Sapphire:Sessions:20170408
Lillian hears her father Julian arguing with some other men. Father takes a patrol with mother (Ariel), three warriors, another herbalist (Sondra), and three scouts. Lillian gets teased a lot by the other two scouts, Erik and Edar, but she flies the fastest and has the sharpest vision.
To the north, Branamin spots a flying figure. As it nears, the figure resolves into a young winged girl who brings out a short bow and nocks an arrow. Forming a Sunbolt, Branamin ducks for cover. In a high piping voice the girl asks, "Who are you?" "Come closer and we'll talk. My name is Branamin." The girl giggles at the funny name.
Shawna senses that there had been vast magic use in this area recently. Nature seems askew.
Led by Lillian, the group treks to an abandoned village. Julian explains that many villages in the area of the Lone Mountain have been attacked. This particular village of Winged Folk had taken in the survivors from another village that had been attacked by flying animals. This village had also been known to trade with goblins from the wild lands to the north. There are no signs of struggle and nobody left behind. Chalker finds the tracks of twenty humanoids bearing litters leading away from the village.
Seeing several hawks circling at a distance, Julian sends Lillian to capture one. Shawna ascertains that the hawk is being ridden by an orc mage located in a valley six miles away.
The group reaches the camp without being seen. There are several tents set up outside a cavern. After nightfall, the group sneaks in closer while the Winged Folk find and guard another exit from the cavern. Branamin disguises himself as an orc and checks out the cavern. Ahn-Lee, Chalker, and Shawna check the three largest tents and knock out one of the orc mages.
Inside the cavern (past the wards that Branamin warns about) are 300 stone slabs, each with a winged captive lying atop it, surrounding a pedestal topped with a manastone the size of a goose's egg. Shawna kills the goblin mage and Chalker renders the orc mage helpless.
Orrik, the orc mage, obtained his high level of magery (+5) by harnessing a demon for power. He and the other two mages were here collecting Winged Folk for servants, transport, and breeding stock for a "new northern kingdom" which he called an Orcish name that translated as "Glorious Home of the Orcen Crafters," led by the High Council -- the goblin Boratin, the orc Foul, and the orc called Creator of Wonders. "We figured they would blame whatever is coming out of the Lone Mountain." They are also assimilating various goblin and orc tribes into their "kingdom." The manastone was there to keep the Winged Folk asleep and to "alter their loyalty."
Branamin finds an amulet on the dead goblin mage; it bears the image of the Second Chosen of technology (e.g. windmills), who is linked to Cor. That amulet and a similar one found on the dead orc mage bear the initials CW and have slightly different shapes, as though they are keys meant to fit into something.
Julian tells Branamin that Cray Stonemover was last known to be near the Lone Mountain, "the source of evils."
Ahn-Lee finds and opens a secret panel in the back of the cavern, revealing an archway wide enough to drive two wagons through. According to the carvings which Shawna translates, it is a gate that opens into a demon realm. Looking through to the other side of the gate, Chalker reports that it is built upon human and animal bones.
Shawna invokes Santash, Solash, Yasseph, and Cor, and Chalker uses his sword to pry the gate away from the wall. The gate collapses, seeming to roll into itself.