Mission Brief:

Reports of thousands of Goblinoids having being absorbed in the Saldorian enclave are being collated into actionable intelligence. This is being aligned with requests (some might say demands) from the Thessessin and the Wizards Concillium to investigate accusations of slavery and coercion by the Saldorians and the recovery of any of their people that may be held within Saldorian lands. The Thessessin in particular claim that the number of their people currently missing is hampering their efforts in calming the waterways following the cataclysm.

Mission Objectives:

1. Locate and facilitate travel for any Thessessin held by the Saldorians

2. Provide assistance to any other Nationed folk held against their will

3. Investigate the status of the Goblinoid population in and around Saldorian lands

4. Gather information regarding potential breaches of the law by the Saldorian Enclave

An elite group will be gathered to report to the Desolations Edge Waystation on the 11th day of Harvest Moon to review available information and determine the next steps.

All interested in volunteering should note that secrecy and subterfuge may be required for this mission to succeed and should prepare themselves accordingly.

The group composed of:

Rasc

Spark

Ksandra

Sister Mary

Bill Jingle

Nathan

Kyle OmPac

Syl

Anthrax

Scorch

Shade

Jux

Lancorrin Bloodcall

Khandis Greyspider - Myself

Jeremiah Clearwater – Our guide

Air Day - Arrival

We assembled at the Desolations Edge way station as a staging point for our excursion. There were towerless and Khalid in the area who we cleared away.

There was a strange noise emitting from the waystation, something like wailing souls. Anyone trying to cast power or magic within the found their concentration broken by this noise invading their mind in a traumatic fashion. We found out the next morning that only happened at night and seemed to be a natural part of the waystation.

We met Jeremia and Lauriel Birchblood at the waystation for a full brief and plan. The plan was to set up a safe path from a nearby grove to the waystation.  Then to set up totems to allow travel from anywhere via trees to this grove and then any freed people would be able to get safely back. Lauriel showed several members of our group how to make these totems from the trees in the grove.

We discussed several potential plans for entering the Saldorian lands with as little conflict as possible. The plan of letting ourselves get captured and then trying to have our gear smuggled in to us was not popular.  Eventually we settled on the plan of claiming we were traveling to the Node of Truth in their lands and as such we would have free passage.

Water Day – Infiltration

The next morning we were attacked by a group of probably towerless who had a cross mark on their faces composed of a black line down and a red line across.

We teleported to the grove and cleared it of various woodland creatures. We made the required totems and started on our way to the Saldorian border. We ran into several groups of Forgotten which became a recurring theme.  It seems the Saldorians are almost at war with the Forgotten though the reasons for this were unclear (at least to the Saldorians) various options include something to do with the nature of the Saldorian resurrection which will be explained later in the report. I have also submitted to the archives a copy of a Saldorian report on the various types of Forgotten undead together with our own findings. The largest piece of information is that Casting an unshackle spirit on a Forgotten undead will drive out the spirit and free the possessed individual.

We successfully talked our way past the Saldorian border guards with our claim that we were travelling to the Node of Truth.

We met and talked to The Voice of Saldor, a Prophet of Truth, who fit the descriptions of a “man in white” who had been talking to various groups of non-humans and convincing them to join Saldor. It also became apparent that we were under the effect of something that made us think more favourably of Saldorians. This was some sort of ritual composed of Good, Neutral and Evil and a fourth influence which we guessed was Psionic in nature. An unshackle spirit drove this influence away for a time but did not break it.

We were taken to the Node which was more of a spiritual experience than a physical thing. We faced various tests of truth and then had to fight images of ourselves. A strange and slightly harrowing experience. We eventually arrived at the manifestation of the node and found Pradot Mar the holder of status for the Saldorian Enclave already there.

We had a long conversation that boiled down to a number of points:

-          The leadership of the Saldorian Enclave is split between three Pradots; Mar, Kel and Vae.

-          Pradot Mar was largely unaware of the kidnapping and attributed it to Pradot Vae

-          There is a ritual of friendship within the Saldorian lands. It should not contain this mysterious fourth part or be spilling beyond their borders.

-          Pradot Mar formally invited us into their lands so that we could avoid the Bane and would power-down his part of the ritual.

-          The Thessesin were last seen swimming east into Pradot Vae’s land.

-          We would investigate Vae’s individual actions further in the east of the land

Earth Day –The Ritual

We once again teleported this time to the East of Saldorian lands, the area controlled by Pradot Vae. It quickly became apparent that the Saldorian forces here were much more hostile to non-Humans. Whereas previously we had been able to talk our way round groups now we found ourselves having to fight our way through. We were able to rescue a number of valley Goblins and Drow who had been captured and were being held against their will. They were wearing bracelets similar to those encountered on previous missions to stop them from casting power or magic and to keep them restrained to a small area.

