Session 12: City of the Dead

General Summary

Session 12 MAR 2019: Bob’s Nightmare - Bob just barely gets to sleep, when he hears a low growl in his mind. He also hears incoherent whispering, just present enough to keep him from drifting to sleep. He feels occasional light touches, but nothing seems to be present. Upon waking in the morning, he is surrounded by a fine dust and a sulfurous smell. Due to his fitful rest, he wakes exhausted.   Me and Lorin - Towards morning, I notice that the Library gets considerably colder. Lorin’s lizard appears in her dreams and asks, “What stories do you have for me?” For the first time, Mab (the lizard fey) seems to have tinkling icicles in her hair. Lorin relates a summary version of the beginnings of her Waterdeep adventures. Mab says that this pleases her for now, but she grows bored easily. Mab reaches out and hands Lorin a sticklike talisman, and says that this will help us. As Lorin wakes, I see the object appear beside Lorin, who is surrounded by a cold mist. Lorin doesn’t really remember the previous day, and her body is exhausted. The coldness in the room starts to abate. The stick: A twisted, dark stick that is difficult to tell if it is wood or a frozen icicle.   Downstairs, Olina (the Dwarven lady) is grousing and cooking in the kitchen; this appears to be her normal state. Det checks out the dust that appeared around Bob, and it checks out as normal ash, but mysteriously appearing ash, nonetheless. Gnosh can tell that the dust has a magical aura, but it is of an unfamiliar nature. Det can tell that the ash possesses a demonic origin.   Lorin and I head downstairs, while Det and Bob confer about this higher-level demon that has visited during the night. The rest of us work on finalizing our preps for opening the tavern to the public.   As Bob is meditating, a vision of his brother appears to him. They converse about family business (non-group stuff).   Once everyone is downstairs, we all have breakfast and get ready for the tavern’s first opening. The musicians arrive! The tavern opens, and many people enter to try us out.   In the bustle, Feng is drawn aside by a hooded figure. The person, a woman, leads him to a secluded room in the kitchen area, and closes the door. The figure is Ava, Feng’s stepmother. She admonishes Feng to not be hard on himself; she knows that his father is angry, but there is much in play at the moment, and not to worry. She gives Feng a linen-wrapped bundle and tells him, “Do not tell your father about this,” and that he will need this object in the trials to come. She says that the family has been cursed for some time, but that he has a chance to restore the family honor and break the curse. They share a loving family moment, and she departs.   Lily sees someone in the tavern that meets her eyes, and indicates that she must come; this appears to be a form of compulsion. The figure exits to the street in front of the tavern, compelling Lily to follow. Lily tries to get Det’s attention, but the bustle of the tavern obfuscates his perception of Lily. The figure stops and turns to her, and reveals himself to be her brother. Lily is rather peeved with him. He admits that “they” have been tracking her, and that Lily is lucky that he found her and not Elanor. They argue a bit about family hunting down Lily, and the brother agrees to let Lily keep the family bow as long as she compensates the family for what she has taken (the bow). Det monitors the conversation, but the whole affair is obscure to him, and he leaves. The brother says that he has one year to repay the bow, under power of some kind of spell as guarantor (spell: Geas). He leaves, and Lily returns to the tavern, quite pissed off!   Back to Bob: Earlier, he had received a letter from a colleague, of sorts: Istrid Horne (sp?). The letter asks about further information regarding the doings at Gralhund villa. He and Feng travel to a particular graveyard in the City of the Dead to answer the summons implicit. They stop at a prominent statue in the district, where a female Dwarf clad in plate armor is waiting. The environs seem to be a normal day in Waterdeep; they see posted broadsheets stating that the City Watch is rounding up Zentarim members for the “bloodbath at Gralhund Villa.”   Upon their approach, the Dwarf greets them warmly. Bob relates a summary of true events at the Villa. Aidan recognizes the Dwarf as a companion of Davril Starsong at the Yawning Portal. She states that she has many irons in the fire, and needs the City Watch to not be prying into her business. She offers 50 platinum for a quiet place to stay for the next month. She gives 10 platinum as an opening move in negotiations.   We all regroup at the bar and set out for the mausoleum in the City of the Dead that contains the Stone. It is early evening, and the Watch informs us that we have about two hours of visiting time left. Det asks for more time, as we are “grieving.” They ask if we are looking for Sir Ambrose, and we recognize the correctr answer when told. “Yes!” We seek out this person. While traversing the area, we see glass orbs that levitate and emit light as the night falls.   Initially, we cannot find Sir Ambrose to direct us, and the poor weather coupled with darkness makes it tough to find our destination. We eventually find it, though. The site is surrounded by an iron fence, and is a large stone building   We approach the front, and the entrance is open. Feng enters first. We see several crypts inside with the lids pulled away. Bob switches to the form of the female Dwarf that is now staying at our tavern. We also see some small amount of blood on the floor of the mausoleum. The interior is dusty and dirty, as befits a place of burial. Det casts a Locate spell, and the Stone is NOT within 1000ft of our position.   Det leaves the crypt to expand his search radius, and literally runs into four Duragar (Dark Dwarves) that appear hostile. Roll for initiative! Figures and dice out!   We kill the four attackers, and investigate the crypt more earnestly. We find that the skeletons have been removed from the open crypts for unknown reasons. We also find a stairway in the rear, leading down.   The lower level also has many distrubed crypts with missing skeletons. Lorin notices, beside one of the crypts in the dust, a silver key. The key is out of place for this environment. The rest of the crypt seems quite looted already. Lorin hypothesizes, reasonably, that keys have locks, and this is quite a shiny key.   Det casts Eyes of the Grave (60 ft range), but detects no disturbances (i.e. undead). Detect Magic spells get no hits. The mausoleum seems to be a dead end, with the exception of the silver key.   Development: When Lorin plays with the key, a pixie appears, laughuing and saying “Silly Human!” The pixie asks for food, and we feed her. Lorin has acquired a familiar! :-)   We go back to the Dock Ward and talk to Grenda, who examines the key for us. The key is not magical, and she suggests consulting someone who is an expert in keys, locks, etc. She suggests the Steam and Steel right on Troll Skull Alley, near our tavern.   On our way home, we encounter a Trolltide celebration that is interrupted by a giant blind troll, dragging a ball and chain, chasing a minor Waterdavian noble named Bramus Salute. Bramus shouts for help, and we all jump in!