Session 26

Day 111 (1st cycle of summer, 33rd day)

Arath and Nevron are awoken by a knock on the door. Morninglord Henry, high priest of the Temple of Lathander in Ironville, wishes to see Arath.

Arath goes to talk to Morninglord, who explains to him that Lathander is not pleased with his lies. Arath doesn't understand this and tries to be glib about it, which seems to infuriate Henry further. Arath is told that as soon as Henry knows the wishes of Lathander he will call on Arath.

Later that day, Xuk steps up on a dias the orcs have constructed and with a magical enhanced voice, makes his wishes known to all of Ironville.

I am Xuk, the prophezised. Open your gates and kneel before me. Kneeling is after all your natural state? It's the unspoken truth about humans, that you crave to be ruled. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel. So open the gates and kneel for me, for I am Xuk. And if you do not, we will bring down the walls, sack the town and rape your women.

I AM XUK! 

Obviously, this was followed by a huge 50.000-orc-cheer, while the inhabitants of Ironville were a little gloom about it.

Day 112 (1st cycle of summer, 34th day)
Once again, they are awoken by a knock on the door. This time, it is a page, telling Nevron that Warlord Sophie Ran wants his presence at the castle.

Once at the castle, Sophie asks Nevron to scout the huge command tent. She thinks something is up and needs more intel.

Nevron takes along Arath. Nevron cloaks them in illusion, so they look like orcs, and they head out to the orc camp.

There they find out that a huge tunnel is being dug by two Bulettes and two Umber-hulks which are magically controlled by some Shadar-kai. They also find out where the tunnel is supposed to enter the city and how the attackers will deploy during the attack.

They return to Ironville and inform Sophie of this. A plan involving Passwall underwater is discussed and then they are told to be ready, when called upon. They should still have 3-4 days, before the orcs are ready to attack.

They are also promised to be named Iron Defenders of Ironville and get a place in the House of Nobles, should they win the war. Also Nevron is promised a tower of his own.

Later during the day, Arath is once again asked to come to the Temple. Morninglord Henry orders him to show up the next morning, ready to do penance.

Day 113 (1st cycle of summer, 35th day)
The next morning at dawn, the Sons show up at the Temple of Lathander. Morninglord Henry is there, along with 6 priests, who are already making a ritual.

Morninglord Henry tells Arath:

You will take these two gems. They are both magical. The blue one will lead you to Elron and the red gem will imprison him, so that you can bring him back. Hurry, the portal will only be open for 24 hours. Fail and you fail Lathander.

After a bit of hesitation, the Sons leap through the portal and find themselves in the Underworld.

For hours, they walk the Underworld, a huge, dim pine forest which seems to be clad in a perpetual fog. They constantly run into incorporeal undeads such as wraiths, ghosts, shadows and dread warriors. 

The only live thing they meet is a raven who keeps saying:

Um Ye Tum Wyl Karak

Sadly no-one understands it, and it leaves again. They also find an altar to Shar and desecrate it.

After about 4-5 hours of trekking through the desolate landscape, they meet yet another ghost. This one they know, however. It is Petyr. 

He tells them what he remembers happening while he was possessed:

After possessing me, it went north and destroyed some villages, looking for someone called Acidbreath. Once it found the dragon, it tried to make a deal with it, it wanted support from evil dragons or something, but Acidbreath refused. The demon was angry, and considered killing Acidbreath, but something held it back, it say: You are lucky that you are who you are… Or maybe it was "what you do" - I am not quite sure anymore. It's very hazy.
After dealing with the dragon, it retreated to a cave in the mountains, and there, it summoned another big demon. It ordered it to go east to make an army of one-eyed giants.
It then spent some time watching a lot of orcs and also you guys and a number of human leaders, I didn’t know, in a pool of blood.

When it was done with that, it flew to a village near the mountains where we met - or at least I think so - where it left my body and killed me.

I ask of you to find my body and give it a proper burial. Also, remember the hammer we found in the temple? The demon really didn’t like it and quickly threw it away in a ravine near where it took over my body.