The Fall of Port Valor

== Arc Summary==

Session 40

 * Google Document (12-3-21)

The party is still 30 minutes to an hour outside of Port Valor when the blast happens, and we see other travelers who were ahead of us turn from the gates and run away. While Slumberjack makes an effort to move stealthily, Kilwin and Reides are too frantic and don’t bother. As they pass a guard tower, Kilwin overhears some frantic whispering inside that sounds like it could be in Common. He stops (and the rest of the party waits up) and asks if anyone is in there. An old voice asks who’s out there, and Kilwin introduces himself and says that hopefully they’re friends. The door to the guard tower creaks open and a face with a small gray beard peeks out. He says that they saw the light and saw merchants running away from the gates, but have no idea what actually happened. He and his companion, another guard, are reluctant to leave the safety of the guard tower. Kilwin explains what we know about the light and the Fireaxe Clan (more or less), but the guard says that can’t be because the Count took care of the orcs with help from the forces from Falas. We briefly discuss trying to close the gates to keep any orc forces inside, but decide to leave the gates however they are currently. The guard speaking to us, who is named Bellevue, thinks the blast didn’t cover the whole city, and that since the Temple of Alethus is on a hill outside the city, anyone there might be safe. Slumberjack thinks we need to check the city for survivors, but also to see what’s dead. Reides tries to convince Bellevue and the other guard to accompany the party, saying they should try to do something about this instead of just hoping it will go away. Bellevue’s death grip on the door loosens and he agrees, saying he needs to at least check on his family. The other guard, Harvella, also leaves the guard tower even though she’s scared. She has a scarred face and short black hair. Both of the guards have spears and armor. Harvella admits that this tower is usually an easy post, since this road is one of the safer ones. She and Bellevue are here because they’re considered past their primes. Reides is still in denial that this is happening, and Slumberjack offers to pinch him. He takes them up on it and unfortunately discovers that he is not dreaming.

Bellevue suggests checking the count’s palace for survivors and to learn more about what happened. We also decide to check the temple for survivors and to visit Bellevue’s house to see what happened to his family. As we approach the main gate of Port Valor, we see two stale bodies in guard armor flanking each side of the gate. Slumberjack prepares their greataxe. The trees have all died and lost their leaves. Multiple bodies are in plain sight, seeming to have just fallen where they were. Kilwin almost vomits, but clutches his holy symbol and manages to hold it back. Slumberjack suggests that Bellevue and Harvella stick to the rear since they’re out of practice, since someone more credible-looking than us will need to survive and pass on the news of what happened, and they agree. Bellevue tells us his family lives in the Portside District. Slumberjack’s knowledge of Port Valor’s layout is a little shaky, but Reides lived here for a year and knows that’s bad news. He still says we should check just in case, but suggests that someone other than Bellevue go in first. Because the death was so recent and sudden, none of the bodies have started decomposing yet and there’s no particular smell in the city. Except for the lack of movement, everything looks the same. Reides thinks this is somehow even worse. He wants to examine one of the bodies, but is reluctant to touch it. Slumberjack offers to touch it for him if he’ll guide them on what to look for. They can’t find much though, except that no signs of death have set in. They make a small cut on a man’s hand with Reides’s dagger, and it bleeds and the wound corrodes from the dagger’s poison. It seems like the body is trying to support life that isn’t there anymore. The bodies are still warm, but there’s no pulse. Kilwin examines the body also and determines that it’s as if the souls were suddenly removed, leaving the bodies as lifeless shells. He suggests that the souls might be collected somewhere and, if so, might be able to be returned to the people. Kilwin promises the man we examined that he will heal his hand as an apology for cutting it open and as thanks for helping us figure out what’s going on if it’s something we can do. Slumberjack is unsure if that’s a good idea because there might be complications for the people whose souls are restored if that’s something we can even do, but Kilwin thinks it has to be better than this. Bellevue agrees to let one of his family members be the first test subject if we find them like this and returning souls to people ends up being an actual possibility.

