# Session S08: An Old Friend ← `=this.prev` | **`=this.campaign`** | `=this.next` → > [!overview] > | **Session** | `=this.session` | > | --- | --- | > | **Session date** | `=this.date-session` | > | **Campaign date** | `=this.campaign-date` | > | **PCs** | `=this.pc` | > | **Active NPCs** | `=this.npc_active` | > | **Discussed NPCs** | `=this.npc_discussed` | > | **Active locations** | `=this.location-active` | > | **Discussed locations** | `=this.location-discussed` | > [!summary]- > [[Lenore Sigyn|Lenore's]] [[Vartan Silverbow|contact]] is found gravely injured on the outskirts of [[Greenest]]. He has mysterious wounds, filled with poison that do not allow healing. [[Vartan Silverbow|Vartan]] and Lenore speak in private, where she finds out he had been captured by [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]], who released him and hunts him now. On his way escaping the Cultists' camp, he had stolen a small mysterious locked box. The party and town brace for a coming attack. > %% > tldr:: [[Lenore Sigyn|Lenore's]] [[Vartan Silverbow|contact]] is found gravely injured on the outskirts of [[Greenest]]. He has mysterious wounds, filled with poison that do not allow healing. [[Vartan Silverbow|Vartan]] and Lenore speak in private, where she finds out he had been captured by [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]], who released him and hunts him now. On his way escaping the Cultists' camp, he had stolen a small mysterious locked box. The party and town brace for a coming attack. > %% %% ### Starting notes: - Spells: - Detect magic! - Lesser restoration! %% ## Notes - Astrid looks around for [[Old Mo]], but everyone else starts heading back towards the town. - Neither Leonard nor Lenore really wait for the others. - Townsfolk are back out and about in the fields, no longer in hiding in [[The Keep]]. - We arrive back at [[The Keep]]. [[Fritz]] and [[Oskar]] are manning the gates. - [[Leonard Draushum]] goes to talk with [[Escobert the Red]]. - Tells him about the circle we investigated. - The rat demon prisoner is still in custody. Leonard wants to interrogate it again. - Lenore goes forward without anyone else, and [[Astrid Dawngaze]] stops her asking her why she's walking on. - She says she found an image of her contact in [[Old Mo's shack]], who appears injured. - She's looking for [[Langdedrosa Cyanwrath]]. - [[Astrid Dawngaze]] asks [[Fritz]] if he's seen [[Langdedrosa Cyanwrath]]. - He's gone south because of some commotion on the outskirts of town. - Lenore wants to leave right away, but Astrid suggests they wait and regroup with Leonard first. - [[Leonard Draushum]] rejoins, and [[Lenore Sigyn|Lenore]] quickly turns and leaves saying they should get going. - They walk south. - They see [[Langdedrosa Cyanwrath]] on the road carrying someone. It's Lenore's contact. Lenore takes off in a run. - They appear differently than before… have scruff, facial hair… like a disguise, as half elf. - Grey vest, purple scarf. Malnourished, lash wounds. - Lenore tries healing, but it doesn't take. Lang looks grim; his healing didn't work either. - The back of his legs had been cut so he couldn't run. Blade, but wound is sickly and blackish. - Black veins at the wound, and his veins. - Lenore has seen this before, but only once… a couple years ago. Just out of the corner of the eye, on a corpse. A magical malady. - %%Lenore last saw this on Patrin with similar wounds. But it was only a glance.%% - Found by a farmer near the road. - Stumbling along the road, collapsed. - [[Langdedrosa Cyanwrath]] carries him to the Keep, takes him straight to the medical bay. [[Lucette Waterpike]] is there. - Lucette and Huxley examine him - Broken bones (haven't healed right), whipped, old and new wounds. Imprisoned for a while. - Slashes on legs obviously deliberate. Wound made from a longsword? - Huxley touches the black liquid directly. Huxley goes to put it in his mouth, and Leo tries to stop him. And fails. - Leo asks if Lang tried laying on hands; Lang says he didn't, wanted a cleric around just in case. - Lenore asks where [[Eadyan Falconmoon]] is; they think at the temple. [[Astrid Dawngaze]] offers to go get him. - [[Temple of Chauntea]]: Astrid approaches Eadyan, who is at the shrine/altar. - He agrees to come heal when Astrid tells him about the person they found. - Eadyan hasn't needed to check in on [[Marisa]]. She seems to be recovering on her own. - They get to the Keep. - Eadyan has never seen it before. He uses Detect Poison and Disease. - It's a potent poison; stops any form of natural or magical healing. - Langdedrosa is able to remove the posion (Lesser Restoration) - The black removes from his veins - Lenore instantly casts a L2 Cure Wounds on him - [[Vartan Silverbow|Vartan]] looks ROUGH even with the healing. - On his way to Greenest. Captured by Cultists. "Dragon Queen." Thinks he was followed. He is completely out of it, but indicates he has something important to tell her later. - Lenore tells everyone she has to stay with him. She's known him a year… she needs to stay. - Langdedrosa says he didn't see anyone when he found him. - Astrid says she wants to go to where