Session 18 -- The Valley of Ashes

The party barely had time to pick up the weapons from the guards before they heard footsteps fast approaching. Those with a ring of invisibility turned invisible, Tiv employed her cloak of elven hijinx, and the others attempted to hide behind the barrels and crates lining the walls of the long corridor.

When the guards came down the stairs, they first saw their unconscious comrades, but then also quickly spotted Ceangal and Jack unsuccessfully attempting to hide. One guard tried to raise the alarm while the other rushed to attack Jack with his spear.

In short order, Tiv snuck behind them to man the stairs in order to waylay anyone coming down to answer their alarm. Both visible and invisible, the party attempted to fight the guards and neutralize them without killing them. Dwårfy snuck back toward the cells to see if Andy's crewmates were there, and he found three men dressed like Andy and one more who was obviously with them but gave off the air of a clergyman.  Meanwhile, Vedica succeeded in her attempt to pick one of the preoccupied guards' pockets, looking for keys. Dwårfy decided to have a little fun and try to pretend he was the voice of a disembodied ghost.

He put on a falsetto voice and started speaking in Latin, assuming they would not be able to understand: "Salvation is coming soon." To his surprise, it seemed that one of them did, the clergyman. The men had a quick exchange in a language he could not understand, but he visibly hushed the others, and he answered back, with a sarcastic smirk, "Loquere Domine, qua audit servus tuus."  Dwårfy added, "We're going to get you out of here."

Meanwhile, the fight with the guards was making it difficult to not kill them. They did manage to subdue the guards, with Tiv using her sling as a blackjack on the last one. Then, they bandaged and healed them after binding and gagging them. Vedica opened the cell to release the sailors and locked up the guards. The men were introduced as Fr. Michael McGillicuddy is the ship's chaplain. He holds the rank of Lieutennant, but the men just call him "Father," or "Father Mick," Lieutennant JG Sal Ianelli, Seaman Joey Matrone, and Seaman Paulie Di Scenza. Fr. Mick speaks Latin, and the others speak a strange dialect of Latin that allows for some limited communication. All speak English and can communicate with Jack directly, and Ceangal's helmet allows him to understand them.

The men indicate that they need to get back to their ship because they're trying to get home. The party is more than happy to help them, but they also want to get their weapons back (especially Dwårfy and his family-heirloom hammer). The party distributed the other guards' weapons to the sailors. It was obvious that they were military men, but apparently their training had not included swords and spears.

The very next room was a cramped, weapon-strewn armory. They could see their own weapons behind the locked door of a security cage of some kind. There was a guard poring over a ledger of some kind. Jack and Murchad just stepped into the room, and Jack said, "We just want our weapons, and you won't get hurt." The guard looked up to see ten armed people facing him and not ready to take "no" for an answer. They were able to easily bind and gag him, and, after failing the skill to pick the lock, Vedica sighed and just used the key to open the cage. The party reclaimed their weapons, and the strange arquebuses, smaller strange pistols, and handful of large daggers that belonged to the sailors were also returned to their owners.

As they enter the Feasting Hall  , they see a grand room filled with rows of heavy wooden tables and chairs. Long tapestries decorate the walls, and a massive hearth crackles with a dying fire. Currently, it’s empty, but remnants of a recent banquet litter the tables.  Two guards suddenly enter through the main doors, engaged in a hushed discussion about the recent disturbance. They scan the room before taking seats near the hearth, placing their weapons nearby and glancing toward the exit.

Vedica and Dwårfy, leading the party with Murchad, as all three have rings of invisibility, Tiv decides to make it seem that the hall is haunted. Vedica and Dwårfy, doing very well on their deception and intimidation checks, are able to speak to them successfully without breaking invisibility. "Oooh...this is the ghost of the last man you killed...how dare you leave my family destitute!?"

At this, one of the guards is very frightened, and asks the other guard if he heard that. The other guard just nodded, wide-eyed. "You don't think it's that skraeling from the other day, do you?"  The second guard replies, "I don't know. That went down pretty bad. Where did you put him?"  The first replied, "I put him under the flagstone. We couldn't have that coming out!"

Dwårfy continued, "Ooooh...we're going to haunt you so bad. We're going to haunt you forever unless you go right now and take care of his family..."

In the Hall of Valor, they find a room is adorned with statues of famous knights in battle poses, each holding a stone weapon pointed toward the center of the room. Oil lamps cast flickering light on the statues, making them appear almost lifelike. This hall leads toward the main exit but is patrolled by one knight who pauses occasionally to adjust the lamps.The knight's patrol is steady but slow, and he seems to be mumbling to himself, suggesting he’s growing tired and inattentive.

