Session 07 — The Thorn and the Tooth

Lord Crail dies in his own trophy room with his head off and a fire bolt still smoking out the window, and the party runs for the edge with the artifact, his rings, and his head in a bag. At dawn, in a grove beyond Ashmark, Vivienne puts on the face of a fellow inquisitor and asks the dead man where the heretics' families are kept. He tells her: the ID Seven Correctional Annex, in the Fold. Whether they are still alive "depends on their usefulness." Then Valdren caves his skull in. Half a day north, at the foot of the outer wall, the canton of Farrow sells iron talismans marked with a thorned wreath and a tooth, talks about devils at the doorstep, and warns strangers not to use the lift at night. After dark, EMBR watches twenty people with that same sigil burned into their chests walk north through the streets by candlelight. Some of them are in chains.

Date played: 2026-09-14 System: D&D 5e Duration: ~3h 18m Story: Session 07 — Story

At a Glance

The fight with Lord Crail happened off the recording. Per the GM's recap: Lord Oswin Crail came up to the collection room with a couple of guards flanking him, and the party fought them there while trying not to bring the whole district down on the house. Crail turned out to dabble in magic — he fired a fire bolt out of the window, and crowds started gathering at the gates and in the street. Everyone who drew a blade on the party died. Crail was beheaded and his corpse disemboweled.
The party grabbed everything they could, including a bundle of papers from a nearby desk, and left the way they came in. They went over the fence and ran through alleys, watching for inquisitors. Word was sent ahead that they would need Mira Solbin again, and she smuggled them back out through the Meranthas checkpoint. Everyone leveled up for taking the artifact.
Ashmark, about 3 a.m. In Mira's carriage the party tells her roughly what they did. She is shaken. Lords do not get assassinated, not recently, and how much trouble they are in depends on whether anyone saw their faces. Vivienne shrugs it off: it wouldn't be the first time; we take what we need; this is normal.
EMBR's left eye is now permanently red. He cannot stop staring at the tablet. Jorath wraps it in his cloak. When Valdren pushes EMBR's face away, it swings right back, again and again.
Jorath casts Augury about spending the night in Ashmark. Through the carriage curtain the bright stars say it is a bad idea. He sees a huntress drawing her bow in the constellations and reads it as a sign to move on over the hills. He spends a spell slot to get a wild shape back, the party collects the horses they rented earlier, Valdren calls Argentus, and they ride out of Ashmark in the dark.
Camp in a grove of trees among hilly grass plains. The party takes a long rest. EMBR does not sleep and keeps watch.
EMBR goes for the tablet. Once everyone is asleep he creeps over to Jorath, who has fallen asleep against a tree with the cloak-wrapped artifact in his lap. The pull gets stronger the more EMBR thinks about it. Lefty tells him it would be no problem to just slide it out and hold it for the night. EMBR puts five silver down as payment and forces himself to walk away. He makes the save. He spends the rest of the night on the far side of the camp. Distance helps a little, but the urge keeps coming back like an addiction. Jorath wakes up with five silver in his lap.
Supply planning. The party has almost no money. Jorath has 19 gold, Rookk 3, EMBR two copper, and Valdren nothing. By Harland's journal, Calthar took him a handful of weeks to reach, though the party might go faster with his notes and the artifact. Nobody lives beyond the walls. Rookk remembers Farrow, a canton a few hours north at the foot of the outer wall where travelers resupply.
Jorath sends an animal messenger to Orvin: the party is going beyond the walls and hopes to be back in about a month, and if he hears nothing after a month, he should assume they are dead. There is no way for Orvin to reply.
Speak with Dead. Crail's head is more than twelve hours old and starting to stink. The party writes the questions together, most of them Valdren's. Vivienne uses Disguise Self to become a scarred, weather-beaten male soldier of the Inquisition, sets the head on a stump where it can only see her, and the others hide in the trees. Her cover story: a heretic cast a spell on Crail before she killed him, and that spell is why she can speak to him now. Jorath's Cosmic Omen helps her lie hold.
- Where are the families of the heretics kept? — "They are being kept at a facility, one that only we have access to. ID Seven Correctional Annex. In the Fold."
- Are they still alive? — "Depends on their usefulness."
- Jorath passes her the artifact out of the head's sight. Where did you acquire this, my lord? — An auction decades ago. Travelers from the wastelands had traded everything they owned to the garrison to be brought over the wall. Their belongings were auctioned at one of Crail's friends' private events. "I liked the look of it. So I took it."
- What race were the travelers? — "An assortment of mixed breeds. Couldn't tell you. Not that it matters."
- What does this artifact do? — "Sits on a shelf and looks pretty." He smirks. He paid a lot for it because it looked good.
Valdren ends it. Without a word he flips his war pick to the blunt side, walks up, and crushes the head's skull while it is still smirking. The glow goes out of its eyes. Jorath uses Druidcraft to blow the smell downwind.
