Age of the Dragon: Chapter 2

### Vardmensfal Wilderness

Having just escaped the mines of Voralsdum, the party decided to head back towards Vendermunde. The party encountered no problems along the road apart from the fact that the rain would not subside, on the third day of their journey, the party reached the town.

### Vendermunde

As they made their way through the outer slums, they noticed that a crowd had gathered around one of the buildings. Having established a perimeter around the building, a few of the guards were busy carrying bodies out of it, in what seemed to have been a mass suicide of cultists, although, the guard captain, Willard was unconvinced.

On the path up towards the keep, they observed an argument between coroner Trent and a few guardsmen. After questioning the former, they learnt that the guards had taken the previous bodies up to the keep, an act that he found to be disrespectful for the fallen guardsmen. On edge now, the party decided to wrap up their business with the chamberlain, noticing on the way that the keep was devoid of all guardsmen. Meeting Sebastian, they concluded their previous agreement, however upon mentioning the lack of guards within the keep, the chamberlain was surprised and immediately feared the worst.

He drafted a quick contract, revealing to the party that he had previously contacted Count Helmut Weindorf, who had taken an interest in the party and sought to hire them. With the count’s blessing the party was told to investigate Lord Sigmund and find out what was happening. Making their way to the lord’s chambers, the party looked through his belongings, finding various journal entries that spoke of what he was doing, and how he was attempting to summon a demon in order to find the whereabouts of his wife. His journal also mentioned how the lord feared the party, believing that they had been hired by Sebastian to usurp him. Whilst searching, they also found a hidden path that led deeper into the keep. Making their way along the path, they heard a chant echo throughout the halls, a chant that was in a foul language, one that they did not recognize. Heading deeper, they found the lord in the middle of the ritual, as they saw Brandt chanting whilst the demon began to take shape. Seeing this, Okeanos rushed in, ready to interrupt the ritual, as soon as he entered the room however, he was stopped by some invisible force and frozen still, unable to take his eyes off of the forming demon. Reyna rushed in shortly after, and similarly found herself entranced by the creature. The rest of the party rushed in, just as the creature finally managed to take shape.

A battle ensued between the party and the lord’s guards, all of whom had fallen to demonic possession. In the midst of the battle, Tommy tossed an explosive into the circle that contained the demon, hoping to disrupt the ritual only to unwittingly release it. Seeing this, the court wizard, Brandt retreated to the back of the chamber, disappearing through a back door. Now unleashed, the demon began its onslaught, directing most of its attacks towards Reyna as it eluded some form of familiarity towards her. Meanwhile, the rest of the party continued to fight the guards and the lesser demons that began to form. Managing to release Sigmund from the possession they managed to turn the tide, and with its back against the wall, the demon teleported out of the hall. Trying to find out where the demon was, the party heard a scream coming from the path that the wizard had taken. Lord Sigmund and the surviving guardsmen, remained behind whilst the party rushed down the path after the wizard, finding him limping along the path, clearly injured. He pointed the party in the direction that the demon had taken, and although they had their suspicions, they believed him. That being said, Reyna who wanted to claim his spellbook for her own stabbed the injured wizard, killing him and in the process falling into the demon’s trap. Once more assailed by its presence, Reyna was hit with a surge of pain and knocked unconscious, as the rest of the party saw the demon pluck a light from her body before finally disappearing. Chulz tried to wake her up but failed to do so and decided to carry her back whilst the rest made their way back to the lord.

Reaching the ritual chamber, they found that the lord was no longer there, as they rushed back to his chambers, they found him standing there, frozen in fear. Standing at the door was his cousin, the count himself, when questioned about his apparent heresy and demonic dealings, Sigmund attempted to blame the party, however, Tommy produced the lord’s journal, providing all the proof that the count needed. Learning of Sigmund’s treachery, the count wasted no time and immediately beheaded him. He then turned to leave but not before inviting the party to meet him in order to discuss further business. At the moment however, the party was preoccupied with other issues, as they set down the still unconscious Reyna. Investigating, Sigmund’s body, Rojer found a mark on his hand, and upon checking Reyna, they found a similar one on the back of her head. Panicking, Rojer used his psionic abilities to delve into her mind, trying to discern something from her thoughts, here he learnt the disturbing truth, she had lost her soul and had only a year to find five artefacts and release the demon before her body would decay and she would die. Now, in even more of a panic, Rojer told the rest of the party what he had discovered, to much of their horror, as they began discussing what they were going to do. Deciding to let things play out for now they left to meet the count. Whilst all this was happening, Reyna had been visited by the demon, who explained that she was his progeny and that he had high hopes for her. He informed her that he had taken her soul and would be willing to return it to her, so long as she collected five artefacts scattered around the world and used them to release him from his prison. Whilst Reyna agreed to nothing, she was made painfully aware of the fact that the clock was ticking. She regained consciousness just as the rest of the party were making their way to meet the count and joined them along their way.

