Session 8: The Clockwork Queen Report

General Summary

Session 8 – Wednesday Aug 24th, 2022 – The Clockwork Queen

4 Hour session 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM

The Stone Bearers. Party of 4:

It is the 15th day of the month of Marpenoth (Leaffall) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Mid October.)

• Abrash – Wood (Dessert) Elf L3 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf L3 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin L3 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi (School)
• Thomas – Human L3 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Isabella – Forest Gnome L3 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Gurthen – Dwarf L3 Paladin – Spencer Armstrong (School)

Goals:

• Find a way to the Clockwork Queen’s penthouse suite and press the red button to stop the building from moving and open the emergency exits so Brynlee can rescue her fiancée Xander.

The Office suite

The party, saddened by the sudden loss of 3 in their party (Gazlowe must have been sucked into the Ethereal plane portal also) they grabbed a few handfuls of the fake coins and moved on. They pressed the bottom button that looked like an office and went into the elevator. The door opened to a room that contained several chairs and indoor plants. The ornately carved furniture, luxurious wallpaper, and soft carpet resembled the office of a wealthy merchant—a stark contrast to the rest of the highly industrialized tower. There were two internal doors, one labelled “Meeting Room” and the other labelled “Office”. The party went into the room labeled office, and found it was unoccupied. But then, the elevator door opened, and a large mechanical contraption entered saying, “Nimrod, Contact Achieved!”

Nimrod

Nimrod was a large construct covered with wires and gears with two large swinging mechanical arms. Thomas ran into the office, noticed the desk covered with accounting papers and crouched behind the desk with his crossbow. Nimrod’s arms slammed Ajani and Isabella, bloodying them both. Ajani cast dragons’ breath of cold, but it didn’t hurt Nimrod that much. Isabella raged and hit Nimrod with her greataxe. Abrash told Ajani to run as he Wild Shaped into a giant lizard. Thomas shot a 2nd bolt at the bot but missed again. Nimrod, started swinging and Ajani said “I’ve seen this before! Duck!” Nimrod missed Isabella but the 2nd arm slammed into Abrash and left him barely alive with 1 hp.

Dripping with blood, Ajani dodged, ducked, dipped, dove and dodged until he made it into the adjacent room with Thomas. Isabella continued to slash with her axe. Abrash the giant lizard bit into Nimrod ripping at some cogs. Thomas finally hit it with a crossbow bolt and bloodied Nimrod. Nimrod slammed Abrash the Giant lizard so hard that the lizard was destroyed and Abrash became bloodied. Ajani waved his hands and firmly spoke mystical words as a shot a lightning struck Nimrod. Everyone watched in horror as Nimrods gears went back into place and it was healed by the lightning. Startled, Isabella swung and missed Nimrod.

Abrash hit Nimrod with guiding bolt of radiant energy bloodying the construct. Thomas struck it with a radiant crossbow bolt. Nimrod engulfed and started to suffocate Isabella. Ajani, recognizing the error of his previous attack, struck nimrod with his ray of frost even though it didn’t hurt it as much, it was better than healing it. Isabella, blinded and restrained, recklessly struck Nimrod from within its mass of wires and cogs, destroying the construct. Bursting through the creature she said, “I’m hungry!”

Tereene Silverthorn

Abrash handed out some goodberries to help heal the party. Thomas looked over the paperwork, although he didn’t understand all the financials, he saw the name of the Clockwork Queen: Tereene Silverthorn. Ajani said, “Silverthorn… they’re sisters!” Looking up at the wall they saw a painting of two young girls. They recognized one of the girls as the Dame of Dirt, Brynlee Siverthorn. The other girl in the picture seemed of a similar age but had red hair. Isabella grabbed a small sack of 200gp from the desk. The party discussed their concerns with getting involved in a family affair. The quickly looked around the rest of the suite and then pressed the button on the elevator that they assumed to be the penthouse.

The Penthouse

The penthouse was an elegant room filled with exquisite paintings, luxurious tapestries, opulent furniture, and exotic antiques. Abrash thought it to be garish. The amount of wealth on display in this room would make a lord seem a pauper. A lavishly dressed woman with pale skin and flaming red hair was striding back and forth angrily, with a male green dragonborn trying to keep up. Several clockwork guards flanked them. The party immediately knew this was Tereene, the Clockwork Queen and Xander! “Thieves in my tower! I have you at last!” she shouted, pointing a ring-tipped finger at the party. “Who sent you? Was it my fool of a sister?”

