The session began with the Storm Peace Keepers assessing their situation in the Brinewall Castle. They had cleared the castle of its evil residents and only the vault was left for them to open and explore. They had found the second disk they required for opening the vault, along with other items of interest, and they felt ready to finish their exploring. The group also felt that an aura of evil had been lifted with the death of their last foe. The group gathered up the loot and headed upstairs. The went to the room behind the large throne room and prepared to go down the stairs.
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Darsus offered to check the stairs to see if the haunt still existed for the stairs down. Tentatively, he stepped on the first step but no blood ran from the walls and no visions of the decades old slaughter appeared. Danicia and Sheliak went to the front of the group and they slowly went down the stairs, checking for traps or surprises that might have been set after their last visits. Their trip down was uneventful and they found themselves in front of the bars and the slight glow of the green light on the walls. The disks were placed in each slot by the door and as the last one was placed, the bars slowly moved out of sight, into the floor and ceiling, opening the way into the room.
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The group could see a room with two doorways. The area was dusty and looked as if it had not been visited since the original invasion of the castle. As they prepared to step into the room, the dust swirled around and coalesced into a ghostly figured. The figure looked like an older Tian man, holding a katana. As the form took shape, the figure stood in a ready stance, katana upraised, waiting for the group to enter.
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As the figured stood before them, Darsus felt that the figure looked familiar. As he tried to remember, he realized the figure was similar to a figure in a portrait that Sophia had kept in her room in Cillamar. The painting had shown her Tian grandfather, Rokuro Kaijitsu and the figure in front of them looked very much like him. Darsus said “Rokuro Kaijitsu, we come in peace and in aid of your grand daughter Sophia.”
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When Darsus spoke the name, the ghost's eyes bulged out and it froze motionless. The figure then lowered its katana and said in a mournful voice “I know this name!” The figure stayed motionless, looking down at the floor while the group wait, on the ready for what might happen next. The figure then raised its arms and cried out in anguish, lifting his face to show tears of dust running down his cheeks. He then said “Take the Seal away from here, take it to my child. It is no longer safe and I am no longer worthy of guarding it…” As the figure said this, he pointed to a wall in the chamber, then when he finished, he gave another agonized cry. As the cry finished, the figure flew apart into dust and was seen no more.
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After a few seconds, Danicia stepped into the room, on the ready, but the figure did not rise up again. She searched the wall the ghost had pointed to and found a well hidden secret door. Cendrine and Sheliak searched the other two chambers, which were empty of treasure and secret doors. The doors of the other two chambers had been pulled off and dropped decades before.
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Danicia opened the door and found a small, unfinished chamber with three chests. Two of the chests were locked but one opened with a touch. Darsus had detected magic in the chamber, so started to examine the items in the open chest while Danicia worked on unlocking the other two. A small, magical box was inside and as Darsus handled it and opened it up, visions filled his head and the others. The group blacked out for a moment as their minds received visions about the items they had found. The first visions showed an army of terrible fiends, with burning skin, glaring eyes and sharp tusks, emerge from a storm in a forest in order to attack a nation filled with Tian people. The next vision showed a young man, dressed as royalty, standing next to a well with a friend. As they watched, the friend grew into a giant protected by strange jade armor. The jade warrior struck down the royal friend, then held the bloody sword up in triumph. The next vision showed a young Tian man handing a beautiful sword to an Ulfen man in exhcange for gold. Finally, the vision faded, showing Sophia waking up and rising up from a throne of jade, dressed in the robes of an empress.
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As the group woke, only a few seconds had passed. They knew the Tian nation was Minkai and the murdered man was Emperor Shigure of Minkai. They also knew that Sophia's family name was Amatatsu, not Kaijitsu and the was the last heir of the five royal families of Minkai. They also recognized the young man as the younger Rokuro who had sold the family sword Suishen to an Ulfen merchant Fynn Snaelvald in the city of Kalsgard. The money had helped to finance his family's flight and exile from the nation of Minkai. They also knew that the sword Suishen is intelligent and can provide more knowledge about the Amatatsu legacy.