We make our way to Bellevue’s house next. Slumberjack is ready to fight, while Reides is clutching his spellbook and Kilwin is clutching his holy symbol. When we reach the house, Kilwin volunteers to investigate. He knocks on the door first, but gets no response. Bellevue is visibly becoming distressed. Kilwin enters without getting a response from inside. He hears a bubbling noise, which he discovers is a cauldron on the stove. He also finds a human woman with a fresh burn on her arm lying on the floor next to it. Kilwin takes the cauldron off the fire and puts the fire out. He assumes the woman hit her arm on it when she fell, causing the burn. He also checks upstairs where he finds an old woman laying on the ground, also dead. Finding no other signs of life (former or current), Kilwin moves the bodies into more comfortable positions and comes out to report. Bellevue identifies the women as his wife and mother, but asks if there was also a young boy. Kilwin didn’t see anyone else, so Bellevue’s son might still be alive. We discuss checking the count’s palace next, and Kilwin suggests that we need to check the center of town since that seems to be where the light originated from. We decide to save that for last though, and that we should head for the Temple of Alethus next to see if Bellevue’s son is there. We head for the eastern city gates and the path to the temple. Wisps of smoke begin to rise from around the city, which we realize is probably the result of unattended cooking fires. The party spends some time debating if there’s anything we can do to put out the fires, but decide that the best thing we can do is see if there’s any survivors at the temple who could potentially help.

Kilwin knocks on the temple door and asks if Lathendria is there. She answers the door and is surprised but very happy to see us again. She confirms that there’s some survivors who made it to the temple, including a young boy. There’s only five people aside from Lathendria, though. Bellevue describes his son (including describing his son’s hair as brown like his, even though his hair is completely gray- Slumberjack and Reides get a kick out of this), but Lathendria breaks the news that it’s a different boy who made it to the temple. Kilwin asks if Bellevue’s son likes to play outside the city, and Bellevue says he’d often go to a park on the west side of town and might have been there. We decide we can check there for him too! We propose getting help with putting out the fires that are starting in town, but Lathendria says she thinks we should prioritize survivors. Slumberjack interprets this as Lathendria saying we should abandon the town in favor of the people in the temple and lashes out, saying the people aren’t actually dead, their souls are just missing. Lathendria corrects them and says that, while she thinks she should stay at the temple to receive further refugees, she meant that it might be better for us to look for more people in town than worry about the property damage. Reides apologizes on Slumberjack’s behalf and says they’re just very passionate about this. Lathendria offers to take a look at one of the bodies if we can bring one to her and see what she can determine about what happened to everyone’s souls.

We meet the survivors- a young boy who’s by himself, a woman with her daughter, and two familiar faces. Kargath sets down Zenine, comes up to us, and embraces us all. Reides hugs him back, while Slumberjack tries and fails to escape the grapple. Slumberjack threatens to start biting, but Kargath will take the bites because he is just happy to see us alive. He and Zenine were at the park on the west side of town when the blast happened, and he covered Zenine’s eyes while he carried her to the temple to spare her the knowledge of what happened. Zenine almost seems cheery and doesn’t seem to grasp what happened. While the rest of the party keeps talking with Kargath, Reides breaks off to talk to her. She remembers him and she liked him! She seems to notice something is off and admits to Reides that while her dad is never scared, she thinks he is now. Reides tells her that when Daddy is scared, she has to be brave too. She seems to understand and straightens up and forces a smile. To thank her for being so brave and strong, Reides hands her the bag of salt water taffy he bought for himself and tells her to hand it out to everyone here. Zenine is very excited to give some of the candy to the other kids, but gives the first piece to her dad. Jorah (who was here the whole time) and Kilwin notice that Kargath’s wall slightly drops for a moment and he almost starts crying, but he manages to hold it in. He thanks Zenine and eats the candy in one bite. He also tells us that the only other survivors he’s aware of were also at the park, primarily the other people at the temple.

