Party
Konguq-Human Wizard Captain
Ace-Human Rouge Quartermaster
Vodren-Human Cleric Healer and Navigation
Bron-Dwarf Fighter and Battle Master
Ryai-Elf Spellblade Night Watch
Vorlo-Hobgoblin Apothecary and Helmsman
The Dandies prepare to fight the plague spirit that erupted from Broud. Ace takes a swing at it and quickly moves behind the stuffed bear that sits in front of the door. Vodren quickly moves Broud away from the spirit and back into the hallway. Konguq commands Zim to attack the spirit and in doing so, absorbs some of it's power. She drags Ryai back to avoid the poisonous gas it's about to erupt. Bron pushes the bear on top of the Gorilla and Ryai sets it on fire. With the gorilla pinned Ace slips back into the room and stabs it again. It melts under the bear, defeated. Vodren notices Zim look at his hands
With Broud saved and most of the threats neutralizes, the party goes and explores the house more. Vodren goes to talk the Alchemist, Ryai and Bron go to collect any sentimental objects for the kids, and Konguq and Ace go to get Broud's bag.
Ryai before going to collect the quilt checks on the room that couldn't be opened due to the dirt blocking the door. He decides to circle back to see if he can get Zim's assistance.
Ace and Konguq attempt to distract the flies to get Broud's bag. Ace manages to sneak beneath and hide but unfortunately Konguq becomes their target. Ryai arrives to ask for Zim but sees the predicament they're in. Ryai casts Darkness and distracts the flies with his blade allowing the two to bring the bag in safe and sound. Ryai requests Zim and the two follow him to uncover the room. As Zim and a mage hand begin to dig Ryai goes to grab and clean the quilt.
Ace and Konguq discuss the matter of Ace becoming a cleric due to his previous interactions with Mishakal praying to save Konguq and the incident with the Demon. The Gnoll's Dire Hyena sniffs at Ace, and as Ryai returns he notices that it calls him "Father"
Vodren finds the Alchemist in the nursery again, holding a vial. She requests that he leaves his holy symbol behind and he complies. Once inside he recognizes her as Marble, the alchemist from Solace. From her he learns how she survived Solace
While trying to escape the blaze Marble tripped and fell on the case of potions she was carrying, resulting in the severe lacerations on her body. She managed to hide with a seeker who severely burned her face and had no memories of her past. There as they hid did Morgian come and offered them both salvation. Seeker Rohrta and Marble have been working together ever since. Vodren remembers that she used to worship Sirron back in Solace. But she turned away from him now that she's become a Deva to Morgian. She however bears no ill will to the party and decides to move on with the cultists gone. She promises to talk to the giant outside for the party so he is no longer a threat.
Vodren reconvenes with Bron who found the family founder's skull and a metal prod with a rune at the end. Zim and the Mage hand finish and the Gnolls and party get into the room. It looks pretty empty and is caved in but Ryai finds a hidden door. They enter and find a Golden Hammer and a treasure chest. Ryai and Bron examine the Golden Hammer and Ryai notices that the hooks are moveable and that the ceiling is lower than it should be. As Ace and the Gnolls examine the chest another Ooze leaps out at them. The Ooze attacks the Gnoll and they barely manage to stuff in back inside the chest. Bron not wanting to leave the Hammer behind, has Ace use his grappling hook to remove the hammer off the hooks, causing the ceiling to collapse around the treasure chest. The Gnolls grab it anyway, wanting to sell it later.
Not long after the giant returns, after a few moments however the giant leaves. The group grabs Broud and the skeletal remains of the dwarves from the hidden room. When Broud awakens he's perfectly healthy, if not miffed with the Gnolls. Vodren and Bron then lay the dwarves to rest in the family graveyard and the party returns back to Lorian's camp.
There they reunite with the kids who are happy to see their saviors return. Ryai presents them with the quilt and they nearly knock him over with a hug. Bron also gives them the prod and skull. The children tell the party that they managed to find some family on the scroll they kept that would take them in and Lorian said he would take them there after this.
Broud also states that he is happy to join the group on the ship despite going the opposite way of his original target. But he figures that they will probably end up going that way at some point. Ryai is ecstatic to have a fellow scholar on board.
The party settles in for the night, and Vodren warns the group about Zim and the possibility of him becoming sentient. Ryai wants to put Zim down with worries of what it could turn into but Konguq wants to keep Zim and study the effects further. Konguq recalls legends of this happening before but none can fully agree on how soon. The two wizards study, Konguq watching Zim as he patrols while Ryai consults Broud's books, with Broud's help. Konguq can't gleam much more than she already knew, but Ryai manages to back up a few claims and figures that as long as Konguq has Zim under her control it will be fine.
When Vodren wakes up the next morning he sees Zim standing over a blue faced Broud and slowly turns to Konguq. Vodren in a knee jerk reaction blasts half of Zim's face and runs over to Broud, waking the group. He sees that Broud is being choked by his holy Symbol which was turned into a skeleton hand. Ryai and Vodren manages to tear the thing off of him before it can do any further damage. With the full picture now, Vodren realizes that Zim was going to warn Konguq and that the holy symbol was set up by Seeker Rhorta. Vodren apologizes for the mix up as the group now gets ready to deal with the Seeker.
Ace leaves his Mishakal pendant behind to make sure that Mishakal watches over the two children. Broud being nearly choked to death stays behind to rest. The group then heads off to Vikaze.
