's intestines from his belly.

Overwhelmed with a sudden urge to flee, Kaylan made for the eastern woods, but Hulda would have nothing of it, throwing the half-elf over her shoulder. To her credit, Kaylan did manage to make the giantess feel... a little sullied for what she'd done. After some debate, and the sight of more lantern lights streaming down from the city's central hill, the group decided to make for Jeda's discovered safe house: The Mummy's Hand.

Return to The Mummy's Hand
They fled through the dark streets of Provia, narrowly dodging watchmen and onlookers alike. On the steps of The Mummy's Hand, Jeda frantically knocked to be allowed in. A slot opened in the door and Abum's dull voice asked the password. Jeda spoke it and the slot closed... Nothing.

Meanwhile, four guards with lanterns explored the street up ahead, checking alleys and doorsteps. They eventually caught sight of the group and began moving toward them, shouting to stay there. Portia began fiddling with the door, trying to unlock it, but just when it seemed the guards would reach them, Abum opened the door. The group flooded in, while he dealt with the curious guards with a pouch of coins.

Though old hat to Jeda, the others were struck by the potent gray fog that was the combined smoke of opium, herb and tobacco. So strong, it knocked most the group into a different state of mind, even as they trailed the tiefling in the haze. She led them past hookah coals like small suns, with faces like so many planets ringed around it, dozens and dozens, and to a bar. There a hunched, little woman named Ms. Beetle sat.

Beetle knew how desperate the group was to remain low key, and charged them accordingly for two rooms, some drinks and a promised meal. She seemed to enjoy making Jeda squirm a bit and pay through the nose. That is, until her boss arrived.

Dieter
Dieter, just back from his meeting, welcomed the group with smooth refinery. He was a tall, dashing Norsman with an easy smile. Dieter wasted little time wrapping his arms around Jeda, who looked smitten with him. He set Ms. Beetle straight, sending her scurrying away to fix their meals personally. Taking stock of the group, he smiled, and kissed each woman's hand accordingly, offering his humble services if they required. He barely noticed Giers, however, and outright have the stink eye to Thamior. The two of them being high as they were, they didn't mind quite as much.

Dieter escorted the group to the upstairs rooms, accessed behind a bookcase. He promised their meals would come soon, then asked if any of them needed a whore, sex toy or mind-alterers. They by and large declined, where upon he asked the blushing Hulda if she was sure. This angered Giers enough to get between the pair and in Dieter's face. Before the paladin could say much, though, Dieter landed a steamy kiss on the ethrey. Then he laughed and walked downstairs, leaving everyone either laughing or dumbfounded.

Kaylan, having a bad feeling about all this, entered a room.

Room for Trouble
But rooms could never be easy for this collection. Giers at first slipped into Kaylan's room and, after finding he wasn't getting any tonight, decided it best to sleep with Hulda in case Dieter tried anything funny. Jeda flat out warned whoever was sleeping in her room would likely be kept up all night by the raucous sex she and Dieter would be having, which prompted a small fiasco as to who would bunk with her. The tiefling chuckled as she went downstairs. Eventually Kaylan poked her head out of her room and welcomed both Portia and Thamior into her room.

But it didn't end there. She wanted Portia and Thamior to each take the beds, while she slept in a bedroll on the floor. Thamior would hear nothing of it, deciding to "sleep" in a chair. Kaylan stubbornly unfurled her bedroll and slept on the floor anyway, all the while the confused Portia considering pushing both beds together and giving herself a queen-sized.

The half-elf couldn't help watching Thamior as he entered the trance that elves enter in lieu of sleep. Her mind began to wander toward... other things... and she eventually got up and went downstairs to walk it off. Portia slipped out of bed long enough to move Kaylan's bedroll onto one of the beds, baffled by some people.

Did He Say... The Hand of Doom?!?
Dieter was sitting alone at the bar when Jeda joined him. After a little small talk, she revealed they were going to start a fire and hit the church tomorrow morning. He deadpanned and grabbed her by the shoulders, ordering her not to. Jeda got a little jaded and shrugged him off, asking why.

