Weekly Faalor Game (July 9th)

Faalor - The Bridalveil Incident (Or: Faalor - The Ending So Nice, We Used it Twice!)

With the help of the leader of the Vistani, Madam Thaloshi, the party was able to escape the Dreamscape. Shortly afterwards, our session began, with both groups in their respective locations preparing for the journey to Bridalveil. Those in the Gundar party were a bit skeptical as to the reality of the Dreamscape, although the arrival of the other party, as planned at the end of the Dreamscape encounter, helped to alievate some of those beliefs.

The party, united (if you can call their interaction 'unity') once again, made their way towards Bridalveil. On their way, they encountered a Dwarf, also on his way to Bridalveil. Knowing what lie in wait there, the party brought him along. Just outside the Bridalveil swamp, they found that Xorkazz and his two agents, Llywyth and Grugmort, had ambushed the Vistani they were to meet and ally with. A quick fight finished off Llywyth and Grugmort, but Xorkazz was able to escape, and Madam Thaloshi was mortally wounded in the fight. With her last breath, she told them there was little time and they must hurry. Grugmort, the Dwarven agent of Xorkazz, also happened to be the brother their newfound Dwarf ally was searching for in Bridalveil. Some well-chosen words by the party kept the Dwarf by their side, although he appeared to be skeptical of their explanation.

Passing through the swamp, the party arrived in the remains of Bridalveil and began exploring, fighting their way pasts Wisp-creatures that had made the place their home. Some exploring revealed a mirror in the swamp similar to the ones encountered in the Dreamscape - one of the party members attacked and destroyed this mirror, perhaps because the mirrior in the Dreamscape had shown a vision of the party's death.

The exploring continued, with the party entering an abandoned Dwarven hall after passing through an acidic lake. Several doors within the hall were locked, however, so the party was forced to retreat. Around this time, the Mists filling the remains of Bridalveil began to gradually thicken, likely a side effect of Xorkazz's spell weakening the barrier between Faalor and Ravenloft. Also, one of the party members vanished into a mist-filled tunnel near the Dwarven hall, after having left the party due to personal conflicts. This tunnel apparently led to a small area of Ravenloft.

Once more in Bridalveil, the party continued their exploration and found the old mayor's house. Within, they found the re-animated corpse of the mayor, who they gave final rest too, and recovered several keys to the doors within the Dwarven hall. Exploration of the hall revealed Undead Dwarves, several keys, and an undead priest of Adrahil who held yet another key.

With only one place left to search, the party made their way to the crypt. Around this time their new Dwarven ally stumbled into the same Mist tunnel that the other party member had discovered. While the party used their new keys to explore the crypt, the two party members now trapped in Ravenloft searched for a way to return, eventually discovering a small temple. After a brief conversation, they managed to slay the inhabitants and return to Bridalveil using a portal in the temple, although not before one of them was bitten by a vampire.

Meanwhile, back in the crypts, the party discovered a key to the Bridalveil college. On their way out, though, they stopped to explore a portal, that led to the same area of Ravenloft the other party members had been trapped in. Here, they encountered the vampire, who killed two of the party members before fleeing into the temple. With one of the fallen members resurrected and the other being carried, the party entered the temple in pursuit of the Vampire. Around this time, the two members who had been in Ravenloft previously had stumbled through the crypt portal and found their way back to the temple. They explained that the way back to Bridalveil was through the temple, and prompty returned, with the vampire having already used the portal.

After another running battle with the vampire, the party went to the old militia barracks to rest and tend to their fallen comrade, who they were able to bring back with some care. Finally, they began to make their way towards the Bridaveil college, once more fighting the vampire and finally slaying her before entering the college. On the college grounds, they encountered a small girl in tears regarding the fate of her home. Some of the party did not believe her story, and attacked her, driving her - or whatever it was - away.

After facing some wandering Undead and some Elven allies of Xorkazz, the party was finally able to breach the lair where Xorkazz was performing his spell using the captured Ravenloft stone, but they were too late - his spell had been completed. They were able to defeat Xorkazz twice - once in his lair, apparently as an illusion and once in the college where he had gained some control over the Undead. Despite his defeat, the Mists around the party grew thicker, until they could no longer see or hear one another...Xorkazz had succeeded, and the continent of Faalor had been drawn into the realm of Ravenloft.

Summary writen by Jas.