Gaming notes

 

This is to be inserted into the previous notes, with the changes given in last month's session:

 

 

Kespin flew into a rage and attacked the blackguard, and with one blow, slew the corruption before him. With his death, though, the Blackguard gave off a burst of energy that nearly dropped Kespin. The Wyvern jumped up and tried to grab the body of the evil knight and the two swords, but Kespin was able to hit it badly as it passed him. Wrye nearly finished the creature with an arrow, and Kespin was able to slay it completely. So, now we had the body of the Blackguard and his corrupted sword, and the body of our friend and comrade Kobort and his living sword. Before taking Kobort's body back to the ship, I called upon Pelor to consecrate the body of this ex-Hironeon knight. It might have been better to have someone who could talk to Hironeous directly, but I feel that my efforts brought some peace to an otherwise tortured soul. When we got back to the ship, I asked Pelor to bring me in contact with the spirit of Kobort so that I could see if he wished to return. Neither Pelor nor I will be party to bringing back an unwilling soul, and Kobort had done so much that he might well have wished to remain in the domain of his God. I spoke to our fallen friend, and he said that he needed to stay where he was. I got the impression that his presence with Hieroneous was deemed necessary to keep the fallen knight from returning. Although I am sure he is badly needed on the other side, his loss will be keenly felt in the coming days as we proceed on our path.

We will hold a memorial service for him tomorrow. The hound left immediately, as "the balance needs to be maintained" or something like that. Fiona will be returning to her home region with both Valor and Slaughter, in the hopes that the Hieronean temple in Pitchfield can at least shield the sword if not remove the taint from it. We will need to figure out how to deal with the remainder of the Death Knight's equipment. It is too dangerous to sell or otherwise dispose of, but we cannot use it while it still remains tainted.

Please keep Kobort in your prayers, love. The Hieroneans in Jurne should also be made aware of what has occurred. Perhaps they will know more about Mercy's history.

 

Be well, love.

 

Tess

 

 

Greetings, Girard!

 

We stayed at the small village during the next day to give us time to have the memorial service and let the crew finish shore leave. I also experimented with the use of spell casting to destroy tainted magic items. It worked well on two of the items, but the suit of armor exudes such a strong aura, I don't want to experiment on it. We sailed for Safeton the next day, on the 20 ^th of Reaping.

We continued to translate the journal from the ship. It verified that Highport is the main processing center for the slaves, with the Old Temple in Highport being the center within the city. Other cities central in the slave-processing network are Blue and a city in the south of Suundi that is under the control of the Scarlet Brotherhood. The captain of the ship that we captured was supposed to keep an eye on the activities of the brotherhood in that Suundian city, and his report was highly disturbing: he saw about 100 ships in the port, and a large number of bronze-skinned slaves that were called "Olman". Kespin remembered an ancient song about the "vanished Olman". Unfortunately, these Olman are not as "vanished" as the song would imply. The report spoke of "many battalions of troops", consisting of both Olman and other humanoids. Two new names of slave lords were given: Ajaxtu and Stalman Kilm, who always signs his correspondence "In the name of the Earth Dragon".

On the second day on the trip back to Safeton, we saw some ships of the Pomarge sailing at us. We evaded them by sailing into a thick fog bank and changing directions. We exited the fog and sailed for another couple of days before we encounted a ship of Greyhawk. They boarded us, and (after we passed their cursory inspection), we told them of our encounter with the Pomargians. (Is that a word? You'll have to let me know. Lysander seems endlessly amused by the way I seem to mangle most names I come across.) We entered Safeton on the 26 ^th of Reaping, and sent Fiona home with the body of her husband and the two swords. I spent a few days cloistered in the temple of Pelor with the armor from the Death Knight. There are some odd etchings or decorations on this suit that leave me feeling uneasy, but the aura from this suit is so strong…I didn't know if we should simply give it over to the temple in Greyhawk as we have the Ivory Mask from the slave captain, or if it was worth further study.

While I was in the temple, the rest of the party set out to re-outfit the ship and to prepare for the rest of the journey. Rowera wants to continue harassing the slavers on the open seas, so Lady Grey and Lord Adrian have given permission for volunteers from the city guard and other city officials to join the fight as long as they give up their official positions. It seems that there are a lot of people from all different religions who are interested in bringing the fight to the slavers themselves.

They sent Fiona, the body of Kobort, and the swords, as well as the message about the city in the South of Suundi, to the temple in Pitchfield. They also sought to find a way to make the ship unscryable. They consulted with Hammish of Drone, the most powerful mage in Safeton. He gave them some ideas, but it seems that there is no clear way to do so easily or cleanly for any long period of time.

