Knave Reports 2 & 3

Dramatis Personae:

Alma Tumbler (level 5) Aspirant Ranger, purple feather mutation, Wielder of the Unknown Blade and the Lightning Bow, Chronicler and Sole Survivor of the first session

Olga Derippe (level 3) Body builder, Hammer Enthusiast, Haunted by a Revenant, Death Defier, Hoardmaster

Pepper Slorah (level 3) Expert Archer, Herbalist, Bell Priestess, Blindshot Expert, expedition leader and freshly returned from work with the Bell Priests

Stratford Slee (level 3) Member of the Hunter's Pact, Arguably Australian, no longer stuck at 6 HP, ex-pirate

Picking up where we last left off, in the basement of the guildhall, the group cautiously enters and finds themselves in a large cylindrical chamber, a thin ring walkable around the perimeter of a massive pit that dropped about twenty feet and looked to be carpeted in bones, with something moving underneath. At the top of the cylinder some hundred feet up was a shifting, vague cerulean light. On the left side of the ring and the opposite were alcoves, but the group was hesitant about approaching the bone pit. 

Examining the walls, Olga noticed a gray, fleshy growth covering stonework, with the growth apparently originating from the upper portion of the cylinder. Making cuts into it revealed a void beyond, and with some effort Olga ripped a large enough hole to put her head through, where she saw some incomprehensible architecture, long tendrils of stone and hazy cerulean lights in a great dark void with something running like ants over the stone. These things, it turns out, were the hands encountered on the street and they tried to pull Olga through before the group was able to pull her back into the corridor. 

After settling up and making a plan, Olga and Stratford agreed to scoot along the walkway around the pit and check out the alcoves while Alma and Pepper kept watch with bows drawn. On reaching the first alcove, the exploring pair discovered it was a chute with water pouring from above and crashing downwards with a faint light being visible down the chute. Not wanting to risk a one way trip, they kept pushing to the second alcove and found it to be a stairway with a cold wind scented with pine blowing out of it. The pit of bones began to rustle though, as a scream was heard and a body dropped from above the cylinder into the pit, quickly sinking into it. Alma and Pepper began to make haste to join the pair on the other side as the pit began to hurl bones at the walls and then assemble slowly into a great hand of bones, reaching upwards until it was torn to pieces by long tendrils of pallid flesh, settling the pit again. 

Down the stairs they found that, most unsettlingly, the passage opened onto a large mountaintop expanse, a valley with a flat plain of snow fringed in tall pines with a large outpost tower on the far side, all shrouded in darkness with no moon and unfamiliar stars- the only light being a pale cerulean light from somewhere behind the tower. Despite the astronomical issues, Pepper recognized this as the outpost tower in the Greenspine mountains that the guild had previously cleared of Honorwatch soldiers and plundered Destrian's scrying orb. 

Uncertain of what was illusion and what was not as well as eyeing the suspicious mounds of snow in the valley, the group put out their lantern and crept through the snow and pines fringing the valley until reaching the tower. A sheer cliff lay beyond the outpost tower itself and Olga checked the vistas while the rest of the party moved to the tower's doorway and examined what appeared to be fresh tracks milling outside of it. On further investigation they looked to be donkey tracks, one or two, and did not stray from the tower. Olga, looking over the cliffside, saw confusing sights of a great mountain range in the north with a searing octarine light beyond it and swarming objects around what must have been the town of Magda. Looking further along the central road she saw where Honorwatch should lay was instead a great red eye which burrowed into her mind and suddenly the cerulean light flared and illuminated the valley, causing giant skeletons to rouse themselves from the snow piles. 

The group crowded into the tower and shut the door behind them, peeking out they saw the light had settled again and the snow piles remained undisturbed. They continued to argue about whether this was illusion or not before continuing up the stairs of the outpost, which it seemed had the same layout that Pepper remembered. The first floor was empty aside from a cold hearth and shattered furniture, but the second floor had a curious circular room with purple curtains around it and a fire burning- a stool next to it with a shiny black statuette of a donkey on it. Pepper grabbed the statuette and examined it suspiciously before dashing it to the ground. Immediately, a large man with a donkey's head stepped from beyond the curtains and sat heavily on the stool- unable to be roused by any of the group's questions. Still cautious, they left the donkey-man and continued up the stairs. 

