Session 24 - A deal gone wrong

Ulrich’s Disappearance

The party stood in stunned silence at the mouth of the cave. Ulrich had vanished in the span of a heartbeat. One moment he had been there. The next, he was gone. No one had truly understood what was happening until it was already over. There had been desperate movements, half-formed attempts to intervene and instinctive reactions born of panic rather than thought, but whatever had taken him had been far too fast.

The only trace left behind was a series of drag marks gouged into the cave floor. That was troubling. Vaurgûls did not drag prey away. They were scavengers, carrion-feeders. When they found something to kill, they descended upon it in a frenzy and tore it apart where it fell. So what exactly had taken Ulrich? No one had an answer.

Eventually, necessity won out over fear. With a kind of forced optimism that none of them fully believed, they reminded themselves of what they knew about the Imperators. An Imperator could only truly be slain by another Imperator. If the stories were true, Mortarion was not dead. Merely gone. Somewhere in the world, he would be reborn into a new life, wearing a new face and carrying a new name. Perhaps that was for the best. If Sarevok ever returned, he would have no idea where to begin looking.

Out of the Mountain

As the initial shock faded, the party finally turned their attention to their surroundings. The labyrinth beneath the mountain had ended at a forested hollow nestled against its base. Towering trees surrounded them on all sides, their branches swaying gently in the wind. Far beyond the treeline, barely visible through the haze, stood the weathered ruins of Sarthengar.

None of them knew how long they had spent navigating the twisting tunnels beneath the mountain. Hours. Maybe days. Time had lost all meaning underground. What mattered was that they had finally reached safety.

Without wasting time, Chloe began preparing a ritual that would allow them to travel through the forest and reach Twin Bridges as quickly as possible. Winry’s condition had been deteriorating for days, and every hour mattered. Unfortunately, adrenaline had been carrying Chloe for far longer than exhaustion should have allowed. The moment she began the ritual, her concentration fractured. The magic refused to take shape. Only then did she realize how utterly drained she was.

Looking around, she saw the same exhaustion reflected in every face. No one protested when the decision was made to rest. Rollo volunteered for the first watch. Once his shift ended, he shook Scarlet awake, mumbled something that vaguely resembled instructions and stumbled toward his bedroll. Scarlet never got up. Neither did anyone else. The entire party slept straight through until evening.

The Road to Twin Bridges

They awoke beneath a sky painted silver by moonlight. The forest was silent, the kind of silence found only in forgotten corners of the world, where civilization felt very far away. Scarlet immediately knelt beside Winry. One look was enough. The gangrene had spread. Winry’s skin burned with fever, her body trembled violently beneath her blankets and her eyes wandered without focus. She muttered nonsense beneath her breath, caught somewhere between reality and delirium.

For a moment, nobody spoke. Then Chloe stood, quickly shifted forms and began the ritual again. This time it worked. An hour later, the party emerged on the northern edge of the Needles. Relief swept through them. They had made it.

Keeping up the fastest pace Winry’s condition would allow, they followed the frozen shoreline south. The lake stretched endlessly beside them, its surface locked beneath thick ice. That was when they noticed the lights. Tiny glowing spheres drifted lazily across the frozen water. They danced and twirled above the ice as though caught in an invisible current, their pale radiance casting ghostly reflections across the lake.

Scarlet had heard stories. Everyone in Grimhold had. Old campfire tales whispered by travelers and hunters. Some claimed the lights were the souls of children who had died long ago. Others claimed they were spirits repeating their final moments. Scarlet had never known what to believe. Tonight, she simply watched them drift across the ice.

Soon after, the party reached the road and arrived at Twin Bridges. The moment they entered the settlement, finding a doctor became their only priority. Winry was quickly handed over to professional care. Then came the waiting. The operation would take hours. There was nothing they could do but hope.