Meeting the count, he began by immediately discussing their next contract, informing them that they would be required to infiltrate the mages’ rebellion in the ancient ducal city of Parascent and deal with the leaders in any way they deem fit. In return, the party would be greatly rewarded with each member being offered their own reward. The party accepted and were immediately dismissed by the count.

The party still shaken from their previous encounter with the demon, spent the rest of their day preparing for their journey to Aquille, in their own way. Thomas approached the count with some further questions regarding the whereabouts of his family and Helmut confided in him that his agents had discovered that his family was being kept in a safehouse, but he could not discern its location. In addition to that, he also revealed that he believed that Thomas had been framed, hinting that he believed that it was linked to a new smuggling ring that had established itself in The Midden, the organisation having ties with Zenria.

In the meantime, the rest of the party went to spend their newfound wealth, buying supplies and materials for the journey, with all of them eventually meeting up at the blacksmith. Okeanos took the initiative to set up a surprise for his new captain, making his way to the brothel and setting up a “feast” for Rojer. Meanwhile Chulz, headed off into the nearby countryside in order to hunt, successfully bringing down a massive elk although nearly succumbing to his bestial urges. Back in the town, Thomas got to work at the smithy working to craft some new gear for the party as well as repair some of their more damaged equipment, this endeavour taking up his entire night. Rojer meanwhile made his way to the brothel where he was met with Okeanos’ surprise, happily indulging in a night of excess that served as a fitting punctuation mark for the party’s mission in Vendermunde.

### Vardmensfal Wilderness

The following day, the party began their journey east, their newly purchased mounts easing their travel. Their first day passed by uneventfully, however on the second day, they caught sight of a small army along the road heading towards Vendermunde, hoping not to instigate a fight they lingered to the side, all the while being carefully watched by outriders. Eventually, with the army having passed they continued along the path arriving at the rather unassuming village of Alsparch early in the evening.

The majority of the party took refuge in the village, whilst Chulz, still being haunted by nightmares and fully aware of the looming transformation, decided to head off alone so as not to endanger anyone. Whilst alone in the wilderness, Chulz was approached by the familiar figure of Artemis who once more presented him with an offer to help. Having given it much thought, Chulz accepted Artemis’ offer, choosing to reacquire the artefact in exchange for information on the location of those who can teach him to control his transformation. Artemis explained that deep within Aquille there was a temple dedicated to the undying king where an old acolyte of his had taken refuge. The acolyte was the traitorous lich, Tytos, throughout the centuries many adventurers had attempted to slay the lich and claim his hoard, however, all had failed. One such adventurer had been wielding a Dragonslayer longsword that Artemis desired. Chulz had only to retrieve the sword, free to do it as he wished, for now Artemis granted some temporary control over his transformation. Returning to the party the following day, and the party continued eastwards eventually reaching a crossroads with a small stone menhir, inscribed on it was a symbol depicting a floral wreathe wrapped around a chalice and beneath it a phrase in ducal speech that signified the party’s arrival in the Midlands. Rojer noted that the menhir was an actual landmark on his map, with his own destination falling somewhere in the heart of the midlands.

Continuing onwards, the party eventually set up camp, with Reyna finally opening up about what had transpired with the demon, describing her plan to find some way to beat it, to the approval of the rest of the party. The following morning, they were surprised to find the surrounding trees filled with a murder of crows, seemingly observing them before taking off, their cawing echoing as they flew off to the northwest. This encounter understandably left most of the party perturbed, the naturally superstitious Rojer most of all. Fortunately, the day passed by uneventfully with the party reaching the surprisingly fortified village of Ardem early in the evening.

