Unveiling the Murkmire Stone

3rd August 2023

In the city of Otha's Rest, where arcane wonders and ancient secrets intertwine, a sense of urgency hangs heavy in the air. The Knights of the Arcane, a revered order of magic-wielding paladins, find themselves facing an enigmatic threat that eludes their omniscience. The ominous feeling of being watched has settled over their sacred base of operations, the halls of their once impregnable stronghold now whispering of hidden danger.

As the sun dips below the horizon, casting a gentle twilight glow upon the city, Io Aekerym is approached by a low ranking member of the Knights, their face etched with worry and desperation.

"We need your help, Io," said the squire, her voice steady yet laden with concern. "Our base has been compromised, and we fear there are spies lurking in the shadows. We cannot trust our usual channels of communication.

## Adventurers Attending

* Io Aerkeryrm
* Tas
* Creed
* Seymour Shanchi
* Lessbelle Elmtree

## Session Summary

Amidst the shadows of Otha's Rest, a group of adventurers found themselves entangled in a perilous mission, guided by the secretive Knights of the Arcane. Sister Arion, a squire of the order, approached Io, a High-Elf Artificer, with a hushed plea for help. Assembling her comrades - Creed, a Tiefling Rogue; Lessbelle, a Half-Elf Sorcerer; Seymour, a Tabaxi Rogue; and Tas, a Half-Elf Warlock - they gathered at a secluded safehouse in The Shambles.

Inside the safehouse, Sister Arion and Brother Edward, esteemed members of the Knights, divulged the ominous truth. A cult devoted to resurrecting the long-dead Dracolich Steorfa had acquired an artefact known as the 'Murkmire Stone,' which was, in fact, the Phylactery containing the lich's essence. While discussing the matter with the adventurers, the Knights shared a humorous jest that without the body of a red dragon, the cult's ambitions would likely be thwarted.

Prepared for the inevitable confrontation, the party ventured to the cult's suspected base. Along the way, they encountered a mysterious fog and will-o-wisps leading them astray, only to face monstrous zombies. In a fierce battle, Seymour nearly lost his life, with Lessbelle fighting to keep him from the grasp of death. After overcoming the will-o-wisps and zombies, the group discovered the entrance to the Cultist's underground keep. Inside, they confronted heavily tattooed priests, locked in an intense and grueling fight. These cultists, imbued with dark powers, proved relentless, reviving repeatedly after each defeat. Despite their best efforts, the adventurers struggled against the seemingly invincible cultists.

In a desperate bid for redemption, Lessbelle used her arcane prowess to persuade two cultists to release their prisoners, saving them from a sinister fate. However, the situation quickly took a dark turn when a cultist unleashed a deadly spell, leaving only one surviving cultist to escape.

In the aftermath, Io and Creed worked together to uncover the cultists' nefarious source of power - the souls of their slain enemies. The two brave adventurers delved into the living quarters, unearthing vital information about the cult's next steps.

Later, Io ensured the fallen were laid to rest with dignity, returning their bodies to the Chapel of the Gods. She sought solace in the knowledge that their families would be informed of their loved ones' tragic demise. With the valuable information in hand, Io shared their findings with the Knights of the Arcane, who expressed their gratitude. In recognition of their bravery, the Knights rewarded the group with a bag of gold, sufficient to cover their expenses and a token of appreciation for their heroic efforts.

## Player Diaries

### Seymour Sanchi

Well today was a fun day. Had a time in bar then got to this paladin shoddy place. It looked nice thus I left some snacks they should enjoy if they found. As they requested the gang to find the phylactery item of some kind. Went to look for the item then find the will-o-wisps with zombies. As I wanted to put fish head on it the fight started and I felt like Conan the barbarian, running straight into them. Worst decision of the day. I almost came back alive with 8 of 9 lives I have. Then we found a lot of people in the cave. Doing shady sacrifice things. Tried to kill them but they keep coming back. Almost all party died. Good thing all went well.

### Io Aekerym

Gods damned Knights of the Arcane. “Help Io, we’re so useless! But no of course we won’t say please, or thanks for that other time you helped us out, or apologise for burning your library down.” As we left the meeting I telepathically told Seymour to do his worst. He ended up stuffing fish and rotten eggs down the chimney. Hope the smell never fades. Anyway, we decided to help because a dracolich running around really doesn’t do anyone any good. Seymour almost died, at one point I swear I saw his soul actually leave his body. I wasn’t running to try to get to him or anything… Killed a load of cultists that love dying and hate staying dead. Tried to rescue the captives, but we failed as one of the not zombie cultist things cast a circle of death, knocking me unconscious. We gained some valuable info, hopefully with the “*help*” of the knights of the arcane and the silver feather we can get this phylactery destroyed. Or better yet hidden in the the archive of maleficence. Stupid *\*\**ing knights.

### Creed

Bloody cat needs a leash. We were helping Io and her terrible-at-their-jobs troupe of paladins from finding out about a stone in a place we'd already cleared out before - that place where they loved stunning me, so for me it was like a first visit. The cat nigh-on killing himself when he charged a swarm of wisps and zombies unprovoked on his lonesome. Honestly I'm amazed Lessbelle cared to heal him. By the time we got to the actual issue a good chunk of us were spent already keeping the fool alive. We nearly lost people more times than I'm comfortable with, but man I love Lessbelle's ability to word Suggestion *just* right. *"Respect the sanctity of life!"*

### Lessbelle Elmtree

Errrrooiugherrrgh Paladins make my head spin. Licky this philaky that, ancient mumbo jumbo, writing tonnes of words on everything. Its just really tiresome and boring. If you're dead, just enjoy it I say, don't bother coming back. IO got some letter and they needed some help and it sounded like if we ever found whatever it was, we were looking for, people would probably need keeping alive, so I agreed to go along. I shoulda skipped the first bit though, lots of long boring words and next to useless Pala'dims' who don't even really know anything about anything anyway. What was clear was that we had to go find those evil tattooed cultists anyway. We got lost, maybe I should get better at finding my way, but it was foggy tbf. There was a bunch of lights, so obviously we approached them cautiously, but Seymour is a stupid cat and tried to attack them with fish. Didn't find it so funny two seconds later when he was lying nearly dead on the floor though

Thankfully, my shining radiance and brilliant personality is just ever so slightly more powerful than his stupid incompetence and I was able to keep him alive, just about. In fairness I think it gave him some pause(paws hehe) for thought cos he was drinking a lot after that. I'd be surprised if he has more than 3 of his 9 lives left anymore. Anyway, we found those mean cultists trying to sacrifice a bunch of innocent commoners, no surprise. I did my best to try and convince a few pf them to start respecting people's lives and set them to freeing the prisoners. Killing the others was a right nightmare too, they just kept coming back in weird monstrous forms or like very sweaty and stuff. I dunno why they're so intent on coming back, even I was almost losing the will to live after killing them (or not) so many times. Sadly, all my best efforts were for nothing, one of them turned into death and nearly killed us all, killing all the innocent commoners in the process. That made me pretty angry, but I'm not sure what else I could have done, everyone's so weird these days it's tough getting them to be nice, or run away, or even kill them. Hopefully next time we go searching for important old stuff that's really dangerous, no one who's innocent has to die. Maybe if I go pray to Rallathil, he'll be able to look after them now or something.