Iron Realm Log Twenty
An update on whose who, ta-daaaaa:
Tragladt - Dwarf warrior
- male
Atris - Lich assassin - female
Lord Valorn - Human archer - male
Irmirsul - Vampyre - sorcerer - male
Kysan'tel - Wildling battlemage - female
Tahlia - Vampyre thief - female
Drusila - Vampyre battlemage - female
Tammaret - Human sorcerer - male
Taid Sef - Dwarf sorcerer - gender unknown.
Year of Darkness 1123
29th - 30th day of the Wolf
The day dawns darker than ever before for Atris. Her transformation the night before into a lich has made her powerful beyond her wildest dreams (or darkest fears). The night culminated in the death of the necromancer Kralnar, the very sorcerer that had helped her on the path was now gone.
She returns to the bazaar as the party prepare to move out on their easterly journey to castle Stormstone. Lord Valorn talks to Witlock - the librarian - who informs him that the ring of Maldrey is known to him. At least the legends of it.
"Maldrey was the name of the first of an unusual group. He was - in the Iron Realms at least - the first to achieve the title King of Thieves a position that is highly coveted today"
Valorn thanks the librarian and hands the ring to the vampyre Tahlia.
As a parting gift Atris finds one of the many common street whores and casts contagion in an act of random evil. They head down the King's Road.
Soon they spot two heavily armoured knights with the banners of House Vainndor by the road, doing nothing more than watching travellers pass by. They look impressive in full plate armour and simply nod to the party. Valorn knows their passing will not have gone unnoticed but they head off regardless.
Just before dusk they come upon a shrine to a lesser known goddess called Ashiran the White. An old blind crone tends to the offerings and blesses anyone who cares to make peace with the goddess.
But she is less than favourable to Irmirsul when he offers a gold crown.
"I don't need your money vampyre," she spits.
"How rude," Irmirsul responds.
"What is your problem blind woman?"
"A storm is coming for you and your kind, undead one, a cleansing that will rid the world of your evil."
There is no further discussion - theological or otherwise - as Kysan'tel strikes the woman with a single lethal sideways strike with her greatsword. The blind woman's head bounces across a nearby field.
The party argue over the action and fail to see the congregation of worshippers tending to nearby crops as they rush at them, angry that their companion has been murdered.
Irmirsul wastes no time and dimension doors out of harms way, Drusila and Tahlia turn themselves into bats and flutter over the onrushing horde.
Tammaret casts shield and watches as the dwarf rock walker, Taid Sef, melts into the floor at the base of the shrine. Once safely under solid earth the dwarf casts hypnotic pattern above the ground.
Half of the horde are mesmerized by the display and fall to their knees as they believe some kind of miracle has just occurred. The rest rush at the party with the intention of violence.
Tragladt pushes through the rushing crowd with his horse at full gallop and to the safety of the waiting vampyres. He watches as Drusilla hurls a sleep spell into the crowd and many fall into slumber before they get a chance to fight.
Atris cuts through the first abdomen and spills entrails all over the shimmering hypnotic shrine. Kysan'tel casts a bat swarm into the fray and chaos ensues around the shrine.
Lord Valorn tries to reason with the zealots but to no avail. He does not even raise a hand to them as Drusilla sleeps the remainder and the fight is over.
Drusilla and Tahlia take their fill of the ripe worshippers' veins, drinking heartily from the life-giving blood. Atris drags away a sleeper to a quiet spot off the road. She simply lays her hand over the zealot's forehead and drains every ounce of life force from it. When the body is fully drained it turns to dust, which is then scattered to the four winds. Her health and vitality is restored once more.
Lord Valorn cleans the shrine in respect to the goddess as Kysan'tel and the others cut the throats of the worshippers, leaving the rock dwarf Taid Sef to bury the corpses deep underground.
They decide to ride through the night as the vampyres and Atris do not tire. The rest of the party agree to get as far away from the shrine as possible in case they are implicated in the incident.
Through the darkness they hear the sound of heavy horse and are instantly on alert. A fully armoured knight approaches, but appears to sway in the saddle, hardly able to keep upright due to numerous wounds. His armour is drenched with blood; much of it his own.
Atris slips into the shadows and instantly realises that the knight is being hunted by forty imp-like devils (or possibly demons).
The knight wears the banners of Vainndor and whispers "Shadows . . . shadows . . ."
