We had a one-session break in the superhero game we're playing, so I filled in with a return to Krevborna to advance the players nearer a goal one of them have set. I prepped just about the perfect amount of material for a single session, I gotta say.
Characters
Willard Corn, a man of mystery looking for his three-legged dog
Panthalassa, necromantic dinosaur summoner with a grudge
Garazi, precocious witch with a possibly dark destiny
Heck, revenant out for revenge against witchhunters
Daytona, dhampir gunslinger always along for the ride
Khamaat, ancient mummy revived for unknown purposes
Events
The characters all emerged from a mental haze within a forested grove--with no idea how they had gotten there. It was night, and moonlight shone down from a gap in the trees. Khamaat had a vague memory of an unknown bearded old man putting his hands on her and Willard's shoulders as they did research at the university library at Creedhall, but everything else was fuzzy.
Peeking out of a gap between trees, they saw a downward slope leading to a long rectangular building. In front of the main door were six figures wearing bronze breastplates and bearing longswords; they stood beside a gnarled old tree. From the skull masks they wore, they were likely members of the Fraternitie du Cadavre.
Willard's attempt to approach the figures peacefully failed--they drew their swords and attacked! Additionally, the gnarled tree uprooted itself and joined in the fray. Their foes hit hard, but the party hit harder--although the armored guards were undead, they fell to the group's weapons and the animate tree was left little more than a burning stump. Panthalassa had summoned two raptors, and though they took down the tree, they were stuck to its sap-bleeding wounds as they also expired.
Now able to enter the building they saw that its name was etched in the stone above the doorway: GELDINGSTONE.
Garazi summoned Txori to scout the available windows so they an idea of what to expect in the rooms inside. In the library, among the theological works on the shelves, Panthalassa found one volume that just had a series of numbers on the spine as a "title." Removing it caused a section of the shelving to shift aside, revealing what appeared to be a small dungeon cell. The book was full of equations, but one--31-3=28-- was circled every few pages. It also matched a scrap of paper Panthalassa found in her pocket.
In the nearby office, they found a ledger with a list of boys' names and dates from long ago. Moving aside a painting revealed eyeholes that could be used to look into the next room unobserved. The room appeared to be a dormitory of monk-like cells.
When they entered the dormitory they discovered that hanging behind the desk was an iron rod and a number of switches. They also found a loose floorboard, under which was an old, folded-up piece of paper that read "Meet me by the tree tonight. Bring the book." in a childish scrawl.
In other rooms they found evidence of the Fraternitie du Cadavre's necromantic activities, such as bones laid out on work surfaces and a room with tables full of preserved meat. Heck smashed the skeletons to prevent future animation attempts. While the destruction occurred, Willard remembered the bearded man telling him that there were Vlaak in Geldingstone and that the Vlaak definitely remembered who he was--as it turns out, Willard Corn is something of a bogeyman to the Vlaak.
Additionally, Garazi remembered being paid a visit by a woman who kept one of her hands conspicuously out of sight.
As the ventured further into Geldingstone, three Cadavre cultists exited a room with their hands up. They just wanted to leave in peace, but Panthalassa wasn't having it--she summoned raptors and set them upon the three men, wrecking an unholy slaughter in revenge for them cutting off her arm months ago.
In the chapel, the uncovered the origins of the name Geldingstone. They found an ornate chair, with a hole cut out of the seat, that was used for turning boys into castrati for the Church's choirs.
Before they were killed, the three surrendering cultists had told the group that the key to the door they wanted was being guarded by a skinless monstrosity in the basement, so that's where they headed next. Wounding the creature caused it to expel a red mist that flooded the room; those within the mist found their vitality sapped. The skinless man killed every minion Panthalassa sent against it; each time it killed one it peeled a strip of skin from its victim, consumed it, and healed its wounds.
The group did eventually prevail, and they could see the key they needed within its corpse, but the mist still pervaded the room so they retreated for the moment. Heck eventually decided to draw upon his undead vigor and run in to grab the key, wrenching it from the corpse.
The key unlocked a chamber with a vast stone archway--the center of it was pure black. When they passed through the archway, they found themselves in a strange place. The ground beneath their feet was black. Emerging from a cave, they saw a fortress in the distance and heard the beating of great wings overhead.
They were now on the fabled Shadow Moon.
