Third Collateral Session
| Campaign | The Collateral Campaign |
|---|---|
| Game Date | Combined sessions:
|
| Start Date | Mamir 29, 261 IM |
| Start Location | Jalinbeti, Kiywar Territory, Ortalyk |
| Ending Date | Mawsim 3rd, 261 IM |
| Ending Location | Koboldy Rock, Karagay Province, Ortalyk |
| Next Session | Fourth Collateral Session |
After a much needed rest, Rayjok Halperion had a meeting with Hedgewind Jalinbeti to determine whether he was indeed finished with the mystery of the undead. Hedgewind expressed that he did have a couple of errands in mind if Rayjock and his party were interested in undertaking them.
The first of the tasks was for Rayjock to continue to look for the source of the power raising the undead. A clue was given that the initial location of the globe altering effect may have originated in far away Kara in the south of the Altinqor. This being a long journey by any means of travel, Hedgewind Jalinbeti offered the party a second offer.
Hedgewind urged them to seek out the creator(s) of the Obsidian Scale Armor worn by Aydahar military generals. If found, they should compel the creator (or creators) to move to Jalinbeti to ply their craft. To assist in their negotiations, Hedgewind gave Rayjok a special coin, that if rubbed with a wish for gold, would produce what wealth they would need to seal the deal. Hedgewind promised rewards commensurate with the party's success.
Lastly, Hedgewind asked if Rayjok and company might take Spire along, an earth genasi of unknown origin. The hapless creature could not remember much more than its name, but seemed eager to be useful, particularly against the undead, and said he would relish the work, at least until he was able to regain his memory.
Tunneling Zombies
No sooner did the negotiations end than a rider from Koboldy Rock came riding into town calling for Rayjok Halperion. He explained that he had ridden all night to alert him that The Rock was under attack by undead. Roused to action (especially Caladan Ironforge, hater of all things undead), the party rode hard to Koboldy Rock.
Upon arrival, the party was greeted on the road by The Rock's Grand Visier, Gulshara Rysbek. She had gotten everyone and much of the livestock to relative safety on the road while the undead zombies and skeletons roamed the halls of the keep. Without pause, the party headed straight into the fray, descending into the keep's basement and crushing a nearly endless stream of Ungir-shaped zombies.
The zombies, which had a habit of getting up again after they were re-killed, were re-re-killed and eventually their corpses burned. The staff returned, assigned comfortable rooms to the adventurers and began the process of getting life back to normal for Koboldy Rock.
The First Fellowship Ends
After the zombie attack, Togzhan Kuat, Darwin Serzhan decided to break from the party and headed north to explore Ælfwode and all that is Ælfish. As a stepping stone between Jalinbeti and the rest of Ortalyk however, it wasn't long before new adventurers joined the ranks.
A New Fellowship Begins
As Rayjok Halperion and Caladan Ironforge discussed their take on how to thwart the undead, a pair of unusual (for Koboldy Rock) persons at the breakfast table took a keen interest in the conversation. Bubbles Littlefoot, a Sweardælf sorcerer from Kiskentay introduced herself. Natascha Khame, a warlock with a telltale white streak in her hair, also took the opportunity to jump into the conversation. As they discussed this they were interrupted by the Koboldy Rock guards.
They had apprehended Ghagon the Loyal, who they said was asleep, though may have been unconscious, following an attack on his group not too far from the keep. Ghagon, a Grendel warrior said that his group was investigating a kidnapping near the border by an evil necromancer. He said that the group had likely been kidnapped themselves.
As this new conversation unfolded, Rayjok Halperion was reminded of other groups of foreign warriors heading south and believed Ghagon's story. He ordered Ghagon released and invited him into the party in order to go and deal with this undoubtedly nefarious necromancer. Ghagon the Loyal agreed to lead the group to where his former party was going and the rest of the party welcomed him to their ranks.
A Haunting
Three days travel later and on the outskirts of Karagay, the party's camp was interrupted by a trio of ghosts. Possibly, the ghosts were part of the seemingly global awakening of undead. The party soon discovered that the ghosts were not to be trifled with, showing resistance to non-magical weapons and poison. With lessons learned, the party survived the attack, but unfortunately did not take away any ghost loot from the encounter.
Mausoleum Marauders
The next morning the party travelled the last few miles to a graveyard, where there appeared to be an entrance cut into the ground to an underground room. The room, appeared to be the foyer of an underground mausoleum. The foyer seemed cozy enough, with a pair of bookshelves containing information about the mausoleum and the persons interned there... those persons being former Ortalyk military commanders and heroes.
With Caladan Ironforge and Ghagon the Loyal taking the point, Caladan kicked open the double doors to reveal a room full of partially armored, but fully armed skeletons. While the warriors hacked through the front ranks, Bubbles Littlefoot, Natascha Khame and Spire cast spells from the rear. Rayjok Halperion engaged in some acrobatic jumping from one sarcophagus to the next, unleashing a fury of arrows at the hapless skeletons. It was not long before they were all (and there were many) freshly re-killed.
The Secret Door
Unconvinced that the skeletons were the end of the problem, particularly because none of them appeared to be Grendel, the party began to search the walls for hidden doorways. Rayjok Halperion was the first to spot a hidden door. The party arrayed itself around the door while Bubbles Littlefoot pushed it open with a Mage Hand. Caladan Ironforge quickly stepped into the doorway to create a barrier between the party and a collection of freshly slain Grendel zombies.
The zombies did their best to get past Caladan Ironforge, but only one managed to do so and made it less than 5 feet into the room. The Wall of Caladan was truly mighty this day. Without using up their precious remaining spells, the party managed to put down the group of zombies and head for the final door.
Another Mage Hand cantrip later and the party ran into the room to confront the necromancer, who was in the process of executing one of his Grendel prisoners in some sort of elaborate wizard experiment. The wizard was protected by a tall armored undead paladin-like creature which was immediately surrounded by the party's fighters. The casters (and Rayjok) focused on the necromancer. The combat was over quickly. With the exception of a Cloudkill spell that cause the party some discomfort, the necromancer and his undead companion were soon very completely dead.
Cleanup in Aisle 8
Once everything appeared dead, the party took the time to have a look around to see what this awful necromancer had been up to. None of it looked good. He had created a magic circle which had a glowing magic box in the center. On 6 points of the circle, it appeared he had killed and bled a Grendel captive, discarding the corpses to the hallway... though possibly raising them into zombies first. The magic circle created a protective ring around the box, which appeared to slowly dissipate as the blood dried and/or seeped into the floor.
There were several cages in the room, two still containing live Grendel captives and one was known to Ghagon the Loyal. After a brief conversation, Ghagon and the party agreed to let the prisoners supply themselves and head back to Maercland to report that the necromancer had been slain. They asked Ghagon to join them, but he insisted on staying with the party for now.
The party looted the room for a case full of notes and books all in wizardly writings. The notes described the experiments being done on the box, which turned out to be a Meme of Aspan entitled On Governing Grendel. The party also recovered a Bag of Holding and a pair of Potions of Invulnerability... along with a sizable stash of gold. Caladan Ironforge, picked among the giant undead's armor realizing that the armor was magical plate. Determined that he could make the plate Caladan-sized, he put it in his bag for later.
The party rode back to Koboldy Rock without incident and Rayjok Halperion rode on to discuss these new developments with Hedgewind Jalinbeti...
Player Notes
Dear players, if I left any glaring mistakes or omissions in the narrative, please make a note here and I'll add them in.
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