Vance and the Order

== Investigation of Ysgol Wood ==
Just before the party headed out with Thangus Tribulan to explore Bandraht Manor, there was a request by the Marshall of Baron Danthor of Banor to help out with an investigation of the camp of the Order of the Silent Fist that lay to the west of the hamlet of Vertalen, deep in the Ysgol Wood along the old road to the Kingdom of the Ffydd Dwarves. The time wasn't pressing, so the party decided to act on the plan after they returned from Bandraht Manor.
With the loot acquired, Freya wanted to find a better armorsmith than what could be found in Banor, so she decided to take some of the loot and head to Fathe Nun to have armor constructed for her. Meanwhile, the others helped Aterian for a few days, while he hunted for ingredients for potions. The hunt was successful, but next on the docket was to start the investigation of this camp of the Order of the Silent Fist, as they had promised to the Marshal and Beryl, of the Beasts of the March, who was stationed at the Temple of Sapayo in Banor.
The plan became that the party would venture and investigate the camp a bit prior to Freya's return. When Freya finally did return, she would contact Vance so that Vance would begin his quest as being part of the Order with Freya tracking that group. In the meantime, the remainder of the group was going to go forward and check out what they were dealing with.
=== Vertalen ===
First off, the party was to encounter Lord Brix, the hereditary yet active ruler of the small hamlet of Vertalen, the first and last hamlet along the road to the camp of the Order of the Silent Fist. It is relatively well-known that Lord Brix is not a fan of the Order of the Silent Fist. Outside the town boundaries, there are clear signs indicating that the Order is not welcome. Granted, the town boundaries of Vertalen are quite small, and to be honest, there are some accommodations in terms of camping spots outside of town that the Order can use, but nonetheless, it is best not to venture too closely to the hamlet, nor Lord Brix, should you declare yourself part of the Order.
The party did meet with Lord Brix on their visit, and it was reinforced that there has been and is a problem with bugbears in the vicinity. The bugbears have not ventured within the hamlet environs, but there has been a merchant or two that has the unfortunate experience of encountering these foul creatures. To assist with the effort of making the area safe (and to gain potential brownie points with the hamlet liege), the group decided to respond to some information from one of Lord Brix' scouts who indicated that they had seen tracks running to the north about a day east of Vertalen.
The party headed out and even without Freya's keen eye, they were able to follow Lord Brix' scout's description of what to look for, and the tracks were manifest. The party continued to follow these tracks north along the east edge of the Ysgol Wood for a bit longer than a day, and eventually they encountered a group of bugbear. The bugbear were no match for the party, but they were able to keep one alive and charmed, given the arcane abilities of Wubba. 
The party learned that the main encampment of bugbear was several days west of Vertalen, and in no way endangering the area. Rather, there was a group of bugbear that splintered off under the leadership of some bugbear named Borgrak, who felt that the Ysgol Wood was not going to be safe for their kind any longer. Borgrak wanted 'away' and sought lands north and eat of the wood, only venturing on the roads for provisions and the occasional snack. It was clear from the captive, charmed bugbear's story that something broken existed in the east part of Ysgol Wood and that it would be best to find some place new rather than stay with the horde.
The party let the charmed bugbear go and returned to Vertalen and Lord Brix. They spoke of their triumph over several bugbear and inquired further on the presence of the Order. It seems that although the bugbear had raided some merchants on the local roads, the Order had no interaction with the bugbear. Furthermore, when hunters from Vertalen ventured through Order camp space, they had no problem there either. Yet, it was never a moment where the hunters needed to directly worry for their safety....although they may not be completely comfortable there either.
=== Camp and Environs ===
Next up, the party wished to investigate the camp of the Order of the Silent Fist prior to Freya's arrival. The plan was still to have Freya contact Vance to start out from Banor and follow him, and then hopefully the group would meet up with both somewhere around the encampment.