We also intercepted reports from a goblin that the Saldorian’s had unearthed something nearby. We went to investigate and found a dig site guarded by undead and a necromancer. The site had unearthed a trove of stashed information from the fall of the Iron Star slave ring. There were several scrolls detailing the plan to reform the Iron Star at a later date along with Morgothian and Celestial Bureaucracy tabards and slave bracelets and collars. Some of the slave items allowed the master to control the slave while others allowed the master to cast any invocations the slave knew using power from the slave. These appeared to be the original inspirations for the Saldorian bracelets.

 A short way on from the excavation site we found a ritual being performed by an Oni. He declared himself Grand Master Maindo Kontorōru of House Kontorōru. Ancestral Heir of the Undying Master. Formally part of the Shendai and also the Iron Star slave ring. He freely admitted working with Pradot Vae to enslave people. After a brief talk where it quickly became apparent that he would not stop this ritual unless forced to do so and freely admitted breaking the laws of the land with a “What are you going to do about it” attitude we were left with no choice but to fight. It was a long tough fight with the Oni able to call upon sphere of time to resurrect his Saldorian guards and to jump from place to place in an instant. He was also a master of psionics. When all of his guards had been killed and their bodies removed he retreated behind a ward to recover. Nathan and Spark where able to pass through the ward however and finally killed him.

Once the ritual was destroyed and the pieces collected as evidence we rechecked the state of the Saldorian ritual and found that it had broken up leaving us in our right minds.

Our evening after that was mostly quite apart from the small matter of a Knight of our Dark Lady. Sir Jacques de Noir, who had attacked a previous valley mission, and made it clear he would keep attacking Valley people until the Dark Pharaoh was turned over to their tower. Apparently he does not understand the word no.  Another long tough fight and despite several chances to yield Sir Jacques fought till he fell. After which he rose again and left the field. Rasc and Sparc both had some excellent thoughts on the bravery of agreeing a fight to the death where one party cannot die which they were only too pleased to share with Sir Jacques. He did not seem as pleased to hear these thought and left with his tail between his legs.

Fire Day – The Thessesin

We received information about the location of a group of Thessesin and immediately went to investigate. We found two isolated Thessesin who told us that the Shamans and Brood Mother had been captured and where being help by groups of Saldorians. We got more accurate directions and went to rescue them.

We fought through more Saldorians and finally found the First Shaman. He and his priests had been forced to wear slave bracelets similar to those found at the dig site. We killed the Saldorians and freed the Thessesin from their bonds. The First Shaman said he would work to free the Brood Mothers and told us that something was wrong with the waterways. We were some somehow involved in a prophecy where the “Rivers run with dark black blood”

We later had a visit from the Goblin King who had been in the area for some time trying to help free any enslaved goblinoids. He spoke at length with Nathan and Rasc about the idea of a nation for goblinoids to live free from oppression. He also told us about a prison nearby where the most competent goblins where kept. One night heist later and the prison was entirely empty.

We met the Voice of Truth again later and he invited us to visit Pradot Mar in the closest Temple of Rebirth to explain what we had found and done. There was a fairly large debate as this seemed like a strange place to meet and some of the group thought it might be a trap. Eventually we decided to go and either find out about the temple or spring the trap.

Steel Day

We had a morning visit from one of the people who had previously lived in the mountains around the land.  See my report from the Time of Reckoning for more information.  He said (in barely coherent sentences) that he was Snaffleheim, First Son of Father, one of the original mystics. He set us a test of elements which turned out to be killing some blue and yellow elementals to gain a phrase that we would have to repeat when he arrived next to get him to tell us more. The message (once decoded) read: As the song starts to fail its lost lines are causing the threads to unravel. Future groups should take a note of this phrase so that they can repeat it to Snaffleheim should they meet him.

We met Pradot Mar at the temple and were able to verify some parts of the Saldorian view on resurrection including that it is possible to change your physical nature during the reincarnation. We presented our evidence to Mar and with this evidence of Vae’s betrayal he was quick to say he would put a stop to these things himself. From his talk at the shrine and actions here Pradot Mar genuinely did seem to be unaware of the extent of the actions that various Saldorian forces were taking. He spoke of an ideal of everyone living under one nation and a world without war but was clear that he would not use slavery or kidnap to achieve this. 

Pradot Vae, showed impeccable timing and arrived. He made his position clear by immediately trying to kill us to get through to Mar. After a long hard might with Vae and waves of Saldorians, Pradot Mar completed some sort of ritual of tranquillity and suddenly fighting was impossible. Pradot Mar cast Vae out of the Saldor and allowed him to leave with his life, claiming that karma would take its toll on his next life. After confirming a few things with Pradot Mar, namely that anything resembling slavery would be stopped immediately and all people held against their will would be released.

The escape device triggered and we were able to return to the grove. We were surprised to find it occupied once again by hostile creatures which we had expected the pathfinders to keep the area clear. It transpired that a force of Khalid had occupied the area between the grove and the waystation.  We happily cleared them all out and returned to the waystation successful in our mission.

Somewhat bolstered by the last afternoon our final Khalid kill count stood at 62.

As ever if you wish more information I can be found in Darkhome or at the Grey school of Magic.

Khandis Greyspider