Covering Session Notes 61-65
After their eventful evening at Altenheim Palace, the party and their rescued allies have a long rest in Edrik's draconic domain. With magic restored, they finally contact Gretel Drach again, who tells them she and Otis arrived in Altenheim soon after they lost contact, and much of the city is ashes. The pair had moved to an old cabin by a lake some distance from Altenheim, and await their arrival for a proper discussion.
As the party take a tally of who they have with them, they notice the Lord General is missing, and when they go to find him, they instead find a bloody corpse. Sometime in the night, a mighty blade tore a mighty gash into Lord General Vasilly, and there seems to be more blood spilt than possible. The collective go over their alibis, and inspect each individual's weapon for blood stains.
Eventually they find the legendary Damglesvir had been moved from its previous resting space in Misha's hoard, and some expensive cloth from her collection had been used to wipe blood off.
More interrogation concludes nobody consciously wielded the sword of Maligant last night, but it may have controlled someone with its maddening powers.
As their investigation met a dead end, they feel the temperature rise and smell ash. The Fire Pope monsters had found the entrance to Edrik's lair in the castle grounds and were trying to force their way in! The mages coordinated with Edrik to send him to Gretel's location, and when there, he reopened the lair, severing its previous entrance.
The party and their allies spend some time catching up Gretel on all the previous night's events, and how the evil sword may have caused a murder in the night. Gretel introduces the party to Otis Tremane, an old elf wizard, then takes the Emperor and his mother aside for a chat.
Once everyone is caught up, Gretel brings to attention that with the Burach Empire currently in ruin, organising an end to the war with Ostoya will be more difficult, and other forces may need to come into discussion. Issac reminds the party of his laser weapon of mass destruction that had been in play, but notes its use would kill many innocents and bring about an arms race of WMDs. They agree this should be their last resort, and Issac makes Anneliese promise to destroy the weapon if he doesn't have the opportunity to do so himself.
They also discuss the possibility of getting the Valikan, Charneutan and the Castinellan armies involved, but this would be a longer term project they don't have time for. More immediately, they could try to use Morencia's financial leverage to strangle Ostoya and Burach's economies into submission.
Since they have an ally on the inside, Nerissa Sends to Syndra, asking if she could help them maneuver Morencia in their favor. Syndra replies that she would be happy to help, but first she needs their help to bring Morencia under her control. Consider it payback for not calling back all this time.
Gretel approves their decision to go to Morencia and negotiate. When prompted on Damglesvir and what to do with it, she tells them to ask Otis. Otis looks over Damglesvir and tells the adventurers stories about two other swords who, with Damglesvir, complete a set. Their combined power may cleanse Maligant's sword of its curses.
They start telling Otis about other divine artefacts they had encountered in the recent past, and the shenanigans with Kolthys Markolf and the Aurelia's cloak last time they were in Morencia. Otis asks the party where that cape and Kolthys's other rare divine item, "the book" had gone. Nerissa begins to give him all the details about the Book of Typharia, and suddenly there is a white flash… The Stormbringers blink several times and open their eyes to find themselves on a streetside in Morencia.
Nerissa tries to assure her party that she had no input on what just happened, and they theorise that Typharia was not pleased with the direction of that conversation. Was the god of knowledge censoring Nerissa? Were there things she is not allowed to say?
The party decide that the intricacies of Typharia's mind needed to take a backseat for now, because the ceasfire needed to come first. The party grab a gondola and start heading to the Darkest Night Emporeum to meet Syndra, but it seems the canals are empty of most people, and those remaining have scary mourners masks. Esmeray thinks the masks seem to be related to a Morencian tradition where people are sacrificed to the mists, but it is the wrong time of year, and the mists are a lot thicker than they should be too.
They encounter guards at the market entrance, who tell them anyone not wearing a mask is marked as an enemy of Doge Lorenzo, and risk execution. Using magic and non-lethal force, the guards are silenced, and they avoid an arrest warrant. In the Emporeum, they encounter allies of theirs who escort them to Syndra's restaurant, where they meet Stenfohr, who gives them the lowdown on what they've missed.
