DF Soaring Phoenix, Sessions 95 through 103 - The Crucible of Ishtanna

    It has been nine (9!) sessions since our last update. I have been lax. The longer I leave it the worse it gets. In that time, the campaign has reached the arbitrary landmark of 100 sessions in a little over two years. Unfortunately we have also lost a player (boo!), but thankfully gained another (hurrah!). Here is a brief summation of events.

Session Dates:    every Tuesday from 24 September through 19 November 2024, inclusive

Party roster:

Ben, half-ogre barbarian, 233 points (PC)
Eleanor Bayley, human adventurer (thief), 296 points (N/PC)
- Dagne Timar, human priestess of Metallys (cleric), 147 points (NPC Ally)
Erizax Ofaris, human wizard, 292 points (PC)
Merrill Tangled Tail, cat-folk monk (martial artist), 234 points (PC)
Violetta, human warrior (barbarian), 161 points (PC)
Randall, human veteran (knight), 173 points (NPC Ally) 

In addition, from session 101 onwards: 
Hartwin, human monster-hunter (knight), 128 points (PC) 

Campaign Date:    11 thru 14 February, Year 647 of the Vycenaean Empire. 

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-- At the start of session 95, the party were locked in cells beneath the guard tower in the village of Fairhill, having been arrested the previous session, accused of the murder of a travelling stranger (Corian) which they did not commit. 

-- While they were imprisoned, the village was attacked by orcs. During the attack a holy relic was stolen, the Crucible of Ishtanna. 

-- Sir Costen, the visiting knight of Baron Mylark, vouched for the PCs as "volunteers" to hunt down the orcs and recover the relic. 

-- The party agreed to recover the relic in the hope that this would clear their names. They were escorted by the elf woman named Lauriel, an officer in the village guard. By this time it was late in the evening.

-- The party were led out of the village, heading cross-country towards the forest, and then joining the road, on the route seen to be taken by the retreating orcs. 

-- Inside the dense dark forest, Ben found a recently-used secret trail, and navigated the party along it. After a few hours they came to the edge of a clearing, with the tower of a castle looming in front of them. 

-- A padlocked door in the base of the nearest tower resisted attempts to pick it. Merrill climbed the tower, and Erizax levitated himself up there, but the sheer climb was found to be too difficult for those in heavy armour. 

-- A graze from a near miss from a shot by an archer with a siege crossbow, and the defenders raising the alarm, forced Merrill and Erizax to retreat. 

-- The party backed off into the forest, before circling round and scouting the castle from a different position. 

-- Eleanor determined that while the castle towers are intact, much of the curtain wall has fallen down and an earthenwork bank has replaced it, topped by a palisade and protected by stakes. Inside the palisade Eleanor could see humanoid figures. She returned to the group to report. 

-- After a long discussion, the party decided to return to the first tower with the padlocked door, and to break the lock and invade the tower that way. Ben leads them back through the forest in another wide loop. 

-- Ben easily broke open the padlock on the heavy door using a crowbar. While this was happening, there was arrow fire from the castle wall and the alarm was again raised. 

-- Inside the tower, the ground floor was a single large round room with a large green puddle several feet across, which they sensibly avoided. Ben identified it as a very slow-moving but flesh-eating slime. There was one other door, and a spiral staircase leading up. The party moved carefully around the slime, and started to head up the stair in single file. 

-- The top of the stair revealed a group of waiting orcs. A pitched battle ensued, first in the tower and then out on the battlement. The orcs were reinforced by ogres and more orcs and half-orcs. 

-- The party were victorious on the battlements once they defeated the orc chief, and the remaining enemies, including a half-orc cleric, retreated down the steps from the wall to the courtyard. 

-- The PCs were fatigued from their fights but could not rest in the open, as the archer with the siege crossbow was sniping at them from a watchtower. They hurried off the wall and into the gatehouse. 

-- Inside the gatehouse they found an injured and bound human prisoner. Dagne healed him, and Erizax untied him, and the man was surprised at the sight of his rescuers. He identified himself as Hartwin, an adventurer who's companions had been killed by the orcs. 

- Hartwin's weapon and other gear were not in the room. He expressed the desire to recover his weapon and avenge himself upon the orcs. Merrill lent Hartwin his spear, and then told him that they were accused of murder. Hartwin shrugged this off. "You saved my life," he replied.

-- They rested in the gatehouse, during which time the party was strangely not attacked. Then they rushed out onto the wall, and down the steps into the courtyard. Eleanor and Lauriel remained on the wall to cover their allies and attempting to take out the archer with the siege crossbow.

