Session 08

📍 Locations

The Quiet Forge in the White Mountains, then the mountain road toward Kurn

⚔️ What Happened

• The party returned to the Quiet Forge and found a concealed passage behind a tapestry dyed to match the obsidian wall.
• Marek investigated an old laboratory but failed to stay quiet. Two branded revenants attacked. The party destroyed them, though Marek fell during the battle and survived.
• Three mummified archive scholars arrived after the fight. The party spoke with them rather than fighting.

• The scholars explained that a brandstone is necessary to truly help someone bearing a brand. They also revealed that Ilyra Venn can end a brand through “the release”—death.
• The scholars warned that undeath has left Ilyra influenced by madness. She would see the party as enemies and could not be reached through negotiation; only nonlethal defeat could make her lucid.
• While the party spoke with the scholars, Ilyra and her guardians began to rush toward the laboratory. The party heard her approach and fled through a secret passage the scholars showed them.
• Behind them, Ilyra screamed in rage and madness—at the party and at the scholars. She tried to follow, but the party escaped before she could catch them. The party believes the scholars survived her anger.
• The party fled down the mountain and began a three-day journey toward Kurn. They intend to recover there and seek more information about the brandstone—especially whether obtaining one truly requires returning to Eldaarich.
• On the second day, Taji heard whispers from the fallen that promised an oasis and rest. He followed them, leading the party away from the road and into forsaken mountain ruins.
• The promise was a lie. In the ruins, a black wraith with an obsidian scythe and a black-armored skeleton bearing a greatsword ambushed the party.

🏃‍♀️ TL;DR

• The party defeated branded revenants and met the mummified archive scholars of the Quiet Forge.
• They learned that a brandstone may be the key to freeing branded people, but that Ilyra is too mad to reason with.
• Ilyra and her guardians forced the party to flee the Forge through a hidden passage.
• They headed toward Kurn to recover and learn whether a brandstone can be found without returning to Eldaarich.
• On the road to Kurn, Taji followed false whispers of an oasis into mountain ruins.
• The session ended with an undead ambush in the ruins.