Session 4

Session Four marks the time skip forward, seven years after the events of most of Session 1-3. Prior to Session 4 several minor background events occur.

## Session 4

### Locations

* Northgate
* Salt Landing

### Notable NPCs

Gracia Morafi

Thomas and Piper, true to their word, send coin back to the Aves family in Salt Landing. Thomas recruits Piper to train street youth to fight, and when Piper returns to Northgate from Ur-Hutvir, Thomas further enlists Piper to act as a bodyguard for certain deals, persons, and events. Thomas organizes street fighting events with Piper's assistance. When Piper leaves to return home, Thomas stuffs a letter in Piper's coat, telling him to be ready when Thomas returns for him.

Thomas acts as the intermediary between some of his clients and Lissie. Thomas tries to convince Lissie to look more into contained explosives and corrosive material; claiming he hates picking locks. Lissie "accidently" drugs Thomas and herself with a muscle relaxant she is experimenting with and they both pass out.

Rhea takes on the full gambit of taking care of a household when her parents leave. Piper returns home to help and together they work to keep their family sustained.

Thomas asks Caelestus to use his shadow walking to get into places Thomas can't, to read journals, ledgers, and schedules of other businesses to make sure they are..."honoring" their business arrangements. Cael agrees. Thomas also has Esmerelda meet with a noblewoman who wishes to use the talents of a diviner, to get into the noblewomen's good graces. While Thomas was reaccepted into the seekers academy, he kept residence outside of the compound and had never returned to Salt Landing. Lissie, likewise never returned to Salt Landing.

Cael returned to Salt Landing once a year for a few days over a religious holiday. His father, Aelius Nishant, and he would exchange terse and emotionless conversations over this period. Cael notices that with each passing year his father's congregation diminished in number, to where now there are no more than a dozen people left.

Two years prior Esmerelda receives a strange message from her mother. Clementina Panettone says they are leaving Salt Landing because it is no longer safe. They have taken to the road again and are headed towards the Council Kingdoms.

Beginning in Session 4:

The party is sent back to Salt Landing by Sir Ervald Eypatia with the intention of travelling to Lynn's Observatory to observe and retrieve a relic that is in possession of Catherine Lynn.

When the party returns to Salt Landing they find that it is not a large and wonderful as they remember. Besides everything seeming smaller than when they were young, it appears as the town has dwindled. Some stores have closed down and have been boarded up, and the town seems less lively. The party sees a commotion at the center of town. It appears that someone is standing on a cart and is conversing with a crowd of townsfolk. Rhea Aves also happens to be in the vicinity as she went to go check in on her sister Robin Aves, who is now an apprentice baker. As they each approach from different sides they see the person, Gracia Morafi, the Patrician of Iresia, is not standing on a cart, but on a dead creature of myth. The creature is a large, with the body of an eagle with thick white feathers and a sharp beak, but has the face, legs, and tail of a feline. No one has ever seen a creature such as this before. Gracia is assuring the crowd that there is nothing to fear as the creature is now dead. The party finds out that this creature was eating livestock on the countryside. It had not killed anyone, but had bloodied up several guards after they were dispatched to kill the monster. Thomas speaks a bit too casually with the patrician to which at first she takes offense. Thomas apologizes and asks if they could be of assistance as they are with the seekers. She mentions that this threat is over but she does have a matter to discuss at the Morafi Manor later in the evening over dinner.

The party reunites with Rhea, as Thomas gives her a big awkward hug which she reluctantly accepts. Lissie remains distant from Rhea with her hood pulled over her face. Cael runs off to find Piper, and finds him working down at the docks. Cael informs Piper that the party is back at the square. Piper ditches work and races Cale back to the group in which Cael easily wins. The group converses about the past several years and catches up. Lissie decides that while in town she will go by Elizabeth as to not rouse the attention of those who may be looking for her.

Rhea is asked if she had seen something like the dead creature in the square before. She says that she hasn't. When asked what happened to the town. She sighs and says people began trickling away after Anatoli Ogonek's coup of the city. Bandits became more of an issue after Salt Landing was seen as an easy target, unable to defend itself.

