Chapter 17: Freedom (20-03-2021)

After the great battle and ultimate defeat of Morrow Massani, the group had returned to Layla's house to celebrate with Layla and Lotty's family.  They ate, drank, and told stories late into the evening.  Eventually noticing that Cade was no longer there, Elric looked for him and noticed a letter addressed to the party lying on top of Cade's equipment:

——

To my Friends,

I am writing this as I am not sure if I will be here tomorrow.

I am proud of our victory against Morrow Massani and hopefully bringing an end to his tyranny and slavery throughout the Ulavari Coast.

Everyone of us had huge heroic moments fighting Morrow.  Elric was quick off the draw and had amazing crossbow shots.  Dolosious had some brilliant spells that changed the fight.  Lotty viciously wielded her wrench and enhanced her allies.  Geschut lobbed those magic filled javelins of his.  Rhone was fierce standing tall with his glaive.  We acted like a well oil machine and felled Morrow in his chamber handedly.

It was such a shock when he came back to life there and pulled us all into hell!  

The fight continued there and quickly became pure chaos!  I felt like we were on the verge of dying many times during the battle.  Morrow tried to drop me off the side into lava.  Rhone fell unconscious about 6 times only to stand back up and continue the fight some more.  Lotty ran around like a crazed gnome bashing Morrow with her wrench and bringing others back to consciousness.  Elric's smart shots and quick thinking with a sliding heal kept Rhone alive.  Dolosious narrowly avoided death when Morrow tried to claw him while he was prone (I think he actually dodges better prone then standing).  Geschut made several key hits with those javelins and his haste spell saved my life allowing me to eventually stomp Morrow into the ground permanently!

It was an epic battle worthy of song!  It was an honor to fight with you all!

After the fight with Morrow, when Remmi ordered his men to secure the vault past us without saying a word to our group, it got tense quickly and I thought we would need to fight again.  It seemed as if Remmi was going back out on his promise to the group.  Given the story you told me of how this all started, it sounds like he uses people for his own ends.  Like when he tricked you into a test that resulted in working for a cartel and betting branded.  Then when he turned on the cartel, he stuck you in an inescapable position of being between him and the cartel’s crosshairs.  He definitely used the group in the past and the fact we know he has a silver tongue makes it hard to know his real motives.

Hopefully we made the correct decision on letting him live and he sticks to his promise of stopping slavery and other unsavory tactics as he reforms the Massasni Cartel into his new syndicate.  And the magic items he said we would get will be nice step towards amends for his putting you all in the position he did.

I met you only a couple days ago and in that time I find myself quite attached to you all already.  Unfortunately though, our rushed pace has not allowed us to get to know each other's history more so I will share a bit of mine here:

At the start of the battle yesterday, I shouted at Morrow about his crime against a peaceful Exaltari temple, that is where I lived for a millennia or two before I ceased to function.  I was not awake when the Massasni Cartel attacked, but an old elven druid named Liara was.  She knew she could not fight them off at her age so she fled.  The temple had been isolated for many years and she didn't know where any allies were so decided to reanimate me.  She rebuilt some parts as best she could and then cast a spell to give me the smallest sliver of her soul, but the spell failed and her entire soul was thrust into me bringing me back but killing her in the process.  My memory before I was reanimated is not complete, but I believe with her soul came other things I never remember having before: her Druidic abilities are miraculous, but her anger and rage toward the Cartel was harsh.  

I feel there is a change within me since Morrow’s death; Liara's rage is sated and her soul is at peace.  I do not know if her soul will stay with me.  I do not know if I will awaken tomorrow.  I hope I do, I would enjoy adventuring with you all more and seeing more of the world.

At the temple, we were always taught to rest facing east so “the good luck of the new day was ahead of us”.  If I do not rise in the morning, please make sure my body rests on a hill below a tree with an eastern view.

Sincerly,

Cáydeayvon’harnmawholden

——-

After reading Cade’s letter Elric went in search of Cade only to find him sitting on top of the roof facing east.  Elric decided to sit with his friend.  After the sunrise Cade began to move and Elric gave him a grin.

Chapter 16: "The Decent to Morrow and the rescue of two friends" (13-03-2021)

 

• The Group finished their preparations for the assault on Morrow while at Layla’s house.

• Elric examines the sword from Fain but does not sense anything.

• Had a Long Rest

• Lotty says goodbye to her dad and her dad demands she comes back.

• Remmi said all captains had a key but they also need Morrow’s key to get in the vault.