Syndra is now on the council as a bank rep, and has been working with a monster hunter named Vendemir to solve the Moonless Night Murders; people who are ritually massacred when there is no moon in the sky. And the city being covered in fog has meant more opportunities for these massacres.
Stenfohr guides the Stormbringers to a secret passage from Syndra's base into the Morencian Government halls, and they emerge on the other side in a tidy office. Soon, Syndra comes in, pleased to see Nerissa and the others, but immediately jumps into business. With Morencia's control over the financial world, she could help bring a ceasefire, but first she needs to control Morencia. The Doge has opposed her policies at every turn, and the other Banker's Guild members aren't a fan of her either. Her best suggestion is to use Vendemir, who has recently taken a council seat because the Moonless Murders are apparently embroiled within the very government of Morencia.
Leaving Syndra to go to another council meeting, the party are escorted by government staff to meet Vendemir. They open the door to a tall gruff man covered in belts and satchels packed with anti monster gear, pointing a loaded crossbow at the door. After introducing themselves and their association with Syndra, Vendemir quizzes the party on their own monster hunter feats and methods, before going on to explain his current calling; the murders.
Vendemir suspects there are multiple parties involved. Most corpses have had their chests mutilated and marked with strange runes, but he has also found corpses without markings very soon after death. So the killer and the mutilator may be two different people.
The group decide they will begin their efforts by examining the most recent victim, Isaa Guillaume, the council member Vendemir replaced.
He escorts the party down to the city crypt, and they cast Speak with Dead successfully. This is strange because the spell would fail if someone else cast the spell in the last week, and the Maegilate, Morencia's mage guild, should have performed that duty already.
Isaa's ghost tells the party she was investigating her father's murder, he was a member of the Navigator's Guild and was killed under mysterious circumstances at sea. The most important evidence was shown to her by Lunel, her grandfather's bird. They soon find Lunel lurking nearby within the crypt; he is an undead raven. Seeing it had caught Vendemir's and the party's attention, it flies out of the building, making sure they follow. Lunel guides the group to a foreclosed Antiques shop nearby, and waits above the awning expectantly.
Between Vendemir and Esmeray, they break in and disarm the array of traps waiting for them. A letter under the door indicates someone else had been looking for "remains" at this shop. They carefully move through the shack until they find a basement, and on a table to one side, a skeleton, another letter, and a preserved eyeball.
The letter indicates this is the corpse of First Mate Guillaume, Issa's father, and that an eye witness says he was killed by the Admiral Endoria Onaglie, who subsequently tore out her own eye in a fit of madness. The letter is signed by Quartermaster Nettohen, who Vendemir confirms was the first person to be killed in the Moonless Night Murders.
A closer inspection of the body reveals it had been hacked at, likely during ritually scarring like the other victims, and Vendemir tells them the eye seems to be a component in a device called a Nautanticlus; a magical focus that allows Morencian ships to navigate the treacherous waters around their island while avoiding danger. The Nautanticlus is a joint venture of the Navigator and Mage guilds, and it seems like both are doing some cover up. By interrogating the ghost of this skeleton too, they learn he was used as a sacrifice to appease the spirits around Morencia in a conflict with the Castinellan Provinces.
As they begin assembling a list of suspects, it becomes apparent the chamber is filling with a chilling moisture. Nerissa uses 'Turn Undead', and the fog immediately dries up. Could it be that the mists of Morencia are a mass of spirits that Admiral Onaglie and the Mage's guild are trying to control?
The group hurry outside before the cleric's magic fades and find that the mist has thickened to the point that they can barely see a few metres in front of them. Ostarion and Anneliese (both undead creatures) hear the whisper of innumerous spirits in their ears. They are being tempted into betraying their allies and drowning them in the canal below.
Knowing that they need to act quickly, they cover their gondola with divine energy and hurry toward the Government Halls. While on the boat, Edrik and Anneliese are overcome with destructive energy, and try to sink the boat, but Nerissa successfully dispels the possession over them and they make it safely to their destination.
