Session 13 - Forgotten Trap

33/04/5-10

Looking around after the fight, the party noticed a book left open upon a nearby rock. Valeyo looked at the book, but the writing seemed like gibberish. He prompted Otto to disrupt the ritual circle that could be seen on the floor, which seemingly stopped the area from spreading further. The party discussed the possibility of Alina being at fault and her knowing more that she let on. They then looked at the ground and Valeyo deduced that the glow from the pools had reduced. Three nearby trees were in the corrupted area. The all had large holes in their side, as if something had crawled out. Valeyo mentioned the possibility of the oozes they had seen on the way to Krainasto having come from these trees.

The party talked about how to approach Alina, with Shiek suggesting she might be more powerful than them, but Valeyo said he refused to let her get away with this. When Valeyo suggested gathering the bodies, Shiek instead said they should burn them as no parent would want to see their child in that state. The two which hadn't been melded had their neck slashed. Cassini investigated it, seeing that the cut was deep and made with an object, similar to the owl's talons.

Valeyo looked at the book again and saw some of the pages were in common. Some listed rituals to bring Beauty, Luck etc. There was a section in preparing rituals and the incantation section which seemed like gibberish. When looking at the one for luck it required the following things:

With that Shiek and Cassini moved the two melded bodies to burn them. As soon as flame touched it the mud began burning very quickly,, like gunpowder and it produced a black flame. Shiek let Valeyo know, before gathering some of the mud, liquid an sap. The liquid from the pools, still glowed and was more viscous than expected. They decided not to burn it as Cassini pointed out it might explode.

Everyone headed back into town and visited the church to alert them about what had happened. The party decided to put the blame for the children's death on Alina. Shiek went to the children's houses to inform the parents while the others spoke with Mikela. Valeyo let him know about the mud and the pools. Mikela seemed surprised that from the same area there were two creature related to disease. He took a look at Milivoj's wound an saw it was infected. He explained that he could heal poisons, but magical diseases were beyond him and it was the latter in Milivoj's case. Despite this he was able to make Milivoj a concoction to help with recovery. When asked about Alina, Mikela said that she might be a bit weird, but she has been around for over two centuries and doesn't cause trouble. Mikela mentioned how the town never has trouble, almost weirdly so, but he never thought about it before.

When Shiek returned, Valeyo mentioned his theory of this ritual being done every few years to keep the good luck of the area going and the deaths are the price. The group entered the store and Valeyo asked Alina, how come she hadn't read the book. She said that she didn't know she had it, that the kids found it. Valeyo showed her the book at her request and she read at the incantations, to which Valeyo smacked the book out of her hand. She explained that the writing was in Common, but it sounded out words in Abyssal. It said that it summoned disease and suffering, from the depths of Shedaklah .

Valeyo asked if he could force her to tell the truth and she agreed. When asked if she knew the contents of the book and she denied it. He then questioned how she knew those things about Shiek and she just said she is old. Shiek then exploded asking what happened and why we now changed our plan and Valeyo said he gets it, but she can't lie right now. Shiek stormed out from the store. Following this, Valeyo asked her if she truly didn't know what was in the book and she said she didn't. With that the party left the store, telling her to be more careful in the future.

With that the party informed the guards and the said that Mikela was sending a message to Dragomir for help with the demonic area. The party were given complementary food and bed and gathered some food. While resting, Cassini read the book Alina gave him and Sapphira investigated the discs she had got from the hag. Holding the discs with her bare hands, she felt emotionally drained almost brought to tears. When they were in the box, the feeling went away. Cassini's book was the journal of a druid who lived in the area long ago. He could grasp some druidic wisdom form the book, but it would take him longer to dig deeper.

Soon everyone went to bed for the night.

34/04/5-10

Milivoj had a horrible sleep and awoke drenched in sweat, but the disease was gone. Everyone gathered in the morning for breakfast. While preparing for travel, Valeyo and Milivoj mentioned how it would take a day to cross the bridge over the great lake, which Dragomir I built it as a show of his power. Large inns and taverns are either side of the bridge. Shiek suggested they could wait on the other side of the bridge in case someone is following them and Valeyo suggested going to Rekasev, if they really wanted to be safe, but the group preferred the faster route. The day's travel began and was fairly uneventful. Valeyo investigated the book, but couldn't establish where it came from. He did notice in some of the words, a slight difference in spelling, which Cassini pointed out was specific to the north of Ikoval, beyond Grumpad .

Before going to bed, Sapphira went to cast Alarm, which immediately triggered. Sapphira used Faerie Fire, but didn't show anything. Everyone looked at their luggage and Cassini found a rather large frog in his briefcase eating some of his rations. It was slightly smaller than a football, dark green with a lighter green stripe. Otto sensed and aura of transmutation from around the frog. The party talked about what it could be, Valeyo suggesting it could have been transformed by a spellcaster, before realizing quasits can shape change an attacking the frog. It spoke asking why we did that and when questioned confirmed it was the Quasit. It begged not to be made to go back there, but Milivoj killed it. The party then proceeded with their rest.

35/04/5-10

The party awoke, ready to travel, but saw storm clouds to the south. They expected to make it to the bridge today, and some hours into the travel a torrential downpour began with a lightning storm on the horizon. In the storm, was a silhouette lined by the lightning. It was one of an enormous bird, likely a roc. Milivoj knew of this creature from stories of his culture. To the Otgore it was sacred, creature shrouded in storms, known as the Storm Roc. A mythical beast, talked about in tales, the mount of an ancient Storm Giant king, rarely seen by people. It's sheer size, larger than a normal Roc revealed it as the legendary beast. Milivoj explained that it is exceptionally rare for it to show itself, but a being of that size could be spotted from miles away, so most live to tell the tale.

Eventually the party reached the North Dragomir Tavern, the symbol of which was a painted image of the bridge. It was later than expected due to the adverse weather. The bridge could be seen a couple hundred meters down the road. It didn't have lights the whole way down, but it was lit to a point. The structure was a 20ft wide stone bridge stretching out into the distance, further than a man could see in this storm.

The tavern seemed busy, likely due to the weather, as the party entered. Valeyo walked to the bar, where dwarven woman poured drinks. She said there was only one room, but we could take it and as long as we kept the barrels off the carpet it will be fine. Valeyo asked how long crossing the road will take and she said it will be fine, as long as there isn't a problem in the middle, it will be around 6-7h to cross. Valeyo Sapphira and Milovoj took the bedroom and kept the barrels with them, while the others stayed in the tavern.