(DM's note: this begins the real plot of the campaign, which is mostly stolen from Kristen Britain's Green Rider series, especially the books First Rider's Call and Blackveil)
Summary
After finding out Adolphus is a priest of Lims-Kragma, the party is more concerned about his "archeological expedition". Before they leave LaMut, they have a sit down with him. Adolphus agrees and takes them into his confidence. Long ago, there was an evil eledhel necromancer named Mornhavon the Black. He and his lieutenants used dark powers and rallied some of the moredhel and goblinoid tribes as allies. They were eventually defeated, but the eledhel were concerned about Mornhavon's threats to return from the dead. The elves do not pay homage to Lims-Kragma and they did not want the spirits of the evil mages to go to their afterlife, so the eledhel turned to necromancy themselves. The souls or spirits of the Mornhavon and his followers were bound to their bodies before they were executed and the bodies buried in magical prison-tombs wherever they were killed. Adolphus says they even went so far in some cases as to dig up the soil the mages bled on and entombed the soil with the bodies.
The adventurers are shocked that there were eledhel necromancers and that the rest of the elves would use necromancy to imprison the souls of their enemies. Adolphus' mission is to examine one of these tombs and see if there is any truth to the legend and to check its security.
The party departs the next day and travels to Yabon and then north west along the Teeth of the World to the Inclindel Gap. They then travel across the edge of the Thunderhell Steppes to the Great Northern Mountains. The first night in the mountains, they are attacked by a group of giant jumping spiders. Afterwards, Jacques uses the Hairy cantrip to make Aldur's eyebrows grow into a unibrow with 2 inch long hairs. In the morning, Aldur awakens and thinks his hair has fallen in his face and pulls out his shaving mirror…The rest of the party hears a very girly shriek from his tent, but he appears later having taken care of the problem. They travel on towards the tomb and spot goblin tracks.
The party arrives at the tomb and the first look confirms their fears: the tomb is open. They approach and find the wards are old and faded and some have been broken from the outside. The enter the tomb and find the body is gone. Greywind talks to the local animals and is told by a squirrel that the tomb was opened last fall by a group of goblins led by a grey cloaked figure on a horse. In the mucky water of the tomb, they find a broken sword with a black wood grip and an iron crown of twisted, black trees. Adolphus says the sword was a "soulsword", it gave the wielder power over the spirits it slew. They decide to get out. They move away and make camp. That next morning Jacques wakes up with his bedroll and tentflap stitched shut as the result of a Stitch cantrip. While getting ready, they spot a goblin warband coming towards them. They ambush from behind an illusion cast by Jacques and defeat the goblins and their ogre shock troopers. They take a few prisoners and question them.
Quotes and Smart Remarks
John "Give me your finest rotgut"
Jim "Isn't that a contradiction in terms?"
Matt's Illusionist/thief gets a crow for a familiar. The familiar gives him extra hit points, but he loses double if it dies
Konrad "Is your crow african or european?"
Matt "He's french; 'La caw, la caw, la caw'"
Kevin "Don't set your crow on fire; it won't be good for either of you"
Talking about material components for Jacques' Chromatic Orb spell and that diamonds can be used for any version of the spell
John "So diamonds are a gnome's best friend…"
The party is travelling through an area of with the culture of scottish highlanders and had a discussion to be careful with fire spells or else
Matt "You'll have a flaming, angry, scotsman"
Kevin "Sounds like a drink we have to make"
Konrad "They called my music 'faerie shit'…"
Konrad's bard Aldur doesn't want to enter the elvish necromancer's dark tomb
Matt "Are you afraid you won't be able to see yourself in your mirror?"
Jim referred to a goblin warband as a gaggle. So there was a discussion, are there specific names for groups of fantasy monsters? John suggested a "stink of goblins"
Matt, about Konrad's character
"I like him as a bard…I get to make fun of him"
