Cazzo Seeks Freedom
Our intrepid heroes gathered at the Cat's Cradle in Whiteclyff, heeding the call of the proprietor, Cazzo Frieneli. Having survived for many years constantly feeding the Black Blade, Cazzo was growing weary and sickly from its effects. Like an addiction, each time he fed the blade by slicing his hand and allowing it to drink his blood, it continued to hunger for more. Cazzo selected Aphelion, Kanto, Sweet Summerchild, Sulla, and his old companion Bree the Dragon Slayer for this task. They knew not as to where they should begin and so, on a whim, Sweet suggested they roll out a map, and let the fates decide. The dagger flipped, and tumbled through the air and pierced a point on the map, Mount Cinder, a dormant volcano in the Wyrmsoke Mountains.
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| The Cat's Cradle Taverna |
Into the Wyrmsmokes
The party set out by boat at dawn the next day down river. Upon reaching their intended shoreline, they were set upon by a small squad of Hobgoblins and Bugbears. Before being defeated one of them stated "Let me fight and die so that I may be by Hruggek's side." Aphelion jogged her memory and remembered that Hruggek is worshipped by bugbears, and is an exarch of Bane. At the mention of Bane Cazzo let out a high-pitched cackle that deeply unsettled our heroes. Cazzo was completely unawares as to what happened, but something was going on.
That night, Cazzo dreamt a terrible nightmare, that he had murdered his entire party while they slept, and was revelling in the bloodbath. On the second night, he experienced more phenomenon. He thought he saw his daughter, Amelia, leading him through the shadowed woods at the foot of Mount Cinder. After an exhausting hike led by Kanto, they assumed he had been hallucinating, but she had in fact led him to obsidian doors, leading into the volcano.
Hot Blooded
After heaving the heavy doors open, the party went inside. They could hear the girl calling "Come in! Help me! Come in!" They proceeded. The short, hot tunnel slowly began to be lined with sliced appendages, all of which had clean, sharp cuts to them. They steeled themselves and proceeded, sensing an evil, fiendish presence within.
Across a rickety wooden bridge was a large, circular obsidian platform. Surrounding it about 40 feet down, was molten magma. At its center was an obsidian dais and upon it, lie Amelia, bound with invisible chains. The party soon discovered this to be an illusion, however, and damage inflicted upon Amelia or the dais was inflicted upon Cazzo. Within his own mind, Cazzo heard a voice that spoke within his mind, "You need to kill her Cazzo, its either you or her..." the blade was speaking to him. Making his choice, Cazzo chose his family over himself, and cast the blade into the depths. A horrible, burning, incineration began on Cazzo as he was burned by his connection to the blade. Though destroyed, so was Anton Frieneli.
Like The Phoenix
As the party sullenly headed back to Whiteclyff, the party continued to witness atrocities. The corpse of Cazzo began to animate. It sat up where it lie, and the charred, burned flesh cracked away, revealing a white mask of madness and joy. Blasting the awakened companions with a spell of fear, the being caused a rock slide upon himself. After desperately searching for the entity beneath the rocks, there was nothing that remained. Something was loosed upon this realm, the extent of which is not yet known...
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