Getting over the wall. The GM explains that Caligo is a closed system: the outer wall has no gates, public or private. People come in by underground waterways, where many have drowned, or by giving the garrison everything they own so the troops hoist them over. The lifts belong to the garrison alone. Jorath's new level gives him flying wild shapes, and the first plan is to fly everyone over one at a time as a giant eagle, at night, then wait at the foot of the wall until just before daybreak. The GM works out that even a huge eagle can't lift a horse. Later, in Farrow, Jorath finds that a giant eagle isn't a beast in 5e and settles on a giant bat instead.
The roads north are crawling with patrols, far more than usual and all of them agitated. The party dodges them all the way.
Farrow. A poor farming canton of low stone and wood buildings, with people in rags and houses falling apart. Behind it the wall fills the entire sky. A statue of King Rimalath stands in the square, and people nod to the party as they pass. There is an apothecary, a forge, a general store, and an inn. There is no jeweler.
Vivienne at the apothecary, Crane & Co. Still disguised as a soldier, she tells the tired young owner, Crane, that her mate keeps losing fights. She trades one of Crail's jeweled gold rings for Crane's only two Surgeon's Reserves and a calming draught. Crane offers her an iron talisman marked with a wreath of thorns around a tooth, "pretty good for warding off evil spirits, if you understand me." Vivienne's Arcana check says it is completely mundane, and Crane isn't trying to get more money out of her. When Vivienne says she has nothing to trade for it, Crane gives it to her free, to one of the boys watching the wall.
Valdren looks for signs of the Resistance and finds none. Instead, big iron discs with the thorn-and-tooth mark are nailed above the door of about every other house and shop. Smaller ones sit among the offerings at the base of Rimalath's statue, which look more like offerings at a grave than gifts to a king.
Thompson. An old man with one milky, scarred eye and the same pendant runs into Valdren. He tells him Farrow needs new blood, knocks on his armor, and says Valdren fights because he wants to. About the talisman: people who don't wear one disappear. Nobody knows where. "Not gonna find out neither." The king is a god and he gave them the walls, but "a lot of people overestimate him. There's devils at our doorstep" — and the people of Farrow are helping keep them back. "We could use another one, one way or another."
Bram Hollis at the Hollis & Ren general store. Jorath buys three five-day ration bundles for 6 gold and says they are traveling within the walls; EMBR chips in that they're doing "the old circuit" around the edge. Jorath's deception comes up 17. Hollis tells him outright that the talisman is for people who stay. Farrow is "haunted, but not by ghosts". Guests help just by spending money there. Keeping the devils away is "a tax upon the people, chipping away at us day in, day out." The king's walls are "the children of the king, but we are the first line of defense and seemingly the last." EMBR spends his last two copper on two talismans, one for himself and one for Jorath. When Hollis sees Lefty, he freezes.
Rookk at the Last Lamp. The barkeep can tell he was garrison. Rookk says he is guarding a party that wants to study the Ruined beyond the wall without permission, and pays 3 gold. For that the barkeep tells him about an old maintenance lift nearby, officially broken: take the north road toward the wall where it bends east. His warning: don't use it at night, even though the garrison is up there by day. "The lesser of two evils." He pours Rookk a drink ("if you're gonna do it, do it drunk") and asks him to take a basket of dried meat, spirits, and fresh fruit to a hermit woman who lives alone in a shack along that road. The payment is a free room for the night.
Jorath's second Augury, cast as a ritual over the star chart about staying the night in Farrow, comes back with neither good nor bad.
Hawk scouting. Jorath calls up a hawk with Wild Companion. He and EMBR walk to the edge of town, and at dusk he sends it to the top of the wall. Around 7 p.m. they head back to the inn, and within half an hour the hawk is pecking at the window. It reports two guards every ten feet, alarm bells every twenty, cannons on rails aimed out into the fog, ballistae and crossbows against things that fly, and officers carrying flare guns and long rifles. Rookk confirms this is how the wall is manned: lots of soldiers, not elite ones, with weapons pointed outward at the Ruined rather than at people.
The plan: stay the night, then go north in the morning to look at the wall, meet the hermit, and inspect the lift before deciding. Valdren sleeps in his armor with his war pick in hand. EMBR stands against the door. The hawk perches on Jorath's headboard.
The procession. On a black, moonless night, EMBR sees small flames brightening and fading on the buildings across the street, as if the light were breathing. He creeps to the window (stealth with advantage), trips, and slams his metal palm against the glass. Below, about twenty people walk north in a line. They wear ash-grey sackcloth tunics, and the twisted thorn-and-tooth sigil is burned into each of their chests. Some carry candles. Some are in shackles, chains rattling faintly, and walk like prisoners under escort.
Session ends as several of them turn toward the sound and look up into EMBR's glowing eyes.

