Session 5

After vanquishing the Tritons, the Knot continued their voyage into the savage North.  The Captain, in his thick Ulfan accent announces the ship is running low on water & they'll be making a stop in a bay.  And that the bay just happens to be a rich seal hunting grounds.  So while they're stopping they should take advantage of the opportunity.  Some in the knot grow concerned about the delay, but they confer & opt to not confront the Captain about it.

Hunting groups are formed & Galen, seeing the greed in ol' Odenkirk's eyes & being aware of the final fate the captain, he agrees to help the Captain out and offers all seal pelts he catches be given to the Captain.  Odenkirk is quite pleased.  As is Galen.

Day one of the hunt works well, Emmerick & Mardus watch in one boat, Emmerick sure the Captain is lying about something doesn't try, but does stay near by.  Emmerick cares little about the hunt & Mardus struggles, their boat bringing in nothing.  However, Galen, assisting Odenkirk, hall in 4 seal pelts.

The second day of the hunt has a less positive outcome.  Emmerick, still on edge, insists on being on Odenkirk's boat, still with no plan to actually help.  Galen swaps spots with him, while Yvainne, Quell & Brother Summit continue to stay on the Frosthammer.

The attack of the Bunyips is unexpected, while Odenkirk & a sailor are trying to pull on a slain seal, and Emmerick stands by not lending a hand, the creatures emmerge & ram the small boat.  One letting out a screaching cry.  The fight that insues is hard.  Emmerick takes the brunt of the damage, at one point falling into the drink.  Fortunately Odenkirk & the sailor in his boat are able to throw a rope to the anti-paladin.  And after Galen & Mardus are able to bring their craft over to aid, the Bunyips are eventually defeated.

At the end of the day, Odenkirk & Emmerick's boat fails to hail in even one seal.  Galen & Mardus' boat however, get a major haul of 6 seals.  Galen hands the seals over to Odenkirk, as he caught them & he already promised all he caught would go to Odenkirk.  Odenkirk, greed clouding his vision, fails to realize the over willingness of Galen & the danger that represents & instead takes the pelts.

After the encounter with the Bunyips the Captain decides to leave the harbor & continue on.  It's not long after that when they encounter a group of the reclusive Yutak.  The odd northerners ask to trade.  Galen speaks through the Yutak translator "Joseph Calls-Fire-From-Water" to the young Chief, White Tusk.  They trade some spare weapons & armor they've collected & their little bit of remaining Mithril for White Tusk's name sake, a massive Norwall horn, easily taller than even Brother Summit.  Some Knot members discuss the possibility of simply assulting the Yutak & taking what they want.  However, Galen's knowledge of the strong fueds kept by Yutak stay their hands.  Also, aware of the coming war they're bringing to Talengarde, they might want to contact the Yutak in the future as allies.  They leave the yutak to peacefully go on their way.  And the Yutak Chief offers a warning, there's a cold ice storm ahead.

The next night White Tusk's warnings prove true.  Cold winds blow & ice quickly forms on the ship's riggings & along the surface of the rough seas.  Then a mad cackling comes from the darkened crow's nest & creatures made of ice appear, floating along the icy caps of the sea for the Frosthammer.  In the end, the ship proves it's name, all be it in a different way than originally intended.  For the Knot serving Hell, crushes all the Ice Elementals that board their vessel.  Hammering them into little chips of ice.  The mad cackling, magic wielding ice demon however is able to flee back into the dark, frigid sea from wince it came.

After recovering, the Frosthammer continues on.  Odenkirk's skill as a captain is shown as he guides his ship through choppy ice choked waters & into the river that will lead them to Lake Tarek.  And after traveling through un-told wilderness, the ship eventually breaks out into Lake Tarek & they spot their final destination, a camp that is more just an unorganized horde of Bugbear warriors.

