Summary

Two of the three bonds that hold the Drakken in his undead state have been severed. Both the bond of love and the bond of duty were removed. It appears that it was the bond of duty that kept Drakken bound to the location near the Wraiths Head waystation. With that bond gone he has now moved to the vicinity of the Ex-Valdemar waystation in an attempt to aid his ancestors. The fate of his ancestors is the source of the final bond, that of despair.

The Ex-Dymwan Necromancer Malvinious has had his spirit returned from the Plane of the Sleepless dead, where it was held within the Halls of Blood in the domain of the Blood Lord, and his body returned to life. He has since chosen to join Wolfhold and the Necromancers. I believe Anya has traveled with him. This was needed to obtain the symbol used to break the bind of Love.

Otion Wraithchild was encountered near the Haven of Ix upon Maeglor. He forswore his ties with the Dymwan for one year in return for three services. We have one year to complete these three services although one has already been completed. Perhaps of most far reaching interest is that we agreed not to return to Maeglor for three years and to encourage the Alliance to also hold to this agreement. This allowed us to create a symbol which was used to break the second bond, that of duty.

We defeated a force of Kalid Shadowlord's that were holding the Darkwell and obtained some information which may explain their origin.

Report In Full

Those present who would aid High Priest Nomass.

Wolfhold: Puke, Reaper Priest: Walks-With-Spirits: Necromancer Acolyte.

Valley Alliance Tower: Lupus, Gauntlet Priest: Piskey, Druid Priest: Run-With-Wolf, Archer: Taigan Five-Moons: Druid Guard: Tsika, Gauntlet Acolyte.

White Retreat: Khortaz, Humacti Priest: Luke, Humacti Acolyte: Mouse, Humacti Acolyte: Ozriel, Crusader: Ansell, Red Wizard: Kal, Micheline Spiritual Warrior.

First day

Arrival

We had arrived at the Halmadonian waystation, the 'Wraith's Head', without significant incident. The waystation is located between the tower's of the ex-Valdemar and the Labyrinth of Xenos, just on the edge of the Icarthian Triangle. Shortly after we settled in High Priest Nomass vanished, which caused some consternation amongst our number.

Visions of the Past

We were then visited my a number of visions and apparitions, none of which were actual restless spirits and until the last none were we able to interact with. The events shown all appeared to occur within the waystation we were staying in.

The first vision showed a contract being signed between the Valdemar and Shadowsfall for possession of a key, a key to the waystation, to provide protection for the Valdemar from the season of the mists.

The second vision showed the Valdemar families swear oath to the Kalid of the 4th legion and becoming Kabitti. Family Gawfus refused to swear oath and would not yield to the Kalid. Family Lokshal was one of the three families that did take blood oath with the Kalid.

The third vision showed Otion Wraithchild in conference with Malvineous. Malvineous was set the task of taking the Darkwell, Otion was to visit his father. This matches the diaries of Malvineous recovered by a previous Valley group.

The fourth vision showed Otion heaping scorn upon Drakken and making dire threats of punishment for his failure. Drakken begged that the family Lokshal be spared his wrath (this was one of the Valdemar families previously seen swearing to the Khalid). Otion did not seem agreeable to this.

The fifth vision was of a Wizard of the Red School, discussing the Ritual of Ashes with another group of Alliance members. This other group could not be seen by us, but the wizard did not seem to trust them.

The final vision showed a large group of Pax Silvani entering the Waystation and attempting to drive out the undead inhabiting it. Unfortunately for us, the saw us as the undead in question. They were capable of inflicting devastating spiritual wounds upon us, but we seemed to be able to harm them but little. A Holy Word uttered by their leader sent those amongst our number with ties to evil tumbling and things looked grim indeed. Thankfully, the vision ended before they managed to slay any of our number.

Explanations

After the final vision Galithinal Nomass reappeared along with some Reader guards (previously of the Hold of Azad). He explained that he sent us into these visions so that we might gain a better understanding if the problems we faced. We were also visited by High Priest Arkis of the Humacti Sect as well as Cirith and Rancor, of the Sacred Swords. While we discussed our options for dealing with Drakken, the Spirit of Despair, a Necromancer Priest arrived bringing the body of Malvineous. It quickly became clear that the Spirit of Malvineous was not available to be returned to his body and that we would need to venture on to the Plane of the Sleepless Dead to recover it.

