Session 5 - When Death Calls
General Summary
The party enjoyed a night of rest after their return from helping Screaming Wind retrieve the bodies of the rescue party and acquiring a third piece of the relic. The following morning, they headed for Kaya’s House of Repose to discuss their new finding with Soggy Wren, but neither he nor Nerissa was there. Dejected, the party decided to follow up with their last contact, Alistair Bol of The Order of the Gauntlet .
On their way to his Villa in the Market District a young child violently bumped into Snakebit. When the child noticed they were adventurers, he introduced himself as Tyron and told the party that he is part of a group of orphans known as The Shorty Pants who live in the manure District. Recently some huge, ugly, hair men arrived in the neighborhood and have been trying to catch the Shorty Pants. The adults have been saying they might be traffickers specializing in trading children. Tyron’s sister Jahera was taken that morning by these ugly, hairy men and Tyron followed them to their hideout in the sewers. However, Tyron can’t do anything about it since he’s too small and weak, so he asked the party to help out and save his sister.
They agreed, no questions asked. Tyron led them into the sewers and stopped just before turning a corner, telling them that the ugly, hairy men had set up cages just around the corner that could hold “dozens, maybe hundreds of kids” with only one hairy man guarding them. It became clear that they men Tyron was talking about were Bugbear. Looking around the corner they saw there was only one, sitting idly at a desk watching a cage that had five children in it. It was time to take him out and save the kids. But he had spotted them, and when they rounded the corner to launch their attack the bugbear (Arnold Bullmeister) pulled a small lever and activated a trap, filling the hall with poisonous gas.
An brief, but intense, battle followed. Arnold Bullmeister the Bugbear was taken out quickly, but not before the children revealed their true intentions. They were The Shorty Pants and the cage was a setup, they burst out of it and pelted Caspian with sling bullets before attempting to remove his spleen with daggers. Snakebit put a couple of them to sleep while the others knocked most of them out before the remaining Shorty Pants member finally surrendered. This time the party made sure they were properly locked up in the cage before they left to notify the authorities before going to find Alistair Bol .
They found Alistair Bol s Villa in the Market District, a large, opulent structure near the House of Gold. One of the servants escorted them in through the main hall to a large, covered balcony where they were greeted by Alistair Bol . Alistair, a heavyset man in his 30’s, was damp with sweat despite clearly not doing any kind of hard work lately. He enthusiastically greeted the party, complained about the heat and insects, and offered them some water. Alistair Wren and the party were in search of, but informed them that The Order of the Gauntlet had received some odd reports recently that may be related. A local rumor had been spreading in the Old City, several residents have been vanishing in the dead of night and re-emerging as undead a few days later. Alistair sent one of h is lower ranking associates, Derio, to investigate but he hadn’t returned yet. Alistair asked the party to investigate the source of the undead and find his associate. In exchange he would pay 60 gold each as a reward.
Before heading to the Old City the group made a stop at Wakanga O'Tamu's Villa to purchase some healing potions. Once there they had a chance encounter with one of their original employers, Syndra Silvane. She was surprised and overjoyed to see that they were still alive, and glad someone else had survived the Dragon Turtle attack. She has taken up residence in Wakanga’s Villa, as he is an old friend, and has spent her time researching Chult’s history and using The Harpers ’s network to try and find clues about the Death Curse. So far, she has found nothing. She does not risk leaving the Villa or the city ever, as she herself is inflicted with the death curse and grows weaker by the day. She encouraged the party to continue following their leads and helping the locals out and agreed to give them any useful information she might find.
After purchasing their potions, the party made their way to the Old City. They decided their first stop would be to visit their Zhentarim contact, Pock-Marked Po, who lives in the area. Snakebit was kind enough to bring him a bottle of perfume as a gift, and Po provided what little information he could. He had heard the rumors too. A couple of tendays ago the disappearances began, though there was no clear connection between those that have vanished. A few days ago, a local tavern goer just got up and left mumbling something about Death calling out to him. Since then, rumor had it that those who vanished were said to have received the “Call of the Dead”. A few days ago, a clergyman named Derio came to the area to investigate the disappearances, but he too vanished. He was last seen near a set of huts behind the ziggurat facing Executioner’s Run.
