Red Moon Over Sartar Campaign

Summaries for February 11, 1996

The party....
Det. Rockfrug (Scott Chelette)
Inspector Ahmet (Joe White)
Det. Tavar (Me, Dave Summers)
Det. Yasna (Ray Turney)
Nomad Scout Roneer the Silent Wind (Eduardo Horvath) Det. Corporal Marc Traceus (Daniel Quill) [briefly] (Consulting) Det. Severus (Ken McKinney) [briefly] Det. Aldus (Cy)
[later] Inspector Julius (Ken McKinney)
[later] Lieutenant Inspector Inorri Matheman (Cy)

[From: Dr. Zea, Ph. D., Dept. of History, Respected Univeristy The following are some documents we came accross in our study of an old Jakaleel Temple. They dates back to the period immediately following the Lunar conquest of Sartar and appears to be letters from a Jakaleel initiate to the priestess of the temple (The delivery directions on the outside are no longer legible and, as is traditional for Jakaleel communications, the body of the text contains no explicit mention of the who the sender and recipient are.) The events described might be considered among the less critical period, but they do help to clarify how the Lunar Empire was approaching the Startar occupation and why things evolved as they did. We have annotated this copy with comment in brackets.]

My greetings,

Traceus and Aldus were still cursed by the Dryad. She had placed spirit markers on them that left them continually vulnerable to attack by sickness spirits. We had a red mask shaman along that was temporarily providing some protection, though they were loosing still slowly getting weaker. We were out in the field looking for the person who had stolen King Blackmoor's treasure ("the Trickster" from the last message).

The shaman wanted to start back home (near Aldachur). Aldus asked the shaman to stop at the dryad, to which he agreed. Severus (of necessity) went along. Aldus got the shaman to translate while he bargained with the dryad. The dryad wanted her seeds back, but he had eaten his and Severus wasn't giving up his. Aldus asked what else he could do to save himself. He offered to worship her but she wasn't interested. She suggested he guard her site (keep Trolls from fouling it, etc.). He asked if it would be a permanent arrangement. The dryad responded that of course it wouldn't be permanent, he was only be good for about 5 decades and that he would only have to guard as long as he "lasted".

Another possibility was for Aldus to recover a stone that had been helping to keep the seeds fresh. However, the stone didn't detect as magic and the dryad really couldn't give any sort of description of who took it (and they were probably dead since she had cursed him and it was over a 100 years ago anyway). The best she could do was describe some Old Wyrmish markings that were on it.

Eventually it was decided that Aldus would guard the site and look to see if the rock was dropped nearby. If he hadn't found it after several years, they would discuss the matter. This was agreed to, though there was some concern on Aldus' part because he could not speak Old Wyrmish.

Severus proceeded on the Aldachur. There was a problem in that the shaman wanted to stop a few miles short of the city and he wanted his protection all the say. They settled on the shaman escorting him to the gates.

[We have assertained that the Lunar constable in question waited in Aldachur for either a moon boat, or a traveling shaman, so he could make his way to within the Lunar glowline. Eventually (this takes us well past the time scale of the other events described) a shaman escorted Severus into the Empire and he is able to meet up with someone who thought the seeds might be important. Serverus got the marker removed and the sesame seeds are planted near Furtherest. Unfortunately the crop was of diseased vines. They had to burn the crop to keep the disease from spreading (the burning created a poison cloud, killing something like a hundred people) and they had to salt the land to keep them from growing back.]

Meanwhile, Ahmet decided the rest of the party (Rockfrug, Ahmet, Yasna, Roneer, Traceus, and me) should check out the status of Swan and Runegate after the recent war. (The war wasn't quite over, but it was winding down.) We travelled with Roneer out in front as a scout and me in back. As we travelled along, Roneer spoted what appears to be an ambush. A number of men lying prone like they are trying to avoid being spotted. The party attempts by Roneer and me to sneak up on them were not as well executed as they might have been. However, they seem "very disciplined", not reacting at all to the party activities, and, as Ahmet has the rest of the party ride up, it was discovered that they are all dead. A search revealed it to be seven Lismelder tribesmen, all killed very fast. Scraps of parchment were found scattered around, which Yasna recognized as being written in Old Wyrmish. Some weird tracks (someone wearing long stirrups?) were also found. Ahmet had a mud cast made of the print.

