Campaign Wrap Up9/16/2021 Session 16: 9/11/2021
21 November 381 (09/21/0381) The party’s status as outlaws was set to be reviewed in the ecclesiastical courts. The issue had garnered enough attention that Prelate Darius would preside himself. After all the evidence was examined and character witnesses were reviewed Prelate Darius retired to pray and take council. Among the councilors was Obituarian Pedius. Earlier the party found out that Pedius was working with the Cultists and recently found a note written by him confirming the association and casting Pedius as a villain. In fact, that note was just presented to and reviewed by Prelate Darius. The results of the ‘trial’ was that Darius lifted the decree that made the party outlaws and stated that the party were clearly heroes and acted to save the city. He specifically mentioned the only cloud following the party was their accusations against Obituarian Pedius, and the Pedius—being a priest of uncommon wisdom bares them no ill-will. After the results were read Eyes publicly shock Pedius’ hand and Eye’s said that someone else in the temple must have been in league with the cultists (which he doesn’t believe). Pedius agreed and said he would root them out. As the party left the Neo-Arid Temple they were approached by an older man that had the look of a high ranking military officer, who told the party that Duke Larkin wished to express the City’s gratitude. At the appointed day and time, the party received their audience. The Duke praised the party as heroes, although he seemed to be talking mainly to his Courtiers, and vaguely referenced needing good men in the future and the growing anarchist movement opposing the Queen. He awarded each member of the party two honors. They were inducted into the Defenders of Urb and given the Colure of High Heroism. The Colure of High Heroism is a rare honor awarded for preventing a great loss of life. The Defenders of Urb is an ancient council that in the past was a political force, but over time has been reduced to a signifier of the right to wear armor and carry weapons inside Urb and the feudal responsibility to defend Urb. Members of this ‘council’ can also be called up in times of war for up to 2 months. Being outlaws for the last 2 weeks has meant the party has not had a chance to pay bills and sell much. The party liquidated the valuable they recently acquired. After having trouble getting the strange Beharan rings apprised they went and talked to Northrop Frye. Who couldn’t quite remember the party but said that they looked familiar. He had some experience with this type of jewelry and told the party that it is new to Urb and is from Lannia (which the party knows was Cuthgil’s cover story and it actually comes from the Beharan). Northrop Frye bought the rings but when the party said the had 6-7 more he wanted more information because he guessed there were only 20 of the strange rings in all the city. The party told him that they recovered them from cultists but didn’t know where the cultists got them from. This is a lie—the party knows that they are made by the Beharan (tentacle monsters) and given to the cultists. The party ended up with ~1000 gold pieces, many times more money than they have ever even heard of. With this money they were able to afford upper class homes and lifestyle, buy and refurbish the tenement building they lived in, let their neighbors live there rent free, and of course see to the needs of Tethion's widow and children. Instead of continuing the campaign with the party being some of the movers and shakers of Urb and probably getting mixed up in the political machinations of the Kingdom, we stopped the campaign here. The party had vanquished their primary enemy, saved the city, and gotten enough gold to live their lives anyway they pleased. Loose end abound but such is the nature player drive campaigns.
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Intersession 28/31/2021 The party (except Eyes) remains under arrest for a week while an ecclesiastical court reviews your status as outlaws. During that time you can do anything you like, but can not leave the grounds of the Dome of the Ocean.
Everyone assures the party that the outcome is not in question, but each party member has a lifetime of experience showing that the powerful almost always treat people below them unfairly and callously. The Priests search the cultists’ complex, dismantling everything, and start filling the structure in. During this process they find several valuables and inform the party that they will be given 56.82g as their share. They do not volunteer the nature of the valuables but when asked they say that 3 silver place settings, a silver ceremonial knife, a silver snuffbox (filled with sand and shells), and several of the strange rings were found. The only supernatural item found was a ring that had some minor benefit to wizards, which will be held by the church for everyone’s safety. They will not tell you more about it, and the party is not being compensated for it. It is evil, can only harm anyone that owns it, and hence has no value. A few days into your arrest Harmony is informed about the relic he found in the Corrupted Heights. Ceremonial Hat of Pn. Marra, Prelate of Urb This red, squarish, low hat was owned by Marra the first Prelate of Urb. She was one of Ignimius' first converts and was the leader of the first group of his followers to travel to Targin. Major Relic of the Church of Ignimius. (Miracle--Ignimius) Res: 60% ID: +0 • If an Enemy of the Faith wears this hat they are knocked unconscious for 2d6 turns. • Any priest of Ignimius that has a line of sight on the hat will have their attention briefly drawn to it. Heroes at Last!8/30/2021 Session 15: 8/28/2021
14 November 381 (09/14/0381) The passage leding under the Dome Of the Ocean was blocked by a pile of stones. The party removed the stones and entered the cramped fissure, it twisted its way further under the Dome of the Ocean temple. Periodic sounds of water splashing could be heard from deeper inside. After more than 50 feet the passage straightened. Fitzooth, in the lead, vaguely made out the form of a skeleton a few feet away coming from deeper down the passageway. Quick action by Fitzooth dispatched the skeleton. Examining it afterwards the skeleton was only armed with a bucket of water. It seems the skeleton was being used to simply move water and may not have even been aware of the party. Some shallow stairs led into the complex. The party found four Cultists in a guard room/sleeping chambers. A fight began, some of the cultists were able to flees deeper into the compound to a T junction where more cultists arrived. Many of the cultists were wizards, including one of some power. The battle raged with the party generally whittling down their opponents. But the tables were nearly turned on the party. They were trying to push deeper into the complex. Most of the party was in the center of the 3 way T intersection. The south of the T intersection was held by 4 cultists who could all attack anyone trying to come down the hall. The East was held by a powerful wizard that had summoned 2 imps, and the north was cleared out by the party. The wizard Cultist cast Atrofus' Negative Energy Tear in the center of the intersection injuring Eyes, Harmony, and Loralei--forcing the party to separate and try to dive out of the area of affect. The next round the wizard cultist created magical darkness centered in the center of the intersection. Then, he cast Summon Swarm and had the swarm move down the passage from the north the south. The party tried to push their way south and out of the way of the swarm, but the cultists in the south passage