Vendemir enlists the party's help to mark each of the building's windows and doors with occult runes and salt so that the mist will not be able to enter while Ostarion attempts to use his druidic expertise to change the weather. His effort is being contested, and given how powerful Ostarion is, it seems his order to clear the skies is being met with a group of other mages working in tandem to cover the skies. While most magic is forbidden in Morenica, the Maegilate are a company of wizards working directly for the council. Maybe this conspiracy goes all the way to the top?
Having a few avenues for further investigation, they briefly part with Vendemir to go talk to Syndra.
A frightened attendant tells the party Syndra has been in her office all day, apparently meeting with the Maegi Professorie (head of the guild), and he says there were sounds of shouting and conflict. After convincing the attendant to leave his post, they break into the room to find a sorry sight.
Syndra lies on the floor covering in blood, surrounded by bottles, and holding a ceremonial dagger. The Maegi Professorie lies against a far wall, his rib cage torn apart, and his skin pockmarked with dozens of rune shaped scars.
Esmeray quickly fetches Vendemir as they begin their investigation of the apparent crime scene. They find that the Maegi's corpse is cursed with unholy energy, and Anneliese risks herself to comprehend the runes scribed on his flesh.
They are necromantic orders; RISE! OBEY! WITHSTAND! Spells used to make strong undead soldiers.
As they look over Syndra's body, she is obviously intoxicated, but also possibly possessed by the mists. Nerissa uses Dispel Evil and Good to cleanse her body, Edrik cures her poisoning, and they find a necromatic rune on her body: OBEY!
They wake Syndra up and she has no recollection of the past few hours. When they tell her what she's missed, apparently the attendant's story did not add up. This boy was named Oak, and it quickly becomes clear they might not able to trust him. Esmeray Scries on Oak, and he seems to be heading back to this chamber, accompanied by the Doge and some councilman of high office.
They quickly use Prestidigitation and other spells to clean up Syndra and obscure her involvement, Esmeray taking the dagger that was planted on her body. Nerissa tries to use holy magic to remove the rune on her chest. But the spell is absorbed and warped, removing the magical scar from Syndra's chest and tearing an identical scar into Nerissa's.
When Oak and Doge Lorenzo open the door, Vendemir vouches for the Stormbringers that they were not involved, but will be arresting Syndra so he can interrogate her later. The Doge asks the Stormbringers stay within the Government Halls until they too can be interviewed. City guards take Syndra one way, and Vendemir takes the Stormbringers a different way. As they Doge and his staff enter the room to begin their own investigation of the crime scene, they see a smug grin on Oak's face.
The little weasel is definitely deeply embroiled in this scandal. Vendemir leaves the party to find more evidence while he keeps an eye on the crime scene. The Maegilate's office is in a different building, but Oak will definitely be keeping an eye on them, so they need a chance to pin something on him.
After a quiet brainstorming sesh, Anneliese uses her Clockwork Orrery to locate Oak's quarters and they sneak down the halls to find it. Esmeray uses her fey magic to phase through the door, not finding a servants quarters, but a lavishly decorated four poster bedroom. The bed initially seems empty, but Esmeray casts See Invisibility to find the corpse of a blonde haired woman, resembling an ally of their past, Cora, daughter of the pope.
Not really sure what to do with this, Esmeray moves to Oak's desk, and inside the drawers she finds a note written in illusory script, and two drawstring bags. One filled with coin, the other with broken bones, signs of those same necromantic runes chipped into them. This is the evidence they need to get Oak arrested! But just as Esmeray straightens up, she hears a whisper behind her, "I really wish you didn't see that", as Oak drives a dagger into her back
To Oak's Dismay, Esmeray is immune to the necrotic venom coating the dagger, and what should have been a decisive strike becomes Oak backed up against a wall, he calls to the corpse on the bed, and a terrifyingly quick zombie begins to charge Esmeray. Upon hearing a scuffle, her allies destroy the door. Ostarion casts a curse upon Oak's zombie, instantly turning it to ash.
The fey snakes bound to Esmeray deliver their petrification toxin, and the beaten and battered Oak turns to stone. Now free of interruptions, Esmeray calls Vendemir to come check Oaks's room, after giving them enough time to finish rummaging.