Murchad steps forward and hits the guard with the flat of his sword, trying to bring him down non-lethally. With a strong blow to just the right place, the guard goes down like a sack of potatoes.

At the Great Hall entrance, they find a towering, arched chamber with a set of grand double doors leading outside. Heavy iron chandeliers hang above, casting shadowed light across a polished marble floor. Four guards stand watch here, discussing the recent breakout.  The guards are tense, clearly aware of the alarm but not yet certain of the escapees’ location. However, they’re blocking the main exit, and additional guards could arrive at any moment.

Dwårfy again tries to convince the guards the place is haunted. "I am the ghost of someone you wronged..."  They were unconvinced, but confused. They could not tell where the voice was originating from. They grab their spears on high alert. Vedica and Murchad step in to knock out the guards, but only succeed in incapacitating one of the four. After a scuffle, the entire party does manage to subdue the guards without killing them or harming them too badly. Murchad and Jack lift the bar across the door, and the party escapes with the sailors.

They make their way back to Fillí, skirting the castle of the Scarlet Knights and avoiding meeting anyone on the road.

Through discussion and questioning on the road, the crewmen tell the PCs that they are sailors on a warship that is stranded. They are far away from home and have no idea where they are. All they want is to return home. These sailors were sent ashore to ascertain their location and to see if they could source some fuel for an experimental device the ship was testing. They think a malfunction of the device is how they came to be in this place. The name of their ship is Eldridge.

The fuel is called ugallium (nothing the PCs will have ever heard of), and it can be recognized because it glows with a greenish light.

The ship intends no threat to the city or this land. The PCs might be able to negotiate an understanding between the crew of the ship and the Mayor of Fillí. They can also assist the ship in finding more fuel.

Jack tells the sailors his own story.  The other party members knew he was from a strange and faraway land, but they had never heard his tale put frankly. They listen in confusion and amazement as he tells of a strange event much like that experienced by the sailors. He says that he was from a continent across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe -- a place he called "North Carolina," and it was the year 1776 when he got on a ship and sailed for Europe. He said his nation was at war with the British (which ones, the party wondered, the humans or the elves?). He was sailing is ship to "France" because of an alliance with the "French" (never heard of 'em).  He ship passed through some kind of triangle in some other place they never heard of, and when he arrived to Europe, he found that it wasn't the Europe he expected to see. He's been trying to get home ever since. When he mentioned elves helping his people in their war, the sailors didn't know what he was talking about. They had never heard of elves. This tells him that he is dealing with three worlds. Their world of 1943 is apparently not the future of his world of 1776 any more than his world of 1776 is the future of this strange world of 1366.

When the rest of the party didn't seem to know the places he was talking about, Jack drew a rough outline of Europe in the dirt and indicated where "France" was. Murchad immediately recognized it as the place he knows as the Kingdom of Gaul.

They return to Fillí and make contact with their leprechaun merchant friend. Jack and some of the sailors go looking for a small boat to "borrow" and get to the strange ship. When the leprechaun merchant sees the sailors, he gets very worried, casting furtive glances out the window at the strange metal ship. He brings the party to the mayor, Benjamin Fiddlesticks to see if he can help with getting the party to the Shadowfell or the sailors their ugallium.

Benjamin Fiddlesticks tells them that the right direction for acquiring the needed fuel could be by making contact with a mysterious and reclusive merchant known as "Catsby the Great." He is so named because he surrounds himself with cats and has been known to use them as familiars. He is a human who lives in Tír na nÓg and makes his fortune selling the leprechauns' magical wines and poteen in Europe. He makes a trip to Europe by ship for this purpose once every year or two. The PCs will be told that if anyone can procure a hard- to-find commodity, Catsby can do it. He is reclusive, though, and few people have ever seen or met him. He lives in a mansion in the village of Iarubh, just east of the Valley of Ashes and north of the Great Lawn of the Gylan mansion estate in Oirrubh.

To reach him, they will need to travel through the Valley of Ashes. Eckleberg will not seek to stop them, although the party will surely see him patrolling the skies. The Valley of Ashes is a death-ridden area blanketed by a thick layer of ash. Eckleburg, the huge red dragon watches over the area, incinerating anyone and anything that strays from the road or lingers in the area too long. Firedrakes routinely accost travelers, and the only other living thing in the valley is a myrtle bush that grows on the south side of the road. Its berries are magical, as each one heals one hit point of damage and cures poison.