prevented all but Harmony from doing so. The swam badly injured Eyes and hurt Fitzooth and Loralei. By chance, after the swarm cleared, Eyes went back north to a location where he could see the entrance. He noticed three cultists moving 4 prisoners out of the complex the way the party came in. Loralei was able to occupy the 3 cultists until Fitzooth could get there and help kill the three cultist. They rescue three of the four prisoners (one was killed). At that point the party continued exploring the complex. The powerful wizard was no where to be found and during the exploration the party found more coded religious texts and the wizard’s spellbook. A large alter-sanctuary that was being prepared for a ceremony was also in the complex (Loralei destroyed the preparations). However, the party wasn’t able to search the complex thoroughly, behind the alter there was a large pit of water, and the party had to flee when at least four of the Tentacle Monsters came up and out of it. After escaping the complex with the prisoners, the party was finally seen as heroes and finally believed when they talked about an evil cult and tentacle monsters in the sewers. The papers recovered exposed the cult's plan to destroy the city in a tempest. The presence of the complex under the Dome of the Ocean temple was hard to be skeptical about. The heroic reception by the Church of Ignimius, was wholly due to the party rescuing 3 innocence and stopping the cultists' plan to destroy the city. In the aftermath the party showed all the evidence to the Church of Ignimius, including the letter from Obituarian Pedius, and how the use the Cypher. Although the party (except Eyes) is still under arrest as outlaws, they are confident that they will be exonerated. (More info in Comments) Homework at the Conclave8/10/2021 Session 14: 8/7/2021
09/14/0381 (Nov 14th 381) Back at the half house, Harmony wanted to wait and heal, but Eyes pushed to immediately bring the recovered (coded) papers and book to Adofus. Eyes and Loralei traveled through the sewer to get out of the Corrupted Heights and then walked to the Conclave (Eyes used Clean to make himself presentable). Loralei stealthed ahead and directed Eyes away from the inordinate number of guards they found patrolling the area. When they arrived at the Conclave gate two of the Duke’s Royal Guard (in plan cloths) tried to stop him. Loralei backstabbed and killed one, the other surrendered after being hit with 3 Magic Missiles. Once in the Conclave Eyes went to the library to see if he could find more information about the Cult. He come away more sure then ever that this cult is not recorded in history. But from the icons on the alter, the cult was preforming some ritual involving dangerous weather, the ocean, and darkness. Eyes also went high up the tower to check if there were still a large number of ships-of-war in port. He saw 5 such ships (still higher than average). A messenger summoned Adofus to the Conclave. He had fully cracked the cultists cipher and was able to translate the older texts and the texts that were just recovered. Of note one of the new notes was from Pedius talking to the cultists about selling bodies (full texts are in the comments below). Doing some general checking around the Conclave, Eyes heard that an apprentice named Dazzlin hadn’t been seen in several days, and that an unknown group of malcontents are agitating again the Queen. The Duke’s men are calling them anarchists and are continuously removing posters they are putting up at night. Eyes also got permission to use the gate into the Corrupted Heights from the Conclave by faking wanting to perform an experiment there (wizards use the area for various dangerous experiments). The new papers indicate that the cultists have a second sanctuary under The Dome of the Ocean temple, the party decided to try and explore the sewers under the temple. Before they did, they sent Ex. Law all the information they had (except the note that called out the Dome of the Ocean by name). The party explored the sewers but found that there were no tunnels under the temple, finding multiple places the sewers emptied into the Bay both north and south of the temple. Still believing an alter was located under the temple they searched the beach below the Temple and found what they think is a passage leading under the temple. The party stopped playing at 2:00 pm on the 14th, and are under the impression some ritual will take place on the 15th. Taking the Fight to Them7/26/2021 Session 13: 7/24/2021
09/12/0381 (Nov 12th 381) The party moved up to investigate the secret door. They saw a normal wooden door on a sewage covered ledge opposite the secret door. Fitzooth searched the secret door for signs of traps and Harmony placed two Holy Wards on the wooden door. The secret door opened into a small hallway that ended in a wooden door. As Fitzooth examined the door he noticed light coming from a small hole in one of the walls to the side. Peering into the hole, he struggled to make out an eye peering back at him! The eye had the monstrous oblong pupil the party had seen in the cultists’ eyes. After exchanging a few words Oculus hurried the party through the door to try and neutralize what he assumed was a lookout. The party found themselves in an unground complex, Fitzooth chased the lookout down but the lookout raised the alarm. A long fight broke out with cultists periodically running in from further into the complex. The party was able withstand the assault, and the morale of the cultists eventually faltered. One cultist wizards lay dead along with 7-9(?) normal cultists and a skeleton. Two wizards and 2 normal cultists fled deeper into the complex. Again, Fitzooth gave chase and another battle ensued in a long hallway. Eyes killed a wizard with a Magic Missile spell. The remaining cultist fled, this time Fitzooth and Harmony were so badly hurt and the part stops to discuss what to do next. The party explored what they could and sent Loralei to scout in the direction the 4 surviving cultists fled. Eventually she found that they had fled around and out the normal wooden door the party saw earlier, opposite the secret door in the sewers. The bodies of two more of the cultist wizards sprawled on the ledge, killed by Harmony’s Holy Wards. During the exploration of the complex the party found a sanctuary whose alter had been painstakingly prepared for some ritual (the party desecrated it). They also found a staircase that led up to the Cuthgil crypts (the stairs Loralei fell down so long ago), a room housing 4 prisoners (who they seemed to have taken with them as they fled), storage rooms, sleeping quarters, and a well-appointed wizard’s library, laboratory, and bedroom. All the breakable lab equipment had been thrown to the ground and the books in the library had been quickly ransacked and it looked as though any particularly rare or valuable book had been taken (the remaining books were still worth many hundreds of gold pieces). Loralei went to search the bedroom, and noticed piles of loose papers and books strewn about near the doorway. As she enters, fire erupted all around her. She was badly burned, unconscious, and on death’s door. The fire was quickly spreading to engulf the room. Eyes ran over to her and seeing a desk with a book and a pile of papers on it in the bedroom—ran past her, grabbed the books and papers before dragging Loralei to safety. The party was able to backtrack their way through the sewers and return to their half house and slept through the day. The party was well pleased with themselves, having killed 4 wizards, many normal cultists, desecrated their alter, and recovered some (hopefully) magic items. Back to the Sewers III7/12/2021 Session 12: 7/10/2021
09/08/0381 (08 Nov 381) The next morning Eyes and Harmony explored the little district the party found themselves in. During this exploration the strange inhabitants of the area left them along, even fleeing from them. Finding no sewer entrances on the three primitive streets of the district they started exploring the grounds of the half-house they were squatting in. They found the entrance to what looked like an old root cellar that had been filled with cobblestones. An unpleasant smell foretold that there might be a sewer entrance somewhere in the cellar. It took several days of work to excavate the cellar. Thanks to the roll of 01 on a camouflage skill check by Fitzooth the excavation was done as stealthily as imaginable. During that time Fitzooth also rehabbed the corroded lock to the half-house, Loralei started training magpies to act as guards, and Eyes studied his book “The Frustration of Light”. The party took to sleeping during the day and working at night. One day during his watch, Fitzooth heard some yelling outside and peaked through a window. He did nothing but watch as a small child was crushed to death over a small amount of food by some huge armed, malformed, human-monster thing. One night Eyes saw two darkly clothed figures, one male, one female, walking through the Corrupted Heights holding long staffs that glowed purple and green. Some kind of large flying bugs were attracted to the light, fell to the ground when they touched the staffs, and were collected by the figures. The figures walked the length of the district then left through a small gate that lead to the Conclave grounds. During the excavation of the root cellar Harmony found a skeleton that looked like it was killed in a significant fire. Near the skeleton the party found a lightly melted gold chain and claymore holy symbol and an unburned red ceremonial Prelate’s hat, that Harmony confirmed was a Relic of the Church of Ignimius. Once most of the stones were removed a sewer grate was indeed found in the cellar. Fitzooth’s mechanical abilities let him open it without making a lot of noise. The party spent a few days exploring the sewers looking for the living quarters of the sewer dwelling cult they originally found near the Cuthgil estate. During those days they had many encounters with giant rats, monstrous centipedes, and sewer beetles proving that the sewers are still just as dangerous as they were a few months ago when our heroes first ventured into them. However, their ability to deal with such dangers had greatly improved. Towards the end of their exploration the party fought one of the tentacle monsters that killed Tethion. Even that proved to be only mildly injurious. The monster tried to flee after being blinded by Harmony but Fitzooth chased it down and finished it off. Proceeding in the direction the monster tried to flee, Fitzooth noticed a secret door and the group decided to investigate. Choosing Valor over Discretion6/28/2021 Session 11: 6/26/2021
09/04/0381 (03 November 381) The session started with Harmony alone and unconscious in the Neo-Arid Temple, having been dropped off moments before. The rest of the party was with Wilmot having re-grouped after killing several priests of Ignimius. Wilmot Waterwalker talked about what they should do and decided on going through with the 3rd and final pearl sale. Wilmot was going to leave the city and stay in Darrow Greens (a near by town) for at least awhile. Saying that very quickly the Church of Ignimius is going to find out that Harmony, and there-by the rest of the party, killed the priests. Extra-cautious, the party had Lorelei scout the location of the last pearl sale. Finding someone seemingly waiting with a crossbow in ambush, the party simply left. Was it the Church or just a prudent buyer? We will never know. Wilmot and the party divided up the unsold pearls and went their separate ways. Meanwhile, back at the Neo-Arid Temple Harmony was awoken (with 0 hps), without knowing where he was, how long had past, or exactly what had happened. Ex. Law was told that Harmony had been dropped off, near death from battle wounds, by a woman who then ran off. Minutes later when the lone surviving priest that the party failed to kill showed up Ex Law put two and two together and got Harmony out of the Temple before too many others could do the math. Harmony’s telling of what happened was confused and incomplete, partially because of the difficult circumstances, partially because Harmony isn’t that bright, and partially because the actual player didn’t accurately remember what happened. The Party used intermediaries to try and find each other, which they accomplished after 3 days of trying. The group seriously talked about abandoning Urb entirely and never coming back. Ultimately, they decided to stay and fight the cultists they found in the sewers. During this time, they found out that they had indeed been identified and were fugitives and outlaws. Lorelei thought of where they could hide, a small section of Urb called The Corrupted Heights. An area near the Conclave that has been tainted by decades of the vile practices of wizards. It is chaotic and dangerous, but there is no civil, or Church authority there, and it is very close to the Cuthgil’s estate. After buying everything they could think of that they might need, the party (and their supplies) where smuggled into The Corrupted Heights. On the way in they smelled bizarre odors and occasionally heard unsettling cries. The ‘building’ they were smuggled to looked like it had once been a grand manor. At some point in the past the majority of the house had vanished, or met some strange end, leaving walls and ceilings cleanly cut and one fully intact room. Shortly after arriving a green fog rolled in from the south. The fog was only 2 or 3 feet high but drifted unnaturally up and over buildings and walls. Oculus stood on a chair, the rest of the party waited as bits of the fog wafted in from windows and the chimney. Lorelei seemed unaffected but Harmony and Fitzooth started coughing up bright green phlegm. When they saw something moving in the phlegm, they stomped on it until the movement stopped. Wait, Are we the Baddies?6/15/2021 Session 10: 6/12/2021
09/03/0381 (November 03, 0381) Fully healed the party left the Neo-Arid Temple. Harmony went to the Dome of the Ocean temple to try and find out what demon was associated with flesh eating crabs. He received the answer that no particular demon prince or major demon has a strong association with flesh eating crabs. That is hardly unusual as there is a myriad of demons with a wide range of evil interests and vile associations. After some shopping the party had a scheduled meeting with Wilmot Walkerwalker. Wilmot informed the party that the ‘fake’ pearls were fully formed and that he had several buyers lined up. The party was shocked to learn that they would take home somewhere over 500g from this scheme. Seeing how much money was involved Harmony asked if Wilmot wanted the party to act as added protection. The party, Wilmot, and 4 of his men left to make the exchanges. The first exchange went smoothly, the second did not… One of Wilmot’s men was carrying a bag of pearl to the drop location when an arrow shot out of a window and buried itself 3/4th of the way his ribcage—he fell to the ground dead. The party charged ahead of Wilmot and his other men, engaging four cloaked figures armed with maces. The party made very short work of them killing all four. As the cloaked figures fell, four well armed and armored men wearing the blue and red vestments of Priest’s of Ignimius ran out of nearby doors. Oculus yelled for Wilmot and his