16.1 The Midnight Letter

SESSION DATE: January 24, 2026
PRESENT: Rory, Zhanis, Kemurial, Freya

Deep Dive

![[Rory - 16_1 The Midnight Letter.mp4]]
16.1 The Midnight Letter.png
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![[Rory - 16_1 The Midnight Letter.m4a]]

Adventure Photos

Simulacrum of High Inquisitor Eldrick.png

Adventure Song & Lyrics

![[The Midnight Letter.mp3]]

[Verse 1]
The gates are locked by iron law, the Inquisitor commands,
We wait within the city’s jaw, with restless hearts and hands.
Rory spoke to branch and leaf, to hear what nature knew,
But found a silence past belief, where once the gardens grew.
No villages, no hearth, no light, for three miles all around,
Just one great beast within the night, on empty, hollow ground.

[Chorus]
The ink is wet, the arrow's aim is steady in the dark,
To trap the one who bears the flame and leave a burning mark.
We’re weaving through the tunnels deep, a secret path to better,
The fate of all is ours to keep, within The Midnight Letter.

[Verse 2]
The Ice Queen sends her word from far, three days across the snow,
Beneath the light of every star, where frozen rivers flow.
She bids us strike if chance appears, before her banners rise,
To end the source of all our fears, beneath these shifting skies.
So we refine the grand deceit, the Duke provides the hand,
To lead the tyrant to defeat, across his stolen land.

[Verse 3]
A goat path in the southern wood, a mile beyond the wall,
Where once a peaceful forest stood, we plan the tyrant's fall.
Through narrow cracks where horses pass, or single files of men,
To wait upon the frosted grass, and strike him in his den.
The boastful champion takes the stage, the key is made the lure,
To turn the Master's pride to rage, and make our victory sure.

[Bridge]
But every merchant’s door is barred, the Temple’s weight is felt,
Our every hope is frozen hard, before the snows can melt.
An acolyte is in our wake, with eyes that never blink,
For every careful step we take, we’re closer to the brink.
And stalking through the cobblestones, a cat of midnight hue,
Watches with the ancient bones, for everything we do.

[Verse 4]
The bow is drawn, the feather flies, across the northern tents,
To catch the Great Conspirator’s eyes, and break his last defense.
The trap is set, the bait is cast, twenty-four hours to go,
Until the first strike and the last, begins the final show.
We walk the line of witch and saint, beneath the watcher's eye,
With courage that will never faint, beneath a hollow sky.

[Coda]
The boulder moves, the hill is wide,
The black cat follows by our side.
Nowhere left for him to hide.

World Anvil Journal

sooo… the high inquithitow wady thaid we have to thtay in the thity. i tawked to the tweekth an the gwathth with my ritual majik to thtee what wath outthide. i found a big monthtew eatht of the thity. it ith a big big beatht. the majik thhowed me thewe awe no peopow ow thitienth neaw uth. it ith wike the wowwd ith empty.

kimiweel tawked to the ithe queen with hith majik thpeaking. thhe thaid thhe wiww be hewe in thwee dayth but we thouwd ththett the twap if we can. the duke ith hewpin uth make a fake wettew fwom hith bwothew viwwem. it thayth a big thtwong champion ith takin the keyth thouth though the woodth in TWENTY FOUW houwth. i think that champion ith ME. we are goin to uthe the thecwet tunnewth to thneak out an thurprithe awek daemoncwaw. we want him to come fyt uth alone thow he can be thtopt.

we wint to the thtow to buy mowe thtuff but the peopow wewe vewy cowd an mean to uth. they thaid the tempow wady put pweththuew on them an they cant theww uth anything. it ith vewy un-nice.

kimiweel thaw that an acowyte ith fowwowin uth aww ovew the pwathe. an thewe ith a wittow bwack cat fowwowin uth too. i wunned to the waww to thhoot the wettew with my awwow into the chaoth tentth. i hope the bad guyth eat it up wike a thnak. i need a WONG WEHTHT.

pweethe dwaugnir keep uth thaf fwom the inquithitow an the bad cat an hewp uth find the keyth. pweethe hewp me find my mommy an my dady.

