Session 7
On The Road Again
Section titled “On The Road Again”The Fated Eight awoke on the morning of the 12th of Vaelorn 920 PD - relieved that they had made it through the night without a subsequent attempt on Lady’s life. They gathered their things quickly and moved on towards the city of Roan. Along the journey they noticed storms forming and fading in the East - suggesting that bad weather could be on the horizon.
The City Of Roan
Section titled “The City Of Roan”After a number of hours - the party arrived at the giant stone walls of Roan and noticed the guards all wearing matching gunmetal grey armour and navy blue cloaks. Morgyn explained to the party that these were the Storm Corps - the external military of the city. As they entered the city they were approached by guards wearing bronzed armour and white cloaks - members of the Civil Corps per Morgyn’s elaboration.
As the party made their way into the city’s centre, they were approached by an older man wearing an eye-patch who introduced himself as Thomas Urgide. He explained that he was knowledgeable about the city and offered them tour guide services alongside a map of the city. After some haggling - The Fated Eight accepted his services.
A Tour Of The City
Section titled “A Tour Of The City”The tour started with a bit of Roan’s history - detailing how Sir Roan visited the site that is now know as “Old Town” and through a divine miracle, raised the plateau now known as Castletown and created an endless water supply from thin air.
Thomas Urgide then offered them a choice of visiting either the Fortune Markets or Wrath’s Quarter first - given they were on opposite sides of the city.
Jin had advice from ‘Magico’ that he should visit a shop called The Double-Edged Deal so he asked if they could visit that side of the city first. There they met Earl; a Dwarven man and the owner of the shop, who accepted Jin’s inquiries into a custom made weapon. He advised that most of his resources had been purchased under contract of the Vaena Kingdom so it might take him longer than usual to produce. Earl accepted a deposit and advised Jin to speak with Cynthia Glint - proprietor of The Witch’s Wardrobe in the Fortune Markets - as she would have to; for a separate fee, enchant the weapon after it was forged.
Thomas Urgide also showed them to Stormfight Stadium - the gladiatorial ring of the city. He explained that the winners of the tournament are offered lodging within a luxurious and private part of the city.
Old Town
Section titled “Old Town”Thomas Urgide guided The Fated Eight back through the town square - where they saw for the first time, groups of city-folk forming around protestors - with each speaker echoing one message “Dannick Vaena should be King!” The crowds were passionate but civil - especially under the eye of a number of Whitecloaks.
Thomas shifted the focus away from the protestors and towards a very storied building on the Northeast quadrant of the town centre. A clearly old but well maintained building with a clear sign labelling it as “The Rowdy Roan”. Thomas Urgide shared some history about the place before letting it slip a rumour he’d heard.
“You didn’t hear this from me, but I’ve heard that three of their staff have gone missing in the past two weeks!”
- the rumour that Thomas had heard
Maiden District
Section titled “Maiden District”As the sun began to crest overhead - Thomas offered the party a choice of visiting the Maiden’s Ward or the Order District, before heading back to the Fortune Markets to wrap up their shopping and find lodging for the night. The party decided it was more likely that Axton would be somewhere in the Maiden’s Ward and thus they headed there.
After a short detour through the six bespoke churches of Roan - The Fated Eight arrived at the renowned Roan Chapel. A large structure adorned with symbols of various Archons and populated with a number of people wearing hooded cloaks of various colours. They approached a woman wearing a white outfit who directed them upstairs and towards another woman wearing black.
Familiar Faces, Different Spaces
Section titled “Familiar Faces, Different Spaces”She took them into an upper level of the building and showed them to a private room. Upon entering the room, The Fated Eight found themselves in front of Axton and the Amnesic Halfing Woman they’d found roadside a week prior.
Axton greeted the party and they each exchanged details of the events that had occurred since they had gone their separate ways. Axton admitted that he hadn’t seen much of the city - having been at the woman’s bedside for most of their time in Roan. The Chapel attendant advised that a cleric of Seedara, The Bloom of Life had been summoned to cleanse her of a curse - as that was the seeming cause of her affliction. Upon hearing this news - Graxious offered to relieve Axton of his post whilst SHAI - in need of a bit of downtime - offered to join the Leonin male.