We also introduce ourselves to the woman, whose name is Anna. She did see another boy playing at the park, but lost track of him in the chaos. We suggest this might be Bellevue’s son and finally ask Bellevue what his son’s name is. His name is Andrew. We tell the survivors about the fires, but Kargath thinks we’ll be hard-pressed trying to convince anyone to leave the temple. The other reason everyone had to clear out from the park was that an army of orcs rode in from the west as soon as the explosion happened. Kilwin very tentatively says that we can handle the orcs, and Reides jokingly compliments his confidence. Slumberjack suggests that Bellevue and Harvella stay at the temple where they’ll be safe, but Bellevue refuses to stop searching for Andrew because he can’t lose him. Harvella feels like she should with Bellevue and ultimately decides to, since she doesn’t know what else she can do. The party offers some of their weapons so that Kargath and Anna can defend themselves and the children if anything happens. Kargath takes one of Jorah’s spare shortswords since it’s the closest anyone has to one of his knives. He also asks if anyone has a dagger that Zenine can use and, with Kargath’s okay, Reides gives her the dagger of poison, which she immediately starts tossing in the air and catching. Anna takes Kilwin’s handaxe, reasoning that she’s used to cutting firewood, so using it for fighting is hopefully not that different. She tells us to stay safe, and Kilwin tells her to stay safe as well. Kilwin also approaches the young boy who’s by himself and asks his name. He mumbles that he’s Dylan. Reides notices that Kilwin is struggling to talk to this child and pats Dylan on the head. He recoils from the touches but still probably needed it. Kilwin asks some questions and learns that Dylan was also at the park when the explosion happened and that his family wasn’t with him. Dylan’s family lives in the center of town, so Kilwin says that he'll tell them that Dylan is safe if we find them because Dylan will be safe here. Dylan doesn’t seem very comforted by this. Reides creates an illusion of a sparkly fish to swim around Dylan, which catches his attention. Reides presents him with Pepega and feigns shock that Dylan has never seen Pepega before. Pepega strikes a little pose and, while Dylan pets Pepega, Reides explains that she’s a very special owl who can make people feel better. Reides decides to leave Pepega with Dylan for now and gives her instructions to find us if anything happens. He tells Dylan to take care of Pepega and keep her safe. Dylan returns to his original hunched over position, but is holding onto Pepega now.

We decide our first order of business is collecting a body to bring back to Lathendria, which we can transport using Jorah’s horse. We leave the temple but tell Lathendria we’ll be back soon. She offers the temple as a place of rest if we ever need it. Kilwin and Lathendria wish each other Alethus’s blessings. As we approach the town again, we can see that the fires are getting worse. There’s also one column of smoke that’s moving. It’s fairly close, coming toward us, and Jorah estimates that it’ll reach the city gates before we do. We decide that we don’t have much other choice than to head right for it and hope for the best. Slumberjack goes ahead and hides in the shrubbery. They spot three orcs on the city walls with javelins, two half-ogres with axes, and an orc with chainmail and a shield, kneeling down and clearly searching for something. Slumberjack does a hand signal to warn us to stop (which Reides briefly misinterprets and he waves back) and holds up six fingers. The rest of us stop where we are and also attempt to hide in the brush. The orc and half-ogres are talking to each other and the orc appears to be tracking something that went toward the temple. As he walks past Slumberjack’s hiding spot, they jump out and attack him with their greataxe. They lay into him. Harvella emerges from hiding to attack the orc with her spear, and Kilwin summons his spiritual weapon. The orc gets out of the way of the swing, but then gets hit square in the back with Sacred Flame. Jorah discerns that this orc is a Blade of Ilneval. Ilneval is Gruumsh’s compatriot and battle captain, and his Blades call on his powers to rally other orcs. Jorah tells us not to kill the Blade of Ilneval because we might need him for information. Bellevue rushes into the fray too. Reides takes a shot at the Blade with Harpoon, but misses with it for the first time ever. Slumberjack slashes the Blade across where their first strike landed before Kilwin knocks him out with his spiritual weapon. Jorah snipes one of the half-ogres. Bellevue attempts to attack the other half-ogre, but hesitates too much, and the half-ogre dodges easily. Slumberjack and Bellevue are hit with javelins thrown by the orcs on the battlements. The half-ogre decides to strike at the easiest target and cleaves Bellevue down, killing him outright.