The Frosthammer docks & there's a brief moment of tension when the handful of Bugbear warriors on the dock approach the ship menicingly.  But the presence of Grumblejack & Brother Summit & the cunning tongue of Galen stall the Bugbears for a time.  Long enough for Sakkarot Fire-Axe to arrive on the scene & bring order.  He quickly begins unloading the ship & thanking the crew & Knot.  He declares the Knot will stay with him, in his camp & there will be a great feast in their honor.  He has one of his Lieutenants, Night-Mane, see to the Knot's safty for their visit.

That night the group witnesses a truly savage feasting.  The butality of what they are to unlease on Talengarde is in full display.  They witness open & casual violance, & they even see two lesser officers fight to the death over the right to command men in the upcoming assult.

After the meal is over, Fire-Axe takes the group back to his personal tent to talk in private.  There, under the influence of strong grog, he speaks candidly to the Knot.  He reveals he's in fact the first knot ever.  And that Cardinal Thorn was not always known as Thorn, though, in a past life he was a Cardinal... to Mitra.  He also tells the Knot he will only be able to hold his Horde together for so long.  And that when they leave, they'll have only 30 days to throw open the gates of Balentyne.  He give them a signal rocket & says to use it at the time of the assault.  When his men see it, they'll know the time to strike is at hand & they'll charge the Watch Wall from their hiding spot in a valley near by.

With that the Ninth Knot makes to leave camp.  Grumblejack remains & says he'll look for them in the coming battle.  And Galen makes a point to mention to Night-Mane about Grumblejack's skill in battle.

That night, the Frosthammer sails south to the peaceful shores of Talengarde.  There the Knot betrays Odenkirk.  Quell asks the Captain if now that they have arrived on the shores, if his contract with Cardinal Thorn is concluded.  When Odenkirk responds saying it is, then Emmerick moves to thank the Captain with a handshake & when they shake, Emmerick discharges his Touch of Corruption, damaging the Captain & beginning combat.  Quel & Emmerick attack the Captain.  Yvainne & Yvainne support them & help deal with the other sailors.  Galen manages to blind two sailors, making the fight much easier.  And though Odenkirk gets a couple good hits in, he's eventually felled.

The knot takes anything of value but has an argument over how to destroy the Frosthammer.  Galen & others are in favor of simply sinking it.  But Quell, a "stickler" for rules points out, their orders from Cardinal Thorn were to BURN the ship.  Mardus, well versed in the ways of the flame suggests rigging the underside of the ship to burn first & hopefully a hole will form & it will sink without being too obvious.  With some work, they rig the ship & it works well enough.  At one point the mast & rigging do catch fire, but the illumination is quickly extinguished, as by that point, the ship was already rapidly floundering & the ship sinks below the surface.

Waiting until mid-morning the Knot arrive in the town of Aldencross, in disguise.  Four arrive together, an older merchant (Galen) & his wife (Yvainne) and their two hired guards (Quell & Brother SUmmit).  And two together as investigators from the Church looking into the disappearance of Sir Balen of Karfeld & his squire, Timeon.  The Knight of the Alerion Order (Emmerick) & his Mitrian Priest friend (Mardus).

Let the Burning of Balentyne begin...

Session 4

As the group continues through the Proving Grounds of Cardinal Thorn, they find a secret door along the hallway leading to the door proclaiming "Secrecy is ourgreatest ally. Exposure brings death.”

Based on the layout of the dungeon, they initially forgo the obvious door & instead try for the secret door & find it leads to another room, that speaks of the fallen rising again.  Aware of the words of warning from the late squire, they carefully look into the room which appears to be full of water-logged coffins.  But, Galen, being schooled in the ways of underground creatures assures the group that the Shrieker is a creature sensitive to light & since the current room is already lit, they are safe to advance, all be it carefully.  So Brother Summit enters the room & searches for any mushrooms or the like hiding in the shadows, as well as for any secret doors.  It is right after the monk steps into the room that the first coffin bursts, unleashing it's undead occupant on the Monk.  The fight that erupts is hard, but, with the Druegr coming out of coffins in a staggered way, the soon-to-be-knot is able to stay on top of the situation, only suffering a couple hard hits along the way.

