Duo Episode - The Upside-down

General Summary

Early in the month of Tarsakh 1479 DR, two siblings plotted an adventure to Waterdeep in the hopes of discovering knowledge about one's lycanthropy. They were from the town of Olostin's Hold, a humble smattering of homes and farms along the river Olos. A quiet peaceful hamlet with little connection to the outside world, Olostin's Hold boasted a comfortable population of 500 some souls who lived in and around the town proper. preferredWitcher of Waterdeep
The Witcher's note lead to his suspicion that Walabras was innocent of the crime. Being locals they knew, by rumor, that the outsider, Walabras, claimed that he didn’t remember kidnapping the Ungrimst child. The Witcher's note also speculated that Walabras may have been mind controlled by demons, per Walabras. He also noted that while the claims seemed far-fetched, the fate of Walabras would be theirs to control.
The note lead further to lend that Walabras was being held at the Eastwatch Garrison. The note stated that before his arrest, he was staying at the town’s only inn, The Sanguine Dawn. From all that, the siblings knew that the two best people to meet with would be the inn’s general manager Estra Bloodoak as well as the Captain of the Guard, Regis Forlorne.
With their minds set on helping the Witcher of Waterdeep, they set out only to hear the screams of a small girl. Turning, they had witnessed a gnoll running with a girl in its arms. Nimue was the first to act. She slapped an arrow against her bow and fired it down on the gnoll in lightening fashion and as it struck the creature, it dropped the girl. As she ran off, Sylas advanced and lifted the crossbow he'd purposed for hunting long ago. With a hunter's eye but poor fortune; Beshaba, the lady of bad luck, betrayed him and his bolt flew wide. Nimue would be simularly curesed, As the stunned gnoll looked up to her in fear, she held out her hand and blasted a Fire Bolt forth, using her often guarded sorcery, and watched as it splashed down in front of him. As they all closed in on one another, Nimue watched as the gnoll drew the full breadth of his bow and threw up her magical shield as the arrow slammed into it. As the arrow snapped, Sylas' bolt flew. The bolt whistled past the gnoll as he belt a hyena's laugh just before Nimue's Mind Sliver pieced his ear and ate at his brain. Having seen her cast, it fired at her only to watch the quickness she revealed as she shielded against the arrow again.
With a new determination, Sylas dashed toward the gnoll as he holstered his crossbow. Staring down the human coming down the barrel at him, the gnoll could only reel as Nimue's Mind Sliver tore at his brain. As pain overcame the gnoll he lashed out in anger and bit into Sylas' left shoulder. Sylas retorted with his rapier and slipped it gracefully into the beast's chest before he circled around the creature casually. As pain began to beat Sylas' adrenaline, his sister's Mind Sliver surged again in the gnoll's mind. Howling from the pain, the gnoll latched on and tore into Sylas' right shoulder.
As anger became her, Nimue charged the beast and blasted off a Fireball. As the gnoll collapsed to the ground in a flaming wreck, she flung her bag aside and grabbed out her hand axe. With vigor, Nimue lopped off the creatures head. Nimue then approached her brother, whom had been writhing on the ground in agony, just as he passed out.
Nimue then drug her brother home and placed him on his bed. She fetched him some water and then ran out to fetch Felevel the Green. On their way back to the Tiernan house Felevel, a druidic Elf, walked whilst Nimue ran. Felevel had brought her staff along and as she stood in the home she swore by the Enchantress that Sylas' wounds were grave. It was bad enough that the Elf suggested the arm be removed or that they try the lord for his magic but she offered her best efforts in healing. Felevel put healing leaves and herbs on the wound that were best at healing only pain. She then recommended that Sylas rest for a day but then come to understand that his arm would be of no use to him. Nimue cleaned the wound the best that she could the rest of the evening as Sylas gained consciousness and argued the utility of the effort. As Nimue lectured her brother, the two drifted off to sleep.
On the morning of the 8th of Tarsakh, the siblings went to Brandon Ungrimst's home with Sylas' arm in a sling. As Brandon shared his optimism that his daughter would return to him, Nimue, ever so glib, did her unknown utmost to force him from such hopes. Sylas played detective in the meantime and found dainty slipper prints tracked through the backyard. All the while, Bradon continued to fear and hinge on Nimue's every word inside as she checked the room for signs of the girl. Seeing the girl's doll left behind, Nimue knew she'd left by kidnapping. As Brandon's hopes were dashed, Nimue headed out side to do the same to his son, Emed. The thirteen year old boy was by his favorite tree around back as Sylas followed the scent of the kidnapper on the other side of the house. Sylas followed the trail all the way to the Sanguine Dawn Inn as Nimue asked the boy what he'd heard the night of the kidnapping. After a length of questioning, Nimue made her way back out front where she saw Sylas heading back for her. They met back up outside of the blacksmith's shop and shared information, from there they headed to the inn.
Inside, Estra Bloodoak, the inn's manager, told them, "The whole town has been on edge for months. Lots of strange things going on here. Many of Olostin's Hold citizens are excited to see an execution, though, which is probably the reason why Captain Forlorne fast-tracked Walabras' trial. And thank the gods for that."
The bar maiden Lirva later told the beautiful pair of siblings, "I don't know anything, I focus on my job and do the best I can for the owner, Déulara Tauranis, she's a retired adventurer and she does well for us. She's of course not involved in day-to-day goings on anymore, but she keeps us busy and away from quiet customer like Walabras."
Estra then guided the siblings to the room upstairs and after she left Sylas was stricken by a madness as he watched the geometry of the room warp in sickening ways. As he screamed, the owner, through

