Chapter 7, Session 2: Beggars, Burglary and a Wish
General Summary
Where are those friends now? You are going to die here. Alone and terrified because you were too weak to win and too stupid to run.The session began with the party having a discussion about what they should do first after their meeting with Temptation. During their discussion, the arch-inquisitor returned and claimed that she wished to take Thordak for a short time in the hope that she could teach him more about The Hunt and how he can better understand his role as the Key of an entity. The party agreed and Temptation, flustered from Fen's realisation that she and Thordak were going to rekindle their relationship together, hastily teleported away with the Half-Orc. Leaving the party slightly reduced in number for a short time. As they discussed, the party first decided that they would travel back through the mountains and The Unwaking territory in order to reach Wakefield. However, they then remembered the necklace of Wish within the Easthaven The Beauty's Eyes store. Coming to the decision that this was likely the magical item Xan Prayerkeep had recently bid on, the party decided it would be in their best interests to take the necklace for themselves and ensure the Arch-Inquisitor could not get his hands on it and so they returned to Easthaven with a new plan. Fen and Olympia would go to the Beauty's Eyes using a mixture of invisibility and the disguise self spell and, under the pretense of being a noble interested in purchasing the necklace, they would take the necklace and teleport away before using the wish to teleport to Wakefield, ensuring the item was useless afterwards and meaning they could potentially avoid all the dangers of travelling to the town. The rest of Persicorum set up their tents and camping spaces and waited for Fen and Olympia to dimension door to them. With that Fen, disguised as a young nobleman with a blade, and Olympia, using invisibility, moved into the Beauty's Eyes and Fen quickly played the part of haughty noble, convincing the owner of the store to allow him to try on the necklace. The theft was going smoothly until Olympia realised she had been noticed, not necessarily seen, but another staff member knew that something was wrong. As the owner placed the necklace around Fen, he began to piece together the trickery Fen and Olympia were using and, as he was prepared to call for assistance, Olympia appeared and used dimension door, the worker that saw Olympia attempted to counterspell but their spell was cut-off by Fen using a counterspell of his own and the pair dimension doored away to the tent and immediately heard an alarm and outcry in the town. In a panicked rush, Olympia claimed the necklace and attuned to it, feeling herself flooded with magic and power that felt abnormal and exceptional to her. She channeled this energy into a wish that carried her and the rest of Persicorum to a densely wooded space 7 miles away from Wakefield. The exertion of using the Wish spell left Olympia with an unnatural stress and strain placed upon her body. Leading her to collapse and become exceptionally weak to the point Kodo carried her for the rest of the journey and Fen was on rock gathering duty to ensure she was sustained. The party continued travelling and, as they did, Nash asked what each of them would wish for to which Fen and Kodo stated that they did not know... however, Mimsi expressed her simple wish that the party's adventure had a happy ending despite the hardships they had already faced and were surely due to face in the future. After this, Fen expressed his belief that achieving his magical potential would lead to him mastering the wish spell himself one day, soon after, the party reached the town of Wakefield and they immediately noticed that things were amiss. The town was a colourless grey and was constantly overcast and muggy due to the mixture of Alturis currently having summer heat and the smog from the factories in Wakefield leaving the space overcast and dark grey and tone. The party were struck by the pure misery of the place before, soon after, being struck by the fact that they did not see a single adult in the town. Instead they only saw hundreds upon hundreds of children in tattered clothes and half starved as they walked with urgency around the town. The party's eyes were also drawn to a statue in the centre of the town, tall, imposing and made of pure platinum. The statue's eyes unnaturally flicked and followed people and underneath it was a sign simply stating:
- Olympia takes a dark turn battling The Crownsguard.
The mayor is always watching, Batten-Willsh will look after you.
The party, thoroughly confused, found a nearby human child who, after coaxing them with food, told the party that the only safe place was the church as that was where Ardeth was staying to help the town. The party noticed that every child they coaxed with food looked terrified but unable to resist coming close to their desperation... however, the children seemed more nervous of the statue than the party and Fen, with a very successful arcana check, discovered the statue was magical and had many functions; including being able to activate to enforce the law and being able to be used as a scrying centre to observe the town.
Thoroughly disgusted, the party decided it was most important to reach the church where they could meet and assist Ardeth and start their mission in order to be able to leave Wakefield as fast as possible. As they travelled the party noticed there were no taverns or shops but, instead, there were token exchanges for the workers to purchase clothing and food by exchanging work tokens.
As they wandered the streets however, they heard armoured boots approaching and finally they saw the first adults in this town as a troop of The Crownsguard wandered through, led by a large, strong and imposing Firbolg. The party hid in time to overhear these soldiers make mention of already knowing Persicorum had arrived and that they knew the group were trying to get in touch with Ardeth. Overhearing this, the party moved more cautiously and with a greater urgency towards the temple of the divines.
Soon enough, the party found the church, a grand and expensive building made of solid stone, each brick having a story carved upon it depicting the tales and stories that made Alturis the world it is today. However, the party's eyes were further drawn towards the temple doors that had been broken open and were hanging on their hinges as though smashed in.
Looking inside, the party saw the temple was framed in darkness apart from an altar with candles lit upon it that the party recognised to be an illusion, upon entering the church, the illusion was dispelled by Fen and the party, plunged into darkness, noticed there was a trapdoor that the altar was covering. After realising that the temple contained individual shrines to each of the main divines of Alturis, the party checked out the trap door and, upon Mimsi unlocking it using her thieves tools, the party found a cellar space filled with food, resources and empty barrels.
The party investigated the cellar and found that the empty barrels all were due to be shipped to King's Bay as they 'allegedly' contained fine meats and wines. The party put 2 and 2 together and realised that this space was recently used by Ardeth and was being used for smuggling individuals outside of the city.
With that, the party decided to rest in this cellar to give Olympia a chance to recover more of her strength and in the hope they can all regain their strength from travelling and approach the town with a new plan the next morning.
However, during the night, Mimsi and Fen were on watch when they heard Crownsguard enter the temple and, after realising the illusion was dispelled, they discovered the trap door and began combat with the party.
As combat started, the Crownsguard were clearly outmatched against Persicorum and they quickly sent out a runner in an attempt to notify a man named 'Silas', however, Mimsi and Kodo intercepted the guard and knocked him out, meanwhile combat continued in the temple as Persicorum dispatched the rest of the guards with a cold, ruthless efficiency... enraged by what they had seen in this town.
Kodo brutally defeated many of the remaining soldiers whilst Olympia torturously destroyed another guard using heat metal, attempting to ruin the guards spirit as she went.
Soon enough, the party defeated the Crownsguard and brought their living hostage into the temple with them to question about the whereabouts of Ardeth and their role in Wakefield.Rewards Granted
- The party gained a necklace of wish that they immediately used to teleport themselves to Wakefield.
Missions/Quests Completed
- The party successfully reached the town of Wakefield and the Hook and Knife factory.
- The necklace of Wish was successfully stolen from Easthaven to ensure it did not fall into the hands of Prayerkeep.
Character(s) interacted with
- Temptation
- Children of Wakefield
- Guards of Wakefield
- The guard with far, FAR too many friends.
Report Date
18 Jun 2022
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
Comments