The chronicle record
Session recap
On the road to Umok, a sister of the Sister of the Golden Erinys asked us to stop her order’s ritual against Chitterwood’s goblins.
She suspected the Hellknight leading it was an impostor, but did not know where the ritual would take place; she sent us to Sister Endreah at the Lucent Mission.
At the mission, we killed three devils and left the defeated nuns alive. Sister Endreah fought beside a librarian devil, then surrendered when it was slain. Lexx Rennde was knocked unconscious and later stabilized. Kracka searched the archives and the devil’s ashes, finding books, trinkets, a scroll, writing supplies, and robes. Samantha took the journal; the rest went into our shared possessions. Sister Endreah said Viro Ahala was already in The Chitterwood, planning to summon a powerful devil near the eastern border to destroy those he considered undesirable, including goblins and hobgoblins. She described him as a dark-haired trans man in Hellknight armor, with the armor and knowledge of a Hellknight, and Lexx sketched him. Kracka judged that Sister Endreah was telling the truth under her promise, though trying to manipulate us without directly lying. Sister Endreah said she had collaborated because the mission’s members would be forced to tell Viro Ahala the truth if he came there. Kracka ordered her to stay and care for the nuns, and she gave her word; Kuippana warned that this did not stop her from acting against us another way. Beneath the podium, a secret panel held an ebony statue of Asmodeus and handwraps of mighty blows. Khar’gan took the handwraps and left his short sword among our possessions. We returned to Umok through stormy weather, sold the short sword, and transferred its rune to Samantha’s corset knife. Samantha obtained healer’s gloves, and Kui bought studded leather armor.
We chose to travel through The Chitterwood toward Stumpfield to search for the ritual. Hunters directed us to a clearing around a petrified stump, where discarded ritual supplies lay beside a crack into an underground hollow. Devils attacked; Lexx identified a stronger devil whose aura strengthened the others and urged us to target it. Samantha’s holy magic especially hurt it, and we killed the devils. Kracka recognized they were mindless and resistant to ordinary physical attacks and poison. We found ritual supplies and an imposing shield. Boot prints around the stump showed that several human-sized people had been there about a week earlier, but we could not follow the tracks. Lexx judged the work at the stump far smaller than the ritual the sister had described and suggested it might have been a practice attempt. As Samantha treated the wounded, six pairs of red eyes watched from the bushes. Zagnub, an unarmed goblin of the Thorngrip, emerged with scouts and offered to take us to his elders. He recognized the black armor in Lexx’s sketch, but not the face. He led us through the forest, through a concealed thorn wall, and into Thorngrip, a hidden town built around a great sequoia. Kracka gave Lexx his imposing shield to paint; its crescent design came to be called the Imposing Moonana Shield. At the shrine in the sequoia’s base, an elder’s eyes flashed blue, and spectral goblins briefly appeared behind him. He asked why we trusted one another and why we had come. Kracka said we sought the armored man to stop him killing goblins; Kui said he stood with us against that threat, while Samantha said she meant to stop the summoning. The elder said the ancestors could help find the man, but first asked us to drive away the Isgeri Slayers, human hunters seen west of Thorngrip with wolves. Kracka recognized them as anti-goblin hunters who sometimes killed isolated goblins. He accepted the task, and the elder gave him an oil of potency.
After dark, we found the Slayers’ camp. Four men were present, drunk and singing about killing goblins; the report had been of at least six and wolves. Kracka drew their attention as we attacked. Lexx summoned crows against one Slayer, and our magic and weapons brought down others. Kui and Lexx each killed a Slayer. After Khar’gan shot another and Kracka struck him, Kui brought him down.
Kracka began searching the fallen men. Kui heard at least two people and several wolves approaching from the northwest. We remain at the camp with that group approaching.
Notable quotes
“Guilty by association. Don't you know? Shit, come on! Keep up with the program!” — Kracka
“She was about ready to rock my shit too.” — Khar'gan