Light of Illumis: Episode 02

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== Synopsis ==
The clerics travel northwards towards Confluence. At a bridge on the way they encounter a group of undead. The party out manoeuvre them, and end up Turning the undead southward, the direction the party came from. The party get into town and make arrangements to head north to Tharnham with a group of dwarven merchants. Hopefully from there they can get to Heatstroke safely. Minnie arrives in town and the party are suspicious of her, despite her claiming it is a coincidence.
==Recap==
===Ghosting Minnie===
The four clerics debate how they could decline Minnie's offer to use the stone in exchange for aid. Sister Hellen wants to just openly decline her offer to her face, but the others convince her to leave in the light to avoid a direct confrontation with Minnie. Cornelius is worried about the bears in the woods. 
Bertholdt speaks with some nearby guards to try to get them to delay Minnie and her group of mercenaries, backed by the other three clerics. Bertholdt explains the situation forthrightly, leaving the Guard Officer incredulous about the group having an artefact that can stop the undead like this. Bertholdt asks the guards to delay Minnie and her group for a whole week. The Guard Officer asks for proof to Bertholdt's claims. Bertholdt proves he is a cleric by casting the spell . Sister Hellen shows the expensive container holding the Philosophers' Stone, lined with lead and silver. The Guard Officer says he will try his best, but is uncertain if he will be able to fully stop them. Kerberos asks the guard to lie to Hellen and her people. The Guard Officer says he will do so, but he can't guarantee the others here will say the same lie. Kerberos gives the bribe of 1 gold 12 silver (1 silver per guard). 
In the dark the party cross Tam River's canyon and head off northward. The dwarven town of Tharnham is three days away, but the human town of Confluence is a day's travel away. 
===Ritual Ideas===
Sister Hellen new idea is to perform the ritual at High Noon on the Summer Solstice (July 1 by the Arcadian Calendar), where the Sun is most powerful. It is a month-and-a-half away. Bertholdt's spell would let them know when it was exactly noon.
Bertholdt has an idea of casting at the sun while holding the Philosophers' Stone. Kerberos suggests using mirrors and lens with this idea, so they are not directly casting the spell at the stone. 
Cornelius can cast during the rituatal since flowing water kills undead. Kerberos needs a spell to cast during the ritual, and thinks casting on a high level undead.
Sister Hellen thinks he will cast or during the ritual.
The goal of the Ritual is to have the the light of Sun (Illumis) to kill destroy all undead, not just vampires. 
===Family of Death===
The party travel throughout the night. At dawn Sister Hellen does a painful ceremony to welcome the rise of the sun. 
Some hours after dawn the party arrive at a the forest a few miles outside of Confluence in the forest. The party is slowed down in their travels by Kerberos and his (Barney) being exhausted.
As they travel in the woods they discover a family that has been slain by weapons (sword & arrows). The tired Kerberos rushes over to the bodies and offers prays to Felumbra for their souls. The bodies haven't been looted, so they were murdered by bandits. Sister Hellen suggests the undead killed these people. Kerberos attempts to question a , using if the undead are nearby. The various crows don't understand the concept of undead so isn't very helpful. But those who killed the family traveled up the road.
Cornelius loots the corpses while the rest of the party debate is they have time to bury the bodies, with Kerberos strongly advocating for burial. The only thing of note Cornelius finds is a small music box. Finds 5 gold, 60 silver, and some jewellery also.
===Zombie Bridge===
The party take the Confluence fork in the road and find themselves at a bridge. On the bridge are a group of 5 , and a lone animated . Beyond the bridge on the ground are regular skeletons. The zombies look damaged from a battle.
:Combat: Party vs Bridge Undead
Cornelius takes point to bottleneck the undead at the bridge. However before he can get into position, 4 skeletons on the ground get up. 2 fire bows across the river at Sister Helen and Kerberos. Two skeleton with an melee weapons charge and engage with Cornelius.
Sister Hellen casts , turning six undead away. Bertholdt also casts , affecting the 5 zombies on the bridge. The skeleton on the bridge is a "Blood Knight" skeleton, so isn't affected by the power of this turning.
Several skeletons flee as they get up due to the various turn undead. Cornelius walks up to the bridge and also casts , and affects the Blood Knight Skeleton.
All the undead are now fleeing from the party.
The party realise that the undead are fleeing northward towards nearby Confluence. The party give chase, except the tired Kerberos. The skeletons are too fast to catch, but the zombies are slow enough to catch.
Kerberos waits as bait at the river as the other clerics use their to heard the zombies back south. When the zombies get near Kerberos, Kerberos leaps out of the way, and the zombies are pushed southward. Sister Hellen realises the zombies are now going in the direction of the dead family, who may get eaten now.
Confluence is 2 miles away. The party slowly walk to town with the exhausted Kerberos.
===Arrival Confluence===
The party arrive to find the undead skeletons that made it there were defeated by the town guard and are being thrown into fire pits. Confluence has built a improvised town wall in the past few years. The town guard rush the party inside the walls to safety. The guards tell the party that the undead had been gone for a while, but returned yesterday.
