Session 128

Dain greeted Gloin, who seemed glad to see him. He asked what had brought Dain to Kantor, saying he didn't believe he was here just to visit him. Dain told him that they were searching for information about Soulbinders, and in particular, a way to destroy a Soulstone, and also mentioned to Gloin that Mythwell had been destroyed, which distressed him; especially considering Gloin said he had briefly considered studying there before deciding to study among his own people to become a Runescribe. He said that he didn't know anything about what Dain was searching for, but said that Runemaster Ormar might, as he was the head of the Runescribes in Karsil Allor. He brought them to an altar in the main temple thoroughfare where they could see a lone Ashenfolk man praying.

Approaching the man, he addressed them without turning or opening his eyes, with Gloin telling Ormar about Dain and his business. Intrigued, Ormar questioned them some more, admitting that he knew nothing of Soulbinding, but may be able to help them destroy a Soulstone if they could tell him what it was and what it was made of. Dain produced the book given to them by the archivist at the Geir Soldan, which Ormar quickly thumbed through. He seemed to not understand the contents thoroughly, but picked up on the fact that the Soulstone was made of two component materials -- Akronite, and Aetherium crystals. He said that the Soulstone they described would likely have magical protections on it, but once they remove them, they may be able to separate the Soulstone into its component materials using a rune, which would nullify its ability to contain the spirit, causing Andozar's spirit to flee. The group questioned him for a bit about Runescribing, asking how old the practice was, and Ormar said that that was a silly question, explaining that Runescribing was the oldest form of magic in Aellorah, having been given to the first Dwarves by Aellor herself. He said that eventually when the Dwarves began experimenting and learned to control The Aura directly by communing with it, Aellor created the Flow Lock to limit the amount of Flow they could direct in a given day so that they could not abuse it. He explained that the Ashenfolk used Runescribing rather than more modern magics not because they could not learn it, but because they believed runes were what Aellor intended them to use, believing other forms of magic to be heretical. He gave a demonstration of Runescribing, using the rune of water to turn a stone chair into a liquid which pooled on the ground before he dispelled the rune and picked up the oddly shaped slab of stone that was once a chair and breaking it into pieces. He then used another rune that caused the stone chair to reform into its original shape. He explained that Runescribing had different limitations to the magic of other cultures, but was more powerful in some regards, both simpler and more complex simultaneously. Ormar sensed that the group wasn't here just to learn about Soulbinding and questioned further until Merrick revealed his motivation for seeking the Ashenfolk's help, showing Ormar the mark on his arm.

Ormar seemed to recognize the mark, saying that Merrick was afflicted by something called a "Kamar Bond", which was once used during the Age of Creation by slavers to mark slaves as their property, using the mark to know their slaves' locations at all times and giving them the power to weaken or even kill them if they rebelled or tried to flee. He asked how Merrick came to be afflicted by this, and Merrick told Ormar about the Deep One, explaining his experience in the Whispering Abyss as a child. Ormar admitted he knew very little about Kamar bonds and said that the group should accompany him to the Geir Soldan to find more information. As the group made their way through the streets towards the Geir Soldan, they were approached by what were clearly guards, dressed similarly to the ones they encountered at the entrance to Kantor, who greeted them in a friendly way, saying that King Thorfin had heard of their arrival and was curious about them, and that he wanted to invite them to a dinner at the Ska Wylvan on the eastern side of the city. The party accepted and was told to meet him there tonight. Continuing to the Geir Soldan, the group greeted the archivist, whom Ormar addressed as Wolfar. The two briefly chatted with Ormar asking about Wolfar's sister. Wolfar said that she had been searching for a place to settle to offer her filamentory services and after considering Artus and Dolenna, had set up her shop in Mythwell. Dain hung his head and delivered the news of what had happened to the city, shocking the man, who shuffled off to a back room to process the news. Ormar asked why Dain couldn't have waited until after they found what they were looking for to tell him that, and began to search the stacks of books. After a time, he came across a book that seemed to detail the experiences of a Letheni man during the Age of Creation who had been bonded to his master for some 500 years before he was able to reverse the bond against his master and kill him. The account described how this man had waited until his master was distracted to read his journal to learn how the bond was forged. He then worked with filamentors of the old Drakantal Empire to extract his own filament and had a Runescribe "mirror" it so it would reflect the identity of the one who bonded him rather than himself. He then forged his own Kamar bond on his master, cancelling out the master's bond and allowing the slave to use the bond to kill his master. This provided a glimmer of hope, suggesting Merrick may finally have found a way to sever his connection to the Deep One. Ormar explained that Merrick would need to do something similar, and suggested he go find a Filamentor named Dira in the southern part of town to have his filament extracted so Ormar could mirror it.

