Campaign Journal #6: The Road to Lyrum

The Road to Lyrum

While the rest of the party sleeps, Barclay examines the books and loose sheets retrieved from the dungeon. He intuits the disappearing ink used on the journal ("Book #3" from Campaign Journal #3) and concocts a "reappearing" solution, revealing details of the spy's mission in Casseval. He also inspects the page on body movements ("Page #2") and believes it to be a ritual scroll. Later, Barclay and Sentie experiment with the page and discover that it's an ancient version of Feather Fall, written without the common shortcuts and substitutions that are part of modern, fast spellcasting.

Our heroes return the three books to Driffol for their reward. Renn and Barclay successfully negotiate an increase in their reward, from 10 gold pieces each to 20 gold.

Driffol gives Renn a note about the search for his sister, indicating that they have a lead. Renn is upset, feeling that this information is essentially worthless without any details.

Driffol mentions to Raehendra that a librarian has heard of a journal mentioning Greebles and that they're attempting to locate it for her.

With their business in Thyrre complete, the party boards a sleigh for Lyrum.

Partway through their journey, they encounter "Ilfa Thurk" again, who now gives his title as "The Catamount". [Sidenote: Barclay's familiar explains that there are 4 Catlords of the lower planes, one of which has been missing for quite some time. This is likely The Catamount. He and two others work in the shadows. The only truly public Catlord is an orange tiger demon named The Suntouched—but sometimes called Rakshasa.] The Catamount once again thanks our heroes for freeing him, and presents a gift (delivered via a giant-sized demon): a necklace with a cracked red gem pendant. The ground begins to shake—an earthquake!—and the Catamount disappears.

The party resumes their journey to Lyrum, discussing their histories along the way. Kodrak's wife is dead, he has many children and grandchildren, and he is a former caber tossing champion. Renn is worried about his sister—but also worried that he's worrying about nothing because she may be perfectly safe. Sentie talked of the difficulty of growing up in Casseval, not able to be who he is, and he worries that something he left behind may have betrayed the rest of his family. Raehendra clarified that, while her parents were guilty of owning kobold slaves, she was kept from that side of the business and had no idea.

These conversations fill the time until our heroes arrive at Lyrum, only to find it affected by the earthquake. Several buildings are toppling precariously, and much of the city is on fire or smoking. The streets are filled with people helping in any way they can.

Soundtrack:

Austin Wintory, Abzu (2016) and Luna (2017)

The Main Cast, our player characters:

• Barclay Stone (he/him), human bard (college of eloquence)
• Kodrak Kukkerlun (he/him), dwarven fighter (battle master)
• Raehendra Tiddlybumpkin (she/her), gnomish ranger (hunter)
• Renn Summerstar (he/him), elven cleric of Lioris (twilight domain)
• Sentie Rancis (they/them), human wizard (school of transmutation)

The Supporting Cast, non-player characters:

• The Catamount, a demon

See the full cast list at Campaigns in Elsemorn.