Callathiforay - Part 1

Rather than start in the main city, Port Sovereign, the thread picks up in Cape Firth, a lesser town on the other side of the bay, When Elora sees Ambrosé for the first time, she suspects him of being the one-armed member of the gang responsible for killing her sister, but it's soon clear the artisan is not the man she's looking for. The group finds common ground as local entrepreneurs try to hire workers to mine claims sold to them by the drow, in the drider regions on the north of the island. From a villager who lives there, the party hears that in Rowanside, a village near the Sacred Grove, the native humans are acting strangely. A mind-controlling phenomenon has been brought forth by the dryads: The Blue Stain. This is aparticular problem for Vaerlân. It's a sign that the natural world is rebelling against the construction work happening as the mining industry restarts. Luckily for the fledgling party, the Blue Stain is expelled through sheer force of will, rather than fighting. Vaerlân has some stern words for the dryads. Their actions, though well-meaning, could have had far more severe consequences.

With Rowanside freed from the influence of The Blue Stain, Auld Jenny learns that Josiah Fleetwood, a former customer, has unexpectedly left the village for his shop. Jenny learns from Fleetwood's wife that the shop-keep complained that the instructions on Jenny's potency remedy were misleading. Jenny replies, "I thought I could write quite well for someone who can't read!" When the party catches up with Fleetwood in Port Sovereign, the owner of Magic Remnant World is none the happier and threatens that the party has not heard the last of his grievances. Bishop Vinci Ventura commissions an inquisition by Piotr Price, after complaints by Fleetwood.

Meanwhile, Gary Akatosh arrives by sea at Port Sovereign.

Gary Akatosh.

Akatosh, many long moons ago, chose vampirism to escape at wasting curse put upon him. He did a great many terrible things as the decades became centuries. The only shining light to come into his blighted life, his wife Cecile, was taken away from him, when she was murdered by what Akatosh calls the Infernal King.

Akatosh tells the group he has travelled a long time to get here. He's interested in the Blizzard Kingdoms across the sea and the mining operations which have opened up in the drider regions on the north end of the Trove Islands. An amulet protects Akatosh from the harmful effects of the two suns around which Callathiforay cycles. Without it, Akatosh would be completely vulnerable to the suns' rays. Having spent a night or two in the Krackling Kraken, one of the city's many inns, the party has ingratiated itself with the Inns owner, R'ick. A fairly routine, clear-the-sellers-of-rats job, undertaken by the party on R'ick's behalf, takes an unexpected turn. The group meets Brynhild Skaldmeier, the leader of the mercenary group 'The Glorious Raptors'. Skaldmeier is about to massacre some sewer-dwelling civilians: the real 'sewer rats', whose presence explains the unexplained disappearance of the Krackling Kraken's wares. Why Skaldmeier is attacking the scarcely-armed tunnel people, and on whose orders, is unclear. The party diplomatically prevents the bloodshed, extricating both itself and the sewer rats from further trouble

Some time later, Halamar Dawnguard, the Archdruid at Sacred Grove, catches up with Vaerlân. It's vital that Vaerlân return the golden sickle he was keeping, as it is of great importance to the wood elves. However, the younger druid gave it to one of the otherwise-unarmed 'Sewer Rats', during the underground encounter. The group also hears the woes of Kristen Leftfield, the executioner's daughter. Her father's job is well-paid, but as well as being deeply unpleasant, also makes the Leftfield family something of a stigma in the city. Yet, with the mayorship of the town about to be voted upon by the populace, Kristen dreams of rising above her family's marred station and becoming mayoress herself. If the Gribok Mines, just south of the drider lands, could be cleared, maybe they could be a better home for the drider. avoiding killing them with not only avoid provoking war with Queen Ariadne, but also weaken her claim on the north of the Trove Islands. Could the group use this opportunity to bolster Kristen's election prospects? Sure enough, the party makes its way north. It fights a colony of myconids for control of the mines. The fungal folk used their mind-altering spores to defend themselves, but the party prevails. The party meets with the 'Sewer Rats' in the mines. The tunnel-dwelling Port Sovereign residents have had similar ideas, after fleeing the sewers back in the city. Maybe this old mine would be a safer home for them. Unfortunately, Polt Sork, the Sewer Rats' unofficial leader, has sold the golden sickle to a woman in Cape Firth. On the return trip, in a village between the Gribok mines and Port Sovereign, the company encounters an Inquisitor, Piotr Price, sent by the church. Apparently, accusations have been made of devilish witchcraft against Auld Jenny. However, the two sinister, pointy-hatted clerical adepts in the inquisitor's group are actually shadow devils sent by the Infernal King to harass Akatosh. This seems to surprise the Inquisitor as much as it does the party. The company kills the pair of shadow devils and takes Inquisitor Price into captivity. An argument breaks out soon after between Vaerlân and Akatosh whether it is acceptable for the vampire to feed upon the captured Inquisitor. The party quickly realizes that Price is far more dangerous to them alive than dead. Far away from prying eyes, Elora kills Price in a forest south of the village The wood elf carefully hides the body in the undergrowth. Now unencumbered by meddlesome churchmen, the company continues on to Port Sovereign, hoping to hear nothing more of the matter.

The group pays Josiah Fleetwood a little visit in the wake of the run-in with the Inquisition. Not expecting for his revenge to backfire so spectacularly, Fleetwood is easily intimidated into fleeing, tail between legs, to the church to beg for the Inquisition to be called off.

Elora spies on the shopkeeper and confirms that Fleetwood does indeed go to Bishop Vinci Ventura to have the clerical trial suspended. The bishop consents, but charges Fleetwood for the church's troubles, "There is a great deal of paperwork involved, Josiah. As a faithful son of the church, I'm sure you won't-a mind helping-a shoulder the burden." At this point, Vernon leaves the party to recover the golden sickle from its new owner, in Cape Firth. The far less pleasant Vilius Greymantle falls in with the group instead of the druid.

Vilius Greymantle.

"Black damn, but I am a shitty wizard. I'm not too bad a thief, though, even after all these years. Kick me out of the academy would they? Well, now they know that, sometimes, it's better not to cross someone. Too bad the locks they put on the library were so easy to pick. I took what I thought would be useful before I put the rest of those crumbling old books and scrolls to the torch. I don't think anyone was hurt in the blaze, but it will take them a few decades to replace most of those tomes. In any case, I skipped town and I've been looking over my shoulder ever since." Vilius was born in Ratcatcher Alley, in one of the worst slums in the city. Growing up on the streets, he soon learned how to break into 'abandoned' buildings and make off with a few choice items that might be worth a few silvers. Eventually, following the still-glowing embers of a childish notion that he wanted to be a wizard, he amassed enough coin to pay for a year's tuition at the Arcane Academy. Unfortunately, Vilius wasn't a fast learner and while he managed to grasp a handful of cantrips, the tutors didn't think him trustworthy enough to handle any proper spells, after a year of study. This doubt proved well-founded when he broke into the library, stole enough scrolls and spell books to cobble together a working spell book of his own, and then set the place ablaze. Vilius fled the city long, long ago now, but surely those wizards, or their students, would be keen to run into him again and see justice done. Vilius, on the other hand, resents how his magical career has been such a grind, to the extent that he avoids casting spells if he can. It makes him feel useless. That said, while he makes a modest living stealing from the gullible and conning people out of their honest gold, if he had a chance to get hold of true magical power, there's no telling what he'd be prepared to do. The dying mayor of Port Sovereign, the once great fighter, Giles Cartness, has accrued a vast, vast fortune, well in excess of a million gold pieces, in his younger, questing days. With this, he bought a handsome estate outside of Port Sovereign. Rather than bequeath this to his somewhat feckless son, Giles decided to write three cryptic riddles. Whoever correctly answers these will inherit the Cartness Estate. The party decides to try its luck in solving the first of the riddles:

"In youth the writer played within this town; the minstrel wrote the tales of no renown.

19th and 20th were the device;

The mad God here, his followers did entice." The company finds out that the dying Mayor heard about the party's good work in dealing with the Blue Stain, near the Sacred Grove. If it can further prove itself by helping weaken the hobgoblins on the south of the island, Then the Cartness Estate will reward the group by giving them hints that could help them solve the first riddle.

Travelling to Quarry Hill, a town built during a coal and slate mining boom no longer in living memory, the party meets Sheriff Bartholomew Wright. He's the poor soul tasked with keeping Port Sovereign's laws in the town and he enjoys no respect in Quarry Hill, as he's not been able to deal with a local gang of robbers: Dobie's Mad Dogs. This band gets its name from the wolves which accompany them on raids, as well as its viciousness. Unfortunately, Sheriff Wright is the only person in the town who was taking the threat posed by the hobgoblins seriously.

A local branch of the Gladstone Bank is hidden in some old mine works near the town. This secretive, centuries-old, world-spanning organisation could free up huge funds to hire mercenaries against the hobgoblins. As luck - or bad luck depending on your point of view - would have it a clerk from the bank, Rhovanor Tithebond, has been captured by the Mad Dogs. With the opportunity of redeeming the sheriff and winning the favour of the bank in play, The group sets off for a showdown with the Mad Dogs. Again, avoiding outright bloodshed, the company negotiate the release of Tithebond,

Gaining entrance to the magically-hidden branch of the bank, the party returns the Gladstone Bank colleague to his fellow elves. Meeting with the incredibly aged dwarven elder in charge of the branch, the party are able to secure funds for the forthcoming conflict with the hobgoblins. But money and mercenaries will not be enough.

Thanks for watching! Subscribe to follow the unfolding adventure. Thanks also to the great Callathiforay players, past and present, for their characters' backstories and for their role in creating the game world. Thanks also to Neothemod, the player of Garry Akatosh, for his incredibly generous gift of the microphone used to record this video. The difference between the previous Callathiforay story video and this one is so obvious, I may need to re-record the last one. Please check out Neo's channel to help me say "thank you" to him.