### Ardem

The party was welcomed although they were initially met with a degree of suspicion as the ealdorman explained that there had been beastmen sightings in the woods. The party, already on edge, decided to keep their guards up as they were provided with some lodgings. As the night approached, the party kept a vigilant watch with Okeanos patrolling the palisade, at first all seemed calm. However, as Chulz attempted to get some rest, he found himself unable to; instead succumbing to immense pain and agitation. All of a sudden, he saw his scales begin to fall off, replaced by tufts of dark brown fur as his claws and fangs grew far longer and far sharper. Chulz was overcome by panic as he understood exactly what was happening, noting that it was still too early.

As the realisation continued to sink in, horns blared from the surrounding woodland accompanied by panicked guardsmen heading towards the gate. The party watched in shock as a nearby storehouse suddenly erupted in flames as more horns echoed outside the village. Meanwhile, now fully transformed into a weretiger, Chulz caught sight of two humanoid creatures skulking through the shadows and temporarily overcome by the beast, Chulz leapt out of his window with a roar, landing in front of the creatures. He recognized them to be gnolls and as the situation unfolded around the party, a terrifying roar echoed from amidst the trees.

A battle ensued where Okeanos rallied the guardsmen by the gate, helping them set up a defensive line. Under his leadership, they held the line, pushing back the massive minotaur that crashed through the gate. Meanwhile, the rest of the party moved up to support the other guardsmen as gnolls burst through other breaches in the wall, all the while watching as fire began to spread from the blazing storehouse. The party managed to push them back, the battle shifting in their favour, until suddenly more beastmen broke through the back of the village, butchering the guards. Seeing the gate secure, they rallied the remaining guards in a desperate defence. With their combined efforts, they successfully routed the beastmen, that tossed torches into many of the buildings as they retreated into the wilderness. As the sounds of battle receded, Chulz began to feel the overwhelming presence of his inner beast surge as it attempted to satisfy its bloodlust, he managed to maintain control for a moment, choosing to rush off into the wilderness.

In the meantime, Okeanos and most of the guards, got to work trying to put out the fires. As this was going on, Rojer noticed that some of the guardsmen were having trouble opening the door to the main hall, fearing that the fire would spread to it, he broke in through a window, rushing in, only to find the scenes of a massacre. With most of the bodies having been horribly mutilated whilst some had been left surprisingly pristine albeit very pale. Opening the door, the rest of the party were equally disgusted and horrified by the scene on display before them. Investigating the room, they discerned that a dark ritual had been conducted within the room, as there was a clear concentration of blood magic, with the children having been exsanguinated. Looking through the beastmen bodies, Rojer noticed that all of them possessed the same claw mark that Reyna had, but they also possessed a tattoo depicting a coiled serpent eating its own tail.

On edge and exhausted the party retired to the stables where they took their long rest, all the while noting that they were being watched by crows. It is doubtful that any of them truly had any restful sleep, the scene within the hall weighing heavily in all their minds, on Tommy’s most of all, as the goblin found himself unable to sleep constantly twisting and turning in his bed worrying for his own family. The following morning, Chulz awoke in the middle of a small grove, realising that for the first time since he had been afflicted with his curse, he could clearly remember most of what had happened. He realised that in reality, the beast inside him had not completely receded as he seemed to have gained some small control over it, although he still felt its hunger, slight but still noticeable. He made his way back to the village, noting along the way that a crow seemed to be following him, as the party reunited and began planning their next move. Okeanos attempted to convince the guards to join the party but to no avail, as they required time to conduct their rites, time that the party could not spare. And so, the party left the village in a sombre mood, the journey eastwards was mostly quiet, with the party occasionally seeing burnt cottages or farmsteads, probable victims of the beastmen raids.

### Lauronne Countryside

Early in the afternoon they came across a ruined camp along the road, noting the signs of recent battle. Crawling out of it, half dead was a gnoll, seeking some form of catharsis, Thomas climbed off of his horse and finished it off whilst Okeanos and Reyna investigated the camp. There they found some coin, a longbow and arrows, as well as a sealed imperial letter. Reading the letter, they learned that a group of rangers had been observing the beastmen, noting that they had been massing in the forest, worried that they would soon overwhelm the region if left unchecked. The rangers had set up a base within the Three Points Inn, hoping that the message would reach the lord so that his forces might immediately return to Lauronne.

