Session 12: Even More Fish-men

General Summary

The Phoenix Orphan Home

• The party picked up back in the Skyway temple. The Boromar lie slain, hanging in two pieces, each half dangling from a different Immovable Rod. N'nchyk lie unconscious, while the rest of the Crew stood in silence.
• The door behind them creaked open, and a skeleton clad in scraps of armor clambered his way into the room. Brucos told Dooturr, "May this glorious act of creation serve and protect you well, my skeleton friend." The skeleton was a strange middle ground between the mindless undead skeletons and the conscious intelligence of Dooturr. It spoke, and when it did so, it was in a very monotone and broken manner.
• The older man escorted the party out of the temple, into the skycoach, and deposited them in Upper Dura, near The Loft. The night was spent resting, and the party was awakened by Klomyra, a Clifftopper who has interacted with ALP 567 before. She gathered each of the Crew, and told them they were on the Shardcast.
• The party gathered in the news room of The Loft, and listened as a projection of an Inquisitive gnome anchored the day's edition of the Sharn Daily Breaking, in which the Crew was featured prominently - and in a much better light than previous publications.
• After the news, the Crew headed to the Phoenix Orphan Home in Lower Menthis Plateau, much to the hesitation of N'nchyk. There, they found a very ramshackle building with broken windows and patchy roofing. They encountered the young half-elf Catherine, who seemed to be primarily in charge of the Home. She was surprised to see the group before her, and was even more surprised as they continued to offer their services.
• Verin used his magic to mend some of the building's flaws, while Ashpin provided the gold that the city failed to. Maleakos also helped sooth one of the children that had been attached to Catherine's hip. N'nchyk requested that Katherine give them a tour, and she happily obliged. N'nchyk was on the lookout for anything suspicious, but the rooms, mess hall, kitchen, and living quarters were all rather benign.
• Catherine's mother, Katrina, was rather snappy, and Catherine was not keen on speaking with her. However, Katrina recognized the group as the Crypt Crew, which Catherine reacted to with shock and admiration, shaking everyone's hands and beaming.
• After ushering the group back to the small courtyard, she had one last request. She said it seemed the city has forgotten about the orphanage, and an event for publicity would serve the Home well. She asked that the Crew attended a meet-and-greet at the Home, and asked them to reach out to any contacts they could to help arrange and populate it. Ashpin told her that she could reach him at the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild 
• The group set course for Philip's house, but was halted halfway up the tower to the Middle Ward by a skinny individual in a brown leather overcoat and a wide-brimmed black hat. It turned out to be Starr, one of Dooturr's associates. He congratulated them on their recent encounter with the Boromar Clan, saying they had slain two of the highest-ranking agents.
• He also told them the Clan was reeling. They were suffering losses, and their follies being publicized by the Inquisitive. Thus, Starr predicted that they may be retreating underground for some time. In fact, his intel told him that much of their smuggling operations were housed in a hideout in The Cogs run by Donnie Romano.
• Starr said if they Crew could clean house with the hideout, expose the smuggling merchandise, put down some Boromars, and defame them publicly using what social influence they could wrangle, then they could likely set back the Clan - maybe for good. "Don’t go in dicks out wands blazing. They’re sure to be packing heavy infantry. Subtlety is your friend. Good luck."

Tea, Scares, and Seizures

• The group finally reached Philip's house, having endured a Boromar attack, confrontation with Brucos, and meeting with Starr on their way. However, after knocking on his door, they received no response.
• Philip's front door creaked open, and calls for his name received no response. Golden energy erupted in Verin's hand and N'nchyk's club began to glow with sporeish energy as they cautiously proceeded into the basement.
• The cabinet that sheltered the hidden alchemy room began to grind along the floor, and Alice stepped out and shrieked as she saw they six standing before her, illuminated by the holy light in Verin's hand. After her blood pressure presumably returned to a reasonable rate, she greeted the Crew, and offered to make them tea (which also seemed to be for her as well).
• She prepared the kettle as she told the Crew that Philip wasn't home, but she knew he was off researching a religious organization, and should be back that day, if not the next. The rest of the group struck up small talk, until N'nchyk suddenly stiffened rigidly upright in place, and began to tremble as his eyes rolled back into his head.
• Maleakos used his cane to gently lift N'nchyk's tunic up, thinking the episode may be related to the growth on his side: a lump of shroomy gray flesh with a small leg sticking out of it. However, it looked as it usually did, as unsettling as that may be.
• Suddenly, the reddish tentacles that grew from N'nchyk's neck began to enlarge with a sickening wet tearing noise, and the bluish-green skin around his eye faded to translucence, such that the Crew could see past his sockets, past the nerve endings of his eye, and into his gently pulsating brain.
• Eventually, the spooked Alice splashed a glass of water into N'nchyk's face. It seemed to stun N'nchyk, as his enthralled expression shifted to one that was rather unusual for him - calm, yet sad, with just a tinge of longing. And with another gasp, N'nchyk came to, shaking off the water, and threw his face into the fireplace. 
• There was general shock at what transpired, but N'nchyk acted as though nothing had happened. He said everything was fine, and proceeded to act as though nothing happened.