The group thoroughly searches the room before going toward the original room they by-based, all be it from the direction of the coffin room.  Being sure to dose all lights, they sneak into the room beyond, relying on the dark vision of Brother Summit.  The "good" brother quickly spots a couple Mushrooms that match Galen's description of a Shrieker & quickly disposes of them.  Returning, they continue on to the 9th & presumably final room in their trial.

What awaits them is Sir Balen of Karfield, Knight of the Alerion order & former mentor to the now fallen Emmerick.  Emmerick calls on the others to give him the killing blow or risk his wrath before he advances on his former father figure.  Quel respects his wishes & remains back as Brother Summit rushes ahead & attempts to grapple the knight & pin him to the ground as Emmerick advances, mace in hand.  The casters augment Emmerick as well as strike glancing blows on the knight.  But the fight is manly decided by the three melee combatants.  It takes a bit but eventually Brother Summit pins Sir Balen down.  Sir Balen says "I'm sorry my son" before Emmerick shots back "I am not your son!" and ends the knights life.

Recovering the Holy Symbol of the Knight, a Gold with Sapphire Gem, they return to Cardinal Thorn, who congratulates them on their success & informs them their training has just begun.

Over the next 2 weeks, the group goes through rigorous training, as does the other knot.  Along the way, some in the group are surprised at how skilled of a teacher the Cardinal of Asmodeus truly is and in the end, all come away learning something new.  After the training is done, a great feast is held and the group is anointed in the blood of a Barbed Devil and proclaimed by the last High Priest of Asmodeus on Talengarde as his Ninth Knot, the Nessian Knot.  After the feast, his team is given their task, guard a weapons shipment by boat to the far north to a Bugbear chieftain named Fire-Axe, after that, destroy the ship they came on (including the sailors & captain) & weaken the watch tower Balentyne by the town of Aldencross and aid the Bugbear horde in entering Talengarde.

The Nessian Knot sets sail on the Frosthamar, captained by Kargeld Odenkirk, loaded with weapons for Sakkarot Fire-Axe.  The first part of the trip goes well, they travel along the coast of Talengarde unmolested until reaching the watch wall.  It is there they encounter their first obstacle, a patrol boat, The Blade of St. Martius.  Quel, spotting the patrol ship approaching on an intercept course, gives the Knot & crew enough time to prepare.  Opting for subterfuge, the group come up with a plan to have Emmerick claim to be a member of the Alerion Order, using the dagger taken from the body of Sir Balen as proof & claim they are on a patrol mission beyond the watch wall.  Feeding the story to the Captain of the Blade works better than expected & even though they lack proper "papers" the Captain lets them go without doing a full search of the ship.

The group's next encounter goes much worse.  Less than two days after leaving the Blade of St. Martius clueless in the Frosthamar's wake, a couple sailors spot some dolphins arrive to ride the waves of the ship.  Galen, deciding to amuse himself, summons a fiendish dolphin to "play" with the other dolphins.  The dolphins disappear & a second later re-surface, this time bearing Triton riders armed with Crossbows who open fire on the Frosthamar & it's crew.  The fight is long & hard.  Many arrows are launched back & forth.  Arcane spells & negative energy cross the void as well.  Even some melee combat happens, as small water elementals materialize on board the ship & try to push it's occupants overboard.  At one point Brother Summit attempts to bring the fight to the Tritons as he leaps into the water & engages a Triton & Dolphin with backup from Galen's fiendish-Dolphin.

After rounds of fighting, as the Triton warriors all fall, the leader, a Triton wielding a beautiful trident summons a water elemental onto the ship & goes on a vain suicide charge, leaping onto the boat.  The attacks are quick & brutal, the water elemental causes some serious damage to the Death Priestess but the Triton fares worse against the Anti-Paladin of Hell & his Oracle & Monk allies.  And as his life blood drains out the Oracle of Mitra gives a prophetic warning of doom, saying "The shining sun has seen the wickedness you hide in your hearts. And thus it will be the son who brings your doom.”