🗓 Session 9 – 🧱🌿 The Architect’s Trail

📅 Date of Session:

2025/09/21

👥 Party Members Present:

📍 Locations Visited:

🎲 Session Summary:

🎭 The Search for the Architect

Lord Signmonder provided the party with directions to where the elusive Architect was believed to be hiding. He also assigned Ricio Tane to assist—an ally familiar with the area and adept at moving unseen. The group learned that the Queen is also hunting for the Architect, and time may be short.

Traveling through Onadbyr, they observed a bleak atmosphere: citizens avoided eye contact while guards interrogated passersby. Voss reread a letter from his mother, a Tower magistrate, and noticed a hidden “M” beneath the word gardens—a familiar personal mark that suggested a private message within the official tone.

At door 221, Zane knocked, drawing only the suspicion of a neighbor before Nelvax picked the lock. Inside, the air was stale and undisturbed. Tracks led inward but not out; a trace of manure hinted at a large fern-eating beast. Searching a closet revealed a pouch of fine yellow powder, identified by Nelvax as an odor-neutralizing dust used by beast-handlers in Crown employ.

While investigating, Harlekk distracted approaching guards long enough for Eldvarr to uncover a book written in Elvish—Bestiary of the Crown Beasts, First Edition—and notes detailing sketches of monsters, underground tunnels, and water-distribution systems. The MM Feeding House was repeatedly marked, suggesting it referred to the Monster Menagerie, now closed by royal decree under pain of death.

⚔️ The Monster Menagerie

Following the feeding-tunnel map, the group entered the long-abandoned menagerie. Inside, vegetation had overtaken the grounds; wild magic and forgotten beasts had run rampant. They locked the gate behind them for safety—trapping themselves within.

Humanoid footprints led to a shattered greenhouse, where six armored bodies lay amid mud and black flowers sprouting from their chests. When Eldvarr examined one, spores burst forth, burning his lungs. The corpses bore the Crown’s insignia, though not the Redcloaks.

Among the remains, Eldvarr recovered 7 silver and 6 gold, a half-dissolved set of half-plate armor etched with light-absorbing runes, and a strange warm metal fragment. The group pressed onward into the greenhouse’s humid depths—glowing fungi, thick vines, and the faint rattle of chains surrounding them.

Two shambling mounds emerged from the growth.
A chaotic battle followed:

Despite injuries, coordinated blows felled the first mound, granting Zane a surge of temporary vitality. Harlekk’s Silvery Barbs turned a critical hit into a miss, saving Eldvarr from further harm. The second mound fell shortly after beneath Nelvax’s final, emphatic strike.

📌 Notable Moments:

💰 Loot:

📦 New Items:

🗨️ Quotes:

“That Teak boy kept himself too clean for this district.” – Suspicious neighbor
“In six seconds even!” – Nelvax, mid-flurry

📚 Leads and Discoveries:

🗺️ Quest Updates:

✅ Things to Do:

  1. Search and fully explore the greenhouse area for survivors, clues, or additional tunnels.
  2. Investigate the meaning of the M in Voss’s mother’s letter.
  3. Examine the runic half-plate and the Bestiary of the Crown Beasts for useful information.
  4. Determine whether the Architect or the Queen’s agents reached the menagerie first.

🧍 Major NPCs:

🏳️ Factions: