The Devil's Gambit

Session 3 . 9/12/23 . Module 1

This session begins with the party receiving a summons to all meet up at the town square, something that Beatrix sleeps through as a late riser. Soren decides to go and try to wake her up, however several attempts to do so failed. It took a commotion inside with cat-like hissing to finally bring her to wakefulness, with her face scratched and most certainly thrown her to the wrong side of the bed. She stomps out, telling the others that she'd warded her room by magical means which then backfired on her. The others don't think too much of this. However, it does mean that now the party is gathered together where they're advised that both the Frigid Woe and the tainted artifacts are both from Aorea and it's hoped the people there will have a cure. Before they leave, Victor gives Beatrix the first vile of Hellfire and warns her that it's extremely dangerous

The party boards Kahn's ship for the voyage. In that time they all have a chance to talk more amongst each other. Kahn tells them about how he'd become captain of this ship when the previous captain retired, he named the town he'd come from as well. Soren mentioned having been from a monastery and then working as a Doctor and his garb is part of his religious beliefs. Bea told them she was from Rashemen and is a Wychlaran, that she's seeking to clear the undead from her town. Marlow revealed to them that she's a half-elf, that she's from a farm, doesn't know her mother while her father is dead. This conversation lasted a little while but was then interrupted by some noises up on deck.

By the time Beatrix got up on deck, the party had confronted a glowing Walrus who'd spat a sealed scroll on the ground. While none of the party had thus picked it up, eventually the party opened it to a message warning them not to dock at Syrinlya as winter weights had overrun the town. Acknowledging this, the party then collectively decides to dock elsewhere, taking the advice given where they're then greeted by Morgo who welcomes them to Eiselcross. It's from her that they all learn the winterwights have been moving in large units and following a creature with glowing purple eyes. They're advised they should talk to Reen though also warned that gifts could earn them goodwill.

As a result, Marlowe and Beatrix attempt to steal some magic items to use as a gift. Bea distracts some people down by the fire, playing up her blindness in a stumble, however Marlow wasn't able to stealth well enough and is caught. In order to get herself out of trouble, she gives up the ring she recently found and luckily they were placated. They find the Githyanki at her tent, surrounded by animals enchanted to her control. When they explain the situation to her and what they've found, she suggests she was told by Urgon that he'd received those artifacts from a ruin but did not believe that story. She does tell them about Urgon's companion who's still in town, and mentions she's heard the creature leading the undead called the Violet Spectre.

Reen noticed Kahn wearing a pendant, a magic item that he'd not attuned to. Kahn tells them he'd received it from the God Njord but didn't know anything further about attuning. Before they deal with that, however, they track down this companion of Urgon, learning from him that most of the trouble was coming from a cult of Tieflings following Levistus. Mention of there being ice imps about 200km North indicate there's something big going on there and it's more than a simple disease. Troubled by this, Bea goes off on a walk after hand-waving Kahn's question of attuning, leaving the others to help him fumble through it. While trying to clear her head, Beatrix asks Goose's advice, and he tells her that Levistus making a move now is "interesting" and he seemed concerned. So the party decides to set out in search of this Tiefling cult.

Having paused in a cave while a snowstorm whips up, they try and get some rest with Soren and Marlow keeping watch. It's not until some time later during the night, that Marlow notices there's a very large pile of snow that does actually seem to be breathing. She sneaks past it to where Kahn and Bea are curled up and wakes them up to try and sneak out before whatever is beneath the snow spots them. While the girls are able to sneak past without any issue but Kahn tripped on a boulder and all of a sudden the party was facing a rather angry Yeti. They are successful in defending themselves and escaping from it. Soren is rather jittery after this sleep, but no one makes any comment before their attention had been caught by a flying ice demon that they're able to follow to a ruin called Sval's Vault.

In the scuffle that ensues for them to get inside the ruins leaves Bea downed for the first time which leaves her very unimpressed with the whole ordeal but they all manage to scrape by barely. In an attempt to catch their breath, Kahn and Marlow pull out what health potions they have, leaving one between Bea and Soren. Both insist the other should take it and neither seems willing to back down. Bea gets increasingly frustrated stating that Soren is the doctor and therefore is more important to keep healthy so he can in turn, do the same for them. Eventually everyone gets fed up and they tell him to leave the room so he won't be seen removing his mask. Soren eventually relents. Finally able to move on, they stumble upon a laboratory and quickly Beatrix is able to convince the person inside that they work here. She tells them she's the engineer of the Frigid Woe which used to be non-magical but thanks to her, is no longer. She reveals to them that now the Frigid Woe when claiming a life, will leave the souls behind to be gathered up by lanterns which are to be fed to Levistus.

Continuation . 26/11/23 . Module 1

The party quickly heads to where they were told the cure to the Frigid Woe is and are able to obtain it from a chest without too much issue. They also find a magic monocle but while Beatrix tells her to hand it to Soren, he tells Marlowe to keep it for herself. In a race to try and get to the lanterns before they get too far away, they find a large open chamber where they're confronted by a purple-eyed Tiefling. He spits insults at the party, telling them he'd expect nothing less from their kind. The party responds with snide words back, but it seems this Violet Spectre had his own plan, and retreats through a portal after using a lyre to awaken a horde of undead and a young undead frost dragon. Beatrix tells the others to get back out behind the door. She calls upon Goose who reveals himself as the ghostly cat Marlow had been seeing around. He possessed the key that unlocked the padlock on Beatrix's eye, granting her back her sight in the form of purple eyes. From there, they both consumed the potion for the hellfire and unleashed devastation.

Beatrix obliterates the undead and the dragon, fire filling the room, the inferno leaving the room empty. It drains both her own magic and Goose's, leaving them both unconscious. Kahn picks her up, and Soren would've been able to tell that the empty eye-socket that her patch had covered was an old wound. Together the party leave alive.