Session 24

With minion deaths from energy attacks piling up, the Ninth seeks clarity on the attacks.

Renewed questioning of the Gollem raises more questions.  So the Ninth turns to divine magics.  Fortunately, their resident cleric is practiced in dealing with the dead.  The priestess of the Midnight Lord speaks with the dead and in the questioning finds two vital pieces of information.  First, the Gollum is killing minions who get too close to it.  And Second, there's a separate attack coming from glowing balls of light.  Something else is in the horn!  And their Gollem is a sociopath but that worries the Knot less.

Using magic to see invisible creatures along with the divine scrying of the Horn, Galen begins scouring the Horn.  But not finding much, and taking a long time to do it, others come up with an alternative.  Mardus & Brother Summit act as bait, disguised as minions, patrolling the evil halls of the Horn separately..  And like clockwork, Mardus is attacked by a half dozen Will O' Wisps.  Using the scrying of the horn and the full arcane conjuring might Galen has developed, he's able to transport an assault force from the sanctum down to Mardus's side.  At first the invisible creatures prove challenging, but massive electricity resistance from the Oracle of Hell, coupled with Galen's always effective Glitterdust renders the threat moot.

And though a couple Wisps manage to flee, they're the ones in terror, not their intended victim Mardus who's parting words "And stay out!" seem to hit home regardless of the language barrier.  For the Wisps never return to the Horn, at least as long as it remains standing.

Over the next few weeks things seem quite.  It's during that time when Brother Summit, who'd been meditating for a while throughout the Horn decides he's ready for a real challenge.  He decides to meditate in a room in the Horn specifically meant for the (likely mad) priests of Vetra-Kali to commune with the outer-planes.

Exposing his mind to untold psychic energy, his thoughts are nearly ripped asunder.  But he swims in the outer planes, seeing places hardly imaginable, including untold suffering and savagery.  But refusing to step down to the challenge, he meditates for three straight days.  During that time, he opts to ignore the current struggles of Hell & learning more about the possible planer machinations of Master Thorn and chooses instead to focus on the dark places between the stars.  There his mind encounters and battles horrors behind reason.  Crazed hounds backed by some shadowy spider creature.  In the end, Brother Summit manages to retrain his sanity and is stronger for his struggles, but still.  Those hounds saw him.  They knew of him.  And they are still out there, wanting to kill him.  Them and their dark spider-like master...

Still to the rest of the Knot has an uneventful time as the weeks slip by.

With less than a week remaining, the Knot begins discussing evacuating the Horn of all but a handful of guards.  They move their prize prisoner, the Blood of the Victor, to the sanctum, along with all their gear.  And begin preparing the minions for evacuation 

That's when the earthquake strikes.  Already there have been a couple tremors.  But they pale in comparison to the revolt the earth gives against the unholy ritual being performed on it's surface.  Massive hunks of the Horn go tumbling into the forest below.  And worse, the handful of prisoners they were housing flee.  Including one inquisition guard & the two surviving members of the Banner Varnet.  Still, their prize is safe in the Sanctum.

Over the next day, the minions all flee north to the relative safety of Farholde, former Seventh Knot member, Trik coordinating the evacuation.  The Knot says behind to finish what they started along with the ever reliable Grumblejack.

They speak with the Green Dragon near by & offer even more money if the dragon will be a more active scout & skirmisher.  The dragon agrees, provided the Sanctum of the Horn can remain open, for him to be able to flee into should the feared silver dragon ever attack.

Agreeing to the coin & offer of protection, they gain the allegiance of the Green Dragon.  Which they add to their other guards, a crazed Gollem, a power hungry wraith, two daemons bound to serve the Horn, a cult of Boggards and a host of undead.  But no partridge or pear tree could be found...

In the evening after the earth quake a surprise happens.  The green energy field shimmers away around the entrance to the sanctum and screeching in from the heavens come a flight of giant eagles, their leader, a multi-colored eagle commanding from the rear.

The sanctum of the Horn is turned into a cacophony of noises.  During the fight the commanding eagle teleported onto the shrine & tried to rip the emerald eyes from the statue of Vetra-Kali but the swift actions of the Knot prevented the bird from leaving alive.  After the death of their leader, the eagles break & try to flee, but the looming presence of the young Green Dragon seals their fate, as they are blasted out of the sky with acid.

The following day the last of the minions flee the Horn and slip into the Caer Bryr.  That afternoon, while on "scrying" patrol around the Horn, Galen spots an odd sight.  He spots large piles of mud all over the cavern entrance.  Then he spots a boggard arm & spear poking out of the mud, un-moving.  The Boggards have been attacked!