• We decide that our group will go first and then Fallah will let Remmi know when we are ready through the sending spell and he will start his attack.

• Fallah leads the group into the sewer.

• Fallah’s magic made us sneaky as we entered the vault.

• She raps her knuckles on specific parts of a brick wall and key holes appeared.

• Elric helped Fallah pick the two locks.

• The brick wall moved out of the way.

• Through a room with coffins, we found what looks like Vai’s room.

• Opening the door blinded Elric and Dolosius

• Neither Cade nor Lotty had prepared a spell to cure blindness

• Elric tried eating a goodberry to cure the damage but it had no effect.

• After 1 min it faded.

• Cade entered and felt magic wash over him but did not sense anything wrong.

• Cade tried to grab a book and was hit with a trap, Cade got stunned.

• Elric came in to save Cade and got hit by the same magic and aged 10 years.

• Elric freed Cade by knocking him away with a chair.

• Decided not to inspect this trapped room any further.

• At the end of the hallway was some water and a large room with 5 Sicarios

• The group dispatched them, and their reinforcements easily.

• Elric dispatched many with his new Repeater Hand Crossbow.

• We found Fain’s room but found nothing of interest other than some ledgers.

• Inspected a supply room for the Sicarios.

• Jail room

• Cade found a trapped and locked door.  Elric deactivated the trap with the help of Lotty and they made sure the alarm did not go off.  They got the door open.

• Found 2 cells with Geschut and Rone inside.

• When we got keys off a guard, we were able to open both cells and noticed they had handcuffs.

• Rhone answered Elric’s question to make sure he was not Vai

• Geschut refused to answer Elric’s question at first.

• Cade got into Geshut’s face and threatened him until he answered.

• The keys also freed Rhone’s handcuffs.

• Geshut’s handcuffs were magical with no keyhole.

• Cade and Geshut go back to Vai’s room to look for a way to get cuffs off of Geshut.

• Cade tells Geshut to stay by the door.

• Geshut says we are looking for a scroll of dispelling or a stone of dispelling.

• Found letter to Vai that asked her if she found "the shard" yet and was signed with the symbol on the floor of her room.

• Cade can not find a scroll or stone and brings a chest through the aging zone to Geshut for him to inspect.

• When Cade opens it toward Geshut it explodes and blasts fire in Geshut’s face.

• But we find a stone in the chest.

• Removed Geshut’s handcuffs with the stone.

• Elric and Lotty try to remove a trap and open the remaining door, but do not succeed.

• Group takes a short rest to prepare for Morrow.

• Group prepares to enter Morrow’s chamber.

Chapter 15: Cade's carelessly left journal page (06-03-21)

Cade’s Log 06-03-21

Conditions:  Sunny, warm, new moon

Patrolled around sewer entrance where I had seen Massasni Sicarios enter and leave.  Near dusk, the one known as Fane rushed out with 7 Sicarios toward the city gate.  I followed but they were in such a hurry that if I moved through the crowd like an Ox they would have not noticed me.

They exited the city through the east gate heading toward the forest beyond.  I could not take them all and live so kept my distance.  Shortly after entering the forest itself, I saw fire through the trees, yelling, and the sound of battle.

As I got to the edge of a clearing, I saw Fain stab an unarmed red-haired dwarf in the chest that was already prone on the ground.  Then Fain ignited the sword with some magical energy that killed the helpless dwarf.  That man has no honor.  Then Fain swung at a gnome nearby and missed.  The dwarf’s allies then struck back, and the fight was ended by the little gnome going berserk on Fain with a gigantic wrench bashing him repeatedly until he stopped moving.  She is a terrifying little creature.

They all ran toward the dwarf’s body that oddly started combusting, it must have been some trap that Fain laid with his magic attack for when allies approach to heal.  That type of treachery is like him.  Fortunately, it does not look like anyone else was injured more.

I wanted to know more of what happened before I talked to the survivors, so I called over a blue jay from a nearby tree and asked it what happened.  At first the bird did not want to tell me about the battle and only that the black one tried to shake her nest out of the tree and the little one, the same one that beat Fain with a wrench, blasted her nest with fire.  Persistently, I asked again, and the bird would only tell me that there was a fight among humanoids but little else, and I still rewarded the bird with a goodberry.