Reides is shaken, but aims an Ice Knife at one of the orcs on the battlements. It stabs him in the chest before exploding. The orc decides to forget about tactics and throws his javelin at Reides, but misses terribly and jostles one of the ice shards lodged in his chest, killing him. Slumberjack throws themself at the half-ogre that killed Bellevue, cutting off his axe hand before cutting off his other hand and kneeing him to the ground. They tell him to tell his gods they say hi before burying their greataxe in his head. They also stab him with one of the thrown javelins after he’s dead. Harvella starts attempting to tend to Bellevue’s wounds, but gets out of the way as Kilwin rushes in to magically stabilize him. Holy light spreads through Bellevue’s body, but nothing happens. Kilwin shakes his head to Harvella before returning to the fight. Jorah snipes the one orc on the south battlement, and the remaining orc on the north tower decides it is time to hit the bricks. He ducks down out of view of the party, but Reides climbs the ridge behind and casts Misty Step to teleport to the top of the tower. Reides sees the orc rushing down the stairs, confident that he’s going to escape. Instead, Reides hits his legs with Ray of Frost. The cold starts with his feet and climbs up his legs, tripping him down the stairs before freezing him to death. Reides waves at the rest of the party from the top of the tower.

Session 41

 * Google Document (12-10-21)

Kilwin turns to Harvella and tells her that he can bring Bellevue back, but she has to promise that she can take him back to the temple and keep him there. She’s confused as to how Kilwin can do that (as is Jorah). Kilwin explains that he’s a cleric and can do it, but only once for now. Harvella and Jorah both encourage Kilwin to do it, so Kilwin casts Revivify just before the spell would no longer be able to work. A bright light emanates from Kilwin’s hands and into Bellevue just as Reides is returning from the top of the tower. Bellevue takes a deep breath as he returns to life.

Bellevue examines the gashes in his armor and isn’t sure what happened, but Jorah tells him that the half-ogre actually did kill him, but he’s back now apparently. Kilwin explains that he only had one shot at that, so he needs Bellevue to stay at the temple to make it count. Reides is extremely confused as to why Bellevue is alive again, and pokes at the gaps in his armor and the healed skin underneath. Meanwhile, Jorah places manacles on the unconscious orc. Bellevue objects to being sent back to the temple because he needs to search for Andrew, but Kilwin offers to look in his stead and insists that Bellevue can’t die again. Jorah steps in and argues that this was a small band of the orcs and it’s only going to get worse inside the city proper. He says that the best thing that Bellevue can do for Andrew right now is to stay alive so Andrew won’t grow up without a father in the middle of this chaos. Bellevue reluctantly agrees with this, and Harvella decides to accompany him. Harvella examines the unconscious Blade of Ilneval and says he seems like he’ll be out for a few hours. While we still intend to interrogate him, we’ll need to move on with our investigation of the town before we have a chance to. Bellevue offers to take the orc back to the temple, along with the corpse we told Lathendria we’d recover. Jorah examines the orcs and finds a longsword, four javelins, 63 gp, 16 sp, and 63 cp. He hands the money to Kilwin, so he can get more spell components. Kilwin reiterates that he can’t resurrect anyone else until he gets the components again, so everyone should be very careful to stay alive for now. Jorah says he’ll treat it as a one-time deal but wishes he knew Kilwin could do that before. Reides also wishes he knew this!

