Bounty Hunters - Session 8

Notes

• Meeting happens. We debrief. Lyannia gives a fraction of the reward for partial completion, hints at complications, and tells the party to meet at Magius Lake, being careful to shake any tails.
• There is some time before that, so some stuff gets done.
  • The spoon is returned, Whip leaves before any talk of a reward can happen.
  • The wand of invisibility to undead is also returned. Joana and Lady Bern do stick around for 200 gp. Bern also leaves her card.
  • Therunin scribes, Elian puts in an order for some wyrm-scale armor.
• They meet at the lake. Lyannia is there, along with a man she tells us to call "Crasker"
  • He gets to work casting a ritual (Anto recognizes that it's high level conjuration, but not much else), writing a series of runes on a rock. Lyannia asks if they've all had lunch and pulls a picnic out of what is clearly a bag of holding. The showoff.
• They pass a meal, the ritual ends, and a portal opens up. Everyone jumps through.
  • Everyone but Whip immediately loses their lunch, which seems pretty sadistic of Lyannia, but nobody mentions it.
• They're disarmed and led to a meeting room.
• The Duchess of Wydmoor is there, to some surprise.
  • She informs the party that Eurasmus being given to the church provides some inconvenience, because it gives the new Hadriarch an excuse to flex his political muscle against the attitudes of the previous regime (the much-loved Edi, who passed away last year).
  • The cult activity concerns her and the Azure Geese (which she uses to refer to the people around her). The potential political fallout is also concerning. She proposes that she can limit the damage if the party confesses to the crime, allowing her to nip the problem in the bud. There are other alternatives, but they all suck even worse.
  • Doing so would result in their banishment for a year from the Duchy. Astlen notes with some sympathy that she can make sure loved ones are taken care of. In the meantime, she proposes that the party can use the time away to hunt down the cultists, who she considers a scarier threat.
• She gives the party time to discuss.
  • Nobody is super stoked by the situation. Everyone talks it out and eventually agrees that banishment is the most likely way to come out with a decent hand. If nothing else, they might also get to vent their frustrations on some cultists.
• A descendant of Meade appears to take their verdict. The party lays out some conditions, which she anticipated and respects.
  • She presents them with material support for their new mission:
    • The Barbarian King's Buckler, a relic from antiquity, formerly possessed by the founder of the Geese.
    • A shapeshifter's wyrm-hide armor, once borne by the traitor Silverwalker Al.
    • A book of magic spells (cleric and wizard).
    • A stone of good luck.
    • A wand of the war mage +1.
    • A bag of holding, filled with earnest money (6000 gp in various denominations).
    • Their entire file on the Blood Cult.

What is known is that the cult showed up in Moyria's Crossing, which is how the Geese and Dutchess came to found out about them.

Their agenda is unknown, but it's almost certain they are the ones behind the book robbery.

The only connection all the books have is a connection to the earliest days of New Wydmoor, so the cult is interested in the Refounding, but doesn't care about pre-war history.

Most of the cultists are human, and seem to come from areas around the Northern Coast.

The cult operates as cells with three person leadership.

The cult is spreading a heresy of the Second Coming of Alexandria, who has already arrived on the mainland.

They appear to despise warlocks.

The overall goal of the cult seems to "Install Alexandria on her Earthly Throne"

They were unaware of the shapeshifters or the depth of the cults presence in Wydmoor proper, so the cult is very good at hiding and blending in so might be more entrenched in positions than they appear.

The cult seems to be made up of an amalgam of races. Humans, unsurprisingly, but followed by a substantial number of Dwarves.

Halflings don't seem to be super huge on joining the cult, but in areas where they operate more openly they honor the Concord of the Highways, so the cult gets along okay with them.

They seem to have a broad castes or ranks or whatever in their cells.

Scribners, Castigators, and Glossillalists you've already met, but there seems to be a sort of "low officer" known as the Evangelist who is likely some sort of cleric.

Evangelists: Antipaladins

Evangelists: Martial Bards

Castigator: Mage Slayer Monk

Glossilialist: Dexterity Rager

Scriber: The Only Acceptable Warlock

The notes also do give information about all the cult locations and activity known about in Moyria's Crossing.

• • A week or so passes in a pretty laid-back prison while everything is drawn up.
  • The trial, such as it is, happens. It's designed for maximum humiliation, as these things are, but everything proceeds as expected. The party is branded magically with a symbol that fades from view.
  • The party gets a day before the area of their exile will begin to spread, until it reaches the full boundary of Wydmoor. Once the period has passed, any attempt to enter the area will cause the symbol to brighten, marking them as "kill on sight".
    • Whip draws up a letter to his family, and sets up a secure transfer of 1000 gp to them through indirect channels. He also picks up a red iron dagger.
    • Elian picks up the wyrm-scale he ordered (no longer needing it, but why waste good craftsmanship), along with a very nice horse and some potions
    • Bern gets a bunch of consumables, and also a red iron dagger.
    • Therunin picks up scrolls and camping gear.
    • Joana does something-or-other.
    • Everyone might buy riding horses and tackle. TBD.
• Session ends as the party decides which direction to go.

Awards

• Cloak and Dagger Bullshit: 500 EXP to everyone
• Trial, Exile, and Story Stuff: 650 EXP to everyone