Session VII: A Network of Zhents

General Summary

After having questioned Ramon an old friend of the party, Naeri, pops up in the warehouse. She apparently had heard that there would be some nice loot for the taking there, but instead she runs into the party and a pile of dead bodies. The party decides that they want to go to the Great Drunkard to possibly find Cassius and get more information. As they are leaving the warehouse, Karion's tattoos begin glowing, and he begins feeling a burning pain. He falls to his knees and his eyes glaze over red. Before him he now sees Asmodeus, on an iron throne and with a wall of fire behind him. Asmodeus tells Karion that he has earned a reward. The wall of fire flares up and blinds him for a moment, after which Karion's vision returns again, staring at the ground of the warehouse. His tattoos still glowing, a cloud of smoke and cinder begins forming around him. As it passes over him, a chain shirt with a red glow begins forming on him. After the cloud has passed over him, the sign of Asmodeus magically gets carved into his left arm. The rest of the party, who watched on in awe as this all went on, is initially suspicious about the whole thing, but Kairon manages to convince them that everything is fine.  

You have done well my child. You have earned a reward.

— Asmodeus

  As the party heads to the Great Drunkard on a dray, they can see the festivities of Lliira's night are already going on. Colourful lanterns decorate the streets, people in fancy dresses and decorated masks walk the streets and firework is going of left and right. This is no less true for the Great Drunkard. As they arrive, the party sees the whole plaza in front of the tavern filled with people talking and dancing, while a band is playing on a small platform on the side. To better blend in, the party decides to buy some masks from a nearby stall. The party then goes and searches for Cassius, albeit somewhat chaotically. A few party members go inside the tavern to ask after Cassius, with little success. Other members blend in the crowd, but don't immediately see Cassius. Holtz finally notices someone fitting the description of Cassius when he casts detect magic. He detects a magic aura on both Cassius and the man and woman he is being flanked by.   Holtz relays this information to the party, and they start to keep an eye on Cassius and follow him through the crowd. Naeri assumes the role of a drunkard, bumping into the woman multiple times, by which she discovers that she is magically disguised and actually wearing armour and weapons. Irven tries to get Cassius away from the crowd by telling him he is in danger, but this backfires and the guards are called on him. Irven manages to hide in the crowd before the guards find him, but the party decides it's probably better to get away from the tavern for a little while. The party hides behind a corner of the plaza, and Holtz keeps an eye on Cassius through Web, who sees him leave about 45 minutes later.   The party begins to follow him, with Emerald stealthing way at the front, Naeri stealthing a little bit behind her, and the rest of the party following way at the back. What the party doesn't realise, however, is that Cassius and his companions have noted their presence. They eventually cross the High Road and walk into an alley in the Trade Ward. Emerald follows them, but as soon as she turns the corner, she gets paralyzed by a hold person spell and dragged into the alley. Holtz sees this happen through Web, and the party immediately rushes towards the alley to save her. As they enter into combat they soon find out that they are outmatched. One by one, the party gets knocked down by Cassius and his companions. Luckily, help soon arrives, as the lute player from the band at the Great Drunkard rushes into the alley and says support is on the way. The bard manages to keep the party somewhat alive while the fighting continues, and soon after he arrived, footsteps from members of the City Watch can be heard in the distance.   As soon as Cassius realises the City Watch is on its way, he teleports himself and his female companion out of the alley, leaving his male companion to be killed by Naeri. After this, about a dozen City Watch and Guards begin cutting of the alley, while a Griffon Rider circles above it. They tell the party to drop their weapons and get on their knees. Most of them comply, but Emerald unlocks the door of one of the nearby houses and dashes inside in an attempt to escape. The Griffon Rider notices her, unfortunately, and snatches her up as soon as she tries to get out through a window. She is dropped with the rest of the party, and they all get disarmed, manacled and led away from the alley by the City Watch and Guards.