The Ageless Promise

The Winter Wolves are visited by Raigo, who leads them to the Redroof district, one of the hardest hit by the destruction during the Kintargo revolt. There they enter what looks like a tunnel dug into the rock, which soon descends into the depths of the earth and, after a long and convoluted series of turns and changes of direction, leads them into a kind of wide cavern carved into the earth. Inside it stands a great temple of unknown architecture. On the steps they find a corpse, at most a few months old, with a letter referring to something in the temple and to a previous investigation that went badly. Sigurd immediately senses that in this place the barrier between the realm of the dead and that of the living is very thin: he can hear many echoes of voices and can even see the spirit of Helga, Astrid’s aunt, beside her. Astrid herself feels her aunt close by, without needing to concentrate as she usually does to communicate with her. Raigo urges caution, and our heroes enter the temple, greeted by a strange statue of some deity or important figure that no one recognises.

Inside the temple they find the bodies of the three kidnapped people: Miz, Mirelle and the fisherman. Their spirits float above them, clearly visible and doubly chained: one chain binds them to their bodies, the other to a large green crystal in the middle of the room. As soon as our heroes enter the hall they are attacked by these spirits, which are easily defeated by the clever Ulfar, who target the chains binding them to the crystal. Shortly after, the spirit of Barzillai appears and begins to attack the group. The fight is short, but the danger of the spectre lies in its ability to control its opponents, as Astrid unfortunately learns the hard way. After Freya deals the finishing blow, the spectre comes apart entirely, leading Sigurd to realise that it was not really an undead spirit, but something closer to a memory that had taken shape. Barzillai then vanishes into thin air, and all that remains of him is his mace, which becomes physical and falls to the ground.

Before leaving the place the group also finds another corpse, older than the one outside and with clear traces of residual necromantic magic. On the way back the group notices a shadow watching them and, recognising something similar to what they faced in the village of Mistreach at the start of their adventure, the Ulfar decide to leave the city soon instead of waiting for the end of winter.

Back on the surface Raigo congratulates the group and, before leaving, says they will meet again to discuss their respective missions.

The group then goes home, bringing the kidnapped people they rescued to the People’s Temple, where they are also told that the memory of Barzillai will return unless his weapon is buried in consecrated ground for a year and a day. Freya reluctantly agrees to hand over the weapon, which she had wanted to keep as a battle trophy.

The next day the Wolves visit the people they rescued: Miz seems to have recovered, though the signs that part of his life energy is gone are evident. They meet Maz, his daughter, who rewards Freya for saving her father’s life with a magic fey coin. Mirelle is awake, but her face is disfigured, while Benjen the fisherman has not yet woken up.

The group then begins preparing to set off again.

NPCs

Raigo Ayuwara, Helga, Barzillai Thrune, Miz Falounduche, Maz, Mirelle Cossard, Benjen