Abrash tried to appeal to appeal to Tereene and calm her anger down. He offered to negotiate a truce between the two sisters. They went back and forth for a few moments until the kobold, Poodrags, went over to the big red button on the wall and pressed it. There was a loud screech as all the machinery and the building itself suddenly came to a halt. A door flew open, and a metal staircase unfolded to the outside. Tereene shouted, “What did you do?!” Abrash warned Tereene that her sister is coming, and she should not stoop to her sister’s level. Thomas recognized that they had all already gone too far. Isabell sat on the couch with some popcorn.

Sibling Strife

A large clay golem burst into the room. The Stone Bearers immediately recognized it as the clay statue of Xander that Brynlee had in her office. It was followed by a small swarm of mud Mephits and finally Brynlee herself. The golem immediately charged to the Clockwork Guards and the minions became engaged in combat. Ajani sat on the couch with Isabella. Abrash walked up to Brynlee and asked her to, “Stop this madness!” Thomas joined Ajani and Isabella on the sidelines.

The clockwork guards started to get the upper hand in the battle. Brynlee noticed and begged the Stone Bearers to aid them. “I paid you well, help me get Xander and get out of here!” Abrash continued to try to diffuse the situation. Isabella and Ajani told her that the original agreement mentioned nothing of this. The battle quickly turned as the Clay golems smashed one of the guards into a pile of cogs and bolts. Brynlee smiled and said, “I don’t need you then.” Tereene on the other hand, saw the battle turning and she implored the group, “Whatever she paid you, I will pay you double to get her out of here!”

Abrash said, “This is madness, and I will end this myself” as he cast Summon Beast. A lizard with horns and thorns all over its body appeared next to him. Abrash stood looking very intimidating with the small beast beside him. The party noticed that the women were standing back watching the minions fight and Xander was standing beside Tereene. Isabella stood up and joined Abrash to aid in the intimidation. Ajani cast message to Xander and told him: “Xander, you need to a better job at breaking up with Brynlee. She obviously doesn’t know what is happening here, you need to set the record straight before anyone else gets hurt.”

Xander steps up.

The minions continued to pound on each other. Xander saw the violence going on, he knew that it was only going to escalate. He saw the Stone bearers standing there ready to take out someone soon. Then hearing Ajani’s voice in his head, he was finally moved. He stepped forward and firmly said “Stop this madness now! Stop the violence! Brynlee, listen! I fell in love with your sister. I don’t understand why, more than a fish can understand flying or a snake can understand walking. I fell for your sister, and I fell hard. I’m sorry to cause you pain, but things are over between us. I am in love with Tereene and her red hair.”

Brynlee was taken back, and she shouted “No!” Her minions suddenly stopped just long enough for Tereene’s minions to finish them off. Brynlee stood in distress and shock. Tereene walked over to Brynlee with a rope and tied her hands. Abrash started to stop her but backed off with a look of disapproval. Tereene said, “We need to settle this sister to sister.”

The aftermath.

Abrash again offered to mediate the discussion, but Tereene interrupted him as Xander escorted Brynlee away. Tereene asked what Brynlee had offered and was told 1,000gp. She asked what they destroyed. She was told they destroyed Nimrod and the Mimic. She seemed impressed that they took out Nimrod. They told her that they lost 3 party members in the vault to the portal. She smiled with some satisfaction and said, “They’re not dead yet, they may still find a way out. As a matter of fact, they can actually see you now.”

Isabella felt a little guilt and handed back to Tereene the 200gp purse she acquired from the office. Tereene asked if they destroyed any of her operations and they told her “No.” Again, Tereene seemed impressed. She threw the bag of gold back to Isabella and told the party that she will pay them the 1,000gp they were promised. She told them that she may hire them in the future. They told her that they can be reached through Lord Blackmoor, and she also gave them a card with a code to get into her building. She also handed the party a signed “withdrawal slip” from the local bank in Zelbross.

The Bank

The party walked out of exit door and down the emergency escape. They walked downtown to the Lords Alliance Bank of Zelbross. Ajani asked to open an account in the name of the Stone Bearers. The goblin banker gave them a hard time because they weren’t guild affiliated but the party filled out the paperwork and deposited over 1,200 gp into the bank and received a small stack of 100 withdrawal slips that could be used at any Lord’s Alliance bank on the Sword Coast. With a minimum of 1,000 gp balance, they would receive 3% interest compounded monthly. Abrash asked about the banking practice and the overall practice of savings and loans was explained to him. He also learned that different interest rates can be earned based upon amounts deposited with a min of 100gp = 1%, 1,000 gp = 3%, 100,000gp for 5% and 1,000,000gp for 10% interest. The goblin explained that if the balance falls below 1,000 gp there would be a lower interest rate and fees may be applied etc.