Ace pulls away to case the village, seeing Seeker Rohrta preforming her morning sermons and sees as two previously sick villagers are brought back to health. He also sees there are still sick people in some of the houses. He circles back and tells the group. Ryai and Vodren decide to go in first to make an appearance and heal the sick animals to show true healing. The two approach the Shepard who is slightly wary, but Ryai phrases thier good deed as a way of thank Seeker Rohrta for her help finding thier friend. The Shepard buys it and the three go to work making the ritual circle. As Vodren preforms it, the light of the circle turns a sickly yellow as all the animals collapse dead. the Shepard gives them an evil smile when Vodren notices his sabotage.
The Shepard blows his horn and Ryai grabs Vodren trying to flee. He notices that Vodren struggles to keep up from his exhaustion and sets the field ablaze to slow their pursuers. As the Shepard shouts he falls dead, struck by Vorlo's slingshot. Konguq reaches out to Ryai via message and asks if he can lure the villagers back to the barn. Ryai tells Vodren to find the others as he runs back through the town trying to lure everyone back.
He is unfortunately surrounded by some townsfolk and is confronted by Seeker Rhorta. She calls for Vodren to show himself to the crowd. Before Vodren does however, Ace steps forward. He flashes a crude signat ring with a fox jumping through an infinity circle claiming to be a cleric of Mishakal. Vodren sneaks around from behind. Seeker Rohrta challenges him on his claim however, now drawing the crowds attention. She has the Shepard's body dragged out to be revived. While the crowd watches, Konguq sneaks into the barn. She discovers that while all the food in there looks fresh, it's covered in flies. She begins loading up on a floating disk.
Ace stares at the corpse of the dead Shepard and tries to beg to Mishakal for her to come to him. Ryai, however, recognizes that his begs sound more like demands and knows that what Ace is trying to do is nearly impossible. He manages to swipe a stave from one of the villagers, extend it and disguise Animate Dead as Revifiy. The Corpse rises, and Ace realizes it wasn't him that did it. He locks eyes with Ryai as Mishakal gently chides Ace for his tone.
Vodren makes himself known after, congratulating Ace for his job well done.(despite knowing that something wasn't right with the spell) The crowd is in an uproar over the events and Vodren begins to tell them that what Seeker Rohrta is doing isn't healing. The group then explains to the people what they found at the dwarf house in the woods. Vodren then tells them that the food they're eating is tainted and Konguq steps out with the floating disk of food from the Barn. Vodren casts Dispel Magic and it all quickly rots away before the Villagers eyes. Seeker Rohrta knowing the jig is up, brushes off her previous disguise and reveals herself to be a cleric of Morgian. She removes her mask before the crowd and while Vodren doesn't recognize her, Vorlo goes pale. Beneath the mask was the burnt face of Seeker Rowanna. One of the first people the group met at Stone Hill House. While the party tries to jog her memory it is ultimately futile with her first memory being woken up in dragon fire.
She then shows her power to the group, telling them that without her, all the villagers would die in an hour. The villagers double over in pain as the sickness spreads. She asks how many they could save in an hour. Ace fully fed up of her bullshit goes to beat her unconscious with his cane. She looks shocked as the man steps forward and a loud buzzing sound could be heard from the Barn.
The Fate of Vikaze
Bron and Ace move in close to Seeker Rohrta to make her submit. Konguq runs to the barn to see if she can start a blaze to dispose of the flies. She notices they are moving violently and in unison. While she starts, Ryai has Marovie chuck a bottle of lantern oil against the side of the barn and start the blaze from there. Ryai commands that the Shepard protect Ace and goes to try and help people move away from the Barn. Vodren summons his dire wolves to flank Seeker Rohrta. Seeker Rohrta then summons a large poisonous cloud to choke out the party while she is knocked to the ground. Konguq returns with a wind wall to stop it from moving forward towards the villagers. The party has Seeker Rohrta thoroughly surrounded as they try to break her concentration on the spell. The Shepard lands a devastating hit on the cleric and she willingly ends the spell. Knowing her fate was sealed regardless of what she did, she makes a final prayer to Morgian showing what she was willing to sacrifice. Konguq recognizes this as a death curse.
Seeker Rohrta dissolves into nothing, turning into a husk of a human before the group as the villagers condition worsen considerably. Vodren rushes over and prays to Habakkuk offering all he has to try and save the village. Habakkuk offers an ultimatum, he could save the village in return for Vodren losing his ability to make miracles. He understands whats at and Habakkuk doesn't intervene. Bron begins mercy killing the villagers so they don't suffer. Others join in but Ryai freezes, deciding to go get Broud and put the Shepard down instead. Ace insists someone goes with him and Vodren volunteers. While the two go to get Broud, the rest try to gather the dead and grab firewood for a funeral pyre. The group takes time to reflect on the event that occurred.
Seeker Rohrta despised them so much, she was willing die to make sure they failed.
When Ryai and Vodren return with Broud he tells them to start tearing the houses down for the funeral pyre. Not long after they notice the sails of the the Dandy Rose. The crew joins in on the funeral efforts as Broud preforms his own ceremony for the dead. The flames go from blue to green as he declares that the souls of the dead are freed from Morgian's grasp and will go to wherever they were meant to head before Seeker Rohrta's influence.
Tired and crestfallen the party returns to ship and plans their next course. They decide to stop by Wayreth to study Zim more and avoid Qualinost as much as possible. Ace mentions the rumor he heard from Larion about the elves looking for holy men. Ryai and Vodren look at each other, and Ryai fears that his trial has more truth to it than he originally thought...
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