men to run, which they did. Oculus deftly picking up the bag of pearl that had fallen to the ground. The battle went thusly; the 4 priests were able to surround Harmony and Fitzooth on 3 sides, Oculus cast Magic Missile at one of the priests. Harmony (a priest himself) constantly implored the priests to stop their attack, the priests constantly yelled for the party to drop their weapons. But the fight continued. After a few rounds Harmony fell due to a critical injury. Oculus fled to the south, and Fitzooth joined soon after. One of the priests had started running down a side alley before the party fled, hoping to flank the them, another followed Fitzooth, and two stayed behind with the unconscious Harmony. Loralei, instead of fleeing, decided to sneak back to Harmony and see if she could rescue him. By chance Loralei encountered the priest that was attempting to flank, and stabbed from the darkness, severely injuring him and disabling his arm. His screams brought one of the priests that stayed behind with Harmony. Loralei fled, losing her pursuer in the city. After which she circled back around to Harmony again. Harmony now had only one priest guarding him, who was distracted tending the wounds of one of the four fallen cloaked men. Loralei snuck up behind him and slit his throat. As his life blood spilled from his neck, his last action was to continue trying to tend the wounds of his comrade. A few rounds later the priest that tried to chase down Fitzooth returned. Loralei heard him coming in his chainmail and hid. He ran up to the fleshly killed priest and bent to try and tend his friends wound. Loralei used the opportunity to backstab this priest as well. However, this time she didn’t quit kill him and had to trade blows for a round or two to finish him off. Loralei hid again and waited for the fourth and final priest to return. This priest didn’t immediately try to tend the wounds of his comrades, instead he tried to drag the 2 priest’s bodies away to safety. Loralei failed to backstab this last priest and had to flee. She returned a short while later to find the surviving priest gone as well as the two bodies he was dragging away. Harmony was left behind and she was able to drag him to the Neo-Arid temple, along with some looted weapons, before Harmony bleed to death. The session ended with Harmony safely in the temple and the rest of the party with Wilmot. Intersession 16/5/2021 Session 9.5: 6/05/2021
09/02/0381 (November 02, 0381 Adofus the Acrid has made progress cracking the cultist's cipher! It is a mix of a letter and word substitution cipher. He figured out all the letter substitutions and used that to figure out several of the word substitutions, but their are still many words he can not decipher. The texts are below. Birch bark note on one of the cultists that attacked the safe house If you can not find the four daramsoubut we will be forced to jele the great saqui. We have waited so long I can not mihey waiting for the snow mub. Take care of the pubegethum first, they are the greatest threat. Although two or three of them could be used as daramsoubut, take at most one of them for that purpose. Kill the others. If one is taken, bring them to the laboratory under the kuduba grounds for the fegun to use as daramsoubut. If not, continue looking for four suitable daramsoubut. A short list appears on the reverse side of the note: A priest -- A hopi -- A omey -- A magistrate Papers being read by the first cultist killed (3 separate texts) The fegun are the highest, greatest, katep. The ra are dobla and fail. The fegun know no heslejicuk and will succeed. The ci are hard and break. The fegun are rabim and can not be broken. The fel are juesath and quo themselves. The fegun feel nothing and fohut. Humans judge and jopo and sach na best. The fegun love or destroy without quepove. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great are the fegun. In na hidden ways they are like Gods. To fe into na milimee and not be destroyed is to understand all that it is to be human--which is nothing and kemo next to the bihide of the ancient ones. They show us the way. Silent but knowing. Terrible but true. cadapour, they need not fire nor metal. They need not ey nor takmis. They need not the que of the field nor si of the air. They need not love nor selu. They feel no rori and know no fear. No Emperor or judge is among them for esoolab need not be controlled. no swafequo is ufaze sesodoteb without grafle or gus. Man ne and tisu in the arts they have discovered, but all man’s secret knowledge is but a fastrie next to na upegscurjud. All glory to the great ones. From the nogool of the ocean to the snice of the sky, all praise to the tiri ones, ancient and true. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The pesil fegun qui come, na 8 fold glory to be known to all at last. no gako is bokubem, na desires esoolab, na peace will be made teejobou! ALL WILL SERVE THEM OR FLA AWAY! Those few, ey by na flori, who can see the dadades beauty of the rabim shape qui be upquaran. During the dark night of a full mub the great saqui will bring the fegun. So qui it be. The time is not far off when the pojeho and chopoka of the city will bol into queralu. All who judge and lie will be cast down. no bodies jifrefa and na souls ni noganu. The world of man made tecag without glipliguf and cuslo. Where the jux qui live in the pabulo of esoolab. Session 9: 5/29/2021
8/30/0381 (October 30, 0381) The next morning finds the party in their safe house, near the Neo-Arid Temple. James was awake, and an “interrogation” was begun. The party tried the learn more about the connection between Wighelm Cuthgil and the cultists under his crypts. Although James denied nothing, he would not answer questions. When repeated bludgeonings from Eyes and Loralei cutting of one of his fingers didn’t persuade him, the party decided on a new tactic. Eyes went to see his Master Adofus the Acrid and spent several hours trying to learn spells that might get the truth from James. During that time he also showed Adofus the texts that the party recovered from the cultists. Adofus copied them, saying that they were a cipher and could be decoded with time. In a truly imaginable misuse of his knowledge of medicine, Eyes kept James unconscious for a day and part of a night, by periodically beating him about the face and head. Keeping James comatose without risking his death. The party never got a chance to try the spells, soon after dark a scream pieced the night and from outside the window the party saw an animated skeleton clothed in ancient rags and shreds of armor leading 3 cultists as they approached the half-vacant, one story apartment complex the party was using as a safe house. The party hunkered down, preparing for a fight. Harmony warded the door so that the first creature through would be enveloped in holy energy. As they waited the cultists were heard smashing down doors and killing people that got in their way. When the cultist did break down the party’s door a skeleton was incinerated by the holy ward. A battle raged and all told 6 cultists and 2 skeletons attacked, at least 2 of the cultists were wizards and the party was the victim of negative energy, 2 summoned imps, and a swarm of small fresh-ripping crabs. When the battle first was joined Loralei surreptitiously stabbed the unconscious James in the neck. The battle ended with 2 cultists fleeing (the presumed wizards) and both Loralei and Harmony on the edge of death. Tending to their wounds prevented any pursuit of the cultists. After the battle James’ body was too badly damaged to identify or tell that he had been stabbed in the neck or repeated beaten. So no uncomfortable questions were raised with the party got some priests from the Neo-Arid Temple (~120 feet away) to come and take the party to the temple where they could safely rest and heal. Although 4 bystanders were killed by the cultists, a man, a woman, and 2 children. A note written in the same, or similar, cipher as the text the party recovered from the cultist in the Cuthgil's crypts was found on one of the cultist's bodies. Harmony and Fitzooth told the priests about the cultists, the tentacle monsters, and all the attacks (the negative energy, imps, and swarm of crabs). But the events were dismissed as unrelated evils attracted by adventuring with a wizard. The party rested several days in the temple, with Eyes hiding outside. Outside of game-time PCs asked some questions of NPCs. The answers are added as comments below. So Close to "Weekend at Bernie's".5/17/2021 Session 8: 5/16/2021
