Session 10 (part one)
The party examined the loot obtained by the werewolves. Among the furs, cloth, silverware and gold, there was a spell focus, which Balder took, and a ring which was slightly warm to the touch, who, according to the wizard granted its bearer cold resistance. It was decided that Driga would take it. A treasure map was also found, along with a parchment filled with elvish script.
While Balder was casting a spell to decipher an old script, Jill and Baldwin went upstairs to deal with the remaining staff of the inn. A promise that they would be paid a full month of wages and the proposal to bury the bodies did convince the inn.
Balder’s magic made him understood the elvish text:
Once, a great evil rose in the North. A dark cult threatened both the Thonian and Elven way of life. Their headquarter was the forbidding the temple of Id.
King Uhlmar, Lord of all Elves, had seen many Thonian Kings be born and die since he first encountered this race. He now proposed an alliance of Elves and Thonians against the Cult of Id. Lord Aquassiru, Uhlmar’s friend and general of the elven armies warned the king of the change of Thonian attitudes for he had felt a dark shadow had passed over Blackmoor. His counsel was not heeded, as King Ulhmar had confidence in the Children of Odir.
However, as the elven army marched on the forces of Id, the Thonians pulled out, leaving the Elves to fend for themselves. Drawing his sword, Lord Aquassiru bravely charged the enemy, demonstrating such courage that all his elven warriors were inspired. The elves came out victorious and the Temple of Id was destroyed, but the victory had taken its toll on the elves.
The aging king, Uhlmar, was gravely saddened by the loss. Many elves now turned against the king, blaming Uhlmar for putting too much trust in the humans. The king was even more deeply hurt to learn that the leader of these elves was his own daughter, Princess Ceridrone. The princess declared herself ruler of the elves of the west. Her followers called themselves the Westryn and vowed never to trust humans again. Uhlmar was dying of extreme old age. As a young prince, he had been one of the elves to first venture outside the forests. At the end of his reign, he was now seeing the decline of the elven race. On his death bed he cursed his daughter and the elves of Westryn, a curse that would lay on this race until this day:
May no child ever be born from the union of Westryn and humankind.
It is said that Ceridone, then known as the Black Queen, in her quest to lift her father’s curse, laid her slender fingers on the pages of an old tome, whose pages were bound in the skin of a creature foreign to the North. This book had been written by beings who hailed from the Stars.
As her eyes gazed upon the countless lines of script, she slowly recited every word of a long incantation in an ancient tongue who had not been spoken in a millennium.
Her mind was filled with the words of the ever hungry toad god:
I, Tsathoggua, will provide you the answer you seek. The curse of your father became the law of the Elven folk and as such, can only be lifted by the rightful king of your people, the one who will bear the Crown of Elves, reuniting both soul and mind.
As you tore the soul of the Elven folk from its mind, as you lead others on the path of hatred and anger, know that I will grant your wish. You shall be alone, forever unbothered by Your kin and the children of Odir you despise.
The Black Queen hurriedly closed the book and wept. All around her, wherever she looks, she saw her servants, her maids, her guards, her councillors, her friends sickened to death, while the paths to her palace twisted into nothingness. The restless dead rose to harass the Western Elves, forever dragging them into an hopeless war for their land.
As mighty Tsathoggua had declared, the Black Queen lives alone, in a prison of her own making.
Some may wonder why Princess Ceridone who had advocated the isolation from humankind cared much to lift the curse. The answer is simple, she had learned from a gloating demon the reason the Thonian army had not intention to commit treason toward the elves, but had been laid astray by sinister powers.” (apologies to Havard)
Jill was upset that she couldn’t find her sister’s ring. It was decided that the party raised explore the cavern where the werewolves dumped the eaten bodies. The group lowered a rope on a pile of trash and bodies, disturbing two carrion crawlers of which they made quick work.
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