Land of the Remembered

M assembled the party in his office to brief them on their next mission. "You're headed to a dark gnome colony," he explained. "The Gold Dwarves have successfully invaded the Silver Dwarves and as part of their surrender, the Silver Dwarves have signed away all colonies to the Gold Dwarves. Since then, the Gold Dwarves have appointed tyrannical governors over the colonies. You will go to the largest dark gnome colony, find someone there who can lead the people into rebellion, and help him rouse his people to revolt against the Gold Dwarves."

The party departed the Spessartite capital and headed to Ginudukadvo- the largest dark gnome colony. The party first stopped at the port city of Kostdaldeko and met with the local governor. He explained a renegade known only as "Z" has been terrorizing the governor at the capital city.

"We're bounty hunters," Neith bluffed. "We've been hired by the Gold Dwarf Emperor himself to track down this renegade and bring him in dead or alive."

The bluff paid off and the coastal governor welcomed the party to travel with a battalion of infantry headed to the capital to assist the governor there in arresting Z. The party arrived at the capital to find the people in distress. They found the local sports arena where athletes played some type of ball sport where they attempted to thrust a ball into a hoop suspended from the wall. Neith joined in on the game and successfully knocked the ball through the hoop. The athletes invited Neith and her party to join them after the game at the local cantina. At the cantina, Mistahimaskwa found an aristocratic Silver Dwarf- a relic of the past when the Silver Dwarves had control- and met him outside to speak in private about Z.

The aristocrat pointed to a mounted dwarf behind Mistahimaskwa. The black-clad dwarf spoke with the dark elf about his purpose and about the chance of a rebellion.

"These people will not follow a dwarf," Z told Mistahimaskwa. "They need a dark gnome- one of their own- to strike the match."

Z explained there was one such dark gnome who could lead Ginudikadvo in a revolution, but he has not been seen for many weeks. He departed for the old mission outside of town, and went missing.

Mistahimaskwa, his party, and Z travelled to the mission where the dark gnome wizard Giza Gaztelua went missing. The party entered the abandoned grounds where Mistahimaskwa sensed a great and disturbing chill. A single stone statue appeared behind Bonastre. Ruban changed form to scout the area for the missing wizard. Z disappeared to search for the priest in the ruins. Neith spotted two more stone statues appearing to draw closer with every blink of the eyes.

Ruban flew to a nearby cave where he trapped a stone statue with a circle of mirrors. He searched himself for information about the statue and found it was a gargoyle- a demon that changes into the form of a statue when a living being looks upon it. Ruban cast a spell of protection on himself and disolved the mirrors to interogate the demon. After a rousing speech of half-informed politics, Ruban drove the beast to commit suicide- discovering the necessary steps to defeating the gargoyls.

Ruban returned to the mission to help his allies defeat the gargoyles, but his half-informed speech on women's rights drove the gargoyles to send Mistahimaskwa, Bonastre, and Neith to the Land of the Remembered- the Southern Dark Elf dimension of the dead whose friends and family still remember them. The three dead party members took part in a great festival in the dimesnion before meeting with Unayehisidi, the lord of the dead. He escorted them, Z, and the missing wizard out of the Land of the Remembered after explaining they were lucky to arrive on the one day of the year where the souls of the dead could return to the land of the living.

The party returned to the capital where they sensed some being watching their movements. They asked Bonastre if it was the Spessartites who explained a folktale boys in his hometown used to tell about a warehouse where historical artifacts of great power were stored. The party attempted to channel the being watching them via a pet ocelot Neith had recently acquired. The ocelots eyes burst into flame and it dropped dead to the floor.

The party decided it was in their best interest to abandon the Spessartite missions, go into hiding with the dark elves, and attempt to find the origin of the dark magic watching them.