With that in mind, the party set out west towards the encampment. It was a couple days away, but along the old road to the north, which although unkept, was not completely without form. The following day, they did run into a small group of the Order, four individuals to be exact, who were on their way to join the camp. There was one Adept monk guiding 3 novices to the location, but they seemed friendly enough in their way, and willing to share the trip to the camp. Wimble, a novice, who was the 'are we there yet?' type, was quite willing to talk to the party, as was the Adept, known as Daldomar. It seemed that the novices were all from various places...Sadav, Taitronen, Katorba, but were rather undervalued in their youth and were looking for something more, something that the Order was willing to give them.
The party continued with the group until just about a few hundred yards from the opening of the encampment. At that point, the party traveled about a distance around the camp's perimeter to see what they could in terms of activity, mostly focused on guard and scout duties that the camp put forward. There were definitely scouts around the perimeter, which were mostly monks, but there was at least one armored monk/cleric who was on duty as well. When the party did the same check at night, they only saw a few unarmed Adepts watching the perimeter.
The camp was in such a place where the road from Vertalen (well-used) entered from the east, and another road exited to the north, which eventually lead into the mountains (not-well-used). These were old roads, with old stones in their center, not some ramshackle mud road. It had been hundreds of years since the north road was used, but the stones still remained, albeit in poor order. The party also found that there was a strange minimal trail with wagon ruts leading of the north side heading westerly. This perplexing space in the woods with cart ruts seemed perplexing to the party...and perhaps worthy of investigation.
The following day, the party decided to set out along this weird trail to see where it went. It traveled west and then southwest towards the River and perhaps the main bugbear encampment, yet neither was discovered. At the end of the second day of travel, the group decided to head back because they wished to reunite with Freya and Vance near the Camp as time was of the essence. They were alerted about a large pack of wolves on their return, but then they also heard footsteps of some sort of humanoids.
It was uncertain what they should do, but they investigated this strange band of humanoids off in the wood. Zak and Aterian stealthily approaching from the rear, Wubba (using his new cantrip to obscure himself) stealthily moving forward, with Brocktharian openly, abashedly willing to greet the group of some 12 wandering souls in the wood.
A man named Djenn, greeted Brocktharian and spoke of their travels together. Although Djenn had not directly seen bugbear parties, they were quite aware of their existence, and given conversation, Brocktharian was quite aware of Djenn's predlication for potential acquisition. There would be no fight this day as the packs of the group seemed sated and unknown travelers in the wood are always a question, but the party and Djenn's group left on speaking and friendly terms and continued on their desirous ways.
The party returned to the camp of the Order and this time they ventured through. They met up with Wimble again, and he directed them to the leaders of the camp (armored), Galloon and Sylandra. Wubba had used Cooper III to personally scout 2 wagons that were found near tents in the camp, but at the second camp, Cooper was shot dead by an arrow, which was strange since no bow weapons were seen in the camp at all.
In any event, after light and harmless words with Galloon, the party bid farewell and took up a position just east of the camp, waiting for Freya and Vance's arrival within a day or two.
=== Vance and Freya Arrive ===
Vance arrived pretty much on time with what they had originally envisioned, with Freya following close behind. The party met with Vance in the Camp, as the Order seemed still open to their presence. Vance seemed completely fine and agreed to meet with the party at select times through day and night.
Later on in the day, when they met with Vance, the party found Vance to be a bit out of it. He now had the symbol of Uthargot present on his face, but his whole demeanor seemed to have been changed. He was a bit dazed and incoherent, but still able to relay random bits of information. He told the party that the leaders, Galloon and Sylandra had been talking to someone on a plate in their tent. He also conveyed that Sylandra had the ability to bring up a 3d image of the camp and see who was walking about whenever she wanted. He also conveyed that a friend of his from Banor, Jeebe, had been seen but wasn't talking much. In fact, members of the Order had taken her in one of the wagons on the western road.
The party immediately set out after the wagon. This was probably another instance of abduction by the Order and who knows what would happen to the poor woman. The party set out and followed their tracks down the trail. At one point, the tracks were lost, but Freya and Aterian were able to find that the tracks continued off into the woods, with someone having attempted to cover up their departure from the trail. The group continued to follow the cart, and finally they came to an old ruined keep, lost in the deep Ysgol Wood.