We proceeded on to swan and the Lismelder that were accompanying us left. There was pressure on one man that the party had saved from being beaten to come with us as a Lunar. He declined and was beaten unconscious by Rockfrug for his refusal. In town we found Corp Ralston and eight men who were annoyed that a war had broken out while they had been on a routine patrol but were otherwise fine. The was also a new inspector for the group (Julius) and THE lieutenant in charge of the whole constable program, Lieutenant Inspector Inorri Matheman. (News was that Mulcius had decided to go back to Furtherest.)

Ahmet had the sheriff look at the mud cast, but he didn't recognize the tracks. We also found out that the war was stopping because Prince Khordavu, the commander at Runegate, had returned from an expedition to recover treasure from the Upland Marsh. (Apparently the war was timed to coincide with his absence). Little had changed and apparently the clans that were being fought over had been mostly wiped out. It was described as a "loose-loose situation").

The sheriff got word that a "herder's wife's husband" was killed (ie "a herder"). The sherif allowed us to accompany him and we got there just as the man was about to be buried (wrapped in cloths and resting on a plank). We were shown the death scene and figured out it was a group of men and found some more weird foot prints. The wife had seen the attack and said it was three guys in plate armor and a White Dragon Newt. They had attacked and wounded the herdsman. They then talked to him (presumably questioning him about something) before killing him. Yasna discovered another home nearby where the "perps" had broken in and killed both the herder and his wife.

Further questioning revealed that a scroll had been stretched across the road and the locals were told that if anyone crossed it they would die. Apparently a group of Lesmilder had come by, beaten the locals that had warned them, and had torn down the scroll. The had stuff the remnants in a bag. The party found a "bronze circular thing" where the scroll had been (and which turned out to be associated with the scroll). The description of the man involved matched the "trickster" who had taken the kings treasure. It was also found out that he had been giving "glass baubles" to the locals that turned out to be gems from the kings collection worth 500-1000 sp's a piece.

Following the tracks, we proceeded north. Only the tracks of the 3 humans continued on. The tracks passed near Tarkalor keep and we stopped in to see the King. When we showed the remnants of the scroll to the king and his purser, the purser recognized them as what was left of the scroll stolen from the King's collection. (The king wanted to keep it but Ahmet "leased" it from him). After a while the trail faded out, but Roneer was able to pick it up again. A bit further the trail was lost again (those we were following had concealed it) but we were able to find another piece of parchment nearby.

Scouting around nearby, I found some evidence of activity. I got Rockfrug to look at it and tracks were found showing occasional traffic between a cave and a pond. Julius and Istarted to sneak in, but I was attacked by a ghost and we decided retreat was a good idea. The echo's lead me to believe the cave didn't continue too much farther. It was proposed that Rockfrug put a Spirit Screen on the party's highest POW character, Ahmet, and send him in. Ahmet was less than enthusiastic and some were questioning if the cave was worth the bother. At this point Inorri took charge and ordered the party to proceed in the direction the tracks had been heading (north).

The party arrived at the ferry near the town of Innori left Roneer, Julius, and me at the ferry in case the "perps" came that way while the rest of the party proceeded on to the town. When questioned, the locals indicated that they hadn't seen anyone like those we were after. At dusk, the party collected up at an Inn where we had booked rooms. At this point Innori called a "leadership conference" (Just Ahmet, Traceus, Julius, and himself; though comments from those not officially at the meeting were entertained also) in the common room.