Back in Blackmoor's

The party approached Lord Blackmoor's mansion and noticed there was an ornate coach out front and 2 ornately decorated guards standing outside the front door. The guards stopped the party from entering until they provided their names. The guards checked against a list and then let the Stone Bearers enter. Inside they saw Mr. Homn. Mr. Homn saw that Gurthen wasn’t there and he gestured, “Where’s Gurthen?” The party gestured “dead” but Abrash quickly said “We don’t know for sure.” With a quivering lip and tears welling in his eyes Mr. Homn led the party to the closed sitting room door. Before letting them in, Mr. Homn cast prestidigitation to clean up the party.

Mr. Homn opened the door to the sitting room, and they saw Lord Blackmoor standing and 2 other men in the room sitting. One was a middle aged, well dressed, portly, balding man. The other was a much younger, perhaps 35, ruggedly handsome with a beard and wearing very fancy armor. Lord Blackmoor introduced the well-dressed balding man as Mayor Percival Bentley and the younger man as Vandore Hallwinter . Vandore stood up with grace and presence. He wasn’t a huge muscular man, but he was clearly athletic and very charismatic. His smile was disarming and he immediately zeroed in on Isabella with a smile. He said, “You are the Stone Bearers, I’ve heard much about you.” He then turned to the Mayor and Lord Blackmoor and said with authority, “May we please have the room.” The Mayor and Lord Blackmoor quickly got up with a small head nod of acknowledgment and they left the room.

Vandore Hallwinter

He (Vandore Hallwinter ) told the party he was here to learn about them. He asked them what they’ve done and asked each of them where they were from and what they did. He took notes about their home villages. Abrash mentioned that his home city has no one left and he was looking to find out what happened. Vandore expressed sincere sympathy to the loss of his village (as he seemed to draw a line through the information on his notepad.) Ajani confirmed the story and told Vandore that even though they don’t look like it, he and Abrash are brothers. Vandore, trying to show compassion for the elves said, “I like that, I have nothing against Elves, some of my best friends are elves.”

He turned to Isabella who said she was an ambassador of the Hundred-acre wood. Again, Vandore tried to find more details about her home but seemed to lose interest when she told him the population is very small. Thomas deflected when the questions came to him and said, “You have us at a disadvantage, you know about us, and we know nothing of you.”

Vandore smiled and was happy to talk. He explained he was son of the famous Sildar Hallwinter of Phandallin and that he has followed in his father’s footsteps expanding the Lord's Alliance in the Sword Coast. He told them that he was offering opportunities to adventuring parties. He encouraged them to join the Adventuring Guild and that he would even sponsor them. He explained that his purpose is to bring cities together for the greater good for all inhabitants of the Sword Coast.

Lord's Alliance

He explained the purpose of the Lord's Alliance . See Article: Lord's Alliance . He explained that almost the entirety of the Sword Coast has joined the Lord’s Alliance with the major exception of the Elves and tribes in the high Forest. He said they are beginning negotiations with the Elves of the high forest but they’re in need of some help. Thomas asked about those in Waterdeep. Vandore explained that Valindor is fully on board and that he hadn’t seen the Blackstaff in several ten-days.

Abrash was very skeptical, and Ajani was skeptical of the “Guild.” Vandore explained that the guild membership has many benefits, retirement plans, guaranteed contracts etc. Vandore went straight to the point that they need help in the High Forest and having a group of adventurers consisting of a goblin, a dwarf, a human, a gnome, and a couple of Elves would go a long way to open communications to prevent war between men and elves.

They questioned if he was talking hyperbole and Vandore asked if they’ve heard of the Red Lady or the White Lady? They had briefly heard of them when they encountered the Centaurs in the High Forest but told Vandore they had no alliances to them. Vandore again emphasized how he wanted a party such as theirs to show unification across the races to the Ladies of the Forest for the Alliance wasn’t sure what they were planning. They know they’re organizing something but what the Alliance needs is for someone to help get more information and help avoid a war.