Dorian, Servius and the Sunstone Question

Restless and unable to sit still, the party wandered through the camp while they waited. Cael found himself heading toward Dorian’s tent. The guilt still weighed heavily on him. Entering Dorian’s name into the cryptex had seemed like the right decision at the time, but that knowledge brought little comfort now. Every time he thought about it, he wondered whether another man’s death rested on his conscience.

When he arrived, he found the tent empty. A nearby soldier informed him that Servius had Dorian removed. That answer sent Cael hurrying toward Servius’ quarters, where he found Dorian. Or at least what remained of him. The corpse hung from a gallows alongside several others. Servius himself was absent from the camp, leaving his deputy in charge.

Still hoping to salvage something useful from the trip, Cael approached the deputy with what he considered a perfectly reasonable question: where could he find the Sunstone? Unfortunately, Sunstone happened to be one of the most infamous narcotics in Grimhold. The general’s reaction was immediate. Cael was thrown out before he could explain himself. Before being escorted away, he overheard soldiers discussing preparations for an upcoming military campaign. An attack was coming.

Scarlet’s Vision of Aurex

Elsewhere in the camp, Scarlet had her own concerns. She purchased a Soul Shard from an elderly merchant and immediately decided to put it to use. A small voice in the back of her mind had never fully stopped questioning the Imperators. Using her book, she focused on Aurex.

The vision that followed lasted only seconds. It was enough. She watched Sarevok enter Aurex’s home. She watched the confrontation unfold. And she watched Aurex die. There was no misunderstanding. No hidden context. Sarevok really had murdered him. Deliberately. Coldly. In the safety of his own home.

When the vision ended, Scarlet returned to the merchant’s stall. This time, she bought twelve more Soul Shards.

Winry Survives

The party reunited outside the medical tent later that evening. This time, they were greeted with good news. Winry had survived. The operation had been successful, though not without consequences. One of her legs would remain slightly shorter than the other, a permanent reminder of both the battle she had fought and the price she had paid to survive it.

For once, relief outweighed worry. Even Cael seemed lighter. In a rare moment of vulnerability, he presented Winry with a handmade gift he had crafted himself. It was far from perfect, the edges uneven and the workmanship rough, but that only made it more genuine. It was a small heart-shaped handicraft with amethyst set at its center. Winry accepted it with a smile.

Chloe and the Mask of Seidrkona

Knowing her friend was finally safe, Chloe allowed herself to focus on questions that had been lingering in her mind. She transformed into an owl and slipped away from camp. She flew until the sounds of civilization faded behind her, eventually settling in a quiet clearing hidden deep within the forest. There, beneath the stars, she reached for the Mask of Seidrkona.

Even now, placing it upon her face filled her with unease. The artifact never simply showed answers. It showed the truth. Her first question was simple: what were the lights above the lake?

The world dissolved around her. Suddenly she stood somewhere familiar and yet impossibly distant. Grimhold, long before the permafrost. The Second Age. The frozen lake was gone. In its place stretched open water that shimmered beneath sunlight. Beyond it stood Sarthengar in all its former glory. White and blue marble towers crowned with golden domes rose above the shoreline, their reflections dancing across the surface of the lake. For a brief moment, the city looked almost divine.

Then came the tragedy. A passenger vessel drifted into view. Something went wrong. Panic spread across the deck. The ship capsized, and the water swallowed everyone aboard. Adults. Families. Children. The vision shifted, and Chloe found herself among the spectral lights she had seen hovering over the frozen lake. Within each glowing orb, she could make out a face. Children. The youngest victims of the disaster. Their souls remained trapped, endlessly circling the place where their lives had ended, unable to move on from their final moments.

The vision faded. Yet another Grimhold mystery had been answered.

The Truth of the Needles

Chloe’s next question concerned the Needles. More specifically, why the Needles kept changing within her journal. Once again, reality melted away. A vast forest appeared before her. Not the dead and twisted Needles she knew, but something alive, ancient and wild. Creatures moved among the trees unlike anything she had ever seen before.