he was found to investigate. - Langdedrosa asks if Lenore is okay staying on her own before he leaves, as everyone else is going to go to check out where Vartan was found. - Leonard wants to interrogate the rat demon first. Everyone but Lenore go down to interrogate; she stays alone with [[Vartan Silverbow|Vartan]]. - The rat demon is being guarded by [[Jamie]]. Astrid tells him they should hang out at Gruda's some time. - Leo asks them about a purple-robed person… and if he's seen the [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]] figure next to them ever. - Sort of… armor looked the same? Maybe? - Astrid takes out the sketch that she had taken from the shack. - The rat demon shrugs, and thinks so… Astrid wants to know what they want, in order to remember. - Armor is similar to "the other armor" but black. - Leo got all the info he needed; they all leave. Astrid is the last one to leave. - Everyone but Lenore go to check out the spot towards the south. - Slow trail through a field. Traces of dried black liquid. - Astrid looks towards the field… Langdedrosa says nothing out in that direction. Empty field. - Huxley notices a weird divet in the ground where Vartan fell. Notices a hand-sized impressed square in the soil. - Langdedrosa said Vartan had a satchel with him but hadn't looked into it. - Leo is looking for tracks - Astrid says she wants to talk with the farmer who found him. - His name is [[Joe]], and he mumbles a lot. - He had told [[Neilson]], the guard. - Leo asks how Langdedrosa about Vartan, and it was Nealson. Doesn't know where Nealson went after that. - Astrid asks about a cubic item; Joe hasn't seen it. - They all seem suspicious about [[Neilson]]. - Langdedrosa appears to be thinking. - Astrid wants to go find Nealson. Langdedrosa, Huxley, and Shava offer to go with her. - Huxley asks Astrid if guards usually patrol alone. No. - Nealson has very strong morals, so leaving Vartan in a field doesn't fit his character. - They return to the Keep, and Nealson just happens to be walking out of the Keep as they come in. - Nealson had found a cube with devilish symbols on it, and had brought it to [[Markguth]]. - Markguth has the cube isolated in his office. - Lenore and Vartan talk in private - SECRETS! %% - Lenore sits with Vartan as he sleeps. - He doses for a few minutes after the others leave. - As he wakes up, Lenore has her dagger pressed against his ribs, just in case it isn't really him. - She's pretty confident it's him when he disarms her so quickly that she doesn't even see it happen. He's like that. - "Tell me something only you would know, if you're really you." - Vartan smiles at this, and references how well he knows her face. - Lenore relaxes when he says this. - What happened? He had a lead about the cult that he couldn't wait to follow. He heard about a caravan coming through, and managed to sneak on board, blending in as a cultist. He got to the camp to do some investigating. - He got caught and captured. - It seemed like they knew he'd be there… some kind of divination wizard? - There were a pair of half dragons, and a black dragonborn (Black Death) - Black Death is a hell of a fighter. - Would beat him, as much for sport. - Told Lenore, given her strength, if she were to come up against him, she should run. - Lenore asks if they interrogated him, and he said they tried. He kind of jokes, knowing him… they got nothing. - Once they realized they'd get nothing out of him, the beatings and torture were worse. - He was kept in isolation, which he said she'd know well. - Lenore tells him she has so much to tell him. - Lenore talked about Shack. - Lenore found papers, including ones about her with the party, him being captive, Kassandra and the temple, and the prophecy - Lenore talked about Candlekeep - She was able to get into the Hall of Prophecy (if this isn't a place… well… it is now…) - Found the prophecy, but it listed Kassandra as deceased. - Both Lenore and Vartan find this troubling and puzzling. - Lenore talked about what others know. - They know her as Lenore Sigyn, that she is researches cults. - She is researching the Cult of the Dragon, as well as the two fake cults that she had made up, Light of the Shadows and Daughters of Oghma. - If they ask, she and Vartan have known each other for a year. She had been attacked at the side of the road, and he had helped her. They both research cults. - She asks how he got away, and it's all blurry to him. He was let go as far as he remembers. - He stole something on the way out. - A box, with fiendish writing on it. - It's missing from his bag when he checks. - She tells him she'll go searching for it. - Black Death wanted to hunt him, and he suspects he's being hunted now. - The last thing she does before she lets him sleep, she shows him papers she found. %% - Astrid, Huxley, Shava, and Langdedrosa go to Markguth's office. - Leo joins them, having walked at a reasonable pace back from the fields. - Lenore regroups with them, asks if they found anything. - Shava says they were looking for the cube. - She said Vartan had stolen a box. It belongs to Black Death, who had Vartan prisoner. - Lenore tells