Ephemera Session 3: A Prophecy, an Execution, and a Minotaur Hunt

The Party:

Conner, Mage (Tim, Gothridge Manor)
Egbert, Mage (Rob, Bat in the Attic)
Darius, Handsome Mage (Ken, Rusty Battleaxe)
Sandy, Dwarven Fighter (Dan)
John the Rotund, Man-at-Arms (NPC)
Alfred, Porter/Torchbearer (NPC)
Tub, Frost Goblin Guard (NPC, Charmed by Darius)

In the preceding session, the party had found Ryan, the peg-legged fisherman, and had hidden him in the rocks outside the stronghold of the Frost Demon, before going back inside to kill the Demon and his priest, Agoth. This session picked up where we had left off in Agoth's chamber, the party standing over his dead body.

With Grix the Frost Demon dead, the temperature of the dungeon began to rise noticeably, the ice coating the ceiling and walls began to melt, and the sound of large icicles crashing down from the ceiling could be heard, some nearer, some farther away.

The party chose to quickly move north in a dash toward a library they had been told of. They discovered a few useful spell scrolls and a parchment with a barely legible prophecy on it.

The party also found a locked box which they could not open. It was small enough they picked it up and took it with them.

With the mages out of spells from the previous session's encounters, and with parts of the ice from the ceiling crashing down, the group decided it was time to leave the dungeon, especially since they had found Ryan already, which was what they had come for in the first place.

They made their way back to the boats, and returned to Alden village.

As the party came ashore at dusk, Ryan recovered from his shock and urged the party not to take him to the village leader, Brill, reiterating that it was Brill that had attacked him several nights earlier, leading to his flight onto his boat and across the lake.

So the party sneaked to Ryan's house and waited until morning to confront the village leader. Before going to bed, they managed to open the box they had brought back with them from the Frost Demon's lair. It held a gem called the "Star of the Courtier." The party agreed that this gem might be one of the stars referenced in the prophecy.

The next morning, the party headed across the village and pushed their way into Brill's home. He didn't have long to dispute the intrusion, as Conner quickly hit him with a Charm spell. The village leader promptly spilled his guts, confessing all.

Ellis, a dwarf minotaur, had accosted Brill outside the village one night a couple weeks earlier. Ellis wanted to butcher, cook and eat him, but Brill negotiated for his life. He would hand over the weak and infirm of the village if Ellis would let him live. Ellis agreed.

Old man Holt was the first one Brill led into the hands of Ellis and his minions. Ryan was supposed to be the second – but he managed to get away. A few days later, two other Cindarrin came through the village, then headed north to find the old man. But they never returned. Brill heard nothing more from Ellis after that.

[The two Cindarrin were Bo and Sidwin, killed fighting Ellis in session one. Though they died, they effectively put Ellis out of business by burning down his "restaurant." This is why Ellis had not come back to the village since. Players knew this but of course none of their characters did.]

After Brill's confession, the Cindarrin awaited the return of Lana, the huntress, from her morning foray into the nearby woods. When she heard Brill repeat his confession, she went ballistic and nearly killed him on the spot.

Two of the Cindarrin, Darius and Sandy, were more than happy to let her do so. Conner argued that Brill was just a coward and that he could be useful in tracking down the dwarf minotaur, Ellis. Conner and Darius debated the point. Lana dragged Brill outside and called the villagers round.

There was a quick trial. Brill's misdeeds were recounted. Conner and Darius each reiterated their arguments. The GM rolled a die. The people of Alden village demanded Brill's death for what he had done. Lana put an arrow through his throat. That was that.

The people seem to have decided that Lana is their new leader.

It was decided that the party would set out that very afternoon with Lana and three other young archers from the village to try and track down Ellis and his dwarf minions, and hopefully the two Cindarrin who had passed through the village a few days earlier and who had not been seen since.

They did so. Their tracking became easier when they began to see sign posts pointing to "Ellis' Restaurant." They arrived in the afternoon at a burned down building, in front of which were two dead bodies, recognizable as Cindarrin, obviously killed in a fight. Chunks of muscled flesh had also been cut away as if they'd been butchered. All their gear was gone as well.

Egbert had the hirelings dig graves and bury the two dead Cindarrin. They finished at dusk, and from just beyond a rise in the distance to the east, the party spied the glimmer of firelight.

Sneaking up, they spotted the dwarf minotaur and his two swarthy dwarf minions, cooking meat on spits around a fire.

The anthropophages never knew what hit them. Egbert cast a Sleep spell on the trio, rendering them helpless. The party finished them effortlessly. The dead Cindarrins' gear was recovered along with Ellis' own loot.

The group made the march back to the village of Alden in the wee hours of the morning.

And so ended the session.