Journal Day 10

At the end of the 9th chapter, we had arrived at the docks of Freeton. We were met by guards, some in the livery of Freeton and some in the livery of the Council of Divinity. The guards took us to see the same guy we met when we first arrived in Allaron, the friend of Liam’s, who was a captain when last we saw him—but in the meantime he’s become a general. He told the guards to stand down & then took Liam away to talk. Some other council members took us to the cathedral. (The north & east gates were on fire?)

It’s a huge cathedral, w/ a wing for each major god. The guards took us to the Erathis wing and told us that Liam would return once he’d been briefed.

We decided to talk to some people and headed over to Sehanine’s cathedral. There was a Deva standing at the podium, who consulted a tome, the Moon Chronicle, which tracks all of her followers. He told us the last known entry in the tome for us was in Allaron … ten years ago.

We told him what happened at the Keep and he told us to wait there & wandered off toward the cloister. He motioned to the guards and then 15 guards approached us, drawing their weapons. The told us to surrender our items.

Suddenly, Liam comes storming through the doors, sword drawn, yelling “Ambush!” w/ more guards following him. He veered towards the library and we all followed after him, running toward some big stained glass windows. Yonah, Kelissa, & I (though it was mostly Yonah) toppled a pair of bookshelves in the way of the guards who were following behind us.

Liam ran headlong right through the windows and grabbed a metal flag pole outside of them, sliding down. Yonah and Kelissa jump through the window and grab the pole too. Fergis tripped on the edge of the window and fell, but Yonah grabbed him and lowers him safely with her as she slid down. I jumped after them and slid down too. We land on the roof of the common area of the cathedral. The only ways down were to climb the walls or jump into the moat.

Most of us successfully climbed down the wall but Fergis and Liam both fell into the moat. Yonah dove back into the moat and pulled the two of them to shore.

We all scrambled for the north gate, heading into the burnt areas. We found some streets blocked off and/or guarded. We found a house that we could use to circumvent the guards and get over the wall. We headed north out of town. As we walked, Liam explained that we were being blamed for the portal opening, and that we are wanted for the destruction of the city of Winterhaven. We talked and decided the Council of Divinity must’ve become corrupted—our divine powers are intact, so the gods must know that we’ve not turned against them. Liam tells us that he learned that Avandra’s followers have left the Council.

We eventually found a defensible place and made camp for the night. We all shared the same dream:

We’re sitting in a circle, in positions that reflect the deities we are connected with, all of us facing outward. Behind Liam is a man with metal towers on his shoulders. Near Dillius is a woman with coin purses. Near Gareth and Yonah, a red-haired woman w/ a gown of leaves. To the right of Dillius is a dragonborn male dressed in silver. Near Jalfred, is a dwarf with a hammer. Behind Kelissa is a man with fiery hair & a crown of sun rays. Behind Krusk is a female Halfling w/ a cup of wine.

Each of the gods’ images backed up, sort of like a ghost separating from a body. Liam’s man is suddenly crushed underneath o pile of rubble; Erathis turns and walks away; the Halfling walks back into his image and walks away, as does the dwarf. The image of Pelor turns and burns the elven woman into dust. Sehanine’s image sheds a tear and then walks away. Dillius’ avatar approaches the large fat man (?) and shoves gold coins in his mouth until he turns to gold and melts into the ground. The rest of the avatars mere into images and leave. The man who sent Fergis to us rises from the ground, looks confused b/c he has no image of his god, and sinks back into the ground.

The circle we were sitting around becomes metal, spins, then melts and pours into Fergis’ tattoos.

Rays shoot out of his body at all of us:
• We are each granted the power to spend a second wind whenever we’re unconscious as a minor action.
• Each of us has our god’s symbol tattooed into our forearms. We each get a +10 to all social checks when dealing w/ someone who follows our god.

We headed west for 3 days and found an old cathedral in ruins, devoted to a god who no longer exists. It’s marked with a symbol like a black widow’s hourglass.

Inside, it’s old & musty, full of empty bookshelves. We spend 4-5 hours searching the place with extreme care and found nothing at all.

Questions:
• Why was there no Raven Queen apparition in the dream? (Raven Queen is Goddess of Opportunity, controls death & winter. She came upon her power as result of an earlier war between the gods, & she overthrew the previous god of death.)
• Avandra’s followers have left the Council. Why? Can we find them? They are supposedly based on the Isle of Freedom.
• Dream & events before it show schism between the Gods and the Council. Can we find some trustworthy council member?
• Huge black pillars in the distance
• Point Nicholas is the largest mountain, far to the west of us.

While we sleep something attacked us. They are Shadar-Kai—they seek new experiences & rush of sensations. They are bound to the Raven Queen, who extended their lives, but then they experience malaise from living for so long in the Shadowfell, so they go off seeking adventure. There are 5 of them & we fight and kill them.

They’ve disturbed the rubble on the floor, and we find a new version of that same black widow symbol underneath all the rubble & dirt. When we step on the symbol, the floor depresses and underneath it there is a book.

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The loot:
600 GP
2 potions (+2d6 healing)
2 katars
1 gloom blade
1 spike chain
5 sets of black armor