The Erovast Codex

2026.10.06#

Summary#

Azrith’s player was absent this session. The GM voiced Azrith in his place, and another player was ready to run his sheet if combat broke out (none did). The GM framed the session as a continuation of the party’s charge in Havenport: lay low, discover what lies beyond the black veil, learn the truth of what happened to House Westermere, and find the source of Havenport’s restless dead. Source: Transcript.

The session picked up in the Westermere Manor undercroft, where Azrith had just told Aldric that he met the ghost of Aldric’s mother, Eleanor Gray. Aldric didn’t quite believe it: it is hard to believe news about someone you never really knew, and “there could be literally any other red people out there.” The GM pointed out that Eleanor had described her son as a red tiefling named Aldrick of Havenport, which seemed to check out. Cassian teased that Azrith was a goblin, and Azrith insisted he was not. Source: Transcript.

The party turned to the veil. Odine Dunmere recalled that it had reacted to her radiant magic, which comes from cleric spells she learned through the Magic Initiate feat. The GM allowed Arcana, Nature or Insight, and let Cassian roll Religion because of his celestial (aasimar) heritage. Cassian rolled a 24 and Odine rolled a natural 20 on Insight. Studying the wall closely, never touching it for more than a few moments, Odine concluded that this wall of necrotic force has two ways through:

  • Breaking the door down: a divine smite so great it surpasses the damage threshold of what seems to be an alien, near-infinite necrotic power source. The GM said this was probably beyond the party, short of a very good prayer to a god.
  • Knocking: the veil will invite them in, but at a price. It wants life force. Together the party must offer 10 hit points of maximum health: not temporary hit points or wounds, but life itself. The cost can be shared among them.

Odine told the others it wanted a sacrifice, “a pound of flesh, your weight in gold, you name it.” Cassian wanted to find another way, and Aldric offered up “the goblin.” Odine said the only thing she had ever sensed more powerful than the veil was the thing that comes to her village. Source: Transcript.

Cassian suggested asking Sir Ian Wren (Ian) upstairs, and the party climbed to the manor’s Oath Gate. They found Ian dozing in a chair tipped back against the wall. When Cassian cleared his throat twice, Ian startled and fell forward with a clatter, and Odine gave him water. “It’s not the darkness,” he said, “the loneliness that gets to you, although I suppose the loneliness brings about a whole other darkness with it.” Ian gently scolded them for going down to the undercroft against his counsel. He explained that the Oathkeepers have ordered him not to go down there because of incidents of missing persons. He is stationed to man the Oath Gate, and “the last thing the Oathkeepers need is old Ian falling into the ethereal realm on accident.” He said what they needed was a paladin. King Aldrich could have done it, “but alas, we know what became of him”, and Odine replied that she had seen the statue. Ian knew no mortal with enough divine power to smite the wall: “If the order of the Oathkeepers knew someone who knew a guy that could smite that wall, we wouldn’t have already done it?” The Oathkeepers know the wall exists. Source: Transcript.

Aldric hinted that the party might know something about the missing people and asked Ian whether he believed in ghosts. Ian said that is why he wears his amulet: it keeps ghosts from coming near him, so lending it out would leave him exposed. Odine pleaded with him (Persuasion 13, failed); she did not want him to break his oath. She told him Azrith had jumped through a void and met an entity on the other side, Aldric’s mother (“allegedly,” Aldric added, while Azrith protested “doesn’t anybody believe me?”). That spirit had told them a very powerful force behind the veil is causing all the issues in the area. Odine called it “a new, returned evil” that they must stand against “in the name of King Aldrich.” When Ian asked why she believed a divine smite was the only way, she said she was in tune with something she could not explain. Ian answered: “If it is truly fated by the gods, then I imagine you will all find a way to get through it.” Source: Transcript.

The party argued about what to do. Cassian asked whether they would have to kill whatever was beyond the veil and pay the price again to get out. Azrith said Aldric’s mom had told them they have to kill it. Cassian and Aldric questioned whether Eleanor was really Aldric’s mother. Odine accused the two of being too self-preserving and “called in the favor”: she had followed Cassian into the tourney, and now she asked them to follow her through the wall. Cassian said he couldn’t leave Odine and Azrith on their own, and Aldric joked that Azrith needed a leash. Cassian then talked everyone into one quick drink at the Salt House first, and Odine gave them “three hours.” Source: Transcript.

At the Salt House, which was unchanged since they had left half an hour earlier, Edith Rooke served Cassian and Aldric pints of Harbor Gose at 3 copper each. It is a light ale with a briny taste; the locals salt their ale. As the Havenport saying goes: “The first one tastes like the harbor, but the second one tastes like home.” Odine was too unsettled to eat or drink, and Azrith sighed that he just wanted to go hunt ghosts. Source: Transcript.