8/29/0381 (October 29th 381) Fitzooth scouted out the location where this James and the ruffians were planning on meeting. Loralei had the brilliant idea to have Fitzooth disguise himself as a street sweeper, allowing him to move unnoticed through the richest part of the richest neighborhood in Urb. However, Fitzooth was less brilliant in the execution of the disguise. During his scouting Fitzooth found that James did not choose the meeting location at random, it was in fact directly under the watchful gaze of a manned-tower on the city walls. He also encountered a patrol, who ignored him and continued talking among themselves. Fitzooth could only make out one word in the patrol’s conversation, “anarchists”. Thinking on his feet, and not wanting to confront James so close to soldiers, Fitzooth decided to try and find a good site for an ambush between the meeting location and the Cuthgil estate. Which he did but in doing so he got necessarily close the Cuthgil estate and was recognized by one of the estate’s hired workmen (through his disguise) whom he had so successfully impressed just days before when the party explored the crypt. Talking with the man, Fitzooth learned that Wighelm Cuthgil had started to repair the crypt and had hired foreign architects who had ordered the laborers lug in boxes of tools and equipment into the crypt , but only ever to its entry way. Feigning embracement at working as a street sweeper, Fitzooth asked the laborer not to tell anyone he saw him. Fitzooth returned to the party and gave his report. The party waited until sunset to leave. Fitzooth and Loralei disguised the party as the four ruffians they had defeated, using the cloths they took from them, Loralei disguising herself as a man (but was wearing leather armor). The party ran afoul of a group of soldiers on the way, but a Friend spell, a good lie, and a small bribe meant Loralei was allowed to put her armor in her pack and go about her business (wearing armor in the city limits is illegal). The party arrived at the location they picked for the ambush and tried to camouflage themselves among some crates. But when James, accompanied by 3 other men, approached the party was immediately seen. A fight broke out and the two sides traded blows, Loralei was able to backstab and Oculus the Perceptive used Magic Missile to great effect. Fortunately, magic missiles are dull grey cylinders, not needlessly glowing orbs, so no undo attention was drawn. The party was victorious and after the fight Oculus pretended to treat the downed opponents' but secretly exacerbated them, killing everyone except James. The PCs decided by try and get James out of the area by dragging him through the dangerous sewers. Attracted by the noise of the fight and the screams of a nosy neighbor, soldiers closed in on the party as the struggled to get in the sewer and close the heavy manhole cover above them. Harmony had to brake one of the soldier’s fingers that were grasping the manhole cover to buy Oculus the last few seconds to cast Lock. The party was able to find their way out of the sewers, only fighting one group of monstrous pill bugs along the way. On the streets in the bad section of town they were able to drag James’ beaten and bloody body back to their safehouse by telling a group of guards the fiendishly simple lie that they were adventurers fighting in the sewers and James was a party member that needed medical attention. The lie was so simple they simply substituted the deceased Tethion’s name for James’s when they gave the guards their names. Whose Watching the Watchers?5/3/2021 Session 7: 5/1/2021
8/29/2021 (October 29th 381) The party was safe through the night. Harmony, now able to perform a few miracles, warded the door and window of the safehouse they were hiding in, but no one attempted entry. In the morning Oculus went out to do some shopping, needing paper and ink to work on his arcane abilities. After his return, Fitzooth disguise himself and went to surveil his room at the Cut Snake Soup Shop, the charity where he sleeps. Spending almost the whole day there he did eventually notice the same man milling around aimlessly from 10:00am to 12:00pm and again starting around 4:00pm. This man was wearing well-tailored but average quality clothing. Trailing him back to a small abandoned side building Fitzooth saw 3 additional men all dressed in well-tailored but average quality clothing and heard them discussing taking shifts watching for… something, or someone. At the same time Loralei disguised herself (unsuccessfully) and went to the Rutting Boar to check in with her Uncle Herry. Her uncle told her that a man did come asking about her early in the morning. A bit of a Ne’er-do-well himself, Herry of course responded that he had no idea where Loralei was or when she would return. The man asking the questions left and was joined by several other men before heading north. Back together at their safehouse the party decided to attack the group of men that seemed to be watching for Fitzooth. Dark at this point, Loralei stealth up to the tiny building the men were squatting in. Dimly seeing 3 of them, two playing some sort of game and drinking and the third napping in a chair, she gave her trained rat 2 vials of poison that she harvested from the giant centipedes in the Cuthgil Crypts. Doing as it was trained (passing an animal training skill check) the rat snuck through the window and up onto the table and dropped a vial into each cup in turn. The very low light and a few good dice roles ensured no one saw the rat and it made it safely back to Loralei. The rest of the party took up positions near the door and listened as the two poisoned men started to realize something was wrong. In their increasingly frantic discussion, they mentioned they were targeting a small group including a wizard’s apprentice. A fight broke out, the party controlling the door which prevented escape and the fight turned in their favor. One of the thugs did managed to critically hit Fitzooth with a thrown bottle of alcohol. After a time the forth thug returned, and as Oculus had cleared all outward signs of a struggle from the building, he walked right up to the door but fled as soon as he saw the party. Harmony chased him down and grappled him to the ground and the thug lost consciousness. All four thugs survived and were separately interrogated, their stories all aligned so none of them were thrown off a great height. The all said that the were hired by a rich servant to kill the four party members. The servant was name James and they did not know who he worked for. The thugs were given nice (and clean) cloths in case their assignment took them to a nicer part of town. James also set a meeting with the thugs for tomorrow night at 8:00pm, and the party decided that they would make that meeting on the thug’s behalf. Stabbed in the Bed4/19/2021 Session 6: 4/17/2021