Iarubh and Oirrubh are two wealthy villages separated by a bay. In Oirrubh live elves who retreated to Tír na nÓg shortly after it was established in the wake of the Magiclysm. They share ancestry with the high elves of the Black Forest. In Iarubh live human merchants. Some of them are descendants of the original Red Branch warriors, while others are more recent arrivals from Europe who came by ship. Most of them have made their fortunes by selling the magical intoxicants and other fey wonders in small quantities back in Europe. They don't want to arouse suspicion or cause the prices to deflate, so they make infrequent trips (often one trip every year or two) and conceal the origin of their wares. The ancient elven inhabitants of Oirrubh look down on their upstart neighbors in Iarrubh.

He was glad that the party didn't kill anyone at the Hall of Free Men, and he was sure that the Scarlet Knights would understand. He would send a note with a messenger to ensure that the party won't have any difficulty from the knights (who are the protective army and law enforcement arm in Tír na nÓg). The Scarlet Knights are an offshoot of the Red Branch warriors who found favor with the fey and help protect the land of Tír na nÓg from monsters or hostile tribes. To this end, they possess two castles and a number of other outposts, such as the Hall of Free Men on Sliabh Glan. Four hundred years ago, the leprechauns brought brave warriors here to help repel invasion by the Scandinavian Dwarves.

Across the countryside, the party will encounter leprechaun settlements intermingled with villages of the Skraelings. The Skraelings are human hunter-gatherer tribes. They have mostly congenial relations with the fey creatures, but sometimes conflicts arise. The Skraelings collect raw materials that they trade to the leprechauns for their magical manufacturing work. Most Skraelings live a semi-nomadic, hunter- gatherer lifestyle (keeping within their tribal ranges), but some more permanent settlements have formed and serve as trading posts.

Benjamin Fiddlesticks further tells them that getting to the Shadowfell can be most easily done in one of three ways. Either using Darby Cave through which they party originally came, the cave entrance under the Hall of Free Men at Sliabh Glan, or sailing all the way back to Europe and traveling with a fairy ring or something like they had originally done. The party decided to stick around and help the sailors first.

About that time, Jack and the sailors return. With the sailors along, the party is able to sail out to the strange ship and board the big ship. There, they meet with the man in charge of the vessel.

Lieutenant Commander Jack Hunter is the commander of the ship. Because Lt. Commander Hunter was classically educated, he is able to communicate with the party in Latin. Despite his education, although he doesn't carry an air of high mindedness. His men usually call him "Skipper." He is fluent in Greek and Latin, and he has read a lot of military and naval history from the ancient world, and he read them in the original languages. Murchad discusses military tactics with him for a time and gives him the Latin tomes he has about the Dragonborn Wars. The Skipper is very appreciative. On the way out to start their quest for the ugallium to help the sailors, Jack asks him if he has any maps or charts of North America. He replies that he does, and he's happy to show them to Jack. He shows him the location of his family's plantation in North Carolina. On another one, Jack spots the strange name of the city Andy was from: Chicago.  Almost as an afterthought, Jack asks him if the Americans won the Revolution. Hunter just nodded with a smile toward the flag flying outside. "I think those 35 extra stars will give you your answer."

The party skirted the castle of the Scarlet Knights on their way to a large town on a small island that the leprechauns simply called An Chathair or "The City." As they crossed over to The City, they saw to the south another Scarlet Knight castle on a hill, known as Knockshowsaph, on a small island called Stat Nylan.  After resting for the night, they crossed over to the large island that was their goal.

They entered the bleak and pulverized spot known as the Valley of Ashes. They could see the great dragon, Eckleberg, circling in the sky several miles off. They evaded his notice, but they were stopped by three fire drakes at one point. After a tough battle, the party prevailed, and there was much bandaging and healing spells employed. They even found the myrtle bush and harvested some berries.

Once the party gets to Iarrubh, finding Catsby's mansion is not going to be difficult. While both Iarrubh and Oirrubh are less "towns" as they are communities of fenced and guarded mansions on huge plots of land, in each community there is a small section with shops and tradesmen to serve the needs of the mansions. The PCs will likely find servants running errands in these districts. The servants are generally tight-lipped about the goings on of their masters, but everyone can point the PCs toward the mansion that belongs to Catsby. He's known for throwing lavish parties every two weeks, and hordes of people flock there to enjoy his entertainments. In fact, one such party is scheduled for later on that evening!

The party decided to buy some fancy clothes and get them tailored to conceal their armor in order to infiltrate the party that evening in the hopes of meeting Catsby the Great.