1. Journals

07 - Thicker Than Blood

Session
Ardenian Heritage 2016-04-22

Setup

The party continue travel to Batter where they drop off Elena and Linda to the town guards, and warn them to increase security. They don’t encounter any troubles on their way to Rosen, and finally arrive.

Everyone consumes 7 rations + 1 extra ration each for the girls.

Hilde has identified the rings, and Auron has identifies the crown as a Crown of Ar’Zagur, an old Orc-king of centuries ago. The temple they were in was his temple. The crown gives proficiency to Intimidation (if the wearer already has proficiency, the player has expertise) and the wearer can’t be frightened.

Suggest to Lex: Give the ring to Hilde, since she recently nearly died.

Goals

  • Arrive in Rosen, identify the items
  • Meet up with the Prince.
  • Look up knowledge about the Nameless Immortals
  • More info about orc/goblins

Activities

Tales of Far Away

A bard is singing in the marketplace, as bards usually do. He catches the attention with songs about the current situation

A Bitter King attacking ours, but no one yet knows why.

A missing temple vanishing and no one yet knows where

Orcs and goblins and all evil burning our towns down.

If only Tyr would hear our prayers maybe we could survive.

 

Collin Goodbarrel is a Halfling and not from Arden (halfling are seldom seen anywhere out of Frynia, the land of the Elves), but has been traveling this kingdom for a few months, and traveling the towns and villages in search of hope for the people. He doesn’t know the princess, so he doesn’t try to be nice to her (unless she gives him coin).

Matheos von Rosenberg

Hildegard and her friends can rest in the guest rooms of the castle. Food will be provided. If Wolf does too many weird things, he’ll be asked to lodge somewhere else.

 

The party can arrange a meeting with Matheos, who will be in the courtroom with his Wife (Helena, a beautiful roman with long gold-brown hair and piercing blue eyes, obviously pregnant), Matheos, and a third person, obviously a prince or king seeing his attire and good looks,about 25 years old.

 

(talking to Hilde) Quite an interesting group of friends you have with you sister.

(talking to Lex) Thank you for ensuring the security of my sister, Lex, and staying by her side despite her erratic behaviour.

(looking at auron) Auron, a “pleasure as always”

(Akì) Akì, I’ve heard that you’ve become quite skilled. A waste, frankly, to have you play detective with my sister.

(looking strangely at Wolf) And you must be… Wolf is it? I guess it is a fitting name. I heard our maids spend days cleaning the carpets in Sollas after your… let’s call it a stay.

(back to Hilde) However, I must thank you. After your message, I send out an army of 20 highly skilled soldiers. They found small groups of orcs wreaking havoc in the countryside and slayed all of them. The orcs aren’t the only ones being aggressive, but also other wild animals. Even hill giants, which usually are pretty passive, have started attacking caravans with more intensity. Mother mentioned something about the missing temple being the source of this situation. Can you confirm that?

 

What about the army of Othiria? I’ve warned father countless of times to secure our border with them, but he didn’t want to seem provokativ. That cost the kingdom many lives.

 

During the conversation, the Wife doesn’t speak, nor does the man. If questioned, Matheos simply says “He’s a friend, here to help out during these troubled times.”. Lex can recognise him as Harald Pyre, a noble of Rivandol.

 

If the party needs info about the Nameless Immortals, the brother will lie and say that he doesn’t recognise the symbol or the name. This is because they run the hospitals and religious ceremonies here in Rosen, and he knows about their goals. He turns a blind eye, as long as they don’t start murdering people or raising mass dead people. He also desires immortality.

 

They will be confused as to why he lied, and will want to find out info. They might go to a Tavern and try and get information there, or ask people who will send them to the tavern.

 

A gnome presenting himself as Howard Ballin will tell the players that the man they should ask is Bjorn Yronfoot, the head of the hospital of Rosen. He is very knowledgable on the city, since he takes care of many patients. The players can ask for a meeting for the next day.

Bjorn Yronfoot

Bjorn Yronfoot knows the princess is in town. With him are 2 guards. He knows who Sven and Aryna are, and says they worked for him in the hospital before moving to Arden.

He has great interest for the temple, saying it is an important building for the whole kingdom.

He notices Wolf and recognises him as a sorcerer, being a sorcerer himself.

