Session 64: Secret Door in the Lair Report
General Summary
22nd of Anarire 1524 Continued The group has exhausted their ability to dispel on the fish, they ask the people they have rescued if they have the ability to dispel magic. Many step forward to help
- Khee 3
- Abigail 3
- Lord Krisxidor 2
- Glanduil 2
- Godwyn 2
Lily and Karl head off with their people. Everyone but one or two help row. Upon getting to the sewers proper there is nothing waiting up there for you. The Lord whines as he has to step in the gross water. They pass by the two guards at the abandoned inn and organise for some help from the guards for the people they have found. The group continues to the Broken Wand and shock Ealded with their numbers. Karl pays 10 platinum for the group to be fed, given access to baths and stay the night. Karl goes round to talk to some of them. This includes apologising to the Lord Krisxidor for a prank played earlier in the day. There he discovers the Lord is from Innishiere. Afterwards they head back to the lair.
Those left behind do what they can to cycle the few plates and bowls they have for the food Fargrim cooks. While they wait, Fargrim asks if anyone wants to share their story. Lancion (the Barbarian with the group of 6 who has the chest tattoo) is more then happy to tell Fargrim an overly dramatic tale of how their group left Giantdowns and travelled East to seek their fortune and to help people. It includes a very dramatic stealth mission through the Gorgon's territory.
About half an hour later Erin, Lily, Karl and Xeldarix returns. Most of fargrim's group are fed while last few are just getting their share. Karl checks to see if Fargrim has sending today, which he does. He contacted Nura to tell her about Zardos being found his location. Nura thanked him for the information. The group feeds the fish and they head up to the surface, and take the remaining rescued fish to the Broken Wand. At noon when they arrive at the inn the watch has arrived with spare clothing. All from lost and found. Galloway is with them. Galloway and his people interview those who were rescued. Lily checks in with him about purchasing the abandoned inn and Galloway agrees tells her that it will cost 6,000 gold plus 384 gold to pay a year of taxes ahead of time. Karl takes the time to try and read the room to see how people are managing. Abigail is so close to breaking down. She seems to be trying to get herself to a corner. Lancion of the Giant Fighters seems to have finally dawned on the idea that this is real. They did lose all that time and they're not fish anymore. His team is trying to comfort him. Montagor is throwing a fit over the clothing offered to them and the quality of it. Dora is quietly crying as well but is trying to get herself under control. Thalina is trying to comfort Dora but is crying herself. The half sea elf has come round and is screaming non stop. Anyone who approaches he tries to bite. Jysdar is sulking in the corner. Lord Krisxidor is also throwing a fit about the clothing on offer. Titiana is crying while giving her statement. Ailred is trying to hold it together while giving his statement but clearly there is a lot of wounded pride over what happened. However, with Erin getting frustrated with the elves in the room, Karl takes her outside for some air after checking in the mages from the guild and the mages who were rescued. It seems that the guild will take them in and pay them to help them get back on their feet for doing a few jobs for them. They talk about Jo learning the Magnificent Mansion from Karl to help those here have somewhere to stay and get fed until something else can be sorted out. Erin makes the subtle suggestion once she has Karl alone outside that perhaps he could work with Lily to start an adventuring guild. Fargrim tries to talk to Lord Krisxidor. He’s very upset about the quality of the clothing on offer. Fargrim tries to find out if he know Michael who is stuck in a mirror. However, since Fargrim doesn’t know enough the Lord Krisxidor can’t help him with information about Michael. However, he does know a fae queen with a shadow court but her mirror wasn’t shattered when he was not a fish. He also talks to Salma via the ring about Neira Paladin and in general updates her about some of the people they have found. Including a priestess of Kriesha. Salma reminds him to keep an open mind about people. Afterwards Fargrim goes over to Abigail, Jo and Thalina to talk and comfort them a little with some support. Lily makes some rounds through the group, trying to find out what people need in order to make it through the next day, and offering the temple’s support to those who seem willing to accept it. Many of them will gratefully accept the support of the temple to try and get back on their feet. Many of them want to find work so they can start saving money to restock themselves and consider travelling home to see if their families are still there. Or at the very least arrange for a messenger guild to send the message on their behalf while they save money and decide what to do next. Karl and Erin re-enter the inn and go up to see Ealded to ensure that everyone will be okay to stay here tonight until the morning when they can sort out something else for these people. Afterwards Karl goes to see the Giant Fighters group. Everyone but Laura is from Giant Downs, who is from Unbrau. The group looks to split up at this point. Lily stays at the inn until Galloway finishes up the interviews. Karl, Erin, Sam and June head for Erin’s boat. Fargrim heads for their estate.