Proceeding to find the Filamentor known as Dira, Merrick began the process of having his filament extracted onto a spindle; a process which took several hours and left him feeling exhausted. After being given a spool of his own filament, Merrick asked what he owed Dira, and she simply asked him to give her what he thought was fair, as money didn't matter to the Ashenfolk much, but that she wanted to travel the world and money would certainly help her greatly. He handed her 500 gp and she thanked him. The group then head back to Ormar, who was comforting a depressed Wolfar. Ormar said that he was continuing to read and said that they would need a reagent of some kind to amplify Merrick's connection to allow him to overpower the Deep One once they faced off, and said that he did not yet know what would be needed because it was not recorded in the book, and said that they should go to their dinner with King Thorfin. When the hour arrived, the party went to Ska Wylvan, a large basalt structure built into the cavern wall on the eastern side of the city with steps decorated with mica, causing them to sparkle in the dim light. They proceeded up the stairs and the Ska Jian escorted them inside to the dining hall, which was sparsely decorated and featured only a large round table. After waiting a moment, an Ashenfolk man in a blue folded tunic and dark pants entered.

The man sat in silence briefly before speaking to the group, greeting them and welcoming them to his city. He introduced himself as King Thorfin Hardak, and said that he was curious as they were the first to visit Kantor from outside Reshyk since well before he was born. He began to question the party about what they were seeking in Kantor and asking about the lands they have been to and what was going on in the world. He seemed to be aware of Dain and asked about the Forgeborn, commenting that several had made residence in his city; apparently aware that Dain was responsible for their creation. He was amazed and after discussing their travels some more, he offered them food, which began with Ajongir, the strong alcohol they had seen the drunk man at the city's entrance drinking. Summer decided to extend the hospitality by offering the Frostfire Mead in the cask she had with her. King Thorfin immediately downed an entire flagon, after which he promptly lost his balance and fell out of his chair, immediately feeling its effects. The Ska Jian reacted quickly in alarm, asking what the party had done to him, but King Thorfin raised a finger saying he was fine, just very very drunk. He stumbled to his feet and back into his chair before introducing the first course, bread and meat which smelled so heavily of butter that they could barely make out the smell of the bread and meat. They ate the meat with the bread as King Thorfin instructed and were overwhelmed by the richness of the meat and how much butter was on it. After digesting it and discussing their current goals with King Thorfin, especially looking for an expert on Soulbinding, they were presented with the final course, a dish that King Thorfin called Lenthik, some sort of green sauce with meat in it that was surrounded by fermented vegetables, which the party was pleasantly surprised by. Afterwards, he offered them dessert in the form of a bread with was filled with some sort of thick herb cream and small dark green balls. The filling tasted like a rich buttery cream and the little balls tasted slightly salty. After the dinner concluded, King Thorfin wished the party well on their travels before stumbling out of the room, clearly still heavily drunk. Proceeding back to Karsil Allor, they ran into Gloin who explained that Runemaster Ormar had gone to bed, but they could stay the night. He also said that Ormar had discovered that the reagent used by the man in the story had gone extinct long ago, and they would need to find another way to empower Merrick's connection to the Deep One. Furthermore, they would need to return to the Whispering Abyss where Merrick's connection to the Deep One would be strongest. Dain pondered this for a moment before asking if a Flow Cell would help, producing one from his bag, which Gloin smiled at saying it might, but wondering how Dain managed to get one out of Reshyk. After giving them rooms for the night, they woke in the morning to speak to Ormar again. He said that they would need to find a way to distract the Deep One while Merrick performed the ritual to forge the Kamar bond. They pondered several ways to do this, and Ormar also reminded Merrick that the Deep One may pick up on the fact that he is traveling to the Abyss and to prepare a lie as to why they are headed in that direction. Ormar agreed with Dain that the Flow Cell would help in strengthening Merrick's connection, but the raw power would do nothing and he needed to come up with some sort of device to channel that power to enhance Merrick.

