Session 12

**Session 12 of the Eden campaign** took place on 17 January 2020 (in Eden time: 1 August 120 3A; ended 2 August ca. 9:00 AM).

## Synopsis

Despite triumphing against Goblins, Drow, and Logarius the White, the Usual Suspects and Mzundelft find a new foe in the Stavian troops sent to aid in the Recovery of Mzundelft. As political turmoil brews in Tzand, Warchief Fredgar Whitehelm frames the Usual Suspects, who are forced to retreat into the safety of tunnels close to the Underdark.

## Quests

* **An Enemy at the Gates (Everyone):** Clear your name in Mzundelft and discover Fredgar Whitehelm's true intentions.

* **The City of Tears (Everyone):** Find and explore the mysterious city of Aldenburgh.

* **A Titan Among Men (Huron):** Exact your vengeance upon Branarth, the Lord Lautrec.

* **Ashes and Dust (Ulfgar):** Reestablish the glory of Clan Gorunn.

* **Birds of a Feather (JoJo):** Find and confront Prospero over his flagrant botchery (he calls a portrait) of your face, which now hangs throughout Tyrland.

* **Songs of Truth, Songs of Falsehood (JoJo):** Find a way to clear your name in Dunaree.

* **Thievery against Thieves (Jade):** Find the three rare books (The Abyss, Mirror of Blood, and the King of the Damned) for Gradius in order to receive a custom spell. The books are held on display at the museum of the Athenaeum in Roulan.

* **Death and Dearth (Jade)**: Explore the ruins of Myrwood.

* **Grudgebreaker (Ulfgar):** Continue to eliminate Grudges in your book in order to accrue prestige and renown among the Dwarven communities of the world.

* **Sundered footsteps (Jade):** Discover the whereabouts of your family--specifically, of your brothers Earnest and Baldwin Jr.

## Summary

### Dwarven politics

We return to Mzundelft, where the Usual Suspects have completed the epic recovery of the Lost Chiefdom. Greatchief Hjartarson Coldwind warns the US of Fredgar Whitehelm -- the Warchief of Stavenberg, who partially aided in the recovery of Tzand. This warning is justified by a tense series of interviews, following which the party regroups with the members of the secret plot to discuss a course of action. Foul play is suspected and confirmed when a Whitehelm spy is found eavesdropping in Hjartarson's improvised palazzo.

### The Suspects are Suspected

The Usual Suspects dart back to their house, where they discover a number of mercenaries -- hired by no other than the Warchief -- ransacking their house and stealing their property. After dispatching the mercenaries through a number of questionable means and misadventures, Hjartarson rapidly warns the US that Whitehelm has formally issued a verdict of execution following the earlier interviews, and suggests they should escape via a mechanism he describes in the city's sewers underneath its magnificent Golden Tower. The US make a speedy escape as Whitehelm, followed by 20 Stavian paladins, arrives on the premises and publicly declares that the US now have a bounty upon their heads -- a "paltry" sum of 200 gold for each.

### Plato's cave

Meanwhile, the US rally in the sewers and head towards the promised location. Upon arriving, they discover a peculiar settlement in the boundary between Tzand and the Underdark -- a strange corridor, well-ornated and with clear magical effects, leading to a settlement inhabited by four individuals. Two of them are fey -- pixies, to be precise -- and they appear to have inhabited this location for millennia. The other two are two very crazed-looking Dwarves, who have renounced their lives in favor of mining and crafting.

The pixies indicate they are friends of Gerdar, the true name of Hjartarson, who they claim had adventured around these areas about a century ago -- and they last saw shortly before the fall of Mzundelft. The pixies claim not to have heard from Hjartarson-Gerdar since; however, they somehow are able to be in direct communication with Diero -- who has sent notice that the Holy Order of Keldar invaded Tyrland four days ago, which coincides with the fall of Fake Logarius. That is not to say, however, that Diero keeps them posted on the daily goings-on of Erideon, and they appear to be much-lost on the actual state of the world.

They allude to an obscure author who they claim may already be deceased, known only as Neia. This individual, they say, is prominent in Aldenburgh, the city they had previously heard of from none other than OG Logarius himself.

In this haven, to which Hjartarson-Gerdar appears to have indirectly referred to, the US regroup and begin planning the effort by which they will clear their name and defeat Fredgar Whitehelm's obscure -- but probably nefarious -- plans.