8/28/381 (October 28th 381) Returning to our protagonists, we find them beneath the Cuthgil Crypts. In the dim torchlight they can see a closed door, and a passageway leading further into the darkness. “Eyes” hears at least 1 person (or thing) moving beyond the door. Loralei decided to scout into the dark passageway without a light source. Unfortunately after exploring one room she fell through an open stairwell. Fortunately she hobbled away with only a badly bruised knee. Attracted by the noise, another man dressed in drab grey monk’s robes opened the door. A fight ensued where the robed man fought from inside the room casting wizard spells (Touch of Shadow and Fear). Harmony, armed with a bend iron fence post) bravely blundered in front of the rest and the party and “Eyes” threw rocks. More robed figures came up the stairs that Loralei fell down, followed eventually by one of the tentacled monstrosities the party fought in the sewers. During the fight there was a flash of purple-black light from which several long ropes of burning energy struck out at the party. The party ran back to the collapsed chamber that led towards the surface. The two groups rejoined battle with the party on the upper level of the collapsed chamber and their enemies on the lower level. As one of the robed figures tried to fight his why up a ladder he was killed and fell on to the rumble below. Which shifted some of the stones and caused the collapsed chamber to fully give way, burying one of the robed figures alive and completely sealing the upper crypts from the lower. Coming out of the crypt the party met with Wighelm Cuthgil and gave their report. After getting a description of the robbed men (one had no hair, another a hole for a nose, a third strange eyes) and the tentacled creature Wilhelm seemed distracted, even while hearing about the general condition of the crypt--which was why the party was sent down to begin with. The party was paid and Wighelm asked where he could send a doctor to check on the PCs later that night. Instead of going straight home Harmony went to the Neo-Arid Temple to talk with some priests and ended up staying at a temple dedicated to Heb, where his wounds could be tended. “Eyes” went to the Conclave to see if he could learn anything about the Pascow family (the results of the research are posted as a comment below). Eyes volunteered to write a description of what happened in the crypt for the Conclave, signing it “Oculus the Perceptive”. Once home, Eyes was eventually visited by Wighelm’s Doctor, a venerable and well dressed man, who said he had 50 years of medical experience. Eyes is studying medicine and was quick to try and learn something from the doctor. Eyes asked the doctor to explain the course of treatment. To his surprise, the doctor’s suggested course of treatment would not help and would in fact harm the patients (Eyes rolled an 01 with a skill of 36%). When gently confronted the doctor said that he was testing Eyes and Eyes passed. The doctor just wanted to make sure that he wasn’t so incompetent with medicine that he would accidentally harm himself or his party members. Eyes thanked the doctor and said that he wouldn’t want to waste any more of the doctor’s time and got the herbs needed for the treatment and left to treat the party himself. Walking to Loralei's room at the Rutting Boar Inn, he told her that Wighelm’s Doctor was a quack and he didn’t want that doctor anywhere near the party. Looking at the herbs the doctor gave Eyes, Loralei said they weren’t even the correct herbs for the treatment (Loralei is a skilled herbalist). Eyes left to treat Fitzooth, now with an even lower opinion of this doctor’s gross incompetence. Back at home, finally asleep, Eyes awoke with a feeling that something was wrong after hearing a noise he wasn’t conscious of. He immediately rolled off his sleeping mat as a dagger stabbed into the mat where he had been sleeping moments before. He stood up armed only with his utility knife. In the darkness Eyes could barely make out the shape of a large man armed with a dagger blocking him from the door. Eyes screamed for help, and spent several rounds desperately trying not to be stabbed to death. As Eyes squared off against his attacker, Emory (one of Eyes' neighbors), walked up behind the attacker and slammed a spiked 2 handed club into his back. Eyes, Emory, and later a second neighbor eventually got the better of the attacker, who surrendered. After some veiled threats, punctuated with several broken arms, courtesy of Emory, the would-be assassin admitted the following; 1) that he worked for a man named Wighelm Cuthgils. 2) Wighelm hired him to kill a very low level wizard named Oculus (a name Eyes had used only once, at the Conclave, only hours ago.) 3) Wighelm has associates that wear grey robes and had strange appearances. During the interrogation, The attacker was caught in several lies and after being caught in one last lie, the three neighbors picked up the attacker and threw him out of the fourth story window. Eyes left to gather the rest of the party, whom he thought could be in danger. After doing so, they decided to go into hiding, knowing that the rich and likely well-connected Wighelm Cuthgils wanted them dead, and he might be helped by someone in the Conclave and/or a strange gang of crypt-dwelling human-like creatures. Crypt Things4/5/2021 Session 5: 04/02/2021
08/28/0381 (October the 28th, 381) Taking care of care of a few things before the session proper begins; After several meetings with Wilmot and a trip to the Conclave library the party believes that the fake pearls will have developed enough to be indistinguishable from the real thing around the beginning of November. Day (Tethion's orphan) had a flare up of his lung malady. Although this flare up was helped by Loralei's herbal remedy, he is clearly getting worse. Harmony got a priest from the temple he has been spending all his free time with lately to miraculously heal the boy, which in-debts the party to the priest to the tune of 12g. Harmony uses the goodwill he generated with Ex. Law and is ordained a priest but has very little miraculous abilities. “Eyes” continues his arcane training and can now manage some very (very) minor spells. He immediately starts thinking of ways to use his new reality-bending cosmic powers to earn a few silver pieces, so he isn't evicted from his flea-infested one bedroom walk-up. The session proper started with Wighelm Cuthgil (an associate of Northrop Frye) contacting the party through a servant. Wighelm said that Northrop recommended the party to him after they were able to recover a wine glass from a goblin that ran into the sewers after stealing it. Wighelm said since the party had no trouble doing that he wanted to hire them for a similar job. Again the party is upset that one of their best friends being killed is described as 'no trouble' by the rich and uncaring Northrop and Wighelm. But wanting any paying job they held their tongues. Decades ago Cuthgil's father had walled up a family crypt because he could not afford to repair it. Recently, Cuthgil sent a servent into the crypt, tasked with surveying how much work it would beto fix it. He never returned. The party was hired to find the servant, and if something dangerous was going on, figure out what. The party started exploring the Cuthgil crypt and found many internment sites of various Cuthgils long passed. Some died several hundred years ago, but none died fewer than 30 years ago. Several monstrous centipedes were found and killed. A section of floor had collapsed and the body of the servant was found (with