Since concluding they must be Fain’s enemies, I decided to see if I could revivify the dwarf.  I approached and the Tiefling oddly tried to stop me until I explained it was urgent.  Unfortunately, the spell did not function correctly, and I sensed that it needed a large pure channeling crystal that contained a soul.  Ever since I was reawakened and used this new magic within me, I have never felt such a thing before.  It felt like the line between life and undeath was being blurred to the very limit of what nature would allow.  Unsettling.

I introduced myself and told them what the bird said and asked why they were here.  Instead of returning the introduction or thanking me for trying to save their friend they turned the question around.  As I did not know if I could trust them yet, I tried to tell them very little, but said I was here for vengeance and followed Fain to this clearing.  All they said at that time is that they were here for similar reasons.

They then loot the bodies, and we buried the dwarf.  The little gnome spent some time debating about how to place an odd staff at the head of the grave and they all said some words.  It was touching and they seemed to care about the dwarf.  The group did not seem concerned that the fire they started was spreading to the forest, so I put it out. 

The grey elf seemed to have an Exaltium detection ring, possibly from our mine.  This was the first time I noticed that I no longer had mine on my re-built left hand.  How I lost it I can not recall.  He quickly located me with it, I tried to play it off but the memories of using it to mine Exaltium came flooding back.  I did not share this with them, and I do not know why as them knowing my original purpose and how I used it would not affect anything.  However, this new fear I have pushed me into keeping quiet.

I decided to join them in the fight against the Massasni Cartel since more numbers would make going after the cartel easier.  I lead them to another clearing to camp the night and they told me the story of why they were here.  It seemed very exaggerated to me.

We wandered back into Sierrona and they seemed surprised that I turned into a dog to enter the city unnoticed.  While I do not remember ever doing that before my reawakening, it seems like such a natural thing to do that I would have expected others commonly did it as well.

The grey elf also wanted to enter this strange liquid mirror that teleported us to some location without gravity.  It seemed to be a shop and he traded some pendant for a bag of holding.  I inquired about some darkvision goggles as they would make ambushing Sicarios at night easier.  But they cost far more then what I had so I asked Raziel, the shop keeper, if I could trade work for them.  She said possibly if I came back in a week.

The gnome asked the shopkeeper about the dwarf that had died in the fight with Fain but seemed surprised to hear that the dwarf was actually a fire gensai.  She seemed to care deeply about the dwarf gensai thing.  It does not seem like the group knows a lot about each other.

The Tiefling did not enter the shop, and when I left, I chose to be a slightly different dog, but he did not seem to notice.  I wonder if he can see my true self or simply did not notice.  I will need to be carful around him, there is likely more to him they he lets on.

We approached a house, and a male halfling pokes his head out and waves the group past 2 Sicario guards nearby.  The others did not seem to mind that we are entering a house GUARDED BY SICARIOS THAT MAY BE A TRAP!!!!  I growled at one and the murderous bastard offered me a banana … they burned the village, and this guy thinks A BANANA IS GOING TO MAKE AMENDS … A F□CKING◊ BAN◦NA!!!  A ○ANA▪◦□꙱ꙨꚚ□▪◊Ꝍ└┐─ⱡꝌ○┐└□

The gnome thinks they are on our side. I let it go.  For now.  It will be worth it if this group gets a chance to go after Morrow Massani himself.  I never thought I would be able to have a shot at him & I am excited at the prospect.

We walked into the house and met this Remmi Rarrington the one who seems to be leading this uprising and instructing the group on a path forward to take down the Massasni cartel.  He does not know where Vai is and the grey elf is very frustrated by it.  The grey elf let it drop that REMMI WAS PART OF THE CARTEL!  HE WORKED FOR THEM!!! HE WORKED FOR THE MONSTERS THAT TOOK THE MINE!!! THE BꚚSTAⱡD┐ ꙱◊□√Ꝍ┐▪◦┐─□─ΩꙨ○┐▪√√○Ꙩ꙱▪┐□◦

 

He claims he never worked for the part that took the mine but admits he knew those types of actions were going on while he worked there.  He says he “is trying to make a difference now” but we shall see.  I am going to be keeping my eye on him, he may also need to be delt with.  This is still my best shot at Morrow.

 

Remmi described Morrow as a Fiend that has some magical abilities.  He is resistant to cold and nonmagical attacks that are not silvered.  He is immune to Fire and Poison damage.  Has significant movement abilities around battlefield.  There is an ability where he can draw the life force from another creature to restore himself; if he kills a person from that life stealing attack they will come back as a Husk under his control.  Additionally, the room we will be engaging Morrow in has been enchanted with abilities he may be able to trigger.  I am glad I am with this group now, engaging Morrow with those abilities by myself would have been suicide as I can do little direct damage to him.

