Session 35: Is this another betrayal?
General Summary
The party found themselves in the greeting study of Magistrate Deontorin in the town of Passan when the doors opened to reveal a striking woman. She introduced herself as Lady Tyrill Fealrick from Fathalom, bearing two distinctive moles beneath her right eye. Her appearance was strikingly familiar to someone they had encountered before, though this woman's features differed slightly. Lady Tyrill explained that she had been at the Raquel family homestead when it was attacked and had managed to hide during the assault. She sought an escort home and offered payment of twenty-five gold pieces for safe passage.
The party grew suspicious of Lady Tyrill's identity, noting the discrepancy in her appearance from the woman they had met previously. Garuman attempted to verify her nature by disguising a magical detection as a blessing, but found no enchantments upon her. When he suggested taking her sapphire necklace as a holder's fee, she firmly declined. Tak, troubled by the situation, excused himself and rushed to seek counsel from Melius, a wizard known to assist caravans through the region.
At Melius's eccentric house sandwiched between other buildings, Tak found only a magical mouth on the door handle. The enchantment informed him that Melius was unavailable and could be found at the Raquel Family Homestead if the matter was urgent. Tak realized this was the very location Lady Tyrill claimed to have fled from and hurried back to inform his companions. The party discussed the troubling coincidence and debated their next course of action, with Tak deciding to send a warning to his father about potential danger and the need to verify all identities carefully.
After taking a short rest, the party mounted their horses and began the journey north toward the homestead. They traveled for a full day through the rolling Northern Hills, passing caravans and mercenary guards but seeing no official soldiers. As night fell and they were still some distance from their destination, they made camp near a copse of trees. Garuman created a magical shelter, carefully camouflaging it to blend with the surrounding forest, and took watch while the others rested.
As the red moon climbed high in the night sky, a green acidic mist began to gather around their protective dome. A voice emerged from the fog, politely requesting they come out to speak. When Tak stepped through the barrier, he felt the sting of acid on his skin as a massive hippo with curved horns emerged from the mist. Atop the creature sat an unusually short but enormously bulbous ogre wearing a golden crown set with a ruby. Tiny crystals were embedded throughout his skin, and two curved crystalline horns adorned his head.
The ogre introduced himself as Prince Sokarith, son of the Ogre King, and proposed an alliance. He explained that his father sought to become a god by harnessing the energy of Voidheart and the all-devouring snake when the final seals were broken. The prince feared this would spell disaster not only for the world but even for the ogres themselves. He offered two thousand gold pieces upon completion of the task and five hundred upfront, along with a sending stone for communication. The party engaged in hushed debate about the offer while Garuman used his magical helm to probe the prince's thoughts, discovering genuine fear about his father's ambitions mixed with his own desire to rule.
The party negotiated cautiously with Prince Sokarith, ultimately accepting the upfront payment of five hundred gold pieces to be split among them. The prince warned that time was running short, as Voidheart had already unlocked five of the seven seals needed to bring the many into the realm. He refused to reveal the locations of the remaining seals until they formally declared their alliance, protecting himself from magical detection by his father. As the prince and his hippo departed, the acidic mist dissipated into the night air.
The following morning, the party continued their journey and arrived at the Raquel Family Homestead. They observed Haven Town Guards securing the area, burying bodies, and investigating the various buildings that made up the farmstead. Melius was casting spells over corpses near the tavern, which appeared to be the last area requiring investigation. Tak approached the wizard, who confirmed he had sent a message to Tak's father and that Lady Tyrill had arrived safely and was being watched. Melius explained he had been using his magic to question the dead for three days and welcomed the party's assistance in examining the gruesome scene inside the tavern.
Upon entering the building, the party was immediately struck by the overwhelming smell of decay and iron. Broken furniture littered the main room, and half a dozen mercenary corpses lay strewn about. A woman was slumped over the bar with massive red claw marks across her back, while in the kitchen they found a man whose body was completely blackened and burned, as if he had been thrown into the fireplace. The party noted various tracks throughout the scene, including heavy boots, dainty slippers, and the distinctive sandal-like prints they recognized as belonging to Voidheart.
In a private back room, they discovered a glass of wine and soured milk on a table, along with a hidden map of the passage of caverns marked with a distinctive seal. Garuman and his companion Marrok searched the perimeter and found tracks leading from the kitchen's back door—a woman's slippers with deeper impressions than expected and the shuffling steps of a child. Additional tracks showed frantic running to a cart, where someone had hidden for approximately a day before fleeing. The tracks eventually led south on the main road before disappearing.
While the others investigated inside, Tinky remained outside and overheard Melius questioning a corpse. The dead revealed that the attackers were a young woman in armor with a staff and a strange creature made of shadow and bone that kept changing shape. Tinky then engaged in a bizarre and unsettling conversation with Melius, making disturbing propositions that the wizard firmly rejected before returning to his duties supervising the burial of the dead. Although it seemed at times like the wizard was suggesting odd things as well.
Inside the tavern, the party examined the burned kitchen worker who still clutched a chipped cleaver, suggesting he had attempted to defend himself. In the storage area, they made a grim discovery—hidden inside a beer cask was the body of a teenager with a broken neck, deliberately concealed unlike the other victims. The party decided to question the dead in a specific order to maximize the information they could gather, beginning with the bartender to establish the basic facts of what had occurred.
As they respectfully moved the bartender's body from behind the bar, a long sword tumbled out from beneath her. The weapon's pommel bore a steel circle with an emblem of a sword piercing a face—a symbol they recognized from The Many's bracelet and spear. Tak carefully picked up the sword with a cloth and began placing it into his magical bag. As the blade entered the container, a glyph on the hilt suddenly flared to life, and smoke began pouring from the weapon, pooling on the floor and taking solid form. A creature emerged from the hilt in complete silence—a mass of tentacles ending in eyes, a gaping maw, and one central eye that regarded the party with unmistakable glee.