While this was going on, a man at the bar stops and asks about the scroll we were discussing. Innori orders Ahmet to detain him for questioning. He tries to grapple him but the merchant gets a poor grasp on Ahmet's neck. Innori orders me to assist. As you know, I do not excel in hand-to-hand combat, but I was bound to do my best to obey the order, so I decided to try demoralizing him. Just as I was about to give up the spell and try grappling, Ahmet pulls out his sword. The other guy responds by pulling out his knife. He then jumps out the window and Julius and Ahmet follow him. He also ran past Yasna (who was outside of the inn) and she also started chasing him. Eventually Julius wounded him and he was brought back to the inn.

The questioning went badly. With the Innori and Julius demanding submission and the merchant remaining defiant. Eventually the merchant was beaten unconscious. While this was going on, Yasna went up to search the room. She sweet talked the guard into letter her look as long as she didn't take anything. She found what appear to be mostly junk; small logs, glass beads, exotic foods, etc. (it later turned out the party underestimated the value of the good by about an order of magnitude.) Yasna looked at his papers and thought she found a flaw. There was talk of a trial but Inorri looked at the papers and couldn't find any flaw (it may be that Yasna was thinking of some old regulations). I suggested that perhaps someone who wasn't involved in the fight or the previous questioning might be assigned to talk to the merchant after he revived. Inorri and Julius talked about questioning him while the rest of the party played "bad cop". It ended up that Julius agreed to be "bad cop" but the plan never really got put into action.

The man was revived and indicated that he was just merchant that was interested in maybe buying a scroll after he heard us talking about it. Arguments about resisting arrest, unlawful arrest, threats of arrest, threats that the party was in big trouble, and other arguments about legalities ensued with the the merchant claiming connection to Fazzur Wideread. Threats were made to take him to Runegate while the merchant simply responded that "you are not tacking me to runegate" with a confidence that belied the fact that he was tied up.

At this point Traceus got permission to take him off to the side and an calmed him down. He got him to agree not to cause trouble for the party if he was released. Meanwhile Innori put Ahmet in charge of the prisoner. Ahmet took him to his room, indicated that what he didn't understand was why we were holding a leadership meeting in the common room, and gave the merchant his knife back.

At this point a new leadership meeting was called. Innori called a vote on wether to show the scroll around, or go and tax (take) the gems the trickster was giving away from the peasants. The rules were that each "leader" got two votes but couldn't abstain. The vote ended up tied without Innori's vote and he decided to do both.

As we got back to the Runegate/Swan area, it was suggested that could take the scroll to Old Top where there might be some scholars there who could figure out what it was. We proceeded there and found a "light Bringers" ("not Orlanth") temple. There appeared to be a big complex underneath and there was talk about searching it. A scholar was brought out and look at the what was left of the scroll. He identified it as being from the Empire of Wyrm's Friends. Yasna talked to him and he told here there was no such thing as a "White Dragon Newt" (there were only green ones). The scholar offered to keep scroll and study if further. Inorri wanted to get back to Swan because he "had a schedule". He decided to go to Runegate while the scroll was being looked at.

At Runegate we learned that Khordavu had gone off into the swamp because he heard of the treasures there. The skewered a bunch of zombies with their pike formations and picked up a lot of loot. (Enough that each soldier got 50 sp in loot) Yasna showed up for the next staff meeting and was, to her pleasant surprise, given a share of the loot (including a large bronze urn with a black sludgy 'magic goop'). Inorri had meeting with Khordavu. When he got back to the party, Inorri divided the Inspectors into 7 grades (lower numbers being higher rank) and made Julius (a Dara Happan) grade 6 and Ahmet (Caramanian (sp?)) grade 7.

[The rest of this message has been lost. The account in the next message picks up almost immediately, however, so it appears the lost text did not focus on describing text.]

