Torches Session 39, The Stepford Loas

Setting Up the Board

  In character, this session took place in the County of Emberhold.   Out of character we joked that this was Stepford because it pleasant and serene at first glance, and horrifying below the surface. Kormatin and company something evil was happening here, but they weren't sure what exactly.   At the end of Session 38, the PCs were being vigorously pursued by the enemy but they had finally given their foes the slip and made it safely to an inn at the edge of Emberhold County. It helped that their pursuers didn't know where Kormatin and company were going and probably didn't even consider that they would go to Emberhold.   The time is about midway through the month Afternike, called "Jan-oo-arrey" in the Elven tongue. Emberhold is fairly far south, so it's a bit warmer than than Kormatin and company are used to, but it's still cold enough for there to be snow on the ground.   Emberhold is an agrarian based province held by House Selwyth that produces boring but useful things like cereal crops, wool, and cheese.   Friendly chatter with the locals in the inn revealed that House Selwyth was negotiating with the Cult of the Compact to set up a large temple in Emberhold, but it kept hitting delays due to unexpected construction setbacks or annoying red tape. The PCs, figured the almost-but-not-quite temple sites would be a good place to narrow down their search.   Aleesia used her Plant theurgy to talk to the local flora and discover that there was a tainted area plants feared. But being plants, the best they could do was slowly grow and lean away from the scary thing. But all the plants seemed to agree where the scary thing was, so it pointed a fairly obvious arrow for Aleesia to follow which she dutifully relayed to her companions.     Brigid made the party invisible and they climbed the fence. Nothing magical happened, so they figured the active spells were for ghosts. The illusion of a beautiful pastoral scene extended a little bit past the fence but some distance form the fence the illusion gave way to reality allowing non-Kormatin party members to see the area for what it was. The plants were stunted and anemic, but Aleesia was still able to obscure their footprints in the snow with her plant theurgy.   The fence was lined with salt. The party disrupted the salt just enough to allow Ragani to summon spirits into the area later (with difficulty).   There was a cluster of fairly nondescript but relatively newly constructed brick and wood buildings. While invisible, they observed Kivessin the Half-Elf leading about a dozen spirit loas through basic military training exercises.   Running laps and basic exercises is not inherently nefarious, but some of the loas were wearing Control Collars modified into bracers, and nearly all the loas were kidnapped, and Kivessin is a domineering monster and the conspiring Selwyths aren't a whole lot better.  

And then they fight!

  Kormatin took the opportunity to jump them. Kivessin got a few seconds warning thanks to his magic eye detecting the illusion magic though not fully piercing it.   The party activated their bracers of Dexterity and charged.   At his direction, Dame Mairewen the Fang Warrior cast dispel magic at the party, but Bendek diluted the dispelling with Reactive Dispelling so only the group's invisibility was lost.   The loas broke and ran back to their barracks.   The fight was short and brutal. Kormatin slew Dame Mairwen fairly with the Talon of Aeres.   Bendek got a few swings with his sword in, but his primary contribution was in using Reactive Dispel to dilute or block the spells Mairwen and Kivessin were casting. At various points, Kivessin tried to take out Brigid with Body Warp and Dominate but Bendek thwarted both attempts. Kivessin did manage to cast Fly, but it didn't last very long as Bendek dispelled that fairly quickly. At one point, Bendek clubbed a ghost and drove away a hostile ghost. Bendek was arguably the MVP of this fight.   Aleesia is the weakest sword fighter in the group and didn't do a lot, but she avoided embarrassing herself.   Brigid did most of the damage to Kivessin (aided with largely with a bit of armor piercing invocation) though it took three hits to bring him down and even then he was just knocked out. Brigid made sure he didn't wake up.   Ragani summoned lions for support, summoning two despite the salt barrier. Plus her usual medic work afterwards.   The two Talon Warriors, Dame Kiah and Sir Ceron were not able to land a serious hit on the PCs, both were injured fairly badly. Dame Kiah surrendered and Sir Ceron tried to run away (and then later surrendered).   The bad guys didn't do much damage to the party, but they inflicted some psychological trauma. At Kivissin's behest, a ghost possessed Ragani and Aleesia. Kormatin was able to exorcise Aleesia fairly quickly with his Purification magic, but Aleesia was still very rattled for some time afterward having rolled very poorly on her Willpower roll.   Ragani only barely succumbed to possession but it took longer for Kormatin, but during her minute or so of being possessed, she managed to wriggle out of Brigid's grapple and stab herself with a dagger.  

Ragani portrait by Eron12 using Hero Forge

"I don't fault you for saving your wife before me, but I am shaken. Apart from the day we lost Tihalt, that is probably the worst thing I've experienced. It's not easy being a gnome fighting against and alongside strong humans, but I never before felt as helpless as I did stabbing myself.   I understand that there are good ghosts and bad ghosts just like there are good and bad humans and gnomes but I doubt I'll sleep well for this quest." -Ragani the gnome Guardian

 

comissioned portrait of Aleesia the Satyr by Zeta Gardner

"I feel useless. I helped find the spirit loas, but I'm sure you could have found it without with a little bit of leg work. I'm a liability in a fight. If I wasn't there to be possessed, you could have purified Ragani faster and she wouldn't have gotten hurt."   -Aleesia the Satyr

   

Aftermath Events

  Shortly after the fight while Kormatin and party were sorting things out and securing the prisoners and/or freeing the prisoners, Kormatin and the party were pinged with either Clairvoyance or Scrying. The remaining bad guys evacuated using Overland Flight letting Kormatin and party free all the prisoners and ransack the place thoroughly.   The party ended up with 23 rescued Spirit loas and two captured Talon Warriors. Some of the ghosts fled and the rest claimed they were prisoners of the Selwyths. At least thirty ghosts are still haunting the area.   Dame Kiah was a cooperative and informative prisoner and at Kiah's coaxing, Sir Ceron became a cooperative prisoner.   According to Kiah and Ceron, the escapees include: one middle aged landless sorceress (Lady Raewen ap Selwyth), two Talon Warriors (Dame Owena ap Selwyth and Sir Peredur ap Selwyth), one Fang Warrior (Elari par Selwyth), , and one Fang Warrior squire (Raewen's daughter, Madrona).   Lady Raewenis a protégé and of Countess Colwyn the Matriarch of House Selwyth who is supporting Selwyth's agenda of pushing the boundaries of necromantic research.   Since the local countess didn't like or trust Lady Raewen, and wasn't fully on board with her loa scheme, Kiah didn't think it was likely for the Countess to rally all her soldiers and attack their position in full force, at least not quickly.