They find an echanted wedding ring, likely belonging to the zombie he commanded (very concerning) and look over the magic dagger that had fallen from Oak's grip. The dagger looks to be a visual copy of the dagger that was planted on Syndra, but it had been smithed with extra magical steps. Ostarion senses vast necromantic energy coming from it, and takes some time to get well acquainted with it.
Vendemir arrives on the scene as most of the make themselves scarce, very ready to cure Oak's petrification and look over the evidence they'd left for him. As the others take off, Esmeray explains some of her concerns she had on their last trip to Morencia.
Vendemir seems on top of most of Morencia's underground, but then Esmeray explains their deal with Ulrich the Prima Stregone. Vendemir is very distressed that such a creature has been at large within the city without his knowledge. Esmeray tries to assure Vendemir that Ulrich cant be bad compared to gods. Vendemir asks what gods? Then Esmeray lore drops all of their interactions with Typharia.
Vendemir suddenly clams up and declares he does not want to talk to the Stormbringers anymore, especially Nerissa. If Typharia is back, then the knowledge he keeps puts him in danger. He warns her that if they say the wrong things in front of Typharia, she will be in danger too.
Once their dealings with Syndra are over, Vendemir needs The Stormbringers to leave Morencia and not come back.
Once united again with the party, she tells them of the upsetting meeting she had with Vendemir. If people as powerful as him fear speaking their secrets in front of Typharia, then perhaps they were wrong about why Typharia tore them away from Otis Tremane. Maybe Typharia wanted to silence Otis and not Nerissa.
Suddenly very afraid of what they left behind, Nerissa tries Sending to Otis, CleVon, and Gretel. No responses. Esmeray then tries scrying for their allies, one at a time. Most of her attempts fail, until she finally scries on the Emperor. Through the orb, she calls out to Oldalric telepathically, and he tells her that their disappearance coincided with a blinding white light and next thing he remembers was awakening in a stranger's cabin. With Ostarion's and Oldalric's help, they scry a tree they can use to reach the Emperor, and most of the party head over.
Esmeray and the others arrive at the Emperor's side. The woman who had found him is in fact a Valiken spy named Freya who was charged with keeping the peace, and she arrived at the lake to only found the Emperor and his mother. The party are shown the Queen mother, who had lost in her legs in blast, and Ostarion restores them heals her as well as he can. Now more mobile, the group decide Freya should take the Emperor and his mother on the road, and re-equip non-detection amulets. If the Stormbringers could find them, then the plant pope would be on their tail.
Nerissa stays behind, Annelise with her. The cleric is absolute distraught; she brought Typharia back into this world with the purpose of quenching her unending curiosity. And now her curiosity is smiting people when Nerissa asks the wrong questions.
Anneliese stares intensely at her friend. She doesn't blame Nerissa though, all of her fury is directed at Typharia, and the daggers she stares are for the Goddess of Knowledge only.
The others come back soon and catch up the pair on what they saw. Nerissa breaks down. She blames herself for all of this. The others console her, resolute that Typharia's decisions are beyond Nerissa's control.
Incredibly stressed, the party decide they can't end this day without investigating the Maegilate. They try to sneakily find their way in, but instead reach a front desk and are directed to meet the Maegilate's main supervisor.
They meet a haughty looking elf who introduces herseld as Mar. She has been watching their progress since tehy arrived in Morencia using a scrying orb. She understands that their conclusions would bring them to the Maegilate, but those practitioners working under her were not supposed to be part of this mess.
Mar offers transparency to support her case, and begins giving them a guided tour of the facilities. The party are still ready to strike, but cautiously follow the elf as she walks them through. It turns out that most of the employees of the Maegilate are not actually spellcasters, but scholars well versed in magic.
Mar quizzes the party on what they've found out so far, and they explain what they know of the mist and Nautanticlus. Mar demonstrates the Nautanticli are made in house, and rather than ritual butchering, these days, retired sailors in their final days are sedated while their organs are surgically removed. It must be sailors that are used because the Nautanticlus rely on nautical knowledge to interface with the mists.
Finally, Mar brings the party to the weather mages, who are working at desks in a large office space. There, the party are confronted on their deeper connections outside Morencia. She knows the party know the Thaumaturge, Mina and Dute in particular, and wants to know which of the party she can use as blackmail to twist Syndra to their will. Syndra has been a thorn in Mar's side for some time, blocking most of the Maegilate's less scrupulous methods. And now Syndra must be forced to back down. Not liking where this monologue is going, the party leap into combat.