Abrash was still skeptical and wondered if it was really something worth doing. Passionately Vandore asked if Peace rather than War, famine, injustice, spreading of knowledge, building institutions of public education, libraries and temples and feeding the homeless, are these things not worth working together to join the peoples to achieve!? He said, “Shouldn’t all the peoples be working together for a better civilization?” He went on saying that the Lord’s Alliance is dedicated to stop piracy on the seas, to make the roads safe from bandits, to stop the slave trade.

Denying Vandore

Abrash told him that he didn’t care for civilization and the Stone Bearers, in the end declined to join the guild or directly help. But Vandore said, that he would not interfere with the Stone Bearer’s activities but if they found information about the Elves activities, good or bad, it would be much appreciated. Vandore stood up and began to bid the party fare well.

Isabella asked if he had heard anything about the threats from Hefalumps and Woozles. Vandore was a bit puzzled and asked some questions. In the end he smiled and patted her on the head saying, “Gnomes are so cute.” Isabella nearly began to rage as Vandore just smiled and nodded to the rest of the party. Walking out into the hall he snapped his fingers and called out “Percival!” The two of them got into the carriage with the guards and were on their way.

After Vandore left, the party discussed the situation. Ajani sounded interested in joining the alliance, but Abrash and Thomas would not but for very different reasons. Lord Blackmoor came back in the room and explained that Zelbross is officially part of the Lord’s Alliance for about a week and 5% of everything now must be collected in taxes. However, he went on to say that the Lord’s Alliance is providing more guards for the town plus a new magistrate and there are other benefits the people are beginning to see. Even passage along the Delimbiyr Road to Loudwater seems to be safe now. Then Lord Blackmoor remembered that the Elf they had rescued on that very route, Revalor Miadi, wanted to see them for something urgent.

Revalor

The party continued to discuss the pros and cons of Vandore’s offer and if he could or not be trusted as they headed to Revalor’s apothecary. The found Revalor who quickly locked the door and sat down with the party. Revalor seemed scared and talked just above a whisper. The Stone Bearers asked if this was about the Alliance and Revalor waved that away saying he’s an honest businessman and that’s not an issue. But then he said, “However, I do have a family secret that I need to talk about.” He explained that his grandfather was a great sorcerer named Niptu. His grandmother was merely one of his concubines who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Her name was Katerina Rostova. Before she disappeared, she had a daughter, Masha and that is Revalor’s mother. Revalor explained that most say Niptu was a great wizard about 200 years ago during the spell plague but in reality, he was a Sorcerer with innate abilities. Abrash asked if Revalor had discovered his own innate abilities and with a scoffing laugh, Revalor said, “No.” Then with a serious tone, “But not everyone believes that.” Niptu’s discovery

Revalor explained what he had been able to piece together. Niptu discovered that the blood of certain creatures has certain powers and when combined with certain alchemy and other things can be channeled for various magical purposes even without the weave. When combined with the weave it is even more powerful. Revalor told the party that almost 200 years ago Niptu was killed for what he could do at the time. Revalor went on to explain that whatever was in Niptu’s blood was extremely powerful, so much that he believes the Body of Niptu still exists and an evil organization is still to this day magically extracting blood from him somehow. Revalor provided a very small demonstration of the power of Niptu’s discoveries and how they change spells. He provided Ajani with a description of various spell components that Niptu had invented with an explanation of how they can make spells more powerful. (See Niptu's Spell Components ). He handed Ajani 5 balls of Bloodantomoniumunimen, 1 piece of Rangeium and 1 vial of Healium. Revalor explained that one of Niptu’s spell components was Maxiboomium and it’s very powerful, but Revalor lacked some of the herbs needed to create it. He handed Abrash a list of plants that he could use if they should come across them. Revalor again emphasized that this is just a sample of the power Niptu had.

The Shield of Niptu

Revalor told the party of the Shield of Niptu. They have a symbol of a Sword, Wand and Staff forming an N inside a circle. Revalor believes this is the organization that still has the body of Niptu, and they are extracting his blood and using it for powerful nefarious purposes. Perhaps even a very powerful weapon! Revalor implored the group to locate the Shield of Niptu and find out where they’re keeping Niptu’s body and completely disintegrate it. If this is done, they won’t be able to continue with their experiments. Revalor gave Ajani a 6th level spell scroll of Disintegrate to be sure the job can be done. He also told him, that he was kidnapped previously by the Shield of Niptu because they want to extract his blood even though he doesn’t have the same powers as his grandfather.