After this encounter, the party continued on with their journey, eventually searching for a place to camp early in the evening, encountering a camp with three ogres and a familiar troll. The ogres seemed to be a bit more sophisticated than normal ogres, proving to be rather amicable. The group spent an evening by the campfire, some sampling the ogres’ food and finding it to be surprisingly delicious. And so after a far less sombre evening the party decided to turn in for the night, setting up watches alongside the ogres. The night passed by quietly, the party noticing that the crows were no longer hounding them. However, during her watch Reyna was assaulted by a vision as she seemed to lose consciousness. She found herself hovering above a massive camp in the middle of a forest, around her were various other shadows gazing down below. Looking down beneath her, she saw a large arena in the centre of which was a bubbling cauldron. Standing before the cauldron was an elderly hag who began to conduct a dark ritual as a crowd of beastmen watched from the stands. Reyna watched as the hag summoned a familiar aspect of the demon which then granted the warherd a variety of boons so that they might bring about what she called, the promised end.

Coming to, she discussed what had been revealed realizing that the symbol along her neck had now been changed to that same symbol of a serpent. Hurriedly making their way through the countryside, the party reached a river crossing where a group of beastmen had set up camp. A brief battle ensued, where the party managed to deal with the beastmen, however at the cost of most of their horses. With more beastmen bands closing in, the party rushed ahead, constantly debating as to whether they should stand and fight. The beastmen still in hot pursuit, the party was suddenly ambushed by a duo of feral manticores that began their assault by picking off the party’s remaining horses. Another battle ensued with the party just barely managing to scrape through, constantly aware of the approaching beastmen bands.

Battered, bloodied, and exhausted, the party continued along the path and eventually they saw a fortified tavern atop a hill, looking forward to any form of reprieve. Recognizing this to be the Three Points Inn, the party was cautiously welcomed by a band of rangers, their leader, Byron seemed to take interest in the party, asking them about their experience with the beastmen, before finally asking for their help with the beastmen incursion. He explained that as far as he knew only two other positions still held, the Blackwater’s Crossing and the Schwarzberg. Left to discuss amongst themselves, the party came to the decision that they would help the rangers unite their remaining forces and join the defence of Altenberg. Planning out their next move, they settled in for an uninterrupted night of restful sleep.

They were awoken the next morning to the sound of a commotion outside, watching as the rangers took up defensive positions before welcoming a group of heavily injured individuals. Thomas immediately recognized them to be lawkeepers, led by an imperial justiciar. The sight of the lawkeepers worried Thomas, who immediately sent Chulz to keep the justiciar occupied whilst he searched for an alternate escape route. The rest of the party followed Chulz down only to catch Byron signalling that the Justiciar came here for Thomas. Noticing this Rojer immediately rushed back upstairs, warning Tommy of what was transpiring. Meanwhile Chulz, Reyna, and Okeanos, stayed behind to distract the justiciar who was growing increasingly suspicious and frustrated, before finally revealing that he was well aware that Thomas Threaten was here, calling him out. Seeing this Okeanos took up position at the foot of the stairs, weapons ready, proclaiming that the justiciar would not get Tommy so long as he was there. His patience wearing thin, the justiciar took out his two pistols and aimed them both at Okeanos.

Realizing what was about to happen, Tommy decided to confront the Justiciar, handling the situation extremely well and defending himself from the Justiciar’s accusations. With the justiciar temporarily cowed, the party took advantage of the brief reprieve provided and followed Byron and Arnaud into the tavern’s cellar in the hopes of using a hidden passage out of the tavern. In the cellar, the party found a passage that seemed to be heavily warded and learned that Arnaud was in fact some sort of mage, although Byron refused to give any further details on the matter. Temporarily dispelling the wards, Arnaud informed the party that they might find some help in the form of a fey spirit that dwelt within the Schwarzwald, they need only follow the lullaby to its grove. In addition, he also gave Reyna a tome that she later discovered detailed the ancient art of bladesong.

Following the path for what felt like hours the party eventually reached its end, finding themselves at the edge of the foothills the tavern now a speck behind them. Eyes ahead, they continued along their journey, passing by ruined hovels and other signs of destruction throughout. Along the road they noticed beastmen tracks heading to the northwest in the direction of the village of Vorden, alongside them were various humanoid footprints, dragging chains behind them. The party decided to follow this lead and see if they could save any prisoners, stopping at the crossroads overlooking the Miner’s Lodge they decided to rest for the night. Amidst their discussion they were approached by a familiar apparition, Vincent Krom. Using his divine sense, Okeanos recognized that this apparition was a fiend as Vincent made the party an offer. A simple offer, they were to leave the region and let things progress on their own, and in return they would be granted a wish. The party was understandably sceptical and rejected his offer, at which point he left their camp, leaving them to their thoughts.

