Session 04

Date range of Session 04

## 49th of Duoary

### The Chase

Our session opened in the moonlit jungles of the Shadowfen, with Electra Shimbleshanks, Balthazar, Amanita, and Mornon chasing the mysterious Vanz Kan Danz.

To guide them, Amanita cast *locate object* to pinpoint Kan Danz’s location. As she ran, Electra cast sending to Deuteronomy saying, “*Deitrick total dick. Left us to die. Helping Fen folk. Wizards not to be trusted. I’m working hard. Watch the double-crossing Court of Fire*”. Electra dashed ahead with her feline reflexes, accompanied by Balthazar and Amanita, and Mornon quickly fell behind. Before long, the trio found themselves within sight of a large wererat – which Amanita revealed to be Kan Danz’s companion, Precious. Balthazar unleashed a *lightning bolt* at the rat, declaring, “You betrayed our hospitality,” before he set a section of swampy forest on fire. When Amanita attempted to entangle the rat with mycelium-like roots, the plants seemed to obey his will. He then magically charmed Balthazar, assuring him they were “on the same side”. While Balthazar attacked Electra, he was soon brought back to reason by Amanita, who cast spore blasts at the wererat, ending his concentration.

At this point, Mornon arrived, and casting a fiery shroud of *haste* on himself, he rushed towards Precious, attacking the wererat once before he surrendered. Amanita then bound him with Balthazar’s shackles. Balthazar tried to jump on Electra’s shoulder, but the cat simply swatted him away. Followed by Amanita with Precious, Mornon, Electra, and Balthazar continued their pursuit of Kan Danz.

As they approached, the thieving cat cast a *fireball* at their feet. But the party was largely unaffected, and Balthazar soon incapacitated him with a *watery sphere*. Kan Danz willingly surrendered himself to the sphere, and *Root and Stem* dropped from his person onto the forest floor, where roots began to curl about it. Mornon took the book, feeling the immense magical power within it. Once the watery sphere dissipated, Electra bound Kan Danz using an ornate, albeit impractical, technique she had learned from making friendship bracelets. As Kan Danz whistled, Precious began to polymorph back into a regular rat and tried to slip away, but Balthazar caught him with a psychic lance. Electra scooped the unconscious Precious into her tote bag.

Kan Danz, in an attempt to save his own skin, claimed that Amanita had stolen the book and given it to him. Amanita did not deny the claim but assured them she had not acted of her own will. She claimed to have been controlled by a shadowy figure – the one the party had seen in their dreams. Balthazar seemed convinced by this account, recalling stories of a presence in the Manor from other staff and members of the Morozova household.

Upon returning to Morozova Manor, Alexander took *Root and Stem* and gave it to Baghra, thanked them for their services and allowed Balthazar to take control of the interrogation of Kan Danz and his unconscious rat companion. Before leaving the party to question the cat, Alexander asked Balthazar to accompany him to the Greenhold that evening.

Balthazar obtained a truth potion from Baghra, which allowed them to interrogate the cat. When questioned, he revealed that he had been working for a shadowy figure, and after several bribes, attempts to magically incite greed, a psychic spore link, threats, and ultimately a *firebolt* from Balthazar, he revealed his employer to be Alistair Blackthorn – a figure familiar to Amanita and Electra.

They recalled that Alistair Blackthorn hailed from a prominent family and recently moved to Greensgood from the Westbank near the Red Hills (on the border between the Central Empire and the Ironclad Union). He was said to have gotten rich quickly with his mining enterprise, and all signs led to the fact that he had been trying to buy his way onto the Greenheart Council.

Kan Danz revealed that he had been paid 500gp to steal *Root and Stem* and had been hired by Blackthorn for other jobs, including the theft of a Councilling Pendant – shards of the crown shattered after the fall of the monarchy and gifted to all members of the Greenheart Council. Kan Danz emptied his pockets of stolen items – revealing Electra’s stolen bangles, a snake and ruby bracelet belonging to Genevieve Abernathy and the Mayor’s diamond ring.

Investigating Kan Danz’s room, Balthazar, casting find traps, found the space completely booby-trapped. When Amanita cast detect magic, she located a *chest of holding*, as well as a magic book which appeared to teach magic for summoning dragons. The group rifled through his things, finding two further books on dragons with bookmarked sections on dragon lairs and behaviour. They also found a trove of stolen jewellery. Absent, however, was Professor Ashworthy’s brass ring. In Kan Danz’s chest, the group found a lack of any magical trinkets – but they did find a hidden compartment containing five scrolls capable of summoning a holodrake. With this evidence, the party connected Kan Danz to the dragon sighting in nearby Pinewatch.

After some convincing, they returned Precious to Kan Danz and allowed him to leave. With three scorching rays to send him on his way, Balthazar threatened the cat, ordering him to never return to Morozova Manor on pain of death. At this moment, Electra realised Kan Danz had stolen the Mayor’s diamond ring back – but as her luck would have it, Amanita still had a telepathic connection with the cat. She telepathically ordered him to “drop the ring,” and he did as requested. Soon, one of the Morozova guards appeared at their door and delivered the ring to Electra.

