Through the Mists

Session 8: Beneath the Black Tower

At a glance

Summary

The Mists released the fugitives at Richten House. Its ghosts frightened Black Lily, but the haunted estate gave the party a safe night after their flight from Neblus.

Rage studied their new companion in the quiet. Black Lily was no fighter of Rage’s stature, nor did he carry himself like a wizard, but there was something magical about him. He was clever, composed, and interesting enough that Rage reserved judgment.

Morning brought the first fruits of the party’s advancement. Ignatius had become a Warrior of Mercy by studying Van Richten’s medical and monster-hunting notes, preparing pouches of salves and compounds for his Hands of Healing and Harm. Rage, meanwhile, had taken an unexpected turn into bardic practice, adding a set of drums at his waist for inspiration and spellcraft. Carver presented Ignatius with specially constructed handwraps that hardened at the instant of impact, lending supernatural force to the monk’s unarmed strikes. Then the artificer attempted something stranger.

Drawing something forth from the Shroud, and combining it with the remains of the treant-like creature and the spirit of a lost friend, Carver performed an arcane construction. The resulting catlike spirit moved in ways no living animal should. Carver felt an unfamiliar sensation as the ritual completed. When Ignatius asked its name, Carver deferred to the creation itself.

“Chip,” it answered.

Chip was Carver’s Eldritch Cannon—the signature creation of his new Artillerist specialization—but the little construct seemed determined to be something more than a weapon.

Carver kneels before Chip as the spectral feline answers its name within a Shroud-lit ritual.

Something in the Shroud answers Carver’s creation. See the image record.

Carver, Ignatius, and Rage display the new abilities that emerged from their advancement.

The party’s new paths take visible form. See the image record.

Ignatius next approached Black Lily. The assassination had not gone according to plan, he admitted, but Ablander was dead. The agent’s terror of the house briefly competed with his delight at the news. He paid the promised fifty gold pieces and produced another means of escape: an Azalin-faced coin that he used as a Mist talisman keyed to Martira Bay.

Black Lily offered a little more about the organization he served. He was a recruiter and overseer for mortal mercenaries within the Kargatane, and reported monthly to a contact in the Kargat. The thought of that superior drew a shudder from him that looked uncomfortably like pleasure or longing. The party understood the hierarchy in simple terms: mortals such as Black Lily served beneath supernatural masters, apparently including vampires.

With Neblus unsafe, Martira Bay promised both concealment and answers. Ignatius gathered several books from Van Richten’s library, and Black Lily led the party into the fog.

Time and distance lost their meaning. After an unknowable walk, mist became sandstone and damp air became the smell of the sea. Martira Bay spread before them: a crowded port of warehouses and guild wealth, watched over by a central black tower.

They emerged in the northern warehouse district, where the Weavers’ Guild held influence. Two richly robed officials passed nearby. Black Lily snapped upright and tried to impress them, but the apparent Kargatane patrol barely acknowledged him. He announced that he would report at the Pale Lantern, recommended either the Drowned Rat or the Last Breath Inn, and left the party with one peculiar warning: do not speak to any of the children.

The party headed south. The eastern guild district looked wealthy, the city’s security appeared firmly controlled by the Kargatane, and no Eternal Order church announced itself. Near a government palace, a crowd gathered around a well with something approaching religious devotion.

Then the rats caught Carver’s eye. They did not scatter or forage. They ran in straight lines, as though following roads invisible to everyone else.

Carver drew a fuzzy object from the Bag of Tricks and summoned a badger to follow. It killed two ordinary-looking rats, but more skittering continued nearby. Rage opened a dead-end alley with the investigative delicacy of a greataxe. Behind the nests, a rat hole passed into a house. When he circled around and knocked, a human-sized head moved behind a window.

Rage reported the infestation to two robed enforcers and flicked them a gold piece. They told him to mind his own business and watch himself, though they marked the address for later. The rats’ purpose—and the occupant’s relationship to them—remained hidden.

