Through the Mists

Session 10: Hundreds of Talons

At a glance

  • In-game date: The night following the Pale Lantern gathering and the following day
  • Starting location: An alley near the Pale Lantern, Martira Bay
  • Ending location: Black Lily’s manor, East District of Martira Bay
  • Characters present: Ignatius, Rage, and Carver

Summary

The creature that had nearly killed Ignatius awoke in Carver’s manacles and revealed what its animal shape had concealed: the attackers were wererats, and their ordered routes through Martira Bay belonged to a hierarchy of their own. Rage made the interrogation bloodier before it began, chopping off the captive’s foot and adding it to the dreadful chain at his neck beside a human foot and a fragment of mimic-chair wood.

The prisoner claimed service to a woman known only by title: Alcio “Baron” Metus, a Kargat leader with a vast scar over one eye who ruled Martira Bay. The party, it said, occupied only the Kargatane’s outer circle; the wererat belonged to the second. It also confirmed that the house connected to the city’s unnaturally disciplined rats was a gang hideout. When Rage’s patience failed, the captive died beneath his axe. He removed the heads so that no evidence remained in the alley.

The party turned north toward the Mists and their promised rendezvous with Vidic. Ravens wheeled overhead while another rat shadowed the streets. An old crone stood along their path surrounded by black birds. When Rage called to her, her eyes changed and another voice seemed to look through them:

“You have taken what does not belong, hanging from your neck, you can do no wrong, until final rest you grant the slain, their weight shall haunt you from the chain.”

Then she was herself again, left only with a terrible feeling about the strangers before her.

A crone delivers her raven-haunted prophecy before Rage and the trophies chained across his chest.

The dead acquire weight upon Rage’s chain. See the image record.

Ignatius found the path through near-total darkness with uncanny certainty. Carver coaxed light from his tinkering while Rage felt unseen eyes following their progress. Near the Mists, something came silently after them—a figure gliding across the darkness and gaining ground. Rage hurled bardic command against it, but the party did not wait to learn whether the order held. They charged into the white blindness and escaped to Richten House.

Ignatius called for Vidic. The estate’s ravens answered in a thunder of voices until one bird descended and became the wereraven. After hearing the night’s story, Vidic spoke of his fascination with the afterlife and asked whether Black Lily was ultimately good or evil. He also named his own rank among the Keepers of the Feather: Holder of the Feather.

Then he offered the party a place among them.

Vidic laid out a spirit board and placed a seer’s stone at its center. Ignatius, Rage, and Carver each put a hand upon it. The sky darkened. Infinity glittered within the stone as they promised to fight evil and support the Keepers. When the vision withdrew, the stone had moved above Yes. Vidic plucked three black feathers from his own body and gave one to each new initiate.

“You are now amongst hundreds of Talons.”

The party swears its oath around a star-filled seer's stone as Vidic presides over the initiation.

Three new Talons join the Keepers of the Feather. See the image record.

He taught them the order’s recognition signs: conceal the word “nest” within a sentence, answer with “feather,” and exchange a raven’s caw as a greeting. Each feather would let its bearer command a raven once per day, though not one of the separate King’s Ravens. He also gave the party a lapel pin fashioned in the likeness of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, a Mist talisman capable of leading them to Barovia.

Ignatius laid out his intention to investigate Castle Avernus and learn what had happened to Darkon’s vanished lord. Vidic approved. The party slept at Richten House, but Darkon reached them even inside the little domain: by morning, each adventurer felt the absence of some particular piece of knowledge. None could name what had vanished. The loss was another wound in memory, further evidence that Darkon takes pieces of those who dwell within it.

Erasmus van Richten appeared the next morning. Carver asked whether Azalin remained at Castle Avernus, and Erasmus answered in images. The castle exploded and split apart. Within it, Azalin Rex dissolved into nothing. Centuries of Darkon under his gaze gave way to a realm divided among feuding powers: Baron Metus above Martira Bay; an unidentified undead noblewoman commanding a host around Il Aluk; an unidentified, almost fae elven woman bearing the Eternal Order’s seven-pointed star in the east; the King’s Ravens holding another region; and the machinery of the Brautslava Institute turning within its own sphere. Castle Avernus remained frozen and wounded. Ooru also appeared, not as one of Darkon’s rulers but as a reminder of Har’Akir and the domains beyond Darkon.