Decisions Made

Kill Crail and take his head. (Off the recording.) The party did not stop at robbing Crail. They killed him and brought his head so they could question it later.
Don't stay in Ashmark. Mira's unease and a bad Augury send the party out of the checkpoint canton that same night, at the cost of a night in a real bed.
Wilderness camp instead of another canton. The party has no money and a camp is easier to reach.
EMBR walks away from the tablet. Even with Lefty telling him it's harmless, he leaves the artifact with Jorath and puts the width of the camp between them.
Warn Orvin. A one-way message: gone for a month, assume the worst if they don't come back.
Ask about Valdren's family first. Valdren's questions come first: where the families are and whether they are alive. After that the party asks about the artifact's history and what it does.
Lie to the dead man. Vivienne questions him in the face of a fellow inquisitor and never lets him see the people who killed him.
Valdren gets the last blow. EMBR offers his hammer and Jorath says it should be Valdren. Valdren doesn't say a word.
Sell the jewelry quietly. Valdren gives Crail's rings to Vivienne, since the lie about where they came from matters more than the price, and she trades only one of them.
Keep the diamond. Jorath takes the 500 gp diamond to hold as a bribe instead of selling it.
Plans for the wall. Flying the horses over as a giant eagle is ruled out. No route is chosen yet: in the morning the party will look at the wall, visit the hermit, and inspect the lift, then decide. Valdren argues for going up just before sunrise, and nobody wants to try the wall at night.
Stay in Farrow despite everything. Thompson and Hollis both pushing the Last Lamp and an Augury that says neither good nor bad aren't enough to drive the party out of Farrow at night.

