Campaign Session 11: A New Friend Report

Without missing a beat following the battle with the Avariel agents, Vadania continues her discussions with the Main Avariel, informing him that even if he hadn't chosen to stand down, the Party could have kicked his ass. She then admits that they are willing to try to find someone more powerful than her patron to try and free Nox from being a nightmare.   The Main Avariel doesn't know any other information about their newest project, so Vadania clarifies that as long as she is searching for someone who can fix him, the Avariels will leave her alone? The Main Avariel isn't as quick to jump on that response, telling her that he's going to do her a favor and tell the Avariel leaders that there was a skirmish and she can no longer be found. He then tells them he will be checking on Nox and Vadania in the future, so they should consider the time he has given them as a gift, and then he departs.   Irritated by the lack of information, Vadania then spots Guntho still leaning up against a rock, so she cusses at him, and his response was merely, "well, it seemed like y'all could handle yourselves," which just irritated her even more. Rothgar was quick to point out that Vadania didn't need to make a decision immediately. Given Vadania's state of exhaustion and irritation, and the fact that Rothgar is sorely in need of a drink, the Party decides to head back to town. Guntho says that they can't go back through the tunnels, so they have to take the long way back, through the main gates of town - it's about a 2 hour walk back.

As they walk, Guntho brings up that they all seemed to hold their own really well in the fight. He explains that he is a professor of arcane archaeology, and typically spends his summers out in the field. Unfortunately, summer is over, and there is still a site that he has a lead for but didn't have a chance to investigate. Guntho asks the Party if they are interested in looking into this lead for him, making sure to tell them that it may not be an easy time, but he is willing to compensate them for their time. Guntho tells them that they can come to the university if they want more information about the task. The Party decided to think about it/talk it through and then get back to him. Andry tells Guntho that she has always been highly interested in archaeology (FALSE, she's flirting!).

Agreeing to go to the Goofy Seagull for a beverage, Rothgar asks Guntho how to do the warding thing like what was done to the safehouse, and Guntho replies that he may be able to teach them sometime in the future. After pausing for an undetermined amount of time, much like statues, the finally make it to the Goofy Seagull around lunch time. Short rest! Andry makes a comment - "I really do appreciate archaeology, and big guys with accents..." Vadania tells her she just wants to conquer the mountain, to which Andry agrees, and Rothgar cringes...

The Party decides to take "Geronimo" (according to Vadania) up on his offer of the ruins task, and after changing into her purple cloak, they head back, with Andry skipping along the way. As they walk, Vadania and Rothgar see a flash of purple, what looks to be some kind of garment, on a balcony about four houses in front of them. They contemplate yeeting Andry onto the balcony to follow the purple garment, and then with Andry's agreement, Rothgar assists her onto the balcony. After Andry's feet hit the balcony floor, she sees a person in purple robes ahead of her clearly loading a crossbow. At the same time, behind Rothgar, a hand at his back is holding a knife, but the blade hits Rothgar's cloak of protection and gets caught, only nicking him in the side.

Ruttgar Fireforge, a 4'11" Forge Domain Dwarf Cleric with the Temple of Moradin, wearing well-kept plate with ash and soot from the forge on it, and a large belt buckle, walking from the opposite direction of the Party, sees what looks like a stabbing happening in front of him. "Well that's not a fair way to start a fight," and with that, walks past the scene before turning around behind them to intervene.

*INITIATIVE*

The purple-cloaked bad guy (Bad Guy 1) hears Andry land on the balcony, and so turns and levels his crossbow at her. He just misses however, as she startled him when she landed. The second man, who tried stabbing Rothgar (Bad Guy 2), is still tangled in Rothgar's cloak and is unable to hit Rothgar. Vadania yells, "You fools, who told you to attack?!" She attempted to deceive them, as she is wearing a purple cloak, and succeeds! Bad Guy 2 pauses, very confused. Andry uses her Kusari to try and disarm Bad Guy 1, succeeding, yanking the crossbow back to her and catching it. Ruttgar bonks Bad Guy 2 on the head with a warhammer, causing 12 bludgeoning damage, yelling, "that's no way to start a fight!"

Rothgar turns around, seeing a random dwarf helping, and tries to shove Bad Guy 2 away from him. Thoroughly bonked, Bad Guy 2 goes flying back, knocked prone. Rothgar then pulls his greataxe. Bad Guy 1, having just lost his crossbow, isn't very pleased. Recovering quickly, he draws a dagger and attempts to throw it at Andry, but fails. Bad Guy 2 is prone, but manages to stagger to his feet. He's definitely not feeling it after staring at Ruttgar, Rothgar, and Vadania, but seeing his predicament, drops his dagger, pulls two shortswords, and attacks Ruttgar. One swing succeeds, hitting Ruttgar and doing 7 piercing damage, but the second misses. Vadania sighs tiredly, then casts Hexblade's Curse on Bad Guy 2 (on his dex), then pulls her rapier and disarms Bad Guy 2 a la The Three Musketeers.