Still using his magical scrying via the Shrine, Galen follows the mud trail & finds the Boggard village completely destroyed.  The only survivors he spots are a half dozen or so Boggards hold up in the Shaman's hut.  The mud trail continues past the village and ends in a nearby pool of bubbling mud.

Galen turns to Emmerick as says "I think something wasn't attacking into the caverns, but rather something came out."  Emmerick's response was "So something left into the forest?"  Galen's response "That, or it could be climbing up the side of the horn..."

Then there's a shout from Quell as two large monstrosities made entirely of mud rise up over lip of the Sanctum balcony and move forward.

Session 23

The Fate of the Seventh is sealed by the Ninth.

Elise is offered up as a sacrifice.  Her attempt to betray the ninth & take over at the Horn dooms her.  Yvainne pushes for a ritual to the Midnight Lord.  Mardus wants her to burn for her insolence to the Lord of Hell.  Her final fate matters not, her screams fill the Horn of Abaddon.

It's clear to Mardus & others, Trak & Dosten must also meet their ends.  Both possess unwavering loyal to Elise.  Trik however is a salvageable resource.  So the other two knot members are killed and Trik is offered a simple choice.  Join or die.  The cleric of Hell chooses service over death and the fiery fury of his god.

And the Shroud moves a network of spies into the town of Farholde.  As well as ship off more members throughout the major cities of Talengarde.  The eyes and ears of the Ninth Knot extend through the Shining Lord's lands.

Over the following weeks various events happen.

At one point a boggard tribesman asks Emmerick for more food & masterwork weapons to hunt.  The environs around the Horn have gotten dangerous and the Boggards are feeling it.  Emmerick & the other Shroud leaders are unwilling to aid the frog-men that much.  They opt to simply hold a feast & provide some more food.  It placates the Boggards though it riles some of their human followers.

At another point, the spy network of the Shroud manage to intercept & destroy a letter from the local nunnery asking for help from the capitol.  Continuing to hide their dark actions from the Kingdom as a whole.

Then another whisper comes from the Shroud's spies in Farholde.  Whispers of strangers asking pointed questions about the Baron and spying around the safe-house/secret entrance to the Baron's manor house.  Each stranger turns out to be a ghost of a person.  No background, no known residence.  Clearly someone or something is investigating the Noble.

The Ninth, unsure if they should intervene choose to have their spies wait & watch.  And what a show the Agents of the Shroud see when the huge silver dragon attacks and destroys the Baron's manor house, killing the Sorcerer noble.  Only his fire spells seem to phase the beast, as it rips apart the Baron apart and then rips apart the Baron's house, searching through the rubble before flying off in the sunset.

A good dragon striking a suspected villain in town bolsters moral of the town folk.  And leaves a follower of Hell dead.  Some in the Knot are frustrated at the loss of an associate.  Others shrug it off.  The Way of the Wicked is a brutal affair.

As well over a month has passed, the Knot, still needing to acquire the blood of the Victor and unwilling to allow any more time to pass, move into action.

Emmerick, Mardus & Quel revive their old roles of Knight of the Alerien Order, Priest of Mitra & Elven Scout.  Using magic and their natural abilities at subtrafuge, along with Galen's linguistic skill at forgery to mark up the Knight's Journal recovered from the Raiders, they manage to weave quite a tale.

They start with Emmerick & Mardus speaking to Abbess Temperance.  Armed with a tale of how only one with the Blood of the Victor could purge the Horn of Evil they ask for help.  Wielding the journal, with forged notes added (and incriminating pages removed) they managed to convince the Abbess to help.

Seeding the conversation, they get her to suggest speaking to Sir Valin Darian.  And with haste she leads them to Hamorhall Keep.  There they find Sir Valin meeting with a group of Knights of the Alerion Order.  They interrupt a heated debate.  It seems the group of Knights are pressuring Sir Valin to assault the Horn.  The honeyed words of Mardus backed up by the helpful and insistent Abbess push Commander Valin into action.  In the matter of a day, Emmerick & Mardus lead the Blood of the Victor and an entourage of Knights and a warrior-nun straight into an ambush at the Horn.

There are a couple tense moments.  Along the way one of the Knights who squired around the same time as Emmerick did years ago almost recognizes him.  And brings up Emmerick's old mentor, Sir Balen.  Somehow the Knight of Hell contains his rage & maintains the ruse.

Another moment happens when the group encounters a "guard" of skeletons left by an entrance to show some sort of defense.  The fight goes well, but Mardus' lack of positive energy channelling raises an eyebrow from the Warrior Nun.  Mardus brushes it off, knowing the ambush is almost at hand.