They had little time to themselves however, as shortly into their first watch they were ambushed by a group of gnolls, a bloody battle ensued leaving most of them battered and beaten. Now, on full alert, they returned to their rest, although there was no restful sleep this night as they saw more beastmen patrols during their watches, the different bands travelling along the hills in the distance. However, no other attack came that night and the rest of their night passed by uneventfully. The following morning, still rattled by the previous night’s events, they began to cautiously make their way along the road to Vorden, sneaking by a beastman outpost and eventually coming to Vorden in the early evening.

The village was located on a hill, encircled by a moat and a wooden palisade. From what they could see there was only one bridge leading into the village that was arranged in a layered defence along the hill. Surveying the area, Reyna noticed what seemed to be a small path cut into the stone beneath the bridge, potentially an entrance. And so, the party began formulating a plan, in the middle of this, they noticed commotion coming from the bridge, noticing that a new gnoll warband had arrived. This warband was led by a silver-furred gnoll that Reyna recognized from her vision. Wasting no time, the party quickly snuck into the small crevice beneath the bridge and set up their diversion as they set fire to the wooden palisade and bridge, before heading inside.

Venturing into the crevice, they eventually realized that they were inside a well, and using a rope climbed out, finding themselves in a garden beside the longhouse at the top of the hill. The beastmen, preoccupied with the spreading flames, took no notice of the party and as they made their way towards the longhouse, Rojer tossed a few more torches into the stable, setting fire to the thatched roof. The party entered the longhous and explored the ground floor, with Reyna noting that there seemed to be more beastmen upstairs, and smartly choosing to block off the stairs. Meanwhile, the others descended into the cellar where they saw the silver-furred gnoll alongside a few others, standing before a group of prisoners. The party watched in horror as they dragged one of the prisoners before the silver gnoll, which raised its flail and in a flash of eldritch light induced a horrific transformation upon the prisoner, turning him into a gnoll. Perturbed by the sight, the party hesitated for a moment, before Okeanos finally decided to step in.

A bloody battle ensued where the party succeeded in killing the silver-furred gnolls and free the prisoners. With the gnolls in the cellar dealt with, the party led the prisoner upstairs where they saw that the other beastmen were busy trying to put out fires. Using a combination of an illusion, performance and telepathy, the party succeeded in convincing some of the gnolls to deal with a threat near the gate. Only a few remained behind, and as the party attempted to reach the well, they were once more beset by beastmen. In a panic they began to jump down the well with the beastmen close behind. Rojer suffered the brunt of their attacks but managed to escape down the well. Still not safe, the party led the prisoners out through the passage and out of the village disappearing into the treeline with the panicked cackling, and roars of beastmen still echoing behind them.

Eventually they stopped a few miles out, and with no sign of pursuit decided to set up camp for the night. As they began to do so however, Reyna was suddenly overcome by a need to take the silver-furred gnoll’s flail. She was stopped from taking it however by a message that echoed through her mind, urging her to come to the mystical forest of Atheluin. The party then offered the prisoners a chance to accompany them along their journey, an offer that they hesitantly accepted. Chulz and Okeanos took it upon themselves to train them whilst Tommy got to work crafting some spears. The rest of the evening passed by without incident, and the following morning the party set off for the Schwarzberg, following the road through the forest. Following along the path, they began to hear a melancholic melody, that drew most of the party into a trance, drawing them deeper into the forest. Only Okeanos and two of the rescued survivors managed to resist, deciding to play along and follow the rest of the party. Heading deep into the forest they came across various wicked trees with gnarled roots and decorated with horrifying effigies made from the corpses of beastmen wrapped in thorns and vines.

