The Adventures of Team Z

10/23/18:
The party headed for the docks to figure out where the soldiers went. Devon weaved a tale of unimaginable bullshit concerning a sister's cousin's husband who shipped out from Shireton with a treasured music box which confused the harbor master (a middle-management-type in a turtleneck) enough that he told the truth; that the soldiers didn't take the river but instead took the road north towards Darokin.

Devon tried once more to scry on Zephyr, using the enchanted piece of parchment which Zephyr had used to communicate with the party before. Though the scry was not particularly useful, Zephyr volunteered her location via the parchment in an apparent attempt to entice the wizard, who did not seem particularly receptive. The party took off in lukewarm pursuit, heading towards the small town of Stillpool.

There was a dead blacksmith in the next town over with his face ripped off. Approaching the city in the wee hours of the morning, the party saw him slumped over his anvil and elected to go be somewhere else for a few hours, until his body was discovered in their absence.

Later, having re-entered the town under less suspicious circumstances, the party volunteered to investigate; the constable was cool with it. Last time there was a murder in Stillpool was 15 years ago when a man had confessed to the killings, been executed, and buried in the cemetary. The current murder scene had signs of claw marks along a beam that went up to the ceiling. Devon opined that this meant a clawed animal like a wildcat, bird or bear, or a creature like a scarecrow. Since the remains weren't devoured, his conclusion was the abomination.

Devon suggested that every scarecrow in town be put to the torch; Jinx and Djurisk patiently explained that he was going to cause a panic and potentially get people killed. Devon's protestations that this would provide good data were lost on the non-academics.

Instead, the party went to investigate the cemetery in case the murderer from 15 years ago felt like getting up and getting back to work, but it didn't seem like that was the case. The party located the killer's grave, with the name "Holme" on the stone.

A hooded gnome, the gravekeeper, approached. A friend of the blacksmith he told the group that the killer had lived in a lean-to in the trees out by the road. Heading in that direction Devon killed a wolf that was eating a chicken.

It was learned that the original killer had been identified by a human Cleric named Aleena, who was determined to stop the evil wizard Bargle, but tragically died at the hands of Bargle's sorcery.

The party then went on patrol; they found a scarecrow (non-animated) which Jinx destroyed at Devon's encouragement. At that point the party heard a scream from in town, and went to investigate. They found a lady in distress who pointed them towards the latest victim, her husband, another halfling with his face torn off.

Djurisk:
"there was a lot of talking. first the wizard, then the gnome and the widow, then the gnome and the wizard. then the wizard enslaved an old woman's mind. then, dunno, guess he saw something weird. ghost kid."

Devon:
The party ran to investigate the murder, and found that Mr. Mugwich had had his face removed in a particularly gruesome fashion. Investigation of the house yielded little, though there was a distinct lack of claw marks, which called into question the presence of a scarecrow or other clawed creatures. Djurisk was able to find a set of footprints leading from the house of one Elsie Prips to the window of the dear departed, though no return trip was in evidence.

Our heroes determined that the widow would need to be questioned. They also determined that everyone there present had a distinct lack of tact. That being the case, Jinx phoned up Vex to interrogate the poor widow without causing undue mental anguish. Questioning revealed that Elsie Prips used too much salt in her scones and was similarly salty about not having won the annual pudding contest, which was being fairly well dominated by Cela Bibblefung.

While that conversation was going on, Devon and Djurisk made for the local ice house to examine the corpse of the late blacksmith for similar injuries as those inflicted on Mr. Mugwich. Unfortunately, the corpse was too far gone to make any sort of assessment.

After reconvening, the party thanked Vex and wished her well with remarkable prescience as to her upcoming trials with zombie pirates. They then made for Elsie's house, where Devon inspected the grounds and found her lawn to be in fine condition. Jinx infiltrated the house and found not much to be out of order, aside from the blood in the washbasin. Devon then opined that the lady of the house should be Dominated, so to find out why there should be blood in the sink, but Djurisk objected on moral grounds.

Djurisk then knocked on the door to wake Elsie, who upon interrogation professed to know nothing. Devon then cast Dominate anyway, and asked the same questions over again. Elsie still professed to know nothing, but it was then noticed that her hands had been scrubbed red and raw. Elsie claimed not to know why this should be, and did not provide a satisfactory answer. Being filled with suspicion, Devon delved deeper into the woman's psyche via the telepathic link of the Domination spell, seeking for signs of mental tampering.

Doing so revealed a series of visions, featuring the specter of a young girl overlaying Elsie and doing the murder of Mr. Mugwich, then returning home to wash up and go to bed. A further vision featured the young girl taking Devon himself by the hand and leading him into darkness.

Shaken, the wizard commanded Elsie to go to bed and forget that the party was ever there. He then asked his companions to join him outside, where he related his visions and made preparations to ward against possession. To his mind, the ghostly little girl perfectly fit the description of Zephyr that he had gleaned from Legend Lore.

Next Session
Devon used Zephyr's enchanted paper to inquire as to her whereabouts. Zephyr answered, and a meeting was set up. As it turned out, Zephyr was bored and indulging in murder as a way to pass the time. When the party made clear that they were in search of the Light, Zephyr offered a deal: she would lead them to the Light in return for being allowed to possess one of them.

