Session 5: Traveling to the Mansion

General Summary

Breakfast at Philip's

• It was an early morning the next day, with everyone slowly meandering into Philip's sitting room. The fireplace crackled, teapots smelled of tea and coffee, and the rich smell of pipe smoke filled the room. For a brief moment, it was peaceful.
• Alice came in with her grandson, who began playing with Maleakos' tail. She formally introduced herself, and tried getting to know the rest of you. She was greeted with mostly sleepy silence, so she hurried off to make omelettes for everyone instead. The party expressed concern for Philip and the danger he was putting himself in, but he said he was asked by Theobald to help and observe the group - and besides, he'd never miss an opportunity to go out in the world and spread the message of the Silver Flame.
• Speaking of the Silver Flame, Philip recounted what had happened to him the previous evening - similar to what the rest of the party had experienced. He said whatever power they felt must have been Silver Flame, as he had always seen those who he cared about in the light; and this time, he had seen six new faces in it as well. Philip explained that the Silver Flame draws its power from strength and unity, and where these things are, the Flame will be too. Ashpin said he saw people in the light that he hadn't seen in years, while Maleakos mentioned he saw both his mother and his father.
• After the rather heartfelt discussion, the conversation turned towards a more unwelcome topic. The Plinth of Sins was not a pleasant experience, but Philip directed his attention specifically towards Dooturr. He was not angry with him, but implored him to explain himself, as Dooturr had confessed to manipulating the guild leaders into letting him in. Dooturr was hesitant, so Philip merely gave him a fair warning that very little escapes the notice of Theobald.
• After this transpired, the Crew made small talk and sipped coffee while Philip and the rest of the party read the morning paper. There were mixed reactions from each person - indifference from Nayries, worry from Ashpin, disappointment from Philip, and protests of innocence from N'nchyk and Maleakos. While the group bickered back and forth, there was a knock at the door, and Philip returned with a stern-looking Theobald.
• He expressed his disappointment in the party, who again had mixed reactions. Nayries did not care what Theobald had to say, and after making a brash comment about the guild members who had perished while scouting Droaam, was promptly Banished. The rest of the group - save Ashpin and Philip - continued to protest. Theobald said it wasn't about the quantity of money or goods taken, but the principle behind the acts. He said he had very high hopes and expectations for the party, and hopes they will be more respectful in the future.
• When asked by Ashpin about the nature of the Sharn Inquisitive, Philip said it was a widely distributed paper and very well-respected, but the smear campaign-like contents were rather unprecedented, and he had never read anything from Tika Deromon before. In preparing for their upcoming travels, the party did not disguise themselves, electing to leave as early as possible and travel through the lower wards as to not attract attention. They briefly stopped at a short, cross-eyed merchant's stand, who sold them a suspicious amount of healer's kits.
• Once they arrived in Lower Northedge, they encountered a dragonborn and a dwarf lugging along a large chest onto a cart. They dropped the chest, upon which a large thump and muffled scream could be heard. The dragonborn and dwarf looked at each other, cursed, and ran away, with the dragonborn zooming away on a steambike. The party chose not to give chase, but approached the chest instead. Dooturr picked the lock, where they found a bound and gagged human man in formerly-official looking armor. There was a brief interrogation, in which the man asserted the party he was nobody and just wanted a drink. Some wanted to interrogate him further, or take him to the nearest Watch station, but he was eventually let go.

Skycoach Ride with "Torfe"

• As they made their way through the desolate lower ward of Northedge, a skycoach descended upon them with a familiar face piloting it. Torfe eagerly invited the Crew aboard, and encouraged them to share what they had learned. They recounted much of the exploits they had gotten into recently, to which Torfe was shocked and almost confused.
• As they were having this conversation, several massive dark shapes descended upon the skycoach - three massive winged bird-like creatures, each ridden by a much tougher-looking kobold than what they had encountered previously. They fought with ruthless tactics, swerving out of range of most attacks and choosing to focus on one person at a time.
• As the fighting commenced, with the party flying several hundred feet above Sharn, Torfe had a very unfamiliar and uncharacteristic look on his face: fear. He turned tail and ran, leaping off the back end of the skycoach, leaving the ship swerving out of control. Maleakos, since he went to college, managed to regain control of the ship briefly. With the skycoach weaving in and out of the towers of Sharn, the party swung swords, hurled bolts of fire, and shot steadily aimed arrows at the beasts, managing to unseat one of the riders.
• The skycoach began to careen out of control as Maleakos' college education ran out. Seconds before the ship crashed, each party member leapt out - or in the case of Nayries, onto the back of the beast - shooting their final arrows and javelins as they safely floated to the city below with their feather tokens. Philip could not escape the maw of the beast, but Maleakos barely managed to drag him off the ship in time. The skycoach splintered into pieces against the stone dome of a building in Upper Tavick's Landing. Nayries managed to push the two other riders off their mount and into the streets below, where they were promptly destroyed.
• Ashpin hurried to the building that the skycoach had hit to make sure the building and everyone inside was okay. A formally dressed warforged answered the door, and asked if Ashpin had an appointment. He seemed completely oblivious to what had occurred, but encouraged Ashpin and Maleakos to make an appointment; handing them each a business card for Sigmund's Therapy Practice. He made to close the door and resume his activities, but not before N'nchyk stepped mistily into the room.
• He encountered a large, wide-open room with a domed roof, where a dwarf lay on a red velvet sofa as Sigmund sat next to him on a matching red chair. N'nchyk confronted him once again, much to the dismay of Sigmund. They talked briefly before N'nchyk let Nayries in, who promptly dragged him out of the room. Viribus was conversing with a man who had seen what happened, and was in absolute shock of the beasts he had seen. An older woman recognized Viribus from the paper, but he misjudged her intentions and scared her away before she could praise him.
• Through all this commotion, the Sharn Watch began hurrying over to the wreckage and started to clear out the area, apparently taking no notice of the party. One of the dwarven guards gave a look of faint recognition at N'nchyk, but the party slunk away through a narrow alley before anything could be made of it.

