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Crown of Souls: Part 1 - The Story Beginning
Having entered into the city of Karthay the group assisted with the recapture of some "were-man-beast" which had broken from its cell. Following a night of quarantine in that jail, the city filled with evening autumn mists. Before long after a brief whispered conversation there appeared an enchantingly beautiful woman outside your cell-blocks window. Akriel was her name. Before she had walked by your window, recall the tall dark cloaked man who appeared, pony sized wolf-hounds to either side of him, his face hidden in shadow. He beat Akriel with a whip, speaking fiercly to her, in a strange dialect of an ancient language recognized by Theo as a derivative of the Old Tongue. Only two words were understood though... "change" ... and "vampire..."
Akriel identified the man who attacked her as her husband to be, by the will of her father, the Lord Kartakast. And she clarified the conversation saying, "He wished me to 'change' my mind and be willful towards my fathers desires to marry him and let alone my own wants, and to stay away from my true lover, Sir Domini of Ravensclaw." and the reference to vampires meaning a warning to her to beware of the vampires who are rumored to prowl the streets, explaining the disappearance of such youth as herself.
And so, at her behest, the group decided to meet her in Shalost in ten days time where she could tell them more about an item called the "Crown of Soldiers." This crown, lost to her family for several generations, has reportedly surfaced somewhere to the north of Shalost. With its worth as a bargaining tool, Akriel hopes to persuade her father, Lord Kartakast, to let her marry her real love and not the tyrant who beat her in the night.
On your travels to Shalost, you came across a distraught woman (Maria), who revealed to you the story of how her son (Joshua) had been assaulted by wolves. Being kind to her, you traveled to their home, where you stayed for the night. That evening, while the darkness of night filled the woods about the homestead, the wolves came again, just as she said they would, only this time they came into the house. A brief fight and the bodies of the wolves lay about in the bottom floor of the home, all wolfish bodies except for one which as soon as dead became quite human in appearance -- and looking to be Maria and her husband's (Ontosh) neighbor, Jack, from four miles further north.
On the next morn, you and Ontosh traveled to Jack's place. It was a total mess, but profitable, where you recovered several riches and discovered much in his basement. Strangely enough, many of the coins were silver, and in the basement was found several old and brittle iron swords, as well as a secret passage marked with wolves claws.
Soon after you traveled to Shalost, and arrived in time to make way into the city before dark. Through the efforts of Chance it was found that the wolves who roamed the city had been there long and were left unmolested by the guards at the request of Lord Kartakast (who we also learned breeds wolfhounds for sport). After arranging for the making of some silver weapons through a trusted source, the group made its way to the Old Kartakast Inn.
The Inn rested at the top of a bluff, overlooking a dangerous, impenetrable mist filled chasm of roaring water, known to the locals as the Cauldron. The Inn was expensive, and the only Inn within the walls of the ancient town. The prices of the Inn were very well accommodated by its fine and delicious foods, and large, comfortable, secure bedrooms; baths, and perfect service.
After a superb meal at the Inn's dining hall, you were led by clue from an elderly man who dropped a key upon your table, that Akriel was awaiting nearby in a room adjacent to the Bar. Meeting her, she spoke to you more of her situation and answered questions which had been unaddressed. She also revealed to you the rumored location of the Crown... "Four days travel northward and into the hills, there is rumored to be a witch called Radaga. It is she who it is said has found and claimed the Crown of Soldiers for herself.
Though the winds are becoming chill and winter will be early this year it seems, four days travel is not much to ask, and Akriel promises some manner of reward from her father is certain, not to mention good praise! A months time at least before the first white snow falls in these forested lands, and three months before Akriel's wedding to her dread suitor.
Prepared to take on the adventure, the party has begun its preparations to head into the wilderness... a witch could make a terrible adversary so precaution is only wise. Much stands to be gained through success though, and a couple weeks adventure is paltry when compared to the last six months spent underground in quest for Bolas' equipment, not to mention that the party is whole once again.
So it will be off to the northern hills of the Crescent Mountains, and perhaps the secrets of some troubling things will be revealed, such as who the cloaked man who beat Akriel is, or perhaps why there appear to be no churches within the city of Shalost.
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