NPCs Encountered

Lord Oswin Crail — Dead. Killed in his collection room off the recording. It turned out he dabbled in magic and cast a fire bolt through his own window. He was beheaded and disemboweled. Questioned the next morning with Speak with Dead, still arrogant twelve hours after dying. He named the ID Seven Correctional Annex in the Fold as the place the heretics' families are kept, said they live as long as they are useful, and said he bought the artifact at a friend's private auction decades ago because it looked pretty. Valdren crushed the skull afterward.
Mira Solbin — Got the party back out through Meranthas and dropped them in Ashmark around 3 a.m. Shaken by what they did. Doesn't know how bad it will get, since nobody has killed a lord like this in a long time.
Orvin — Offscreen. Sent a one-way animal messenger saying the party is leaving the walls for about a month.
Crane — Young, quiet, exacting, exhausted owner of Crane & Co., the Farrow apothecary. Took one of Crail's rings for two Surgeon's Reserves and a calming draught. Thought Vivienne was a new garrison soldier and gave her a thorn-and-tooth talisman as a thank you for your service. She seemed to mean it.
Thompson — Old Farrow man, big and stooped, with one milky, scarred eye, wearing the talisman. Tried to recruit Valdren without quite saying so. Talked about disappearances, devils, and helping the king.
Bram Hollis — Polite, unhurried owner of the Hollis & Ren general store. Sold the rations and two talismans. Said the most about Farrow's "tax" and froze when he saw Lefty.
The Last Lamp barkeep — Older, weathered, fast, always cleaning. Pegged Rookk as ex-garrison at a glance. Sold him the location of the broken maintenance lift, warned against using it at night, and gave him a free room in exchange for delivering a basket.
The hermit woman (not yet met) — Lives alone in a shack along the north road toward the lift. The barkeep says she takes poor care of herself and is no threat to anyone. The party is carrying her basket.
The procession — About twenty people in ash-grey sackcloth with the thorn-and-tooth sigil burned into their chests, walking north by candlelight. Some are prisoners in shackles. Several of them saw EMBR.
Ilivarra, Phaerun, Zibrisa (absent) — Crail believed the families of heretics are held at the ID Seven Correctional Annex and kept alive only as long as they are useful.

Factions Encountered

The Inquisition — Only through a dead man, but this is the most the party has learned about it. Families taken in the raids go to a facility only the Inquisition can enter, the ID Seven Correctional Annex in the Fold, and whether they live depends on their usefulness.
The Garrison — Patrols are out in force and agitated the morning after Crail's death. The garrison owns every lift on the outer wall, sometimes hoists desperate refugees over in exchange for everything they have, and auctioned off one group's belongings at a private noble event. That is how the artifact came into Caligo. Up close, the wall's defenses are overwhelming.
The Thorn and the Tooth — No name given; Hollis says only that "we as a community came to an agreement." Its members wear iron talismans, nail the sigil over their doors, burn it into the chests of people who walk north at night, and believe they are the first and last line of defense against the devils at the doorstep.
The Resistance — No trace of it in Farrow.

Locations

Crail Estate — Where Crail died. A fire bolt went out the window and crowds gathered at the gates before the party got away.
Ashmark — Back by 3 a.m. and gone before dawn.
The grove — Trees in the middle of hilly grass plains, off the road beyond Ashmark. The party camped here, EMBR fought off the pull of the tablet, and Crail's head was questioned and destroyed.
Farrow — A poor farming canton at the foot of the outer wall, where the wall takes up the whole sky. Places include Crane & Co. (apothecary), Hollis & Ren (general store), a forge, the Last Lamp (inn), the Rimalath statue with its grave-like offerings, and doors marked with the thorn and tooth.
The maintenance lift (not yet visited) — North road toward the wall, bearing east. Officially broken. Don't use it at night.
The outer wall — Seen from below and scouted by the hawk. See New Worldbuilding.
ID Seven Correctional Annex (named only) — An Inquisition facility in the Fold where the families of heretics are held.

