Session 16 Overview

RAMOS, Agent of the Order of Libertorius
~12pm, 22nd of June, 5th Era 1486 RE (Day 10)
The East Road, Outskirts of High-Haven

After successfully exfiltrating High-Haven, Ramos travels along the East Road via wagon. He is joined by Wolfgang, Professor Glyph, and 4 other agents of the Order - unbeknownst to Ramos, at this point in time, one of the four agents is none other than Ysera Furyborn, a former Hell-Knight in his company who has removed her Signifer mask and taken the alias; 'Aresy', and adopted a different accent to maintain her identity. It seems Glyph has taken on a new apprentice, for the first time in a very long time. The wagon proceeds east into the night, towards the Libertorius' headquarters of Ascentium. A three day journey.

NEFARION Furyborn, Hell-Knight Commander of the Cabal of Vigilum
SELTYIEL Garrott,  a Maniacal, heavily Mutated Tiefling Alchemist
CYNTHIA of Ostenheim, a Vampire Curse-Weaver in Hell-Knight Custody
HEL, the White Necromancer and Apprentice of Nefarion
~12pm, 22nd of June, 5th Era 1486 RE (Day 10)
High-Haven Castle, City of High-Haven

Devastated by the unprovoked attack on the city, Seltyiel distanced himself from Nefarion, who had orchestrated the siege on High-Haven, and had led the Hell-Knights to a swift and brutal victory. Many innocents lay dead in the streets, and Seltyiel assisted the citizens in clearing them, he does this for as long as it takes, which continues into the night. Back at the castle, Nefarion - who had slumped himself languidly on the Lord's Throne, set out with his apprentice Hel, to arrange for the dead to be cleansed. They went out into the plaza where the bodies were being stacked onto pyres, and Hel proceeded to cleanse and sanctify the bodies of the dead, before they were cremated by the Hell-Knights. Nefarion would not let Mack's body be sanctified however, and furiously, he strung up the corpse of the lieutenant, displaying it in front of the castle. All were reminded the fate of traitors, and Nefarion despised Mack for his betrayal by joining the rebel Order of Libertorius. Seltyiel flies up to the highest spire above High-Haven castle and hangs by his feet from one of the banners before settling down for some sleep. The exploits of the battle had clearly taken their toll on him, he just wanted to escape, find a place to be alone, and at five hundred feet above ground, he accomplished that. On the way back to the castle, the blind necromancer apprentice; Hel, is accosted by one of the Hell-Knight soldiers, who makes advances on her, but he scurries off when Nefarion catches up to them. In the castle, Nefarion finds himself the biggest room with a lovely queen sized bed, and settles down for the night. Cynthia briefly searches the servant's quarters of the castle in order to satiate her vampiric urges, but she finds no victims tonight. Hel also finds a suitable bed to sleep on for the night, she is led to it by her ghostly sister, Mel. They sleep long and well, but in the morning, their legs and thighs ache tremendously on account of the long horseride and fight the previous day. Nefarion leaves Lord Emmon's bedroom, and questions his Hell-Knight officers for word from Bastion Zenith. One guard explains to him that a wax-sealed message had arrived this morning for him via raven. The message inside had been personally written by the Arch Lictor himself, it read:

"You performed well, Nefarion. Both the Queen and myself are impressed with your efficiency in capturing High-Haven. I have seen to it that your rewards have been brought to you. They await you in the Castle Throne-room. I trust that you remember the arrangements I made for your next mission. A boat will arrive at our private dock, bound for the Port of Zeiduch, across the bay. From here, you must make your way to Dunfarg, and enter into this 'tournament'. If you are successful, and this bigoted cult leader reveals himself to you, infiltrate their order...find out as much as you can, and when you're finished, uproot them for the criminals they are. If your Vampire prisoner survived the siege, she may yet be of use. Take her with you. Use her in any manner you see fit, she's encountered these cultists before."
- Jean-Matisse Emmerich, Arch Lictor of the Cabal of Vigilum, and Governor of Bastion Zenith.