It wasn’t hard for the group to find these huts on the western side of the southernmost ziggurat. They found a large bamboo hut and a smaller one in a clearing just behind it. As Caspian went to knock on the door of the larger hut Baldur opened the smaller hut’s door. He was greeted by the stench of death, the hut’s furnishing were rotten and destroyed, long iron chains with manacles had been fixed to the ground and there were several animal and humanoid carcasses scattered about the floor. Three of the humanoid bodies rose and attacked. The zombies were resilient and didn’t seem to want to stay dead despite the group’s best efforts, but eventually they were laid to rest.
With the zombies defeated, Caspian knocked on the door to the larger hut. There was no response, and no noises from inside. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. Snakebit stepped in and picked the lock allowing Caspian to open the door. Unfortunately for him, he sprung a trap and felt the jab of a needle in his palm that left him briefly paralyzed.
Snakebit and the others stepped around Caspian and rummaged through the empty Hut, it was clear that no one had been inside in quite some time. The hut was dark, damp, and messy. On the desk Snakebit found a small book of arcane studies bearing the symbol of Azuth, god of arcane knowledge. Next to it was a collection of handwritten pages, the writing scribbled over with numerous sigils and inscriptions. Snakebit pieced together that the scribbles were meant for use in some sort of arcane ritual. The final page in the stack hadn’t had sigils scribbled on it. The writing on it was barely legible, but it was written in common:
This time the room was not like the others, they found themselves in a large, ancient chamber that had crumbled over the ages. A narrow path lead to the opposite end of the room, where a platform with a small dais and a stone stand was. A Halfling man stood at the dais, three Humans were shackled to the wall behind him. The Halfling was in the middle of some sort of ritual. As the party entered the room he quickly noticed them and shouted “Interlopers! You shall become food for the dead!” before flinging open some rusty gates at the bottom of a pit in the center of the room, freeing 4 zombies.
Esylde immediately fired an arrow at the Halfling, hoping to take him out quickly, but he ducked behind the dais and narrowly avoided death. Elijan moved in and attempted to get the Halfling to surrender, he refused. Baldur joined in and attempted to persuade the Halfling to stop his rituals, offering to take the burden of the gods work from him, but the Halfling wouldn’t hear any of it. Baldur had made his effort at peace and having failed he followed up with lethal force. He slung a magical bolt at the Halfling and landed a devastating blow, splattering the Halfling's guts all over the dais and the surrounding stonework. He was dead instantly.
But they still had to deal with the zombies that were trying to get to the prisoners. The party attacked, blocked their path to the prisoners, and kept them distracted. A long and bloody fight followed; the zombies simply refused to stay dead. Every time someone took one down it rose back up to continue it’s fight. Eventually though, the party prevailed, and the zombies were cut down for good. Having defused the situation, Baldur went to investigate the dais. There he found a small half-moon shaped trinket, another piece of the relic. He picked it up. Immediately he felt an assault on his mind and experienced numerous visions of yellow eyes with slit-like pupils and a cacophony of incoherent whispers that oddly resembled hissing noises. He relayed these visions to the others.
They gathered the prisoners and brought them to a local temple for medical attention before returning to Alistair Bol with Derio to receive their promised reward. All that was left to do now was find Soggy Wren and put an end to whatever force was behind this cursed relic.
On their way to his Villa in the Market District a young child violently bumped into Snakebit. When the child noticed they were adventurers, he introduced himself as Tyron and told the party that he is part of a group of orphans known as The Shorty Pants who live in the manure District. Recently some huge, ugly, hair men arrived in the neighborhood and have been trying to catch the Shorty Pants. The adults have been saying they might be traffickers specializing in trading children. Tyron’s sister Jahera was taken that morning by these ugly, hairy men and Tyron followed them to their hideout in the sewers. However, Tyron can’t do anything about it since he’s too small and weak, so he asked the party to help out and save his sister.
