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Callie’s Journal
GM’s note: NOT FINALIZED
Freki asks Sophie why she chose this particular rundown shack, and she says she followed her faith here. It’s where she’s supposed to be. Okay, I get that.
Goratrix says he’s brought our winnings here. Meerlinda sets a bag down outside the door. What a mensch, this guy.
Bec asks why Goratrix has a beef with Lestache, but Gortrix says it’s the other way around. Lestache is jealous because Goratrix built this city (not the ruins, the good part).
Freki, with his low charisma, says Goratrix basically built like a block of a city, then. Oh dear, we should probably stop letting him talk.
Vondal asks what Goratrix wants. Goratrix says we should all ask ourselves that more often. He considers. It’s power. Power is the thing he wants, and we are powerful. But so is he, so he holds our lives in his hands.
We try to suss out what the hell he wants. It seems he could, uh, take us now or wait until we’re even more powerful. But that’s risky, since we might get killed by someone else while he’s waiting.
Goratrix says if there’s a Death Tyrant, then maybe the Zaryu tribe has a fallen member. So, is the SPI bound to stop it or what? Well…yes and no. Lacking our halfling murder squad, we’d probably just send this one up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.
Sophie asks Goratrix why he even cares what we do. He says it’s an event of interest, so he wants to know how we’re going to proceed. He’d rather we not bring more SPI agents down here. Freki doesn’t get why this is a problem. Goratrix explains that these things wash over the whole land and destroy everything, and he’s really not down with that. Bec proposes that we join forces temporarily to take down the Death Tyrant.
Goratrix says if it is around somewhere, he has an idea of where it might be, and it’s a place vampires can’t enter. Vondal strikes a deal with him that if we go and investigate, he’ll agree to not kill us and even discourage the other vampires from harming us. He’s the best. The best we’ve got, anyway.
He swoops the bag into the shack telekinetically. Bec really wants to know how to do that rad magic, and he says he can teach her that and more if she joins her clan. Vondal determines that Goratrix doesn’t particularly hate spiders, but he goes along with it because the other vamps do. Good to know (?).
Vondal suggests we take a rest. Since 3/4 of the current party is spellcasters, that sounds like a great plan to us. Goratrix teleports away. Sophie congratulates us on tricking him into giving up the location: the Soulbound Rest. She thinks I can cast a spell called “Find the Path” to get there, wherever it is. That’s flattering, but I do not know that spell at all! Vondal has something similar, though he’s reluctant to use his high-level spells to try and find this place.
Sophie thinks we need to go, but Vondal thinks we should stay put and rest. She is really keen to grab her cursed sword and go. That sword is like a bad boyfriend, she just will not accept the truth about it.
I chat up Sophie about her service to Tiamat. She says most of her people follow Tiamat, who is the Best God. She didn’t know Bilbo, though. I get the impression that she may have some other feelings about Tiamat, but she’s not at liberty to say them out loud. She’s used to being constantly watched by Zaryu and Tiamat, I guess.
Freki really likes Sophie. She’s his favorite halfling; she’s only stabbed him once so far. Is this the only criterion, or…? Maybe it’s just the most relevant one.
We divvy up the magic items during our rest. I swap out my Boots of Elvenkind with Boots of False Tracks. For the next few hours I am going to be a faun, haha.
Then Goratrix shows up, pleased that we haven’t run away. He flies off, and we take off after him on Bilbo’s flying carpet. Eventually we get to a place with a rickety metal fence surrounding some kind of ruined estate. Goratrix says this is the realm of the spectral undead and therefore the vampires are not allowed to enter. Goratrix himself not only can’t get in there, he doesn’t even want to. That’s strange for the guy who gets his kicks breaking and entering.
The negative energy here is off the charts. We all hate it. Sophie tells us that we’ll be under Tiamat’s protection. I mean, I’ll take it. Sophie tells us that the Death Tyrant is a rebellious piece of Zaryu. That’s why Zaryu wants it dead, because it wants all non-Zaryu things dead. Vondal senses a tremendously evil and powerful presence about half a mile away. Also the whole place is just blanketed with non-corporeal undead creatures.
I cast Pass Without Trace to make Freki even more stealthy than he normally is, and make the rest of us somewhat less unstealthy. Sophie casts Bless on herself, Freki, and Vondal because he seems like he needs the most help. Still, just to minimize our risk, everybody except Freki gets in our portable hole and Freki slings it over his shoulder (I assume). As Freki is about to leave, Goratrix says “Best of luck now.” Meerlinda weaves an illusion of Freki’s home for him, filling him with resolve and purpose. He does an awesome jump over the fence and feels confident.
Freki’s instincts are excellent right now, so Sophie follows his lead. He adjusts slightly to accommodate her while dodging the graves and whatnot that litter the ground. He also opens the hole periodically so we can breathe, for which I am very grateful. At one point along the way, Sophie steps on a branch and makes a sound. Freki hides, then looks around to see if anyone noticed and sees…GORATRIX! But, like, a ghosty version of him. It moans and floats over to a grave. It smells like sorrow and desperation, but not malicious or like a vampire anymore.
At another point, Sophie trips and three ghosts float over to investigate. She volunteers to get in the hole and hang out drinking sangria with the rest of us. (Just kidding obviously, we sure don’t need any more hits to our dexterity.) Then Freki discovers a huge chapel. That’s…probably the place.