Session 25 - Two Houses
General Summary
The group stands on the deck of their new ship as the mystical fog clears away. Iva suggests they careen the ship as part of their repairs. They decide to heed her warning, and Volos comes up with the name Ironmist.
As they approach the shore, they see a familiar face on the beach. Arimanthos has been in The Beyond for days, but only a few hours have passed for the knight. They catch up, and scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the boat. As night falls, Iva retrieves the fine rum from the hold and suggests they celebrate the new ship, Arimanthos' safe return, and lay her old crew to rest. Each member of the group fall into a drunken stupor until only Arimanthos and Margrave remain. The old knight warns that when they arrive in Crotola, no one is to be trusted.
The next morning, Ghostclaw, Skara, Saphielle, and Trixon leave on foot to meet up with The Phoenix Army. The rest of the group sails on and decide to dock in the Kernwith part of town called Rotor's Peak. Margrave thanks them for bringing him home, and leaves them. Iva suggests they hire a crew for their ship, and sends Delmont to look for possible recruits. Radolf joins the group in town.
Wandering the town, it quickly becomes apparent that there is a general sense of unease. Refugees tell stories about demon attacks, food is scarce, and some worry about the approaching Phoenix Army. Arimanthos flashes a gold coin to a beggar and asks about the town guard. He learns that guards in yellow are from House Kernwith, and guards in black are from House Mortling. Furthermore, many of the guardsmen are Band of the Broken Staff men who fled Croft when King Harrison was killed by Arimanthos. The paladin realizes the danger he is putting his friends in, and pulls his hood over his head.
The group goes to a general store to resupply. A tired Fenrir decides to allow Wilvert to sell the salt he brought from Sandpoint. The gnome is caught in a lie, but is able to trade the valuable mineral for ship provisions. Arimanthos and Volos learn that a clutch of Goblins has taken refuge in the towns sewers, but have been causing trouble screaming about a monster.
Next, the group decides to head across a bridge to a blacksmith's shop. They are pulled into a fight between Mortling men, and a young Kernwith knight and his squire. Queen Jadis de la Barthe, who Arimanthos swore an oath to serve, appears and the fight breaks up as the men drop to their knees. The queen threatens the combatants and instructs them to keep the peace. She pulls Arimanthos and Radolf aside and tells them she will find them later, she fears someone in the city is trying to kill her and much of her guard became sick with a poison.
The young Kernwith knight approaches the group with his squire and thanks them for intervening on his behalf. He introduces himself as Venichi, only son of the Kernwith lord, his squire is named Venbolio. They insist the group attends a masquerade ball that night, and give them directions to a manor house where it will be hosted.
Finally arriving at the blacksmith shop, they find a man pushed to his limit. Hundreds of spears, swords and shields lay stacked in the shop; all backordered by Kernwith and Mortling. He explains that out of work refugees from the countryside are being recruited by the two houses, and he doesn't have the time or good steel to keep up with the demand. Fenrir verifies that the weapons are of low quality, but can see that the man has worked skillfully with what he has. Arimanthos and Fenrir offer him a position on the crew of the Ironmist, but the proud smith says he cannot leave until the orders he promised are completed, and that requires a lot of good metal.
Leaving the shop, the group witnesses dozens of screaming goblins bursting up from the sewers. Always inquisitive, Arimanthos, Wilvert, and Volos decide to investigate while Fenrir returns to the ship to nap. After a few minutes of exploring the tunnels, they begin to hear grunting noises, and see something running quickly by adjacent corridors. A crumbling ceiling causes a cave in and splits the three heroes up. Arimanthos finds a critically injured, gored Grognebena and is able to stabilize her. Wilvert sneaks through the pipes looking for his friends, but finds an enraged Minotaur. The young gnome runs for his life with the beast in pursuit until he finds Volos. The mage expertly casts spells with his wondrous wand, but nothing stops the beast. Arimanthos hears his friends fighting and goads the bull like creature into charging at him. The paladin drives his blade deep into the ground and the Minotaur charges into the blade, killing itself.
Investigating the sewer system further, they find the temporary home of the Goblin clutch. The brood mother and many of her soldiers lay dead. They surmise that the noisy creatures disturbed the Minotaur and Volos finds the chamber he lived in. A long dead wizard lays on a pile of ancient bronze coins, the Minotaur was his thrall. Wilvert appraises the coins and deduces they are of little value, but melted down, they could be used to make weapons. Volos places a ward on the room room so no one else can find it, and they decide to give the metal to the blacksmith.
With only a few hours left until the masquerade ball, the group meets up with Fenrir and head to the town tavern to see how Delmont is doing recruiting a crew. The old sailor has found four good candidates: an orcish pit fighter named Bula, an elvish archer named Illianaro, a ships cook called Rallgug and his pig Horker, and finally a mercenary named Slicer. After some questioning, the group decides to hire all except Slicer, who storms out of the tavern lamenting his loss of easy coin.
While Fenrir, Arimanthos, and Volos were busy interviewing the possible sailors, Wilvert and Radolf fashion masks for the ball. Finally night falls, and Venbolio finds the group and brings them to his young master. They learn from Venichi that the ball is at House Mortling, the rival house of his parents. He tells them that he has fallen in love with the daughter of Lord and Lady Mortling, Blair. He wants to confess his love for her, and fears that her parents have locked her away from the world due to the demon threat.
The group enjoy themselves in the Mortling manor house. They drink and dance into the night. Volos talks with Lady Adeline, while Arimanthos chases off a man who drugged a woman with a love potion. Unfortunately, the effects of the potion cause the woman to fall for the brave paladin, until she is cured by Wilvert.
Venichi and Venbolio grab the group and brings them to a dark hallway. Venichi points to two men guarding a door, and indicates that the Mortling daughter, Blair, is inside. Moving quickly, Arimanthos knocks one out while Volos uses magic to put the other to sleep.
Before the group can stop him, Venichi barges into the room and locks the door behind him. After a few seconds, they hear a girl screaming. Fenrir, realizing they may have misjudged Venichi, kicks down the door. Inside the Kernwith knight holds a knife to a beautiful girls throat. He yells that his father told him the Mortlings have allied with the demons, and that killing her will help him gain his father's respect. With that, he slits her throat. Blair grabs her neck, bleeding out; she pulls the curtains off the window as she falls to the ground.
An enraged Fenrir grabs his shackles and restrains Venichi. Moonlight floods the room and Blair's body begins to twitch. The group stares on in horror as tufts of fur sprout from her skin. She becomes a Werewolf. Fenrir kicks the shackled Venichi to the creature's feet as the group draws their weapons. The transformed Blair jumps on her would be assailant in a flash and rips her to shreds.
Working together, they are able to knock the Werewolf out, causing her to revert back to her human form. Realizing the mess they have just made, the group, with Radolf and Venbolio flee.
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