At the center of the forest stood a colossal tree. Chloe recognized it immediately. The same tree she had seen before. The tree the crows had guarded. Only now did she understand its significance.

The vision shifted again. She looked down and saw her own hand reaching toward the bark. The moment her fingers touched the tree, glowing blue runes spread outward from her skin. They flowed across the trunk like streams of light, wrapping around it in a gentle embrace. The entire forest seemed to breathe. Then the tree opened. From within emerged Thirion. Not summoned. Not created. Born from it.

A realization settled heavily in Chloe’s chest. The Needles was alive.

The vision ended, but one question still remained unanswered: Geri and Freki. No matter how many times she called for them, neither wolf responded. She could feel the forests, hear the whispers of nature and speak with ancient forces older than kingdoms, yet her two companions remained frustratingly absent. With an annoyed huff, she removed the mask and returned to camp.

Thorgma’s Tavern

The following evening found the party hungry, exhausted and desperately in need of something resembling normalcy. Their solution was obvious: Thorgma’s Tavern.

The establishment was overflowing with travelers, merchants, soldiers and adventurers. Laughter echoed from every corner, mugs slammed against tables, and music competed with conversation for dominance. Finding a seat proved difficult, but Thorgma somehow managed it anyway.

The party had barely settled in when Cael abruptly announced that he needed some air and disappeared. The excuse was terrible. Everyone knew it, but nobody cared enough to argue. They were too tired. Eventually, Cael returned and almost immediately asked to borrow ten silver pieces. That got everyone’s attention.

Questions followed. The answers were significantly worse. Apparently, a “friend” of Cael had offered to sell him something. Cael suspected it might be the Sunstone. Against their better judgment, the party followed him to the meeting point, but nobody was there. After waiting for some time, Scarlet and Chloe gave up and returned to the tavern. Rollo stayed behind, hidden. Someone clearly needed to supervise Cael.

The dealer never arrived. Eventually, Cael decided to leave. That was when he noticed something unusual: a trapdoor. Most people would have ignored it. Cael was not most people. Curiosity won immediately.

The Sunstone Theft

The hidden passage led into a storage room packed with barrels of ale. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about it. Then Cael noticed a loose stone. Beneath it sat several bags filled with tiny yellow crystals. His eyes widened. Bingo.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the largest bag and ran. Winry was still recovering in her pocket dimension when Cael burst inside. Proudly, he revealed his discovery. Winry’s reaction was immediate. She confiscated a portion of the crystals for “research purposes.”

The situation became significantly less amusing when she examined the bag itself. The enchantments woven into it were obvious. The bag was magical. Both of them froze, then panic set in. A magical container meant someone would eventually notice it was missing, and neither of them wanted to be present when that happened.

Together, they hastily devised a plan. Winry turned Cael invisible, and Cael returned the bag. The mission was flawless. Almost. In all the chaos, both of them overlooked one important detail. They had returned the bag, not the contents. An entire kilogram of Sunstone remained safely inside Winry’s possession.

Rollo’s Smoke Performance

Back at the tavern, Rollo had become the evening’s main attraction. After acquiring some tobacco from Thorgma, he began creating elaborate shapes and scenes from enchanted smoke. Crowds gathered around him. Tiny elemental warriors fought dramatic battles in midair. A serpent consumed a golden ring. A massive sailing vessel drifted through invisible oceans above the tables. Every new creation drew louder cheers than the last.

Scarlet quickly recognized an opportunity. Before long, she was collecting donations from impressed spectators. Then she joined the performance herself. When one particularly rude patron shouted something disrespectful in her direction, she responded the only way Scarlet knew how. She tossed an apple into the air, and before it reached its target, an arrow flew from her bow. The shot struck perfectly. Apple and arrow buried themselves in the supporting pillar mere inches from the man’s head.