He reluctantly informed the tiefling that The Hand was taking advantage of a rare boon. Some great magical disturbance in the ruins of an inn outside the city had drawn the majority of the Provian Inquisition away to investigate. The Hand would strike at the heart of the government tomorrow night, Crowperch Estates, while its top mage killers and divine agents were gone, toppling House Bertrum and replacing it with Hand agents in disguise. When the majority of the Provian Inquisition returned, they would be killed quietly by the usurpers and also replaced, ensuring Hand control of the forest power center.

However, if Jeda and her friends started fires tomorrow and infiltrated the Church of Nor, it might alert authorities to something suspicious and jeopardize the Hand's attack. He forbade Jeda again from attacking the Church, but before she could muster much of a reply, Kaylan joined them.

She caught the tail end of the conversation, and what she heard alarmed her, specifically "Hand of Doom". As Dieter excused himself to check on their food, Kaylan and Jeda debated over Dieter and The Hand of Doom. Eventually it was decided they would simply ask Dieter about it and see just who knew what was really going on.

Curiosity
Kaylan and Jeda took the secret passage into the kitchen (because apparently everything in The Mummy's Hand is behind a secret door) and were startled to find goblins! The filthy crosses between hairless pygmies and frogs clattered pans, spat curses and flung ingredients. On seeing the two girls, they flung food and hit them square in the faces.

Kaylan was repulsed, but Jeda angrily compared the goblins to the two of them, non-humans, in Nors eyes the same type of "monster". Looking about, they found a cellar door, the only place Dieter could have gotten to. Peering down inside, Jeda called to her love...

Two violet eyes open in the darkness, looking eerie and disembodied. "Oh?"

Jeda sighs, "Oh, there you are." And crosses her arms. "Yeesh, what's with the disappearing act? It's like you're avoiding me now."

Kaylan frowns from the top of the stairs. "Yeah... Why don't you come up and we can talk about drow and The Hand of Doom."

Ispar's voice sharpens. "You're too clingy, Jeda, and your friends are too well-informed..."

His eyes narrow, just as another pair of eyes open, and another, and another, and another and another...

Experience: 250 each (8,328 total)
Magic: None
Loot (unclaimed):

• 10 medium chainmail suits,
  
• 10 halberds,
  
• 10 crossbows,
  
• 200 crossbow bolts,
  
• 10 Provian Guard finery (dark green and white tunics with a black raven standard on the breast),
  
• 10 whistles,
  
• 10 brass keys of exactly the same make,
  
• 1 pipe,
  
• 1 pouch of cherry tobacco,
  
• 1 pewter flask of Heathring Shine (moonshine)

Money: 450 gp off the guards (75 gp each)

PCs:
Thamior, Feladrin Swordmage: Sent to retrieve the missing group or aid them in any way he can with the hopes of eventually escorting them back

NPCs:
Provian Guards, watchmen and halberdiers tasked with patrolling the city; loyal to the ruling House Bertrum, as marked by their crow standards
Provian Hounds, bloodhounds trained to track and attack... but apparently have a weakness for old sausage

Organizations: House Bertrum, The Hand of Doom

House Bertrum: The ruling family of Provia, House Bertrum is in control of all manner of leadership, government and large enterprise in the forest city. Lorded by Kasimir Bertrum, a cruel, bed-ridden old codger whose refusal to die has infuriated many, but whose sharp wit and merciless cunning has kept him alive and secure and, most importantly, undisputed master of his domain. He rules from on top Provia's central hill at the family's Crowperch Estates, where the city guard barracks are also located (for many reasons). In his eighty-five years of life, he's sired dozens of children, who in turn have sired dozens of grandchildren, and perhaps hundreds of great-grandchildren. His family is enormous and with the finite number of prominent positions in the small city, it's not hard to find a relative working even a local shop as cruel landlord or arrogant owner. Many are even guards. The House emblem is a crooked black crow, sometimes with dangling entrails in its beak, othertimes strangling a gnarled branch. Of the four most prominant Kingdom Houses, Bertrum is the least, but perhaps the most numerous, the captains of the timber industry.

