Writeup 7th October 2021 – A mystery in Iralun episode 1

The previous adventure in this campaign is here.

Four weeks on, and the city is returning to life. Those that were Dark kissed have returned to their senses, and whilst most have left the city, some have started lives here to make up for the terrible deeds they committed.

Outside the city, whilst there has been a lot of death and destruction, and displacement, on the positive side a lot of bandits have been either killed or have fled. For the first time in a while, the roads are safer and trade is easier.

The group have had time to train, investigate the market, and relax. They have become a familiar sight, with strangers coming to talk to them, urchins looking for work, mysterious strangers looking for assistance, such as the daring rescue of a family pet Farshad helped with.

Duties call, and Harvan brought them in for a chat. He anticipated another month in gathering information and copying texts to take back for studying the books found in the tomb. Meanwhile, Elisim Deorsin, Lord of the Council of Thirteen, and head of one of the Iralun merchant families has requested the aid of the group. Harvan cannot order them to do it, but he said he would pass the request on. This is a matter of some delicacy, so secrecy and discretion is essential, despite that, he chose this group to reach out to for help.

At the Deorsin estate, a walled off area within the city, Elisim received them and laid out the issue. He had obtained a fabled gem, the Eye of the Mountain, valuable, possessed by many powerful people and, reputedly cursed.

Though his possession of it was known only to him, his youngest son, Aghbari, and his new bride, the gem was just stolen. To complicate matters, a few days before the theft, the bride, Ihradel, died of causes the party have not tried to ascertain.

To complicate matters even further, whilst the group were talking to Elisim, it was found that the family crypt had been disturbed, three coffins had been spilled to the ground and opened, one smashed open, the lid splintered.

The family distraught and shocked, the group investigated. There were signs of stolen jewellery, ripped from the corpses, but only gold and gems, silver mounts left behind. There were claw marks on wood and dead tissue, not from a wolf, but about that size.

There was also some kind of animal fur found trapped on splinters.

Moreover, investigation of the coffin of Ihradel proved it was sealed, but proved empty apart from a burned out oil lamp.

Suspicious after talking to the maid and steward, getting a picture that perhaps the former bride had exercised some control over the menfolk of the house, and that it was possible that Aghbari had met her whilst out carousing, as it was his habit, though it is possible that his father was unaware of it.

More evidence was gathered that fed an idea that the group had that the missing Ihradel was averse to silver for some reason.

The family had closed up and tidied away the married quarters of Aghbari and Ihradel, to try and spare Aghbari further pain. A chest of Ihradel possessions revealed a portrait, that showed some features that implied that Ihradel was possibly a half-immortal, also that she had the accoutrements of a dancer, supporting the suggestion that Aghbari had met Ihradel whilst he was enjoying his wild life.

And there, we left it