White Lantern Shrine

Start-class article · First seen: s15 · Last seen: s19
White Lantern Shrine
the white lantern · Phil's contact's location
Portrait of White Lantern Shrine.
Location
StatusUnvisited
First seens15
Last seens19

The White Lantern Shrine is a half-ruined wayshrine on the freight road, “a few miles from Aurelia’s outer approaches” [11], where Phil Flowerforge said his contact Hett Varn often stops. The party sailed for it from the Eldwythe sewers in sessions 16 to 18, with a note for Hett and the password “Phil sent you” [17][33]. It put ashore half a day to a day’s travel from the shrine and lost Mike to an Aurelian patrol on the road in, and in session 19 it gave up the plan and turned back [14][27][32].

Overview

The White Lantern Shrine is a half-ruined wayshrine on the freight road, a few miles from the outer approaches of Aurelia [11]. It is where Phil Flowerforge told the party to find Hett Varn, the dwarf who was to get them into the city to look for the stolen Egg. The party made for it for three sessions and never arrived.

Geography and appearance

Phil described only what the shrine sits among: labour wagons and supply carts stop there sometimes before entering the city [11]. The DM placed it “a bit north towards the coast from Aurelia”, about three days’ sail from the Eldwythe sewer mouth [12], and Hugo read the map as putting it on Aurelia’s north entrance, on the freight road approaching the city [13]. From the beach where the party made landfall it lay half a day to a day inland, across a no man’s land, with Aurelia’s walls beyond it [14][15].

Inhabitants

None is met. Hett Varn, a dwarf with red hair and goggles on his forehead, “has a tendency of stopping by there” [11]. He keeps a small safe house in Ashward, on the side of Aurelia where the dock workers and tanners live [16].

Notable features

  • The password. The party was to give Hett Phil’s note and say that Phil sent it [17]. Terry had written it down as a code phrase; Caelumn thought Phil had only said to mention him [18].
  • Hett’s debt. Hett is not expecting the party. The favour he owes is Phil’s, not theirs [19].

History in the campaign

Session 15: The Death of Ruin and Althea Joins

Main article: Session 15

In the sewers, Phil named his contact in Aurelia, Hett Varn, who has a small safe house in Ash Ward and could do nothing about the party’s magic, which would be “severely limited” there [16]. As he turned back he wrote a note to hand over at the White Lantern, “a half-ruined way shrine on the freight road, a few miles from Aurelia’s outer approaches”: Hett, a dwarf with red hair and goggles on his forehead, often stopped there, and the password was that Phil sent them [17]. Phil and Briochebane then left.

Session 16: Through the Sewers, Onto the Skiff

Main article: Session 16

At the sewer mouth the party chose between seeking Phil’s contact, turning back for Velkris, or going back to Umbrafall [20]. Caelumn remembered the meeting place as a pub outside Aurelia, and the DM corrected him: “The White Lantern is a shrine, but yes.” [21]. A History check put it “a bit north towards the coast from Aurelia”, about three days of sailing [12]. The party voted to go for it, and the session ended with the skiff setting sail [3].

Session 17: New Hands, the Black Mask’s Renegotiation, and the Rimeclaw

Main article: Session 17

At dawn the DM let the party see land to the west and, to the south, a possible Aurelian tower [22]. Terry and Hugo recalled that the shrine stood on the freight road approaching Aurelia, “on the north entrance of it” [13]. The DM said they were still two days from being near it, so they kept sailing, closer to the coast [23]. The reef-line fight with the Rimeclaw Skulker followed.

Session 18: The Wyrm Falls, the Catfish Escapes, and Mike Dies on the Road

Main article: Session 18

The winged catfish ate through the skiff and sank it a couple of hours from land [24][25]. The party swam ashore and made landfall by night, and the DM said the shrine was half a day to a day inland, in no man’s land [14][15]. Round the fire Terry looked up his notes on the contact: a dwarf with red hair and goggles, named Hett, and the words “Phil sent us” [6]. The next day an Aurelian patrol on the road killed Mike [26][27]. After burying him the party moved on towards the shrine [28].

Session 19: A Penitent Priest, an Unmade Leash, and the Pixie in the Dark

Main article: Session 19

The party decided to put the Egg raid aside, and the DM called it abandoning the quest in Aurelia “for now” [29]. Hugo pointed out that Hett did not know the party was coming, so there was no obligation to visit him [30][31]. After a long wrangle, the party chose the road back towards Eldwythe and Umbrafall, not the shrine [32]. Later the goblin Gristleback offered a dwarf contact of his own, whom the party took for Hett [10].

Status

As of session 23. Unvisited, and no longer the party’s destination. Hett Varn has not been met, and Phil’s note for him is undelivered. The party is now far to the north, short of Umbrafall.

See also

References

  1. ^ Session 15, line 655-700: Phil names Hett Varn and the White Lantern, gives a note and the words "Phil sent you".
  2. ^ Session 16, line 1707-1717: The DM corrects "a pub" to a shrine and places it a bit north towards the coast from Aurelia, about three days' sail.
  3. ^ Session 16, line 1735-1753: The party votes to sail for the shrine.
  4. ^ Session 17, line 1538-1558: Hugo places the shrine on Aurelia's north entrance; the DM puts it two days off.
  5. ^ Session 18, line 1619-1638: From the landfall the shrine is half a day to a day's travel inland, across a no man's land.
  6. ^ Session 18, line 1832-1845: Terry recalls the contact and the password.
  7. ^ Session 18, line 2272-2276: An Aurelian patrol executes Mike on the road inland.
  8. ^ Session 19, line 229-262: The party abandons the Aurelia quest for now; Hett does not know they are coming.
  9. ^ Session 19, line 359-403: The party decides to go back towards Eldwythe, not to the shrine.
  10. ^ Session 19, line 645-648: Gristleback offers a dwarf contact, whom the party take for Hett.
  11. ^ Session 15, line 693: Inline citation.
  12. ^ Session 16, line 1717: Inline citation.
  13. ^ Session 17, line 1544-1545: Inline citation.
  14. ^ Session 18, line 1619: Inline citation.
  15. ^ Session 18, line 1638: Inline citation.
  16. ^ Session 15, line 655-660: Inline citation.
  17. ^ Session 15, line 693-695: Inline citation.
  18. ^ Session 18, line 1837-1839: Inline citation.
  19. ^ Session 19, line 251: Inline citation.
  20. ^ Session 16, line 1626: Inline citation.
  21. ^ Session 16, line 1711: Inline citation.
  22. ^ Session 17, line 1538: Inline citation.
  23. ^ Session 17, line 1558-1561: Inline citation.
  24. ^ Session 18, line 744-747: Inline citation.
  25. ^ Session 18, line 1044-1047: Inline citation.
  26. ^ Session 18, line 1946: Inline citation.
  27. ^ Session 18, line 2276: Inline citation.
  28. ^ Session 18, line 2413: Inline citation.
  29. ^ Session 19, line 229: Inline citation.
  30. ^ Session 19, line 251-262: Inline citation.
  31. ^ Session 19, line 377-379: Inline citation.
  32. ^ Session 19, line 397: Inline citation.
  33. ^ Session 16, line 1735: Inline citation.