In the Halls of Blood

High Priest Nomass performed a ritual which sent us to the Halls of Blood in an attempt to find the spirit of Malvineous. This didn't take too long as he quickly appeared as a Fetch along with a number of ghasts and attempted to rip the heads from the shoulders of many of our number. Defeating him disapated his spirit and we moved on seeking it once more. This brought us to the heart of the realm, where the Blood Lord itself waited with the spirit of Malvineous. We attempted to claim the spirit by force but it seems that here in the heart of it's realm we were unable to prevail over either the Bloodlord or it's minions. During a pause in the battle we entered into parley with the fiend and it expressed and interest in Walks-With-Spirits. Walks conversed with the Bloodlord and agreed to learn from it in return for the spirit of Malvineous. The lessons sounded very painful, but we were unable to intervene.

As this unpleasantness was completed with gained custody of the spirit and were able to return to Orin Rakatha.

More Planning

Having regained the body and spirit, it became clear that we would have to regenerate the body before it could be returned to life. This would take a least four hours so we decided to sleep and deal with our other tasks on the morrow.

Second day

Anya and Malvineous

The morning brought the return of High Priests Nomass and Arkis, bringing with them the living Malvineous. He had, it seems since being resurrected, joined with the wolfhold necromancers. He as reunited with Anya, which allowed a rather touching reunion, despite the blackness of his heart I was somewhat moved. He allowed us to ask him some questions and spread a little discord amongst our number. Amongst the things which he did tell us were the following:

• Drakken had been charged with bringing reinforcements, he did not and Malvineous was slain
• Malvineous believed this may have been deliberate to separate him from Anya
• The Darkwell contains a stable demi-plane
• The demi-plane can be accessed by summoning the sentinel
• He provided the ritual required to summon said Sentinel, Walks was taught it
• The demi-plane has two portals, that Malvineous knew of, within it. One to the Plane of the Sleepless Dead and the other to Maeglor
• He hinted that Otion Wraithchild may be the son of Cranium Doomwraith (aka Lord Cardonaris)
• Anya told us that Drakken was previously of the Taranor prior to joining the Dymwan. This did not agree with the vision we witnessed which indicated the Family Lokshal was of the Valdemar. This caused us some confusion.

High Priest Nomass was able to perform a ritual which created a symbol which created a symbol from the restored love of Anya and Malvineous. This symbol could be used in another ritual to severe the bond of Love which bound Drakken.

Heading for the Spirit

With the rose symbol in our possession we headed for the area in which the spirit was bound, as quickly as possible, that we might deal with this first bond and perhaps learn more of the others. We met stiff resistance from undead upon the way, including a droul, spirits of spite as well as an unranked spirit commanding a group of skeletons. This spirit was capable of possessing us with but a glance and a gesture, which caused a rather chaotic fight to ensue.

We also encountered a group of Saldorians, which we believe to be of the 'Regionesse'. They were escorting another from either there tower or home plane. A pass recovered after the bloodshed seemed to indicate that this other had payed for the privilege. We also encountered some Shadowlords, only one of whom was Drow, that seemed intent on blocking out progress. Needless to say we passed them without significant incident. The Spirits of Spite continued to assail us it appeared that Drakken could call on a seemingly unlimited number of these foes. During a particularly fierce fight, while I and some others were meditating, my brother Ozriel was overwhelmed and struck a grevious blow. Luckily Piskey was able to administer an elixir and tend to his wounds until his life was no longer under such grave threat. Also, during a period of intense casting Walks seems to have fallen into a deeper connection with the Plane of the Sleepless dead. This caused Taigan to be embodied by a Rank 0 Corpse and required a bless to block the malign influence of the place of the dead.