Fargrim heads back to the estate and starts unceremoniously shouting for Lyra. This confuses Caramella who tells Fargrim she isn’t here. After having a quick chat with Caramella, Fargrim heads up into Karl’s Magical Manor to look for Simone and the Hatchling. Simone is in the room that Karl set up to be a forest. The hatchling is whining and pulling at Simone's dress. But as soon as Fargrim arrives it lets go and runs for cover, limping as it goes into the foliage. Simone looks up from her drawing to see who has arrived. Fargrim fills Simone in on the updates of the day and Simone reveals that the Hatchling wants Simone to catch them a rabbit since the rabbits scare the Hatchling. Fargrim offers to cast regeneration on the Hatchling to try and heal it. Simone goes to try and convince the Hatchling to come out, while Fargrim casts tongues to understand the Hatchling and be understood. Simone goes over to the trees and kneels. She's speaking in Draconic which Fargrim understands. She's just gently encouraging the hatchling to come as she explains what Fargrim wants to do. She sighs before casting vicious mockery and killing a rabbit. She picks it up to offer it to the hatchling. It approaches and allows Simone to pick it up. It chews on the rabbit as Simone approaches. When Fargrim addresses the Hatchling it gets all shy again and tries to hide itself in Simone’s arms. Fargrim specifically asks permission to heal the Hatchling but the Hatchling just whimpers instead of responding. Fargrim lets it finish the rabbit but it never actually responds to Fargrim. Simone explains the fact the Hatchling is anxious. Simone does her best to make the Hatchling more comfortable with Fargrim by telling it random facts about Fargrim.
- How bad Fargrim's snoring is
- Who Haelyn is and why Fargrim prays to him (Though the reason is silly like 'because Haelyn is good at fighting and so is Fargrim')
- Fargrim bakes now
- Fargrim walks slowly
- Fargrim talks with his mouth full
- He's a good councillor.
- e's a Dwarf
- He doesn't like Anubis.
- Likes rocks but not pet rocks.
"Eth kin farurm euj ilv sjolm e eth kjolr, looking rir glang oz zilvren thja bjorstan lurlom dag lag ilv avkir ilv eth ordraldr surrounded hjav knor oz nurnr. eth kin farurm euj, cutting inni vitr, ilv build tharas kjolr oz fjadr thja bjorstan lurlom dag lag ilv avkir ilv eth ordraldr ilv fill tharas hearts heth leoth eth kin farurm euj ilv eth bezmadan oz eth foundry, ilv inseg eth tools thja thorv. thja bjorstan lurlom dag lag ilv avkir ilv eth ordraldr ilv fill tharas bellies heth blothandl" Translates, roughly to "The kin go out to dig in the mines, looking for gold and silver They work all day long To return to the hearth surrounded by family and friends. The kin go out, cutting down trees, to build their mines and bows They work all day long to return to the hearth to fill their hearts with song The kin go out to the forge and the foundry, to make the tools they need. They work all day long to return to the hearth to fill their bellies with mead."Apparently this was a favourite song of Fargrim’s dad. Throughout this time the Hatchling has fallen asleep. Fargrim carefully takes off his armour and waits for the Hatchling to wake. However, it doesn’t seem to wake and Fargrim takes the chance to cast Regenerate on the Hatchling. This does not wake the Hatchling either. The wing of the dragon heals up but the leg does not. The dragon does seem to breath a little easier as if in less pain and stress. Fargrim carefully does a medical check and concludes the leg is likely a birth defect. Fargrim and Simone talk quietly about Falak and the Fish people, Xeldarix and the temple.
Karl heads to the ship with Erin, Sam and June. Once there Sam tries to remove the curse on Enna. Karl casts enhanced ability to aid Sam in this. He fails the first time, but successfully hides the rebound from June but she does grow suspicious. The second time Sam fails he is not as successful at hiding it and Ten has to heal him a little. June is very upset at this. June and Sam leave after this. Enna, Erin and Karl count coins found today and gems that are evaluated. Karl and Erin talk about Falak and Hassan’s tomb. Karl finally sends off his letter to Viona, A sharp pain cuts across Karl's palm as he sends it off. In the same moment the box folds itself up and disappears. Karl looks down to see his hand already bandaged with a little bit of parchment sticking out of the wrapping. The parchment has writing on it. "Sorry. Part of the precautions for my safety. Will hopefully be seeing you soon. - G.V.Z." This has both Erin and Karl worried about what this could mean. They discuss what Erin and her crew should do to try and help Karl and the group. Especially with her crew getting antsy. They also discuss what has been bothering Enna. Erin confesses that with the change of position that Enna has noticed how reckless Erin has been especially when Karl is involved lately. Karl and Erin both agree that they cannot heroically sacrifice themselves for one another. No matter how much they want to. Too much is hung on the other person now. In the end it is decided Erin will go ahead to Saarmen with her crew to scout out the town and see if Karl is still wanted. When they’re done talking they head up to the estate and the magical manor.