In the throne-room, Nefarion finds an ebon-bark chest, and inside were the rewards mentioned in the letter. The chest contained several leather pouches, each possessing a name tag, and each holding a share of gold. Seltyiel's name was not among the others, however he did not care one ounce - in his eyes, it was blood money, and he wanted nothing to do it. Nefarion asks for his new armour, but the Hell-Knight explains to him that the blacksmith has not completed his mithral set yet, but he did manage to send a set of basic Commander's armour, which offer's greater protection than his current loaned Armiger set, which in comparison was rusty and basic.

RAMOS, Agent of the Order of Libertorius
ARESY, A humble healer from the South (Ysera Furyborn, Hell-Knight Signifer)
~7am, 23rd of June, 5th Era 1486 RE (Day 11)
The East Road, Outskirts of High-Haven

Ramos, Wolfgang and Professor Glyph continue their journey east to Ascentium. In the morning, they pass Bastion Zenith; the last headquarters of the Hell-Knight Cabal of Vigilum. The Libertorius brother, Duncan, directs a mocking spiel towards it from the wagon as they pass.

"Behold the mighty fortress of the Hell-Knight Order...hah!..what an eyesore!...an ugly old ruin. Their order is old and weak, too long has that tower stood there, pompous and arrogant. A crooked symbol of fear and oppression."

The young and humble farm girl; 'Aresy', stifles her feelings on this remark, instead focusing on her esoteric goals at hand. She has found a way into the heart of a great enemy order via this strange old fool; Tobias Glyph. There's no knowing what she will do once she infiltrates the fortress of Ascentium. Her goals and motives are shrouded to all...and she has been long separated from her brother; Nefarion. Even Ramos has been deceived by Ysera's alias, for he had never seen her without her Signifer mask, and did not recognize this new accent she had adopted. Ramos doesn't think much of the peculiar halfling professor; Tobias Glyph, he spends some time asking him questions about his research, prying into his motivations and his purposes with the Order of Libertorius. Glyph then spots one of the rings that Ramos had acquired from Matheus' office back in High-Haven. He analyses it, and identifies it as magical Ring of Protection +1 (unbeknownst to all of them, this was Hel's ring, that had been lifted from her many nights previously, which then suggests that Matheus had been the thief responsible)
As the day passes to night, the heavens open on this summer evening, and the wagon continues undeterred along the road separating the realm of Arcadeus and Von Heltzer. The farthest expanse of the kingdom's borders lay ahead, once they had crossed it, they were out of this war-spoiled and oppressive land, and into the wild, where the fortress of free-men awaited them. It was not to be that easy however, for something hindered their advance. Duncan calls Ramos to the front of the wagon, where he can see the flickering light of fires in the dark distance ahead. They continue cautiously, but along the road, they start to see bodies...soldiers clad in armour - some with red tunics, and some with black capes. The wagon had stumbled across a battlefield, although the battle itself had ended not long ago. The flames came from wooden pyres, built to illuminate the open stretch of land where the battle had occured, a number of surviving soldiers were stood around these pyres, some were dragging the dead into rows, and others tended to their wounded. Presumbaly, these deschevelled men were the victors. As the wagon comes into their line of sight, a soldier stands out into the middle of the road and raises his hand. He identifies himself as a soldier of the High Queen's army. Of the royalist House; Arcadeus. He goes on to explain that they had battled the renegade forces of House Von Heltzer here, and successfully defended the crossing from their advance. He asks Duncan and Ramos whether they can spare any food, water, and medical supplies - and it seems that their civilian uniforms have saved them from a potentially deadly encounter. When the Arcadeus soldier pries them for details of their destination and wagon's shipment, Ramos explains that they are heading north to a forest. And Duncan reinforces this bluff by naming an appropriate settlement. They go on to explain that they hold no cargo as such, instead they are a travelling troupe of hunters-in-training. Satisfied with this, the Arcadeus guard thanks them for their assistance, and asks for them to continue on their way north, across the border into Arcadeus territory. Although a relief, they are waylaid many hours, and are forced to cut across treachorous fenland for many miles out of their way in order to get back on track.