=== The Tilt and the Visage ===
The party approached the ruins carefully, well, mostly carefully. Freya, Aterian and Zak head around the perimeter of the ruins, where they found the cart emptied. They also found some bed rolls and evidence of some people camping amidst the ruins. At the same time, Brocktharian and Wubba took more of a direct approach, heading straight into the ruins to see what they could find. Upon entering, Brocktharian espied members of the Order in an old tower of the keep, performing some sort of ritual there. Brocktharian ducked in, but his armor may have given his presence away. The next time Brocktharian popped out, one of the priests of the Order shot out chains made of shadows at the poor paladin, and restrained him to the ground while the Order continued their ritual...
Orthan: “The new world is coming. A world where we no longer beseech the tools of the weaker gods.”
Others: "We see the new world becoming"
Orthan: “Our Order, our Silent Fist rises from God Planes to transform our world, to relinquish all creatures from the empty promises of the absent gods.”
Others: "We see the old gods passing"
Orthan: “Now we hear the hunger rising from the power of Uthargot, cast off from Girkahd, the new hope of the Unraveler as he uses The Dreamer to bring us the worlds we deserve”
Others: "We see the new world becoming"
Orthan: “When we listen to the hunger, we respond with our own gifts to sate the imbalance, to bring forth the Tilt, to ensure the Visage.”
Others" "The new world is upon us"
(at this point the Order throws 2 of the novices into a black pool between them, causing their bodies to dissolve into a upwards flowing fountain of black)
Orthan: "The hunger is sated. We await the Tile to transform and bring forth the Visage."
At that point, the Tilt became manifest. The world's gravity shifted to be focused on the tower in the keep, sending many of the party members falling towards the base of the tower. The Tilt continued to be sustained for about a minute, with gravity being different between the inside and outside of the tower.
The party fought the Order monks and priests as best they could. Jeebe was changing back and forth between herself and a Visage of Uthargot, the same kind of beast that the group had faced in Canthur. Fortunately, because of the changing state, the party was able to kill the Visage while in its form, and save Jeebe from being completely transformed into that horrible fateful creature.
These members of the Order were annoying and difficult to beat, but the party was able to overcome them. The monks of the Order were able to silence regions, move invisibly, and attack repeatedly with their hands. The priests of the Order had all sorts of shadow and deforming spells, siphoning health and restraining their foes, using the powers of whatever horrible source they could muster. All of these minions of the Order would be vanquished, however, and the party would track down the last fleeing monks so they could not warn the Camp. There was one member of the Order that the party encountered but was unable to track down. For a brief moment, some entity cast a large, spectral disc through the party, causing some grievous damage. But that entity left no trace and was gone.
=== Aftermath ===
After the Ruins ritual was stopped from completely taking hold of poor Jeebe, the party (and Jeebe) returned to the Camp to rescue Vance. Vance was still in a daze, but they were able to extricate him and return to Vertalen and Banor. In the halls of Baron Danthar, the party told his Lordship the story of the Ruins and the nefariousness of these members of the Order. Although the party never had a problem in the Camp, their story telling was convincing enough for Baron Danthar to outlaw the Order in his demesne (much to pleasure of Vertalen's Lord Brix). The party was now in good graces with the Baron, and the Baron sought to engage the party further in investigating the Order and the threat to the realm. The party had found a map, among books and coin, at the Ruins which indicated an Abbey in the foothills of the Ffydd Mountains which the Order had clearly pointed out. This would be a good place to continue the investigation.
In the meantime, the Summit on the Mote would be held in Banor. The Summit was a gathering of nobles and interested personages from the nations and free cities surrounding the Mote. Lords from Angleside, Aden Shahn, Bavarin and Teldor would all be attending. The Baron also asked the party to attend and contribute their stories for more information spread between the nations would certainly facilitate the end to this potentially existential threat to their lands and people.
== Links ==
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