Lily waits 20 minutes for Galloway to be done and walks with him back to the watch headquarters. Lily floats the idea of Lady Sash helping Simone by offering support and guidance. Galloway reveals Lady Sash has gone through some positive personal growth of developing empathy/sympathy, but has also become more paranoid about who comes to her house and when she leaves it. The conversation turns to the riots at Xeldarix’s temple and the concern that the temple rises among the nobles. However, due to the good it is doing for the homeless, Galloway is doing what he can to redirect them but advises Lily not to make waves. When they arrive at the headquarters they head straight to Galloway’s office. Lieutenant Reeza Enfield is waiting for them. She takes Lily through the paperwork for the building under Galloway’s watch. The only obligation is to pay the charity tax and 10% of any earnings as income tax to the city. This is subject to change if there are emergency levies or war. The other obligation is to obey the law at all times. Major modifications to the building must be submitted to town hall for approval. Once Lily signs and pays the amount for the building and the charity tax, she is handed the keys and blueprints for the building. They left the beds, the forge and kitchen items but removed everything else. The books are being checked over and Lily has asked to buy them back once they have been checked. Afterwards Lily leaves to go and check on Selise and the temple.
Karl comes into the room where Fargrim and Simone are sitting with the sleeping hatchling. Simone tells Karl about Fargrim fixing the Hatchling’s wing. Fargrim talks to Karl about Falak and Hassan, imagining the dragon pines for a lover long lost, but Karl frowns as he has no idea where Fargrim got this strange idea from. Karl reveals that the hags kept the Hatchling as a pet according to Pemri. At 2:30pm Karl and Erin leave Fargrim and Simone. He heads out to go shopping and head back to the Broken Wand.
When Lily arrives and finds Selise at the temple. She informs the Priestess of the good news about the purchase of the inn. They look over the blueprints together as Lily shares some ideas she has about housing, feeding and training the homeless. Possibly even raising funds to do more. At this stage Lily just wants trained carpenters and those interested in learning some skills at the inn. With someone to manage the location like Selise manages this one. Once this is done Lily leaves and heads to the market area to secure supplies for furniture making. She’ll pick up the timber tomorrow, but takes the tools and goes to her inn to wait for people while reading her manual at 3pm.
Karl spends 1500 gold on supplies for the three wizards that lost everything at the hands of Falak. Once he arrives at the inn, he allows Jo to borrow his book to copy a few spells since she can do so so quickly. This includes the Magnificent Mansion. While Jo does this, Karl talks with Thalina. She is from Treumar, who was just passing through when she was caught by Falak. Thalina is rather knowledgeable about planar travel. She and Jo knows about Ruidium. A stone with magical properties derived from a champion of some of the gods. Born under a second moon or something. Due to not having her notes Jo was unable to tell Karl more. Tomorrow Thalina and Jo start their jobs at the guild and Dora restarts her training. Their discussion gets distracted by questions about Aeryn and the ritual required to summon her. Right now she is still in her shrunk form and is owed a lot of salmon. After the discussion Karl checks on the rest of the people here, but they are either calm or too tired to be anything else. Karl goes over to see Glanduil. He learns the paladin will be going back to the temple of Neira tomorrow. Afterwards, Erin and Karl leave. They discuss giving them time before trying to recruit them for Karl’s plans of a guild. Their discussion moves to talks of Erin leaving and they set a date and some expectations for one another when they are apart. They go to the harbour master to update their docking information and advertise for passengers and cargo to Saarmen. Karl mocks Erin’s alias as “Captain Erelee Jackson” and they make their way back to Karl’s mansion where Karl may continue to scribe his spells. They arrive back at 4pm.
Fargrim waits with Simone til 5pm but the Hatchling doesn’t wake. He leaves to go help Caramella prepare dinner.