-- In the courtyard of the castle, most of the buildings were ruined, but one remained: a small building with a watchtower on top of it. In front of the building stood a line of zombies. Another melee ensued. The zombies were joined by the half-orc cleric and a human with a pointy hat and staff, who both came out from the building and attacked the PCs using magic. 

-- When the half-orc fell down during the fight, and Erizax trapped the human with a Rooted Feet spell, it looked like the battle was decided. The human held up his staff and surrendered. 

-- While the party finished off the remaining zombies, the half-orc did not surrender but instead tried to get up off the floor. Before he could be finished off, the cleric's form became vague and indistinct, and Ben's axe went through him like he wasn't there. The indistinct form of the half-orc parted like mist, and was gone...

-- The human revealed himself to be a wizard named Jendrill. He explained that he had been taken prisoner by the orcs while wandering the forest. The party didn't exactly trust him yet, so they kept a close eye on him, initially.

-- Inside the small building was revealed to be a shrine. There was an eerie red light coming from a candle burning atop the altar. Underneath the candle was a large silver bowl - they had found the Crucible they were seeking! In the back room of the shrine, Hartwin found a small chest containing several hundred coins.

-- Lauriel wanted to return immediately with the relic to the village. However the PCs decided there were other matters to be taken care of first. Hartwin still wanted to find his stuff, but more importantly, some of the zombies had been found to be his former companions. It was agreed to bury them first, before they explored the rest of the castle. The shrine had also been desecrated, and Dagne decided to take the time to exorcise the evil there.

-- Half the party went back to the forest to collect the gear they had left behind when storming the castle. While they were gone, and the other party members were occupied elsewhere, Jendrill disappeared. 

-- Searching for Jendrill, Ben followed his steps through the ruins, to the other end of the courtyard, when Ben found it joined many more footprints, all going to a ladder up to the palisade. Ben climbed the ladder and found another ladder down the other side, indicating an exodus from the castle. Ben returned to the party to report, rather than pursue further. 

-- With the former companions of Hartwin buried, and Dagne's ritual finished, the group agreed to return to the village with the Crucible before returning soon to finish exploring the ruined castle. On the way back, Dagne revealed that her exorcism of the shrine had unfortunately been unsuccessful. 

-- Having been walking and fighting much of the day and night, without any proper sleep due to imprisonment and interrogation, the party arrived back at the village of Fairhill exhausted. Merrill and Erizax especially needed a few days of rest to get back to their peak fitness. 

-- They were hailed by the villagers and the priestess Shandril declared that they had been blessed by the goddess Ishtanna to have recovered the Crucible and return safely. Magistrate Arlen said that it was clear that the party was innocent of the murder of Corian. Thus the gods had decided. 

-- The villagers rejoiced that the next harvest would be safe again. It was then that Merrill realised that the Crucible was likely responsible for the fact that the village of Fairhill has the only fertile land while surrounded on almost all sides by the Strider Barrens. 

-- Arlen asked the group about the castle and the orcs, and Erizax indicated that while the orcs had fled, the party would return to the castle soon to check the remainder of the place and make sure. The magistrate asked whether they would return to inform him once they were done. Erizax ignored this, but Merrill jumped in to assure Arlen that they would. 

-- The party spent the remainder of that day, and the next two days, resting and recovering in the village inns. Their room & board was, for the moment at least, free of charge. However they all had to recount the stories of the adventure, numerous times... 

-- While celebrating in the Drunken Cockatrice, the party will hear that the man who is always drinking alone in the corner is Fendrin, a farmer who lost his family to a manticore. 

-- They were also visited by the knight Sir Costen, who reminded the party that he had been the one to vouch for them, and invited the group to visit Baron Mylark at his hall. Merrill accepted the invitation. 

-- Erizax spoke with Baran, the captain of the village guard, and told him about the abandoned farm where they had found the bodies of Corian's companions, and had been attacked by ankhegs. 

-- Baran was interested in this, and told Erizax that there were ankhegs in an area south of the village now known as Ankheg Fields, but they had not been sighted before as far west as the party had encountered. 

-- However, Baran was more immediately concerned with the bodies at the farm, and the fact that the murderer still at large may have been this "enemy" whom Corian had mentioned previously. 

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Phew! That was long, and I tried to trim out much of what was non-essential. Let's see if this teaches me not to ever let it get to nine sessions before I post the next summary.