Session 10: Recovering the Coral Tablet

General Summary

Beginning the Investigation

• It was a familiar and peaceful scene, waking up once again to the smell of cooking breakfast and cigar smoke. The group reconvened in the living room of the Arthur d'Tharashk residence. Most Crew members had recuperated from the night's trip to the casino, but Philip himself looked slightly pale and less than his serene self. Maleakos, in addition, looked rather clammy and uncomfortable, which N'nchyk identified to be typical symptoms of an imminent addiction.
• The Crew outlined their plan for the day, setting a course of action to investigate the warehouse in Lower Central Plateau, hoping to gain clues in tracking down the mysterious coral tablet. The job was given to them both by the Boromar Clan and the "Sharn Watch".
• Philip offered his assistance in the matter, saying inquisitive work was very much in the area of his 50 years of expertise. N'nchyk was hesitant, while the rest of the Crew seemed to desire his aid. The longer Maleakos talked about their assignment from the Watch, the more suspicious Philip seemed to grow.
• He also showed off his golden spectacles, which he said helped him plenty in his field. Before the Crew departed for the day, Philip made a point to tell Maleakos to remind him to try and figure out what those scrolls recovered from The Cogs were.
• While traveling to Lower Central Plateau, Viribus was approached by a member of the Sharn Watch who said his presence was requested at the Bureau of Municipal Properties. The guard didn't know much other than a development had occurred, one which Viribus may be interested in.
• The building is question was rather trivial to find, between the knowledge of Philip and especially Verin, as well as the throng of people that had begun to surround it. A few Sharn Watchers were doing their best to restrain a growing crowd, while a stern-looking halfling woman stood guard at the entrance.

Exploring the Warehouse Museum

• Verin began speaking to several of the commoners within the crowd, who said that a break-in had occurred the night before, complaining about the quantity of crime in these parts of the city. Meanwhile, N'nchyk was peeking through one of the windows in the front of the building under the watchful eye of the halfling. With the help of a clumsy distraction from Maleakos, N'nchyk managed to vanish and reappear within the museum.
• One of the commoners commented on the strange fish-man disappearing, to which the halfling Remilda came over to inquire. She explained she was one of the owners of the museum, alongside her family. Verin spoke with her, saying they were there on behalf of the Sharn Watch, but failed to present any official documentation, and she took no interest in their membership in the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild. She seemed very firm in her decision, and Verin made to try a different approach before he caught the eye of one of the guards holding back the crowd - Hadrian Rowntree, the friendly contact Verin made during his week of carousing.
• Verin went over to speak with Hadrian, alongside Maleakos. Hadrian was a larger human man with a buzzcut, and spoke rather simply and gave off an aura of gullibility. Verin explained their situation to Hadrian, who seemed to eat up every word Verin said, and hesitantly agreed to speak to Remilda and aid them in getting into the warehouse.
• Once inside, the party found N'nchyk scurrying throughout the museum, scanning what he can and calling out for a skeleton. There were six Boromar bodies, as expected, but only three skeletons clad in black leather; the Megaspooks knew there were supposed to be four. Philip and Viribus examined the bodies, and determined that the cause of death was an unusual wound not typical to any known weapon, and via a specific technique that showed proficiency in stealth and assassination.
• Various random artifacts were discovered, including a jar of red liquid, an ivory elephant, and a large hourglass. There was also a life-sized large statue of two sahuagin, which seemed to be longingly reaching towards an empty indent in the statue's base. Below the empty indent was a hastily-made placard that said "The Codex of Tsll-Y'gal". As the party began to inspect the indent, a fine pinkish dust was found, and the statues began to creak to life.
• The stone sahuagin shrugged off most attacks thrown at them by the party. One of the statues was enveloped in a swirling red energy, shortly after which Viribus shattered in in one hit with a warhammer instead of his longsword, which was nowhere to be seen. Midway through the sluggish fight, Ashpin shouted that they, too, were after the tablet. Between him and Maleakos, the larger statue was persuaded to cease attacking those who may help return the tablet to where it belongs.
• In his quick scan of the warehouse, N'nchyk had located a bloody handprint on one of the windows, and several Crew members began to inspect it, discovering a bloody trail that led away from the window. A discussion began on what to do with the skeleton bodies, and Philip offered to simply summon the Sharn Watch to take care of it. As Maleakos and N'nchyk spoke more and more about how the Watch hired them, the more suspicious he became, as he knew they were lying but they remained steadfast in their story.
• Eventually, with the support of Ashpin, Philip cast Zone of Truth on several of the party members, confirming his suspicions, but received no answers. N'nchyk kept repeating that the information was not his to tell. Philip said he did not wish to work with those who sought to deceive him, and departed the warehouse.
• Eventually, Ashpin and Maleakos stuffed two of the skeleton bodies and black leather armor into their packs, while N'nchyk and Viribus (with the permission of Dooturr) pulverized the remaining skeleton into bits and loaded them into Viribus' pack. Remilda peeked her head it, asking what all the commotion was, but the persuasive skills of the V-Men in tandem managed to convince her to let them work.
• The bloody trail was the best lead the party had, and used some rope to descend from the elevated level of the warehouse down to the ground. The Sharn Watch guard yawned as they descended, and gave them a smirk and a hearty wave. After slyly requesting gold to not mention what just happened, Ashpin slipped him some coin to forget what he had seen, which the guard accepted with a wink.

