MAL Ep. 53

In this rather Gothic session the party first clashed with, then laid to rest the tragic vampire Terrence, learning important information about the impending Invasion, namely

1) Terrence informed you that Dayant has not been manipulated or pressured into joining the League of Snakes like Jendarion or Kevin; instead she is one of the big bads along with Chavalk and Harasket, and it was she who created the conflict between clerics and necromancers in the duchy of Peraine. Terrence urged the party to instead take what they have told him to Holden of the Third Eye and Beyond Farraker in Asture, who have been swayed by Dayantt's machinations.

2) The Invasion will strike on May 30th, and Terrence confirms the location as Fort Overthorn in the Utah Forest.

3) Terrence warns that the League of Snakes has many forces not all of which are part of this strike force, and though Terrence does not know what their plans are, the Duchy should not leave other targets undefended. What he did say was that Dayant, Chavalk and Shyra would be at the assault on Overthorn on the 30th. (The previous letter you intercepted about Overthorn was from High Priest Ander, suggesting he also would be at Overhorn.)

Terrence at first seemed impressed by your arguments and moved by Jon's music, questioning Aler intently about Iscariot, but then turning on him and starting a combat. During the fight, however, he silently mouthed the words "kill me" to Aler, who alertly realized he must be trying to communicate information to the party without alerting his vampire mistress, and did not say anything about it aloud, instead getting the party to join him in search of Terrrence's coffin on the strength of his expertise as an undead hunter, which they did. After evading an energy ball trap and pocketing a couple of scrolls, the party retrieved Terrence's body from his coffin, where he was now able to speak freely and asked the party to bring him to the Tenarri land of the dead, Minn Karjhan, where he would be freed of his vampiric existence and the Skeleton King (the Tenarri god of the dead) woud prevent Dayant from bringing him back to her.

After discussing the possibilities of traveling through the land of the dead to reach Minn Karjhan or bringing Terrence's body back to Malachi to search for someone who could bring them directly to it, the party eventually decided to ask Enessiet and Henneran for help (the route that gave Dayant Arakin the least chance to interfere with you in transit.)

After a brief comic interlude with the grouchy shade you encountered earlier, the party visited Enessiet in her art studio. (The shades' conversations with you did yield one curious piece of information: Haraya was complaining about Henneran being "too much drama," and the other shade commented that he was not so bad but they did have to throw him in the river a couple of times!)

Enessiet received the group pleasantly but did not agree to their abducting Terrence to another plane. The party proved he was traveling of his own free will and then she gave her permission, suggesting that either Henneran or Harasket probably knew the way through the Land of the Dead. The party quickly chose Henneran.

Henneran did not have the planeblazing skill to transport your whole group with him as he traveled through the Veil, but in combination with Jon's spells he could do it. He first wanted to know whether Harasket was their friend or foe, Jon immediately said foe, which was clearly the answer Henneran wanted to hear. Henneran and Harasket apparently are not on good terms. Satisfied of the group's intentions, Henneran agreed to travel with them.

The party decided to pass directly through to the Fey lands and sleep there, since they were in a very banged-up, level-drained and ability-injured state. Besides healing, the party conversed with Henneran for a little while about their backstories and his, and the nature of mortality.

Then they brought Terrence back to Minn Karjhan, where he bid farewell to Aler and told Adriel (who he had overheard telling Henneran the story of Chavalk and her father) that the Skeleton King, Rasawa, knows how to slay a demon lord outright, without banishing him to the Abyss and having to kill him a second time under better-defended circumstances. He said that if the party told the Skeleton King they had broguht a lost Tenarri soul home, he might be willing to help them. Then he faded to dust.

Finally, the party encountered three spirits of dead Tenarri children (a skeleton boy and two ghost girls) who seemed to find the coins Jon gave them incredibly heavy, yet had no trouble moving a large rock. The skeleton child got Red to pull his finger, but Red is wise to that trick and had gust of wind ready to blow the resulting gas cloud away. The children then told the party that they could find the Skeleton King by going over the hill and talking to the ghost women there. One of them mentioned that there had been a big storm recently which the women were cleaning up from.

And there we broke for the day. See you all on the fateful 30th!