Through the Mists

Session 7: Ablander’s Last Midnight

At a glance

  • In-game date: Immediately following Session 6 through the following night
  • Starting location: Shrine of the Spirits, Neblus
  • Ending location: The Mists, en route to Richten House
  • Characters present: Ignatius, Rage, and Carver
  • Level change: The party reached level 3 at the end of the session.

Summary

While Ignatius and Carver lingered after the lecture, Rage kept watch outside the Shrine of the Spirits by shadowboxing in the street. An Eternal Order fighter named Acolyte Dorthol caught his interest. Rage challenged him to wrestle and pinned him decisively, raising enough commotion to turn a quiet watch into a public spectacle.

Upstairs, the alleged Dark Delver defector finally acquired a name: Duskren Kalvar. Ignatius introduced the party as travelers, and Carver tested the scholar’s knowledge with the remains recovered from the Crystal Gardens. Duskren recognized their origin as Lamordia, a land “where they build their dead.” He then asked whether the strangers were true believers in Darcalus Rex. Carver answered carefully: they were interested in learning.

Duskren invited them to dine in the Brothers’ Chamber and praised High Sentinel Ablander as one of the people doing the most to hasten Darcalus’s return. Outside, Black Lily hovered near the edges of the Shrine. Rage called to him, sending the inexperienced agent ducking around a corner before the conspirators quietly reaffirmed their plan.

At dinner, Duskren sat with the party among the Shrine’s acolytes. He spoke freely of his former life beneath the earth. The Dark Delvers, he said, hoarded wealth and secrets while digging toward the presence of a “sacred mother” whom they believed knew the truth. Their doctrine had seemed only more convoluted the longer he studied it. He admitted keeping one artifact from those depths—a single spider leg—but refused Ignatius’s request to see it.

Duskren described the Eternal Order as fractured and failing outside Neblus. He urged the party to visit Nevuchar Springs, where believers had supposedly witnessed Darcalus becoming life. As Azalin once saved Darkon, Duskren believed, Darcalus would return to drive away the Mists.

Then Carver asked why the people of Rivalis seemed stripped of ambition and memory.

Duskren describes Darkon's stolen memories to Ignatius and Carver in the Brothers' Chamber.

Duskren offers faith as an answer to the domain’s empty pasts. See the image record.

Duskren confessed that he was not originally from Darkon and claimed to remember his true life. According to him, the domain steals the memories of those who enter, while Azalin exploited those stolen memories in his effort to raise an undead army. Duskren’s faith supplied its own promise: once Azalin’s influence was broken, Darcalus Rex would make the people whole again. It was the clearest answer the party had yet heard—and still only the testimony of a fervent believer.

After dinner, the party waited for the Shrine’s clergy to descend to midnight mass. When the upper passages emptied, they climbed toward Ablander’s quarters. Black Lily’s key opened the first barred gate, and Carver opened another on the fifth floor. Beyond lay a modest but well-kept chamber with a bed, desk, shelves, and small personal trinkets.

On the desk Carver found a religious vial filled with unusual blood and slipped it into his belongings. The red-and-black growth fused to Rage’s hand answered with a sudden flare of pain.

The party settled into hiding. Hours later, iron rattled below. Ablander entered with two acolytes.

Ignatius struck first. Roots erupted through the chamber and bound all three intruders, after which he lunged into the snare with a martial blow. Ablander tore the magic apart and answered with fire from his mace. Rage crashed into him with the greataxe while Carver hurled a searing chromatic orb into one attendant. Radiant steel struck back, and strange scuttling sounds rose from below.

Ignatius swept both attendants away in a burst of acid and a flurry of disciplined violence. Ablander restored one of them to life and conjured the illusion of a great spider in the corner, hoping to drag the party’s attention away as he retreated down the stairs. The deception bought him little. Rage cut down the risen acolyte and pursued the High Sentinel. Ignatius repeatedly tried to seize Ablander before he could escape, but the priest broke for the lower gate, healing himself and screaming for aid.

Ignatius breathes acid as Rage pursues High Sentinel Ablander beneath a looming illusory spider.

The ambush becomes a running battle. See the image record.

Rage’s greataxe ended the chase. Ablander fell, cut in two.

There was no time to celebrate. Ignatius dragged the remains back upstairs, laid one half upon the bed, and covered it with a blanket while Carver fashioned a grappling hook from his tools. With the gates closing behind them and the Shrine awakening below, the party fled through the window.

Rage and Carver managed the descent. Ignatius struck a roof projection, healed himself with Carver’s spellwrought tattoo, then fell again before finally reaching the ground. Bruised and desperate, the three scattered into Neblus’s streets and ran north.

Ignatius tumbles beyond the reach of the escaped grappling rope during the tower descent.

A disciplined monk discovers that he is “not a climbing lizard.” See the image record.

They found Black Lily on the way. Rage scooped up the startled agent and carried him bodily toward the Mists. Black Lily was hardly a willing passenger, but he understood that remaining in Neblus was the worse choice and did not resist. Guided by Vidic’s silver talisman, the four fugitives vanished into the fog toward Richten House.

Rage carries Black Lily from Neblus while Ignatius and Carver run toward the Mists.

Black Lily leaves Neblus with the party, though not entirely under his own power. See the image record.

Behind them, Ablander’s last midnight dissolved into alarm. Ahead waited the haunted house—and whatever Black Lily would make of his employers now.