Odine found Mauve Marigold in a study next to the tavern, reviewing the ledgers; Mauve is the Salt House’s bookkeeper and wears half-moon spectacles. At the table, Odine said they had spoken with Samantha Westermere again and that an entity behind the veil is causing all of this. Mauve mused that “there may be a reason Blackwood sent you to me after all. He sure does know how to measure his bets.” Odine said Duke Tristan Blackwood has plans within plans. Mauve told them what Havenport has already tried. Priests and priestesses have prayed at the veil, studied it and tried to bless the undercroft’s burial site, with no result. A hedge mage from House Corwyn once spent three days throwing every trick he knew at it, and “the veil didn’t so much as flutter.” Havenport has no fighters or standing militia, only civilians hardened by their surroundings. Source: Transcript.

Cassian asked whether the townsfolk would give a small portion of their life to save the people they love (Persuasion 22). Mauve looked at Edith, at her nurse (Hesta Cole) carrying the sick in the next room, and at the patrons. Then she said that if blood is what they need, she is likely the only one willing to help. Odine asked about borrowing their curse-healer. Mauve said she is still developing in that area and is too busy: “we may lose another life this evening.” Mauve told them that whatever lies behind the wall has concealed the truth well, and that no one has given it what it asks for, “and for good reason.” “Despite Blackwood’s conniving ways… I have no such expectation of you all.” She said she would be eternally grateful if they defeated whatever creates the undead that haunt her town, but it would not be fair to ask strangers to sacrifice their life force. Cassian suggested, as a last resort, asking the dying Wither victims to give their life force, since they would not survive anyway. Mauve refused; it wouldn’t be right to ask it of them either. Odine asked Mauve to make sure nothing escapes if the party isn’t back within two hours, and Mauve agreed. The GM described the Salt House’s patrons watching the adventurers with “curiosity and hope mixed with years of seasoned disappointment.” Cassian called it cynicism. Source: Transcript.

Odine clasped her necklace and said she was ready. Aldric agreed to come; he has to find out whether the ghost stories about his mother are real. Azrith agreed too, “as long as I get to kill the ghost.” Cassian joked that Aldric, named after King Aldrich in his own hometown, could become the next king by saving Havenport. On the way back up, Cassian rolled Investigation hoping to stumble on a level 20 paladin (10) and found only a shepherd in meager clothes with a belled fainting goat, which keeled over when Cassian approached. Aldric was charmed by it. Odine tried to steady Cassian: “this doesn’t feel permanent,” and they may later find someone who can restore what is taken. She told him she trusts the way he fights, though Cassian protested that he runs from every fight. Odine said she would give all of it herself if she had to, but asked him not to leave them. Cassian promised not to abandon “the Crushing Crusaders”: “we have a tournament to win.” Source: Transcript.

The GM put the price in narrative terms: about a year of life force shared among the four, roughly three months each if split evenly. Aldric offered up to 5 hit points, and Odine offered 5 as well. Cassian declined to decide that night and proposed they sleep at the Salt House and return in the morning with fresh minds. Odine agreed but vowed to go up tomorrow “with or without you”, and Cassian answered that it would be “with”. Odine asked Azrith not to disappear in the night, and he grudgingly agreed to save the ghost hunting for tomorrow. The session ended with the party back at the Salt House for the night, the veil still unbreached. Source: Transcript.

Open Threads#

  • Passing the black veil: Odine’s natural 20 revealed two ways through: a massive divine smite, or “knocking” by sacrificing 10 HP of maximum hit points of shared life force (narratively about a year of life split among the four). Aldric and Odine have each offered 5. The party will decide in the morning. See Confront the Spirit Behind the Black Veil.
  • What lies beyond: Eleanor says a powerful force behind the veil is behind Havenport’s troubles. Whether killing it is required, and whether leaving costs life force again, is unknown. See The Spirit Behind the Veil.
  • Ian and the Oathkeepers: The order knows the veil exists, has forbidden Ian from entering the undercroft because of missing persons, and knows no one who could smite the wall. Ian’s ghost-warding amulet stays with him.
  • Mauve’s offer: Mauve is willing to give her own blood if needed, but asks nothing of the party. She will check on the manor if they are not back in two hours. See Havenport.
  • Is Eleanor really Aldric’s mother? Aldric and Cassian remain skeptical. Aldric wants to find out for himself.
  • Blackwood’s bet: Mauve now suspects Blackwood sent the party specifically to deal with the veil.

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