Following along, they came across a grove hidden amidst the trees. They place looked almost abandoned and dilapidated, a circular ruin its edges decorated with ruined humanoid effigies, warped and twisted trees with humanoid features that gazed at the grove’s centre where a massive tree stood, a pulsing rhythm resonating from its centre like the beating of a heart. As they all stood there entranced, a female figure wandered out of an alcove, initially surprised by the display but quickly moving to dispel the enchantment. She introduced herself as Maloren, arch druid and protector of the grove. She explained the grove’s history to the party and introduced her patron, the Blackthorn Grove. The party quickly deduced that they had a shared goal. Chulz, Okeanos and Reyna attempted to commune with the grove and successfully spoke to the being, a discussion was had, and a bargain was struck with the grove successfully extracting the parasite that grew inside Okeanos, in return Okeanos would ensure that he and the party would kill the hag and her minotaur champion. Following this, Okeanos spoke to the defenders of the Schwarzberg, contacting a cleric named Magnus who seemed to be leading the defence. He told him of what they were doing, and the cleric sounded relieved. Following this, the blackthorn grove promised to let them take Maloren with them on their mission, but they’d have to leave the rescued prisoners in the grove. They begrudgingly agreed and were led to a common room where they would be able to rest for the night. In the meantime, Chulz, Okeanos and Reyna followed Maloren into the depths of the grove where she led them into a library, here she explained more about the grove, but also mentioned the great deceiver, the lord of lies, and his influence which seemed to be interwoven with their fates.

The party had a decent a night’s rest at the grove and then set off towards the hag’s lair, travelling to the beastmen camp alongside the druid, Maloren. Using a few giant owls, they managed to circumvent most of the beastmen camp, landing just outside the entrance of the hag’s lair. Faced with a path filled with magical darkness the party began to make their way through all the while under constant assault by an invisible force within the darkness. Thankfully, Chulz used the Driftglobe to illuminate the path, granting them some solace from the shadows that continuously assaulted the border of the light.

The party trudged onwards eventually reaching the hag’s lair inside a grotto. A difficult battle ensued, however, the party managed to defeat the hag and her minotaur bodyguard. On her last legs, the hag dimension doored away but the party successfully followed her out onto an outcropping where they saw a mysterious female figure standing before the heavily injured hag. The figure finished off the hag before she could escape and then began rifling through her person. The figure introduced herself as Alena, and after being questioned further, revealed that she had looted a list of names from the hag’s corpse. Rojer managed to catch a quick glance of the list, noting the first three names on the list, which were Reyna, Vincent Krom and Kamilla Krom. Alena then flew off, leaving the party behind with the dead hag. Heading on back inside, they managed to recover a few magical trinkets and potions, before leaving the laid and flying towards the Schwarzberg. Here Chulz, Reyna, Rojer and Thomas spoke to Magnus and informed him of the refugees and their success killing the hag. Magnus thanked the party and offered to present them before the Lady Brack upon his arrival in Altenberg.

With this, the party continued on their way back to the grove where they reported their success and got to work preparing to journey toward the Blackwater’s Crossing. Okeanos wandered into the grove’s ruined interior accompanied by Maloren whilst Rojer offered one of the survivors, Katherine the opportunity to join his crew. Katherine revealed to him that she was a member of the imperial gunnery corps but had deserted and was worried that she would do so again. Rojer was still willing to welcome her regardless of this fact, and Katherine hesitantly accepted, choosing to accompany the party to Altenberg and then head off towards Freyen. Meanwhile, Chulz and Reyna began to help the other refugees prepare for their departure, most of whom wanted to stay in the grove, stating that life here would be far more rewarding than their previous one. The party reluctantly accepted their explanation and departed from the grove.

The journey south was a quiet one and the party successfully made it out of the forest by the end of their first day. The party set up camp in the countryside, and the night passed by uneventfully, the next morning however, Chulz realized that the greataxe that he’d taken from the minotaur had disappeared and after using locate object, realized that the axe was being taken north, at an extremely fast pace, leaving the entire party baffled. Deciding to leave it alone, they continued onwards, travelling towards the crossing, reaching it in the evening. Here they were welcomed, at gunpoint, by a group of halflings that seemed to have the run of the place, having fought off various beastmen assaults. The halflings were led by an elder named Bartholomew who offered to give the party passage down the river towards Altenberg in exchange for Thomas’ services. The party accepted and Okeanos expressed interest in buying some kegs of gunpowder, and Bartholomew seemed extremely enthusiastic at the idea, leading the party into the town proper, where they realized that there seemed to be some signs of destruction along the wooden palisade from previous beastmen attacks.