Atris already knows of the danger. She casts her mind amongst the imps and they halt their progress immediately. One of them intones the word, "Master." "Go back to your home," Atris commands simply. Such is the weight of her power that the imps are dispelled immediately, vanishing from the shadow dimensions entirely.
Valorn realises that the knight is dying. To ease his suffering he does the humane thing . . . slides a sharp knife into his throat and kills him. Taid Sef does the honours and buries the body as the rest of the party pick over the magic the powerful knight possessed.
Valorn receives the knight's platemail and looks more the part of a noble lord than ever before. He places the knight's banners carefully in his saddlebags as he places his own crest across his chest.
Valorn also gains the ring of the Catacombs, although he has no idea of its power.
Tragladt secures a shield of Warding whilst two vials of Disruption are shared out amongst the rest.
But there is one item that stands above all the others, a greatsword of alien design, strangely heavy and slightly longer than a normal blade it has a blade made of alien dark metal and alien runes inscribed down the blade itself.
As soon as Kysan'tel grabs the hilt to claim it she feels sentience, malice, but more importantly great power within. He knows instinctively that the imp devils were after just one thing . . . the blade called Stormbringer.
At the end of the night Atris casts rope trick and the party grab a couple of hours of much needed sleep before they head off mid morning of the full moon.
At a second shrine to Asiran the White they encounter Knight Balshar and he strikes up a conversation with lord Valorn.
"I search for the king's cousin, lord Aldanar," Balshar says. "He is in trouble I fear."
Valorn confirms the knight's fears. "We buried him with his equipment back at a similar shrine to this one."
"You buried him with his sword?" the knight is shocked. "Have you any idea what you've done? That blade was gifted to him by King Vainndor himself."
Kysan'tel uses the Cloak of Deception to disguise the unique blade.
Valorn shrugs. "It would be disrespectful to steal a dead man's sword."
Balshar grunts his dissatisfaction and hurries off to find the second shrine.
Later they are stopped by three rich men riding west. Not noble but judging by their attire and by the gold and silver they wear they have done well for themselves.
One of them tries to get Valorn to give him gold for introductions at court. The three men have contacts and know people connected to the throne. "We can get you into the right parties, meet the right people."
But Irmirsul and Kysan'tel have already delved into their minds with ESP and Atris uses her natural telepathic skills to listen in on the real thoughts behind the lies.
It becomes clear that these three men think they have hit the jackpot. They know of the blade called Stormbringer.
Kysan'tel has heard enough and she unleashes her greatsword in one hand and Stormbringer in the other in a devastating assault on the three hapless merchants. They are lucky to survive the first wave from the brutal Wildling woman.
Tahlia returns from bat form to sink her teeth deep into the throat of one of them. Her venom paralyses her victim, who is helpless to resist the bloodletting. The vampyre thief is disappointed when Tragladt opens a wound in the victim's stomach. She has to drink quickly before the blood spills from this new hole.
Atris surprises the second with a scimitar through the merchant's back, which erupts in a plume of arterial blood as the victim falls from his horse dead.
Kysan'tel drives Stormbringer through the last man's skull. The alien blade slices easily through the skull, down through the torso, splitting the ribcage asunder before it emerges in a fountain of gore from the groin. Kysan'tel feels the agony of a soul consumed. The blade quenches it's thirst on a living soul and she feels the blade become lighter, better balanced and alive with evil power.
She knows the blade is parched. Many more souls must be drained before the awesome weapon slakes its unnatural thirst and banishes the drought.
The party are now rich as they steal all the great wealth in jewels and gold and share it amongst themselves. Taid Sef buries the bodies as only a rock walker can.
Tahlia finds a blanket of Sleeping, whilst Irmirsul gets his hands on an arcane leather bound tome.
The Book of Lies - by A.S. Modeus Once the ground is cleaned and the bodies gone they release the horses and make their way east on the morning of the full moon.
Irmirsul and Kysan'tel are distracted. The Wildling tries to communicate with the blade, aware that it is not only sentient but incredibly powerful, a reservoir of raw energy the like she has only seen since she witnessed the raw power of the Maelstrom itself.
The vampyre delves into the strange tome; cautiously and slowly. The thirst for knowledge is one thing but this is a weighty artifact and one that could reveal the secrets of Hell itself. Irmirsul is undeterred. His quest for knowledge overrides his fear of the Devil . . .