Eventually, we arrived at the sight at which Drakken was bound. We were once more assailed by wave after wave of spirits of spite as well as a few other undead. A droul was to cause us particular difficulties. We attempted to defend High Priest Nomass while he performed the ritual, but in the end the assault of the spirits, droul and the wailing of Drakken left us all strewn about the ritual site. Mouse required an elixir to prevent her spirit departing her shattered body. Still, High Priest Nomass was able to complete his ritual and the first bond was broken. This seems to have removed Drakken's ability to summon the spirits of spite, seemingly at will. We were also able to question him for a short while, during which time we learned that;

• He still claimed that Anya had his heart despite the fact that we had severed the first bond. This gave us some concern that, given time, it may be possible to reforge Drakken's bonds.
• His loyalty to the Dymwan and Otion in particular did indeed form his second bond.
• The despair he suffered was the fate of his Ancestors, he claimed they had been ripped from the earth and their tombs desecrated. He also mentioned that this stopped or prevented the Ritual of Ancestors being performed.
• He wished to aid his ancestors, but his loyalty to Otion prevented him doing so. We later discovered that this meant that it was his bond of loyalty that kept him here and by breaking it he was free to leave and try and aid his ancestors.
• He was of the Taranor before joining the Dymwan. However, his family had been of the Valdemar, who joined the Kalid. Once the Taranor claimed the Ex-Valdemar tower, the family Lokshal defected from the Kalid to join the Taranor so that they might once more dwell in the Tower of their ancestors.

Meetings

Galithinal Nomass was expecting a number of visitors, so we waited with him. We intended to travel into the Darkwell once it was fully dark. First we were visted by members of the Pax Silvani, then Archivist Vilmneus of the Wizards Concillium (previously a resident of the Hold of Azad) and finally the Reader. The Pax Silvani required aid, from High Priest Nomass, in laying to rest a large number of their people that now wanderd as restless spirits. Vilmenus had a message he wished passed onto the Cabal, which was that the Concillium desired the Cabal to explain their position with regard to the T'ian's teaching of Grey Magic in Wolfhold. The Reader came to collect the key to this waystation, which they had purchased from the Halmadonians. Master Craftsman Alberto Serrulian, who led the delegation, also asked us to let it be known that the Reader are a reasonable people; if allaince groups need aid in the field and are unable to pay for it in gest then the Reader will accept future service as payment instead.

Into the Darkwell

Rested and replenished, through the aid of the Reader, we waited until it was dark enough to access the Darkwell. Malvineous had made Walks-With-Spirits memorize words to summon the sentinel. This creature appeard much like a shade, but we were able to command it to lead us to Maeglor. Unfortunately the demi-plane within the Darkwell was held by Kalid of the Shadowlords Legion. They did not wish to let us pass and hositilies ensued. Their leader was a shadowmancer and a fierce fight unfolded. Although we triumphed in the end both Luke and Run-With-Wolf were slain in the melee, as such it was a hollow victory.

Maeglor

A Guide, who looked somewhat like a Drow, waited for us as we entered Maeglor. He explained the dangers of the Shadow that falls a night and turns normal folk into Dark Elves. He warned us not to fall for the wiles of these creatures and said that only the Havens were safe. It turns out that the Haven he was leading us to, Ixx, was also the Haven in which Wraithchild was staying. It further transpired that Otion had been forewarned of out coming and awaited us a short distance further along the path. He was accompanied by a large number of undead, which discerned as 'Rank 7 Shadow Wraiths'. He asked us what we wanted here and after a conference with High Priest Nomass it was decided that we would lose to many lives if we tried to slay him. Instead we negotiated a deal such that he would resign his ties with the Dymwan, which would allow us to deal with the second bond. We agreed to slay the Drow High Priestess Foeshredder, to destroy the Sentinel and to not return to Maeglor for three years. We were given a year to deal with the first two. The guide returned us to Orin Rakatha.

Third Day

An Unlucky Visitor

High Priestess Foeshredder arrived to thank us for liberating her from the captivity imposed on her by the Shadowlords. We were forced to slay her and her retinue.

The Spirit Again

The Spirit had raised a number of quite tough Undead during the night, but the fight was not quite as taxing as the first time we had met it. The Banshee proved most trouble some and it's unearthly screams slew Tsika. We dealt with the Spirit's second bond, which freed it from this place and it left refusing to talk with us further.

Loose Ends

Mouse has already related the tale of the pax silvani in her report, but I remember some of the details differently. As I understood it the Hepath, Bael Zephon, was bound into Starfall Lake by the power of the Rod. The Rod can be used to free the Hepath. The ghosts of the Pax Silvani roam the shores of the lake, to be close to that which slew them.

Kal.