Nimue panicked
She told them, don't
She told them that the staff were suspicious but Walbrus was interested in the room and thus allowed to stay there. She told them that he was a peculiar fellow and sweaty in the mornings. When they asked, she even told them that five years ago, the witch Carlita Keeling was murdered in that room by a party of Gur witchhunters. After she's died on Gur witchhunter spears, Keeling’s body was burned on a pyre a few hundred feet from the inn. She mentioned that, curiously, Keeling’s bones disappeared from the pyre’s ashes and the witchhunters vigorously searched Olostin's Hold for the them but never recovered them.
After thanking her, the siblings made their way down stairs and ordered the lunch stew. They discussed their next steps then as they pondered. From that table they headed to the garrison where the Captain of the Guard shook them down for eight gold. To speak with Walabrus, he ended up accepting Sylas' three copper and a promise to aide him in the future. He also made Sylas agree to not judge their handy work and sent them in despite the Captain's dislike for Nimue's hot-headed attitude.
In the dungeon they found Walabrus and was clear that his stay in the garrison had not been an easy one. Forlorne and his men had really worked him over to uncover the location of the missing Ungrimst child. His left eye was swollen shut, he had multiple abrasions and cuts on his nose and cheeks, and he was even missing a few teeth. Furthermore, it was clear that Forlorne had been intentionally starving Walabras, only feeding him a few moldy scraps of bread each day. As they examined him, it was clear to Sylas that Walabras was wearing the very same slippers he'd seen behind the Ungrimst house.
Upon questioning, Walabras told them that he specialized in aberrant geometry and that the Witch Room was particularly interesting to him. The room where he'd stayed at The Sanguine Dawn Inn was unnatural, which was what drew him there. He learned within that anyone who slept in the room would find themselves, instantly, transported to a parallel dimension. Walabras called that dimension, The Dream. Walabras suspected that the spirit of a dead witch, Carlita Keeling, was trapped in that place, The Dream.
With the help of her familiar, a horrific human-faced rat named Drace, and a man composed of pure shadow, Keeling used enchantments to force Walabras to capture the Ungrimst child and bring it to The Dream, he knew that for certain. He knew as well that Keeling would sacrifice the child to her dark god, an Elder Evil, on the night of Greengrass. He mentioned that the law would take his life justly but he feared more for the Ungrimst babe’s wellbeing. He told the siblings that they could travel to The Dream by sleeping in the room and save the child, he begged them to do so. He told them that Keeling would kill the baby on the night of Greengrass should they fail, which would be long after Walabras’ scheduled execution.
Further, he told the siblings that, to his own surprise, he'd immediately noticed something unusual in the dead witch’s room: its angles and dimensions defied physics. He told them that at night, as he slept, he dreamt of strange cyclopean cities filled with bizarre, elder things. These winged, barrel-shaped creatures worshipped colossal, great old ones whose shapeless forms boiled into iridescent, prolately spheroidal bubbles. He told them that he woke each morning in a cold sweat. He'd seen that the inn’s purveyors had taken notice of his growing anxiety but he'd decided to persist. Walabras told them that his dreams had been escalating. In one horrific dream, a formless man composed of dark shadow forced him to add his name to an ancient tome made of writhing worms. He feared that action and that place but never the less he begged them to try their best to save him but venture if the dare into The Dream and save the child. He swore that if they at least tried, he'd be at peace as he hung.
"We believe you." Nimue offered as a since of relief took Walabras.
Knowing exactly what to do, the siblings struck out and as they approached the inn, they were approached by six bandits. Two immediately ran off, as the rest surrounded the siblings. The Dwarf bandit pulled first and the fight was on. The old man ran in and cut Nimue across the left arm. Sylas parried the Dwarf with his rapier as the old tribal bandit stumbled up to Sylas. Sylas dipped around and stabbed the old man and poked him in the arm. The female cut into Sylas back as the old man cut into his chest armor but the type of werewolf within Sylas left him nearly immune to such damage, unbeknownst to his attackers and his sister. The Dwarf slammed into the left rear of the armor with a heavy hit, as the old tribal bandit hit Sylas chest armor. Nimue ran around and fired at the two old men and the woman with burning hands. As they boiled, they all lost moral and ran. Sylas chased the old man down and ran his rapier through the back of the bandit's head.
As the bandit bled, Sylas seethed, "you hurt my sister."
Nimue Fire Bolted the unharmed Dwarf and he cried "this isn't worth ten gold, oh fuck!"
The captured bandits seemingly truthfully claimed that they were paid ten gold each by someone named Mister Morose. Mister Morose only gave the bandits a description of the siblings and where they could be found.
From there, he told the bandits to "scare them away, but don’t kill them. Tell them that if they don’t stop investigating the Ungrimst kidnapping, bad things will happen."
After the guard showed up for the arrest, the siblings saw an orc in the inn's garden as they headed to the inn itself.

