After a few days back in Westmist, Kern called the party together to
fill them in on information he had been collecting about the March Baron and
all the somewhat shady goings on over the last few months. Kern had discovered
that, first of all, the King was not privy to Lord Merdwyn latest caper,
setting up an independent County Palatine. And Lord Merdwyn at least was
worried he would take offense and was going out of his way to placate His
Majesty. While this was going on, the March Baron continued to consolidate his
hold on the old town of Nasper. This was being bankrolled by a treasure trove
recovered, by the March Baron (assisted by another group of adventurers) from
below Nasper Castle. And thirdly, there was something fishy going on with the
March Baron, Jax and Sir Wyder (the King's recent representative in Westmist).
Although the royal knight was seen passing through Westmist after the hobgoblin
battles, reports uncovered by Kern seemed to point to the knight’s death in
battle. Which left open the question of who was this other Sir Wyder? Kern warned that one of his spies had been discovered and dismissed from the March Baron's service. While he doesn't think the person can be traced back to him, it is a reason to be extra careful around Jax and the March Baron for now.
While all of great interest, this was not information that could be
acted n at once. For now, Riley and Kern paid a visit to Thuridici the Sage.
They wished to question him about the secret chest recovered from the Forbidden
City, as well as the gate by which they had reached that city. The irritable
academic met with them and, after being shown the chest, agreed to take the job
(for a paltry 1000gp) of determining how to bypass the beard curse when opening
it. The carving, he said, seemed to depict one of the many of demons worshipped
in the far southern jungles. As for the gate, he was surprised to find that
there was such a thing hidden in a Westmist cellar. Based on the description,
he immediately declared it to be one of them many Gates of the Wind Wizards of
Foronaxos. The Wind Wizards were a powerful group of mages who specialized in
the building and use of magical gates. They had done so since the beginning of
recorded history, even back before the Godwars that destroyed the first fabled
civilizations of man. The last known member of the order was reportedly seen
several hundred years ago, and to the best of Thuridici's knowledge they were
no more. Their gates were powered by precious gems, and each gate could be
opened to different locations depending on the actual combination of gems (star
ruby, star sapphire, blue diamond, and even fabled star topaz) inserted into
the slots. Surprised to find their gate could lead to many dangerous places,
Kern asked if it was possible to destroy or block it. Horrified at the thought
of destroying such an artifact, Thuridici did believe it possible to block
passage through it by some other means. But could not say how without further
research (at a cost of 3000gp). Kern and Riley, checking their coin purse,
choose not to hire the sage at this point, and opted instead for the temporary
expedient of having Slate build a wall across the gate to prevent any unwanted
visitors from entering the house.
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Thirsty still for information, Kern suggested a trip to Stonehell to
speak with Lachesis. Mainly to find out if it was possible to sleep in the
dungeon safely. Back into the depths went Kern (and Bjorn) and Riley (and
Gurruk), only to be stopped almost immediately by a new door that blocked
access to the old hobgoblin fortress and the stairs to the lower levels. While
not trapped, the door was barred, so Riley decided to knock and see who
answered. A small slot opened in the door, a pair of eyes peered out and a
strangely familiar voice asked "Who are you? What is your business
here?" The cleric, showing immense self control, explained who they were
and their desire to head deeper in the dungeon. At which point the voice asked
"Ah, Brother Riley. Do you not remember us?" Which, after a little
further back and forth, led to the discovery that holding the door and old
fortress against them was a band of their former hirelings and henchmen. Mysteriously
(?) back from their former dungeon graves. While not happy at their previous
treatment (i.e. left for dead) by the party, the band agreed that in return for
a small 50gp fee, the party would be free to pass their door in perpetuity.
Chaffing at the embarrassment of being shaken down by their dead hirelings, the
quartet none the less passed through without incident, greeting previously dead
acquaintances along the way.
Past that hurdle, the headed straight to Lachesis. That lady agreed to
meet with them, and in exchange for the usual fee, answered their questions
about sleeping in the dungeon. She dismissed the story of insanity in anyone
sleeping below ground as a baseless myth. She had lived in Stonehell for many
years, and was she not sane? The biggest problem would be finding a place where
the resting party would not be continually disturbed by the denizens of the
dungeon. She did offer, for an additional fee, to give directions to a location
of a room on the second level guaranteed to give them a peaceful place to rest.
Kern and Riley, however, checked their bank balance and choose to not spend any
more coin at this time.
Having taken leave of the spy mistress, Kern now convinced Riley to go
with him to the garden area to take revenge on Urushiol, the crazed guardian of
the gardens who had cheated Kern and Darnorth in their previous dealings. Riley
agreed, so off to the gardens they went. And immediately set off the same
screaming alarm that was set of on previous visits. Hoping to still recover
some element of surprise, Kern donned his ring of invisibility and crept ahead
of the party. What he found was not comforting. Urushiol's fungal cavern was
now filled with a massive web cave, just like those built by the spell spiders.
Wandering around it were a dozen emunyfolk, acting strangely subdued. Kern went
back to fetch the rest of the party, and they then decided to try talking to
the emunyfolk to find out what had happened. No luck though, as the mushroom
men instead shuffled towards the group to attack. Although well outnumbered,
the party's vicious response caused the emunyfolk to pull back. At which point
Kern saw more trouble; a massive spell spider crawling across the ceiling and casting
spells. As magic missiles slammed into the party, the huge arachnid dropped on
top of them and started to tear into them. Kern however, was able to slip on
his ring of invisibility again, and
get behind the beast, driving his sword deep into its gullet. Mortally wounded,
it turned on Kern, but was beaten down and slain by Riley, Bjorn and Gurruk.
With the death of the spider, the emunyfolk seemed to come out of their stupor.
They immediately headed for one end of the web cave, and their recovered the
body of Urushiol, whom they carried off to bury. The party, meanwhile, looked
for loot, and recovered the rest of Urushiol's old hoard below the remains of
her giant mushroom.
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While not exactly the vengeance he desired, Kern was satisfied. Riley,
however, now wanted to drop to the fourth level and recovered the statue that
seemed to strip away age. He figured Zoloren would pay well for such an
artifact. So down they went. Bjorn cast floating
disk and the four of them then carefully (without touching it), used a
clock to drag the statue over to the disk, and tipped it onto the magical
carrier. Heading back up to exit the
dungeon, the spell expired about halfway, forcing them to drag it the rest of
the way. But they were able to get it
outside, and back to Westmist. There, Kern first tried to convince the elderly Rikar to touch it, but the former soldier wouldn't have anything to do with such 'dark majiks'. Instead, Kern convinced the middle-aged Bjorn to touch it a couple of
times to see if it would work. On the first touch, Bjorn suddenly looked much
less wrinkled and grey. Alas, the second did nothing for the now sprier mage. But figuring it would still be of interest to Zoloren, they got in touch with Afflain the Fence,
who agreed to contact the archmage to see what he might offer for this
item.
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