 

Additionally, Remmi gave the group a scoll to open a portal and tuning fork for the material plane.  He also caused a rope with a gem on it to drop 5,000 gold but wanted to keep the rope.  The grey elf also had some Exaltium cigarettes that Remmi said can give a player 1 additional action within the next 10 minutes.

 

The group then prepped for the upcoming battle.  They seemed frustrated when I decided to stay stationary to not disrupt them until the gnome called me over to act as a set of clamps for her.  I do not think she understands that I am not a simple creation like her horse, and I fear the treatment of creations like myself has not improved since the fall of the Dominion.  Or maybe she does not trust me and wanted to keep an eye on me; she did seem to warm up to Remmi and I am debating about killing him after Morrow is delt with.

 

The plan for the attack on Morrow:

·        Remmi and some other forces will attack from the front as a distraction to pull Morrow’s guards away.

·        Fallah will lead the group through the sewers to the back entrance of Morrow’s hideout.

·        The group intends to rescue up two others they believe were captured by the cartel on the way.

·        Then head to kill Morrow in his chamber while his guards are distracted by Remmi’s forces.

·        There was some talk about needing to go to the lower planes that I did not understand, but the group has a scroll and a tuning fork to get back.

 

Tomorrow I may satisfy this burning revenge that has consumed me since I was reawakened.

 

End Log.

Chapter fourteen "The darkest of nights" (27-02-2021)

The group have spent a day outside of Sierrona taking care of some business and researching their next steps, Elric managed to find out some extra details about Morrow in the fighting pits, discovering the Cartel leader is a fiend and cannot be killed on this plane, only his own. He also reconfirmed the notion that Fane only ever leaves Morrow’s side when Morrow believes his assets are at threat.

Using the sending stone the group contact Remi to discuss how to meet, Remmi instructions them to head to the slums in the city and find Layla's place; the last house on the left by the docks.

The group don the Siccarrio outfits that Marcus has previously provided them and move their way through the city as inconspicuously as they can until they find Layla’s house. The house is right next to the docks, Lotty & Elric recognise the docks as the ones they visited on the first night they met; this time however there aren’t Voodist cartel members that need to be bribed to pass but Massani cartel members standing guard.  Elric and Singe hatch up a quick plan to pretend to relieve the guards on duty so the group can slip in to the house unnoticed.  As Singe approaches the guard to relieve him of his watch the Sicarrio’s hand goes to his sword, it seems their cunning plan was overheard by this keen eared guard! As the group begins to prepare for a fight Lotty feins frustration with Elric that their “secret plot” to earn 40 gold from some on-the-side smuggling isn’t going to work and now these guys are going to want a cut.  The Siccarios see gold in their eyes and agree to leave their posts for a 20 gold cut of the deal, paying up allows the group to freely enter Layla’s place unobserved.

Inside they find hunkered down with Layla are Remmi, Fallah and a whole family of gnomes packed in to Layla’s house; Lotty is overjoyed with relief to be met with hugs from her Dad, Frug, and to find that Layla has been sheltering her whole family. Layla and the McFini extended family shuffle to the kitchen to leave the party to catch up with Remmi, they exchange stories on what has happened since they last met and Remmi explains that he has been cursed by Vi’s magic so is unable to heal up to his full strength, he’s not sure of a cure for the curse but is pretty sure that ending Vi would end the curse.

Fallah’s lays out a plan of attack on Morrow Massani; the Brokers of Shadows have been investigating the underground entrance to Morrow’s chambers and believe they can find a way in that would also take the group past Morrow’s holding cells, allowing the group to free Rhone and Geshut on the way. Meanwhile Remmi and his forces will make a full assault on the Last Stand Inn - the front to Morrow's compound - to keep Morrow’s forces distracted and occupied. Remmi believes that if Morrow is defeated his body will return to his home plane and at that point he and the group would need to follow through whatever portal appeared to finish him off otherwise he would find a way to return to power in time. Remmi has a spell scroll that would allow him to return the group to their own plane after the deed was done, a scroll the group agree to keep hold of for now, albeit maybe to powerful for any of them to weild.

One thing that is agreed is that Vi & Fane need to be taken out first. Remmi believes Vi’s loyalties to Morrow are not strong and arcane power is what she really seeks, with no leads on Vi’s whereabouts or means to track her; the group decide to go with the solid lead that they have; Morrow wants Remmi and is likely to send Fane out to get him.

