The Adventures of the Big HELP, Session 16

General Summary

• The Big HELP arrived at the home/shop of Verga Stonehammer, the former base of the Nightwalkers. Verga was shocked to see Bigwig and Petrichor, welcoming them with a warm hug.
• Verga said Estella had made it home, but was horribly burned in the crash of the Raziel. The party told her Windtooth was responsible for the crash. Betrayal, rage, grief, and confusion flashed across Verga's face at the revelation. She finally asked if they paid him back. Petrichor said they'd killed him
• Both Larka and Hest looked out the window to see if they could spot Demensaix and her shop. An empty lot was where the shop had been.
• Hest, Larka, and Amroth introduced themselves to Verga. Hest asked to lie down. She went into the former Nightwalker meeting room while the others went with Verga to see Estella. Verga had requested a cleric from the Church of Gorthag to help restore her, but the church has been too busy holding back King Hespiro to send someone. Petrichor cast Healing Spirit, relieving Estella's pain but wasn't enough to heal her.
• Verga took the HELP to the room they could sleep in. Amroth mentioned he and the HELP were looking to meet the enchanter Nascour. Verga was hired by Nascour and offered to introduce them the next day. Amroth excitedly woke up Hest to tell her, who was too tired to remember why they were even there..
• The HELP slept, waking up the next day to Verga making breakfast. Hest checked again whether Demensaix's shop was across the street and still only saw an empty lot. Verga said it would take the better part of the day to finish her work for Nascour. She gave the party four VIP tickets to the Hissing Stones Bathhouse and asked them to meet back here in the late afternoon. Amroth was worried he wouldn't be able to afford his own ticket so Hest offered to buy his. On the way, the HELP performed a few songs and passerbys threw them money.
• The HELP arrived at the bathhouse and were met by a snobby aarakocra receptionist. When Larka showed her their tickets, the receptionist realized they were VIPs and immediately showed them in. She asked that they leave weapons and arcane focuses checked at the desk.
• Bigwig got drunk on mimosas/mojitos in the pool while Amroth, Petrichor, and Hest checked out the illusory relaxation hot tubs. Larka went for a hot rock massage. Bigwig realized there was a rage room. The attendent used illusions to make the training dummies look like whatever visitors wanted. Bigwig asked them to look like exes and enemies before beating them up. After grabbing some flavored Beads of Nourishment, Larka found the rage room and started beating up dummies that looked like Shoko and Hespiro.
• Anxious about what the illusions, Hest went wandering to find the staff lounge. She eventually found one, only to realize it was a fake staff lounge for guests to think they were sneaking into. This at least let Hest spot someone flash their badge to enter a secret door. She tried to repeat the action and the attendent pretended to not know what she was talking about. Hest eventually lied her way in and found that it was a Wild Magic speakeasy. Petrichor followed Hest in to make sure she was alright. While inside, Hest remembered that Wild Magic was outlawed by religious decree but that Wild Magic speakeasies popped up occasionally. She also identified a magical sphere in the middle of the room that averted catastrophic surge effects.
• Both Hest and Petrichor were offered Wild Magic pipes to smoke from. They saw several other people smoking to experience the effect of Wild Magic. Most of them looked drugged out. A few looked at Hest and Petrichor with suspicion when it seemed like they arrived with no intention of smoking. Hest eventually gave in and smoked her pipe. The first effect was countered by the orb. The re-generated effect turned Hest's body into wood. Petrichor wanted to leave with Hest at this point but saw that several of the speakeasy patrons were uneasy at her entering and leaving without partaking. The wild magic surge that effected her gave her cursed cataracts. They both escaped the speakeasy and found the spa curse remover. He was able to dispel Petrichor's curse but could not revert Hest back. (Hest became vulnerable to fire damage and resistant to lightning damage.)
• The HELP returned to Verga's shop, choosing not to visit food stalls on the way. Verga had prepared three amethyst jewels specifically to Nascour's specifications. She and the HELP road (snugly) in her coach to the hotel Nascour was staying at. They were taken to his penthouse to find the enchanter's room filled with gemstones, jewelery, and arcana. He was greatful for the jewels from Verga but scoffed at the idea of helping Hest. Unfortunately for Nascour, his calculations were incorrect and the gemstones shattered when he tried to use them for his soul-snaring ring. He shouted at the HELP to leave.
• Bigwig and Larka goaded Nascour into eventually casting Detect Magic. He thought he would easily be able to solve their problems and get them to leave but was intrigued by the strongest source of magic, Amroth's necklace. Amroth explained that his wife was deathly ill and that he sealed her in the crystal to buy time to heal and free her, somehow sacrificing his memories in the process. Nascour investigated the necklace, peering into its magical plane of existence. He saw the soul of Amroth's wife, Caerda, but saw no illness. Instead, thousands of tiny shadows swarmed around her. Nascour said that the necklace was made of concentrated magic and it would take an enormous amount of magic to unseal her. He tried to use Detect Thoughts to unlock Amroth's forgotten memories but a powerful force blocked the spell.
• Nascour agreed to look into this in return for a favor. He'd heard rumors that a crystal deep within the Morda Mines nearby was a powerful magic conductor. He asked the HELP to retrieve samples of this red, magical crystal in exchange for his assistance. He said some cultists had claimed the abandoned mine and asked if they could keep their mission secretive as much as possible. Bigwig recognized the Cult of Arazid from his description.
• Hest asked if he could also help return Ravenna's soul to her body. Nascour reminded her that was the type of thing he was working on and offered to let Ravenna be the first test subject. Nascour and Ravenna flirted for a bit while he investigated the amulet and Ravenna decided to take the risk and agree.
• Larka asked for one more piece of help before Nascour could throw them out and wallow in the depression of a failed experiment. She asked if he had ever seen anyone with psionic powers like hers. He did not recognize her abilities but said that people like her showed up in myths and legends. He asked how so many people with interesting backgrounds managed to travel together, saying he was usually the only interesting person in the room. Larka also asked him what he did that linked the Raziel to psionic powers. Nascour turned out not to be involved with that, meaning that Hespiro made those modifications himself.
• Before leaving, the Big HELP were given a spellbook by Nascour that would allow them to return to places they had spent significant periods of time in an instant. Verga split up from the party to run some errands.
• On the way home, the HELP stopped in an ice cream store advertising a second free ice cream to anyone who bought a first. The HELP each got an ice cream, only to watch as the parlor around them dissolved away and the ice cream man's illusion dropped. In truth, they had arrived in Demensaix's bookstore and all the ice cream was a mass of crawling insects (Bigwig kept eating anyway to assert dominance). Demensaix offered Bigwig a job, give the cultists in the mine a bloody death and she could have a bracelet that would revive one person from the dead. Demensaix gave Bigwig the bracelet and said it would activate once the job was done for use at any time. Bigwig hesitantly accepted but refused to wear the bracelet, even after being warned it would disappear if not worn by the next morning. Bigwig was worried Helena would be there, but Demensaix seemed to know what Helena was up to and assured that would not be the case. She also seemed to be keenly aware of all of each time Bigwig had taken the essence from someone bearing the Brand of Arazid.
• Hest, really wanting that ice cream, lashed out at Demensaix asking why she was following them. Demensaix responded by saying she kept a keen eye on those that would defy fate. She then began to talk about Hest's past and taunted her for her magic being too unstable and powerful for her body. When Hest asked how she had Wild Magic, Demensaix said "Blame your father."
• When Demensaix was finished talking to the Big HELP, the shop vanished around them.
• <Previous Session      Next Session> 

Report Date

24 Mar 2024