### Evening

That evening, Mornon took to transcribing the dragon-summoning spell. Electra once again tried to contact Deuteronomy, saying, “*Speak clearer. Circus cat a fraud. Alistair Blackthorn up to no good; why? Big trouble brewing. Lots of love, E.*” To which she received a reply of, “*Listen better. Do not force me to start a coup. We need the Court of Fire so speak nicely. I will speak with you about Blackthorn in some days’ time.*”

Amanita, meanwhile, used *Mother’s Heart* to access the Network’s memories of Alistair Blackthorn. She gained some basic background information: that he was a human of the prominent Blackthorn family and was currently residing in Greensgood. But she saw another memory, one of her own. In the damp grotto of the Bellton Sanctum, she saw a vision of the Sanctum’s destruction in the seconds before she fell unconscious. Amid the constructs who had invaded the Sanctum, she saw a masked figure approach. A masculine figure with black hair streaked with grey. On their lapel, she saw the symbol of a black crest with a white rose: the symbol of House Blackthorn.

Balthazar met with his master in the Greenhold, where Alexander drew the mouseling’s attention to a green crystal held between two crystalline trees. He revealed that *Root and Stem* had been vandalised, with Kan Danz having graffitied one of the pages. Whatever the cat had done, it appeared to be linked to dark magic, opposite in essence to the healing, plant-based magic of the tome. Alexander connected the book’s vandalism to the house’s dying magic and suggested that the dark magic was preventing the book’s connection with the house.

Then, he pointed to the crystal, saying, “This is a real problem”. He began detailing a secret history of the Morozova family. According to Alexander, the Morozova family had been granted their magical powers under the condition that they would guard a prisoner from the Mage Wars. The prisoner, known as Nekrosis the Devourer, was a powerful lich from Necropolis in the Swarmlands. Unable to be killed, the book was given to the Morozovas to imprison the lich and power their unusual home.

Alexander told Balthazar that with the house’s defences failing, they could no longer contain the lich. He urged the mouseling to travel to Greensgood, taking *Root and Stem* with him, to seek advice from powerful mages in the Celial Sisterhood and the Mages’ League. He advised Balthazar to take Amanita, Electra, and Mornon with him. Alexander also told Balthazar to take the *Horn of Castigation* with him, musing that “it ha[d] a place in this”.

## 50th of Duoary

### Breakfast is the Deadliest Meal of the Day

The day began with Balthazar paying a visit to Sister Amanita. He revealed much of what Alexander had revealed and remarked they would need the Sisterhood’s assistance. Amanita promised that the Sisterhood would help in the events to come.

The party, preparing for a possible trip to Greensgood, gathered in the great hall for breakfast. Mornon appeared slightly later, having gone for a morning run, and Electra was preoccupied with writing letters to Mayor Eliza Brook and Genevieve Abernathy, informing them that she had located their missing pieces of jewellery. As she wrote these letters, Captain Lysandra Clawthorne approached her and asked if she needed guards to accompany her on her travels north.

At this moment, however, the party heard an ear-splitting scream followed by bodies falling. The doors burst open - an almost common occurrence in Morozova Manor - and a dark, skeletal figure entered the room, holding aloft the still-quivering body of a guard. For the first time, Alexander appeared shaken, afraid even. Then, using his glowing sphere, Alexander exclaimed: “This is a foe beyond any of you! He is an avatar of corruption”. The sphere began to unfurl, covering Alexander’s body in vines, and he hovered over the banqueting table. Then, he unleashed a vitriolic sphere on the lich, dissolving two of his own guards in the process.

The skeletal figure, whom the party (or at least Balthazar and Amanita) now recognised as Nekrosis the Devourer, appeared to have achieved their goal of striking fear in the hearts of the Morozovas and their guests. They turned to leave, saying only, “Do not follow”. When Balthazar rushed towards the lich, they pointed a finger of death at the mouseling and uttered a single word: “Fall”. Balthazar fell to the ground, unconscious. Baghra immediately ran to his aid and began stabilising him, and Electra cast a shining beacon of hope to heal the mouseling. While Balthazar survived, he sustained a festering wound.

Amanita showed a rage unusual for the otherwise aloof Sister, and pointing at the lich, she exclaimed: “You are a creature of corruption. You have stained the green heart of the Sisterhood, and you will not leave this place.” Glowing mycelium wrapped around Nekrosis, paralysing them and holding them in place.

With the lich incapacitated, Alexander used the fabled Horn of Castigation to assist the group, and Balthazar used Root and Stem to create an *aura of life*. Amanita could not hold the lich for long, and they soon broke free of her spell. Muttering, “Fine,” they turned to face the group. While Balthazar tried to confuse the lich, he only succeeded in ... almost shitting himself.

