C1 S8 - The Keeper & the Father
This session played June 17, 2025.
Oath of Frost Village - Day 4 Afternoon (continued)
The deeper into the copse of tents and lean-tos our party steps, the colder the air becomes. Fires are lit for meals but seem to provide little warmth as we pass. Our breath is visible.
We are led to a longhouse near the center of the village. From this vantage point we see that the dwellings we’ve passed are not placed haphazardly but rather are fanning out in wide arcs from the longhouse and the adjoining altar space. Altogether Denton reckons a settlement of some 200 cultists here.
At the entrance to the longhouse, the sentry demands we relinquish our weapons.
@ Party complies.
As soon as we enter, the Archdruid strides over and addresses the rider who entered with us.
Archdruid: What news? Who are these?
Rider: Archdruid, my party discovered the remains of a horse in the outskirts of the swampland to the southeast. It appeared to be Bramble, the mount of our brother whom we found murdered in his tent yesterday morn. These strangers arrived from the north as we were returning. Our brothers were about to turn them away, but this one spoke the names of the stranger and Matteo your son.
Archdruid: Speak, Elf, but be wary: my patience for strangers and their manifold deceptions is at an end. Speak of Matteo, does he live?
Ryarn: Matteo does, Archdruid. We encountered him and Una shortly after they were attacked by a grick. The beast took the horse but left Una and Matteo. We gave them food and rest, and my companion healed their wounds. The woman told us she was Matteo’s mother, and together they were fleeing this village’s persecution. I now believe she may have stretched the truth.
Archdruid: The foul witch! She came to us starving, a week gone. We do not often welcome strangers but she was helpless and desperate. Now I must assume her grave condition was a lie as well as her intentions.
Rider: But Archdruid, she was on the brink of death!
Denton: A powerful illusion, perhaps?
Archdruid: I must agree. And very powerful indeed. Our wards protect the village from all but our own magicks, or so we thought.
Brolga: Why would someone want to kidnap your son?
? Solodark prompts - What does Archdruid think happened?
d: 2d100: 5, 42 → DELIVER BALANCE
Archdruid: I can think of only one reason. Matteo is not only the heir to the Oath of Frost; he is the Oath of Frost. Our bloodline carries an innate force, or, more precisely, an innate entropy. Though he is far too young to realize his true potential, as long as he draws breath, his very being is a negator, a cooler, a calmer, a slower. The Oath is the un-animator and the ender. Matteo is part of that. I see how you regard me, and I beg your understanding. We of the Oath are no more or less evil than any other who walk this land; we are but custodians of a natural force. If Matteo was taken for any purpose other than malice, then it would be to counteract some equally elemental force for change or for growth. If his kidnapper is the skilled spellcaster she appears to be, then she would absolutely recognize Matteo’s potential, and might seek to exploit it.
Ryarn: Una told us they would move east. Perhaps we could yet regain their trail if she spoke true of her intentions.
Archdruid: She is a liar of the lowest description.
Ryarn: True, but she took pains to convince us your people were a terrifying and murderous lot. She may have gambled that our meeting would have ended more violently.
Rider: It very nearly did.
Daeniel: Sister, our quest for the gradonbone signet ring! And here you speak as though we would take up the mantle of heroes for this village of strangers?
Archdruid: A dragonbone signet ring?
Ryarn: Yes, Archdruid. We came to your village in search of a rare ring, proof of our father’s claim to the throne of our land. Rumors of a young woman wearing a cloak like yours, searching for dragonbone artifacts in Skalvin and King’s Gate were the best leads we had secured in all our searching.
Archdruid: It is true, we sometimes send an acolyte on a pilgrimage for dragonbone samples; dragonbone of adequate purity serves to focus our wards.
He steps closer.
Archdruid: Please. I do not know if we have the artifact you seek, but if you bring my son back to me, the Oath of Frost will spare no effort aiding you in your search. You must understand, Matteo is my son, yes, and so I ask as a father. But I also ask as the caretaker of one of the realm’s natural laws. His exploitation by the ignorant or the greedy could upset a critical balance in the universe and doom us all.
Brolga: That’s … a lot.
Ryarn: We will help.
Archdruid: You will be resupplied and we will lend you our fastest mounts. You must depart at first light; even on foot, the witch may have a means of quickening their pace without a horse.
Archdruid motions to the other men and women in the longhouse, who begin to make preparations. Party is fed and resupplied (+rations) and will rest safely for the night.
+1 XP - Crossing what feels like a big milestone in the quest.