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| He's back! And he still only has 2 HP! |
Week 1: July 3–10
The victorious party returns to Eveningstar. Trigg brings the shattered fragments of the evil vessels to the Abbot and recounts the tale of their quest. The Abbot performs the magic to revive Eldred the Enchanter. Our heroes have a tearful reunion with Eldred. They explain to him (with some difficulty) the situation regarding his death, their quest, and his return to life.
Early the next day the party is summoned to Eveningstar Castle to make a report to Lady Winter. They stand in awkward silence in her solar while she works at her loom, ignoring them. The Lady’s winged cat familiar plays with the yarn at her feet while two scarred and grizzled purple dragon knights stand guard. When she deigns to notice the party, she informs them that she is displeased. She has received a letter from the Council of Molehill informing her that the son of their Thane, one Berrybert of Molehill, was murdered by adventurers. His faithful cousin Leegild escaped their cruel blades to bring the tale.
As Molehill supplies Eveningstar with iron ore and pipeweed, diplomatic tensions could become a serious annoyance. While she has already spoken with the Abbot and believes their tale of a curse, the party’s failure to recover Berrybert’s body makes things more difficult for her. Lady Winter does however give Trigg her blessing to marry Emelda Inlow and take up residence in the Old Thaddath Farm, provided he pays his taxes and swears oath to serve in the muster at need.
Afterwards in the common room of the Golden Unicorn, the party talks to Trigg: they’re willing to help him pay for the farm and the wedding (even Sassaran, who still intends to leave Eveningstar with Taravol the NPC elf). They cough up 500 gp each, plus 500 gp from the party’s “common fund”, and the Inlows begin wedding planning.
Ivy Almyr
Ivy spends most of the week in a black mood, recovering from her wounds. Having lost two parties, she resolves not to burden anyone else with her oath: she will drive the monsters from the caves on her own.
On the morning of the 10th Ivy leaves town on her own and returns to the temple to explore the last few rooms. I ran this section turn-by-turn rather than using my NPC adventurer procedure because I wanted to count each energy-draining blow from the wight. As it turned out the wight never landed a hit, so I didn’t need to do any XP adjustment.
She dispatches the cult’s torturer in the torture chamber after taking a wound, claiming 135 gp and a gold bracelet worth 700 gp. In the crypt she is able to fend off the wight’s deadly blade with her enchanted shield, and her rune-scored axe crashes through withered flesh and brittle bone. She emerges with a sword +2, a scroll of protection from undead, a raven-winged Helm of Alignment Change, and a jewel-encrusted silver dagger worth 800 gp.
I haven’t really been using alignment in this game, so I decided that the wight was the body of the old king of Eveningstar, from the days before the land was absorbed into The Realm. The sword (Blackstar) and helm were his, and a remnant of his cruel spirit lingers in the helm. The old king’s personality merges uneasily with Ivy’s – she still intends to hold to her oath to drive the monsters out of Eveningstar Gorge, but now intends to set herself up as queen of the old king’s realm. She becomes harsh and cold, and will begin hoarding treasure.
NPCs About Town
Elfarran Half-Elf completes the Scroll of Light that she was working on as a thank-you present for Sassaran saving her life. Taravol commissions a Potion of Healing from her, and Elfarran officially opens her magic item shop:
Elfarran’s Shop
Weekly Business – 2d6
5- : loses 2d6 gp
6-8: break even
9+: gain 2d6 gp
Spells Known: Light, Read Magic
Stock: none
Commissions:
Scroll: 250 gp, 1/week
Potion of Healing: 250 gp, 1/week
Elfarran spends 100 gp to make the item, invests 100 gp into expanding her stock, and makes 50 gp in profit. When she has 1,000 gp banked she plans to research another 1st level Magic-User spell to improve her inventory.
The Ringlad brothers and Flarkin the dwarf go hunting in the Briarwood. They meet a strange hermit, who tries to murder them along with his giant cat. They return to town with a meager haul of coins and the hermit’s dagger +1.
The cleric Pious Oddle and the dwarf Nogi of Firedeep arrive in Eveningstar, looking for adventure.