New Worldbuilding

Caligo has no gates out. The outer wall has no public or private entrances. People come in over it (hoisted by garrison troops after giving up everything they own) or under it (waterways where many have drowned). The barkeep had never heard of anyone wanting to go out.
How the artifact got into Caligo. Decades ago a group of travelers of mixed races came in from the wastelands and traded all their belongings to the garrison for passage. Those belongings were auctioned at a private event held by a friend of Crail's. Crail bought the tablet because it looked nice. He never knew what it was.
The ID Seven Correctional Annex. An Inquisition-only facility in the Fold that holds the families of heretics. Prisoners there are kept alive depending on their usefulness. "Seven" also appears on the artifact ("Account seven"), which may or may not mean anything.
Speak with Dead works on a lie. A dead inquisitor answered a false inquisitor. He looked around, took in the forest, and chose to cooperate.
The wall up close. Two guards every ten feet and a bell every twenty. Rail-mounted cannons point out into fog and cloud. Ballistae and crossbows guard against flying Ruined. Officers carry flare guns and long rifles — firearms exist on the wall. Its defenders are chosen for numbers, not skill, and their weapons face outward.
Farrow's talismans. Rough hand-forged iron discs on rope. A wreath of twisting thorns circles the edge, and in the center is a sharp canine tooth. They cost a copper each, a rack of about twenty sits in the general store, and they are not magic. Larger discs are nailed over about half the doors in town. Smaller ones lie at the base of Rimalath's statue like offerings at a grave.
What Farrow says about the devils. They are "at our doorstep". Farrow is "haunted, but not by ghosts". The problem is everywhere, but only Farrow admits it. It "comes in many forms", and Hollis has never laid eyes on it. Keeping it away is "not a medical issue, one of will", a tax on the people, and newcomers help just by spending money. People who don't wear the talisman disappear. The king is a god, the walls are his children, but "we are the first line of defense and seemingly the last."
The night procession. About twenty people in ash-grey sackcloth tunics, the sigil burned into their chests (drawn there as twisted roses around a tooth), carrying candles and walking north toward the wall at night. Some are in shackles. Taken with the barkeep's warning about the lift at night, it looks like Farrow does something in the dark that outsiders are not supposed to see.
Lefty's pull is becoming an addiction. The more EMBR thinks about the artifact, the harder Lefty pulls, and Lefty now talks back, telling him that holding it for one night would be fine. Distance helps. His left eye no longer changes back from red.
Hollis froze when he saw Lefty. Jorath pulling back his hood to show his wispy white hair got no reaction at all. The chitin arm did.

Combat Highlight

The session's real fight happened off the recording. Per the GM's recap, the party fought Lord Crail and his guards in the collection room. Crail, secretly a caster, fired a fire bolt out of the window and drew a crowd to the gates. Everyone who drew a blade died, and Crail lost his head. The party fled over the fence with the district waking up behind them.

On the recording, the only blow struck all session: Crail's severed head, reanimated and smirking about how pretty the artifact looks on a shelf, meets Valdren's war pick, blunt side first. The skull caves in, clotted blood bursts out, and the head's eyes go dark.

Continuity State

<details> <summary>Continuity State (for next session)</summary>

Active Quests

[x] Retrieve the artifact from the Crail estate. Done in Session 06.
[x] Escape the Crail estate. Crail and his guards were killed. The party escaped over the fence, and Mira smuggled them back through Meranthas.
[ ] Get over the outer wall at Farrow. Immediate. Options: the broken maintenance lift (north road toward the wall, bearing east; not at night), Jorath flying as a giant bat (horses too heavy), or going in the dark before dawn. The wall is very heavily defended. The horses probably can't come.
[ ] Deliver the basket to the hermit woman. Her shack is along the north road toward the lift. It pays for Rookk's free room at the Last Lamp.
[ ] Find out what Farrow is doing. Thorn-and-tooth talismans, "devils at our doorstep", disappearances, and a candlelit procession heading north with prisoners in shackles. The procession has seen EMBR in the window.
[ ] Find Ilivarra, Phaerun, and Zibrisa. Advanced. Crail named the ID Seven Correctional Annex in the Fold, an Inquisition-only facility. "Depends on their usefulness." This is back through Meranthas — the opposite direction from Calthar.
[ ] Reach Calthar beyond the walls. Harland took a handful of weeks. There are no settlements outside. The party has three five-day ration bundles plus the 17 rations EMBR and Valdren already carry, and plans to hunt and forage.
[ ] Decipher the artifact. Crail knew nothing: "sits on a shelf and looks pretty." It came from mixed-race wasteland travelers decades ago.
[ ] Learn what Lefty wants with the artifact. The pull is now like an addiction, and Lefty talks EMBR toward it.
[ ] Read the papers from Crail's desk. Grabbed during the escape and not yet examined, alongside the Civilian Relocation records from Session 06.
[ ] Uncover EMBR's origin. He woke up in a shack in the wilderness beyond the walls with Lefty already attached.
[ ] Find out what happened to Harland Ashworth. Untouched.
[ ] Decipher the omen. Poor little innocents get caught in the shadow of the raven. Open since Session 01.

