Session 7: Completing Initiation

General Summary

Airship Trip Back

• The airship trip back was rather uneventful. Time was spent inspecting the new items they had acquired, which included a feather token, a Potion of Invulnerability, a few spell scrolls, and, most importantly, a Cloak of Billowing. Additionally, a short rest was taken, with Dooturr patching up much of the party using one of his several healer's kits, but eventually had to give some to Philip and Ashpin, as the large quantity of gold he was carrying was simply too heavy.
• Philip talked to the group about Theobald, saying he had written him a letter describing in detail what exactly they had been up to up until the point where they were traveling to meet Shiksu. Philip understood the party's disposition towards Theobald, but wanted them to know he wasn't a bad man, and he has his reasons for the actions he takes. He also seemed to have his heart set on clearing the party's name of any wrongdoings that may have looked to be the fault of the party.
• Nayries asked for a word with Ashpin, and the two sat on the steps near the back of the airship, and had a bit of a lengthy conversation. From those who watched, it was clear that some emotions were still present, but it was far from an aggressive confrontation.
• Lastly, as Sharn finally started to become visible in the distance once again, Philip gathered the Crew to talk to them once again. He said the last few days have been...interesting to say the least, and he has created a lasting bond with the group as a whole. He's grown to care for each of them deeply, and as a result, he formally invited everyone present to his 50th wedding anniversary dinner the next Far. And to those who wished, he would also like to treat them to a trip to Olladra's Succor, the airship casino that Ashpin, Maleakos, and N'nchyk are all too familiar with.

Finding the Basement

• As the airship made its way back to Sharn, weaving its way through the towers in Upper Tavick's Landing, N'nchyk began to grow more and more agitated. When Capitaine finally landed the airship back on the docking platform on the roof of Shiksu's mansion, N'nchyk and Maleakos immediately sprinted out, much to the confusion of the rest of the Crew. They mostly followed behind him very befuddled, while Viribus stayed behind to inspect the remaining rooms on the floor. He found a couple maps, some nice wines, and a book called "The Deck of Limiting Things", a fictional collection of tales about people who used the Deck of Many Things and the chaos that followed. One passage is a first-person account of a gnome gunslinger who was summoned from his home planet to battle demons, and all the friends he made along the way.
• Throughout the property of the mansion were several dark blue and purple arcane wisps emanating from the ground. Viribus managed to identify them as the kind of arcane signature that is associated with a ritual. Additionally, a deep, warbly voice was heard shouting in a completely alien dialect from below the ground. In one of the mansion rooms was a rather unpleasant scene: the disfigured and disemboweled figures of two humanoids, both bearing the clothing of the House Orien livery.
• The rest of the Crew frantically tore through the rest of the house, N'nchyk hobbling through it at an incredible speed while the rest mostly watched in bewilderment. Finally, the group entered one of the bedrooms on the first floor, in which a chest was found with several items in it, including wildroot, manacles, and some gold. Upon investigation, one of the cabinets was rather crooked, and upon beating it with N'nchyk's club and Viribus' longsword, it cracked to reveal a passageway behind it.
• All the meanwhile, Nayries solemnly waited by the mansion entrance for Theobald, but heard the commotion of the Crew breaking through the cabinet and gave pursuit.
• Through the dark and dank passageway and down a metal staircase, the party found a long unlit room with cracked stone walls and flooring. Lining the walls of the room were the bloodied corpses of all manners of people, indiscriminately adults and children alike - each bearing an odd splotchy mark that was vaguely familiar, but could not be identified in the rush they were in. Behind one of the stone tombs there was a draft, and with the combined might of Viribus, Philip, and Ashpin, it was eventually scraped out of the way to reveal a narrow gap in the wall that led to another passageway, ending with a wooden stone slab. At this point, behind the wooden slab, a chanting noise could be heard, in addition to disgusting sloshing noises and undead groaning.
• N'nchyk pushed open the door and encountered a rather unpleasant scene. The dark arcane signatures were flowing in and around a massive coffin in the center of the room. Chanting in another unfamiliar language at the side of the coffin was a disfigured gray individual with scraps of skin falling off and limbs bent at awkward angles, with bones sticking out at some places. Its legs were mere stumps, and it seemed to float above the ground. Once it heard the creak of the door opened, it straightened up with an unnatural speed, and turned its head 180 degrees to look at the party, making a disgusting splintering noise. With more of the same ungodly speed, it burrowed its way into a corpse that lie next to it, bursting inside the corpse and puppeteering it from the inside. Had the Crypt Crew like
• The room was also filled with mottled gray humanoids bearing the same mark as the people in the previous room, as well as a couple zombies. It was an unwelcome battle for the fatigued Crew. It was rather evenly matched, with the mottled gray undead landing paralyzing hits on several party members while Viribus, Ashpin, and Philip held down the front line. However, they were too late, as from the coffin could be heard a banging noise. More liquid sloshing could be heard before the top of the coffin was splintered, and from it rose a tall individual. It was cloaked in black robes, and its eye sockets bore nothing but pure white orbs. Tentacles slithered out from its face, but this was not the kind of dreaded mind flayer that has been spoken of in hushed, fearful whispers. It was not blue, or purple, nor was it slimy, but gray and white with cracked skin and a rattling whisper. It limply rose its arm, engulfing the combatants entirely in a cesspool of slimy black tentacles, squirming to and fro.
• The Crew stood its ground, with Philip shouting at the recently arrived Nayries to go and find Theobald. Nayries sprinted into the courtyard and indeed found him strolling about, presumably looking for who found him. Confused, but steadfast, Theobald followed Nayries into the basement, flying at an incredible speed.
• The party was hanging on by a thread. The undead zombies and gray corpses were slowly being felled, but the possessor was still alive, and the undead mind flayer was paralyzing anyone within its range. Theobald made his way into the room, and without hesitation, conjured an iridescent Forcecage around the creature, and countering any attempts it made to escape.

