Session 6: Wizard in a Bottle Report

General Summary

Session 6 – Wednesday Aug 10th, 2022 – Wizard in a Bottle

  4.5 Hour session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Party of 7(The Stone Bearers):

It is the 9th day of the month of Marpenoth (Leaffall) in the 50th year of the Age of Enialis (Early October.)

• Abrash – Wood (Dessert) Elf L2 Druid – Jacob Munson
• Ajani– High Elf L2 Wizard – Nathan Gioconda
• Gazlowe – Goblin L2 Artificer – Josh Pozsonyi
• Thomas – Human L2 Blood hunter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Gurthen – Dwarf L2 Paladin – Spencer Armstrong
• Isabella – Forest Gnome L2 Barbarian – Jackie Armstrong
• Jomys Belloq – Elf L2 Ranger – Dan King

Goals:

• Find the body of a missing adventurer, Amilya Grayheart, who disappeared in a sorcerer’s tower about 20 years ago. Bring the body back to Ulfgar Longwood in Zelbross for a 200gp reward.

Weird Water.

The party went back to the sitting room with the eyeballs. Gurthen carefully chiseled out an eyeball surrounded by stucco. He named it Isaac and carefully carried it. Jomys had some of the party members push the couches along one of the side walls, carefully exploding some more eyeballs. As they approached the open western corridor, they noticed an obnoxious odor coming from that direction. Gurthen and Thomas led the way down the hall. They entered a small room with a large pool (about 3’ deep) in the center of the room. Gurthen gazed into the pool and saw a bloated decomposing body at the bottom. As Gazlowe examined the water it began to move, and two foul smelling Water Weirds emerged and attacked the party.

Isabella hit the weirds with her axe, but the water weirds were not as wounded as she thought they would be. Abrash shot a guiding bolt and badly wounded a Water Weird. Jomys hit it one with his hand crossbow. Ajani tried to control the water and froze a portion of it, wounding it. Gurthen used his eyeball (Issac) and hit the Water Weird with it. The Water Weird looked like it was having a tough time holding its shape. Isabella got angry that she missed the Water Weird and she went into a rage. Gazlowe hit it with a fire bolt severely wounding it. It a fit of rage, the Water Weird, barely able to hold its shape together slammed down on Gurthen with a critical hit, knocking him unconscious. The Water Weird then began to pull Gurthen into the pool. Thomas and Isabella quickly reacted and prevented the unconscious Gurthen from going into the pool.

Abrash turned into a giant lizard and ran to the back of the room. Jomys hit the water weird again. Ajani considered casting a spell again, but his mind wandered to his home and the spell was shot in an errant direction. The Water Weird hit Isabella but she was raging and wasn’t hurt as badly as the Water Weird though she would be. Angrily she struck it back and nearly killed it. Thomas Stabilized Gurthen. Gazlowe grabbed a healing potion for Gurthen, and his Homunculus shot a gear at the Water Weird and killed it. Gurthen regained consciousness from the healing potion.

The Giant lizard struck the 2nd Water Weird, barely wounding it but trying to get its attention. Jomys hit the Water Weird with his Crossbow. Gurthen unsheathed his great sword and smited the creature quickly bloodying it. Isabella struck it again and Thomas finished it off with a critical hit from his whip turning the creature into steam. Gurthen began vomiting from the stench of the room. Thomas and Abrash (as a lizard) retrieved the putrid body from the pool. It was a male halfling wearing rusty chainmail and armed with a rusty sword. In his purse he had 30sp, 53cp and a moonstone worth 10gp.

A Dust up.

The door to the north was locked. Gazlowe picked it and the party went through the door. Gazlowe road upon Abrash the Giant Lizard. The party walked down a long hallway and opened a door at the far end. They all piled into the room that had an inordinate amount of dust. The party kicked up thick clouds of dust as they entered. Gurthen, Ajani, Jomys and Isabella began coughing. Gazlowe noticed a cabinet along one wall, 2 barrels in the corner, a door on the far wall and a body covered in dust in the center of the room. As he moved towards the body 4 dust mephitis popped out of the dust and began attacking. Unfortunately, Gurthen, Ajani, Jomys and Isabella were effectively incapacitated by their coughing.

Gazlowe tried to shoot a firebolt at a Dust Mephit but missed. His Homunculus was able to hit it with a cog from its mouth. Abrash, the Giant Lizard attacked the Mephit and nearly killed it. Ajani screamed like a little girl as one of the Mephit’s claws ripped into his flesh. Another Mephit ripped into Jomys. The 4 team members remained incapacitated as another Mephit hit the lizard. Gazlowe’s Homunculus finished off the badly wounded Dust Mephit and it exploded but nobody was affected by the explosion. A Mephit swung it’s claws at Gurthen and he was critically struck again, and again he went down. Thomas struck a Mephit with his whip as the rest of the party stopped choking on the dust. One of the Mephits attacked Isabella.