Lotty catches up with her family and hugs her father and Aunt Ella again, relieved to see them all safe but equally sorry for the danger and shame she has brought upon her family, it seems they have all been hiding out at Layla’s place, the shop is still in disarray and there has been no sign of Arnon since he left with the wealth of the shop.

The group head, disguised, in to the markets of Sierrona to stock up on supplies and make a plan to lure out Fane. Stocking up on supplies to make traps and healing potions the group arrive at Aberrant Arcana, a shop that seems to have no doors or windows but just a huge mirror where the shop front should be, gingerly the group touch and pass through the mirror to find themselves in what appears to be outer space, gently floating and surrounded by the shops stock. Once they get used to the shop's layout (although Lotty didn't quite get used to it and clung to Singe like she may float away if she didn't) the group add a few items to their future wish lists as stock up on some firepower should their magic fail against Fane and a scroll capable of casting a counter spell, knowing of Fanes ability to counter and dampen the magic of others.

Fully stocked the group head out to the nearby woodlands to the North East of Sierrona to find a suitable place to spring a trap. Finding a suitable clearing with a bottle neck entrance the group set about their preparations; they dig a pit trap, set out their positions, set an oil trap and manage to combine some of the alchemical fire potions they picked up at Aberrant Arcana to make some more powerful explosives. The group camp out the night by the trap rather than taking the risk of sneaking back in to the city.

The following morning the group use the sending stone to message Remmi, asking for Fallah's help, asking her to meet them at the treeline outside of town, after a while an old lady appears near the tree line, Fallah has come to their aid. After revealing her true form again Fallah agrees to send a message to Fane to tell him the group has agreed to hand-over Remmi to Morrow and to meet them at the clearing. Fallah sends the message and agrees to stay and help the fight; as the sun sets the group take their final positions - Elric, Dolosius and Fallah stalking the tree lines to avoid any kind of counter ambush, Lotty disguised as Remmi in the middle of the clearning and Singe scouting out Fane's party before donning the Efreeti mask of his order and taking his place as "Remmi's" guard.

Fane, as expected, has not come alone. As the first three guards enter the bottle neck and one falls in to the pit Lotty lights up the oil taking out Fane's first three companions as Singe magically empowers himself to grow to enormous size and proceeds to take out the rest of Fane's guard almost singlehandedly, taking huge strides towards two sicarrios threating Dolosius and knocking each one out of existence in a single blow. After Lotty fails to shoot a fire bolt at a remaining sicarrios and instead taking her toll on an unfortunately placed family of birds and Elric stealthily manages to fall out of a tree the fight goes on and the sicarrios are quickly dispatched. Fane, however will not go down so easily. After almost taking out Lotty in a single blow the group do their best to keep their distance from this powerful warrior, their powerful magical blasts seeming not to have quite their usual effect against Fane, just has the group feel like they are turning the tides on Fane he seems to summon the power to heal, the group watching on as his wounds heal themselves and once again Fane becomes a huge threat.

As the group continue to trade blows, Fane knocks Singe back to his normal size and unconscious at the same time, as the group rush to Singe's aid they managing to heal him a little but it is not enough, before Singe has a change to get back on his feet and continue to pummel their enemy, Fane brings down his sword in to Singe's barely conscious body, dealing a mighty blow and ending the life of the mighty Monk warrior. As Singe's friends furiously take their vengeance, firing shots in to the badly hurt Fane Lotty's anger takes over and having watched her friend fall next to her swings her wrench at Fane, taking out a knee and bringing him down before she furiously continues to take blow after blow at Fane, even after he has drawn his last breath the little gnome does not let up.

Despite knowing it will not help Lotty does her best to heal Singe but in the dark, moonlight night all of a sudden a flame erupts out of Singe's chest and bursts into an intense fire.  The flames begin to lick over his entire body and begin to animate and make a shape that is reminiscent of a humanoid body (in the shape of an Efretti for those knowledgeable in such things).  The shape made out of flames appears sombre looking at the body and reaches their hand outward and all the flames seem to be sucked into that outstretched hand and disappear. What is left is Singe's body, naked, his yellow skin and red hair now pale and white.

The group come to terms with what has happened; Fane is dead, Morrow is vulnerable but their friend is gone, the ultimate price has been paid for their win this night.

The sky shines a little brighter with a new star on this night but our hero's hearts are all a little darker.