Merrick then decided to contact Orick, and updated him on what was going on. Orick said that they were on a good path and making good progress. Dain asked if Andozar's journal would be a good way to distract the Deep One, though Orick reminded him that Andozar's own account of investigating the Whispering Abyss showed that for whatever reason, the Deep One had no interest in undead. The group considered several ways of attacking the Deep One, and briefly considered killing Merrick after the bond was severed to show the Deep One that Merrick was now beyond his power forever to get him to believe Merrick was gone so they could Revivify him after he left -- though Orick said this would be a very risky gambit, as if he did not leave before the minute was up, the ruse would fail and Merrick would perish. Orick suggested that he could attack the Deep One as he had done with Emir during their battle with Aubron years ago, and though he might not last very long, it may be long enough for Merrick to complete the ritual. He said however that should he be successful in severing the bond, but if Orick were to die in battle, Merrick would be powerless for a time until Orick regenerated, which could be up to a year. Finally, Orick suggested that perhaps this was a good thing and that Merrick could petition Estrea to enter a pact with her so that she would be his new patron, as they had a good rapport. He said that the Deep One could not forge a bond with Merrick if he was under her protection, as no being in all creation was more powerful than Estrea. They agreed this was a good plan, but Orick said no matter what the outcome, the Deep One most likely would eventually send his Fathomless, or perhaps his Deep Spawn after him. This left Merrick with a lot to think about, and as Orick bid them farewell, the group decided to leave Kantor to seek the Soulbinders in Gothir. They said their farewells to Runemaster Ormar after he gave them two talismans, which he explained would allow them to utilize a rune to separate the component materials of Andozar's Soulstone. Before he could explain what the talismans did, Dain produced the ones Jeryll had given him before from his pouch, which seemed to confuse Ormar, as he wondered how an outsider knew of their magic. He wished them good fortune as they left Karsil Allor towards Minok. Arriving in Minok two weeks later, the group chartered a boat to the port town of Guruma in Gothir.

Almost 10 weeks later, the group finally arrived on the shores of Gothir. Upon disembarking from the ship, they were immediately swarmed by people of all different races admiring their weaponry and armor, talking over each other in an overwhelming din, offering them varying amounts of gold almost in a competition, though for what the party was unsure. After a moment, a Human woman shouted at them all and told them to scatter. The people obeyed and left, after which the woman introduced herself as Advocate Ruby, saying that the people harassing them were recruiters for the various mercenary companies in Gothir who were looking to recruit them for the crusade. She said that it was her job to negotiate fair compensation for their experience, whereas the recruiters themselves would try to get someone to sign on before knowing what fair compensation looked like to rip them off. She asked how long they wanted to sign on to the crusade's service. After the group responded that they were not here for the crusade, the woman seemed confused and questioned what they were here for, then. After telling her, she walked off in an annoyed huff. The group could smell meat on the air and could see mercenaries on the streets all around them, with the sounds of weapons clanging in the distance. They decided to just head for the city of Ebondel to the east. As they walked toward the main road, they saw a number of beggars looking for handouts. Skinner decided to give them all some gold, but Summer immediately recognized what a bad idea this was, as some ruffians in a nearby alley were eyeing them the entire time. The ruffians followed them to the gates and for a good while down the road, but eventually gave up. As they walked across the steppes, they could see mountains in every direction and grasses and cacti across the endless rocky terrain of red soil. After traveling for more than two weeks, they came upon the city of Ebondel, where they could see a large black-barked tree with orange leaves falling through the air toward them, which smelled vaguely of wintergreen. In the city, they were approached by a woman asking which company they were with and where the rest of their detachment was, but after being told they were not with any company, the confused woman interrogated them about their business. After being told what they sought, the woman got increasingly more frustrated, explaining that southern Gothir was off-limits due to the threat of the Bakari. The group seemed to not heed this, and asked who could get them permission to travel south. The woman pointed them to a nearby building saying that they would need to seek permission from Seneshal Hellenna, the high commander of Ebondel's military.

