Session+Nine

Lia and Dunin decide to take matters into their own hands this time around. Dunin convinces Lia that it is a bad idea to leave the relic (they believe it’s the Gift) in the hands of the Assassin. He plans to have Lia get Keraph out of his room for dinner, while he sneaks in to retrieve the item. Lia does in fact get Keraph out of his room, and they do talk for quite some time, but the street wise demon seems to be one step ahead of them. Dunin never did find the object, and Keraph even confronted Lia about why they wanted to take the item from his room. Shortly after his little chat with Lia, Keraph pulls Arion aside. He informs him that Lia and Dunin had set out to steal the box Kirin had helped to retrieve. After a lengthy discussion about motives, pasts, and futures, Keraph warns Arion to be cautious around Dunin… that he is up to no good. Then he shows Arion what is inside the onyx box… it turns out to be an antidote for someone Keraph cared deeply about. Arion tells Keraph that he is also out to do what he can to keep someone he cares for safe, and mentions to Keraph that they are looking for the Gift of the Veils that may be in this area. The next morning, Keraph remains good on his word and takes the group on a tour of Ivycrest. The tour includes a shopping trip on which the group gets some much-needed new clothing and equipment. It ends at the top of the Cresting Falls… the same falls that Kirin had climbed down the day before. Keraph’s elven friends are waiting there with some more rope. As it would turn out, Keraph knew where to find the Gift all along… it is in the same cave that Kirin had been in already. Kirin goes over the side of the cliff once more, and enters the cave. He finds a green gemstone about the size of his fist… fitting the description Keraph gave him. Taking the stone with him in his pack, Kirin proceeds to climb back up the rope and reaches the top of the cliff, grinning triumphantly. Here is where things take a turn for the nasty. Dunin shows up out of nowhere and grabs Jen from behind. Holding a knife to her throat, he demands that the group turn over the Gift to him. While this is going on, a large group of orcs surround the baffled party. During the ensuing confrontation, Keraph turns over the gift to Dunin, and then attacks him. Dunin fights back and the two take a tumble off of the cliff into the waters below. Kirin, not wanting his new found friend to get hurt takes his own swan dive off of the cliff. Back up topside, Kaiden and his ranger pals had shown up and help the party get rid of the remaining orcs. Among Kaiden’s crew is Whestyn, Lia’s brother. When the orc threat had been taken care of, the group used lengths of rope and strips of cloth to lower Kaiden down the side of the cliff to find out what had become of Keraph, Kirin, Dunin, and the Gift, while Kaiden’ rangers head down the trail to the bottom of the falls. Kaiden finds an unconscious and waterlogged Kirin at the base of the falls. He lets the party know that Kirin is safe, and the twins, Lia, Jen, and Arion head down the trail to meet up with Kaiden and Kirin. Jen offers to take Kirin back to the Inn while the others go in search of Keraph and Dunin. Keraph is found, but Dunin and the Gift are no where to be seen. As it would turn out, Keraph had been poisoned. Lia lets Arion and Kirin know about the poisoning. She also informs them that Dunin knows where to fine Eli and Arion’s mother; that he has people on the way already. Lia leaves them to go find Jen and to make sure she is alright, and all four eventually meet back up to talk things over. Jen decided to go find out if Keraph himself maybe uses some poisons and was accidentally stabbed with his own dagger. Arion asks Lia if she had gotten a good look at the wound- if it was the same sort of wound that Kirin suffered during the attacks in Oriscina. She confirmed his fears that they were of the same type, and he and Kirin took off to find a healer to help. They come back empty-handed though… no one is willing to help a half demon assassin.

We end this session with Jen keeping a bed-side vigil over Keraph while Kaiden gets some sleep, Arion trying to clear his thoughts and come up with a plan to help everyone, Kirin eventually falling back asleep, and Lia racking her brain to come up with a way to help Keraph. Did the plot and emotion content get deeper or is it just me?

Back to Session Eight, on to Session Ten