At 5pm 7 people from your temple arrive. 2 of them are professional carpenters, 1 man who looks like security for the group and the rest are willing to learn. The security guy is a Brecht man named Dwyane Schultz. He approaches Lily as Selise sent him as a possible person to manage this location. They tour around the building and Dwyane asks some questions about his role here. They will be making things to train people and create what they need here with the hope of getting commissions and orders in the future. The top floor would be reserved for Lily and her friends. The sewers are off limits to the children and the area should be watched when possible. Lily gives Dwyane the spare key. She will be back tomorrow at 3pm. Then she heads back to the estate.
At 6pm dinner is served by Caramella and Fargrim. Karl and Erin are notified and 5-10 minutes into the meal Lily and Xeldarix return. Karl quickly goes to check on Simone before going down to dinner. She and the hatchling are okay and Simone agrees to do a reading later after dinner. Simone will eat the magical mansion food. Now that Karl has joined the dinner table with Erin, Lily and Xeldarix have arrived, the group eats. They discuss the fish, those who have been rescued and those who have yet to be saved. They agree they should wait to free more until they have settled those they have saved before freeing more of them. The group wants to ensure they have fully explored the lair and possibly the tomb tomorrow. They plan how to deal with the body of Falak. Lily mentions Galloway took everything from the inn except for beds and the forges. The books being taken disappoints Karl as he disagrees with knowledge being hidden. The discussion moves to the fae book seller and the onto the strange rocks they found in Falak’s lair. Which moves things along to the items found today. They play with the immovable rod. There is an idea of using Falak’s lair in Saarmen after they have dealt with her to learn about the Unchained’s plans. Fargrim isn’t overly impressed with the idea. After dinner Lily goes into the library to try and scry on Falak while Karl counts coins. Lily's vision is pulled into her mirror. She's in a dark space that looks murky and like an underground swamp. Similar to Falak's lair in Brechlen. A black hatchling is grabbing items off a shelf before climbing onto a stool at a table. Falak is grinding something up but it's clearly a struggle for this smaller body. Lily can’t seem to tell what the plants are. She has Xeldarix look into her mind for a mental image to try and draw the plants. As Xeldarix draws it Karl believes the plants to be Forget-me-nots and Dill. Karl and Erin finishes counting the coins to reveal 1649p and 8400g. Karl tells the group about what happened when he sent the letter today and says he is going to see Simone about this. Fargrim gets a snack before getting an early night while Lily goes to read her manual.
Karl finds Simone where he last left her. She is ready to give him a reading. Question: “What is General Viona planning on doing with my blood?” "The General does not wish to interfere with your happiness and is optimistic about what your meeting could bring about. The General has survived many generations of Kings and will overcome their previous mistakes. The General seeks protection, as she has with every change of king, this blood will allow her to commission a ward that would make it hard for you to target her should you decide to act against her. She wants to see what you will do and is weary of the idea of you receiving false counsel that could result in you targeting her should you decide to shake things up. " Karl is a little relieved at the answer. He talks with Simone a little about many topics. However, the one about her future in the city comes up as he tries to reassure her that being a Lady won’t be as bad as she thinks. She’s worried about what will happen if she has a fit among these strangers who are meant to help her. Karl goes back to his scribing before alarming the house, sending a message to the fey book seller and heading to bed. 23rd of Anarire 1524 Lily is up first, getting an hour worth of reading done before breakfast at 7am with the others. There they discuss the plans for the day and the possibility of the fae book seller popping up at some point in the near future. Karl goes up to check on Simone to find her trying to figure out what attunement item to give up to use the messenger ring she has been given. Karl convinces her to give up the protection ring which he then gives to Xeldarix. Afterwards they head to the Broken Wand Inn, stopping in at the druid market in the Longrove on the way. Fargrim contacts Steve to ask about sending Jo to use Magnificent Mansion for the refugees but learns she already set out to do this as per a suggestion she got yesterday from Karl. Then they head to the Broken Wand Inn to see the people they rescued. When they arrive at the inn to find everyone is up and has been supplied with standard clothing not from lost and found. There are some people missing. 