Infiltrating the Chapel

• The party wished Alice goodbye, and set out to The Loft once again to speak with Frederick Glorybuff. They found him at the archery range once again, and he seemed pleased to see the Crew. He sought out Torfe and asked for the keys to the Loft skycoach.
• When Torfe saw the party, he asked if they were still set on scouting out Droaam. The Crew concurred, after which Torfe filled them in on the plans Theobald had been preparing in the event that this occurred.
  • Theobald's prevailing theory is that the previous missions failed because they had tried to accomplish too much at once. A wiser approach would be to make the journey in chunks - the first of which would be scouting the border of the Graywall Mountains, creating a map, and returning with the information.
  • The Clifftop Adventurer's Guild could provide transportation via a Lyrandan airship with a few days' time.
  • The nearby town of Ardev is the closest to the border, and has built an airship docking platform. Traveling there would be the first leg of the journey. Additionally, the town likely knows more about the border than any other town or city due to their proximity.
  • Acquiring a map and learning of the forces of the border would be the primary goals of the operation.
  • Theobald had sent Nayries on a preliminary scouting mission, and was expecting to hear back from him soon.
• After the information, the party set out to the kuo-toa infested church in Cliffside under the direction of Frederick. The church was in fact crawling with the fishlike creatures, with scouts patrolling the entrance and two more sitting at the top of the bell tower.
• The patrols and scouts were slowly and methodically eliminated, and a plan was formed to eliminate the kuo-toa on the bell tower. Verin constantly Messaged the invisible Dooturr as he climbed his way up to the bell tower, and the rest of the group prepared to dispatch the other fish. On Dooturr's mark, the attack was launched.
• However, it was not quite successful. One of the kuo-toa on the bell-tower survived and rang the bell. N'nchyk had previously used a rat familiar to scout the inside of the church and had seen several kuo-toa inside, alongside a massive crocodile. When he checked after the bell had been rung, however, the church was empty.
• The Crew made their way into the church, and discovered a bloodied elk with tree branches full of leaves jammed into either side of its flesh. After easing its pain, Maleakos freed the beast from its pain. In addition, several of the statues to the Sovereign Host inside the church had red painted smiles on their face. N'nchyk took some of the flesh of the elk and applied it to the growth on his side.
• After sending the rat into the depths of the water of the lower floor, N'nchyk saw the deity the kuo-toa had adopted: a ruthless manticore, being fed and pampered by some of the kuo-toa. The last thing the rat saw was the maw of a giant snake.
• A plan was formed to tie Ashpin to a rope, let him approach the manticore, and Compel him into a Duel. However, he was intercepted by the snake, grappled by it, and began to drown. Aboveground, Ape'chyk felt the distress on the rope and pulled him back with a heave - but not before the manticore shot a spike at Ashpin.
• Bloodied, soaking, and coughing, Ashpin returned to the relative safety of aboveground, and briefly after, several kuo-toa and the snake charged up the stairs. They were promptly executed. The Crew settled in to try and form a new plan.

Character(s) interacted with

• Alice d'Tharashk
• Frederick Glorybuff
• Torfe Korranor 
• Starr, the SCS skeleton

Date begun:
15 Zarantyr, 998 YK
Date ended:
16 Zarantyr, 998 YK
Party level:
4.167

Report Date

28 Feb 2021

Primary Location

Sharn