Session 11 — A God Freed, a Town Robbed¶
The party restored a god, saved a freezing town, and went to a fair. The fair may wish they had stayed in the volcano.
The last seal¶
After a short rest beside the remains of Ser Bluto's last stand, the party took stock. Vash and Em were recovered. Purple, blue, and green were cleared. One syllable and one seal remained.
The last unexplored door on Level 2 led south into a corridor bordered by lava. Their flesh golem, number nine, went ahead and opened the far door onto an empty room.
Then a secret door opened beside the party. Corrupted creatures that appeared to be Emberdale's missing pilgrims poured into the corridor.
The narrow passage was becoming a very bad place to fight. Krunk found a use for the lava: he kicked an attacker into it.
The others followed his example. Roughly half the attackers burned; Fenro and Gerald finished the rest with arrows.
A flash of gold announced the result. The fourth seal was released. The fourfold door opened, and the party descended.
Nine's last assignment¶
Level 3 began with a mirror-polished floor, a seemingly solid wall at the far end, and spinning blades along both sides.
Prodding the floor with swords revealed little. Sending the golem across revealed considerably more.
It slipped, slid sideways, and fell into the blades. Nine did not survive.
A thrown boot then passed straight through the far wall. The barrier was an illusion; the floor and blades were quite real.
Niko manifested his aasimar wings and flew across with a rope. With a line to hold, the others crossed safely.
The party had found the solution. It had cost them their scout.
Four chains around a god¶
Beyond the corridor stood a circular chamber with four enormous chains descending into a fiery pit. Below them hung the cage of Vashember.
Each chain led to another room. The party started northwest.
The hymn and the final syllable¶
Corrected pilgrims sang Diamabel's version of Emberdale's hymn from rows of alcoves. At the far end burned a blue flame; a dozen braziers stood unlit.
Arthas searched the braziers and discovered an unburnt hymnal. Inside was the last syllable: Ber.
Vash. Em. Ber. They finally had the complete name.
Fenro remembered the vessel used to carry the flame from Wave Echo Cave. The party used it to capture the blue flame and light the remaining braziers.
The first chain slackened. The fires below dimmed.
The bell and its reluctant volunteer¶
In the northeast room, a pilgrim hung from a rope attached to a massive swinging bell. Every swing hauled him into the air and lowered him again.
He offered information if they stopped the mechanism. Arthas and Gerald were suspicious. The party agreed to release him on one condition: he would scout the next room.
He reluctantly accepted.
The bell had kept time for the hymns feeding the false god. Shutting it off slackened another chain and dimmed the flames again.
Hessa's workshop¶
Arthas pushed their new scout into the southeast room. Nobody attacked him.
Hessa Ninefold was busy hammering parts for Vashember's cage. Hessa had no objection to visitors, provided they did not interrupt the work—or even to the party opening a nearby lockbox.
Inside lay a note from Bluto. His plan had been to let the party defeat the false god, then claim the anchor's power for himself.
Rejecting his contract was looking better by the minute.
Hessa cared more about continuing the work than protecting the False Ember. Asked to loosen the chains, Hessa simply complied.
The mirror¶
The southwest room held pews facing a huge mirror. The party suspected another instrument of Diamabel's correction.
Fenro covered his eyes, rushed in, and fired the Golden Bolt into the glass.
It shattered. The fourth chain slackened, and the fires below dimmed further.
A name that burns back¶
The eastern door, marked with Diamabel's symbols, opened onto a translucent, iridescent tube suspended above a lava lake. A chest waited on a platform farther along.
As the party approached, a hostile fire creature emerged from the membrane itself.
Niko spoke Vashember.
The creature recoiled. Its flames died, and it collapsed into ash.
The name mattered
Collecting the syllables had done more than restore a forgotten word. Speaking the complete name could break the power of the things holding the volcano.
The chest contained Cinderwave, a fiery scimitar, and a curious rib.
The rib glowed and resonated with the Crooked Molar and Saint's Splinter. Three pieces now answered one another. Whatever connected these realms was becoming harder to dismiss.
The False Ember¶
The tube descended into a vast cavern. Basalt columns flanked a zigzagging path, and a towering embodiment of flame waited in its center: the False Ember.
The party stood together and spoke Vashember's name again, louder this time.
The usurper faltered. Half its hit points vanished before the battle properly began.
The remaining half was still dangerous.
Arrows did little at first. The False Ember answered with three blasts of flame that struck Fenro and Arthas. The party began using the basalt columns for cover, stepping out to attack and then retreating behind stone.
Niko cast guiding bolt. Gerald loosed arrows. Arthas summoned his paladin steed for mobility.
Then their shared cover became a liability. Bunched together, Fenro, Niko, Gerald, and Krunk were caught in a massive fireball. Successful Dexterity saves kept the blast from being disastrous.
They pressed the attack and brought the weakened False Ember down.
It began to rekindle.
Break the prison¶
Niko cast a magical circle to keep the returning threat weakened. Arthas reached the central controls and broke the machinery holding Vashember captive.
Vashember was freed. The False Ember was destroyed for good. The planar anchor broke.