This top floor was notorious to Pepper, who remembered a deadly ambush that nearly cost the group their lives. Checking the side passages, she found the skeletons that had ambushed her were present, but seemed to be statues of stone lying in wait and unresponsive to the touch. A large statue of an Honorwatch necromancer however was present on the balcony overlooking the cliffside, and on investigation the party were surprised when it shattered the stone off of it and revealed cold brass metal- animating and attacking the party. As it did so, the skeleton statues did the same, and the group was locked in combat. 

Olga tried to hurl the brass necromancer off the balcony but her prodigious strength proved inconsequential under the grip of the brass statue which grabbed her and prepared to drop her off the balcony- looking down she saw that just beneath the cliff was a swirling orb of cerulean light that the statue seemed to want to drop her into. Combat went poorly as Stratford and Pepper were nearly fatally wounded by the spearwielding metal skeletons and Olga was dropped through and off the balcony, disappearing into the orb. Now, with Pepper grabbed by the statue, Alma charged forward and tackled the statue- taking it, Pepper, and herself off the balcony and dropping them into the orb. 

 Those thrown through the orb found themselves hurled into a dark, cold area. Olga- first through, lit a torch and found herself in a room of glossy black stone and groesque statues. Looking up she saw a pale orb being held by one of these statues- a grotesque version of Destrian Rumboldt, and was nearly crushed when Pepper, Alma, and the statue tumbled out of the orb. The battle continued with Alma and Olga spying a door and making their way to it under the inexorable advance of the brass statue while Pepper tried to shatter the orb- accidentally touching it herself and tumbling back through. 

Meanwhile, Stratford- now alone with the brass skeletons, fled the room and shot down to the first floor- the swirling cerulean orb moving and visible through windows and following his descent. Reaching the first floor he burst through the door- the orb just above it began blazing painting the valley in sickly lights and causing the giant skeletons to drag themselves together out of the snow piles in the valley. Pepper Slorah- screaming- came tumbling out of the orb right in front of Stratford and the two made a stand before the chasing brass skeletons again- with Pepper being struck fatally. Stratford fled now for the tunnel at the other end of the valley, nimbly avoiding the lumbering giant skeletons but being whittled down by freezing bursts of ice they hurled, until mere steps away from the alcove he was fatally struck at the last second. 

Beyond the pale, Olga and Alma fled through the door and left the statue behind. Through a long dark hallway of similar glossy stone, they eventually emerged through another door to a contrasting scene. Brilliant colors and finery, a king's banquet hall in bright daylight with a grand city visible through stained glass windows and a court of nobles mingling and laughing. Some inspection of the attendants revealed they made no responses to the presence of Olga or Alma, and their speech sounded like gibberish. Of note they spied a large double door with a heavy conspicuous lock. Deciding to see if she could get any loot from this group, Olga tried to snatch the crown from a large, stately looking but indistinct king and the room suddenly drained of color and became a blank, glossy black and featureless room, with only the door they came through remaining. 

Pondering their situation, they were surprised when Pepper and Stratford suddenly dropped into the room with a swirling cold mist and scent of ozone. They stuttered to life, but both noted they lacked a pulse and were now cold to the touch- and Pepper's abilities to detect undead were going haywire. Not wanting to face the statue, they tried leaving and reentering the room to find the scene began anew. Pepper began trying to pick the lock on the large door while the rest of the group fanned out. Examining the court they began to recognize several distinct figures matching to carved statues they had encountered in a mysterious barrow outside of Yonwell. The court was distracted when the door the party came into opened and nothing began to fill the space, drawing apparent fear and anger from the court. At this moment Pepper succeeded in picking the lock and the scene faded away again, this time a singular corridor lay beyond. 

At the end of the corridor, the group found they were at the top of the cylinder pit from before, and saw the sloshing cerulean light still high above them, but found that amongst lattice metalwork atop the cylinder stood a familiar face wielding a familiar ghoulish sword- Destrian Rumboldt. 

The party met with him cautiously and he revealed that he had stolen the cursed blade and fed it to his demon patron, Gorebold the Devourer, but that the blade was more powerful than they had thought and now Gorebold and the spirit in the blade were locked in mutual combat, causing their abilities to go haywire and probably causing the various issues seen in town. Destrian had gained some small ability to tap into Gorebold's magic and had been feeding people to Gorebold, harvesting them in an attempt to give the demon an upper-hand in the death struggle with the cursed blade. He wasn't sure of who would win the struggle, but that it wouldn't be long before one of the two powers consumed the other and they were free - and much more powerful. Using his limited ability to tap into Gorebold's vast knowledge and power, Destrian told the party that if they retrieved The Greatest Joke from the lost Starmoore Academy and returned it to him then he might be able to supplant both the blade and the demon. 

