Session 451 - The Crater

14^thof Larane (Summer) 729TR

The story so far

A group of heroes battles the evils haunting the beleaguered Kingdom of Kanday.

Sir Odin, a former Erkan of the Order of the Checkered Shield, has been raised to knighthood.

Remy, a former master thief and gambler, has won and lost fortunes.

Abaddon has traveled the wilderness, wielding a weapon of the gods, perfecting his impressive martial skills.

Edelina, a scholarly priestess of the god of Knowledge Save K’Nor, joins them on their adventures.

This is the continuation of Session 450 – A Falling Star.

A month ago, the Barony of Sarkum experienced a massive earthquake that flooded some of its coastal settlements, and a star fell from the sky. A blazing trail marked the path of a comet seen over the Ternu Heath in southern Kanday, exploding in the sky with a loud thunderclap heard throughout the kingdom.

Master weaponsmith Cearbhall Ciernack is an expert on fallen stars, having collected the metal from many after a long expedition to Anfla Island. From these, he forges exceptional weapons and armor. Cearbhall is eager to see what he can find from the recent meteor shower and asks his friend Odin to join him. Odin, keen to improve his armaments with some of Cearbhall’s fine work, joins the expedition. However, that was weeks ago, and neither has returned as expected. Edelina is worried, so she asks Abaddon and Remy to join her in a search.

Location: Ternu Heath in the Kingdom of Kanday.

Part 1 – The Crater

Edelina, Abaddon, and Remy travel through the Ternu Heath for several days, avoiding the worst of the bogs and dismal scrubland. They spot a smoky crater and investigate; something inside is burning. A closer examination reveals a large meteor chunk; however, the collision of earth and sky, along with other recent supernatural events, has created a temporary rift to the elemental planes, and unnatural entities have stepped through. Two elementals stalk the crater, one a vague, fiery, gigantic rat-like form surrounded by a hot, toxic cloud of fumes, and the other a vaguely amorphous humanoid shape composed of black metal, shrouded in fire. Unknown to the heroes, a third, dangerous elemental creature lurks underground, a huge, slug-like, vicious, rusty, metallic mass.

Fortunately, two other investigators have arrived. On the other side of the crater are none other than Odin and Cearbhall. Although their search for meteorite fragments has delayed them, it has been successful. The joyful reunion is paused as the heroes fight the aggressive elementals. Cearbhall eagerly launches into battle, wielding his enchanted sword Baodan, which burns with both hot and cold flames; he is also a master of the dwarven martial art known as Mánalfenír.

While Cearbhall, Odin, and Abaddon fight off the flaming rat and the metal mass, Remy battles the much more powerful metallic form shrouded in fire. He finds summoning blasts of cold particularly effective, but the element forms its limbs into long, flaming metal plates, which nearly slice him in twain. Fortunately, Edelina provides ample Healing to keep him standing.

Nevertheless, Cearbhall, Odin, and Abaddon eventually destroy the rusty slug and smoldering rat and come to Remy’s aid. The flaming, formless mass of metal is soon shattered and destroyed. While the happy Edelina and Odin reunite, Cearbhall retrieves the valuable metal, and the group decides to head back to civilisation.

Part 2 – A Bad Day for Merchants

Traveling along the trade routes, the party encounters a wagon with dead horses and a lot of blood, but little evidence of looting. The obvious trail shows three people being dragged by something large, a creature with multiple legs, leaving circular footprints. The track leads back several leagues to a cave over a small gorge.

Remy flies the party over the gap and cautiously enters the web-and-gore-filled cave. Several deep cavities hide something rotten, and Odin spots movement. Out emerge half a dozen disgusting undead, albino ghouls, all displaying prominent diseased fangs and claws. They look as if they were drained of blood before becoming undead. The cunning undead attempt to surround the heroes and strike at unguarded backs. Regardless, the heroes quickly dispatch the foul undead.

Part 3 – Foul Deformed Spiders

Deeper in the cave, the webbing thickens, and three human-shaped bundles covered in webs hang from the ceiling; two of them start twitching. Then an enormous, deformed spider with seven legs appears, observing the heroes with a dozen eerily human-looking eyes. The monstrosity rushes past Odin, who is hiding among the rocks, and he strikes from behind. Meanwhile, another similar spider, larger with nine legs and a dozen eyes, tries to sneak behind the heroes but is spotted by Abaddon.

Heroes fight courageously, and although the freakish spider’s venom is deadly, they avoid it and eventually defeat the vile monsters.

The twitching web bundles hold the still-living but paralyzed merchants Artus and Gofrin; unfortunately, their guard is dead. The spiders were slowly draining their blood for nourishment and eventually transforming them into more ghoulish slaves. After some care from Edelina, the men recovered enough to be safely returned to the City of Aleath and rewarded the party for their rescue.

To be continued.

NPC Interactions

Artus and Gofrin - Traveling Merchants.

Related Content

Cearbhall Ciernack, Weaponsmith - Updated.

Mánalfenír - Dwarven Martial Arts style.

Created Content

Nothing this week.

Player Characters

Odin - Human - L18 Ranger

Background - Martial Disciple.

Archetype - Shadowdancer, Investigator, and Fighter.

Abaddon - Elf - L18Monk

Background - Martial Disciple.

Archetypes - Druid and Familiar Master.

Remy - Human - L18 Aerokineticist (with Metal second gate)

Background - Acrobat.

Archetypes - Wizard, Acrobat, and Thief.

NPC Companion

Edelina - Human - L18 Holy Sage Sorcerer

Background - Astrologer.

Archetypes - Psychic and Time Mage.

Next Session

Session 453 – Unwelcome Stowaway.