2023-05-28 The Town that Loved Zlared
Player Characters
- Zoth'agr
- Sister Agnus
- Kuilo
- Sandry
- Curio
Summary
Sister Agnus, a fledgling triton cleric of Hahalua and Callisto's apprentice, was asked to go to the Temple of the Flow in Mistveil to find Sister Mogra, who might be able to provide insights into the unusual recent dimness of the Moon. The others had heard rumors of strange things happening in Mistveil, and that payment was offered for information.
They met and gathered in Salmund, and took the road through Dustville toward Mistveil.
While passing through the Kazzin Forest, they heard the low hum of a didgeridoo, and found Zedric playing a tune atop his traveling wagon of magical trinkets. When they approached, he asked about their travels and advertised his stock of evolving magic items.
When the PCs mentioned they were headed to Mistveil, Zedric said that the people there were acting oddly and had no interest in his stock. He was willing to loan the PCs items for now, and said he would head to Salmund to visit and collect the payment later. Zedric mentioned that he wasn't concerned that the party would lose the items the way other shopkeepers might be; that he had ways of finding the items again if they were lost.
Continuing through the forest for a few days, the PCs reached Mistveil. They stopped by the Golden Bee Meadery on the edge of town. Upon entering, a bee-stung gnome man came out brandishing a broom and shouted warnings at them, telling them that he was out of stock and working on more. The PCs were confused by the aggressive attitude, and asked what was going on. He calmed enough to explain that the town had run him out of drinks with all of their celebrating in the recent weeks. He told how a great man named Zlared was the reason for all the partying, and told the party that he loved Zlared more than anyone else.
The PCs approached the town's front gate. The two guard, slumping and drunk, demanded alcohol from the PCs, who pretended to oblige before walking in. The guards made no effort to stop them.
They entered the town and took in the sights. Many of the townsfolk lazed about outdoors, looking worn and dirty. Some passers-by complained of hangovers, and nearly everyone appeared to be similarly pained or exhausted. A figure silhouetted in sunlight stood atop the guard tower, watching them as they explored. Rowdy behavior was reflected on the buildings around them: broken windows, empty bottles, and graffiti depicting a badly-drawn blond man's face and messages expressing love for Zlared.
Zoth'agr studied the blond face, and realized it was the visage of a great evil eldritch sky being, watching their every move. He used detect magic to scan the village, and saw traces of enchantment magic on every citizen, which confirmed his suspicions.
Kuilo asked a nearby citizen what was happening. She told him how Zlared loved everyone and everyone loved Zlared. She mentioned some upcoming events: the Temple of the Flow was set to be rededicated to Zlared instead of the river spirits, and the entire town would hold a parade in the charming man's honor in 2 days, which many of the townsfolk were preparing for. Kuilo suggested that Zlared might want the streets cleaner, and the woman agreed, then immediately began scooping horse dung from the road with a plank of wood.
They walked to the Temple of the Flow. Its front sign was painted over, renaming it to the Temple of Zlared.
Sister Agnus checked the small medical ward, and asked a bruised man there about his condition. The man said that he got into a fight with someone after they questioned his love for Zlared.
Agnus talked to Sister Mogra, who spoke of the importance of the upcoming parade. Mogra mentioned that moon wasn't that really important in contrast with Zlared, the love of everyone's life.
Curio asked about what love is, and Sister Mogra explained about how it was a connection with another person that made you happy... like what Zlared provided for the town.
Zoth'agr released a hitched horse outside but accidentally got caught on the rope himself. It fled, and he quickly burned the rope away to avoid being dragged behind it.
They went to the town hall and overheard Mayor Wythel speaking to Zlared about parade preparations.
They stepped inside and met Zlared, a beautiful, well-dressed man with a warm honeyed voice.
Zlared welcomed them to Mistveil, and exchanged kind and curious words with members of the diverse party. Kuilo mentioned how the townsfolk were wonderful and gave him a warm welcome, and were working hard to prepare for the parade. Zlared invited them to stick around and enjoy it.
Zoth'agr openly distrusted Zlared, cautioning the others not to listen to him. Then, suddenly, he changed his mind as Zlared magically charmed him.
Zlared took his leave to walk through the town and inspire the workers.
The party went to Bird's Eye Tower. They realized that the ever-watching figure above was just an inanimate statue of Zlared. When Kuilo asked a guard about the statue, she told him that were three such statues that had been imported shortly after Zlarde's arrival. She wouldn't allow the party to ascend the guardtower to see it up close.
Zoth'agr spoke to a small bird and commanded it to examine the statue. The terrified junco told him the statue was made of dark stone with red streaks. Zoth'agr commanded it to find more statues, and it flew off to search the world for more.
They went to the jail. They tricked Wythel into leaving to clean up the town's streets herself.
The three jail cells within the Town Hall each contained a captive: a drunk halfling man, a dwarf woman, and a human person who had lost their upper arm in what Agnus recognized as a shark attack. Kuilo took the key ring and opened the cells.
Sister Agnus said "hail Zlared" to the prisoners. Two of them repeated the greeting, but the hungover halfling clutched his head in pain. Kuilo let them all out, though the halfling remained there for a while longer.
They spoke to Gilbert, the halfling, who talked about fighting the dwarf woman in the tavern. The two of them nearly knocked over the Zlared statue there, hence the arrest.
They tricked the guards in the back room into leaving to help the mayor clean. Searching the back room, they found documents and a directional-lock safe. They tried to bash their way into the safe, but to no avail. Kuilo found the compass password among the room's documents, and Sandry used it to open the safe. The safe contained 2000gp of tax money, and a yellow-glowing bottle of sand and light. Kuilo took a small amount of gold, but Curio scooped up the rest. Sandry took the Bottled Summer.
The guards returned to the town hall, having heard noise from the damage to the safe. The PCs escaped through a raised window in the back, but the guards caught a glimpse of Kuilo as he climbed out. The PCs separated as they fled through different alleyways.
Agnus, Sandry, and Zoth'agr left town and headed back out to the meadery.
Zoth'agr spoke to the bees, who complained that they were being bothered more than usual, and that their honey was being taken in excess. He encouraged them to sting the "keepers" even more.
Kuilo and Curio walked along the river, hopping the fence on the way out. They spent time debating whether they took too much money from the town; Curio had taken everything while Kuilo felt the town would really need their hard-earned tax money.
They reconvened in the forest and camped for the night. Kuilo ran most of the stolen tax money back in the night after taking it back from Curio.
The party had one more full day before Zlared's parade. They believed they needed to find and destroy the Zlared statues.
They decided to head to the bakery. The distracted baker begrudgingly sold them some biscuits, as he was busy trying to form dough into the shape of Zlared's face. The dwarf man mentioned that a statue had been given to him for safekeeping and was locked in a back pantry, and that he wouldn't share it or allow them to see it. He also admitted that he couldn't find the key to that storeroom anyhow.
Zoth'agr heard a weird noise like wings above them, but saw nothing but shelves of jars along the ceiling. Sandry threw flour into the air, and a few invisible imps were revealed.
Zoth'agr realized that the invisible winged creatures were ghost fairies from the nightmare realm, and had come to eat their dreams.
The party slew the three imps after sustaining some poisonous stings. The baker remained distracted through the whole affair. One of the imps had the key to the back room, so the PCs used it to open the door.
An life-sized, lifelike obsidian likeness of Zlared posed in the center of the storeroom. They pondered how to break it discreetly.
Zoth'agr went outside and talked to a flock of birds. He offered them access to the bakery's goods in exchange for knocking over the guardtower's statue. They acquiesced and worked together to topple it, sending it smashing into the ground at the T-intersection. The townspeople screamed and rushed over to check it out.
Kuilo tricked the baker into running out to help. They knocked over the statue in the bakery pantry, breaking it.
They walked to the tavern. Sandry and Kuilo work together to fabricate an "accident" and knock over the Zlared statue, shattering it. The tavern customers charged at them in a rage, and they ran for their lives.
The party fled to the other side of town, back near the Town Hall. Kuilo mapped out the village, theorizing that there were more than three statues, and that the statues' evenly distributed placement would allow the party to triangulate the next one. If true, this would mean that there was another one nearby.
Some of the citizens caught up to Curio when he tried to hide in an alley, but he convinced them that he wasn't an associate of the statue breakers. They left him be, and he met up with Sandry and Kuilo near the magic shop.
Sister Agnus fled to the river and jumped in. Now in her element, she easily outswam the pursuing citizens and escaped a ways upriver.
They entered Liz's Bag of Tricks, the magic shop, despite it being closed.
Lizzara, the owner, was sitting in the back and crafting something. Kuilo baited her into talking about a Zlared statue there, but she said there wasn't one.
Kuilo deceived a nearby citizen into believing an orc knocked over the statue in the tavern, and hustled them into spreading the word.
They visited the tailor's shop, which had been renamed to Zlared's Threads. The gnome proprietor was making a mediocre Zlared-shaped pillow. Sandry offered to help, showing the fluffy sheep she had made herself. The impressed gnome asked her to help make Zlared's hair.
The gnome blinked a few times and suddenly seemed confused, wondering what he was doing and why.
The charm seemed to be flickering out. Zoth'agr's detect magic confirmed that the charm was weakening.
The PCs returned to the Town Hall to find Zlared and Wythel there. Wythel was panicking over the state of the town, and Zlared tried to calm her down. As the party walked in, he dismissed her and faced them.
Zlared expressed his disappointment that the PCs didn't want to celebrate with Mistveil, and was unhappy that they had destroyed his statues. They called him out on all the harm his debauchery-spreading charm had caused to the citizens, and it became clear that he didn't really care about them. He shifted back into his true form: a devilishly handsome incubus.
They party fought Zlared. Zoth'agr was briefly charmed into joining the fiend's side, but was brought back to his senses by Curio's collateral spell damage. Kuilo smashed a shelf over the man's head and grappled a demon wing, holding the man in place.
They weakend Zlared heavily. Before they could send him back to the Inferno, however, he turned ethereal. He told them that he would head off to visit his "dearest Dorothy", and taunted them as he vanished.
Mayor Wythel paid the party 500gp. They were declared heroes of Mistveil, and were promised free drinks and inn stays anytime they visited.
Sister Agnus got Sister Mogra to join her back to Salmund, though Mogra required a full day to undo the damage she had done to the temple and to prepare to leave.
The townsfolk celebrated that night, not with a parade but with a bonfire full of items made for Zlared: paintings, tapestries, the body pillow, and others.
Lizzara gave the PCs a large magic pearl that would shapeshifts into a small idol of Zlared. She also gave them a potion of healing and one common magic item of their choice from her stock.
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