We discuss our possible next moves. Kilwin suggests checking the palace if it’s on the way to the park where Andrew might have been. He asks Bellevue more about what he meant when he said he thought the orcs had been taken care of. He explains that the count and the reinforcements from Falas raided a camp a while back, and everyone thought that was the end of it. Evidently, they were wrong. Reides wants to check the port district because he spent a lot of time there when he was living in Port Valor, but admits it’s a low priority compared to rescuing survivors. We briefly discuss getting outside help, but the closest settlement is at least a week away, so it would take too long to reach anyone. Kilwin mentions that he has a spell that would allow him to contact someone from a distance, but it would still take too long for someone to get here to help us right now. We decide that our priority list is getting the body for Lathendria (we can do that right now), searching the park and the stretch between the park and Bellevue’s house for Andrew, possibly checking to see what’s happening at the palace, and then searching the port district if it’s feasible. Jorah suspects that the Upper District (where the count’s palace is) will have a heavy orc presence, so it might be best to avoid it if we want to live. He also speculates that any survivors there would be in bunkers or otherwise heavily fortified and wouldn’t need our help as much. Kilwin wonders if the Blade of Ilneval was tracking us or the survivors from the park, but Jorah is pretty sure he was after us. We decide to try to move stealthily through the city and send Bellevue, Harvella, and the unconscious orc back with Gin. Jorah gives all the orcs’ weapons to Bellevue to carry. He ties the orc to the horse to make sure he can’t cause too much trouble if he wakes up on the way and checks his saddlebag to make sure nothing important is inside. Jorah decides the bottle of fire whiskey should probably not be in there and gives it to Bellevue to carry. Bellevue is nonplussed. He admits it could be a good bludgeon or, having tried fire whiskey before, a possible torture method. Kilwin remembers the one time he was very hungover and agrees.

We search our surroundings for corpses and unfortunately have plenty of options. There’s a middle-aged human man, a young human woman, an elderly human woman, a young half-elven man, and a dwarven man. The two human women seem the lightest, so Jorah carries the younger woman to Gin and secures her on his back as respectfully as he can. Bellevue thanks Kilwin for giving him his life back and wishes there were some way he could repay us. Kilwin says he doesn’t need any kind of payment except for Bellevue to keep living and be a good father, and everyone agrees. Bellevue and Harvella wish us luck and head back to the temple with Gin and his cargo.

The party briefly discusses strategy after their assistance is gone. Jorah is doubtful that Andrew will still be at the park, but thinks that if he really was there, he might have tried to head home. Reides wonders if using his Hat of Disguise to appear as an orc, but worries that any survivors we encounter might think he’s an enemy. Jorah also points out that Reides doesn’t speak Orc. Reides offers to loan Jorah the hat, but it requires attunement, so it would need to wait for a short rest. Reides would also want his hat back afterward. The party attempts to move stealthily through the city, but Kilwin and Jorah are not very successful. While the smoke is getting worse, it isn’t impeding our progress at this point. We do notice just how many dead bodies there are. Port Valor was a fairly large town, with a population of about 7000 people. While Jorah isn’t especially well-versed in magic, he lived in Atemcester for a long time, so he’s aware that there’s some really terrible things you can do with people’s deaths. He’s hoping that this wasn’t a ritual sacrifice of some kind, and Reides and Kilwin hope the same.