Then, in the main temple on the second floor of the Horn, the trap is sprung.  For the duration of the fight, Emmerick avoids Sir Valin Darian knowing his rage might boil over.  And they needed the Blood of the Victor to finish their blasphemous ritual.  Instead, he focuses on this old squire-mate.  The battle is quick and savage.

The full furry of the Knot is unleashed.  A couple of Yvainne's Hell Hounds get hurt by Knights.  But most of the Knot comes away unscathed.  Which can not be said for the Knights.  Most of the Knights and the Nun are all dead.  And Sir Valin is taken down under the iron grip of Brother Summit & the relentless sap of Quell.

Another hurdle is overcome by the Knot.  And they move one more step to freeing a plague on the lands.

With the Victor's Blood in hand, the Knot settles in for what they hope will be another couple uneventful months.  But that hardly lasts a week.  For in a few days, a minion is found dead on the third floor.  Burned from alchemical fire.  Surprisingly close to the Alchemical Gollem's guard post.  Questioning the Gollem, it claims to know nothing, but is not convincing.  Afraid of a possible malfunction, Galen examinees the Gollem but doesn't find anything.  Still worried, he institutes an isolation and orders all human minions off the third floor as a precaution.

While the Knot settles in at the Horn the agents of the Shroud continue to gather information. They find out about a minor Knight, the son of the fallen Watch Commander at Balentyne, Sir Richard Thomason Havelyn.  The Knight was last spotted following a trail of murder and destruction toward Farholde.  The trail of crumbs left by Tiadora all those months ago.  He was investigating the Watch Tower, to see how exactly the fortress fell.  And with him is the twin brother of the fallen Balentye pastor, Brother Donnagin.  What's worse Sir Havelyn had originally investigated a certain prison break at the Kingdom's most infamous prison, Branderscar.

Though the news is worrying, the Knot simply has to wait.

While they wait, and it gets to be a month left, an unwelcome forest visitor arrives.  The massive Chimera bursts into the Horn's third level entrance and begins destroying anything it can find.  Fortunately, Brother Summit was checking on the odd Gollem at the time and between him and the Alchemical construct, along with the fast responding wraiths, they managed to destroy the Chimera before it can do too much damage.

What could have been a bad attack turned out incredibly well.  Or it seemed that way until after the attack a servant was found dead, having been electrocuted to death.  The odd thing, the Chimera was no were near the servant, nor possessing an electrical attack.

So the question remains, what killed the minion....

Session 22

The following week exposes a great betrayal.

It starts as a normal week at the Horn of Abaddon.  If ruins of a daemonic alter being taken over by the forces of hell to destroy a powerful Mitrian artifact to unleash a plague upon the lands could ever be called "normal".  Emmerick is away from the rest of the knot, busy training the troops near the barracks & his personal quarters.  Elsewhere on the 1st floor is Galen, off fiddling with his alchemical golum.

The other Knot members are around the Horn doing other various daily activities, with Mardus on guard duty at the Sanctum.

Emmerick hears the sounds of battle coming from the near by blocked first floor entrance.  The anti-paladin of hell rushes to the guard room near by to find a stone door has been shaped in the side of the room.  And through this new (magically created) portal, a group of four adventurers has burst in.  What's odd, with them is One Eye, the dire tiger the knot found.  And the tiger is ripping through guards.  Clearly the magical enchantment on the beast has been removed and it's come for revenge.

Emmerick rushes in to fight along side his men, hollering for the soldiers outside in the training yard to go get help.

Quell is the first to respond & comes rushing in.  He finds Emmerick & his men getting pummelled.  A druid has called down balls of lighting, a sorcerer is blasting minions.  More minions are falling in the jaws of the dire tiger.  And an elven archer is turning Emmerick into a pin cushion.  But what gives Quell pause is the dwarven barbarian.  Rabid and foaming at the mouth, the brute sunders through a minions blade & the axe keeps going through the minion underneath.

Quell hesitates  unsure what to do.  The soldiers are falling all around & Emmerick is now going toe-to-toe with the rabid dwarf.  But without any support, the rogue will be exposed.  So he waits, opting for some ranged support behind a doorway.

Quell's judgement pays off as he sees the dwarf sunder Emmerick's Mace, shattering it to pieces.  And further taking metal chunks off the Knight of Hell's shield.  All the while the withering hail of arrows rains down on him.

Once Emmerick falls, the gnome shouts.  "Emmerick's down, keep it up!"  And horror fills Quell.  They know the names of the Knot members.  Who are these people!