The party decides to get more information on the creature from local farmers and travels to a tavern on the Northern outskirts of town, Mast's Last Colors. Inside, Esmerelda eavesdrops on a group of farmers who complain of a rot in the earth. The rot effects any vegetation that is grown in it. Esmerelda apologizes and cuts into the conversation and invites Lissie to ask the farmers about their issue. Lissie inquires in-depth regarding the state of the soil and vegetation, some of which is beyond the scope of the farmer's knowledge. Meanwhile, Thomas buys a round of drinks for a group of farmers and asks about the creature. They do not know more about it than what Gracia had aleady said, but they do mention in passing, something about a group of people called The Dedicated. The Dedicated, they say, are a bunch of lazy do nothings, that sacrifice all of their belongings, and refuse to work. Before everyone leaves the tavern, Rhea takes a moment to go center herself in the woods.

Cael decides to travel around Salt Landing instead of stopping at the Mast's Last Colors. He finds the town to be more destitute than when he last visited. He sees a wanted poster for an individual known as the "Brackish Baron".

The group comes back together at the square in Salt Landing and they see that a massive bonfire is taking place with people throwing items of furniture, books, and other personal belongings into the fire. Thomas begs Rhea to make Piper wear a shirt to the manor, and after some back and forth Piper complies. They approach Morafi Manor, and while it still looks grand for Salt Landing, they have now seen many buildings that look similar and many that are more opulent in Northgate. They are met by a valet at the front door, who gives the group disapproving looks as they enter. They are led through the manor and notice there are fewer servants than there used to be. They see a middle aged man in full plate armor with embossed patterns leave the manor. This man does not look native to Vyckeros.

The group is brought to the study where they are met by Gracia. She explains that the Brackish Baron, Harold Helvast, has become more than a nuisance that she can ignore. He is a descendant of a line of nobles that ruled the lands of Iresia around Helvast Bay before the War of Strings. He is attempting to reclaim his "birthright" even though his family's ancestors were paid their fare share generations ago. He is charismatic and has attracted a certain sort of individuals to his cause; thugs, killers, but even some guards and other malcontents who were disenchanted with how Ogonek's Trading Company was able to overrun the town so easily. Gracia has heard in particular that the people of Waddlestork are sympathetic towards the Baron. She offers 250 gold to the party to dispatch of the baron, dead or alive. She does not have proof that he is killing/robbing people, but he is undermining her rule. Gracia looks tired, and like the manor itself, older and more weathered than when the party was last here.

Cael asks about the Dedicated. Gracia explains that they are a cult led by Harold the Dedicate. They believe in their ignorance the Ayornas are closing the Great Memory, and claim it is better to enter the end unburdened and thus rid themselves of their worldly possessions and sometimes even relationships. Harold leads them in chanting, and believe himself a man of faith. Gracia steers the conversation back to the Baron, indicating that she does not view Harold to be more than bother.

Rhea is convinced to travel with the party, as the idea of her share of the gold is too much to pass up.

The party hears a rumor that the Baron is actually quite good to his "subjects" as long as they swear fealty to him.

The next morning Lissie travels out of town to visit the farmer's claims of rotting fields. She sees a herd of goats grazing in a fields. One of the goats, stands up on its back legs and stares at her. The goat then starts walking toward Lissie, wading through the other goats, its eyes black as night. It stops and then goes back down to all four legs. Lissie approaches the goats, but cannot tell which of them had stood. Flies are buzzing all around the goats, they smell sour and rotting, though they have no wounds. She asks an approaching farmer when this sickness started and he answers that it was about 5 months back. Combing through their hair, she finds many have black pustules that are painful for the goat. They emit a yellow liquid, which she takes a sample of.

Rhea returns to her house to gather some supplies. She hears Cael praying on her roof. She goes to the trunk in the cupboard that her father has in his bedroom that has been locked. She looks around the house for a key but doesn't find it. She cracks the chest open and it splinters, but inside the chest is empty. She smashes the cupboard as her emotions pour out.