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At the Methuk estate waiting for information about Jenik, Forsythe and Kadath go to the home’s library. There, Forsythe learns more about juriskars, large dinosaur like creatures, and Kadath learns more about the area around Uxphon. Uxphon was originally an outpost for miners and explorers from Ciamum (2nd age).
Fix talks with Neberos about the city’s society and learns that the upper class keep their slaves on the estate at all times. However, those of lower class stay on the outskirts of the city when not serving. Neberos also shares about the Colosseum and the gruesome games that are held there. It is used as punishment for those who try to escape, however, willing slaves could possibly earn their freedom by winning, which rarely happens. The political structure is mostly Kirdek Zan with Jenik being most influential. Lord Methuk is not the least liked among the council, but not one of great influence either. Once Neberos is dismissed, he forges until Methuk returns with news that Jenik is in the city and staying with Lord Zan. He then intercepts a jar intended for Evangeline and delivers it himself. Evangeline pulls out the cards and her book to record anything she sees. On the Ruin card, she does see a new unfamiliar shadow, then flips them over to look at the backs. When watching them face down, she notices interaction between them, trying to make some sort of image. Realizing that she was not getting anything else from the cards, she shoves them aside and pulls out the ink from Nihliesh and uses it to draw on a new page in the book. Eyes closed and allowing herself to fall into a meditative state. Fix learned from Methuk of Lady Studani, a lady of the council that has more influence than himself and believed to also disagree with the current cast system within the city. Wanting all to be present to talk with her, Fix interrupts Evangeline. Once inside her room and looking at the new drawing, they both see her drawing, a building made of bone sitting on a foundation of full skeletons. Evangeline leans closer and allows her mind to drift into the picture (as she once did with a crystal ball) and soon it starts to come alive with color and movement. Fix notices her falling forward and pulls back, pulling her out of the trance. Once Lady Studani arrives for dinner, the group comes to meet her and talk. They learn that she does not like that others are enslaved and has focused her attention on the tieflings of the city. She often travels and frees her slaves before returning to Uxphon. With a brief telepathic discussion, the group decide to bring her into their plans. Fix offers that they will aid her in taking over Zan’s position with the idea that she will free the slaves and work toward any orders she may receive from the Jagged Dream. She agrees and all is set into place. The group then go to the Colosseum where Studani informed them of an incoming shipment of new slaves, and confirms that Zan and Jenik would both be present. Once inside, they prepare themselves for battle and notice that Juric, from Ephremon, is among the slaves to be claimed. They jump right into action and quickly dispatch the mage and a couple of the tower archers, then focus attention on Jenik and Zan.
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The evening at Strulduk’s is uneventful, aside from their own little adventures. Fix walked about the estate casually checking out the area and talking with the guards. The guards informed him that Strulduk hosts a dinner quarterly and occasionally has guests, but mostly remains private. He found his way to the library and found a couple of books about the gods of previous ages. In one, he found the name of the Raven Queen, but could not read it directly. At one point, finding Kadath also walking around the estate, Fix asked him if he could read it. Kadath also could not directly read the name.
Meanwhile, Forsythe, in spider form, investigated the vault. He noticed several traps along the way, but was stopped by the magical orb that tracked motion. After thinking through several options, he returned to his room. Evangeline stayed in her room and began to work with her nanites, attempting to program them. In the morning, they have some breakfast then head out to locate Jhorn, the shaman with the spear that Jenik had mentioned. While traveling there, they passed close enough to the Obelisk of the Water God to see the upside down waterfall. They continued to travel northeast and started to experience wild colors which affected Kadath and Fix a bit more, causing some disorientation. Eventually they made it over the Black Riage mountains and took the evening to rest. The next day, the group traveled northward and located two orc scouting groups being joined through mediation of a shaman. After watching them come to an agreement, Fix then approached and spoke with Jhorn. Jhorn did not recognize the name Jenik, but did recognize Garon. After some discussion a compromise was made that Jhorn would travel with them to Uxphon to confront Jenik there. Upon entering Uxphon, the group quickly realized the segregated caste system. Fix located some members of the Jagged Dream and took the group to their estate. Lord and Lady Methuk welcome them graciously and inform Fix that several servants also know of the organization. One of the servants, Illiphyn, was sent out to see if Jenik was currently at home as Fix began to deliberate how to upset this caste system. After a brief battle, and taking a lot of damage, Jenik disappeared from sight. The group took a moment to stabilize Roderick and interrogate the acolytes. Discovering they knew very little, they heal Roderick to bring him to consciousness. Roderick confirms that Jenik is considered a lord within the Convergence. He also shares that Jenik most likely teleported home and will not stay there long. The group decides to let them all leave with the advice to find a different passion.
They then leave the Empty Sanctum and travel to Charmonde to meet up with Strulduk. Along the way, Forsythe notices the trees move and that this weird magic seemed to emanate from Mt Zanlis. The group decided to continue to Strulduk’s and arrived there after sunset. Through conversation, Strulduk confirmed he follows the goddess, Leira, and that he really just listens and watches the others. Fix makes a deal that Gaera’s castle could be Strulduk’s if he continued to feed information to the group. Strulduk tentatively agrees and offers the group accommodations for the evening. They prepare themselves for bed and go to sleep. Quickly searching over the area, and particularly the mage, they find a couple magical numenera. They then begin to search the building. The first three doors seem to be small rooms for possible guards. Battling a few undesirables, they come away with a couple more magical numenera and money. They also discover the symbol of the Convergence among the old clothing. The next room they find is a noble’s bedchamber. Here they discover two moving pictures.
Fix stepped through the first and found that it led to the past, encountering Lord and Lady Bhaka. After a brief interaction with the original owners of the keep, he returned to the rest of the group. The other picture showed Castle Aventur amidst a storm. Consulting the book, Evangeline discovered only two severe storms were recorded, the first having done some major damage, the second was left mysteriously blank. Looking into the history, the castle belongs to the Baruvis family and discovered Lady Gaera is the last known descendant. Within the bedchamber, Forsythe found a tiara. Through some investigation, they reveal it to give the ability of truesight to the wearer. When Fix returned, he let them know that it once belonged to Lady Bhaka. Forsythe then found a passage to the lower level where they discovered a large room beneath the main hall. Here they met Roderick Sternhelm, a priest, and his students. Jenik Reprut had been invisible until he noticed they could see him anyway. The group asked him several questions and gained some information. They found he did serve Gruumsh and wished to have a spear returned to him from Jhorn. He was willing to negotiate his involvement with the others for the return of the spear. Forsythe, now having the tiara, sees Jenik’s true form, an orc wearing the familiar robes of Garon the Wild from his home town of White Lake. |
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April 2025
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