Ninth Session

Ninth Session

Stare Too Long Into the Abyss...

Campaign	The Primordial Campaign
Game Date	Sunday, Mar 30, 2021
Start Date	Mamir 21, 261 IM
Start Location	Koboldy Rock
Ending Date	Mamir 24, 261 IM
Ending Location	Karagay Citadel, Karagay, Karagay Province, Ortalyk
Absentees	David McIntyre/Rayjok
Prev Session	Eighth Session
Next Session	Tenth Session

The Ninth Session technically began the evening of the 20th of Mamir. The party had just returned from Jalinbeti to be greeted by their cohorts Gulshara Rysbek and Rayjok at the gates. Gulshara took the party on a tour of the facilities. The grounds had been cleaned up since the party's departure and crude animal shelters and pens had been erected. All variety of farm animals loitered about the pens and the still grassy areas within the walls.

The Keeping of the Keep

Inside they found that the main floor of the keep, though lightly scrubbed was mostly black and ashy from previous Ungir and Hedgewind Jalinbeti encounters. The 8 bedrooms upstairs, 5 of which were assigned to the party by Gulshara Rysbek and Rayjok were in a semi-restored condition, and sported the ramshackle straw mattresses and pine beds featured in the barracks below. In the lower level, the progress is remarkable. A full kitchen and dining hall are in working order, as well as barracks, baths and toilet facilities.

Fifty Shades of Black

Gulshara seated the party at the head table of the mess hall and offered a selection of meats from the kitchen. As dinner came to an end, a bottle of the impossibly good Ælfen wine picked up in Jalinbeti was poured. Obsidian Black in rare form called for the room to be cleared, and staff and patrons alike cleared the room to give them privacy.

Obsidian had a lot on his mind and shared his findings on the puzzle of life, with pieces that fit suspiciously well together; perhaps too well to be coincidence. Among his the revelations, he explained that while in the basement of Balagash Keep he experienced death, and afterlife and a re-birth. This shocked the party, who struggled to believe it. Obsidian went on to describe the interconnectedness of all things since their initial meeting nearly a month ago. And with that they finished their wine and went to bed.

Flurpity Flurp

The alarm bells sounded at about 2am and the party was awakened to the announcement that there were dragons at the gate. The party dressed and rushed to the gate to discover that there were in fact two white dragons gnawing at what was once their keep's portcullis. They were backed up by an Ungir in robes who appeared to be issuing them commands.

Obsidian and Matteo unleashed a fury of acid and javelins, ignoring the dragons and focused on the Ungir who was killed instantly. The remainder of the party who all had initiative on the chewing dragons, made it clear that they did not wish to harm the dragons, making a show of holding back their attacks.

The dragons did not attack and addressed the party in the Otani tongue. Now, with their patron dead, they had no need to follow orders, but were well aware that the party possessed their bedding. While the party pieced together the reconnaissance mission made by Panamon Cree days earlier, they began to make assumptions. Panamon himself was in a bit of a daze, and nodded to acknowledge that he might have recovered some 'bedding' on that trip.

The dragons treated that they would not destroy the party and the keep if their bedding was returned. As if in a daze, Panamon dropped the 2400 gold he had recovered from their lair at their feet. The one dragon snatched up the gold and flew away. While the other dragon was about to leave, Greef Roake issued a question. A dialogue ensued in which Greef seemed to offer the dragon a contract to stay at the keep, only to change his mind... annoying the dragon who flew off in a huff.

DM Note: Anyone caught in the dual cone of these dragon's frost breath would have received 45 (10d8) damage per blast.  The parley was a very good idea.

Over My Dead Body

After a restful sleep the party woke early to tend to the dead Ungir. Using a clerical spell for petitioning the dead with a set of questions, he began to interrogate the corpse. Unfortunately, the corpse gave its answers in the Ungirsi tongue and the party did not understand. They did learn that the research being done in the Balagash Keep had something to do with the leader of the Ungir, Daniar Erbolat. The party buried the Ungir's remains near the keep's escape exit.

