Session 3

The Party had finally arrived at Pax, but at the cost of the life of Aravo Zacksted. Still, the party members had not gived up hope that Aravo's life could not yet be salvaged if powerful enough divine magic was used. Pierson Grey had even mentioned that on a few occasions members of the Royal Hunter's Guild had been revived from the supposedly-dead. He lent them his guild badge, warning them not to use it to impersonate a guild member outside of thier goal of reviving thier comrade, and they went thier seperate ways

After learning a bit about the area, the party headed toward's Pax's local Temple of Vesta. On thier way there, Skarl Hrolfson was alerted to the strange sound of sniffing. He turned an noticed a small, dirty little man sniffing curiously at the bag containing Avaro's body like some kind of dog. The party was alarmed, but somewhat surprised as the man was able to identify his race, time of death, and nearly the cause of death just from smell. He let them in a little secret: he had died before, and learned a method of warding off death to those who had not yet passed from The Land of the Dead. Marcus Hildebrand was worried that what he was describing sounded suspiciously like necromancy, but he was assured that the magic was not evil in any way, and more closely resembled druidic magic. The hermit lead them to his cabin, where the party was told to sit in a large chalk circle and chew on some special leaves that will produce a nearly-death like state in them that will allow them to pass into the Land of the Dead. Samuel Bayard Fariman took the leaves first, and Marcus and Skarl soon followed suit.

The party found themselves in the strange, dreamlike world of the Land of the Dead. It was a world that didn't follow the normal rules of existence, and Fariman even learned (through some experimentation, much to Marcus's distaste) that they were invulnerable to normal injuries while in this state. The party made thier way through the land's strange puzzle of platforms until at last they came to where they were sure Aravo's soul would be, The Hall of Tortured Souls. Here, souls who died painful or terrible deaths were forced to relive them over and over. They found the memory of Aravo being engulfed from the slime and, calling out to him, they managed to draw him from the memory. After a few moments he began to become conscious of his situation, and the party felt themselves lifted back into reality. Aravo awoke, still badly wounded but breathing, and Marcus set to tending to his wounds. The hermit asked if they had been sure not to be followed back by any foul spirits (to which Fariman angrily replied that this was the kind of thing to know before setting out). One such spirit did follow them and took possession of one of the corpses in the hermit's possession. The party were forced into combat with the ghastly undead monster and emerged victorious. With some last words of parts, particularly Marcus warning the hermit that if he had not just aided them he would have met firey justice, the party set off to find a place to rest and tend to thier wounds.

After a night at the bathhouse and inn the party set out fresh once again. Thier first order of business was to buy some new equipment now that they had acquired a bit of wealth during thier adventures, and most of Aravo's things had been dissolved in acid. With thier new equipment in tow they set out to find someone who could tell them more about the Battle of the Summit, as thier entire reason for coming to Pax was She'k Helmes's suggestion that Vesta's military kept meticolous records of thier battles and would likely know as much about that battle as anyone. On thier way to the military district they came across the attempted public execution of man named Hector, the Black. The man was to be executed for claims that the Dragon Martyrs were mortal and that he had personally cut Vesta and saw her bleed. Hector made an impassioned plea to the large crowd of bystanders that freedom from dragon rule would be possible if enough people stood up and revolted, but he was met with anger and heckling. As the executioner was about to kill him and crossbow bolt, fired from some concealed location, pierced the executioner in the eye and dropped him dead. Hector made for escape, and as many guards descended upon him the stage erupted in flames. He was not seen again after that.

The event was interesting but not particularly relevant and the party headed for the military district. They passed the town's job board along the way, watched over by the war hero Reymond. As they approached the job board they were pushed rudely aside by a man dressed in all black, who had just taken the last "slayer" job board task. The party decided they could use a little extra income and took up some minor tasks, with varying success, before continuing on thier journey.

They found the military district blocked off do to routine excercises and gaurded by Lieutenant Geralt. Geralt told them if they were seeking information on a battle thier best bet was the archives, located at the back of Pax's city hall. They went to the city hall, which was as rowdy a place as any tavern, and learned from the lethargic clerk that only someone with high clearance could access the archives, though they might be able to get special permission from the Temple or the Military. The party headed out to the temple, thinking it was the best bet, and met with Cleric Constance. He told the party he would grant them the permission they seek if they performed a task for the temple first. The forgers district was producing its wears for the military of Vesta too slowly and at too great an expense, and the cleric wanted them to convince the forgers to either increase thier production or lower thier prices. The party, holding little love for Vesta, took advantage of the situation by convincing several of the forgers that they could increase production by lowering quality, a suggestion many took, which may result in weaker arms and armor for Vesta's troops. Thier task "technically" completed, the party returned and recieved the permission they required. They then returned to the city hall and were let into the archives.

The archives were watched over by a strange, intellectual orc name Kier'po. Skarl mentioned several other battles in addition the the Battle of the Summit to try and hide what information they were truely after and avoid suspicion. Kier'po was able to provide information for every battle except the one they're after, saying the only survivor of the battle on Vesta's side was still being interrogated, and currently was in the Pax dungeons. He reccommended that they might be able to see him before he is set to be executed.

The party was let into the dungeon by a prison guard and had a conversation with the survivor, Atarack. Atarack recalled the battle with some vivid detail, up until the point till one of the men wearing snake insignias (presumeably Scioni) produced a statuette of a dragon, which caused the enchantment at the mouth of the cave on Celedon's Mountain to expand rapidly, a large black aura consuming everything. Everyone touched by the aura dropped dead immediatly, and seeing this he ran, tumbling from the mountain at some point and being left, injured, until he was found a few days later. Upon seeing Fariman's face closer, he had another sudden recollection: He had seen Fariman in the battle! What's more, Fariman had clearly been fighting for the forces of Solon.

With thier new information, the party seemed once again to be on the track of Scioni if they wanted to recover thier memories. Behind them a familiar, although unwelcome, voice beckoned to them from another dungeon cell. It was Raven, the leader of the false Scioni in Tigress whom the party had had a hand in apprehending. The party wanted nothing to do with him, and Marcus even suggested that Raven should just be grateful that he doesn't burn him. Raven had a bargaining chip, however: He had seen Marcus once in the past, during the time in which Marcus's memories were lost. He had met him and learned the name of the group "Scioni" originally through him. He would tell them more, if they would help him escape. The party reluctantly agreed, and after failing to sneak Raven out the front way the party soon found themselves pursued through the levels of the dungeon, trying to make thier way to the sewer entrance Raven knew about. Fariman got the bright idea to start a prison riot to help distract the guards, and it worked wonders. At some point the party even freed political prisoners, those caught in the war or found worshipping the wrong gods. The party finally made it to the sewers as the political prisoner's overwhelmed the main guard room.

In the sewer, Raven kept his end of the bargain. He had met Marcus in Pacil, as Marcus was performing the town a service of charity by ridding it of some evil threat. Marcus was there on his way to Auria while he was tracking the Scioni. Marcus wouldn't go into detail with Raven about who the Scioni were or why he was after them (indeed they only talked at all because Raven was trying to scam the town by selling fake ogre charms which Marcus took offense to) but Raven did observe that while in town Marcus had made a certain kinship with the innkeeper there, and that perhaps the innkeeper will know more about what was happening with Marcus during that time.