Session 25: New Friends, Old Enemies

Night, Kelehess 27th
(29 days total, 16 days until the New Moon)

Ships Passing in the Night

Circus, Circus

Crematia Kicked My Ass

DeWitt's Cabin... of HORROR!
Jeda woke in DeWitt's bed, where the dashing ring leader was dabbing her head with a cool cloth. He advised she rest up and never show her face in Provia, or the circus, again. Crematia never forgot a face or let go of a grudge. The tiefling thanked him for his help and the two got to talking. At first he had very little interest in what she had to say, but when the warlord began to explain the strange odyssey she'd lived in The Wild, The Tesseract, The Weeping Stone and up until this very moment, he paused and took a much, much, much greater focus.

The two got to drinking inbetween things, and before you know it Jeda was drugged and at the mercy of the better-informed circus master. He remarked then just what his father would think of all this when he heard, which of course prompted a "Whose your father" moment. He answered quite smoothly Belizeez, known better to this world as The Minister. Unbeknownst to Jeda, the news boded very badly for the group...

In an unheard of display, DeWitt also parted with his trademark wide-brim hat, the illusion of a handsome man fading into the blue-skin image of a tiefling! Others -did- exist! Looking remarkably like Jeda besides color, the only other difference was instead of horns he'd bat wings sprouting from his head. He rummaged through a trunk and removed a bonesaw, then climbed on top of the drowsy woman.

You Owe Me Big Time, Girl
Just when it looked like DeWitt would saw Jeda's horns off, or perhaps her arm, the warlord used the last of her strength to invoke Adej. The Black Heart flared in a globe of perfect dark, one even DeWitt could not pierce. Emannating a telepathic, "You owe me big time, girl...", Adej slowly dragged Jeda through the shadows and out of the cabin. All the while the ring leader roared for her to return and that he wanted that Black Heart.

The two absconded through the woods and back to camp, where Jeda promptly passed out on the cinders of the fire.

You Have WHO, WHERE?

Kaylan's Legacy

I'm a Real Boy!

Tar'iq

Blood Pact

Regroup

Experience: 200 xp (8,078 total)
Magic: none
Loot: none
Money: zilch

NPCs:
Tar'iq, former Umbalan cultist; devotee of Jiwar; blood pacter with Giers, Kaylan and Portia
Belizeez the Minister (mentioned), archdevil that once acted as Hell's envoy on Othyr; DeWitt's father

Organizations: DeWitt's Traveling Circus, Jiwar

Jiwar: The nation of Jiwar is a collection of free Umbalans and Um royalty that work to regain the lands lost to them by Kingdom colonization. They are willing to use whatever means available to achieve this, including aligning with monsters, worshiping fey, demons and dragons, and otherwise tampering with vast and overpowering magic. They are a proud people, but not without a sense of reason or honor, though they are very mistrustful of other races and nations, and perhaps rightly so.

The Plan:

• Tar'iq starts a fire near the farmer's market at dawn, one which threatens to consume West Provia and draws the attention of the fire brigade and concerned citizens. This distraction will insure most miss morning mass.
• The group enters the mostly-unpopulated church and "takes care" of the resident clergy and whoever else might be lingering (the exact method of removal as of yet undetermined)
• Entering the living rooms and undercrofts, the group confirms Reedthagn's intelligence or simply starts the fire which will consume the Provian Church of Nor
• According to the Ancient Green, this will deliver a death blow to Kingdom war plans against Etheria

The Other Plan:

• Gather the group and whatever allies they can muster and return to the dungeon beneath Blackdelve
• Open the portal and hit the enraged Ghisidhran with everything they got
• Take his tongue back to Reedthagn via a Stone and prevent Blight's dropping (the only known stone, as of now, is the one in the wreckage of The Weeping Stone Inn)