Tracking the Culprit

• Dooturr filled the party in on some exclusive information he had been withholding up until then. He is a member of the Skeleton Crime Syndicate, a multi-national organization that engages in a multitude of underground activities, and serves as a refuge for persecuted skeletons everywhere. The skeleton they were tracking was named Rikus Nickol, who was the closest the SCS ever had to a disgruntled employee. In addition, the assassination techniques seen in the warehouse were primarily used by the SCS.
• The party tracked the blood trail to a trash-filled alleyway. The trail tapered off in one pile of garbage, and while the party inspected it, a drunken gnome stumbled out of a nearby heap, alongside a large tortoise. The party questioned him, aided by the incentive of N'nchyk's abominable alcoholic concoction. He told them a strange skeletal figure with something spooku emerging from his shoulder ripped through the garbage pile that the party had been inspecting, ripped a portion of a sheet, and stumbled away, screaming horribly the entire time.
• The Bromance had a brief moment of confusion, suddenly realizing that skeleton's can't bleed, so what trail exactly were they following? Upon inspecting the blood, it was not a dried crimson as they had previously thought, but was instead a rich purplish color. Between their natural experience and college education, the pair identified the blood to be of an insectoid nature.
• The gnome stopped talking and asked Ashpin for some gold, who declined. He shrugged, and retreated to his trash heap. The party had seemed to run into a dead end. The garbage pile where the blood trail ended only yielded a tattered black set of armor that matched that of the SCS skeletons in the warehouse. The armor was torn in several places, and was littered with chitin.
• In desperation, N'nchyk utilized his affinity with aquatic creatures to speak to the tortoise, who looked absolutely shocked. N'nchyk asked where the skeletal individual went, but the tortoise simply gestured to the garbage heap where the gnome was now snoring. Ashpin grabbed him and used his healing magic to cure him of his inebriation, and the sudden flow of vigor caused the gnome to snigger, giving away his ruse. He smirked at Ashpin and asked for gold once again, which was the last straw for Viribus, who had been impatiently pacing throughout the whole encounter.
• He strode over to the gnome with murder in his eyes. The protective red energy shield around his body flickered a dark crimson, while a burst of eldritch energy erupted in his hand. Seeing his plan and immediately catching on, Verin used his own magic to shroud Viribus' face in a dark shadow, making his piercing eyes even more intimidating. The gnome immediately yielded in fear, and gave them the direction Rikus went in.

Confronting Rikus

• The Crew was on the trail once again, and managed to use their skills and training in unique ways. Verin used his knack for insight to give his best guesses into where an individual like Rikus would go. N'nchyk guided him with his survival abilities he acquired in the wilderness, and when the trail finally went cold at a junction, Dooturr investigated the ground and discovered footprints leading in a direction.
• As the party followed the narrow alleyway, they began to encounter bodies - bodies that looked in a similar state to the Boromars in the warehouse, but even more visceral. At the corner of one alleyway, Ashpin and N'nchyk picked up on the sound of squishing footsteps. Eventually taking a peek, they were revealed to be sahuagin, an evil aquatic humanoid race. They were in the flesh this time, and it was discerned that they seemed to be under some sort of hypnonis: their movements were robotic, uniform, and akin to that which the party had seen previously with the fiend's charm against Nayries.
• Several horrible screams could be hard from the direction the sahuagin were walking in, taking no notice of the party. Viribus drew his sword and went first, followed closely by N'nchyk and Ashpin. Bursting through the door of a tavern, wild-eyed, deformed, and wholly disgusting, was what remained of Rikkus Nickol. Insectoid limbs grew from his abdomen and shoulder, including a large crab-like claw, a nest of squirming tentacles emerged from his mouth, and chitin was slowly coating his bones. His startling appearance caught several of the party members in shock.
• Viribus, Ashpin, and Viribus held down the front line, while sleepy Maleakos and Verin provided support from the rear, and Dooturr fired arrows at midrange. The sahuagin also leapt at the first sight of whoever attacked Rikus. Rikus zeroed in on Viribus, catching him in his monstrous claw, raising him from his feet and enveloping him with his mouth tentacles. Viribus could not seem to land a blow, and the swirling red energy around him began to funnel around him. Ashpin managed to redirect Rikus' attention to himself, while Viribus - with an uproar of rage - finally managed to cleave right through Rikus' claw and into his shoulderblade. After this transpired, the party immediately heard a soft laughing emanate from Viribus' blade, followed by a sharp whisper, "Yes...."
• Viribus was not finished, as he cleaved his way through the remaining sahuagin with seeming ease, the red energy guiding his weapon as he struck blow after blow. Verin fended off a sahuagin that had flanked him from the rear, while Ashpin helped finish off the sahuagin as well, knocking one unconscious. The fight died down, after which Dooturr inspected Rikus' body, and found the coral tablet. As he held it, he seemed to draw in closer and closer to it, and began to almost sway. N'nchyk quickly grabbed it from him and stuffed it into his pack.
• Viribus inspected the run-down tavern, finding several eviscerated bodies, all of which had claw marks and chitin scattered on their bodies. The Crew gathered themselves, and set off to leave once again, leaving the devastating scene quickly behind them. By the direction of Dooturr and aid of Verin, the party wound up in a slightly more hospitable residential area. Suddenly, with no warning or visual cue, a massive blow struck Dooturr.

Missions/Quests Completed

• Recovered the coral tablet

Character(s) interacted with

• Remilda, the halfling guarding the warehouse museum
• Hadrian, the Sharn Watch guard who had made Verin's acquaintance the previous week
• The trash gnome drunkard and his pet tortoise
• Rikus Nickol

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

Report Date

11 Feb 2021

Primary Location

Sharn