As we approach the city square at the center of Port Valor through various back allies, Reides and Kilwin overhear some raucous laughter and a groan of pain. Alarmed, Kilwin goes ahead to check what’s happening in the square, while Reides clues Jorah in that something is up. Closer to the square, Kilwin hears more groaning, more laughing, and a voice saying “Hit him again” in Common. He peeks around the corner and sees a number of orcs and ogres gathered around a smaller figure. Kilwin steps out a little more and recognizes the figure as Count Corvus, alive but not looking very good. One of the orcs stabs Corvus with a javelin, and the others laugh as he screams. Reides also takes a look as the party gathers around the side of the building, and he does not like what he sees. Jorah listens in to see if he can pick up any Orc, but they seem to be speaking in Common since that’s the only language orcs and ogres have in common. He also recognizes one of the orcs as an Eye of Gruumsh and another as a Claw of Luthic. We take a moment to strategize. Kilwin can use Calm Emotions to make the orcs indifferent to us and the Count, letting us take him away without risking a fight. It’s possible, though, that some of the orcs could resist the spell and fight us, and fighting back would break the spell on the remaining orcs. Reides considers making an illusion to scare the orcs or at least distract them while we take the count and flee. While we’re talking, the Eye of Gruumsh points at Corvus and commands him to grovel. The count falls to his knees and cowers. Kilwin isn’t sure what we should do, but doesn’t think he can watch this happen much longer. Jorah thinks it might be too easy to cut off our escape, but that if no one’s around to report that the count was rescued, it will just go unreported! We’ll need to leave the orcs and ogres dead or unconscious, which Kilwin and Reides agree with. Slumberjack volunteers their Necrotic Shroud as a distraction while the rest of us surprise them. We decide to give it a shot! Jorah is afraid of Slumberjack’s wings, so he decides to hang back. He does volunteer to run in and heal the count if things start looking bad for him, but Kilwin points out he can do that from a distance, so Jorah doesn’t really need to. Jorah briefly attempts to teach Slumberjack how to say “I’m gonna fuck your face” in Orc, while Reides offers to use Minor Illusion to make them unnaturally loud, but we decide to keep a lower profile.

Kilwin gets ready to shoot a spell at the one orc he can see from behind our cover. The orc who’s been stabbing Corvus gets his javelin ready to do it again. Slumberjack runs in and lets their wings out. They only manage to frighten one of the orcs, and Kilwin fires his spell but misses. Unfortunately, only one ogre wielding a chain didn’t already notice our presence. The plan has already gone sideways! Reides manages to hit an orc with Ray of Frost from around the corner, but quickly retreats. Jorah decides to focus his efforts on the Eye of Gruumsh for now. The count takes advantage of the confusion to get up, hands still bound, and breaks away from the group. The Claw of Luthic attempts to cast spells at Jorah, but doesn’t have much success. The frightened orc swings blindly at Slumberjack, but misses and runs away. Kilwin manages to hit the same orc that Reides did, immersing him in a mixture of ice and holy flame, killing him. He also summons his Spiritual Weapon again and strikes at the Claw of Luthic. Slumberjack cuts off an orc’s head as the count rounds the corner to where Reides is. Reides lands Acid Arrow on the Claw of Luthic, melting some of her skin. The previously frightened orc charges at Kilwin, still hesitant to re-engage Slumberjack, and tosses a javelin at him, but it’s easy to see coming. The Claw of Luthic runs from the Spiritual Weapon, so Kilwin tries to help Jorah with the Eye of Gruumsh instead. The ogre with the chain, finally beginning to realize what’s going on, closes in on Jorah. Reides gives the count a little wave and receives the slightest nod of acknowledgement in return. He steps in front of the count and ends up freezing some of the Claw’s exposed internal organs. Faced with an extremely large ogre, Jorah drops his crossbow and draws Quickbrand. He has more success with it than he was having with his crossbow. The ogre is angry that something so small and puny could hurt him. Corvus continues to cower against the wall. The Claw runs up to the Eye of Gruumsh, who isn’t looking too hot, and starts to heal him. Kilwin hits her again with his Spiritual Weapon in the same spot he first did, killing him. The ogre sweeps his chain around, knocking Jorah, Kilwin, and the orc who attacked Kilwin to the ground. Slumberjack finishes carving an x into the Eye of Gruumsh, killing him. Reides darts out from his sheltered location to unleash a lightning bolt at the ogre. It severely wounds the ogre, kills the prone orc behind him, and sets several trees and a wagon on fire. Jorah gets up and finishes off the ogre with Quickbrand, using his other hand to fire a bolt from his hand crossbow at the one remaining half-ogre. That half-ogre turns its attention to Jorah and injures him badly, but falls to Kilwin’s Spiritual Weapon soon afterward.