Carver studies the purposeful rats while a summoned badger pursues them through Martira Bay.

The rats follow roads that no one else can see. See the image record.

At Faith’s Library, Carver asked for the history of Dr. Rudolph van Richten. The librarian knew the name as a modern figure rather than an ancient one. Then a pair of familiar eyes appeared between the shelves.

Erasmus van Richten painted another silent history. The party saw Van Richten as a child; as an adolescent beside a brother; as a student in magnificent Il Aluk; as a young man with a woman; then at his manor with a wife and small children. They saw him older and frustrated in an alchemical laboratory, later visiting an herbalist’s shop while his wife slept and worked there. At last, an older Van Richten disappeared behind an obscuring rush of Shroud.

The final image showed someone new: an unidentified half-elf bard entertaining an inn in Barovia. Whether this figure represented Van Richten, a disguise, a successor, or someone else entirely, Erasmus did not explain.

Erasmus paints scenes from Rudolph van Richten's life into the air between the library shelves.

A life unfolds between the shelves of Faith’s Library. See the image record.

Ignatius searched the library for wereravens. He found old accounts of raven swarms around Castle Avernus and of an unusually large breed, absent for years, called the King’s Ravens. One obscure passage claimed that the ravens were always watching and were somehow part of Azalin. It was not an answer to Vidic’s nature, but it was another piece of the same dark silhouette.

Rage received a simple illustrated book on dragonchess. The library offered little about either Martira Bay’s rise beyond its growth from a fishing village or the Kargatane’s grip upon it.

The party continued to the Last Breath. A patron nearly collided with them while hurrying out, and inside they could feel eyes tracking their movements. Rage asked a man named Lando Riverben about the rats. Lando answered with a mocking story. Rage snapped a chair like kindling; the room remained unimpressed.

Black Lily eventually returned with a human companion dressed in gray and brown. He treated the stranger as a superior and announced that his master would receive the party that night alongside other Kargatane members. The meeting would take place at the Pale Lantern in the western quarter near the government palace.

There was time for preparation. Carver purchased a breastplate from Ivor Stonebraid for two hundred gold pieces after Rage suggested it was needed for fighting vampires. Rage bought two healing potions in the market.

Armored, supplied, and watched, the party set out to meet the power behind Black Lily.

Key events

  1. The party and Black Lily reached Richten House and rested safely.
  2. Carver gave Ignatius +1 handwraps and created Chip, his catlike Eldritch Cannon, from the Shroud and gathered remnants.
  3. Black Lily paid the promised 50 gp and revealed his monthly relationship with a superior in the Kargat.
  4. Black Lily used an Azalin-faced coin as a Mist talisman leading to Martira Bay.
  5. The party entered Martira Bay beneath its central black tower and observed the Kargatane’s pervasive authority.
  6. Black Lily warned the party not to speak with the city’s children and departed for the Pale Lantern.
  7. The party investigated rats moving in unnaturally straight routes and found a nest leading into an occupied house.
  8. Erasmus appeared in Faith’s Library and revealed scenes from Van Richten’s life, ending with an unidentified half-elf bard in Barovia.
  9. Ignatius found references to the King’s Ravens and their connection to Azalin.
  10. Black Lily returned with a superior and arranged a nighttime meeting with his master at the Pale Lantern.
  11. Carver acquired a breastplate, and Rage acquired two healing potions.

Decisions and consequences

  • The party traveled to Martira Bay with Black Lily.
    • They escaped the immediate consequences of Ablander’s death but entered a city visibly controlled by the organization that ordered it.
  • Carver summoned Chip from the Shroud.
    • His Artillerist specialization now has a persistent catlike expression, and the strange sensation accompanying the ritual remains unexplained.
  • The party investigated the city’s rats despite official hostility.
    • The enforcers marked the house for later, and the party may have drawn attention to both themselves and its occupant.
  • The party accepted Black Lily’s introduction to his master.
    • They are heading toward a meeting with higher-ranking members of the Kargatane and possibly the Kargat.