Completing the Mission

• With a big smile, Theobald looked around at the group of weary adventurers. They all shared conversation, while Maleakos tried to cast a spell into the Forcecage, which promptly failed. While the group caught up Theobald on recent events, N'nchyk seemed to be having an urgent conversation with the undead mind flayer, which evidently did not take kindly to his words, as it began to violently attempt to escape the Forcecage once again, albeit fruitlessly.
• After catching him up, the party discussed ransacking the rest of Shiksu's mansion, which he heartily agreed to, having heard the horrible things she had been up to. As he pointed out, however, there was still a horrific, undead, tentacled problem before them, indicating their friend in the Forcecage. Theobald said he should hopefully be able catch some Clifftoppers hanging out around the guild, Sending them a prompt message.
• Eventually, three familiar individuals hurried into the basement: Torfe excitedly made his way in, alongside two nearly identical individuals, who the party had previously only known as Paven, the secretary of the guild. Everyone positioned themselves around the Forcecage, preparing whatever attacks they could. The barrier was dropped, and hell was rained upon the creature: green flashes of energy, polearm strikes, eldritch blasts, and all manners of sword strikes. It managed to unleash one of its psychic blasts before it was defeated.
• After all the commotion and Torfe had stopped slashing at the corpse, the party described their encounter with Shiksu to Theobald, describing how her head transformed into a tiger. A brief flash of uncertainty flickered across his face, and he said it sounded a little like a rakshasa, which is a fiend that was spawned by Khyber in the Age of Demons, according to the myths. However, that was hundreds of thousands of years ago, and they haven't been seen since, so it seems unlikely, especially considering Shiksu's battle prowess.
• Regardless, it was time to explore and then leave the mansion. Through the rest of the basement, they encountered two incredibly emaciated individuals, a mother and a daughter. They had the same splotchy mark as the corpses in the other room, and it was identified to be an aberrant dragonmark. After being roused by Torfe, the woman weakly told them that their people had been in hiding ever since the War of the Mark, but had been rounded up and experimented on. Torfe nodded grimly, and helped free them, bringing them back to Theobald.
• As for the rest of the mansion, the Crew gave it a once-over, finding several interesting items (see "Discovered Lore" below). During their investigation, they heard a massive explosion, and peeking out one of the windows was Theobald, giving a thumbs-up in front of the ablaze chapel - clearly, something unsavory had been found inside of it. The party met back up with him, and after inscribing several symbols and sigils into the ground, the party was transported back to the headquarters of the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild.
• They came to in a strange, arcane room with a matching circle inscribed in the ground that Theobald had drawn at the mansion. He told them to meet him in the mess hall, which Philip led you to, through a few stone passageways and down a circular flight of stairs. It was rather empty, as it was early in the morning. Theobald returned with several items in his bag. To Maleakos, an enchanted drum to enhance his arcane proficiency. To Ashpin, an emblem symbolizing his oath and his duty in upholding it. To Nayries, a powerful javelin meant to strike down his enemies. To Philip, a pearl to preserve his magic even longer. To Dooturr, a simple-looking hat to help him disguise himself at will. To Viribus, a red gem meant to be used to summon a powerful ally. To N'nchyk, an unassuming mushroom harvested from the remains of a slain dragon.
• After distributing the gifts, he invited them to the official Clifftop Adventurer's Guild induction ceremony. After leading them down two more flights of stairs, the party made it into a wide-open tavern-looking room. It contained wooden plank flooring, a lengthy bar, cozy fireplaces, plentiful seating, and most of all, cheering individuals of all shapes and sizes. Music was played, drinks were pushed into the Crew's hands, and a good time was sure to be had for the newest members of the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild.

