A2 Ch2: The Fractured Burrows

Continuing their journey to Idreah from Silarion, Bink studies the maps and the book he took from the manor, the latter of which giving him the charm person spell. Aire along the way searched for herbs or other medicinal items along the roads and forest, among the herbs and fruit he found he encountered a death adder which he killed and stored its venom. During one of the nights Bink saw a flash of yellow light inside his tent and found all his items strewn about. During another night, Xar heard some rustling and after a bit saw a disembodied pair of legs and hovering hands holding his coin pouch walking away. After a chase, Xar caught up and stabbed the area where a torso would be actualling sinking into something and blood starts to drip. The rest of the man materializes and surprised says "You saw me?" before dying. Xar takes his money and the mans money and leaves.   The team comes back to Idreah to see the usual residents of Idreah and the refugees from Stanmore, but also the Arruce army encamped in the area. Avoiding any run ins with the army, the party goes to the inn to try and find Ellis. Instead they see a man at the bar who is one of the Stanmore refugees. He is running the inn in her stead while she takes over running the city in the absence of her uncle. They ask him if he has any rations to spare and he tells them that much of what they have is going to the war effort but he has a friend in the army and he will see if he can scrounge any rations for them as a thank you for rescuing them.   Heading over to the Ritter's house where Ellis is, Aire sees Leander the owl on top of the building. They knock and Ellis lets them in where they see a human talking to her which they don't recognize though she says it's their friend Daxius. Rydel is brooding in the corner as Daxius complains that outing him that easily kind of takes away from the disguise. The party talks to Daxius about the stones and partially tells him about what happened at the manor while he tell then that the Temple was ruined and dug up like some archaeological site and there were tunnel systems further in which was teeming with necromantic energy. After the party not telling the full story of what happened in the manor and attacking Daxius about his age and owl they ask him who originally defended the stone that was in the north which he responds Dolgan. Daxius says ifg there nothing more he is going back to Galren to make sure things are okay with the coming army and the unrest among the recently displaced aristocracy as he is worried about his tower. Se gives the party a sending stone for communication and leaves.   The party then discusses their next move and ultimately decides that they will go north first and then come back to the fractured burrows once they have a second stone. They bought up rations and feed for the horses and set off on a 12 day journey toward Sun Harbor to see if they can catch a boat to the north to cut down their trip to the Kingdom of Arruce.   They reached the edge of the forest when they saw a vaguely familiar sight: a dog sitting next to an easel, but with the artist no where to be seen. Going up to the painting the dog starts to whine at them. The painting is strange as it depicts the man they've met before, Herve LeRue, hiding behind a rock from a large demonic shadow. Bink touches the canvas as is pulled into the painting while Aire and the dog (which Shen threw in) followed behind. Dropping behind the rock with Herve he is surprised to see them but then quickly tells them to be quiet. The only way out is to get his art supplies that are behind this demon. Xar and Shen see the painting change like a slide show slowly to show their friends drop into the painting. Aire decides to try to sneak close to the demon and see if he can grab the supplies and run. Outside, Shen takes a dagger and throws it into the painting, Aire and Bink see the dagger comes from the sky and hit the demon who seemed to be unfazed by any damage it did but now angered and looking around for the thrower. Bink throws a rock to further distract the demon while Aire runs out from his cover and grabs the supplies. Running back to Herve and Bink with the demon in tow, they give Herve his supplies. The demon swipes and misses while Herve creates a sort of portrait where they can see Xar and Shen. They jump through and Herve quickly paints up the canvas and crushes it.   The party questions him and finds that the reason his painting are so expensive and sought after is because the rich use them as an escape. He paints them their own little tranquil area to rest and relax. Shen believing anyone with these magic supplies could do this asks if he can see his brush. Herve refuses but says he could paint something for the party for 1000 gold. Asking for a discount he drops it to 900 gold as they did just save his and his dog, but not being able to afford it, Bink just asks for his spare set of regular painters supplies instead. The party says bye to Herve and head out. That night the party argues about why they didn't go to the fractured burrows when it had been so close to Idreah. Not realizing just how close it was, Bink changes his mind on what he wants to do and the rest of the party agrees to head back and clear out the burrows first.   They were only three days of travel away and along the way when they set up camp for a night they saw another campfire in the distance. Deciding to ignore it, Aire was taking watch when a soldier wearing the black armor they've seen from the army expanding west approached the camp. Aire put up his hood and greeted the man. He asks what they are doing out in the the wilderness and after some talk ask if they could join them for the night. Aire explains that the party he is with is.... unusual, and the guard doesn't mind. Aire gets the sense that he isn't telling them something and comes to find out that they are deserters. He goes and wakes up when and tells him what happened and that they would be having guests. Aire goes to their camp and helps them move things while Shen talks with the one who stayed with them. They learn about Arruce and a little of what is going on there. They have an organization there called the Spellbreakers and the Kingdom wants to expand it's southern borders westward and reignite the war that ended over 100 years ago. They did not agree with what they were ordered to do and some some atrocities committed that they refused to be apart of, so they left. Aire and the rest of the soldiers join back up and talk for a bit then sleep. Waking up they seem a little startled and interested by Xar, but not hostile. They tell them of the village of Silarion and how they are about to rebuild half the village so that may be a good place for them to start new lives. They thank them for the conversation and hospitality and part ways.   