Private Notes

We discuss our next steps after High Inquisitor Eldrick told us to remain inside the city.
Rory casts Commune With Nature as a ritual, looking for nearby settlements, portals to other planes of existence, and the location of a CR10+ creature that is a Celestial, Elemental, Fey, Fiend or Undead. No additional settlements within three miles, the portal still seems to be in the same location within the tent north of the city, and there IS a CR10+ creature east of the city. The most notable thing here is that there are no settlements, which seems to match up with what we believe the area is like. So who knows whether reality itself is changed, or just our perception of it.
Kemurial asks about a timeframe for the Duke's suggestion of setting a trap for Arek Daemonclaw, but there isn't a specific timeframe in his mind.
Kemurial casts Sending to the Ice Queen asking about her ETA to Praag. We're looking for her whereabouts, and need to know whether to push on with any plans for a trap, or to wait for her first instead. She responds, saying if we have an opportunity we should take it. It'll take an estimated three more days before they reach Praag.
We try to come up with details of a trap. Like last time, our plan currently consists of forging a letter from "Villem" saying the keys are to be transported at some place at some time, and firing the letter attached to an arrow toward their tent north of the city. We're discussing whether we should be out in the open when this happens or whether we should be in one of the many tunnels under Praag for a more condensed battlefield. We also discuss the usage of Psi Lenses to make our escape, similar to what we did when fighting the siege tower. We also talk about what we hope the encounter looks like. Our aim to draw out only Arek Daemonclaw himself (and maybe just a couple henchmen that we're sure he'll have hiding nearby). If it IS just himself, perhaps a small battlefield would be good in order to confine him a bit, preventing him from running wildly around the battlefield on his horse. We just don't want him to bring a large army and greatly outnumber us. We'll need to carefully word the letter to get across that the key is to be discreetly transported by scouts and one "powerful champion of Kislev" to protect them.
After many long discussions, the Duke offers to assist us in forging the letter. He knows his brother's handwriting well, how he wrote, how he spoke, etc. He approves of the southerly direction of making it plausible in transporting something as valuable as this toward a place like Kislev. He tells us of two tunnels that lead south. One of them starts at #20 on the map. That one specifically is large enough bring out horses. The other tunnels is at #8 on the map. It's only wide enough for people to walk through, very much single-file. This tunnel emerges in a patch of woods alongside the southern road. The other emerges more out into the open, where there's a false boulder on a hill that can be moved out of the way.
We tell the Duke what we want the letter to say, and he'll make changes as necessary to make it sound more like came from Villem. This is our first rough draft:

My Lord,

It has come to my attention that there are plans to transport one or more of the crystal keys. They're transporting them to more relative safety, either toward Kislev, or perhaps even to Kislev itself. The transport is set to commence just 24 hours from now at midnight. There is a large patch of woods approximately one mile south of the walls on the west side of the river that has a goat path. They will be traveling along this path.

There is to be a powerful ally of the Duke assisting them in their mission. I have had communication with this ally and they are boastful of their abilities. They say they would lay waste to Arek Daemonclaw should he interfere in their plans to unleash the entity that lies within Praag.

We MUST put a stop to their plans by intercepting the key transport. This would be a perfect time for us to take them out and grab at least one key.

Your ally on the council,

V

We head out to get ready to fire off the message wrapped around an arrow as discussed. We also talk about sending another Message spell to the Ice Queen to fill her in on our plans just in case we end up meeting her along our travels or they end up seeing what's going on. Perhaps they could even be close enough to assist should it be necessary, but we doubt they'll be close enough.
As we head out toward the wall, we make a pit stop at the merchants. We find the reception to be cold towards us. When we ask why they're so cold suddenly, the merchants say "We're very sorry, but there's been word passed around. We've been receiving pressure from the temple. Until this matter is resolved, I'm afraid that our doors are closed." Kemurial notices two things. One is obvious, while leaving the citadel, we're being followed by an acolyte. Not sneakily, but just keeping a slight distance from us. We're being watched at monitored. He also notices a little black cat has been following us as well.

That's it for this session!

Adventure Loot

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