Mornon used the opportunity to sharpen his bladesinging skills on the lich. Nekrosis was not amused, and casting a *chill touch* spell, they simply said, “Do not test me, boy”. While Mornon’s flaming attacks wore down the still-frail lich, it was Electra who finished Nekrosis off. Unleashing a beam of silvery light, she screamed, “I was writing a letter!”.  As the lich fell, a rusted iron crown fell from their head, along with a brass eye and a tome. While Nekrosis was defeated, they knew the lich would return.

Electra seemed more concerned with the ashes of the defeated lich which had spread all over the table and she wiped the dust away with Colossus. The rest of the party examined these artefacts. Amanita detected an aura of necromantic magic on the items, and upon casting identify on each, discerned that the book, Heretic’s Companion was an item of similar power and function to *Root and Stem* and an elemental artefact of corruption. The crown similarly appeared to be an artefact of corruption, filled with powerful cursed magic allowing a mage to maintain concentration on multiple spells. Finally, the brass eye, which Amanita identified as the Eye of Ogmoga, appeared to be the eye of a minor green god.

While Amanita examined the book further, Mornon touched the iron crown. He glimpsed a vision of the Arid Frontier and saw the Ethereal Basin in ruins, burning.

Amanita examined the book’s pages to ensure none were missing. When she was satisfied that nothing had been removed, she placed the book on the table before them. While Mornon asked for the *Heretic’s Companion*, noting it would be of great interest to Dietrick and the Court of Fire, Amanita suggested that the group decide the tome’s fate. Electra spoke in hushed whispers to Captain Clawthorne before contacting Rum Tum Tugger.

What followed was a discussion on the nature of the primordial elements of Stormbound, the ten elements from which the kingdoms, dragons, and one hundred powerful artefacts were created. Balthazar, in particular, appeared to have an innate understanding of the ten elements; Amanita’s companion Savos noted the dual corruption and wood nature of mushrooms – a nature mirrored in the chrysalis from the Xeros Mine; and Electra recalled the oft-cited maxim of the Arid Frontier: the element of the desert is earth. Baghra revealed that the element of chaos was deeply connected to the wild magic flowing through the Morozova family – an element without an inverse. Her previous attempts to distil mana within potions were an attempt to distil the pure element of chaos. Following this discussion on the nature of the elements, Alexander noted that Nekrosis was an avatar of corruption – an individual born once in a generation that exhibits a strong affinity with one of the primordial elements.

Amanita, drawing from the knowledge of the Network, provided some additional insight into liches, recalling that the liches created the Satyrs of the Swarm. Originally, there were twelve liches, growing to about ten or twenty during the Mage Wars. However, following the wars, all remaining liches were destroyed or imprisoned, and the knowledge of magic related to liches was banned. Keeping such forbidden knowledge would result in execution in most kingdoms across Stormbound. Their possession of the Heretic’s Companion and the lich’s artefacts placed the group in a precarious situation.

Taking a moment, Balthazar rushed to the privy, and Mornon visited Deitrick to discuss the *Heretic’s Companion*. Amanita flicked through a notebook the party confiscated from Kan Danz. She noted an entry for Dawnbringer, the lantern held by Mornon, and the name “Joshua Trebett”.

When the party reconvened, Alexander addressed them directly, urging them to take the eye, the crown, the *Heretic’s Companion*, and *Root and Stem* to the council in Greensgood. The group agreed, with Mornon taking the corruption tome, the eye going into a chest, Amanita taking the wood tome, and Electra taking the crown. When Electra touched the crown, she, too, saw a vision – a vision of a building resembling the Ethereal Basin and two glowing figures overhead.

Leaving Morozova Manor behind, the group set out along the Roseway towards the Shadowfen capital. As the day wore on, Balthazar continued to be his usual, chipper self; Mornon quickly grew bored of travelling and felt the urge for battle, and Amanita appeared anxious, fearing for the Network after her vision of Alistair Blackthorn and the sights they had witnessed in the mines.

## 52nd of Duoary

Their travels were relatively uneventful. Until the third day, that is.

As they walked, Amanita heard whispers in the bushes and a voice saying, “All right, when they come out, we’ll jump them”. Taking no chances, she immediately cast her *spirit guardians*, and Balthazar summoned a *storm sphere*. Soon, several orcs and ogres appeared. Mornon landed a few hits on some orcs before Electra turned the relatively routine ambush into a spectacular display. Casting a divine charm upon all the individuals in the area – including Amanita and Mornon – she forced the bandits to fight their own companions. The ogre that had engaged Mornon dropped its weapon, addressed him as a friend, and crushed him in a bear hug. After some fighting, one of the ogres walked into the tempest of Balthazar’s spell and was struck by lightning. With their comrade injured, all the charmed creatures turned on Balthazar, including Mornon, who flicked the mouseling off his shoulder and attacked his friend. After some more back-and-forth between the group, Balthazar fell to one of Mornon’s fire spells, losing part of his tail. While the charmed Amanita healed one of the enemy ogres, Electra managed to revive Balthazar, who used the Horn of Castigation to charm all their remaining foes.

An uneasy peace fell on the battlefield, but the question remains: for how long?