The tired Kerberos and his donkey, Barney, head to the Range-A-Day Tavern to rest. Cornelius asks about a music shop, and is directed to a Bard performing at the Range-A-Day tavern. Sister Hellen and Bertholdt head to the largest temple in town.
The largest temple in town looks like it had been burnt down or otherwise damaged, and is in the process of being rebuilt. At the temple is a wagon delivering glass by dwarves. The lead dwarf has her hair in a complex triangle shape. Sister Hellen complements the hair, but the dwarf takes it as flirting and rebuffs Hellen.
Sister Hellen and Bertholdt then speak with the abbot of the temple, Father Kel. Hellen explains her holy quest to go to Heatstroke to Father Kel. Father Kel finds this quest folly and will be the death of the party. Father Kel mentions the dragon Sky. Hellen feels a kinship with the sunbaking dragon.
:Helping a fellow cleric purges your soul of sin
Father Kel has no horses to give the party, but suggests they talk with the Dwarf with the triangle hair, who came from Tharnham with a wagon. They may be able to get a ride with them. She tells the party she will be leaving in a few days.
The neighbourhood friendly Malkis Cleric, Cornelius, is in the tavern with the music box he pilfered from the dead family. The bard, Lottie-P is performing a set on the stage. After the bard finishes a set and goes to the bar, he notices the music box and introduces himself to Cornelius. Cornelius and Lottie-P talk about the music box. The two haggle over the prince, ending up a 50 gold.
===Enthralling Cornelius===
Next Cornelius heads to the town square and casts and gives a speech about Malkis and his quest. He doesn't reveal particulars of the quest, but talks about it general. He is trying to get assistance from the townsfolk.
Before Sister Hellen and Bertholdt arrive at the town square, they are talking about how Cornelius is useful, but not necessarily ethical or trustworthy. But when they enter the town square they are also . Cornelius invites the 2 up on the platform and introduces them also to the crown of around 50 people.
After the hour is up, Cornelius's speech ends, and those who were affected by the spell talk with one-another about the speech. Cornelius uses his shield to collect donations. He gets 12 gold, 43 silver, 115 copper in donations. He also manages to recruit 3 teenaged orphans (2 boys, 1 gird) to the cause, to avenge their parents. Bertholdt considers the teenagers and finds them not so useful. Cornelius explains they will be leaving in a few days, giving the youths time to reconsider or get ready.
The innkeeper was one of those , so gives the party a free-stay in the tavern.
Before sleeping, Bertholdt casts on Sister Hellen. Sister Hellen uses on the box holding the Philosophers' Stone so he can do it in the future if they are separated.
As a test, Bertholdt goes to the very edge of town half a mile away and casts and is able to see the aura from the Philosophers' Stone. Philosophers' Stone emanates all the schools of magic.
===Second Day in Confluence===
The party of clerics wake the next day. Kerberos is told about the dwarven glass merchant. He goes to meet her at the Forrester Inn. He sits at the table with the various dwarves. He talks with the dwarves and they said they will be returning to Tharnham soon, and hired some mercenaries to safely travel the roads.
The dwarves agree to let the party travel with them, as they are honorbound to help a fellow dwarf fulfil a life's goal, within their powers. Kerberos also needs help to get his human friends passage though the secrete dwarven tunnels that connect the dwarven towns together. There is a new cleric of Sayor in Tharnham after the disappearance of Zweihard Blacksteel at Heatstroke. They also mention the secret discovery of mithril.
Kerberos overhears that a wizard just arrived in town from the south. Kerberos asks a guard and finds out she matches Minnie's description. She was injured by the undead and only arrived with one mercenary (also wounded), and a bunch of horses with no riders. They were attacked by undead on the road.
Kerberos checks both taverns and Minnie isn't at either. Kerberos returns to the party and tells them what he learned. Sister Hellen uses on Minnie's unique ring and finds her location. She is in the estate of a noble in the north-side of town, 345 Forest Avenue. Bertholdt is given point to talk with the people inside.
As the party approach the door way, a father and daughter of the estate rush out the front door, welcoming the party inside. The party meet the owner of the estate inside, Lord Roy. After Bertholdt is corrected about this being an estate, he asks about Minnie. Lord Roy says that Minnie is here, upstairs, where she and her bodyguard are recuperating. Lord Roy was a student under Arc Aldric like Minnie, but wasn't nearly as adept as Minnie was with magic.
The party enter the room and see Minnie and the bodyguard (Bruce) injured inside. Minnie is down to 1 of 19 hp. Minnie claims to Bertholdt it is a coincidence she came to Confluence. She came to see Lord Roy after the party ditched her, to seek help regarding her magic wand. Cornelius & Hellen are highly sceptical of this story. Hellen tells Minnie that everything is fine as long as she doesn't follow them. 
Kerberos as a show of good will, casts on Minnie for 5 hp. Bertholdt then casts . Cornelius & Hellen are bewildered by the trust and healing.
Category:Light of Illumis Episodes
Category:Light of Illumis