Stopping her coughing Isabella struck the Mephit with a glancing blow. Joyms was able to bloody another of the Mephits. Gazlowe dismounted the Giant Lizard and shoved a healing potion in Gurthen’s mouth (again.) Gurthen arose and critically hit one of the Mephits, killing it. The Mephit exploded and Jomys was blinded by the dust. A Mephit scratched Abrash the Lizard and wounded him some more. Ajani finally stopped coughing and cast a ray of frost at a Mephit, and it exploded. Isabella avoided the dust cloud. Thomas hit the last Mephit with his whip and Isabella finished it off.

Cabinet of Curiosities

Gurthen thanked Gazlowe for the healing potion and Gazlowe said “I’ll put it on your tab.” Gazlowe opened the cabinet in the room, and it was full of various curiosities including shells, fossils, skulls and bones, minerals, insects and beetles, preserved organs, rodent and reptile skins and primitive tools and weapons. Gazlowe examined the items and saw nothing of inherent value but realized an antiquarian in Zelbross might pay 100gp for the entire collection. Thomas realized that the objects aren’t really a magical reagent collection as much as a hobby.

Jomys looked at the old body in the center of the room and saw a holy symbol around his neck indicating that he was probably a Cleric. He tried to determine how the Cleric died but was unable. Gurthen wanted to take a long rest, but the party wanted to press on. Gurthen laid hands upon himself and closed some of his wounds.

Hall of Murals

Gazlowe let Thomas and Abrash lead the way while they held back a bit (so Gurthen didn’t pass out again.) The party began progressing through a hallway containing 6 Large murals depicting various levels of the Abyss. As the party gazed at them intently Gazlowe’s curiosity got the best of him, and he and Gurthen also entered the hall to examine the murals. Gazlowe looked at the possibilities of taking the murals, but they were 10’ by 10’ and traveling with the frames would be very difficult. As Thomas and Abrash reached a door at the far end of the hall. Gurthen used his divine sense and felt the presence of demons as 3 quasits popped out of the Murals and attacked.

The Quasit in the front attacked first. He tried to scare Ajani, but it didn’t affect him. The Quasit in the middle however made him scream like a girl, frightening him. Gazlowe hit the 2nd Quasit with a firebolt, but it didn’t hurt it as much as he thought it would. His Homunculus also hit the Quasit and it looked very hurt. Thomas whipped the Quasit and killed it. He looked at the 2nd Quasit and told it to “Run now.” Frightened, Ajani forgot everything he learned in school and instinctively pulled out his dagger to stab the Quasit. He missed but afterwards he was no longer Frightened of the little thing. Abrash the Lizard also missed. Isabella attacked the Quasit recklessly with her Great Axe and slashed into the middle Quasit nearly killing it. The Quasit in the rear critically attacked Gurthen but he didn’t go down. Gurthen, with his war hammer, turned and squished the Quasit.

The sole remaining Quasit, now frightened of the situation turned invisible. Gazlowe blindly shot in the general area and hit the Quasit, revealing its position to his Homunculus. The Homunculus chomped down on the Quasit and killed it.

The Sorcerer’s Lab.

The party walked into the room at the end of the hall. The hall was a lab filled with bowls, funnels, flasks, spouts, vents, alembics, cucurbits, mortals and pestles, small furnaces, and many containers of ingredients (most of which had perished.) The party spread out to examine the room.

A flask of oil rose into the air and flew at Isabella, she deftly dodged it. A 2nd bottle flew at Isabella, and she couldn’t dodge it. She was hit with a bottle of Acid. Gazlowe quickly backed out of the room. Gurthen watched carefully as another potion seemed to go straight into the air and then fly directedly at him. He noticed it was more like it was being controlled somehow rather than picked up and thrown by an invisible creature. Gurthen went to dive out of the room as the potion hit him and knocked him unconscious (yet again.)

Ajani went to back out of the room but first tried to examine the walls looking for a secret door. He didn’t see one and was hit with a bottle of poison as he backed out. Jomys looked for a place to hide but was unable to find one in the room. Another bottle of acid flew towards Jomys, but he avoided it as he jumped out of the room. A bottle of fire headed towards Isabella, but she dodged it and dove out of the room.

Abrash looked around and noticed there were just a few more potions of similar color that were being thrown at them. One flew at him, and he dodged it. Thomas walked around looking for what could be causing this. A few more potions flew at Thomas and Abrash, but they were able to avoid being hit.

Searching.

As no more potions were being thrown, everyone came back in and Gazlowe shut the door. They searched for secrets or invisible people but found none. Ajani searched for books or notes and found several. Gurthen didn’t sense any fey, fiends or undead. Isabella noticed an alembic with wax seals that contained a faintly glowing green mist. Thomas held the flask and said to it, “Amilya?” He felt an emotion of anger and negativity. He then said, “You must be our host.” Thomas felt a feeling of affirmation. Gazlowe suggested they smash it, and Thomas felt a feeling of happiness.