Augur With Woden

Once disposed of the body, Greef decided it was time to speak to Woden. He cast his gaze skyward to receive a sign, and was granted and enthusiastic "weal" indicating they promise of success on their upcoming investigations.

Southpaws

With the party witnessing a load of different groups heading south, they developed a natural curiosity as to why this was happening. They party decided to use the Balagash River as starting point to pick up the trail of anyone moving south. With Rayjok leading the scouting party, he did indeed discover a spot where the river had been forded. His investigation indicated a group of Grendel, perhaps as many as 30, within the last 24 hours, and likely headed south.

Panamon, not interested in vagaries of Ranger clues, sent Tryx the imp up into the air for a look. The imp returned to report spotting a collection of Grendel to the south with only about a 1/2 mile head start. Using the imp to take to the air and report back in a repeated cycle, the party set off to follow the Grendel pack.

Follow Me, Boys!

The party followed the Grendel for what seemed an entirely uneventful day. The only aberration was a 'Glink! Glink!' noise coming from very far off to the south. The Grendel made camp in the evening giving themselves and the party a rest, and resumed before the crack of dawn the next morning. They did not stop in the evening, continuing their path through the night, arriving at about a mile out of Karagay the following morning where they camouflaged themselves and bedded down for a sleep.

There were a couple of encounters along the way. First, the party witnessed a pair of Stone giants chipping away at the side of a mountain. The two were very concentrated on their work, filling a massive cart with massive stones. The party became aware that they had seen a pair of massive furrows along their path, but had not instinctively thought to equate these with wagon tracks. Mystery solved, they moved on, later hearing the complaints of both wagon and giant as it seemed to the listener that they giants were moving their quarry.

There was another encounter along the way where the Grendel nearly came in contact with the Ortalyk military specifically, a brigade from the Ortalyk 14th Division, The Fightin' 14th!. The brigade was doing it's job and patrolling the forest for undesirables. Fortunately for the Grendel, they were able to keep themselves hidden.

Looking into the Abyss

The imp's notification that the Grendel were on the move out was followed shortly by a second notification that they were gone. The party followed to their last known location and concluded that they had entered a narrow tunnel with a stream flowing into it. Panamon Cree instructed his imp to investigate the tunnel, only to learn that his psychic connection with the imp had been severed. When he tried to detect magic, he found himself unable to cast the spell. He retreated a few yards from the cave and tried again, but to no effect. His imp clung to him in fear, from the loss of magical ability.

Dismayed by Panamon's lack of spellcasting ability, the party opted to retire into the city and get some rest. As the party got further and further from the tunnel, his abilities did not return. A reticent Panamon retired immediately to his room in the hopes of sleeping off his disconnection from the warlock realm.

Fists of Fury

Back at The Lazy Pearl, the party ordered up some Jennan Tonix and sought to "overhear" any gossip being passed around. They noted some strange monks singing a very childish song in praise of Woden on the road earlier. They seemed to also have taken up lodging in the Pearl. Greef sparked up a conversation with them and learned they were monks with the FISTS OF WODEN, an organization of total nutbars with whom Greef was already familiar.

Greef was forced to share with them the knowledge of the Grendel and the cave when Obsidian let himself be overheard and reluctantly the Fists of Woden believed the story, though perhaps not to the letter. When Greef entreated that they join in a clandestine raid to remove the Grendel from the cave with all due violence, he noted some enthusiasm. By morning, five of the order had agreed to join the party on their quest.

Beneath the Shadows

The party, now numbering ten with the FISTS OF WODEN in tow returned to the cave the following morning. Panamon's magical abilities had since returned to him. The party entered the cave to find that it rose, dove widened and contracted and eventually led below the city of Karagay, to the underground base of what they assumed to be Karagay Citadel.

From their vantage point within the tunnel, which opened into a vast cavern, the party observed the Grendel within. The Grendel, were seemingly occupied with the task of carefully and quietly excavating their way through the citadel's subterranean rock walls.

The party prepared to plan their ambush...

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