 

He knows about the Nameless Immortals “very well”, and is ready to trade information for something of equal value. Not money, not power, but he wants something hidden in the castle, where he has no access. He mentions a book named The Forgotten Secrets of Restoration and Serenity. He says he can’t get at it since it’s hidden in the castle, and he doesn’t have access there. He offers “bring me the book, and I’ll tell you everything I know”. He also says: “Your friend doesn’t look awakened yet”, pointing at wolf. “I can also help with that”.

 

The book is about using restoration with necromancy, but none of the players know that.

 

When the players come back with the book, Bjorn is very impressed

A princess stealing from the Prince. Well I’ve heard worse bedtime stories I guess.

He will take the book, hand it over to a guard, who will take it away to another room, and offer the players to sit down and have lunch/dinner with him. If they don’t want to give him the book, “My house, my rules”. Once eating, he will simply say

So, you want information about the Nameless Immortals. What is it you desire to know?

And will give any information they ask for. If they ask how he knows all of this

Well, I am the leader of the Nameless Immortals of course. What else did you expect?

About the temple:

Finally a good question! Took you long enough eh? I know where the temple is. Thing is, I need that temple for me and my faction to better study our healing. But the people of Rosen also need us. And the temple is soooo far away.

 

The guy wants to be in Rosen to help heal people, but he also wants access to the temple to study it and understand its properties, and use that knowledge to perfect his take on immortality. He offers the a deal to the heroes

 

How about this. You get the temple back, bring it back to Arcastle, and be the heroes of the realm. You all want to be heroes, right? But in exchange, I need a few things. I’m not asking much, really, and I think this is a good deal. I’ll shut up about you stealing from the Prince, so that’s two great deals for you. But in exchange, I want you to help me put my people in the Temple in Arcastle. Your sister is the head of it, and you Master Lex also can help. My people will help with healing the wounded, they’ve been doing it here for ever. But they will be allowed a certain amount of freedom to conduct their own research. That’s the first thing. It’s a pretty good deal, right?

Now, the second part, and this is where it gets interesting for you people. This is better than being heroes in my opinion. At least better than heroes of Arden. I’m a very busy man, and I know a lot of things. But I only have so many hours every day, and they are all devoted to the people of Rosen. And my people are the same. Very strong and knowledgeable, but very busy. Now, there are a few items. Not even sure if they exist, but items of legends that I know of. You see where this is going? I am a curious man, and I want to know more about these items. I want them. You know what I’m going to ask you, don’t you? I want you guys to run around for me and find me these items, and bring them to me. Or bring me information you find. You can keep all the gold and items you find on your searches, but all I ask for is the items I set you out to get for me.

See? That’s not a bad deal. I’d say it’s a great deal, especially for you. You become heroes, travel the world, visit many amazing people and places, find treasure, and in exchange, you just need to give my people access to the temple, and find a few items for me. Don’t worry, you won’t work for me every day. I’ll just need you from time to time, when I have enough information. So that I don’t waste your time.

He takes a sip of his wine, gets up, followed by his guards, goes out of the room, and before closing the door, tells the players “You have 10 minutes”. Start the timer.

 

When he comes back in, he expects an answer, not questions. Bjorn will lead them to the temple

 

To wolf about the awakening: This is a one time offer, but you don’t need to decide now, but when you are ready. You can join the nameless immortals, and I’ll help you understand all of your magic. This is a sincere offer, and the players can’t detect any ill-intentions or deceit in his voice.

Forbidden Library

The players can search the normal library, but find nothing. However, Hilde as a child once ended up in a staircase that went down for a very long time, only to be found by her father who brought her back up. A hidden entrance brings them to the caves. These go down a while, and it’s pretty wet. At the bottom of the stairs, a long corridor leads them to the chambers. Some players might realise it’s under the Kings Rest island!

The portal said to Lex “touch me to free me…”

Temple of Life

On their way, the party can find 7 goblin statues… Before long 2 basilisk appear!

The temple has been hidden in the forest in the wilderness. A powerful illusion makes it invisible without a dispel magic. However, the illusion is broken when they arrive, and the party is quick to see 2 young white dragons have decided the temple would be a nice place for them to live in!  End of session.

Next Session

  • Fight off the dragon
  • Get back the temple and bring it to Arcastle
  • Set up plans for what to do next: Matheos comes to Arden with his proposal for the wedding?