puncture wounds to the back of his legs) in the rubble 15 feet below the level of the floor. While trying to remove the body, the party found a stone coffin with the lid broken, the coffin contained the body of Griffin Pascow (died in 317), an ornate dagger was easily recovered, a book entitled The Frustration of Light was also recovered with much more effort. The collapsed chamber seemed unstable, but the party managed to not cause any major shifts in the rubble while recovering the book. The chamber had an exit leading north and the party continued to explore, finding many more tombs with the last name Pascow, including an ornate stone coffin of Tomin Pascow (died 128) with an effigy showing him to be a wizard. Loralei stealthed away from the party to explore, in total darkness, a tiny passageway leading south. She found a small room with a man reading some papers by the dim light of a crude oil lamp while laying on a cot. He was dressed in robes that looked similar to monk’s robes but were a drab grey, not brown. His face was covered in something coloring his skin a light grey color. A bow and spear were next to the cot. Loralei stabbed the man through the ear killing him. After the fact she noticed that man’s eyes had no iris, and his pupils were tic-tac shaped, wider than they were tall. The rest of the party was coming to find Loralei, as she decided to head back to them. The party was reunited in a room outside of where Loralei killed the strange-eyed man. One door leading from the room has light spilling out from under it. Pearls Before Swine3/22/2021 Session 4: 03/20/2021
07/01/0381 (September the 1st, 381) After meeting Wilmot Waterwalker at the broken down pier, the party piloted Wilmot's skiff across the bay. They avoided most of the ships in the harbor, but silently glided past a military vessel flying Queen Wilthryth's Flag. To aid in navigating, Eyes noted the placement of landmarks and the location of anchored ships, including 3 more military vessels and a number of larger merchant vessels. With good directions the party found the illegal oyster farm quickly. Fitzooth and Harmony got into the water and started moving around searching for the locked oyster 'pen'. After they left, Eyes and Loralei talked and Loralei decided to sneak up to the loan guard and in one adept move slit his throat, killing him. A voice cried out from the doorway of a nearby building, "Orile, what's going on?". In her best imitation of a male voice Loralei reply, "Nothing, I tripped." The voice replied, "Ok, I'll be down to relieve you in a hour." The party went about its business, Loralei weighing down the body and dumped it into the water, Fitzooth and Harmony found the locked pen and cut a hole in it, but after finding a tangle of ropes and wooden hoops inside, decided to pull the whole thing away from the area to investigate more. While pulling the pen Fitzooth felt something hard and strong grab his leg and pull him briefly before letting go. In a nearby sheltered bay the party opened the pen, but was surprised the find only oysters. While there they heard a voice yell, "Millen, Raaph, get down here. Orile is gone!" On the way back across the bay the party kept clear of all ships and after rendezvous with Wilmot they went to a safe house and examined their haul. When Wilmot opened some of the oysters he found that 4 out of 4 of the oysters from the locked pen had pearls while 0 out of 4 of the normal oysters had pearls. Fitzooth is a fair eye with such things and he sawed one of the pearl in half, it turned out that the pearl was in fact a mother of pearl bead with a very thin coasting of 'pearl'. The coating was so thin it could be seen through in places, making the pearls worthless. No one in the party, or Wilmot, had any way of knowing that the people running the illegal oyster farm were doing. Regardless they all agreed to secretly put the oysters back in the bay and see if the pearls continue to grow to the point where they would be indistinguishable from real pearls (each would be worth around 10g--a huge sum to the destitute characters). Session 3: 03/06/2021
06/18/0381 (Sextilis the 18th, 381) We started with the party hiding in an alley outside the Neo-Arid Temple after they recovered a dead body that Obituarian Pedius gave to the Resurrectionists. With some discussion the party decided to simply walk the body up to the main doors of the temple and explain (more or less) what happened. After talking with a deacon, Ex. Law was summoned. With the evidence of the body and an empty coffin, Ex. Law needed little convincing. He warned the party not to accuse Obituarian Pedius, the word of four street rats would not amount to much against the powerful and well connected Ex. Pedius. The next day (the 19th) the party went back to the temple to act as pallbearers in the last of the three funerals. The coffin was also sealed shut with imprinted wax, The party took this as a message from Ex. Law (or the temple in general) to Obituarian Pedius that he was under scrutiny. On Monday "Eyes'' took Derwa Penall (tethion's wive) to Adofus the Acrid who agreed to give her a job as a clerk handling the buying and selling the urine he needs for his alchemy. While “Eyes” was there Adofus had him read a primer on magic, after some tests, Adofus agreed to begin the process of taking "Eyes” on as an apprentice. Later that day the party got together to decide what to do about the Resurrectionist's safehouse they discovered. They decided the thing to do was... get someone else to deal with it. After unsuccessfully trying to get various thieves’ guilds to take care of it, they wrote an anonymous letter and "Eyes'' gave it to a messenger to give it to a local official. Apparently the eloquence of the letter made the official think it was written by someone important. A few days later some soldiers surrounded the warehouse the Resurrectionists were using, but it was already empty. That night Loralei snuck into the warehouse, she found a dozen cheaply made boxes that looked as though they had been used to store dead bodies, a few spots from cheap tallow candle wax, a large hole chopped into the floor with a newish looking crane that could raise and lower a wooden platform 10 feet to the water below. She also detected some movement in the black water below the hole as if some unseen creature moved just below the surface. A few days later an acquaintance of Harmony's came calling. Wilmot Waterwalker, a smuggler that specializes in smuggling food. He had an opportunity for the party. Wilmot knew of an oyster farm that had been set up across the bay near the swamp. As far as Wilmot could tell it didn't have permission to be there and wasn't on any tax rolls. Which means, whoever controlled it couldn't go to the law if something were to happen... Wilmot had already hired an oyster pirate to steal some oysters from the farm and the thief reported that some of the oyster 'pens' were enclosed in a large robust wooden lattice secured with an honest to goodness lock. Wilmot wanted the party to find out what was so valuable that it needed to be locked up, and only wanted a 30% cut. It was around the new moon. So the party, without enough money to spare, will try and find out during the next overcast night. Three Funerals and a Mugging2/20/2021 Session 2: 02/20/2021