Silence swept across the room, then the tavern erupted. The crowd loved it. For a brief moment, the entire room felt invincible.

That feeling lasted until Cael returned. His news quickly dampened the mood. There was a good chance they had stumbled into something dangerous. Very dangerous. Fortunately, Thorgma took pity on them and gave the group a place to sleep in one of her storage rooms. Before turning in for the night, they agreed to meet with Winry the following morning. Then, hidden in Winry’s pocket dimension, Cael would explain everything.

The Morning After

The following morning began exactly as one might expect after an evening spent celebrating questionable decisions. Cael woke with a pounding headache. Chloe looked a little better. The party slowly gathered in Winry’s tent, each carrying their own degree of exhaustion.

Winry, meanwhile, appeared to be doing remarkably well. In fact, she had already built something. Again. The moment they entered her pocket dimension, she proudly unveiled a tiny winged construct that buzzed through the air with surprising enthusiasm. The little machine darted around SUN-e, carefully tending to damaged components and repairing minor injuries wherever it found them.

Its existence raised several questions. The answer to all of them was Sunstone. Specifically, the Sunstone Cael had stolen the previous night.

Inside the safety of the pocket dimension, Cael and Winry finally explained the entire story to the rest of the group. The hidden room. The crystals. The enchanted bag. The accidental theft of an amount of narcotics large enough to cause serious problems for everyone involved. As if that were not enough, Winry revealed another troubling detail. Several strangers had entered her tent during the night. They had searched the area for something before eventually leaving empty-handed. Nobody needed to guess what they had been looking for.

The conversation quickly escalated into an argument. Voices rose. Accusations were thrown around. At some point, someone knocked over part of Winry’s workspace. Golden dust scattered into the air. Nobody thought much of it until they inhaled it.

Every single person present accidentally snorted powdered Sunstone. Everyone except Cael. For reasons known only to fate, he remained the sole sober member of the party. The next hour was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Eventually, the collective high began to fade. One by one, reality returned. The party emerged from the pocket dimension and stepped back into the camp.

The Nomad Camp Moves

Outside, they found the settlement buzzing with unusual activity. A massive caravan stretched across the road, wagons and travelers forming a seemingly endless procession. Scarlet and Chloe immediately recognized one of the figures overseeing the migration: Boyar Lyskan, leader of the Nomad Camp.

They approached him and quickly learned the reason for the caravan’s presence. The Nomad Camp was relocating permanently. Its people were moving to the place where the party had first encountered them, near the outskirts of the Needles. The decision had not been made lightly.

War was coming.

The negotiations between Servius and Jarl Barl Grimwulf had failed. Neither side had been willing to bend. Neither side had been willing to listen. Now thousands of people were preparing for the consequences. The mood in camp darkened considerably after that.

Soul Shards and Final Visions

Back inside Winry’s pocket dimension, Scarlet found herself unable to shake a growing sense of dread. What if Servius was dead? The Soul Shards offered a way to know for certain. She activated one and focused on Servius. Nothing happened. Relief washed over the room. To be safe, they checked on Jarl Barl as well. The result was much the same.

Scarlet and Chloe then agreed to check on Edward. The atmosphere shifted immediately. A Soul Shard was activated, and the vision that followed was unlike any they had seen before.

The Needles appeared before them, a land of dead trees and lingering curses. Amidst the withered forest stood Thirion, haunted and still. Across from him stood Edward. For a moment, neither moved. Then, with quiet dignity, they bowed to one another. Not as strangers. Not as enemies. As equals. As two souls who understood exactly what this moment meant.

The silence that followed felt sacred. Then Edward smiled and began to disappear. His body unraveled into thousands upon thousands of flower petals, each one carried away by an unseen wind. The petals drifted across the vision like falling blossoms in spring. For a brief moment, they filled the entire world.

Then came his voice. It echoed through the pocket dimension long after his form had vanished.

“My mission is complete. I am going home.”