[From other sources we have learned more about the meeting between Khordavu and Inorri...
-Khordavu mentioned that Yasna was only put on the staff to placate the female compliment of the fort happy (which was apparently not an issue since the fort personnel had all been replaced by Dara Happans). Inorri assured him that she wasn't given any real responsibilities except for maybe things like washing the linens.
-Khordavu also pushed Inorri to join Yelm but he demurred. Eventually it was agreed that he would "think about it". -He also talked Innori into promoting Dara Happans under his command. -Finally, Innori was sent to an lieutenant who give him a cut of the loot (not as large as Yasna's).]

[Next message]
*****
My greetings,
Inorri has decided to go back to Old Top. The scholar had had a couple of days to look at the scroll but said he thought he would have two weeks and needed more time. I suggested to Inorri that it might be best to send the remnants of the scroll to Lunar scholars in case the information in it was important outside of just our investigation. Innori decided to leave the scroll and go to Furtherest while the scholar was looking at the scroll. However, at Runegate we were stopped and told we should talk to a Lunar messenger. Apparently there was a problem at Lunar Manor. The messenger had stopped by there and found it locked. Looking around he saw broos, evil spirits, zombies, trolls and stuff. Inorri decided to give us two days off but ordered us to meet at Lunar Manor in three days.

[Apparently Lunar Manor was a three day ride away give the roads that existed at the time.]

The party went and cut Rockfrug (who was doing some vision quest thing and was hanging from a tree by his feet) down and went off for a "picnic" (w/out Inorri). When got to the Manor on the third day and saw Inorri. Julius (being "grade 6") was "in charge" and brought the party over to meet up with him. There was some discussion as to what to do. Julius said he was still in charge until Innori gave an order. Inorri decided to give an order that he was in charge. Eventually I, and then Rockfrug, snuck up toward the Manor wall since it appeared that the approach wasn't being watched (it was originally of Sartar construction with Lunar reinforcement). I tried to climb up but couldn't. Rockfrug caught up and I helped him climb up. Rockfrug saw a large shadow spirit, a spirit Broo, some gorps, and some broos dancing around the Manor house. He was very nervous and went back, but he help me up and I stayed and watched.

Innori ordered Rockfrug to attack the spirit. He went through some rituals and concluded the it wasn't possible (Inorri suspected, however, that the attempt was not fully sincere). Rockfrug offered to make it possible for Innori to take of the spirit assuring him "of course you can defeat it". There were also suggestions to call in either Khordavu or a Sartar Storm Bull we had met earlier. Ahmet suggests talking to locals and it was learned that two local girls work in the house (the locals were concerned and blamed evil Lunar magics for the problem). It was learned that there was a shaman up in the hills. It was also learned that the place had once had a back entrance.

Julius, Rockfrug, and I were left to scout out entrance while the rest of the party went in search of the shaman. Rockfrug came across a slab of rock that looked like it covered an entrance. While they were looking for a place to hole up until the rest of the party returned, Julius found a crevice (that lead into the hill and appeared to open up) that he thought would make a good hiding place. I was unsure of it, fearing that something might be living there or that, if discovered, they would be trapped there. Eventually it was decided to buy lodgings from local Sartarite farmers until Inorri sent for us (the sons were evicted to the barn and the offer of letting us keep the goat in room for "various purposes" was declined.). Apparently they were unable to learn anything of interest and the Shaman did something to Inorri's foot.

[Other accounts mention the rest of the party meeting an assistant of the shaman. He spoke in a vague and obscure terms (a lot of comments about "being here" and "you are not here" etc.) Attempts were made to find out if the shadow was dangerous and how we might deal with it. Eventually he gave up talking to them and curled up into a ball. The party tried waiting for him, during this period the party saw some the shaman's gargoyles and used sense life to make sure he was still alive (the spell detected 27 lives that couldn't be accounted for). Innori tried to poke him and he responded "touch not the body with thy hand" so he kicked him, which made his foot sore.]

After well all joined up, Rockfrug and Roneer were sent to talk to shaman while the rest of the party moved away. The Shaman didn't like Rockfrug and he took off. He did, however, like Roneer but little of use to us in solving the problem was learned.