After studying the armor for a couple of days, I resorted to seeking help more directly: I asked Pelor himself for advice. I was hesitant to do so, but the advice was illuminating (if you'll pardon the pun). The taint can be removed from the armor, though I would need help from someone here in town: I was sent to Hammish, the same mage that my compatriots sought out earlier. He recognized the armor, or at least the type of artifact that it represents. He recognized it as an ancient artifact from the time when many of the evil humanoids were awakened. At that time, some of the great Demon Princes brought forth some forges to make very powerful items. Two of those forges were found in Roxis and Airdeep. There were also rumors of a secret forge kept by the kings of the Overkingdom. To remove the taint, one must merely (yes, "merely") partially re-forge it on a celestial forge, such as the one kept by the ancient Wind Dukes, on the other side of the bay in Abbor Alz.

When he had told me about removal of the taint from the armor, he asked me about the tainted armor and where it had come from. I told him of the death knight, and he gave me a history of the death knights.

Over 400 years ago, there was a great leader within the Knight Protectors named Sir Kargoth. He was passed over for promotion in favor of a Sir Benedor in 203 who then solidified his own position by standing up against Sir Kargoth when the latter challenged him to single combat. Sir Kargoth rode out in shame. Something happened when he was near Ral Devin, There was a Temple of Lothan , a Saint of Folkis, where the Orb of Sol was kept. Something happened in the temple, and Sir Kargoth was taken by evil. He rode back and collected 13 knights to his side. He brought them to the temple where they were taken as well. When the 13 rode out, it is said that the "Maw of the Abyss" rode with them. They led a bloody swath across the land toward the capital of the Grey Kingdom . The other Knight Protectors rode into their path to try to stop them. They were unable to stop them, but they did slow them enough to allow all of the other forces still allied against evil to come against the traitors. Although the corrupted knights were scattered, they were not destroyed! In the end, 75% of the Knight Protectors were destroyed, and the remainder was never again trusted.

This betrayal, called "The Great Betrayal" marked the beginning of the fall of the Grey Kingdom. It seems that this is one of the most disruptive events in the history of the modern world. Some of the royal family of the Grey Kingdom , vacationing near Carnifand, was killed when the 13 rode out.  The King became much more paranoid after the betrayal, and it is said that the line of insanity that has followed the bloodline of that family stems from this age. There is even some talk of a demonic plot: perhaps one of the demon princes themselves came to corrupt the incorruptible knights. In any event, the Age of Sorrows was declared in 213. In 443, when Ibid the 1 ^st declared all remaining Knight protectors to be outlaw when they opposed his reign, he used the betrayal as evidence of their lack of true fidelity.

One of the great losses counted among many as a result of the betrayal was the loss of nine of the twelve Hironean swords, Of the three remaining, Valor is now known to have been in the hands of Kobort, Honor is still being wielded by a current Knight Protector, and Virtue was destroyed in a battle with Kargoth. Mercy (now Slaughter) was wielded by Sir Khayven of House Rax, one of the thirteen corrupted by Kargoth.

The others corrupted included:

Lord Monduiz Dephaar, Lady Lorana Kath of House Naelax, Prince Myrhal of House Rax, Sir Maeril of House Nalax, Sir Farian of House Lirtham, Lord Andromansis of House Garasteth, Sir Oslan Knarren, Sir Rezinar of House Haxx, Lord Thyrian of Naelax, Sir Minar Syrric of House Darmen, Duke Urkar Grasz of House Torquann, and Sir Luren the Boar of House Torquann (or the Bore….I was too timid to ask for the spelling)

We got quite the history lesson!

Hammish also had some information about the mayor of Irongate. This is very sensitive information, my dear, so please consider before you share it with others. He has studied the hidden powers of the earth, and they suggest to him that the current Lord Mayor of Irongate has been, in different disguises, living there for over 500 years! He has also heard that, in certain times around the new moon, a dragon can be seen hiding in the area around Irongate. At the same time, the Lord Mayor retires to the catacombs beneath the city. It is an interesting coincidence, yes?

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Highgate. I will windwalk us to just outside the city, and we will enter Highgate on the 2 ^nd of Goldmonth. When you hear of any (additional) chaos in the city starting a couple of days from now, my dear, hold us fast in your prayers.

 

Pelor be with us all.

 

Tesseran

--
"A group of people who all share the same mental illness does not constitute a culture."  - Mike Bilodeau