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Finally, the group knew they had been marked as scions of the Amatatsu family, and that the Amatatsu Seal, contained in the warding box, had marked them to help regain the royal throne of Minkai for Sophia. They also knew the abilities of the warding box and the seal, including the information that the seal could be tracked if it was not kept in the warding box. Darsus quickly closed the box and put it away. Danicia finished unlocking the chests and the group gathered up the other items and headed back to the caravan.
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When the group arrived at the wagons, Sophia was outside and ran to greet her rescuers. She shared her visions, and they found that they had shared the same vision of destruction and the restoration of the Minkia throne to Sophia as the rightful heir. She sobered, as she realized the responsibility she would need to take on, but she felt that she needed to go back and help to destroy the army which had invaded Minkai. All agreed that they should go to Kalsgard in order to find the sword Suishen and to find a guide to take them through the northern wasteland to the country of Minkai.
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Brianna said that she would leave the group since it appeared that Sophia had very adequate protectors. The group said their good byes and Brianna headed to the road that led back to Cillamar. The group then start planning for the trip to Kalsgard and eventually their trip over the Crown of the World. The next day the caravan left, heading north to Kalsgard in the Land of the Linnorm Kings. While traveling, Sondru provided them with information about Kalsgard and the districts and possible places to being their search for a guide and the sword. Sondru seems to remember that the Ulfen merchant, Fynn Snaevald, might still be alive, but the group will need to ask in Kalsgard to find out. In order to find a guide, the group will need to ask around Kalsgard to try and find someone willing to lead their caravan through the north.
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For the first week of travel, the group only saw large animals, pacing the caravan as they traveled. They also noticed ravens and other birds flying alongside the caravan, in search of scraps the caravan left behind. During one of the days, one of the group noticed that a larger raven was also following along, trying to blend in with the other ravens. The one raven was larger than the others and had a blood-red feather on one wing. When they asked around the caravan about the bird, Sondru shuddered and said that a blood-feather raven was seen as an evil omen, possibly in the service of evil powers.
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The group observed that the larger raven would follow for a day, then disappear and reappear after another two days. During one of the times when the raven was following, the group decided to trey and kill it in order to get rid of a possible spy. Danicia and Sheliak turned invisible and sneaked through the forest to where they had seen the raven flying. Kelda prepared a flying spell and to join Danicia and Sheliak once they engaged the bird. Danicia and Sheliak were successful in sneaking up on the raven but as soon as an arrow hit it, the bird dived into the deep underbrush and disappeared from sight. Kelda joined the group as they searched but no one had any luck in finding the bird. However, for the next few days, they did not see it again, keeping watch, so perhaps they had succeeded in driving it away.
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When the group was about three to four days from Kalsgard, they stopped at a caravan area, next to the Skalsbridge that crossed the Thundering river as it joined the Rimeflow. The caravan settled in for the night and set a watch. During the watch, Cendrine and Sheliak heard a slight noise and immediately alerted the group. As everyone assembled, they found a boat had landed on the river bank and that a large group of Ulfen warriors was attacking. Sondru and Kyova both went to protect Sophia, with Darsus providing support. Kelda, Cendrin, Danicia and Sheliak quickly took up position to take care of the attackers. The Storm Peace Keepers fought away and announced that they wanted to keep some of the warriors alive for questioning. After this announcement, several of the warriors attacked on of their own in an attempt to kill him before he was captured. However, the group was able to subdue the warriors and keep several of them for questioning.
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When they tried to question the first warrior, he stayed silent, then he appeared to try and speak. As he tried to speak, he froze up, appeared to be in great pain and then died before he could answer. Darsus thought that perhaps some magical spell had been put on the warrior that would cause his death if he tried to answer questions about who had hired them. The group decided to forego questioning and possibly bring one of the prisoners to a large temple in Kalsgard to see if the spell could be removed.
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After taking the gear, the group decided they would also take the boat and sell it in Kalsgard. The group gathered up the loot and tied the boat to shore. They then spent the rest of the night quietly and prepared for their journey the next day. The boat is a small river knarr, with a length of 52 feet and 20 sets of oars. Painted on the prow in Skald is the name Aril's Hammer. Sailing the boat to Kalsgard will require the same amount of time as traveling in the caravan. The session ended here.
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