them Black Death released Vartan to hunt him, that the guards need to be aware. - Markguth keeps the cube wrapped in cloth and in a box. - Astrid asks to see it. He unlocks the chest, pulls away the cloth. - Size of a palm, unnatural. Looks too perfect. Black rubik cube, with red lines. Words written in Infernal. - Huxley can read it, but it's a puzzle box. It's gibberish. - Lenore says they have bigger issues than the puzzle right now, impatiently (as she is worried about her friend). - Astrid tells him that the stranger is being hunted by [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]]. - Cube will be locked away in the office. - Markguth asks if anyone knows anything about the [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]] - Leo shares any military information about them: - A tactian - Duel-wielding fighter, long swords - Has magical stronger weapons - One is acid - One is poison (the one that hurt Vartan) - Twisted code of honour - Doesn't fight defenseless (won't hurt you if you're defenseless, but won't stop others from hurting you) - Will completely murder you if you do have a weapon - Langdedrosa looks like his stomach is sinking - Astrid shows him the drawing - It's his brother. - Lenore says he's a member of a cult she and Vartan had been researching - Leonard cuts her off and finishes saying it. - Langdedrosa looks rooted. Lenore calmly guides him out of the office. - Lenore wants to talk. - Leo wants everyone to talk with him, suggests a quiet conversation in one of their rooms. - Lenore will take him back to her room for the others to gather. Shava joins. - Lenore tells Langdedrosa that his brother had tortured Vartan. - Langdedrosa says he has a lot to answer for. Will still to stop him. - If Black Death said he was hunting Vartan, he will. Here, or anywhere else. - Leonard is here to talk, knows some have questions - Will not answer if they are connected to him on a personal level. - [[Cult of the Dragon]]. - Black Death works as personal champion of [[Rezmir]], a purple robe. Ride or die cult leader, a wyrmspeaker. - Lenore has heard the name [[Rezmir]], but no details, and nothing about the wyrmspeakers. - Two types of purple cloaks - Wyrmspeakers - Five Wyrmspeakers: Black ([[Rezmir]]), blue, green, red, white. - Senior members of Cult. - The people they pick to conduct rituals. - If [[Odonth Darkwrath|Black Death]] is near, then [[Rezmir]] is nearby. - "They shall rise" is a cult saying - They mean Tiamat - Leonard was an ex cult member - This scares Lenore. - He had been young, forced into the cult by his father. - Grew tired of it. "His people" were oppressed - Talks about the cult signs before, which Lenore has seen before. - (Astrid has seen this "way back home") - Astrid hasn't heard from her Order in a couple days since her last report. - Astrid asks if they know his face - "They don't know this face." What. "I didn't have a beard last time." - I rolled a crit, and know he's being cagey. - Astrid asks Langdedrosa for insight into his fighting style. - Goes for priority targets (healing, then general magic, then martials) - Terror tactics, brute force, overwhelm - Works in teams. - Lenore wonders if she can get Vartan out of Greenest - She would take him herself to keep him safe - Lenore offers to disguise herself as him as bait, suggesting she has a way to do it. - Langdedrosa says if his brother is coming, they would attack in the morning. - Leo suggests Shava and Huxley could leave, since they have the least ties to all of this. - Leo offers for anyone to cut him (to prove the whole "not a werewolf" thing), and Lenore realizes she doesn't have her dagger. Huxley takes a scapel. - Leo does offer to talk with Lenore if she has questions about the cult, but would prefer to do it in private. - Lenore goes back to sit in the infirmary. - Astrid and Leonard go to talk privately - Cult stuff is something often carried in plain sight - Astrid and Leonard go to talk with [[Escobert the Red]] - A faction of the Cult of the Dragon will likely attack Greenest in the morning - Astrid says Black Death will be searching for the stranger (Vartan) and the cube - Escobert: "If it's the cult, they'll probably have a fucking dragon"… - There's an underground escape tunnel under the Keep that goes southeast if they need to… - That Langdedrosa expects Black Death will set up one-on-one duels… or everyone fights everyone. - LEVEL 4! We get a long rest as we prepare for [[Day 4]]. - Two players will have dreams at the start of next session… Cult Signs and Signals (from Chiko) The Cult of the Dragon uses several signs and countersigns among its members, the most common being holding the hand out with all five fingers extended, which they call the "Tiamat salute.” In addition, the phrases "All hail Tiamat!” and "They shall rise!” are frequently used pass phrases. (Some cultists extend their right hand with fingers outstretched to represent the five heads of Tiamat when they praise her glory. Others curl back two fingers, to show that Tiamat's strength is hidden. This is not mandatory, but adepts and hard-core cultists look favorably on those who do it sincerely.)