Session 03 Recap

Plot: Meet Tiberius, learn more about Alex, paid to destroy the dark ring and Vistra sees things.

Full Synopsis:

The party awakes at the Inn, and has breakfast. They get a hearty hello from Fuidain Duine, an elf from Eisgfion, who thanks them for finding and clearing out the ‘lost’ temple of Ailyia. The party does some shopping at Nalagon’s, and goes on to the Manor. Jenkins the butler greats the party, and puts them into a meeting room. Alex comes in and offers them another job - a transport gig to the docks in Madatricona to ship something to his brother Garret in Galarion. He departs on business, and the party meets the aging Tiberius, and his caretaker, Naomi.

Tiberius tells them a long story, the gist of which is:

A) Alex is Cyrus’s son. Cyrus’ wife died in childbirth. Her death drove Cyrus insane with grief.

B) Tiberius and his wife took in Alex as a baby at the manor, as Cyrus was unfit to take care of him, and they were worried about him in his grief.

C)They were in constant contact with Cyrus, though his letters got more and more discombobulated, and made less and less sense.

D)Eventually they were sure he’d gone mad, and Tiberius went to the Keep to check on his older brother. It was mostly abandoned, other than the most stalwart of servants. They offhandedly said that most had just lost faith and left. His regent had taken to wearing the family crown (now mostly ceremonial as the kingdom had recently been united under a different flag) and pretended to be in charge while Cyrus toiled away.

E)Cyrus was a shell of himself. He was gaunt and thin, and rambled like a madman about bringing the dead back, and needing to find a way to talk to Basan.

F)Tiberius left his brother, knowing he’d done the right thing, taking Alex. Cyrus cursed at him for abandoning him at his time of need. Tiberius walked away from the Keep knowing he’d likely never return.

G)The letters from Cyrus kept coming, but they were a little more taunting, more threatening, more "i’ll take from you what was taken from me"

H)Shortly after his return from the keep, Tiberius’ wife gave birth to their son Garret.

I)Garret’s birth seemed to further enrage Cyrus. He sent one final very threatening letter and then the letters stopped.

J)Fearing for his family, Tiberius hired a wizard to place a protective set of wards on them.

K)One day shortly thereafter, a storm cloud formed just over the manor, and dark lightning attempted to hit Tiberius’ wife and son. The warding protected them, mostly, but it was the wife’s sacrifice to protect Garret that save him.

L)As she was struck down, even miles away, a dark, ruby light could be seen in the direction of the keep on the horizon.

M)Once the wife was interred, and the boys were safe, Tiberius went one last time to the keep, assuming that Cyrus was to blame for the dark events at the manor. When he arrived, he was shocked to see the difference - everything in a 200 foot radius around the keep was just dead… or dying. Trees had turned color, the grass had gone brown, there was no wildlife nearby. There weren’t even bugs around the area.

N)He looked for Cyrus all over the keep - he didn’t see another soul until he entered the great hall. There laid the decaying bodies of the remaining staff of Cyrus. His regent was sloped on the throne wearing the family crown. The last few guards lay dead around the room

O)He went downstairs, and opened the secret vault, and found Cyrus’ body. Saw the mad scribblings in books, and found the diary. He also found the code key for the diar

P)He read the diary - the plain text bits you know. The coded bits talked about praying to Basan to bring back the wife. When that failed, Cyrus started making animal sacrifices in the name of Basan. That didn’t work. Cyrus started sacrificing people. His own people. Servants. Good people. He told the staff they’d said their goodbyes and left in the night. This finally got Basan’s attention. Basan asked what Cyrus’ wish is - it was to bring back the wife. Basan stated that a person cannot just be resurrected, another person that someone values as much as Cyrus valued Lyana. Cyrus asked what to do when he found that person. Basan told him to get an item his lost one adored, something that was a part of them, and then cast a spell, which Basan put into his head. Basan did this bit by bit over time, giving Cyrus a little piece of information for each sacrifice he’d made

Q)Cyrus first needed the item - he got Lyana’s engagement right, a simple gold ring with a shimmering red ruby on it. He did the steps Basan gave him for preparing the ring

R)Then, as if a sign, he received Tiberius’ letter about the birth of Garrett. Loss of wife and child hit him like a tidal wave, and he knew who the sacrifice would be. He prepared the spell. The last coded entry was from the day of the black storm at the manor - it’s the last entry in the diary - and it’s Cyrus hoping this works. He hoped that by taking Tiberius’ wife and Garret in one go, he’d have a long, long life for Lyana to go

S)Tiberius put the materials away. He left the rings on Cyrus, and closed up the secret vault. Cyrus died attempting something vile, and to rot away in his secret dungeon seemed like a fitting fate. He walked away from the keep, and never looked back

T)He told the local authorities that it seemed like a sickness took the Keep, and that it should be quarantined. Since he was in good standing, it was accepted, the Keep was ignored, and eventually fell into obscurity

U)He never mentioned any of it to Alex, but absent-mindedly mentioned the signet ring, and how he was sad he couldn’t gift it to Alex as he came of age. He never mentioned it again, and tried to shut down questions, but Alex was curious and started hunting it down from other sources

V) He doesn’t know what exactly happened at the keep - he thinks the spell failed spectacularly to bring back Lyana, and it caused the dead zone. He sometimes things the warding he had done made things backfire, but he knows, after all these years, that in all the planes of existence, the one thing stronger than death is Love.

W)Tiberius destroyed the code key - both to protect Cyrus’ reputation, and to ensure no one could follow in his footsteps.

Tiberius asks the party to find a way to destroy the ring, offering them great rewards for doing so. They depart the manor for the Inn, to discuss and determine their course of action. Along the way, they are attacked by bandits looking for the ring. The party steamrolls the bandit crew and their reinforcements, and Vistra drops to the ground with a vision.