22 people of the 33 remain here. Jo is with them. Ealded is behind the bar passing out breakfasts to the people. Karl and Jo talk about logistics for the manor before they get distracted by talking about planar travelling. Jo and Karl trade stories before Lily joins in with her stories. Meanwhile Xeldarix is over with Khee and Raiarr. She seems to be showing them one of her feathers and giving it to Khee. While the group talks about the inn, Erin nudges Karl to prompt him to mention an idea. Karl mentions the possibility of setting up an adventurers guild. This could help to give the refugees a new direction if they need or want it. They also talk about finding trustworthy people to help Simone with managing her estate as a Lady. On the way to Lily’s inn, Karl and Lily do what they can to reassure the group of 22 as they move them to a new location. Once they arrive at the inn, Lily specifies a space on the 2nd floor for the location. Jo sets about casting the Magnificent Mansion spell. A stone door appears that leads into a moss covered tunnel. The tunnel goes for 15 ft before turning into a stone library. There quills fly around with wings and unseen servants stack and shelf books. Jo heads off to stairs on the other side. There is a set with the stairs moving up in an escalator like fashion to the next floor and a set that goes down to this floor. The group marvels. Fargrim grabs a book to open it to discover it does indeed have words as it seems to be the tale of a group of adventurers that were named the “Storm chasers” for they were always running into the eye of a storm. Fargrim is confused on how the books are real so he yells for Jo, to suddenly be ‘shhh’ed by an unseen servant. The group moves to the next area up. This is a dinning hall with long tables and bench seats on each side. There are more moving stairs beyond it. The next area up had three bonfires with stone bench seats around them. There were pillows stacked up around with many places for people to relax and lounge. There are doors around the edge that leave groups of rooms with beds. Fargrim asks Jo about the books and about his axe. She gets offended when Fargrim explains only a Dwarf can hold it, reading into it that he doesn’t believe she is a Dwarf. She will not look at the axe without the ability to do research on it first since she believes it to be pointless without this ability. The group leaves the refugees here and heads downstairs into the sewers. As they head down they debate getting June and Steve but in the end continue without them. As they step into the lair, Erin freezes up and shows signs of fear. She tries to still her mind, which helps before the fear seems to come over her again. She can’t explain what she sees and just clings to Karl as they move forward unable to do anything much to help at this point. The group searched the Kuo-toa to find 28 gold, 78 silver and 29 cooper with 11 gems that seem to be worth 10g each. They also have 1 necklace of various teeth,1 pink-yellow conch shell, 1 rock painted with a wave crashing over a town, 1 small animal carcass(es), 2 rubbery sash embroidered with kuo-toa fighting a kraken, 1 pouch of seaweed, 1 crude stone dagger with a coral hilt, 1 flask of blood from an unknown source, 1 coral pendant of a lobster head. Beneath the decomposing aboleth is a shield. The group moves along to check the Sahugain but only find 19 silver and 30 copper. The group continues to go over old ground with Lily using the detect magic wand and Karl casting detect secret doors. Eventually they do discover a secret door. Lily looks it over to see it’s not locked but it is trapped. She tries to pick and set it off and lightning passes through the water and strikes each of them. Erin panics and Karl casts dispel magic on her to finally remove the effect on her. This has her panicking more when she sees Karl is hurt and picks him up to remove him from the area of the trap. Lily tries again and this time is more successful. They find a lot of gold under the water, a crown and four magical items (A crystal ball, dragon scale armour, studded leather and a blade. The group moves on to continue checking the area in the large cavern where most of the bodies are. Fargrim uses his axe and his prayers to Haelyn to part the water, but finds afterwards he cannot move the area he parted. They use this space to search the hags. They get 14s and 36c. Fargrim recasts the spell to control the water over the marid clothing, dragon, crocodiles and sea spawn. The marid has 1094g, 57p and a small music box. The sea spawn has 11g, 29s, 23c, 2 Silver ewer (25g each), 1 Carved bone statuette (25g), 1 Bottle with clouds on it, 1 seaweed, 1 coral belt buckle, decorated with small sea shells,1 necklace made of fish bones, 1 pouch of green-colored mud, and 1 waterskin of fermented fish blood. One of the crocodiles has a gold ring and a large gold bracelet stuck in it’s teeth, slightly damaged worth 250g (though due to damage 150g). The group moves on to the area with a tunnel under the water line. Lily uses the same control water spell to remove most of the water from the area as Erin describes the tunnel to Lily. They search the area of the crocodile den to find a bag of holding. They take it out and into the inner lair to reverse it and find out what is inside. Karl starts to identify things as the other count coins.
Notes
Main Party
| Name | XP | Running Total | Level at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fargrim | 250 | 138,760 | 13 |
| Karl | 250 | 138,760 | 13 |
| Lily | 250 | 138,760 | 13 |
| Simone | 250 | 61,580 | 9 |
| Name | XP | Running Total | Level at end of session |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hathana | 200 | 6,700 | 5 |
| Jackson | 100 | 6,600 | 5 |
| June | 200 | 6,700 | 5 |
| Pyre | 100 | 6,600 | 5 |