Starmoore Academy, like the city of Starmoore itself, lay in the wastes north of Honorwatch where the Castledemon still sat amongst the remains of the once great city. However, Destrian reveals that the Academy untethered itself to try and save it, and was now lost between realms- but still accessible by mirrorways that had been used by the Academy's wizards. He suggested the tower of the mysterious wizard of the Ranger's Guild that was rumored to be just north of Yonwell- up in the mountains.

Destrian went on to reveal the dungeon around them was a construct of the demon and the blade, and of some of his own memories that still remained. He offers to point the party to the Library of Spiders where Gorebold's memories were constructed but they declined and asked instead for help escaping the dungeon. Unsure of what he could do, Destrian said he would try a joke and the party suddenly disappeared- and exploded out of shrieking- dying donkeys in the livestock market in town.  

Session 3

Putting themselves back together, the party decided they needed to retrieve the joke and rid the town of the blade and Gorebold, as well as to discover a way to fix Pepper and Stratford- if they could, who now appeared certainly to be undead themselves and were deteriorating, slowly. Already they had lost their sense of taste and at the current rate they would lose a permanent HP every week until finally succumbing to undeath. 

They struck out to the wizard's tower, only knowing where it was vaguely located in the mountains. Previously, they had caught glimpses of a shimmer in the mountains and they decided that must have something to do with the tower itself. The group was cautious, however, as these mountains were famously dangerous and housed drakes as well as the hordes of handwolves that had been said to be created by this mysterious wizard. They hired a man at arms along the way to guard the animals and made it to the mountains before too long. 

Once in the mountains however, they were sent running into hiding amongst snowy trees and pines as a griffon screeched and plummeted to the ground nearby- with an enormous pale-scaled drake landing atop it and tearing into it, unaware of the party. Stratford Slee, as a member of the Hunter's Pact, was compelled to slay the beast and the party couldn't restrain him as he sprang into action. They watched in horror as he crept up to the drake and clambered up its back, striking quickly as the creature roared and lightning shot from its maw. It beat its wings and took flight, but Stratford wasn't able to keep grasp and fell- luckily into a pile of snow. The drake roared again and flew off towards the peaks of the mountains, leaving the party incredulous at Stratford Slee's sheer ability- and luck. 

Proceeding up the mountains they made camp for the night and found the shimmer in the morning, following it they were lead up a switchback trail to a small plateau seemingly cut into the shape of a triangle. The tower itself was enchanted, and the party spent much of the day arranging themselves on the plateau in different variations trying to understand the magic on it (the tower becomes invisible to the largest concentration of people, they eventually solved this by sending one person around while the group stayed on the other side but they have yet to realize exactly what the trick to the tower was). During the puzzling out of the tower, a group of handwolves was heard and made their way to the plateau, all clad in mismatched human attire and eager for a fight. Stratford and Pepper distracted them and enabled Olga, Stratford, and the man at arms and animals to enter the tower where they found a small tavern room. 

Searching around quickly for a way to help their comrades trapped outside the tower, they found three hidden buttons underneath the bar and pressed them all- causing three things to happen. One: the tower became visible. Two: a gargoyle dropped from the tower and began slaughtering wolves indiscriminately- and trying to kill Pepper and Alma. Three: the tavern room went dark and then relit, but where there had been three there were now six as each member in the room discovered an equal doppelganger. 

Distracting the gargoyle with fighting more handwolves, Pepper and Alma burst into the tavern room to find the Olgas grappling and punching one another repeatedly in the mouth as the Stratford pair were at the door. Pepper was able to sense the undead Stratford and they slew the doppelganger, while the Olgas continued their death struggle until eventually (pure luck) the party killed the doppelganger. A lengthy contract argument over pay and how that works with doppelgangers began with their man at arms and his doppelganger until eventually one of the pair revealed a dagger and stabbed the other to death, solving the contract negotiation. Now the party was secured in the small tavern room with a door leading to a small bunkroom and another yet unexplored.