Andry is still on the balcony, and decides to use Ensnaring Strike ("HEMENA HEMENA ZOINK"), then throws a dagger, hitting Bad Guy 1 and doing 5 piercing damage. Bad Guy 1 was able to succeed on a strength check, ripping through the magical vines Andry created. Ruttgar holds an attack against Bad Guy 2, telling him that he is surrounded and down a sword, so he should surrender or he'll be cut in two. Meanwhile, Bad Guy 1 has had enough of Andry, so he turns, sprints towards the nearest window (25ish feet away), and jumps through it.

Bad Guy 2 weighs his options, pulls a dagger and attempts to throw it at Vadania, who slaps it aside with her rapier. Rothgar then makes an attack because Bad Guy 2 was aggressive (he had held an action), and hits, doing 12 damage. Bad Guy 2 then turns and tries to sprint away from the group. Vadania makes an attack of opportunity, stabby stabbing with her rapier and doing 4 damage. Ruttgar makes an opportunity attack of his own, using his warhammer, and does 7 damage. Bad Guy 2 somehow pulls his way out from the group, taking off down the street, clearly bleeding, and heads towards an alley that runs perpendicular to the building. At this point he's about 30 feet away from the group. Vadania tries to run/fly at him, and grapple, but fails.

Andry runs to the other side of the room and looks out the window to see where Bad Guy 1 landed, trying to perceive where he went. She sees that the neighboring building has a lower, flat roof, and sees Bad Guy 1 about 10 feet from where he landed, about 15 feet from Andry. She then takes her dagger and throws it at Bag Guy 1, but it flies past him and clatters onto the roof.

Ruttgar tries Hold Person again on Bad Guy 2, succeeding this time! As Bad Guy 2 is sprinting away, he is frozen in place, still bleeding. Ruttgar excitedly says, "Now we will get some answers!" Rothgar goes up to Bad Guy 2, ties him up and then puts him on the ground in a prone position.

Bad Guy 1 saw Andry's dagger clatter to the rooftop, so he scoops it up and tries to whip it back at Andry. It was an epic fail. He continues trying to run, and as he gets to the end of the rooftop, heads into the door down into that building. Vadania then flies up to the same rooftop Bad Guy 1 was on, but doesn't see him. She see's Andry's head in the window of the other building. Andry gives a play-by-play of what she did, and talks shit on Vadania's lack of helping the boys on the ground after Vadania says that Bad Guy 2 is on the ground grappled.

*END INITIATIVE*

Ruttgar tells the Party that they should remove Bad Guy 2 from the street, and that introductions are in order. He was on his way to the Temple of Moradin to meet a contact. Vadania and Andry make their way down to the street, and then Rothgar hefts Bad Guy 2 onto his shoulder much like he did with Kontos. Ruttgar sees Andry for the first time and notices that her shield has an emblem that's vaguely familiar, but he's not sure why. After a two minute conversation, Andry is over Guntho.

They make their way with Bad Guy 2 to the Temple of Moradin where they find Bob the secretary. "Elcas?" "Yep." And Bob walks off in search of Elcas. Not long after, Elcas comes out... "I see you have a captive yet again." Rothgar points out Ruttgar and says that he helped. They go to Kelldor's office again, with the queso, and then they drop Bad Guy 2 onto the floor. Elcas explains to Ruttgar that the Party has done this before, and then there's an awkward introduction by Rothgar. Vadania introduces herself, feathers ruffling like a cockatiel. Elcas explains to Ruttgar that the Party is new in town, but they've made a name for themselves already. "Attempted assassinations? A name indeed!" Elcas specifies that Kontos was part of the Eye of Corvus, and Rothgar explains briefly what the Party did to apprehend Kontos. Vadania asks if they have permission to "interrogate" the captive, and Elcas says yes, we have the funds for new carpets. Bad Guy 2 looks concerned.

Rothgar picks up the captive by the ropes, shoves him against the wall, and asks, "who sent you here?" Everyone tells him it's in his best interest to answer.

