Synopsis
- Nel and Cassie rescued Nathan and Rhiannon from centaurs in the overgrown temple of St. Solivar the Hunter, deep in the forested Green Hills, in the process learning of a powerful winter fey known by the moniker Iceveins. Not only did Iceveins lend his winter fey toward framing striga at Frog's in Haven, he bullied the silver dryad into enchanting Nathan so he could steal the Anubian shard used to create the insidious "time bomb". Why the Anubian tech? Why interfere with politics at all? While these questions remain unanswered, it's a fair bet the one who directs Iceveins is the one causing all the recent trouble...
- Ilshana's questioning the bomb itself (Speak With Object) confirmed its creator was called Lord of the Tower, a man with a mind to detonate the bomb in the middle of town during The Festival of Kites (though the fires learned about a little later may have moved up that time table). Suspicions were confirmed that the Tower of the Peryton was undoubtedly involved in this mess. Agent Velekova, a spy for Izolda, joined forces with the party, naming themselves Saspish Secret Service, with the mission of eliminating the outstanding threat to peace.
- But first, what to do with the device? Leave it, defuse it, dump it in the river, ultimately Velekova and Aiden hauled it up to Starhome beneath a tarp. On the way, they discovered Haven consumed with fires, mundane and alchemical, which inspired such an urgency in Bryce that the Brightcloak fled into the streets- maybe for a loved one or some unknown duty. It wasn't any easy journey, between unchecked looters, fiery outbursts, and periled cat ladies.
- When they reached the inn, it was doubling as a makeshift hospital for the wounded. Onyx was less than thrilled to learn of the device in the backroom and directed the party to put it in the "Nowhere Room". The Starry Maiden had designed Starhome to house every kind of being in the efforts of bringing them closer together. The least-used room was designed for entities beyond space-time, things which couldn't safely exist in Creation (Yth?). Onyx refused to open the door again, but she offered the key to someone brave enough with the warning to shut it as quickly as they opened it...
- Nel and Cassie found the city ablaze and surrounded by fearful treants, looking to contain the fire and its firestarters. Rhiannon went to try and reason with them, tree to tree, while Nathan sped toward the unmanned gates in efforts of finding his parents. Along the way, Nel spoke with the flames, confirming with no small amount of relief that she was not the cause of the fires, rather Gunther Weiss. Either he'd managed some serious overkill trying to eliminate her or his motives were to kill her and bring the town to its knees...
- Inside Starhome, the party reunited! Information was swapped as they made to the end of a lonely hall and opened the door beyond time/space. In the white, annihilating light, something stirred, something inky and vaguely humanoid, the shape of something evil and never completely vanquished. The device was summarily dumped inside and the door slammed shut, though whatever was inside wanted out. Cassie, in werepanther form, managed to slam it shut, while Aiden forced the squirming, wormy key to turn the arcane lock. Meanwhile, Roza and Ilshana defended the pair from a sudden attack by an orc shaman of the tower, one of two mages Nel learned were hunting out the party in the establishment.
- The envoy wasn't able to locate the one, but did manage to sneak up behind the orc and, harnessing Ilshana's tricksy magics, end her brutally and efficiently. Trumpets sounded quite appropriately at the victories, the closing of the door and the dead mage, but Velekova remarked from a window that aid had arrived from Etherias. The fires were extinguishing. Haven was spared another morning.
- The party entered The Elven Room, housing for the rest of the morning to share information and receive some much needed sustenance and rest. It appeared the Tower of the Peryton was high on their list of priorities. Nathan added that his mother might have been using his unusual friend, Koro-Hail, as a spy, a water genasi with a so-so grasp on reality who was the source of the ciphered note.
- Concerned for Koro, Nathan demanded to join the party at the tower. It wasn't looking like Velekova was going to stay behind, either. And Kurn was always up for another fight at Aiden's side. Luckily, as Roza played in the bloody remains of the shaman through some undeniable fixation on blood, actually gaining the characteristics of a half-orc, she also learned many of the mage's secrets, including the secret means of entering the magic tower.
Notable NPCs
Agent Velekova- Izoldan spy, though looks more the tracker/huntress type. Agreed to work with the party rooting out the threat to peace between Etheria and Izolda, only further suggesting the striga of Izolda have nothing to do with the conspiracy- rather are only made to look like they do.
Iceveins (mentioned)- A fey along the lines of Rumpelstiltskin who derives power from names and who can be bested through the use of his own name; Presumably a winter fey, one who intimidated Rhiannon into coaxing Nathan's theft of the Anubian shard. It seems unlikely the fey would care about two countries going to war, intimating Iceveins has a master, perhaps THE mastermind behind Haven's woes. Suspicion still remains on the Tower of the Peryton and its leader Arsei Fyodor.
Notable Locations
Temple of St. Solivar the Hunter (Green Hills)
Nowhere Room (Starhome)
Monsters (Ch. 4 - 9)
orc shaman (tower mage)
treants
dryad
centaurs
blood-tinged water elementals
war shrike
blink dogs
Brothers of Man
young white dragon
ex-inquisition psion
half-bugbear thugs
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