Key events

  1. Rage defeated Acolyte Dorthol in a public wrestling contest outside the Shrine.
  2. The party identified the alleged Dark Delver defector as Duskren Kalvar.
  3. Duskren identified the Crystal Gardens creature as Lamordian and invited the party to dinner.
  4. Duskren described the Dark Delvers, their wealth, their subterranean search for a sacred mother, and an unseen spider-leg artifact he retained.
  5. Duskren claimed that Darkon steals newcomers’ memories, that Azalin exploited those memories, and that Darcalus Rex could restore them.
  6. The party infiltrated Ablander’s fifth-floor quarters using Black Lily’s key.
  7. Carver took an unusual vial of religious blood; Rage’s plague growth reacted painfully to it.
  8. Ablander and two acolytes discovered the ambush. The party killed all three after Ablander revived one attendant and conjured an illusory spider.
  9. The party escaped through a window; Ignatius used and expended his cure wounds spellwrought tattoo after falling.
  10. Rage swept Black Lily along during the flight, and all four entered the Mists toward Richten House.
  11. The party reached level 3.

Decisions and consequences

  • The party heard Duskren out instead of immediately acting on the Dark Delver bounty.
    • They gained their strongest account yet of Darkon’s memory loss, but the explanation remains inseparable from Duskren’s faith in Darcalus Rex.
  • The party abandoned Black Lily’s poison plan and killed Ablander in open combat.
    • Ablander and two acolytes are dead, the Shrine was alerted, and the party fled Neblus without concealing the broader signs of battle.
  • Carver took Ablander’s vial of blood.
    • Rage’s plague growth reacted to it, suggesting a connection that remains unexplained.
  • Rage carried Black Lily into the Mists.
    • The Kargatane agent escaped Neblus with the party despite not choosing the manner of his departure.

People

  • Duskren Kalvar: Former Dark Delver, Eternal Order scholar, and fervent believer in Darcalus Rex.
  • Acolyte Dorthol: Shrine fighter whom Rage defeated in a wrestling contest.
  • High Sentinel Ablander: Shrine leader slain by Rage after the party’s ambush became a running battle.
  • Black Lily: Kargatane agent carried into the Mists by Rage during the escape.
  • Darcalus Rex: Promised savior whom Duskren believes is becoming manifest at Nevuchar Springs.

Places

  • Shrine of the Spirits: Site of Duskren’s lecture, the Brothers’ Chamber dinner, Ablander’s quarters, and the assassination.
  • Neblus: City the party fled after killing Ablander.
  • Nevuchar Springs: Settlement where Duskren claimed believers had seen Darcalus “becoming life.”
  • Richten House: Destination chosen during the party’s flight through the Mists.

Clues, lore, and notable items

  • Duskren identified the Crystal Gardens creature as Lamordian.
  • The Dark Delvers are said to be wealthy, secretive, and devoted to excavating a sacred mother deep underground.
  • Duskren retained a single spider leg from his time with the Dark Delvers but refused to show it.
  • Duskren claimed that Darkon steals the memories of newcomers and that Azalin exploited the stolen memories to raise an undead army.
  • Duskren believes Darcalus Rex will drive away the Mists and restore Darkon’s people.
  • Carver took an unusual religious vial of blood from Ablander’s desk.
  • The growth on Rage’s hand reacted painfully to the vial.
  • Ablander could dispel magic, project flame through his mace, restore a slain acolyte, heal himself, and conjure a distracting spider illusion.

Story threads

Rewards, losses, and character changes

  • Carver took custody of Ablander’s unidentified vial of religious blood.
  • Black Lily’s unused poison remains communal party inventory.
  • The party did not take Ablander’s mace.
  • Ignatius expended the single-use cure wounds spellwrought tattoo Carver created in Session 5.
  • The party reached level 3. Ignatius became a Warrior of Mercy, Rage multiclassed into Bard, and Carver became an Artillerist; their new abilities first became visible after resting at Richten House.

Memorable moments

  • Rage turned surveillance into a wrestling match and emphatically pinned an Eternal Order acolyte.
  • Duskren calmly described a domain that steals every newcomer’s past.
  • Rage’s plague growth burned with pain beside Ablander’s vial of blood.
  • Ablander’s illusory spider loomed over a battle of roots, acid, flame, and resurrection.
  • Ignatius staged half a corpse beneath a blanket before escaping through the window.
  • Rage carried an alarmed Black Lily bodily into the Mists.

Open questions

  • Is Duskren’s account of Darkon’s stolen memories accurate, and how much of it is Eternal Order doctrine?
  • What is Darcalus Rex becoming at Nevuchar Springs?
  • Who or what is the Dark Delvers’ “sacred mother”?
  • What is the nature of Duskren’s spider-leg artifact?
  • Why did Ablander’s blood vial cause Rage’s plague growth to flare?
  • What consequences will Ablander’s death bring for the Shrine, Neblus, and Black Lily’s Kargatane ambitions?
  • Will the elven Dark Delver still expect the party to fulfill the bounty on Duskren?
  • How will Black Lily react to being carried into Richten House’s mist-bound domain?

Next session

  • Immediate situation: The party and Black Lily are traveling through the Mists toward Richten House after fleeing Ablander’s assassination.
  • Likely goals: Survive the crossing, determine Black Lily’s next move, examine the blood vial, and choose how to handle Duskren’s unresolved bounty.

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