[It seems the Shaman had indicated that the shadow had decided to attach itself to the house because of "evil Lunar magics". He asked Roneer why he was associating himself with evil Lunars and follow evil Lunar ways. Roneer asked for help and inquired if he might be the shamans assistant. The shaman agree and offered to take him there. He indicated that he had some paperwork he needed to fill out before he could leave the army.]

Meanwhile, Innori's foot still hurt. The party made it's way back to the Manor and left the horses (except Innori's) at the nearby farm house. We then went and look at the rock slab that Rockfrug found. The party got 4 four people together and move the slab (Rockfrug got a hernia, but Inorri was able to fix it up), but there was only dirt underneath. The party then went off and Rockfrug and Julius were sent into the crevice that Julius had found. They were, however, forced to turn back for light. Yasna provided a light and for people (Julius, Ahmet, Yasna, and me, in that order, because we were smaller) went in. Julius found a door barred from the other side. Ahmet was able use his skill to get the bar off. Past the door was a wider corridor and I was sent back to get the rest of the party. Roneer was left with Inorri's horse (who's foot was so bad he had to hop around) and the party formed up in the corridor. Another door was found that Ahmet was able to open. Past it was a room with 3 sarcophagi. Detect Enemies detected 3 enemies in them. Rockfrug and I were ordered to open them, while the rest of the party stood around with silver weapons, but we were unable to. Eventually the whole party set at one and got it open. Underneath we saw nothing but dirt and mist (the mist presumably being the vampire in mist form). After some confusion, the party left the room and went outside. It was decided to head back to Runegate and report in to Khordavu. On the way Julius warned the farmers about the danger at the manor. On the way back there was word of soldiers in Swan (it turned out to be a patrol of 40 pikemen, apparently patrol sizes were being stepped up. There were also lot of merchants going to runegate, presumably to make money on the loot that Khordavu pulled down (they also bought up most of those gems before the King could get them).

[It seems that Khordavu had brough 4 women from a local house into the fort to increase the moral of the men. When they returned from the expidition to the Upland Swamp, the women were gone. Finding new women was apparently the motivation for the patrols but was unsuccessful.]

Back in Runegate, Julius talked to one of Sunboy's staff and got put on the agenda. Inorri talked to the Deezola priestess and it was decided to lop his foot off, stick it back on, and see if it still hurt (and it did). Then it was suggested that it be cut off and the priestess would regrow it. Inorri waited but eventually agreed and the foot grew back over the next week in fine shape. In Julius' reports, the main thing they wanted to know was that the spirit was a big shadow spirit and _not_ a huge shade. Word was sent back to Furtherest for records on Lunar Manor and Khordavu indicated that he would decided what to do when they got back. Inorri went to talk to Khordavu (There was some concern that he was only making sure there was enough loot to interest him, and if there wasn't he wouldn't do anything). Khordavu indicated that it was necessary to make sure the Vampires weren't Lunar citizens before going and whacking them (which is a credible point. It may also be that both motivations were at work). While the foot was regrowing we will be allowed to go to Boldhome.

Sincerly Yours....
[Unsigned]

[Records indicatet that, in Boldhome, Det. Tavar became an acolyte of Jakaleel and also became an initiate of the Seven Mothers. Det. Corp. Traceus became an acolyte of Yanafal Tarnils and chose a gift/geas (It is thought he took the ability to recover MP at double normal speed and the vow to never refuse a challenge to one on one combat).

We believe that, in Runegate, Insp. Lt. Inorri was approached by a Swan Son. It turned out that the Lismelder were asking for weregild for the seven members of their tribe killed. Inorri wrote a letter indicating that we had investigated the matter and it was found that the Corymar were not responsible for their deaths. Det. Yasna received word from a Col. Orbius that Sartar rebels were apparently using Old Wyrmish for their communications and that no constable should indicate that they had any knowledge of the language, either spoken or written.]