Eventually support comes, first in the form of Galen & the Gollum.  The alchemical monstrosity begins lobbing bombs & slamming into all enemies who get near.  The conjurer pulls a one two punch of arcane might.  First summoning in fiendish constrictor snakes to block the exit back outside and following it up with a stinking cloud.  Leaving the adventurers and Emmerick's bleeding form stuck between summoned hell snakes and a gollum backed up by Quell.

More Knot members arrive  Yvainne & Brother Summit come to aid Quell while Mardus comes from the outside of the Horn with Grumblejack close in tow.

Still, the Cloud lingers and the fight drags on.  Yvainne unable to reach Emmerick.  When all of a sudden, bursting out of the cloud right as Brother Summit is chocking his wan in comes a soldier.  Carrying the bleeding form of Emmerick.  Somehow one of the guards survived the lighting, the dire tiger, the spells, and the arrows & retrieved his leaders fallen form.  Yvainne is quick to revive the anti-paladin.  Who promptly charges back into combat.

Meanwhile on the other end of the cloud, by the new Stone door, the adventurers are trying to break free.  The dire tiger makes quick work of the snakes, all while shrugging off the effects of the cloud.  Eventually he makes it out & nearly eviscerates Mardus who is with Grumblejack and Emmerick's Nightmare, trying to block the exit.  The Oracle of Fire falls.  But it is no matter, the combined might of Grumblejack, the Nightmare & Galen is too great.  The tiger falls.

In the end, the adventuring group is whipped out.  The dwarf is dead, having fallen to Quell's blade & the Gollum's acid.  Though not before further damaging Quell's swords.

The leader, a Gnome Sorcerer dies to Galen's arcane power.  And the Tiger falls to Grumblejack's hammer.  The Elven archer & half-elvan druid, suffering severely from the stinking cloud are taken alive.  Though the archer just barely, as the Golum was quite savage in it's attacks.

The soldier, a tough brute from the slums of Farholde named Roderick, who likely saved Emmerick's life is made the Anti-Paladin's personal squire and attendant.

The Knot is surprised to find a set of potions on all the adventurers that look remarkably similar to those on the earlier adventuring parties. but the Knot is outright shocked to find a set of files on the gnomes corpse outlining the defenses of the Horn, the names of all the knot members, and suggesting attack routes.  Also on the Gnome is a personal journal entry, which states a secret meeting with an old man claiming to be a "prophet" of Mitra who provided all the information.  And was later tracked secretly to reveal himself a younger man speaking with a woman with a white raven on her shoulder saying "It's done, the ninth is finished."

The Seventh Knot, Elise herself, betrayed them...

There is a period of silence as all assembled consider what do do next.

What follows is a long series of discussions.  Mostly focused on how to go after the rogue Knot.  The ninth decide not to bring Thorn in.  Not until it's finished and they know more.

When the inquisition attacked without warning, shortly after Alicette came to "check on them".  The knot decides it's possible she was checking to see if Elise's plot worked & they all died.  So they wait to see if she arrives.  After two days pass and she fails to arrive the Knot figures Alicette likely wasn't part of the plot, but still can't be sure.

They decide to send Mardus to find Alicette & her overgrown ape to lie to her, saying he's all that's left & they need the seventh at the Horn immediately.

Then the ninth wait in ambush.  Like clockwork the seventh arrive in full force.  Hiding, lying in wait, the Ninth buff themselves with arcane and divine magic and then descend upon the seventh like the fury of hell itself.  Brother Summit and Mardus only pause long enough to tell Alicette to stay out of this.  It's an internal "political" matter.

Seeing members of the seventh fall left & right, the Courtesan of the the Aspis Consortium opts to stay out of the fight.  Or more accurately, the slaughter.  For slaughter it is.

Elise falls, without even getting time to act.  Dostan gets one swing in before succumbing to the repeated sap attacks from Quell and subduing blows from Brother Summit.

Trik, in confusion tries buffing himself, while calling for the ninth to stop.  Trak, blinded by glister-dust  attacks with longsword instead of bow & quickly falls as well.  Eventually Trik surrenders as well.

The Knot don't attempt to confiscate Alicette's weapons or torture her for information.  But they do ask some straightforward questions.  At the end of witch, they decide she truly is not involved and had been almost outcast the entire time by Elise.

Speaking with Trik it becomes clearer.  The Cleric of the Trickster God got tricked himself.  He thought it was on Thorns orders that Elise was trying to kill the ninth.  When he finds out he's been duped he's devastated.

In the end, with ample evidence & the seventh all alive and safely imprisoned, the Ninth breaks the seventh's clay seal to contact Cardinal Thorn.

The Knot is a bit surprised when their contacted not by Tiadora, but by the Cardinal himself.  He is irate that the seventh would dare to betray him.  He declares their contract null and void.  And leaves their fate in the hands of the ninth.