Reides uses Gust of Wind to try to put out the fires he set. He gets most of them, but a few trees are still on fire. The count emerges from his hiding spot and assures him that the one fire will be okay. He thanks us for saving his life a second time. Jorah uses Quickbrand to cut the ropes binding Corvus’s hands. Corvus explains that when they raided the orcs’ camp, some of the orcs must have slipped through their fingers, which was all it took. Jorah tells Corvus that there’s more survivors at the temple, if he’d like to join them there. First, though, we ask what happened at the palace. Corvus explains that he only survived the blast because he happened to be in a corner of his office that it didn’t reach. His entire staff died in the blast. The orcs stormed the manor afterward and seemed to know exactly where to go. Jorah speculates that they did. Corvus suspects that this was actually the main group of orcs who invaded. They slaughtered most of the survivors they encountered. Corvus identifies the main perpetrator as Thorak Fireaxe. He also asks to recover an item that Thorak took from the palace, although he acknowledges that finding any survivors who escaped is more important. It’s a blue cloth robe with purple trim, entrusted to Corvus by the royal family many years ago. They asked him to keep it safe in his vault, and he agreed without questioning what it does or why it’s important. If we follow Thorak, we should recover the robe if we’re able. Corvus knows that Thorak has left the Upper District behind and thinks that he would have retreated to the abbey in the mountains where the Fireaxe clan has made their base. He also confirms that any survivors in the Upper District would be in bunkers of some kind and not in desperate need of our help. The party prepares to escort Corvus back to the temple, but Kilwin doesn’t want to go back before checking the park for Andrew. Jorah agrees that we need to check before going to the abbey and doesn’t want to make a liar out of Kilwin, but Kilwin is being stubborn about it and doesn’t want to leave Andrew out there alone for an extra hour. We end up agreeing that it’s most important for the count to get away from here and away from us. He takes a spear from one of the dead orcs and uses it as a walking stick. Since we didn’t encounter anything on our way from the temple, we hope that the way is clear for him. Corvus hopes so too since he doesn’t want to need saving a third time. He doesn’t have much to thank us with, but takes out a potion of healing and offers it to us. Reides asks if the count wouldn’t rather drink it himself, but the count insists. Jorah is in significantly worse shape than any of the rest of us, so he drinks the potion. Reides examines the bodies for clues. None of the orcs or ogres have anything of note on them, but it’s obvious that they’ve been looting the surrounding houses. Reides sees a torn teddy bear among an orc’s belongings and is upset. He takes the bear, which Kilwin asks to see for a minute so he can cast Mending on it. The count tells us more about the abbey, which is closest to the Exeter, on a cliffside off the beaten path. He says it will be obvious when we see it, especially at night, since there’s a large glowing tree there. The tree was why the abbey was built in the first place. Reides asks if it’s normal for trees to glow and is assured that it is not. He writes all of this down in his journal, underlining the part about the glowing tree and writing a question mark next to it. Kilwin tells the count that he has questions about something unrelated to the orcs, but will save them for a safer time. Corvus takes his leave, hopefully to talk with us another time.

Jorah searches the orcs, but doesn’t find much aside from some ritual implements. These weren’t high-ranking members of the horde. He recovers as many of his crossbow bolts as he can, and we move on. As we make our way to the park, Reides suggests that Kilwin ask for Alethus’s help in protecting the count. He agrees that it’s a good idea. He prays for Alethus to guide and protect Count Corvus on his way to her sanctuary, and to ensure that no one who means him harm follows him. Reides is sure it will help! Kilwin is too, and thanks Reides.