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Rise of the Runelords: Sessions 12 and 13

Ranier reports in after a couple of very long adventures:

Well, into the next room we went, and there were some baddies, including old Aldern himself.  He was wearing some sort of strange mask.  It was a touch fight, but in the end, we slaughtered all the unspeakable creatures in there, even some sort of fungal residue of one of the older Foxgloves that was trying to bring him back.  Aldern is dead, and Iesha is layed to rest, her spirit no longer seeking revenge on Aldern.  I wish this was the end, but the trails leads farther on to Magnamar.

So we said our goodbyes and hit the road.  Shadowmist (the horse we saved from the goblins at Thistletop) is doing better now and took easily to the trail.  Jericho took his own path there, looking up his family.  We grabbed a room at Trent Towers and then headed over to visit Pug, the guy who made the cages for Aldern's little laboratory animals.  Getting information out of Pug is like squeezing blood from a stone.  Sooner or later we head over to the Foxglove townhouse.  Much to our dismay, Aldern and Iesha are home and alive and well.   We spend time with them, feigning concern after "dark events" around the Misgivings.  They seem fine, but aren't themselves.  Aldern doesn't even remember what we were hunting back in Sandpoint.  These things are not Aldern and Iesha.  The paladin tries a channel to see if they are undead -- nope they are something otherwise -- something that can take on Aldern and Iesha's form.

We resupply in town.  Once night falls, we're checking the townhouse, empty this time, and search the place.  Nothing seems out of place until we get to a secret compartment over the mantle.  We find money (good for helping us fund this hunt, now that we're off of Sandpoint's payroll) and a deed for the townhouse and a deed for the Misgivings.  The deed for Misgiving's is strange.  A group called the Brothers of Seven helped build the Foxglove estate, but they get it back after 100 years, including the land around it.  Only 20 years to go.

The Brother's of Seven is an anomaly and we can't find much on them.  They seem to be associated with Norgorber, very cultish in nature.  No one admits who they are.  Time to follow the money.

It appears a sawmill was put up for collateral for the Misgivings byt he Brothers, so we go looking for it.  After asking around a bit, we visit the sawmill, trying to buy lumber.  We keep getting sent on wild goose chases to offices that aren't there, or that aren't open.  At night we break in, despite the place being manned.  The way in from above is blocked, but it appears there is a room on the top floor that has no windows.  That sounds like a perfect place to keep whatever we're looking for.  It is also odd that they are keeping messenger crows on the roof.

 We come in with the logs and sneak through the place.  Unfortunately, Alex stumbles right upon someone and soon we're in pursuit up the stairs.  Suddenly we're surrounded.  I am talking as fast as I can -- we work for Pug, came to repair the lock on the roof entry.  They don't buy it, and draw razors, so I dive out one window, Alex dives out another, and Tari, the paladin, takes off down the stairs and out the door.  We get to the horses and get away.  So much for the element of surprise we had going for us.  Odd as it is, the guy in charge in some sort of robes was wearing the amulet of a judge.  Yeah -- we're going to need some damning proof to get through this.

 We drop the shiney armor off at her temple and head to a tavern where we think we can contact the thieves' guild.  I hint at the bartender but all I get is an invite to a mercenaries guild.  Alex uses his skills to play a game against me with a bet so he can show off his sleight of hand skills.  Somebody tags his sleight, and heads out the door, and Alex is in pursuit.  I am milking my beer and keeping an eye open.

Alex comes back in later, running through the door, huffing and puffing.  The bad guys from the sawmill tried to ambush Alex in a hallway, but he was quick enough to get to the rooftops and get away.  Maybe this is our big chance to catch the sawmill unguarded.

We're qucik to get inside and get the room of interest open.  This place is pretty bad... masks made of stretched faces from vicitims.  We find a journal that must be pretty damning, but we can't read the thing. It i spretty aparent this is a skinshaw cult.  I find a spellbook -- a nice resource. We also check out the crows, letting a few fly.  It looks like they are heading to an old clocktower under the bridge.

It is another search to find a book to help us decipher the infernal language used in the journal.  Man, this guy is depraved.  He'll be hung for sure.  So we're off to the clocktower, looking for a love of the depraved judge, Ironbriar, that we think will be found there.  Her name is Xenesha.  We also find out that the Red Mantis (an assasins' group) is buying the fungus that makes people sick from the Misgivings.  It explains some of the connection between the Misgivings and Magnamar.

We have to pry our way in and digging around in the rubble, we find some sort of contruct built out of pieces of horse and cows and people and it is not happy to see us.  It is a full out battle.  My magic isn't hurting it, but the paladin is using all of her divine backing to take this thing down.

After it finally falls, we start up the ladder to the top, when we are greeted by calls from the Foxgloves.  Great!  They know we're here and they drop one of the huge brass bells down at us.  It is lucky one of us hasn't gotten killed.  I use a little magic, and we climb the wall of the tower to avoid further bell trouble.

Iesha, Aldern, and one of their faceless shapechanger friends greets us, ready to talk, but I'm done with this crap.  Sword drawn, I am after them.  It takes only a moment for us to dispatch them all.  Stairs lead up to another floor... that must be where the judge's love, Xenesha, is.  Based on his reference, I am betting she is some sort of odd thing.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

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