Ignatius asked whether anything could be done for the spirits lingering around them. Erasmus looked toward an image of his father tormented by dreams and hauntings in the library. Then came one final revelation: Erasmus himself, older and transformed into a vampire—and Rudolph van Richten forced to kill his own son.

Young Erasmus reveals the moment his vampiric older self faced Rudolph van Richten.

Erasmus reveals the fate that awaited him and the choice forced upon his father. See the image record.

Vidic departed to investigate the whistling fiend in the forest he called Clawgin. The party used an Azalin-faced coin to return through the Mists, emerging aboard the Dominance as it approached Martira Bay.

The city had shifted while they were gone. Residents whispered about foul smells seeping from festering houses. The Pale Lantern did not answer Rage’s pounding, and when Carver climbed to a window he found its great room empty and apparently abandoned. At the Last Breath Inn, two black-robed figures eventually took a corner table. Ignatius introduced the party as outer-circle Kargatane and asked for Black Lily. One of the men, Dillo, claimed a rank comparable to Lily’s and supplied an address.

Rage drummed for the street crowds on the way east and earned mockery instead of applause. His response—vicious words carrying very real psychic force—drove the heckler into an alcove. Carver saw the supposed leathery cape unfold as wings. The man became a great bat and escaped across the roofs, leaving another shapeshifter loose in Martira Bay.

Rage's bardic mockery strikes as a Martira Bay heckler reveals bat wings and escapes.

The heckler’s cape proves to be something far less ordinary. See the image record.

The address stood among the East District’s better manors. Black Lily opened the door almost before Carver had finished knocking. Ignatius told him that the party would join the expedition to Castle Avernus. Their eager sponsor spoke of evil in the ground and rumors that the broken castle was healing itself. He promised to arrange transportation and surrendered forty gold pieces toward explosives.

Rage then performed the evening’s least dignified diversion, asking Black Lily to sing outside the privy. While Lily was occupied, Ignatius searched and Carver opened his magical senses. Upstairs, Carver detected the enchantment aura of an unidentified person. Ignatius found a letter sealed with a bloody thumbprint: general orders from Darian to Black Lily concerning the securing of Neblus and zealots in Nevuchar Springs. He read it and left it where it lay.

The party departed with its bargain struck. Black Lily would provide the road to Castle Avernus. The party would bring the explosives—and enter a castle that Erasmus had shown them broken, frozen, and perhaps already healing.

Key events

  1. The captured attacker was confirmed as a wererat serving Baron Metus and belonging to the Kargatane’s second circle.
  2. The wererat confirmed that the rat-connected house was a gang hideout; Rage then killed the captive.
  3. An unidentified crone delivered a prophecy linking Rage’s trophy necklace to the unrest of the dead.
  4. An unidentified gliding figure pursued the party to the Mists.
  5. All three adventurers swore an oath and joined the Keepers of the Feather.
  6. Vidic gave each party member a black feather capable of commanding a raven once per day, excluding the King’s Ravens.
  7. The party accepted a Holy Symbol of Ravenkind–shaped Mist talisman leading to Barovia.
  8. The party suffered another unexplained loss of memory while resting at Richten House.
  9. Erasmus revealed Azalin’s disappearance, Darkon’s competing powers, and Van Richten’s killing of his vampiric son.
  10. The party returned to Martira Bay aboard the Dominance and found the Pale Lantern abandoned.
  11. Rage drove off a werebat with magically empowered insults.
  12. The party accepted Black Lily’s Castle Avernus expedition and received 40 gp for explosives.
  13. Ignatius read Darian’s general orders to Black Lily while Carver detected an enchanted person upstairs.