The god thanked the party and restored the flow of heat to Emberdale.
Two anchors down.
A third sash¶
Back in Emberdale, the snow had vanished. Warmth returned to the houses, and the people had reason to celebrate.
The party collected its payment. Fenro also collected the reluctantly awarded third mayoral sash he had requested.
Gerald felt uncomfortable demanding the full reward and accepted only half his share.
A door returned them to Urmon's Temple. Urmon, surprised by their quick return, pointed out a change in the final mirror.
Fetchford still looked idyllic. Now an ominous castle stood on the hill behind it.
They stepped through.
Welcome to the fair¶
A town crier handed out festival schedules. Fetchford offered an auction, a stone pull, archery, sheepdog races, and plenty to drink.
The party split up.
Krunk challenged reigning stone-pull champion Tasmin. Harness secured, rage unleashed, he pulled—and lost.
His consolation prize was a bag of magical potatoes that increased unarmed striking damage.
Gerald and Fenro entered the archery contest. Fenro won the competition and 500 gp.
Browsing the auction's back room¶
Fenro and Arthas then devised an alternative to bidding.
Arthas reported trouble elsewhere to the guard. Fenro supplied a minor illusion to make the story convincing. When the guard left, they searched the auction's back room and helped themselves to a tub of churning, an immovable rod, a pair of sending stones, and three curious goat statuettes.
They also took a folio written in an ancient script. Niko deciphered enough to find a reference to five travellers from Emberdale.
Someone had been watching them before they arrived.
The woman in white¶
At the auction itself, the party passed on a piggy-bank statue. A sack of beans drew their interest, but a woman in white drove the price to 3,000 gp. They let her have it.
A belt advertised as granting the pulling strength of two oxen was harder to resist. The same bidder kept raising her paddle.
The party finally won at 5,250 gp.
They had bought the belt. They had also noticed the woman.
An exceptionally helpful witness¶
The auction announced that several items had been stolen. Information leading to their whereabouts would earn 3,000 gp.
Fenro saw an opportunity.
He broke into an unoccupied home, planted the stolen tub, and told a guard where to find it. The investigation turned toward the resident, and Fenro collected the reward.
Someone saw
The woman in white watched him plant the evidence. Fenro's successful deception had acquired a witness.
Festival champions¶
At the sheepdog races, everyone placed a wager. Dog number two took an early lead, but number five came from behind to win. The party finished a few hundred gold richer.
Then came the ale-drinking contest.
Krunk went out in the first round.
Arthas endured, won the competition, and left the others feeling distinctly worse for having entered.
An invitation from the household¶
Fenro caught up with the woman in white as she left town. Her name was Lone Vell, and she knew an unsettling amount about the party—including his attempt to frame someone for the theft.
She handed him a letter and rode toward the castle.
Issued on behalf of Diamabel's household
To Arthas, Fenro, Krunk, Gerald, and Niko,
Your work in Emberdale has attracted the attention of this house.
You are invited to present yourselves at the western entrance. The steward will receive your questions concerning the boundaries of this realm. Access to the estate's public records will be arranged.
Follow the north road from Fetchford to the woodland inn, and take the house road from there. Mistress Lone Vell may accompany you if you wish.
No surrender of arms or property is requested by this invitation.
Issued on behalf of Diamabel's household.
They had destroyed another anchor. Now the household of the man who built their prison was offering to answer questions.
What changed¶
- The gold seal cleared, opening the route to Level 3.
- The flesh golem died in the spinning-blade corridor; Niko flew a rope across to save the others from the same crossing.
- Ber recovered, completing Vashember's name. Speaking it destroyed one fire creature and stripped half the False Ember's health.
- All four chains loosened, weakening the prison below.
- Bluto's intended betrayal confirmed by his own note.
- Vashember freed, the False Ember destroyed, and Emberdale's anchor broken. Heat returned to town.
- Cinderwave and the resonant rib recovered. The rib answers the molar and splinter.
- Fenro received his third mayoral sash. Gerald accepted half his share of the town's reward.
- Fetchford entered. Fenro won 500 gp at archery; Arthas won the drinking contest; Krunk won consolation potatoes.
- Auction goods stolen, a belt bought for 5,250 gp, and a folio revealed that the party was being watched.
- Fenro framed a resident and collected 3,000 gp. Lone Vell witnessed the deception.
- Diamabel's household issued an invitation. The party has not yet visited the estate.
Loose ends¶
- What does Diamabel's household want? Its offer names the party, promises records, and asks for no surrender of arms.
- Who is Lone Vell? Her precise role and her intentions toward Fenro remain unknown.
- Who compiled the folio about five travellers from Emberdale?
- What will happen to the framed resident? The reward is paid; the consequences are unresolved.
- What do the rib, Crooked Molar, and Saint's Splinter form together?
- Where is Fetchford's anchor? The castle is an invitation, not yet an answer.
- What do the goat statuettes do, and how powerful is the expensive belt? Their full properties have not been established in these notes.
- What became of all the pilgrims? Corrupted attackers and corrected singers were found, and one bell-bound pilgrim was freed; the account does not establish everyone's eventual fate.