Revalor told the party that he has a friend who knows of a secret Bazaar underground in the High Forest. In the Bazaar, there is another herbalist of sorts there who also knows of Niptu’s secrets and Revalor believes that this herbalist knows where to find the Shield of Niptu. Revalor told Isabella that the alchemists name is Wykoop and he’s a Gnome. Being a Gnome, Isabella would have a greater chance of being trusted. If she mentions Niptu he will talk to her. He told the group that his friend, Pa’Kamsi Anepou runs a shop called Runes and Relics and happens to be in need of an adventuring party to help him somehow. If they help Pa’Kamsi perhaps he’ll tell them how to find the secret Bazaar. Revalor agreed to go into hiding with his family at cottage along the Delimbiyr River between Zelbross and Loudwater because of all that is going on with “The Prophecy.”

The Prophecy

Thomas asked, “The Prophecy???” Revalor, a bit surprised they didn’t know about it, told them of a prophecy that when the kingdoms of man are all united amongst themselves and the kingdom of the elves are united amongst themselves there would be a great war and a massively destructive weapon will come into existence to end the war with great devastation. He told them the Lord’s Alliance has nearly completed the full unification of the Sword Coast and both the Red Lady (Morgwais Nightmeadow) and the White Lady (Tina) are attempting to Unite the Elves of the High Forest.

Revalor again said they need to find the Body of Niptu and destroy it to prevent the weapon from being created and possibly prevent the war.

The party become concerned with the intentions of the Lord’s Alliance. Abrash did not want to leave money in the “Lord’s Alliance” bank not knowing if they’ll be using their gold to fund a war against the Elves. They went back to the bank and closed their account for a 1% fee. Abrash made the assumption that the humans are the ones running the Elf slave trade, but Revalor told him that’s not true. The Lord’s Alliance outlaws all slavery.

Pa’Kamsi Anepou

The party then went to Runes and Relics and found a very thin man named Pa’Kamsi Anepou running the shop. They told Pa’Kamsi that they are the Stone Bearers and wished to help him with his problem. Very excited he sat them down and gave them some bitter tea and told them his story. He told them that he was recently down on his luck, and he hadn’t paid his tax bill. He sold a very precious family heirloom to a goblin at a secret underground market in the High Forest to pay his debts. But since then, his luck has changed, and he went back to get his small statue but the Goblin who paid him 15gp now wanted 2,000 gp to get his statue back!

He told the party the heirloom is only worth about 25gp but it’s very very precious to him as a family heirloom. He is willing to party the party 200gp after they retrieve it. He doesn’t care how they retrieve it. He described the heirloom as a small golden statue of a striking cobra. He sold it in the bazaar to a goblin named Eek at Eek’s Easy Pawn. He gave the party instructions on how to find the bazaar entrance in a hollow tree just a short way into the High Forest north of Zelbross. He told them once they go down the steps in the hollow tree and they’ll come to some Hobgoblin guards. He said, “Tell them the password ‘Nying’ and they’ll let you in. Nying is the Goblin word for Gift.” He then gave Isabella a potion of Fire Breath. He gave Ajani a level 1 and a level 2 spell scroll. He gave Abrash a bottle of Keoghtom’s Ointment. He gave Thomas 1 splash potion of healing.

The party looked at the stuff in the store and while much of it was junk, there were some decent used items. Abrash was interested in some furniture. Pa’Kamsi told them, “You bring me back my heirloom, I give you good price on items you want. If you fail, I will overcharge you.” He then sent them on their way.

What’s next?

• Roll for Keoghtom’s Ointment
• Determine Ajani’s L1 and L2 spell scrolls.
• Can join the Adventurer’s guild
• Find out about the Red and White Ladies and report back to The Lord’s Alliance.
• Find out about mysterious slave trade in the High Forest.
• Locate and enter Bertrude’s Bazzar (Password is “nying”)
• Find Eek’s Easy Pawn and Recover a Striking Cobra stature from a goblin named Eek. Return to Pa’Kamsi Anepou at Runes and Relics in Zelbross for 200gp.
• Find the Gnome Wykoop and Isabella ask him about the Shield of Niptu.
• Locate the Shield of Niptu and find where they’re hiding Niptu’s Body
• Disintegrate Niptu’s Body and let Revalor Miadi know. Revalor is hiding with family at cottage along the Delimbiyr River between Zelbross and Loudwater.