Key NPCs

Lord Oswin Crail — Dead. Beheaded, disemboweled, questioned, and his skull crushed.
Mira Solbin — Back in Ashmark, shaken. Knows what the party did.
Orvin — Told the party will be gone about a month and to assume they are dead if they don't come back.
Crane — Farrow apothecary. Believes Vivienne is a garrison soldier on rotation. Friendly.
Thompson — Farrow elder with a talisman. Interested in Valdren. "I'll be seeing you."
Bram Hollis — Farrow shopkeeper with a talisman. Suspicious of the ration purchase and horrified by Lefty.
The Last Lamp barkeep — Knows the party plans to go over the wall illegally. Promised discretion. Seems to be on their side.
The hermit woman — Not yet met.
The procession — About twenty people, some prisoners. They saw EMBR.
Ilivarra, Phaerun, Zibrisa — Possibly held at the ID Seven Correctional Annex.
Seraphine Voss — Ally (cautious), offscreen.
Harland Ashworth — Missing about 20 years, presumed dead.

Open Plot Threads

A lord of the Fold has been murdered in his own home. Crowds saw the fire bolt. Patrols along the edge are already agitated. Whether anyone saw the party's faces is unknown.
The annex is behind them. Valdren finally has a place to look, and it is on the far side of Meranthas while the party stands at the outer wall.
"Account seven" and "ID Seven." Two sevens, one on the artifact and one on a prison.
Who were the travelers? Mixed races, from the wastelands, decades ago, carrying an artifact that opens Calthar. Did they come from Calthar?
Farrow's devils. Is the town a cult, a secret defense, or both? Who is in the shackles, and where is the procession taking them? Why not use the lift at night?
Hollis's reaction to Lefty. He froze at the chitin, not at the warforged.
Some of the party are marked and some aren't. Vivienne, EMBR, and Jorath have talismans. Valdren and Rookk do not. Nobody knows yet whether wearing one protects you or singles you out.
The hermit lives on the road to the lift, and neither shopkeeper would say who first told Farrow to wear the talismans.

Party Resources

The artifact — Wrapped in Jorath's cloak. Carried by Jorath.
Inquisition records (Civilian Relocation Operations) — Rookk. Plus a bundle of papers from Crail's desk, taken during the escape.
Valdren's family effects — Ilivarra's clothing, Phaerun's wooden soldier, Zibrisa's hair pin, the name plaques, Zibrisa's rag doll, Phaerun's broken practice sword, the sketch of his mother.
Crail's jeweled gold rings — No identifying marks. Held by Vivienne, minus the one traded.
Diamond (500 gp) — Jorath. Kept for bribes.
Healing — 2× Surgeon's Reserve (10 hp each) and 1× calming draught (sedative), both from Vivienne's trade. 1× potion of healing (EMBR).
Rations — 3 five-day bundles (Jorath), 10 rations (EMBR, who doesn't eat), 7 rations + holy water (Valdren).
Talismans — Vivienne (gift), EMBR, Jorath. Valdren and Rookk have none.
Funds — Jorath about 13 gp + 5 sp (EMBR's silver). Rookk, EMBR, and Valdren: none.
50-foot rope — Rookk.
The hermit's basket — Dried meats, a bottle of spirits, fresh fruit. Rookk.
Mounts — Horses rented from an earlier canton and Argentus (Valdren), stabled at the Last Lamp.
Hawk — Jorath's Wild Companion, perched in the room.
Magic lens and Harland's star chart — Jorath.
Vivienne — Leveled up. New spell: Leomund's Tiny Hut, for shelter outside the walls. Long rested at the grove. Cast Disguise Self (still a hardened male soldier), Speak with Dead, Message.
Valdren — 53/68 HP before the long rest. Can now swap spells on a long rest. Sleeps in armor.
EMBR — Left eye permanently red. Holding off Lefty's pull toward the artifact, barely.
Jorath — Flying wild shapes unlocked (plans a giant bat). Spent a slot for a wild shape, two Auguries, Animal Messenger, Wild Companion, Druidcraft, Cosmic Omen.
Position — The Last Lamp inn, Farrow, in a room with a window over the street, night. A procession with prisoners is passing below, and some of them are looking up at the window.

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