They agreed, no questions asked. Tyron led them into the sewers and stopped just before turning a corner, telling them that the ugly, hairy men had set up cages just around the corner that could hold “dozens, maybe hundreds of kids” with only one hairy man guarding them. It became clear that they men Tyron was talking about were Bugbear. Looking around the corner they saw there was only one, sitting idly at a desk watching a cage that had five children in it. It was time to take him out and save the kids. But he had spotted them, and when they rounded the corner to launch their attack the bugbear (Arnold Bullmeister) pulled a small lever and activated a trap, filling the hall with poisonous gas.
An brief, but intense, battle followed. Arnold Bullmeister the Bugbear was taken out quickly, but not before the children revealed their true intentions. They were The Shorty Pants and the cage was a setup, they burst out of it and pelted Caspian with sling bullets before attempting to remove his spleen with daggers. Snakebit put a couple of them to sleep while the others knocked most of them out before the remaining Shorty Pants member finally surrendered. This time the party made sure they were properly locked up in the cage before they left to notify the authorities before going to find Alistair Bol .
They found Alistair Bol s Villa in the Market District, a large, opulent structure near the House of Gold. One of the servants escorted them in through the main hall to a large, covered balcony where they were greeted by Alistair Bol . Alistair, a heavyset man in his 30’s, was damp with sweat despite clearly not doing any kind of hard work lately. He enthusiastically greeted the party, complained about the heat and insects, and offered them some water. Alistair Wren and the party were in search of, but informed them that The Order of the Gauntlet had received some odd reports recently that may be related. A local rumor had been spreading in the Old City, several residents have been vanishing in the dead of night and re-emerging as undead a few days later. Alistair sent one of h is lower ranking associates, Derio, to investigate but he hadn’t returned yet. Alistair asked the party to investigate the source of the undead and find his associate. In exchange he would pay 60 gold each as a reward.
Before heading to the Old City the group made a stop at Wakanga O'Tamu's Villa to purchase some healing potions. Once there they had a chance encounter with one of their original employers, Syndra Silvane. She was surprised and overjoyed to see that they were still alive, and glad someone else had survived the Dragon Turtle attack. She has taken up residence in Wakanga’s Villa, as he is an old friend, and has spent her time researching Chult’s history and using The Harpers ’s network to try and find clues about the Death Curse. So far, she has found nothing. She does not risk leaving the Villa or the city ever, as she herself is inflicted with the death curse and grows weaker by the day. She encouraged the party to continue following their leads and helping the locals out and agreed to give them any useful information she might find.
After purchasing their potions, the party made their way to the Old City. They decided their first stop would be to visit their Zhentarim contact, Pock-Marked Po, who lives in the area. Snakebit was kind enough to bring him a bottle of perfume as a gift, and Po provided what little information he could. He had heard the rumors too. A couple of tendays ago the disappearances began, though there was no clear connection between those that have vanished. A few days ago, a local tavern goer just got up and left mumbling something about Death calling out to him. Since then, rumor had it that those who vanished were said to have received the “Call of the Dead”. A few days ago, a clergyman named Derio came to the area to investigate the disappearances, but he too vanished. He was last seen near a set of huts behind the ziggurat facing Executioner’s Run.
It wasn’t hard for the group to find these huts on the western side of the southernmost ziggurat. They found a large bamboo hut and a smaller one in a clearing just behind it. As Caspian went to knock on the door of the larger hut Baldur opened the smaller hut’s door. He was greeted by the stench of death, the hut’s furnishing were rotten and destroyed, long iron chains with manacles had been fixed to the ground and there were several animal and humanoid carcasses scattered about the floor. Three of the humanoid bodies rose and attacked. The zombies were resilient and didn’t seem to want to stay dead despite the group’s best efforts, but eventually they were laid to rest.
With the zombies defeated, Caspian knocked on the door to the larger hut. There was no response, and no noises from inside. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. Snakebit stepped in and picked the lock allowing Caspian to open the door. Unfortunately for him, he sprung a trap and felt the jab of a needle in his palm that left him briefly paralyzed.