Isabella found several useful potions including 2 of healing, a potion of climbing, a potion of strength plus a flask filled with a translucent blue liquid. Suspended within the flask was a 3” tall female human figure with raven hair and a lithe build. She was dressed in dark green travelling clothes with a black cloak and holding a wand in her right hand.

Reading through one of the books entitled “Everlasting life.” Ajani learned that there are other ways to achieve a type of Lichdom and the sorcerer had turned himself into a mist to eternally extend his life. Thomas asked the sorcerer if he would die if the flask broke or if he wanted the flask to be broken but Thomas felt no response. Jomys suggested he’s the powerful sorcerer from this tower he could be a threat if they freed him.

Niptu

Reading the books and notes Ajani found that the sorcerer discovered some secret notes written by a Wizard known as Niptu. Ajani recalled something about a wizard during the Spellplague, about 200 years ago, who found a way to cast spells outside of the weave using some unique techniques. But Ajani didn’t recall any specifics.

Thomas was able to determine that the sorcerer in the bottle is the one who attacked and killed Amilya Grayheart’s party, and that the sorcerer was proud of it. The rest of the party discussed how to deal with the 2 bottles and where to rest. Several people wanted to open the bottles, but they decided to wait in deference to the others. Abrash search most of the other rooms for any secret passages they missed. The party eventually decided to sleeping the lab.

Ajani decided to forgo his rest and spent the night reading the books he found. Abrash and Thomas read over his shoulder for a while, but they eventually had to rest.

Relationships

As the party settled in for the night, they had small conversations. Reading the book with Ajani, Gazlowe confessed that he wished he could help heal the party more. Ajani shared a childhood memory of his favorite holiday, the Giving of Thanks Day, when his family had no food, the kindness of others provided. Thomas, looking over their shoulders was struck with the esoteric idea of fate and destiny. He shared: “Fate is Tricky, you always end up where you’re trying to get away from. You can never change it. But I believe you can affect fate, but you can’t outrun death.” Ajani agreed that he should let nature take its course and see where fate takes him and enjoy the ride. Thomas said, “This is my second life, you don’t exactly walk away with these kinds of injuries.” Ajani asked, “How did you get those injuries?”

Thomas explained that he wasn’t exactly a good man. He went on, “I made a lot of mistakes. I didn’t know they were mistakes at the time. My wife sent me a letter, I had that letter when they set me on fire. Her words are burned in my flesh.” He shared a portion of the letter, “By the time you get this letter, I know they will be at your door as well, and I want you to know that it was me who sent them to you. Your wife who finally saw her husband for the thing that he became. They didn’t tell me what would happen to me, but I pray to every god who cares, that you suffer for what you’ve done. I pray that every person who looks upon your face, sees you as I see you, a monster who should have died instead of our daughter.”

Gazlowe slunk back as the room was somber and whispered to Ajani, “Should we ask what happened to his daughter?” Thomas said, “My daughter’s name was Cassidy and I miss her every day.” Jomys broke the awkward silence. He explained that whenever he’s sad or down, he goes back to his jellybean collection. He explained in excruciating detail about Jellybean production and the regional differences between northern and southern jellybeans. Talking of food, Isabella started listing all her favorite foods that she enjoyed with beer including chocolate covered jellybeans. Abrash explained how he and Ajani once killed a Giant Scorpion, but its meat was horrible! Eventually everyone except Ajani fell asleep.

What Ajani learned

As dawn started to break, Ajani had read large portions of the book and discovered two important things. The first was a strange magical process on how to capture someone in stasis. He learned that it’s completely reversible by exposing the fluid to air.

He also learned that Niptu’s method to preserver someone immortally is irreversible. It captures the essence of the person without their body, but they must be preserved in a container. They gain truesight and telekinetic powers but can only express their emotions to others. Breaking the container where the essence is stored will effectively kill the immortal soul of the person. He read the recommendations for the phylactery and the suggestion was to make it out of strong metals.

Gurthen woke up and joined the group. He shared the dream he had about his ugly ex-girlfriend Gemma. She had no beard! She broke up with him over a sending stone. Ajani shared all he learned from the book.

They party debated again on what to do with this new knowledge. Should they kill the sorcererr? Should they keep him? Ajani attempted to cast Encode thoughts on the Sorcerer’s vessel to see what happened to him. He waved his hand precisely and an image appeared above the phylactery. They saw an old man desperately seeking youth, looking for eternal life. His ability to cast spells is diminishing because his body was failing. He was able to find old notes from the wizard Niptu and was able to recreate this complicated spell. With a smile on his face, he was able to cast the spell, and then a look of fear as his body turned to a mist and he entered the alembic. They party saw a pair of hands place wax seals on the alembic. Carefully looking, Ajani noticed that there was a ring on one of the hands. The ring had an N made of swords.

What’s next?:

• Recover the body of a missing adventurer, Amilya Grayheart, who disappeared in a sorcerer’s tower about 20 years ago.
• Bring the body back to Ulfgar Longwood in Zelbross for a 200gp reward.
• What to do with the Sorcerer who captured Amilya?