"The Raven Queen sent me." Andry asks why and is told that he was supposed to kill them, but Vadania doubts his story. Andry asks why she would send the captive. Vadania then gets in his face and says sarcastically, "Really, she sent you to kill us...?" showing him her Raven Queen eye. The captive responds, "make it a murder room if you must, I won't say more." Vadania says, "As another follower of the Raven Queen, who ordered you to attack us? You're saying she came to you in a vision and specifically ordered you to attack us? Or you have some false leader who says they do the Raven Queen's bidding?" The captive admits that there is a local leader.

The interrogation is intense, Vadania is very intrigued about this leader of the Raven Queen. Ruttgar asks Rothgar to lower the captive a bit. He then says, "You've said you're a professional. Being a professional, you've got to realize you're out of options. You don't want to speak because of your professional obligations. I'm going to appeal to your sense of obligation. You must understand what happens if we don't get answers that satisfy, you will no longer have a profession. You'll be dead. I'll give you options. Instead of dying horribly, we want to talk to you. You want to have a profession. Both they and myself have contacts in and out of the city, with Moradin and other places. We can see that you receive safe passage/travel money/opportunity for a new start where you can make better decisions and make a new profession."

The captive is astonished by the offer, although he admits he doesn't trust the rest of the Party, just Ruttgar. Ruttgar turns back to him, saying, "let's give you a new start, a brighter tomorrow."

Vadania then casts Hex on the captive, who now has disadvantage on WIS checks, saving Ruttgar two skeins of mead, "Brought to you today by the Raven Queen!" The captive is very intrigued by the concept that the Raven Queen gave Vadania some abilities. Ruttgar then commands him to Speak the Truth.

The captive feels like he can trust Ruttgar. "I was not sent directly by the Raven Queen. I was sent by the Eye. They weren't happy, not specifically with you, you weren't here. These three put a stop to a very lucrative ring of diamonds that we had. We were tasked with taking them out."

"How many are in the Eye?" "We operate in cells in this town, there were 8 in our cell. My profession is to take lives." "You're really bad at your profession." "When your cell is given instructions, who gives the instructions?" "Nemeia gives the instructions." "Was your cell involved with the Dix Street building?" "No my cell wasn't part of that. I've never heard of the Dix cheese building."

Ruttgar thinks that the captive has deserved his new start, and being a dwarf of his word, will give the captive a new start in another town, under the stipulations that he can't leave Kilead until Ruttgar gives him the word to leave, he can't murder, and he can't come back. Elcas agrees to provide a guard for the captive, taking him and saying he'll be right back. The four of them are left in Kelldor's office briefly, and Rothgar and Andry are shocked about Vadania's revelation that her patron is the Raven Queen.

Ruttgar explains that he was sent from his home temple in Donram to meet two missionaries, but they never arrived. He is trying to find them. He has their descriptions, but he hasn't personally met them. He was supposed to meet up with them a few days ago, and intends to see his task through to the end - investigating what happened to them, although he is open to other opportunities. The four of them agree to travel together for now and assist each other.

Vadania then tries Elcas' pipe, enjoying the pipe weed tobacco. They then describe their dealings with Guntho, with Vadania noting that Guntho "wasn't fondling a dead pelican." There was also some confusion about where Vadania lives, to which Rothgar states, "she definitely lives underground," while pulling on Vadania's wings.

Elcas confirms that the Circle knows about the missionaries, and that the Party won't need coin. He knows that they arrived in the city, but not precisely when they went missing. The Town Guard is investigating several other disappearances, and he recommends that the Party go to talk to Captain Trebond. Elcas already let him know that Ruttgar would be coming, so if the rest of the Party goes with him, there shouldn't be any trouble. Rothgar reminds them that they still need to talk to Guntho before the day is over. Vadania lets Elcas know that she told Kelldor to set his office on fire as she leaves, leaving Elcas very concerned. There's another Children of Moradin Youth Group bake sale going on, and the children are shocked with Ruttgar offers up a SP as a donation.

The Party goes to see Captain Trebond, and the discussion gives them much needed information. There have been 15 disappearances in the last 1.5 months - 8 kids, 7 adults, and 2 of the adults are the dwarven missionaries Ruttgar is looking for. The only connection they've been able to make so far is that all of the adults are dwarves. The children have been various races, and as of now, the Guard don't believe the children and adults' disappearances are related. Captain Trebond does ask for discretion so that there isn't a panic amongst the dwarven population in the city, and the Party agrees, saying they will try to stop the disappearances if they can. Both the Captain and the Party agree to share information.

After leaving Captain Trebond, the Party returns to the Goofy Seagull to rest and ruminate on all of the information they received, and all that they have been through in the past 2 days.