Missions/Quests Completed

• Explored and cleared out Shiksu's mansion
• Officially joined the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild 

Character(s) interacted with

• Sir Theobald Evans 

Notes

First Floor

• In the greenhouse, N'nchyk found the purple vine "Gripa" (third entry on page 12).
• In the room with the piano organ, Dooturr found a music sheet of Silence to learn with his trumpet.
• In the same room were several textbook-like volumes, including topics like the military forces used in the Last War, the history of the Dragonmarked Houses , and the structure of the Brelish government.
• In one of the rooms in the same wing as the secret entrance was discovered was a blandly-decorated room with several large beds, and a single book on the dresser. It was very brief, and described what little is known about the Mourning. In one of the dresser drawers was a map of a small portion of the eastern wilderness of Q'barra.
• In a room adjacent to the kitchen, in pristine condition, was a cabinet full of shattered china. The china was mostly white, but there were three piles of black porcelain.
• In the remains of the smoking chapel was a single statue with a nameplate at the bottom that read "Hecate".

Second Floor

• In one of the more lavishly-decorated bedrooms, in one of the cabinet drawers, was a cube-shaped container, around 5 inches on a side, made of some kind of red and silver metal. It was composed of very small and intricate interconnecting parts and patterns, with no discernable method of opening it. Neither N'nchyk nor Viribus could identify its origin or purpose.
• In another smaller bedroom was the manuscript of a speech given by Brelish politician Okeanos Tsitak ("Okeanos Tsitak's speech" in Handouts -> Documents in Roll20).
• In a bathroom adjacent to one of the bedrooms, there was a bathtub full to the brim with a dark brown liquid. Inside of it was several red splotches that drifted through the liquid.
• In one of the larger rooms was what appeared to be an office, decorated with cabinets, rich red carpets, and a large desk that dominated the room. In this room, several things were found.
  • A spell scroll of Comprehend Languages.
  • A parchment with the title “Droaam: A Repugnant Nation” and the byline “written by Shiksu”. It was otherwise blank with a quill resting upon it.
  • A silver key resided in one of the desk drawers.
  • A parchment with a sketch of each party member on it. (Handouts -> Documents -> "[YOUR NAME] Profile" in Roll20)

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

Report Date

21 Jan 2021

Primary Location

Sharn