The party arrives at the site of the Fractured Burrows. It looks like a dig site with a ruined temple that was uncovered. Tying up their horses and only bringing in what they need, they enter the temple. Inside is barren as it is assumed the people who dug this up took anything of interest or value. There are a couple murals, one on the floor surrounding a pedestal showing people meditating around it in a circle sending energy toward the pedestal. Bink gathers that this is where one of the stones was held. The second mural on the wall depicts a battle scene with people they recognize as some of the statues from the manor fighting against undead. One of the Ildari who they recognize as Taimael is holding a sword with the same hilt as the one they took from the manor. The mural inspires a story in the mind of Bink and should he write it he will learn Heroism. They also notice a hole in the back of the temple that looks like a tunnel system that was dug by something not humanoid.   Entering the tunnels they feel uneasy, cold, and the dark acts a little unusual though their light and darkvision still works. Traveling in they find torture devices with etchings nearby "Tiabha - Disobeying my orders, Halton - Disobeying its orders, Rae - illegible". Upon going further in they find skeletal remains with the clothes/armor still intact. They have blue tanned leather jerkins and one of them is clutching a scroll nearby an opened empty chest. The scroll is another animate dead scroll and the dead are from the Blue Tops. Venturing further they find themselves in a large cavernous area covered in ash with a small marble statue of a skeleton with a heart in the ribcage at the back of the room. Xar approaches and as he gets close enough to touch it the eyes glow and seven ash zombies form from the ash covered ground. Fighting off the zombies they take the idol and go outside to stow it in their cart and rest for a short while. Shen in the back of the room finds an etching on the wall which seems to be a prayer of sorts and takes a rubbing of it.   Continuing in they find a chest stuck in a hole in the cieling and upon removing it some acid spills down from where it was. Inside were some valuable materials. They then found an alter with pews and tapestry with a ribcage logo with a heart inside. Shen then finds a torn up page underneath the cloth on the alter which resembles the prayer he has an etching of. Deciding to speak the prayer he hears a voice inside his head offering him power. He accepts and is given a lesser boon of Iros (The God of Undeath). He has the ability to cast animate dead at will once per day. In order to regain the charge, however, he must kill an innocent. They see a skeleton in a cage and decide before going that direction they should check behind them. Further in they find a mural depicting three of them with their moths covered by dismembered hands and one of them impaled through the chest with a glaive. They fight and defeat a bearded devil and 3 crawling hands and Shen takes some of the beard from the devil. The mural then depicts a cage with a skeleton in it with a chest underneath.   Going back to the cage with the skeleton they see that the chest actually appeared. Inside they find a warhammer, holy symbol of Ulir (God of Duty), and a shielding prayer (Shield Spell). The path then split and as they went left they found cages with husks of Ankhegs in cages with the backs of the cages broken and tunnels burrowed. There was also an area where a lot of refuse was thrown. They then took the right path of the fork to find a rickety bridge over a dark pit in which they hear skittering. They also see nearby a well that has been covered tightly shut with some marking on the covering. Shen knows the marking to prevent creatures that can normally pass through surfaces from escaping. They hear a faint moaning from the well and decide to leave it be. Attempting to cross the bridge, each one of them almost falls through and has Aire help them up and across.   Across they find another alter, this time to Ulir with a silver chalice on top. Grabbing the chalice, Aire instinctively jumps back as the floor drops to a pit before. At the bottom of the pit they see a tunnel leading somewhere. They decide to go further in passing a pool of acid and ultimately to the final area. Before entering the large cavernous area they find a dead end with a wooden board on the wall. Burning the wood they see a tunnel leading somewhere.   Going to the cavernous area they hear a maniacal cackling. Heading towards it they see in a different area a small red devil with a chain whip and a fight breaks out. Another red devil (Cackler) comes from the area where they heard it and a large frog looking demon appears from a different area. Defeating them they find a study area with a skeleton sitting in a chair, a mirror, and a staff lying against the wall. On the desk are research notes on the Maerin stone. Shen takes the staff and Bink looks into the mirror. A fof forms in a faint humanoid figure and is surprised not to see it's "master" and Bink learns that this mirror typically shows the owner its deepest desire but has been corrupted to show the user whatever they ask, though its power fades. Asking it to show the Maerin stone they see a hooded figure walking toward a city Bink recognizes as Chey. Asking to see the hooded figures face the fog swirls again and opens up to the front of the hooded figure which they recognize as Mattias Veys. The mirror shatters and the party leaves through the tunnel they found which led back through an illusionary wall to the ash covered room near the entrance.   Heading back to Idreah they see it has been set up as a medical base of sorts. They all feel as though that through their experiences thus far they have gained new insights into new fighting styles, magic, stories, etc. and decide to split to practice these ideas further and reconvene in about 1 months time. Xar is accompanying Aire to Ghandon monastery, Bink is going to his home village, and Shen had Daxius open the teleportation circle from Idreah to Galren.