Snakebit and the others stepped around Caspian and rummaged through the empty Hut, it was clear that no one had been inside in quite some time. The hut was dark, damp, and messy. On the desk Snakebit found a small book of arcane studies bearing the symbol of Azuth, god of arcane knowledge. Next to it was a collection of handwritten pages, the writing scribbled over with numerous sigils and inscriptions. Snakebit pieced together that the scribbles were meant for use in some sort of arcane ritual. The final page in the stack hadn’t had sigils scribbled on it. The writing on it was barely legible, but it was written in common:
Another night with dreams of the serpents. I know I
should deliver the relic as promised, but it calls to me...
In Azuth’s name, it calls to me through my dreams,
and has led me to my lair beneath the walls of the
ziggurat.
But what if I am wrong? Would the gods wish me to
walk such a path? Perhaps this is the true path to
eternal knowledge? Perhaps my teacher was wrong
all this time?
I must see this through and finish my work. Should I
not return, then I have joined with those I have
brought with me into the dark unknown.
Viplo
On the back of this letter there was a drawing of three circles in a triangular pattern with an arrow pointing to the bottom left circle. Written beneath it were the words “Being Here”. Snakebit also managed to open the desk’s locked drawer, finding two magical scrolls inside. They left the hut and investigated the nearby area following the clues in the letter. Baldur found some odd circles carved into the stonework of the Ziggurat behind the hut. With a little bit of guesswork and the hint on the back of the letter, Baldur and Snakebit managed to figure out that the circles acted as buttons, and figured out the correct order to push them in. A hidden door opened in the side of the ziggurat, revealing a downward sloping path into the darkness under the ziggurat.
They lit a torch and descended into the darkness, where they found themselves in a small room with a set of odd wavy lines and concentric circles carved into the eastern wall. Snakebit put two and two together and realized it was a puzzle like the one that opened the tunnel and traced a path through the maze-like carving. A door opened in the north wall. The group found themselves in a nearly identical room, but this one had the maze-like carvings on three of the four walls. Snakebit thought he could figure it out and went to trace the maze paths just like in the last room, but he went in the wrong order and set off a trap. Large pendulum blades swung down from the ceiling and sliced into the party, but another door still opened. They found themselves in another room identical to the last, this time Elijan took the lead and solved the puzzle opening another door that lead into yet another identical room where Elijan made the same mistake as Snakebit and triggered another set of pendulum blades before another door opened.
This time the room was not like the others, they found themselves in a large, ancient chamber that had crumbled over the ages. A narrow path lead to the opposite end of the room, where a platform with a small dais and a stone stand was. A Halfling man stood at the dais, three Humans were shackled to the wall behind him. The Halfling was in the middle of some sort of ritual. As the party entered the room he quickly noticed them and shouted “Interlopers! You shall become food for the dead!” before flinging open some rusty gates at the bottom of a pit in the center of the room, freeing 4 zombies.
Esylde immediately fired an arrow at the Halfling, hoping to take him out quickly, but he ducked behind the dais and narrowly avoided death. Elijan moved in and attempted to get the Halfling to surrender, he refused. Baldur joined in and attempted to persuade the Halfling to stop his rituals, offering to take the burden of the gods work from him, but the Halfling wouldn’t hear any of it. Baldur had made his effort at peace and having failed he followed up with lethal force. He slung a magical bolt at the Halfling and landed a devastating blow, splattering the Halfling's guts all over the dais and the surrounding stonework. He was dead instantly.
But they still had to deal with the zombies that were trying to get to the prisoners. The party attacked, blocked their path to the prisoners, and kept them distracted. A long and bloody fight followed; the zombies simply refused to stay dead. Every time someone took one down it rose back up to continue it’s fight. Eventually though, the party prevailed, and the zombies were cut down for good. Having defused the situation, Baldur went to investigate the dais. There he found a small half-moon shaped trinket, another piece of the relic. He picked it up. Immediately he felt an assault on his mind and experienced numerous visions of yellow eyes with slit-like pupils and a cacophony of incoherent whispers that oddly resembled hissing noises. He relayed these visions to the others.
They gathered the prisoners and brought them to a local temple for medical attention before returning to Alistair Bol with Derio to receive their promised reward. All that was left to do now was find Soggy Wren and put an end to whatever force was behind this cursed relic.
Character(s) interacted with
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments