The Old Lands - Session 8 - 5/5/25

Oberyn stands at the edge of a wind-blasted cliff, overlooking the broken skyline of Kartotem. Below, burned homes and a shattered ceremonial spire reveal the scars of Beau Abernathy’s raid.

Campaign Arc: Titan’s Reckoning
Location: Kartotem (the Moving City) within the Ferrous Mountains – Oberyn’s Homeland

🧩 Key Moments from Session 8

• Oberyn returned to find his homeland desecrated and disarmed.
• Samson confirmed to be alive and imprisoned beneath the Ceremonial Hall.
• The Maul of Light and Mindpiercer Helm were confirmed stolen by Beau Abernathy.
• Oberyn earned the Elders’ conditional support after a tense negotiation.
• Grim and Stevia infiltrated the Stone Weavers Guild; Oberyn rescued miners.
• Stevia read a page from the Book of Vile Darkness, suffering damage and madness.
• Stevia infiltrated the warlock cathedral and successfully sabotaged the Mind Binder Obelisk.
• A magical dome activated over the ceremonial hall, sealing Samson deeper within.

🩸 Ceremony of Shadows

With the mountains of his birth behind him, Oberyn Stoneveil returned to a homeland scarred by betrayal. The once-honorable traditions of his Goliath clan had been fractured by Varrik the Hollow’s backstabbing rise to power and Orinthal the Dreadbound’s descent into warlock pacts. Now, the land was silenced by fear, and hope lay in chains beneath the Ceremonial Hall—in the form of Samson, Oberyn’s uncle figure and his father’s most loyal advisor.

But Samson wasn’t just imprisoned. He was bound—spiritually tethered to a corrupted guardian, hidden deep within a fortified shrine protected by three supernatural defenses:

• The Voidforge Gate
• The Mind Binder Obelisk
• A Corrupted Ancestor Idol, summoned through Orinthal’s warlock rites

To challenge these protections, the party moved on multiple fronts—diplomatic, strategic, and arcane.

🧱 Winning Factions, Winning Trust

The group identified three key factions whose support would be vital in a rebellion:

• The Warborn – elite fighters now scattered or loyal to Varrik
• The Stone Weavers Guild – masters of infrastructure, weapons, and logistics
• The Elders’ Council – political and spiritual figureheads

A meeting with Elder Vaughn was secured. Despite the council’s hesitation, Oberyn’s passionate appeals and promises to rescue Samson swayed Vaughn to grant cautious support—conditional on results.

Meanwhile, Grim and Stevia posed as “investors” to gain access to the Stone Weavers Guild. Their cover held thanks to deft social maneuvering and misdirection, but it was Oberyn’s dramatic rescue of trapped miners during a tunnel collapse that truly won the guild’s respect.

🧠 Planning the Sabotage

Scouting revealed the Mind Binder Obelisk functioned as a leyline-powered enchantment node—likely warping thought, triggering defenses, and communicating magically with Orinthal’s forces. The group agreed that sabotaging this tower would be key to freeing Samson.

Oberyn recognized the warlock magic was leyline-dependent, and Stevia remembered the party’s Void Keystone—a relic with anti-leyline properties. It could disable the obelisk if embedded at its core.

But with danger mounting and time short, the party shifted course: rather than sending Morrigan, Stevia would infiltrate the ceremonial complex herself.

📜 Skin, Secrets, and Madness

Before departing, Stevia’s Bag of Holding grew unnaturally warm. Inside, she found a page from the Book of Vile Darkness—a thin membrane of skin covered in whispering glyphs and arcane visions. Stevia chose to read it.

The result was catastrophic and enlightening. She suffered 18 radiant damage and descended briefly into madness, but emerged with insight: the leyline lattice beneath the ceremonial hall was vulnerable to void interference. The Void Keystone would work.

🎭 Stevia’s Infiltration

Disguised beneath a robe and hiding her half-plate, Stevia approached the chaotic warlock-held church. She lit a sentimental letter as a false offering and mimicked the prayers of earth spirits to blend in with the crowd. A nearby cat served as a final distraction to slip her past the gates.

Navigating through boisterous congregants and confusing chants, Stevia succeeded on a three-stage skill challenge. She located the obelisk tower, scaled its stone frame, and reached the core.

There, she embedded the Void Keystone.

A burst of arcane distortion pulsed through the air. The Mind Binder Obelisk was disabled. Its magic stuttered and fell dark—for now.

Stevia escaped out a window and into the moat, evading guards drawn away by illusion magic she had triggered earlier. Soaking wet and visibly shaken, she returned to the party. The mission was a success.

🔒 The Gate and the Chains

The sabotage came at a cost. As the Mind Binder fell, a new defense activated: a glowing magical dome now sealed the Ceremonial Hall in a bubble of warded containment.

Worse, the Voidforge Gate remained locked, and the Corrupted Ancestor Idol—a summoned guardian animated by warlock blood—stood ready to defend Samson’s prison.

But morale was rising. The party had:

• Secured Elder Vaughn’s support
• Earned trust in the Stone Weavers Guild
• Disabled a key magical defense
• And confirmed Samson’s exact location

“If we don’t get to Samson soon,” Oberyn said, fists clenched, “we lose more than a friend. We lose the voice of the old ways.”

🏛 Political Intel

• The Clan is Ripe for Rebellion: Recent deaths, spiritual desecration, and military losses have left the homeland fractured and volatile.
• Elder Vaughn’s Conditional Support Secured: Samson’s rescue is the lynchpin for gaining full elder backing.
• The Warborn and Stone Weavers are Crucial Swing Factions: The guild leans pro-party after Oberyn’s miner rescue. The Warborn remain an open front.
• Lieutenant Odin Hall Must Be Eliminated: The party intends to target Odin Hall to cripple Orinthal’s logistical command.

🪓 Artifact Lore

• The Maul of Light (Godseye): Stolen during Abernathy’s raid. Its loss stripped the tribe of spiritual and military might.
• The Mindpiercer Helm (Cipher): Stolen by Bert Davidson, then repurposed in a ritual that sacrificed his son. The Helm was later taken by Beau Abernathy during the same raid and remains missing.
• Void Keystone: A leyline-disrupting relic successfully used by Stevia to disable the Mind Binder Obelisk.

🗣 Notable Quotes

• Stevia: “It’s not ink… it’s skin… and the stars are bleeding.”
• Grim: “We’re infiltrating a warlock cathedral with a voidstone and a prayer. Great.”
• Morrigan: “I’ll get in, drop the stone, and disappear. That’s the job.”
• Oberyn: “This isn’t about reclaiming a throne. It’s about reclaiming our honor.”
• Elder Vaughn: “We remember the old blood. But we remember the bloodshed too. Don’t come to us with fire unless you can bring the rain.”
• Orinthal (as described by the DM): “Let the ancestors scream. Their voices only make the pact stronger.”
• DM: “The Maul of Light was more than a weapon. It was our dawn. And now it sits in the hands of a butcher.”
• Guild Miner: “Stoneveil pulled us from the dust. Maybe he’s not as dead as we thought.”
• Stevia (returning from the moat): “Soaked. Shaken. But still not dead.”

Stevia kneels before an open bag of holding, her face illuminated by the sickly glow of a leathery page unfolding in the air. Arcane runes swirl around her, distorting reality. Her eyes widen as her skin begins to glow—and crack—from the radiant backlash.

Deep beneath stone and spellwork, Samson is shown shackled in shadow. Faint light filters down from above, illuminating runes and spirit-binding threads that connect him to a monstrous guardian nearby—its face veiled, its posture watchful.