Devon was not inclined to acquiesce; Djurisk was not inclined to allow Zephyr to take possession of the wizard and his spells. Thus, Zephyr settled into Djurisk's volunteered body. Zephyr was enthralled with the sheer power now at her command, and found in Jinx some compatible company. Zephyr desired to travel through the intervening villages and see what there was to be seen; Jinx was willing to indulge. However, Devon was incensed by the cavalier nature with which Zephyr ordered him to arrange commodious transport. Having heard Zephyr lament that she never experienced life, the wizard elected to demonstrate "pranking" to the undead spirit, and erected a teleportation circle to Darokin, within which he conjured the illusion of a luxurious carriage.

Not one to trust, Djephyr returned after a day of shopping with Jinx with a hostage in tow. A canny being, she didn't trust the wizard's assurances that he had secured passage. For his part, Devon noted the hostage taking and made a snap decision that one more murder by Zephyr would be ample trade for getting the vengeful spirit away from innocent civilians, and the trap was sprung.

Arriving at Darokin's teleportation circle, the incensed spirit murdered her hostage. Not content with this, she began mutilating her host, snapping off a tusk and then an gouging out an eye. Alarmed, the local constabulary moved to intervene. At this point, Jinx set off her stinkbomb nuke, which performed beyond all expectation. Only the wizard was spared, by the grace of some of his magical acoutrements. The rest of the capital was overwhelmed; Djephyr and Jinx were both rendered unconscious along with most of the city. Devon took advantage of this to polymorph Djephyr into a frog. Pocketing the insensate amphibian and slinging Jinx over his shoulder, the wizard made tracks for a forested area outside the city.

12/17/2018
The party awoke in a forested area near Darokin. After recovering from having been polymorphed into a frog, Djephyr aired her grievances as she perceived them; Devon was (apparently) appropriately contrite. Djephyr was not entirely won over but appeared to accept the apology.

The party was confronted by a patrol of Darokinian troops; Devon made threats unseen, Djephyr made rather more concete threats, and the troops elected to continue their patrol.

The party made their way to the nearby village of Estridge where Djephyr and Jinx went on a shopping trip. Devon was bored, but interested himself by engaging Djephyr in conversation about the nature of immortal existence. Djephyr was bored.

Djurisk managed to manifest his own consciousness a few times, after which it became apparent that the hosting of Zephyr was taking a physical toll. After some discussion, Jinx agreed to accept the spirit of Zephyr to accord Djurisk some relief, but not before entrusting her possessions to the wizard. However, once the spirit vacated Djurisk, he indicated that the apparent toll was a ruse conducted by Zephyr, who had the goal of possessing the Tall Queen's vessel (or, at least, the person whom she found most interesting.)

When Jinx accepted the spirit, Zephyr noted that she felt cramped. Almost immediately thereafter, Jinx appeared to reassert herself, but said that she "felt wrong." Djurisk and Devon were suspicious. When Jinx asked for her things back, Devon demurred, saying that when he felt sure that she was herself, he would return her possessions. In the meantime, with a flash of magic, Devon conjured her possessions to some unknown place. Jinx, or Jephyr, was incensed, and attacked the wizard, though he deflected her attack. While she seethed, the wizard noted that even if she killed him, she would not have her possessions (including the crossbow that fed the Tall Queen's soul) back unless he willed it so.

Djurisk then interposed himself, sweeping up the enraged Jinx, telling her that while he sympathized with her, he agreed with the wizard's position (even though the wizard was an asshole.)

Once Jinx had settled down, the party debated where to go next. A comment that Zephyr had dropped in passing led Devon to suspect that the Light was to be found on one of two islands in a nearby bay. Djurisk was interested to infiltrate nearby lands newly inside of Orcish lines in hopes of confronting his father, but Devon and Jinx/Jephyr were able to talk him out of it in favor of approaching Fort Anselbury, from which a nearby point offered the best point of ingress for the islands in question.

1/8/19
Djurisk, Jinx, and Devon made their way Northeast towards Fort Anselbury. Before setting out, Devon indicated to Djurisk where he might retrieve his impossibly heavy hammer. Djurisk retrieved it with ease, much to the wizard's relief.

The group encountered a bridge across a river, beset by gigantic icicles. Devon reached out with his arcane senses and detected traces of demonic magic. Djurisk attempted an experiment of his own, moving to smash an icicle. Devon made sure to put some magical protection on Djurisk before he could make contact. The icicle did smash into pieces, but they were oddly held together within some sort of field. Jinx retrieved a fragment of the ice and put it into a cup of water, which immediately began to freeze over.

Devon theorized that the icicles had been summoned there to freeze the river over, to make it easier for Orcish forces to cross the river without fear of enemy sappers destroying bridges. With that in mind, Devon moved to begin destroying the icicles in the river from the sky with his firebolts.

This triggered some sort of frost demon to materialize to defend the icicles. Djurisk immediately charged the foe, but before he could get there Devon murmured an incantation that banished the fiend back to its plane of existence. The fiend's only helper, a water elemental, was soon dispatched. The foes having been dealt with, the icicles were soon melted and the threat ended.

The party made their way without further incident to Fort Anselbury. The soldiers there were loathe to allow the half-orc free movement among them, but the party made a persuasive case and a guide was assigned to help them reach the islands. The party then made preparations to depart as they waited upon Saddam to join them.