As the group walked towards the building, they overheard some mercenaries talking about how they had recently returned from an excursion south where they had come upon the town of Marakan, which Skinner recognized because he had heard he had family there. Apparently the town was still active, with a couple thousand residents, despite the Bakari crawling all over the mountains. The scout reported that she had seen Bakari approach the town, but they were quickly torn apart by what appeared to be spirits, with the scout saying the town must be under the protection of a Soulbinder. Noting this, the group went to the building where they saw a woman leaning over a war map table.

Approaching, they heard the woman speaking to her subordinates asking for status reports, with one telling her that the Bakari have been shoring up their defenses west of Koranir building structures, while the other described a scouting party that had gone to investigate sounds of mining in Koranir and had not yet returned. The group waited to speak with her, and she eventually asked them in an annoyed tone what they wanted. They briefly explained their desire to travel to Marakan, but the woman said it was absolutely out of the question, especially for Skinner, pointing out that any Ettinor bitten by a Bakari would become one of them. She said that with all the fancy armor and weapons they were carrying, they were especially a liability given that the last time a Bakari got their hands on an enchanted weapon, they lost 40 soldiers. Dain tried to convince the woman by explaining their mission and the dire circumstances, mentioning Mythwell's destruction. At this, Hellenna went pale, saying that her sister lived in Mythwell. She deflated, and Dain apologized for her loss, saying that he was trying to stop something like this from happening to more cities, and Marakan was probably their only hope. At this, Hellenna said that she didn't have the resources to help them, but said if they wanted to get themselves killed, she wouldn't stop them. She told them the password to get past the outer gate before asking if they could investigate the missing scouting party her subordinate had mentioned, saying that it was critical they learn what was happening in Koranir. The group agreed, but asked if there was anything Hellenna could tell them about the Bakari to help them. She said they were fast and strong, but that fire wasn't particularly effective against them, and no matter what happened, to not let Skinner get bit by one. She also said the Bakari would enjoy toying with Dain due to his size. Dain asked if there was anything they could do if Skinner was bitten by a Bakari, but Hellenna seemed to indicate this was a death sentence, and told them to just not get bitten. Finally, they asked if the Bakari had any weaknesses, to which Hellenna told the story of a wizard who was experimenting with it before the Bakari killed him, who had thrown a spell at them which bubbled and sizzled on their skin, which they really didn't seem to like. Dain seemed to believe this was acid, and Hellenna agreed. After parting ways with Hellenna, the group decided to stay the night before continuing. They found a place to stay and left the following morning.

Proceeding south along the main road, the party say a storm looming over distant mountains which appeared to be moving their way. As they approached what appeared to be the ruins of the city called Koranir, the storm was rolling in over them. They could see long stretches of plateaus blocking their path, with the city ruins built along the pass, making it a natural checkpoint. Approaching the city's ruins, they could see a watchtower against the mesa ahead as the lightning flashed and thunder crashed above them...