EooD Session 6: The Tortle and the Tavern Fire
General Summary
10/4/900
Tasked with their next mission, Rakka's Heroes explored Qilthani to search for any info on how to defeat undead spirits. Kipp spoke with Valafar, the lone survivor of an encounter with the ghosts who said the spirits drained the crew of their lifeforce while a green-blue fog enveloped the ship. Cig chatted up Guang Chirp once more, learning more about the spirits and how the kenku's ship would be fast enough to evade even the fastest spirit. Cig filed that info away, a tempting offer as few sailors would be willing to sail straight into the face of certain death.
With this new information the party took a tip from Decarabia Goldeneye to visit a local elven tavern called Measure for Measure to see if anybody there had experience dealing with spirits. The former elven capital of Kassadeia was the most haunted city in Pescaliat after the New Year's Massacre of 897, so many elves would have intimate knowledge on how to deal with elves.
Unfortunately, the party's encounter at the tavern quickly descended into chaos. Zilocke, a tortle from territories long subjugated by the former Elflands Empire, got into a heated exchange with the elven bartender Mowbray. They tossed racial slurs at each other, and after Zilocke cast 'Command' on Mowbray to make him kneel the bartender ordered them to leave immediately. Cig took this to heart and went down to the docks to get information about how to fight spirits.
Outside the tavern Cedar and Zilocke hatched a plan to set fire to the tavern as payback for the racist abuse. Kipp extinguished Zilocke's torch with a 'Ray of Frost' cantrip, but Cedar flew up to the rooftop unnoticed and set a blazing fire of tinder and autumn leaves. As one of the last wooden buildings in Qilthani, the fire consumed the building in a matter of moments while Zilocke cast 'Moonbeam' on the front door to kill any patrons attempting to escape. The screams could be heard from the street, desperate tavern-goers jumping through the windows after several of them fell dead trying to push open the front door. Kipp rushed over to the survivors, using her 'Lay on Hands' feature to heal the elves burnt by the fire. Meanwhile Zilocked waited in a nearby alleyway, and when Mowbray rushed out of the back entrance he cast 'Inflict Wounds' on the bartender and turned him into a rotting pile of bones.
Moments later several guards rushed to the scene of the fire and with Kipp's help managed to extinguish the flames to stop them spreading to the nearby buildings. Several of the survivors said Zilocke was responsible for the fire and deaths, so the guards put the street on lockdown until they could get statements from everybody present. Cedar rushed away from the scene of the crime as a chipmunk, leaving Kipp and Zilocke to answer most of the questions. Kipp was ruled out as a suspect for her help putting out the fires, but after a handful of witnesses claimed they saw Zilocke killing the bartender with a single touch the tortle became a prime suspect.
Mayor Proserpine Hafiz visited the wreckage and checked on the survivors, explaining to Zilocke how he would have to be brought in for questioning at the local prison until this ordeal could be sorted out. Zilocke shrugged at first, but when a couple of the guards tried to confiscate his weapons he resisted arrest and started running away from the Rakkan authorities. A chase ensued, the tortle running towards the docks in an attempt to avoid the surrender of his most prized possession. He ran for several blocks, making it within a few hundred feet of the piers before being shot down by a well-placed crossbow bolt. The guards approached the body, finding the tortle dead from exhaustion and multiple wounds from his encounter with the guards. Rakka's military had just killed a member of Rakka's Heroes.
That night the party regrouped at The Laughing Gnoll, the entire town awash in rumors over the burning of the elven tavern. Damon spent the day exploring the edges of town and renegotiating the monster-hunting contract with Mayor Proserpine to include some horses and one carriage for a job well done, so after several hours at the tavern he was approached by a Rakkan guard informing him that Zilocke had been killed earlier that evening. Another guard helped bring an exhausted Kipp back to the tavern to rest for the night, and Cig returned later after learning about some promising leads at the docks. The party would have much to discuss the next day.
As a new day dawned in Qilthani, a story began to emerge of how such senseless violence was committed in broad daylight. According to the stories, Zilocke was a radical from the former Elflands Empire who wanted to see the death of every elf in the world. He managed to infiltrate Rakka's Heroes as just another mercenary for hire, using his position of authority in town to set fire to the tavern and murder the bartender along with half a dozen patrons. A sahuagin priestess' staff was found on Zilocke's body after his run-in with the guards, indicating that he had some affiliation with the monstrous deity known as the Sunken God who laid waste to the Elflands Empire and murdered hundreds and thousands of elves.
The fire and massacre turned into a diplomatic crisis for Rakka as nations from all over Pescaliat condemned the apparent hate crime. Nations like Glace and Despero threatened to cut diplomatic ties over the incident, others questioning how a radical such as Zilocke managed to infiltrate the nation's adventuring guild. It would take months for Rakka to recover from the political crisis, which is why Director Astara Hadad called Damon the next morning urging him to keep a close watch on the party as its de-facto leader. She said the party should come up with a new name to distance itself from the terrible fire and multiple defeats, and in the future the party may be called on to assist in an international mission to improve the Rakka's international image.
That same morning Cig returned to the docks, speaking with a couple of gnomes about what kind of strategies to use when confronting ghosts. He learned about their strengths and weaknesses, and he purchased a new invention called a 'lifejacket' along with some seaweed to help him escape from the ship in case the encounter turned deadly. Back at The Laughing Gnoll he found the party being interviewed by Rakkan guards, asking for their statements on the fire that broke out at the elven tavern. Cedar gave a performance for the ages, completely throwing any suspicion off of her and onto Zilocke. Meanwhile Cig stayed truthful and said he was at the docks when the fire started, saying there were plenty of sailors down there who could confirm they'd seen a small man covered in armor walking around that evening.
Once the guards left with their statements Damon gathered the party together at their usual table to discuss the group's future after the fire. He mentioned the name change idea from Director Astara, allowing the group time to come up with alternatives. Astara said that Zephyr Luthar would be called back into the active duty forces to replace Zilocke, so while the party waited for him to arrive in Qilthani the surviving party members talked to each other about their lives before joining Rakka's Heroes. Kipp tried to explain the importance of the debts she owed to her old mercenary band, and Cig cautioned against the hollow satisfaction of vengeance. Cedar reiterated her strong position against industrialization, sipping fruit drinks from Decarabia's bar. Later that day Damon stopped by the morgue to pay respects to Zilocke, waiting for Zephyr's arrival before the group ventured out into the ocean to fight the undead spirits.
Rewards Granted
Character(s) interacted with
- Mayor Proserpine Hafiz
- Naamah - Proserpine's secretary
- Guang Chirp - a kenku pirate/sailor
- Decarabia Goldeneye - owner of The Laughing Gnoll
- Valafar - traumatized tiefling sailor
- Mowbray - elven bartender killed by Zilocke
- Jabble Wildwander - gnomish healer from Sardivelia
- Fonklin Fiddlefin - gnomish inventor selling lifejackets
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