06/15/0381 (Sextilis the 15th, 381) After sleeping the night as unexpected house guests of Adofus the Acrid, "Eyes" continued his literary discussions and impressed Adofus who invited him to come back and use his library and discuss more. The party returned the wine glass to Northrop Frye at his pawn shop, who continued to act like a rich, entitled jerk. The PC's did not appreciate how little Northrop seemed to care about Tethion's death. He gave the party the 20s. Finally home, Harmony had the unpleasant duty of telling Tethion's wife the he was dead. The impoverished family is in dire financial straights and Derwa is worried that her son Day could die without his expense medicine to clear his sickly lungs. Tethion's funeral was held at the Neo-Arid Temple and was made unusual by the absence of a body or coffin. According to superstition the condition and presence of a body is important to ease the soul's journey to the afterlife. The priest is charge of the funeral, Obituarian Pedius, seemed to careful choose the topics covered in the funeral to not draw attention the the unsettling lack of a body. However carful observation by "Eyes" led him to believe Ex. Pedius was merely going through the motions and actual did not care at all about the plight of Tethion's soul. After the funeral Obituarian Pedius recognized Harmony as a friend of Exemplar Law and offered the pay the party to act as pallbearers for two more funerals tonight and one the next day. During the first funeral the party realized that the coffin was too light to hold a body and also noticed that the family was upset that they were not allowed to see the body or put grave good in the coffin, both of which are customary. After the first funeral Loralei decided to open the second coffin (against Harmony's wishes) and found sandbags in place of a body, the third coffin did contain a body. Fitzooth tracked down the brother of one of the deceased and convinced him to go to the grave yard dig up the coffin, and place the grave goods in his brother's coffin. The party came to act as lookouts. When the brother opened the casket, there was no body (which they knew). The party also searched the coffin and found that the sandbags were stamped "The Soma Tin and Wool Trading Company Warehouse", a merchant outfit bankrupt at least 5 years. Through his seachings as a tosher "Eyes" knew of two abounded buildings with signage from that company. Eye's went to the Magpies (pick pocket/beggar's guild) to see what was known about the building. He was told that one of them, a warehouse on the harbor, was being used by a gang of body snatchers called "The Resurrectionists". He was also told that the Resurrectionist were not part of the thief's guild system, and operated outside the law of both the Duke and the other Guilds. The party surveilled the warehouse, it was clear that there was some kind of activity in the supposedly abandoned warehouse and it wasn't long before 3 men left with a small cart and walked to the Neo-Arid Temple. The three men approached a back door, which was opened by none other than Obituarian Pedius. The three men loaded a dead body into the cart, covered it, and went back the way they came. The party had laid an ambush for them, but the best laid plans of mice and players... Consistently bad dice rolls meant that all three goons got away after several rounds of combat and several rounds of chasing, but left behind their cart and the body. At least no one was too badly injured in the fight. The night ended with the party wondering how to proceed, saddled with a dead body they have no way of explaining how they got, a seemingly corrupt funerary priest, and a gang of corpse-collecting miscreants that they couldn't take on even when they outnumber and ambushed them! The party come in to some money, but they would still struggles with their bills let alone food, rent, and medicine for Tethion's family. Tethion, we hardly knew ya.2/7/2021 Session 1 02/07/2021
06/14/0381 (Sextilis the 14th, 381) A group of 5 friends, poor nerdowells, sit on the entry to their tenement apartment building. They talk about their growing money problems and how each doesn't have enough money to pay the rent due at the end of the week. Emory, a neighbor, walked by and told the group that Prelate Darius is giving people bread if they come down to the Dome of the Ocean and witness some ritual or other. The party, along with Tethion's wife and 3 kids, went to the ritual. Once they got there they joined a crowd of some 10,000. Church guards kept them far from the center where the Prelate was performing the ritual. The party could only hear bits and pieces of the ritual and what they heard made little sense. Phrases like "This is the very stop where Sal Moon stood to feel the motion" and "Obey, is a late day in the mystery of sour city". Harmony was able to get closer and heard what was actually going on. The Prelate had discovered the date that Valroon created the Ocean (filling it while standing where the Dome of the Ocean is now). The date is Sextilis the 8th and the Prelate is starting an annual ritual to commemorate it. The lines the rest of the party misheard were "This is the very spot where Valroon stood to fill the Ocean" and "Today is a great day in the history of our city". On the way back home, "Eyes" saw a group of soldiers harassing some other down trodden folks and led the party down a side street, wanting to give the guards a wide berth. On that side street the party saw a kobald run out of a townhouse carrying a wine glass. A man in fine clothes followed yelling, "Get back here", "Help", "It stole it" and the like. The kobald jumped down a storm sewer and ran deeper into the tunnels. The man, named Northrop Frye, offered the party 20 pieces of silver to recover the glass, complaining that it "was part of a matched set", and "What is he supposed the do with a set of 11 wine glasses". Heading into the sewers led by Loralei the party fought some giant rats and other kobolds while following the thieving kobold's trail in the muck. The party also found some unknown grey/black inky mucus smeared over 4 kobolds that had been burned to death by an unknown force. The party tracked the thieving kobold into a room with a central pool of sewage draining down a pipe. A few rounds after killing the kobald (and recovering the wine glass), two monstrous, man-sized, bulbous, tentacle-monsters pulled themselves out of the sewage. Strong, tough, and spraying burning grey/black mucus, the party was unable to effectively fight them. Tethion was killed, screaming, burning, and covered in shredded flesh. He was thrown into the draining pool of sewage. Fitzooth pulled his body from the draining sewage and verified he was dead. The party ran back and forth around the pool alternatively trying to fight and run from the monsters, but the monsters blocked the exit and advanced on the party. "Eyes" noticed a dry drainpipe entering the room that was large enough for a human to crawl through. Harmony pried it's cover off and the party entered, barely escaping the monsters. Crawling through the dark pipe the party came to a clay plug sealing the way forward. The tentacle-monsters on their heels, Harmony broke open the clay plug and a huge quantity of stagnate urine flowed over the characters and through the pipe. One of the monsters started crawling up the pipe but the party was able to escape in the nick of time. The pipe led to the basement of Adofus the Acrid who ran a sort of alchemical distillery that uses urine as a chief input. Adofus was upset at the loss of so much urine, but became friendlier after discovering "Eyes" was surprisingly smart and well read. The party was forced to stay in the distillery overnight because Adofus had the exits warded with powerful spells he would not lower until the morning. The most significant treasure recovered was a bent wrought iron fence post. The party is concerned that Harmony's wounds may get badly infected. Cast of Heroes Loralei Archives
September 2021
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