Decisions and consequences

  • Rage mutilated and then killed the restrained wererat.
    • The party learned the Baron’s place in the organization but lost the opportunity for further questioning.
    • The crone’s prophecy suggests that Rage’s collection of trophies has attracted a spiritual consequence.
  • All three adventurers joined the Keepers of the Feather.
    • They gained recognition signs, raven-commanding feathers, and access to Barovia through a new Mist talisman.
    • They also swore to fight evil and support the order.
  • The party committed to Black Lily’s Castle Avernus plan.
    • Black Lily will arrange transportation, while the party is expected to procure explosives with the 40 gp he supplied.
  • Ignatius and Carver secretly investigated Black Lily’s manor.
    • They discovered Darian’s orders and an unidentified enchanted person upstairs without alerting Black Lily.

People

  • Alcio “Baron” Metus: Named by the wererat as the scarred head of the Kargat and ruler of Martira Bay.
  • Vidic: Initiated the party into the Keepers of the Feather and left to investigate the whistling fiend in Clawgin.
  • Erasmus van Richten: Revealed Azalin’s disappearance, Darkon’s divided powers, and his own death at his father’s hands after becoming a vampire.
  • Black Lily: Accepted the party into his Castle Avernus scheme, supplied 40 gp, and promised transport.
  • Dillo: Kargatane of roughly Black Lily’s rank who provided his address.
  • Unidentified crone: Delivered the prophecy concerning Rage’s trophies.
  • Unidentified werebat: Fled over Martira Bay’s roofs after Rage attacked him with bardic magic.

Places

  • Richten House: Site of the Keepers’ initiation, the party’s latest memory loss, and Erasmus’s revelations.
  • Pale Lantern: Found empty and apparently abandoned when the party returned.
  • Last Breath Inn: Where Dillo directed the party toward Black Lily.
  • Black Lily’s manor: East District residence containing Darian’s orders and an unidentified enchanted person.
  • Castle Avernus: Shown shattered and frozen after Azalin’s disappearance, yet rumored to be healing.
  • Clawgin: Forest named by Vidic as the haunt of a whistling fiend; spelling remains uncertain.

Clues, lore, and notable items

  • The Kargatane has at least an outer circle and a second circle.
  • Wererats serving Baron Metus use the ordered rat routes and their hideout as part of that network.
  • Darkon appears divided among competing powers after Azalin’s disappearance.
  • The party’s memories continue to erode while they remain in Darkon.
  • Erasmus became a vampire, and his father killed him.
  • The Pale Lantern may have been deliberately cleared after the gathering or Rage’s attempted arson.
  • Some Martira Bay houses have begun to fester and emit foul odors.
  • Darian’s orders connect Black Lily’s work in Neblus with concern about zealots in Nevuchar Springs.

Story threads

Rewards, losses, and character changes

  • Ignatius, Rage, and Carver formally became members of the Keepers of the Feather.
  • Each received a black feather capable of commanding a raven once per day, though not a King’s Raven.
  • The party received a Barovia Mist talisman fashioned like the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.
  • The party received 40 gp from Black Lily to procure explosives.
  • Each party member suffered an unidentified loss of memory or knowledge overnight.
  • Rage added a severed wererat foot to his trophy necklace.

Memorable moments

  • A crone’s eyes changed as she pronounced judgment upon the dead hanging from Rage’s neck.
  • Three hands rested on the seer’s stone while infinity opened within it and the sky darkened overhead.
  • Erasmus showed Castle Avernus breaking apart and Azalin dissolving into nothing.
  • Van Richten faced his own vampiric son and delivered the killing blow.
  • Rage persuaded Black Lily to sing outside the privy while his companions searched the manor.

Open questions

  • Who or what pursued the party to the Mists?
  • What must Rage do to grant “final rest” to those represented on his chain?
  • What do the Keepers expect from their new Talons?
  • Which memories have Darkon taken from the party?
  • Who are the unidentified powers ruling around Il Aluk and in eastern Darkon?
  • What is happening inside frozen, healing Castle Avernus?
  • Why was the Pale Lantern abandoned?
  • What is causing Martira Bay’s houses to fester?
  • Who is the enchanted person hidden upstairs in Black Lily’s manor?
  • What do Darian and the Kargat intend for Neblus and its zealots?

Next session

  • Immediate situation: The party has agreed to Black Lily’s expedition and left his manor with 40 gp intended for explosives.
  • Likely goals: Procure explosives, prepare for Castle Avernus, and learn how Black Lily intends to transport the group there.

Graph View

Backlinks