Session 58 - Karoshi Signs Up Two New Kovacs
21st October 2022
In-game timeline: Start of session: 1489DR Nightal 25. End of session: 1490DR Hammer 8
Our Heroes are faced by at least two stone giants, brandishing large rocks. After a minor, tactical retreat, Karoshi tries talking to them. One, who they later find out is called Vorold and has a withered arm and a stammer, accuses them of being looters and tells them to leave. Karoshi fails to convince them otherwise, but Iwee does a good job of persuading them to give them a chance. Vorold asks Iwee to approach alone, weaponless, and she takes the risk and does so.
After some conversation with the gentle, and persuasive, gnome, Vorold, and his mute friend Gurdis, seem to be convinced they are not thieves, and they allow Karoshi to join Iwee in the upper temple complex. Meanwhile Jaxii and Derrick take the opportunity to have a short rest, under the watch of Gurdis.
At the upper level, it seems that the giants have been burning the bodies of the residents of the temple, but in a respectful way. They also say they have thrown the bodies of the raiders, which included goblins and orcs as well as more worryingly, fiends, over the side of the mountain into the deep valleys and crevices below.
Being understanding and non-threatening seems to work well with these giants, and Vorold lets Iwee and Karoshi look around the temple. It is a mess, and has obviously been looted after, or during, the raid. The large statue of Moradin at the end of the temple has been toppled, which seems to have revealed a small cubby hole beneath the statue's base. In this cubby hole is a book, that is very old, but seems to have been recently read and discarded. Iwee reads what seems to be a relevant page towards the end of the book and shares the knowledge with Karoshi (and, later, the others) which gives more information about Angel's Fury (For extracts from this book, see this link)
Karoshi manages to find a missing page to the book that Iwee finds - a page that seemed to have fallen out of the book and was hidden in the hole beneath the statue. This gave a little more information about historic lore. The other two are invited to join the group, and together they look around the temple, finding a few other Kovacs artefacts - not valuable, but important to Karoshi.
Vorold and Gurdis, now that they accept Karoshi is one of the Kovacs, and therefore a rightful resident of the temple, sheepishly ask Karoshi if they are allowed to continue to stay there. Karoshi offers them a formal place in the Kovacs order, which they tearfully accept.
The party stay the night in the safety of the temple before heading out the following morning to the village at the bottom of the mountain, leaving Vorold and Gurdis to continue to protect the temple - their new home.
In the village of Everrain they meet up with six members of the Kovacs order - three of whom were present when the temple was raided, and three have subsequently arrived. They get more information about what happened during the raid, and they pass on the information that there are now two giants looking after the temple, now members of the Kovacs order. This boosts the confidence of the Kovacs knights and they agree to return to the temple and to try to restart the order.
Meanwhile, Jaxii tries to find out information from her Ancestors about the information revealed in the Kovacs Order history tome. She only finds out a little - that they have heard of the name Kastril, though not much else.
The group spend the night in the town of Everrain and then return to the temple with more of the knights. They are keen to head back to Baldur's Gate in order to meet The Tired Adventurer and head to Neverwinter. Fearing the bandits in the mountain pass, Vorold and Gurdis offer to accompany the group for the first part of their journey, and they make it to the other side of the mountain without incident - the two giants bid their farewells and head back to the temple while the party continue on to Baldur's Gate.
With the full moon rapidly approaching, Derrick decides to take the tangleweed oil to avoid having a full day and night of The Change, but this does make him exhausted, and their progress slows a little.
On the night of the full moon, Derrick allows himself to be shackled tightly to a tree and, while the others shelter in a Tiny Hut created by Iwee, at midnight he undergoes the Change - changing fully into a wolf and spending a whole hour struggling to free himself. Luckily the chains and manacles hold, and he fails in his attempts to escape, though he takes some damage and a level of exhaustion for all his efforts. After the hour, he changes back and spends the remainder of the journey quieter than usual.
The party arrive back in Baldur's Gate in the evening. The Tired Adventurer is due to arrive the day after next, giving the group a day to themselves in Baldur's Gate…