Part Two

At exactly one forty-three in the afternoon, the siblings walked into the Sanguine Dawn Inn. They made an agreement with Estra Bloodoak to allow them to stay for the night in the Witch Room. She informed the owner as they finished their drinks and made their way to the Golden Compass to buy a healers kit. They patched up Nimue's arm and sleeve as well as Sylas' armor. That night they entered a more lively bar and enjoyed some duck stew. They then headed up stairs and, after a short conversation with the housekeepers, Sylas met Kurtzkur as Nimue slipped off to the church. He learned that the man and his daughters are from Shou Lung, seeking a jade statue in the possession of an important Elf from Neverwinter. As Sylas found himself in a conversation about wolves, where the man questioned his alter-ego whilst smelling like a dog himself; Nimue made her way to the church and spoke with her brother. After she got three jars of holy water, she made her way back to the inn and they tried to sleep in the Witch Room.
As they slept, they awoke in The Dream. Nimue stood there, covered in dragon scales and flame as Sylas found himself in werewolf form with a rapier as an arm. After a valiant defeat with some floating larvae, Sylas was transformed into a gibbering mouther and Nimue was beaten only to awake once again in the Witch Room.

Rewards Granted

175xp

Missions/Quests Completed

Quest Dreams in the Witch Room Started

Notes

Notable Party Damage:

• Nimue is prestine.
  Noted Effects: None
• Sylas has two bites from a gnoll, one on each shoulder with his right arm being the worst.
  Noted Effects: Loss of Right Arm. You can no longer hold anything with two hands, and you can hold only a single object at a time. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the crippled appendage.

Report Date

05 Dec 2020

Primary Location

Faerûn