People

  • Chip: Carver’s catlike Eldritch Cannon, summoned from the Shroud and capable of speaking its name.
  • Black Lily: Paid the party, led them to Martira Bay, and arranged the Pale Lantern meeting.
  • Erasmus van Richten: Revealed additional scenes from his father’s life and an unexplained half-elf bard in Barovia.
  • Lando Riverben: Last Breath patron who mocked Rage’s concern about the rats.
  • Ivor Stonebraid: Blacksmith who sold Carver a breastplate.
  • Black Lily’s superior: Unnamed human in gray and brown who escorted Black Lily back to the Last Breath.

Places

  • Richten House: Safe refuge where Carver created Chip and Black Lily paid the party.
  • Martira Bay: Sprawling port city dominated by guild wealth, Kargatane authority, and a central black tower.
  • Faith’s Library: Library where Erasmus revealed more of Van Richten’s life and Ignatius researched wereravens.
  • Last Breath Inn: Southern inn where the party waited under observation for Black Lily.
  • Pale Lantern: Kargatane meeting place where Black Lily’s master agreed to receive the party.

Clues, lore, and notable items

  • Black Lily used an Azalin-faced coin as a Mist talisman keyed to Martira Bay.
  • The Kargatane appears to function as a mortal outer organization beneath the supernatural Kargat.
  • Black Lily reacts to thoughts of his Kargat superior with disturbing pleasure or longing.
  • The Kargatane openly patrol and control Martira Bay, while no Eternal Order church was visible.
  • A crowd gathered reverently around a well near the government palace.
  • Rats traveled in unnaturally straight lines and entered an occupied house through a nest-lined passage.
  • Erasmus’s history placed Van Richten’s childhood, education, family, laboratory work, and herbalist connection before his disappearance into the Shroud.
  • The half-elf bard shown afterward remains unidentified.
  • Old texts called an absent breed of unusually large ravens the King’s Ravens and linked them obscurely to Azalin.

Story threads

Rewards, losses, and character changes

  • Carver formally became an Artillerist and summoned Chip from the Shroud as his Eldritch Cannon.
  • Ignatius became a Warrior of Mercy, flavoring his Hands of Healing and Harm as salves and concoctions developed from Van Richten’s notes.
  • Rage multiclassed into Bard, becoming Barbarian 2 / Bard 1 and using waist-worn drums for bardic magic and inspiration.
  • Ignatius received +1 handwraps for his unarmed strikes; this infusion and Rage’s +1 greataxe are both active.
  • Black Lily paid the promised 50 gp.
  • Carver acquired a breastplate for 200 gp.
  • Rage acquired two healing potions.
  • Ignatius removed several books from Richten House’s library for study.

Memorable moments

  • The catlike construct answered the question of its name with a single word: “Chip.”
  • Black Lily shuddered with unsettling desire while describing his Kargat superior.
  • A badger pursued Martira Bay’s regimented rats through the streets.
  • Erasmus unfolded Van Richten’s life between the shelves of Faith’s Library.
  • Rage broke a chair to intimidate Lando and discovered an audience that simply did not care.

Open questions

  • What exactly did Carver touch within the Shroud while creating Chip?
  • Who was the lost friend whose spirit contributed to Chip’s creation?
  • What is the nature of Black Lily’s bond with his Kargat superior?
  • Why did Black Lily warn the party away from Martira Bay’s children?
  • Who controls the rats, and what occupies the house connected to their nest?
  • Why do people gather reverently around the well near the government palace?
  • Who is the half-elf bard in Erasmus’s final image?
  • Were the King’s Ravens wereravens, servants of Azalin, or something else?
  • Who is Black Lily’s master, and what does that master want from the party?

Next session

  • Immediate situation: The party is traveling through Martira Bay’s western quarter toward a nighttime audience at the Pale Lantern.
  • Likely goals: Meet Black Lily’s master, learn what the Kargatane expects after Ablander’s death, and survive the attention their arrival has attracted.

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