As soon as the party start their onslaught, it becomes obvious every "weather mage" in that room is under complete psychic control by Mar. They leap in front of attacks as human shields, they suddenly explode in a shower of viscera as human bombs, and Mar drains their life force directly to power her own spells. When Edrik finally lands a successful smite, he smells the burning brimstone; Mar is a fiend: The Archdemon of Progress.
Sensing they need to cut off the fiend from their power supply, the party use Maze , Ravenous Void, Prismatic Wall and a bunch of other powerful attacks to weaken the Archdemon's human support, all the while Mar is almost flattened by the attacks of the martials.
All of sudden, Mar inhales, and all of the remaining mages drop dead, their energy fed into the Archdemon. Ready for the second form, the party are surprised when Mar holds up their hands and declares this fight need not happen. There has been a misunderstanding and Mar is quite unsure why they are enemies.
The party cautiously lower their weapons and spend some time catching up Mar on recent history. The Moonless Night Murders, Typharia bringing them to Morencia, the War between Burach, and the few weeks when Death was no more. It soon becomes obvious that Mar has been living under a rock. She is an ancient creature that has been so invested in her projects that she's missed large chunks of important lore. She is particularly upset to hear about the fall of Ulmyr's Gate, a beacon of progress on an otherwise dark continent.
Mar tells them that the Necromantic words of power were originally one of her creations, but as the archdemon of progress, she developed better methods and moved on. She and the Maegilate went on to use the Nauntanticli as a more sensible method to calm the mists. Some darker cult within the council must have co-opted those methods for their own purpose.
Mar declares their real name is Deteriora, and is also aware of other demons the party has had dealings with, including Skade, which the party know as Gregor. Annelise tells her how Skade had dragged her in the downfall of Ulmyr's Gate, and how she's been mentally scared by her role as the person who pressed the doomsday button. Once Deteriora gets the full story, she drops a truth bomb on Anneliese; the fall of Ulmyr's Gate was entirely the Tower Master's fault, and Anneliese was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
As apology for the misunderstanding, Deteriora offers to help the party with a task of their choosing. Esmeray asks for their help understanding the spell that Gitta Sauber has wrought; the ritual to control powerful figures and their lineage; and how they may undo that spell. Deteriora promises to do their best.
As the party leave, they overhear the sounds of the Archdemon of Progress slaughtering what remains of the Maegilate, to sever all loose threads connecting her to the evil mist ritual.
Esmeray gets a message from Venin, Archdemon of Lies, who had just been in contact with her sister, Deteriora. The party have reason to suspect foul play from Typharia in recent events, and Venin is certain that in the grand scale of the Aetheric War, Typharia had a part to play that was particularly juicy. Typharia knows something she doesn't want Nerissa to know.
Venin has a deal for Esmeray: her demonic illusions can be used to hide Esmeray from the gaze of any divine being, even Typharia. And if there comes a time that Esmeray wants to say or do something she doesn't want The Goddess of Knowledge to know, Venin can erect a temporary veil. This veil can be extended to her other party mates, but it will hide them for less time. A veil over Nerissa may not even last a day.
As the party settle in to finally get back to the Government halls to get some sleep, Esmeray takes Nerissa aside to assist in finding more information about their missing allies. Deteriora had brought up a valid point; if anyone was to know if their allies were killed by Typharia's heavenly smite, then it would be Death.
They using Sending at The Keeper, Archangel of Death, and ask them what they know of Typharia's deadly smite. The Keeper does not immediately know the fate of most of their allies, but they do know for sure that Gretel Drach died. The Keeper sends their condolences, and promises them to look into CleVon and the others they hadn't heard from.
Esmeray brings out her Scroll of True Resurrection, which was granted to her by the Archdemon Skade. She was saving this specifically to bring back her adopted mother Dansari. But right now, they, especially Anneliese, needed Gretel alive. Esmeray reads out the runes on the scroll, and a very disoriented, but wholly uninjured Gretel Drach appeared before them.