The Mansion

• Another close call. The party requested Philip take them somewhere rather discreet so they could rest before they set out for the mansion. He took the Crew to an older-looking inn, one that had seen a fair bit of disuse in the upper wards. The innkeeper stared at the group as they shuffled into his nearly empty inn, dragging out healer's kits and patching themselves up frantically. He eventually approached - a younger human, dressed a bit scruffily - and mentioned that Upper Tavick's Landing has laws against bearing weapons and armor in the ward. He slyly mentioned that he could call the Watch, or they could buy a drink - the latter of which was selected.
• The party finally made their way to Shiksu's mansion - a lavish estate, two stories tall, with a wooden platform for a skycoach at the very top. To the right, they saw a chapel, through which Viribus glimpsed two figures kneeling at a pew praying. After a brief debate, the party opened the front doors of the mansion - out of which immediately poured two zombies that were promptly and efficiently eviscerated.
• Upon entering into the main vestibule, the doors slammed shut behind the party, and wisps of smoke started to emerge from the five statues, who all whispered in unison -
  • "The key lies within each of you, use it grim to paint us true. Let not your count exceed our own, the ill-starred six shall ne’er dethrone."
• The party began brainstorming. They tried lying down, pretended to be a statue, and ripped up the carpet. They eventually had the idea to use their blood on the busts, and the blood was soaked into the stone. Eventually, two of the party members left the room, making the count of the statues and people inside the room equal, and N'nchyk had the idea of painting their blood into the shape a key onto the statues, which the busts accepted and, with a flash of light, caused a key to appear.
• The party hurried through the middle door into a hallway. Ashpin, Viribus, Nayries, and Philip took the stairs to the second floor while Dooturr, Maleakos, and N'nchyk pushed further into the hallway. The latter group encountered a couple gnolls in what seemed to be a kitchen, and managed to put them down, encountering a room with a heavy iron door. Meanwhile, Ashpin triggered a pressure plate in the stairs, plunging him 20 feet into a spiked pit, one of which pierced through his leg. Viribus managed to drag him out, but did so rather unceremoniously, causing the spike to tear through Ashpin's leg even more viscerally.
• Once they reached the top of the stairs, they saw a winged red creature that was familiar to Ashpin. He saw the four approach the top of the landing, and gave them a smug smile before immediately firing two bolts of fire in their direction. He did not run this time, as he had backup. Suddenly, the wall before Ashpin was obliterated by something he could not see until it uncloaked itself: a massive, orange mass of rippling muscle and fur. With a tremendous roar, it began mindlessly beating on whoever was in its vicinity.
• A cramped, uncomfortable combat ensued, in which Ashpin compelled the fiend into a duel, which he did not take kindly too, going so far as to continue to shoot bolts of fire at Ashpin's lifeless body. The fiend also managed to charm Nayries into attacking his friends, managing to knock Viribus unconscious with several swings of his greatsword. Maleakos tried to retreat through a doorway, and was immediately greeted by two more zombies. Slowly, painfully, but surely, the beast was defeated, then the fiend, then the zombies, and Nayries came to.
• N'nchyk helped top off some of the more damaged party members with his spectral mushrooms, and as the Crew took a minute to steady themselves and listen...but they heard nothing but silence on the second floor of the mansion.

Character(s) interacted with

• Torfe Korranor - but not really
• Sigmund, the warforged therapist in Upper Tavick's Landing

Date begun:
4 Zarantyr, 998 YK
Date ended:
4 Zarantyr, 998 YK
Party level:
4

Report Date

14 Jan 2021

Primary Location

Sharn