Last Session 42>> into this session 43 ((recap))
Last session, we joined our party as they made any last minute funeral preparations for Aleric and Blaise, and then joined them as they said their last goodbyes, and laid their comrades to rest.
The ceremony was kept short and direct, as at any moment, the two lifeless corpses lain on their pyre tables, could become the next puppets of the evil forces which corrupt this realm, bit by bit.
After the tender moments had passed, and the burning had begun…. there was no time to waste – The party and a few others headed back into the encampment, and directly to the way-point, where they used the magic of the circle to teleport to the Black Marsh.
Once there, they all headed along the eastern road, Baxter, Aurora, and Ophi all reminisce about the last time they stopped a carver raiding party, all the while telling the others what they missed out on, when they came to a pond just off to the side of the road.
Ophi went and opened up a chest that was pointed out to her, and gathered a useful Stamina potion from it.
After this, the party followed the road around towards a northern direction, where they came across the boundaries to this region, and soon left it all behind in the hopes of reaching, or at least getting closer to the Monastery, that they could see much clearer now in the distance, as it lit up the sky with unholy fire streaming from it’s rooftops and windows.
Along the road to the Tamoe Highlands, they come across an old farmhouse, which looks in very good condition.
Upon further inspection, they find a little old lady who lives there, alone, named Bessie.
The party enter her home after being invited in, and sit down to a nice chat with the old woman, who offers them some tea and a bowl of her beef stew.
A little hesitant at first to accept the offer, Ophi and Baxter finally accept the tea, but refuse the meal, as they had only just eaten… Or that’s what they had told Bessie.
With nothing really coming from the meeting, and the party not wanting to waste any time, they head off from the farmhouse, but Baxter isn’t content, and feels something is amiss with the whole situation here, and so goes to investigate closer the grave of Bessie’s recently deceased husband, Ogden… who she refers to as “her Oggy”
The search reveals nothing untoward, and so the party wave goodbye to Bessie, and her home, but promise they will be back to see her one day when they were less occupied with saving the realm… And so, it was another couple of hours of walking, and finally, they reach the part in the road where it becomes a little inclined and steeper to traverse, as they enter the Tamoe Highland for the first time.
Bodies of fallen Rogues line the road here.. There’s signs of fierce battles which ultimately turned into an overwhelming slaughter, the bodies still fresh, some still heavily covered in blood and dirt, others with torn or sliced off limbs, some have huge scorch marks and frost burns along their flanks… and some are even fully decapitated.
It was clear, that these Rogues met a horribly gruesome end here.
Pushing forwards, past the death marked roads… The party go head first into a carver encampment, and cut them down easily, then they ignored everything else there and headed directly toward the main gates of the monastery, which now loomed before them with an eerie feel to them.
Rather than dashing in recklessly, the party all opt to use a town portal scroll, and head back to the encampment, to collect a sleeping Zrin from the barracks, and to decide on a course of action – one which hopefully does not involve any of them dying.
Act One: Episode 43 – Gateway To Pain