Along the way, Thomas noticed a subtle symbol etched into one of the buildings, denoting an association with the Rusty Nails. Bartholomew led him to a basic forge where he would be working throughout out the night, after which he took Okeanos and Chulz to one of his warehouses where they could barter, with Okeanos trying his best to haggle his way to favourable deal. In the meantime, Thomas got to work on repairing their firearms, noticing that a lot of these weapons were creations from his earlier years, all of them bearing his signature. Bartholomew shortly returned and finally recognized Thomas, treating with an almost air of reverence, offering the party the best rooms he had as well as various drinks. He then left the party to work alone, with Tommy deciding to work through the entire night. The rest of the party settled in for their long rest and Rojer dozed off beside him. Hours into his rest, as Rojer was sleeping soundly, he was startled by a presence reaching out to him, a telepathic link that seemed to form for but a moment, but in that single moment that presence violently lashed out, causing Rojer to feel a searing pain in his head, before quickly receding. The rest of the night passed by uneventfully, with Rojer on constant edge after what happened. The following morning they were taken south on a barge down the River Alten to the city of Altenberg, here they were told to meet up with Korvius at the Smiling Eel Tavern.

### Altenberg

Making their way there, the party settled into their rooms whilst Thomas was invited to meet with Korvius who was in the middle of having lunch with a black dragonborn named Caius, who immediately caught Tommy’s attention. Caius excused himself from the meal shortly afterwards, during which point Tommy managed to work out a favourable deal with Korvius. Korvius would provide Thomas with information and equipment in exchange for some valuable information from Tommy and the party doing him a favour. He had lost contact with members of his gang in Parascent shortly after the mage uprising and wanted the party to escort one of his other members there to discover what happened to them. Thomas accepted but also asked for more information about Caius, information that Korvius was hesitant to part with, especially because he himself knew very little about the dragonborn and his organization. However, he promised to look into him further but would do so carefully.

As this was going on, Chulz and Okeanos decided to tail Caius in order to learn more about him, recognizing his amulet as being similar to the one that Brutus had. The two of them followed Caius through Parascent, eventually following him into a maze of alleyways where they overheard a conversation he was having with more of the silver robed cultists. Before they could escape however, they were attacked by a black draconic creature that alerted Caius and the other cultists to their presence. A battle ensued where the duo managed to hold their own, pushing back the cultists, and forcing Caius and the draconic creature to retreat. In the confusion of battle however, Chulz lost his Driftglobe, having forgotten it as they rushed to make their escape.

The two of them returned to the Smiling Eel, finding an irate Thomas who proceeded to scold them whilst Reyna sent out Ievres to find Rojer and bring him back. Rojer returned from the docks shortly after, surprised by what had transpired. Their meeting was cut short however by Korvius calling Tommy back in, to find a slightly wounded Caius waiting. Thomas called in the rest of the party, and a heated discussion ensued with Korvius almost losing temper at several points. The discussion ended with Korvius setting an ultimatum, wherein both parties would respect the peace in Altenberg or risk becoming his enemies. Both parties reluctantly agreed with Caius making a snide remark on having already had retribution, and upon being pressed, revealing that his agents had killed Ievres. Once more, a fight almost broke out but luckily the party did not give in to his provocation, with Reyna vowing to kill him should she ever see him outside Altenberg. A few minutes after the meeting Ievres’ remains were returned to Reyna, the dead pseudodragon wrapped within a bloodstained cloth. A heartbroken Reyna wandered the streets of Altenberg with Thomas, looking for a way to resurrect Ievres, whilst the rest of the party decided to relax and unwind at a high-end brothel, making their way to the Stormlord’s Gambit.

Meanwhile, Reyna and Thomas managed to find an old cathedral on the eastern side of the city, a cathedral that seemed to have been dedicated to the emerald knight. They broke into the long abandoned cathedral, the empty silence giving it an almost haunting quality. They then proceeded to explore the massive structure, with Reyna making her way into the catacombs below the cathedral. Here she came across Artemis who offered her a bargain, he would grant her the ability to summon a spirit in Ievres’ form, through the use of an improved find familiar spell, in exchange he explained that a great evil was circling Parascent, and that he wanted to make sure that this evil did not succeed in its plans. Reyna accepted just as Thomas reached her, Artemis then greeted the suspicious Thomas and disappeared into the catacombs leaving the two of them there, alone.