Session 19

📍 Location

Olath, on the edge of the Burnt Wood.

⚔️ What Happened

The session began in Olath. While M.A.77 scavenged the abandoned houses, he found Kaelvhen Thal’Aris in an awkward encounter. Renoir soon joined them, and after another uneasy conversation, the three agreed to work together toward a common goal.

Kaelvhen spoke of the Witch of the Cottage, a strange old woman who lives in the Burnt Wood near Shadukar. He revealed that he must recover something from Shadukar’s darkness for someone to whom he owes a great debt, though he does not know that person’s identity. He appeared to speak truthfully.

Patrice tried to dissuade them from going. He warned that Shadukar is dangerous and that a party of seven entered the previous year and never returned. The group chose to go anyway.

On the way, Tak secretly followed the group. Renoir spotted him, and M.A.77 eventually approached him directly. Tak then introduced himself.

Renoir also named his female fire-touched wyrmling Fatalis.

At the cottage, a thunderstorm caught the group by surprise. A shambling horde of undead emerged through the rain and advanced on the building. As the party prepared to defend the Witch of the Cottage, she laughed, cackled, and cried: “They are coming, and they yearn for your flesh!”

After the horde was defeated, the Witch of the Cottage performed a ritual on Kaelvhen. She pressed his head to the ground so that he could hear the earth, then forced black death larvae into his mouth. Kaelvhen received a vision of a small black heart in a dry underground grotto. Purple and blue cracks radiated energy from the natural formation, while a constructed altar stood behind it.

The party fled the cottage as the thunderstorm died away. After half an hour of walking, they neared the edge of the bog clearing around the cottage and heard approaching voices. One said, “I told you the dumb bitch lives here somewhere. We need to go to her.”

The party hid and watched five warforged pass through the bog toward the cottage.

🏃‍♀️ TL;DR

• M.A.77, Renoir, and Kaelvhen agreed to work together.
• Kaelvhen seeks an unknown object in Shadukar’s darkness for an unidentified benefactor.
• Patrice warned them away from Shadukar; the group continued regardless.
• Tak followed the group, was discovered, and introduced himself.
• Renoir named his wyrmling Fatalis.
• During a thunderstorm, the party defended the Witch of the Cottage from an undead horde.
• After the horde fell, the Witch of the Cottage performed a ritual that gave Kaelvhen a vision of a black heart in a dry underground grotto.
• The party fled as the thunderstorm subsided.
• Half an hour later, they hid from five warforged heading toward the cottage.