Before The Fated Eight turned to leave - The Chapel attendant also advised that Divine Magic with intent to heal was off-limits for the woman, because it seemed to cause her more pain than it was worth.
Thomas Urgide regrouped with The Fated Eight outside the Roan Chapel and offered to treat them all to a round of drinks at The Rowdy Roan to celebrate their reunion. On the journey there - the party inquired with Thomas about where they could find work whilst in the city. Thomas took them on a small detour to a building behind The Rowdy Roan - the city’s Adventurer’s Guild and Town Hall.
The Adventurer’s Guild had two job postings available for newbies like The Fated Eight:
- Missing Boots: 50 Gold reward! with a 10 gold safety deposit
- Thieves: 150 Gold reward! with a 150 gold safety deposit
The Fated Eight learned they’d have to pay a safety deposit to take on work & complete the job within a pre-defined timeframe or forfeit the deposit. They took note of the jobs on offer and headed to The Rowdy Roan.
Entering The Rowdy Roan - The Fated Eight noticed that many members of the earlier protest were now talking amongst themselves, clearly having had too much to drink.
Thomas Urgide seemed to be a regular at the The Rowdy Roan - and very familiar with the waitress serving them. The young human woman returned with all their drinks before someone asked her about the missing staff. She admitted the rumour was true - revealing that first Giselda, and then Mathias & Brannan had all gone missing the in past fortnight. She told them to return later at night when it wasn’t so busy and she’d try to get them a meeting with the owner of the pub.
The Fated Eight headed towards the Fortune Markets to complete the process of ordering Jin’s weapon. They met Cynthia Glint at her shop - The Witch’s Wardrobe - and inquired about both the commission of her enchanting skills as well as her wares. She too admitted that the Vaena Kingdom and The Arcane Will had claimed much of her stock as of late for a new front in the war to the East. She requested they check back in at a later date as she’d need to complete a full stocktake before selling them any wares.
Lady also inquired into Cynthia’s knowledge of the bracers she had found a few days prior. Cynthia admitted that she’d never seen anything like them before and suggested it was Druidic Magic instead of Arcane Magic. She could only advise her to speak to a practitioner of the Druidic arts.
As The Fated Eight exited The Witch’s Wardrobe - they heard a sudden cry for help from the centre of town.
The party made their way their way to the noise and saw many of the now-drunk protesters from earlier surrounding a lone member of the Civil Corps. They sprung into action to help the city guard member; whilst Thomas Urgide hid behind Lady Snowblood for protection.
They deftly dealt with the riot - calling for more help and knocking the rioters unconscious without serious injury. The encounter ended as swiftly as it had started. In the moment of quiet following the encounter Aurevald - who was minorly suspicious of Thomas Urgide & thus instructed Scabb to stay invisible behind him - watched as Thomas turned around and grabbed the invisible familiar; as if he could see him, before flinging him far into the distance. Before Aurevald could react - a sharp, pained cry replaced the silence around them.
An Unexpected Betrayal…
Section titled “An Unexpected Betrayal…”Lady Snowblood cried out in pain as she felt a dagger enter her lower back and between her vertebrae. Lady felt the blade sever her spine and expected to hit the ground but was caught by the figure behind her. The rest of The Fated Eight looked on helplessly as shadowy hands locked each of them in place by the ankles.
The figure who stood where Thomas Urgide once had was a tall, lithe Human man wearing jet black leather armour. His eye was still covered by an eye patch but his hair was long and white instead of grey. He extracted the blade from Lady’s back and let her fall to the floor before speaking to her aloud.
“My dear Lady - you might’ve been ready for Moretti but you weren’t ready for Me. My work here is done…”
- The Assassin’s Parting Words
The Assassin clicked his fingers and vanished into thin air as the rest of The Fated Eight felt their ankles free up. Aurevald instantly attempted to heal Lady which at first seemed to help her - before she began to scream in pain once again. In the few moments that followed - it was clear to them all that Lady had succumb the pain.
Lady Snowblood was dead…